Bomb scare caution

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
"Stevenage bomb scare: Small explosion heard after bomb squad attend suspicious ‘coffee cup’ device found"

http://www.thecomet.net/news/stevenage-bomb-scare-small-explosion-heard-after-bomb-squad-attend-suspicious-coffee-cup-device-found-near-tk-maxx-1-5211919

From the photos it looks to me like it is a temperature sensor wired to a transmitter or microcontroller attached to the cup, probably a temperature monitor or datalogger.

Most likely a STEM project or science experiment which has fallen out of a student's bag or got left behind.

So really just a timely reminder that if anyone is involved in such things, are carrying or using electronics which others may see as somewhat suspicious in public it's best to be careful and take precautions against losing them, leaving them behind or having them misinterpreted. If only to avoid someone taking them away and blowing them up!

Writing "not a bomb" on it will probably only increase suspicions but a clearly visible contact name, address, telephone number and an explanation as to what it is probably helps, both in keeping it safe and letting the authorities resolve any incident speedily and with minimum fuss. "Documents enclosed" envelopes ( like for parking tickets ) can hold more detail and are usually easy to attach. Being brightly coloured probably helps it being seen as not deliberately being hidden.

I would recommend attaching a lanyard with a clip to things which might get lost, then they can be clipped to a bag or its zip so there's less chance of losing it. Best advice is to not let things out of your sight; then you will always be there to explain things if needs arise.

If doing experiments in public it may be best to advise the local police or community support officers just in case something accidentally gets left behind or it raises suspicions.

As always; have fun, but take care.
 

stan74

Senior Member
I got a 36V 10A li-po not li-ion battery on my bike and that looks wires but very worried if it caught fire while out.
If locked up unattended I'd look bad
If I was riding it I'd look/feel bad
If it caught fire in my house...?
If a phone charger catching fire can cause panic I'm worried.
It's like carrying lots of phone batterys connected but with bms.
Haven't heard yet of pedelec bike causes pandemonium yet and don't want to be first reported case.
Years ago it might have been amusing story or youtube video.
 

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
........Writing "not a bomb" on it will probably only increase suspicions ................
Years ago, back in the early 80's, a group of us at work (in a lab that was on a military establishment) built a Guy for the local Guy competition on Guy Fawkes night. Part of the get up was a round plastic fishing float, with a bit of pipe glued on and a bit of string to look like a fuse glued to it. We had painted the thing matt black, and stencilled the word "BOMB" on the side in white paint.

After judging, when all the Guys were lifted on to the bonfire, this "bomb" came loose, so I kept it, took it back to my office and for several years it sat on a roll of tape on top of a filing cabinet.

I then had a call from the MoD police late one night, saying that a suspect improvised explosive device had been found in my lab during a routine security patrol. I asked if they could describe it, and they said they had already sealed off the building and called the RLC Bomb Disposal Team. Thankfully I lived closer to the lab than the local RLC guys, so got there first, and managed to explain that the "bomb" was a souvenir that had been sat harmlessly on my filing cabinet for years, and was well known to many people. After a few phone calls to check, they then went in, removed the thing and I ended up getting a massive bollocking.................

So, the moral of this tale is never assume that everyone will see that something a bit unusual looking is harmless. Assume that anything can look suspicious, especially to people who are only really looking to see the suspicious side of anything unusual looking. Clearly labelling any project, as hippy advises, makes a great deal of sense, and don't assume that just telling someone that finds something that it's a harmless project - they are unlikely to believe you and will want corroboration.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
My own bomb scare was when attending the Great British Beer Festival when I left a commemorative pint glass in its box in a Brighton pub. It was mere minutes later that I realised I had left it behind and went back to find the pub had been evacuated and the bomb squad called.

It was the year after the IRA had tried to take out Thatcher and others in the Grand Hotel bombing and one can't blame people for exercising caution. Thankfully it was accepted it was an entirely innocent and unintentional case of forgetfulness.

I do wonder what would have happened if I hadn't gone back. If it were thought it had been deliberately left or I hadn't much cared when I realised what I'd done.
 

Dartmoor

Member
@Hippy - There's usually 500+ beers at the Great British Beer Festival - I am amazed you remembered which pub you left it in! ;-)

I took a CHI035 picaxe board with some LED's & pushbuttons attached to the pub to show my first project to an interested friend.
An off-duty policeman shouted "whoah! . . . an IED!". He then relaxed and said "phew! it has no power pack".
I then turned it over revealing the PP3 battery, followed by another "whoah! . . . an IED!".
Would probably not see it again if I left it in a pub or on a bus/train?
 

erco

Senior Member
Kinda weird how the only place people want/expect to see wires & LEDs & mysterious gadgets is at Maker Faire, where anything goes. But don't tell that to the the bad guys.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
I have a nice 12V SLA battery carrying waistcoat all nicely linked with coiled mains leads and XLR connectors for video recording.

I don't get to wear that in public these days :-o
 

fernando_g

Senior Member
On Christmas of 2012, I actually a fake Russian doomsday machine, complete with the pre-requisite Hollywoodesque display and loud beeping, and Cyrillic letters:

http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?22948-Picaxe-fake-Russian-bomb-controller

It was a blast (pun intended) at our family Christmas party.

But I would never, never, never do it today. There is way too much paranoia (very likely justified) in the World today.

The paranoia is such, that in a Spanish-speaking electronics forum I used the word "Bomba", which could be referring to an explosive device or to a pump. In the Yucatan peninsula, it is also an expression of approval to someone who has made a joke in verse.
In my case, I was referring to a water pump controller.

They are homonyms, yet I was called by the moderator to change the word.
 

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
On Christmas of 2012, I actually a fake Russian doomsday machine, complete with the pre-requisite Hollywoodesque display and loud beeping, and Cyrillic letters:

http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?22948-Picaxe-fake-Russian-bomb-controller

It was a blast (pun intended) at our family Christmas party.

But I would never, never, never do it today. There is way too much paranoia (very likely justified) in the World today.

The paranoia is such, that in a Spanish-speaking electronics forum I used the word "Bomba", which could be referring to an explosive device or to a pump. In the Yucatan peninsula, it is also an expression of approval to someone who has made a joke in verse.
In my case, I was referring to a water pump controller.

They are homonyms, yet I was called by the moderator to change the word.


Pity the YouTube video from that thread is down - was that YouTube deciding it was unsuitable content?

Here we've had bomb paranoia for most of my adult life. I just missed (by about 2 minutes) getting blown up at Euston station, London in 1973, when going to see my then girlfriend who was training to be a nurse just down the road at UCH. IRA bombs were a fact of life here for the next 20 years or so, then we had a short break of a few years before Islamic extremists took their place.
 
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