Remember when the city of Boston was put under lockdown because of an intense fear of a variation on the classic Lite Brite toys?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_scare

London just went into a security tizzy for Thai Food!

Thai chillies trigger London chemical scare

By Sally Peck

Police cordoned off three streets and firefighters smashed down a door after reports of a chemical attack on a busy shopping street in London's Soho. But instead of a terrorist attack or a toxic leak, all police found was a Thai cook preparing chili sauce.

Emergency workers wearing protective breathing masks were called to D'Arblay Street on Monday evening after members of the public detected an acrid cloud of smoke.

A Hazardous Area Response Team was dispatched and specialist crews broke down the door of the Thai Cottage restaurant.

They emerged shortly afterwards with a 9lb pot of chillies.

Chalemchai Tangjariyapoon, the chef at Thai Cottage, was preparing nam prik pao, a specialist dipping sauce made with deliberately burnt dry-fried chillies, when the emergency workers burst in.

Restaurant staff, who are used to the pungent aroma, were baffled when firefighters broke down their door Monday evening.

"I can understand why people who weren't Thai would not know what it was," the chef told The Times.

"But it doesn't smell like chemicals. I'm a bit confused."

A waitress at Thai Cottage, which has been on D'Arblay Street for 17 years, said she and other staff members were led out of the restaurant by firefighters and had to wait in the street for three hours.

Nam prik pao consists of the burnt chillies, garlic flakes, dried shrimp, palm sugar, shrimp paste, tamarind and vegetable oil. It is often added to soups, stir-fries and noodle dishes."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/03/nthai103.xml

It is one thing to keep your eyes open and be vigilant, but this is nuts!

Yep.

The culture of fear has a decent grip right now. It will pass, but it might take a while --and we might really have to hit bottom first.

Paranoia strikes deep, into your heart it will creep...

Corporate pockets are deep, but they do radio on the cheap...

doesn't relate to the topic, but I thought I would waste a post.

;-)

To twist a comedy quote,

The though of terrorism doesn't scare me.
Marsupials Scare me.

On the flip side, if it had of been chemical agents, or even accidental chemical spill and the emergency workers didn't respond there would have been much more harm, than a few embaressed faces.