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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Armenian Arrested With Radioactive Cesium
2004-10-19
"Put the cuffs on him, Mahoney!"
"But, Soor! He's glowing! And he's got gill slits!"
"Put the tongs on him, then!"
Authorities have arrested a man found with radioactive cesium-137 in the trunk of his car, a state official said Monday. The highly toxic material, which could contaminate large areas if used in a "dirty bomb," was found Friday and "rendered harmless," Ashot Martirosian, chief of the State Atomic Oversight department, said. Yerevan resident Gagik Tovmasian was arrested on charges of illegal trade in radioactive materials, Martirosian said. It was unclear how the man obtained the material, but various sources for it exist in Armenia, a small former Soviet republic in the Caucasus Mountains, Martirosian said. Various industries use cesium-137 in density gauges and for machine calibration. Authorities in neighboring Georgia have spoken of the need to create a storage site for gauges in which cesium-137 was used to measure the level of gasoline in underground tanks at gas stations. Martirosian did not say how much cesium was found, but he said the substance is very hazardous to human health. Devices containing cesium-137 can cause serious radiation exposure if broken and held. Depending on the amount and form, experts say a dirty bomb made with cesium-137 could spread intense radioactivity over a section of a city, making it uninhabitable.
Depending the amount, lots of circumstances, and no clean-up effort.
Posted by:Steve White

#29  Cesium-137 (Cs-137):

Half-life: 30.17 years (!!) - radioactive as hell

Mode of decay: Beta and gamma radiation
Chemical properties: Liquid at room temperature, but readily bonds with chlorides to form a powder.
External exposure to large amounts of Cs-137 can cause burns, acute radiation sickness, and even death. Exposure to Cs-137 can increase the risk for cancer because of exposure to high-energy gamma radiation. Internal exposure to Cs-137, through ingestion or inhalation, allows the radioactive material to be distributed in the soft tissues, especially muscle tissue, exposing these tissues to the beta particles and gamma radiation and increasing cancer risk.
Posted by: mojo   2004-10-19 1:50:09 PM  

#28  I was told one time of a guy who picked up a slug of Cobalt 60 that had fallen out of a radiography truck (the cable holding it inside the block of lead in which it was carried broke), and stuck it in his back pocket. He lost his gonads, penis, and one buttock. My source told me he saw the medical photos, and they were quite gruesome.
Posted by: Ptah   2004-10-19 1:40:35 PM  

#27  #18 Sock Puppet

No urban legend. The capsule was takenstolen , from a building where it had been left, as scrap and when it was broken open in a scrap yard the kids who were there noticed that it glowed and proceeded to paint themselves with it.
They died horribly.
Posted by: Cynic   2004-10-19 12:22:19 PM  

#26  I only had one semester of conversational french years ago. We never speak it at home.

Well, at least we know you're not John Kerry under that pseudonym...
Posted by: Pappy   2004-10-19 11:51:00 AM  

#25  My brother told me about some kids down in Brazil (might be an urban legend) who some how got into Caesium that had been left some place.

No legend: Accidental Leakage of Cesium-137 in Goiania, Brazil.

A scary story. But I find myself more boggled at the notion of "an abandoned cancer clinic". Makes Brazil sound post-apocalyptic.
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2004-10-19 11:40:30 AM  

#24  Yes I meant paederast. Paedophile is more correct.
One people seperated by a common language at birth LOL and Yes I am spelling chalenged frequently. I try to use a dictionary.

Howard I have quit playing with the Bablefish my wife told me to knock it off. She teaches french and has warned me off repeatedly. J'ai perdu mon français. I only had one semester of conversational french years ago. We never speak it at home. I am learning (american) Spanish and am doing poorly at it right now.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-10-19 11:20:25 AM  

#23  tw - give SPoD a break! Obviously a typo, adding that n. He meant to write paederast, I'm sure...
Posted by: Bulldog   2004-10-19 11:08:25 AM  

#22  It's from the Latin pedis, meaning foot. Like pedal, from the Latin pedalis - 'of the foot' (Latin 'foot' = pes or pedis). The Greek 'pod' strictly means 'foot' when used in English, but is also commonly used to denote 'leg' rather than 'foot', eg in 'bipod', 'tripod', compared with 'biped' or 'triped'. It's the myriad linguistic inheritances that makes English so versatile, so comprehensive, and so nuanced, you see. Heh.
Posted by: Bulldog   2004-10-19 11:05:27 AM  

#21  "penderasts"? Is that someone who likes to hang out? Or one who likes hanging low?
Posted by: trailing wife   2004-10-19 10:55:53 AM  

#20  Bulldog> I think that "podophile" is actually the correct word for the foot-fetishists. Modern Greek "podi" for foot, from the ancient "pous" gen. "podos". -- no Epsilon anywhere that I'm aware of. Compare with "tripod".

Haven't a clue how words like "biped" came about though.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris   2004-10-19 10:52:44 AM  

#19  Malheuresement je ne comprends pas ton efforts avec la langue francaise. Pardon.
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-10-19 10:05:00 AM  

#18  Well I will just use penderasts and let that be that not to be a pendant or anything.

All I know is this isn't radium this gomer was going to paint watch dials with. This is some nasty stuff. If it all came out of gauges someone is going to be very contaminated and may get a bad case of dead.

My brother told me about some kids down in Brazil (might be an urban legend) who some how got into Caesium that had been left some place. They smeared it all over their bodies. A very sad story. It's like these idiots who used to steal mercury swtiches out in the oil fields no idea about contamination. They would bring pounds of the stuff into their homes and play with it.

Only the criminally insane would knowingly try to illicitly trade in this radiologic material. Pump them for all the info yuou can get out of them then take them out to a ditch in back a shoot them. You will be doing them a favor because when they get ill they are going to be in a really bad and hopeless way.

And Howard it's just not any feces...
C'est juste aucun résidu. C'est diarrhée brûlante.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-10-19 10:00:38 AM  

#17  We should fight over our language more often.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-10-19 9:46:53 AM  

#16  Obey the dog. Stay close to your latinate roots oh learned ones.
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-10-19 9:38:27 AM  

#15  Caesium ought to be spelt that way, IMO, as it's faithful to the Latin. Aluminum ought to be spelt and pronounced that way (what's wrong with Platinum?) as that's the original spelling. But then, in a perfect world (blogo)sphaere would be spelt with an a, and in the US, I'd like innocent pedophiles (foot-lovers to the rest of us) to be able to get on with their fetish without being mistaken for paedophiles... That 'a' is useful, dammit.
Posted by: Bulldog   2004-10-19 9:36:44 AM  

#14  Well, why it is caesium then when it is actually seezim?
This is really bugging me sometimes... when someone says playdough and actually means Plato.
Posted by: Conanista   2004-10-19 8:51:42 AM  

#13  OED:

caesium
/seezim/ (US cesium)

• noun a soft, silvery, extremely reactive metallic chemical element.

— ORIGIN from Latin caesius ‘greyish-blue’ (because it has characteristic lines in the blue part of the spectrum).

Why does Chirac like burnt shit?
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-10-19 8:43:41 AM  

#12  SPoD, sounds like phrench. Babelfish said it can translate but the result would be a gibberish.
Posted by: Conanista   2004-10-19 8:43:36 AM  

#11  Condominium? Perhaps Howard has seen one.

La parole de Jacques Chirac il aiment la diarrhée brûlante.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2004-10-19 8:34:07 AM  

#10  "#8 Condominum?"

Tantrium? :-)
Posted by: Conanista   2004-10-19 8:28:13 AM  

#9  Ignorant Limeys.

Check out the dictionary. Caesium is a variant. I hear the Poms got a lot of variants in their public schools. Makes 'em what the are.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-10-19 8:20:42 AM  

#8  Condominum?
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-10-19 7:57:28 AM  

#7  Thanks .com. Nasty, indeed. One wonders how long the driver would have lasted, had he not been caught so quickly.

Yes, but Howard, y'all spell it 'aluminium' with that extra 'i' that almost doubles the time to say the word. How utterly inefficient!
Posted by: trailing wife   2004-10-19 7:36:40 AM  

#6  found with radioactive cesium-137 in the trunk boot of his car

Hey, maybe just an alternative fuel project. Allan knows the camel dung option was a flop (on a sand dune).
Posted by: RN   2004-10-19 7:13:55 AM  

#5  Bloody illiterate Americans - 'Caesium' after Julius Caesar.
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-10-19 6:48:44 AM  

#4  Crap. At least they caught the guy.
Posted by: beer_me   2004-10-19 3:30:45 AM  

#3  Nasty shit with a half-life of 30 years. The Cesium FAQ.
Posted by: .com   2004-10-19 2:59:05 AM  

#2  How quickly does Cesium-137 break down to a non-radioactive substance?
Posted by: trailing wife   2004-10-19 2:56:06 AM  

#1  But the expert in the UK said the other day there was no such thing and not to worry. He said it was a hoax on the public. This must be more BusHiler propaganda to justify his imperial aims on the world.

/sarcasm
Posted by: .com   2004-10-19 2:54:12 AM  

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