Who Killed Litvinenko?
I haven’t commented on the John le Carré novel come-to-life over in the U.K. because, while I’m as fascinated as anybody, I have essentially bupkis to add to the conversation.
However, one of my readers does have something to add. You all know Paul Tergeist as an annoying troll who is exactly like Stephen Colbert except not funny. There are other sides to Paul, though, and one of them is his apparent expertise in radioactive poisoning. He posted this comment over in another thread, but I think it deserves its own post. Besides, this gives me an excuse to talk about Litvinenko despite not having the first idea myself about what happened.
Here’s Paul’s comment:
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Sorry folks, I was wrong. I expected Polonium 206 because that is what I would have used if I were stupid enough to play Russian roulette with the devil. By the time radiation poisoning is suspected the evidence, with a 9 day half-life, is almost gone, but killing with it is problematic at best.
But if one cannot get directly at one’s intended victim the next best, and the most widely available isotope is PO210 and it, also, has very few known scientific uses, although there ARE some, and very valid ones.
I personally prefer tritium gas for things I use around the house. It is easy to obtain, as is radium. But Polonium is different in that only about 100 grams are manufactured in the world every year and 210 is a rapidly decaying isotope. The reason it is used is that it generates heat, and a lot of it.
I am rather surprised that the Russian Government would have used PO210 for an assassination. In fact, I don’t believe it. A 138 day half-life is simply not acceptable. The victim will die and the evidence will still be intact and traceable. If one doesn’t care about leaving evidence, there are many better methods of assassination available that I am personally aware of and many better, cheaper, and more widely available methods for irradiation if death by irradiation is the aim. For instance, every smoke detector in your home has at least ten times the ‘exempt’ amount you can buy online without a license, and one could easily get enough cheap or surplus smoke detectors to kill someone….if they didn’t kill themselves first.
So my initial investigation would be to find out where the polonium came from (simple enough to do because of trace impurities). I will guess Russia as a starting point, but I do not cleave to that hypothesis.
Then I would find out how Litvinenko got dosed with it. A beginning hypothesis is that he was trading in illegal quantities of radioactive material and somehow ingested or inhaled a tiny bit from an improperly sealed container. It is possible that he was murdered, but the killer would have had to be very careful not to kill himself in the process. PO is not absorbed through the skin, but you probably cannot pour it into a drink at a table without getting a good airborne dose yourself.
Furthermore, I absolutely cannot believe that Litvinenko, because he dealt in radioactive material, did not have the most current radio-detection equipment available in his home and even on his person, but he didn’t. So something may have happened to make him take the smuggled product into his own custody and he inadvertently dosed himself.
We are not talking about a lot. The current standard of measure is sieverts (Sv). I am from the old school and use Roentgens (rem) of which one is equivalent to 100 Sv.
Without getting complicated, the equivalent dose to a tissue is found by multiplying the absorbed dose, in grays, by a dimensionless “quality factor” Q, dependent upon radiation type, and by another dimensionless factor N, dependent on all other pertinent factors. N depends upon the part of the body irradiated, the time and volume over which the dose was spread, even the species of the subject. Together, Q and N constitute the radiation weighting factor, rW. For an organism composed of multiple tissue types a weighted sum or integral is often used. In terms of SI base units:
1 Sv = 1 J/kg = 1 m2·s–2
Although the sievert has the same dimensions as the gray (i.e. joules per kilogram), it measures a different thing. To avoid any risk of confusion between the absorbed dose and the equivalent dose, one must use the corresponding special units, namely the gray instead of the joule per kilogram for absorbed dose and the sievert instead of the joule per kilogram for the dose equivalent. For a given amount of radiation (measured in the absorbed dose called grays), the biological effect (measured in sieverts) can vary considerably as a result of the radiation weighting factor rW.
A typical dosage from the natural background is on the equivalent of 2.4 mSv/year. The LD50 is about 2Sv.
How much PO210 are we talking about? Barely enough to see. I shall begin by presuming the Russian Security services innocent, because I do not believe them completely inept.
39 Responses to “Who Killed Litvinenko?”
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Violet says:
From the Times:
An Italian intelligence expert who had lunch with Alexander Litvinenko on the day that he was poisoned was receiving emergency treatment in hospital tonight after testing positive for the same deadly radioactive isotope that killed the former Russian spy.
Mario Scaramella met Litvinenko at the Itsu sushi bar on Piccadilly on November 1, three weeks before the Russian succumbed to the radioactive toxin. Detectives investigating Litvinenko’s death, who have painstakingly traced his movements that day, believe that he must have been poisoned at the restaurant.
(snip)
At his lunch with Litvinenko, Mr Scaramella has said that he gave the Russian a “hit list” of planned assassinations by agents of the FSB, Russia’s security service, on which both their names featured. He has said that he doubted the reliability of the information but found it alarming nonetheless.
December 1st, 2006 at 3:20 pm EST -
Violet says:
I shall begin by presuming the Russian Security services innocent, because I do not believe them completely inept.
Why should the former Soviets be more ept than our own CIA, which gives ineptness a new dimension? We’re supposedly the world’s El Supremo Superpower With Extra Cheese, and we fuck up everything we touch.
I still think the Russian FSB (or a sub-group thereof) is overwhelmingly the most likely culprit.
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ehj2 says:
Why should the former Soviets be more ept than our own CIA, which gives ineptness a new dimension? We’re supposedly the world’s El Supremo Superpower With Extra Cheese, and we fuck up everything we touch.
I’m certain you already know this but I’ll say it explicitly. You’re painting with too coarse-grained a brush here. Think of modern successful hospital. Even if it should have inept management, it is likely to have extremely good surgical teams in one speciality or another.
There are islands of brilliance in almost every institution, including USG agencies. Things get done around the debris and deadwood. Something is always in play and there are always tiers of fall-back plays.
It’s most dangerous when powerful players feel or know the status-quo will soon disadvantage them. There is indeed freedom of action in knowing one has nothing to lose.
Does going to war with Iran reduce the risk of impeachment, a slew of criminal indictments, and the smashed credibility of the Republican/Neocon agenda? Does it increase the possibility of a positive legacy for this Presidency? Does it change the variables in play sufficiently that some other credible opportunity might occur?
DoD is now black and can run black ops without oversight by Congress. DoD is now run by Robert Gates, a former Director of Central Intelligence (and thus a highly placed CIA “insider”) whose history is replete with black ops experience about which we know he has lied to Congress. Do we think he has this new position because of, or in spite of, his past?
This Administration has run away with the law, meaning it has abused and lied about misuse of powers prior to patching the law to make abuses legal. If this Administration has moved black operations into DoD for the explicit purpose of removing them from Congressional oversight — and I believe no other reason balances the cost of having foreign governments view the U.S. Army as a huge integrated spy agency (and now obviously led by spy agency managers) — then it is almost certainly using (and abusing) the powers it has given itself.
To what end?
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Victoria says:
Paul Tergeist officially scares me.
The Colbert reference lit a (non radioactive) bulb though. Between his earlier harassing you to get to the ER (the first time I noticed I agreed with him about anything), and his utterances in this foreign language of isotopes and whatnot, he’s clearly got something going on…
P.S. You’re still okay, right?
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Paul Tergeist says:
You all know Paul Tergeist as an annoying troll who is exactly like Stephen Colbert except not funny.
-VSNOT FUNNY?!?!?!?
I am wounded to the core, Violet! WOUNDED-TO-THE-CORE.
You must try to think of me as a cross between Keith Olbermann and…..ummm….Oh, I dunno….either W.C. Fields or Oliver Hardy.
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Paul Tergeist says:
Pardon the typo in the original. LD20 should read LD50.
“Why should the former Soviets be more ept than our own CIA…”
-VSThey shouldn’t, but they are. Unless it turns out they did this silly business of splashing Polonium all over the continent. Certainly the PO210 came from Russia, but I’m guessing it was stolen and smuggled out.
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Violet says:
P.S. You’re still okay, right?
Yes, I am, thank you! And I tested negative for PO210, which is a relief given my sideline as a spy/isotope smuggler/sushi bar habituee.
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Violet says:
Pardon the typo in the original. LD20 should read LD50.
I fixed it.
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Paul Tergeist says:
Yes, I am, thank you! And I tested negative for PO210, which is a relief given my sideline as a spy/isotope smuggler/sushi bar habituee.
-VSFor anyone interested, any cold war ers geiger counter in functioning condition can detect Alpha(PO210), Beta and Gamma radiation. If you has sushi with Litvinenko and you are still alive, don’t touch the clothes you wore that day and then put your hand in your mouth, k?
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Paul Tergeist says:
I hate not proofreading, but I just can’t until it’s too late.
“Paul Tergeist officially scares me.”
-VictoriaThat isn’t logical, V.
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The plot is thickening. Everyone wants to speculate and guess (exactly as I am), but most of these spy types reporting on TV don’t grasp simple chemistry.An Alpha particle is simply a Helium nucleus sans electrons. Alpha particles are VERY dangerous if ingested because they come in physical contact with cell DNA which they destroy by the simple expedient of the Helium atom losing it’s electrons and shooting off like a party balloon that you blow up and release. In Polonium, zillions of these nuclei, which have been artificially imbalanced, emit those zillions of highly charged particles like tiny bullets and literally shoot the DNA full of holes. But externally, the Alpha particles are absorbed by the layer of dead skin on your body. They are a function of the strong nuclear force which occurs over very short distances.
I might as well do a quick class for non-chemists. Don’t pull out your periodic table or you will just get confused, and don’t try to impress me with your advanced physics degree. I am only trying to make a simple point, not pen the definitive text. Relax and let the force wash over you. This is the entire 9th grade chemistry class in a nutshell.
Imagine a canyon shaped like the letter “V”. At the top left is YOU, Hydrogen, atomic number 1. Your pockets are empty and so you decide to walk down the hill filling your pockets with electrons as you go DOWN the left side of the V toward the bottom, it is easy to pick up more and more bits because you are going downhill. So you pick up more electrons and put them in your pockets and make more and more complex elements as you go. Nothing to it. You have plenty of pockets.
(1)Every element on the left side of the V WANTS to roll to the bottom and become Iron.
OK, you are now at the bottom of the V and your pockets are full of electrons. There is no place to put any more. You are Iron, (atomic number 26). and you are happy!. You are the most stable element in the universe because your pockets are exactly full. You don’t want to walk up the other side of the V with all that weight in your pockets, you just want to sit there at the bottom, fat dumb and happy!!
And you will, FOREVER, unless something starts shoving you up the right side. You don’t WANT to go up that side, because the higher you go the more electrons (and such) you have to carry but your pockets are already full and so you must balance the extra ones anywhere you can find a place, or hold them in your hands. The higher you go, the harder it is to climb and maintain your balance and the easier it is to accidentally drop….or EMIT…an extra electron. The higher you climb the harder it gets.
(2)Every element on the RIGHT side of the V WANTS to roll to the bottom and become Iron.
So we can see in review that every element on the LEFT side of the V wants to be Iron and will happily fall down the hill if pushed, gathering electrons as they go. And every element on the RIGHT side of the V wants to throw away those extra electrons and go back to the bottom of the V where they can rest in peace.
So, ladies and gentlemen scholars, every element in the universe WANTS to be Iron. If it is lighter, (the left side) it will try to grab more electrons to become heavier. If it is heavier, (the right side) it will try to throw those extra electrons away to become lighter. The process is eventually energetic enough to be called radioactive decay.
The atomic weight of Polonium is 84. (210 is an isotope). It is nasty because of it’s atomic structure, which is a matrix of Bismuth bombarded with neutrons which it starts to lose immediately as Alpha particles and heat.
Notice that no math was involved in this lesson, nor was the dreaded phrase ‘covalent bond’ required. but if you understand my hills and valley, you understand valence.
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henderson says:
Paul,
Help me understand. what “pushes’ you up the right side of the V? What is the force or whatever that pushes? I sort of understand going down. But what pushes you up?I was remembering hearing that the cores of burnt out stars are iron.
Thank you for not doing math. It is appreciated more than I can say. You would have lost me at “Once upon a time..”
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Paul Tergeist says:
Hi Henderson. Yep, that’s the first question most everyone asks, and here’s the answer: We are all star-stuff as Carl Sagan used to say in his irritating adenoidal voice. The primary source of all elements heavier than Hydrogen and Helium are supernovae and the universe is constantly renewing itself…old parts wear out and new ones are created, which leads us to chapter 2.
Our sun, a “G” type main sequence star, has been cooking along for about 5 billion years, give or take. It is about half used up. Over the next billion years or so, it will increase in brightness by about 10% which will do us a treat by making the earth a charred shell. A couple billion years after that it will begin to run out of hydrogen and start on the path to red giantdom, but we will be long gone by then and the earth will resemble Venus, but with no atmosphere.
Eventually the red giant will collapse and become a white dwarf, and our little corner of the Milky Way will fade into darkness. There won’t be a speck of evidence that we, and all of our thoughts and anger and silliness ever existed. We will be star stuff again.
But before that happens, the Andromeda galaxy will have crashed into the Milky Way. It’s headed our way at about a million miles an hour and, although there is a lot of empty space in space, when two galaxies collide it is the mother of all train wrecks. If it’s on time, it should arrive about 3,000,000,007.
So, one way or another, if we don’t murder the earth first through global warming or nuclear war (which I think we have already done), we are almost at the end of the line. Even if we had a mass extinction event allowing the planet to regain it’s equilibrium, there simply isn’t enough time left to evolve again and solve the problem of finding….and traveling to…another galaxy, far, far away.
Have a great day, Henderson!
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Paul Tergeist says:
Today’s news. Fidel is dead. Not ours, the Cuban one. Cancer. I have no idea when they will announce it or what day they will pick for the actual date of his death. Today would be karmic, but it might disrupt the festivities of his birthday party.
Here’s something from England: “Litvinenko’s funeral is expected to take place in London next week. Due to the levels of radiation in his body the coffin will be sealed.”
-IHTSorry, that makes no sense. You could have sex with his corpse or make sausage out of him and not be exposed to any radiation. The announcement is a sop to a gullible public.
Anyway, although there have been a few traces of Polonium found here and there, they have mainly been in bathrooms where Litvinenko urinated after he was dosed.
If I were an investigator, I would be talking to Mario Scaramella. One wonders if he happened to take any Potassium Iodide that morning, although it’s gone by now.
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henderson says:
Thanks Paul! That’s all cheerful news. I like to beleive the Americans will figure out a way to save us all at the end. Maybe by getting us all out of here. I am a believer!!! Ah! here comes the wise crax. Walked right into it.
You’re a good man Charlie Brown.
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Paul Tergeist says:
Oh, bugger! Another “OOPS” moment! Scaramella is a goner too. This is starting to look like a Keystone Cops mystery.
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henderson says:
This is an amazing who done it. It brings out the Poirot in everyone. One stunning thing after another. Is this kinda what a dirty bomb will look like? Radioactive material strewn about all over the place? and it only takes so little. It’s creeping me out.
What ever happened to the good old fashioned cold war style plane crash? Or the car wreck? or the ‘heart attack”? or the stroke? Or when all else fails, the fake suicide? Why such an over- engineered assasination?
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Violet says:
Paul, thanks for the lovely chemistry lesson (though I don’t think you really explained what makes things go up the right side of the V).
Now don’t spoil it by harrassing people like my friend Victoria, whose figure of speech, by the way, was perfectly charming.
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Violet says:
Scaramello may not be a goner: Litvinenko contact shows no sign of radiation poisoning
Mario Scaramella, the associate of Alexander Litvinenko, who was admitted to hospital yesterday with “potentially fatal” levels of polonium, is said to be “doing well” and has shown no signs of radiation poisoning.
The Italian academic, who met the ex-KGB man on the day he was allegedly poisoned, tested positive yesterday for a “significant quantity” of the radioactive substance, polonium-210, which is believed to have killed Mr Litvinenko.
But doctors at London’s University College Hospital said today that preliminary test results carried out on him showed no sign of radiation toxicity.
Doctors said yesterday that Mr Scaramella had a “considerably lower level” of the substance in his body than Mr Litvinenko, who died at University College Hospital last week.
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henderson says:
Oh Paul for Petes sakes! I was checking all over the news to find out about that Italian guy dieing.
I did not understand what makes things go up the right side of the V. but i thought I may be too dumb. so i got to thinking about every single thing I know about physics and chemistry and geology. Which isn’t all that much. but it is a mystery too that I love. I suppose i could look it up on the internet but I was hoping for the readers digest version. I’m lazy. And the people on the science forums scare me. It’s like being a thiest in an aithiest forum. or a republican in a lefty forum. You are treated like the villiage idiot. And possibley rightly so. I always say the very best teachers can teach nuclear physics to a four year old. not so they can become a phyisicist, but so they can at least understand the rudiments so as not to be completely in the dark. I enjoyed you posts alot. Violet, as always, very fun forums. Unpredictable.
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Paul Tergeist says:
“Thanks Paul! That’s all cheerful news.”
-HI try, yes indeed! Hey, if you want MORE good news, go over to my blog and read the Domesday Book series. Scroll down and start at Chapter 1.
“I like to beleive the Americans will figure out a way to save us all at the end. Maybe by getting us all out of here.”
-HMost people believe that JESUS or Mohammad or Shiva or Hitlery Klingon is going to save us at the last minute. But pretty much the whole purpose of having a god is so that these nagging little problems…like the end of our planet, sun, galaxy and universe don’t show up in the first place.
“I am a believer!!!”
-HSo am I. Just in different things.
“‘Ah! here comes the wise crax. Walked right into it.”
-HNever. I admit lightly trashing that dumbass dothead girl, but do you see how Violet talks about ME?!?!?
‘Not Funny” she said! NOT FUNNY?!?!?!?!? Applejacks! I am the Henny Youngman of death row!
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henderson says:
I never knew you had a blog! I never click on people names. Hey!! thats neat! I’m going to look at it.
I am hoping that Jesus and Mohammed are brilliant scientists next time around with lots of tax payer backing. It’s going to come in more handy for “saving” us. Which reminds me- Biosphere- what a racket. What a great idea. the keystone cops running that. Oh well, it gives some scientists a job.
I hope that lady comes back. You were just kidding. I went and looked up the dot on the internet. My freind from the 7 Eleven has a pretty one with a pearl. I dared not ask- but I was just dieing to know. It’s hard to not be curious. I once had a whole bucket of human waste thrown on me. All things in perspective. One thing is funny and one thing is kinda smelly. Could’nt find a taxi that would take me home after that. Ah THAT was a good day!
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Paul Tergeist says:
For 16, 17.
PO210 is 250 BILLION times more toxic than any cyanide salt, sodium, potassium, whatever. But it isn’t as fast. If you pop a pengun (used to be sold as flare guns..I still have a bunch of military ones somewhere) full of cyanide in someone’s face, they will drop like a rock. (This method was used by the KGB in the 50s.)
It takes about a gram of Prussic acid, but less than half the size of the head of a pin of PO210. A LOT less that that is sufficient,really, if you don’t mind waiting for the victim to die of cancer.
If Litvinenko had not been so heavily overdosed no one would ever have looked for Polonium. That’s why I thought it might have been an accident. Good lord, radiation poisoning at that level is really a stupid move and caused the investigation.
I guarantee you that if a Russian assassin screwed up like that, he is no longer around.
A ‘dirty’ bomb will not be made from Polonium, Henderson. At any given time there is probably less than an ounce of Polonium on earth. “Dirty’ bombs are boogymen used to scare people. Don’t worry about them being a serious threat.
OK, “up the right side” is accomplished in supernovae during nuclear fusion. Elements on earth, for instance, aren’t pushed up the right side except by scientists.
To 18: Bahahahah! The press is getting into the Keystone Cops act. Conflicting reports have him both in the pink of health and on his deathbed. I cn’t speak for Scaramella, but Castro is dust in the wind.
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Paul Tergeist says:
Now don’t spoil it by harrassing people like my friend Victoria, whose figure of speech, by the way, was perfectly charming.
-VThe thought that I would harass someone….Violet, you are tearing my heart out here. I will be suicidal before long. Really. No, Really!
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Paul Tergeist says:
“I hope that lady comes back. You were just kidding.”
-HI never kid. She was babbling about something and I said, apropos of absolutely nothing in the prior conversation, “So you admit it”. When that set her off, I knew where her buttons were. But it was a ‘psychological experiment’, NOT ‘trolling’ as Violet so crudely phrases it! THE NERVE!
You see, I was majoring to be an Odontic Phrenologist but one semester I accidentally got into a psychology class. Before I could transfer out I realized that psychology could be used for evil…and I was hooked.
“I went and looked up the dot on the internet. My freind from the 7 Eleven has a pretty one with a pearl. I dared not ask- but I was just dieing to know. It’s hard to not be curious. I once had a whole bucket of human waste thrown on me. All things in perspective. One thing is funny and one thing is kinda smelly. Could’nt find a taxi that would take me home after that. Ah THAT was a good day!”
-HI’d probably take offense to having a bucket of shit tossed on me, but it’s always funny when I do it so someone else! The downside is that I spend a lot of money moving to cities where I am not known.
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richard cherry says:
ballet dancers, brownie recipes, anything – even a series of articles by shannon on why you definitely kill black babies, but please, please, please no more acres of paul (that sort of thing is freely available on quo vadis – or given my recent version of latin qua vadis) or bloody science. my own writing is, i happily admit, devoid of information anyone with the intelligence level of a prawn (raw or cooked) would find useful, pretty laboured and generally unfunny – but it’s short.
‘cut tergeist now!’ (in any sense) should be our watchword – and elevate henderson to sainthood for getting involved with it, finding it interesting and being nice to both of us!!!!!
oh for some words of sanity (or even a list of types of food intoned at random)from infidel – who was a most charming guest at my party the other day. -
Paul Tergeist says:
my own writing is, i happily admit, devoid of information anyone with the intelligence level of a prawn (raw or cooked) would find useful, pretty laboured and generally unfunny – but it’s short.
-RCYou are what you eat. Don’t make me throw haiku.
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henderson says:
Yes, I at the time i thought it was probably very funny to the people who did it. It probably made their whole day. Glad to oblige. After all, I was speaching English. And that caused attension and offense. and they had good story to tell for weeks, if not months after that. And to their credit, it gave me a good story to tell for years after. i’m still telling it. So we all came out winners in the end. All things in perspective, there’s worse things than having whoo- haa thrown on you. Mere amatuers.
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henderson says:
What the sam Hill? How did your comments happen before mine.
It’s hard to do a blog. i dont’ know how people manage it. You have to say something smart often and nearly every day, and write it all down- then be nice to your guests. How can a person be expected to say something brilliant nearly every day? I give it lots of brownie points for even giving it a good go.
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Infidel says:
The party was nice, thank you Richard. I hadn’t heard anything about the other Fidel, is this a sure thing like red giant or just speculation like the last predicted earthquake in Hawaii? I am amazed, flabbergasted, by murder using radioactive material- anyone ever do this before?
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Paul Tergeist says:
I am amazed, flabbergasted, by murder using radioactive material- anyone ever do this before?
-Fidel, breathingIf it were done correctly it would pass unnoticed, but yes, it had been done before.
My skills as an earthquake predictor via secret messages from beyond the rings of Saturn are fine. The problem was probably skewed by capacitive reactance in my tinfoil cap.
I went to that party and my shoe is still squishy. No one throws a party like violet, but she get da kine attitide.
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Paul Tergeist says:
I mean the result was probably skewed. Man, I picked a bad time to quit psychotropic drugs!
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Paul Tergeist says:
Alrighty then! Scaramella is peeing Polonium but shows no evidence of toxicity. That is possible if he took Potassium Iodide before meeting Litvinenko (refer to post 13).
Let’s move on, V. This subject is too radioactive for RC and the other fembots.
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therealUK says:
Paul, what would be the point of taking potassium iodide when handling polonium ? Polonium decays directly into lead. KI is only useful if you’re exposed to radioctive iodine, like from nuclear fallout, because it’s protecting the thyroid from the uptake of the radioctive version. Po and Pb won’t be affected by KI in the body. The damage is done by the alpha particles.
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Paul Tergeist says:
KI is only useful if you’re exposed to radioctive iodine, like from nuclear fallout, because it’s protecting the thyroid from the uptake of the radioctive version. Po and Pb won’t be affected by KI in the body. The damage is done by the alpha particles.
-therealukYep. I admit it. KI is useless for the purpose. I went to some trouble to explain how alpha radiation damages DNA and made no explanation at all for the function of KI. And still no one asked. You’d think SOMEONE would want to know, or ask why all the PO-exposed people in England aren’t taking it.
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Paul Tergeist says:
Righteo. Problem solved. Putin had nothing to do with any murders. All suspicious deaths involving Russians are due to ‘allergic reactions’.
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Paul Tergeist says:
Today’s news. PO-210 is neither made in England nor the US as far as can be determined. PO-210 comes exclusively from Russia. It is made in a reactor, but could conceivably be made in a Cyclotron. Neutron bombarding base BI-208 is delivered in liquid suspension, acidic. Only 500 uCis supplied in a shipment.
There are more isotopes of PO than any other element- all are radioactive.
1 MicroCurie of anything produces 2.22 million DPM (disintegrations per minute). In PO-210 each disintegrations yields 99.999% ALPHA radiation at
5.3 MeV.One gram of P)-210 equals 4500 Curies.
PO acts like potassium in the body. Unlike Thallium which is a devastating poison that happens to be radioactive, PO-210 kills by direct nuclear radiation (Alpha).
A Staticmaster 3″ brush refill contains 500 Ci of PO-210. It is sandwiched between a silver base and a gold layer with another gold layer electroplated
on the top, forming a foil. In the 3″ brush there are two foils, each about 1/4″ x 1″. Detection with a pancake starts to take place right at 2 inches measured. A swipe test using a Q-tip indicates no easily removable contamination. Polonium can be hrvested not be harvested if one had the means and knowledge. The fact is, the material is there, protected only by a gold foil. Massive as it’s radiation is in quantity, it is all shielded by a 3×5 card.On the brush refill it says: “CAUTION: Radiation from Polonium is dangerous if the solid material is ingested or inhaled.”
So I CAN buy enough PO-210 to kill Litvinenko or anyone else. But it’s still a stupid move, and If I had been contracted to kill him, it would not have been with Polonium.
Even though PO-210 is available, it is looking more and more like the Russian security services supplied it.
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richard cherry says:
bloody hell, paul – about the only thing i thought i understood of what you said was that the russian secret services hadn’t done it…arggggh
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Paul Tergeist says:
And now I am backpedaling. Someone in Russia provided the Polonium and I doubt it was some low-level functionary. The problem suddenly became serious because the assassin, now in a hospital in Russia, was a bungler.
Russians love to poison people, but they suck at it and, of course, they are too cheap to hire me as a consultant. Dumbasses. But they managed to contain it. No one will be indicted because no one is ‘available’ to give statements to anyone.
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Paul Tergeist says:
I have been doing some informal calculations. ANY quantity of PO210 large enough to be intentionally placed in someone’s food by another human at a casual meeting is toxic enough to kill hundreds of people. Litvinenko ingested about a million dollars worth of PO210.
