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."

Comments

dirty bomb

[crazyray]

it may be tinfoil-hat'ist, but couldnt a coke can be a miniture http://www.dirtybombdetector.com/ dirty coke bomb?

Re:dirty bomb

[mooniejohnson]

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

Re:dirty bomb

[Bi()hazard]

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.

Re:dirty bomb

[orthogonal]

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.

I'm not usually one to feed the trolls, but yours was brilliantly subtle.

One question: did the article originally use the acronym "IUD" (intrauterine device), later corrected to "IED" (improvised explosive device) -- and thus your post was a satire on the Slashdot editors -- or did you just count on moderators not noticing the difference?

Until I read your last paragraph, I wasn't even quite sure you hadn't made the mistake and had merely coincidently written descriptions that could apply either to IUDs or IEDs (the best of course, "An actual encounter with something containing an IUD [for those who modded the parent "Interesting": IUDs are "contained" in vaginas, or, more generally, sexually active women, so this is a slam at the stereotypical Slashdot geek] might be shocking to most slashdotters, but think about why-you've [sic] never seen anything that could contain IUD."

Admittedly, you did throw in a pretty obvious clue "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"" but one that could be conceivably seen as a Lefty Slashdotter extending (legitimately, in my eyes) a critique of the Bush administration.

Again, most trolls are a waste of time and earn their down mods, but this construction definitely deserves +5 Funny -- but not +4 Interesting (2 "Interesting"s, one Funny), which it was when I read it.

Re:IED?

[Alcohol Fueled]

Yep, its actual demolition lingo. IED stands for Improvised Explosive Device. :)

*Sigh*

[Emperor Tiberius]

Honestly. There are only a few hundred of these, and people are flipping out. Most of the things flying around are totally inaccurate. The cans come in a box, not your typical vending machine. So if companies are really security concious, they'll check employees with coke packs. Seriously though, how many people that work at those "high-level" (sic) facilities, bring 6/12 packs to work everyday.

So?

[arakon]

"It may look like a IED to a layman..."

Um so? I imagine a lot of things could look like an explosive to a "Layman". Ever seen the inside of a CRT monitor or a TV? Imagine how much C4 you could hide in that.

This is just plain silly.

Are we moving to a society that fears anything that could potentially look like a bomb to an uneducated twit?

Sheesh.

[The Human Cow]

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

Re:IED?

[volteface]

Well, here's the wiki entry for it. It's a real term. I don't know who it's used by (demolitions experts, etc.), but it wasn't made up on the spot. Whether or not it was recently coined, I don't know, but it wasn't just made up for people to "sound important".

Useful Information

[_archangel]

To some extent, I can see the usefulness of this information. Back in summer of 2000, I was setting up DSL at my new apartment, and my ISP was going to ship the DSL modem to me.

I came home from work one day to find two ambulances, two fire trucks, and a number of police vehicles throughout the fairly spread out apartment complex. Luckily, they were concentrated toward the front while my apartment was near the back of the complex. I was just able to enter my apartment without crossing the lines. On my way in, I asked an officer what was going on, and he said that there was a suspicious package that they were checking out.

After about an hour, a policeman knocks on my door and asks me to come with him. When we arrived at the center of activity, I found out that the postman had delivered my DSL modem to the wrong address. Not only had he delivered it to the wrong address, but he placed the brown box label-side down on the doorstep of a police officer's apartment. The bomb squad did not know what it was after taking the X-rays, so they fired a water bullet into it. When nothing more happened, they decided it was safe and found my address on the package and got me. One of the bomb squad team told me that they were going to circulate the X-rays because they had never seen X-rays of these things before.

When I got back to my apartment I plugged in the modem and everything worked perfectly. The modem had been double-boxed and bagged, and the outer box took the brunt of the damage.