Any time you have to get into a Level A Hazmat suit life sucks.

When they finally start testing under the foundation and in utility corridors the shiat is going to hit the fan.

then they should just dump a whole bunch of Liquid Nitrogen.

this is from Sept.

thanks for the razor-sharp reportage, douche-mitter.

it's Hermes all over again

At ~1/2oz per CC, that's only 3.2 liters. What's the big deal?

dj_bigbird: At ~1/2oz per CC, that's only 3.2 liters. What's the big deal?

That's what I was wondering. I remember one of my friend's dad had about a quart of it and it was heavy as hell.

elvisaintdead: douche-mitter.

That's a tad harsh, don't you think?

Big deal. If a hundred pounds of mercury spilled, ninety pounds of it probably landed on venus.

Sound dangerous out there, so be careful. Keep yourself alive.

That must have been one big damn broken thermometer.

Can't they just get some autistic kids to clean it up? What's the worst that can happen??

I remember playing with mercury openly as a child.....duhhhh.......it was pretty.

All that mercury is going to fark up the people....oh wait, it's San Francisco, no one will be able to tell the difference.

My Dad told me they used to play with it in grade school, I guess in science class or something. He's actually touched liquid mercury with his hand. Sure, it's not good for you but I think it's safe to say that a one time exposure won't hurt you. Unless you drown in it, of course.

TFA: one pint of mercury - equal to 14 pounds

If my arithmetic's right, that's about seven pints or about a gallon for 100 pounds.

PumpUpDaFark: That must have been one big damn broken thermometer.

would hate to have my temp taken with that one...

/buttseks

Actually, it shouldn't be that bad. The show must go on.

EPA and state environmental agencies have puppies over spilled mercury. Watching them act is worse than dealing with asbestos releases. This is why I think the CFL will go the way of the model-T within months and not years-overall legal disposal costs and remediation of micro-spills.

I hate having to pony up $500 a truckload to dispose of my fluorescent bulbs. And when they break, call out the national guard.

Came for X-Men, Sailor Moon, or Mirror's Edge jokes. Disappointed in all of you.

dj_bigbird: At ~1/2oz per CC, that's only 3.2 liters. What's the big deal?

Uh, mercury's pretty toxic, as in bad things happen when exposed to micrograms worth.

dj_bigbird: At ~1/2oz per CC, that's only 3.2 liters. What's the big deal?

Well, the big deal is that that's a shiatload of mercury, contamination-wise. But, yeah, "Biggest mercury spill in the USA in 20 years; nearly one gallon spilled in each of two separate incidents" doesn't really rope in the reader quite as well. That, and saying that a 50-foot tower contained nearly a gallon of mercury sort of casts a different light on the whole incident.

When did mercury become so insanely toxic? What the hell happened?

I am sick and tired of all this anti-mercury propaganda. Of course they would try to limit your intake of the most vital ingredient in the elixir of immortality. So go ahead, sheeple, and believe the anti-mercury hype (which has unfortunately spread to ideas about vaccines). While you anti-mercury farkwads whine and whine,I'll be sitting back, becoming immortal. Suckers.

Doesn't mercury come out of the ground?

/unimpressed

I saw the some guys working at the at the golf course near my house spill about 2 or 3 pints of it when I was a teenager. Really that bad, huh?

Ponzholio: Can't they just get some autistic kids to clean it up? What's the worst that can happen??

I lol'd.

Breunthor: All that mercury is going to fark up the people....oh wait, it's San Francisco, no one will be able to tell the difference.

What would you know? You DNRTFA.

paygun: What the hell happened?

Global Warming and Led Paint

my dad showed me a report on mercury from either a medical journal or the EPA in the mid-eighties. Not nearly as nefarious as people say it is if it's inert, like from a blood pressure thingy or big-ass thermometer.

xuanzhiyouxuan: I am sick and tired of all this anti-mercury propaganda. Of course they would try to limit your intake of the most vital ingredient in the elixir of immortality. So go ahead, sheeple, and believe the anti-mercury hype (which has unfortunately spread to ideas about vaccines). While you anti-mercury farkwads whine and whine,I'll be sitting back, becoming immortal. Suckers.

Well, if nothing else, a hefty mercury intake should make it easier for you to convince yourself that you're immortal. Or anything else you'd like to convince yourself of.

paygun: When did mercury become so insanely toxic? What the hell happened?

It's BEEN toxic. You know Alice in Wonderland, right? You know the Mad Hatter?

The reason why the hatter was mad was that back in the day hatters would use mercury to cure the felt. They breathe in vapor, they absorb the mercury straight-up, they go, well, mad.

Not all mercury compounds are equally hazardous. We now return you to your regularly scheduled panic.

TofuTheAlmighty: dj_bigbird: At ~1/2oz per CC, that's only 3.2 liters. What's the big deal?

Uh, mercury's pretty toxic, as in bad things happen when exposed to micrograms worth.

The science lab at our school had a whole jar full and we'd roll it around in our hands and play with it on the desk. It didn't kill us, which to hear the fearbots talk about it today is nothing short of a miracle.

Surely the people responsible for this will be under pressure.

TofuTheAlmighty: Uh, mercury's pretty toxic, as in bad things happen when exposed to micrograms worth.

Dimethylmercury is really bad stuff

TofuTheAlmighty: Uh, mercury's pretty toxic, as in bad things happen when exposed to micrograms worth.

When I was a kid, my dad showed me how to make silver pennies by rubbing the penny in mercury. In my hand. Even though the mere sight of mercury is deadly, apparently it takes more than 60 years to kill you.

So wait... I have to wait 20 years for this mercury spill?

Actually, the biggest spill was by this guy, telling America you can drink the stuff.

Jument: Unless you drown in it, of course.

Impossible. The density of mercury is so high that steel floats just fine- the human body will float forever. The vapors would kill you, though.

Breunthor blah blah San Francisco blah blah

Fail.

Ponzholio: Can't they just get some autistic kids to clean it up? What's the worst that can happen??



Guess I'll be joining you...I LOL'd...Thnaks

Hand Banana: The science lab at our school had a whole jar full and we'd roll it around in our hands and play with it on the desk. It didn't kill us, which to hear the fearbots talk about it today is nothing short of a miracle.

That's one of the many deadly dangers of mercury. It kills you instantly, but you just go on living. THE HORROR

JerseyTim: Sound dangerous out there, so be careful. Keep yourself alive.

I lulled

Twice. They did it twice. EPIC STUPID

Yea, mercury isn't good for you but at the same time it's not high level radioactive waste like some of these nutbags think it is. We had a pretty large bottle of it in one of my science classes ( I think it was 6th grade) and we could even touch it. Of course this was over 20 years ago. Anything like that happens today and they would just tear down the school in an orgy of fear and litigation.

/The pussification of America continues unabated.

Gosling: paygun: When did mercury become so insanely toxic? What the hell happened?

It's BEEN toxic. You know Alice in Wonderland, right? You know the Mad Hatter?

The reason why the hatter was mad was that back in the day hatters would use mercury to cure the felt. They breathe in vapor, they absorb the mercury straight-up, they go, well, mad.

More anti-mercury insanity. The "mad hatter" is an extremely long-running urban legend designed to keep us from both vitamin D and the natural dose of mercury needed to activate our pituitary glands. You see, the so-called "Lewis Carroll" was an anti-mercury pederast. It is well known that eating rabbit meat allows you to absorb the positive humors of mercury while avoiding the less pleasant effects. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson has done more to set back the progress of longevity than anyone else in the last 300 years.

paygun: It kills you instantly, but you just go on living. THE HORROR

You mean I'm just some old zombie?????

Guess I'll go eat brains then.

I remember our science teacher (circa 1984) having us pass a little glob of mercury around the class hand to hand. I spilled about half the glob on my desk which ran down into my backpack which I found later at home and played with some more.

They say that stuff causes brain damage. I say it needs to get in line behind all of the acid, pot, coke, meth, booze and rhino horn I've slammed into my system in the years since.

When I wake up in a cold sweat thinking I've just raped my wife's sister - I know right away that's the acid. No biggie. When I'm at work and techno music starts to play and my refrigerator walks into my cube and starts making 'the Case for Christ'... that's the mercury, baby. Neurotoxins will pull that religious crap with you if you let them.