I'd gladly trade Gemini for a return of Google+ ngl

Here's another one for you: BASF is the ninth largest wine merchant in Germany (2013), with a sales volume of 900000 bottles (also 2013). They have ~one million bottles stored in their cellars, the oldest being from 1865, the company's founding year. BASF's wine cellar was founded in 1901.

Yeah, that getting younger thing is proving hard to get right! Dimitry mentioned he knew a Dejan, but I failed to make the connection. Ludwigshafen ist halt doch en Dorf 😄. I'll have to accompany him to the Pub when he isn't busy with his Girlfriend.

And it's about time, my friend. Long time, no see, Dejan. How is life treating you?

Exactly this. Interestingly, unrecognized increases in nitrate yield / purity may have also contributed to the disaster. They might have been just a bit too good in their manufacturing process.

🧵11/11 And that, my friends, is how Trichterstrasse got its name.
If you'd like to know more about the disaster: www.basf.com/global/en/wh...

There is also a great video on YouTube: youtu.be/2xfadqTy1wk

🧵10/11 In the middle of the rubble, a crater 165m in length, 95m in width & ~20m deep showed just how dangerous a false sense of safety can be. Until Union Carbide had their "Hold my beer" moment with the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984, it would be the worst chemical disaster in history.

🧵9/11 The village of Oppau, where the building was situated, had been mostly leveled, leaving almost all of the 7500 population homeless. Mr. Humpe, his helpers & at least 550 others were dead with close to 2000 injured. Quite a few could only be identified with help of their work shoes.

🧵8/11 At exactly 07:32 and 14 seconds the first detonation occurred, followed 4 seconds later by a second, much, much stronger blast. The explosion was heard in Munich some 300 km away. The building Op110 no longer existed, a fate shared with most of the other buildings in the plant.

🧵7/11 ...as well as loss of life but apparently, this warning wasn't heeded and in any case probably wouldn't have been known to our demolition master dutifully preparing his explosives. This wasn't going to be a good day for poor Mr. Humpe.

🧵6/11 Although it was well known that ammonium nitrate was explosive, it was thought to be safe in mixture with ammonium sulfate as long as the ratio was under 60% nitrate. There had been cases in the past where the loosening procedure had led to uncontrolled detonation

🧵5/11 The fertilizer was a 50:50 mix of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate. Loosening with explosives was a standard procedure at the time. That was Mr. Humpe's job and he'd done it hundreds of times. Indeed, the process was routine and had been carried out without issue 20000 times before.

🧵4/11 You see, Trichter can also mean crater, such as "detonation crater" and tragically, that is exactly how the street got its name. On the foggy morning of September 21st, 1921, demolition master Hermann Humpe was preparing a detonation to loosen hard packed fertilizer.

🧵3/11 One such street that brought itself to mind while I was biking through the site recently, is Trichterstrasse. Trichter means funnel in German. An appropriate lab utensil, but in this case, not the reason for the name.

🧵2/11 As with any big company, there is quite the transportation infrastructure, be it ship, rail or road. The streets in BASF are usually named after one of the 300 production plants on site, or something to do with the chemical industry.

Or maybe not. Thanks to @thelastpsion.com for discovering this. Looks like it is officially endorsed by Microsoft. Though very naughty of them not to mention it in the email, or make AI an opt-in. Sigh.