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ricin

By catdynamics on March 1, 2008.

curious case in Las Vegas with a middle aged man in a coma and ricin found in an extended stay hotel room

lots of new stories and blog posts on this, but very little information

some blogs are claiming an ID for the man hospitalized, and reports say guns and a "anarchist type" book was found, with a bookmark at the ricin recipe page

interesting question is which book:

the standard is "The Poisoner's Handbook" by Hutchkinson
which is a favourite of certain non-progressive fringe elements
- it is available on amazon, natch

a more obscure source would be a crude survivalist handbook which I gather just cribbed Hutchkinson's recipe with some dumb suggestions for administering the stuff, if that is the book found then the link is firmly to the right wing lunatic fringe

Hutchkinson's stuff was also cribbed for the Mujahedin's Handbook, which would presumably not be described as "anarchist" by any sane law enforcement officer

I presume there is a KGB or Eastern European handbook also somewhere, but again that would not be consistent with the description given by police

see Dick Destiny for more

my first thought had been the Nevada primaries, if this was a political attempt at something, but the timeline is wrong, guy got sick two weeks ago, so the poisoning was first week of Feb - conceivably the previous occupant left the poison, but that is getting a bit contrived

be interesting to know if this was stupidity, criminal stupidity or a political stupidity

Tags
Science

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What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

By Tegumai Bopsul… (not verified) on 02 Mar 2008 #permalink

I thought this was going to be the Extended Stay America that a whole bunch of us stayed at for a galaxy dynamics conference at UNLV three years ago, but that one was east of the Strip and the ricin was west of the Strip, apparently. Anyway, I always prefer to bring my toxic agents to the conference hall rather than leaving them in the room, so I don't forget anything.