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Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

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Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#221

Post by lifeguard »

bconway wrote: post #159
scarmig wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The aim of the WTC attack was to make a very symbolic action: the goal was to destroy three symbols of American power, its military, economic, and political might, though the last ended up physically unscathed. Obviously a huge number of deaths associated with it, but the symbolism was key. You knew exactly where the attackers stood--American power is evil--once you heard a description of the attacks. This, in contra…

Note: It took place on Patriot's Day, a Massachusetts and Maine holiday.

The book _the hacker crackdown_ asserts the phone company blamed a phone system crash that happened on MLK day on hackers and phreaks. Later it was determined a firmware upgrade crashed the network and the date was a co-incidence.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#222

Post by Osiris »

numbsafari wrote: post #209
ConceitedCode wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't agree more so. What "precautions" and new reforms are we gonna see in the name of security?

Who knows. But after every crisis there should be a post mortem and we should learn from what went wrong. And why does every change in policy and approach have to be seen as a threat to anybody's freedoms? Not that many of the short-sighted response aren't just that, but this sort of knee jerk reaction seems just as unhealthy.

There's no way to prevent every crisis. Just because something bad happens doesn't mean that there is something that you could have done to stop it.

Sometimes people just need to realize that things happen and we don't have to pass new laws and regulations every time something bad happens.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#223

Post by zobzu »

noonespecial wrote: post #138

The worst part for me (and I really am feeling bad about this) is that I should be concerned about the victims right now, but I can't stop thinking about what freedoms I'll be losing as a result of this.

Sounds legit to me. Do you feel bad about the hundred of people murdered every day? I don't. Its just that they aren't on the news. I'd feel bad for the people i remotely know, or for the families if I were to meet them, but otherwise.. it's not any different. It's bad, but doesn't make one feel bad - and that's perfectly fine.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#224

Post by mathattack »

From the comments, "Roupen Bastajian, a 35-year-old state trooper from Smithfield, R.I., had just finished the race when they put the heat blanket wrap on him and he heard the first blast.

"I started running toward the blast. And there were people all over the floor," he said. "We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs. A lot of people amputated. ... At least 25 to 30 people have at least one leg missing, or an ankle missing, or two legs missing."

Read more: http://livewire.wcvb.com/Event/117th_Running_of_Boston_Marat...

The #s will probably get much worse than 2 and 23.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#225

Post by thedufer »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #187
ConceitedCode wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least I could take nail clippers on an airplane in 1999.

You still can today. That is a myth. http://www.seatguru.com/articles/tsa_prohibited_items.php

It is a myth that taking nailclippers is TSA policy. This has not stopped them from doing it anyway.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#227

Post by pjreddie »

mongol wrote: post #137
pjreddie wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well walking is way more dangerous per mile than driving, this was touched on by Steve Levitt in Super Freakonomics, it looks like in Britain the mortality rate is about 10 times higher per vehicle mile http://road.cc/content/news/68212-dft-casualty-statistics-ra... . Of course, that is general foot transportation. Marathons have different risk factors, you aren't going to get hit by a car (if it's a well organized m…

Risk per hour is what I am personally more interested in.

That's interesting, I don't generally think to myself, "Hm, I could go drive around for an hour or I could go for an hour long walk", I usually think "Hm, I could drive to this place or bike over there (I don't usually walk)". Although I also don't really think about the risks of everyday activities anyway, so who knows.

It's really difficult to compare the risks of walking vs driving since usually they aren't really interchangeable and they have such different use cases. But the original comment was about running a marathon vs driving the same distance.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#228

Post by waterlesscloud »

antr wrote: post #21
antr wrote: post #12

>Boston scanner: "EMS is reporting another device" in front of Mandarin Hotel https://twitter.com/katz/status/323878815245946880

c'mon, people have smartphones. companies like facebook, twitter, foursquare, etc know your location and should be able to push notifications alerting people to stay away/at home. EDIT: Thanks for the downvotes guys, here I was trying to show a real need. I've been calling friends in NY/Boston the past 30min asking to see if they are OK + stay at home.

Reports that people in the area are being advised not to use cell phones as they may trigger other devices.

Who knows is it's really being advised or if it makes sense if it is, but it's being reported as if it is.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#229

Post by peejaybee »

corin_ wrote: post #200
pekk wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What sort of casualty counts did IRA bombings have in London?

Quite a few had bigger casualty lists, and many were more specifically aimed at political targets rather than large numbers of public, but fair point that a bunch were very similar or worse-done. Two points I would make about the comparison though, firstly the IRA campaign was very much one of fear more than one of death - deaths were an added bonus. Of course maybe that's the case in Boston as well, but it's too ear…

Actually, the IRA typically issued warnings beforehand -- soon enough to evacuate, but too late to find the bomb. I've heard it described as a calculation to minimize civilian deaths that might stiffen British resolve.

The best description I have seen is here: http://exiledonline.com/wn-38-ira-vs-al-qaeda-i-was-wrong/

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#230

Post by stevenameyer »

no2empire wrote: post #179
stevenameyer wrote: post #48

It's horrific to see this happen. I hope that people make it out of this ok, and they get to bottom of who did this. Seeing these kinds of senseless attacks on the innocent is just disgusting.

Drones are flying over Afghanistan and Pakistan right now, atatcking innocent families. A Zionist invasion of Palestine in the 1940s is pushing into Gaza, the West Bank, southwest Syria, and innocent Palestinians are being killed daily - with US backing. The US is doing this all over the world, or enabling it. It's a laugh to see the people who invaded Iraq and tortured prisoners in Abu Ghraib getting on their high h…

First of all I am a Canadian, living in Canada and have no association with the actions of the US Government. Secondly I do not condone killing of innocent people in any situation, and just because there are other instances of this happening in the world doesn't minimize the fact that this attack is wrong.

I am expressing my support to the victims of this tragedy and my disgust over an attack which was clearly ment to hurt and kill innocent people. If this discussion was about a similar attack anywhere else in the world by anyone I would have the same opinion of the attack. But it's not.

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