[snopercod]

Isn't this mass-hysteria fascinating?

All we need now is a congressional hearing with Meryl Streep shouting "WHAT ARE WE DOING TO THE CHILDREN!?!

[AFPhys]

One of my earliest "science projects" was to recreate Torricelli's mercury barometer. It requires about a 30 inch column of mercury (imagine that!) in a slightly longer glass tube sealed at one end, and a bowl of mercury sufficient to fill it and keep the open end bathed in. It worked wonderfully, and was a great demo. If I brought that same experiment to school now, I would probably be arrested as a chemical terrorist, according to this story, since they are calling in the "environmental crimes unit" to investigate.

We have GOT to get off this planet! The most important reason for space flight is to have people get things into perspective once again.