Writing an column for Crank Magazine some years ago, I announced my intention to describe how to make a bomb. Crank Magazine took out a newspaper ad in the local daily to publicize the upcoming issue , mentioning the forthcoming bomb recipe. As a result we received letters and legal threats warning us not to reveal bomb-making secrets to the public at large.

The point of my article was not just to dispel the impression that bomb making was easy, but to argue the importance of the public’s access to that information. Several publishers had been hounded for their efforts to keep THE ANARCHIST’S COOKBOOK in print. The instructions are relatively simple to understand, but to execute them is another matter.

My point was illustrated by last week’s fantasy bomb plot. British and American authorities scared us with descriptions of dark skinned operatives sneaking aboard transatlantic flights armed with bottles of liquid bomb ingredients. If enough of us were conversant in basic chemistry, we could debunk such sky-is-falling wolf-crying. The Register has sorted out what it would take to successfully make an explosive from liquids smuggled aboard by airline passengers.

Several American columnists have now alluded to the Register article, but without the customary hyperlink. Perhaps they are still fearing to call attention to explicit chemistry instruction. I think that’s still playing gatekeeper with knowledge. Let the poorly-educated American public, too hung-over in highschool to have gotten anything out of early morning chemistry lab, understand what is required to make a bomb in an airplane lavatory: a miracle.