satanicpuppy: I always love the lack of critical thought at work. It didn’t even have a *battery*…I mean, even if it had some magical ability to detect bomb-ness, which is about the only thing all the different kinds of bombs have in common, you’d think it’d need some kind of power source, right? Apparently they told people it was powered by the users “static electricity”.
coconut-electron: >…for as much as US$60,000 each
Thanks_for_that_too: yah i saw these bastards in action in lebanon, jordan and syria. unbelievable. the dudes using them always looked so proud of their stupid toys too… they’d also occasionally register a “positive” and then you were in for the show as they took the vehicle apart
NeededInternetHero: All hail the inanimate carbon rod!
Oznog99: The really insane part”
> the cards were inserted to identify the “molecular frequency” of whatever the user wanted to detect. The cards were “programmed” by photocopying a Polaroid photograph of the target, cutting up the resulting copy and pasting the pieces between two squares of plastic.
Enroberman: I don’t understand how they did not noticed. At work we have a handheld gas detector and the first chance I had I farted to see if it would go off. It did.
joshi38: Sorry, but:
>The promotional material issued by ATSC claimed that the ADE 651 could detect items including guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies, contraband ivory and bank notes at distances of up to 1 kilometre (0.62 mi)…
Truffles? Really? Sure the rest is unrealistic, but truffles?! And people fell for this?!
Clovis42: Animals and people are very, very good at detecting patterns where they don’t really exist. This paragraph from the link really exemplifies this:
>Iraqi civilians have complained that the device seems to have “an unerring attraction to shampoo and soapsuds”. According to Iraqi police officer Jasim Hussein, “The vast majority of the people we stop, it’s because of their perfume”. A fellow officer, Hasan Ouda, commented that “Most people now understand it’s what gets them searched, so they don’t use as much.” McCormick of ATSC falsely claimed that the apparent responsiveness of the ADE 651 was due to fragrances containing traces of the explosive substance RDX.
So, many people believe this dowsing rod actually does find bombs or whatever. The company claims that it actually does this. But, even though there’s no reason to come to this conclusion, they’ve also somehow stumbled onto a pattern that it detects soap and perfume.
thxxx1337: Dude deserved more than 10 years.
Ishidan01: so they just buy things and send em to the field huh, no proving grounds at all…
not like it would be hard.
“Welcome to bomb detector training. As you can see, you are in the motor pool with a dozen random cars in a row. We brought an EOD guy in and he has rigged some of them-only some, and only he and I know which ones- with bombs exactly like what the enemy uses. Show us how your gear works-find the bombs. False positives will be deducted from your score as well as false negatives.”
Nope, they must have straight up Pentagon Wars this shit.
horribleone: haha people 1000 years ago were so stupi-
x62617: MISLEADING TITLE
They were told that these devices didn’t work very early on and very often. I’ve personally told Iraqi Police commanders that they didn’t work as far back as 2007. And continued to do so on my second (2009) and third tour (2011) in Iraq. They didn’t listen and kept using them for years. They are very superstitious/gullible. I’ve driven through countless Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police checkpoints where I watched them walk around the civilian vehicles with these devices trying to detect bombs. The only solace I could take was that the guys who made vehicle-borne IEDs were probably just as stupid and were deterred by the sight of checkpoints with these devices.
AnythingMachine: Before anyone acts surprised I’ll just remind you that many sane, normal members of this civilisation have literally [attempted to cure themselves of all diseases by drinking bleach](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement) and [put themselves into comas because they thought it was fun](http://metro.co.uk/2013/07/10/sam-thomas-thumb-blowing-prank-ends-with-boy-12-in-coma-3877650/)
People are more stupid than you expect, even having taken this fact into account.
do-call-me-papi: no one ever complained about it
deep_leviathan: This is incredible, almost as if no one at the top bothered to actually look at what they were buying…
imightwin: I think there’s a documentary about this and the con man who thought of this idea. He traveled to military officials and of the like and presented his invention, tested it in front on their eyes, and made them believe it was a bomb detecting machine.
holocene-tangerine: Thought this said *in AD 651* and was very confused as to how they had plastic!
work1800: So like one of those balance bracelets, but for bombs/bodies/elephants?
Glip-Glops: When i went through the airport they used a bomb sniffing device on my bags, does that sniffing device actually work?
coalminnow: From the Wikipedia article’s description of its design and functionality. A pretty hilarious read if you have the time.
>The ADE 651 consists of a swivelling antenna mounted via a hinge to a plastic handgrip. It requires no battery or other power source; its manufacturer claimed that it is powered solely by the user’s static electricity. To use the device, the operator must walk for a few moments to “charge” it before holding it at right angles to the body. After a substance-specific “programmed substance detection card” is inserted, the device is supposed to swivel in the user’s hand to point its antenna in the direction of the target substance. The cards are claimed to be designed to “tune into” the “frequency” of a particular explosive or other substance named on the card.[9] According to Husam Muhammad, an Iraqi police officer and user of the ADE 651, using the device properly is more of an art than a science: “If we are tense, the device doesn’t work correctly. I start slow, and relax my body, and I try to clear my mind.”[10] The cards were supposedly “programmed” or “activated” by being placed in a jar for a week along with a sample of the target substance to absorb the substance’s “vapours”. Initially, McCormick reportedly used his own blood to “program” the cards for detecting human tissue, but eventually gave up even the pretense of “programming” them when demand for the devices was at its peak.[11]
>The promotional material issued by ATSC claimed that the ADE 651 could detect items including guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies, contraband ivory and bank notes at distances of up to 1 kilometre (0.62 mi), underground, through walls, underwater or even from aeroplanes at an altitude of up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi).[12] In one promotional video McCormick claimed that the device could detect elephants from 48 kilometres (30 mi) away.[13]
>The device was said to work on the principle of “electrostatic magnetic ion attraction”.[12]According to the promotional material, “by programming the detection cards to specifically target a particular substance, (through the proprietary process of electrostatic matching of the ionic charge and structure of the substance), the ADE651 could “by-pass” all known attempts to conceal the target substance. It has been claimed to penetrate lead, concrete, and other materials (including hiding in the body) used in attempts to block the attraction.”[14] Prosec, a Lebanese reseller of the ADE 651, claimed on its website that the device works on nuclear quadrupole resonance(NQR) or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).[15]McCormick told the BBC in 2010 that “the theory behind dowsing and the theory behind how we actually detect explosives is very similar.”[16]
If you get duped into using this, it’s your own damn fault .
Rimfax: Well, I guess it’s money they weren’t spending on chemical weapons and tear gas.
websagacity: The want for humans to do evil in pursuit of material possessions astounds me.
KalterEntzug: That’s the most evil scam product I have ever heard of. That’s worse than selling a condom that dissolves on body temperature.
aDDnTN: it’s essentially Dowsing and it is a completely non-scientifically supported method to do anything.
weemee: Who tested these things independently from the manufacturer?
Electricians regularly test their testers.
No voltage present? Did you test the tester? How do you know it’s working?
chujowojest: This is a joke right? People spent millions on this?
damunzie: I’ve seen this device before. When I was in elementary school someone showed us how you could make a “metal detector” by cutting two “L”-shaped pieces of wire from a wire coat hanger. You held the short leg of each L in a vertical fist with the long leg pointed away from you. When you passed the wires over metal, they’d magically drift towards each other and cross. It worked remarkably well when you passed it over a piece of metal that you could see, or knew was concealed. It was of course complete bullshit, but it was nevertheless an amazing demonstration of what the mind is capable of tricking itself into doing/perceiving. For an even more amazing (and scientifically debunked) demonstration, check out [facilitated communication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facilitated_communication).
FnkyTown: They call that sort of thing “Security Theater”, and strangely, it’s surprisingly effective.
Tincansailorman: I worked in CBRNE defense for several years after the military and these “sensors” were an object lesson in fuckery.
Even now my lips pull back in a snarl reading about them. The lives put at risk and the corruption are maddening.
I saw every kind of in-place, portable, and hand held sensor over my seven year time working in the field and the one they ALL had in common was a POWER SOURCE.
I’m talking everything from sleek production models to prototypes riveted onto sheet metal. All required power.
As an aside, the ‘prototypes’ from the DARPA guys usually had the pleasing aesthetic of 1990s Sony VAIO gear or Apple products. They made some very, VERY nice stuff.
Eliza_Douchecanoe: We trained them wrong on purpose, as a joke…
GestaltJungle: This right here is what happens when people confuse “Industry best practice” with “Industry common practice”.
The fact that every single other company in your sector uses a particular product, does in no way mean that it is going to work in your company. Every single procurement over the most mundane should be rigorously researched and tested.
And no… testimony counts for nothing. It is utterly useless. Even if the person is telling the truth, it is a sample size of one, and therefore only one step away from being *totally* useless.
If an ounce of due diligence was followed, this scam wouldn’t have been taken up by *any* company. Its a plastic and metal dowsing rod for crying out loud.
banderwocky: 10 years seems extremely light. Should have been a lot longer.
zenquest: Looks like Infinite Solutions (US) sold intellectual property rights to ATSC (UK) about 10 years ago. Pretty impressive that ATSC consolidated various technologies into one innovative solution.
https://www.youtube.com/user/infinitesolutions
richardec: Inanimate carbon rod
JIG1017: Damn thats…embarrassing. but hey if you think that’s wasteful spending, itd blow your mind what America still spends every year making tanks. Tanks we don’t use. Or will probably ever use.
hypnobearcoup: > It requires no battery or other power source
So that didn’t tip anyone off?
Jim_Nills_Mustache: If you needed yet another indication of bloated wasteful spending in the military budget.. I guess this is it.
monkeyhoward: faith is a mental illness
jbrittles: I dont know what ADE means, so I am assuming you mean Amsterdam Dance Event.
Nyborgm8: Nothing at all^Nothing ^at ^all ^^Nothing ^^at ^^all.
Stupid sexy Flanders
davybert: I saw this being used this year in Syria at a checkpoint… wanted to tell them it didn’t do anything, but I couldn’t speak the language and plus I didn’t want to hang around there any longer than I needed to
mtb_frc: Really good Ted talk about this: https://youtu.be/8T_jwq9ph8k
Upgraded_Self: Most are missing the most important part. That guy is going to serve is 10 years but his whole family and every friend he has ever had will be setup for life though all the money stashed in an off shore account.
flekkzo: Sounds like scientology to me.
piccini9: On the other hand, it is a very effective dumbass detector.
Fender0122: So, oddly enough, this “tool” actually does have a use if that’s a magnet at the end. I found this handle with a telescoping antenna and magnet on the end in our city maintenance truck. I asked the guys what it was and it was an old method of finding pipes underground. The running water would create a weak magnetic field, and when you walked past a water line it would line up with the pipe. Tried it out, and sure enough it worked pretty consistently with lines that were already marked.
I don’t see how the physics of that would be able to find bombs…
Benthos: It’s a dowsing rod. They don’t need electricity because magic.
I_buttholesurfer: (((f**king bayonet in modern times)))
Jemoranjr: “Um…and what do I do with my feet?”
darkangelx: capitalism – n. get rich and f**k everything else.
AusPower_: 1: “this here is a bomb detector”
2. “What does it do?”
1. “It let’s you know if there are any bombs nearby”
2. “How does it work”
1. It just does…do you see any bombs nearby?l
2….I’d like to buy your bomb detector”
laughherring: How come no one said something when it failed to detect a…. Oh.