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I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil

bloomberg.com

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Re: I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil

#41

Post by whatok »

iheartmemcache wrote: post #32
benten10 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To reply with the response such posts usually get: You must be really fun at parties! This post was entertaining to most of us because we are not in the industry, knew little about the presence of hydrogen sulfide, and did not realize that the industry was so reluctant to sell to random interested buyers. Yes they could have written "This reporter tried to buy a barrel of oil, but sellers were reluctant, and it was c…

Bloomberg is a really targeted news institution on which people rely for not comedy but financial information. It's reflected in the fees you pay to get access to their terminals, it's reflected in their promos, and even the corporations who select to advertise with them know they're trying to hit a target reader. Usually, that reader is not someone looking for a comic laugh. Imagine pulling up a Linux news site and…

Just a FYI but Bloomberg has significantly changed their editorial direction recently. Think some senior editor left or something. I really don't mind because it does not seem that their standard news coverage has suffered as a result and I can easily avoid things but yeah.

Re: I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil

#43

Post by nickpsecurity »

comex wrote: post #4

Another notable excerpt from the linked state safety agency document ( http://www.michigan.gov/documents/cis_wsh_cet5041_90142_7.do... ): -- Two employees of a fertilizer company in Riga, Michigan, were assigned to install a new float valve in an old 35-foot deep cistern for a new 300-foot well. This cistern was covered with a concrete slab with entry through a covered manhole. The first worker entered the cistern an…

Wow, that's crazy. Terrifying stuff.

Re: I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil

#44

Post by pjc50 »

bigethan wrote: post #6

Relatedly(?) When I had a diesel car, I bought and stored a small barrel of biodiesel in the basement of our apartment (saving like $0.05 a gallon!). I was told that diesel doesn't burn except under extreme pressure, and that you could throw a match into an open cup of diesel and it would just go out. Never actually tested that out.

Crude still has all the fractions in it, including those prone to evaporating and producing a flammable fuel/air mixture. The toxic H2S discussed is also flammable, just to add to your problems.

Re: I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil

#45

Post by palmer_eldritch »

ptaipale wrote: post #16
palmer_eldritch wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fire chief entered the cistern wearing a self-contained breathing apparatus. After reaching the plank platform, he removed his face mask to shout instructions to those on the surface and he, too, was instantly overcome. Now that one is probably deserving a Darwin Award...

Well, maybe not. It's a mistake, a lapse of judgement, but not that extraordinarily stupid mistake.

It wouldn't be that bad if he wasn't the fire chief and there was already four bodies.

These two facts make things a little worse imo.

Re: I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil

#46

Post by pjc50 »

jacquesm wrote: post #19
teddyg1 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those minimum orders are astronomical it's almost funny. Does anybody actually purchase manufacturing-level quantities of goods on alibaba? Genuinely asking.

Yes. Alibaba is indirectly responsible for many containerloads of goods traveling from the east to the west.

How do people handle QC issues with Alibaba orders? I dipped my toe in when ordering a crate of allegedly "CE marked" chargers that turned out to be obviously unsafe, and haven't been back.

Re: I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil

#47

Post by tehmaco »

avar wrote: post #38
petewailes wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is understanding just how fast it affects you, and how little you need in your system. I imagine his line of thinking was "Well, if I just shout and don't breathe in, it'll be fine". Simple mistake to make.

Isn't the problem that he did breathe after shouting to those men, and then died? What if you remove your mask, shout, and don't breathe back in?

The gas will be inside the mask when you put it back on.

Re: I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil

#48

Post by morgante »

strictnein wrote: post #10

On a related note, the (slightly stylized) retelling of a time a commodities trader accidentally bought actual coal: http://thedailywtf.com/articles/Special-Delivery

I was hoping for a lot better. The story's entirely made up and the XML parsing bit is especially painful.

There's absolutely no reason that "false" will necessarily be represented as "0" for a particular API.

Not to mention that it actually wouldn't be that hard to unload the coal. Yes, it would be annoying and cumbersome, but certainly not on the order of losing 80%.

Re: I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil

#49

Post by kyleblarson »

I worked at a small quant fund and we once had a bug that caused our roll forward trade to fail on a rather large position of front month WTI contracts. We technically were going to have to take delivery since we were long the contracts at expiry, but our brokerage was nice enough to fix the situation for us.
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