# Explosions at Boston Marathon **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 15, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781 "2013-04-15T19:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/321 "2013-04-15T23:37:39Z")
> [@Noodles\_Fellicini](#): > > **Bob Ducca** I saw that same picture (cowboy hat is distinctive, as is the wounded man’s complexion) on a national news site a couple of hours ago in which his face was not obscured and his legs were not … well, like that. It is possible this is a very sick photoshop, particularly since you aren’t going to put on a tourniquet and then just leave something like that waving in the breeze – as an EMT I would at the very least wrap my inside-out jacket or shirt around the patient. I’ll look for the original photo I saw but as new stories come in the old ones are getting buried. I saw footage of that before I saw the photo linked early in this thread. I think my eye was drawn to cowboy hat guy and didn’t even look at the guy in the chair’s injuries. Then I saw the linked picture. As soon as I saw it I realized that I had just seen that guy wheeled past the cameras on TV. Then I saw the footage on TV again and this time realized what it was. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/322 "2013-04-15T23:40:31Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Just heard it on CNN. All I can think is of the Newtown families sitting in VIP seating. I’m sure it’s not one of theirs, but o much young death. ☹ As if the whole thing wasn’t bad enough, those poor bastards from Newtown.☹ I heard Obama’s speech on the radio driving to work. I hope they catch the arseholes who did this, this is the definition of terrorism. Planting explosives to take out innocent people. Very glad to see in this thread at least that no one has lost family. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/323 "2013-04-15T23:44:01Z")
> [@Noodles\_Fellicini](#): > > **Bob Ducca** I saw that same picture (cowboy hat is distinctive, as is the wounded man’s complexion) on a national news site a couple of hours ago in which his face was not obscured and his legs were not … well, like that. It is possible this is a very sick photoshop, particularly since you aren’t going to put on a tourniquet and then just leave something like that waving in the breeze – as an EMT I would at the very least wrap my inside-out jacket or shirt around the patient. I’ll look for the original photo I saw but as new stories come in the old ones are getting buried. I’ve seen that photo a couple more times - always now cropped at the level of his knee. If the original was the one that wasn’t that bad, I suspect they’d been running it uncropped. There’s a couple of other bloody photos that have been pretty widespread and uncropped. Plus, a couple of people upthread said they spotted him on network video footage. No way any network’s going to CGI in some really gory injuries for news footage. Nevermind that it would be impossibly to do so in the time it took before it was broadcast. ETA: thread moves too fast, I see the photo’s already been discussed some more. ---
**Author:** ![Noodles\_Fellicini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Noodles\_Fellicini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noodles_Fellicini)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/324 "2013-04-15T23:46:53Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I saw footage of that before I saw the photo linked early in this thread. I think my eye was drawn to cowboy hat guy and didn’t even look at the guy in the chair’s injuries. Then I saw the linked picture. As soon as I saw it I realized that I had just seen that guy wheeled past the cameras on TV. Then I saw the footage on TV again and this time realized what it was. I missed the video but now I understand why his complexion was so dusky. Sure hope he makes it. Thoughts and prayers for all those whose lives were so changed today. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/325 "2013-04-15T23:48:23Z")
One of my best buddies has a daughter at college in Boston. She was running the marathon, but is ok. Her friend from college is in the hospital but I have no idea how bad she is hurt. My friend’s daughter is inconsolable. My friend’s daughter has been through the ringer from a young age and 4.0 student and terrific person. It’s just awful. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/326 "2013-04-15T23:52:44Z")
CNN just reported that Doctors are removing ball bearings from victims. Bombs were designed to maim as much as possible. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/327 "2013-04-15T23:57:55Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > CNN just reported that Doctors are removing ball bearings from victims. > > Bombs were designed to maim as much as possible. I have no words. Heartbreaking. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/328 "2013-04-15T23:59:03Z")
Today has been a bad day. Today was a day when a lazy sh-t with a backpack tried to make a statement by trying to kill people who work out every single day, on top of earning a living, just to run and just to inspire Hope. And they, quite typically, only succeeded in killing a child and a spectator. I come here not to praise the Ignorant Partisanship which may have allowed this to happen in My America, but to Bury it. It’s already 8:00pm on the East Coast of my nation, and the sun is about to set on today. But what of tomorrow? Whose child will die tomorrow if we don’t work together to stop this? Mine? Yours? I don’t much care who you voted for. I don’t care what country you’re from or what you think that entitles you to. I don’t care if you do your fighting with clips, pens, or Hanzo swords… and I don’t much care which tin-plated god you think would have you afterwards. I ask you one question: Is THIS acceptable in Your America!? Someone out there is reading this. Someone out there knows Something about this. Someone out there has the power with one phone call to make sure this never happens again to Any of our children. Make. That. Call. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/329 "2013-04-15T23:59:32Z")
A high school friend’s dad is a marathoner/ultramarathoner. Looks like he finished about 50 minutes before the explosion but didn’t leave the area until 5 minutes prior. :eek: Damned lucky of him. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/330 "2013-04-16T00:02:00Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > I ask you one question: Is THIS acceptable in Your America!? They never listen to us. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/331 "2013-04-16T00:02:31Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > CNN just reported that Doctors are removing ball bearings from victims. > > Bombs were designed to maim as much as possible. There were a lot of these types of nail bombs in Ireland. Horrific. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/332 "2013-04-16T00:09:42Z")
Just a reminder to go on Google’s [Person Finder](http://google.org/personfinder/2013-boston-explosions/) and put in information about people you know are safe, even if their families already know. I just did that for my mom and someone she met on the train yesterday was relieved to hear it. Might make someone’s day. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/333 "2013-04-16T00:19:09Z")
Interesting. I just had two calls in a row on my cell phone from a guy with a very obvious Boston accent. The second time we verified that he was calling my number. (I’m in Ontario.) He said he was looking for his brother; I should have talked to him a bit. I feel bad now. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/334 "2013-04-16T00:27:46Z")
My cousin was running and half my family was there to watch him. He finished about half an hour before the explosion but had just left the area when it went off. I have heard that he and the rest of the family are all fine, but no other details. He started with the first wave of runners at 10. If he’d started with the second wave, he’d have been right there. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/335 "2013-04-16T00:28:28Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Interesting. I just had two calls in a row on my cell phone from a guy with a very obvious Boston accent. The second time we verified that he was calling my number. (I’m in Ontario.) > > He said he was looking for his brother; I should have talked to him a bit. I feel bad now. He’s probably too busy worrying and trying to locate his brother to have wanted to talk even for a little bit - so don’t feel bad. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/336 "2013-04-16T00:29:44Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > **Noodles** , I think it’s far more likely that the “nicer” photographs are the ones that are 'shopped. I’ve seen that photo pop up in a few places where either the… stumps (ugh, I’m sorry, there’s just no better way to put this) are blurred out, or the photo is cropped so that you can’t really see what happened. I saw one that looked like it had just been minimally 'shopped to get rid of the worst of the gore. > > I saw that photograph within the first 30-45 minutes after the explosion. If it is a photoshop, it’s a very fast and very good one. It’s not photoshopped. You can find photos of this guy in the blast area before anyone gets to him on [liveleak.com](http://liveleak.com) if one cares to look. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/337 "2013-04-16T00:32:18Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > I’ve seen that photo a couple more times - always now cropped at the level of his knee. > > If the original was the one that wasn’t that bad, I suspect they’d been running it uncropped. There’s a couple of other bloody photos that have been pretty widespread and uncropped. > > Plus, a couple of people upthread said they spotted him on network video footage. No way any network’s going to CGI in some really gory injuries for news footage. Nevermind that it would be impossibly to do so in the time it took before it was broadcast. > > ETA: thread moves too fast, I see the photo’s already been discussed some more. That’s too bad. I think it is an important—quite precisely because it is so disturbing and enraging—photograph. Much like [_The Falling Man_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Falling_Man) from 9/11. We don’t want wholly abandon our decision making to our emotions, but there is also a danger of over-intellectualizing the event in order to distance ourselves from some realities that it looks like we still need to reckon with. (I am trying to keep this on the importance of photography — particularly stark, striking photography, of events like these — and not include a political component.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/338 "2013-04-16T00:32:30Z")
CNN reporting 17 patients with amputations. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/339 "2013-04-16T00:38:05Z")
It has been a hell of an awful day. I work in the suburbs, but around here it’s hard not to know people that are in/ involved with the marathon. My co-worker’s wife was working the medical tents, and it was agony waiting to hear from her. A lot of people were coming in with amputations. Cambridge and Somerville are fine, but the city was just sheer bedlam. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781/340 "2013-04-16T00:42:36Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > That’s too bad. I think it is an important—quite precisely because it is so disturbing and enraging—photograph. Much like [_The Falling Man_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Falling_Man) from 9/11. > > We don’t want wholly abandon our decision making to our emotions, but there is also a danger of over-intellectualizing the event in order to distance ourselves from some realities that it looks like we still need to reckon with. > > (I am trying to keep this on the importance of photography — particularly stark, striking photography, of events like these — and not include a political component.) I think the internet gives us the best of both worlds. I can find that picture if/when I want to. But I don’t need to look at it while I’m eating dinner and watching the news. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explosions-at-boston-marathon/655781.md?page=18)