Oil Spill 2013-02-11

[Fairportfan]

Okay. Dynamite isn't especially heat sensitive.

But that stuff has prolly been there long enough that it's deteriorated to the point where a cross look could set it off.

Or, OTOH, it could be pretty much inert.

However, looking at the chances, i'm reminded of the immortal words of Damon Runyon: "The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet."

[jwhouk]

Things are about to go BOOM.

[Fairportfan]

... i bet everybody isn't checking in, yet, expecting that the comic won't post for another hour or two ...

[zachariah]

This should have been Fridays cliff hanger. Very old, very dangerous, don't scream Kathy. Get Asti to go supersonic. Or jump in the car and push off downhill and hope you escape the blast and tunnel collapse.

[zachariah]

Paul points on research. I checked out Hercules Inc and it existed in the right time frame for the tunnel to be dug. Started in 1882 by DuPont and sold in 1912. So this stuff could have been there a hundred years or more.

[shadowinthelight]

When I said Wapsi Square is an explosive comic in the fan art thread I didn't mean for it to be a prediction.

[Lee M]

Katherine: Oh, my god, I'm in a cartoon!

[displaced]

boom! this is going to be bad.

[Fairportfan]

This should have been Fridays cliff hanger. Very old, very dangerous, don't scream Kathy. Get Asti to go supersonic. Or jump in the car and push off downhill and hope you escape the blast and tunnel collapse.

Huh. Thought i replied to this.

Hercules Powder - or a corporation of that name - existed up until at least the 1970s.

It wouldn't bother me to discover that Hercules Powder went out of business since the last i knew of for sure, and all of its executives died broke and destitute.

[NOTDilbert]

Katherine: Oh, my god, I'm in a cartoon!

Yep, and it's a Roadrunner cartoon. Nudge will have to appear soon, reprising her famous role as Coyote....

edit: Which means Atsali somehow made a wrong turn and they wound up in Looney Toon Land. Clumsy doesn't begin to describe THAT mistake.

edit 2:

[Atomic]

Oh, dear.....

One thing to remember about dynamite is it tends to "sweat" as it ages. It's made by mixing (carefully) nitroglycerine (liquid) with an absorbent clay/sawdust/fullers earth mix to make a putty. The putty is then wrapped in wax paper (based on the era) or similar. The sweats are the liquid nitroglycerine wicking through the paper to bead on the outside. Basically, it's evaporating, and concentrating in the process!

And, liquid nitroglycerine is a contact explosive -- jostle it enough and it go boom! Not to mention the problem with fire.

[Dave]

Katherine: Oh, my god, I'm in a cartoon!

Yep, and it's a Roadrunner cartoon. Nudge will have to appear soon, reprising her famous role as Coyote....

Soon to cross over into Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Run away!! RUN AWAY!!!

Edit: and, that's certainly sufficient for a "Yup!" answer to Sundance's question, "Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?"

[KnightDelight]

So ... looks like Sirens have a rather high pain threshold and this mine will soon be sealed off. Also appears Asti will have to fly them home after all. Unless, of course, they can get to a phone to call for help, or find some magical way back at some point. I'm betting on the latter.

[dex drako]

oh come on Katherine Monica's still needs to get used to her powers stil lets not make her take a trip to the land of the dead just yet okay. oh yeah don'y stand there RUN!

[My2Cents]

You know that feeling Wiley Coyote gets when he realizes that the anvil is still up there?

Kathryn does.

[displaced]

KENVIL, (720 feet alt., 1,000 pop.), formerly known as McCainville, advertises itself as the "Home of America's Oldest Continuously Operating Dynamite Plant" – the HERCULES POWDER Co. PLANT, founded 1871. Two major explosions brought the plant into the headlines in 1934. On March 8, four workers were killed in a packing-house blast that broke every pane of window glass in neighboring towns and shook a marine observation tower at Sandy Hook, 50 miles east. A sign was erected at the factory gate announcing that the accident was the first in 180 days, and that there had been no serious explosion on the grounds for 14 years. Five months later a detonation in the smokeless powder unit killed two men and injured three. The E. I. du Pont de Nemours Co. has had a large interest in Hercules.

Operations at the facility ceased in 1996, the land is now fenced off and gated. Plans are being made for future uses for the large plot, with some sites needing remediation for contaminants left behind.

On September 5, 2005, a Memorial Service was held to honor the memory of the 51 people who perished 65 years earlier, and to dedicate a plaque with their names, and the names of others who died at Hercules Kenvil Works from 1917 onward. The plaque shown below is near the Memorial Garden at Horseshoe Lake Park, Succasunna, NJ.

http://www.roxburynewjersey.com/hercules.htm

[Mark N]

Does anyone know if old dynamite has an acid smell to it???

[DilyV]

*wiggles fingers in front of Katherine's face*

This is not the adventure you're looking for... This is NOT the adventure you're looking for...

Heh... Jedi Mind Tricks are the bomb... when they work!!! Sheesh!!! Whatsa meesa sayin'?

[shadowinthelight]

Whatsa meesa sayin'?

Terrible tings. TERRRRRIBLE!

[Jay-Em]

Oooohkay..

two possible outcomes:

1. When the fuses are near-by, or already in some of the dynamite: "Kablooi",big badaboom.
2. When not, it's just suffocating and/or burning to a crisp.

Where's a "poiter" when you need one?