Good morning

I won't be saying much about the weather: it's breezy, but not to the extent of the last few days, and not too cold. It will remain very changeable. Ferry is running today, so all back to normal.

Added a novelty to my blog: a GeoVisitor thingy. It sits directly below my Sitemeter. This item logs the location of all my visitors (I am positioned in Berkshire, west of London LOL). One visitor I managed to track down to a street west of Newton, Kansas. No, I won't come and cold-call on you.

Here in the UK, there is a Russian dissident in hospital with suspected thallium poisoning. Thallium is a rare metal and very toxic. Quantities as little as 1 gram can kill. I was not surprised to see a picture of the chap in hospital - with no hair. That is the least of the effects of thallium poisoning. It is actually used in homicides, dubbed inheritance dust. The man in question had been critical of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, who used to be high up in the USSR's secret service, the KGB. Russia denies any involvement in his predicament, but it is suspected that the man was poisoned during a dinner invite.

Along similar lines, twenty-eight years ago, Bulgarian dissident Giorgi Markow was shot in London with a pellet containing ricin - fired from a converted umbrella. Last year, the trail to Markov's assassin was finally opened. Read the full story here.

Anyway, I trust our American friends are all busy preparing for Thanksgiving. Good luck, and don't over-indulge.