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.
(Credit:
Switched On London)
A group called "Switched On London" is trying out a cool new public art concept that's called "guerrilla lighting." Designed to raise "awareness of the power of lighting," guerrilla lighting involves a team creating "transient lighting designs" using various luminescent devices and color filters. They set it up, switch the lights on simultaneously when they hear the signal of an air horn, and photograph the lights. Then they turn 'em off and move on. The results, as this photo shows, are quite lovely. Why is all the cool stuff only in the U.K.? (For some cool stateside luminescence, however, check out LASER Tag.)
I'm sure it'll work fine in London, and people will appreciate its aesthetic value. But don't try "guerrilla lighting" in Boston. They don't take too kindly to that stuff.
(Via Table of Malcontents)
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