Having installed a rouge electronic sculpture while at MIT, this was my reaction also. Well put Brad. What is the world coming to?

Really, Boston is a schizophrenic city. To caricature just a bit, the locals (who speak with a hideous accent) are rude, racist, and stupid. The foreigners (Americans and internationals who are there for the universities and then out again) are intellectual, tolerant, and blithely indulgent of the locals' lame culture. The whole place is corrupt, from tow-truck drivers on up. Having lived there, I recognize that this idiocy of threatening smart kids due to ridiculous self-important paranoia is real and quite dangerous.

Yet, I have been surprised by the number of people in California who chide me that you're just asking for trouble to walk around with any kind of home-built electronic wiring showing. Paranoia is the norm. Fortunately new doors are always opening for creative people, as existing ones slam closed.