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WorldWeird: Divining for Bombs

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    • CommentAuthorFlabyo
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2010 edited
     (7619.1)
    I'm almost entirely lost for words...

    I know that the situation is pretty desperate out there, but why you would willing throw so much cash at a device without testing it vigourously yourself first? The claim that if it doesn't work it's cause the operator is too stressed should've set the alarm bells ringing at the very least.
    • CommentAuthorRenThing
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2010
     (7619.2)
    I don't know about you, but if I was searching for bombs I'd be pretty fucking stressed, so even if it did work as intended, wouldn't it not function due to the stress of possible, imminent death?
    • CommentAuthorroadscum
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2010 edited
     (7619.3)
    At least our government didn't buy them. Really quite stunning that Mr McCormick managed to sell these to anyone, looks like he was quite successful though; 'The ADE-651 has been sold to a range of Middle Eastern countries and as far afield as Bangkok for eye-watering prices'. At $40,000 a pop, i'll bet there are a few people in defence procurement as far afield as Bangcok looking a bit sheepish...

    (edited, Mr Alford was the interviewer. Doh!)
  4.  (7619.4)
    War is not only good for business, it's good for stupidity too!

    Last month, a senior Iraqi officer involved in bomb-prevention defended the ADE-651... "Whether it's magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs," he said.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAlan Tyson
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2010
     (7619.5)
    Mr McCormick told the BBC in a previous interview that "the theory behind dowsing and the theory behind how we actually detect explosives is very similar".

    This explains a lot that shouldn't need explaining.
    • CommentAuthorroadscum
    • CommentTimeJan 23rd 2010
     (7619.6)
    •  
      CommentAuthorbjacques
    • CommentTimeJan 25th 2010
     (7619.7)
    Two words:

    Quadro Tracker. I enjoyed seeing this on the local news back in the day. Cops are always looking for a magical device to make their jobs easier.
  8.  (7619.8)
    It does not operate by battery, instead promotional material says it is powered only by the user's static electricity.

    And it comes complete with an Ayn Rand reference. Wow.

    The ADE-651 has been sold to a range of Middle Eastern countries and as far afield as Bangkok.

    Sadly, the same situation is about to be true of phony full-body scanners that have been shown to detect Blackberries, phones, iPods, and fail miserably at actually detecting bombs.

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