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Cake day: April 1st, 2024

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  • Thanks, here’s another article about this:

    https://wvutoday.wvu.edu/media-center-blog/2024/09/19/expert-pitch-from-communication-devices-to-deadly-tools-wvu-researcher-elaborates-on-explosive-potential-of-pagers-and-walkie-talkies

    The process of sabotage begins with physical modification of the pager or personal radio. These devices already contain all the essential components for an explosive device: a power source — the battery, a container — the device casing, and a triggering mechanism —the communication circuitry. The addition of a detonator and explosive charge converts them into remote-controlled bombs. A microcontroller is typically embedded within the device to interface with its circuitry, allowing it to detonate in response to external signals.

    “The triggering mechanism for these devices relies primarily on radio frequency signals, as both pagers and walkie-talkies operate on radio frequency bands. In the case of pagers, a unique radio frequency signal can be transmitted over the paging network. The modified pager, programmed to listen for this specific signal, activates the detonator when the correct frequency and signal pattern are detected.

    “Similarly, a walkie-talkie can be set to a predetermined channel and frequency. When the matching radio frequency signal is received, the microcontroller closes the circuit, triggering the explosion.

    “To ensure precise activation, the microcontroller can be programmed to recognize a unique sequence of tones or signal modulations, minimizing the risk of accidental detonation. This setup requires careful pre-programming and maybe signal testing, often involving encryption or authentication sequences to prevent unintended triggering.

    “The combination of radio frequency signals with an embedded microcontroller enables remote activation. It takes a high level of technical expertise to modify these low-tech communication tools into sophisticated remote-controlled weapons.”



  • Anyone else confused about how these bombs are actually detonating? Articles say they are detonating via a text message sent 3x in error, theoretically causing either a spark or a “closed circuit” like a different article explained. The article (from al jazeera) says they have to look at the message but there’s video of one igniting in a bag.

    I’m curious because I think these pagers may actually constitute a public safety risk, similar to how heavily landmined areas risk exploding even decades later on someone unrelated to the initial conflict.








  • Sure, other countries do and that’s fine too. I’m not saying it’s good or bad or placing any value on it because it’s not that big of a deal to me. And I used to regularly deal with this because I’d write dates for official international paperwork pretty often.

    I’m simply saying the reason we order our dates the way we do, and are resistant en masse to changing it, has to do with the way we say the date and so it makes the most sense to the general public to write as we speak. I literally don’t care how the date is written because I can and have done both. I’m not prescribing action here either.



  • “Today is Saturday the 31st of August, 2024”

    No one says that in the US like that lol. Like say that sentence out loud, that’s so long and exhausting and stilted for no reason. If my friend said the date to me like that, i would think they were upset about something or being weird. We’d automatically switch it over and say “August 31st, 2024,” or even “8/31/24” because when people ask for the date while writing a check, for instance, they are going to write it numerically anyway.

    Idk what’s the point of your argument. To gaslight me in how everyday Americans talk?

    “31st of what?”

    You had to invite the other speaker in this scenario to mirror your format before they’d actually imitate the stilted way of saying “31st of August.” Not even in your fantasies do Americans talk like that naturally.

    I’m not even saying we SHOULD keep it that way - it makes things confusing at times. Just that common use has kept it ordered this way.




  • LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.worldtoTechnology@lemmy.world*Permanently Deleted*
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    1 month ago

    It is engagement farming for absolutely zero reason.

    So what? Should we ban people posting memes too? Should we ban the engagement system/up vote system? Like what’s your point here? That people share ideas and thoughts? Wow, what news.

    The astronauts in space are a big deal and the latest development had SpaceX rescuing them which is why that person brought it up. They weren’t bringing up Boeing originally, they were bringing up the astronaut story since it all ties together. If SpaceX is grounded, how will they get those astronauts?

    And then the next person points out that Boeing and most CEOs tend to feel like worker deaths are the cost of business. That’s pretty apropos when talking about those astronauts getting stuck up there. Worker solidarity and all.


  • Ah sure, I can see the comedy of errors there

    I was actually nearly kidnapped as a child in the 90s and have tried to contact investigators with tips previously to cases I believe are related - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Morgan_Nick

    Afaik, they never followed up on my lead and at the time I was unable to contact her mother and idk if it’s ethical really for me to contact the family vs investigators. My experience with contacting investigators with leads is that it’s pointless. Especially for a huge case like Maxwell, the tips get lost in the noise.

    I will say public analysis of crimes tends to be done well. I’m not talking about reddit and the Boston bomber. I’m talking about the Don’t Fuck With Cats people, and the people in Portland who forced PPB to investigate a serial killer after 5 women showed up dead - they initially said no, it’s unrelated, and then caught Jesse Calhoun. I’m talking about the retired investigators and volunteers who work missing persons/jane doe cases in their spare time in dedicated forums to help identify dead people (I used to volunteer for these programs until my dreams were haunted with dead faces).

    It helps a LOT to get public awareness if you want police to do their jobs.


  • I mean, their victims deserve justice. The families of the victims deserve to know what happened if that is something that happened. Kinda absolutely wild that you are saying, “So what if they trafficked people?” Lol. Kinda matters.

    If you would like, please go ahead and try to find them and ask them. Thanks for suggesting that on your part, seems natural you should be the one to do it since you suggested it.

    I was looking for the term “emotional incest” and not “parentification” earlier, two very very closely related concepts. Basically, it means he made his kid his wife. Often this is done before physical incest occurs. As someone who speaks with survivors a bit, Robert Maxwell’s relationship with Ghilsaine does seem incestuous and likely sexual given Ghilsaine’s later involvement with raping minors. Showing “favoritism” like that is a pretty big sign because she’s not a favorite, she’s his wife.

    Abuse victims have 2 choices when faced with their abuse: agree or disagree. The vast majority of abuse victims disagree with their abuse and do not go on to perpetuate it. However, I do not think Ghilsaine was one of them, clearly.

    Yes, she did try to use “I was abused,” as sympathy for her sentencing, that’s in the linked articles in the OP. It doesn’t excuse her actions over decades and as a 50 year old.

    Thank you for sharing what you remember. If you see the title of this thread, my question wasn’t asking if you personally felt like this was true. It was asking if anyone had more sources about this aspect of Robert Maxwell’s life so I can read more info about these people he supposedly helped.