[ExI] Ants to spike

[spike]

> ...On Behalf Of Eugen Leitl
> Subject: Re: [ExI] Ants to spike
> 
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 12:59:39PM -0400, Brent Neal wrote:
....
> > Always a good possibility. Being a physicist, I'd find a 
> portable XRF 
> > unit...Hell of a lot easier than chemistry...
> 
> It is strange what a physicist considers easier. I think 
> 18th/19th century qualitative analytics is hard to beat in 
> speed and simplicity... Eugen* Leitl

And a lot more fun!  Chemistry is such a kick.  If we went for easy, it
might be easiest to google and find how long it has been since lead has been
taken out of house paints (a loooong time, generally more than 30 years.)
On the other hand, Anders is writing from England, and I have heard legends
that they have buildings back in that part of the world that are that old
and some even older than that.  The mind boggles.

It isn't clear why Dr. Bostrom should have the least concern about it in any
case, unless he planned to devour the paint chips, and even then, he would
need to devour them in large quantities.  As I recall, Nick has no larvae.
There were a few cases of lead poisoning in the 1960s in the US, but in ever
case it was from young children who for whatever strange reason, found paint
chips very tasty.  I have a hard enough time convincing my 3 yr old larva to
eat actual food, so I seldom worry about his devouring paint chips.

Hey so now we have Eugene and Anders posting here again.  It is like a
celebration of good times past.  Life is gooood!

spike