carpediem

An occasion for every celebration.

  • it/its

Every 24-hour period deserves its 15 minutes of fame.

An impulse decision by @garak in a fit of procrastination.


Today marks the anniversary of one of the most absurd political assassinations that actually worked: A gun that shoots ricin-filled bullets, hidden inside an umbrella. If this were in a James Bond movie it would break my suspension of disbelief for being too silly, but once again truth is stranger than fiction.

A KGB agent armed with the umbrella gun injected ricin into Bulgarian author Georgi Markov on the streets of London, as retaliation for defecting to the West and speaking out against the ruling Communist government. Markov died four days later, and the assassin escaped undetected.

As a rule, I stay clear of any substance which was a plot point in Breaking Bad:

  • fulminated mercury
  • hydrofluoric acid
  • extremely-high-purity methamphetamines
  • whatever they use to fumigate houses
  • of note for today, ricin

That shit is super-lethal, and also very difficult to detect. In fact, the use of ricin is only suspected, mainly because doctors couldn't actually determine the poison used.

You could mark this historic event in a somber mood today, and support political dissidence in a way of your choosing. Or, you could celebrate this in a completely tasteless fashion by having mixed drinks with cocktail umbrellas and using them to poke people. Your choice.


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