Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

I'm pretty sure everybody has heard of this by now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Bosto ... nite_Scare
Best lol I've gotten from the news yet!

I was wondering what that was. I saw the image on the news at Delta State, but couldn't hear what was said. So, in the words of Paul Harvey Jr., "Now I know...the rest...of the story! Good day!"

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I like the name it has on Wikipedia. Boston Moonite Scare. The Moonites invaded Boston.

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"Explain to me how drowning them would not ruin their date."

My own take on the issue is that the guys who did it were perhaps a little thoughtless and unthinking, but they certainly weren't malicious. So naturally I got ticked off when police officers and politicians acted like these guys wanted to scare people. I think we can all agree that scaring the public isn't Adult Swim's style at all.

I also got annoyed when I saw it on TV and I heard a police officer or politician say something about "the post-9/11 world". I wasn't aware that I was living in this Post-9/11 World. I thought I was living on Earth.

- Kef

I had heard a reference to this earlier, but never knew what it was =S But now I do, and that's a good thing, so far as I know.

Holy crap! I hadn't heard of the movie aside from early speculations! I'm real real excited now...even though it was apparently confirmed two years ago...


...Hehehehehehe...

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I'm a very literal person...

Runs on electricity = Clearly a bomb

HOLY CRAP! GET AWAY FROM THAT COMPUTER!

I wondered why my computer was so hot it hurt my fingers when I tried to type... It's a bomb! It definitely has noting to do with the fact I was playing The Sims 2 earlier. Definitely a bomb. Maybe I'll stick a Lite Brite Moonite on it to make it more obvious.

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"Explain to me how drowning them would not ruin their date."

This just goes to show how freaked out some people can get. I do like the press conference that the accused had. Best press conference ever.

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That quote kind of speaks for itself.

How paranoid can you get? Even if you didn't know what it was, it still looks quite innocuous. Take the Lite-Brite displays away from the children, everyone! They look vaguely like bombs!

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It's understandable that Boston is a little jumpy, and I don't exactly think that people over-reacted to what they thought was a danger. I don't think that making a bomb so obvious is something that Al-Qaeda would do, BUT, who knows, maybe terrorist organizations have to take D students, too.

However, I don't believe that these two young men have done anything illegal. While they, maybe, should have tried to make the signs look less bomb-like (not sure how they could/would have done that), I don't think they should be charged with anything, as I don't think their intent was to scare people. At worst, I think they should be charged with littering and have to make some kind of public apology.

On the issue of "creating a panic", do they charge the rushed businessman that jumps into a cab and accidentally leaves his briefcase on a street corner, causing a bomb-squad type panic? If not, then they shouldn't charge these guys with anything.

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

The Judge in the case made it clear that the prosecutor had to make it look like they were intentionally trying to create a scare, and that won't be easy. Expect these charges to be dropped soon.

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Okay, so appearently a bomb is now anything with a battery and wires. OH NOES, MAH HOUSE IZ FULL OF BOMS!!!11111one

Seriously though, I lol'd.

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Great, now the terrorists actually WILL put bombs in those things and totally catch us by surprise!

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I kinda doubt that terrorists, at least the Al-Qaeda types, are likely to blow up bridges and the sorts of places these were being found anyway. Which of course makes it all the more ridiculous that this got the sort of reaction that it did.

- Kef

lulz.

i love how other cities had the same devices and didn't do anything about it. some people knew what they were, others didn't but nobody can stage a massive freakout about a lite-brite and 4 d-cell batteries like Boston can.

*blink blink*
*mooninite giving boston the finger*
too funny.

Hey, those look familiar.

By their standards, my clock is a bomb. And my mp3 player.

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I didn't hear about this at all. Meh.

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Lurk Moar.

Can we post a picture of the "Device", or is the pixelated middle finger a no-no?

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I'm going to have to say no on that one. If you blur or someway properly edit out the middle finger, then I guess it might be fine. PM me the pic if you're not sure.

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There's one posted right here.

Mike

Works fine for me. I'll allow it.

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I can't believe a city would go overboard over some harmless Lite-Brite displays. They weren't TRYING to make a bomb-scare, crap-for-brains politicians.

Next thing you know, people are going to get life for giving people presents.

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What makes me sad about this is how Boston's name is now synonymous with being over-reacting and paranoid.

Also what you didn't hear is that the city is divided: Just about everyone under 30 knew it was a joke and got angry at the politicians (even staging protests), while everyone over 30 demands "justice".

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lol, Simon. (I'll take this opportunity to note that I like your sig. I've been meaning to say that, heh. )

It does seem mildly silly to me that we can't post the (uncensored) Mooninite picture in a thread about the Mooninite thing, but I'm not going to argue because I'm not going to win.

- Kef

Well, it's the same reason why a lot of news shows ans news papers censor it. They don't want people getting all uppity about seeing the bird. Same way here.

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We smoke while we shoot the bird!

While I do think that it was quite the jaw-dropping paranoia and overreaction on Boston's part, in their defense I will say a few points that I've seen people make on other forums.

It doesn't have to be Al-Qaeda planting these things. It can be some homegrown American terrorist. A bomb of a cartoon character may look silly, but you never know what a terrorist might do to lure in unsuspecting people during rush hour. Plus, the middle finger on a bomb would be the perfect artistic touch for what the terrorist is trying to say, which is essentially "**** YOU, AMERICA!!"

Officials have compared these things to Improvised Explosive Devices. You know how to make an IED? Power source, wires, circuit board (explosives notwithstanding). The Mooninite things had those things clearly visible.

Maybe Boston is paranoid, but you would expect them to be a little uptight being that their city is what the terrorists flew out of to start 9/11.

IMO, the marketers didn't have malicious intent, but they should probably be fined or something for littering / advertising on public or private property without a permit / whatever.

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dot dot dot

LED street art isn't really anything new. While it's obviously not as widespread as something like stenciling or stickering, it's probably the most innocuous (and least permanent.) As what's-his-face from Dinosaur Comics said, what seems so frustrating is that the media and the police so overwhelmingly insisted at first that the pieces were intended as a "hoax" or a "prank," rather than art, or at the very least, an advertisement.

What? Every paper and news show I've seen has the full shot of it. Especially the ones coming from Boston that I read/see.

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