Don't Say His Name

Here's a story sent in by a reader.  Some dumb kid at Georgetown made ricin in his dorm. He showed it to his R.A. who called in the authorities and now the kid is up on federal charges.

As the reader suggests, this guy was probably inspired by Breaking Bad, which featured ricin--in fact, we had to wait a long time on that show from the time it was synthesized to the time it was used.  This kid must be a weirdo, since most people who watch BB want to make meth.

Actually, making meth--or so I've been told--is a dangerous process.  Probably safer to make ricin, though I wouldn't recommend that either.  Now that I think of it, I've known lots of people over the years who have owned or made dangerous chemicals.  That can be fun but hazardous to your health.  A few of them had to deal with the government, and that's never any fun.

So is there a lesson here?  Yes.  When you make something dangerous, don't show it to your R.A.