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Dorchester mystery box opened: Was a box full of rocks

Mystery boxGeraldo should have been there for the opening. Photo by BFD.

A federal Nuclear Incident Response Team inspector arrived in Boston this morning to take a look inside the box found in the basement of a three-decker in Dorchester yesterday. When he opened the lid up, all he found inside were rocks, Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald says:

No hazard but they were giving off some radiation but within accepted limits. We may see if a college that has a geology department might want them.

In May, some left-over surveying equipment in the basement of the Tip O'Neill federal building next to North Station set off the radiation badges worn by security guards there.

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Comments

Man, that is just as dumb as a box of ...

Oh. Right.

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Now that you know if was just rocks it seems like an incredible over reaction, but I sure would have called the authorities to check it out if I found a box like that in my house with all those warning stickers.

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Haven't you noticed? We now live in a city of overreactions. Umbrellas become guns and whole shopping malls shut down. Bags accidentally left on the ground at South Station by ditzy tourists become bombs and South Station shuts down. Electronic ads for obscure cartoon shows also become bombs and half the city shuts down. Semi-homeless people walk down Huntington Ave. with black clothing in the summer become terrorists and half of Huntington Avenue shuts down. It's absurd.

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Depending on what kind of radioactivity was in that box, you may have been in more danger by NOT opening it sooner than later. If the box was thinly lead-lined and the radioactivity were P32, then the beta decay could interact with the lead and release bremsstrahlung radiation that would be worse for you than if you just exposed yourself to the beta decay of the phosphorus in the first place (P32 beta decay weakens quickly in air).

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...and wave your dick over your head a little more.... ;|

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IMAGE(http://shanghaithere.davers.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/greatscott.jpg)

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1. check with your labs geiger counter to find out what you got
2. wait for a weekend Bustitution Spectacualar at Harvard Square, when the crowd just happens to push you up against the Bigass Backpack
3. set it down behind/under the gigantic backpack
4. profit?

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