I originally posted this question in the Science forum, but it has morphed into a comment. This whole Un-American hatred for 'others' that has so blatently increased lately. I have a friend who is commenting constantly that as a 40 yr old black man, he has never felt as much racism directed at him as he does now. Here, in Portland, the tolerance oasis of America, right in the neighbor hood where he grew up.
Now this conversation with my brother has raised the issue for me, because my hometown is acting the same way...
my post in Science..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=228&topic_id=7135#******
I a had a conversation with my brother this morning that was, well, a bit odd.
He told me about the Nuclear Boy Scout (turns out it's the Radioactive Boy Scout) who was trying to make a nuclear bomb with radium paint he found inside of an old clock.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s1153968.htm My brother lives in a little farm town in the midwest, which has recently seen an influx of immigrant labor at the new corporate pig farms that have sprouted in the last 15 years. As a result, anti-Mexican sentiments are running very high in town. There is talk among several people in town about a certain person who is part of this influx. Bro says "he doesn't act like a Mexican. My friends who know Spanish tell me he doesn't speak it very well".
Here's the clincher...
This guy is buying/acquiring/STEALING old clocks with radium dials, has 15-20 of them in his garage. This is not a rumor, several friends have seen them. Everybody is on High Terror alert about this guy, this is the mid-west, remember. Apparently this guy has even been 'reported' to Homeland Security, but there has been no action that anyone is aware of.
My question is...
Is it possible to scrape enough radium off of clock dials to make a bomb? The report says the kid found a whole vial of paint.
Or has an Urban Legend taken hold of my hometown?
on Edit - after reading several of the articles detailing what this kid had to do to create a bomb, I'm not worried about this guy. Not unless he's some kind of super genius like this kid. At 12 he was doing university level experiments, on his own.
I'm more worried now about the whole sociological impact of all this 'Terra! Terra!' crap on the small towns of America. He's a little freaked out, we grew up in this town, and even the Mexican families who we grew up with there are feeling extremely uncomfortable.
******
How many other DU'ers are feeling this? What can we do to stop it now!? We're going FREAKING BACKWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!