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This Is What a Real Bomb Looks Like

Posted by samzenpus on from the go-boom dept.

szczys writes: You see them all the time in movies and TV shows, but is that what an actual bomb looks like? Probably not... here's what a real bomb looks like. This story stems from a millionaire gone bust from gambling addiction who decided to extort riches back from the casino. He built a bomb and got it into the building, then ransomed the organization for $3 million. The FBI documented the mechanisms in great detail — including the 8 independent trigger systems that made it impossible for them to disarm the thing. The design was so nefarious it's still used today as a training tool.

8 of 361 comments (clear)

  1. Looks like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    a clock to me

    1. Re:Looks like... by jfdavis668 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Looks like a classic Doctor Who villain to me.

  2. Silly story... by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Real bombs can look like anything. The ones that get the military right now look like anything from dolls to bits of debris by the side of the road. Telling people what bombs really look like is misleading. The limitations governing shape and size come primarily from the intended use: if you want to kill a few soldiers by tricking them, then you disguise the bomb to look like something innocent, hiding the trigger and explosives from view. If you want to blow up a big building at a certain time or on a certain command, then you're limited by the amount of explosive and whatever sort of elaborate trigger mechanism you want to ensure it doesn't get disarmed, can be safely transported to its deployment area, and can be activated by your favorite method. If you want to drop one from a plane, launch one from a missile, or drop one on a sub, you additionally have other problems...

    1. Re:Silly story... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I used to be a security officer and I had training on IED identification.

      You're completely correct. And that's assuming you can see the thing in the first place. Sometimes the IED winds up under something. I heard of one case where a guy lost his leg kicking an IED that was hidden under a fried chicken bucket.

      The only thing you can do is to look for something that has what appears to be the requisite components to be an explosive device.

      What people don't realize is that the easy part is making a device that will explode, the hard thing is making it explode when you want it to.

  3. Not a real story by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The PD didn't even think it looked like a bomb, that's why the school wasn't evacuated.

    Yes, it's a neat story, but no there was zero reason to tie this into recent events.

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  4. Re:More like....this by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, more like:
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi...

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  5. Re:Impossible to disarm? by medv4380 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Cutting open the case to get to the wires would have cause the aluminum foil to complete the circuit. The only option was the cut open the case and the wires simultaneously. To do that required a shaped charge. This is the only detonator that the FBI has come accost that couldn't even be disarmed by its creator for a reason. The ransom was just for the switch code to disable the tilt switch so they could move it to a safe place to explode.

  6. Re: They Never thought he had a bomb... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe the clock was the source of the alarm... ;)