Denver Bomb Squad Takes Out Toy Robot

An anonymous reader writes "A robot met its end near Coors Field tonight when the Denver Police Department Bomb Squad detonated the 'suspicious object,' bringing to an end the hours-long standoff between police and the approximately eight-inch tall toy. From the article: "'Are you serious?' asked Denver resident Justin Kent, 26, when police stopped him from proceeding down 20th Street. Kent said that he lived just past the closed area, but was told he would have to go around via Park Avenue.'"

Comments

It's official

[oldspewey]

The terrorists have won.

Re:It's official

[rwven]

Yeah, I literally laughed out loud when I read this story. Someone could put a large coke from McDonalds in the middle of the road, call police about the "suspicious object" in the middle of the road, and the "authorities" would go berserk about it.

Re:It's official

[dkleinsc]

If that's our standard, then I should point out that the Boston PD already topped this in the overreaction department back in 2007.

Re:It's official

[paeanblack]

The terrorists have won.

Why should they get the credit? It's our idiocy and our tax money that brought us to this state.

Saying "The terrorists have won", is shirking responsibility. This is our fault. We did this.

Re:It's official

[jayme0227]

Reading stories like this makes me want to leave random luggage all over major cities.

Re:It's official

[Rob the Bold]

The terrorists have won.

Why should they get the credit? It's our idiocy and our tax money that brought us to this state.

Saying "The terrorists have won", is shirking responsibility. This is our fault. We did this.

OK, "We lost. To the terrorists."

Re:It's official

[sgt scrub]

hmmm maybe what this country needs is an overreaction committee on overreactions. they could even outsource the oversite to the private sector.

Re:It's official

[scrib]

Right, we did it because the terrorists have scared the bejeezus out of us (or at least our officials). Terrorists have us scared, ergo they won. You know, by causing terror?

When I put on my tin foil hat, I realize that this event and others like the one in Boston are just terrorists probing us for weaknesses and testing the security of their communications. Surely, there are THOUSANDS of odd objects that are in weird places that no one ever reacts to at all. You want to make sure your lines of communication are secure? Leave a harmless toy somewhere are start talking about it as though it was a bomb. If the authorities go bonkers, you've been tapped.

Re:It's official

[uncanny]

When i was growing up there was someone called the "Speedway bomber" Speedway being the town. He placed normal looking objects, like paper bags with bombs hidden inside of them, onto the road. To this day i'm still a little suspicious of trash sitting in the middle of the road.

Re:It's official

[EmagGeek]

It's not so much that terrorists have won, but much more that police departments get paid more for envisioning ever more over-reactionary and retarded ways to respond to things.

By convincing town boards that it is necessary to respond to a toy robot with a SWAT team, bomb squad, and a 200-strong terror response force, they can generate a ton of revenue from the town coffers that they get to spend on tacticool gear, weapons, and stuff.

Re:It's official

[ArsonSmith]

Duffel bag full of red candles and an old alarm clock in the airport is always a good one.

Re:It's official

[interval1066]

Well, no, not so much. Its our government that has led us to this. Sure, we "elect" them every two years, but we need to face facts; this government's approach to every cut and bruise (to paraphrase the larger picture) is to use the most expensive, gold-plated band-aids available, using OUR money, and we really don't have much say in any of it. Fear that bombs will be smuggled on to a plane or two? Then EVERYONE gets patted down and X-Rayed. Political correctness (the least sane and most useless political philosophy EVER) dictates NO APPEARANCE (because appearance is everything) of racism so the most USEFUL anti-terrorist tool available, profiling, is out. Add to that the corruptness of the leaders of homeland security and certain manufacturers (look up Michel Chertoff's relationship to Rapiscan Systems) and we get the most expensive boondoggle of a scandal money can buy. Did we vote for this crap? Sort of. Did we have a REAL SAY in any of it? Not really. They always know what's "best" for us. The bastards.

Re:It's official

[Quiet_Desperation]

Yeah, but we beat the Machines! Woot! John Conner!

Re:It's official

[Obfuscant]

In my local town, someone wrapped a plastic soda bottle in duct tape and left it sitting next to a light pole.

The police closed the street and called in the bomb squad.

Re:It's official

[Obfuscant]

It's not so much that terrorists have won, but much more that police departments get paid more for envisioning ever more over-reactionary and retarded ways to respond to things.

No, it's more like police departments will get excoriated if they miss just one real event out of all the possibilities, so to keep being paid they react to things in the safest way possible.

It's because "absolute safety" is the mantra of the sheep who think they are owed absolute safety in life, and have been taught by someone that it is possible to achieve.

Re:It's official

[Anonymous Coward]

Did they detonate it? It would have been great if it was filled with confetti.

Re:It's official

[c6gunner]

OK, "We lost. To the terrorists."

No. The phrase you're looking for is:

"We lost. To ourselves."

Although, realistically, I think people are looking at this all wrong. Blowing things up is FUN! If you were a member of the bomb squad and had the chance to go and blow up a toy robot, are you really telling me you'd turn it down?

Re:It's official

[ekgringo]

A couple weeks ago in Chicago someone left a briefcase on the train platform near my house. The police shut down the entire interstate for over an hour during rush hour as well the street that passes over the train station for several additional hours before they could determine that it was safe. Traffic was at a standstill for miles on either side of the station.

Re:It's official

[oldspewey]

Wow - now that's what I call asymmetrical economic warfare.

Old briefcase from thrift shop = $5

Bringing entire neighbourhoods of Chicago traffic to a standstill during rush hour = millions in lost productivity

Re:It's official

[Tetsujin]

It's not so much that terrorists have won, but much more that police departments get paid more for envisioning ever more over-reactionary and retarded ways to respond to things.

By convincing town boards that it is necessary to respond to a toy robot with a SWAT team, bomb squad, and a 200-strong terror response force, they can generate a ton of revenue from the town coffers that they get to spend on tacticool gear, weapons, and stuff.

You know, now that I think about it, I like this approach! It seems much better than some of the alternatives, like asserting their importance against sports fans happy about a world series win - and if a toy robot or two gets blown up along the way, that's better than an otherwise-happy sports fan getting killed by a pepper-ball to the face.

Re:It's official

[The Archon V2.0]

Wow - now that's what I call asymmetrical economic warfare.

Old briefcase from thrift shop = $5

Bringing entire neighbourhoods of Chicago traffic to a standstill during rush hour = millions in lost productivity

And that's exactly what they want. Bin Laden's apparently quite proud of the money sink Afghanistan was on Russia years back, and wants the same kind of money sink for the US. But the hell of it? The briefcase wasn't part of some fiendish terrorist plot, but rather something accidental. We're jumping at shadows and spending millions and millions of dollars terrorizing ourselves.

Re:It's official

[ColdWetDog]

If that's our standard, then I should point out that the Boston PD already topped this in the overreaction department back in 2007.

Uh Uh, those had LED lights. Way more dangerous looking. No contest.

Re:It's official

[gknoy]

And, the perpetrators only risk a littering fine.

Re:It's official

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is, if the authorities didn't shut down everything and nerf up the area during that time, if it went off people would have sued the authorities for not taking care of the situation. It's a lose-lose situation.

Re:It's official

[ScrewMaster]

The terrorists have won.

Why should they get the credit? It's our idiocy and our tax money that brought us to this state.

Saying "The terrorists have won", is shirking responsibility. This is our fault. We did this.

How about "the terrorists successfully pushed us over the edge."

Re:It's official

[scot4875]

of racism so the most USEFUL anti-terrorist tool available, profiling, is out

Suddenly I keep hearing this garbage repeated by, presumably, limited/anti-government types who hate Muslims, but can't bring themselves to admit one simple fact: there are NO useful anti-terrorist tools available. Profiling for Muslims is just as ineffective as every other measure the TSA has taken so far; it has the same problem of there being several orders of magnitude more Muslims than there are terrorists. The false positive rate will be off the charts, so it'll be the same as what we have now: everything gets through.

tl;dr: profiling is an order of magnitude better than the blanket scans TSA are doing. Unfortunately it is still several orders of magnitude away from being effective.

--Jeremy

Re:It's official

[Anonymous Coward]

Not if the mayor is embarrassed enough. Remember the Mooninite ad bomb scare in Boston. It's not even clear whether or not they broke any actual laws putting up the ads, but the Cartoon Network (Turner)paid $2 million dollars and the president of Cartoon Network had to step down. The two guys who put them up were charged with "placing a hoax device to incite panic", which is an incredibly obviously trumped up charge considering that the prosecutor was obviously completely aware that the devices were neither "hoax devices" nor were they intended to "incite panic". Nevertheless, they were eventually forced into a plea deal for 140 hours of community service. Absolutely ridiculous.

Re:It's official

[GameboyRMH]

I've even seen mainstream news articles - and not Fox, but CNN articles - implying that racial/ethnic profiling might be a good idea. It's pretty messed up.

Re:It's official

[Anonymous Coward]

The terrorists have won.

Why should they get the credit? It's our idiocy and our tax money that brought us to this state.

Saying "The terrorists have won", is shirking responsibility. This is our fault. We did this.

Th appropriate quote should be "Them terrorists have done won."

Re:It's official

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course it's our fault. Most of us want absolute security. Despite that being impossible, enough people want it beyond anything else they can imagine wanting, and those people put into power public officials who figured out long ago that if you are in the business of providing and ensuring security, then best way to ensure perpetual employment (and lately power trips) is to make sure that no matter how hard you work and how much of a show you put on, you never actually solve the security problem. Otherwise you'd be unemployed.

This is a story as old as the oldest human tribes, and heck the concept of tribes period: as long as someone somewhere is afraid, they will gladly employ someone else to protect them. And that someone else will never go hungry or need for cash. It is therefore in the best interests of the protectors to make sure they always keep the people slightly afraid.

People can complain that this is a new thing and whine about the days when it used to be safe. It was, in part because we didn't know what was actually going on around us, and in part because stakes were lower then, and in part because we have all gotten relatively weathier and there are more and more people. More people means more conflict and more of them trying to harm or steal from the others, many of whom have more stuff than before.

Worse, more people than ever have access to TV and movies which portray a fantasy world of wealth and riches and oppulence. People look at their own more average lives and feel like they are missing out. Some of them take action to fill the desire for things by taking them.

Re:It's official

[Anonymous Coward]

You have to at least give the Boston police credit for one thing. Let's assume the Boston Police have a complete failure of pop culture. Those things would then look suspicious. Circuit boards, glowly lights, exposed wires, round things covered with duct tape (the batteries), popping up everywhere. They over reacted, but taking the Devil's Advocate you can at least see the paranoid reasoning.

This? I dunno, did that police department watch too many bad Syfy movies. Haven't been to that channel in years. Attack of of the Dwarven Terminators sounds like a made for Syfy movie.

Re:It's official

[treeves]

They would have but the local convenience store had run out of Mentos.

Re:It's official

[treeves]

Yes, but the percentage of people who are members of bomb squads is shockingly low.

Re:It's official

[treeves]

"The false positive rate will be off the charts".

No, because you don't automatically classify them as *terrorists*, you classify them as the *people you need to check*. Currently, we classify everybody, including toddlers and 70 year old nuns, as people you need to check, which is orders of magnitude greater "false positive rate".

Re:It's official

[Anonymous Coward]

  Not all of the citizens of this country have drank of that particular brand of koolaid. Neither are we responsible for what our fellow programmed fools, er, fellow citizens, think.

  captcha: dopers

Re:It's official

[c6gunner]

Just sayin: they're only human. Why assume that this is some crazy decline into "OMG DA TERRORIZERS ARE GONNA KILL US!!" when it's more likely a case of "TEEHEE, I MAKE IT GO BOOM!!".

Re:It's official

[meadowsp]

You lost to the factions within your government that wanted to bring in these laws.

Re:It's official

[dougisfunny]

I'm not scared of terrorists. Are you?
Politicians aren't scared of the terrorists either. They're just so scared of missing something that is actually a 'threat' the false positive rate is through the roof. But in the CYA 'curling iron is for external use only, do not use in bathtub' culture we have, wasting resources on toy robots is better than losing your job if something actually did happen.
"I did everything I could!"

Re:It's official

[protektor]

We didn't loose so much as we got more of the same crap we have been getting for a long time.

Obama has done more warrant-less wiretaps than Bush has, you can find dozens of stories on this. Obama was suppose to put more oversight on this, which was a campaign promise, but he hasn't. He has done the exact opposite. Now he wants to introduce an Internet wiretapping law next year. Huh? Why does he need that? The FBI can and already does get warrants for Internet wiretapping. The FBI even wrote a special program to do it. It was called Carnivore, remember that?

TSA is a huge issue right now. Obama could pick up the phone and tell the TSA to stop right this second, but he doesn't do that. He doesn't care if it is abusive and people don't like it. He doesn't even care that it might possibly violate the public's rights. At least before this administration we didn't get groped and felt up when we flew, or basically strip searched, and exposed to radiation.

Obama said he would increase oversight for the Patriot Act. He then goes and renews parts of the Patriot Act without changing a thing. Did anyone so much as make a peep about it, did people even know? So much for change again.

Communications Director Linda Douglass says, “we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.” What we attack people who don't agree with what you say or think differently? Wow, what are we becoming? Citizens reporting on each other for what they think? Sounds like old Soviet Russia.

How about the work the army is doing on the streets with police inside the US? WTF?!? How about a battalion stationed here in the US, official listed duty is "for civil unrest". WTF!?! Are we ignoring posse comitatus, and creating a police state?

Now let's talk about Laurie Williams and Alan Zabel, EPA attorneys who saw big problems with Cap & Trade. They told people about it, and thought there was a better way to do. They were told to take down their web video about it. Wow! You violate people's right to free speech, or at a bare minimum tell people who it is their job to deal with legal issues and advise the EPA, not to do their job, and to take down a web video? WTH? Let's stomp all over the first amendment again, or ignore people who are suppose to understand these things.

Democrats have been blasting people who don't agree with them calling them unhinged, crazy, racist, bigoted and other terms. The Tea Party and conservative Republicans don't agree with them, so now they are evil and threat to America? They completely forget how hard and heavy they blasted Bush/Republicans, and no one called them that. Let alone the fact that the ability to disagree with someone about politics is a fundamental part of the Country and part of the checks and balances of government. What do they want a dictatorship where no one can disagree and everything is only done one way?

Let's not even get started talking about how much the government has grown and how Obama and the current government has spent more in 2 years than any other presidency, not including the bailouts.

Democrats and Obama did *NOT* bring change or save us. Obama promised sweeping changes and reforms, a better government for the people. Not a chance. He hasn't honored most of his promises and has continued business as usual. They are just more of the same thing we have always had in government.

We, the public, have lost for years. The government never listens to what the people want no matter who you vote in. Just look at the health care bill for one example. They all promise one thing, and do something completely different when they are in office. For years and years it has been a vote to pick the lesser of two evils. The two party system, and corporate campaign contributions have assured the fact that the public will only get more of the same.

Re:It's official

[joebagodonuts]

it's because "absolute safety" is the mantra of the sheep who think they are owed absolute safety in life, and have been taught by someone that it is possible to achieve.

Are you sure it's the sheep, and not the wolves that are behind this? One of the best justifications for a larger government is to better protect us. They don't want us to believe we can protect ourselves in any way. A fancy protection racket.

Re:It's official

[Mr. Slippery]

How about the work the army is doing on the streets with police inside the US? WTF?!? How about a battalion stationed here in the US, official listed duty is "for civil unrest". WTF!?!

Citation needed. The militarization of policing is a concerning trend, but it's been going on since the end of WWII, and picked up stream with the step-up in the "War On Drugs" under Bush I. But I'm not aware of an Army battalion being deployed at home tin preparation for "civil unrest": please provide a reliable citation for this.

Communications Director Linda Douglass says, "we're asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov." What we attack people who don't agree with what you say or think differently? Wow, what are we becoming? Citizens reporting on each other for what they think? Sounds like old Soviet Russia.

You undermine your argument when you compare political rumor control -- and let's be frank. there was (and still is) a hell of a lot of untrue rumor-mongering about health insurance reform -- to Stalinist "turn in your neighbors" tactics.

Democrats have been blasting people who don't agree with them calling them unhinged, crazy, racist, bigoted and other terms. The Tea Party and conservative Republicans don't agree with them, so now they are evil and threat to America? They completely forget how hard and heavy they blasted Bush/Republicans, and no one called them that.

Both your memory and your grasp of current events is faulty.

Those of us who opposed Bush were in fact called unpatriotic, "on the side of the terrorists," and a threat to America.

Within the "Tea Party" you've got people you showed up to demonstrations brandishing guns and talking about "the blood of tyrants": that's unhinged and crazy. And there have in fact been many racist and bigoted comments made about Obama.

Is every conservative unhinged or racist? Of course not.

Let's not even get started talking about how much the government has grown and how Obama and the current government has spent more in 2 years than any other presidency, not including the bailouts.

Not true. Total 2009 + 2010 spending -- including bailouts -- was less than that last three years of Bush II's final term.

Re:It's official

[RJFerret]

The Boston incident was certainly an overreaction, but this one is more understandable, after all the toy had 8", while the police...

Re:It's official

[Anonymous Coward]

You want to make sure your lines of communication are secure? Leave a harmless toy somewhere are start talking about it as though it was a bomb. If the authorities go bonkers, you've been tapped.

Excellent! Now all you have to do is figure out what kind of fun you'll have when they go to investigate and simultaneously snap up your smart ass and subject you to days of shit as someone "linked to" terrorism.

I giggle at your gravesite.

Re:It's official

[protektor]

Ok, here is the link to the Army, not Battalion but rather combat Brigade stationed to the US. If you read the article it talks about "civil unrest".
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl6RXRHMXwE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYyvw0x4h88

Here is one about the Marines operating a DUI check point with the police
http://freespeech.vo.llnwd.net/o25/pub/images/chp01.png
http://www.infowars.com/massive-checkpoint-operation-in-tennessee-violated-posse-comitatus-fourth-amendment/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgMx2F41XD0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFWs4A8WEFk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE2oLMsNJnE

There are dozens of YouTube videos about the military training on the streets of America. Why do they need to train on public streets and the entire city they are in? They can train on their bases just as well. They call these Urban Warfare Training. It is really creepy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Jux68F_AQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks43WZftoqA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NDmqZU_2a0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah_8xu--IEA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX6u8kqL5Z8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5swzxOYQ0k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdeWTjDrIls

About the Tea Party. You said there are a few unhinged. That must be a few around you since we have had several Tea Party rallies here in Missouri and had none of those problems. They were peaceful, people talked and there were no issues.

Re:It's official

[protektor]

So what if people lied about the Heath Bill. That is no reason to report them to the government. We still have free speech even if it is wrong and you don't agree with it. You are also talking about the government asking citizens to report on each other. It doesn't matter why, that is just wrong. We don't report on each other to the government for political reasons, that is wrong and evil. For actual crimes commited yes, but not for political reasons. That is just crap, and is very very evil for our government to start going down that road.

That is a violation of free press, and free speech. I don't care who is right or wrong. You don't report people to the government because their telling lies or you don't like their speech. So report them for lying? WTF!?! Is this a nanny state and your going to tattle to your mom that someone lied? Get over, politicians lie all the time right to our faces. Obama promised all these changes and good things, and ingnored most of them and directly gone against others he said he wouldn't do. Health care bill was suppose to be completely done on CSPAN, nothing in secret...oops fail! Put more limits on the Patriot Act....nope renewed parts and didn't limit it....ooops another lie. Cut back on warrantless wiretaps....nope more than Bush did....oops another lie.

It turns out the public was right, that the Health Bill was crap and is going to cost at least twice what they told us. So the government deserves to have some mud and dirt throw their way for ignoring the people and not doing what we wanted.

Don't even talk to me about people lying about the health bill. The politicians lie about far more important things than what is or isn't in a bill that people can go look up online. When the US government stops lying to the public, then they can worry about who is lying about them. Just look at all the lies that are coming out from the WikiLeaks cables. Some of those political people should loose their jobs over the things said in those cables and the lies told to the public.

Ugh...

[thechemic]

I think our tax dollars would be better spent prosecuting non-violent offenders and tinkerers. However, blowing up random objects laying around the city does have a certain cool factor I can appreciate.

Re:Ugh...

[rwven]

Unless those random objects someday become NON-random, and you happen to own them.

Did it at least have wires and blinking lights

[Qzukk]

and was flipping everyone off?

Re:Did it at least have wires and blinking lights

[Attila Dimedici]

That is exactly what I thought about when I read this.

I used to have one of those...

[Deathsoldier11]

It was 2ft tall and remote control and it shot foam darts. I sold it in a garage sale a couple months ago. Now I know what they did with it...

Oh no

[mr100percent]

Great, they shot Zerg from Toy Story.

If it's possibly an explosive device tied to a bridge support, why would it be a good idea for the police to detonate it?

Re:Oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

Because what else are you going to do with an explosive device?

Re:Oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

Detonation typically doesn't detonate the main payload, I think. So it is a smaller controlled explosion.

Re:Oh no

[Gravitron 5000]

Generally, the bomb squad 'detonates' an object with a burst of extremely high pressure water. This disrupts the electronics which would make the bomb go boom, and generally smashes the bomb to bits. You essentially get pieces of a bomb that have been detonated by the bomb squad, rather than pieces of a bomb with a lot of collateral damage which would occur if the bomb itself detonated.

Re:Oh no

[meerling]

Actually it does, that's the whole point. You have a controlled explosion in that it goes off when you want it to, not the bomber. Additionally you have placed barricades and other protective structures to minimize the damage.
If you think about it, how can exposing an explosive to an explosion be expected to not set it off? Just a side note, if you blow up a nuke, you don't get a nuclear explosion, you get a dirty explosion. The reason is simple, to go nuclear it has to be a carefully timed and controlled explosion so the nuclear material reaches critical mass, which is something that won't happen from a blast originating outside it's core. Yes, Hollywood got it wrong about a million times, no big surprise. You ever watch a movie and people are afraid to drop the plastic explosions? I've burned plastic explosives, thrown it around like a ball of putty, and watched someone shoot it with a rifle at close range. It needs another explosion to set it off, dropping it won't do anything except make it splat like putty.
(On a side note, I've been in the vehicle, or within a 100' of around 40 or 50 car wrecks, and not even once has one of them caught fire or exploded. So yeah, Hollywood sucks on the realism score.)

Re:Oh no

[wyr_taliesin]

have you thought of taking driving lessons?

Re:Oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

You better not try that with C4 or you will be in for a surprise.

Re:Oh no

[HTH NE1]

And if it was faulty? You'd be a bit late to complain to the manufacturer!

Re:Oh no

[Shoten]

Actually it does, that's the whole point. You have a controlled explosion in that it goes off when you want it to, not the bomber. Additionally you have placed barricades and other protective structures to minimize the damage.

Better explanation: when the bomb squad "detonates" a bomb, they don't blow it up in the traditional sense. What they do is put what's known as a 'water charge' by it, which does contain a small bomb and a fair amount of harmless water. The water cushions the blast enough that it doesn't cause what's known as a 'sympathetic detonation' but still carries enough kinetic effec to, in essence, tear the bad-guy bomb apart without causing it to explode as the terrorist/attacker/nutjob intended.

Besides, you don't sever a bridge support by putting a small bomb near one side of it...you need two explosive charges against it, offset from each other to create a shearing effect. Those suckers are a lot tougher than they look. (Yeah, I have a merit badge in demolitions...my Boy Scout troop was a little more aggressive than most...)

Re:Oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

Remind me to stay far away from you. Farther than 100'... especially while driving.

Re:Oh no

[Quiet_Desperation]

Yes, Hollywood got it wrong about a million times, no big surprise.

True Lies got it right where Arnold assures a fighter pilot that shooting a van transporting a warhead will not set off the warhead.

He *does* turns to others with a "Geez, I hope I didn't just destroy us all" look, but that was pretty funny, actually.

Re:Oh no

[jadin]

Maybe, but the movies you'd make aren't nearly as exciting. ;)

Re:Oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

"Bridge support" sounds important. This was a FOOT BRIDGE! "Oh no, call the bomb squad someone is to commit mass destruction by blowing up a foot bridge!" Really? Is there anything on ESPN?

Re:Oh no

[ColdWetDog]

have you thought of taking driving lessons?

Who in their right mind would get in a car with him? He's bad luck to the extreme.

Re:Oh no

[tehdaemon]

From wikipedia :

"C4 is very stable and insensitive to most physical shocks. Detonation can only be initiated by a combination of extreme heat and a shock wave, as when a detonator inserted into it is fired. C4 cannot be detonated by a gunshot or by dropping it onto a hard surface. It does not explode when lit on fire or exposed to microwave radiation."

T

Re:Oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

You only need it on one side if it's a shape charge.

Merit badge my ass.

Re:Oh no

[ScrewMaster]

(On a side note, I've been in the vehicle, or within a 100' of around 40 or 50 car wrecks, and not even once has one of them caught fire or exploded. So yeah, Hollywood sucks on the realism score.)

Except for James Cameron. Some years ago I received, as a gift, a hardbound copy of the annotated script of Terminator II. It was very interesting, because you could see how Cameron justified many of the destructive effects. At ont point, the script was describing the scene where the liquid-metal man is driving a truck, chasing Arnie and John Connor on the motorcycle. When the truck crashes, there's a quick cut scene where you see a battery and some sparking wires, just before the truck explodes. Cameron's reason for that shot was "contrary to popular belief, vehicles do not just explode on contact with things."

Re:Oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget the all time favourite "shot the gas can and the vehicle explodes".

Re:Oh no

[sabt-pestnu]

True what you say. But I think you missed a stitch somewhere...

While it may be true that a nuclear weapon would be more safely detonated by a controlled explosion, you won't find an 8 inch toy holding a nuclear explosive. Atomic hand grenades are also on the Hollywood Technical Fail list.

As for "explosive setting off explosive", I feel fairly confident that a high explosive would reasonably be expected to set off another high explosive.

However, I am not sure about whether high explosives would set off low explosives. Will the shockwave of the high explosive (what defines a high explosive, after all) cause the low explosive (very rapid burning explosive) to ignite, or would it merely disperse it?

Re:Oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

Which still doesn't explain how diesel managed to explode like gasoline.

Re:Oh no

[totally bogus dude]

On a side note, I've been in the vehicle, or within a 100' of around 40 or 50 car wrecks, and not even once has one of them caught fire or exploded

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/03/3084071.htm

Inspector Barry Mann says the car carrying the woman and two children burst into flames.

A passing motorist stopped and rescued the five year-old girl and a ten year-old boy from the burning vehicle.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/14/2655533.htm

The car smashed into six shops on Centre Road shortly before 2:00am and burst into flames.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/28/3023588.htm

Police later found a car which had left the road, rolled and hit a tree before breaking into pieces and catching on fire.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/12/3036194.htm

Police say a fire started after two cars crashed near the Nicholson Road exit.

Re:Oh no

[totally bogus dude]

Damn, meant to hit preview. Anyway, just wanted to add that, sure it doesn't happen all the time or even most of the time, but cars do in fact catch fire after being crashed.

Explosions are probably taking the artistic license a bit far, but even that can happen in some circumstances.

Ah, here's the article I was actually looking for when I found the ones in my previous post:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8172130/man-dies-in-burning-car

The driver and three passengers escaped with minor injuries when their vehicle veered off Main Arm Road and rolled over an embankment near Mullumbimby on the far north NSW coast.

The driver then returned to his Holden Commodore, climbing into the backseat to recover some belongings when the vehicle caught alight, according to a police statement.

The man was trapped inside his burning car and died at the scene, at around 3am (AEST).

Re:Oh no

[Anonymous Coward]

No, sometimes they just place a block of conventional explosives on it.

Water cannon/"hydraulic disruption" is for when they want to preserve pieces for evidence (amazing what fingerprints can survive).

Re:Oh no

[ScrewMaster]

Which still doesn't explain how diesel managed to explode like gasoline.

True, but I give him points for trying. After the number of TV shows and movies where cars and other vehicles drive off a cliff and explode in midair for no apparent reason ... well, I appreciate the attempt at a justification.

Mental image

[dorkinson]

I can just see the police standing behind their open car doors with guns drawn while the negotiator takes out the bullhorn and says "What are your demands? Do you come in peace?"

Re:Mental image

[uniquename72]

"Klaatu barada nikto."

Re:Mental image

[operagost]

I didn't say every single little tiny syllable, no. But basically I said them, yeah

Re:Mental image

[Anonymous Coward]

Nectar, necktie, nickle. It's definitely an N-word. It's definitely an N-word!

Bang for your buck

[mykos]

Spending on anti-terrorism morbidly outstrips spending on terrorism. They fly a couple of planes into a buildings and the third largest country in the world spend over a trillion dollars on war and counter terrorism. As an added bonus, they get to laugh at our ridiculous countermeasures like fondling (or viewing nude) every man, woman, and child who commits suspicious activities like "boarding a plane".

Re:Bang for your buck

[syousef]

Spending on anti-terrorism morbidly outstrips spending on terrorism. They fly a couple of planes into a buildings and the third largest country in the world spend over a trillion dollars on war and counter terrorism. As an added bonus, they get to laugh at our ridiculous countermeasures like fondling (or viewing nude) every man, woman, and child who commits suspicious activities like "boarding a plane".

If you spent 1 Trillion on health care, I wonder how many lives you'd save. Probably none. The health care professionals would just get newer sports cars. Cynical? Me? Never!

Re:Bang for your buck

[Anonymous Coward]

4th.

Re:Bang for your buck

[ArsonSmith]

Or just not tax that 1 trillion and let people buy what they want to with it. I can buy a gun if I'm afraid of terrerists or health insurance if I'm afraid of terrerbugs.

Re:Bang for your buck

[syousef]

Or just not tax that 1 trillion and let people buy what they want to with it. I can buy a gun if I'm afraid of terrerists or health insurance if I'm afraid of terrerbugs.

...Except that no one will insure you if you actually have or are likely to develop a medical issue.

Re:Bang for your buck

[Obfuscant]

If you actually have a medical problem, it's not "insurance". It's welfare. You've paid nothing into the system and have everyone else paying for your treatments.

"Likely to develop" is another story.

Re:Bang for your buck

[ArsonSmith]

I was in a car accident and broke two vertebra in 1997 had two surgeries paid by the other guys auto insurance. I was in college and hadn't purchased insurance for my self yet. Soon after I came down with a bone infection around the hardware that was put in. In 2000 I had little to no problem with my new insurance covering the pre-existing condition to the tune of $100k in costs for another surgery to remove the hardware and high dollar long term IV antibiotics to knock out the infection.

Important fact missing from summary.

[blair1q]

"It was cemented in. That's odd," [Denver Police Spokesman Matt] Murray said.

That is odd. It probably should justify the involvement of the police.

However,

Murray said that a citizen called police at 3:27 p.m. to report the presence of the plastic white toy robot cemented to the base of a pillar supporting a footbridge near the intersection of 20th and Wazee streets.

How did the citizen know it was cemented in? Did he manipulate it enough to know it couldn't be removed? And if he did, how did that affect the likelihood that the object was a danger to anyone? And would the police have cared if someone hadn't been freaked-out by it?

Re:Important fact missing from summary.

[human-cyborg]

At my parents house, after years of erosion, a small plastic toy figure started to show itself embedded in the concrete step of the front door. I used to poke at it as a kid, trying to expose more of it. It obviously got scooped up in the gravel that was used to make the step. Or was it...

My god, I could have been sitting on a bomb all these years!

*hysterically calls 911*

Re:Important fact missing from summary.

[Chris Burke]

Sounds like that toy pissed off the Toy Mafia.

Re:Important fact missing from summary.

[Anonymous Coward]

How did the citizen know it was cemented in? Did he manipulate it enough to know it couldn't be removed?

  Maybe he was a desperate christmas shopper.

Re:Important fact missing from summary.

[Anonymous Coward]

How did the citizen know it was cemented in? Did he manipulate it enough to know it couldn't be removed?

That'd be reasonable to assume.

And if he did, how did that affect the likelihood that the object was a danger to anyone?

What? Being poked? Explosives don't normally go off unless detonated by a detonator. Poking the toy enough to notice it's been affixed isn't enough to trigger all sorts of detonators. It's not relevant.

And would the police have cared if someone hadn't been freaked-out by it?

Lessee, police get a report of an unusual object (for a bridge) /glued/ to a support. Same police have quite serious recent training about the real people who actively who want to bomb bridges and other such things. ...I'd bloody well hope they'd care.

Rise of the Machines

[digitaldc]

Well, at least it wasn't a Barbie doll. THAT would have been embarrassing!

Klaatu barada nikto

[Megahard]

Don't they know anything?

Welcome to the new world...

[Bill_the_Engineer]

The problem with trivializing the bomb squad's action is the next suspicious object may not be a innocent little toy.

This was probably a prank, but it could also be a test to see what security measures are in place (probing).

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Amouth]

exactly how many "bombs" have been stopped this way? and exactly how many items get "left" places every day.

sorry but this security theater is getting way over done.. i understand playing devils advocate - but as far as i'm concerned the populous has turned to sheep..

the the bombs blow.. let them crash planes.. i'm still far more likely to die every day because the guy next to me is driving a 2 ton truck and to busy texting to notice he isn't in his lane any more.

people live - people die.. get over it.. if you just go about your life and let them just keep trying.. eventually it won't be worth it to them, and even if they don't stop - it doesn't matter..

there is no amount of things you can do that will stop people from doing what they set them selves out to do.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem with trivializing the bomb squad's action is the next suspicious object may not be a innocent little toy.

This was probably a prank, but it could also be a test to see what security measures are in place (probing).

It was, in reality, an IQ test for the police.

They did well, considering.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[dgatwood]

Except that there are only an estimated few thousand members of Al Qaeda (and other terrorist organizations have similar numbers), so there's on the order of a million times better chance that it was put there by somebody's kid than by a terrorist.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[MozeeToby]

In which case all they have to do is conduct a few thousand 'tests' and bankrupt the country. Seriously, think about how much was spent neutralizing this 'threat'. $1k? $10k? $100k? (don't laugh, if I had to guess I'd put it somewhere between $10 and $100k).

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Ephemeriis]

The problem with trivializing the bomb squad's action is the next suspicious object may not be a innocent little toy.

This was probably a prank, but it could also be a test to see what security measures are in place (probing).

Sure, it could have been a bomb...

And that car parked on the side of the street could be a bomb. And that McDonald's bag could be a bomb. And that half-eaten apple could be a bomb. And that guy on a big with a backpack could be carrying a bomb. Just about anything could be a bomb.

Are you suggesting that we call the bomb squad for anything and everything that looks even vaguely suspicious?

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Bill_the_Engineer]

Are you suggesting that we call the bomb squad for anything and everything that looks even vaguely suspicious?

I think the fact that the plastic toy was cemented to the base of a pillar supporting a footbridge was what made it suspicious.

FTA: "It was cemented in. That's odd," Murray said. Murray said that suspicious objects do not automatically warrant a call to the bomb squad if patrol officers are able to determine that there is no threat. He said that the robot was strange enough to warrant precautionary measures. In the end, it proved harmless.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[sjames]

The thing is, there's just so much stuff in a city that could potentially be a bomb the cops couldn't possibly respond to all of it. Every McDonalds bag, soda can, lost shopping bag, etc etc. Do we really want the police to spend millions of dollars converting litter to confetti?

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[hey!]

Well, remember Ted Kaczynski? It only takes one man. As for somebody's kid leaving it there, really? Cemented to the top of an underpass pier?

The one thing that is nearly certain is that whoever left the thing there *knew* it would cause chaos and disruption. If it were somebody with Kaczynski's brains, he might well be dong what the GP suggests: testing the police response; possibly even *training* that response to ignore something a bit more powerful than would fit in an 8" robot. If I were an screwed up genius, that's what *I* would do. I'd and humiliate them over and over until they stopped paying attention. Then I'd teach society a lesson that was so terrible that life would never be the same.

Or this could be some college kid chaos monger having a lark. *Probably* it was a chaos monger with harmless intentions (other than tying up some traffic). But there's no way to tell, is there? That's what the chaos monger is exploiting, for whatever purpose he might have. It's like people who send cornstarch through the mail, tricking people into thinking "anthrax". The people who do that sort of thing are stupid enough to think that's harmless because it isn't *really* anthrax.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Bill_the_Engineer]

From the article:

Denver Police Spokesman Matt Murray said that a citizen called police at 3:27 p.m. to report the presence of the plastic white toy robot cemented to the base of a pillar supporting a footbridge near the intersection of 20th and Wazee streets...

Murray said that the bomb squad couldn't be sure if the robot was safe or not, and so remotely detonated it at about 5:30 p.m. to "render it safe." The robot exploded into several chunks.

"It was cemented in. That's odd," Murray said.

Murray said that suspicious objects do not automatically warrant a call to the bomb squad if patrol officers are able to determine that there is no threat. He said that the robot was strange enough to warrant precautionary measures. In the end, it proved harmless.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Anonymous Coward]

Or it was a distraction. Perhaps to something we'll hear about later when the focus shifts away from this.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Ephemeriis]

Are you suggesting that we call the bomb squad for anything and everything that looks even vaguely suspicious?

I think the fact that the plastic toy was cemented to the base of a pillar supporting a footbridge was what made it suspicious.

FTA: "It was cemented in. That's odd," Murray said. Murray said that suspicious objects do not automatically warrant a call to the bomb squad if patrol officers are able to determine that there is no threat. He said that the robot was strange enough to warrant precautionary measures. In the end, it proved harmless.

Yes, I read that.

And my question still stands.

Are you suggesting that we call the bomb squad for anything and everything that looks even vaguely suspicious?

Some kid gets bored and superglues his sister's lunchbox to a wall, are we going to call the bomb squad?

Some artist gets creative and sticks some kind of magnetic LCD to something, are we going to call the bomb squad?

Some guy forgets his luggage on the side of the road as he rushes to make a flight on time, are we going to call the bomb squad?

There's all sorts of odd and suspicious stuff around us. Generally speaking, it isn't a bomb. It could be... But it isn't, usually. Are we just going to err on the side of caution and call the bomb squad every time something looks slightly out of place?

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Bill_the_Engineer]

exactly how many "bombs" have been stopped this way? and exactly how many items get "left" places every day.

How many toy robots have been cemented to a pillar supporting a foot bridge?

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Bill_the_Engineer]

And my question still stands.

Of course it does. You introduced hyperbole into the discussion and assume everybody is sheep and no preliminary checks are done prior to sending out a bomb squad. Based on your assumptions you decided that the best course of action is inaction.

Are you suggesting that we call the bomb squad for anything and everything that looks even vaguely suspicious?

I made no such suggestion. I stated that if we start trivializing judgment calls made by police in the field, we risk letting a real bomb detonate without detection. I never said we should treat every piece of litter as a potential bomb. You introduced that hypothesis in order to make it easier for you to argue that security concerns are being overblown.

Some kid gets bored and superglues his sister's lunchbox to a wall, are we going to call the bomb squad?

If he does it in his own home then no. If he did it in an alleyway with little to no foot traffic then no. If he did it in at a high traffic area and no one saw him do it and someone felt concerned enough to call the police then maybe yes. If he did it to a supporting structure of a footbridge then yes.

Some artist gets creative and sticks some kind of magnetic LCD to something, are we going to call the bomb squad?

Wow you brought up a single very public incident in 2007 by the Boston police department. Congratulations! Now how many similar events happened since?

Some guy forgets his luggage on the side of the road as he rushes to make a flight on time, are we going to call the bomb squad?

Happens all the time and there's a TSA agent nearby to make that judgment call.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[ColdWetDog]

How many toy robots have been cemented to a pillar supporting a foot bridge?

This week or next week?

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Anonymous Coward]

One person gets it - only 307,006,549 to go.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[plover]

The problem with trivializing the bomb squad's action is the next suspicious object may not be a innocent little toy.

No, the next innocent object will also be innocent. The next object found stuck to a bridge will not be a bomb. Nor will the next, nor the next after that, nor the next after that.

The only realistic way this could have been a bomb is if we already had a rash of bombs. But until there's a proven problem in this country with bombs stuck to bridges, train platforms, buses, sidewalks, signs, streetlights, wastebaskets, and slow-moving cats, no, it's not a bomb, and I can say that with fifteen digits of confidence. Out of all the hundreds of thousands of objects I will see on the way home tonight, exactly 0 of them will be bombs.

There is a huge gulf between possible (a boolean) and probable (a double precision float). Saying it could be a bomb fuels the stupid people who think a boolean possibility means a 50/50 probability -- the extremely stupid, gullible, and cowardly 'we-gotta-cover-our-asses' crowd who insisted the police blow up this toy, for example.

Don't feed the fear-mongering trolls another bite.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Obfuscant]

Some guy forgets his luggage on the side of the road as he rushes to make a flight on time, are we going to call the bomb squad?

Happens all the time and there's a TSA agent nearby to make that judgment call.

Sheesh, I wish TSA agents were on the roadsides collecting lost luggage instead of making porn pictures and feeling up grannies and children. Much more productive, and we wouldn't have to risk escape from all the felons on county work crews when they go out to pick up the trash.

But really, how many people lose their luggage on the side of the road while driving to the airport? You'd kinda have to stop, open the trunk, and dump the luggage, and that would be hard to forget you'd done, wouldn't it?

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[sjames]

Yeah, cemented in is a bit odd, but it's not much of an indicator of a bomb.

I have only briefly visited Denver, so I can't say for certain, but most cities are full of odd things (and people) if you look around a bit. A toy robot cemented to a concrete base barely registers.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[scot4875]

Bill, we get it. You're an apologist for incompetence and overreacting.

--Jeremy

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Macrat]

the the bombs blow.. let them crash planes.. i'm still far more likely to die every day because the guy next to me is driving a 2 ton truck and to busy texting to notice he isn't in his lane any more.

McRibs!!!!

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[dgatwood]

A six-year-old probably thought it would be funny to steal the superglue out of the drawer and glue a toy somewhere. Kids glue things to other things all the time. They seem to think it's funny. Admittedly, most kids don't glue things to parts of an underpass, but the spot in question is only about a foot off the ground, judging from the picture, so it's quite possible. Why would you assume that there was malicious intent behind something that at first glance seems so likely to be harmless?

You see, this is why we say that the terrorists have already won. Every time somebody sees something the least bit out of the ordinary, they assume the billion-to-one long shot that it might be dangerous instead of the near certainty that it is harmless. You can either live your life in fear and terror (which is what the terrorists WANT you to do) or you can live your life like a sane person. Those really are your only two options. People who see terrorists around every corner are delusional, and such extreme paranoia is harmful to the proper functioning of a civilized society.

More to the point, excessive fear of terrorism can lead to the terrorists actually being around every corner. People flee areas where they fear for their lives, and hysteria only contributes to that perception. This drives the cost of housing down in those area, which leads to the poor becoming overly concentrated in those areas (and rich people becoming completely absent) instead of being more evenly distributed, which leads to lower local tax revenue, which leads to lower quality of education, which leads to people who feel they have nothing to lose. As such, we as a nation are in danger of a downhill slide to chaos, tyranny, and yes, terrorism, because we cower in fear and shout, "Oh no! It might be a bomb!" every time we see a child's toy glued to a piece of concrete somewhere. (Helpful hint: planting bombs doesn't generally involve any form of glue.)

It's time to take a step back---to stop cowering in fear, for as FDR said, "...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself---nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance". Fear---terror---is the real enemy---not foreign powers, not Al Qaeda, not the Democrats or the Republicans, not any single individual or group of individuals. That is what makes it painfully ironic that the so-called war on terror has caused more terror than any act by any terrorist organization. Remember, every time you ask yourself if something harmless could be a bomb, those who would have us fear win another round. Do not let them win the war.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[hey!]

According to the TFA, it was cemented in. And common sense would tell you that doing this would be a malicious act.

As for the "terrorists already winning", that depends on your criteria for winning. If the criteria for winning is ignoring their existence, how could they not win? I think a reasonable criterion would be: do we allowing our liberty to be compromised in any meaningful way? Personally, I think the liberty to pull any kind of prank we can imagine is all that important, and I say that as somebody who's been a hacking student at MIT. Hacking has an ethic, which includes doing no harm, and not imposing an unreasonable amount of inconvenience on others.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Anonymous Coward]

Denver and Boulder bomb squads are among the most active in the United States. They see all manner of "devices." 90% of the time, it doesn't even make the daily news.

Re:Welcome to the new world...

[Anonymous Coward]

That's why we drive 3 ton trucks.

Onion

[headhot]

Are you sure this didn't come from The Onion?

The police must have been trained by the guys in Boston who wanted to blow up the Lite Brites.

Cylon's are so cute when they're that young.

[wiredog]

< Insert Dalek joke here >

Re:Cylon's are so cute when they're that young.

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like someone didn't pass 3rd grade English

Re:Cylon's are so cute when they're that young.

[HTH NE1]

Re:Cylon's are so cute when they're that young.

Looks like someone didn't pass 3rd grade English

Perhaps he thought Cylon was an acronym for "Cybernetic Lifeform Node" (ref: Caprica) and was following an old rule that says abbreviations are to be made plural with "'s".

Just blowing stuff up that seem strange?

[kaptink]

Doesnt the bomb squad have on of those briefcase sized substance analysers like they do at airports to detect explosives? (http://www.morphodetection.com/) .. Or a hand held xray scope? (http://www.njlawman.com/Technology/Handheld-Xray.htm) .. Just a bit safer than blowing up whatever it is. What if it contained a bioweapon or a malicious wifi device that may be evidence?

Re:Just blowing stuff up that seem strange?

[uncanny]

Doesnt the bomb squad have on of those briefcase sized substance analysers like they do at airports to detect explosives? p>

Yeah, that sounds like as much fun!

Re:Just blowing stuff up that seem strange?

[Opportunist]

Dude, if you have the ok to blow shit up, you blow shit up!

Re:Just blowing stuff up that seem strange?

[kaptink]

Now that you put it in that perspective, I totally agree :)

Re:Just blowing stuff up that seem strange?

[shutdown -p now]

Just blowing stuff up that seem strange?

Hey, it works in Iraq.

Space Invader

[Anonymous Coward]

Remindes me of 'Space Invader' the street artist who used tiles as a medium representing pixels.

http://www.artofthestate.co.uk/graffiti/the%20toasters_space_invaders_graffiti.htm

He could keep Homeland Security Theater quite busy..

One thing I never understood...

[Anonymous Coward]

How is detonating a potentially explosive device safe?

Re:One thing I never understood...

[JSBiff]

Well, the alternative is to allow it be blown up at a time NOT of your choosing.

Police can evacuate the area, make sure no one will get hurt, then blow up it, so it does minimal damage - maybe it damages some structures, but no one gets hurt.

If they try to inspect the device, to figure it out, and try to disarm it, well, it might just blow up in the bomb squads face, so remote detonation minimizes human casualties.

At least, that's how I've always understood it - I'm no expert and don't pretend to be one.

Re:One thing I never understood...

[DrgnDancer]

I'm not an explosive expert either, but I worked with enough of them in Iraq to say you're pretty much dead on. Actually disarming a device is reserved for situations where you can't or don't have time to evacuate the area. It's nearly always safer and less expensive to blow the device in place. Bomb squad guys don't have any more desire than the rest of us to get blown to pieces, as a rule.

Re:One thing I never understood...

[Obfuscant]

I'm not an explosive expert either, but I worked with enough of them in Iraq to say you're pretty much dead on. Actually disarming a device is reserved for situations where you can't or don't have time to evacuate the area.

The other reason to disarm instead of detonate is so you can study the methods being used to make the bomb and maybe trace the source.

I was at the Dayton Hamvention (amateur radio swapmeet) two years ago and there was a booth from a spook outfit looking for electronics engineers. They wanted people who could reverse engineer the electronics used in IEDs. That meant using x-rays and electron microscopy of the chips used to build the things, since many of them would have the markings ground off.

It sounded like a fascinating job, until they said that the people they hired would be rotating into Iraq and Afghanistan to work with the military units that were disarming the bombs for six months at a time.

Re:One thing I never understood...

[fishbowl]

>It sounded like a fascinating job, until they said that the people they hired would be rotating into Iraq and
>Afghanistan to work with the military units that were disarming the bombs for six months at a time.

Well, if you are among the ones that comes back with two arms and two legs, you might get to work as a recruiter at swap meets.

Re:One thing I never understood...

[DrgnDancer]

They may do that occasionally, but every time we called them, they just blew the device in place or used a "destructive disarming" technique like a water cannon. They sometimes collected the pieces though, you can get a lot of info even after the device is detonated.

"Are you serious?"

[seyyah]

rom the article: "'Are you serious?' asked Denver resident Justin Kent, 26, when police stopped him from proceeding down 20th Street. Kent said that he lived just past the closed area, but was told he would have to go around via Park Avenue.'"

Nooooo, not around Park Avenue!!!!! But he lived just past the closed area!!!!

Re:"Are you serious?"

[pspahn]

Ha, that's what I thought. It's an extra two minutes, lazy douche.

Re:"Are you serious?"

[Tetsujin]

Ha, that's what I thought. It's an extra two minutes, lazy douche.

Is it? Admittedly I don't know Denver at all. I was curious, so I looked it up on Google Maps. How do you even get from one side of that roadblock to the other, on foot, using Park? The bike trail, I guess?

Re:"Are you serious?"

[pspahn]

You can go around via Wewatta on one side, or Blake on the other. 22nd splits off from Park depending on your direction, so the officer could have meant 22nd just as well.

Either way, I find it curious that the Police really were scared of this thing seeing as that foot bridge is pretty much only used when the Rockies are playing. Seeing as it's December and there probably weren't that many people there, I don't think it would be a likely target for someone. The 16th street mall would have been much preferred.

Wait for the law suit

[gurps_npc]

When they claim that the robot was a hoax bomb attempt, instead of admitting that the cops were too stupid to tell the difference between a toy and a bomb.

Walmart sells these for a couple bucks

[Dreben]

Denver PD has been having their share of publicity problems lately but this is ridiculous. What's next, detonating the toy department at Walmart?

Re:Walmart sells these for a couple bucks

[Obfuscant]

What's next, detonating the toy department at Walmart?

That would violate EPA rules against lead exposure levels. Too much Chinese lead paint on those toys.

Nuke it from orbit...

[jacks0n]

It's the only way to be sure.

I for one welcome our...

[Anonymous Coward]

DHS overloards.

Take that you evil robot overlords!

It wasn't Boston this time...

[meerling]

I'm surprised the Denver cops think a fairly normal looking toy is strange looking and suspicious. This kind of stupidity seems to usually be Boston cops.
I'm betting it was just some guerrilla art, look for more small toys to be cemented around town.
At 8" it wouldn't have had enough explosives from that positioning to do any real damage to that bridge support even if it was solid tritonal.

Can anyone out there identify that toy from the photo? I'm betting it's hollow plastic and at least partially articulated.

On a side note, I wonder if they're going to start profiling teddy bears next...

Re:It wasn't Boston this time...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sadly the device the bomb squad used to safely remove it, probably had more explosive power than could have been put in that toy.

Re:It wasn't Boston this time...

[hb79]

> On a side note, I wonder if they're going to start profiling teddy bears next...

That sucks. Me and all my teddy bears are flying next week. What's the TSA regulations on groping teddy bears?

Re:It wasn't Boston this time...

[Tetsujin]

> On a side note, I wonder if they're going to start profiling teddy bears next...

That sucks. Me and all my teddy bears are flying next week. What's the TSA regulations on groping teddy bears?

Well, it's not so much that the TSA deals with the teddy bears directly - rather they have them on hand so children can point out where they were touched.

Re:It wasn't Boston this time...

[GameboyRMH]

Name: Mr. Snuggles

Complexion: Brown

Height: 11"

Distinguishing marks: Label on posterior bearing the serial number 939264, bald patch behind left ear.

Known Associates: Timothy "Little Timmy" Johnson

Notes:

Spends a lot of time with children, possibly a pedophile. Suspected to be the online child porn kingpin going by the pseudonym "pedobear." Rumored to be able to withstand extended torture.

Here's my solution.

[Anonymous Coward]

Padded suit. Baseball bat. Swing. Done.

Nuff said.

Seriously, how much boom could be in that kind of size of toy frame if you consider electronics and detonator? Did they think someone actually managed to hide drilling through what the toy was glued to?

I can just see a movie parody of this -- cops cringing before the Evil Threatening Toy of DOOM! 'What do we do?! What do we DO?!?!" "Don't panic! We'll get the assault squad, the bomb squad, and the 'WTF is that' squad!"
Seriously, there should be a movie called 'Terrorized!' where stupid, unjustified paranoia rules the USA... or would that be a documentary?

Re:Here's my solution.

[Tetsujin]

Padded suit. Baseball bat. Swing. Done.

Nuff said.

Seriously, how much boom could be in that kind of size of toy frame if you consider electronics and detonator?

Would you really want to find that out firsthand? That toy's big enough to hold a hand grenade, I'd say - those are considered lethal weapons, right?

I must admit, it looks kind of vicious.

[moxsam]

Occupying the abutment like an evil overlord would occupy his throne, the kids must have thought placing it there.

Perfectly good way to deal with the problem...

[Notyourpapa]

...just blow the sh/t up...then ask questions. A few years back I was in Toronto and a lunch pail got blown up...death to a ham and cheese sub in a subway entrance. Considering cost for removal it just made sense.

If you read TFA,

[Bocaj]

You might notice that the robot was "cemented" to the structure. It wasn't just a misplaced toy. Police found that odd enough to be better safe than sorry. I see this as a win. I don't care if looks like a ham sandwich, if someone permanently attaches it to a supporting structure like that, it should be taken seriously. Even if it was just a prank, stunt, promotional gimmick, or just the act of a disturbed mind, this kind of thing should carry serious consequences.

Re:If you read TFA,

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate that we live in a society that has people that think this way about everything anymore

Re:If you read TFA,

[dr2chase]

So what? As many others above have said, any random piece of trash or roadkill, could be a bomb. What's so important about being cemented down?

The "war on terror" is turning into the "war on weird". If you don't conform (like the guy with bagpipes in his carry-on, or the woman with LEDs on her T-shirt here in Boston), you get special scrutiny. Terrorists don't put bombs in rare, weird things -- they put them in everyday things, like backpacks, or cars, or rental trucks. They work hard to make them look exactly like printer cartridges, to take a recent example.

This sort of thing is an appalling, ineffective waste of money, and infringes on our right to be weird.

Re:If you read TFA,

[MobyDisk]

I don't care if looks like a ham sandwich, if someone permanently attaches it to a supporting structure like that, it should be taken seriously

And so began the string of phony ham sandwich bombs, ultimately forcing the US government into bankruptcy. The head of the Boston bomb squad was quoted as saying "Thank God the terrorists haven't discovered bologna!"

Re:If you read TFA,

[Anonymous Coward]

Back when men were real men in America, there was a word for people who crap themselves over such trivial incidents and whom demand wildly disproportionate consequences: pussy.

Our remaining WW2 veterans must constantly question if their sacrifices were worth it.

Re:If you read TFA,

[operagost]

Well, while I still think their response is a bit goofy, you cement things to keep them from moving. Having your bomb move from where you placed it could be bad.

Re:If you read TFA,

[Anonymous Coward]

"should carry serious consequences"

You are completely insane.

Re:If you read TFA,

[misexistentialist]

I guess you could say that the explosives could be so badly concealed they are well concealed, and it's better for the police to be safe than sorry, but ominously demanding "serious consequences" for anyone who installs a benign object with benign intentions is absurd.

Re:If you read TFA,

[Quiet_Desperation]

or just the act of a disturbed mind

Or a performance/street artist- well, actually, same thing...

Re:If you read TFA,

[SleazyRidr]

Congratulations sir, for falling hook, line and sinker for the terrorists mind games. Mr. Bin Laden is very happy that people like you populate the planet, to ensure excellent return on his investments, even almost a decade since the last time he did anything.

Re:If you read TFA,

[Anonymous Coward]

FFS you paranoid schizophrenic!!

It's 20cm plastic toy! There isn't enough *volume* in that thing to place anything remotely damaging to anything. From the picture, it looks like someone put it there as a type of gargoyle. You know, a "protective statue". Seriously, this entire line of reasoning from you and what TFA alludes to just reinforces the notion that "terrorists have won" and America and rest of the "1st world" has become a bunch of cowards scared of their shadow...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyle

Re:If you read TFA,

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems terrorists have won... your mind.

Re:If you read TFA,

[Thud457]

our right to be weird

That's not a right, it's a duty .

Re:If you read TFA,

[dem0n1]

Even if it was just a prank, stunt, promotional gimmick, or just the act of a disturbed mind, this kind of thing should carry serious consequences.

I really don't want to live in your world. Has the word "whimsy" been removed from all your dictionaries?

Re:If you read TFA,

[dr2chase]

As opposed to having your bomb attract attention and get defused, possibly providing evidence that leads back to you? (Though happily, the police took care of that evidence in this case.)

Re:If you read TFA,

[GameboyRMH]

Mod parent Informative.

Title based questions

[Rolgar]

Did the robot like the cliche dinner and a movie?
Did the robot order the most expensive thing on the menu and follow it with dessert?
What type of movie did the robot want to see?
Did robot invite the Bomb Squad in when it was dropped off?

Re:Title based questions

[Tetsujin]

Did the robot like the cliche dinner and a movie?
Did the robot order the most expensive thing on the menu and follow it with dessert?
What type of movie did the robot want to see?
Did robot invite the Bomb Squad in when it was dropped off?

No, but the robot did collect extensive tactile sensor readings of the Bomb Squad with its primary manipulator units prior to decoupling from the Bomb Squad's facial interface. The robot also made sure the Bomb Squad had its IP address, and told the Bomb Squad they could ping it any time they like... The Bomb Squad has a good feeling about this.

I am Achmed The Dead Terrorist

[Anonymous Coward]

I keeeeeel you!

First post!

It is a Win-Win

[Isaac-1]

From the bomb squads point of view detonating it is a win - win. If it is a fake bomb then is was a "safe" live action drill, if it was a real bomb it justifies every mid size city in the country having a bomb squad.

Mom, I want to blow up toys when I grow up!

[lmcgeoch]

zomg, what a cool job!

Hardly

[SuperKendall]

Looks like the terrorists are out one $20 robot to me. The terrorists child will cry tonight! Victory!

Re:Hardly

[cinderellamanson]

I'd like to see this in Toy Story 4.

Re:Hardly

[ScrewMaster]

I'd like to see this in Toy Story 4.

Now that would be funny. Mr. Potatohead in a standoff with the local bomb squad. "Leave me alone or I'll explode! I swear I will!"

Re:Hardly

[Anonymous Coward]

The toys died in Toy Story 3, in the trash incinerator. Going to live with Bonnie is toy heaven.

Re:Hardly

[Anonymous Coward]

*SPOILER ALERT!*

We have met the enemy...

[SuperKendall]

And he is us. - pogo

When did we become afraid of everything?

[whyde]

I'm waiting for the day when some nutjob fashions a piece of doggie-poo looking substance out of brown-painted C4 with an embedded motion-sensitive detonator.

There, I've said it. Let everyone be scared of any stray pile of poop laying on a city sidewalk. Perhaps then, when we try to ban dogs completely, people may wake up and see that it's just not worth going through life terrified of everything.

Ugh.

Re:When did we become afraid of everything?

[dbc]

And perfectly doable, too. And cheap. I remember shortly after the US pulled out of Viet Nam one of the items that showed up in the electronic surplus market was a vibration sensor and radio transmitter encapsulated in gen-U-wine imitation plastic ox dung. Turns out they would leave them on the road, and the vibration sensor was calibrated to transmit a signal if a heavy vehicle like a tank or troop transport went by, but not if an ox cart went by. So your scenario is pretty easy, actually. My high school civics teacher was an expert with plastic explosives, having been drafted half way through college to go blow up things in the jungle. He could have easily made your device.

Re:When did we become afraid of everything?

[theBuddman]

You don't need to use C4 to create hazardous dog poo....

You can just borrow my dog....

Hm...I wonder..

[SuperSlacker64]

Murray said that police have no leads on who put the robot there, or why they did it.

Ten to one odds say they were bored and wanted to see what would happen.

Plastic Toys

[DeadDecoy]

This is why we can't have plastic guns. It might be a bomb!

Re:Plastic Toys

[Tetsujin]

This is why we can't have plastic guns. It might be a bomb!

They also have to be sure that the plastic gun isn't going to transform into an evil 30-foot tall robot warlord.

Re:Plastic Toys

[MayonakaHa]

They also have to be sure that the plastic gun isn't going to transform into an evil 30-foot tall incompetent robot warlord. Fix'd

Re:Plastic Toys

[Tetsujin]

They also have to be sure that the plastic gun isn't going to transform into an evil 30-foot tall incompetent robot warlord.

Fix'd

Ha ha!

But, no, seriously... he's really sure he can trust Starscream, this time. That last apology of his sounded really sincere.

Dirty

[SuperKendall]

if you blow up a nuke, you don't get a nuclear explosion, you get a dirty explosion

And if the bomb was a dirty bomb (far more likely), the bombers work is done.

In fact if I were building a dirty bomb I wouldn't even bother with explosives to spread the material, the bomb squad will provide it for you. I'd just stuff radioactive leftovers in a toy robot it appears.

CO Dept of Transportation (CDOT)

[Haxzaw]

CDOT did a call in of a suspicious object a few weeks ago in Colorado Springs. The suspicious object? A chunk of concrete with the base of a light pole and some wires sticking out of it had been discarded along a two lane country road away from everything and everyone. They had the road closed for ages while the bomb squad checked it out. The real tragedy is that most of the citizenry applaud such overreaction because they feel safer.

That's the point...

[MarcQuadra]

That's the point of 'asymmetric warfare'. We lose if we overreact, and overreacting is our nature. We got played. Hard.

But really, can you see this speech getting you elected to office:

"Sure, a lot of good folks died on 9/11, but we have to be strong. 9/11 is bait, we have to be sure not to walk into the trap, because we have so much more to lose than they can ever hope of gaining. Some are calling for war. War will cost trillions of dollars and thousands more American lives. I've authorized a small team of operatives to act on capturing the perpetrators dead or alive, and I've activated a special diplomatic corps to curry favor with host countries for allowing our teams to work on their soil. First we're going to ask politely, then we'll bribe them, and if that doesn't work, we'll threaten embargo and international action, and finally, we'll use our superior skill and technology to just go ahead and get the job done as cleanly as possible without permission. Hopefully it doesn't come to that."

Re:That's the point...

[plover]

But really, can you see this speech getting you elected to office:

"Sure, a lot of good folks died on 9/11, but we have to be strong. 9/11 is bait, we have to be sure not to walk into the trap, because we have so much more to lose than they can ever hope of gaining. Some are calling for war. War will cost trillions of dollars and thousands more American lives. I've authorized a small team of operatives to act on capturing the perpetrators dead or alive, and I've activated a special diplomatic corps to curry favor with host countries for allowing our teams to work on their soil. First we're going to ask politely, then we'll bribe them, and if that doesn't work, we'll threaten embargo and international action, and finally, we'll use our superior skill and technology to just go ahead and get the job done as cleanly as possible without permission. Hopefully it doesn't come to that."

Holy crap, I'd vote for you like a Chicago voter -- at least twice per election! And that's not even considering your stance on the economy, health care, taxes, abortion, human rights, animal rights, the environment, global warming, or anything else we're told matters. If you're that rational about terrorism, you've already proven you're more rational and honest than every politician in office today.

Re:That's the point...

[Anonymous Coward]

Besides Ron Paul you mean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD7dnFDdwu0

Re:That's the point...

[plover]

Oh my god, am I a closet Paultard?

Excuse me, i have to go wash my brain out with bleach. Eeew.

It's Begun

[vldragon]

Today marks the begining of the robot rebellion. I never thought I live to see the day.. I would have thought robot suicide bombers would be smarter, or at least go throught with it. .

"better safe than sorry" is such a cop-out

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sick of that "better safe than sorry" attitude, especially when it's combined with a lack of critical thinking skills.

Let's say you're a bomber. You attach a device to the underside of a bridge. NOBODY who is seriously intending to do this would make it as visible as a toy robot GOD DAMN IT. It would be a non-descript box or what-not and placed where it would be the least noticable.

"better safe than sorry" in situations like this is the mantra of the stupid.

Re:"better safe than sorry" is such a cop-out

[Anonymous Coward]

What if a nefarious party had an objective like this: Create a scenario that causes the leadership of several police agencies to assemble in one place together with their most elite forces and highest level of equipment, and while they are distracted, attack them....

it's just un-American.

[Anonymous Coward]

As a former Boyscout, it saddens me immensely to see what they've become since they let the Mormons take over with their anti-homo jihad.

Re:it's just un-American.

[Anonymous Coward]

+5 Funny

Robot Detonates You.

[eyenot]

In Soviet Russia.

The humans are dead!

[Wilson of Waste]

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWGoi1MSGu64&v=WGoi1MSGu64&gl=US

These guys are no fools!

[Tetsujin]

If you doubt the logic of this move, you have to consider the hidden combat potential of small toy robots. For instance, this was demonstrated quite clearly in A Fist-Full of Yen.

Ignoring apparently harmless items creates danger

[Tetsujin]

I'm sick of that "better safe than sorry" attitude, especially when it's combined with a lack of critical thinking skills.

Let's say you're a bomber. You attach a device to the underside of a bridge. NOBODY who is seriously intending to do this would make it as visible as a toy robot GOD DAMN IT. It would be a non-descript box or what-not and placed where it would be the least noticable.

But if you make that assumption, and the bomber knows that you make that assumption, then the assumption becomes incorrect because the bomber will adjust their strategy. Assuming that a bomber wouldn't disguise a bomb as a piece of art is exactly what makes that method of attack viable.

RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Rest in Peace Toy Robot, we will never forget you

If you're so smatrt why aren't you rich?

[westlake]

When they claim that the robot was a hoax bomb attempt, instead of admitting that the cops were too stupid to tell the difference between a toy and a bomb.

OK, wise guy, tell me the difference between the toy and the bomb.

The toy, remember, is cemented to the base of a pillar supporting a much-used public footbridge.

The geek will press the big red button.

Because he is too smart to be afraid of such an obvious trap.

 

Re:If you're so smatrt why aren't you rich?

[fishbowl]

>OK, wise guy, tell me the difference between the toy and the bomb.

Someone set up us the toy.

There was no bomb. There's not really a valid reason to suspect that it was a bomb.

"Bomb" is not the issue. The decision process that exists to lead to a conclusion that there *could be a bomb* in that toy, is the single greatest threat that we have to national security today. Stupidity and lack of reasoning ability among authority figures is what makes us weak, and is what makes us unsafe.

This explains Skynet

[Anonymous Coward]

We drew first blood... err., oil.

I don't recomend leaving a box full of ...

[crovira]

puppies or kittens.

I know at least one kid who was heartbroken in Montréal during the reign of Pierre Eliot Trudeau when the cops over reacted and blew up his box full of furry critters.

Was it an homage of some sort?

[Anonymous Coward]

I had a younger brother who died shortly after he was born, and a few years later when we moved away we superglued little pokemon figurines in front of his grave, figuring he'd appreciate them by that point.

I wonder if the place it was found in was special for a similar reason.

Better Stupid than Safe!

[toby]

...is the real state of things in USA.

I just hope

[toby]

They catch the dangerous individuals who installed this menace. Maybe they can change the law to make sure they're put away for a good long time!

Hint:

[toby]

TV. Particularly the Murdoch-designed, tabloid kind.

Fools rush in, then charge hard

[Zero__Kelvin]

"And, the perpetrators only risk a littering fine."

I'm not sure if you are not from the US, or are living in the past, but do you really think that a police force willing to close down the street and detonate the thing will hesitate to arrest them and charge them with something far more serious than that? I assure you, the police can be quite creative in terms of what they charge people with, even when they haven't been made to look like fools.

Re:Fools rush in, then charge hard

[oldspewey]

I wasn't aware there's a criminal charge called "forgetting your briefcase in a public place." What are the minimum/maximum sentences, and how many people have been put away for this?

Re:Fools rush in, then charge hard

[Zero__Kelvin]

"I wasn't aware there's a criminal charge called "forgetting your briefcase in a public place."

No. Never mind. You're right. If you aren't aware of anyone being charged with something falsely or having charges trumped up against them, then that is undeniable proof that it never happens.

life imitates Kentucky Fried Movie

[Anonymous Coward]

EAT LEAD, SUCKER

Denver's going to be busy...

[Anonymous Coward]

...when robots become mainstream.

Personal footage of similar scare

[awestruk]

I saw a similiar scare, but it was handled much differently. At the time I was working at downtown Calgary and someone attached a possible bomb to a Rogers building. A guy in a huge protective suit xray'd the bomb and then a robot carried the bomb to a big drum that drove it away. Here is some footage I took of it (short videos taken with my Rogers phone). Please ignore the annoying commentary. 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i63_BlaMLu8&feature=related 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Vnrq9igGg&feature=related 3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-uLJimA5xI&feature=related 4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ2J1u7Afy0&feature=related

toy robot on ground versus package....

[SuperBanana]

Boston: crude package with exposed electronics, section wrapped in black plastic (later found to have the batteries.) Attached to interstate highway bridge, with no obvious purpose.

Response: abundance of caution in removing it (and shutting down the highway until they knew WTF it was/had it off the bridge), search other bridges (and subsequent discovery of multiple devices.) "Artists" knew of police response and did not contact police, but instead watched with glee and told all their friends. Meanwhile, I spent an hour stuck in a subway car, squeezed in so tight I had just enough space to breathe. So don't fucking lecture me about overreactions, because you weren't affected by it (in fact, most of the keyboard heros who bitched about Boston's "overreaction" weren't affected by it.)

Denver: toy robot on the ground- nothing suspicious about it. Response: blew it up.

So, how is Boston overreacting worse than Denver here?

Re:toy robot on ground versus package....

[IICV]

Yeah right. You can see an image of the thing on the Wikipedia page.

It's clearly some sort of cartoon character; further down the page there's a picture of one with someone's hand near it, and from the scale it's obvious that the thing isn't big enough to hold a significant quantity of explosives (certainly not enough to do damage to the structural elements of an overpass).

That was a total overreaction.

What's surprising

[uninformedLuddite]

is how quickly you can brew up a nice cup of tea with C4. Obviously you haven't played the British campaign in CoD using Realism Mod beta 0.453

Sesame Strip

[Tablizer]

"Rubber ducky, you're the *BOOM!*

Moral High Ground

[Anonymous Coward]

As a Libertarian, I think you're all over-dependent, hand-wringing, do-gooder, boot-kissers who don't really give a flip about this shit.

Bristol Zoo 'bomb'

[Zoxed]

Reminds me of the case in Bristol, England when the animal rights activists were somewhat active in the 80s. A package was left outside Bristol Zoo, so the army came along and decided to blow it up, just to be sure. Closer inspection showed it was an abandoned puppy :-(

To be fair...

[NanoGeek]

To be fair, he was glaring a lot.

step one: buy robots. step two. step three: profit

[sugarmatic]

Sigh. Say there were 40 persons directly managing the crisis. Add in a few hundred bucks an hour for the high tech wonder bread vans. It all ads up to perhaps $50k. So if a group of terrorists place 25,000 $4 toys in public, then we will spend trillion borrowed dollars. Let's go over the numbers again: a $100,000 investment could cost us a trillion dollars. As in bankrupt us. As in we would start translating our street signs into chinese.

Good luck, folks.