Text 3767, 68 rader
Skriven 2010-01-27 00:45:11 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Explosives
==================
Hello Robert,

On Tuesday January 26 2010 06:07, you wrote to me:

 RB>>> Gunpowder and high explosives are totally different things,
 RB>>> Michiel. You need a lot of gunpower to blow up a human being,

 MV>> A few grams is enough to kill one. When used in the proper
 MV>> environment: a gun.

 RB> Aren't you stretching things just a _bit_ far here? And of course
 RB> getting _way_ off track: a bullet doesn't "blow up" anyone.

The subject is "explosives". There is more than one way to use explosives for
destructive purposes. "Blowing things up" is just one way. Using it to propel a
projectile is another. An Otto engine is also calle an "explosive engine" in
many languages.

 RB>>> much less an aircraft. But a few hundred grams of high explosive
 RB>>> will do the job nicely.

 MV>> It is not explosives that blow up aircraft. It is people that blow
 MV>> up aircraft.

 RB> People with explosives. But at the moment, we were talking about the
 RB> explosives.

Are we? Or are we talking about  methods used in general to make havoc?

 MV>> I think you are. Aircraft are flimsy constructions in which a lot
 MV>> of energy goes around. Many things can go wrong and when something
 MV>> goes wrong, it can go very wrong.

 RB> True, but that's still no reason to calmly accept people who want to
 RB> add risk to the equation. Life is dangerous enough already.

I said nothing about calmly accept. What I am trying to say is that it does not
pay to invest in very low risks. Resources are not infinite. If you want to
save lives, invest in lightning protections or health care rather than
anti-terrorism.

 MV>> Still, flying is one of the safest methods of travelling. Your
 MV>> chance of falling from the stairs and breaking your neck are much
 MV>> higher than the chance of dying in an aircraft.

 RB> I know. Still, I don't need to worry that someone will push me down
 RB> the stairs just because the stairs belong to someone they don't like.

You don't know that until terrorists start sabotaging stairs that belong to
someone they don't like.

 RB>>>  Then I'm apparently in good company.

 MV>> That depends on your definition of "good".

 RB> Not really. I imagine you also have some sense of self-preservation,
 RB> or am I mistaken?

Of course I have self preservation. But I try to deal with it in a rational
way. I do not invest in preventing very low risk incidents when there still is
a list of things where my investments  better pay off.



Cheers, Michiel

--- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20070503
 * Origin: http://www.vlist.org (2:280/5555)