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dfpw t1_jda84nn wrote

Reply to comment by dittybopper_05H in Ecuadorian TV presenter wounded by bomb disguised as USB stick by AudibleNod

I'm annoyed at the description of the device "sends a command to destroy the motherboard". No it charges a capacitor in the USB drive that discharges into the machine

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BananaLumps t1_jdamis0 wrote

I was just about to say the same thing. Yeah that "command" is a ~240v charge that just fries the thing.

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dittybopper_05H t1_jdc9npk wrote

Remember this the next time you read an article about something with which you are not familiar.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/65213-briefly-stated-the-gell-mann-amnesia-effect-is-as-follows-you

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>Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
>
>In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

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