DescentBB

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... dorm_x.htm

Now that I think about the university I go to (University of Oklahoma) and how public it is... it would be very easy for anyone to carry out a chemical attack in any of the buildings here since all of them are public during business hours... Kinda of a scary thought.

urge... to make... rice car... jokes...


where do quarter rolls come from anyway? banks?
i'm just thinkin... a roll of quaters would be a great way to spread a biological toxin - everyone touches money.

roid wrote:where do quarter rolls come from anyway? banks?
i'm just thinkin... a roll of quaters would be a great way to spread a biological toxin - everyone touches money.

Yep, you can pick up a roll of coins from pretty much any bank. I've never thought about it before, but you're right; getting access to money pre-distribution would be a very effective means of spreading some sort of toxin. Not exactly the most comforting thought, either. I'm just glad that our dorms have a swipe-card-based system of payment for washers/dryers as an option; I don't want to have to think of doing laundry as a potentially risky business...

Actually, money was the distribution method for a bioweapon in Frank Herbert's The White Plague. It seems very plausible.

Update: It was NOT ricin that was found.

funny, i live in austin where this occurred. i was hanging with a few friends last night when the story was repeated that it IS ricin.

My first response was, \"i guarantee you it is not ricin.\"

let's get this straight...white powder found on quarters in a laundry room? holy crap...what if it is...detergent!? what a waste of time, money, and a absolutely not news...

http://news8austin.com/content/top_stor ... rID=156287

dbl

what are the bets that this \"not actually ricin\" story will be covered with MUCH less gusto than the original \"omg ricin!\" story, and as a result many people will never be educated that this whole story was a non issue and nothing to be frightened about - and it will therefor add to their general everyday fear.

Methinks we need better preliminary testing methods...

hahaha, i knew it. another lie.

congratulations USA today, you now have no more credibility.

Palzon wrote:funny, i live in austin where this occurred.

So do I, but I didn't catch it on TV because I don't have one. ^_^

Yeah, I guess some people just need something to get excited about. :p

White powder=toxin. Why am I thinking \"faulty reasoning\" here?

Just because it's white and powdery doesn't mean it'll kill you. It means it's white and powdery, and nothing else. And toxins don't always come in white powder, either; some come in the form of gases, while others come as liquids.

This would be a classic case of news reporters jumping onto a story without all the facts (as in, none at all?).

They did do preliminary tests which proved positive for protiens that Ricin also contains. So, then they do further tests, and found that it wasn't actualy Ricin.

The media reported it in between the first test and the final test.

thne they should report the real deal, instead of 'omg this is probaby ricin! you're all gonna die!'

blah.

Again, all story, no real info. They found white powder, and found stuff in it like the stuff in something dangerous. Using those two facts that don't really prove anything, they assumed it was a deadly toxin before they knew for sure whether it was ricin or not.

Like I said before (under a different login that resulted from email fits ), just because it's white and powdery doesn't mean it's deadly; it means it's white and powdery. The same applies to what it's made of; just because it has ONE property of something that is dangerous doesn't mean it IS that something. Viceroy butterflies have the same color patterns and are of the same species as Monarch butterflies (which are poisonous to birds that eat them), but that doesn't make them Monarchs. In fact, if you look close enough, you can see where there are differences in Monarch patterns and Viceroy patterns.

If the media would hit the brakes and DO THEIR HOMEWORK FIRST, they could save themselves so much embarrassment over false alarms such as this.