I have often thought it would be interesting to meet various people I've encountered in the threads in "real life." Derbig is among those. However, the individual I would like to meet even more than Derbig is his wife. Based on what I know of Derbig here, she ought to be one very interesting woman. ;-)

And she has a really cool kayak, too. Who can beat that? She sounds fun.

The most damning reports we have heard about Ivins come from his former therapist, Jean Carol Duley. Reading the comments on stories in the local Fredrick News Post (e.g. http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=78337) is informative. Ms. Duley has been arrested twice for DWI in the past two years, for example. See http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/inquiry/ for the details.

How very little you seemed to have known or truly understood.

Ms. Duley, I recommend a secluded cabin in the Maine woods, accessible only by canoe (or, kayak - don't forget the carbon fiber paddles), without telephone, television, or an internet connection.

Speaking of suspiciously convenient "suicides" of inconvenient microbiologists. I had kind of forgotten about him until this stuff came up again with Ivins. Kelly was the guy who accused the Blair government of inflating the WMD threat posed by Saddam in the "dodgy dossier." His "suicide" doesn't bear much scrutiny either. How in the heck do you slit your wrists with a dull gardening knife and manage not to leave any fingerprints on the thing? Pretty good trick considering he didn't have gloves on and none were found at the scene. Not to mention that, for a guy with Ph.D. in biology who specialized in analyzing ways of killing millions of human beings, he doesn't seem to have known jack about anatomy or how to kill yourself by slitting your wrists.

[The cut] completely severed a tiny blood vessel called the ulnar artery, which is deep in the wrist and protected by nerves and tendons.

It is highly unlikely anyone without a blood-clotting defect would bleed to death from a single cut to this artery.

It would have required unusual force to cut through the tendons, particularly with a blunt gardening knife, and it would have been very painful.

To ascertain just how unusual the injury was, Mr Baker asked the Office of National Statistics how many people in the UK died in 2003 from a cut to the ulnar artery.

He was told that Dr Kelly was the only one.

Your thoroughness is really quite impressive.

Whoever made it a point to leak the bentonite misinformation really needs to be unmasked. It boggles the mind why ABC has become so defensive about their reporting and their sourcing. If anything, ABC are the ones who should be pissed off. Not only that, but the story behind the lies that were fed to them would be a fantastic scoop for ABC, if their primary motivation were doing good journalism, that is.

If ABC's moral compass is stuck on protecting confidential sources who tricked ABC into misleading the public on a matter of the highest significance, why would anyone want to watch ABC news? Why is the truth less important than protecting anonymous sources who peddle lies? Weird. Makes no sense. Solution: Click past ABC. Use the v-chip or parental control to block the ABC channel. Why bother wasting any time on ABC?

What still hasn't been addressed in all of this is that Ivins did not have access to the dry powdered type of anthrax used in the attacks.

His work involved only liquid anthrax, and there was no way for him to convert that to the dry powdered form without it being detected.

Sources and more details linked at signature.

I'm missing the punch-line on your prostitution joke.

for your kind concern. She ran right off with the kayak in the truck and dumped it in at Phinney Bay. She just called on the cell to say she is having a great time and the kayak is "perfect". We were a little unsure about which size was best for our purposes 9.5 or 12.5. We decided on the smaller for ease of single-handling, but that is a really tiny thing to be out in. We've got a 10' inflatable which we retained when we sold the powerboat. And now a boat even shorter.

If it wasn't for downward mobility, I wouldn't have no mobility at all.

In comments at Emptywheel, Nell provided this link:

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/government/84/8449gov1.html

It makes a pretty compelling case that the X-ray spectrometry result I mentioned earlier, showing silica in the Daschle spore prep, was wrong. The author of this article spoke directly to a scientist who view electron micrographs of the material and found that the spores were entirely clean and not coated with anything like silica or bentonite. The article suggests that completely pure spores would themselves float in a "weaponized" way. The article also goes on to state that experiments to produce such a clean, concentrated preparation have not been successful, so it's still unclear how the material was produced.

but I did come across a site that diagrams social networks.

The link is set up for Spertzel, and the site might be useful for other research.

http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb06?_SPERTZEL_RICHARD_O

Ondelette: If, indeed, there has been a complete autopsy, that is good news but today is the first time that has been mentioned. Previously, the reports have been that they "knew" how he had died from routine hospital evaluation..

I hope all of you have listened carefully to the recording of Dulay's filing for a restraint order or will do so since it's what all the scuttlebutt is based on. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/audio/national/20080802scientist.mp3

Attend especially to any claims about Ivins past history and ask yourself if there has been any corroborating evidence that his claims about the past (poisonings, etc.) are true -- or even likely -- given his need to maintain security clearance. Then ask yourself if there is any independent evidence that suggests his recent claims about buying a gun, bullet-proof vest, etc. are reality-based. The FBI has been watching him like a hawk. How did he pull it off. Then find evidence in Duley's report that he had actually attacked or intended to attack her. What did he threaten to do to her? What could he have done under the watch of the FBI? Send bad thoughts?

In all of this, where was the psychiatrist who was supposedly treating Ivins? Why did he/she not admit the patient if it was deemed necessary?

Ivins was admitted through a local hospital and then transferred to Sheppard Pratt, usually considered a reputable institution. Why did they let him go? Was their assessment of the situation different from Duley's? Until hospitalization, Ivins was working and living at home with his family. Had his family or colleague missed the threats and rants or was he confining them to Duley's office and voice-mail? How would you feel if the "men in white coats" came to pick you up at your place of business -- effectively ending your career even if you weren't guilty of anything.

For those on the thread who aren't clinicians, you may not realize that decisions about dangerousness are often difficult, requiring time and thought -- and not infrequently -- consultation with an independent colleague. In part, this is because for some individuals the risk of damage from hospitalization is greater than that of keeping them in a supportive home environment. Was Dr. Ivins such a person? Was this the last straw?

lastnamechosen: I'd guess it's a good thing that you're not a therapist.

Ondelette: I'm not sure one focus is intrinsically more important than another. If enough people can be convinced that Ivins' "homicidal sociopathy" led him to spread death and destruction though the USPS, the option of putting Brian Ross in the hot seat may be lost.