It’s not ricin
See how easy it would be? That’s all you have to say: It’s not ricin.
You had enough time on your hands to post nearly a dozen links on the topic while it was breaking, to track down pictures, do research on the history of ricin in the United States, even to admit when more tests are needed…
…so why no time to admit that the whole thing was a false alarm?
Update:
“I guess you can say I was just weirded out,” said Kelly Heinbaugh, a freshman kinesiology major. “It seemed out of place … I figured I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
I have no problem with the “better safe than sorry” argument, especially given the level of hysteria the average American has been whipped into by people like Malkin, but what’s out of place, exactly, about a chunky white powder in a laundry room, or in a roll of quarters which presumably has spent time in and around a laundry room?
Update 2: One story calls the powder “whitish-brown”, which certainly doesn’t sound like detergent. While the update above was mostly snark anyway, I’ll officially retract the suggestion that the powder shouldn’t have looked out of place.
See how easy that was?
At one point my university claimed to be enforcing a very strict security policy, such that any unexpected package with no return address was to be opened by “security personnel” (this was around the anthrax scare). So, obedient me, I received an unexpected package with no return address, a block letter printed address, and with the secretaries freaking out decided to go ahead and call the security people so that they could follow procedure, even though I was inclined to just open the damn thing. So what happens with the security personnel? The campus cop takes the box into our coffee/microwave/fridge room, and slits it open with his pocket knife. Well, shit, I could have done that.
Long story short, universities and security…not such a good mix.
Comment by binky — February 27, 2006 @ 3:34 am
So “Yeah its weird” no qualifies as a retraction?
Comment by skippy — February 27, 2006 @ 4:37 pm
Shockingly, no. Besides, who “updates” their posts at the top of the post? That makes it look like she was onto this story from the beginning.
Comment by Auguste — February 27, 2006 @ 4:45 pm
I heard that it was hidden inside a ceramic statue of the Virgin Mary.
Comment by LA — February 27, 2006 @ 8:26 pm