stilldeepwater, this one's for you...

[electricland]

Egads, how I love Scientific American's weekly email.

How does nerve gas work?

Better Killing through Chemistry

Comments

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Articles like that really make me laugh. Having the recipe is not the end-all. You need to know how to make the stuff without blowing yourself up or worse...

Well, yeah. (In fact the author of the article points this out in one of the sidebars.) But the important point was that despite claims to the contrary, access to the raw materials for a lot of quite dangerous substances is not well controlled, and anyone who has the appropriate knowledge -- you or me or stilldeepwater, for instance -- and access to the right equipment could make the stuff if they wished. Which I find a tad scary...

[talisker.livejournal.com]

quite dangerous substances is not well controlled

Granted. Still, I'm not all that worried, to be quite honest.

Even with the knowhow and the equipment, these are not the most user-friendly protocols. I've had tons of misguided friends who've asked me to make stuff for them. Putting aside the illegal aspects of most of their ventures, I always said no because I didn't want to be responsible for accidentally poisoning my friends.