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To be honoured by a 100-million-gun salute? I'd highly recommend "The Gun", a history of the Kalashnikov by New York Times journalist CJ Chivers. [his blog and

To be honoured by a 100-million-gun salute? I'd highly recommend "The Gun", a history of the Kalashnikov by New York Times journalist CJ Chivers. [his blog and articles are also excellent]. Kalashnikov-like guns are maybe comparable to the shipping container: relatively simple mass-produced objects that have transformed the world in all kinds of ways. Kalashnikov the man was only a small part of that (he was more figurehead than sole creator).

dclowd9901 13y ago
Interesting comparison, as shipping containers may also be used for nefarious purposes the world over, but it's not a thought that immediately comes to mind unless it's invited by comparing them with a cheaply mass-produced gun.
- brudgers 13y ago
  The difference between shipping containers and small arms is obvious. The potential for causing grave bodily injury and death is part and parcel of the primary intended use of a Kalashnikov. Other uses are simply byproducts. The design and intended use of a shipping container stands in exactly the opposite relationship to the means of delivering violence.
  - dclowd9901 13y ago
    I was just thinking aloud, rather than trying to make a compelling point. Just because the differences are obvious doesn't mean that the end use of a shipping container can't negatively affect a massive amount of people.
sitkack 13y ago
We used shipping containers to kill captured Afghans via asphyxiation in 2001 http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/07/13/the-convoy-of-death-will-obama-investigate-the-afghan-massacre-of-november-2001/ http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/07/13/the-convoy-of-de... from the linked newyorktimes article: Survivors and witnesses told The New York Times and Newsweek in 2002 that over a three-day period, Taliban prisoners were stuffed into closed metal shipping containers and given no food or water; many suffocated while being trucked to the prison. Other prisoners were killed when guards shot into the containers. The bodies were said to have been buried in a mass grave in Dasht-i-Leili, a stretch of desert just outside Shibarghan. If I were to do it again, I'd use autonomous drones with buggy firmware, or just change the Rules of Engagement so that it was a free fire zone until I decided it wasn't.
- aaronem 13y ago
  It would have been kinder just to have shot them once each in the head, don't you think?
  - sitkack 13y ago
    That would be immoral.
    - aaronem 13y ago
      And turning shipping containers into bite-size concentration camps wasn't? Your concept of morality fascinates me! Please elaborate.
      - rgrieselhuber 13y ago
        I'm guessing that was a sarcastic comment.
        aaronem 13y ago
        Honesty compels of me the admission that I'm almost never really sure, especially in the context of comments on HN.
        sitkack 13y ago
        I would love to meet someone who has been schooled in the rules of engagement and ask them what they think about operations like these, https://archive.org/details/AC-130_Gunship_Ops_in_Afghanistan_HighResolution https://archive.org/details/AC-130_Gunship_Ops_in_Afghanista... The asymmetry and the distance, it feels like a hit. On an equally morbid but more realistic note, why did they have to accept prisoners? Couldn't they just have "dead checked" everyone? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_checking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_checking
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
shiven 13y ago
Thanks for the book recommendation, read it recently and liked it. Also, for a more hollywood version (but still worth a watch), go see the "Lord of War" (2005) film. It touches upon a lot of topics in that book and impact of AK's on our world. Highly recommend both!

dclowd9901 13y ago

Interesting comparison, as shipping containers may also be used for nefarious purposes the world over, but it's not a thought that immediately comes to mind unless it's invited by comparing them with a cheaply mass-produced gun.

brudgers 13y ago
The difference between shipping containers and small arms is obvious. The potential for causing grave bodily injury and death is part and parcel of the primary intended use of a Kalashnikov. Other uses are simply byproducts. The design and intended use of a shipping container stands in exactly the opposite relationship to the means of delivering violence.
- dclowd9901 13y ago
  I was just thinking aloud, rather than trying to make a compelling point. Just because the differences are obvious doesn't mean that the end use of a shipping container can't negatively affect a massive amount of people.

sitkack 13y ago

We used shipping containers to kill captured Afghans via asphyxiation in 2001 http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/07/13/the-convoy-of-death-will-obama-investigate-the-afghan-massacre-of-november-2001/ http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2009/07/13/the-convoy-of-de... from the linked newyorktimes article: Survivors and witnesses told The New York Times and Newsweek in 2002 that over a three-day period, Taliban prisoners were stuffed into closed metal shipping containers and given no food or water; many suffocated while being trucked to the prison. Other prisoners were killed when guards shot into the containers. The bodies were said to have been buried in a mass grave in Dasht-i-Leili, a stretch of desert just outside Shibarghan. If I were to do it again, I'd use autonomous drones with buggy firmware, or just change the Rules of Engagement so that it was a free fire zone until I decided it wasn't.

aaronem 13y ago
It would have been kinder just to have shot them once each in the head, don't you think?
- sitkack 13y ago
  That would be immoral.
  - aaronem 13y ago
    And turning shipping containers into bite-size concentration camps wasn't? Your concept of morality fascinates me! Please elaborate.
    - rgrieselhuber 13y ago
      I'm guessing that was a sarcastic comment.
      - aaronem 13y ago
        Honesty compels of me the admission that I'm almost never really sure, especially in the context of comments on HN.
        sitkack 13y ago
        I would love to meet someone who has been schooled in the rules of engagement and ask them what they think about operations like these, https://archive.org/details/AC-130_Gunship_Ops_in_Afghanistan_HighResolution https://archive.org/details/AC-130_Gunship_Ops_in_Afghanista... The asymmetry and the distance, it feels like a hit. On an equally morbid but more realistic note, why did they have to accept prisoners? Couldn't they just have "dead checked" everyone? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_checking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_checking
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]

shiven 13y ago

Thanks for the book recommendation, read it recently and liked it. Also, for a more hollywood version (but still worth a watch), go see the "Lord of War" (2005) film. It touches upon a lot of topics in that book and impact of AK's on our world. Highly recommend both!