You said it yourself:

While I preferred avoiding dynamically allocating memory, as it was much less risky, there were certainly times it just made sense or was the only way.

This is not a common attitude to have outside of embedded and similar areas. Most programmers dynamically allocate memory without a second thought and not as a last resort. Python is one of the most popular programming languages, but how often do you see Python code that is capable of running without allocating memory at runtime?

It's a made-up story. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of uranium enrichment and places that do uranium enrichment aren't even going to talk to you unless you have a host of government licenses. Depleted uranium only has a few applications like:

• Armor penetrating munitions
• Counterweights for aeronautics
• Ironically, as radiation shielding

This makes it very hard for collectors to obtain (it can take people years) and actual samples of DU are going to be more expense than regular uranium. The story makes as much sense as your grandmother buying cubic zirconia jewelry and being "scammed" with actual diamonds.