There was a wonderful article on our serious Radio 4 this morning saying that it can't be said that the US is less than thorough in its search for weapons of mass destruction.
The boss of a Victorian distillery, producing fine Scotch Whisky in the Western Isles of Scotland, recounted how they had installed web cams so that people could see what an old-fashioned distillery looked like rather than the modern laboratory-like ones. They received an email saying that one of the web cams had broken down. They fixed it and emailed back to say "thanks for letting us know". Then they noticed that the email had come from the DTRA (Defence Threat Reduction Agency) in the US, so the distillery bosses emailed them again and asked what their interest in them was. They heard nothing for about two months, and then they've just received received an email saying that the DTRA had been monitoring the distillery because distilling and brewing processes were very much like the processes used in the production of weapons of mass destruction, and that a distillery could easily be converted for such a purpose. The DTRA was absolutely serious in what is was doing, the distillery bosses thought it hilarious. The brewery boss said that this wasn't a publicity stunt - it had actually happened. He added that he wouldn't say that Scotch whisky was a weapon of mass destruction, but it could probably be classed as a weapon of mass distraction. The presenter wondered if the DTRA really thought that someone engaged in the production of such weapons would really install webcams and transmit the pictures around the world. Radio 4 tried to speak to a spokesman from the DTRA, but up to the time the programme was broadcast, they hadn't had a response. Until tomorrow morning at least, the conversation between the distillery boss and the Radio 4 presenter is on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ and clicking on the underlined word 'whiskey' next to 0817 (the time of the broadcast). Jean in Poole To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
