GPS Coke Can X-Rayed 291
carbolic writes "WiFi-Toys.com and Engadget have posted a link to X-ray images of the GPS Coke can that has security people all up in arms. The GPS Coke can looks a little bit like an IED (improvised explosive device). The PDF file posted on security company Blackwater USA's site shows several views of the can and compares it to an IED. And for thoroughness, the PDF shows a regular can of Coke X-rayed, too."
dirty bomb (Score:4, Informative)
Re:dirty bomb (Score:5, Funny)
Diet Coke (Score:2)
I think the reason I used to hate the diet is that I
Re:dirty bomb (Score:4, Funny)
The controversy over GPS Cokes is just another example of our society's terror complex. It bears all the hallmarks of an unhealthy obsession that would lead an individual to a psychiatrist-not that I'd know about those-but these sorts of things tend to catch on at the societal level, as history shows us. Even though there has not been a major terrorist attack on US soil since 2001, a handful of cans of coke that could potentially look suspicious create a national spectacle. These things supposedly look like IUD's? What's the worst that could happen if an IUD ends up in the wrong place? Only minor bloodshed. Compare it to what happens in our automobiles every night. Look at the statistics sometime, and you'll realize psychology is the primary factor here-what matters is what you think about, not what actually is.
Oh yes, that's right, the worst is as follows: The lucky contest winner has his can confiscated and destroyed as a potential IUD. He spends the night, and possibly several more nights until a court date, in a holding cell. The surrounding building is shut down, potentially paralyzing traffic in a major city in the middle of rush hour. (Yes that has happened, read down to see another poster's link about a suitcase getting lost and being "suspicous") This kind of thing has become routine, even expected in modern society. Nobody considers it an outrage when excessive measures are taken to combat an imaginary problem at great expense to society.
We live in times when the world's most powerful nation is obsessed with the potential threat of an IUD. Are the IUD scare mongers the same ones that can't get over the horror of gay marriage and want to amend the constitution over it? They can't even accept the existence of birth control. The IUD and other "dire threats" like it have become a political tool used to manipulate the masses. You might hope that Kerry takes the election, simply so that we won't have the existing administration playing the terror card on every single issue as they have proven so fond of doing. An actual encounter with something containing an IUD might be shocking to most slashdotters, but think about why-you've never seen anything that could contain IUD. The odds are infinitesimal. Considering how little actual terrorism has been occurring in the US, clearly it's time to put things in perspective. A pragmatic foreign policy combined with old-fashioned enforcement of existing peacetime laws will be sufficient to keep order. Overreaction, fear, and excessive measures will paralyze the country, damage the economy, reduce consumer confidence, and most important of all, take a painful toll on individual Americans. This is the country of the individual, is it not?
I'm not using an IUD. I never intend to, and I'm not going to live in fear of the consequences of IUD's. I for one refuse to live in fear of amenorrhea, irregular bleeding, cramping, partially expelled strings, and other side effects that can occur with progestin-releasing IUDs, which can be considered a frightening biological weapon. It's only frightening if you don't realize that you're a billion times more likely to die of a heart attack than an IUD.
Re:dirty bomb (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not usually one to feed the trolls, but yours was brilliantly subtle.
One question: did the article originally use the acronym "IUD" (intrauterine device), later corrected to "IED" (improvised explosive device) -- and thus your post was a satire on the Slashdot editors -- or did you just count on moderators not noticing the difference?
Until I read your last paragraph, I wasn't even quite sure you hadn't made the mistake and had merely coincidently written descriptions that could apply either to IUDs or IEDs (the best of course, "An actual encounter with something containing an IUD [for those who modded the parent "Interesting": IUDs are "contained" in vaginas, or, more generally, sexually active women, so this is a slam at the stereotypical Slashdot geek] might be shocking to most slashdotters, but think about why-you've [sic] never seen anything that could contain IUD."
Admittedly, you did throw in a pretty obvious clue "They can't even accept the existence of birth control. The IUD and other "dire threats" like it have become a political tool used to manipulate the masses"" but one that could be conceivably seen as a Lefty Slashdotter extending (legitimately, in my eyes) a critique of the Bush administration.
Again, most trolls are a waste of time and earn their down mods, but this construction definitely deserves +5 Funny -- but not +4 Interesting (2 "Interesting"s, one Funny), which it was when I read it.
Re:dirty bomb (Score:3, Insightful)
IUDs are placed inside the uterus, not the vagina, dumbass. That's why they're called "intrauterine devices." Sheesh, you're proving your own case about the sexual ignorance of slashdotters.
Although I imagine placing an IUD in a woman's vagina would be very effective birth control, sex with a plastic contraction stuck in your v
Re:dirty bomb (Score:2)
its amusing that you think its a troll through a single abbreviation, perhaps YOU are the troll looking for the argument ?
Yeah, sure. Read the original post again. Aside from several sexual allusions you missed, it would be the first time that uranium released progestin.
Re:dirty bomb (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:dirty bomb (Score:2, Interesting)
A few years back, the local Dr. Pepper bottler had a contest where you could randomly win a Dr. Pepper t-shirt if you bought a can of Dr. Pepper from a vending machine. Some random cans in machines were replaced with identical-sized cans that contained a t-shirt, and 50 cents (presumably so that you could buy a real can of Dr Pepper).
The part where they screwed up is that instead of including two quarters,
IUD - ? Intra Uterine Device ? (Score:3, Funny)
An actual encounter with something containing an IUD might be shocking to most slashdotters, but think about why you've never seen anything that could contain IUD. The odds are infinitesimal.
Yeah, right :) ...
The only thing an IUD is going to kill is a few million sperm ... but a single man produces enough to fertilize all women in Europe between 18 and 35 . But what if an IED kills HIM !!! *paranoia*
PS: how a "single" man produces sperm is another question altogether....
Re:IUD - ? Intra Uterine Device ? (Score:2)
Re:dirty bomb---Thanks for info (Score:2)
---Note to self---
use shape formed plastic explosives in my coke can/beer keg bombs.
Form explosive to leave air-gaps simulating a GPS/Phone enabled coke can.
Blow shit up.
Re:dirty bomb (Score:2)
Just use the pill!
Re:dirty bomb (Score:2)
Original post:
What's the worst that could happen if an IUD ends up in the wrong place? Only minor bloodshed.
Are the IUD scare mongers the same ones that can't get over the horror of gay marriage and want to amend the constitution over it? They can't even accept the existence of birth control.
An actual encounter with something containing an IUD might be shocking to most slashdotters, but think about why-you've never seen anything that
Re:dirty bomb (Score:2)
IED? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:IED? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:IED? (Score:2)
Re:IED? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:IED? (Score:2)
Basically, the problem here is that if a "winning" Coke can is brought to any security checkpoint of any kind, the X-Ray is going to show a battery and wires conencted kind haphazardly inside something labled as a Coca-Cola can but clearly has no soda... which are exactly the warning signs for an IED.
So, what it c
Re:IED? (Score:3, Informative)
It's nothing new. Common use in the military (pre 9/11)
Re:IED? (Score:2)
Why pre-9/11? What does it mean now? Iraqi-English Dictionary?
Re:IED? (Score:2)
Re:IED? (Score:2)
http://www.google.com/search?q=ied+site%3Acnn.com
Re:IED? (Score:2)
Re:IED? (Score:2, Informative)
You ever see that piece Andy Rooney did?
(By the way, it stands for improvised explosive device)
Overloaded acronym (Score:2)
Re:IED? (Score:2)
*Sigh* (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:*Sigh* (Score:2)
Yes it's a small chance. The chance is there though and I for one wouldn't like to be in the position of having to explain it.
Re:*Sigh* (Score:2, Insightful)
I agree entirely. I know that I'd be very embarrassed if I had to explain how I didn't notice the can I packed was made of plastic and had a big hole on the side with a button in it.
Re:*Sigh* (Score:4, Informative)
When I was on SSBN 655, many folks would take a box or two of their favorite soda's to sea with them. (All we had for soda was fountain machines with generic (cola, lemon-lime, etc.) syrups. It's nice to have a taste of home when you are [mumble] feet under the North Alantic.) When I worked at TTF-Bangor, those of us in the Weapons Training Dept kept a refrigerator stocked with soda because that was cheaper than buying from the machine.
Re:*Sigh* (Score:2)
That brings back memories - we had the real thing (tm), and to this day it still doesn't taste right without that hint of hydraulic fluid.
SSBN 633 Blue
Re:*Sigh* (Score:2)
"Sir, now that the mission is over can we surface and activate my winning can to see if they're able to deliver my car within 30 minutes?"
Re:*Sigh* (Score:2)
I think the very fact that they will have to is what people are complaining about. Is a company supposed to stay abreast of every competition that every company does and keep tabs on what to look for and monitor for it etc..
I dont think its particularly reasonable that a 'high-level' company has to change its security procedures everytime coke does a dodgy promotion. Sure, a coke can could contain a bomb or gps or whatev
Re:*Sigh* (Score:3, Informative)
A lot.
Secure facilities are a pain in the butt to get in and out of, for obvious reasons. As a result, most facility personnel run snack bars inside the secured area. These snack bars buy supplies in bulk, usually from SAM's or Costco or similar big-box stores. Depending on size, these little co-ops can go through several hundred sodas per week.
Re:*Sigh* (Score:2)
We used to load many of our vending machines with drinks from regular 24-packs bought at stores that sell in bulk (GFS, Sam's Club, etc.) That might not have been the "official" way of doing it, but it avoids the hassle of going through a distributor. There's nothing magical about vending machines -- the Coke inside very well may have come from boxes that were on sale.
Re:*Sigh* (Score:2)
So? (Score:5, Insightful)
Um so? I imagine a lot of things could look like an explosive to a "Layman". Ever seen the inside of a CRT monitor or a TV? Imagine how much C4 you could hide in that.
This is just plain silly.
Are we moving to a society that fears anything that could potentially look like a bomb to an uneducated twit?
Re:So? (Score:2)
Yep. Seems like we are, especially since 9/11 and everyone being told that them ol' terrorists are going to strike us again, oh no! Its sad really, when even a Coke promotion has someone mentioning how some stupid fucking can looks like a bomb. Bleh.
Re:So? (Score:2)
This week my local city center was gridlocked for over 2 hours because someone left their suitcase in the bus station [thisisnottingham.co.uk], a not altogether unlikely occurence in a bus station.
Re:So? (Score:2)
Re:So? (Score:2)
Re:So? (Score:2)
Umm... Yes [nytimes.com].
Re:So? (Score:2)
Yes! [bbc.co.uk]
However, the important question is 'can bombs be made that look like these objects to an educated twit who runs the bomb detectors?'
Re:So? (Score:2)
Problem, I have no x-ray device.
What it *Really* looks like... (Score:2)
I don't know about anyone else but stuff using an X-Ray Machine!
As pointed out in the PDF, the MK1 Eyeball can deduce that this is, in fact, a can with a mobile phone grafted into it beacause..... it looks like a can with a mobile phone grafted into it!
Also, wouldn't the fact that the top and bottom are made from a white polymer rather than regular aluminium be a give-away? (Thats for anyone who missed the handset in the side)
Re:What it *Really* looks like... (Score:2)
Re:What it *Really* looks like... (Score:2)
btw for what need they coke cans to hide bombs if they can take planes with knives???
Re:So? (Score:2)
That helps a lot... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:That helps a lot... (Score:4, Insightful)
If you look at the X-Rays, the main difference between a real explosive device, and the GPS coke can, is that the GPS coke can just has electronics and batteries.
An explosives device has electronics, batteries and.......explosives...
Unless you're just gonna make an explosive device by overloading some capacitors I don't think there's much chance of anyone making the mistake.
I have other concerns. (Score:2)
If you look at the X-Rays, the main difference between a real explosive device, and the GPS coke can, is that the GPS coke can just has electronics and batteries.
Simple:
- Use a small detonator, shaped like a battery, in the battery cluster.
- Substitute explosives for coke in the rest of the cans in the 12 pack.
But if I were a security type (especially on a military vessel - and MORE especially on, say, a carrierr) I'd be more concerned about a device composed of
Re:That helps a lot... (Score:2, Interesting)
Although nitro does make a pretty good explosive. To make it stable, put some sawdust in it and you have a dynamite (IIRC).
I'm not an expert, but I think there's no high power explosive material that isn't a solid. So far I've never heard of a liquid one.
Damn there's so much words like "Explosives" in this post alone, the echelon network will be busy moderat
Sheesh. (Score:5, Funny)
Xrays? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Xrays? (Score:2, Informative)
hope that helps!!
from ******
Hey my car looks like a car bomb (Score:3, Funny)
why fly if you just won a car? (Score:3, Insightful)
Those of you that may think that terrorists could run their "IEDs" through the x-ray machine to get past security. It wouldn't make sense, since the reason I just explained before. If it was REALLY a REAL GPS coke can, it wouldnt be there, since the person would have already claimed their prize as soon as they see it. Thus, it has to be a bomb otherwise.
Re:why fly if you just won a car? (Score:2)
Re:why fly if you just won a car? (Score:2)
Yeah, and cellphone in my pants may look like gun (Score:2)
But please, don't accuse me of terrorism if I am just happy to see someone!
PDF Mirror (Score:3)
It should take the abuse with good humour.
Okay I am confused. what is the point? (Score:4, Funny)
This seems to give the X-ray operators the idea that some cans can contain electronics. So all a terrorist now has to do is make his detonator be as neat as the coke can, thanks to the handy photo's and a x-ray operator will think "oh a suspicous thing oh no wait I seen that presentation this is one of them cans no need to check further".
I wonder about the "normal" can x-ray. Why is it all orange? Can x-rays pass through aluminium but not coca cola? For gods sake what have I been drinking all this time that stops x-rays?
So the perfect IED device is a can with a double wall, explosives inside, coke on the outside.
Re:Okay I am confused. what is the point? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Okay I am confused. what is the point? (Score:2)
Re:Okay I am confused. what is the point? (Score:2)
Re:Okay I am confused. what is the point? (Score:2)
Re:Okay I am confused. what is the point? (Score:3, Insightful)
This seems to give the X-ray operators the idea that some cans can contain electronics.
Yep.
So all a terrorist now has to do is make his detonator be as neat as the coke can, thanks to the handy photo's and a x-ray operator will think "oh a suspicous thing oh no wait I seen that presentation this is one of them cans no need to check further".
Nope.
The FIRST lesson for
Useful Information (Score:5, Interesting)
I came home from work one day to find two ambulances, two fire trucks, and a number of police vehicles throughout the fairly spread out apartment complex. Luckily, they were concentrated toward the front while my apartment was near the back of the complex. I was just able to enter my apartment without crossing the lines. On my way in, I asked an officer what was going on, and he said that there was a suspicious package that they were checking out.
After about an hour, a policeman knocks on my door and asks me to come with him. When we arrived at the center of activity, I found out that the postman had delivered my DSL modem to the wrong address. Not only had he delivered it to the wrong address, but he placed the brown box label-side down on the doorstep of a police officer's apartment. The bomb squad did not know what it was after taking the X-rays, so they fired a water bullet into it. When nothing more happened, they decided it was safe and found my address on the package and got me. One of the bomb squad team told me that they were going to circulate the X-rays because they had never seen X-rays of these things before.
When I got back to my apartment I plugged in the modem and everything worked perfectly. The modem had been double-boxed and bagged, and the outer box took the brunt of the damage.
Re:Useful Information (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Useful Information (Score:2)
You're a sad, little man.
Re:Useful Information (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Useful Information (Score:2)
Aha! Brothers, all we need do is wrap our explosives in plastic just like the infidels do with their satanic cable modems, and their water bullets will have no effect! Allahu akbar!
Coke can telephones and radios... (Score:3, Insightful)
The real purpose of this.. (Score:4, Funny)
Strictly for security reasons, you see.
EOD Perspective (Score:3, Insightful)
This is to ensure the call doesn't crash the plane (Score:2)
The question is... (Score:2)
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:3, Insightful)
What causes starvation and poverty is not the lack of food. There is more than enough food. It is the lack of a free market to transport that food to market efficiently.
In America, we have all kinds of systems to get the food to your dinner plate. These include the food processing and food transporting industries. Just as important is advertising and price setting. by advertising the availability of food, Americans are able to discover the rich variety of foods available.
I
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, and do you know who is responsible for that? The US and Europe, with their lavish farm subsidies. If Western nations ever allowed the free market to operate in developing nations, problems with food and poverty in the world would be greatly reduced.
In America, we have all kinds of systems to get the food to your dinner plate.
We also have enormous government subsidies, paid for by tax payers, to keep farmers happy and i
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:3, Insightful)
We should try to help other nations feed themselves, not complain that the "scraps" of our economy aren't being distributed evenly enough to feed them. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day etc. etc.
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
Yes, indeed, we should have. That's not only because it is the just and equitable thing to do (we demand the same of other nations, and it is, in fact, a cornerstone of our trade policy), it is also because it is in our own interest. Even just from a domestic perspective, US agricultural subsidies are economically inefficient.
In the long term, the way our subsidies hold back economic development in other n
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
What, you mean how the US insists that others not put up one way trade barriers or they will? Oooh, pretty villinous that. The US trades for their own profit and if other countries don't want to trade with the US they don't have to. The point of trade is profit.
Even ju
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
Poor nations are also weak nations. They don't have much of a choice when the US or EU asks them to do something. That's why it's our obligation to be careful what we ask them to do.
In the long run, that's also in our own inte
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
As for it being a "just" thing to do (one of your other replies), compare the alternatives. Many people against the world bank think its going to ruin economies by shifting low-cost/low-educated labor around. On the flipside, the US
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
Does US and European domestical policies somehow magically alter the weather patterns in famin stricken countries?
No, it's the UN that's responsible for that. (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, and do you know who is responsible for that? The US and Europe, with their lavish farm subsidies. If Western nations ever allowed the free market to operate in developing nations, problems with food and poverty in the world would be greatly reduced.
No, what's responsible for that - in Kosovo at least - is the UN's arms embargo. By disarming everybody who wasn't supported by an outside group (typically a large country), t
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:3, Interesting)
We call this place the European Free Trade Area. Farmers are paid to *not* grow food and food is destroyed to stablise prices. OTOH world's largest retail chain Wal-Mart, a non EU company, using it's buying power to dictate (i.e. lower) the wholesale price if it's food supplies. What a complete fuck up. Rich landowners are paid by the taxpayers to have their land lie fallow and those that gr
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:3, Insightful)
A.) Coke != America. It's a company.
B.) Can't fight starvation without a strong economy.
C.) It's one thing to say that corps making a lot of money should donate more, it's another to say they should stop marketing and put the money into other people's pockets. What happens when they grow dependent on it, then the lack of marketing suffocates the
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2, Insightful)
It isn't quite so simple, though -- the western world (not just America -- I'm not an American either) does do harm to poorer countries through farm subsidies and other unfair trade practices. These make it basically impossible for many poor countries to develop a self-sufficient agricultural sector.
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
How does farming subsidies harm them? Only by makking imports to the subsidising nation less competitive. They don't have a right to sell stuff to the developed nations if the developed nations don't want to buy. Nations do have the right to limit imports and exports. Nobody should force people to trade.
If the trade practices are unfair they shouldn't trade with the
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
Re:GPS coke can? (Score:2)
Re:Buttons (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Buttons (Score:2)