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Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

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Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#411

Post by mbreese »

garretruh wrote: post #397
tptacek wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has any named official confirmed the cell service shutdown? I'm hearing the opposite. The original shutdown report I heard was attributed to an unnamed BPD source. This is obviously a particularly easy rumor to spread when the networks are all jammed up with callers.

You might be right. It's contradicted by both Sprint and Verizon here: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/official-cellphone-service-sh... Edit: And, it seems, AT&T: https://twitter.com/ATT/status/323915702132150272

NBC just reported that AT&T was urging people to use text messages to avoid congestion on their network. So, it's probably a capacity issue.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#412

Post by anigbrowl »

noonespecial wrote: post #386
anigbrowl wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well stop agonizing about it and delete it then. I'm not saying that to be snarky, I'm pointing out that it's something useful you can do right now to get it off the top of the page.

Good news. Looks like someone upstairs noticed and knocked it to the bottom. Thank you, moderators.

All's well that ends well,then. I understand you didn't expect it to become the top comment.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#413

Post by [deleted] »

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'.

[deleted]

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#414

Post by saryant »

jenius wrote: post #269
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.

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…

Due to the sarin gas attacks in Japan in the early 90s Tokyo no longer has trash cans in public areas for the most part.

The attackers hid the canisters in trash cans in that instance as well.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#415

Post by washedup »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #2

Edit: Boston police reporting at least 2 dead, 22 injured and 10 people losing limbs. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/15/explosion-reported-near... Looks like there were two explosions. Picture: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BH6fCgFCQAERWMB.jpg:large More details http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/metro/Explosions-reported-nea... "Witnesses said several victims lost limbs, and the area was being evacuated. Many of the in…

Has anyone set up a charity to raise money for the victims? Something to help pay for prosthetic limbs?

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#416

Post by rdl »

VLM wrote: post #312
SODaniel wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Boston Globe ‏@BostonGlobe 34s BREAKING NEWS: Police getting multiple reports of unexploded devices around Boston 3.38 pm Central time. Update: The Boston Globe ‏@BostonGlobe 28s RT @billy_baker: "It's not safe to be here." - Boston Police evacuating Commonwealth Avenue mall at Gloucester. 3.45 Central time. Update: The Boston Globe ‏@BostonGlobe 1m Boston Police: If anyone knows of any information call about exp…

"Apparently cellphone service is SHUT DOWN! To make sure new devices are not remotely detonated!" Oh no. This has been done a lot of times recently and all it means is future devices are going to be designed to go off when service is lost. Like every time you get a text message the 10 minute "reset" button is shorted. On the bright side AT&T outages are now a feature not a bug as they make constructing and transporti…

Yeah, due to localized jamming in Iraq (for convoys, using Warlock and better), there were "increasingly sophisticated" systems.

The correct way to make the best IED trigger would be something which required an ongoing cryptographic challenge with nonce or time, so you were safe from both having your circuit cut AND from people finding/replaying your signal.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#417

Post by yew »

Duhck wrote: post #315
Osiris wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Try saying that when you are directly affected by actions like this. It is easy to stand back at 100ft and say this type of crap, but the fact is, crazy people are all around us, and we should try to be proactive instead of reactive. We as a society owe it ourselves to reflect on events such as this, and see if there was anything that could have been done to prevent it. If the answer is yes, then we SHOULD act. Does…

Please stop pretending to speak for everyone affected by this sort of tragedy. At least wait until the chaos is over to make such sweeping judgment.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#418

Post by rayiner »

agwa wrote: post #410
rayiner wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AEDPA is designed to keep people from spamming the federal courts with frivolous habeas petitions, particularly in capital cases. It has 'anti-terrorism' in the name, but it's almost entirely about the 'effective death penalty' part.[1] Among other things it's heavily focused on forcing federal courts to give more deference to state court judgments and avoiding situations where prisoners invoke minor technical violat…

Well, we're certainly going to disagree about whether the AEDPA is good law or not. I happen to think it abridges liberties, but that's beside the point. The point is that its passage was very much in response to the Oklahoma City Bombings, even if its legacy today has to do with habeas petitions. See this: " But within weeks of the Oklahoma City bombing, the Senate voted 91 to 8 to pass the Comprehensive Terrorism P…

Just because a bill is motivated by an event does not make it a "knee-jerk" reaction. There has to be some element of "poorly thought out." AEDPA is a perfectly reasonable solution to the problem it addresses.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#419

Post by zenogais »

kelnos wrote: post #80
UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it is so professional. Two explosions, within seconds of each other. And these were decently powerful too considering they had to be small enough to hide in the crowds. You might be right, but something about this just makes me thing /organised./

The precision doesn't rule out a lone perpetrator. Just because someone is "crazy" in the sense that they'd do something like this, it doesn't mean they lack the ability to make intricate plans.

Agreed. Crazy is just a dismissive term. Perfectly sane people can do things like murder other people - we have tons of them walking around today but we call them Veterans. Crazy, in this sense, should probably be replaced by societally dysfunctional.
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