RESEARCH QUESTION--
Museum Quality Danger
At their best, museums are mysterious, dangerous, alluring places. One museum has now surpassed all others as a source of danger.
Investigator Leslie Lamport brought to our attention a report in the June 7, 2000 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle. The report begins:
Air Force Security Busts Exploratorium `Bubble' -- Plastic-bag bomb instructions draw military ban
Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer
SAN FRANCISCO -- Somebody at the U.S. Air Force Space Command zapped the San Francisco Exploratorium's Web site because it included step-by-step instructions for making a bomb, the museum revealed yesterday. A ``Bubble Bomb.'' Using ``the power of fizz,'' kids can learn how to ``pop a plastic bag'' merely by dropping by the Exploratorium's Internet site at http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/bubblebomb.html
Danger on the Bay
The Exploratorium is indeed a dangerous place.
I speak from personal experience. At the Exploratorium you are in danger of being made curious -- curious about science. I have seen it happen to countless people who entered the place in all innocence, believing themselves to be safely ignorant, safely insulated from thought and curiosity. One by one, they succumbed to the Exploratorium's danger-filled charms.
Bubble Danger
Bubble bombs are indeed dangerous things.
I speak from impersonal experience. I have seen a frightening bomb bag. a Pokemoniacal bubble bomb, a timely oyster bubble-back, some microscopic sonic booming bubbles, and even something called "bubble band math." These are dangers of legitimate concern to the US AIR Force.
Not to Worry
But danger always has its charms, which strengthen and inspire us (except when they kill us). The AIR Force would do well to stop worrying, and learn to love the bubble bomb.
© Copyright 2000 Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
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