I got an email from someone who read my post about the arrest of the guy wanting to blow up a shopping mall:

—
This moron actually wrote that stuff to you????

Good grief.

On the other hand, flying schools (and the FBI) didn’t seem to think it strange that people wanted to learn how to fly, but not to land.
—

I get LOTS of email from morons asking how to build bombs.  I try my best to discourage it but, well, they are morons.

Read these pages for example morons:

http://www.boomershoot.org/general/BombHelp.htm
http://www.boomershoot.org/general/BombHelp2003.htm
http://www.boomershoot.org/general/BombHelp2002.htm
http://www.boomershoot.org/general/BombHelp2001.htm
http://www.boomershoot.org/general/BombHelp2000.htm

And those are just the ones that actually bother to write.  So far this month I have received 145 hits (that about 10 hits/day) from people looking for help making a bomb.  I have all their IP addresses and their search query phrases — stuff like:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=how+to+make+a+small+bomb
http://web.ask.com/web?q=Want+Some+Help+Building+a+Bomb&o=0&qsrc=0

As of June 1 of this year I have had this many hits year to date on my website http://www.boomershoot.org on bomb building:

  232: how to make a small bomb
   79: building a bomb
   43: how to make a bomb
   37: building a pipe bomb
   30: bomb building
   30: how to make a simple bomb
   26: how to build a bomb
   25: make a small bomb

Yesterday I received the prints the writer, Lisa Anne Auerbach, sent me.  Very nice pictures.  Not sure the “still life” of the fireball target was the most beautiful picture, but she did take some nice pictures.  Today I got some email saying she sent the article in last week and that usually the magazine policy is to not allow others to see the article until the magazine comes out.  Also, unfortunately, the article was limited to just 500 words.

Interesting.  Very interesting.  It’s possible I had something to do with catching that guy.

—–
http://www.cincypost.com/2004/06/15/terr061504.html

Many in Columbus, Ohio, knew Nuradin M. Abdi as the owner of a cellular
telephone sales business.

But a federal indictment announced Monday accused Abdi, a native of
Somalia, of being an operative for the terror network al-Qaida whose
plans to blow up an unspecified Columbus-area shopping mall were
thwarted by his November arrest.
—–

And from about 1.5 years ago:

—-
http://www.boomershoot.org/general/BombHelp2002.htm#TerrorismClass

Hey Joe,

Do you know anything about explosives that are detonated via
cell-phones?

.
.
.

I think I’ve decided to (hypothetically) attack a mall since there’s
practically no security, they’re crowded, and they seem like the type of
target my chosen group would go after. I’d like to set off bombs in
several different key pubic areas, as well as some car-bombs in the
parking garage. The main goal of my terrorist group will be death and
destruction, but actually bringing down the building would be considered
a big plus. However, I know about as much about main building supports
as I do about explosives, so I still have a lot of research to do.

.
.
.

From: FBI Internet Tips
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 8:25 AM
To: joeh@boomershoot.org
Subject: FBI Response

Thank you for your tip to the FBI Internet Tip Line. It is being
evaluated for it’s strategic value, and will be disseminated, if
appropriate, for further action. It is the policy of the FBI to not
provide results of that evaluation or action to the providers of
information.

Sincerely,

David N. Rushing/jbv
Supervisory Special Agent
FBI Headquarters
Washington, DC
—-