Ignignokt - Not A Bomb

This is Ignignokt. Ignignokt is a Mooninite character from the wildly popular Adult Swim show Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

So now you know. If you see this guy in the form of a LED "throwie" its OK. It is probably not a bomb.

As you may know, Boston was pretty much shut down by a bunch of LED signs. They were up for WEEKS at various places around the city (and 10 other major cities) when someone called the police to report them. The cops decided that could be bombs, you know because they had batteries. So the city was shut down while the bomb squad went around finding these things and blowing them up.

Lets go over this again. They were up for WEEKS. Not hours. Not minutes. WEEKS. And not one of them exploded. So clearly one can understand how they could have been mistaken for actual bombs.

Now one cool thing about a throwie is that they are small. In case you are too lazy to click the "throwie" link above, here is what they are. You take a battery, tape the leads to a LED to it, glue or tape on a small but powerful magnet, then throw the thing at something made of steel. The magnet sticks, and the battery powers the LED for however long.

So the idea here folks, is to make them as small as possible, for small means light weight. And you need light weight for the magnets to stick to the steel. SMALL! From what I could tell, the signs were made from a circuit board just large enough to hold all the LEDs, and at least one and possibly as many as three or so 9 volt batteries.

Now I know some of you are thinking - what the hell is a LED anyway? A LED is a "light emitting diode". As the name suggests, LEDs light up. Got it? They light up.

Now, lets investigate this some more. You have a small sign, that lights up, and has been in place for at least a week - and the cops conclude that it is a bomb?

Oh yea, terrorists are dumb. I forgot. They are going to put BLINKING LIGHTS on their bombs, so that people may notice them. They may also put giant loud licking alarm clocks on them. And they are going to leave them sitting around for a week or more before setting them off. You know, to give us a fair sporting chance of noticing them! What good sports the cops must think terrorists are.

No, a terrorist is NOT going to put unnecessary blinking lights on their bombs. Nor are they going to put flags, brightly colored stickers, or any other attention getting device on them.

What people in Boston need to watch out for is not a bad marketing idea. You know what I would hide a bomb in if I were a terrorist? Roadside garbage. A cardboard box beat up to make it look like it fell off a truck. Maybe stick it in some hedges or whatever else may be growing on the roadside. I would NOT attach some sort of blinking light to it.

By the way, this was a HORRIBLE marketing idea. Nobody knows what Ignignokt is. Unless you happen to already watch the show that is. And if I already watch the show - why promote it to me? I already know about the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. What they SHOULD have done is add "ATHF" or "Aqua Teen" or "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" in LEDs to the sign. If the full title is too much, then how about a short URL like "ATHF.COM" or something. Then put more promo stuff on the website.