Explosion at the Boston Marathon.

Biscuit said:
So now the bombs were in pressure cookers and made of smokeless gun powder (cordite?), shrapnel including nails, and a timing device.

FBI is collecting all the material and think they can reconstruct 90% or more of the bombs in ideal situations.
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Possibly they were placed on their sides to act as make-shift claymores. It would explain the lack of broken glass.

What I'm curious about is why set off bombs here but use an incendiary at the JFK library? Burning books? Perhaps I missed it, but where was the charge at the library set off? Burning books is one hell of an obvious sign that it's a political statement.
 
Polaris said:
Possibly they were placed on their sides to act as make-shift claymores. It would explain the lack of broken glass.

What I'm curious about is why set off bombs here but use an incendiary at the JFK library? Burning books? Perhaps I missed it, but where was the charge at the library set off? Burning books is one hell of an obvious sign that it's a political statement.
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It was my understanding that the library fire was unrelated.
 
Biscuit said:
So now the bombs were in pressure cookers and made of smokeless gun powder (cordite?), shrapnel including nails, and a timing device.

FBI is collecting all the material and think they can reconstruct 90% or more of the bombs in ideal situations.
Click to expand...

Pressure cooker is ideal for a conflagration explosive because yield depends on the explosive being pressurized as it burns.
 
Polaris said:
What I'm curious about is why set off bombs here but use an incendiary at the JFK library? Burning books? Perhaps I missed it, but where was the charge at the library set off? Burning books is one hell of an obvious sign that it's a political statement.
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Wasn't that fire determined to be an unrelated machine room fire?
 
The Peachtree road race in Atlanta Ga is a big event in my state and I hope nothing happens here but we may get another Eric Rudolph who is angry because theres so many gay people living here.
 
Captain_Swoop said:
On the Underground and Train Stations in the UK we get regular warning broadcasts to look out for unattended luggage.
Every now and then the Bomb Squad blow someone's briefcase or rucksack up as it has been reported.

Better to be safe when you know it's a fave method of attack and has been used regularly over the last 30 or so years.
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Some American Systems do the same...The BART system in the San Francisco Bay Area certainly does.
 
Biscuit said:
So now the bombs were in pressure cookers and made of smokeless gun powder (cordite?), shrapnel including nails, and a timing device.

FBI is collecting all the material and think they can reconstruct 90% or more of the bombs in ideal situations.
Click to expand...

Cordite should not necessarily be called gun powder although it has been used in small arms. Cordite is used in artillery pieces because it typically burns slower than gun powder allowing for larger guns. Try to build a large gun with black powder and you get a gun that blows up in your face because all of your propellant burned up before inertia was over come to get the shell moving down the barrel.

Not sure you can buy cordite in the civilian world. But more common gun powders can be purchased.

Generally you want higher explosives if you are building a bomb. Gun powder is not a high explosive but is easy to get. If the pressure cooker thing is real it might have made sense as a way to contain the pressure as it rose to try and over come the lack of power in whatever explosive was actually used.
 
skeptic ginger said:
the Republic Party ...

: The Republics
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The only thing sadder than the fact you argue like a 7 year old is the fact that you brag about it in your signature. I am so embarrassed for you.
 
Redtail said:
It was my understanding that the library fire was unrelated.
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ANTPogo said:
Wasn't that fire determined to be an unrelated machine room fire?
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It hasn't been ruled out as unrelated yet:

A fire broke out at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum yesterday afternoon just minutes after two explosions at the Boston Marathon finish line, sending black smoke pouring from the historic building and dozens of police and federal agents scrambling to find out whether the fire was connected to the Copley Square attacks.

“The preliminary investigation indicates that the incident at the JFK may not have been an explosion. It may have been a fire,” said Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis in an announcement.

Earlier in the day, Davis said investigators did not know if the two incidents were linked, but were treating them as if they were.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation last night, but police said the damage at the library may have been caused by a fire or “an incendiary” device
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http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/04/cops_probe_fire_at_jfk_library

It's probably unrelated, in all honesty. But being so close in time to the bombings has my hackles up.
 
Doubt said:
Cordite should not necessarily be called gun powder although it has been used in small arms. Cordite is used in artillery pieces because it typically burns slower than gun powder allowing for larger guns. Try to build a large gun with black powder and you get a gun that blows up in your face because all of your propellant burned up before inertia was over come to get the shell moving down the barrel.

Not sure you can buy cordite in the civilian world. But more common gun powders can be purchased.

Generally you want higher explosives if you are building a bomb. Gun powder is not a high explosive but is easy to get. If the pressure cooker thing is real it might have made sense as a way to contain the pressure as it rose to try and over come the lack of power in whatever explosive was actually used.
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Good info, thank you. Other than firecrackers and hand guns my explosives knowledge is quite limited.

They were calling it "smokeless gunpowder" which had been suggested earlier in the thread that this is generically referred to as "cordite" these days.

Gawker has some info on these types of bombs.
link
 
CNN -- Saudi man has no connection to the attack

Late Monday, authorities searched the apartment of a young Saudi man who was among the wounded at the race. He was found to have no connection to the attack.

"He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time," the U.S. official said.

A Saudi woman, a medical student who was also injured in the blast, has also been interviewed by investigators, according to a law enforcement source.
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carlitos said:
The only thing sadder than the fact you argue like a 7 year old is the fact that you brag about it in your signature. I am so embarrassed for you.
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So all the Republics that call the Democratic Party the Democrat Party are being childish? Got it. I bet Democrat Party doesn't bother you, does it?
 
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beren said:
Odd that they searched his apartment then. Not sure what to make of it.
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He was reportedly tackled by (two?) another bystander for "acting suspiciously" (ie running away from a bomb like everyone else, while Arab)

They obviously have to at least question him and a search is prudent given the circumstances. I think I read he had no objection to the search.
 
AJM8125 said:
Not enough for my liking! I commute on BART everyday. Haven't seen the bomb dogs in quite a while. Not even yesterday.
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We saw the bomb dogs searching cars in the ferry line headed to the Olympic Peninsula. It's the way one would go if they were headed to the Ferry between the US and Canada and since I haven't seen the dogs used in Seattle, I think the longer route to Canada is suspected to be a target. It would be harder to rescue people.
 
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