Explosion at the Boston Marathon.

[Mumbles]

I've worked with security cameras quite a bit over the years, most recently a new building install in 2009. That doesn't look like any camera setup I've ever seen. I'm not saying it isn't, just that I don't think it's likely.

Maybe a forumite in Boston can confirm it, when the area ceases to be a crime scene that is.

I'm not sure why they'd need a lighting fixture there, since Back Bay streets have good lighting regardless. In fact, you can't see it in your pictures, but in google maps it's pretty clear that there's a lighting fixture right by that corner on Boylston. However, the explosion was across the street diagonally from the fixture, and I'd think that L&T would mostly be interested in people getting too close to their windows.

 

[smartcooky]

It may be both. In the second image, you see a large grey box, with what appears to be grey "Seal Tite" or "liquatite" depending on who you ask. Looks like this. http://www.cpesupply.com/default.aspx?page=item detail&itemcode=12STNM

On the right, you see a smaller box, with a white wire coming out, that is coiled up underneath the fixture, but transitions from white to black. Something like this.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...ci_sku=28590&gclid=CLKAuPzH0LYCFQStnQodPUUAtQ

The coiled up wire does not appear to be power, as that would need to be protected by some type of conduit or pipe. Data cables, not so much.

It could be just a very good camera with tilt, zoom, swivel, etc. Or, a light with a separate photo cell.....

I'd hazard a guess that it might be some kind of floodlight/security camera combination, perhaps even with a motion sensor.

Odd that the whole assembly has no cover so would be exposed to the weather.

 

[TJM]

Odd that the whole assembly has no cover so would be exposed to the weather.

Kinda essential for outdoor cameras. Just sayin.

 

[MattusMaximus]

It doesn't take a genius to make a bomb in a pressure cooker, and it's not just Islamic terrorists who read 'how to make a bomb'-guide on the internet. Terrorists, real ones or wannabes, learn from each other. Anders Breivik is a case in point.

ETA: With that said, it wouldn't be that much of a shock if this attack is linked to Islamic terrorism, but my money is still on a domestic lunatic.

This point was made on an NPR story today. Basically, they said that while groups like AQ have put up webpages instructing people on how to build such bombs, pretty much anyone can access those pages and make the bomb.

 

[MattusMaximus]

FYI concerning rumors on the bombing: http://skepticalteacher.wordpress.c...the-aftermath-of-the-boston-marathon-bombing/

 

[gerdbonk]

I wonder what the time frame was between those two shots? There are a lot fewer people in the after shot.

From that link:

The viewer who took the pictures says there may be an hour or more between when the first and second pictures were taken.

 

[Sam.I.Am]

Dunno, the news called it a trash bin and in this state mail boxes like that are all blue.

I agree about the bomb being inside the fence. I'm sure the Twitterverse will straighten out the news casters.

The green boxes are mailboxes for Mailmen. They are relay boxes so that a mailman walking a route doesn't have to a)lug a huge amount of mail or b) keep walking back to his truck for more mail. They put the sorted mail in them before they start the walk and so that way they can walk several blocks in one direction on one side of the street and then walk back to the truck on the other side of the street. They get paired up with regular drop boxes for the public because, well it's the most efficient way to do it, less stops to make you see.

ETA: You can Google Image search "us mail, relay box" and see a bunch of them. They say "Relay Mail" right on the door.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I'm not sure what you mean by that.

I meant it is consistent with the wiring of that building device. If it were a light, you'd just see wiring. But there is wiring and a cable that looks like a video cable.

Well from what I can tell from cropped picture I posted of your original image, the housings don't appear to have outdoor camera enclosures. That's the telltale sign that they appear to be light standards, not CCTV cameras. Like I said before, I'd really like to be wrong, but I think don't I am.

I agree with this, but it's possible the housing is just too blurry to see. If it's only a light, explain the wiring.

 

[PhantomWolf]

Don't know about the one on the building, but there is certainly a traffic cam attached to the traffic lights in the lower right of the image.

 

[TJM]

I meant it is consistent with the wiring of that building device.

We haven't determined what that "building device" is. Consistent with what?

Don't know about the one on the building, but there is certainly a traffic cam attached to the traffic lights in the lower right of the image.

Good catch! Hopefully it's a live feed, not just a red-light cam.

 

[AdMan]

We haven't determined what that "building device" is. Consistent with what?

I think SG is saying there are two distinct cables attached to the device, so it could be a camera (with cables for power and video), since a lamp wouldn't need two, just the one for power.

Admittedly I don't have a lot of technical knowledge in the lighting/CCTV department, so can't say for certain.

 

[quadraginta]

We haven't determined what that "building device" is. Consistent with what?

<snip>

I think triforcharity had the right idea in this post. Looking at the images you posted, there is a power feed and a coax feed to that bracket. The only need for a coax feed there would be for a camera.

There's plenty of room for both a floodlight and an exterior security cam on the one in the image you posted. The power feed could easily supply both devices.

The bracket itself isn't that significant. There are literally thousands of different types out there (without even including custom ones, which aren't that big a deal to get made for special applications.)

I've installed more than a few exterior cams which weren't much bigger than half a softball, and roughly the same shape. Here's an example.

Housing and all it could easily fit on the bracket in your photo along with a light fixture.

I can't think of any other reason to run coax into that sort of assembly, although I'm open to suggestion. I think there probably is ... or at least has been ... a camera there.

Whether or not it was working, or on at the right time, or pointed in the right direction, or storing image data. Well, those are other questions entirely.

 

[carlitos]

So all the Republics that call the Democratic Party the Democrat Party are being childish?

yes.

So
Got it. I bet Democrat Party doesn't bother you, does it?

huh? Members of the Democratic Party are called Democrats. You're acting like a child.

Who specifically here at the JREF forum are you replying to, with your childish tu quoque?

 

[AdMan]

yes.

huh? Members of the Democratic Party are called Democrats. You're acting like a child.

Some thin-skinned Democrats are offended when those on the right refer to the party as the Democrat Party, rather than the Democratic Party.

If you ask me (an avowed Democrat/lefty/commie/whatever you want to call me), it's all childish name calling.

Anyway, it's off-topic.

 

[Doghouse Reilly]

Here's a very in-depth article on the current status of Jeff Bauman, the man with his legs blown off in the graphic wheelchair photo:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51563918#.UW5MGxzz5Ld

 

[AdMan]

Here's a very in-depth article on the current status of Jeff Bauman, the man with his legs blown off in the graphic wheelchair photo:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51563918#.UW5MGxzz5Ld

Thanks for linking to this story. Here's hoping his recovery goes as well as possible. Also hope he and Mr. Arredondo, the man in the cowboy hat who immediately jumped into the middle of the carnage and helped save his life, get to meet again.

 

[Doghouse Reilly]

Here's a very interesting article about the challenges faced by the trauma surgeons upon encountering so many victims all at once with mangled limbs and blast wounds. I recommend reading both pages of the article. It talks about how some patients, upon waking up, felt extremely lucky because the last thing they remembered was seeing themselves bleeding out and assuming that they were not going to survive.

"In the moments after the explosions, some patients recalled that they “thought they would die as they saw the blood spilling out,” said Dr. George Velmahos, chief of trauma services at Massachusetts General Hospital. When they awoke Tuesday and realized they were still alive, they said they felt extremely thankful, some even considering themselves lucky, Dr. Velmahos said.

“It’s almost a paradox,” he said, “to see these patients without an extremity to wake up and feel lucky.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/u...-for-boston-marathon-victims.html?ref=us&_r=0

 

[smartcooky]

I think SG is saying there are two distinct cables attached to the device, so it could be a camera (with cables for power and video), since a lamp wouldn't need two, just the one for power.

Admittedly I don't have a lot of technical knowledge in the lighting/CCTV department, so can't say for certain.

I don't know about the USA, but here, trunk electrical cabling is almost always white, and the large grey box on the left looks like mains junction box

Coaxial cabling can be white or black.

 

[AdMan]

I don't know about the USA, but here, trunk electrical cabling is almost always white, and the large grey box on the left looks like mains junction box

Coaxial cabling can be white or black.

In any event, it looks like camera, if there is one, is aimed pretty much straight down. Which makes sense, if the intent was to guard the store.

So it may not have captured anything important anyway.

 

[Alareth]

Coaxial cabling can be white or black.

Outdoor coaxial cabling will be black unless it's been painted over. White cables are not UV resistant.