Comments on: NYC FailBomb "a Rube Goldberg contraption" http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Sun, 19 May 2013 10:06:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Brillobreaks http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-777489 Brillobreaks Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-777489 Is it too early to laugh at the oversized neon yellow, blue and green children's clock that was apparently supposed to set this thing off? Is it too early to laugh at the oversized neon yellow, blue and green children’s clock that was apparently supposed to set this thing off?

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-779797 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-779797 Maby the bomb went off as supposed to. A media-fear bomb to justify the uprising police state. Maby the bomb went off as supposed to. A media-fear bomb to justify the uprising police state.

]]> By: IronEdithKidd http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-777755 IronEdithKidd Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-777755 How about "Incendiary Failure"? How about “Incendiary Failure”?

]]> By: bjacques http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-778527 bjacques Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-778527 The problem was that the the victim kept hitting the wrong note in "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms." The problem was that the the victim kept hitting the wrong note in “Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms.”

]]> By: Steven E. McDonald http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-778529 Steven E. McDonald Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-778529 My guess is that it's one-part Mythbusters Hollywood Fireball Special (but no gasoline? Shame on him, makes a less impressive fireball) and one part reading precisely the wrong part of the Anarchist's Cookbook. Even if it had, by some weird confluence of misfortunes, actually gone off, it would have produced a bit of a fireball, a bit of a bang, possibly killed anybody standing right next to it (mainly from bits of shrapnel), and blown out some windows. Oh, and left scorch marks. Given that the ones who discovered it and figured it out pretty much bolted clear of it and chased everybody else back.... On top of that, the twat also seems to have left the investigators with a couple of hundred clues. The way this has gone i wouldn't be surprised if they announce before the trial that, oh yeah, they found his wallet on the dashboard. What really amuses me is that the Pakistani Taliban is enthusiastically claiming FailBomber as their very own. This is EpicFail in and of itself.... My guess is that it’s one-part Mythbusters Hollywood Fireball Special (but no gasoline? Shame on him, makes a less impressive fireball) and one part reading precisely the wrong part of the Anarchist’s Cookbook. Even if it had, by some weird confluence of misfortunes, actually gone off, it would have produced a bit of a fireball, a bit of a bang, possibly killed anybody standing right next to it (mainly from bits of shrapnel), and blown out some windows. Oh, and left scorch marks. Given that the ones who discovered it and figured it out pretty much bolted clear of it and chased everybody else back….

On top of that, the twat also seems to have left the investigators with a couple of hundred clues. The way this has gone i wouldn’t be surprised if they announce before the trial that, oh yeah, they found his wallet on the dashboard.

What really amuses me is that the Pakistani Taliban is enthusiastically claiming FailBomber as their very own. This is EpicFail in and of itself….

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-778023 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-778023 The thing is, this is still being reported along the lines of "the bomb had the potential to obliterate all life on earth, if it had functioned as intended. Oh noes! Terror!" Does that mean that if I jam 54 smoke detectors in a small cardboard box, with an egg-timer as an initiator, and write "Nukleer Bombe" with a sharpie on the outside, then I've just become the worlds 10th nuclear power? Jon The thing is, this is still being reported along the lines of “the bomb had the potential to obliterate all life on earth, if it had functioned as intended. Oh noes! Terror!”

Does that mean that if I jam 54 smoke detectors in a small cardboard box, with an egg-timer as an initiator, and write “Nukleer Bombe” with a sharpie on the outside, then I’ve just become the worlds 10th nuclear power?

Jon

]]> By: GP http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-777517 GP Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-777517 Maybe it's a crude diversion. Meanwhile on the west coast... Maybe it’s a crude diversion. Meanwhile on the west coast…

]]> By: sfazzios http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-777520 sfazzios Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-777520 I heard that his backup plan was to have the bomb detonate when a certain choreographed dance was performed on a series of treadmills. I heard that his backup plan was to have the bomb detonate when a certain choreographed dance was performed on a series of treadmills.

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-777787 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-777787 Wasn't Waco Jim the head negotiator at the ATF's attack on the Branch Davidians down in Waco? Wasn’t Waco Jim the head negotiator at the ATF’s attack on the Branch Davidians down in Waco?

]]> By: loonquawl http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-778558 loonquawl Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-778558 2006 two guys tried to bomb a train in Germany with propane bottles. The contraption was also massively flawed. Part of the defense later built on the question whether wieldings something that cannot, by design, explode, can actually be called a bomb. They were convicted nevertheless, because, paraphrasing: 'Apart from the thing not actually being a bomb, it was a bomb, so fuck'em.' Possibly educational endeavour for law students: Try and figure out where on the scale of 'working bomb(shown because it exploded)' to 'thing that, to an untrained eye vaguely looks like a bomb, but made from the harmlessest of substances (say recyclable package-foam)' the cut-off point for 'bomb' under the law is situated... 2006 two guys tried to bomb a train in Germany with propane bottles. The contraption was also massively flawed. Part of the defense later built on the question whether wieldings something that cannot, by design, explode, can actually be called a bomb. They were convicted nevertheless, because, paraphrasing: ‘Apart from the thing not actually being a bomb, it was a bomb, so fuck’em.’
Possibly educational endeavour for law students: Try and figure out where on the scale of ‘working bomb(shown because it exploded)’ to ‘thing that, to an untrained eye vaguely looks like a bomb, but made from the harmlessest of substances (say recyclable package-foam)’ the cut-off point for ‘bomb’ under the law is situated…

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-780869 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-780869 Fail bomber is a bit ambiguos though. It could also be referring to the underpants bomber or the shoe bomber. It's more of a class of bomber. I'm liking the contraption bomber for this guy. Fail bomber is a bit ambiguos though. It could also be referring to the underpants bomber or the shoe bomber. It’s more of a class of bomber. I’m liking the contraption bomber for this guy.

]]> By: Anonymous http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-777543 Anonymous Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-777543 But Mouse Trap Never Works! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_0i5WqiIcc (Sorry, couldn't resist.) But Mouse Trap Never Works!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_0i5WqiIcc

(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

]]> By: Rich Keller http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-777802 Rich Keller Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-777802 He could have used a See and Say. "The bomb goes..." He could have used a See and Say. “The bomb goes…”

]]> By: lasttide http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-777560 lasttide Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-777560 lrn2google "how to make a bomb". Some M80s, gasoline and Miracle-Gro doesn't get the job done. Oh, since all failed bombers get laughable nicknames (eg. underpants bomber), can this guy be the "epic fail bomber"? "Times Square bomber" sounds too serious. lrn2google “how to make a bomb”. Some M80s, gasoline and Miracle-Gro doesn’t get the job done.

Oh, since all failed bombers get laughable nicknames (eg. underpants bomber), can this guy be the “epic fail bomber”? “Times Square bomber” sounds too serious.

]]> By: Huldra http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-778864 Huldra Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-778864 What seems odd is the perpetrator of this fiasco spent 5(?) months studying how to build this contraption. I offer the proposal this aspiring terrorist is a fall guy / dupe. He was never meant to succeed, he was set up. So he falls in the school of failed silly attempts, underpants, shoes, liquids, or pizza delivery. Somebody is spending lots of money and energy to sucker true believers to do something foolish. I am delighted his ploy for world destruction failed. What bothers me is the plot looks intentionally designed to fail. Are we missing something? What seems odd is the perpetrator of this fiasco spent 5(?) months studying how to build this contraption. I offer the proposal this aspiring terrorist is a fall guy / dupe. He was never meant to succeed, he was set up. So he falls in the school of failed silly attempts, underpants, shoes, liquids, or pizza delivery. Somebody is spending lots of money and energy to sucker true believers to do something foolish. I am delighted his ploy for world destruction failed. What bothers me is the plot looks intentionally designed to fail. Are we missing something?

]]> By: jackie31337 http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-778421 jackie31337 Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-778421 No, you'd have to label is "nukular bom". No, you’d have to label is “nukular bom”.

]]> By: sprockety http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-778438 sprockety Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-778438 Maybe he just saw the OkGo video. Maybe he just saw the OkGo video.

]]> By: AirPillo http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-778198 AirPillo Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-778198 <blockquote> He could have used a See and Say. "The bomb goes..." </blockquote> "The bomb goes... *pop* *pop* *fizzle*..."

He could have used a See and Say. “The bomb goes…”

“The bomb goes… *pop* *pop* *fizzle*…”

]]> By: SamSam http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/nyc-failbomb-a-rube.html#comment-778725 SamSam Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-778725 I think just the "Fail Bomber" rolls off the tongue a little easier. I think just the “Fail Bomber” rolls off the tongue a little easier.

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