Chemical Warfare, Part 2 of 2

16 Responses

1. Just a shout-out to this episode’s opening Shout-Out. “Hey Dr. Chad, I was born and raised in Thompson Manitoba. Nice to hear others from the northern part of ‘Friendly Manitoba’ are fans of the Caustic Soda gents too!

   1. Hey Allan!

      Dr. Chad here…. I was too was born in Thompson, though I was raised in Gillam. I escaped from the north when I was 18 and from Manitoba when I was 25.

      1. I left Thompson when I was 19 in January of ’88. I wonder if we ever ran into each other?

         1. Hmmm… I would have been 8 years old in’88 and still sick in Gillan. So, if I had to put money on it, I would guess that our paths probably didn’t cross.

            1. Ouch. I’m just old then! 🙂

2. And here’s a follow-up. VX Gas Attack by your fellow Vancouverians Skinny Puppy about Halabja
   http://youtu.be/vDb4c7TS1H0

   1. I love seeing Skinny Puppy as a follow-up to a Caustic Soda episode!

3. Great episode! When you mentioned Dugway proving grounds, my ears perked up. I live near Dugway, and yesterday morning there were a couple of loud explosions that were heard throughout the area. Most of us just assumed there were blowing things up out there, we’re kind of used to it. It turned out to be testing from the air force base that is right in the middle of the most heavily populated part of the state. (Dugway itself is a little further away from our actual homes, at least.) So now I’m going to worry about sarin gas every time I hear a loud noise from that direction, lol.
   To put it in some perspective, the government did above ground nuclear testing in this region for a long time, and nobody thought it was a problem until nearly everyone that lived nearby got cancer. There are still families that are trying to get restitution for the harm it caused them. I know one woman whose entire family died from rare cancers, and the government finally paid her off a few years ago, she got a whopping $50,000. I would have held out for more, personally.

4. I really have to thank every episode (but in particular the ones with Allan Newell) of curing me completely of my itch to join the army.

5. And now a word from your sponsor…. It feels good to be the sponsor of an episode that includes extensive discussion of The Rock. Also, I never sent any message to thank Toren for the awesome custom sketch from my other sponsorship perk…. I shall treasure it always!

   1. Think about posting the sketch online for other CS fans to enjoy 😉

      1. I was planning to do just that… Here is a link to the image in my Dropbox for those who are interested. Bonus points for anyone who can guess the exact scenario depicted and why I had Toren draw it.

         https://www.dropbox.com/s/42u548d1ev4hk1z/CausticDoodle.jpg?dl=0

6. Technically this relates more to biological weapons but the talk of contaminated weapons testing ranges put me in mind of a local story Scotlands Antharax Island.
   The Island of Gruinard was used as the test site for an Antharax bomb with our brave military lads deploying this particular;y horrific weapon of mass destruction against some particularly sinister sheep.
   They succeeded in taking out the wooly menace with one slight side effect.
   The island was so hopelessly contaminated with the bacteria.
   The whole placed was placed under quarentine for 42 years and even then the government found it nessecary to hire in a company to dump a couple of thousand tonnes of chemical saturated sea water to rinse things off then dig up most of the top soil and seal in in concrete.
   By the early 90’s it was offically safe to visit and they shipped in a new flock of sheep (doubtless suitably pacified by knowledge of what happened to their predecessors) to wander about to prove it.
   Even to this day surprisingly few folk stop by to visit.

7. Another pop-culture reference (I think such things are obligatory in the comments, no?): The dreadful film “Battlefield Earth” includes discussion of how the aliens wiped out most of humanity, primarily by a robotic aircraft that flew all over the world spraying poisonous gas everywhere. Somethingsomething Psychlo’s atmosphere somethingsomething Barry Pepper.

   Speaking of Battlefield Earth, when are you guys going to do a Scientology episode?

8. I’ve listened to all the CS episodes without flinching much (with the exception of the Ted Bundy one)… but start describing a 3 inch needle… then talk about it hitting bone… *gibbers in a corner*

9. I am sorry but your description of atropine and 2-pam is incorrect. They work by entirely different mechanisms and large doses of atropine are necessary for atropinization.