Great Big Public Error Message: Busted Billboard in Times Square
I love it when things slip off the rails a little, just enough to let you see the smoking gears behind the face of a public machine. It’s part of what I love about the city — people get hot, they get tired, they speak their freaking minds and then EVERYONE knows what’s really going on.
Apparently the computer that powers a billboard at the Port Authority Bus Terminal just sat right down on the subway steps and cracked a beer open about a month ago. Me and David saw this billboard last night at 8th and 42nd just showing the biggest error message in the world in one of the world’s busiest intersection — it’s the digital equivalent of rocking into the office in sweatpants and a yellowing wife-beater.
I didn’t take these photos, but I saw this last night. And gauging by the dates on teh photos on Flickr, this billboard’s been phoning it in for over a month:
On a related note, the Metrocard machine at the Greenpoint Avenue G Train station took an early holiday, too. It’s showing a Windows NT screen:
Popularity: 35% [?]
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:47 am
You have just GOT to love Windows, don’t you?
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
ha..gates steps down…and the whole thing goes to hell in a hand basket…its like a big ole add for apple…
xoxo
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Your pic is NOT Times Sq. - -it IS PA Bus Station on 8th and 42nd
July 4th, 2008 at 6:12 am
thats a norton corp. version symantec error,
usually the focus on the message is passive which shouldnt stop progress at startup of windows, it also comes up as soon as NAV is installed and again is passive since the next message is on top which calls for a restart at installation.
July 4th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Hi, I would really prefer if you’d linked directly to the original image instead of taking the liberty of putting it on your own Flickr account. Thanks.
-Arve, AlmostSober.no
July 8th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Apparently you didnt even ask for permission, what a tool.