“During the Exodus”? Does someone have even the slightest bit of evidence that the Exodus, as described in the Bible, actually occurred? Everything that I’ve read says that it’s a nice story, but there is no evidence for it, and further, had it really happened, we would expect to find copious evidence. Are there serious scholars/archaeologists who actually believe the story?
Also, thousands of Egyptians? Did you mean Jews? I’m not familiar with this aspect of the myth, so I don’t know.
Is it true that areas infect by Anthrax spores stay contaminated for years? back in the 1950’s a massachusetts wool mill was contaminated by anthrax spores-the building was pulled down, and the materials were buried in a landfill. supposedly, an island off Scotland (contaminated by the British during WWII as an experiment) remains dangerous to this day. So, could anthrax contamination cause major shutdowns of subways, train stations, etc., for years? :eek:
The rule of thumb for anthrax seems to be: if you do not de-contaminate it, it stays contaminated. Indefinately.
Input from wiser heads, if any?
Anthrax evolved in the same dry environments where cattle did. Its mode of propagation pre-humans was that a bull/cow would get it, die, and the anthrax itself goes into this suspended-animaton spore form, where it can lay idle for years until another bull/cow later picks it up from the ground. It then becomes active and kills that one.
BTW, is there a word I can use for a generic single head of cattle? Bovoid? But that’s an adjective.
Article from today’s Post FBI Is Casting A Wider Net in Anthrax Attacks, available for free for 14 days.
Ft. Meade is the headquarters of the NSA. Did you maybe mean Ft. Detrick, instead?
So why does it take five years to figure out the anthrax didn’t have “additives” or “special processing” and that the Ames variety is “more ubiquitous than we thought” and you could get some from just about anywhere - particularly, the Soviet Union? Of course we all know during the break up of the Soviet Union those poor unscrupulous Soviet scientists were willing to sell anything to anyone. So now the FBI is “casting a wider net.”
Does this mean we are all now suspects? And by “we” I mean, everyone on the planet?
That’s Gruinard . It’s been de-contaminated now, but it took 280 tons of formaldehyde (for an area of 520 acres) and the removal of much of the topsoil.
Just a nit, but you mean Ft. Detrick, right?
Let’s just pretend I actually previewed, saw Elendil’s Heir’s reply, and did not repeat the same information, shall we?
Okay, as an aside to justify the post, my brother was a police officer in Frederick, MD prior to the U.S. ending biological warfare research. Now, this is second-hand, and my brother was known for embellishing stories for effect, but this is what he told me. He and just about every LEO in the vicinity were called out for an escaped animal; the monkey was spotted in a tree near the fence surrounding the base. A sniper took out the monkey, and then teams in full decon suits retrieved the body and proceeded to spray everything from the tree back to the fence with disinfecting foam. The official word was there was nothing to worry about, as the monkey had not been exposed to any infectious agents. Which explains the sniper, decon suits, etc.
Wasn’t there a pond near Frederick from which they recovered lab equipment which could be used to process anthrax? I know that whole section of highway 270 from the DC Beltway on up to Frederick is a “tech corridor” with lots of bio-labs. I always thought it strange someone from one of the labs would dump lab equipment in a pond.
From the reports at the time, what was found was a glove box. AFAIK, the FBI never released any other details. Here is a Usenet posting quoting the WP story.
No sweat. The X-Files had a sly in-joke about the facility, BTW - Scully once managed to gain access to a secret U.S. biowarfare base called “Ft. Marlene.” 
So, the spores didn’t contain any distinguishing additives from the Army labs. But did anyone ever claim they did? I thought that the evidence of an Army origin was in the genetics of that particular strain, and the new reports don’t say anything about the genetics.
About 10 years ago i interviewed for a position at the National Cancer Institute which is located at Ft. Detrick, also home of USAMRIID. My hosts pointed out to me 3-4 story building on the base that was once an anthrax research lab, but is now encased in concrete, apparently sealed off since the 1950’s when there was a major spill of anthrax inside. I guess the risk and/or costs of trying to clean it out was too great, even after all these years.