Telegraffiti

I agree with Glenn Reynolds: if this is vandalism, at least it's clever vandalism. Wired reports that activist Joshua Kinberg has rigged up an imprompto dot-matrix spray-chalk printer to the back of his bike. During the RNC protests in New York, aspiring lefty slogansmiths can text message their suggested one-liners to Kinberg's cell phone.

Update: I originally wrote "spray paint"; it's spray chalk, which falls short of genuine vandalism. Mea culpa.

Comments

[Paul Z]

I hear Parsons is also now offering a degree in pie-in-the-face throwing.

[Jon H]

Because, you know, Republicans would *never* hear about it and submit pro-Bush slogans.

[joe]

Julian, I'm pretty sure "I don't guess it counts as vandalism" means he doesn't think it's vandalism.

[Andy]

"Kinberg said he'd considered giving Republican supporters a voice, but discounted it.

"It's not fair and balanced," he said. "It has a clear political slant.""

Oh, so giving Republicans as well as Democrats an equal voice is biased, but just giving Bush-haters one is "fair and balanced"?

[Eric Hanneken]

joe is right about what Reynolds said. He probably didn't think Kinberg was committing vandalism because, as the Wired article notes,

Kinberg made his printer out of five solenoid-triggered spray cans, loaded with washable chalk.

Not spray paint.

[The Lonewacko Blog]

It's washable chalk. I also imagine he's going to have an escort from our friends in blue once they spot him.

I also seem to have missed the pithy post where Instapundit provided this link. Did you get that off Reynolds-l?

[Syd]

Eh, Andy, I'm sure he's saying his spraying is not meant to be "fair and balanced."

[Syd]

Eh, Andy, I'm sure he's saying his spraying is not meant to be "fair and balanced."

[c]

that reminds me of this guy, who tags by cleaning sections of dirty walls. The police were apparently really scratching their heads as to whether they could prosecute him or not.

[thoreau]

c-

Hilarious story! I have seen some walls so cluttered with layers of graffiti that sand-blasting away the paint would actually be the only way to make a recognizable image at this point. However, if somebody tried it in LA the LAPD would probably sidestep the difficult legal questions and simply beat the guy to a pulp.

[The Lonewacko Blog]

A gang-member-gone-straight was shot a while back after painting over graffitti in E.L.A.

Here's a sad shot from Griffith Park. That's about a mile from a road. And - yes! - that's downtown L.A. under the haze.

[Chuck]

I read another article about this guy recently...I think it was in the Chronicle of Higher Education. IIRC, Kinberg is doing this as part of his PhD dissertation in Mass Comm.

[BB]

looks like anthrax pumping out of that rig...

[kevrob]

That bicycle rig may be the answer to that old chestnut:

Q. Ok, smart guy, if we ran things the way the libertarians wanted, who would paint the lines down the center or the roads, huh?

A. Obviously, a guy on a paint-dispensing vehicle, selling space for ads as he rolls.

Kevin

[J. Goard]

IMHO, good taggers make cities much prettier, and political yard signs make suburbia hella ugly. Aesthetic quality aside, though, the sociological parallels are worth pondering.