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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

#141

Post by esaym »

VLM wrote: post #132
aroch wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The short version is more likely CO2, not CO, and the detector was probably fooled by methane. In more detail: I was motivated to google, and much like radioactivity or electric current its possible to measure "scary" things to low levels that don't usually matter, and according to a 1982 gastroenterology paper that I found, aerobic fecal fermentation will produce an irrelevent yet measurable extremely low CO output…

>"so its unlike bowel gas analysis was a high priority in the specs"

Classic :)

After digging through ebay and google images for awhile, I finally found one of the two different units that we used: http://www.equipcoservices.com/sales/rae/multirae_plus.html

That one actually has, at least what sounds like, a built in aquarium pump that actually draws air into the unit.

The other style we used seemed to be completely digital. It made no noise and the main unit was big and bulky. The sensor plugged into it with long wires and the sensor it self was just a big heavy plastic cube. On one side it had a screen and behind the screen was just what looked like metal. As if it could sense gases through metal or something, dunno.

And I don't know which model I was using at the time of my "experiment"

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

#142

Post by CamperBob2 »

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 thing about H2S is, it's every bit as dangerous as HCN, but it has a better PR agent. If you wouldn't take off your SCBA mask in a room full of HCN, "even for just a sec," then you shouldn't do it in a room suspected of being full of H2S either.

The fire chief would have known that H2S is hazardous, but his training unfortunately (and obviously) didn't communicate just how hazardous it is.

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

#143

Post by cmarschner »

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…

Isn't that why you would want a canary?

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

#144

Post by rasz_pl »

Luc wrote: post #110
BuildTheRobots wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>used H2S detector

gas detectors usually use active element and expire

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

#145

Post by rasz_pl »

cmarschner wrote: post #143
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…

Isn't that why you would want a canary?

apparently US safety "regulations" make it cheaper to use workers

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

#146

Post by nickpsecurity »

digi_owl wrote: post #126
nickpsecurity wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yeah, the chlorine trifluoride is most often the gateway to those articles. Ended up reading a PDF version of the book, Ignition!, mentioned in that article. I do wonder if dry wit comes with the profession, btw.

Don't know but I like his style.

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

#147

Post by noir_lord »

VLM wrote: post #135
cfontes wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an awesome book "Reminiscence of a stock operator" by Edwin Lefevre, the story is about one guy and he does that with coffee in the US, not one, but 2 times. The government actually had to come in and take it from him... The book is a mixture of fiction and real life and it's just great! One of my favorites

It is an awesome book and its an extremely thinly disguised biography of Jesse Livermore. Its interesting to read up on why its thinly disguised. Its widely believed the author both got, and planted, stock tips for Livermore, but the author wanted no written legal document connecting them in case things went wrong and he ended up in court discussing his documented long financial relationship w/ Mr Livermore. Legally…

> It would be amusing some slow day to have a HN article along the lines of "books recognized as cool, that have nothing to do with computers". I think we've had them in the distant past, years ago.

That would be very cool, I love reading how the world works outside computers but there is so much of everything and it's hard to filter in fields I know nothing about, have you considered suggesting it to dang, it would fit in well still I think.

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

#149

Post by Swannie »

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…

Absolutely. This is also well known in the amateur caving community too, who follow similar practices to those outlined by yourself. I too find this crazy.

As they say in the diving industry about water and confined spaces: a deceptively easy way to die.

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

#150

Post by uraza »

esfandia wrote: post #148

Noob question: say I have $1000 that I want to invest in oil (not in an oil company, but in the commodity itself). How do I go about it? Judging by the article, buying actual oil isn't the way to go.

If you had more money, you could trade futures, which are mentioned in the article. If you sell the future before the date of delivery, then you never have to deal with the physical aspect of the commodity. There are lots of online brokerages you can use for this, for example, E*Trade and TradeStation. But they have higher minimums than $1000.

With $1000, you could trade ETFs, for example USO [0]. The account minimums for ETFs are lower. If you look at what's inside USO [1], it's basically a wrapper for a future (NYMEX WTI Crude Oil CL).

[0]: https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSEARCA:USO

[1]: http://www.unitedstatescommodityfunds.com/holdings.php?fund=...

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