I don't know how many of you have been following the story about the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in the news but I have found it very interesting and terrifying at the same time.  Litvinenko was an ex-Russian agent who was poisoned using Polonium-210.  I find this interesting in many ways.  First off, somebody really wanted this guy dead.  I'm really surprised they went to the effort of killing him off in this manner though.  It would be cheaper, safer, and quicker to just put a slug in the guys head rather than use radioactive materials.  I did a little reading about Polonium-210 on wikipedia.com and found out this stuff is extremely toxic and very dangerous to handle.  I'm not sure how the killer managed to poison Litvinenko but I read that he would have had to have ingested, inhaled or absorbed it (though not through the epidermis layer).  Wikipedia states that it is very rare and only about 100 micrograms of this stuff is produced each year.  So first you have to get your hands on some (which has to be damn hard), then handle it and get somebody to inhale or eat some.   Seems like a hell of a lot of work and risk.  Not that I would go murder somebody, this is definitely not the method that I would choose.

I find this story very terrifying because of the trail that Litvinenko left behind.  They have found traces of the stuff in several restaurants and hotels.  Additionally, 12 people in London has now tested positive for radioactivity.  Also, Andrei Lugovoi, who met with Litvinenko the day that he fell ill, has also fallen ill and reported traces of polonium-210 have been found in his body.  Same goes for Dmitry Kovtun and Mario Scaramella.  Apparently, Kovtun's ex-wife, her partner, and two children are contaminated.  Traces of Polonium-210 were also found on at least three aircraft as well.  I have no idea how much Po was used to whack Litvinenko, but it seems like this stuff spreads faster than a bad Justin Timberlake song.  So far, nobody else has died from it, but in the Wikipedia article, it sites cases of people who have fallen ill from this stuff, and there are many reported cases of friends, family and co-workers dying years later from cancer or leukemia.  I wonder how long before one of the contaminated people croaks from related causes?  Next time I'm out and about and I noticed the guy next to me giving off a faint glow, I'm definitely high tailing hit home and hitting the showers ASAP.  ;)

Posted @ 1/08/2007 02:08:00 PM | 0 comments

The Colorado Rockies have gone and given me yet another reason to stop going to the games and burn all my memorabilia.  I went online today to get tickets for individual games for the 2007 season.  I know, I'm already fed up with them, why do I continue to buy their tickets?  The major reason is that I am a huge baseball fan, I really enjoy going out and watching games.  Also, I'm not mad at the players, it is the management and ownership that is trying to ruin the team, not the players (still not sure on the coaches).  I feel like the players are going out there and doing what they can.  Dan O'Dowd is the world's worst GM.  I wish somebody would can his ass so that the Rockies can get on with trying to build a winning baseball team instead of trying to line the owners and his own pockets with more cash. 

Anyways, back to buying tickets.  Most of the readers of this blog know that I make it a point to take the day off work and go to Opening Day.  I also, buy 2-4 more games per year including a fireworks game for the kids.  After the tickets, parking, food and beer, I drop a few bills with them each year.  I've been eagerly awaiting getting tickets this year because my favorite team, the New York Yankees, are in town for a three game series in June.  First tickets that I grabbed were opening day, then I went right to the Yankees game and found out that you cannot buy individual tickets for the Yankees games until February.  However, if you sign up for one of the many packages, you can get them now.  Of course, the packages are built to get more money out of you.  The cheapest set is the 3 game inter-league package.  Well, I HAVE to go see my Yankees and the only way to guarantee that I will get the kind of tickets that I want was to go this route.  So I ended up purchasing opening day, Yankees, Royals, & Devil Rays tix.  When they break down the cost for the individual inter-league games, the Yankees game ended up costing $80 more than the two other inter-league games (for 4 tickets).  Tell me the Rockies aren't trying to get every single dollar out of me that they can!

I realized as I was writing this post, in my excitement trying to get Yankees tix and disgust at what the Rockies were doing to me, that I forgot to buy tickets for a fireworks game :P  The last straw has not broke the camel's back but I really wish the Rockies would start focusing on putting a winning team on the field and then the dollars will start coming in.  They should go back and check their books and records and I bet they would find that the year with the largest attendance as well as the most revenue was the single year they squeaked into the playoffs.  In the NL West, you only have to have a .500 ballclub to compete for the division.  Oh well, my anger has caused the quality of my writing to deteriorate below my sub standard level so I'm going to shut my mouth.

Posted @ 1/08/2007 01:28:00 PM | 0 comments