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I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil

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

#101

Post by takinola »

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…

I once took an H2S safety training class. The first rule of working in an area with known H2S is if you see one of your colleagues suddenly drop to the floor for no apparent reason get the hell out of the area and whatever you do, don't stop to render aid to the fallen. After you have reached a safe well ventilated place, you should put on your safety gear and then head back to rescue the incapacitated.

There are too many stories like this where a whole bunch of people die trying to rescue the first victim so it makes total sense but it is kind of weird working in an environment where you know your colleagues will not help you (at least at first) if something goes wrong.

Btw: H2S doesn't really dull your sense of smell because of prolonged exposure. It only becomes odorless at deadly concentrations. So it turns out you don't know if you cannot smell it because it isn't present or it is just about to kill you.

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

#102

Post by BuildTheRobots »

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…

The friends I play Urb-X with are hyper aware that it's the heavier-than-air gasses that pool and that kill you. I find it amazing and depressing they didn't have any sort of safety gear or air monitoring. In the UK, I'm sure this would have breached both working at height and enclosed spaces working regulations.

Even if we're exploring something as pathetic as an old ROC bunker only _one_ of us (usually me) goes down first and is attached to the end of a rope. If I stop talking then the person topside can do what they like to try and get me out, but under no circumstances do they come down behind me. We've also usually got a third person sat in the van (so just off site) communicating with us via radio and with GPS coordinates and road directions written down ready to give to the emergency services should it all go entirely to hell...

Sorry for the ramble; It's a horrible tragedy, but as what I've stated above is the level I expect for an unplanned slightly drunken Sunday-afternoon explore, I _really_ expect people in a commercial setting to know better. Probably more to the point, whoever ordered them to go in there deserves to be strung over the coals....

tldr: it's _really_ easy to go from 1 person slightly injured to multiple people dead :(

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

#103

Post by everlost »

SixSigma wrote: post #82
andyjohnson0 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and why that is the one type of future outlawed by congress" I was intrigued enough to follow this up, although I didn't listen to the podcast. From wikipedia: During the hearings, the Commodity Exchange Authority stated that it was the perishable nature of onion which made them vulnerable to price swings. Then-congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan sponsored a bill, known as the Onion Futures Act, which banned futures…

> since they were used as a condiment rather than a staple food such an unstaple food that The Times of India has a page dedicated to track the price of onions http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Onion-prices

This was probably in response to the onion crisis a few years back when onions were more expensive than gasoline

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Petrol-cheaper-t...

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

#104

Post by nickpsecurity »

LoSboccacc wrote: post #58
nickpsecurity wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, that's crazy. Terrifying stuff.

and then there's FOOF https://web.archive.org/web/20150825171826/http://pipeline.c... (Webarchive since original seems down)

Holy shit! Even the concept of how it's produced is nuts. The extra links are even better, including the better-than-oxygen oxidizer that burns sand. The whole collection of anything involving flourine is like "let's see just how many people we can kill and things we can destroy without actually doing it." Whole blog is great along with high quality comments.

Thanks for the link and thanks to others for updated links! I'm in process of spamming all kinds of people with them haha. Hmm: need to get a hold of some FOOF that will go poof next 4th of July. :)

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

#105

Post by SCdF »

SixSigma wrote: post #82
andyjohnson0 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and why that is the one type of future outlawed by congress" I was intrigued enough to follow this up, although I didn't listen to the podcast. From wikipedia: During the hearings, the Commodity Exchange Authority stated that it was the perishable nature of onion which made them vulnerable to price swings. Then-congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan sponsored a bill, known as the Onion Futures Act, which banned futures…

> since they were used as a condiment rather than a staple food such an unstaple food that The Times of India has a page dedicated to track the price of onions http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Onion-prices

Yeah calling onion a condiment is pretty crazy, Onion is the basis of a huge amount of cuisine.

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

#106

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

esaym wrote: post #91
oxymoron wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once took a university course called "Chemical Equilibrium" which required some lab time. The labs were about examining solutions with unknown ions and figuring out what they were. A common tool in doing so is by bubbling hydrogen sulfide gas through the solution, which will cause the precipation of certain cations. Needless to say, we were warned about the dangers of H2S, and told that if it ever escaped the fume…

>"For those who do not know, H2S is also a key part of the vile smell in flatulence, so strictly speaking it's a rather common substance in nature albeit in "safe" concentrations." Funny story and probably TMI. I used to work in aviation maintenance on large military aircraft. We regularly had to enter into "confined spaces" (fuel tanks, wings, ect) and were required to take a hand-held "air sniffer" with us that wou…

So if 999 other men were in there farting with you, you might have all died?

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

#107

Post by [deleted] »

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #102
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…

The friends I play Urb-X with are hyper aware that it's the heavier-than-air gasses that pool and that kill you. I find it amazing and depressing they didn't have any sort of safety gear or air monitoring. In the UK, I'm sure this would have breached both working at height and enclosed spaces working regulations. Even if we're exploring something as pathetic as an old ROC bunker only _one_ of us (usually me) goes dow…

[deleted]

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

#108

Post by aroch »

esaym wrote: post #91
oxymoron wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once took a university course called "Chemical Equilibrium" which required some lab time. The labs were about examining solutions with unknown ions and figuring out what they were. A common tool in doing so is by bubbling hydrogen sulfide gas through the solution, which will cause the precipation of certain cations. Needless to say, we were warned about the dangers of H2S, and told that if it ever escaped the fume…

>"For those who do not know, H2S is also a key part of the vile smell in flatulence, so strictly speaking it's a rather common substance in nature albeit in "safe" concentrations." Funny story and probably TMI. I used to work in aviation maintenance on large military aircraft. We regularly had to enter into "confined spaces" (fuel tanks, wings, ect) and were required to take a hand-held "air sniffer" with us that wou…

CO is produced by bacteria in your gut, just like H2S.

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

#109

Post by leoc »

sheraz wrote: post #24
cubano wrote: post #17

It was awesome he was eventually paid for it on the blockchain. Interesting that traders are using it for personal transactions these days.

Doubtful. More likely just part of the running joke the oil's source could not be verified -- they did not want to be tied a potential purchase of ISIS-controlled oil.

Kaminska's splenetically anti-Bitcoin http://ftalphaville.ft.com/tag/bitcoinmania/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/tag/bitcoin/ , so probably yes.

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

#110

Post by Luc »

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #102
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…

The friends I play Urb-X with are hyper aware that it's the heavier-than-air gasses that pool and that kill you. I find it amazing and depressing they didn't have any sort of safety gear or air monitoring. In the UK, I'm sure this would have breached both working at height and enclosed spaces working regulations. Even if we're exploring something as pathetic as an old ROC bunker only _one_ of us (usually me) goes dow…

I've thought about getting a used H2S detector on eBay, but ideally you'd want to test and calibrate them, and there's the rub.
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