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GPS Coke Can X-Rayed

carbolic writes "WiFi-Toys.com and Engadget have posted a link to X-ray images of the GPS Coke can that has security people all up in arms. The GPS Coke can looks a little bit like an IED (improvised explosive device). The PDF file posted on security company Blackwater USA's site shows several views of the can and compares it to an IED. And for thoroughness, the PDF shows a regular can of Coke X-rayed, too."

11 of 291 comments (clear)

  1. um ya by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I wonder who at Pepsi decided to run this anti-Coke campaign, mixing soda with bombs....

    I thought it was a cool idea to have a GPS in there. Guess this took all the fun out of that...Maybe ill get an even bigger surprise when i open my can of Coke tomorrow for breakfast. =P

  2. Sheesh. by The+Human+Cow · · Score: 5, Funny

    What are they worried about? Can't they just disarm the IED by tapping on the lid?

    --
    The Human Cow - bringing you scrumtrelescence since 1995
  3. Hey my car looks like a car bomb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Lots and lots of cars look like the type somebody would make into a bomb including mine. (car bombs are always made out of white vans or white sedans). I think all non bomb devices that look like they _could_ be a bomb should have a sticker on them saying "This device in not a bomb". That way, the security people would have an easier job doing what they do. Whatever that is other than complain.

  4. Re:dirty bomb by mooniejohnson · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh, you mean Diet Coke? There's a "dirty bomb" if ever I drank one...

    --

    Elmo knows where you live!

  5. Re:possible solutions by Anonymous+Writer · · Score: 1, Funny

    In Soviet Russia you don't x-ray your coke can... your coke can x-rays you!

  6. Okay I am confused. what is the point? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 3, Funny
    If security sees something they don't trust then they call the bomb experts. Simple. Better a false alarm then having a plane blow up.

    This seems to give the X-ray operators the idea that some cans can contain electronics. So all a terrorist now has to do is make his detonator be as neat as the coke can, thanks to the handy photo's and a x-ray operator will think "oh a suspicous thing oh no wait I seen that presentation this is one of them cans no need to check further".

    I wonder about the "normal" can x-ray. Why is it all orange? Can x-rays pass through aluminium but not coca cola? For gods sake what have I been drinking all this time that stops x-rays?

    So the perfect IED device is a can with a double wall, explosives inside, coke on the outside.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  7. Re:Useful Information by crazyray · · Score: 2, Funny

    you may have thought they were over-reacting, but perhaps they assumed you were running Windows ME without patches. (plase mod this funny, its a joke)

  8. Re:dirty bomb by Bi()hazard · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone who takes a look at the PDF will see there's little room for confusion between the can and the example explosives. The explosives, packed with explosive charge, contain material throughout the can, but the GPS Cokes are hollow. Actually I'm disappointed, you win the contest and you don't even get to drink a coke? sheesh.

    The controversy over GPS Cokes is just another example of our society's terror complex. It bears all the hallmarks of an unhealthy obsession that would lead an individual to a psychiatrist-not that I'd know about those-but these sorts of things tend to catch on at the societal level, as history shows us. Even though there has not been a major terrorist attack on US soil since 2001, a handful of cans of coke that could potentially look suspicious create a national spectacle. These things supposedly look like IUD's? What's the worst that could happen if an IUD ends up in the wrong place? Only minor bloodshed. Compare it to what happens in our automobiles every night. Look at the statistics sometime, and you'll realize psychology is the primary factor here-what matters is what you think about, not what actually is.

    Oh yes, that's right, the worst is as follows: The lucky contest winner has his can confiscated and destroyed as a potential IUD. He spends the night, and possibly several more nights until a court date, in a holding cell. The surrounding building is shut down, potentially paralyzing traffic in a major city in the middle of rush hour. (Yes that has happened, read down to see another poster's link about a suitcase getting lost and being "suspicous") This kind of thing has become routine, even expected in modern society. Nobody considers it an outrage when excessive measures are taken to combat an imaginary problem at great expense to society.

    We live in times when the world's most powerful nation is obsessed with the potential threat of an IUD. Are the IUD scare mongers the same ones that can't get over the horror of gay marriage and want to amend the constitution over it? They can't even accept the existence of birth control. The IUD and other "dire threats" like it have become a political tool used to manipulate the masses. You might hope that Kerry takes the election, simply so that we won't have the existing administration playing the terror card on every single issue as they have proven so fond of doing. An actual encounter with something containing an IUD might be shocking to most slashdotters, but think about why-you've never seen anything that could contain IUD. The odds are infinitesimal. Considering how little actual terrorism has been occurring in the US, clearly it's time to put things in perspective. A pragmatic foreign policy combined with old-fashioned enforcement of existing peacetime laws will be sufficient to keep order. Overreaction, fear, and excessive measures will paralyze the country, damage the economy, reduce consumer confidence, and most important of all, take a painful toll on individual Americans. This is the country of the individual, is it not?

    I'm not using an IUD. I never intend to, and I'm not going to live in fear of the consequences of IUD's. I for one refuse to live in fear of amenorrhea, irregular bleeding, cramping, partially expelled strings, and other side effects that can occur with progestin-releasing IUDs, which can be considered a frightening biological weapon. It's only frightening if you don't realize that you're a billion times more likely to die of a heart attack than an IUD.

  9. IUD - ? Intra Uterine Device ? by Gopal.V · · Score: 2, Funny
    An IUD ??

    An actual encounter with something containing an IUD might be shocking to most slashdotters, but think about why you've never seen anything that could contain IUD. The odds are infinitesimal.

    Yeah, right :) ...

    The only thing an IUD is going to kill is a few million sperm ... but a single man produces enough to fertilize all women in Europe between 18 and 35 . But what if an IED kills HIM !!! *paranoia*

    PS: how a "single" man produces sperm is another question altogether....
  10. The real purpose of this.. by wfberg · · Score: 3, Funny

    is to enable those people who encounter such "suspect" cans of soda during their routine X-ray scanning for security purposes to identify them, in order to prevent a false alarm. X-ray operators should now have no need to call in the bomb squad, they can simply confiscate the suspect can themselves, for security reasons, and activate it, for security reasons, and keep the prize themselves.

    Strictly for security reasons, you see.

    --
    SCO employee? Check out the bounty
  11. Re:Buttons by vericgar · · Score: 2, Funny

    It comes in those 12 or 24 packs of cans. You buy the entire pack and one of the cans in the box is the bomb, er winner...