Am I Dangerous?

At last the govt has got my ISP to block my access to blogspot.com. Does that mean I am dangerous? If not yet, the cut and paste job below would justify banning me. ;-)

Here is all that you ever wanted to know about the Weapons of Mass Destruction(not the Iraqi ones).

What are the types of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)? IEDs can be easily made at home by any graduate for a few hundred rupees. The essential components are explosives, detonators, trigger circuits, power supplies and timers. The power supplies are usually provided by batteries (AA, AAA, 9V). The trigger circuits can be cell phones, cordless phones, transistor radios, remote control toys and garage door openers. Trip wires are also used, especially when specific people are targeted, as they cannot be electromagnetically jammed — although they can be detected by sensitive metal detectors. The timers can be electronic circuits as used in quartz circuit watches. Chemical and me chanical timers were also in use until a few years ago. The March 1993 Mumbai blasts used chemical timers while the February 1998 Coimbatore blasts used mechanical timers. The best known plastic explosive is RDX (Research Department eXplosive), chemically cyclo-tri-methylene-tri-nitroamine). Other commonly used plastic explosives are PETN (Penta-erythritol Tetra-nitrate), Semtex (a mixture of RDX and PETN), and more lethal RDXbased explosives like C3 and C4. Ammonium nitrate/fuel oil mixture (ANFO) is another explosive used. Ammonium nitrate is widely used as an agricultural fertiliser. The fuel oil can be diesel, kerosene or molasses. ANFO is widely used in coal mining, quarrying, metal mining and civil construction. No one yet knows for sure what explosives were used in the Mumbai blasts. Some sections of Mumbai Police have stated that it could be RDX, while others suspect gelatin. How difficult is it to manufacture IEDs? All the components of an IED can be assembled from readily available sources without arousing suspicion as they all have legitimate uses. RDX is manufactured by reacting concentrated nitric acid (available in every school lab) with hexamine. Hexamine is widely used as a medicine as well as an industrial chemical. Hexamine can be prepared in one’s kitchen by reacting two common chemicals — formaldehyde and ammonia. Purchasing large quantities of hexamine won’t arouse any suspicion as it is used as an antibiotic for treating urinary tract infections, preservation of cheeses, as well as in brake and clutch linings, abrasive products, non-woven tex tiles, fire-proof materials, rubber and textile adhesives and in paints and lacquers. There are reportedly dozens of cottage factories producing RDX in Maharashtra, Kerala and Gujarat. PETN is even more easily available as it is used as a heart medicine. The vasodilator, Lentonitrat, is almost pure PETN. Less than one kg is required to bring down an airliner. All one needs to do is to buy a kilo of Lentonitrat from a medical supplier and install detonators and trigger circuits. Nor would the making of ANFO get anyone suspicious. Farmers buy tonnes of ammonium nitrate to use as fertiliser. ANFO is widely used in India in coal mining, quarrying, metal mining and civil construction. Gelatin sticks can easily be stolen from any mining or construction company. How can IEDs be detected? Plastic explosives like RDX, PETN, C3, C4, etc. are almost impossible to detect in the field by any practical means. Metal detectors don’t work against them. If they are made by an expert, they are odourless, look like children’s plasticine and can be moulded into any shape. Even highly trained sniffer dogs have had very limited success in differentiating them from food products. Tests which can detect the chemicals involved in plastic explosives, like Neutron Activation Analysis, Gamma Ray Irradia tion and Laser Spectroscopy require equipment costing millions of dollars. They also require one to go very close to the suspected explosive. At best, these equipments can be used at entrances of airports or VIP security zones. How can IEDs be prevented from exploding? VIP zones and motor convoys are usually protected against Remote Control IEDs (RCIEDs) by electromagnetic jammers. These jammers emit high power radiowaves in HF, VHF, UHF and microwave bands. If they are of higher power than the signals transmitted by the terrorist, they either jam or prematurely detonate the IED. But the use of jammers causes a lot of trouble to the general public. If a terrorist brought an RCIED within range of a jammer, the RCIED could instantly explode. While the VIPs would be saved, there could be many more civilian casualties in the streets outside. Also, since the best jammers work over the entire frequency range of 20 Hz-2,000 MHz, they would interfere with cell phones, television and radio reception. And electromagnetic jammers work only against RCIEDs and not against IEDs.[HT]

Phew! now I am surely dangerous!