Monday Musing - A New Age

I avoid watching the news non-stop but I was glued to my television set on Friday evening, along with millions of others, as I watched the police close in on the Boston Marathon bomber. I don't have privy to all the details but as one watching everything unfold this past week, I have to say that the Boston police and all the police departments who worked with them as well as the federal agencies on the case did such a superb job that this could be a textbook case on how to investigate a crime and apprehend the suspects.

I've been saying on this blog that we live in the Golden Age of Science and Technology and nowhere was that more apparent than in this investigation.

Social media played a huge part as the bombers' pictures were released - due to cameras mounted above the crowds. I'll talk more about cameras later this week.

The thermal imaging done by helicopter was awesome to see. To know that the helicopter continued to hover, using thermal imaging to see where the suspect was in the boat, how he was positioned and where he was moving - was incredible.

The use of the robot to tear away the tarp was also the stuff of science fiction novels. It's the same technology used in warfare today, with robots dismantling IEDs instead of flesh-and-blood humans risking their lives. Had a person tried to tear away the tarp, the suspect could have shot and killed him. But a robot is something the suspect couldn't fight.