3 ms·

The news was a bit of a beat-up and the chances of just accidentally stumbling on it out there were pretty remote to essentially nil. But what's authority to do

The news was a bit of a beat-up and the chances of just accidentally stumbling on it out there were pretty remote to essentially nil. But what's authority to do? If some kid had found it and took it to school there'd be hell to play. Based of its stated radiation signature it was always going to be easy to find. Right, it was a simple but nuisance task and took about as long as expected.

HPsquared 4y ago
It was probably a mistake to report it to the public while it was still missing. That probably attracted a bunch of amateurs who could have ended up finding it. Far safer to look for it quietly first.
- laci37 4y ago
  I guess that was because they were afraid of it getting stuck in a tire. If I found a strange metal cylinder in my tires, I would probably pick it up a try to find out what it is.
  - HPsquared 4y ago
    Did they close the road and/or put a checkpoint in place? That'd eliminate that risk.
    - prollings 4y ago
      The road you're talking about was 1400km long
      - bell-cot 4y ago
        1400km / (70km/h) = 20 hours of driving. This was no "a thousand volunteers on foot spent days searching for even a scrap of evidence" effort.
      - rmccue 4y ago
        Pretty sure it's also the only road connecting a lot of these places; this is far remote WA.
- zoklet-enjoyer 4y ago
  I was considering going on a vacation/scavenger hunt when I saw the first article about it
d-z-m 4y ago
> hell to play. not sure if this was a typo, but the phrase I'm familiar with is "hell to pay". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/there-ll-be-hell-to-pay https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/there...
- hilbert42 4y ago
  Yeah, another damn typo I've missed, it's embarrassing. I understand the correct phrase. Last week, I wrote 'we all cropped it' instead of 'we all copped it' which makes no sense—yet I reread that text three times, twice before posting and once thereafter and yet I still missed it. I wish HN would allow typographical corrections past the usual edit deadline. Bad typos distract so they reduce the impact of what one is trying to say. Thanks for pointing it out.

HPsquared 4y ago

It was probably a mistake to report it to the public while it was still missing. That probably attracted a bunch of amateurs who could have ended up finding it. Far safer to look for it quietly first.

laci37 4y ago
I guess that was because they were afraid of it getting stuck in a tire. If I found a strange metal cylinder in my tires, I would probably pick it up a try to find out what it is.
- HPsquared 4y ago
  Did they close the road and/or put a checkpoint in place? That'd eliminate that risk.
  - prollings 4y ago
    The road you're talking about was 1400km long
    - bell-cot 4y ago
      1400km / (70km/h) = 20 hours of driving. This was no "a thousand volunteers on foot spent days searching for even a scrap of evidence" effort.
    - rmccue 4y ago
      Pretty sure it's also the only road connecting a lot of these places; this is far remote WA.
zoklet-enjoyer 4y ago
I was considering going on a vacation/scavenger hunt when I saw the first article about it

d-z-m 4y ago

> hell to play. not sure if this was a typo, but the phrase I'm familiar with is "hell to pay". https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/there-ll-be-hell-to-pay https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/there...

hilbert42 4y ago
Yeah, another damn typo I've missed, it's embarrassing. I understand the correct phrase. Last week, I wrote 'we all cropped it' instead of 'we all copped it' which makes no sense—yet I reread that text three times, twice before posting and once thereafter and yet I still missed it. I wish HN would allow typographical corrections past the usual edit deadline. Bad typos distract so they reduce the impact of what one is trying to say. Thanks for pointing it out.