Mom Arrested After Son Makes Dry Ice "Bombs"

formfeed writes "Police were called to a house in Omaha where a 14-year-old made some 'dry ice bombs' (dry ice in soda bottles). Since his mom knew about it, she is now facing felony charges for child endangment and possession of a destructive device. From the article: 'Assistant Douglas County Attorney Eric Wells said the boy admitted to making the bomb and that his mother knew he was doing so. The boy was set to appear Tuesday afternoon in juvenile court, accused of possessing a destructive device.'" She's lucky they didn't find the baking soda volcano in the basement.

Comments

Sounds familiar.

[Leebert]

This lets me tell one of my favorite stories (which probably isn't all that funny.)

I have a friend who is a physicist. He was hanging around with his brother, who worked at a bookstore. They were doing essentially the same thing, but with liquid nitrogen, behind the store. After one particularly loud bottle explosion, they went back into the store, only to hear a loud pounding on the door shortly thereafter.

Opening the door, they were faced with a Baltimore County police officer, who demanded an explanation. My friend started to explain: "Oh, it's OK Officer, I'm a physicist..." As if that explained everything. Which, to be honest, probably does.

I make that joke more often than you could imagine at the physicists at work.

But in all seriousness, this continues what I've been calling the "war on curiosity". Recently, I accidentally picked a flight that had a stopover (that's what I get for clicking through the website too fast.) So while I was bored and waiting on the plane, I wandered up next to the front row of seats and peered into the cockpit. I was there for a minute or so, until the flight attendant came up in a fairly huffy attitude, and told me that I couldn't congregate in the front of the plane. Which was on the ground. With the engine shut off. With the wheels chocked. And the pilot sitting in his seat.

I'm afraid anymore to walk to the end of the platform and look down the subway tunnels. I'm afraid to take pictures of bridges. I'm afraid to be just plain curious, because it's apparently abnormal and suspicous. It's getting ridiculous. And it's going to come back and bite us in the butt.

Re:Sounds familiar.

[Wonko the Sane]

I'm afraid anymore to walk to the end of the platform and look down the subway tunnels. I'm afraid to take pictures of bridges. I'm afraid to be just plain curious, because it's apparently abnormal and suspicous. It's getting ridiculous. And it's going to come back and bite us in the butt.

You say this as if it is an unintended, rather than intended, consequence of how our society is organized.

Re:Sounds familiar.

[Nadaka]

The war against American intellect is not affected by any outside foreign power as far as I can tell, unless of course you count the Vatican and they are at best a minor player. No, it waged internally be people who's power base relies on people not asking questions and just doing as they are told. It is domestic conservative and religious organizations that are poisoning the American spirit and sapping the will to learn from the people.

Re:Sounds familiar.

[Bayoudegradeable]

A buddy of mine and I were doing the same dry ice thing a few years back. Just good old curiosity. What the heck is gonna happen if we drop dry ice, water and seal up the two liter? Honestly, it's a MUCH bigger bang than I would have thought. The top and fragments were sent all over the driveway. So after the third ones the neighbors called, and we realized it was time to stop : ) I do remember thinking that something like this, packed with the wrong stuff inside could cause some trouble. I guess, in a strict sense, it is a bomb after all. Side note... taking pictures of oil refineries, oil pipelines in south Louisiana (pre-spill, mind you, post 9/11) will get you harassed quickly by local law enforcement. I remember telling one officer, "You know, this used to be a free country." Instead of getting irate he began the "hey look, just doing my job" routine. He then went on to talk about all the press restrictions and lock-down procedures they have if an accident or attack were ever to happen at an oil processing facility. It's sad how much money, effort and energy is wasted on keeping us "safe" from terror.... I mean think about it; what did OBL and company spend in bringing down the twin towers? What have we spent since? What have we "gained" in the war of terror? In terms of dollars to outcome; we have lost. Terribly.

Education is dangerous

[grimsnaggle]

Society needs to figure out that it can't have it both ways. You can't desire educated kids without giving them the freedom to explore, particularly so long as the damage they do is limited to their own lives and property. Alpha double plusses require a large bottle, right?

Re:Hyperbole or stupidity

[Cookie3]

Back in 1999, a teacher at my High School was injured because a kid thought a dry ice bomb in a trash can would be a "funny" prank. I don't know how much dry ice was placed in the soda bottles -- I suspect they were 2L bottles -- but he put several bottles of dry ice in different trash cans around the school:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_19990402/ai_n11719980/

It's not mentioned in the article, but the teacher did suffer lacerations on his face -- an inch or two to either side, and he might have actually been blinded.

I don't see how you can not call it a bomb. It's a device that explodes. Improperly placed (or designed), and it can hurt innocent bystanders. Putting dry ice and water in a sealed bottle can *ONLY* result in an explosion. What else would you call it?