Spikes in Seattle pond not malicious

It turns out the spikes below the surface of the water at Green Lake Boating Center in Seattle weren't put there by sadists, as originally thought.

Patti says: "We were all so appalled that someone would do such a malicious thing, and thank goodness it wasn’t that at all. They now say the stakes were put there by the parks department –- they’d been curved over at the top, that part had rusted off."

Seattle parks department responsible for spikes in lake (www.examiner.com)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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jdixon

I live in Seattle, this has been a crowd hysteria phenomenon. There is no doubt in my mind that someone at the city knew the answer all along. Oops! Ferrous hooks rust!

Meanwhile, the public is allowed to fantasize along the lines of 9/11′s anthrax killer scenario.
Takuan

well,I bet they are glad they didn’t go with the giant razor blades.
twig

#6, did you see the original post and its comments?

End of the world! Cats and dogs living together, razorblades in the candied apples etc etc etc.

This is hilarious.
Eduardo Padoan

No sadists, just idiots.
Randwulf

I was going to come in here to ask if the Terror Alert colour thingamajig has been downgraded yet but I was beaten to the punch with similar comments having been made multiple times already. I wonder where else we can look for terrorists now? Other than in my Mom, or your Mom for that matter. *grin*
coldspell

Hanlon’s Razor strikes again:

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Chevan

>The Parks Department says they were placed in the lake more than 20 years ago to hold down plastic sheeting in an attempt to control water plants.

And they didn’t think, “Hey, the sheeting didn’t work, maybe we should take out the big metal staples?”
jccalhoun

“The article doesn’t even mention why the spikes were put there in the first place!”

It is there. They buried the reason all the way down in the second paragraph (and the first paragraph was one whole sentence long) so I can see how someone could miss it…
Tenn

I’ve put down those staples to hold down sheeting, so I’m getting a real kick out of these replie-

-Upward glance- Oh, this is bb, not fark.com. Sorry for the confusion.

At any rate, this relieves me. Greatly. It makes my feet still tingle painfully, but stupidity is always preferable to outright malice (then again, outright malice gives me faith in humanity’s intelligence, while stupidity gives me faith in humanity’s sanity).

And I just read that thread, and I’m ashamed of my hiatus from bb! I missed -that-? Ach!
Takuan

milfoil unchecked kills all
Takuan

why didn’t they use big rocks?
JG

Ahhhh… Seattle, so busy trying to build stadiums, silly monorails, and convention centers that they can’t address issues like traffic, filthy streets, gangs, homelessness and deteriorating infrastructure.

Did the parks department imagine that the rusting retaining rods would just go away?

Seattle is a great city IF you’re a corporation.

As we say in the PNW (Pacific North West),
“Welcome to Gouge-town, now get out your wallet!”

If you like sustainability and attention to quality of life try Portland, Oregon.
It may have it’s problems but Portland doesn’t treat it’s citizens as a constant revenue stream.

On second thought, just stay home….

###
bobbytables

#7, exactly what I was going to say. Everyone on the original post was wiggin’ out over this, dissecting the evilness of the ‘American Way’. Hilarious.
Takuan

depends on the quality of “stainless” too
Anonymous

As a Seattlite, I feel it is my duty to point out that Green Lake is a lake and not a pond. The path around it is nearly 3 miles long. I know, I know – the point of the article is the ludicrous placement of something spikey in the water by the parks department, but still…
Mr Ascii

This reminds me of the Windshield Pitting hysteria that occurred in Washington in the 50s. People started noticing that windshields all over the area were pitted! It was a conspiracy! Lots of theories were presented but it boiled down to the fact that it was normal wear on older cars and had been there all along.
Marty

Here’s a link to a better article on the spikes and why they were put there:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008078708_spikes29m0.html
snackcake

On the plus side; we did just give a good idea to terrorists and sadists all over the world.
erissian

#9 Oh god, the terrorist are using RAZORS now!?
Dillenger69

On the news in Seattle they were telling us the giant rusted staples turned spikes were stainless steel.
I thought stainless steel wasn’t supposed to rust?
- Antinous
  
  Stainless steel rusts less easily, but it still rusts.
James David

A parks spokeswoman, Dewey Potter, said Monday, “I’m sorry it was us.”

Shortest press conference ever!
Nelson.C

theyâ€™d been curved over at the top

So they’re claws, instead of spikes? Oh, that’s all right then, no nightmare material there.
Pyros

Just goes to show you that people always think the worst whenever they find spikes in something.
raisinlove

1. The article doesn’t even mention why the spikes were put there in the first place!

2. If people are allowed to wade in the pond, why would spikes be put there, sharp or not?

3. Why was rust-prone metal used at all?
Cowicide

@#2: they were shaped like upsideown U ‘s before they rusted and now they probably look like this | | .

Now they are rusted spikes, not claws… but that still sucks.
krex

@#3: “The Parks Department says they were placed in the lake more than 20 years ago to hold down plastic sheeting in an attempt to control water plants.”