Georgia State Univ. Art Project Causes 2nd Evacuation & Bomb Squad Call 101
McGruber writes The same Georgia State University art project responsible for Monday's shutdown of Atlanta's Downtown Connector (Interstates 75 & 85), caused authorities in the south Fulton County, Georgia town of Hapeville to evacuate businesses and call in a bomb squad Tuesday.
According to Georgia State University spokesman Don Hale, the devices are pinhole camera being used in a solargraphy project to track the rising and setting of the sun over a three-month period. "Students were instructed to take their cameras home and to place them in locations that would provide interesting scenes with bright sunlight," Hale said. "The locations were selected by the students."
It was up to each of the 18 students in the class to find a spot for their own project, the university said. The university was made aware of the art project Tuesday morning and, through its police department, immediately informed the Atlanta Police Department, Hale said.
According to Georgia State University spokesman Don Hale, the devices are pinhole camera being used in a solargraphy project to track the rising and setting of the sun over a three-month period. "Students were instructed to take their cameras home and to place them in locations that would provide interesting scenes with bright sunlight," Hale said. "The locations were selected by the students."
It was up to each of the 18 students in the class to find a spot for their own project, the university said. The university was made aware of the art project Tuesday morning and, through its police department, immediately informed the Atlanta Police Department, Hale said.
Scaredy cats! (Score:2)
And too funny to watch these people trip all over themselves like Keystone Cops.
Home of the Brave (tm) (Score:3, Funny)
"Solargraphy" (Score:2)
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This is more than I hoped for! All of you panicking like little girls!
And that's what this art project was really about, it's not some solarlalalography thing, it's a performance art piece that reminds society how effective terrorism has been in the US.
mooninites (Score:2)
welcome to Boston...
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If a solar-path pinhole camera is designed right then it has no moving parts once it's assembled and the film is loaded. It literally just lets light in through a pinhole, so it can track bright things like the sun based on where the little bit of light through the pinhole strikes the flim as the planet rotates.
At least the Boston thing had wires and power. This is literally a box with a hole in it.
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If this camera is anything like the last one, it looks an awful lot like the sort of outsized firecracker that a teenager with access to a few pounds of blackpowder would make.
Unauthorized Suspicous-Looking Art in Public Place (Score:3)
What part of "home" did these students not understand?
Although I think most of us would not think that placing the cameras in a public place for art's sake is some horrible offense, it might be a violation of privacy, and it is certainly not prudent in a terrorism-obsessed world.
It should have been done with some sort of official approval, and placed with some kind of sign. Perhaps a simple: "What is this? It's part of an art project. For the sake of art, please do not disturb! Go to this website to find out more: [Insert URL here]
Of course, that would probably take months of rigmarole to get approved.
I've seen similar signs on weather stations, wildlife projects, "what's happening to the bees" projects, etc. Here around San Diego, we often come across stuff like this along the beach. (Measuring sand erosion, wildlife, etc.)
correction: suspicious (Score:2)
Re:Unauthorized Suspicous-Looking Art in Public Pl (Score:5, Insightful)
It's the disproportionate response that the problem.
Asking people to label their things with "This is not a bomb" is the equivalent of the evil bit. Completely pointless.
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And how does this prevent a bomber getting a burner phone, leaving a fake name and the burner phone contact number and verifying that they're the fake identity when called?
Any security procedure needs to be not trivially worked around by the persons the security measure is trying to prevent doing their evil deeds. If you can't pass that test, don't bother and accept that it probably won't happen and a bit of risk is the cost of a free society.
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And how does this prevent a bomber getting a burner phone, leaving a fake name and the burner phone contact number and verifying that they're the fake identity when called?
It wouldn't but what it would do is prevent people from panicing for no reason. If a bomber was smart, they would do exactly this
if they needed to leave a bomb in a public place for a long period of time. But why exactly would a bomber need to do this?
The bomber really only needs enough time to get to a safe distance.
For leaving an object in a public place, the steps are 1) ask permission and 2) write your name and number on it. It's been that
way for years and no, this doesn't leave a giant gap in securi
teacher failed it on common sense (Score:2)
Re:Unauthorized Suspicous-Looking Art in Public Pl (Score:5, Informative)
They were. The linked story doesn't say it but this one does [cnn.com]. Specifically:
Photos of other cameras show them attached to trees, fences and windows around the city. Some include notes that identify the soda can as a "Georgia State Art Project." Some instruct passersby to "Please do not take down!"
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Some include notes that identify the soda can as a "Georgia State Art Project." Some instruct passersby to "Please do not take down!"
Because only non-bombs have signs that say they are innocuous.
The signs... (Score:2)
Based on the appearance of those signs, the police should have immediately rounded-up all of the five-year-olds in the area.
Some of them had signs. Some of them didn't. And I doubt anyone was crawling-around under bridges looking for the signs. Of course, police would have seen the signs once they investigated. Or maybe their bomb-sniffing robot might have.
Did the police over-react? I dunno. You'd have to be there. I wasn't.
It remains that placing the objects was begging the response. It was stupid.
If I wer
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...not prudent in a terrorism-obsessed world.
I believe you should remain focused on the obsession and leave the kids alone. Deal with that before you get an ulcer or something. The panicky reaction only gives incentive to do more of the same. Like it or not, it's good entertainment.
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I've lived in a society that really did have a terrorism obsession, and let me tell you - what you are experiencing today is not it.
You don't know what it is to be truly obsessed with security until you lived in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 80s.
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While they also have armed soldiers walking around, the whole process is so much quicker than any American airport's security procedures that it's almost disorienting. Of course the volume/si
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What part of "home" did these students not understand?
Taking something home and using it exclusively at home are two different things. I would never construe someone saying "take something home" to mean that I need to use it there, only that I cannot use it at the place from which I'm asked to remove it.
Then there's the question if home is even suitable for the assignment. There were criteria for this such as being able to see the sun. Maybe home is an apartment facing south at lower latitudes. But in any case we had plenty of "take home" assignments and "home
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Although I think most of us would not think that placing the cameras in a public place for art's sake is some horrible offense, it might be a violation of privacy, and it is certainly not prudent in a terrorism-obsessed world.
Then why the fuck are there all these cameras in public places? And no, I'm not talking about an art project...
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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If every time someone sees a box, or a can, or a light bright sitting on the street we're gong to evacuate a city and lock down schools, then lets cut the "freedom and liberty" crap.
Exaggerate much? They closed down one street for a short period of time. Get over it.
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One street? A short period of time? This had half of Atlanta stuck in a traffic snarl for hours.
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This is a different incident.
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That happens every weekday evening anyway...
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Sorry, 9/11 has nothing to do with this.. as much as the "watershed moment of our generation" should be blamed for.. treating a potential explosive device like this is SOP for every bomb squad.. ever... This one didn't look exactly like the other one, it had 2 pipes strapped to it with wires sticking out of it.
but hey, let's stick to the fear answer. it's working great so far.
Re:I think its pretty clear who the winner is. (Score:5, Informative)
This one didn't look exactly like the other one, it had 2 pipes strapped to it with wires sticking out of it.
but hey, let's stick to the fear answer. it's working great so far.
Bzzz.. Wrong. The camera did not have 2 pipes strapped to it, with wires sticking out. The camera was strapped to two metal conduits that were conveniently poking out of the bridge itself and were the remains of where something like a light pole had been removed. You can see all of this in the image in TFA.
But really? Pipes with wires coming out of them as being indicative of a bomb is as bad a hollywood device as Adam West running around with a black object with "Bomb" painted on the side.
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Pipes with wires coming out of them as being indicative of a bomb is as bad a hollywood device as Adam West running around with a black object with "Bomb" painted on the side.
Yet that's exactly what a lot of actual IEDs look like.
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Yes, hidden IEDs. Not ones placed out in the open in public places.
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maybe deal with it like in Soviet Russia (Score:2)
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mind your own business and take another bridge.. not my problem, terrorists don't win if I don't play THEIR game.
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There are many scenarios that would be appropriate to notify law enforcement.
Seeing a person in a ski mask going in to a bank.
Seeing a neighbour's house being broken into.
Seeing a person being dragged into a car.
Seeing a car weave all over the road.
Law enforcement is not the enemy.
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I imagine if the school did contact them first, they would either have been told 'why are you telling us this?' or 'don't place the cameras, it is politcally safer for us to simpy nix it'.
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OK, Here is a real life example. I belong to the SCA. We sometimes have combat practices in public parks. We inform the local police that it is occurring so that any reports of "fighting with swords" can be explained. We sometimes even get police officers coming down to watch.
By the way rapier combat can look like real fighting.
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Rapier combat is real fighting. You just hold your blows, blunt your tips, and keep score - used to be it would end with someone bleeding out on the ground.
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Sorry If I offended. I meant real as in two people actually trying to cause real damage to each other.
It still holds that it is a good idea to tell the local police that you are going to do it in a public place.
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I imagine if the school did contact them first, they would either have been told 'why are you telling us this?' or 'don't place the cameras, it is politcally safer for us to simpy nix it'.
Just n=1, but I did this exact same thing in grad school (except it was engineering, not art). We contacted the City to ask permission. The City thanked us for asking, and actually allocated City resources to help us install the cameras. That was ~15 years ago, and the University-owned cameras are still in operation as an educational resource in studying traffic patterns.
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My personal experiences with police have generally been similar to the later, with anything outside the norm being simplier to deny than them taking any thought/risk, but mileage will of course vary.
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I don't have a sense of how big this thing was. If it was small does it really warrant this scared of a response? If you are making bombs out of cheap material like coke cans, can are you really going to have a substance THAT concentrated to that it would really cause damage?
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Okay, a coke can holds 12 oz. of Coke. Which is about 0.36 liters. TNT has a density of 1.65, so a coke can could hold around 600 grams of TNT.
A 105 HE shell runs about 2200 grams of TNT, so this "coke can bomb" would have had about 1/4 the bang of a 105 howitzer shell, with next to no shrapnel.
For the required car analogy, the coke can bomb (if it had existed) would have been about as powerful as a Prius at 125 mph running into whatever. Given that the "whatever" in this case was the side of a bridge,
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9mms don't just explode (unless it's a Glock). It's a hot fast burn and the gas pressure pushes the bullet. Nothing like what happens with an explosion.
well... (Score:4, Insightful)
my first thought was, after they knew about the first one.. having a second cause problems is a bit stupid.. then of course they leave out that this second student strapped two metal pipes to the side with wires sticking out of em "for stability".. and I realize just how stupid people really can be..
yeah I made this art project that looks exactly like a uhaul truck and "parked" it in front of a federal building in oklahoma.. seriously, why'd you arrest me?!
smells like a bomb to me (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:smells like a bomb to me (Score:5, Informative)
"...the device, in addition to having a 12-ounce can wrapped in duct tape, also included two ¾-inch steel pipes with four electrical wires protruding from the top."
From looking at the picture in TFA, it looks like the pinhole camera was duct-taped to the remains of a light pole on the bridge. You can make out an old baseplate, and the 3/4 inch steel pipes are just the conduit cemented into the bridge itself in order to protect the wires - that were cut off and left when the light was removed.
You can see this sort of shit anywhere there is decaying infrastructure, as it takes more money to properly clean up after something is removed.
No money for infrastructure, need to fight terror! (Score:2)
What, you expect us to spend mo
As a resident of Midtown... (Score:2)
Re:I think it's pretty obvious (Score:4, Insightful)
After the rally in France, CNN had an idiot congresscritter on (R after the name, of course). He made a backhanded remark about how "people with signs" won't stop groups like ISIS. He wanted more bombers to go bomb the hell out of them. And the subtext here is, of course, is that he wanted more fear. He's also entirely wrong.
I think the reaction in France is 100% correct and it's exactly the opposite, of course, of what we do here. The whole point of ISIS wanting the attacks in France was so the public would be upset and fear. Instead they organized a rally that was a huge middle finger in the faces of the attackers. They held a rally that was a huge target and said we aren't going to change our way of life for your assholes.
Of course in the US we just allow it to be used by the fearmongers that want to control us and the corporate entities that want to make money on the war goods.
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Critical Infrastructure! (Score:2, Insightful)
How can a university have the audacity to assign students the project of photographing such critical infrastructure like the Sun? Surely, federal or state laws prohibit photographing things like nuclear power plants, dams, electrical distribution nodes, etc. and would apply in this case? If everyone is allowed to do what they want with the Sun and there are no regulations or policies in place to determine how the Sun is used, viewed or stared directly at, how will we ever win the Global War On (or Of) Terro
Edited version of terrorism handbook now on sale (Score:5, Insightful)
The revised edition now has a section on how to cause mass panic and bring an entire city to a standstill. It reads something like this:
Go to Walmart
Buy a 12 pack of Coke and a role of duct tape
Drink the coke
Duct tape the empty cans to a series of public infrastructures (EG all the bridges surrounding a specific area)
Call 911 and report seeing more than one suspicious objects.
Bonus marks
1) scrawl some arabic looking words to the outside of each installation
2) Fill the cans with talcum powder
This should be good for paralyzing a city for at least a complete day
Part 2 (Score:2)
Get charged with filling false police reports.
Get sued for the costs incurred by those false reports.
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Get charged with filling false police reports.
Get sued for the costs incurred by those false reports.
What sort of terrorist are you if you don't have an exit strategy that avoids being identified by the authorities?
And if you are a terrorist, then false police reports and being sued are the least of your worries.
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Wait ... isn't the "exit strategy" dying, becoming a martyr, and collecting your 72 virgins?
Re:GA State definitely has the creme students! (Score:5, Funny)
She's your girlfriend AND your sister? What part of GA are you from?
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Losers (Score:2)
Losers:
- GoPro
- Duck Tape
- Any hope for the future of handwriting, or even hand-printing
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- Pinhole camera + film
- Duct tape
- Novel way of looking at the world that will impact how they approach the rest of their life (especially with two so far being blown up as threats).
16 to go... (Score:1)
Unless the rest of the students were less imaginative and kept their cameras on private property.
Life Intimates Art (Score:1)
Just think what would have to happen if everyone were to actually do what the idiot security thespians want us to do and "if we see something, say something." Every discarded tin can along a roadway, every ungarded box sitting on the grass. Choke them to death on their own system.
Make it a game. How many suspicious packages can YOU call in today?
"Oh, no ma'am. I'm not calling in a bomb threat. I thought I saw a suspicious package."
Real Life Grand Theft Auto? (Score:2)
Those are just the hidden packages!
Perspective (Score:2)
Outside the window near me I can see the Lyndt store in Sydney that just yesterday has started to be repaired from the hostage killing by a nutjob. In crowded places, near infrastructure, IEDs (whether E means Educational, Entertaining or Explosive) are no longer an option. I'm certain the residents of Boston and Atlanta largely agree.
At this point... (Score:2)
Regardless of whether you think police are overreacting, at this point it seems like it would be wise for the school to tell their students either to collect their boxes or contact the police in the jurisdiction where they placed them to let them know where they are and what they look like (at which point the cops would probably tell them to get rid of them). Seems like having to collect them and place them somewhere else would be better than getting your project blown up.
How Does a Pin-Hole Camera ... (Score:3)
Once burned. (Score:2)
The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 27 during the 1996 Summer Olympics. The blast claimed 1 life and injured 111 people, while another person died of a heart attack. It was the first of four bombings committed by Eric Robert Rudolph.
Centennial Olympic Park bombing [wikipedia.org]
The truth is that bags, parcels, jugs, cans, and such which don't look quite look quite right or don't seem to belong here are immediately and rightfully suspect.
Second guessing the 911 caller is a waste of time.
What the geek needs to do is start thinking about how his toys, gadgets, hoaxes, stunts and science projects out-of-doors will be perceived by others ---
who won't be so quick to assume that a real life bomber thinks like a geek and plays by his rules.
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Recall if you will (Score:2)
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It'd help if people put their name and telephone number on their hack's chassis.