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In a spot of dry humor, El Reg has a story up on how the Government of Ridgefield, CT, attempted to remedy a damp baseball field in preparation for a high school game by lighting it on fire with gasoline.
In what could be understatement of the week, a Connecticut town has admitted that "a poor decision was made" when 24 gallons (109 litres) of petrol were poured on a baseball field and set on fire.
According to the town's Facebook page:
Town of Ridgefield, CT
on SaturdayThere as been an incident in town that we want [to] make citizens aware of. A RHS baseball game at Governor Park was delayed due to weather conditions on the field this morning. A poor decision was made (and being looked into by the RPD) to “dry the field quicker” and 24 gallons of gasoline was poured and set on fire. Thanks to the RFD, Peter Hill the Director of Public Works, DEEP, the RPD, and our Certified Spill Response Team for their incredible help. No one was injured and no one is in danger. The plan is to excavate the infield, place dirt in a safe container, and add fresh, clean soil to the field. We will update you as we know more.
Sadly for the players, it turns out that fire and grass did not work together as was apparently hoped and the game had to be held elsewhere. A later update on the town's page indicates
Town of Ridgefield, CT
on SaturdayAn update to the field fire situation. The field may be closed for the week due to the need for testing to be completed.
Comments on the page are everything you might expect and deserve your attention, for example one individual pointed out that he "would have added the use of a leaf blower to give the fire more oxygen."
Science!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snow on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:16PM (17 children)
Either way... That's ALOT of gas. I wonder how they transported and spread the fuel on the baseball field. Did they use a liquid fertilizer spreading trolley? Buckets? Fuel truck? Watering Cans? Just pump it directly out of a slip tank?
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:23PM
I want to know whether they tried a turbopump and LOX, since it would have certainly helped the fire dry the field even faster.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:27PM (4 children)
> 109 Litres? (TFA Says 90L)
The metric to metric conversion of Litres to L seems consistent with the decision to spray it on the grass and light it.
The only alternative use might have been for Boofers -- a word I could only have learned from the dignity of a Trump Supreme Court Nominee.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Gaaark on Tuesday April 09 2019, @11:04PM (1 child)
You have to convert the Imperial to Metric, than account for the acreage that is converted to toxic waste...THEN convert the whole thing to French Imperial Metric (measured against the Latinum bars kept in the Cathedral of Ferengi, Paris)
As Barbie says, "Math is hard".
XD
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Acabatag on Wednesday April 10 2019, @02:31AM
Acreage? Be careful, the revolutionaries carry torches and they're excellent at sussing out indiscretions like the one you just committed.
(Score: 4, Informative) by deimtee on Wednesday April 10 2019, @04:06AM (1 child)
Two different conversions :
24 gallons (US) = 90 litres
24 gallons (imp) = 109 litres.
It is also one of the reasons US miles per gallon figures seem so shit sometimes.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @10:23AM
Ridiculous units FTW. We need more, I propose at least
24 gallons (USA) = 120 litres
24 gallons (Trump) = 2 litres
24 gallons (Mickey mouse) = 21.1 litres
24 gallons (Imperialistic US) = 22.2 litres
(Score: 4, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:27PM
I would not be surprised if had they siphoned it out of the gas tanks from the spectators cars.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:31PM (3 children)
That's about 5-6 plastic gas jugs from Walmart. Not nothing, but not all that much either.
I'm pretty sure the phrase "This way's more fun!" probably was involved in the discussion of correct methods for solving the problem.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Funny) by fustakrakich on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:49PM (1 child)
The phrase you're looking for is, "Hey, hold my beer.".
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:51PM
Ran outta beer, that's when they decided to pick up some extra gas on their booze run.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:57PM
I doubt it. If it had been, there would have been more flamethrowers involved...
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:34PM (3 children)
That's only a bit under 29 gallons (pretty much what a large pick up truck or large SUV holds in it's tank). Spread out over a baseball field, I'm surprised they could spray it out fast enough to cover the area and get it ignited before most of it evaporated.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday April 09 2019, @08:49PM (2 children)
Totally off topic, but just realized that the time stamp on our posts seems to be based on International Date Line (180 degrees) instead of UTC (GMT or ZULU). If it was based on UTC, the time stamp on my last post would be 8:34 PM (or 20:34 UTC).
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 10 2019, @01:50AM
Is what I'm seeing. Do you have your timezone set weird?
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Wednesday April 10 2019, @04:12AM
is what I see here in eastern OZ. The time is straight HTML supplied by the server, system clock should have nothing to do with it, though timezone in Soylent prefs might.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday April 09 2019, @09:00PM
That isn't really all that much gas. It's at most two car tanks full of gas if you have a tiny car, for most larger cars it's just somewhat more then one tank of gas.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday April 10 2019, @09:38AM
They did it like this [youtube.com].