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Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

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Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#351

Post by austenallred »

angersock wrote: post #332
austenallred wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

150 visitors on the site right now, so I guess it depends on your definition of "blowing up." We're getting visits from YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, etc. but I haven't dug into where exactly. Proof: http://d.pr/i/LDao And as to "launching" in a thread, I don't really consider this a full "launch." Our product is needed, so even though it isn't ready we pushed it live.

I checked it out, and it's a cool product. I agree with somebody elses's comment--this is a useful thing to have in this day and age. Out of curiosity, how are you picking which things to feed? Your ticker rate for tweets seems fixed, so you are discarding some things, right?

Yeah, like I said the product is brand new. It discards everything with "RT" or "Retweet" as well as a few other things in it (if it weren't finals week it would discard everything with "pray," but we should be taking our exams right now). Soon it will split up different tweets and show them to different people.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#352

Post by kooshball »

r00fus wrote: post #330
jenius wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like everyone expects a reaction and increased security and such, but sometimes this type of reaction won't be fruitful. What could we learn from this -- check every trash can for a bomb at every big event? There are an unlimited number of places you could hide a bomb. If someone trying to blow people up saw the 'reaction' being checking every trash can, they would just learn not to hide their bomb in a trash…

> What could we learn from this -- check every trash can for a bomb at every big event? There are an unlimited number of places you could hide a bomb. France, in response to terrorist attacks in the 1995 mandated that all public locations have transparent bags held by posts [1] [2]. I don't think that's a unreasonable compromise, considering the alternatives. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_container#Media [2]…

This is missing the whole point of the parent post though.

The OP's point is that even if you can ensure 100% of the trashcans dont contain bombs for a reasonable cost, the terrorists will now just put them somewhere else.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#353

Post by level09 »

joonix wrote: post #265
zobzu wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Speak for yourself.

what he says actually makes perfect sense. thousands of syrians are dying everyday, and I don't see much mentions about them on HN for example. yes you will feel bad, but you will quickly move on and forget about it as long as it doesn't relate directly to you.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#354

Post by taurussai »

ralphleon wrote: post #63

Why do the top links on reddit stop leaving the front page? This link was #1 for about 10 minutes: http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1cen7i/explosion_... and now has vanished, along with all other sponsored links. A horrible tragedy like this seems leagues more important than the current top link: http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/1cebz2/spotted_cookie...

That's because the mods keep removing it -- reddit will have some contract with telegraph.uk or other such websites (they pay reddit for the higher traffic)

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#355

Post by icambron »

noonespecial wrote: post #293
6thSigma wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that this is the top comment for this thread makes me sad.

To be quite honest, me too. I expected it to just be background radiation: I too feel badly, conflicted and confused. I didn't expect this. Sitting at the top like that it really does start to look like soap-boxing or attention whoring. Apologies all, I really didn't mean it that way.

I think you're being too hard on yourself. I live in Boston and have friends who were in very real danger, and I still had that same thought go through my head. On the merits of the the thought, we should not accord much weight to the "it's too soon!" line of thinking. Nor is the tragedy of a death proportional to its media coverage. So you aren't being monstrous.

But more importantly, having a thought you aren't proud of is no mortal sin, nor is publishing it honestly on the internet. You're supposed to feel conflicted and confused; something bad happened and we're all going to have a wide range emotionally-charged responses.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#356

Post by r00fus »

taurath wrote: post #292
VLM wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing I don't get, is if you know there are multiple devices, any opfor with half a brain is going to put them in the mass transit for follow up. So why evac people when sheltering in place is almost certainly safer? The TLDR is don't create a juicy concentrated target when you know for certain that someone is currently aiming at juicy concentrated targets. Also if its an ongoing event, shelter in place means peo…

Transit is much harder and has a much stronger security presence - people in general are also far more alert for suspicious packages. It would be much tougher I'd think to get something like this onto a subway rather than a huge crowd.

That's assuming normal traffic flow. As someone famous said "quantity has a quality all it's own" - in large traffic flow conditions (as is the case with an evacuation), are all the same security precautions taken? Can they be sustained without a huge bump in the security staff? If new security staff are used impromptu, will they follow the same stringent standards?

I agree with VLM - these people should have been secured in place and not herded through a chokepoint in a rush.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#357

Post by austenallred »

hfantods wrote: post #333
austenallred wrote: post #47

While this is buggy/not ready for release, here's a way to follow this on social media. http://fastlane.grasswire.com/ PS. Here's our launchrock page if anyone cares http://grasswire.com

This is incredible.. but at the same time you've exposed me to the multitudes of people that are just so hungry to make a "viral" image. I can't believe it. One of the many: http://distilleryimage7.s3.amazonaws.com/a9ba58b6a61111e2901...

Yeah, this is a problem, especially with Instagram. As a random aside, watching this has been a really interesting look into how viral marketing is done.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#358

Post by anigbrowl »

SODaniel wrote: post #133
spitx wrote: post #120

Secondary explosions ( and/or fires ) reported (on MSNBC shortly before Chris Jansing took over coverage at 4PM EST) at the JFK Library and another undisclosed location. Footage of black fumes from (allegedly) the JFK Library has been briefly shown before cutting back to the coverage of the main explosion at the Boston marathon. The fire at the library has been initially reported to have been controlled. No casualtie…

The fire at the JFK Library has just been reported as mechanical and non-suspicious or 'affiliated' with the explosions. Source: http://www1.whdh.com/video/7newslive/ 7-news live broadcast Update: https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/323886879453892609 It was an intentional and controlled detonation of a 'device'.

Since then the Boston Commissioner of Police has confirmed it as a non-controlled explosion during a press conference.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#359

Post by Shivetya »

r00fus wrote: post #330
jenius wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like everyone expects a reaction and increased security and such, but sometimes this type of reaction won't be fruitful. What could we learn from this -- check every trash can for a bomb at every big event? There are an unlimited number of places you could hide a bomb. If someone trying to blow people up saw the 'reaction' being checking every trash can, they would just learn not to hide their bomb in a trash…

> What could we learn from this -- check every trash can for a bomb at every big event? There are an unlimited number of places you could hide a bomb. France, in response to terrorist attacks in the 1995 mandated that all public locations have transparent bags held by posts [1] [2]. I don't think that's a unreasonable compromise, considering the alternatives. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_container#Media [2]…

don't trust that your cell phone will work, the authorities are quite capable of disabling cell access in the area.

That is a very important item that many will overlook. To the person bemoaning what rights they will lose, well its not like your going to lose more, just be reminded of ones you lost and did not even realize, like that of a working cell phone.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#360

Post by [deleted] »

tomjen3 wrote: post #253
eruditely wrote: post #28

Can someone just run a plain marathon without having to worry about this in modern civilized life? Come on. This isn't even crime, this is just insanity.

Apparently not. I know it is too early to speculate, but my money is on the muslims -- homegrown terrorists/IRA use car bombs and you couldn't get a car there, crazy people seem overwellmingly to prefer guns.

[deleted]
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