One of my claims to fame.

[ffutures]

Just discovered one of my old articles on New Scientist's web site:

Roll of Dishonour

And no, they wouldn't give me an honourable mention in the Darwin Awards. I asked...

Comments

[trinfaneb.livejournal.com]

Wow, I didn't realize the lab was such a dangerous place! Have you had any other notable accidents since then? I can't recall any accidents from science classes, but my teachers didn't demonstrate too many experiments.

On a related note, have you heard about the new "Breaking Bad" series? Its about a science teacher who finds out he has inoperable lung cancer and goes into the Meth production business with a former student in order to generate some financial security for his family. I've watched the first couple of episodes and it has some interesting chemistry related scenes. From what I can tell, they try to get the science right. It comes on the American Movie Classics (AMC) channel.

In a related question, is Meth addiction a bad problem in the UK? Its pretty bad in the U.S., especially in many rural areas. The cold medicine ingredient for Meth is no longer stocked on the shelves in stores. You have to ask for it at the pharmacy window and can only buy a limited amount.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I try very hard to avoid accidents - usually I'm the person who has to clean up the mess. But since I wrote that I've had a silver fulminate explosion and a potassium explosion (both my fault), seen someone else make the classic "put the wrong chemical in the Chlorine generator" mistake and managed to get the fume cupboard shut and everyone safely clear before it exploded, and had to deal with a very bad chemical spillage (an intruded vandalised a chemical store) which ended with multiple sodium explosions during the cleanup. Remarkably nobody got hurt in any of that. Also a few cuts, shocks, etc.

Haven't heard about the show - don't think meth is much of a problem here, but I could be wrong.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Meth is pretty rare in the UK, there's always been quite a lot of cheaper (and better) alternatives, Meth has never really taken off.

When the price dropped massively for Cocaine a few years ago, there did start to be an increase in crack addiction though.