Modern Bomb Making In America

I don't condone blowing up innocent people. I don't recommend anyone build explosive devices. I hope the world is a peaceful one, and that my children grow up in comfort and security and without the fear of terrorism.

That said, I want to correct something going around. Federal authorities and the media are latching on to the idea that the bombs used in Boston were "sophisticated" because they used "a battery pack and a circuitboard." I feel that I should point out that a Furby has a circuitboard and batteries. A solar-powered LED patio umbrella has a circuitboard and batteries. The watch on your wrist, if not hand-wound, has a circuitboard and battery. Circuitboards aren't this holy object that only a tiny cadre of madmen are capable of producing.

The bombs in Boston, unless authorities dramatically change their tune, probably had less than $2 of electronics in them. It's likely the only thing on the circuitboard was a SPST relay (costing less than a dollar) and a timing mechanism ($1 or less depending on type). Once again, I do not want any innocent lives ended with bomb making, but people need to realize that any engineer worth his or her salt could put a 'pressure cooker bomb' together in about a day.

The point I want to make is that all day, almost every day, hundreds of thousands of people all over this country who are perfectly capable of making bombs freely choose not to do so. Rather than be scared that there are so many potential bomb makers in America...can we stop for a second and realize that 99.9999% of those of us capable of easily manufacturing bombs choose not to do so? America is a really, really safe place.


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