Is Something Going On?

Military intelligence analysts have this saying: “Once is an accident, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.”

Even so, this is probably nothing…

1. October 2 at the University of Oklahoma: Joel Hinrichs III dies in an explosion he set off about 100 yards from a stadium filled with 80,000 people. Police call it a suicide, not a suicide bombing, but you have to wonder why he did it in such a public place. There are also rumors—perhaps completely unfounded—of attempts to buy ammonium nitrate (an ingredient in some bombs) and of contact with a nearby mosque.

2. October 7 at UCLA: The Los Angeles police bomb squad detonated an explosive device found in an apartment complex. Residents reported hearing an explosion earlier.

3. October 10 at Georgia Tech: A custodian was slightly injured when a plastic water bottle exploded as he picked it up. The Atlanta police bomb squad found and destroyed two more bottles rigged to explode. It’s being investigated as a terrorist act, although it may be nothing more that a prank gone bad.

For all I know, police find small bombs at universities all the time. After all, we’re talking about crazy college kids, some of whom are probably majoring in chemistry.

Still, I sure hope this isn’t the start of something bad.

Update: Nope. Looks like coincidence and rumors. Joel Hinrichs appears to have just committed suicide in a very public way. There’s no real evidence that he made any attempt to enter the stadium or otherwise take anyone with him. The UCLA thing appears to have been a meth lab, and the Georgia Tech thing is a prank with dry ice in a bottle. Cathy Young covers the blog over-reaction.