A few days ago, a KKK member and his accomplice were arrested for their roles in a plot to build a portable x-ray machine that they hoped to use to murder Muslims. Their plan, which is detailed in the 67 page FBI warrant (see full text of the warrant at the bottom of this post), was to expose their victims to doses of radiation that would lead to their death in a matter of days. Over the course of a year, Glendon Crawford and Eric Feight worked to acquire x-ray tubes, develop software, and build a remote triggering device to allow them to operate an truck- mounted x-ray source from nearly a half mile away. But is it possible, and feasible, to build such a device? That is the subject of today's Fermi Problem .
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