Children Of The Sandbox

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Sandbox
A sandbox is also a sandpit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandpit

The image today is of an unlimited number of children playing in an unlimited sandbox. It used to be called a sandpit but that name had to be changed because of the minds that prefer mysticism over science, the irrational over reality, propaganda over fact. For you see, the word ‘pit’ is to reminiscent of the pits of hell, or the like. And so. It is, indeed, quite a large sandbox that we’re dealing with and truly reminiscent of things unwanted. It is also a very fancy sandbox. A sandbox of modern civilisation where the goings-on of humanity are centre stage of time, space, bodily secretions and nasty bedsheets. And what is it exactly that is going on in this sanbox? That’s right, dear worst-reader. In it are the children of today. And they play harmoniously, joyously and their lives are relevant and respected by all. Or? Maybe not. For we are believers in the mysticism, are we not? I know. Tommi’s worst-readers aren’t all as stupid as they look. All (three) of you know well enough that something else is going on in that sandbox but the bliss of ignorance is too great to combat–at least not as easy to combat as ISIL or ISIS or fighting that urge to eat… Nomatter. The point today in this worst-post is to try and figure out how we know that something else is going on in, around and underneath our sandbox. Does the bludgeoning (of nature) give it away? Does the regular beatings (of our environment) atop another child’s head with the green bucket give it away? And how ’bout the jamming of the pink shovel up the nose of johnny-come-lately where to repair the damage johnny’s entire skull must be put in a plaster cast to 1) hold his spongy brain in and 2) allow the fractured skull to repair itself. Yes. That’s the reality of the/our sandbox. The children in the form of money hungry, greedy (corporate) bastards ride the laurels of the past, have living standards at the expense of others and thereby occupy and bully the whole damn sandbox. One only need look at the behaviour of the children inside it. Or read about it here and here. And so. What better represents the truth of the sandbox we are all forced to live in these days than the reality behind using a hair dryer, filling up your car with petrol, pressing HI on your microwave, ruling the planet, etc.? I suppose one could also look at the banking industry and not just the energy industry–but where’s the fun in that? Do banks blow up in a mushroom cloud of flames and black smoke? Do we see nitty-gritty worker-bees struggling in their HAZMAT suits fending off toxins when banks fuck us over? No. Of course not. The energy industry, post technology boom of the nineties, has rum amok in the sandbox. And while Apple assumes the reign of corporate money terror over us all (and history) the has-beens of the boomer generation secure their ways & means. And no one really cares. The whole shebang passes us by even when it crashes into some rednecks house in god-knows-where W. VA. And redneck here or there complaining that an energy company blew up his house while his wife is in the hospital getting open heart surgery… None of that matters. Look at the plume of fire rising above the sweets ashes we live in.

List of recent examples of how we play in the sandbox of life where the children beat the living krapp out of each other and the sandbox because of energy resources. This is only a list from 2010 up to a few days ago and only accidents that occurred in the US. I purposely left out all the sandbox accidents on the Canadian side of things but if you’re interesting in reading about those you’ll have to go through the whole train derailment list which is at the source hyperlinked below.

  • 30 September 2010 – United States – Two Canadian National ore trains collide head on twelve miles north of Two Harbors, Minnesota, injuring all five crew members.
  • 17 April 2011 – United States – A Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway train hauling 130-cars of coal from Wyoming to Chicago rear-ends another train hauling maintenance equipment near Red Oak, Iowa about 07.00 (local time) on Sunday 17 April 2011. The lead locomotive on the coal train derails and fire engulfs the cab. The crew of two, the conductor and engineer, on the coal train are killed. Ten cars on the maintenance train derail. The two crew members on the maintenance train are not injured. The line is heavily trafficked and is shut down for 24 hours, with trains re-routed. An investigation is conducted by the NTSB.
  • 7 October 2011 – United States – 26 cars of a 131-car freight train derail and explode near Tiskilwa in Bureau County, Illinois, approximately 160 kilometres (99 mi) west of Chicago. No injuries are reported; 800 people are evacuated.
  • 6 January 2012 – United States – Three CSX freight trains collide in a remote section of Porter County, Indiana resulting in a fire and possible HAZMAT situation. Two injuries are reported.
  • 1 February 2012 – United States – The Amtrak Wolverine train from Pontiac, Michigan to Chicago, carrying 71 passengers and 5 crew, strikes a stalled tractor trailer (carrying equipment for oil production) on tracks in Leoni Township, Michigan. The lead engine and at least two cars derail. There are no fatalities, and six people suffer non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Jackson Citizen Patriot and the Blackman-Leoni Public Safety Department.
  • 4 July 2012 – United States – A Union Pacific coal train heading to Wisconsin derails, collapsing an overpass on Shermer Road in Glenview, Illinois at about 13.45. A day later, a couple, having been crushed by the falling coal and cars, are found dead in their car buried beneath the rubble.
  • 11 July 2012 – United States – A Norfolk Southern train with 2 locomotives and 98 cars derails in Columbus, Ohio, near the Ohio State Fairgrounds at 02.05 CDT. The resulting explosion, caused in part due to the burning of 76,000 litres (17,000 imperial gallons) of ethanol, causes a mile-wide evacuation. At the time of the explosion, two nearby individuals are injured; they drive themselves to hospital.
  • 21 July 2012 – United States – A Kansas City Southern freight train collides with a BNSF coal train and derails in Barton County, MO, injuring two railway workers.
  • 21 August 2012 – United States – Two women celebrating the night before their return to university on a railway bridge die shortly after midnight when a CSX coal train derails on the bridge in downtown Ellicott City, Maryland, burying the women under coal.[145] The NTSB investigation attributed the probable cause of the derailment to a broken rail.
  • 29 October 2012 – United States – Thirteen cars of a 57-car Paducah & Louisville (P&L) freight train derail near West Point, Kentucky. A tank car loaded with butadiene leaked and later caught fire while workers were repairing the track. No deaths, 5 injured. On 31 October, the train derailment exploded at 13:30 causing evacuations to be ordered in a 2 kilometre radius and an 8 kilometre radius to stay indoors. 3 were seriously burned in the explosion.
  • 8 November 2013 – United States – A 90-car freight train carrying crude oil from the Bakken shale patch in North Dakota (possibly similar to the type carried in the July 2013 Lac-Mégantic derailment in Quebec, Canada), from Amory, Mississippi to a refinery in Walnut Hill, Florida, derails and explodes in the morning in Pickens County, Alabama (west AL); the flames, which shot upward 300 feet high, were left to burn themselves out, which may take up to 24 hours. There were no fatalities or injuries.
  • 30 December 2013 – United States – Casselton train derailment – Several grain cars from a westbound train derail and strike an eastbound train carrying crude oil on an adjoining track near Casselton, North Dakota. Several crude oil cars explode, resulting in large clouds of black smoke which forced an evacuation of the area. No casualties were reported.
  • 17 January 2014 – United States – A CSX train carrying coal derails near Dunnellon, Florida. Twelve cars of the 100-car train derailed in a rural area. The train was transporting the coal to the Duke Energy Crystal River Energy Complex. No injuries were reported.
  • 19 January 2014 – United States – A Union Pacific train carrying coal derails near Caledonia, Wisconsin. Nineteen cars of the 135-car train derailed. The cause is believed to be cracked rails caused by unusually cold winter conditions. No injuries were reported.
  • 20 January 2014 – United States – A CSX train carrying crude oil derails in Philladelphia, Pennsylvania. Seven cars of a 101-car train derailed on a bridge over the Schuylkill Expressway, causing the road to be shut down for brief periods of time as emergency crews drained the tankers. No injuries were reported.
  • 28 January 2014 – United States – A CSX train carrying phosphoric acid derails near McDavid, Florida. 23 of the 69 cars derailed, resulting in the destruction of the tracks and bridge over Fletcher Creek, and chemicals leaking into the water. No injuries were reported.
  • 30 January 2014 – United States – A NS train transporting 179 empty coal cars derailed near Jewell Ridge, Virginia. No injuries were reported, and the accident was cleared on the same day.
  • 31 January 2014 – United States – A CN train carrying crude oil, methane and liquid fertilizer derails near New Augusta, Mississippi. 18 to 24 cars of the 85-car train derailed and began leaking. The derailment occurred in a rural area, but resulted in 12 families being evacuated and four lanes of U.S. 98 closed as emergency responders began to clean up the spill. No injuries were reported.
  • 30 April 2014 – United States – CSX derailment: 15 tankers carrying crude oil derail and catch fire in Lynchburg, Virginia, striking fears of water contamination in the local area and beyond.
  • 1 May 2014 – United States – CSX coal train derailed three locomotives and 10 cars in Bowie, MD.
  • 10 May 2014 – United States – a train traveling in Colorado derails and spills 6,500 US gallons (25,000 l; 5,400 imp gal) of oil west of LaSalle, Colorado.
  • 5 October 2014 – United States – a Union Pacific freight train slams into a lowboy trailer in Mer Rouge, LA, seriously injuring both railroad crew and causing two engines along with 17 cars to derail. 50 homes are evacuated for about two hours due to the leakage of argon gas from the tank car.
  • 16 February – United States – A CSX freight train derails in West Virginia. At least 7 tank cars catch fire, with over 60 people evacuated from their homes nearby.

List source here.

Another link here worth reading on the subject, maybe.

Good luck suckers.

Rant on. -Tommi

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