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Comment by throwaway290 | Hacker News Reader

Every single trashcan shipped from China for military purpose in US would have to be pulled apart, inspected down to nanolevel and then put back together. That would not be just a few dollars...

Edit:

Yes obviously they are concerned about targeted attacks.

And where do you live that hardware store sells trashcans that verifiably comply with all requirements to be put on a custom military Boeing 707 and not f things up in some costly way? By definition any such trashcan is ripe for targeted attack because no one except US defence would have a use for it.

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You can't be serious. Buy a plastic trashcan, use a generic metal scanner and an X-Ray and you are done.

If you are concerned about targeted attacks, head down to your local hardware store and buy one of the thousands they have in stock.

Just don't put it on an aircraft then.

Funny, HN was up in arms over Titan's use of a logitech controller just a few days ago. But somehow using something from best buy on a freaking expensive plane like an E-3 is a good idea. Well, folks, that way of thinking actually sank the Titan and cost five lives.

I don't think the controller would have gotten such a strong reaction if it was an X-Box 360 or X-Box One controller. Those are reliable, sturdy, and used as controllers in industry and military. But instead it was some $30 Logitech controller, something you would consider the budget choice in the context of somebody playing Call of Duty.

I guess the equivalent is putting the flimsy $1.25 trash can from Dollar Store in your spacecraft, instead of a $8 trash can.

A trash can is slightly less essential to a vessel's operation than its control surface.

Not if it catches fire.

Good example with pillows causing a (still!) missing nuclear weapon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash

Are pillows essential to the plane's operation? No, but them not catching fire is.

> Buy a plastic trashcan... head down to your local hardware store...

It's for a highly specialized 707 airliner. It'll be metal, rated for fire resistance if someone sneaks a smouldering cigarette into it, wheeled for servicing, lock into place during flight, etc. You can't buy it at Home Depot, and intelligence agencies are constantly making smaller and harder to detect devices for bugging items.

The point actually is, if we are shooting at China for one reason or another we would be getting zero trash cans from them.

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