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Mercury Spill

jefftk.com

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Re: Mercury Spill

#311

Post by gambiting »

wfunction wrote: post #229
Cakez0r wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For car insurance it makes sense, as the risk is specific to the driver, so the number of claims tells you something about the insured's driving. Not necessarily. One of my friends had his parked car hit by a drunk driver while he was not in it. His insurance premiums still went up after claiming for the damage.

> One of my friends had his parked car hit by a drunk driver while he was not in it. His insurance premiums still went up after claiming for the damage. What the heck? Can you elaborate on this? How is this even legal?

Very simple. If he knew who caused the damage, then that person and their insurance would have paid for it. His premiums wouldn't go up by a bit. But if you got hit by a drunk driver, and they disappeared, then you are using your own insurance to fix your car - so of course your premiums will go up. That's exactly why, if someone damages your car while you are driving it(breaks off the mirror, scratches the side, breaks the fender), at least try to write down the registration number of the other car if you can. Otherwise the damages will be coming out of your insurance, not theirs :P

Re: Mercury Spill

#312

Post by cbr »

tadfisher wrote: post #186
cbr wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've now linked that from the article; thanks! (I read that page when I was first reading about this the night of the spill, but had forgotten about it. Holohan is amazingly knowledgeable about old heating systems.)

Did your home inspector note the upfeed system in the pre-purchase report? Did you sign a waiver limiting the inspector's liability?

Just reread the inspection report; they didn't notice it.

Re: Mercury Spill

#313

Post by cbr »

nambit wrote: post #276
cbr wrote: post #58

Author here: happy to answer questions.

That's a really awesome website. I hope you don't mind me looking around. The fact that you guys donate nearly 50% of your income (at that income level) is amazing to me and really awe inspiring.

Thanks! Definitely look around; that's what it's there for.

If you're interested in the donations stuff, I'd suggest checking out www.givewell.org -- their research is really top-notch.

Re: Mercury Spill

#314

Post by cbr »

unicornporn wrote: post #249

Does anyone get near aroused by this kind of web design? I love it and wish every site could be "dumbed down" to this kind of easy navigation and reading experience. I know there are "reader views" in many modern browser, but I'd also like the site structure and navigation to be easier to overview. Sort of a WAP view for the twenty-tens.

Thanks! I'm glad you like the design.

It's a slow evolution of doing the minimum necessary to keep raw html readable as things change. It started out as completely unstyled, then gained a max-width as screens got wider, and eventually a little bit of media-querying to make things look better on phones, but it's still really basic.

Re: Mercury Spill

#315

Post by cbr »

jcadam wrote: post #105
FussyZeus wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly what I was thinking, I'd consider myself pretty financially solid but $50k would ruin me. I'm assuming the OP was doing renovations of some kind already and had the cash on hand, or at least the majority of it.

My response to a surprise $50k repair to my home would be to call the bank and say "House is yours, man. Keys are in the mail."

* $50k is less than the down payment.

* We didn't know how much it would cost as it went; it was pay-as-you-go.

* That would make it hard to buy a house in the future.

* I don't like the idea of walking away and making it their problem.

Re: Mercury Spill

#316

Post by cbr »

jamesrom wrote: post #89
DanBlake wrote: post #22

wow. I remember as a kid ~20 years ago playing with mercury (my grandfather was a dentist and had a 1lb bottle of the stuff for some reason) I think if I found mercury in my house I would literally just scoop it up and bring it to the fire department without thinking about any health hazards of it. Is mercury truely that bad that short exposure is that dangerous? I mean, I wouldnt eat the stuff (or breath it in for e…

Chem suit and breathing gear $100-$200. Mercury vac: $1500-$2500 Take your time with the work, and definitely have your home inspected after. But if you don't have $50,000 for this kind of clean up, you can definitely do it yourself.

Add in the meter, at maybe $600. [1]

Two months is a lot of time to take off work, though you have to be making a lot of money before it isn't cheaper to do it yourself if it takes you the same amount of time.

On the other hand, I suspect professionals are faster and better. The main person on this job after day three was someone who typically worked on mercury cleanups full-time around the state.

[1] http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jerome-431-X-Mercury-Vapor-Analyzer/...

Re: Mercury Spill

#317

Post by gravity13 »

kragen wrote: post #298
cjbprime wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I didn't realize that mercury spills are such a huge issue until recently. As the post mentions, the world at large didn't realize that vapors from mercury spills are toxic until recently.

No, mercury vapors have been documented as toxic for centuries. It was noticed that sailors on ships that transported large amounts of open mercury would get sick from the vapors.

It's also the fact that elemental mercury's toxic side effects are really hard to quantify and see because it fucks up the central nervous system, and is of more psychological detriment. Note that this is elemental mercury, not methylmercury, which only happens from predatory bio-accumulation in fish.

Over the years OSHA has consistently been lowering their safe mercury exposure levels (blood tests), and it's fast approaching "No mercury exposure at all is best."

I used to work in a lab with a ton of mercury in it, and some lab workers who were quite liberal with their handling of mercury, and liberal over 20 years. I don't know if they were crazy from the start, but I didn't want to find out.

Re: Mercury Spill

#318

Post by alextgordon »

beeboop wrote: post #303
hliyan wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This happened to me when I was about 9, when I didn't know what mercury was. There was a few droplets on the floor and I ended up poking it with my index finger for a few minutes. To this day I don't know what the medical effects were.

Unless you licked your finger afterwards, nothing.

Even if you lick your finger, if it is elemental mercury then probably nothing either. But don't try it!

Re: Mercury Spill

#319

Post by gwern »

kragen wrote: post #304
gwern wrote: post #111

What's really crazy is that apparently some people have the idea that mercury is an 'investment' and will voluntarily keep jugs of it in their home: http://www.ert.org/products/mercury_response_guide/Attachmen...

That document says, "People often keep jars of mercury in their homes because they think that mercury is worth money, like liquid silver. In reality, mercury is nearly worthless, but the cleanup cost after a large spill easily can exceed the cost of a home." http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/mercury/mcs... gives the price of mercury as US$1850 per 76-pound flask, up from US$1076 in 2010. That's US$54/k…

I'm not sure it's exaggeration. Who do you sell your jug of mercury to at $1850/flask...? Would any scientific or industrial consumer want to buy random flasks of unknown quality from laymen at fair prices? Just quoting bulk commodity prices for mercury is like noting that a particular diamond costs you $2k at the department store and assuming that you must then have an asset worth $2k.

Re: Mercury Spill

#320

Post by jstanley »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #258
deciplex wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insurance has got to be the best business to be in. In what other industry is the business model "take people's money and don't do shit"? Plus, in a lot of domains people are required , by law, to get insurance. It's great.

The requirement by law is fair. If you drive your car into someone else's, you or your insurance company should pay for the damage - the case where the victim gets nothing is thereby avoided. In theory anyway.

In New Zealand there is no mandatory car insurance, and that's how I think it should be.

(I do not live in New Zealand).

Take your own risks in life. Don't drive a car you can't afford to replace.

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