Well There's Your Problem | Episode 24: Kings Cross Fire

Today we talk about escalators.
The Patreon: / wtyppod
image credits:
met steam loco
By Hammersfan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
tube train
By SPSmiler - Own work, Public Domain, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
reno-type escalator
stolen from www.flickr.com/photos/6315155...
macys wooden escalator
By Xiaphias, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
greenford escalator
By Billy Hicks - Taken by myself using digital camera., CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

[@SuperRat420]

We just gonna ignore that Jam reference?

[@welltheresyourproblempodca1465]

THANK YOU

[@isaacvogel4117]

@@welltheresyourproblempodca1465 I thought pinned comments were the bad ones?

[@scarylion1roar]

@@isaacvogel4117 not necessarily. They pinned a good comment on episode 5 from a traffic engineer

[@kelpsho]

I have no idea the fuck you are talking about, I just liked this comment cus ur name good

[@ewetoo]

Well *I* did the "oh oh oh"s, didn't hear nothing from you other plebs.

[@KerbalRocketry]

$1000 tier patreon reward tier that's the Tacoma Narrows episode which is an hour of straight-laced sober analysis with 0 jokes.

[@deeznoots6241]

Saimons they should treat the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse with the reverence it deserves, jokes should only be for disasters that kill several thousand people

[@scarylion1roar]

@@deeznoots6241 Fs in the chat for Tubby the Dog.

[@BlarryOfficial]

The Tacoma Narrows episode is what comes out of the speakers when you play the disc in Liam's van's stereo in reverse.

[@KerbalRocketry]

@@scarylion1roar thousands of people dying is a statistic, but One dog is a tragedy.

[@phathumdeep]

@@scarylion1roar that fucking dog had it coming! Dumb piece of shit bit the hand of the dude who tried to save him from the car

[@theryanbard]

Its actually nuts how many terrible public disasters occurred during the Thatcher years in Britain, its almost as if there's some connection there

[@mor4y]

Following the same logic: It's actually nuts how many girls were abused and raped during the Blair years in Britain, it's almost as if theres some kind of connection there This game has no winners, the only winning move is not to play (Everyone should read Sammy Woodhouse's book, or check out some interviews, absolutely harrowing stuff 😵 )

[@csours]

@@mor4y ehh, did that actually happen, or did people start caring more and did it get more publicity. By the way, this is a fair question to ask about the Thatcher issue as well.

[@theryanbard]

@@mor4y Lol do you honestly think I'm a Blair supporter? He was just as bad if not worse than Thatcher, especially considering the role he played in Iraq, fuck new Labour as well as the Tories. The problem is neoliberalism itself not which party was doing neoliberalism at the time. Also, I wasn't just blaming Thatcher cause she happened to be in charge at the time. There's an obvious connection between the culture of deregulation enacted by Thatcher's government and the declining safety standards and deferred maintenance which lead to these disasters. Second also, there might legit be a connection between the abuse of children and Blair, I wouldn't be surprised if he was involved in some Epstein shit.

[@TheIntox23]

Whole bunch of dead fascists in the Stalin years eh ?

[@vueltaa_43]

@@mor4y Blair is also bad

[@strangeWaters]

"it's not ecofascism if EVERYBODY dies" words of wisdom

[@brandonhoffman4712]

@Joe Average Anarchy 99!

[@k28xl]

>Nazis can like engineering disasters too Now you guys need to do a whole episode on what an engineering success the T-34 was.

[@eagletanker]

Imagine having to fight with 85mm gun that relies on velocity to destroy tanks -this post was made by the ISU/SU 152 Gang

[@oldmanramblingatclouds]

I regret that I have but one like to give to this comment; unironically love _love_ *love* the T-34/85.

[@DeHeld8]

Build more T34s then the amount of 88mm shells Germany has -> Win the war.

[@Benu54321]

To save time and resources, the track pins were just pins, no thread and nut on one end. And to make sure they didn't fall out, they inserted them from the inside of the track and welded a metal plate on to the hull that knocked the pins back into the track as it passed. It's why the T34 makes a distinctive noise as it moves.

[@russetwolf13]

An engineering success if you're okay with Hull Break due to bad metallurgy and welds.

[@ClimateDude]

Social distancing = good. Social distancing = Communism --> Communism = good. Thanks for the clarification lady in the USA tank top.

[@MxArgent]

"Socialism is based" --PragerU

[@michaelkeaveney1385]

I love it when people who claim to love and respect America repeatedly violate the US flag code.

[@danielz56037]

nope... Socialism is good! there is a song about it kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJCufJqwi9ijl8k

[@kevinrussell3501]

She had a very confusing sign. Seems like social distancing would be the opposite of socialism lol

[@felixecho]

Such ladies are always correct.

[@liquidfur2]

Hairdresser here. For every client I have that has reached out to check on me and my husband (so grateful for all of them), there is another who texts me wanting me to come to their house and do their hair! WTF?! All I hear is, "MY vanity is more important than your life!" I can guarantee that the folks who just have to go get a haircut are emotional children. I've worked on some of these folks for over 30 years. They are big, adult babies who need to be entertained 24/7. They've never done a minute's worth of work toward personal growth in their entire adult lives.

[@NUCCubus]

Thank you for your work

[@BadWebDiver]

Stay safe out there.

[@grmpEqweer]

Hope you're doing well.💜

[@effluviah7544]

I used to commute through this station every day for uni, and I passed the memorial plaque every morning. Out of sheer anxiety and paranoia, I learned how to navigate the entire station with my eyes closed, just in case some shit went down again in the future and my sad tired piece of shit self was down there waiting to go to school... Made it my goal to be able to bail out of any station fast as possible. Then a couple years later I was on the platform when the helicopter hit the tower next to Vauxhall station and I was out of that fuckin station in less than a minute. Nailed it.

[@patrickscottwalsh]

urban trauma preppers

[@tibbygaycat]

Fucking nailed it!

[@markwilliams2620]

Every hotel I stay in I count the doors to the exit.

[@aturchomicz821]

@@markwilliams2620 what??

[@ebolachanislove6072]

@@aturchomicz821 reduced visibility during a fire, not as much of a point in hotels tho because usually it's more of a "go that way until encounter fire exit door" situation

[@Blitz350]

A quick point of order. Flashover and backdraft are 2 distinct and unique phenomena. Flashover is a part of the normal growth cycle of a fire in a compartment where the fire goes from relatively small but growing to fully consuming the space. As a small fire grows in a compartment it heats the air and exposed surfaces. As these surfaces heat they begin to pyrolyze and emit gasses which are flammable. If the fire continues to grow, this continued heating primes all the combustible surfaces in the room for ignition. Upon a critical point being reached, all combustible surfaces and gasses in the room rapidly ignite in a matter of a few seconds. and the fire progresses from the growth stage to the fully developed stage. Temperatures at the floor can go from a few hundred degrees F to 1000 F and climbing in a matter of seconds. This is rapid, but it is not explosive. Obviously this is a lethal environment, even for firefighters as the PPE simply cant take such thermal insult. This is predicated on the fire having enough fuel and oxygen to burn. How quickly flashover is reached is dependent on the amount of heat being produced, which is generally dependent on the material burning, as well as the size of the compartment. ie: Small room, big fire will reach flash over much faster than a big room with a small fire. A backdraft involves a fire that has run out of oxygen prior to consuming all the fuel available. If a fire in a compartment runs out of oxygen just before or just after flashover, combustion stops however the intense heat that has been generated still persists. Pyrolysis still takes place and begins to fill the space with unburned, superheated flammable gases which only need oxygen to ignite. If the compartment is then vented the rapid reintroduction of oxygen creates an explosive ignition of these super heated gases followed immediately by rapid reignition of the smoldering material and rapid fire growth and spread. Backdrafts can blow out windows, displace walls, and can cause buildings to collapse. They are dangerous but thankfully relatively rare as generally a fire will cause something to occur to get more oxygen and continue to burn, like a window failing from heat for instance. Modern construction though has increased the potential for such events as buildings are becoming more and more sealed and insulated. The "touch the door and the thing does the thing" is a backdraft, not a flashover. That being said a fire can be "vent limited" meaning its spread is being limited by its air supply with flashover being held up, but the room is primed for it. The introduction of more air from opening a door or a window failing can cause these fires to flashover in a matter of seconds but not explode. There is also a related phenomena known as a smoke explosion. This is where relatively cool smoke builds up in a compartment connected to the fire compartment and finds a source of ignition, often times the fire itself once it grows bigger. Things like cocklofts and attics are prone to smoke explosions as they can easily collect smoke from below but they can occur in any connected compartment. These have much more in common with a natural gas explosion than a backdraft as they do not always result in the space in which they occur becoming involved in fire directly. I hope I was able to share some information. I'm really enjoying these podcasts! PS: Did I just really type that much???

[@AntiComposite]

Oh good, someone already typed this out so I don't have to.

[@StarlightSocialist]

Thank you for the detailed and interesting information on these fire phenomena. I very much enjoyed the read!

[@Dancingonthesun]

Very interesting read! Good for when I demonstrate the difference at the next company bbq

[@conors4430]

Ok you are smart

[@stiltpuppy]

Next time it's really hot out I'm gonna put the back of my hand on my forehead and say some shit about how I can't handle such thermal insult

[@Anonarchist]

Living in west Texas, everything already looks like a Herzog film. In the spring everything gets torn apart by the wind, and in the summer everything's on fucking fire, the only precipitation we get is hail.

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Makes you wonder why Americans ever tried to settle there when it belonged to Mexico. Then they took the clothes of a Vaquero and merged it with then modern American style which is a real knee slapper. Because it means all cowboys are rhinestone cowboys! If you think poncho wore a button down and a leather vest you'd be mistaken.

[@musclecat1005]

How's the snow treating you?

[@icryyoumercy]

*delighted carpenter noise* thanks for defending the fire safety of heavy wood construction! i love my job, but telling people that wood is in fact a safe building material if we do our work properly gets tiring after a while

[@mgkleym]

Wood good, petroleum product bad.

[@ebnertra0004]

I've got a document on wooden bridges where they demonstrate this with a picture of a burned-down building. It showed a wood beam that was pretty burned, but it had managed to hold up a steel beam that was hanging over it like wet spaghetti. Pretty impressive

[@rossjames8839]

I can criticize this podcast all I want; jokes on Liam, I live in Australia. You seen what plane tickets here cost? He'd never pick punching me in the face over used truck money. I mean. I don't want to criticize the show. It's good. But you know. I could.

[@eleSDSU]

You both underestimate Liam's anger and how desperate airlines have gotten lol

[@reidwallace4258]

'Get a hoodie and a face mask' used to sound mildly threatening, now it sounds like what your mom would yell at you before you walked the dog.

[@m.r.7979]

It's still alive. The Activate Windows banner.

[@Stoyon]

M. R. I hope they keep it even if Windows gets activated

[@justinevans1852]

I'm surprised they don't split the patreon money 4 ways considering how often they show up.

[@readmorebooksidiots]

Activate Windows is one of my favorite hosts

[@joinedupjon]

wrt 20 coats of paint. If it hadn't caught fire when it did, they'd probably have got round to fitting some attractive high flammability composite cladding over the escalators by now.

[@NotJustBikes]

I used to live at King's Cross station (Omega Place and then Keystone Cres). AMA. It hasn't been the red light district in a long time. Even the "Flying Scotsman" strip pub is closed. So now I live in Amsterdam.

[@Kron0]

Google has a building there now so it's just full of tech bros and overpriced lunch food.

[@Dancingonthesun]

I read that as you live in Afghanistan

[@morriganmaterials4008]

I just love how Liam sounds more distant than the others, making it seem like he's just hanging somewhere in the background doing something else and eavesdropping just to jump in whenever someone needs to be called an asshole and I totally support this style of podcasting. Don't ever change, this podcast is perfect and I love it and I will keep on spamming my friends and people I know moderately well until it becomes truly known that TRAIN GOOD, CAR BAD.

[@googleuser7763]

Train is good but car is good too :( they can coexist!

[@joshlevine273]

you guys should do an episode about invasive species, a topic which is complex, often pretty funny, and contains a lot more engineering than you might think. Lampreys and Quagga mussels stow away in the bilges of ships, all kinds of insects sneak into shipping pallets, hurricanes release people's big ass pet snakes into the everglades. Quagga mussels could be a whole ass episode because of all the damage they do to boats and dams, and their ability to filter all the algae out of entire lakes.

[@frozenchikin6321]

They should invite Crime Pays but Botany doesn't

[@cubedable]

they can even mention the 30-50 feral hogs meme

[@scarylion1roar]

BDIA humans would just ballast ships with any old Brazilian dirt and that's how fire ants invasive speciesed

[@ForgivingCross]

@@frozenchikin6321 This is the fucking crossover we need!!!

[@artistwithouttalent]

And as a bonus they could say the words, "fish taser" just _so_ many times.

[@scarylion1roar]

2020 Beverly Hillbillies reboot: It's an oil ceo and their family who move to the boonies because of the negative oil prices.

[@DED_MEEM]

Fund it.

[@do_care919]

I'm wetting myself thinking of this

[@cassidyshepard6371]

schitts creek

[@scarylion1roar]

@@cassidyshepard6371 uh, they ended up there because of crimes. The 2020 Beverly Hillbillies move to a trailer park on the Bakken Formation because of the negative oil prices.

[@zachblue5860]

Listen to my story 'bout the Clampett family Around 60 years ago was when they moved to Beverly Living fat on all the riches from a-frackin' all the soil 'Til the price was minus-20 for a barrel of oil (Market crash, pandemic, bankruptcy) Now the next thing you know, the family fortune's all spent Now they gotta work near every day to eat and pay the rent But there's a cabin in the Ozarks left to them by Grandpawpaw So they loaded up the truck and moved back to Arkansas (Home sweet home, Clampett family estate)

[@sirrliv]

Two points to add to the early part of the discussion: 1. Not only are the Underground lines built to full standard gauge so they can fit full size trains (at least on the track, clearance through the tunnels is another matter), but when the Metropolitan Railway was first being built in the 1860's it was built to 7ft1/4in broad gauge so they could lease engines and carriages from Brunel's Great Western Railway. 2. Regarding cable-hauled undergrounds, might be a bit of a stretch for the definition, but when the Liverpool & Manchester Railway was first opened in 1829 the Liverpool city council refused to allow steam locomotives into the city any further than Edge Hill. To connect that to the inner city stations at Crown Street (for passengers) and through Wapping Tunnel to the docks (for freight), cars were sent downhill by gravity and taken back uphill by cables to Edge Hill, where they would meet their locomotives. That's why in historic illustrations of the L&M's original Edge Hill terminus there's often two colossal chimney stacks shown either side of the railway cutting; those are chimneys for the big winding engines that hauled the cables from Wapping and Crown Street.

[@Carlyknarly]

Comment to add about track gauges: DC metro is built to 4ft 8 1/4in because fuck you.

[@slaughterround643]

as a scouser and a train enthusiast: thank you :)

[@blue9multimediagroup]

The sub surface lines are regular sized. The tube lines are smaller to fit in the tubes.

[@feynaomi]

My favourite coney island thing is that American hospitals didn't want incubators at first so they could do an eugenics, so parents would bring preterm babies to coney Island where they'd be cared for and put in an incubator for free in exchange for people being able to look at the babies (she/her or ve/ver)

[@russetwolf13]

That's what people mean when they say the free market will provide. Premies under glass.

[@spoogerification]

did Coney Island only accept female babies ?

[@justinevans1852]

@@spoogerification That's Epstein island

[@redcoconutcurry359]

Yeah that was a major plot thread in Boardwalk Empire

[@Robert0Pirie]

The worst train station is Amtrak Savannah, GA... it's off a rail yard surrounded by a half abandoned industrial park and barren fields. It's sketchy and difficult to find. Thank God, in the 1950's, we tore down the beautiful original station that put you out in downtown in order to build the I-16 flyover and create a more defined red line.

[@herpderp6705]

Just looked at in Google Earth. Looks like the people who build that in this location really hates Amtrak. They really made an effort to f that up. Bigly.

[@Robert0Pirie]

@@herpderp6705 yeah. it's off a side road that's off a side road. Look up Savannah Union Station on Wikipedia... it was beautiful. Now it's an interstate interchange.

[@MrJimheeren]

Oh my. I just googled it. That’s almost comical how far away that station is from the city center. Who did that

[@Robert0Pirie]

@@MrJimheeren it was the passenger station for a smaller railway who's operations Amtrak and CSX assumed. The main railway station in Savannah was in the downtown, but was torn down to build an interstate overpass in the 1970's because: America.

[@MrJimheeren]

@@Robert0Pirie yeah I read on Wikipedia that the neighborhood around the station was a wealthy black area. So of course it had to go. White people need big urban freeways to get to their horrible suburbs

[@NamelessMoreOne]

Oh, how lovely. You cannot find a sprinkler system in the UK in most places, but the place that has one hasn't even bothered to make it easy to activate or make an automatic detection system of some kind. Then you get a fire hydrant closed off, with no redundancy, and suddenly 31 people are dead. I mean, it's incredible that people "took fire codes more seriously" but you still got a Grenfell Tower later on. The thing with a CO2 fire extinguisher is that it's the only decent option (Before giving up). Water + electrical and oil is, of course, an even worse idea. What remains is foam, which COULD work with minimal damage if you have specific foams (Some can be used on live cables, others can't. Some can be used in fuels, others can't), but it doesn't get absolutely everywhere in a confined space with barriers. While a metro escalator isn't exactly spacious, the amount of CO2 you'd need to cause a confined space death probably isn't going to come from a extinguisher. About the plastic clothes, I'm not quite sure what you mean. Is the exterior in plastic and it has multiple layers below that? Because radiating and convection heat doesn't do much to plastic that's rated for it. And while firefighters may need to get themselves right into the fire, if it gets to the point that fire safe plastics start burning, there's not a whole lot you could do except not get yourself in the middle of a fire.

[@danielkorladis7869]

the English just want all their stuff to burn.

[@TalesOfWar]

To be fair, a lot of the shit that lead to Grenfel was very much against code but they did it anyway because it was cheaper. Also they didn't really care about the people in there who were largely the kind who wouldn't vote for Brexit. If you get my meaning.

[@justinokraski3796]

I'm only following this podcast until the Tacoma Narrows Bridge episode happens. I quit after that episode.

[@dmrr7739]

That’s next.

[@justinokraski3796]

good. I'm tired of all this engineering in my comedy

[@At0m1c420]

@@justinokraski3796 u sir made me laugh.

[@cursethesemetalhans]

Buy drums of oil, dig hole, fill hole with oil, set it on fire, smelt barrels, sell the metal back to the oil company to make more barrels. Repeat.

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Just have a single barrel with a secret oil line attached. Attach said line to a pumping truck. Pump back into the ocean! You get to tell Larry to "Keep on filling her up she's not quite topped off" while letting the meter run, you get to bilk them for fake patent licensing (since there going to want 55g barrels that can fit an entire refinery of oil inside!) and in the end they get to re-suck the oil you put back in the ocean for them. It's kind of like recycling. chop plastic into tiny bits (or don't) and release in ocean, allow to drift into "the great gyre"

[@secondengineer9814]

Car: Bad Train: Good Area Around Train Stations: The Worst

[@ahamlinfan7224]

That means that the parking lot is Hell on Earth

[@vienlacrose]

Car: Bad Train: Good Train stations, depots, and subway terminals: C O L L A T E R A L

[@Loomx5]

I gladly pay the sacrifice in aesthetics to be closer to the station and have a 1 minute walk to where i commute.

[@SofaKingShit]

Doesn't help sitting on your arse all day writing comments about it. Do something constructive if you feel that way. I like to litter on the tracks and pee in dark corners to express my disgust. Until things improve.

[@ClaudiaNW]

When I changed trains in Paris on my way from England to Germany, I was expecting the area around the Gare du Nord to be bad (I'd been warned about it). But actually there were a number of very good bakeries. I had a salmon quiche.

[@ExperimentIV]

oh shit, been waiting for this one. it’s kind of amazing how they discovered a whole effect caused by a combination of fluid mechanics and fire mechanics. i know a lot about this one and the tenerife disaster (amongst others youve covered), but your commentary is great. like i’ve said before, great balance between being funny and respectful. when i’ve got enough money to support on patreon regularly, i will, cause i HAVE to hear that groverhaus episode. thanks for keeping up the good work during all of this. shit’s been tough for me lately and i’m sure it has for many others, and this is always an interesting listen. (she/her)

[@Silkenray]

I became a patron for the groverhaus episode. Worth it.

[@Jablicek]

As an aside, and you'll have seen this one. A protester holding a sign reading: "Re-open Pennsylvania. Give me liberty or give me death." The look on her face is one of fierce pride.

[@applejinx7172]

"What do you mean 'OR'?"

[@CallMeHarryR]

The temperature in the ticket hall got so hot that the change in the ticket machines melted into solid lumps. This, as stated, is the equivalent temperature as the inside of a pizza roll

[@8roomsofelixir]

The escalator fire is pretty famous, I remember seen it on a popular science show, which using this incident to explain the ignition point of the wood and the trench effect.

[@zyavoosvawleilte1308]

Seymour the stairs are on fire! No mother, its just the northern lights

[@colonelgraff9198]

Take a shot every time Justin says “Yes”

[@ClimateDude]

RIP

[@colonelgraff9198]

Nicholas W. Lol

[@scarylion1roar]

F

[@inTIMMYdator44]

Help i died of alcoholism

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

Yes, right.

[@memomorph5375]

The Neurax Worm is a plague inc ref! Ah, an old favorite

[@jadebullet3884]

Pickups went from cheap, utilitarian vehicles to hyper expensive mall crawlers for one reason. The instituted a luxury car tax and the auto companies realized that truck chassis were not included in that tax. So they decided to turn trucks, and by extension SUVs, into luxury vehicles. Then it was just a matter of marketing them as desirable to suburban guys by playing off of the "working man" aesthetic. Because suburban white males didn't actually do physical blue collar work, the marketing pushed these vehicles as "a man's vehicle" and if you drive one you're a tough cowboy or a construction worker despite the fact that those people probably could no longer afford the new luxury trucks.

[@jadebullet3884]

Essentially its the vehicular equivalent of inflatable muscles and stuffing a sock in your pants.

[@felixleidinger1670]

@@jadebullet3884 You could say outright penis enlargement, a sock in your pants is at least subtle. Also the obligatory "fuck you Greta"-sticker. This trend has begun to sweep into Germany and the fact good infrastructure even in rural areas is kind of our thing in the eyes of the world makes it all the more ridiculous that city dwelling people invest in offroad vehicles for a political message. Also gas prices. Owning those cars in that context is basically the Darwin-participation-award for deserving applications that despite their effort in stupidity didnt yet make the cut.

[@chancekahle2214]

That, and the foreign companies that still make practical pickups have to deal with the punitive import tariff on light trucks.

[@5508Vanderdekken]

this is basically the appeal of the show Yellowstone, as well

[@notthedroidsyourelookingfo4026]

When you were humming, I so wish Alice had had her soviet anthem drop ready.

[@srwapo]

Coney Island used to have a neonatal intensive care unit that visitors could ogle. Hospitals weren't convinced incubators did anything, so the inventor teamed up with amusement attractions to pay for them and he would care of premature babies while they were on display for money.

[@joyg2526]

The great thing about this podcast for me is these guys go off the rails so much I lose track of the original topic, stop paying attention and forget what the heck I'm listening to. This enables me to listen to episodes MULTIPLE times, each time seems like the first time, since I forgot what the fuck they were talking about! This also makes the podcast good for zoning out when I'm working on stuff. Brilliant!

[@hellojjjetplane]

love the podcast but thank god for Justin, every episode he pulls you guy back to the topic with 0 transition and I love it

[@ProjectThunderclaw]

I've had a bit of fire safety training in my life, and the #1 thing I've taken from it is that fire moves much, _much_ faster than people think it does. They make you watch videos of real fires, and there are always people who die even though they _see_ the flames coming and _have_ the time to get away, because it took them 60, 30, 10 seconds too long to overcome their mental inertia and get moving. If I saw 4 inch flames on a subway escalator, I would power jog to the nearest emergency exit faster than you could say "occupational hazard", because I know that overflash or no, if safety protocols fail everyone on that platform will be dead within 15 minutes.

[@KevinSiebert]

Why don't oil companies buy oil barrels from other oil companies to get infinite money

[@NamelessMoreOne]

Because the amount you get is lower than the amount you'd need for fines and bribes. You know, negative infinity money. And that's what an engineer might call "uncertain".

[@r2dezki]

@@NamelessMoreOne Also probably the logistics is more costly too.

[@joshuadavies108]

You've just explained the stock market. Oil/goods will change hands dozens of times during sea journey increasing in price with every transaction.

[@jalindell]

#lifehack

[@colonelgraff9198]

Seems legit

[@mbilbo]

As a German I feel horribly left out. We are so meek now, if you make fun of everybody else, and not us, we are going to die out of guilt. In terms of disasters, the Hindenburg is always low hanging fruit (y'know, because it fell down), but I found a juicy one, that looks very promising. The Knick-Ei ("dented egg") was a sports hall, that was never finished, because the domed glass roof collapsed _twice_ during construction.

[@deeznoots6241]

Should have used high-strength glass

[@slaughterround643]

no liam you are *NOT* @oldmananderson on twitter you're @0ldmananderson get it right gosh darn heck

[@welltheresyourproblempodca1465]

Oldmananders0n

[@slaughterround643]

fuck! see? even I, the resident genius, can't get it right!

[@kensurrency2564]

Here we go

[@Nicolai0Nerland]

@@kensurrency2564 again

[@michaelkirschner]

Justin got too much flak for selling out and activating windows so he bought a new PC with the Patreon money with a fresh new bootleg copy of Windows

[@PTfan54]

Anyone who doesn't like the engineering podcast doing jokes probably has never hung out with a real engineer.

[@foxtrotwhiskey6651]

I think it's less the fact they joke, and more /how/ they do it. I find Alice and Anderson pretty cringeworthy and annoying, and mostly watch for Jason. It doesn't bother me enough to stop watching, but it's definitely not the best. Anderson particularly, though, reeks of "rehabilitated" chan shitposter.

[@morriganmaterials4008]

Joking is the only way to keep oneself sane while doing engineering work since you are fighting the nature itself and ultimately you will always loose

[@CountGrasshopper]

Tbf why would you want to hang out with an engineer?

[@PTfan54]

@@CountGrasshopper For money, mostly.

[@tibbygaycat]

@@foxtrotwhiskey6651 Tbh personally I like a lot of edgy humor. Forex I just learned the beautiful term "class cuck" for reactionaries. Different strokes tho.

[@readwrecks]

If I’m ever running for office and someone asks me how many genders there are, my answer’s gonna be “at least 9 and 3 quarters.”

[@slaughterround643]

Grovervirus.

[@griffinrails]

*Y E S*

[@Cynon]

My old choir director used to have everyone try out by singing the Star Spangled Banner, because it's not the easiest song to sing, but it also really helped him figure out what section someone belonged in.

[@MxArgent]

I deliver mail in a town with a $120,000 median income and oh my god i have seen so many damn lawn care companies

[@nathaniellindner313]

My landlord in Albany owned a lawncare company, and I could see him at one of those protests. His dad was, indeed, loaded. Although to be fair he actually did haul equipment in his F350.

[@pdb189]

Engineering failures podcast exposing crooked and inept landscaping companies. When’s the retaining wall patreon episode?

[@theryanbard]

10:00 is a cacophony of patriotism

[@danielodette6013]

Alice, look into Action Park if you're looking for that kind of theme park. It's a trip

[@MrJimheeren]

Action park New Jersey is the most liberal theme park that ever was. Completely run by drunk teenagers for drunk teenagers

[@peterrassolov1979]

15:46 Actually, at low concentrations, H2S has an unmistakable, highly offensive odor. That said, higher concentrations do come across as odorless, but that's because the gas eliminates your sense of smell altogether.

[@kensurrency2564]

Peter Rassolov Yes if you’re a chemist, and you play with such chemicals, you know the smell. It’s not nice. I go out of my way to dispose of my waste in order to avoid that smell. It’s my least favourite. Also, ammonia is my most favourite. Haha.

[@alanhorton7300]

When I was reading Harry Potter, I thought there must be several American wizarding schools, tucked away in obscure places, like there's one in a hidden cave network under Kansas and another in Florida, one in California, there would be one run by a shapeshifting dragon hippie and concentrates on the magical equivalent of liberal arts. Then I read what she actually wrote, and I'm like "that's it?"

[@pkunkbwok]

(switches on a giant sign with 'LAZY WRITING' spelled out in flashing lightbulbs)

[@willmiles7978]

Also knowing King's Cross station, and that the main, picturesque, 1850s concourse that she was clearly imagining when writing it is platforms 1-8, so Platform 9 3/4 would be in the 1972 grotty 'suburban lines' extension off to one side. Hence why the subsequent fanservice photo-op wall is somewhere they could get an exposed brick column off the side of the main station in the new modern glass-covered mall-connector.

[@teslashark]

The Japanese one has even less worldbuilding effort

[@agogobell28]

If you read the Alexandra Quick series of fanfiction, that’s actually true. JKR’s conception of a magical North America has nothing on Inverarity’s.

[@slaughterround643]

@@teslashark isn't the japanese one incredibly racist? or am I thinking of a chinese character?

[@aturchomicz821]

*Lego City : Undercover Roleplaying Server Flashbacks*

[@willmiles7978]

Not the reference I expected here - what's the connection?

[@aturchomicz821]

@@willmiles7978 You wouldnt understand!

[@willmiles7978]

@@aturchomicz821 I didn't think so but I'm kinda curious anyway as I worked on that game, I'm even in it as a Construction Worker!

[@arnoldschonberg9598]

The Harry Potter Wedding AITA post I actually got married in Feb, but for some reason people are still upset over this. My husband and I are very into Harry Potter. I am a proud Ravenclaw, he’s a Hufflepuff, so let me start by saying I don’t believe any Harry Potter house is “bad.” We had a Harry Potter theme wedding. It was small (65 people) so we were close enough with everyone to reasonably know where they’d be at Hogwarts. This was NOT “Jane is a jerk therefore she’s a Slytherin.” We thought long and hard about this and even had a few fights (which I naturally won with logic due to being a Ravenclaw lol) Anyway, guests were assigned seats based on their Hogwarts houses. We thought this would be fun. Yes. Couples were separated, but only for dinner. We didn’t sort the children because I feel like all children lean Slytherin for a while and you see very few Ravenclaw toddlers tbh it just wasn’t worth doing. Shockingly though the adults were...offended? Nearly every Slytherin was mad because their asses just think it means “bad guys” and forget to realize that Lenin was a Slytherin, it’s for sure NOT an insult! Even the people who read Harry Potter wanted to argue over how they should have been Gryffindor. I obviously wouldn’t do it again if I knew everyone would be so mad, but since I was the bride I really didn’t see the big deal? Even if you disagree that you’re a Hufflepuff (not surprisingly tho, they were the most docile) is it so bad to be one for...a day??

[@TuesdaysArt]

I didn't know Lenin was a wizard

[@jacksonduruy4303]

Speaking as a dude who works in a garden center, the amount of people buying lawn and garden stuff is CRAZY!!! We're an essential service cuz we also sell regular hardware stuff to like, fix your toilet, but I've spent the last three weekends doing curbside runs for mulch, compost and grass seed. We've doubled are sales. Boomers really can't handle being alone with their thoughts for more than 24 hours, and so have to re-do their whole backyard.

[@slaughterround643]

*our

[@computer_toucher]

the dude that figured out the shower curtain effect won an ig nobel for it. first time i've heard anyone else knowing about that thing though

[@KerbalRocketry]

also note, nobodies going to swimming pools now. just fill all the swimming pools with oil!

[@jthornquist]

Big fan of the show. It was recommended one day in The Boston Globe and that’s how I got here. Oddly, I prefer listening to the podcast while doing things than sitting and looking at slides on KZbin. It really seems to hold up well without the visuals. Anyways, I’ve given the following a lot of serious thought. Justin is Paul, Alice is John, their occasional guests are George, and Liam is Ringo.

[@warmachineuk]

I come here precisely for the jokes about tragedy as well as the engineering.

[@TotalTirpitz]

I am most disapointed in the Preppers. This was finally their moment to be smug. And they blew it.

[@jonathanbutler4124]

I walked on a broken escalator for the first time ever recently and I was not expecting just how fucking bizarre it feels. It's like your mind still thinks the stairs are moving so your legs lose all sense of where they should be - like a dog walking with socks for the first time. Also, when I was younger I dislocated my knee and was on crutches for a while and it took me like two years to be able to get on escalators confidently again - there's definitely a lot of subconscious adjustment going on that gets all out of whack when either the escalator or your body isn't working like your mind is expecting.

[@DinosawrsAreAwesome]

If you use OBS to record just the window, rather then the entire display, you can get rid of the activate windows graffiti. (It does feel more like a college lecture with it however)

[@tibbygaycat]

HERESY

[@jagoandlitefoot]

as a dc resident and a public transit appreciator, i do have a level of fondness for the dc metro as someone who rides the dc metro, yeah it suuucks

[@huseyx2]

Do you not enjoy having your morning commute accompanied by the musical squeaks of the escalators?

[@blackcrowes92]

@@huseyx2 I like getting the workout when Rosslyn or Woodley Park breaks down

[@willmiles7978]

Shoutout to the Harry Beck Underground map though, that thing is so beautiful. The important realisation that a map doesn't need to be geographically accurate at all when all it needs to tell you is how each location connects to the other in the rail network, not how far or relative real-world positions. Did make me suddenly appreciate how tiny central London is when I was old enough to walk between places at a leisurely pace, not be hurried from one Underground station to another by parents on a schedule :p

[@devlinfan]

baskin robbins is open. It’s an essential service. Lol. Our local robbin’s drive thru gets packed with idling cars stretching out onto the road blocking a lane of traffic. It’s a pretty sweet situation wasting resources, while polluting, and consuming milk fat. I could go for some ice cream. Thank you for all the fun casts.

[@zuthalsoraniz6764]

The Ploshchad Lenina, Chernishevskaya and Admiralteyskaya stations of the St. Petersburg metro each have escalators 138 m long covering a height difference of 69 m (nice), beating the one at Angel Station by more than two times.

[@sitskrieg317]

This is the greatest podcast of all time

[@colonelgraff9198]

Justin Rosniak - “Yes.”

[@dmrr7739]

It’s better than that.

[@chipbipple2593]

"You laugh at me because I'm different. I laugh at you cause you're on the train."-The original uniform t-shirt of London Underground conductors, circa 1850

[@cmarano]

During the Flaklands conflict the British Navy uniform was polyester blend. Medical personnel found that these uniforms adhered to sailor's flesh and could not be easily removed. The U.S. Navy used 100% cotton for its uniforms at the time.

[@Theoddert]

Lmao I work in KX Station and wondered how long untill a Harry Potter reference and 30 seconds. It was 30 seconds

[@FieryRedmond]

King’s Xcross station

[@louisaugustexvi4515]

kings xcross? cooooool

[@violetausterlitz1379]

The way Alice pronounced Dubuque was absolutely delightful.

[@jimbrown5091]

I was in Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (boarding a plane) when the power failed in December 2017. The climb up the escalators was brutal ( I was 43 and fat)...I felt especially bad for emergency responders who were carrying wheelchair bound passengers up the stairs...because that climb from the "subway" up to the main terminal is quite a haul...After that I gained a new appreciation for working escalators.

[@frankcastle_1984]

Well, that escalated quickly.

[@Matthew-oi6kz]

For the record, I LOVE the comedy and stuff, it takes a podcast that could be extremely depressing every episode, and turns it into semi serious, semi satire, semi comedy podcast that I throughly enjoy.

[@TuckerWhite94]

15:28 And this is why I love these smartasses! I respect any KZbinr who has the balls to tell his/her/their audience to get fucked.

[@AccoSpoot]

You can point to any point in London's history and some substantial portion of it is on fire. It's probably on fire right now!

[@colonelgraff9198]

Well there’s your fire

[@LASTCARonBROCK]

While I disagree with your politics - especially your defensiveness about them during, of all things, a comedy podcast - this is really an enjoyable show the three of you have put together. I've listened to every episode, and am strongly considering joining your Patreon. I don't understand the grief you are getting for the gallow's humor - you've been up front about that from the start, and it's made for a unique and surprisingly enjoyable listening experience. I think, especially with everything going on right now, we need that kind of levity. Couldn't a disaster be considered "a comedy of errors?" You also seem to know when to back off on the humor when arriving at the most serious details - this episode was a perfect example. These are also much more informative than new viewers may think. Justin has a scholarly voice that reminds me of an expert witness - almost coming off like he's much older than Alice and Liam. This isn't meant to be a slight against Alice and Liam - they also offer interesting insight of their own, and sometimes the jokes serve as a way to make complex subjects more understandable ("The Atmospheric Railway" was probably the best example of this). I've always been interested in disasters myself, and after listening to an episode, I've found myself either pulling up videos on the Vajont Dam or buying books on the Tenerife collision. To me, that means you're certainly doing something right. Thank you for what you three do, and I look forward to watching more episodes.

[@something.1]

As a humble WTIYP fan from fucking beginning I have to disclose this episode is honestly helping my mental state.. every time I'm down I reach your episode and.. start imaging firefighters as labradors.. kudos to Alice 😊

[@BlarryOfficial]

Not even 50 seconds in, and you already scared off the Humor On Engineering Disasters Admission Committee. :(

[@nathancadaman]

You made an anagram for "A CHODE". Just felt like pointing that out.

[@zuthalsoraniz6764]

@@nathancadaman Admission Committee for Humour On Disasters in Engineering, it even works as A CHODE

[@gembot_]

Angel is the longest escalator on the tube... Until the new one at Heathrow terminal 5 was built. Longest in the world is Stockholm or Kiev.

[@Daneelro]

Neither: it's in St. Petersburg and a three-way tie between three stations there. Kiev is fourth alright but Stockholm is not even in the top ten.

[@firefox5926]

57:36 you come to do maintenance 40 years later and there's just like a mummified horse but its like in the "hello ma baby, hello my honey" pose lol

[@isgonrain]

As an engineer who works with engineers I wish more engineers were like y'all.

[@GeorgeWBush-zv6kn]

This oil drops great I just filled all the pools at Sea World with Texan crude oil for $30 and a 12 pack of Natty Seltzer.

[@Stjaernljus]

Bruralism and Art Deco is best achitecture. Also a shout out to Functionalism.

[@Full_Otto_Bismarck]

So Gotham City in Batman: The Animated Series?

[@brandonhoffman4712]

This episode brings back memories of this one time i took an escalator as a kid. I wasnt the best at keeping my shoes tied. I am now. The escalator one day decided to try to eat me! it grabbed my shoe lace, tripped me, then began to drag me back in! i struggled then tried to get my shoe off when the shoe string suddenly broke. Tie your shoes kids, the escalators are always hungry!

[@chaosof99]

I've been a couple of times to Prague, and that city has escalators at the underground stations that scare the crap out of me. Extremely steep and long.

[@ridleycombs]

this is the podcast that hates us back, and we deserve it

[@TuckerWhite94]

I respect any KZbinr who has the balls to tell his/her/their audience to fuck off.

[@ClaudiaNW]

It's fun to see WTYP discussing places I know! I used to travel through Kings Cross all the time when I lived in North London. And I used to take the Circle or Hammersmith and City from Kings Cross to Paddington when I was going to Newport (South Wales) for work reasons. (Then from Paddington to Newport I travelled on olde fashionede BR trains where you have to roll the window down and lean out to open the door. I think they were Intercity 125s, but I'm shamefully non-trainspottery by the standards of this channel.) And I have also been up and down the escalators at Angel numerous times for work reasons. I knew they were long but had no idea they were the longest in the world. Huh.

[@WaterMan416]

I already got that with the megatronix episode.

[@ClaudiaNW]

@@WaterMan416 You definitely win this round. I have not been to a specific, weird second-hand electronics store in rural Pennsylvania. (In fact I've never been to Pennsylvania at all except for a brief transit through Philadelphia airport when I was young and conservative.)

[@WaterMan416]

@@ClaudiaNW Don't worry, you're not missing much. Pennsylvania does have some beautiful scenery, but there's not a lot to see outside of Philly and Pittsburgh unless you're into the outdoors. The old megatronix location was quite a thing to see though. It was literally in a shitty old converted barn that was probably 150 years old.

[@hamsandwichbetty766]

"This is going to require a lot of flammable lubricant" If that doesn't get the emotionally vacant relationship started on the right foot, nothing will... with the possible exception of "Just go until the hole fills up"

[@sm6allegro]

The diamond roundel was used by the Met. There was no company called the Hammersmith railway. However the Met's original line is the section between Paddington and Farringdon and what's now the Hammersmith & City line used to be part of the Metropolitan line until it was split off to make the map more readable, so in a way, you're right. ^^ And regarding termini, the most used of the London termini (and also the most used station in all of Britain) is Waterloo.

[@matthewmelange]

55:11 Alright they made a House of Leaves reference, I endorse this episode.

[@alawisniewska1872]

well it's an old episode but I need to salute you and like this because you reminded me about (I think) the funniest global trading event that happened in my lifetime. 2020 was shitty but at lest some news were truly iconic

[@EnraEnerato]

Paternosters are awesome, but apparently German bureaucracy has a problem with them, at least in Hamburg, more specific in one district offices, there you need to have a "Paternoster liscence" to be allowed to use it. They have a security guard sitting in the lobby/entrancehall that will cuss you out but can't do shit because legaly there is nothing he can do to you unless you work at said office. The bureaucrats in question are from the federal work ministry, which oversees some of the regulations, but more importantly makes these things up, they are not supposed to make them up as they go, they are supposed to actually be reasonable in their aproach... kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYuyhniIgLFgkKM Also 1:00:13 to 1:00:37 "Cigarets are... ...and times and places" The dustexplosion at the Kiel (Germany) northern harbour in the grain silos is such a thing, that was caused by them. If I got told about it correctly by my dad (who is a backer and had good connections to people that were directly involved with said silo), it was a day with the meh- type of weather (it was the 14th December 1970) and the fire prevention officer was said to try and take an ashtray through the airlock to empty it into the trash or something of similiar fashion. It was a stormy/windy weather and both doors of the airlock got blown open since the outer door hadn't completely closed yet. On top of that one of the cigarete buds wasn't completely extinguished and this is the point where everything went for the worse. The cigarete bud startet glimming because of the wind which caused somehow some flourdust/graindust to ignite, the flame rushed through the inner airlock door which the guy was just opening. It wouldn't have happened had the outer door been closed but the guy let it fall into the lock and the wind pried it open when it wasn't completely closed yet. And such the flame went through the building completely tearing the silos appart, leaving some of the stairwells and the office complex, blowing out windows injuring 20, killing 6. Rumors had it that they found one of the guys one distric over in the woods, serval thousand meters away, I can imagine this happening, the police was for days searching bodys. www.apt-holtenau.de/holtenau-info/history/silo.htm The slightly scary part is that 2015 another silo caught fire, but it didn't explode, if I pieced things together correctly it was a smoldering fire and extinguished by pumping in nitrogen, but it could've gone bomb again and our modern silos are somewhat bigger then the 1970 ones especially if they had been upgraded inbetween.

[@joinedupjon]

Yeah there's enough material for a whole dust explosion special... I think they must teach trainee bosses that dust never hurt anyone at management school. The WTL factory bosses at bosley, cheshire ignored repeated warnings from inspectors and workers that they needed to do something about the god damn dust... then in one day in July 2015 the factory was suddenly replaced by a pile of rubble with the remains of 4 people in it

[@EnraEnerato]

@@joinedupjon I believe that in management schools they perform a partial lobotomy on those attending, which then causes them to become psychopath that fear nothing and think they can do nothing wrong. On top of those even people in companies that are considered "management material" are lacking humanity and are quite often boot lickers, because that's what the system as it is is expecting... The notable exeption are people that never went to management courses worked themselves up the chain and then choose people for management positions, they know how things are if you're further down the chain.

[@joinedupjon]

@@EnraEnerato lol yes noticed the psychos coming out of business schools too... but is it something the schools are doing to their brains or just that young psychos are attracted to management schools?

[@EnraEnerato]

@@joinedupjon It's likely the later, but I kind of like the idea of an exorcist going into such a buisness school guns blazing to rid the world of soul killing demons in order to rid the world of this problem.

[@MrTristans80]

Lol I only watch because of the jokes. I thought that was the whole point. Oh and when Justin always says right?

[@OtEEEES]

Also for justins "yes"

[@Daneelro]

@@OtEEEES YES!!!!

[@pyrotheevilplatypus]

What I'm learning from this show and Seconds from Disaster - no matter what, if there's a fire, DON'T GO UP. Doesn't matter where the fire is. Doesn't matter which way it's headed. Stay BELOW it.

[@JZG13]

As a Washingtonian I can indeed confirm that Fallout is accurate and the Metro is full of ghouls. Also WMATA is a disaster and can't be bothered to run trains past midnight or even 11 pm some days and demanded someone come up with $100k per game to keep trains running for an extra hour or two for the Caps first Stanley Cup Finals in decades and the first World Series in DC since literally the 30s.

[@sieglindedeutersbotter1251]

Oooh, like in the movie Death Line with Donald Pleasance?

[@colinsmith9391]

Smellyvision ? I travelled through Kings Cross/St. Pncras in the mid to late 1980s. The smell in the station lasted for many months.

[@whoever6458]

I was in the fire department when I was younger and we do like to use the equipment so it's a good excuse for training. Anyway, there are still helmets made of some kind of plastic but the fire-resistant clothing can only protect you so much and, if it gets hot enough, the elastic from your clothes will melt onto you too. We couldn't wear earrings or glasses into a structure fire either but you can't see much in there anyway so there's no point in glasses. Under certain conditions, there's just nothing we have that can let us go in. There are a few ways to improve the situation, like cutting a hole in the roof but, by the time we can't go in, there's no one alive to go in and save either so we just start putting the fire out from the outside. If I'm not mistaken, it was this case of flashover in the underground that help us learn a lot about this phenomenon. The classic case of flashover is when a fire burns inside a space that is limited by the flow of oxygen that can come in to feed the fire but the heat that exists in that space vaporizes the flammable materials in the area so that the entire space is filled with flammable gases. The only thing missing is the oxygen necessary to complete the fire triangle of heat, fuel, and oxygen. As soon as there's enough oxygen, all the flammable gases burst into flames nearly instantly. Even if they knew about this phenomenon, they probably didn't know the exact nature of the situation before it was too late. We always learn from things but firefighters still die in fires because there are just too many possible scenarios and can change fire behavior before someone is able to escape so all we can do is try to minimize the potential for these things. Personally, I prefer the wildfires and medical aid calls. It's rather spectacular to see the various sorts of aircraft do a water or fire retardant drop. Of course, around here, regular firefighters don't do the really hard work on wildfires because prison inmates actually do basically all of the line cutting around the fire until you can cut it off and make it so that the flames can't reach the fuels on the other side of the line. It's basically doing yard work as fast as you can in terribly hot weather and awful terrain. Most of us who were regular firefighters had a lot of respect for those guys. Speaking of playing with equipment, though, the best place to train is with the airport firefighters because they have a bunch of specialized equipment since they have to be able to put out aircraft fires. In the county where I worked, they also had more of the extra training equipment for various exercises that you wouldn't have to do often but, not only is to good to train, but you get to play with the equipment. We also went to the junk yard to train in cutting vehicles apart in case of a crash. I turned one car into a convertible using the jaws of life. Then we have these weird hydraulic lift things that look like rubber squares and then they kind of expand into looking kind of like a pillow. There are a few things like that on regular engines in the US but you call out ladder trucks if you need heavier hydraulic equipment. My station didn't have a ladder truck so I don't know exactly everything that's on them. Fo anyone who is becoming a firefighter, if they try to quiz you about where a given tool is on the entire and they ask you where the water hammer is, troll them back by telling them that the water hammer is already in the hydrant. The trick is that turning the hydrant on too quickly will result in a lot of water going very quickly down the hose and the resulting force can "hammer" things because of the force of the water so that's why you have to turn the hydrant on slowly enough that the water doesn't do this. They want to trick you by making you think it's some kind of actual hammer found on the engine and laugh at you but, when you tell them that it's already in the hydrant, you get to laugh at them and then go on to explain that sending too much water pressure too quickly down a hose line can "hammer" the pump on the engine so the water hammer is already in the hydrant. The nice thing was that we all got to laugh instead of them just laughing at me (although I will admit that it still would have been funny).

[@whoever6458]

What they discovered about this fire actually helped us deal with wildfires too because the same kind of thing can happen in a steeply sloped narrow valley. We can get some pretty nasty winds here, especially when it's also really hot, so they only make the fire burn even more quickly uphill in general. We have a lot of hillsides that have many places that funnel fire up them readily so this concept of fire behavior is pretty damn important for us to know when fighting wildfire.

[@edgrimm5862]

Ladder trucks also have longer hoses. That said, the ladder trucks I've seen generally had their main hose pretty firmly mounted into the ladder, which makes it hard to haul down into an underground anything. The extension hoses on the sides are more useful, and they're also longer than the extension hoses on regular fire trucks.