Dope-crazed Canadians sledgehammer iPhone

The fanboys among you of delicate sensibilities are advised to look away now, because it's just come to our attention that dope-crazed Canadians last Saturday used the Toronto Freedom Festival as a platform to lay into an iPhone with a sledgehammer: Candian smashing an iPhone with a sledgehammer We're not quite sure what …

[Stuart Cherrington]

From the look of these 2...

It looks like the hammer slipped a few times and got cuaght in the excessive facial hair!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Pfft ...

"In case you're wondering, here's what a sledgehammered iPhone looks like after the event:"

Pretty poor, considering - I'd suggest a bigger hammer, a drill-press or some combination of the two.

[Steve Evans]

Ummm

But they use clubs on seal pups, not hammers...

Mines the white fur one with blood stains.

[The Other Steve]

And this why cannabis shouldn't be reclassified

Those iGadgets barely look damaged at all, even after a leathering with the big sledge! I've demolished walls with a smaller hammer than that. And just feel the love in that picture.

Lethal skunk my hairy bum.

[Frank Bough]

Apart from the obvious "why?"...

...it's worth noting that those two guys are REALLY ugly. Is the iPhone's slick prettiness that disgusts them by throwing their own freakish misshapen features into ghastly relief?

We've truly reached the end of western civilisation when people destroy complex valuable devices simply because they have no better idea of how to entertain themselves.

[Not That Andrew]

Well, seal-clubbers HAVE to do something in the off-season

Mine's the white seal-fur one, thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Launch?

So the iPhone has only just been launched in Canada? How backward is that!

[G R Goslin]

Sign of the times

I'm not sure what it is all supposed to mean, but some people in Toronto seem to be being paid far too much.

[Andy Turner]

Sheesh, you'd think when you're *that* ginger

you'd avoid growing it all over your face, FFS.

[Gareth]

I see Phineas and Freewheelin' Franklin'

...but where's Fat Freddy? And his cat?

</sixties reference>

G

[Anonymous Coward]

The iPod Nano..

Let me get this straight, they took a sledgehammer (nominally 10lbs or 1.08Jubs) to an iPod nano and the result is a couple of dents and a crack in the screen.

Aficionados of seal cranial damage: 0

Product of Jobs Fashion Computing Inc.: 1

[John A Thomson]

iHammered

But was the phone more hammered or the guys doing the assassination?

Shouldn't you be offering some iCounselling for those fan boys affected by these terrrible attrocities!?!?

[philip]

Bigfoot

Is that BigFoot I see in the background!

[John Donovan]

@Gareth

Bugger me! You're right! Although I can't imagine the Brothers spending good cash on an iPhone, when they could score some gear with the money...

</reminiscence>

[George Johnson]

Where is it now?

Probably in some landfill. We're all wasting natural resources at a huge rate and these two scruff-bag Cannucks decide to get their mug shots plastered all over the Internet so they can show-off to their 2 mates in college, that they are now "famous"!

For the seven-thousandth time, IF YOU DON'T LIKE SOMETHING, KEEP AWAY FROM IT! DON'T BUY IT, USE IT OR ANYTHING ELSE IT!

[Lyndon Hills]

Linked Site

The CannabisHub? I'm constantly amazed by the breadth of El Reg's reading. The Lesbian (lesbian) reputation was only the start....

[Rob]

Mastergeek

Sledgehammer - $25

Bus Tickets to Toronto - $50

Mini-ipod for Gimli's Geeky Cousin (to be destroyed later using mini-Dwarf-hammer+2) - $99

iPhone - $499

Demonstrating to the world that um... er... well it seemed like an awesome idea last night hopped up on mushies....- Priceless!!

[Steve Kay]

How very counter-culture...

...smashing stuff up with a hammer.

That's one in the eye for the man, isn't it. Nothing sticks it to the corporate-industrial complex like destroying a mobile phone. A thread on the Trunno Freedom Festival web page included the insightful "f-ck Apple", too.

Reminds me of a trip to Glasto where I encountered a young woman in the Green Field*, who had painted a mural to "bring down the banks". You got it, she'd daubed a 12' by 6' sheet to resemble a surrealist's musings on the inside of a woolly mammoth's arse, in order to destabilise the banking system. I bet Eddie George was doing a Roman Bellic and hiding in the boot of his car after she unleashed her wall-mounted tirade.

* for those not fully acquainted with Zumerzet's annual cider & RIAA/IFPI/BPI merchandise festival, the Green Field is the "holistic" "organic" area where anti-capitalist soap-dodgers pricefix a cartel on friendship bracelets, hair beading, and face painting.

[Alan Edwards]

Pretty robust device

But I suppose there are limits...

Mine's survived being thrown at the wall and onto the table a few times, effing useless device. The metal upright of a shelf unit put a dent in the casing, but so far it still works.

After 6 goes at typing (no copy/paste, remember) a random 35-character WPA key into it, I've given up on it entirely.

Alan.

[Anonymous Coward]

In all fairness

whenever I encounter something that's prefixed with an " i ", I want to take a sledgehammer to it, iPods, iPhones, iZombies. I was reading a document the other day, written by one of my co-workers, in it he had (un)imaginatively abbreviated "Information Manager" to "iMan", I wanted to take a sledgehammer to him too, and would have but for the fear of an Industrial Manslaughter charge.

Anonymouse, cuz.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've seen these two before.

In the first pic - imagine that ginger hair dyed back to black, there you go Osama Bin Laden! Must have given up trying to smash western civilization and gone for beating up overpriced overhyped mobile phones!

In the second pic - a loved up Bin laden with his trusty sidekick Pete Doherty Boy.

Mind you I think it was taken in his bumfluffed and chubby days (ie pre drugs and overpriced overhyped "supermodels".

[Will Shaw]

<rage>bloody pikeys</rage>

A festival for anarchists???? Dear god, they'll be starting a committee next.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Frank Bough

"We've truly reached the end of western civilisation when people destroy complex valuable devices simply because they have no better idea of how to entertain themselves."

I think you'll find that's called vandalism and it's been around for quite a bit.

[Justin]

what a waste!

Instead of smashing the iPod, can't they give it to someone who needs one (like me)? <sigh>

[Derek Brabrook]

another good reason to keep Cannabis a class C substance

because anybody who is under the influence of drugs AND has the presence of mind to butcher an iphone like that must be fully in control of their faculties....

and there's no point in seal clubbing... they are crap dancers

[Rob]

yeah!!

cos if you hate apple and the iphone, nothing says F*** YOU like going out and BUYING ONE, and then destroying it! So you don't even get any use out of the thing you've just PAID FOR, man, these guys must be getting some good shit

[Anonymous Coward]

@Rob

So Rob what do you suggest is the best way to say F*** YOU? stand there empty handed? maybe a shoulder shrug? yeah right smash the crap to pieces like it deserves, it may cost but making people think is money well spent!

[Anonymous Coward]

I would support them

but really, it's not even a blender.

[Steve]

@Chris W

No, it's only vandalism if someone else owns it. If it's yours you can call it whatever you like, art maybe, or recycling.

[Dana W]

This is supposed to be offensive?

Two guys who think bong water is a beverage smash an iPhone thats already PAID for. "ka-ching!"

Thats showing Steve Jobs! Use em, smash em, collect them, use them in art pieces. Who cares? Just pay for them first.

They really didn't think it through huh? Its not like there is a shortage.

[Steve Kay]

@AC who doesn't seem to like iPhones

How does "smashing the crap to pieces" make people think? Let me rephrase that, how does it make people think anything other than "oh look, a bunch of hairies smashing a mobile phone, you're 'ard"?

To make people think you need an idea, some original thought to challenge a status quo (B3tards be gone), an alternative to the accepted way of things - not just breaking some electronics in a showy and self-aggrandising fashion. Vast swathes of the population don't even know what an iPhone is, destroying one just makes your average Joe think "dumb stoned prick".

Henry Rollins said it best when he pointed out that firebombing a McDonalds only puts workers on the dole queue, it won't matter two fucks to the people at the top. In fact, once they've trousered the insurance, they'll probably be in profit.

The way to say "F*** YOU" is to come up with something new and useful that will change people's minds. Gandhi took on the biggest empire in history and won without smashing any "crap to pieces". He will endure long after Osama Bin Ginger and his motley bunch of tax-avoiders have become tools in the machine because, y'know, he meant it, maaaaaaaan.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Gareth

That would be "F. Fredericks Skitty" in one story, IIRC. Anyone remember "Wonder Warthog?"

I still have a coupla those lying around somewhere, methinks. Have to go dig 'em up and appall the kids.

Thumbs up for proper bong-holding technique.

AC for that last comment...

[Frank Bough]

@ Chris W

"I think you'll find that's called vandalism and it's been around for quite a bit."

Is it still vandalism when you destroy stuff that YOU, YOURSELF PAID FOR? What is the political message here other than these ugly kids have too much money? If they sprayed 'fuck apple' all over 1 Infinite Loop, that would be proper vandalism and with a valid, if utterly banal, message.

[Anonymous Coward]

Them's not potheads

Given the usual strength of top grade hydroponic pot in Canada, those two wouldn't be able to stand up straight nor point both eyes in the same direction if they'd been indulging.

And their bedrugged reaction to the i[diot]Phone would be nothing more than "cool, man!"

To call them potheads is a slander against the quality of Canajun dope.

Footnote: facial hair is, and always has been, a common male affectation here in the howling frozen wastes of the Great White North.

[Daniel B.]

Like the consoles?

Reminded me somewhat of the dudes who bashed a PS3 with a sledgehammer outside a game store, then did the same with the Wii... which was even MORE fun, as they did it while wearing Mario & Luigi costumes. It made that look like Smash Bros. for real!

Anyway, I doubt this one beats the Blendtec iPhone vid!!

[Steve Kay]

Herbal reference

Just done me reading over at their forums some more, there's no higher purpose to this at all.

They refer to the "Smash Our Stuff crew", who are the same `social experimenters` who have previously destroyed an Xbox 360, a Wii, a PS3, etc ad nauseum, in little more than an attempt to generate some publicity.

There's no connection to the Toronto Freedom Festival and the campaign to legalise Gordon Brown's least favourite `lethal` class C/B other than their invite to do one of their smashing (guffaw chortle) "performance art" bits at the event.

How - as Frank Bough's above post so accurately observes - banal.

[Webster Phreaky]

Best Thing You Can Do To an iPud Before it Catches Fire in Your Pants

Little do all you Apple Kool Aid Drinkers know is that The Communist Chinese have implanted each Sweatshop iPud with a drug resistant strain of Mooshu Chicken Flu which will leak into your pants pockets as the irreplaceable battery begins to fail 10 days after the warranty date.

The Commies chose to have it leak in your pockets because they know that AppleTards have nothing of importance anatomically near there. The second choice was those clever iPud head bands.

[Thomas Ross]

Oh, well.

Unfortunately, their mom was still able to ring them.

-Their grounded.

[Darryl]

@AC RE: Launch

"So the iPhone has only just been launched in Canada? How backward is that!"

We have one (well, two, but one owns the other) GSM provider in Canada. Apple had to play ball with Rogers before they could release it here.

Next time you feel like whining about how horrible your mobile service is in EU/USA, just remember us poor Canadians.

[Walter Brown]

@AC RE: The iPod Nano....

The standard weight for a sledgehammer is 8lbs

Thats 0.864 Jubs

keep your math straight man...

[Fuzzy]

@ Chris W

There has a crime committed but it was not vandalism, it was crimes against nature (Shiver at those beards), Unfortunately Darwin is the only one that can enforce them. He is closing in on them though!

[Anonymous Coward]

well I suppose...

it makes a nice change from hammering seal pups

[Dace]

Fight Club-esqe?

Seems rather Tyler Durden to me.

You are not your over-priced peice of novelty hardware :-P

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Vandalism...

...and all those saying "they paid for an iPhone just to smash it".

I didn't see anywhere in the article nor in the link that suggested they smashed their own iPhone or one that had been paid for. If you think that two drug crazed hairy hippies have enough cash left over after buying lentils and other natural consumables to pay for an iPhone then I can accept your arguments otherwise it's vandalism.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope

"There's no connection to the Toronto Freedom Festival and the campaign to legalise Gordon Brown's least favourite `lethal` class C/B other than their invite to do one of their smashing (guffaw chortle) "performance art" bits at the event."

Wrong oh so very very wrong. They are very effectively demonstrating the fact that society is no longer free we are bound to our little shiney bits of plastic and metal. They are demonstrating that we are more concerned with out gadgets than for the well being of a fellow human.

[Steve Kay]

@AC

Demonstrating something does not mean the two events have any formal connection.

Also, smashing up an iPhone has no relevant message for anyone other than their clique. The people who can actually afford "shiney (sic) bits of plastic and metal" who's interest they need to gain to change a situation are not interested in their posturing.

If they want to "demonstrate" something, try emulating Naomi Klein ("No Logo"), Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation"), or Mark Thomas ("As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela") - all examples of behaviour-changing work.

Eric Schlosser did not throw a Big Mac on the stage and whack it with "the Hammer of Justice". He did something *creative*, not mindless self-indulgent destruction.

[Bill Norrie]

Yeah !!

Best thing that could happen to an iphone - why not add all the other 'i' things as well - could be a real party and even an 'i' opener..................

Mine's the one with the bulging pockets - full of 'i' products for reshaping.

[Sweep]

@ Fuzzy re: Beards, crimes against nature

Uhm, you have seen a picture of Darwin haven't you? In his later years he sported a stonker of a facial quim.

[Rob McCleave]

Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

I thought dope was supposed to make you all mellow and stupid, not violent and stupid.

The only thing stupider than buying an iPhone in Canada right now (where you have to buy it in the US and then hack it just to have the privilege of paying mister Rogers a thousand dollars a kilobyte) is buying an iPhone and smashing it up. Mister Jobs still got his money, so what was the point?

Now excuse me, my seal flipper pie is ready.