I Would Hope So!
We've been putting out this content for 13 years, you ought to be ready for it by now, at least a little. Don't worry, the Sherman diatribe is not present today, although IT WILL COME COUNT ON IT we may see it at a slightly later date.
No, what I am about to pontificate upon is - Art!
One of their albums is titled 'Are You Ready?'
What you see here is the album 'PG&E', performed by the eponymous band Pacific Gas And Electric, whom were forced to change their name for the slightly inconvenient and minor detail that there was already an organisation called Pacific Gas And Electric. Who threatened to sue their bottoms off.
As an aside, one also notes that the band Chicago were originally dubbed 'Chicago Transit Authority', until the real Chicago Transit Authority made threatening legal noises, and they became Chicago. Art!
Brilliant album cover.
ANYWAY we're beyond bands and album covers, so let us now move on to the meat of today's Intro, which is another in the 'Be Amazed' compilation of "When Building Demolitions Go Horribly Wrong". This one goes as horribly wrong as one might expect. Art!
These monoliths are the steam generating plant for Pacific Gas & Electric, which went dark in 1985, located at Kern in Bakersfield, California. Eventually, after having stood for twenty-eight years, it was decided to bring them down with explosive demolition. No gradual or partial removal by excavators bearing mechanical jaws or chaps with pneumatic jackhammers, this was a single big-bang method to save time and money. Art!
Jack and his hammer
The demolition takes place as per schedule, a crowd has gathered (officially or not it unclear), there are explosions and cheers. Art!
It looks like an incandescent pipe photo, but this is in fact the explosives detonating around the base of the units. What seems to be bright light is in fact the detonation of explosives.
This is where the problems begin. Art!
Down go the steam generators, the evil swine! Cry God for Harry and England, and our overseas benighted cousins the other side of The Pond!
<ahem straightens tie and collar> the thing is, the 'implosion' managed to create an 'implosion' that was far more influential than anticipated, translating into 'an explosion bigger than we wanted', possibly the least-wanted words heard to issue from your supervisor at a demolitions company.
You can see metal spall being thrown from the boiler structures, some of which travelled 1,400 feet from the blast site, meaning that the spectators were within range of the shrapnel zone. Five people were injured with one, Jerry Wood, losing a leg thanks to severe injury, and cars and buildings were damaged. Art!
What were the reasons for this disaster? Well, Pacific Gas & Electric were not to blame; being in the business of supplying energy, they had no expertise in demolitions, so they hire 'Demtech' to carry out the work. More like 'Dementech', because a subsequent investigation by the Californian Safety and Enforcement Division found multiple failings. Art
Primary reason was that they used FIFTEEN times more explosive than was required. An error of that magnitude really calls into question their ability to manage a demolition safely. In addition, Demtech failed to -
1. Used any scientific approach to determine the proper blast loads,
2. Applied scientific criteria to calculate the proper safety zone distance,
3. Prescribed adequate blast shields to contain flying debris or fragmentation,
4. Consulted an engineer or reviewed structural drawings to analyze the boiler structure, or
5. Used computer modeling to simulate and validate its implosion design.
I can illustrate No. 3. Art!
Those are plywood boxes encasing the explosive charges, which Demtech fondly imagined would prevent debris from being flung about. Why use plywood? Because it doesn't cost $50 per square metre that blast-proof fabric does, which is what they should have been using. Consequently, as we have seen, you get debris hurled at high velocity for a long way.
Demtech didn't even carry out test blasts, as they claimed the boiler's structure was similar to other demolitions they'd carried out in the past, so there was no need. Conrad shudders to think how many other people they put at risk.
Jerry Wood sued P G & E, which you might expect, whom settled up pretty quickly. I cannot find what dollar amount he went for, although PG & E stated that they paid him 90% of what he was asking, and no, there is nothing in the media detailing what the total was. Probably enforced with a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
PG & E then stated it intended to sue Demtech for the compensation, at which point this Intro ends, as we're here for demolitions not legal process. Also, I never checked up to see what happened between them.
Conrad's Curiosity Conspires
One of the incessant adverts on Youtube is for 'Intuit Turbo Tax', a business that takes over the calculation of taxes, which for reasons utterly foreign to me is how individual South Canadians deal with tax. Art!
This chubby jolly lady is busily typing away on a keyboard - apparently. Conrad, being the utter cynic he is, wonders if she's just tapping keys randomly, because they don't show the monitor. I guess we'll never know the truth and I will forever be haunted by such a minor thing.
Knowing Where The Bodies Are Buried
Metaphorically, I hasten to add. There is a Malicious Compliance tale on 'Slash Start's Youtube channel, concerning Student Spa Worker, hereafter SSPOW because I can juggle the letters if I want to. She worked at a spa where the rarely-seen owner was bonkers, they were always desperately short of staff and nobody wanted to work there.
The manager, Pam, ran a verrrry dodgy operation, which SPOW was careful to note, all the more as Pam took every opportunity to write her up for fake reasons, which SPOW found mystifying. Was Pam trying to make her quit?
Well, yes. You see, she wanted to get her son employed at the spa in SPOW's place, because he was a lazy bottomhole who couldn't hold down a job anywhere else. She also got the other employees to bully SPOW and lie about her performance and behaviour. This came back to bite them badly later on. Pam got her way when SPOW resigned for a better job, and spitefully retained her last payment.
"Take us to court if you dare!" was the response, probably thinking that a high-schooler wouldn't know how or dare to.
O foolish Pam! Art?
SPOW had noted all sorts of naughty goings-on, which included:
1) Working 8 hour days with no breaks or lunch
2) Rats
3) Ants
4) Underage drinking
5) Untreated mould
6) 'Employing' underage staff - Pam's daughter
7) Selling client information
Plus more that she couldn't remember so long after the fact. Art!
Another "What On Earth?" Moment
Conrad was perusing Youtube, scoping out potential Reddit tales and enjoying the Malicious Compliance ones, when this bizarre advert appeared. Art!
What on earth are they talking about? Popcorn is in no way an adventure. Nor would I want it to be; Conrad wants to be able to safely open a bag and gorge on it, not worry about what calamity might befall me.
Finally -
To get us over the Word Count line, a Biercism.
"Bachelor, n: A man whom women are still sampling."
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