Short steps mandatory
Taking shorter steps has a couple of unexpected side effects. It leaves one feeling inefficient, and it fakes out the pedometer. We’re in a period of black ice (that’s when you can’t see the trap that nature has laid for you, and a nasty fall is only moments away, all the time). Some freezing rain, followed by the arctic vortex that has set Meteo-Media abuzz, and we’ve got slippy at every step.
Little matter; I’m inside now, and the dog can go outside by himself.
Someone found a cellphone in the parking lot at work today. No obvious name, and no sense in calling the phone, so one of the more enterprising technicians figured out how to do that ‘unlock” move that baffles me (you slide your finger across the surface; just like walking on black ice). A quick tour of FB, where he left a note for the owner and friends about where the cellphone might be recovered. Within the hour, a young lady knocked on the door to claim her prize. Very efficient, I tell you!
While train derailments of crude oil are on the rise, I wondered if there wasn’t a root cause. Turns out, the industry has found that rail transport of brown goo is cheaper by rail than by pipeline. I can’t speak for how much is moving around the country (the industry won’t), but one new depot just to the east of Edmonton gives an idea of the volumes involved.
The crude-oil-to-rail depot will send out 180 cars per day; each car will have a payload of 700 bbls (159 l/bbl). The terminal will fill a train in 20 hours, and this will leave every day. 365. If only 1 train a year catches fire…
