There is much implausibility in the story I've been working on today, but one less implausible aspect has me wanting to know the facts.
My protagonist has a police tracking device, but he doesn't want the police to know where he goes or how he gets there until the point when he needs to be rescued. Do the police (UK in particular) use tracking devices which can be activated by the user?
AJ
Such devices exist. As to whether or not the UK police use such devices frequently enough to have one on hand, I cannot say.
Such devices are fairly common place these days. The particulars for the UK would be guesswork for anyone outside of there. Perhaps contacting a business that provides such services in the UK could net you some answers.
https://www.trackershop-uk.com/personal-trackers.html
Do the police (UK in particular) use tracking devices which can be activated by the user?
I don't know. Wanted to get that out so you don't waste time on the next bit if you don't want to.
Now, that over with, let me postulate that the police in the UK are as underfunded as the police everywhere else, even more so since they are expected to do more with less. Unless this is a major metropolitan area and this is a major case, the chances of the police putting a tracking device, user operable or not, on anyone is slim.
Plot device/armor: Do the Brits use house arrest or confinement with electronic monitoring? The ubiquitous ankle bracelet tracking devices that monitor our low-level criminals at home could be hacked by a sufficiently technical character, and re-enabled when he needs it to be (or, to be more precise, the hack that keeps it from reporting his true position disabled on command so it squawks as designed.)
Do the Brits use house arrest or confinement with electronic monitoring?
Yes, but at the risk of spoiling the story, perhaps I'd better reveal a little more of the plot.
The protagonist has the ability to home in on the location of a kidnap victim. When he reaches the victim, he'll be in the same peril as she is. So he doesn't want the police to be able to track him en route, but he wants to be able to issue a 'come and save us' signal when he reaches his destination.
AJ
If he is working with the police, even loosely, then can he provide the device?
Does he have a friendly flatfoot he can depend on?
Does it have to be a tracker and not a cell phone? Speed dial and Find My Phone works in a pinch. The parental oversight apps work too, where one can track a child. Install and let the cops hold the electronic leash?
If he is working with the police, even loosely, then can he provide the device?
Again, at the risk of spoiling the story (which is a teen sex comedy without the sex and without the comedy), I currently have the boy getting the tracker from a bent cop who just happened to 'mislay' it after a previous operation. Basically the boy and the police have an unfriendly relationship.
I prefer not to use a cellphone because the boy doesn't want it trackable until the right time, upon which he might only have seconds to activate the tracking device.
AJ
You could use a cell phone in that scenario. Either put it in a commercial product like 'Silent Pocket' or a Mu metal mesh custom version. Set it to ping as soon as it leaves the shielding activating the tracking.
Do the police (UK in particular) use tracking devices which can be activated by the user?
Message sent
Just as an FYI, those are built into a lot of cars today.
It's call a LoJack system, and those are available on the consumer market, not just for cars, but even for laptops and other things. The 'Find my phone' app that Apple has does the same thing. (I couldn't find my tablet, pulled the app up on my phone, and realized I'd left my tablet at work when it showed, down to with a half dozen feet, of where my tablet was located.)
So, obviously police have tracking devices as well.
Maybe have the kid get an Emergency Personal Radio Beacon which has to be activated and then hits the various emergency frequencies and starts a search and rescue mission event.
A cop tracker wouldn't be of any real use as when the cops don't have an active case with a tracker they don't monitor the receiver to know where the tracker is, thus there would be no surety that anyone would respond to the tracker. Mind you, the court activated trackers that are secured to people's ankles are of the always on type and are continuously tracked by a computer, but not by a live person unless they have a strong reason to suspect the person wearing the tracker is up to something they shouldn't be doing.
the court activated trackers that are secured to people's ankles are of the always on type and are continuously tracked by a computer, but not by a live person unless they have a strong reason to suspect the person wearing the tracker is up to something they shouldn't be doing.
Reminded me of the story about the guy in England who stuck out his prosthetic leg as a joke when he went to get the ankle bracelet and they put it on. So later that day he gets the idea to hop on down to the pub and leaves the prosthetic at home. Would have worked okay except he chose the pub the person who ran the ankle bracelet program was drinking at.
While I'm asking stupid questions, in a short story I wrote earlier today, the heroine fills an aluminum pan with petrol then puts it in a microwave oven, set to full power for 15 minutes after a 5 minute delay.
In real life, would that accomplish what I intended?
AJ
Not sure what you want to accomplish so it is hard to say, you haven't explained what you intended.
Can you even do that? I checked my microwave and there isn't anything in the instructions about delayed activation. Maybe newer ones have it.
As for the rest, search Youtube for "Microwave Gasoline (#288)" (Gasoline with aluminum foil in a microwave)
Basicially, you get some flames, but not a lot, and some melted plastic, but no explosion, no ball of flame, no flying bits of machinery.
I checked my microwave and there isn't anything in the instructions about delayed activation. Maybe newer ones have it.
Mine doesn't have it either, but I've seen models advertised that will start cooking at a preset time.
Basicially, you get some flames, but not a lot, and some melted plastic, but no explosion, no ball of flame, no flying bits of machinery.
Oh well, there goes the whole premise of the story :(
AJ
Oh well, there goes the whole premise of the story :(
Never let RW physics get in the way of a good story.
a good story
For a writers' group writing exercise (15 minutes approx), it was a good story in that it had a beginning, a middle and an end. The other members were polite when I read it out loud, making the usual noises about wanting to see to story expanded/continued. However, if I were to post it on SOL under a new pseudonym, I have a pretty good idea which side of 5.5 its rating would fall.
AJ
However, if I were to post it on SOL under a new pseudonym, I have a pretty good idea which side of 5.5 its rating would fall.
Weirdly enough, the ratings of the stories are corrected so that the median score is 6.
Hey, Lazeez is a good guy, and he programs really well. Nobody can be good at everything, and elementary arithmetic isn't his thing.
He may have been good at a lot of things in the past. Skillsets tend to fade if not frequently used. Math in particular fades fast.
elementary arithmetic isn't his thing
It's a case of managing the public's perceptions of the site. The requirement is to make it look as though there are many good stories on SOL without having so many with stellar ratings as to not be credible.
AJ
Can you even do that? I checked my microwave and there isn't anything in the instructions about delayed activation. Maybe newer ones have it.
Some can, especially if it's a combination microwave and convection oven which are now common to allow single people to start meals while not at home.
Can you even do that? I checked my microwave and there isn't anything in the instructions about delayed activation. Maybe newer ones have it.
It's not about age. We had a microwave in the early '80s with a delay timer.
My current, much newer, one, on the other hand, certainly can't. Its controls consist in their entirety of two knobs: A power knob that I just keep cranked all the way up, and a time knob like an egg timer. It only cost $20.
I'm pretty sure my mom's new one can do it; it's got so many convenient and easy-to-use features that I can barely figure out how to turn it on.
Its controls consist in their entirety of two knobs: A power knob that I just keep cranked all the way up, and a time knob like an egg timer.
Mine's got three dials, 1 power, 2 time, and 3 microwave, grill, or microwave and grill together.
It was Which! recommended for the elderly and disabled because of its simplicity and ease of operation. Naturally there's nothing like it on the UK market any longer :(
AJ
In real life, would that accomplish what I intended?
If someone could confirm or deny that based on experience, they'd either have to be a bit stupid to admit it on an open board, or have a detailed background in some form of spec-ops. Neither option would be forthcoming if they were smart.
It does have the Hollyweird ring to it though. As such, it's suspect.
Just from a science angle, the fire triangle of oxygen, fuel, and heat, would suggest it would start a fire if there was a spark, but the liquid petrol would have to disperse rapidly to allow a fuel air mix that would explode. Taking that line of thought further, theoretically, a dispersal device within the liquid, say a small can of compressed gas (hair spray for instance) that ruptured inside the petrol could do it.
Hollyweird is not a good example to emulate if you want realism.
but the liquid petrol would have to disperse rapidly to allow a fuel air mix that would explode.
Why rely on that. Here's a thought. If you can get enough of an over-flash burst from the gas igniting to pop the door on the microwave, break a natural gas line fill the space outside the microwave with a fuel air mixture from that and just use the gas in the microwave as a detonator.
Another thought. A sort of liquid binary explosive. Two liquid chemicals that react violently enough with each other to explode. A microwave safe container with one liquid and a second container inside the first that is not microwave safe. The inner container melts, the two chemicals mix and boom.
That's possible, but is it possible with household chemicals available in the UK? Not sure it would be wise to research such a thing either. Maybe the DBase specialist here can add a few words regarding the risk of researching something like that online.
It's available, but it's only a matter of time before someone gets convicted of terrorism based on its possession.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-41802493
It worked out for him, but I highly doubt that knee jerk authoritarian government types, don't find a way to jail a person in the future for its possession
Seen elsewhere on the internet.
Mastubation: It's the only thing that isn't taxed, regulated, or illegal. That's your "freedom". You are free to go fuck yourself.
Can you get the Anarchists Cookbook?
Just keep in mind that half the stuff in it is wrong.
If you can get enough of an over-flash burst from the gas igniting to pop the door on the microwave, break a natural gas line fill the space outside the microwave with a fuel air mixture from that and just use the gas in the microwave as a detonator.
Now that reminds me of a Hollywood trope - turn on (but don't light) the gas oven so the kitchen fills with gas, and put aluminium in the microwave to provide the ignition.
AJ
If you have your character use an old microwave with just a mechanical knob, get a light timer, and plug the microwave into it. Set the timer, THEN turn the knob on the oven.
have you ever seen the YouTube show
"Is it a good idea to microwave this"
They once microwaved an automotive airbag. It wasn't a big fireball, but it did explode with considerable force.
Have your character put in an airbag, and maybe a few sticks of dynamite?
I found the airbag episode!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhjHAPw1q-M
I just found out they did it a second time. This video is a little more detailed...and fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjmOUuTy-14