90th Anniversary of the Boston Molasses Disaster

I have a habit of keeping track of unique or strange events in history. Here's one you've probably never heard of: On January 15, 1919 in Boston, Massachusetts 21 people were killed and 150 were injured . . . by a huge wave of molasses that rushed through the streets at 35mph!

You can read the full story here.

Sicker Than Sick

Just when you think the unelected Burmese dictators couldn't get any more disgusting, out comes a report that they're expecting $11 Billion in aid, with little to no transparency about how the money is distributed. On a BBC report, I heard that the junta has apparently submitted reports about how many chickens and others animals have been killed by the cyclone - each associated with a dollar figure of course. The people of Burma desperately need help and the tyrants need to be removed. Sadly, I don't think either will happen.

Eternal Darkness of the Clueless Mind

As I do most evenings when I'm working, I have BBC London on in the background. Tonight the main topic of conversation was Burma: Should the world community go in to help the desperate citizens there, even if the government continues to refuse the help?

Two American women called in successively, one from Iowa and the other from New York. Both identified themselves as "progressives" (that's PC code for "liberal"). Both stated that they're adamantly against the U.S. being in both Afghanistan and Iraq. And then both stated ... wait for it ... that the U.S. should absolutely go into Burma even if the government there says 'No'.

The host asked each of them an obvious question, "And what would you do if the Burmese military started firing upon the American military and aid workers?"

In both cases: Long pause and then, "Uhhhhh, uhhhh, I don't know."

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!

Yet Another Story About That "Horrible" Wal-Mart

I seem to have a talent for meeting an endless stream of Socialist Kool-Aid drinkers, who nowadays prefer to call themselves "progressives". Here are some "truths" amongst their high-priests:

• The government is good and the primary protector of you, dear naive citizen.
• Private enterprise is bad.
• The gold medalist for horrible private companies is Exxon.
  
• Wal-Mart earns the silver medal.

A fly-in-the-ointment of such beliefs is an interesting story that has come out of the September 2005 Katrina Hurricane disaster.

The Bridge Disaster: Personal Thoughts

I don't have a TV (by choice) so I decided to go to YouTube to see some video of the bridge collapse. I have dual interests, first as a human being at the enormous tragedy of this event, but also has a professional engineer.

The videos were very interesting and the stories of the rescues heartfelt and touching. But what was shocking to me was how so many people, via their comments, were immediately using this tragedy to directly attack George Bush. I then found more of the same here.

Just like with 9/11, it's a heaven-sent miracle that so many on the ultra-left become instant structural engineering experts. With absolutely no facts at hand, they automatically discern that the bridge collapsed because soldiers are over in Iraq fighting terrorists. Amazing!

If I were to ask them what safety factors are commonly deployed on the design and implementation of U.S. Interstate Bridges, all that we would hear would be grasshoppers chirping.

News Flash: Even the top structural engineers in the world ... especially the top structural engineers ... will be passing no judgements until mountains of evidence is collected, shearing patterns in the steel closely observed, possibly with microscopes in a lab, and a whole lot of other tests performed.

Is it too much to ask that the sick, depraved, heartless, anonymous cowards who post such hate when they could just as easily shut their pie-holes, remove their fingers from their keyboards, and just allow a city and a nation to grieve?!?

Minneapolis Bridge Disaster

Here's a screen capture from Live Maps, showing the bridge that collapsed yesterday:

It's hard to believe that such a disaster could occur in modern times. It's reminiscent of the Second Narrows Bridge in Vancouver that collapsed in 1958.

Vancouver's 2nd Narrows Bridge: In Memoriam

On June 17, 1958, exactly 49 years ago, the bridge spanning East Vancouver and North Burnaby with North Vancouver suddenly collapsed in the midst of its construction.

79 workers were thrown into the water and 18 ultimately died, plus 1 diver who was involved in the search & rescue operation. You can read much more about the disaster here.

This disaster presents a special significance to locally educated engineers. Most graduate Canadian graduate engineers wear an Iron Ring on the pinky finger of their working hand. It provides a daily reminder about every professional decision they make because mistakes can sometimes have costly repercussions. Such was the case with the 2nd Narrows Bridge. A junior engineer made a mistake in the calculations for the required support during the construction. His boss, an older engineer, never caught the mistake. When the bridge collapsed they were both on the bridge at the time. Neither survived.

This bridge has since been renamed the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing but is still commonly referred to by its original name.