vaporous entities and musings (in other words - BS)

[Dave (imported)]

Not the Ghost with four balls? Awww. that would be interesting. and a cutting story...

I have two stories that have a castration theme in them...

The first will be published on January 1, 2018 and the second April 1, 2018.

I have a schedule worked out until next June. That's because I'm still very much a chemical engineer and a nerd and schedules please me.

I used to work with hydrogen (explosive stuff) and coal (more explosive stuff) so half of chemical engineering practices involved being obsessive/compulsive. Organization and routine are my dear friends.

[Eunuchorn (imported)]

then you might enjoy this link, while not about Castration, it is about Chemistry, enjoy. http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/ar ... _this_time

[Dave (imported)]

then you might enjoy this link, while not about Castration, it is about Chemistry, enjoy. http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/ar ... _this_time

One of our brainy PhD Chemists walked from his third floor laboratory, through the elevator, out the building, and approximately 200 feet around the complex to the Chemical Handling Facility and set a 150 ml jar of a mercury compound that had gone bad on the desk. He told the technicians there it was "bad" and left. Then everyone realized what was in the jar -- crystalline explosives, rather bad crystalized explosive.

Within 5 minutes, the entire chemical handling facility was evacuated. It took two days to create and execute a plan to remove that bottle from the desk it sat on. That plan involved the local fire department and a bomb squad.

A few years later, I was on a trip with this PhD and asked him about it. HE said shutting down the Chemical Handling Facility with its four employees was preferable and worth the risk of carrying that stuff. After all, over one hundred worked in his chemistry building and it was four stories with dozens of labs.

How can you argue with logic like that?

[Eunuchorn (imported)]

I suppose you can't from the aspect of how many people could this hurt standpoint, here is another one...

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2008/

10/21/things_i_wont_work_with_triazadienyl_fluoride

[Dave (imported)]

I suppose you can't from the aspect of how many people could this hurt standpoint, here is another one...

http

://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2008/
[/q

uote]
10/21/things_i_wont_work_with_triazadienyl_fluoride

I'd never work with that stuff.

I worked for the Bureau of Mines for one week and then we became the Department of Energy.

However, the BOM people did test explosives in the test mines at our facility. They had wooden shacks set up on stilts (about 18 inches off the ground) where they mixed pliable and formable explosives for the test mine. Every so often one would go "boom" overnight and only destroy the shack.

I saw a mine car thrown 200 feet of the mine portal by a simple dust explosion.

I saw a flame 100 feet long blow out of the same test mine because of flammable gas (methane).

I worked with hydrogen (which as we know is explosive) ...

My operating units were small and behind 3/8ths armor plate steel. my technicians ran them up to 10,000 psig

The big units were behind 18 inch thick steel reinforced concrete walls.

I refused to work with Synthesis Gas (CO and H2) because it was too dangerous. There are still things that scare me.

[Eunuchorn (imported)]

I am not a Chemist, and I would like to learn. I was denied access to the introductory chemistry classes in High School, but that does not stop me from reading about it. These links I have been giving you are amusing on their own right, though the person who gave them to me taught me the word "Hypergolic" and why most chemists avoided anything with Florine in it. though one german group in the war years tried to harness it for use as rocket fuel. they were just safe enough to not be blown up with their experiments. but they documented what they did, and what failed, and how it failed. extensive reading. this is why modern chemists avoid Florine like someone with an axe and a hockey mask.

[Dave (imported)]

For those who have COMCAST and their On-Demand service.

There are four free versions of THE NUTCRACKER ballet for you to watch if you are so inclined.

If you don't watch, it is still nice music to listen to...

So much better than endless repeats, awful reality shows, political commentary, or tasteless comedies.

[Dave (imported)]

I've posted a new story on my website -- http://fragments.ws

It's about dogs and is titled: A Day Passed Without Notice

Two young men visit a cabin on Indigenous Native land in Canada. Strange things happen in those woods. Unusual tribal customs legends come to light from an old journal.

[Dave (imported)]

Atlanta Airport has a major league STUPID...

There were redundant electric power lines supplying the Atlanta Airport with electric power.

However, the main line and the redundant line were laid next to each other in the same tunnel. So when the fire burnt the main line, the redundant line burnt with it.

Am I the only one who sees the abysmal stupidity of placing a redundant line next to a main line?

(and one more stupid -- food vendors in the airport were told they couldn't sell without electronics or give food away. So they let the food on-hand rot, defrost, and spoil, simply to throw it away. Meanwhile, Airline employees unloaded pretzels and peanuts from planes to feed the passengers.)

[Arab Nights (imported)]

Air travel reveals the human race for what it really is. The system is incredibly efficient when everything works, but when there is a glitch and you rely on individual decision making, we can shine or we can absolutely fall on our faces. I am sure we all have our stories. The vendor story does not surprise me, but I really would have expected better from engineering. Did politics figure in to the choice of engineering firms?