07:35 – I finished the group on impression analysis yesterday and got started on the group on gunshot and explosive residues analysis. I had intended to include with the kit tiny specimens of firearms propellants (smokeless powder, black powder, Pyrodex) and explosives (dynamite, RDX, PETN, and so on). By “tiny”, I mean specimens of maybe 50 mg. Call it a tenth the size of an aspirin tablet. I was surprised to find that it’s illegal to mail these things. Not just under the Small Quantity Exemption, but period.
Fortunately, I checked the SQE rules. Until now, all of the hazardous materials I’ve been including the kits has fallen under paragraph 334.2(a) or 334.2(b), which qualify up to 30 mL or 30 g of material, respectively, for shipping under SQE. Paragraph 334.2(c) exempts “1 g (0.04 oz) or less for Division 6.1 (Packing Group I) materials”. I wasn’t sure what was included in Class 6 until I looked it up. It turns out to be “Toxic substances and infectious substances”. Alas, explosives (including firearms propellants) are in Class 1, for which there is no SQE (or ORM-D) waiver. That means it’s simply illegal to mail Class 1 materials, no matter how small the quantity. So I’ll have to fall back on telling readers to get their own specimens, which actually isn’t as difficult as it seems at first glance.
Barbara and I have started watching the shortened season three of Crossing Jordan on Netflix streaming. (The actress who plays Jordan was pregnant, which resulted in a season of only 13 episodes.) Fortunately, I happened to notice a post on a forum that mentioned that NBC had run season three not just out of order, but *really* out of order. So, instead of watching the episodes in the order they were broadcast, which is the order that Netflix streaming has them in, we’re watching them in the order they were intended to be broadcast:
1. episode #13
2. episode #7
3. episode #3
4. episode #1
5. episode #12
6. episode #2
7. episode #4
8. episode #9
9. episode #5
10. episode #6
11. episode #11
12. episode #8
13. episode #10