Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line • Hacker News Board

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#481

Post by chadillac83 » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 11:17 PM UTC

RivieraKid wrote: post #453

I'm quite astonished by the disproportionate media attention and hysteria. For comparison 55 people died today in an Iraq bombing and about 80 people die every day on the U.S. roadways.

I tried explaining this to someone earlier... apparently it's not a numbers game because of assumed risk. There is little to no risk to watching a marathon, whereas living in Iraq or speeding on the highway there is implied risk.

I'm not trying to discredit what you're saying, just pointing out why people (my friend and probably a lot of others) go into hyper sensitive reactionary mode.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#482

Post by anigbrowl » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 11:18 PM UTC

krcz wrote: post #189

Do you think IRA (or one of its forks like Real IRA, Continuity IRA or one IRA extremist supporter) might have been involved? Today US supreme court has ruled to give tapes containing testimony to Irish police: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/15/ira-tapes-police-su... .

Vanishingly unlikely. Boston is full of Irish people, so for an Irish terrorist group to set off an explosion where they're more likely to injure Irish people than elsewhere makes no sense. If they were to set off a bomb in the US, which has never happened, the obvious target would be a courthouse or US attorney's office.

I'm Irish and intimately familiar with the politics of terrorism, FWIW.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#483

Post by Maxious » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 11:19 PM UTC

ConstantineXVI wrote: post #35

nwh wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strangely enough, iPhones do have an ability to receive geographic-targeted alerts like this. I've seen them used for severe weather warnings. They look like this — http://i.imgur.com/gWrDXFD.jpg

Most current (~2012) cellphones do in the US, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Mobile_Alert_System (I'm unclear on how these are delivered within the network, seems to be SMS but I can't source that)

It's SMS-CB with some magic numbers to activate the Text To Speech and alarms https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/opt/tel...

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#484

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 11:20 PM UTC

deltaqueue wrote: post #270

Slightly off topic, but is anyone else confused by the fact that several runners in this video[1] reacted to the explosion but did not turn and proceeded to keep running? These people weren't exactly leading the pack (at a 4+ hours finish time), so my guess is that they are just severely deprived of nutrients and aren't processing what's happening, but it's still a bit baffling to me why some didn't turn to see what…

[deleted]

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#485

Post by oasisbob » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 11:20 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #374

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…

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.

The AP has walked back that article -- headline now reads "Cellphone use heavy, but still operating in Boston". I don't see any note of a retraction or correction.

Anyone know of any good resources to explain when news organizations find it ethical to transparently change articles like this, and when it isn't?

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#486

Post by popopje » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 11:20 PM UTC

CleanedStar wrote: post #319

anu_gupta wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, WTF are you talking about? The Harrods bombing, the Lloyds building, Eniskillen were all aimed at civilians. Take your biased ignorance elsewhere please.

As I said, nothing was done without warning. PIRA gave more then a half hour warning before bombing Harrod's despite three civilians killed. Enniskillen was aimed at a patrol of troops. As I said, the Volunteers did not set bombs to kill civilians, warnings were given ahead of time. A very benevolent attitude I think against an enemy which invaded their country, flooded the north part with settlers, and whose army wa…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxYzQtSxoKE

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#487

Post by podperson » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 11:20 PM UTC

paganel wrote: post #395

podperson wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 scen…

> 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. And before that there were of course the Russians, where I think everything started ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_Russia#19th_centu... ): > Nechaev argued that the purpose of revolutionary terror is no…

The Russians are in fact behind everything in Conrad's novel.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#488

Post by sk5t » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 11:21 PM UTC

andreasvc wrote: post #408

illuminate wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see the point in imagining a world without psychopaths. It'd be lovely, but no amount of societal structure will ever remove them, we can only try to reach them whenever possible and lessen their influence on others.

That's a pretty cynical world view. I think a lot of bad stuff happens for reasons that could be taken away given better social structures, e.g., people who are abusive because they were abused themselves, desperation because of poverty, etc. There are probably psychopaths which simply have the genetic disposition for that, but violence perpetrated for ideological reasons is definitely something that society could ad…

Likely we can reduce the incidence of destructive acts somewhat, but it seems improbable to eliminate them entirely... with billions upon billions of humans roaming the planet, a few minds are bound to go off the rails.

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#489

Post by spitx » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 11:21 PM UTC

SODaniel wrote: post #156

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…

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…

NBCNEWS:

"Boston police say there was no specific intelligence warning of any kind of attack, and federal officials tonight say there is no reason to think that this is part of any larger threat. At this point they believe it is confined to Boston, but a meeting tonight will decide whether any kind of national alert will be sent out. There is no suspect in custody, authorities say, but some people are being questioned, including some with injuries who were taken to Boston hospitals.

  One of those, a person in whom there is some interest, is
  a young person who was here on a student visa,"

NBC reports.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOcYcEkxzvg

Update:

7:30 P.M. EST

Pete Williams (NBC News):

"Has burns and seen running from the area"

"Being aggressively questioned now."

Re: Explosions near Boston Marathon finish line

#490

Post by tomkarlo » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 11:21 PM UTC

freehunter wrote: post #46

antr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I wonder about the legal implications of providing a service like that. Lets say Facebook started an emergency alert system based on geographical data. What happens if they report a false emergency? What happens if they fail to report a real emergency? Would they be liable if they did not respond with their alerts in a timely manner? I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know, but if people came to rely on an emergency alert…

Emergency alert systems have been mandated by the federal government in one for or another (radio, TV, etc) for decades. With an increasing number of people no longer watching live TV or radio (due to DVRs and the Internet) it makes sense to mandate a new channel for emergency alerts in case of severe weather, etc., which is exactly what Congress does.

I don't think the objective is "perfect" targeting and delivery. The intent is to message as many people as possible within an affected area as quickly, as possible. IANAL, but I suspect it would be very difficult to hold companies liable if the service doesn't work properly - for one thing, it's not a service you're expressly paying them for, it's something they're doing as a public service.