Polonium Chronicles
Polonium is in the news. It is said to be the poison that ended the life of Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko (God, I [I]love[/I] Russian names!), God rest his soul, the dissident London journalist and reported Putin enemy. It was a horrible death. I heard it described in graphic detail on the news tonight.
Wireheaded, grey-suited agents -- in an investigation so dramatic it'll be less than a year before it'll be in your local movie theaters, folks -- are tracing Polonium 210 from London to Moscow, where the so-called "rare" element has said to have traveled, a jet-setting assassin with a tell-tale radioactive signature.
Traces of Polonium have also shown up in the blogosphere. It wasn't long after journalists started tagging polonium "rare," and difficult to obtain, before someone pointed out that a commercial product used by many photographic processors, the Static Master brush, is built on the peculiar qualities of polonium 210.
I used to own one of those brushes. In fact I think I could dig it out of a storage packer in the garage, if I had to. Urban legend says, despite their one-year expiration date they have a half-life not dissimilar to their elemental cousins, but that, it turns out, is just urban legend. They are 15% less efficient after a year, at transferring static-repellent qualities to celluloid film. The company assures buyers the instrument's qualities as a brush (albeit without the full-strength anti-static properties) last a lifetime. And you can always buy a new cartridge.
So, this whole thing has caught on in the blogs like wildfire, as every Static Master owner or former owner entertains the intriguing question. How much is on the strip? There's the ominous warning, [I]"Whatever you do, DO NOT abuse the physical integrity of the sealed sources. Po-210 is a dangerous inhalation and ingestion hazard!"[/I], reported by Jeremy Wagstaff, of Loose Wire fame. How much can kill? There's the media talking about the size of a dose that can kill a man "like a speck of dust!"
Just plug "polonium static dangers" into your favorite search engine, and then throw Litvinenko's name in for good measure. See what I mean?
Mood: Paranoid
Wireheaded, grey-suited agents -- in an investigation so dramatic it'll be less than a year before it'll be in your local movie theaters, folks -- are tracing Polonium 210 from London to Moscow, where the so-called "rare" element has said to have traveled, a jet-setting assassin with a tell-tale radioactive signature.
Traces of Polonium have also shown up in the blogosphere. It wasn't long after journalists started tagging polonium "rare," and difficult to obtain, before someone pointed out that a commercial product used by many photographic processors, the Static Master brush, is built on the peculiar qualities of polonium 210.
I used to own one of those brushes. In fact I think I could dig it out of a storage packer in the garage, if I had to. Urban legend says, despite their one-year expiration date they have a half-life not dissimilar to their elemental cousins, but that, it turns out, is just urban legend. They are 15% less efficient after a year, at transferring static-repellent qualities to celluloid film. The company assures buyers the instrument's qualities as a brush (albeit without the full-strength anti-static properties) last a lifetime. And you can always buy a new cartridge.
So, this whole thing has caught on in the blogs like wildfire, as every Static Master owner or former owner entertains the intriguing question. How much is on the strip? There's the ominous warning, [I]"Whatever you do, DO NOT abuse the physical integrity of the sealed sources. Po-210 is a dangerous inhalation and ingestion hazard!"[/I], reported by Jeremy Wagstaff, of Loose Wire fame. How much can kill? There's the media talking about the size of a dose that can kill a man "like a speck of dust!"
Just plug "polonium static dangers" into your favorite search engine, and then throw Litvinenko's name in for good measure. See what I mean?
Mood: Paranoid
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