For the Journeyman question, you are totally right, ita.

I have no idea on the ballistics one, though it also sounds like a great way to slowly poison someone--they get the bullet out, but the mercury still gets to them?

Ye gods and little fishes. I just sat bolt upright and remembered that midnight is the cutoff for open enrollment for health insurance at my gig.

Nothing much is changing--I just need to beef up my pre-tax reimbursement account. Still, it's a good thing that my GOING TO SLEEP RITUAL INVOLVES BREAKING DOWN FUTURE AND PAST MEDICAL PLANS.

I'm going to be alone forever, I just know it.

I've asked one gun/physics krav geek that ballistics question. We shall see. As to the idea that the bullet can come out--I'm curious to know what condition it's in. From the scene of the juice exploding I couldn't begin to imagine. Might really mess up the ballistics testing, which could be a very good thing. If you're a bad person.

I don't even have a class and I am up early assessing papers. (No grades, just comments in the form of a letter). UGH. Why did I agree to this.

ita, I'm gonna say no to the VCR and unworking PC. But we'd love the TV. When would it be good to come by and get it?

ALSO, fuck! I missed the open enrollment period for the FSA. I am such a moron.

ita, I don't know about the bullets, but I do know there are sledgehammers that have an internal mercury compartment, for extra ooomph. IIRC, they're called deadblow hammers.

ita, I know that there are 'safe' rounds out there for use by bodyguards and the like, which are designed to not ricochet and not exit targets, but I don't think they use mercury. Mercury is considered a hazardous material and thus probably violates a half dozen domestic laws and international treaties when you use it in a rifle/pistol round. Not that clandestine military units are particularly well known for following the letter of the law, but in that case why make a specialized round when you can buy on the open market rounds that do the same thing cheaply and in large enough quantities that they can't be traced?

Can you make a bullet out of frozen mercury? Then once inside the victim it melts, destroying the evidence? (Except for all the mercury inside the victim.)

You know what'd be cool? A bullet made from sodium. Sodium is a metal that burns upon contact with water (or, you know, blood).

Can you make a bullet out of frozen mercury? Then once inside the victim it melts, destroying the evidence?

CSI had an episode where someone was shot with a bullet made of frozen ground meat.

Hee!

OK, what would be the most bizarre thing to make a bullet out of? How about a shotgun shell that's loaded with game pieces from Monopoly rather than shot? So on CSI they could show them removing a tiny metal wheelbarrow and a tiny metal dog from the victim....

Ooh. Or a guy who's allergic to peanuts could be shot with a bullet of frozen peanut butter.

Or a frat party gone horribly wrong where someone is shot with a jello shot....