# My first pitting - James McCormick **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 23, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508 "2013-04-23T17:19:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/1 "2013-04-23T17:19:39Z")
[What a prize dick](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22266051) - a man who made £50,000,000 from putting peoples lives in danger. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/2 "2013-04-23T17:27:23Z")
Wow. The morally reprehensible are amazing. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/3 "2013-04-23T17:46:41Z")
He should be sentenced to cross a minefield equipped with one of his own “detectors.” Reading the description, I find it had to believe that people were fooled into buying these things. > [@](#): > > McCormick claimed that the detectors could bypass “all forms of concealment” and would detect explosives, drugs, and people. > > He claimed they would work under water and from the air, and would track an object up to one kilometre below the ground. > > Devices came with cards which were “programmed” to detect a wide array of substances from ivory to $100 banknotes. > > Other substances could be detected - it was claimed - if put in a jar with a sticker which would absorb its “vapours” and which was then stuck on to a card which would be read by the machine. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/4 "2013-04-23T17:52:13Z")
Here’s an idea…how about we pit the stupid fuckers who BOUGHT them, too?? > [@](#): > > McCormick claimed that the detectors could bypass “all forms of concealment” and would detect explosives, drugs, and people. > > He claimed they would work under water and from the air, and would track an object up to one kilometre below the ground. > > Devices came with cards which were “programmed” to detect a wide array of substances from ivory to $100 banknotes. > > Other substances could be detected - it was claimed - if put in a jar with a sticker which would absorb its “vapours” and which was then stuck on to a card which would be read by the machine. > > In fact McCormick’s device was based on $20 (£13) golf ball finders which he had purchased from the US, and had no working electronics. > [@](#): > > Iraq spent more than $40m (£26.2m) on 6,000 devices between 2008 and 2010. Which probably really means that $40m of US budges was spent. Or we can pit Iraqi officals who knew that the devices didn’t work, thereby putting their own people in danger: > [@](#): > > The investigation revealed that senior Iraqi officials knew the devices did not work and received bribes to ensure they were purchased. > > General Jihad al-Jabiri, the head of the Baghdad bomb squad, is currently serving a jail term for corruption, along with two other Iraqi officials. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/5 "2013-04-23T17:57:13Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Here’s an idea…how about we pit the stupid fuckers who BOUGHT them, too?? That’s kinda what I’m thinking too. I mean, no doubt this McCormick asshole is a piece of shit, but I’m willing to bet even _he_ was surprised that anybody believed him. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/6 "2013-04-23T17:59:03Z")
They should extradite him to an Iraqi court. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/7 "2013-04-23T18:02:39Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > That’s kinda what I’m thinking too. > > I mean, no doubt this McCormick asshole is a piece of shit, but I’m willing to bet even _he_ was surprised that anybody believed him. People tend to believe what they _want_ to believe - this is how most con tricks work. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/8 "2013-04-23T18:05:49Z")
This is a pretty slippery slope; it opens the door for lawsuits from millions of duped consumers who purchased X-ray Specs from the back of a comic book. ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/9 "2013-04-23T18:17:43Z")
While I agree with this pitting, I must say: recreational outrage. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/10 "2013-04-23T18:18:04Z")
Yes, people who bought them are probably suckers, but that doesn’t exonerate him. He’s still up for Dogshit of the Year award in my books. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/11 "2013-04-23T22:00:00Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > While I agree with this pitting, I must say: recreational outrage. If you _want_ to be snarky about it, yeah, maybe. But as a British ex-civil servant who worked in central London throughout the IRA bombing campaign, I maintain a kind of vague interest in people on the receiving end of planted explosives and certainly would not have liked our security wielding useless crap like that when I was. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/12 "2013-04-23T22:16:12Z")
I say _caveat emptor_. I admire the guy. I can’t see anything but some false advertising claims here, and the rule for those is the fines should amount to a tiny portion of the profits. Anybody who believed these things worked was in no more danger than they are every day from their own stupidity. Fer cryin’ out loud chiropracters are allowed to treat cancer and Scientology doesn’t pay taxes, this is hardly worth noticing. ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/13 "2013-04-23T22:32:59Z")
Funneling tax money to people and companies for shit that doesn’t make us any safer is the whole reason the military exists. Shh, don’t tell anyone. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/14 "2013-04-23T23:57:03Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I admire the guy. Straining the boundaries of irony here, I hope. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/15 "2013-04-24T00:09:38Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Straining the boundaries of irony here, I hope. I admire his chutzpah, otherwise … meh. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/16 "2013-04-24T15:28:35Z")
Why would countries buy these bomb detectors when dowsing sticks are practically free? And can you at least use them to find explosive golf balls? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/17 "2013-04-24T15:45:10Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > And can you at least use them to find explosive golf balls? Signs point to yes ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/18 "2013-04-24T16:05:26Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Signs point to yes Which would explain why so many golfers were arrested and executed in Iraq last year. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/19 "2013-04-24T16:15:12Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > And can you at least use them to find explosive golf balls? “This’ll lead you right to Duff Killigan’s hideout, Kim.” “You rock, Wade!” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508/20 "2013-04-24T16:47:41Z")
I’m from Langport, too. I am ashamed. What a fucker. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-first-pitting-james-mccormick/656508.md?page=2)