Random photos, comics, etc.

[Leo Enticknap]

It sounds like the sort of stuff that California will shortly legalize for recreational use.

[Randy Stankey]

There are so many things wrong about CCl4 that it isn’t funny.

It is acutely toxic via inhalation, ingestion or absorption.
It is systemically toxic, causing permanent liver and kidney damage.
Its effects might not be known for 24 to 48 hrs. after exposure.
It synergizes with alcohol and other drugs.
It is carcinogenic and is suspected of causing immune system depression.
It is ozone depleting with a lifetime in the environment up to 80 years.
One of its main decomposition products is phosgene.
Its exposure threshold is significantly lower than it’s detection threshold so that means it can start affecting you before you can even smell it.

Almost all of its uses have been replaced with other chemicals that work at least as well so, except for a few laboratory uses or industrial processes that specifically call for it, there is virtually no good reason to even keep it around.

[Leo Enticknap]

I once worked in an archive facility that had a Halon system. Halon was used because it was about the only method of fire suppression that would not cause additional damage to the films and tapes in the vault. We were trained that if we heard the alarm and saw the strobes, we had 30 seconds either to get out of the vault, or to press one of the large red buttons on the wall, that would stop the Halon from being discharged. For obvious reasons, I memorized the locations of all of them. The far end of one of the vault buildings was more than a 30-second run from the exit.

[Marcel Birgelen]

And carbon tet is a politically incorrect greenhouse gas, too, isn't it? I believe that was why it was banned for use in archival and lab ultrasonic film cleaners. 1,1,1,trichloroethane followed it, then that became politically incorrect as well, and most of these machines now use perc..

Halon 104 was internationally banned because in certain conditions it can work like a nerve agent. Also, it has a tendency to deplete the ozone in the ozone layer. There are a few legacy exceptions where tetrachloride can still be used, like aviation.

My father worked for Air Traffic Control for quite a while and they were happy to get rid of their Halon 104 system. If you need to keep a room full of people functioning, the best solution is to avoid a fire whenever possible. A good "Very Early Smoke Detection" system together with a bunch of trained people on-guard 24/7, who use specialized extinguishers seems to be more compatible with a large room filled with humans than filling it with a potential nerve agent or some other gas that's designed to draw the oxygen out of the room...

[Leo Enticknap]

There used to be such a thing as a “fire grenade” which was a glass ball filled with carbon tetrachloride that a person could throw at a fire...

And carbon tet is a politically incorrect greenhouse gas, too, isn't it? I believe that was why it was banned for use in archival and lab ultrasonic film cleaners. 1,1,1,trichloroethane followed it, then that became politically incorrect as well, and most of these machines now use perc.

As for throwing extinguishers at fires, it reminds me of a story I was once told about a fire at an airport terminal building in Saudi Arabia in the '90s. Firefighters arrived to find the building a blackened shell. Strewn around the floor was a bunch of fire extinguishers. They were all charred and blackened, but undischarged. Eyewitnesses reported airport staff repeatedly squeezing the trigger with no success, and then, in desperation, simply throwing the entire unit into the fire. The instructions on the extinguishers were in English, no-one who grabbed hold of one was able to read English, and therefore no-one knew, or were able to figure out, that they had to pull the safety pin out first. When the first person threw his extinguisher, the others immediately followed his lead.

[Martin McCaffery]

I have real extinguishers, too. The grenade is for decorative purposes only.

[Randy Stankey]

I assume that you understand the properties of carbon tet and how to handle it, of course....

There is a firefighter’s museum in town and they have several different kinds of fire grenades in their collection. They have some on display and some in safe storage. The stored ones are kept in locked chemical storage cabinets and the display items have been carefully drilled open and the contents replaced with water then they were marked “Dummy for Display Only.” The carbon tet was disposed of in an appropriate manner.

My ex-wife was in charge of the Erie Historical Museum and I was able to take a backstage tour of the place.

There was lots of interesting stuff in that place!

That’s how I learned what those “ice cream cones” in my old house were and how they worked. When they told me what was inside them I was like “OMFG!”

[Martin McCaffery]

I have one in my house that I got from a closed theatre I was allowed to pillage.

[Randy Stankey]

We used to have them in my old house, too.

They were in cone shaped holders with sprinkler holes in the bottom. If a fire occurred, a fusible link would break, causing a spring loaded plunger to shatter the glass and release the carbon tet.

I used to think they were giant ice cream cones.

[Frank Cox]

In our 1907 farm house (which I sold years ago though my mother forgets that now *sigh*) there were a couple of red fire grenades hanging on special hooks near the ceiling. I've never seen them in-the-wild anywhere else, though.

I think they were up near the ceiling because they were supposed to explode automatically if there was a fire in the room.

[Randy Stankey]

“Grenade” is technically correct... meaning “a container of chemicals” but, in common English, it usually means “a handheld explosive device.”

There used to be such a thing as a “fire grenade” which was a glass ball filled with carbon tetrachloride that a person could throw at a fire but those have fallen out of favor because they release poison gas when the carbon tet mixes with the burning materials.

It sounds like the translator of that sign used the literal translation of “grenade” but probably didn’t think that there could be another meaning to speakers of other languages.

Google Translate strikes again!

It is pretty funny, though!

I wonder what the Chinese version actually says.

[Marcel Birgelen]

hand-grenade.jpg

Probably still one of my favorite Chinglish translations.

[Kenneth Wuepper]

Not unlike the warning on the sleeping pill bottle. "Can cause drowsiness"

[Frank Cox]

https://canoe.com/news/world/odds-an...-73dc1758f3ee/

English actor Stuart Antony was befuddled after purchasing a chopping board from home furnishing store Dunelm that had very specific instructions.

According to the U.K. Mirror, ‘The Bar’ star went shopping at the budget home store when he stumbled across the wooden chopping board. He then read the sticker on the back and was confused.

EhiRdbcXsAA1oRU-e1600282907520.jpg

[Leo Enticknap]

Our fire is now the lead headline on a national news site (Fox), and on the front page of several others. It turns out that not only did it inspire the gaffe of the year, but was caused by the moron of the year (a smoke machine used at a "gender reveal party" being held on state land up in the mountains). The sky here in Loma Linda (about 10 miles away as the crow flies), is dark gray from the smoke, looking like it's about to rain, with a light covering of fine ash over pretty much every exterior surface.