After the Wi-Fi detector, here's more on "divining rods", on a far more serious topic.Thanks to David Mery for flagging this one, a trail that leads through the New York Times (Iraq Swears by Bomb Detector U.S. Sees as Useless) and Bruce Schneier's Security Technology blog (The Doghouse: ADE 651)...
"Despite major bombings that have rattled the nation, and fears of rising violence as American troops withdraw, Iraq's security forces have been relying on a device to detect bombs and weapons that the United States military and technical experts say is useless," writes the New York Times.
"The small hand-held wand, with a telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints in Iraq. But the device works "on the same principle as a Ouija board" - the power of suggestion - said a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod."In steps the James Randi Educational Foundation to issue a million dollar challenge to the company behind the detector, Cumberland Industries, of the UK, to prove "successful testing" of the device.
The ADE651 apparently uses the "proprietary process of electro-static matching of the ionic charge and structure of the substance" to "detect a broad range of explosive or drug substances".
Read the full story...
(Picture: Dollar by Photos8.com, under Creative Commons Attribution Licence)
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