BOOJUM!: Dynamite Soup! It's A Dimethyl Group

I Shall Probably Have To Take The High Ground Here
- as most of you out there are likely to mistake a Dimethyl Group for a collation of Cambrian dinosaurs. Art?

There you go

This, may I point out, is a Dimetrodon. It will not spontaneously explode if beaten with a stick, nor if exposed to sunlight, nor if exposed to the fumes of trinitrodioxycobalt. It will, however, bite your leg off if given the chance, it being a rampant carnivorous predator.
As usual, we are concentrating on what we ought not - typical BOOJUM! behaviour - so let us now move on to the entree: Dangerous Chemical Shizzle. You ought to know by now that Conrad has an unhealthy interest in things that go bang, or which are toxic, or - even better! - both. Herewith we begin.

Things going BOOOM

The dimethyl group is a collection of atoms within the field of organic chemistry, which look like this - Art?

Sic

Generally they are not associated with fun and games, and today we look at dimethyl cadmium. You may not be as familiar with cadmium as with lead or mercury, but take it from your humble scribe, it is every bit as deadly. In dimethyl form, much more deadly. For starters, it is immediately toxic, and at ridiculously low dosages: a few parts per million are enough to make you sprint, not shuffle, off this mortal coil. It goes for the brain, nervous system, heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. Apparently not the spleen. I bet the spleen feels left out.

Poor spleen

Dimethyl Cadmium (hereafter DMC) is also carcinogenic, so even if you survive breathing in the odd molecule or two, it will still get you in the end.
Nor is that all. O no. For if you are careless enough to leave DMC lying around, it is likely to spontaneously explode. You know, just out of spite. This explosive process yields toxic fumes of cadmium chloride - you didn't think this stuff was going to emit anything pleasant, did you?

Know your enemy!

If you foolishly think you can turn your back on DMC and ignore it, and it'll just go away or evapourate, then you are sadly wrong, because it will oxidise and form Dimethyl Cadmium Peroxide, which is a shock-sensitive explosive. Therefore you can't even sweep it up. Since DMC explodes on contact with water, you can't flush it away, either. Basically, you're screwed. And it serves you right for being so ruddy careless with the Devil's Monster Cocktail!
On the whole, you should never bother to come into contact with DMC, as it is very, very bad for your health (although exciting to read about!) so if you and it are ever in close proximity, run!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Now that's the Intro over, let us throw the motley into a pool of liquid fluorine and carry on!

Perfidious Albion Is - Perfidious
I am re-reading Shelford and Bidwell's excellent (if rather citric) "Firepower", which focuses principally on the British Army's use of artillery between 1900 and 1945, rather than the usual fascination with tanks. If you're not interested in Hom. Sap. being horrid to fellow Hom. Sap. then you have my permission to skip this bit.
We come to Operation Veritable, where the British Army needed to get through three different Teuton defensive lines, and which they decided to achieve by - you may have guessed this - firepower. Art?

This character, and a lot like him.*

     The intention was to literally blast a route through the defences and defenders, by laying in over 11,000 tons of ordnance to do so. The Nagasaki bomb only totalled 17,000 tons, for a comparison. There were a total of 974 British guns, plus multi-barrel rocket launchers, and tanks, and anti-tank guns, and anti-aircraft guns (including our old friend the 3.7" AA gun) as well, not counting any air support.
     Some of the less fortunate Teuton guns were targeted by over 40 British ones, and out of 150 German guns, 50 were destroyed or so damaged they were abandoned. Casualties on both sides were light, because the Teutons were mostly huddled at the bottom of trenches and bunkers, rather than even bother trying to fight against -
     - Perfidious Albion. Because, really, applying that kind of firepower is simply cheating.

Finally -
Be alert! Be vigilant! Beware of the beast in the bathroom, the killer in the khazi, THE sinister in the cistern, yes we are back on about KILLER EELS!

     KILLER EELS! KILLER EELS!
     ATTACKING WITH PIERCING SQUEALS!**
     KILLER EELS! KILLER EELS!      FLEE IN YOUR FASTEST WHEELS!
     KILLER EELS! KILLER EELS!      CRUSH 'EM WITH HOBNAIL HEELS!      KILLER EELS! KILLER EELS!
      RIPPING THROUGH YER WINDOW SEALS!

     We shall leave you with that chilling thought, and a contribution from Art that will freeze your blood.