Well There's Your Problem | Episode 14: The Quebec Bridge

[@joemomma3648]

Liam and Justin seem pretty confident they're safe from helicopter crashes, but I should remind them that you don't have to be in the helicopter for its crash to kill you.

[@Fantusta]

Especially since in the same Lower Merion Township Kobe lived in that literally happened (the helicopter crash that killed Senator John Heinz killed children at Merion Elementary School having recess)

[@engineer_cat]

Came to the comments to say this. It's totally possible to die in *someone else's* helicopter crash.

[@TwoWholeWorms]

Can confirm. Guy got squashed by the one that hit St George Wharf in a London in 2013. Lived there at the time, was almost as quiet as it is now. :|

[@abelincoln7473]

Quick! Move into a mine, Oh wait....

[@jcardboard]

Happened in the very city Alice lives in, one crashed into a pub and killed a bunch of people.

[@Hotrob_J]

A civil engineer can have a little high strength steel. As a treat.

[@scrungly]

*little a

[@aronahlback7903]

@@scrungly no

[@biscuitninja]

Denied! I'm sure that's what the manager will say.

[@loyalmcfs1337]

play on bernie and cats?

[@kidsea13]

Episode 13 was so good. I learned so much about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse that I haven't heard anywhere else! I'm so glad to see you following up with more bridge related content

[@Scone635]

Dammit, I was gonna make this joke

[@kidsea13]

feel free to expand upon it

[@scottyPsychotty]

I can’t believe they got Indrid Cold as a guest!

[@kidsea13]

No, the youtube algorithm just isn't displaying it for a bunch of people because they criticised Nestlé

[@TemplarOnHigh]

@@kidsea13 To be fair, they are lucky the channel wasn't deleted on account of that praxis.

[@320_kbps]

not only do we still have engineering disasters in canada despite the rings, but there's a cantilever bridge in vancouver literally named "ironworkers' memorial" because of all the workers who died when it collapsed during construction

[@OriginalPineapplesFoster]

Yes there is! And though I lived there I've never heard the full story. Regularly poking at disaster channels to cover this one. 🇨🇦🍍

[@sweetprimrose]

I can't believe Mothman Did Bridge 9/11

[@scarylion1roar]

Three times.

[@yedoom]

Oh man. The Quebec bridge is my favourite bridge. For all the wrong reasons. The engineering ring thing in particular is way more insane than it sounds and involves multiple engineer only sacred secret ceremonies that every major university in the country still does for every graduation.

[@cooljayhu]

I felt like I was joining The Skulls when I did the ceremony

[@ryke_masters]

My dad got a master's in engineering but never actually worked in the field. He wears the ring anyway and mentions it whenever he meets an engineer or the subject of engineering is broached. It weirded out my brother's girlfriend at a family dinner and now his strange fondness for the ring and eagerness to talk about it is a running gag we amplify and exaggerate at every occasion.

[@Reddsoldier]

@@ryke_masters Your dad is engineer gollum.

[@tiredprincess451]

so my university made their own rings ($80) instead of ordering from the official order of the rings website ($5) and we aren't listed on their website as being a part of the official order. I don't know if I count as part of the secret society anymore

[@tangledfish]

Old man twitter That old man twitter He don't say something But he must know nothing Cause he just keeps posting He keeps posting day long

[@theothertonydutch]

Nobody knows the comments I've seen Nobody knows but twitter

[@magnusyarbrough5527]

i dreamed i saw myspace last night alive as you and me

[@grmpEqweer]

Supposedly, if you give enough chimpanzees word processors, they will say something brilliant, purely at random. ... Twitter is an attempt to prove this in practice.

[@DennisMolema]

"anagolous to the bridge" Don't think we didn't notice, JusRoz

[@theryanbard]

Quebec failing is becoming a running feature on this podcast.

[@lain2970]

PepeHands

[@R._B._Victor_Hugo_Ashford]

I thought it was just a running feature of real life.

[@vienlacrose]

"That's it, we're annexxing Quebec." -the united cranks of yankistan

[@etiennesauve3386]

notice how american were invloved in both of them

[@DJSbros]

It's what the French do best

[@ryke_masters]

I think this is the first time I've heard anyone say "Winnipeg is nice!" with so much enthusiasm, and so little regret at having spent money to get to Winnipeg.

[@GreatgoatonFire]

Wow, two episodes in one week? Very impressive.

[@slaughterround643]

three if you count the bonus episode

[@RoxioGamingHD]

@@slaughterround643 four if you count the tacoma narrows bridge episode

[@slaughterround643]

damn you right I haven't seen that one yet

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

six if you count the first two attempts to record the 737 MAX episode

[@mushroomc0re]

Episode 12B abt the Tacoma Narrows bridge was just amazing. Great work guys. More bridges are always recommended

[@PrinzEugen176]

an "11ft 8in bridge" incident happened in Jacksonville, just north of the shown Hart Bridge; in 2013, USNS "1st. Lt. Harry L. Martin" which has an overly long name, hit the Mathew's bridge, the other Cantilever bridge in Jacksonville, the underbody of the road supports had gotten lower over time by 4ft to 148ft rather than 152ft, which the 150ish ft tall ship's ramp for Rollon/rolloff then caused damage to, later the US navy was sued by florida for the damage

[@lefteyereport6354]

This happened again just like 3 years ago

[@lefteyereport6354]

Also the Jacksonville engineering disaster should be the river City Renaissance plan

[@stephenbonaci4831]

Looking forward to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge episode Remastered

[@mariethe_patate3696]

I agree that the bridge is super ugly... It has so much rust on it that it can't be painted quick enough. About the engineering iron ring: it was believed to be made of the iron of the collapsed bridge (though it's not). The ceremony where we get it is weird as f*** (you pledge holding a chain and you hit an anvil with a hammer, it has some freemason vibe)... I don't wear mine anymore, I got too fat and it doesn't fit anymore - guess that's why there are still engineering disasters in Canada! 🤷‍♀️

[@KtVogtF]

Geez, all these prole worker deaths is getting a little depressing. Please feature an engineering disaster where cops die Thanks

[@jordancantrell6598]

Episode 20: Waco Texas

[@riikkatheiceprincess_she_h8725]

But then it's not a disaster? Oh, I took that as "where only cops die." S'pose it can still be a disaster if it's not /only/ cops. Still a pretty big silver lining for this channel where like... a city blows up and it's all just random people and also every firefighter in the city who get incinerated.

[@Max._Power]

@@riikkatheiceprincess_she_h8725 except this podcast likes firefighters due to their propensity for not murdering brown people

[@nolookylooky]

You are showing your power level.

[@nolookylooky]

@@riikkatheiceprincess_she_h8725 You are showing your power level.

[@AnonyDave]

Pronouns "were/was"

[@dylanchouinard6141]

Pronouns: Who Was/Who Is/ Who Will Be

[@kommo1]

Thats for ghosts.

[@forestine_]

In the last Winnipeg civic election, we had a plebiscite about opening Portage and Main to pedestrian traffic. Since the '70s you have to use these underground tunnels that are super confusing and smell like pee. But no, everybody from the suburbs voted to keep it closed. So the most famous intersection, like, ever, is just a concrete mess.

[@brentgras]

Another Canadian bridge project that didnt go so well was the Nipigon river bridge along the TransCanada highway.. Basically the engineers forgot that cables shrink when in colder temperatures an was causing structural bolts to fail

[@rileye9599]

*delighted squealing* My trough overrunneth with slop this week! Also the phrase "The Firth of Forth" will never stop being funny to me

[@deeznoots6241]

Neat to hear that my local railroad wasn’t the only one shipped to France in WW1

[@BeauKpad]

Who writes the goddamned captions?!? I was alone in my room yet still looked both ways before laughing at "transly".

[@Furore2323]

Feels like y'all are getting more comfortable talking to a mic, kudos.

[@KtVogtF]

And I think this is the first episode without some dumb technical fuck-up they didn't bother to cut out in editing. :-D

[@flametitan100]

Always glad to see y'all on my feed

[@Reddsoldier]

I know they shouldn't have done it!

[@not12x]

"second most famous polish american after so-and-so" CASMIR PULASKI WOULD LIKE A WORD PLEASE

[@scarylion1roar]

So, this was basically taking three tries to finish a PolyBridge level? Badly done, badly done, well done.

[@LuckeWent]

I got the boeing joke at the same time as donoteat. No shame.

[@cyberbrunk]

I appreciate Alice's dedication to using big cartoon imagery for jokes

[@del69blue]

Not sure what's worse the extra 200ft without new weight calculations or the length of time before the 'Boeing' joke landed with someone ..

[@noonespecial7784]

I see that Alice was revived with Juche necromancy

[@lukesenesac]

Now you should have Donald Shoup on to talk about parking lot requirements. I'm not sure how good he'd be at jokes. But..... parking lots are also a disaster.

[@centurion1945]

The High Cost of Free Parking is a must read for anybody who cares about urban design and also a great way to get depressed

[@willmiles7978]

The first episode of DoNotEat's Power, Politics, & Planning series on his other channel is an illustration of how silly US parking lot requirements are via the medium of Cities Skylines, check it out.

[@j2simpso]

centurion1945 indeed depositing all the luxury and income tax under that spot sure does impact the gameplay of monopoly!

[@BvG_Venom]

A bridge episode!! You are giving the people what they want to see.

[@yakueb]

Still haven't activated windows.

[@cravinghibiscus7901]

That is the real character development this season.

[@Hotrob_J]

Using the free version of Windows is praxis

[@mkepioneet]

It will happen after the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Episode

[@SledgeOfHouseHammer]

@@Hotrob_J What does not activating Windows have to do with upgrades in Deus Ex games? :)

[@William-Morey-Baker]

Windows is free now... Check it out. No joke. Microsoft is giving windows 10 away for free now. To everyone.

[@cheybat5390]

Justin's laughter is so fucking adorable.

[@wwcohwwg]

you are correct about the rings! a friend had told me that they're purposely made heavy to demonstrate the gravity of avoiding such an event.

[@opalpersonal]

i'm rewatching thesse from the beginning after finishing up till episode 100 and i gotta say- episode 13 is my favorite.

[@SolarbearChiptune]

Finally the Quecoma Berrows Bridge

[@michellevanallen3286]

Can’t for the life of me remember who recommended this podcast to me but you fill the hole in my heart left when the Caustic Soda podcast stopped.

[@McCbobbish]

Incidentally, a lot of airplanes use cantilevers to make the wings stay up.

[@CalamityCallie_0]

I'm getting my Iron Ring in April, apparently they give you an electric shock if you ever try and telecommute

[@clayton717]

Dakota access pipeline would be an interesting episode

[@martinda7446]

None of these things will work until you activate Windows..

[@MrJohndoakes]

To quote Robert Stack "But that's what they WANT us to do...." (looks cospiratorial.)

[@Anonarchist]

I've been giving people helicopter rides in GTA Online telling them it's the Kobe Bryant Experience, and then slamming us into the ground.

[@booketoiles1600]

There are 29'314 people in the Mohawk nation. The death of 80 is equivalent of 0,2% of today's population suddenly dying.

[@SofaKingShit]

Damn this episode is really very funny. I even briefly forgot about my bong. Clap clap clap.

[@OkSharkey]

This is excellent, almost as good as Ep 13, but you lose one point for not having such an amazing special guest as last time so only 10/10

[@ericjamieson]

"Anagolous"

[@edavenport93]

The hats are structural.

[@vienlacrose]

"Load bearing stovepipes"

[@fauzirahman3285]

This has been an interesting analysis to listen to. Recently, in Melbourne, Australia, there was just a memorial to the workers who died in the collapse of the West Gate Bridge 50 years ago. I hope this podcast would cover that some day.

[@malachymac6027]

hell yeah, just finished the van episode 20 minutes ago

[@zappajohns4600]

oh shit I didn't realize that was up, gotta check the patreon

[@eagletanker]

Send it our way??

[@czarpeppers6250]

I can't wait for the future episode "Vancouver's Second Narrows Bridge: Heeeeeere We Go Again!" Also it's okay, you don't have to pretend Winnipeg is nice. We all know it isn't.

[@desadesky]

aka the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge

[@OddLeah]

Winnipeg IS nicer than Thunder Bay, but most sloughs are nicer than Thunder Bay.

[@joinedupjon]

The Forth rail bridge had 73 construction fatalities (some question on the correct number afaik) and it never even collapsed once. Presumably the QB had a non-disaster related death toll well into double figures too due to crappy turn of the century safety culture and practice. Having a construction disaster throws a long shadow on the 'everyday' construction fatalities and casualties.

[@apeacebone6499]

at roughly 25:00...... oh, sweet past podcast hosts, you have no idea how much more relatable that's gonna get...

[@somethingsnowing]

I graduated with a mechanical engineering degree in 2019 from the University of Saint Thomas in Minnesota and we received and order of the engineers rings with the Quebec bridge story. The University of Minnesota has the failed gusset plate and members from the I35W bridge in front of one of their engineering buildings while St Thomas has its sister gusset plate and members that will become a statue once the new science and engineering building is built.

[@ShutItKyle]

"Canada" Well There's Your Problem.

[@NavigatorBR]

43:10 - For the folks looking for the amazing quote: "The ability of the two engineers was tried in one of the most difficult professional problems of the day and proved to be insufficient for the task."

[@ctfpd09]

I literally just drove over the Commodore Barry as you mentioned this

[@ILikeTheThingsIDo]

So at least we will know when this series has run out of material. When they actually do an episode on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse.

[@AlanCrocker]

I can tell this is a classic episode because Justin still has a twitter

[@trashf1re]

Well There's Your Problem Podcast Episode 14: the Gang has Heated Gamer Moment on Bridge

[@K-H-28]

This podcast has been sustaining me while I work from home, thank you

[@KJamesMellick]

Don't be to hard on Ralph Modjeski. He was a amazing engineer. Look at the Crooked River bridge in Oregon, and his two rail bridges on the Columbia, which after 110 years are still used by like 75 trains a day.

[@fitandhappy42]

Check out the Volk Electric Railway’s Daddy Longlegs train if you want to see a disaster that has trains, weird victorians, and a death toll of 0.

[@Lurdiak]

Liam single-handedly reviving the FLQ in this one.

[@engibear6392]

*Some additional after having read the STRUCTURE article myself:* *The article mentions that the fabricated steel did not meet the specifications, but that's pretty much par for the course on a typical construction project, and the contemporary reports even say that the bridge would have definitely fallen down even if that were not the case. The "7% extra weight is within tolerance" thing really does kind of make sense with typical safety factors of the era and the accuracy with which it is actually possible to estimate the weight of something that complex with just pencils and paper, but that's the thing: this bridge seems to have had a really low factor of safety for the period. This is one item that wasn't really covered in the podcast.* *Modern engineering codes allow much higher maximum stress in tension elements because tension elements are inherently stable, while compression elements will often buckle (i.e. "bow") well before the full strength of the material is developed (using the ever-useful ruler analogy, compare what happens when you push on a ruler at its ends vs. pulling on them really hard). Back in the day, however, engineers were lazy and just used a big factor of safety for everything. This meant that some elements were really under-utilized, but it also usually kept engineers out of trouble in a pre-computer era when it came to complex phenomena like buckling and fatigue. I'm used to seeing allowable stresses of 16,000 pounds per square inch for structures design up into the 1940s or so, when they presumably had better steel than in 1907. I'm not really familiar with the Cooper railroad loadings system like Justin, but for the Cooper E-50 loading that was considered in the original design, the specifications used an allowable stress of 24,000 pounds per square inch. That is definitely in the danger zone for buckling of even modern steels, depending on the slenderness of the part, so unless that was an extremely unrealistic number akin to a bomb going off on the bridge, that is not good. Add onto that the 7% miscalculation of weight and any fabrication errors... as is so often the case, it's not just one thing. It is several all at once.* *A final thing that I probably don't have time to fully explain here is that the article also mentions that the latticing for the compression members of the truss was inadequate. The lattice elements don't hold up any of the weight for the bridge, but they let two skinny elements mutually-support one another. The idea is that you get a really stable box-shaped cross section, but two of the walls are latticed instead of closed, saving weight.* *The Victorian Era was a weird time that I'm not too familiar with in terms of engineering technology, so I don't know whether it's fair to say that these eminent men were incompetent for not realizing something that a I notice at-a-glance with only a few years of experience (in spite of teleworking via KZbin). It's probably worth noting that this all took place only a few decades after a time when the bridge-building industry looked a lot like the tech industry today: a lot of the designs were proprietary, and everyone was just figuring it out as they went. It was in the "more of an art than a science" phase, and a lot of people died. Still, in spite of all the jokes about The Man In The Fancy Coat, do you really prefer today's system, where engineers (and other designers and executives) hide their reputations behind a corporate veil? Maybe we'd be better off if engineers were celebrities working on vanity projects again, with plaques celebrating achievements but also laying blame.*

[@induceddemand]

I've crossed the Quebec Bridge twice by rail, and I didn't even know that it was that specific bridge. It's remarkable

[@pmcgee003]

The Tacoma Narrows on this show is trumped only by Mornington Crescent on "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" (BBC) 👍👍🙂

[@tsilll]

Don't forget your load-bearing hat!

[@djhsilver]

If we don't get fan art of Lord Danfrrithnimnry looming over the horizon twirling his enormous mustaches by the next episode, I'm gonna be very upset!

[@MRKapcer13]

I hope you guys release the Tacoma Narrows Bridge on April's Fool's and see how people react

[@needhelpinwow]

You are spoiling us with all this content.

[@roborovskihamster5425]

If you're interested, the Kahnawake reserve is pronounced Gah-nuh-wa-ge.

[@chaosof99]

While waiting for the bus on monday I thought "hmmm, there was no WTYP last week" and then we get three episodes on a week.

[@mariethe_patate3696]

Whoa! The second episode near where I live (after LacMégantic)!

[@ThePwnageHobo]

Every time I hear Justin say "centre span" my brain goes "Lisa needs braces"

[@PickledThyme1]

You are my spirit animal

[@Jwend392]

Fun fact: Cargo vessels that exclusively sail the Great Lakes are called "boats" and not "ships."

[@alaeriia01]

If I recall correctly, isn't the difference between a boat and a ship in how it turns?

[@BillyHudson1]

When did my engineering podcast become a comedy podcast

[@GONEmypurpleflapjack]

y'al are here for the engineering?

[@Chango_Malo]

I like it better with more enginerding content and fewer shitty jokes.

[@Nicolai0Nerland]

@@Chango_Malo T h e n p e r i s h

[@mahj]

It's always been this way.

[@BillyHudson1]

@@mahj Oh no, you can't tell me that. Just go and look at the tacoma narrows bridge episode. You'll see what I mean.

[@Ficzzho]

My heart skipped a beat at the mention of the Weakerthans.

[@attben]

same here. incredible band.

[@danmack3173]

Really appreciating all the CanCon lads

[@DetectiveMekova]

I can't wait to get the President of Pennsylvania shirt!

[@3216100]

I'm no engineer, but I always confuse a rigid beam pivoting on a fulcrum, and a small magnifying lens enclosed in a cylinder... I guess it's just the difference between cantilevers and cantaloupes.

[@storozhevoy7551]

my hometown! i only ever take the suspension bridge lmao

[@jplay9710]

I mean my Winnipeg knowledge all comes from the title of that one VSnares song "Winnipeg is a frozen shithole" so whatever this Weakerthans one is is probably better.

[@CaelanAegana]

You guys missed Roz mispronouncing "analogous" twice. So I got a good chuckle later when you started haranguing him for more difficult words.

[@centurion1945]

Ralph Modjeski of Modjeski and Masters of the Universe. I actually attended a talk by some engineers from M&M about the building of the Portageville Railroad Bridge which is a pretty cool bridge that has not collapsed...yet.

[@whoever6458]

Back when I drove a motorcycle, the Santa Ana winds could blow me to the next lane over pretty easily so I just looked at the forecasted direction of the wind and then I'd drive on the side of the lane towards the wind and, when it blew me sideways significantly, I'd still only end up on the other side of the lane. Of course, I'd try to beg off going anywhere too. Back when I was driving my first car home from college (I took a test to get the hell out of high school because it started too early in the morning and I was tired of kicking people's asses because they jumped me for being a lesbian in the 90s). So I was 17 then and there was a thunderstorm and some unusually high winds when I was on my way home from the first college I attended. I got off of the freeway because I could tell the winds were getting bad but I ended up driving right into a circulation that was probably just short of technically being a tornado. It tried to flip my small car over so I rolled down all the windows, which helped the car to remain on the ground and I obviously also stopped. Thankfully, I had been practically living in my car for the entire day that I spent at college so the added dirt that blew into my car from the near-tornado didn't make it much dirtier than it already was. I would have been pretty fucked if I had been driving my motorcycle but I got that many years later and, by then, I had learned how to look carefully at the weather before going somewhere (unless I was going to a foreign country in which case it's always worth going).

[@youtubeisawebsite7484]

23:29 Caption: "Lord fan Singh Tain's rival Lord Danforth Newburky" I guess that _is_ kind of a name?

[@xenathcytrin202]

aw yiss, loved episode 13, looking forewards on the follow up

[@ScotSteam47]

You can actually see my house in the Forth picture lol

[@miketate3445]

Hey, that looks like the Commodore Barry Bridge... You would think a Commodore would have a fancier name than Barry.

[@R._B._Victor_Hugo_Ashford]

If you're an engineer in Canada, and you are a member of the Order of Engineers, are you allowed to use the rings as cock rings? Asking for a friend.

[@GONEmypurpleflapjack]

it's a pinkie ring so you'd have to be pretty small for it to fit, but no one is stopping you

[@R._B._Victor_Hugo_Ashford]

@@GONEmypurpleflapjack Well this sounds like the perfect use for all my m o i s t u r i z e r.

[@prjndigo]

The current E72 standard is roughly equivalent to the sustained high flow rate of the lava that was coming out of Kilauea's LERZ from Fissure 8. I calculated that flow to be roughly equivalent to a maximum load US train moving around 88mph. My cheeseburger calculations are lost but on my twitter someplace.

[@cooljayhu]

Hell yeah. I (allegedly) wear a piece of this stupid bridge on my finger every day

[@pin0teres]

When I heard "the second most famous Polish American, after Richard Kuklinski" I thought to myself "How nice! They remember Ryszard Kukliński" (a cold war spy who revealed plans for Soviet invasion on Western Europe). Yet something felt a bit off (he was Polish, not Polish American). I googled "Richard Kuklinski" and I was like "Oh...".

[@TemplarOnHigh]

29:40 - Wait, why do they want to beat Pewdiepie up in a RoFo and not a Wawa?

[@MrBfiguero]

Prince Rupert should get a pass on its name. It's Prince Rupert of the Rhine who brought these cool glass beads to England which are named after him: Prince Rupert's Drop. They shatter in a really cool way if you clip one end of 'em.

[@readwrecks]

MrBfiguero, and the other end is nigh unbreakable.

[@MesiterSode]

My engineering lecture went through this bridge concept today, using much of the same old photos. Spooky.

[@SaintRukus]

glad to finally see a pro-void podcast

[@Zevonfan524]

I’m just starting this podcast & am starting to suspect that they aren’t actually ever going to do the Tacoma Narrows Bridge…

[@darthbob88]

Joke's on you, because they actually did. It was the live show, which they've put up as a Patreon bonus episode. Now they're going to do the Boston Molasses Flood next week.

[@aptspire]

My great-grandfather worked on the Quebec bridge. If he'd been on the wrong section when it collapsed, I wouldn't be here.