Z the IVth posted:

I read about a company offering wet "cremations". They bung the body into a human-sized pressure cooker with lye and keep going for a few days until everything's dissolved.

bobmarleysghost posted:

An excavator hit a highway sign last night here in Toronto.
The sign fell onto the road and onto a car, killing the occupant.

https://twitter.com/OPP_HSD/status/1386990418047508484?s=20

Kith posted:

https://i.imgur.com/DnyE2Gf.mp4

Elviscat posted:

Apparently those drawbridge crossings are unique to Queensland, Australia sugar cane tramways, according to a very brief blurb in the "level crossing" Wiki article.

Here's a website talking all about it.

It's to allow the slow moving narrow gauge cane trams to cross the high speed government rail sections without breaking the rail for the bigger, heavier trains, which incurs a large maintenance burden on wheels and trucks and whatnot.

Pile Of Garbage posted:

On one hand it's good that the CSB is classed as an independent agency under the executive branch as it prevents meddling in the things that they do. On the other hand the fact that they have zero power to influence regulation or drive legislation beyond issuing recommendations is a loving travesty.

haveblue posted:

You could get about the same burger count by buying 206 variety packs, it even saves you some money ($5800) but they don't throw in the pallet

CRUSTY MINGE posted:

I haven't seen a full service station since I was a kid. Yeah, there's handicap assistance, but full service isn't really a thing anymore. I have not lived in Oregon or New Jersey, so I don't know what it's like where attendants are required.

Even then, the places I remember from when I was a kid that did have a mechanic do the full service, were usually 2-4 pump stations, 1-2 work bays, on the edge of towns with less than a thousand people where a new stop sign is an event. Usually owned by the mechanic, too.


Also go watch The Jerk if you want proof in parody. HE HATES THESE CANS!

Olewithmilk posted:

I like all the OSHA stories here and was watching The Fugitive that reminded me of the hypothetical train driver crash death story. Could so wine post it?

B4Ctom1 posted:

Pretty much this. It is hard to explain not just the physics, but the amounts of forces involved.

We use throttle to create stretching or "draft" forces and dynamic braking (think of downhill engine braking in a car) to create bunching or "buff" forces.

To start with, when you are running the train, you are feathering the throttle or dynamic braking to keep "in train forces" at acceptable levels. This is based upon the terrain each part of the train is passing over.

Even small changes in grade, if there are enough of them under the length of the train, are enough to break knuckles, rip out draw bars, or derail cars simply by doing "nothing at all" at the wrong time.

In these situations heavier applications of power or dynamic brake are required to keep these "in train forces" down.

Think of a large sliced loaf of bread. I take the wrapper off of it and ask you to carry it across the room. One hand on each end should suffice. A small amount of pressure to keep the bread from being crushed and across the room you go.

The knuckle and drawbar connections between the cars seem very strong to the layman, but when compared to the amount of weight of loaded freight cars, and all of the cars behind them piled upon it, it may as well be dental floss.

You can break dental floss easily, but the difference is that it is hard to "crush" dental floss.

The poster I have quoted above is addressing something we call "train make up". THe "in train forces" can be additionally effected by the way cars or groups of cars are placed in the train. Long cars next to short cars, loads next to empties.

Generally freight trains that are not hauling a bulk of the same commodity are mixed freight. A bulk commodity train would be an entire train of wheat or coal. These trains are very heavy, and have their own set of problems, but in general do not have any issue of train make up because all of the cars are generally the same weight and type. Mixed freight trains are the most common types of trains on the main rail thoroughfares.

A mixed freight train I haul might have 25 heavy loaded lumber cars, 15 empty or loaded auto racks, 20 empty or loaded tank cars of various lengths, 30 empty or loaded covered hopper cars of various lengths, and 30 loaded or empty boxcars of two different lengths.

So for this example train of 120 cars. Lets say it weighs 7900 tons and is 9000 feet (2.75KM) long.

I am traveling along at 50 MPH.

The "head end" of the train has passed the bottom of the grade and the train is still descending the grade. As about half of the train leaves the grade I am looking ahead at the next grade to climb directly ahead. I have been using dynamic brake and need to "transition" from braking to power. I move the lever into the idle position and begin waiting my 10 seconds. In my my mind, from experience, I know that I need to rapidly, but gently begin notching through my power notches without allowing my train to accelerate past 50 MPH which I am restricted to.

The very head of the train is traveling around a slight curvature in the track. I also need to see that the next signal is green "clear" so that I do not have to formulate an entire other plan as a reduction of speed might be required instead. I see that the signal is flashing yellow "advanced approach". This will mean a reduction of speed to 40 MPH and a possible stop short of the second signal ahead.

As I am thinking of what I am to do next and waiting for the 10 seconds to pass, the next crossing becomes visible and I see that there is a truck hauling a low slung trailer with a heavy piece of equipment on it. He is blocking the crossing because his low slung trailer is stuck on the raised rail and crossing lumber that you drive across.

Without hesitation or further consideration, I slam the brake handle into the emergency position, dumping all the trainline air. I reach up and toggle the switch that ensures that the "End Of Train" device dumps from the rear as well. I bail off the locomotive air brakes because they are so powerful in a situation like this, that they can cause such a massive buff forces which will certainly derail a train. Additionally they can crumple or destroy the track beneath them.

While in earlier transition from dynamic braking to power "slack" had developed in the train. Slack is neither draft or buff, but more of a null position like rail cars standing in a yard not connected to a train. A developed space between cars where they are sort of relaxed.

As the air dumped from the train-line, the brake valves on each car sense this emergency and dump the full value of air contained within their emergency reservoir into the large cylinder that applies the brakes giving each car higher than usual stopping power.

Somewhere near the head end of the train a group of empty tank cars having such massive braking power begin to stop the train, but right behind them a group of heavy loaded hoppers presses against them, their own braking being less substantial. A tank car of Anhydrous Ammonia right between the groups which has been taking the brunt of these two opposing forces has a wheel that lifts off the rail as it is being pressed around a curve. This car, the car ahead of it, and nine of the loaded hopper cars behind it all leave the rail and head into a tiny quiet suburb in the middle of the night.

Half way back in the train where the most of the box cars are, they settle down for their stop. Still bunched because they were still descending the hill. The heavy loads of lumber fighting them as they come to a stop. Even though on straight track the, one end of an empty boxcar in the group begins to lift into the air. The opposing force of the heavy lumber cars and the stopping train ahead of it is too much. As it sets back down the wheels miss the track and begin to erase the track, all of the cars behind it having no track to ride on begin to take paths of their own in each direction.

Near the back of the train the auto-rack settle down hard. Harder than the group of heavy lumber cars ahead of them. This causes one of the long 500+ pound (230kg) draw-bars in the third auto-rack to be sheared from place. For a moment it tumbles through space, whistling though the wind in contact with only the air. Then it strikes a tie and the car passing above it in vaulted, only inches off of the rail, and a carload of new rangerovers tumbles end over end into a reservoir of drinking water.

The drawbar is angry, propelled by its last impact it drops onto the rail for a moment derailing a load of mini coopers, a load of corvettes, a load of ford diesel pickups, and a load of prius. The last of the autoracks ram into those derailed and the drawbar impales itself through the bottom of a boxcar piercing 20 cases of aged Glenfiddich.

Back on the locomotive, pressed forward by the loads behind, we cover the half mile to the stuck trailer in about 45 seconds. My conductor sees that the piece of equipment is a D9 Caterpillar bulldozer and screams like a woman as he jumps from his window at 35 mph. The fall from 15 feet in the air certainly would have killed him but instead he tumbled and struck feet first shattering his legs in 20 places and cartwheeling to his death as his head exploded when it struck the hard granite ballast some 20 times or so in the cartwheeling tumble. It takes 24 hours for them to find his body under crumpled boxcars.

I run out the back door to the second locomotive where I lay down in the cab. The impact at 35 mph is brutal. The second locomotive which I am on climbs under the front locomotive. The third locomotive does the same to mine. When the locomotive comes to a rest, is on its side, and both my arms are broken.

I drown, face down, in 200 gallons of brownish, blueish sewage from a chemical toilet long overdue for a cleaning. But my dignity is preserved because a fire from the combined 12,000 gallons (45.5 Kiloliters) of fuel burns for 3 days incinerating me and most of the locomotives completely.

The undocumented worker driving the truck with the wedged trailer disappears.

During the conductor's autopsy, trace amounts of THC from a brownie he consumed 3 weeks earlier while on vacation in Amsterdam are found to be the cause of the accident.

It was also noted in the government report that the cellphone of an engineer on a different train following ours was "on" at the time of our impact, and this may have contributed to the wreck.

Invalid Validation posted:

Sorry buddy, you just got retroactively OSHA fined.

Space Kablooey posted:

You know what, people being dumb and rushing to gas stations is one thing. Another thing is putting liquids in plastic bags, who the hell does that with any liquid?

Cat Hatter posted:

Why would anyone ever put gas in a plastic bag when Cheech and Chong solved this problem over forty years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ccAx792uoI&t=62s

Bad Munki posted:

That reminds me: rate my OSHA violations?



There’s a cage at the front of the trailer that prevented me from running these 16’ 4x6 posts flat on the bed, so I kludged a rack together. I’m sure as lumber yard antics go this barely even registers and of course the attendant didn’t even bat an eye but I’m curious what the actual safety-minded folks think of it.

I stuck to back roads on the way home. Technically a little overloaded for that vehicle and a non-braked trailer (it'll happily tow much more with trailer brakes), but I took it easy and it towed pretty well actually. 3’ overhang in the back (the camera distortion makes it look like more but it’s a 10’ trailer bed with the overhang split between front/back.)

LifeSunDeath posted:

the more times this gets posted the more dead certain I am he did it on purpose and this is some kind of CBT video.

flavor.flv posted:

Regarde Aduck posted:

Depends. There was that time the ground fell into a lake, broke the dam and drowned like 3 villages and they said it was an 'act of gods love'.

Humphreys posted:

I tried asking this over 25 years ago and got PT, but why the gently caress are these hallways ready for immediate response always slippery?

Cojawfee posted:

Those cost extra, surely no one is stupid enough to drive off with the nozzle still in their car. We'll just take the regular hoses.

Weembles posted:

The defining character of brutalism is the user of naked raw concrete and strong geometric shapes. Covering all that with plants nullifies those qualities.

You don't like brutalism - you like plants. Just say you like plants.

Cojawfee posted:

A lot of people are simply unable to understand plane on a treadmill, and this problem is a bit more complicated than that. I was having trouble at first because I didn't fully understand how the propeller was connected to the wheels of that thing. Once I realized that the spinning of the wheels spun the propeller, it all made sense to me.

Cat Hatter posted:

I once had a similar thing happen while passing a delivery truck on the outside of a turn and a bunch of diesel sloshed out of the tank and covered my car. This was about two days after I saw a truck without a fuel cap sloshing diesel all over the road as they took off from a light and a day before a semi showed up to my loading dock missing a cap.

I have no idea why someone seemed to be going around town stealing fuel caps off trucks.