#Phosgenation

[thingstrumperssay]

So I just found out about the train that was carrying dangerous chemicals (like Phosgene gas) that exploded in Ohio. And their solution to this is to release some of the gas a bit at a time.

Instead of making paragraphs about how this could’ve been avoided, I’m going to just say that if you live in or near Ohio, get out, now.

From what I’m reading it’s traveling north towards Canada. I dunno if it’ll dissipate on it’s own but I do know that it’s extremely dangerous to breathe in.

Red Roof Inns are usually pretty cheap and will allow pets. I believe you can book a hotel room 24/7 as long as you call.

I’m trying to see if there’s a travel map for the gas.

I might have to pack up and go to Tennessee temporarily, (I have in-laws there) depending on how they handle it. (It doesn’t look like they’re handling it well at all.) If that happens I can’t say anything about this for a while.

If you do need help getting a place to stay I can’t help financially, but I can help look for a fairly cheap place for you to stay in.

Edit: Okay I guess this happened a week ago and I’m just finding out about this.

So I guess maybe it’s okay to be in states near Ohio now. I still wouldn’t return there though. I think they released some of the gas yesterday.

[liesmyteachertoldme]

Did you hear about the Ohio train crash last week that sent a plume of toxic gas into the air and is reportedly killing animals for miles around?

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – Days after crews released and burned toxic chemicals carried by a train that wrecked in Ohio, residents were concerned about toxic substances that could be lingering in their evacuated neighborhoods.

About 50 cars, including 10 carrying hazardous materials, derailed in a fiery crash Friday in East Palestine, according to rail operator Norfolk Southern and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Vinyl chloride was released into the air Monday from five of those cars before crews ignited it to get rid of the highly flammable toxic chemicals in a controlled environment, creating a dark plume of smoke.

Vinyl chloride is associated with increased risk of liver cancer and other cancers, according to the federal government’s National Cancer Institute.

The effect was studied in PVC pipemakers who breathed in vinyl chloride and developed rare liver cancers, said Ruth Lunn, who studies carcinogens at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Officials warned the controlled burn would send phosgene and hydrogen chloride into the air. Phosgene is a highly toxic, colorless gas with a strong odor that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble and was used as a weapon in World War I.

Note: How could burning toxic gases in an open and populated area be considered safe?

[madmarchhare]

There is apparently an argument in the DND community about whether the spell 'Heat Metal' can be used on bones.

But, hear me out, blood contains Iron.

[cqcandchill]

just spent almost 3 hours under a literal gas attack during my hardest exam… the person in front of me was farting nonstop. sorry to their guts but also i did not enjoy any of that

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Chlorine is an important industrial chemical, and some industrial applications of chlorine derivatives are outlined in table 14.1.

"Chemistry" 2e - Blackman, A., Bottle, S., Schmid, S., Mocerino, M., Wille, U.

[immaculatasknight]

What happened in Ohio?

[carbonmonoxide-detector]

As a freshman in college I got this awful skin infection on my face. It kept coming back and I was convinced it was MRSA from touching the handrails on the dormitory stairs. I had no insurance at the time so I figured I'd have to let it heal itself but should try not to spread it. Bear in mind, I was a feral psychiatric specimen with no problem solving abilities at the time, freshly tenderized by a summer spent in the wonderful world of ~homelessness~. I went over multiple flights copiously spraying the only cleaning agent I had, which was dollar store bleach, until a sickly sweet fog of chlorine filled the stairwell. It was so thick you could taste it in your mouth. Then a girl came in on a different floor, gagged audibly, and screamed WHAT THE FUCK?!?! I ran away before she saw me. Eventually I begged some free antibiotic gel off a kind nurse at the school clinic and it went away so I guess it wasn't MRSA. If you're reading this Chelsea, I'm sorry about the phosgene attack, I take fantastic medication these days,

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for cooking meth with my former chemistry student, killing two people, and lying to my family about it?

I (50M) was recently diagnosed with inoperable, likely fatal lung cancer. I work at a highschool as a chemistry teacher, but both the pay and the students are terrible. Case in point, my "lab partner" (24M) - who we'll call "Cap'n" because of course he'd insist on a stupid nickname like that - not only completely flunked my class, but then went on to skip college entirely and become a meth-addicted drug dealer instead.

Understandably, I was a little shaken after receiving my diagnosis. It came as a surprise since I've never smoked, I keep myself in relatively fair health, etc. (Recently my wife has taken to vegan bacon- apparently it helps lower cholesterol, but I digress.) I haven't told my family about the situation yet; I'm still trying to figure out how to "let the cat out of the bag", not to mention I doubt my wife will take it very well.

As for deciding to try cooking methamphetamine, well. I'm not really sure how to explain it, exactly, but there's a lot of money in it, money that would benefit my family, and I don't have much to lose anymore. This may sound cliche, but it's as though I'm really awake for the first time in my life.

Cap'n and I formed a partnership by circumstance only; I found out he was in "the business" and offered to either turn him into the DEA or work with me, and he naturally took the second option. He had no idea what he was doing on the chemistry side of things - chili powder in the meth! applying heat to an Erlenmeyer flask! no wonder I flunked him, he clearly learned nothing in my class - but does know the trade.

(Note: Don't buy all of your supplies from the same store.)

Sorry, I'm getting too far into the weeds here, let me skip ahead. We purchased a trailer and drove out to somewhere in the middle of the desert to cook without added attention or need for dramatic cleanup if we had to leave the area in a hurry. Our first batch was, according to Cap'n, "pure glass." After all of that complaining, I had cooked the finest product he'd ever seen on the first try! Goes to show paying attention in school does pay off, ahem. In case any of you were reading this and thinking of skipping off to go and make highly illegal substances and risk years in prison instead of doing your homework. You all still have your entire lives ahead of you. I don't.

After making it, the next logical course of action was to sell. Cap'n said he had some connections - I mean, he is a drug dealer, I saw no reason not to trust him (I now see how little sense that makes.) - and came back with two men with guns pointed at both of us. You must understand, it was a kill or be killed situation. These are the kind of people who don't care about morals, or what's right or ethical or kind. If they'd lived... not just me, but my wife, my son, and my entire family would all be in serious, mortal danger. I had no choice.

Cap'n by this point had been knocked out cold- still alive, but entirely unhelpful with the situation at hand. I was on my own. So I offered to show the goons how I made the "glass", surely they wanted to see how it was done? And they did- I still can't believe that actually worked. But, ah, instead of actually cooking anything, I gave them... let's call it a chemistry lesson. When significant heat is applied to red phosphorus - a key ingredient in Cap'n and I's "extracurricular science project" - it oxidizes. Your result is phosgene gas, highly deadly, hence the "killing two people." One... technically isn't dead yet- somehow he managed to survive, I still don't fully understand how, but I'm... I'm working on it. Cap'n still has yet to get rid of the first body, so... technically I'm not failing to withhold my share of the cleanup, since he hasn't done so with his.

I realize now this is very long, but I wanted to explain the context for my actions. However, a tl;dr for those who might be in a hurry: I was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, so with nothing else to lose decided to try to make some money for my family by cooking and selling methamphetamine. Coincidentally, a former student of mine was also in the business, and I convinced him to work with me. When we tried to put our product on the market, two people tried to kill us, so I acted in self-defense.

But I really, really must know... is what I did wrong? Should I have been content to live the rest of however-long-I-have-left working a miserable job as a public high school chemistry teacher instead? Should I have found a less fatal way of dealing with the two men who tried to kill me and my partner? AITA?

P.S. It's pretty late as I'm typing this so I might've made some errors in coherency or grammar, for which I apologize.

[madnessofmen]

If yes, please elaborate on how it happened. If multiple, select the most extreme (further down on the list).

[scotianostra]

May 2nd 1860 saw the birth of physiologist John Scott Haldane in Edinburgh.

He attended Edinburgh University and the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, before graduating in medicine at Edinburgh in 1884. He was then appointed Demonstrator in Physiology at University College, Dundee, where he investigated the composition of the air in dwellings and schools.

In 1887 he joined is uncle at Oxford University but later left when the title Professor of Physiology was denied him. His early studies included the respiration hazards that coal miners were exposed to, and his report emphasized the lethal effects of carbon monoxide poisoning. In 1898 he created the Haldane Gas Apparatus.

He began to study caisson disease in underground workers which connected to decompression sickness, also commonly known as "the bends." His work in this field lead him to produce the tables for staged decompression, which prevented the development of nitrogen bubbles in the diver's tissue as they ascended from their working depth.

Haldane's approach was in contrast to French physiologist Paul Bert's continuous - ascent decompression procedures of that period. Although developed for the trade of diving in 1907, the staged tables are equally applicable in the recreational and technical diving fields. Engineers sought his opinion on ventilation and respiratory issues when designing submarines, tunnels, mines and ships.

In 1915 Yale University honoured Haldane by selecting him to deliver the Silliman Lectures. The lectures became the basis for his 1922 book Respiration, which is recognised as a landmark work in the field. Haldane received numerous awards and honours for his work.

His work on high altitude physiology, diving physiology, oxygen therapy, and carbon monoxide poisoning led to a sea change in clinical medicine and improved safety and reduced mortality and morbidity in many high risk situations. During the First World War Haldane was able to identify the use of disabling chlorine and phosgene gas by the Germans, and designed the first gas masks for use in chemical warfare and also an oxygen therapy equipment to treat its victims.

John Scott Haldane died in Oxford on the night of 14 March/15 March 1936, soon after returning from a trip to investigate cases of heat stroke in the oil refineries in Persia, he made lasting contributions to improved working conditions years before health and safety itself became an industry, and he never failed to give credit to colleagues. He is considered as ‘Father of Oxygen Therapy’.

[itstimewehavesomesoliddick]

Seriously though Israel has been so bad at making fakes for this one it's hilarious, I thought they were supposed to be high IQ?

The "detailed plan to kill kids in schools" (on Shabbat), the "intercepted phone call recording" (with two audio channels), the USB with "plans for a cyanide dispersal machine" (a gas lighter than air that can take up to an hour to kill someone and that was dropped in favor of phosgene in WW1 for being a shitty chemical weapon), the amount of "trust me bro it's real", just come on

[todaysdocument]

WWI Experience of Capt. Clark Owsley

Record Group 120: Records of the American Expeditionary Forces (World War I)Series: Records of Divisions

November 9, 1918 My Experience at the Front On the morning of October 6, 1918 , I started out from Somme Suippe with the Headquarters company , Captain Miiller in command We were going on a journey but where we did not know or [overwritten: from] how far About half way to our destination our order came back from Col. Bloor thru Lt. A.H. Carrigan to put an officer at the rear of his company to watch for straglers I being the only offices who was not attached to the company, or who did not have a platoon, was posted in the rear to watch for [illegible due to blurred ink stain]. The regiment progressed nicely without ^stray^ [illegible due to blurred ink stain] man falling out. As soon as we had arrivedat our destination, I reported to [crossed out : the] Capt. Miller, that the Regiment [crossed out: had ] did not have any stragglers . We arrived at our destination about three-thirty and about six o'clock, Capt. Nelson sent for me to report to him. I reported and he gave me orders to go to Somme-Py and meet a party of officers and men, who were to guide us into the line. This was my first knowledge of us going[ g overwritten] into the front. I got in^to^ [into] a motorcycle- side car & was driven to Somme-Py. When I arrived there, the Boche were shelling the cross-roads and my first knowdege of this was that the Frecnh and American soldiers were ducking their heads & falling into [typed above crossed out "on their"] ditches. I got out of the car & soon became doing the same as I hadseen the French & American soldiers do, duck. I was to meet the party near the old church at Somme Py. I went immediately to the old church and remained there until I met a Lieutenant that said he was looking for a "Guide" from 141st Inf. or some unknown Regiment. I told him that I was the guide for the 142nd Inf. and would give him to where the Colonel was. So he decided that it was the 142nd Inf. and proceed to go with me. I guided him to the place the Colonel was. It was now about 8:30 o' clock. At about 9:15 o'clock we started for the front. ("The" over written] We passed over roads which were being shelled continuously, but soon we arrived at our new P.[?G or C]. As soon as we had gotten settled there I [ "soon" crossed out] ask to see the Reg. Gas. Officer and he informed me that they had never had a gas attach and there was absolutely no danger of gas. [The following paragraph is underlined in red] On October 8, 1918, we had our first experience in going over the top. During our advance the Boche threw mustard gas, di-phosgene and Di Phogene chloropicrin [see comments ] gas upon our advancing men. Very few casualties resulted from the gas. this was due to the well discipline ["ci" is written above crossed out "er" ] of gas training. [crossed out] Lt. Murphy, 2nd Bat. Gas Officer was wounded, and the officers of the first and third could not keep in touch with the their battalion. [end crossed out] We had a great [? number], wounded and killed. As I would pass by a dead American, I would sometime think, but when by a dead Boche [full transcription at link]

[immaculatasknight]

Joe's war

[libraford]

I remember early on in the trump administration- I was sitting at the mechanic's lobby and he was on the news with a giant stack of papers wrapped in a big red ribbon. And he talked about how the regulations imposed by previous administrations got in the way of business and prevented every day americans from reaching the american dream. And he took a pair of shears and cut the ribbon, symbolically cutting the red tape, as a promise to undo all regulations that hot in the way of moving forward.

And I looked to the woman waiting in the lobby with me, in her 60s, who shook her head along with me at the gesture, because we both lived on a low income side of town and people in our tax bracket know what happens when regulations are slack- people get sick, they get hurt, they die.

Disaster happens when people are careless and each regulation is written in blood.

Fuck that guy.

Picture id/transcript: (a screenshot of a news report by Heather Cox Richardson from february 15 2023)

But the derailment of fifty Norfolk Southern train cars, eleven of which carried hazardous chemicals, near East Palestine, Ohio, near the northeastern border of the state on February 3 has powerfully illustrated the downsides of deregulation. The accident released highly toxic chemicals into the air, water, and ground, causing a massive fire and forcing about 5,000 nearby residents in Ohio and Pennsylvania to evacuate. On February 6, when it appeared some of the rail cars would explode, officials allowed the company to release and burn the toxic vinyl chloride stored in it. The controlled burn sent highly toxic phosgene, used as a weapon in World War I, into the air.

Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine has refused federal assistance from President Biden, who, he said, called to offer “anything you need.” DeWine said he had not called back to take him up on the offer. “We will not hesitate to do that if we’re seeing a problem or anything, but I’m not seeing it,” he said.

Just over the border, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said that Norfolk Southern had botched its response to the accident. “Norfolk Southern has repeatedly assured us of the safety of their rail cars—in fact, leading Norfolk Southern personnel described them to me as ‘the Cadillac of rail cars’—yet despite these assertions, these were the same cars that Norfolk Southern personnel rushed to vent and burn without gathering input from state and local leaders. Norfolk Southern’s well known opposition to modern regulations [requires] further scrutiny and investigation to limit the devastating effects of future accidents on people’s lives, property, businesses, and the environment.”

Shapiro was likely referring to the fact that in 2017, after donors from the railroad industry poured more than $6 million into Republican political campaigns, the Trump administration got rid of a rule imposed by the Obama administration that required better braking systems on rail cars that carried hazardous flammable materials.

According to David Sirota, Julia Rock, Rebecca Burns, and Matthew Cunningham-Cook, writing in the investigative journal The Lever, Norfolk Southern supported the repeal, telling regulators new electronically controlled pneumatic brakes on high-hazard flammable trains (HHFT) would “impose tremendous costs without providing offsetting safety benefits.” Railroads also lobbied to limit the definition of HFFT to cover primarily trains that carry oil, not industrial chemicals. The train that derailed in Ohio was not classified as an HHFT.

Nonetheless, Ohio’s new far-right Republican senator J. D. Vance went on the Fox News Channel show of personality Tucker Carlson to blame the Biden administration for the accident. He said there was no excuse for failing infrastructure after the passage last year of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and said that the administration is too focused on “environmental racism and other ridiculous things.” We are, he said, “ruled by unserious people.”

:end id/transcript

[capnmachete]

Augusnippets 2024

Path of Hurt

Day 19: Branding

Title: Once a Tiger, Always a Tiger

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Characters: Alfie Solomons, Lance Corporal Billy Walters (OC)

CW: Injury, wartime

Summary: Alfie explains -- somewhat -- the marks on his upper arm to a wartime lover.

Also here on AO3.

The two men sat on the raised plank floor of the pack storage shed, one of the only places in the British sector of Convalescent Depot #3 that afforded any privacy. The officers had, by that time, worked out a complicated system amongst themselves for determining when the shed was in use; it greatly reduced the number of extremely awkward moments.

"What's this?" A rough-skinned fingertip reached up and traced the stripes that bubbled up from the skin of Captain Solomons' upper arm. Each was about half a finger's width; the flesh was raised, shiny and hairless, darker than the skin surrounding it.

Fucking hell. Alfie sighed. He generally refused to explain the brandmarks, simply telling people to fuck off, or made something up. But he was genuinely fond of Lance Corporal Walters, so he told him the truth. He'd be shipping out soon anyway -- back to London, the state of his lungs after the phosgene gas bombardment at Comble deemed severe enough to be sent home, medically unfit for further service. So what did it matter?

"I was a bit of a rascal back home, yeah? Before the war." he mumbled, eyes closed, sweaty head tipped back against the corner of a storage rack. Billy Walters lay half in his lap, sweaty and spent, crutches laid aside; Alfie combed his fingers through Billy's short-cropped hair, the movement rhythmic and soothing to them both. "Ran with a gang; we was called the Tigers. Russian Jews, the most of us. The marks -- it's kind of a marking of ranks, right, like a sergeants' stripes. You earn 'em by -- doin' things."

Doin' things sounded a great deal more benign than killing people who got onto Max Moses' bad side -- a more accurate explanation but one that would lead to questions Alfie didn't want to answer. Not right now, anyway. He'd be back in London soon enough, leaving one set of trenches for another one, more urban and less muddy but equally dangerous.

The East End of London was no place for the weak or infirm, any more than the Western Front was. And knackered lungs might be enough to get Alfie relieved of duty with the Royal Fusilliers, but he doubted it would cut any ice with Max. Once a Tiger, always a Tiger, like it or not.

"Stripes. Tigers." Billy barked a hoarse laugh and shifted. "I get it. So what kind of a tiger are you, eh, Alf?" He reached up and skimmed a thumb across Alfie's lip; Alfie snapped at it with a playful snarl. Which led to a cough, which led to a brief, red-faced fit of hacking and choking.

It took a few minutes to subside; Alfie turned away and spat thickly into the gap between the floor planks. "A fucking tired tiger, is what kind I am," he admitted, with a wheezy laugh, once he'd caught his breath. "Ready to go back to my fuckin' den and sleep for a few years."

"I expect a letter when you get home, Alf," Billy reminded him. He reached up, carding his fingers through the gold-ginger curls on Alfie's chest, yanking briefly on one for emphasis.

"Oi, stop it, you little shit," Alfie groused fondly, batting him away. "I'll try," he promised, only half-meaning it, less attached to Billy than vice-versa. Foxhole liaisons weren't meant to last. "I ain't so good with keeping up with things like that."

It might not matter anyway. Once Billy was off crutches, broken femur knit up and solid again, he'd be on his way back to the filth and gore of the trenches. He'd be lucky to live long enough to get and read a letter, even if Alfie did muster up the will to write one.

And Alfie, in a week or so, would be headed home. And would either start earning more stripes despite his shite lungs -- burned painfully into the skin of his upper arm, one at a time, with a cast-iron poker heated over the fire -- or become a stripe on some other poor bastard's arm.

---

Convalescent Depot #3: located in Le Treport, France, #3 was one of series of medical depots where WW1 soldiers wounded in battle went to recover from injuries, before either being sent home or sent back to the trenches

Comble: a French valley and the site of an offensive in the Battle of Morval, part of the larger Battle of the Somme in WW1

phosgene: one of several deadly poison gases weaponized for use in the war; primarily attacks the lungs

Tigers: The Bessarabian Tigers, a mafia-style RussianJewish gang prominent in the East End of London during the early 1900s

Max Moses: a big man among the Tigers; probably not the overall boss IRL

Royal Fusilliers: an infantry regiment of the British Army, heavily involved in numerous major battles during WW1

[icecreamwithjackdaniels]

A. Kirkpatrick Maxwell (Scottish, 1884–1975). Plates from An Atlas of Gas Poisoning (1918), published by Great Britain's Medical Research Committee.

Plate I. Microscopic section of human lung from phosgene shell poisoning. Death at the nineteenth hour after gassing.

Plate X. Microscopic section of human lung from mustard gas poisoning, with death at end of second day (40 hours).