Comments by "Comm0ut" (@Comm0ut) on "Plainly Difficult" channel.

  1. Why are you still there if you were born in 1967 per your nick? If I knew my location would poison me I would find something better. I left my home state for less.
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  2. Impact absorbing fendering was added later, but all bridges should be protected such that any misaligned vessels ground before they can impact structure. It's only money so spend the necessary. If cost is "prohibitive" do it anyway and issue bonds or use appropriate funding measures. If doing it right is expensive, doing it wrong is unaffordable. Cost cutting either causes or aggravates far too many incidents.
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  3. So does ignorance. Not everyone is or hires real professionals.
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  4. Anyone who's been stationed in SK has seen the lack of concern for safety. For example we went to downtown Kunsan (in 2000) to buy paint from a local shop. Turned out the shop was also the owners home and packed to the ceiling with paint and solvent cans with ZERO ventilation. The fumes chased me out of there ASAP. One spark and the building would have been a fireball. I like the Korean people and and enjoyed my time there, but safety is a distant priority. I hope the few real professionals are granted more influence because if human lives and quality of life don't matter that greatly mitigates the benefits of economic growth.
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  5. America being a bucket of crabs will not support collective bargaining for safer working conditions. The id10t masses feel what they're told by advertainment and despise anyone banding together to improve their situation. Rail safety will continue to be proudly shortchanged by industry puppets, cretinous media droids and an uncaring technically illiterate public. (The US once took a much wider interest in rail but now that's down to the dedicated railfans and historians.)
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  6. People who deeply care about beauty should be kept away from utilitarian projects because that's a weakness. Sculpt, paint or otherwise GTFO and leave the field to adults. (Anyone who finds this statement offensive is a snowflake and part of the problem.) For examples of proper bridging see military mobile bridging which is optimally maintainable, repairable and completely recyclable while capable of bearing traffic indefinitely (Bailey bridging of WWII vintage is still in daily use around the world). Art infected this bridge design and people died. Those responsible let their vanity kill innocent victims. They should be named, shamed and unemployed.
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  7. Worth remembering is the purpose of the Soviet fleet which is no different from Putin's purpose invading Ukraine. The technology is interesting but every Soviet casualty and every failed system was good news for civilization and viewers should not forget that for a second. K-19 existed to maintain Soviet rule over its conquered peoples (most of whom promptly left for NATO). I've no respect for any of the casualties any more than I'd respect extermination camp guards. Their machine existed for COUNTERVALUE STRIKES TO KILL CIVILIANS. It was not remotely precise enough for counterforce strikes.
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  8. Small pedestrian bridges are the perfect use case for prefabricated steel mobile bridging like military Bailey bridges (some from WWII are in use today). They can even be rented. Those can be deployed (often in hours!) while a proper prefab steel bridge is designed. There is no need for exotic construction of pedestrian bridges any more than for a culvert. Since future engineers may read this, consider not doing stupid shit that kills people. The designers of this abortion were proud of themselves until it collapsed. They should be blackballed and never work in the industry. Their evil should follow them for life.
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  9. Elderly junk ships should be aggressively barred from harbors. Even China is doing it. Failed states like Lebanon are more problematic but can still act in their own interest if they choose. That choice was not made.
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  10. If a vessel is able to strike a bridge (even if the strike is deliberate) the bridge is inadequately protected. History enthusiasts know blockships date back thousands of years and are a cheap or free way to block an opponent's riverine or port access. Given the immense wealth in of the US and Canada failure to build self-defending bridges protected by ample barriers is inexcusable but will continue to happen....
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  11. Use of burstable containers was the key flaw as they jammed the works. Using unrestrained cardboard was lax and stupid. The boxes should have been contained in metal bins that were positively controlled and COULD NOT JAM. Reliance on "someone else's" packing job of inherently variable quality was a poor idea. Lack of the guidance shroud was foolish too along with the rest of the undisciplined clown show....
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  12. In US construction it was once common for organized crime to sell lower-quality concrete than specified and pocket the difference....
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  13. The US military in those days was VERY different (all in bad ways) from the later All Volunteer Force. It was desperate for manning and tolerated accident and crash rates which would get commanders fired so quickly today they'd make sonic booms. Older systems were also intrinsically much less reliable. For example as late as the 1980s the USAF Safety folks correctly predicted the loss of roughly an entire squadron per year of fighter/attack birds AND what various factors would take them down. Safety folks are unsung heroes (for the same reasons workers grumble about OSHA) but in the armed forces they save enormous amounts of equipment and many lives.
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