Boomershoot 2008 slogan and picture

I’ve chosen the picture and slogan for Boomershoot 2008. This will go on the shirts, mugs, hats, magnets, thongs, etc. that are sold via Cafepress. I’ll probably get it online for sale sometime during the holiday. The photo was taken by Peter Biddle and he has other photos from Boomershoot 2007 here.

In the mean time:

The official Boomershoot logo will be on most items as well:

Boomershoot 2008 prep

I ended up getting really busy and not getting this out within a day or so of when Caleb and I did this (November 11th) but most people probably don’t care that much anyway. So, for my satisfaction and some of the Boomershoot volunteers I’m documenting the latest improvements implemented to help make Boomershoot 2008 the best yet.

What I’m doing is spending my money and time on the infrastructure to enable easier and faster manufacture of the explosives and targets. For the same amount of resources I could add capacity to handle a few more shooters but I decided put the effort into delivering more targets to the existing number of participants. At first glance this may be thrilling to the shooters as I’m sure it will be when they first hear about it. But just wait–there is an evil twist to my plan and I won’t be telling them the details until the night before.

As you may recall Caleb, Kim, and I did some “well” digging and earth moving this summer and fall. We planted some grass where we destroyed the old and it seems to be coming up very nicely:

After draining all the water out of the pipe we poured some recreational vehicle antifreeze in the pump and covered it so it wouldn’t freeze and break this winter:

The 700 watt inverter I had installed shortly after building the Taj died. Because we changed our mixing procedures we didn’t need nearly as much power as before so I down graded to a 400 Watt inverter that only uses 90 mA of standby current instead of the nearly 1 A the old one consumed. This will give us an estimated battery life of over 15 hours compared to the approximately eight hours with the old inverter. And that includes running the WiFi continuously.

We also installed paper towel dispensers over both benches:

And just because I like the snow here is the Boomershoot range last Saturday:

My estimate is that we will be able to produce 2000 pounds of explosives in the two days before Boomershoot 2008. Literally, a ton of recreational explosives for your shooting pleasure. I wish Josh Sugarmann, Sarah Brady, Paul Helmke and the rest of the anti-gun bigots could be there to enjoy it with us. I’d be willing to arrange for their own toilet and eating areas if they didn’t want to associate with us but they probably don’t have enough travel budget for it. Too bad. I’d love to see the sour expressions on their faces as people from all over North America (and maybe a guy currently in England who is waiting for an opening) shooting real sniper rifles (used by real former, current, and future snipers), assault rifles (yes, full auto are welcome), and the dreaded .50 caliber rifles have a real blast.

yo jo

Sometimes you can’t make this stuff up. Now maybe someone did make this up and is just playing with me but I would expect a bimodal distribution across this particular dimension if that were the case. Instead I get a more normal distribution with this guy pushing the limits of the tail.

From: XXX@aol.com
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 3:46 PM
To: Joe
Subject: yo jo

yo want a bomd well do you want tio kill some one becouse you can use a fairly resonoble flash pree bomb that will make a lot of nois ans send shrapnal for several hundred feet take any house hold cleener that has hydreclorikacid in it and add mettle shavings to detinate if you want shrapnal to maximize damage atache it to the 12oz botle you mix the chemical and medil shavings in or put glass inside the botle etyher or your bomb will be loud and there will be no flas

________________________________________
See AOL’s top rated recipes and easy ways to stay in shape for winter.

Just as one would expect it is an AOL user. The IP address places the sender in New York City.

Bullet effects video

BulletFootage-5000.wmv (3.27 MB)

I wish I had a camera that would take video like that of my boomers.

That watermelon is pretty cool though.

[Thanks to Joe D.]

Wireless, remote control cannon hit simulator

If you are into the battle reenactment scene Ozark Pyrotechnics, Inc. now has wireless Cannon Hit Simulation kits for sale.

This might be the way to realize one of my Boomershoot fantasies. That is where I mock the people unable to connect with targets using their rifles by pulling my iron sighted pistol from it’s holster and while standing popping off targets at 375 yards away.

Make what you want of this

Someone in Iran is looking for information on liquid explosives:

Domain Name   (Unknown) 
IP Address   80.191.3.# (Tarbiat Modares University)
ISP   Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI)
Location  
Continent  :  Asia
Country  :  Iran, Islamic Republic of  (Facts)
State/Region  :  Tehran
City  :  Tehran
Lat/Long  :  35.6719, 51.4244 (Map)
Distance  :  6,695 miles
Language   English (United States)
en-us
Operating System   Microsoft WinXP
Browser   Firefox
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.9) Gecko/20071025 Firefox/2.0.0.9
Javascript   version 1.5
Monitor  

Resolution  :  1024 x 768
Color Depth  :  32 bits

Time of Visit   Nov 19 2007 5:23:46 am
Last Page View   Nov 19 2007 5:23:46 am
Visit Length   0 seconds
Page Views   1
Referring URL http://www.google.co…ikipedia&btnG=Search
Search Engine google.com
Search Words exclusion ability for liquid explosive matter wikipedia
Visit Entry Page   http://blog.joehuffm…t,month,2006-08.aspx
Visit Exit Page   http://blog.joehuffm…t,month,2006-08.aspx
Out Click    
Time Zone   UTC+4:00
Visitor’s Time   Nov 19 2007 4:53:46 pm
Visit Number   211,987

KING 5 Evening Magazine Video

KING 5 has their video of Boomershoot up on the web now. It’s a slightly different edit than the one I have up.

A letter From Son

My son, a freshman in high school, occasionally sends me e-mail from school, but due to a busy study schedule and extremely slow computers (it’s a public school) they are rare.  Today’s letter was notable.  Our complete exchange follows:

In the last period of the day, we had a study hall, and I had no homework. So, I decided to go on the boomershoot website and look at explosives. I also had the ultimak webpage open at the same time. I actually had a teacher come and tell me to find another subject!

To which I replied:

Sorry to hear that (actually, I read it but “sorry to read that” just doesn’t have the same effect) but I’m certainly not surprised. Our popular culture has been effectively trained, like Pavlov’s Dogs, to recoil (like the metaphor?) from anything that shows guns in a favorable light.

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/pavlov/readmore.html

Racist bigots once behaved in exactly the same way toward blacks or other minorities– back then you might have been looking at Martin Luther King Jr.’s writings while in a study hall in Alabama, and been told to read something else! We don’t hear much from the racist bigots any more, because they tend to keep their mouths shut in polite company. Now we have anti-gun bigots instead, who feel no compunction and mouth off regularly.

On a side note; many have never learned (because this story doesn’t fit the popular, leftist anti-gun action line) that during the civil rights struggle, many black leaders and religious figures joined the NRA and encouraged their black neighbors to arm themselves. As one would expect, violence against blacks tended to fall precipitously in those areas where such advice was taken.

Many would also be shocked (shocked, I tell you!) to learn that the KKK not only supported gun control (see above paragraph) but their political party of choice was the Democratic Party. No self-respecting KKK thug would ever vote for a Republican.

Give that to your social studies classes, et al, and let them chew on it for a while. They may hate it, but unlike much of what they say, they can look this up and verify it. Then you can explain that you were looking at your father’s web site and the site for an event that you attend annually.

Now, keep up on your homework, be nice, and have fun! That’s an order.

I’ve always had the policy of not “talking down” to my kids.  I use the same language I’d use in a conversation with an English professor.  If they don’t understand something, they’ll either ask me or they’ll look it up.

Gun Skool

Some weeks ago, I had mentioned to Joe that I would like to get my NRA Trainer’s certification.  There were classes offered over in Western Washington, and Joe offered to let me stay at his hardened, underground bunker, located beneath a non-descript building in an ordinary part of an obscure town in a crowded part of the state.  In the middle of getting some new gun products photographed, spec.ed, instructions written, and put on-line, I drove to Western Washington for some courses, created by the NRA, in Instructor Training, Basic Pistol instruction and Home Firearm Safety instruction.  That was three days of intense (for me) study, from 8:00 AM to after 6:00PM Friday and Saturday, and 8:00 to about 5:30 on Sunday.

The first exercise of the weekend involved demonstrating that we could show another person how to safely load and unload five different long-gun actions and three handgun actions (aced that–for me it was akin to asking a chef to demonstrate his ability to prepair scrambled eggs and dry toast, but enough bragging).  We then had to score at least 90% on four separate written exams and shoot at least 50% on a pistol qualification course—shooting from a distance of 25 yards at a nine-inch target, from three specific standing positions including one-handed.  Apparently, most pistol shooters don’t shoot much beyond 10 or 15 yards, but I was unaware of this, having tried my hand at 100 yards. 100 yards is a bit of a “hail Mary” exercise with a common handgun. At 25 yards you have to take your time and concentrate, but it is very much doable.  I’d have scored higher than my 63% if I’d either used my own guns or if I’d known in advance that their pistols were regulated for a “bull’s-eye” zero at 25 (sights held on the bottom of the round bull’s-eye to hit in the center of the bull’s-eye– ask me if you want to know why that’s a great idea, which it is) because I was holding the sights on the center of the bull. Most of my misses therefore went high. Most of us in the class were “combat” shooters (they’d make fun of that by saying we were from the “Billy-Bob School of Running and Gunning”) and so we were a little bit unprepared for the slower, more relaxed, more skeletal-supported bull’s-eye style they use in the NRA basic pistol classes.

I passed everything with flying colors, except for the second written exam—I was completely unprepared to “study for the tests”.  I hadn’t been in college for almost 30 years.  I was listening intently to the instructor, and was confident of knowing everything he was talking about, plus I had already scored 96% (I think it was) on the first written exam.  Trouble was, I didn’t have the precise verbiage they wanted as answers on the second test—the Three Principles of this, and the Eight Steps of that, etc..  One instructor was impressed enough that he let me take the test over, which I passed with 100%.  The trouble with that, however, was it took time away from my studying the material for the other classes, so in spite of taking no time for anything but studying, eating and sleeping a little bit, I was behind the curve so to speak, for the whole weekend.  I was a hair trigger from bugging out on more than one occasion, but I am very glad I stuck it through.  As soon as I receive my official certification I’ll be qualified to teach NRA basic courses in Pistol and Home Firearm Safety.

Aside from being impressed by the quality of both the teachers and the students at Kenmore Range, there was a lot I never knew about the NRA, in spite of having been a member for years, and I gained a new respect for the organization.  It turns out they started for very much the same reasons Joe started the Boomershoot— to increase the number of competent shooters for the times they may be required to defend life and Liberty.  The whole political persona we all know, came much later, and to this day is only a very small part of the NRA.  They are mostly a marksmanship advancement, training, and competitive shooting facilitator, having founded Camp Perry and a number of other excellent ranges, and developed a comprehensive and effective training program.

 

To you NRA phone solicitors and mailing program developers out there:  You really should spend more time talking to your perspective members about all the things, in addition to the political wing, the NRA does to promote American marksmanship.

 

The weekend was rough, but I highly recommend NRA Trainer education to anyone interested in teaching gun handling or shooting skills.  Thank you, Joe, for the use of the hardened bunker.  I could not have done so well without it, and the broadband pipe you provided also.

 

As an aside, I left my wallet and checkbook, everything, at a rest stop near Dusty, WA on my way to the West Side.  I didn’t know about it until Joe informed me as I was entering the Seattle area.  It turns out that someone from the West Side was driving to Moscow, ID where I work, picked it up, called my place of work, and hand delivered it.  Sort of renews one’s faith in Mankind, that does.  That person could have easily relieved me of many thousands of dollars, to say nothing of depriving me of 100% of my ID and other creds.

Boomershoot rifle for sale

No, it’s not my spud gun (but it has a nearly identical scope). It’s Benjamin’s rifle that he used to connect with 700 yard boomers. It’s a great price for a good gun.

Update: I just got a call from Ben. The rifle is sold. The scope alone was worth the asking price for everything.

Women and guns

Uncle asks, “But, you know, who can’t watch chicks in bikinis firing belt fed machine guns?”

Well, if you must ask… most women probably find that very offensive.

I find it (yeah, I know, I’m weird) a little annoying. Guns and nearly naked women just don’t go together for me. These women don’t really know what they are doing with the guns. They get so few rounds on target and so many in the dirt that I find it irritating.

I could go for some of the groupies (there are some hints of this phenomena at times) at Boomershoot to show their appreciation after the show but not as a part of it. For some reason the simultaneous combination of sex and guns just leaves me a little bit cold.

That doesn’t mean I don’t realize there is a fairly large segment of the male (and some female) population that finds the combination very stimulating. I just don’t get it on the emotional level and I fear it hurts our cause with the majority of women.

Great picture of Boomershoot cleanup

Dave has a picture of Boomershoot 2007 cleanup. Boomershoot is a difficult thing to capture. The cleanup in particularly tough. The video is good but even ignoring the inability to capture the true dynamic range of the audio there is so much going on that it doesn’t capture the visuals all the well either. Dave’s picture helps get nonparticipants a little bit closer to understanding what it is like to be there.

Boomershoot light on November 11

It appears there will be a special Boomershoot event November 11th, 2007. This is for the benefit of a U.K. film company doing a documentary. For some background see this blog posting.

If you would like to participate send me an email. I will be charging $50.00 per shooter for this event and everyone can have their own shooting position. Depending on the weather we may not be able to get targets up on the hill and they may all be at the 375 yard tree line. We won’t know until the day of the shoot. But there will be lots of targets including fireballs to help keep us warm.

It’s not for certain yet but I estimate the chances of this happening on this day at about 75%.

No new ghettos

Over the years I’ve had numerous queries about bringing a rifle to Boomershoot that shoots the .50 BMG cartridge. I’ve always told them it wasn’t a problem but they had to set up some distance from “normal people” so they wouldn’t hurt their neighbors with the muzzle blast. I put these shooters off to one end and it quickly got named “The Ghetto”. After I started running out of shooting spaces I explicitly set aside positions with extra wide spacing for the .50 caliber shooters and I called the area by the name given to it by shooters years before, the “.50 Cal Ghetto”:

Shooting areas.

Now via Tam I find there are “affordable” guns that shoot the manly 20mm cartridge. See the bottom of this page for a picture of the 20mm compared to the wimpy .50 BMG cartridge.

I haven’t had any requests to bring 20mm rifles to Boomershoot but they are welcome to come. They will be thrown into the same ghetto as the .50 cal guys who will have to just suck it up when they get embarrassed by the size of their tools compared to the newcomers.

Stairway to heaven

Kim, Caleb, and I went to the Boomershoot site yesterday. We put in a simple stairway from the water pump to the shed where we make and store the explosives for the reactive targets.

When we got back home Xenia asked what we did and I told her we made a stairway. “To where?”, she asked. And I told her, “A stairway to heaven.”

This captures a couple of different concepts in addition to the song with that title. I always worry some about blowing up myself and others when we are working on the explosives. Hence a literal use of the word heaven if you believe in such things. And also it’s a very happy, pleasant place for me–gun, explosives, and the serenity of being out in the middle of the farm with no people or their sounds nearby.

Pr0nnovations

This weekend I’ll be doing Boomershoot 2008 prep and other chores but some people will be here (San Francisco–of course):

The latest adult industry “‘pr0nnovations” will be on display in San Francisco this weekend at Arse Elektronika, a three-day expo featuring sex machines, brainy talks and weird performances (including the Electric Orifice Orchestra, in which “extravagantly dressed performers use live biofeedback from muscular interior walls of their bodies to create a multimedia interactive show”).

A good sign

I’ve been corresponding with a 13 year-old kid that started out saying he wanted to make bombs but there was enough information that indicated he had no intention of hurting anyone or their property. He was just using the wrong word for his desired activities. Rather than ignore him or turn him in to the police in his area I politely declined to help and suggested he attend Boomershoot 2008 since he lives in Idaho. Tonight, after six emails from him in 36 hours, he asked:

Can you give me the URL for the website of pain full pics of pipe bomb retards?

I recently told a friend of mine i made small explosives for recreational uses, and he said “oh yeah i should come to your house and we can make a pipe bomb”

I told him he was being stupid and, before he made explosives needed to do his homework. I told him id try to find the page i saw and show him how dumb his idea really was.

Cool. Maybe he will make it to adulthood.

This (WARNING! Extremely graphic!) is the link.

And speaking of bombs–if you are a suicide bomber intent on taking out some of our boys in the sandbox with itchy fingers on their “.50 caliber sniper rifles” keep (more extremely graphic material!) this in mind.

Unobscuring Kip Hawley

TSA head Kip Hawley (http://www.kiphawleyisanidiot.com/) attempts to explain the reason for the three ounce limit on liquids and why the rule is reasonable. He is deliberately obscure in places:

“This is something we thought a lot about. There’s a whole classified section to the answer, but in the unclassified part we are limited to discussing, with 3-1-1, the major focus was first, to stop assembled bombs,” he said.

“The nature of liquid explosives is that they are very volatile, unlike military-grade explosives that react predictably. With homemade explosives, while the benefit is that they are made of easy-to-get ingredients, the downside is that you get widely different results for the same quote-unquote recipe.

“If you’re going to use these explosives in the aviation context, you have to be very precise in the mixing because, as we found in the testing, minor variations in formula have a very dramatic effect on whether or not the explosives are successful.

“So 3-1-1- eliminates the ability to assemble the ingredients in a laboratory, using expert people to provide a finished bomb for somebody to use on a suicide mission on an airplane,” he said.

On a plane, mixing up a bomb in a suitable container “isn’t like mixing a beverage,” he said, adding: “This stuff is very volatile; it is very obvious; you can smell it a long way away. It’s very corrosive.”

The volatile stuff he’s talking about would be the acetone used to make acetone peroxide. And yes acetone is very smelly. I have never made acetone peroxide and have no plans to. It’s called “Mother of Satan” for a reason.

The “very corrosive” stuff would be nitric and sulfuric acids used to make nitroglycerin; probably the most well known of all liquid explosives.

Yup. Mixing up either of those explosives without being noticed would be difficult on a plane. The acetone in particular is very noticeable. Finger polish remover is frequently acetone. So if someone starts working on removing their fingernail polish don’t be surprised if you see the flight crew getting a little excited about finding the source of the smell.

The problem with the whole explosives testing thing is that there are lots of things made out of stuff they don’t, and essentially can’t, test for that make the whole exercise just A Security Theater. That money would be far better spent on finding the bad guys before they ever got to the airport. But don’t expect Hawley to tell you that. It’s not his job to tell you his job is a sham. His job is to make you feel safer. Do you feel safe yet?

Cleaning out the bomb help email

I sort of ran out of snark for these sort of things and they have just sat around in my Inbox “forever”. Some I would have turned over to law enforcement but it has been so rare that I have received even an acknowledgment of receipt from them that I got discouraged. If they don’t care then I guess I don’t much care either.

But maybe you will get some amusement out of them:

From: Pgleon@
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 3:29 PM
To: JoeH
Subject: DA BOMB

hey joe i was wounderin how 2 make a bomb could u plz tell i at least wana blow a little hole in a wall or somin blow a hole in da floor i meen grass like a golf hole but a bit wider and deeper could u plz send me instruction but i avent got much 2 spend on it and i live in the uk. send this 2 gesty@ thx dude


From: Jordan
Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 6:59 PM
To: JoeH
Subject: bomb

i was wondering if me and  a friend put black powder in a concled place with a wick would it explode and how big. Well anyways can you give us directions on a big bomb blow a few feet into the ground?
Jordan


From: yunus 
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 12:14 AM
To: JoeH
Subject:

hiii

c
i trying to some kind a loud bomb for a trick but i cant be there and so i
need also a timer but i have no idea so i hope you will help  me

whatting your answer
please

_________________________________________________________________
En etkili ve güvenilir PC Korumayi tercih edin, rahat edin!
http://www.msn.com.tr/security/


From: René
Sent: Sunday, July 16, 2006 10:30 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: Can u help mee?

I want to Build a Big Bomb with a big boom… It can be expensive but easy to get the stuff to it…..
Nothing else matters


From: SCOTT 
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 1:48 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: HOW TO EXPLOSIVES

Hello Mr. Huffman,
 
I would like some info on how to build a bomb, something with the power of about 2 sticks of dynamite. I might like to try and put a hole in a cement wall or something to that affect.
 
                                                    Thanks!
 
                                                           Scott


From: mark 
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 10:54 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: help me

Dear Joeh;
   I have an enemy in my neighborhood who’s always trying to get me arrested. She hates me and tries to hurt me in anyway she can. Well, I want to teach her a lesson once and for all. Help me build something that can be thrown through her window and severely hurt that bitch. Remember it can’t be to heavy because I have to be able to throw it.
                                                                    sincerely,
                                                             troubled housewife


From: ASHTRAYASHTRAY13
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 12:59 PM
To: JoeH
Subject: basic bomb

hi,
 
i was wondering how to make a small basic bomb with simple and easy available ingridients. i would be very grateful if you could possibly tell me ??
 
regards,
Ash


From: Mirjana 
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 5:29 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: Homemade bomb

Can you tell me how to make a bomb that can make a hole in the ground (about 20 cm). Not too strong so i have to run like half a mile, and not that it explodes in 5 sec… I don’t have many materials avalible, just stuff that you can find in every home. I know how to make one bomb… but i need some weird acid so i can easily get hurt.
 
If you don’t reply me, thanks anyway…


From: louis
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 6:04 PM
To: JoeH
Subject: u are a faggot and u cant catch me bitch hahahahahaha!!!!!!HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

y dont u leave the 15 year old texan alone, dont u have something better 2
do! try and track me ass hole wow u have my e-mail big deal, i am 15 as well
and im guna make a bomb, throw it into a hotel swimmig pool


From: extinct02ws6
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 11:12 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: Just Curious

 Hey. I was wondering how to build 2 types of bombs. the first, small, how to build a hand grenade. and second, larger, how to blow up a car. fused or timed. doesn’t really matter. thanks!
                                                                                                               tommy


From: Kayci
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 8:47 AM
To: JoeH
Subject: Plan

Okay,so a friend and I need to build a series of explosive devices for a plan we have that will
probably take a few years to finalize. Anyway,we need to build 2 or 3 types of bomb:2 gas bombs,most likely propane,and some handy throwable explosives like grenades or pipe bombs. For the propane ones,we need complete instructions on engineering and remote
detonation. We want to take out a large building,roughly the size of a high school gymnasium. We want to injure many people in the proccess. We need the pipe bombs and grenades so we can fend off any resistance. We also might need a car bomb or two,for a good distraction. So,let me know what you got,I need the info soon.
Thanks,
KC

Kitty litter bombs

Via Michelle Malkin.

I’ve been reading every article I can on the materials these two guys were playing with. They are claimed to have had the following in their car:

  • Three pieces of PVC pipe cut into various sizes, 1 foot or less, filled with a mixture of
    • Potassium nitrate
    • Karo syrup
    • Cat litter
  • Safety fuse, 20 feet.
  • Electric drill
  • .22 caliber ammunition
  • Gasoline, 5 gallon canister
  • Laptop computer reflecting visits to the following Web sites
    • A video file that shows Qassam rockets firing
    • Hamas information
    • A discussion of martyrdom
    • M-16 rifle photos

Except for the pipes and the stuff all mixed up you might find that in one of my vehicles sometime.

It is claimed the cat litter was used to “bind the ingredients” but I’m not buying it. Karo syrup doesn’t need any help “binding”. If you put enough cat litter in the mixture it would make it easier to handle–including putting it in the pipe. But if you add enough litter to make it easy to handle I keep thinking it would interfere with the desired reaction–unless you were just trying to make a 4th of July type “fountain” or “smoke bomb”. With a good detonator (blasting cap) and with no, or a limited amount, of cat litter it might go boom but it’s not going to be all that impressive.

If it were just the above items and it were up to me personally I would give them a stern warning for traveling with the pipes filled with the mixture. If they had a car accident it might catch fire and make the situation much worse. It’s not going to go boom and rip the car apart or anything but it’s not something you should do either.

If the mixture will actually explode then it would be a violation of Federal Law in regards to transportation of explosives since I doubt they had the proper placards, packaging, licenses and/or permits, storage magazine, and an hazardous materials endorsement on their drivers license.

But it wasn’t just those items. There was one more thing that changes the entire flavor of the case:

In July, Mohamed posted a video on YouTube that explained how to transform a toy remote controlled car into a detonator, Hoffer said. The 12-minute video is narrated by a man speaking Arabic with an Egyptian accent. It shows no face, only hands.

“Mohamed admitted he made and uploaded it,” Hoffer said.

The video’s narrator says it’s meant “to save one who wants to be a martyr for another day in battle,” Hoffer said. The narrator also mentions a previous example that used a remote controlled toy boat. Federal agents searched the New Tampa home of Megahed’s family and found a remote controlled toy boat, Hoffer said.

But what does that mean?

The judge asked if there was a definite link between the two, and Hoffer said no.

Exactly! Does the video mean he was intending to be “a martyr for another day in battle”? Was he going to try to detonate the material remotely for an evil purpose? I detonate explosives remotely using supersonic lead pellets and I could see doing it by a radio controlled device too (it’s been a common fantasy of mine and others to fake shooting a reactive target with an ordinary iron sighted handgun from 500 yards then tease those that can’t hit a target with their scoped rifles).

Summing up I am in near complete agreement (an extremely rare event) with CAIR:

Ahmed Bedier, director of the Central Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was quick to distinguish between Megahed and Mohamed.

“It’s obvious there are two separate individuals with different charges and different allegations,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the two individuals end up having separate cases altogether.”

He defended Megahed, saying it appeared he “just happened to be in the car.” But he had harsher words for Mohamed.

If he could talk to Mohamed, Bedier said, “I’d say, ‘Wake up!’ “

He added, “Muslims don’t get a second chance when they dabble with things like this. Not only will this have consequences on him, but it will have consequences on most of the Muslims in this country.”

Update: Ry reminds us we can’t believe everything we read in the media.

Update2: Ahh… now things are making more sense:

In the trunk, deputies found four small sections of PVC pipe, at least three of which were stuffed with a “potassium nitrate explosive mixture” of potassium nitrate, Karo syrup and kitty litter, Hoffer said. He said the kitty litter served as a binder to keep the substance from coming out of the pipes, which were not capped.

[…]

Both men are charged with transporting explosives without a permit, relating to the stuffed PVC pipes deputies have described as pipe bombs. Hoffer conceded in court, however, that the devices, while explosive, were not pipe bombs and were not “destructive devices” under the law.

Allen maintained that the filled PVC pipes couldn’t do much damage because there were no caps and no metallic material that could serve as shrapnel.

Sounds more like smoke bombs than pipe bombs to me. Worst case they could be incendiary devices. My bet is that if the defense plays their cards right they can beat the explosives charge.