this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2025
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[–] jonesy@aussie.zone 22 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Thank god appropriate resources are being dedicated to punishing this guy properly. Can you imagine the absolute mayhem he could unleash if eh managed to collect all the elements? /s

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Pretty sure I watched a show as a kid where someone collected all the elements and then used them to take down the evil ruler.

Maybe Emmanuel Lidden is the Avatar?

[–] Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 3 points 11 months ago

I think you mean Captain Planet.

[–] Sporkbomber@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I mean this isn't someone trying to import in nickel or any other element. He was shipping highly radioactive and toxic material around. It's typically frowned on to expose people to radiation for the sake of you completing a collection.

[–] Nath@aussie.zone 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Don't we all have a teeny bit of uranium in our homes in smoke detectors? Or was that some urban myth I'm remembering?

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 7 points 11 months ago

Not an urban myth, but a combination of slightly incorrect and very out of date. "Ionisation" smoke alarms typically contain Americium-241, which is radioactive just like uranium is (that's the slightly incorrect).

But ionisation smoke alarms are illegal to install in Queensland (probably other states too, I just didn't check), and haven't been recommended since at least 2006 (that's the very out of date). Instead, these days, smoke alarms are typically photoelectric.

[–] Gibsonhasafluffybutt@aussie.zone 3 points 11 months ago

Blah blah blah

We have bigger problems to deal with than this guy.

[–] eureka@aussie.zone 10 points 11 months ago

What a fool, should have played it smart and bought a nuclear submarine instead!

[–] zero_gravitas@aussie.zone 6 points 11 months ago

Fuck's sake, leave the guy alone!

[–] The_Decryptor@aussie.zone 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

The court heard that Lidden had ordered the items from a US-based science website and they had been delivered to his parents’ home.

Did he try to buy something off United Nuclear maybe?

https://unitednuclear.com/uranium-ore-c-2_4/uranium-ore-fragments-p-782.html

Edit: Read the headline 4 times and somehow missed "plutonium" bah

[–] Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Reminds me of a story my partner told me about a 'science geek' in her year at school.

He brought loose mercury in with him to science class. As he showed the teacher, the teacher apparently evacuated the classroom. The kid got a good talking to apparently.

Not sure what happened to the mercury.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That's wild. In my year 6 class the science teacher poured loose mercury onto a cutting mat, and rolled it around a bit. There's so little danger in mercury if you don't physically touch it. And don't have long term exposure.

[–] Nath@aussie.zone 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

In my primary school science class, they poured mercury into our hands and we each had a turn playing with it for a while.

I also just remembered I had this toy maze thing where you had a blob of mercury that you needed to get to the centre like those ball-bearing mazes. Yep, a child left unattended with a blob of mercury and nothing but a layer of simple clear plastic stopping the kid from drinking the stuff.

Obligatory Bandit.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Holy shit in your hands‽‽

That Bandit clip is so right...

[–] Nath@aussie.zone 2 points 11 months ago

At least I wasn't playing in an asbestos sand pit...


Story is pretty sad

[–] Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hahaha, what a legend! Practical teachers were always my favourite.

Yeah, i didn't go into too much detail because i can't really remember the story, so i don't know if there was a legit problem, or the teacher was just reacting to the potential. I have this vague memory about him rolling it around the palm of his hand, but i don't trust my memory on that detail.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 2 points 11 months ago

Well, Nath also apparently remembers mercury being put into not just the teacher's, but students' hands, so you might be remembering that right.

[–] vane@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

This is scary. He might have become Sauron you know, because he would be able to make one ring to rule them all.

[–] Rosencrantz23@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Lol of course

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago

No they won't, that's super duper legal so long as you declare it otherwise it's just a customs issue that likely falls on the importer.