Art Project Causes Atlanta Police To Close Highway and Call Bomb Squad 208
McGruber writes: Yesterday, a ridiculously huge commotion and massive traffic jam occurred when Atlanta Police closed the downtown connector (Interstates 75 & 85) and called out the bomb squad to detonate a "suspicious device" taped to a bridge. Today, Georgia State University officials announced that the suspicious device was a student camera, "one of 18 used by students in an art project and deployed at various locations in the city." PetaPixel has additional information about Solargraphy, the style of pinhole photography apparently being done by the Georgia students.
Well it did ultimately blow up... (Score:3)
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I heard that one of the suspects had a Canon. Also a news crew on the scene reported that they were taking shots.
I hope they get an A for this project (Score:5, Funny)
Reminds me of the Boston Bomb scare of 2007 (Score:5, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2... [wikipedia.org]
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Yup, heaven forbid you leave a light brite out in Boston. You'll shut the whole city down.
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Meanwhile, on the other end of I-90 ....
http://www.thestranger.com/slo... [thestranger.com]
Common Sense people... common sense (Score:3, Insightful)
While bringing in the bomb squad and blowing shit up was an over reaction, people have to be fucking morons to think that NO reaction is going to (or should) occur if they do stupid shit like this.
Re:Common Sense people... common sense (Score:5, Insightful)
A real terrorist would hide the bomb in any of the billions and billions of McDonald's bags littering the streets.
I notice those never get picked up or blown up for safety.
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The goal of a terrorist is to terrorize the population. If the most common reaction they provoke is derision and ridicule they might give up. But that won't happen. We have 24 hour news channels with insatiable appetite for something. They will give so much of air time to the terrorist and
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pretty sure -anything- duct taped to the bottom of a bridge, especially a bright white bag, would arouse suspicions.
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I had to wonder about that as well. It's like they wanted to make sure the worst case played out. Even if they couldn't get the robot to remove the bomb, surely disrupting it would have been a better choice.
Re:Common Sense people... common sense (Score:4, Insightful)
The second article claims a note was attached to it saying it was for an art project, so the person who did it is only guilty of assuming people can read calmly.
Re:Common Sense people... common sense (Score:5, Informative)
Image of the "device." [cmgdigital.com]. Yes, it was an overreaction because it was not a threat, but I don't see a note there... perhaps there's one in the shadow. If you suspect it's a bomb, are you supposed to get close enough to read the note on it?
Hindsight is 20/20... deciding what to do in situations like these is very difficult, but there's no way that, looking at that picture, you can't call it suspicious.
Re:Common Sense people... common sense (Score:4, Insightful)
To my untrained and naive eye that looks more like the type of pipe bomb that portrayed in every movie involving pipe bombs, than anything resembling a pinhole camera (which has no pre-defined shape).
My opinion sways even more toward "some crazy person put a dangerous thing on that bridge" because of the hasty duct-tape mounting job, which (similar to the device itself) resembles every crazy taped-together implement that has ever been portrayed in every movie that involves a crazy person and a roll of tape.
Also, TIL: When placing an object in public, whether nefarious or harmless, it is important to always make sure there is a note explaining that it is an art project....because notes on crazy-looking things are always believable.
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Well, yeah, once you call xxx-xxxx and check what the device is before expending a whole lot of resources blowing up a pin hole camera, it's just logical to do. There is a number, call it and check, like fucking really, is that so, so hard to do? If they didn't like the answer they could have still blown it up.
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Seriously If I saw THAT taped to a bridge I would suspect it of being something nefarious! That thing looks dodgy as fuck!
I don't think I would think it was a bomb though, mainly because of the placement. It is not near a support it is near a light pole which is bolted too the bridge AND it is below the walkway. Any kind of detonation there is going to waste the vast majority of its force on empty space and knocking over a light pole.
most people here have no common sense (Score:2)
Even if it had a poster attached that said "Not a Bomb", I would be very disappointed in any police force that didn't immediately shut down the surrounding area and try to safely denote the unknown device. It's round and covered with duct tape, is it a soda can filled with black powder and pellets? is it an unattended camera for an art project? At least put your phone number on that shit so people can call you and ask you what it is before taking the safest course of action.
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You've never been allowed to randomly attach things anywhere.
Sure if you pretend the ENTIRE geocaching hobby doesn't exist.
You know the one I mean? The one which is LITERALLY stashing small boxes, tubes, and other containers of things in public places; hidden in trees, under bushes, magnetically attached to light posts, under bridges, under stair ways, in hollows, under park benches, in sculptures, behind loose bricks, and under large stones, and in drains...
Be pretty comical for the the bomb squad to start
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I was a combat engineer in Iraq, and my job was disposing of roadside bombs.
It looks like it could be an explosive device. I would think that the guy who placed it was an idiot, as its too small to do much, and way to obvious. I still would have assumed it was such a device.
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I was a combat engineer in Iraq, and my job was disposing of roadside bombs.
It looks like it could be an explosive device. I would think that the guy who placed it was an idiot, as its too small to do much, and way to obvious. I still would have assumed it was such a device.
That sounds like an appropriate response, if one is in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other conflict zone where IEDs are a regular, or even unusual occurrence. Here in the US, we seem to have about one bombing or bombing attempt every two years (half of which are FBI "sting" operations) despite having 10 times as many people. In that environment, it seems appropriate to put a little more credence in the note explaining the art project.
If you're out on the lake, and it quacks, it's probably a duck. If you're i
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Yes, it was an overreaction because it was not a threat, but I don't see a note there..
NOTE: This long, heavy, red, ticking thing [instructables.com] is not a bomb. Really, it's not!
BTW, if a RoadRunner happens to stand by you, please push the button on the side to take a picture.
Thanks. -WEC.
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"Label it innocuously and you'll be home free!!"
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a note was attached to it saying it was for an art project
Which does not mean that it was for an art project or that it wasn't a bomb.
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Ceci n'est pas une bombe [cecinestpasunsiteweb.com]
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If one's bomb is going to be sitting around long enough to wait for people to read a note on it and call the bomb squad anyways, it's not a very effective bomb.
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Common sense would have coordinate with appropriate people and had someone on hand to monitor and coordinate.
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Would it have killed them to put an email address and maybe a phone number on the note?
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I guess I had better call the bomb squad right away. I just saw a whole bunch of suspicious devices placed near a local high school.
They looked a lot like these, and could be weapons of mass distruction.
http://www.polkcountytoday.com/images/792_dwi021111_7_.JPG [polkcountytoday.com]
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No duct tape, not suspicious.
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How is following protocol to the letter an "over reaction" ? We should pat them on the back for doing precisely what they were hired to do.
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I prefer bomb squads that can still count to 10 on their hands, even if you think that makes them look like an idiot.
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I prefer bomb squads that can still count to 10 on their hands, even if you think that makes them look like an idiot.
So do I. But let me ask you: how many of the suspicious packages that bomb squads across the country have investigated and blown up have actually been explosive? In Atlanta, they investigate about one "device," abandoned briefcase, or discarded shopping bag a month, but the last actual bomb was in 1996.
If you're in Kabul, and you find a thing duct taped to the inside of a wrecked car, that has high bomb probability. If you're in a US city, 3 blocks from a college campus, and you find a thing duct taped w
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people have to be fucking morons to think that NO reaction is going to (or should) occur if they do stupid shit like this
No they don't. It isn't stupid. It is, in fact, stupid that the bomb squad wastes their time with these.
Two things... (Score:5, Insightful)
Thing 1: Didn't anyone think to take a picture of the device and ask if anyone knew what it was?
1a) Doesn't anyone know what a pinhole camera looks like?
Thing 2: Where does GSU get off attaching private property to public infrastructure? That's a known no-no. At a minimum, you notify public works first so that things like this don't happen. There was no ass covering done here.
As a result, the bomb squad, the police, and the university all end up looking foolish.
Re:Two things... (Score:5, Insightful)
Doesn't anyone know what a pinhole camera looks like?
Given that a pinhole camera is basically an enclosed volume with literally a pinhole at one end and film inside at the other end, how are you going to look at anything and say "Oh, OK, that's a pinhole camera" ?
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No doubt John Walker Lindh, Adam Gadahn and Colleen LaRose (just to name a few off the top of my head) wish it was that easy.
I don't know, you could... (Score:2)
write "PINHOLE CAMERA" on it?
Maybe file for a permit and write your permit number on it.
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Sure buddy, and then you just write the permit number on a bomb instead. You didn't expect us to see through your silly plot, did you ?
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Wrong school: the bridge is almost adjacent to Georgia Institute of Technology (actually, it's a bit North: the GA Tech campus mostly ends at 10th St.). The school responsible for the "art project" is Georgia State University, which is a couple of miles further south.
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If I'm envisioning the location of this bridge properly, it's adjacent to the school. I-75/85 is basically the east side border of their campus.
Nope. GSU is roughly 2.25 miles from 14th Street. Now, if they had a camera in Hurt Park or Woodruff Park, or on 75/85 near I-20 and the state capital, then maybe. Someone screwed up and should have notified GDOT and GHP (probably though GSU campus police) that they were intending to put a camera on the bridge.
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The 14th street bridge isn't adjacent to any college campus. Georgia Tech is 4 blocks away (starting at 10th Street), but this was Georgia State University project, which is nowhere near there.
SCAD has a building fairly close to the bridge. I honestly assumed it was a project from there when I heard it was a camera.
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1a) Doesn't anyone know what a pinhole camera looks like?
Do you? It's any box or canister thing that the student had lying around, so it's not going to look like a camera.
Where does GSU get off attaching private property to public infrastructure?
This wasn't the university, it was a university student. It's not like art departments have an internal review board.
At a minimum, you notify public works first so that things like this don't happen.
In which case the CYA bureaucrats would say no. Seriously, why would somebody have predicted such an overreaction? They probably figured the worst that would happen is the camera would be removed and thrown in the trash if anybody noticed. Perhaps in the future with this sort
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Re:Two things... (Score:5, Informative)
You're obviously not a photographer - because pinhole cameras can look like literally *anything*. A cardboard box, a wooden box, a soda can, potato chip can, an oatmeal box, a piece of Tupperware... literally anything. There's a group that turned an entire aircraft hangar into a giant pinhole camera. There's also a guy who rebuilt the back of a van into a pinhole camera.
A pinhole camera doesn't look like a specific thing - it's just a light tight container with a pinhole on one end and a way of holding film more or less flat inside it.
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I wouldn't blame the University. Sometimes, students are just stupid.
In this particular case, the student was not only stupid, but also super lazy [imgur.com]. And this false positive will in no way affect the reputation of the police or the bomb squad. In this case, they reacted the exact right amount (given the suspicious nature of the attachment).
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Thing 1: Didn't anyone think to take a picture of the device and ask if anyone knew what it was?
The bomb squad did better than than -- one of their members was put in a fire truck's basket and lifted up to be right next to the device/pinhole camera.
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The bomb squad did better than than -- one of their members was put in a fire truck's basket and lifted up to be right next to the device/pinhole camera.
Now that was stupid. They should have strapped a bomb robot to the truck's lift and raised that to the device.
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1a) Doesn't anyone know what a pinhole camera looks like?
Do you know what a pinhole camera looks like?
The amazing thing about a pinhole camera is it can look like anything. It can look like a real camera, it can look like a small pipe held together by tape (as it was in this case [cmgdigital.com]). It can also look like an entire aircraft hanger [petapixel.com].
I've made many pinhole cameras over the years. I certainly would not be able to tell you what one looks like.
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I'm okay with what the cops do in these cases, as long as they have a consistent policy about how they deal with these issues.
What happened is that the cops check anything that someone else complains about, and if it looks like a duct taped pipe bomb, they treat it as such. If it was McDonald's trash or something, no one would have reported it, but that's on society in general, not the cops. Cops want to go home at night without being killed or maimed, so if someone says that there is something that looks
Because... (Score:3)
Not an overreaction (Score:4, Insightful)
I'll be the first to complain about the stupidity of zero tolerance policies and curtailments of civil rights in the name of the war on terror (or war on drugs), but that is clearly surpassed by the stupidity of duct taping a box to a transportation chokepoint without telling the people who own and operate it.
Re:Not an overreaction (Score:4, Insightful)
True, but the odds are pretty much 100% that your art project request will be denied for liability reasons. People sue the hind legs off each other for anything nowadays, and rampant paranoia is the natural result. So if you want to do your project you just roll the dice and hope that no one notices your guerilla installation.
Oops, someone noticed? Now comes the part where you beg for forgiveness.
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Heh... You said 'duck tape'. Hehe...
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Totally an overreaction (Score:2)
It is only reasonable to shut down the freeway if the [probability that the object is actually a bomb] * [the damage caused by it exploding] costs more than [the damage caused by shutting down a major Interstate during rush hour]
Considering that the chance of it being a real bomb is incredibly low, that even a soda-can worth of high explosive can't do that much damage (especially since it was placed on a decorative rail, not supporting column), and that a whole lot of people were delayed by the shutdown, th
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And your damage calculations already misses the fact that if it was a bomb and it exploded, it would still have "a whole lot of people delayed by the shutdown",
You still need to multiply these costs by the probably that it was actually a bomb, which is a very small number.
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The fucking idiot probably got a goddamned trophy for doing it, too.
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Exactly. Whoever put it there committed trespass and vandalism and deserves to be hauled into court for being so dumb as to not contact the city first.
Definition an overreaction (Score:2)
Was the box at least a cubic meter in size? Then it wasn't any kind of danger to that kind of infrastructure. You wouldn't think a pellet gun had the same kinetic force as an anti-materiel rifle, so why stress out over a shoebox sized cylinder?
Hate to be the guy who called this in. (Score:2)
I think an unfortunate result of this overreaction is that concerned citizens may now want to think twice before calling anything in to the police. If you call something suspicious in, the police WILL call in the bomb squad, and shut down the city.
Of course the real blame should be on whoever in the police department decided to go all 9/11 rather than just taking a look at it and figuring out it was harmless.
At least it wasn't a Mooninite. No telling what they would have done then.
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I think an unfortunate result of this overreaction
I don't think it's an overreaction. Everything went by the book.
9/11 rather than just taking a look at it and figuring out it was harmless.
At least it wasn't a Mooninite. No telling what they would have done then.
Most cops aren't trained to ID bombs either by "taking a look at it" or any other means. There's protocol. EOD guys ID suspected ordnance. Everyone just calls in "suspicous" looking things. And the thing did look suspicous.
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I don't think it's an overreaction. Everything went by the book.
Yes but the book is titled "The Big Book of Overreactions"
Terrorists FTW? (Score:5, Insightful)
I think so. I don' t think any of the 911 planners knew who much their actions would kick into action deep seeded anti freedom views from inside western governments.
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They knew exactly what the reaction would be and that was their objective all along.
Their only miscalculation was that when the Arab Spring finally came it leaned more towards liberalism (in the classical sense) than theocracy.
Terrorists Everywhere! (Score:2)
Not surprising. A few days ago, this nine year old kid was suspended for making "Terroristic Threats".
Specifically, he told one of his classmates that he had a magic ring forged at Mount Doom and he could make him disappear.
http://fw.to/kSQ7iAQ [fw.to]
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im gonna have to say, that school... isn't really a learning institution so much as a christian day care.
from your linked article:
“He loves that book. They were studying the solar system and he took it to school. He thought his teacher would be impressed,” the boy's father said. He went on to explain that, after the teacher discovered that the children’s encyclopedia contained a section on pregnancy, including an illustration of a pregnant woman, bringing it in was deemed a suspension-wort
Most of the time it turns out to be a geocache (Score:2)
Well that's an interesting homework excuse (Score:2)
"causes"? (Score:2)
I know that art is powerful, but this is ridiculous. It didn't cause them to do any such thing. They decided to overreact.
Best excuse by the student. (Score:2)
Jhonny: "No Prof! The bomb squad blew it up. Honest! Swear to God!
Re:Insane Government Officials.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Hindsight is 20/20; what would you do if you were the police, in charge of keeping the public safe, and some hacked together package was duct-taped to a support on one of the busiest bridges in the city? I work a couple of blocks from there... I'm incredibly lucky to have been working at home yesterday and not have to deal with the ensuing traffic nightmare (it's already bad enough in that particular spot... maybe the police should spend more time ticketing the people causing gridlock).
Now, granted, I don't know if "blow it up first, ask questions later" is necessarily the right approach, but it's only an overreaction when it wasn't a threat... when it is we complain they did too little.
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Re:Insane Government Officials.... (Score:4, Insightful)
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That's simple: "What a bunch of idiots! They ruled it NOT a threat based on LOOKS!"
How is that fundamentally different again?
Re:Insane Government Officials.... (Score:5, Informative)
And what if the duct tape package was filled with a nerve agent that could be dispersed by the explosion genius?
Blowing it up is just reckless. Either they didn't evaluate it correctly, or they realized it wasn't a bomb and just wanted to see a boom (which is irresponsible)
This is the reason why there's a bomb squad, and we don't just issue cops C-4 to take out anything that they decide is dangerous. Before actual detonation you should verify a) the device is explosive b) it needs to be detonated because it can't be safely dismantled c) detonation won't cause any bad effects like dispersing a nerve agent and probably a thousand other things I don't know because I'm not in a bomb squad.
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Suspicious lump under the bridge turns out to be homeless person bundled up against the cold.
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It's Atlanta, the sane have all left long ago . . .
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Same situation at Slashdot. When derp reaches a critical mass, all the smart, sane people bail.
So you're saying we've passed Peak Derp? You may be on to something.
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Next up, traffic on freeways is halted while investing a suspicious package. Turns out to be McDonald's bag thrown out the window as litter. But can't be too careful.
Seriously, what sort of self respecting terrorist would use a suspicious looking device?
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Somehow people think that Art [sic] deserve special exemptions from city ordinance, but ignore that advertisements are free speech as well. But I wouldn't object if a city chose to charge different prices for permits for art versus commercial use, and many cities already do this. And if we want to support students, then codifying a reasonable fee especially for students to obtain permits would be a great way.
Ignoring the city ordinance is likely to get the bomb squad called and potentially open you up to be
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Tell me if you can determine for sure that this isn't a bomb. [imgur.com] Because that sure doesn't look like a camera to me. That looks more like an IED [inertproducts.com] than a camera.
Also, I'm glad to hear you're volunteering to go up to suspected bombs, peel them open, and rattle them around a bit to see if they're dangerous or not. No? It's pretty easy to say that you're 100% sure it's not a bomb when it's not your life on the line.
IED ATTACKS IN THE U.S.
OCT 2012 – 38.
NOV 2012 – 21.
DEC 2012 – 28.
JAN 2013
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[citation needed]
With how obsessed the media is with anything terrorism related, you think we would have actually heard of some of these supposed "one a day" IED attacks in the US. Or maybe IED attacks are far, far more rare than "suspicious items".
It's difficult to blame the police officers and bomb squad for doing their job, but this is pretty good example of how broken the system is. I don't have a great solution to suggest other than STOP FREAKING OUT ABOUT TERRORISM! It's not a significant threat to yo
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Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying we should collectively be remotely worried about random IEDs, or even about terrorism in general, since it's so incredibly rare. Our airport security theater is especially lame. I'm just saying that I think the police were justified in treating this device with suspicion, especially with the way it looked [imgur.com]. Take a look at that link and tell me that doesn't look suspicious to you. Honestly, I would never have guessed it was a camera.
Detonating a suspicious device in-pla
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He's white? (Score:2)
So community service?