AW: AW: [simpits-tech] "Unbelievable" but TRUE :P

[Gene Buckle]

> > That sucks.  This poor dude gets hosed because of the radium paint used to
> > make the dial faces visible in darkness.  "Sell an old instrument, go to
> > jail!"  Mind bogglingly stupid.
>
> Gene,
> I have not much glue about radioactivity, but in your eyes 4876 mS is no
> problem??? Due to what the NBC guys told him, this is 5 times as much as
> what is considered the max allowed!
>

I didn't say it wasn't dangerous.  I think it's stupid to punish someone
for this kind of thing.  The seller probably had no clue that the stuff
was hot from radium paint.  It's like throwing an antique dealer in jail
for selling a watch that used the same stuff for the dial.  It's stupid.
The NBC guys should have disposed of the stuff properly and then closed
the case.  At most they should have contacted the sell with the _only_
purpose of finding out if he had any more of the stuff.  If so, they
should pay him fair market value for it before having it carefully
destroyed or decontaminated.  I fervently hope that the seller hires a
lawyer capable of twisting those NBC guys inside out.

Keep in mind that Radium was used as a glow-in-the-dark paint from its
discovery (sometime in the very late 1800's I think) until (I think) the
1960's.  It was _heavily_ used in aircraft instrument faces as well as
some clocks and many watches.

g.