Austin - The Beginning of the End

On the morning of January 26th, 2009, Austin drivers had a "cue coffee spew out of mouth and onto windshield in theatrical fashion" moment while traveling up Martin Luther King blvd. To passers by, it appeared the state of the economy had slipped from a "recession" straight to a "End of Days - Zombies are on the loose" type economic condition. As it turned out, the "Caution Zombies Ahead" alerts were nothing more than the work of a prankster who hacked into the signs and changed the construction alert that had been previously cycling. If caught, the culprit faces a misdemeanor charge of "tampering with a traffic control device" and a $500 fine. City officials stressed the danger of this prank in taking people's attention off the road and possibly leading to an accident. In my opinion, the real danger here lies in desensitizing people to the real threat of a zombie attack (see The Boy Who Cried Wolf).