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800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
On the other hand, someone cuckoo enough to write those letters has probably had suspicious behavior in the past that will lead the authorities straight to their door, as in the case of the Unabomber.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/1688…
Hence the post. JAMA is by no means my favorite journal, but they do this sort of article so well.
Kateness--
"Mice aren't little people." Yup.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo…
By the way, here's another scary thing about ricin: it's not too hard to prepare without sophisticated equipment. You can get it from castor beans.
"Seattle police say they are taking this threat very seriously and are working with multiple agencies to resolve this case."
I was going to say something similar to David, but I didn't want to contradict anything Mr. Science says because he makes me nervous. I'll just add that it may be difficult but not impossible to manufacture ricin but it is a big risk to the person doing it (for example the guy in the Las Vegas hotel room).
I think at the very least someone could, if all their ducks were in a row, pull off making a bunch of people very sick. The question is if the purpose of writing the letters was to make people fearful or to actually carry out the threat. In which case, it was probably kind of dumb to send the letters ahead of time.
Why do people believe that a crazy person will behave rationally in the prosecution of a hate crime? You sound like a smart guy, David, I'm sorry to pick out a quote from you but it was handy.
It's likely the person is just a blow hard, but also possible that he thinks himself smarter than the police, or worse, on a divine mission. Regardless, the threat in itself is a crime and should be taken seriously.
God, who's making up these numbers?
The KGB executed a man with just the amount of ricin that could be injected into a tiny hole in a BB. They administered the BB via a glorified pellet gun.
Given that they say they'll do "at least five" targets at each location, airborne may not be the plan... but it's a good thing to keep in mind.
Silent but Deadly.
While slipping on the slidey ice
To sip hot chicken soup with ricin
Sippin' once, sippin' twice
Sippin' chicken soup with ricin!
Maurice Sendak and Carole King I hate just a little more.
Just saying.
However... If they're in it for the attention and celebrity, they might realized that after an attack, lots of goofballs will come out of the woodwork and claim credit. Sending the letters ahead of time helps to make sure that doesn't fly. And if he succeeds even after giving warnings, then pulling it off increases his stature.
I think it's fake because the letter is so preciously written and overly melodramatic. But you never know...
In short, he's off by a factor of 1,000 - 10,000 (most sources give LD50's in the 3.0 mcg/kg ballpark).
Did nobody bother to check this?
google ricin + ld50 + microgram
The LD50 for ingested ricin (like you'd get in a drink) is a thousand fold higher than for inhaled or injected. As it says in my post. My numbers are correct, coming from a carefully curated medical site. Yours are from random shit found on google. You fail.
Don't believe me? From TFA to which I linked: "The median lethal dose (LD50) in mice is 30 mg/kg, or approximately 1000-fold higher than by injection or inhalation."