The Straight Dope 05/18/2007

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 05/18/2007

With Russians dropping dead from polonium poisoning, I've begun to wonder
about poisoning generally. What's the fastest-acting, most lethal poison?
What's the most insidious, least detectable? — JP, Syracuse, New York

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Cecil replies:

Toxicologists have a blunt way of rating a poison's lethality. Discussed
here before, it's called the LD-50, or 50 percent lethal dose — the amount
that on average kills half the target critters. As the term may suggest, a
fair amount of guesswork is involved. Since most governments object to
running toxicity tests on humans, researchers substitute lab animals, who
don't necessarily react like us. Individual susceptibility varies widely
depending on metabolism, tolerance, etc; differing effectiveness among
poison delivery methods is another wild card. A compound with a relatively
high LD-50 might be carcinogenic and therefore deadlier in the long run,
nicotine offering the salient example. So it's hard to say definitively
which poison is the fastest, most insidious, or tastiest. I'll tell you
about some of the deadlier toxins known, and you can make your own plans.

Poison is nature's great equalizer. Snakes, spiders, Gila monsters,
duck-billed platypuses — they're all prepared to stick it to you before
you stick it to them. According to my consultant Doug, the most potent
venom of any land animal probably belongs to . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070518.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

A group of us were talking with a Jewish co-worker and the topic of the
Sabbath came up. He told us about how orthodox Jews were not supposed to
handle money on the Sabbath and that some ultra-orthodox Jews don't use
electricity or modern conveniences such as cars or credit cards. I thought
this sounded a bit unrealistic in the 21st century and that you really
needed these conveniences. Someone then said something about areas where
Jews were exempt from the rules of the Sabbath. Did I dream this or are
there certain areas that are cordoned off in Jewish areas by wires that
run along telephone or electricity lines? —bigdfrombigd, from the Straight
Dope Message Boards

Guest contributor CMKeller replies, with an assist from SDSTAFF Dex:

Everybody knows the Sabbath is the day of rest, and we all think we know
what the means. Dads turn on the TV to watch college football, moms hit
the mall to shop or maybe the spa to get a haircut and manicure, and the
kids get together to practice with their garage band, right?

Not if you’re a Sabbath-observant Jew. “Work” and “rest” have strict
meanings in Jewish law as it relates to Sabbath and holidays. If you
accept those strict meanings, keeping the Sabbath doesn't mean merely that
you spend the day puttering around the house. On the contrary, it means
you pretty much don't do anything at all.

For traditional Jews (Orthodox and Conservative), the Torah, i.e., first
five books of the bible, and for that matter the Jewish religion aren't
just a matter of ethical behavior. They're also a law code. “Thou shalt
not steal,” for example, is a simple enough moral precept. But if you want
to make it the basis of a legal code, you need a lot more detail. If you
find a lost item and don’t try to return it, is that stealing? If you take
something intending to return it or repay it but don’t have a chance, is
that stealing? And so on. A law code needs much more interpretation and
regulation than does a code of ethics.

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msabbath.htm

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 01/12/1990

Dear Cecil:

I understand Comiskey Park in Chicago, built in the early 1990s, is the
only baseball stadium in the major leagues with home plate in the
northwest corner, rather than the southwest. Why are all ballparks
oriented this way? Didn't the owners of the White Sox care that they have
the only exception? --Jerry, Chicago

Dear Jerry:

Some White Sox fans at the time worked themselves into a real lather over
this. A letter in the Chicago Sun-Times began, "Am I the last `right field
is the sun field in baseball' American living in America? Left field will
be the sun field in the new White Sox stadium [due to the orientation of
home plate]. All the current geniuses creating this new stadium are
ignoring tradition. I am appalled and shocked," blah, blah, blah.

I should explain that right field is the "sun field" in most major league
ballparks because the right fielder must look into the sun when catching
fly balls during afternoon games. This is one reason (though not the most
important one) that most clubs put a stronger defensive player in right
field than in left. Making left field the sun field, some purists claim,
will throw off the game's subtle balances, create havoc in the outfield,
and, to hear some tell it, hasten the decline of the West.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_379.html

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