With all due respect, the device in the early televised shots looked more like a knapsack and was even referred to that way.
I can see how someone might think that's a bomb. Most people have never seen one up close so they don't know what they look like. How were they to know this might not be a bomb made by some Columbine-like teenagers?
Please refrain from name-calling. I invite you to come back with a zinger with wit rather than adding a lot of your words to mine and then accusing me of your latest inanity. On second thought, put me on your ignore list so I don't feel guilty of feeling like Cyrano de Bergerac -- challenging a foe to duel of wit and finding his opponent unarmed.
I don't know what you saw but that doesn't make sense at all. The device had LED lights on it. You can't attach LED to a fabric. This is another picture from CNN This was the caption on CNN's website. One of the "Mooninite" light boards that caused the Wednesday scare is displayed at a news conference. Authorities closed bridges and part of the Charles River.
I wish I had recorded the early televised reports, but I didn't. From what they showed, it looked like Boston authorities were justified. I wholeheartedly agree with you if Boston police were clearly seeing your posted picture. One other point, however, CNN shouldn't be relied upon as a source unless confirmed by another news source -- Turner owns CNN and the Cartoon Network so they have a vested interest in ameliorating the impact.
Nice Cyrano reference. I was not aware that "goofball" wasn name-calling. I apologize for my grevious insult. I take your words - and apply them to another (wholly legitimate) occurrence and this is "inanity"? If you don't like the accusation - choose better words! You are obviously unfamilar with Hayesian debate.
Back on topic. I have yet to see this dangeous "knapsack" that you are referencing. Until then, I'll go by the AP picture, which is totally devoid of any bomb-like appearence. Regardless, assuming a 2-week old neon sign is a bomb, and then blowing up 8 of them to prove it is just daffy. I don't think it's the police's fault per say - they have the responsibility to check it out in a serious fashion (but 8 of them? ). Pressing charges is totally ridiculous though.
No. The whole focus of this exercise has one fundamental point -- the fact that no one in the Turner network or the advertising company stepped up immediately to say it was an advertising ploy. They let the scenario go on and on until the publicity had reached its zenith. Had they called Boston authorities immediately and said "Whoa! Here's what's going on," everyone could have had a nice laugh. However, serious money was spent, and now somebody has to pay. BTW, blowing up more than two was excessive, I agree.
I guess now you have to agree that the Boston DA and Police are tards. Look at the beginning and end. The only thing that resembled a napsack is the bag the police took it out of at the press conference. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qmSpI_BNiCg"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qmSpI_BNiCg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Legitimate point, albeit hard to prove. As others have pointed out - it may be that Turner (logically) did not assume their lite-brites were being mistaken for bombs. And the "more than two" thing is critical, since every additional one they chose to blow up caused further panic, cost, and media frenzy - thus the implication that it was the city of Boston's fault. And it's a moot argument, if one realizes that it's NOT a bomb - and has none of the characteristics of a bomb. Maybe they should spend some additional money traning these bomb squads to not overeact - instead of holding conference after conference to try and justify their stupidity.
Not necessarily on the dimwitted thing -- remember, that knapsack (it is "knapsack" according to Merriam-Webster) was hanging below a freeway. As you said, "the bag the police took it out of" may have stopped them from seeing the light (pun intended). For the record, knapsacks are usual suspects for containing explosives.
Disagree. The fact that they did not call despite the considerable uproar is culpable proof in and of inself.
But they didn't blow up a "knapsack", they blew up the mooninites. The "knapsack" did not cause the scare, the mooninites did. The DA and the police did not bring a "knapsack" to the press conference, the brought a mooninite that looked like a lite-brite. The "knapsack" I was referring to on the video was the evidence bag. I'm not saying that the police shouldn't take potential threats things seriously, but in this case they overreated and their actions caused more fear in Boston than the lite-brites did.
