Every once in a while a farmer pulling a load of ammonium nitrate behind his tractor will be blown to Kingdom Come by same.
On the way to the hospital of a weekend, I pass a synthetic fertilizer plant; it is set well back from the road, and miles from any houses, I think. Hmmmmmm…I can check…checking…. Well, more than a mile away from the nearest houses, about a mile and half from a school, judging from the Google satellite photos. In West, TX, it looks like maybe 500 feet...
Windy and overcast here too. Uncomfortably muggy and chilly though not actually cold. I haven;t seen any rain, but it sure feels like some will be coming soon.
I believe it was yesterday that I read a blog on Huffington Post about how the media needed to focus on getting the story right more than getting it first. That mostly focussed on mistakes in reporting the Boston Marathon explosions -- we just read about another mistake today -- but it turns out that initial reports of the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion were even more erronious. They said the plant was producing ammonium nitrate. Today we learn it was anhydrous ammonia. And the Wikipedia article Alan linked to gave the death toll as "40+". Today's report is that 12 bodies have been recovered, with no suggestion that others may be missing. Not surprisingly, many (most? all?) of the dead are firefighters who were battling the blaze.
This points up the difficulty Puddle was discussing on Facebook a few days ago of knowing which if any media reports to trust. There's always the problem of bias and slant. But there is also the unavoidable fact that reports vary and people just plain make mistakes. I remember some years ago there was some sort of demonstration or disturbance in Detroit, I think it was. Phil happened to be on the scene and he told me about it. When I repeated to him, as nearly verbatim as possible, what CNN was reporting on the incident, he said they were wrong - not deliberately lying, you understand, simply mistaken. Nowadays with everybody and his twin uncle Louie having a camera and the ability to share photos and video footage with news organizations and the world at large, it may perhaps be easier to get the straight poop; but mistakes and misunderstandings are always going to happen. It's very hard to know what and whom to trust.
It would have to have been some years ago... Last week marked ten years he's been gone. Ten years! I can't quite grok it. I think about him all the time. I automatically think, I'll have to ask Phil about this or remember to tell him about that... I guess some people never get over it and move on.
I am relieved for my family and friends in the Boston area that the lockdown is done. And I am grateful that the younger suspect wasn't killed. (He's in Serious condition.) Maybe we can find out WHY.
Yes, I hope there is some actual reason more substantial than generalized hatred and desire to hurt people.
There are so many unpredictable or at least uncontrollable disasters: storms, gas explosions, car and plane and train crashes. There is no need for humans to deliberately create more..
Bill--surely the fertilizer plant produced ammonia, using the Haber process. The next step in the Haber process is to oxidize part of the ammonia to nitric acid, then that is mixed with ammonia to make ammonium nitrate, which is easier to handle and can also be used as a high explosive. The nitric acid can also be used to manufacture TNT, picric acid and alkaline picrates, as well as smokeless powder. The Haber process was what enabled Germany to continue making munitions during The Great War, after the allies cut it off from shipments of Chile saltpeter and its stockpiles of same were exhausted. The limiting factor in British smokeless powder production was the supply of acetone. Chaim Weizmann invented a method for producing acetone from cornstarch by fermentation, and his reward for that was the Balfour Declaration. The byproduct waste (mostly butanone as I recall) was ultimately utilized as lacquer solvent for painting automobiles, which eliminated the biggest production bottleneck in automobile manufacture. End of today's Chemistry lecture…gotta pack the car and my bag for the weekend at the hospital.
--Alan
PS to listener--what is that tree in the photo at the top of the thread?
It's a little past midnight, but I'll post here anyway.
Yes, Alan, everything you say is true. But it's totally irrelevant to the West Fertilizer Plant. Indeed, as far as I can make out, the West plant didn't manufacture fertilizer at all. It simply stored anhydrous ammonia and distributed it to the farmers who used it. Remember that anhydrous ammonia is itself a commonly used fertilizer.
Just ordered from Amazon The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps, which I've been reading as a library book. I'd been toying with the idear of buying it, but reading Harlin Ellison's introduction to the second section decided me That alone is worth the price of the book.
Can't remember if I've mentioned this book before. It includes stories up to novel length from the Golden Age of detective fiction, a good number of them from Black Mask. At Amazon I spotted a volume entirely devoted to stories from Black Mask. These are good stories. Not all of them equally well written, but, so far at least, all of them have held my interest.
Hip HIp for Dean!
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of tree is that in the photo, listener? It looks similar to a redwood.
John Stewart on Senate gun control follies [Click]
--Alan
Every once in a while a farmer pulling a load of ammonium nitrate behind his tractor will be blown to Kingdom Come by same.
ReplyDeleteOn the way to the hospital of a weekend, I pass a synthetic fertilizer plant; it is set well back from the road, and miles from any houses, I think. Hmmmmmm…I can check…checking…. Well, more than a mile away from the nearest houses, about a mile and half from a school, judging from the Google satellite photos. In West, TX, it looks like maybe 500 feet...
--Alan
Muslims Find a Welcoming Home in Famously Catholic Ireland [Click]
ReplyDeleteKepler 62 [Click]
Carbon Bubble [Click]
And thus to bed, later than I should, but not too bad.
--Alan
Thanks for the Kepler 62 link, Alan. This is obviously what was mentioned briefly in the News Hour's news summary last night. Very exciting!
DeleteWindy, overcast, and cold, with occasional snow flurries. This is almost a month into spring?
ReplyDeleteWindy and overcast here too. Uncomfortably muggy and chilly though not actually cold. I haven;t seen any rain, but it sure feels like some will be coming soon.
DeleteI believe it was yesterday that I read a blog on Huffington Post about how the media needed to focus on getting the story right more than getting it first. That mostly focussed on mistakes in reporting the Boston Marathon explosions -- we just read about another mistake today -- but it turns out that initial reports of the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion were even more erronious. They said the plant was producing ammonium nitrate. Today we learn it was anhydrous ammonia. And the Wikipedia article Alan linked to gave the death toll as "40+". Today's report is that 12 bodies have been recovered, with no suggestion that others may be missing. Not surprisingly, many (most? all?) of the dead are firefighters who were battling the blaze.
ReplyDeleteThis points up the difficulty Puddle was discussing on Facebook a few days ago of knowing which if any media reports to trust. There's always the problem of bias and slant. But there is also the unavoidable fact that reports vary and people just plain make mistakes. I remember some years ago there was some sort of demonstration or disturbance in Detroit, I think it was. Phil happened to be on the scene and he told me about it. When I repeated to him, as nearly verbatim as possible, what CNN was reporting on the incident, he said they were wrong - not deliberately lying, you understand, simply mistaken. Nowadays with everybody and his twin uncle Louie having a camera and the ability to share photos and video footage with news organizations and the world at large, it may perhaps be easier to get the straight poop; but mistakes and misunderstandings are always going to happen. It's very hard to know what and whom to trust.
DeleteIt would have to have been some years ago... Last week marked ten years he's been gone. Ten years! I can't quite grok it. I think about him all the time. I automatically think, I'll have to ask Phil about this or remember to tell him about that... I guess some people never get over it and move on.
Delete{{{ ♥ CAT ♥ )))
Delete"No more hurting people.
ReplyDeletePeace."
I am relieved for my family and friends in the Boston area that the lockdown is done. And I am grateful that the younger suspect wasn't killed. (He's in Serious condition.) Maybe we can find out WHY.
It always troubles me when they're so young.
DeleteYes, I hope there is some actual reason more substantial than generalized hatred and desire to hurt people.
There are so many unpredictable or at least uncontrollable disasters: storms, gas explosions, car and plane and train crashes. There is no need for humans to deliberately create more..
Amen
DeleteBill--surely the fertilizer plant produced ammonia, using the Haber process. The next step in the Haber process is to oxidize part of the ammonia to nitric acid, then that is mixed with ammonia to make ammonium nitrate, which is easier to handle and can also be used as a high explosive. The nitric acid can also be used to manufacture TNT, picric acid and alkaline picrates, as well as smokeless powder. The Haber process was what enabled Germany to continue making munitions during The Great War, after the allies cut it off from shipments of Chile saltpeter and its stockpiles of same were exhausted. The limiting factor in British smokeless powder production was the supply of acetone. Chaim Weizmann invented a method for producing acetone from cornstarch by fermentation, and his reward for that was the Balfour Declaration. The byproduct waste (mostly butanone as I recall) was ultimately utilized as lacquer solvent for painting automobiles, which eliminated the biggest production bottleneck in automobile manufacture. End of today's Chemistry lecture…gotta pack the car and my bag for the weekend at the hospital.
ReplyDelete--Alan
PS to listener--what is that tree in the photo at the top of the thread?
It's a little past midnight, but I'll post here anyway.
DeleteYes, Alan, everything you say is true. But it's totally irrelevant to the West Fertilizer Plant. Indeed, as far as I can make out, the West plant didn't manufacture fertilizer at all. It simply stored anhydrous ammonia and distributed it to the farmers who used it. Remember that anhydrous ammonia is itself a commonly used fertilizer.
Just ordered from Amazon The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps, which I've been reading as a library book. I'd been toying with the idear of buying it, but reading Harlin Ellison's introduction to the second section decided me That alone is worth the price of the book.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Black-Lizard-Big-Book-Pulps/dp/0307280489/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366432186&sr=1-1&keywords=the+black+lizard+big+book+of+pulps
Can't remember if I've mentioned this book before. It includes stories up to novel length from the Golden Age of detective fiction, a good number of them from Black Mask. At Amazon I spotted a volume entirely devoted to stories from Black Mask. These are good stories. Not all of them equally well written, but, so far at least, all of them have held my interest.