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https://twitter.com/letsrundotcom/status/323874395632328706/photo/1 https://twitter.com/letsrundotcom/status/323874395632328706/... this looks really bad.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
- rdl 14y ago
  Based on all the photos I've seen, I'd estimate 10 pounds of ANFO per device.
  - rdl 14y ago
    Or a bunch of black powder, really. Multiple smallish devices in bags in a public place is totally within the angry or crazy lone wolf threat profile. I really hope it is that vs anything more organized.
  - VLM 14y ago
    That seems a little high like out of a video game... I took the USAR week long explosives familiarization course back in 93 at AIT at Redstone Arsenal (now why a minicomputer system operator had to take that course was a mystery, other than general safety and familiarization because it was a minicomputer for a TSA (basically what civilians would call an ammo depot)) and got to prime and set off a pound of old fashioned TNT and as a group we got to prime and set off a demilled 105 round. Based on crater size and general blast effect this is probably somewhere in between. A pound of .mil TNT vaguely resembles a squarish soup can in size and a 105 round is, you guessed it, 105mm across so its dimensions are vaguely reminiscent of a 24oz/40oz big beer can. So what you're talking about is something pretty small, not the size of a car or truck or two 10 pound bags. But a bit bigger than a grenade. I got to throw two of those when I was in .mil and the damage is probably more severe than one of those can cause. Smoke pillar alone if nothing else. I will agree that you could F up a 10 pound device such that all you get is the primer and booster and not the main charge. That sounds about right.
    - rdl 14y ago
      Crater really depends on how high off the pavement, too. I assumed "top of a trash can" but that might not be the case. Just clearly a small bag device, not a serious carbomb or anything, and based on the smoke I don't think it was military or commercial explosives. I'm really only familiar with bigger devices and telling artillery vs anfo, though.
- zackzackzack 14y ago
  It doesn't seem to be over yet. https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/323885037877608448 https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/323885037877608448
- pinaceae 14y ago
  well, this is indeed a tricky subject. 1., we don't know if it is terrorism (well, is a loner like breivik a terrorist or "just" running amok?) 2., it might not be over yet. mumbai took 60hours. 3., lots of people nowadays have someone there, a friend, an aquaintance. maybe just an online friend or simple source of joy but yeah, terror spreads through news.
  - Udo 14y ago
    Used to be that a terrorist was defined as someone who likes to further their agenda by means of spreading terror. Explosions, destruction, loss of life - that's all completely incidental to the actual terror. A person running amok, in contrast, may be a terrorist (and people like Breivik certainly fit the bill in some aspects) but their main goal is committing mass murder, usually culminating in suicide. A convincing argument could be made that in some respects suicide bombers are also running amok, but we tend to reserve the term terrorist for a more organized type of crime that is supported by an entire network. > but yeah, terror spreads through news. Absolutely.
    - pekk 14y ago
      Breivik was someone pursuing a political agenda by means of spreading terror.
      - flyinRyan 14y ago
        He wasn't trying to spread terror. He was trying to literally kill the next generation of people who fundamentally disagreed with him politically.
    - podperson 14y ago
      I don't think anything much has changed. It's interesting to look at Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent" -- published in 1907 -- which is based on a true story (of an anarchist attack on the Greenwich Observatory in 1894). All the elements of modern "terrorism" are there back then: a half-wit dupe bomber, nutjobs with a crazy ideology (anarchism in this case), and national actors manipulating them from behind the scenes.
- InclinedPlane 14y ago
  A "tiny" explosion with "few" casualties can easily kill and maim more people than your average national-news-worthy mass shooting.
- JPKab 14y ago
  There are multiple people dead, and multiple people with lost limbs. At what point does a line get drawn between tiny, medium, and large?
Recoil42 14y ago
This picture looks considerably worse: https://twitter.com/brm90/statuses/323876631980687361 https://twitter.com/brm90/statuses/323876631980687361

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

rdl 14y ago
Based on all the photos I've seen, I'd estimate 10 pounds of ANFO per device.
- rdl 14y ago
  Or a bunch of black powder, really. Multiple smallish devices in bags in a public place is totally within the angry or crazy lone wolf threat profile. I really hope it is that vs anything more organized.
- VLM 14y ago
  That seems a little high like out of a video game... I took the USAR week long explosives familiarization course back in 93 at AIT at Redstone Arsenal (now why a minicomputer system operator had to take that course was a mystery, other than general safety and familiarization because it was a minicomputer for a TSA (basically what civilians would call an ammo depot)) and got to prime and set off a pound of old fashioned TNT and as a group we got to prime and set off a demilled 105 round. Based on crater size and general blast effect this is probably somewhere in between. A pound of .mil TNT vaguely resembles a squarish soup can in size and a 105 round is, you guessed it, 105mm across so its dimensions are vaguely reminiscent of a 24oz/40oz big beer can. So what you're talking about is something pretty small, not the size of a car or truck or two 10 pound bags. But a bit bigger than a grenade. I got to throw two of those when I was in .mil and the damage is probably more severe than one of those can cause. Smoke pillar alone if nothing else. I will agree that you could F up a 10 pound device such that all you get is the primer and booster and not the main charge. That sounds about right.
  - rdl 14y ago
    Crater really depends on how high off the pavement, too. I assumed "top of a trash can" but that might not be the case. Just clearly a small bag device, not a serious carbomb or anything, and based on the smoke I don't think it was military or commercial explosives. I'm really only familiar with bigger devices and telling artillery vs anfo, though.
zackzackzack 14y ago
It doesn't seem to be over yet. https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/323885037877608448 https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/323885037877608448
pinaceae 14y ago
well, this is indeed a tricky subject. 1., we don't know if it is terrorism (well, is a loner like breivik a terrorist or "just" running amok?) 2., it might not be over yet. mumbai took 60hours. 3., lots of people nowadays have someone there, a friend, an aquaintance. maybe just an online friend or simple source of joy but yeah, terror spreads through news.
- Udo 14y ago
  Used to be that a terrorist was defined as someone who likes to further their agenda by means of spreading terror. Explosions, destruction, loss of life - that's all completely incidental to the actual terror. A person running amok, in contrast, may be a terrorist (and people like Breivik certainly fit the bill in some aspects) but their main goal is committing mass murder, usually culminating in suicide. A convincing argument could be made that in some respects suicide bombers are also running amok, but we tend to reserve the term terrorist for a more organized type of crime that is supported by an entire network. > but yeah, terror spreads through news. Absolutely.
  - pekk 14y ago
    Breivik was someone pursuing a political agenda by means of spreading terror.
    - flyinRyan 14y ago
      He wasn't trying to spread terror. He was trying to literally kill the next generation of people who fundamentally disagreed with him politically.
  - podperson 14y ago
    I don't think anything much has changed. It's interesting to look at Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent" -- published in 1907 -- which is based on a true story (of an anarchist attack on the Greenwich Observatory in 1894). All the elements of modern "terrorism" are there back then: a half-wit dupe bomber, nutjobs with a crazy ideology (anarchism in this case), and national actors manipulating them from behind the scenes.
InclinedPlane 14y ago
A "tiny" explosion with "few" casualties can easily kill and maim more people than your average national-news-worthy mass shooting.
JPKab 14y ago
There are multiple people dead, and multiple people with lost limbs. At what point does a line get drawn between tiny, medium, and large?

Recoil42 14y ago

This picture looks considerably worse: https://twitter.com/brm90/statuses/323876631980687361 https://twitter.com/brm90/statuses/323876631980687361