Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

eevblog.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 79 posts

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#61

Post by xzel »

joe_the_user wrote: post #43

Damn, I'll have to eat my words... In an earlier hn post, I actually suggested that if you use a name that's common enough, like David Fricken Jones, the US would never have the guts to flag it. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7240983 But here we are. David Jones... Not a lot of people affected by that, huh.

Between all the squabbling in this thread, your post shines through like a ray of sunlight. You don't see this type of thing often on the internet without it being faked. Life is good sometimes.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#62

Post by tobiasu »

wbl wrote: post #42
nraynaud wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And so what? some guy stabs someone with a screwdriver and the US regulate the export of them between Commonwealth countries, still without regulating the AK-47 in its own country? There is more regulation on CNC machining center than on firearms. It's stupid. The US doesn't refrain from sending hellfires missiles on weddings, which kills more surely than the once in a lifetime freak who assemble some mildly radioact…

That's because an AK-47 is an AK-47: it's not a game-changer. But a CNC machining system that lets you build silent ship propellers can dramatically change the threats the world faces.

Building a CNC machine with a regular lathe and mill may not be hobbyist level easy, but it's certainly doable by someone as rich in machining tradition as Russia.

Amusingly, the incident would also dispell the (western) myth that it takes very advanced machining technology to build a nuclear bomb. You can't have it both ways.

I suspect the real incident was the software to mill those propellers, but that wasn't on the list of illegal goods. It's one thing to have a fancy but dumb CNC machine, another to come up with a silent prop design.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#64

Post by erichocean »

rayshan wrote: post #12
danpat wrote: post #9

Export restrictions have been in place for a very long time. Another relatively well-known distributor that got bitten is McMaster-Carr, a mechanical parts supplier (with a very nice web design - http://mcmaster.com/ ). After shipping something to a location they shouldn't have, they were penalized in 2003 and they no longer ship outside the US. Which is a damn shame, because they have a great catalogue of stuff that…

Wow, you weren't kidding about the web design, even though it's extremely utilitarian, it's very fast and usability is great.

Speed is a product feature. I wish more people realized that.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#65

Post by Crito »

lgeek wrote: post #50
mrbill wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of smoke detectors use the radioactive isotope americium-241 in an ionization process to detect smoke. Get enough smoke detectors, and you can have a good amount of radioactive material. Read up on David Hahn, who hit the news in '94 for trying to build a breeder reactor in his back yard using sources scavenged from among other things, smoke detectors.

A smoke detector contains about 0.25 μg of americium [0], which is painted on the inside of a chamber. In small quantities, it seems americium dioxide can only be dangerous if inhaled [0]. According to David Hahn's Wikipedia page[1], his reactor used thorium , purified from thorium ash used in lantern mantles, and not americium. What's more, smoke detectors go straight to landfills in many places. I think it's unreso…

He was arrested again in 2007 for collecting smoke detectors to collect americium.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#66

Post by Fuxy »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #2

>>> (International customers have to fill out silly forms with US distributors and manufacturers saying we won’t use the parts in nuclear weapons – seriously) True. One of my first jobs was at a US electronics manufacturer / parts distributor. I remember we had to fill out paperwork for every export and all of our products (mainly smoke detectors) had to be classified as something to the effect of "parts that could b…

Not really that ridiculous some guy in the us actually tried doing it in his garage and got the entire house and area around it declared a radiation hazard.

He apparently died later of radiation poisoning later on because he didn't use any protective gear.

Americans tend to ban/regulate everything that ever gets misused. Soon enough they will be regulating pens since someone stabbed another person with a pen. Just like in the prisons only with slightly more liberties for now.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#67

Post by GFischer »

marshray wrote: post #53
wbl wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because an AK-47 is an AK-47: it's not a game-changer. But a CNC machining system that lets you build silent ship propellers can dramatically change the threats the world faces.

> But a CNC machining system that lets you build silent ship propellers can dramatically change the threats the world faces. Bullshit. (and yes I know about the Toshiba incident)

I didn't know about it, so I had to look it up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba-Kongsberg_scandal

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#68

Post by kasbah »

mindslight wrote: post #3

Of course they do, it's yet another chance to punish their customers. I ordered from Newark/Element14 once, doing battle with and finally prevailing over their extremely clunky online system. It took several days for my $100 order to even ship, and it eventually showed up in two gigantic boxes (a few 4ft pieces of heat shrink tubing had obviously required their own 4ft long box). The packing materials and shipping mu…

In the UK Farnell/Element14 are the best choice for components. My items always arrive next-day when ordered before 5pm and delivery is free (you have to spend at least £20 to pay by card).

The site is a lot more usable than RS-Online so I will often order from them though I have an RS trade-counter nearby. Mouser's and Digikey's sites are just as good (this is from a user perspective, from a designer's perspective they are pretty awful) but orders will ship from the US and take longer.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#69

Post by Fuxy »

handelaar wrote: post #57
lgeek wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> registration before ordering is compulsory It's mostly a B2B company, I think it's natural their website won't be optimised for other types of users. You can still add items to the basket and see total charges without being logged in. > where Visa cards are required to have start dates even though most of them don't Are you sure? I guess it could be different on your local version of the website, but it's not the c…

Very sure, since I had to report this on Thursday last. Was just about to lob in a Raspberry Pi and show you, but the World's Lousiest Ecommerce Site bounced me out completely, sent me to cpcireland.farnell.com, logged me out and now wants me to reregister there solely to show you a GIF. Sorry, but not worth it. You're just going to have to believe me.

I can confirm that Element 14 in the UK sucks.

I somehow managed to order a RPi from them a year ago without trouble but after taking more then 2 and a half weeks to even bother to ship it i just cancelled the damn thing and bought it off Amazon.

Luckily now i know of a lot more small and helpful websites that would ship stuff in a decent time frame.

Can't avoid using them for more specialized part unfortunately. Don't expect much from them though.

Re: Element 14 Holding Orders Based On US Government Watch List

#70

Post by stephen_g »

Fuxy wrote: post #69
handelaar wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very sure, since I had to report this on Thursday last. Was just about to lob in a Raspberry Pi and show you, but the World's Lousiest Ecommerce Site bounced me out completely, sent me to cpcireland.farnell.com, logged me out and now wants me to reregister there solely to show you a GIF. Sorry, but not worth it. You're just going to have to believe me.

I can confirm that Element 14 in the UK sucks. I somehow managed to order a RPi from them a year ago without trouble but after taking more then 2 and a half weeks to even bother to ship it i just cancelled the damn thing and bought it off Amazon. Luckily now i know of a lot more small and helpful websites that would ship stuff in a decent time frame. Can't avoid using them for more specialized part unfortunately. Don…

That's strange - their shipping is incredible in Australia - you order something before 6pm and it shows up by courier the next day if it's in stock (the website tells you how much of each part they have in each warehouse, and how long it would take to ship). That used to be for any price - but now you have to pay postage for orders under $50.

Before that, I once bought $15 of parts including a $6 micro controller, which was in stock in the US. I got everything else courier end the next day, and then the micro controller three days later.

You do pay for it though - you can get things half the price other places, but it's awesome for quick prototyping.

Post reply on HN