Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Spent some time

Looking at Youtube videos today. Videos of the explosions at the Boston Marathon. I did this to see if my first impressions were right, and to see what the media couldn't (or didn't) show.

Impressions:

1. These were fairly small  devices.

2. The finish line bomb had to be a fairly low order explosive. The blast wavefront wasn't moving very fast.

I'd bet AMFO. 15 lbs or so. Or something similar. Maybe black powder, but I don't think so.(ETA: others disagree)

3. Amazingly, once people got over the shock, many ran TO the site and knew what to do and did it. Not everyone, but a significant percentage of them. Heroes, each of them. I am impressed by the nearly instant reaction of those folks. I bet that many lives were saved because of this. It restored (a little) my faith in my fellow citizens.