Remember this?
Divining sticks that consist essentially of an antenna not even attached to a radio (which might make it slihgtly useful for listening to music and stuff), and costing between 16 and 60 THOUSAND DOLLARS each, are being used as the main technology for detecting bombs at check points staffed by the Iraqi army. (source)
Well, now we have this …
The boss of a British company that has sold million of dollars worth of “bomb detectors” to Iraq’s security forces has been arrested on suspicion of fraud.
Jim McCormick, 53, the managing director of ATSC which is based in a former dairy in Sparkford, Somerset, has been questioned by detectives from Avon and Somerset Police after a complaint that he misrepresented the devices.
Hat tip: Techowiz
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Sheesh! Whowoodathunkit? A dowsing device that doesn’t f**kin’ work! Colour me surprised.
And to add to the general hilarity:
Yep…flashing lights sure make it more impressive as it fails to detect even the largest amounts of explosive inches away from the detector. Fricking woo mongerers.
Perhaps his punishment should be looking for explosives in Iraq, with our without his toy…
“Gosh, you know I’ve been thinking about these bomb-detecting wands, and you know, I’m not totally sure the guy who sold them to us is quite on the up-and-up.”
I chortled.
The problem is they weren’t inscribed with Bible verse references.
@2
No, no, definitely let him use his wands.
A truck from my water supply company stopped and a guy got out with a homemade pair of the rod type divining rods. He quickly and accurately located the water line. I was a bit surprised.
I have a test for Mr. McCormick: we air drop him in a live minefield with one of his gizmos and if he makes it out alive he has his freedom and can keep his money. If he doesn’t make it out alive all his possessions are forfeited as proceeds of crime. Sounds fair to me except for the little ethical problem which is that his chances of getting out alive are extremely small given that his device doesn’t really work. Maybe he should have a third option: he can forfeit his possessions and be taken out of the field by helicopter.
#6
A guy from a plumbing company accurately dug a trench in our yard to replace a faulty pipe. He didn’t use a divining rod.
My point is, is it that surprising that someone who works in water supply would know where the water lines are?
He works out of a former dairy. You know what else dairies produce? I’m not thinking of milk.
The British Special Crimes Squad has been using wands for almost a year now, with spectacular results.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY31P7sLJho
to be fair, the boss did mention they were going to update it with some blinky lights.