My heart goes to all bostonian
 

I feel rage, fear and incomprehension.Please receive my condoleance.




[size=1]please move that thread to soap box, its more its place than in fun/lounge[/size]

[QUOTE=Fred Rodgers]"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world."[/QUOTE][SIZE="1"][SUP][COLOR="White"].[/COLOR][/SUP][/SIZE]

First aid worker were close, that, at least is a good news. As seen on my twitter line, the first helper come to help barely 7 second after the explosion, not even realising that might not be the last explosion. thats heroism, but maybe a bit of foolishness too.

[QUOTE=firejuggler;337246]First aid worker were close, that, at least is a good news. As seen on my twitter line, the first helper come to help barely 7 second after the explosion, not even realising that might not be the last explosion. thats heroism, but maybe a bit of foolishness too.[/QUOTE]
I heard a cardiologist from one of the local hospitals say that the proximity of the emergency care tent to the explosion 'made all the difference'. Every patient that he saw come in was remarkably stable.

Also in the "silver lining" theme: [url=www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/16/us-usa-explosions-boston-kindness-idUSBRE93F05K20130416?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews]After blast horror, many Bostonians extend kindness to runners[/url]

[QUOTE=firejuggler;337238]I feel rage, fear and incomprehension.Please receive my condolence.
[/QUOTE]

That's great to hear. My condolences to those dead and injured too. Needless violence is horrible.

But do you also feel the same rage, fear and incomprehension when yet another drone attack kills some Yemeni, Pakistani or Afghani children every week? If no, why not? And if yes, why don't you post about it?

I will be very surprised if the IEDs weren't made by an amateur.

I've examined the photographic and video evidence and it [b]strongly[/b] suggests that the explosive was a sodium salt, probably sodium chlorate or possibly nitrate, which was oxidising something like sugar or flour. The colour of the flames and behaviour and colour of the smoke are dead ringers.

Don't ask me how I know, but try to believe that I've a little experience in that particular activity.

[QUOTE=garo;337310]But do you also feel the same rage, fear and incomprehension when yet another drone attack kills some Yemeni, Pakistani or Afghani children every week? If no, why not? And if yes, why don't you post about it?[/QUOTE]
This is an important point. In my case I must admit to strong culture bias in what generates an emotional reaction in me. An attack on people in a Western country taking part in an activity with which I have direct experience fills me with outrage even though I have not been personally affected. An attack with similar devastating injuries and loss of life in an unstable area of the Middle East is alien to my experiences and I can't, or don't want to, contemplate the human tragedy.

[QUOTE=xilman;337316]I will be very surprised if the IEDs weren't made by an amateur.[/QUOTE]
I hope this suggests a random attack by a single individual which is unlikely to be repeated at other events.

[QUOTE=xilman;337316]I will be very surprised if the IEDs weren't made by an amateur.

I've examined the photographic and video evidence and it [b]strongly[/b] suggests that the explosive was a sodium salt, probably sodium chlorate or possibly nitrate, which was oxidising something like sugar or flour. The colour of the flames and behaviour and colour of the smoke are dead ringers.

Don't ask me how I know, but try to believe that I've a little experience in that particular activity.[/QUOTE]

In a surprisingly temperate (for him; he neither uses the term "Muzzies" for Muslims nor uses the incident to push his "a gun in every red-blooded American's hand" pet agenda) post today, econo-pundit Denninger [url=http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=219840]comes to much the same conclusion[/url], namely that the blasts were likely caused by homemade pipe-bomb-style devices. The first thing that struck me watching the videos yesterday was the 'slow fireball' (relatively speaking) look of the explosions, similar to the cinematic explosions much-beloved by Hollywood SFX crews, but typical of deflagration (flame-front) rather than detonation (shock-front) wave. The shock from a true high explosive would have shattered many more win dows. The 2-blast scenario is also more or less s.o.p. for IED attacks, and not indicative of any special organizational sophistication. Of course none of this makes the results less traumatic for the victims, but I am speaking in terms of forensic clues.

So did *any* of the early reports we heard yesterday which went beyond "at least 2 blasts" pan out? We were told that multiple unexploded devices were "successfully defused" - looks like those were all backpacks and such left by fleeing spectators. We were told that a Saudi national was in custody in association with the incident - what happened to that? We were told that the devices appeared to have been of sophisticated Claymore-mine-style, high explosives packed in with ball bearings and specifically that "ball bearings had been pulled out of shrapnel wounds" - today the language has gotten a lot less specific, and people are pointing out the obvious fact that pipe bombs inside of garbage cans also produce a lot of shrapnel.

I agree with Denninger that, rather admit that perfect security s simply impossible in the context of an open society, the PTB will likely use the incident to attempt to eviscerate even more of the little which is left (in operating terms, as opposed to "words on a piece of paper") of the U.S. constitution.

A reminder about profiling:

A young Saudi spectator, injured by one of the explosions, was singled out for questioning (and this was mentioned in early news reports) and for a very intensive invasive search of his apartment. His roommate was also questioned for hours, [i]all of this apparently based only on some other spectator's snap judgement that he looked "suspicious".[/i]

See The New Yorker's "The Saudi Marathon Man" article at [url]http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/04/the-saudi-marathon-man.html[/url] for more detail and analysis of this sad episode of profiling without evidence.

Another thought that struck me was that it was fortunate that these guys didn't have assault rifles. The death count could easily have been 5-10 times higher if instead of pipe-bombs they had chosen to acquire a couple of perfectly legal assault rifles each.