Clever Vandalism by Brandon Rice
January 30th, 2008 8:14 PM
5 vote(s)
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I think there were more possibilites then just "vandalism prohibited!" but that took a lot of balls to do that, especially when you took the road barricade.
plus five for having balls
I should have thought of something better, but hey, theres always tomorrow,lol Did you notice I cut off the word vandalism, lol It was so scary though because I had to put my brights on the sign to see and it was by the highway
I don't know. I don't want to be an ass, but it seems like you just actually caused vandalism. I know the message you used to vandalize is ironic but it's not incredibly clever. And you made a real mess of an otherwise useful sign. If you had made the sign more interesting or if it was a good joke, or if nobody could tell that it was vandalized, maybe that would be clever. I suggest you look at this completion as a good example of what clever is. Or even this one. Basically, with the energy you have and the obvious drive you're demonstrating, I'd like to see you think about your completions before you go out and do them. Ask yourself if it was easy to do. If the answer is yes, you probably haven't put enough work into it. I have high hopes for you. So try to be awesome. Once you start being awesome, you'll see votes and comments coming from all over SFØ and not just from your circle of friends. I want that day to come.
I subscribe to the MIT Hacking Code of Ethics, which says that this is a very bad praxis.
Ideally, anything done in a public space should be *fully* reverseable. This gets tricky with some things. If I may use another praxis as an example: if I find a golf ball on the ground and spray paint it silver, I'll get silver paint on the grass. Is that okay? Ideally? No. Practically? Mrmmm depends on context. At the very least, I'm thinking about the consequences. "This is grass in a field that nobody enters" is a lot different from "this is a sidewalk that lots of people use everyday".
To me, and to other hackers, it's important that someone might take the time to (say) slip some newspaper under the golf ball, spray paint it, and then place it back for the photo. There's a certain thoughtfulness for maintaining the collective commons that I appreciate. Of course, that's not always possible to do -- maybe half the point is spray-painting something in place! To me, though, that only wonderfully ups the challenge: "okay, how do I paint this without damaging/painting its surroundings? Hmmm...."
You've amply demonstrated you have lots of energy and creativity. Now just use it to do good. :)
It is fully reversible because it was a plastic sign zip tied onto metal poles, they are all temporary for an election, so reversible? Yes.
I'm going to have to agree with Lincoln and Bunny Dragon. Ironic? Certainly. Clever? Perhaps. Extra special? Not really.
Also, a suggestion on night work technique: you won't need to use headlights if your eyes are properly dark-adjusted. So, walk to your tasking location, at least the last bit. Give yourself a few minutes to adjust to the dark so you can work without light. If you're near a city, sky glow should be plenty; if not, the moon and stars will suffice on most nights. If you need a flashlight to see your way, use a red one (just tape some colored cellophane over it) -- it will be harder to notice from a distance and it won't kill your night vision.
If you're really worried about being noticed, wear dark colors (black isn't required and can look suspicious) and make sure your shoes don't have reflective patches on them.
And lastly, just remember that no one ever notices anything. If you have to let your eyes adjust to see your way, you can be sure that anyone in a better lit area won't be able to see you.
just remember that no one ever notices anything
LP, you´re my hero.
Alas, I can't claim that as original. I heard it from the Doktor Harmon, who claims to have gotten it from JJason.
"I know lame but hey I was thinking as fast as I could."
If even you thought it was lame, why submit it?
Store it in your task list and wait for a brainwave!
I have to disagree with the reversibility ethics. Mostly, the permanent features of our society are controlled by moneyed corporations and the government they back. There are very few truly public spaces (where the public has control over the look, feel, and structure of the space) left, and periodically taking back some of that space should not be thrown out due to reversibility ethics. Permanence can be a very important political and artistic statement. If there had been some way to make doorhenge permanent, I don't think any of us would have batted an eye.
I did take issue with the graffiti aspect it's true, but I mostly took issue with the cleverness aspect.
Are you criticizing my golf-ball-spray-painting technique, bunny dragon?
I'll have you know it was on my side of the street. On my grass.
I gave myself permission to get an eensy bit of silver on my grass.
:D
I will, however, consider thinking in your more considerate way. :)
Omigosh you actually vandalized.
And admitted it.
So there's proof you did it.
You're crazy!
Nice sign!