The Great Boston Molasses Disaster

 Today in 1919, a molasses storage tank in Boston's North End ruptured sending a 30' wave of molasses through the streets. It killed 21 people.

I have  done presentations on this accident with respect to Project Management issues and comparing issues then with similar issues today. It's an ongoing joke in construction that "You can get it fast, good or cheap. Pick any two". They opted to go for fast and cheap as they had to have it completed in time to receive a shipment of molasses that was then on the way. Short cuts were made. The tank was never filled with water to test for leaks and it leaked so badly that children in the area would get raw molasses of its side. The company painted it brown to hide the molasses stains. It was the worst industrial accident of its day and resulted in urban legends that exist up to today.

Floating Hotel Fail

Nessy, on the sidebar, uncovered a fascinating story about a floating hotel that was installed in Australia and it's journey to North Korea. I suspect that this would never be done in the US because of the Jones Act. There would simply be too much liability. The Jones Act was originally intended to protect seamen but the definition of employees covered under the Jones Act has been expanded over the years so that it now includes anyone on board a floating vessel.

Go read the story here.

Crane Demolition at the Hard Rock Collapse

Nothing is more fun than watching things blow up. You can imagine the excitement in New Orleans with people wanting to see the implosion of the two cranes at the Hard Rock hotel collapse. The left crane topped and actually imbedded itself in the street and is now standing like a spear in the ground. While the second crane didn't come completely down, it was planned to fall into the building but missed it's target by a few feet, everyone seems to be satisfied with the result. Some businesses in the area lost windows from the pressure wave. Enjoy.

New Orleans Hard Rock Hotel Collapse

This is a good drone video of the New Orleans Hard Rock Hotel Collapse.

The two tower cranes are both damaged and engineers do not know how to brace them as the building is not stable. There are concerns about the weather this weekend bringing wind and rain. An area around the building has been evacuated and traffic blocked.

Happy Birthday Murphy

Jan 11 is the 100th birthday of Edward A Murphy, Jr., the man credited with originating Murphy's Law. The Law was first stated during high speed sled tests at Muroc, California in 1949. The actual Law states, "If there are two or more ways of doing something, and one of those can result in a catastrophe, someone will do it." Murphy had been frustrated with a technician who wired a strain gauge wrong and said that if there was a wrong way to do something, he will. If you want to learn more about Murphy's Law, go here.

For the Sparkies

This is Ampere's apartment on Rue Monge.

Tidal Power

Video of the manufacture and installation of an offshore power generation system that is currently in operation. This is one of the things that Ocean Engineers do.

Subway Work

I am interested in large infrastructure projects and construction techniques. I also love Paris. The video below is a summary of some repair work on one of Paris' subway lines. It's in French but you can see what they are doing and the machines they use.

Welcome Your New Robot Masters

Nerd Christmas

Requiem for a Process Engineer

Sometimes I really hate Process (Chemical) Engineers. They epitomize "paralysis by analysis". I used to have a sign in my office that read "There comes a time in every project wen you have to shoot the Process Engineer and begin construction".

So today, we are trying to get a package out. The designer is beavering away changing all his piping line weights because they didn't print correctly and everyone is staying late to get the drawings organized. In the meantime, the Process Engineer wanders into the design area with a typographical error he found.

He was lucky he escaped with his life.

Mechanical Engineer Nerdiness

This is how the lower elevators on the Eiffel Tower work.

Save Sealab I

Sealab I was the US Navy's first underwater habitat. It proved the concept of mixed gas saturation diving. In 1964, 4 divers lived at a depth of 200 feet for 11 days. It is now an exhibit at Panama City's Man in the Sea Museum. They have a Gofundme site to collect money to refurbish this piece of diving history. The link is here.

Here is an old documentary about the project.




There were other underwater habitats that followed Sealab I. There was Sealab II and then Tektite but they have all been lost to the scrapyard. Please send something to save Sealab I.

Passive Aggressive Project Management III

Last week I got a meeting request from one of the younger engineers on the project. She wanted to meet for an "introduction" and to understand my "roles and responsibilities". (But, we both report to the same guy. He didn't tell you what I was here for?) I called her back and told her that unless they had started flying the Concorde again that I couldn't make it. So she decided to do a telephone conference. Now, you need to know that Big Oil Company has put technical professionals in 4 man offices and have done away with speaker phones because of the disruption to others. If you want a speaker phone you have to go to a conference room. Also, all phone calls are now VOIP.

To make the story short, I could not connect to the conference room phone on either the desk phone or my personal mobile (at international roaming rates!) and they could not call me so the whole plan went Tango Uniform. In order to try to salvage something I called her on her office phone (that worked). She blew a lot of smoke up my butt and asked for some help with a problem she had.

She sent me an email chain with the background. It was quickly obvious that there were two equally functional solutions being proposed by two different guys who got into a p***ing contest with each other and  each refused to give in. In no way was I getting in the middle of that Charlie Foxtrot so I called her and left her message telling her that her problem was not a technical one but of personalities.

Passive Agressive Project Management II

I noted earlier how the project manager had failed to order a laptop for me before I left for Paris. Instead I took one of my company's laptops. This same guy was also planning to be in Paris during my first week there. I showed up on Monday and no project manager. Turns out he thought that it was a French holiday and didn't come in to the office. (It wasn't. Pentecost was the next Monday). He arrived Tuesday with his Big Oil Company laptop which can't access the internet from this office due to the contractor's security. (I can because I could change the proxy settings on my laptop but Big Oil Company doesn't allow lowly workers to change it on their machines) Therefore, I am the only one who has email and can work from this office. They've known about this problem for several months but have yet to work out a solution or get Big Oil Company Info Tech to run a line into this place. So, everyday for the next three days he leaves early so he can "work from the hotel." Thankfully, he departed on Friday.

There used be an adage about the "6 P's".....Prior Planning Prevents P*ss Poor Performance, but I guess they don't teach that anymore.

Monday I arrive in the office to find an email from him. He sent me hyperlinks to documents on the Big Oil Company server which I can't access because I don't have a Big Oil Company computer and which wouldn't work here even if I had one.

It's a wonder that gas doesn't cast $10 per gallon.

To STEM, or not to STEM

I called AT&T in order to get an international calling card because rates from hotel phones are so outrageous. I had an enjoyable conversation with their representative. I told her I was going to Paris and she then told me that she always wanted to go there, that she was a fine arts major and wanted see the impressionists.

After I hung up I had the thought that she went to college to get a fine arts degree and she was now working as a phone representative in a boiler room. She only gets to see art in books. I went to college and got an engineering degree. I'm being paid to visit the same cities she wants to go to and see the original work of art.

If you have a high school student who is making a career decision, this scenario might help them make up their mind about STEM.

School of Passive Aggressive Project Managment

NFO seems to think that the French will drive me crazy. I've dealt with the French on other projects and have no illusions. I was more surprised by the actions of my own "team".

There has been discussion of this assignment for about 1 month. The only delay was a question about French taxes but my going was confirmed. Last Monday there was a meeting that I thought was going to be a briefing on the project and my role. That part of the meeting took about 10 minutes. There was no discussion of project overview and no documents like organization chart, schedule or process flow diagrams given out. Instead, I was handed off to an assistant and she was told to get me an access badge and a lap top. I know her and she doesn't take bull from anyone. She was quick to inform them that they would need 3 weeks to get me a lap top. Unfortunately, I was leaving next week. So much for their ability to plan ahead.

I had heard that there was going to be a design review that week and that the French were coming to town. I naturally suggested that I attend as well. "Well, you can come and if there's room, you can sit in." I was told. WTF, over? You want me to be your prime contact in their office and you don't want me in this meeting? I went anyway and stayed as long as I could stand it as they all violated the meeting rule not to analyze the problem but to capture it on an action item list for the future.

I don't know whether to be concerned or amused by their attitude. This project has had a reputation for being poorly managed and that is part of the reason I'm going over there - new management wants some eyes on the ground. I am the troubleshooter that will either keep things on track or I am the goat that will take the blame to protect their careers.

I enjoy the challenge. I know what I need to do and I can get the information I want from the French contractor. It just would have been nice to have my own guys take enough interest to supply me with what I needed.

The Brier Patch

The boss comes in the other day and tells me that they have something they want me to do.  Seems that our client needs an engineer to go sit in a vendor's office and represent the client, handle technical queries and that sort of thing. The assignment will probably last for the rest of the year. It's nothing I haven't done before......except this time the vendor's office is in Paris. I was quick to say, "Don't throw me into that brier patch!"

So, I've been getting ready to head over the pond for a period of time. Future posts will be coming to you from Paree. It's funny but I have found a lack of sympathy from folks that I tell about my misfortune!

Happy Pi Day

Today is Pi Day. 3.14

Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The number is always the same regardless of the size of the circle. While the first people to recognize this ratio is lost to history, there is evidence that this relationship was known over 4000 years ago by the ancient Babylonians. Archimedes made the first best attempt to calculate the value of pi using polygons and the Pythagorean Theorem. Pi is an irrational number. That is, it cannot be expresses by a common fraction and the decimal never settles into a repetitive pattern. Modern computers have calculated the value out to over one trillion decimal places and have not seen a repeating pattern. The Greek letter, Pi, was first used to represent the number in the 1700s. I use the Engineer's Cheer to remember the value of Pi:

e to the x
e to the x
e to the x, dx
cosine, secant, tangent, sine
3.14159

Clever Fools

Cajun's story about troubleshooting an overloaded breaker reminded me of something that happened on an offshore platform several years ago. It demonstrated the adage that "It is not possible to make anything foolproof because fools are so damn clever."

It was shortly after breakfast and the galley hand had just started some laundry. He left the laundry room and shortly after that there was a "BOOM" and a flash fire. Luckily, nobody was seriously injured although all the ceiling tiles in the mess hall were blown out and several things were singed. The washing machine was a total loss.

An investigation revealed that one of those clever fools had done a bit of Southern Engineering.

Offshore platforms are required to test their safety devices every month. Some of these are level switches that operate like your toilet tank valve. When the level gets too high, it trips a switch and sounds an alarm. In order to test them, the operator has to add water to the float tube until the switch activates. Looking for a way to make his job easier, this clever fool ran some tubing from a water connection on the quarters building over to the float tube. Now he only had to open a valve and he could adjust the level in the float tube at his whim.

What he didn't think about was that the top of the float tube was normally filled with natural gas. This gas worked its way back up the tubing and into the potable water piping of the quarters. It happened to accumulate in the piping to the laundry room. When the galley hand started the washing machine, the water valve on the washer opened and filled the washer with gas. Then it only took a small arc from the washer controls to cause an explosion.