Fellow Americans, on January 31, we celebrate the anniversary of what was undoubtedly one of the most hilarious faux-pas in homeland security: the 2007 Boston Bomb Scare.
For those who stepped in late, on January 31, 2007, the city devolved into mass hysteria (well, kind of) when police were alerted to a number of suspicious electronic devices scattered around the city.
Before long, the city realized that the light-up displays were actually promotions for the upcoming film version of the cartoon show Aqua Teen Hunger Force--light-emitting diode (LED) circuit boards shaped like the show's "Mooninite" characters. But by that point, there had already been trains delayed, traffic rerouted, bridges shut down, and press conferences aplenty.
The Mooninites had been installed in a dozen other American cities, including my hometown of New York, where I saw one for weeks on Lafayette Street near Cooper Square and didn't think that it could possibly be anything other than silly cartoon art.
Apparently, some things just don't go over too well in the land of the Red Sox. When the state's attorney general arraigned the marketers in charge of the campaign for planting a "hoax device" in public, the statute used to justify the arraignment actually used the phrase "infernal machine."
As a commemoration of the national-security laugh fest's one-year anniversary, a group of artists have brought LED art back to Boston's streets, this time in the shapes of political figures like George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden. The Boston Globe reported earlier this month that the original "Aqua Teen terrorist" remains proud of his work.
Poor, neglected Boston must've just wanted its moment in the post-apocalyptic sun; after all, you sure didn't see that Cloverfield monster splashing around in the Charles River or the megahurricanes from The Day After Tomorrow flooding the Big Dig.
Full disclosure: I am not rooting for the Patriots this weekend.
(Credit:
Junkfunnel Labs)
Just like Yankees jerseys, this is the sort of thing you should keep out of Boston. It's called the SLD, or Suspicious Looking Device, and it's manufactured by Junkfunnel Labs. It has all kinds of fun features, like a character display, buzzer, plenty of LEDs, and touch and distance sensors. Table of Malcontents explains that it's actually Ghostbusters-inspired. (Side note: Why has no one made a video mashup of Ghostbusters and the Great Mooninite Bomb Scare of 2007?)
According to the Junkfunnel Labs product page, "the only function of the Suspicious Looking device is to appear as suspicious as possible, whether carried in hand or placed indiscrimately in public places."
Sounds good to me.
Last Wednesday, the execs in charge of the latest Aqua Teen Hunger Force marketing campaign got a bit more publicity than they expected when the city of Boston called in bomb squads and shut down bridges after police mistakenly took the LED advertisements to be hazardous materials.
Six days and one $2 million fine for parent company Turner Broadcasting later, the Web is still captivated by the Mooninites who nearly shut down the city of Boston.
At this week's RSA Conference in San Francisco, the software company CyberDefender is giving away one of the infamous signs of Ignignokt (Err is pictured at right) that sent Bostonians into a panic. To enter the free raffle, visit booth number 650 at the RSA Conference in San Francisco's Moscone Center. Contestants must be present at 2 p.m. PT on Thursday, February 8 to win.
Take your chance and enter if you must, but beware the Quad Laser!
[Source: AppScout]
(Credit:
Boing Boing)
Hey, Boston! So those Mooninites cost you $785,000? I know where you can get it back: Curt Schilling's paycheck! Anyway, continuing with the entire blogosphere's running theme of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and the ridiculousness of how it shut down the city of Boston, we here at Crave have chosen to spend a post showcasing a gadget tribute to the Adult Swim cartoon. So, esteemed readers, here's what we recommend for gadget freaks who also happen to be ATHF junkies.
--Lite Brite. Let's start off with the obvious. Plenty of blogs have been comparing the appearance of the LED-filled "Mooninite" ads to this classic Hasbro toy. Here's how you can make your own!
Stainless Steel Meatballer
(Credit: The Kitchen Store)--French Fry Cutter. Think of it as a haircut for Frylock.
--High-powered Green Laser Pointer. On the subject of Frylock, because he shoots laser beams out of his eyes, clearly you need a pricey laser pointer like this one.
--Stainless Steel Meatballer. "Perfect meatballs quickly and easily." Sure, maybe Meatwad isn't a perfect meatball, but this thing still looks pretty cool.
Classic Milk Shake Maker
(Credit: Williams-Sonoma)--Oster Classic Milk Shake Maker. This shake maker is so good-looking, it probably makes concoctions that are way tastier than Master Shake.
--Play-Doh Fun With Food. Because ATHF is all about fun with food anyway.
'You and your third dimension!'
(Credit: Boing Boing)I think we all know by now that yesterday, the city of Boston experienced the humiliation of a lifetime when light-up ads for the Cartoon Network show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, depicting a "Mooninite" character, were mistaken for bombs and basically shut down the city. (There must be something in that dirty water, you know, the same thing that makes them root for the Red Sox year after year.)
Naturally, one of the LED advertisements from Boston wound up on eBay and bids had topped $5000 in what seemed like seconds. It appears, however, that the auction has been pulled.
But don't worry. A few "Mooninites" swiped from other cities have begun popping up too, and the auctions don't appear to have been pulled (yet). Getting a non-Boston Mooninite isn't totally legit, but hey, we can't all be number 1 in the hood, g.
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