The Origin of Weird: Avoidable Disasters

Welcome And The Disaster Theme

SPEAKER_03 0:15

Oh hey there.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Oh hey there.

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How's it going today, Kate?

SPEAKER_00 0:19

It's going good.

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I'm Bradley. I'm Kate. Like I said, and this is the History of Buffoon's Origin of Weird.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

That it is.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Kate didn't remember that we even had an episode for this.

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I I see it.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

What did I do?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

I saw it. I hope so. I've slept since then. Thankfully.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Yeah, well, you know.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Um, we're gonna talk about avoidable disasters with little or no loss of life.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Oh. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Well, originally it was no loss of life. Oh. And then when I dug a little deeper, I was like, maybe maybe a little bit of loss of life. Just one. Just yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Oh dear.

NASA’s Metric Versus Imperial Mistake

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Um, so we're gonna talk about a couple stories.

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Right.

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Um we're gonna start with we're gonna start in 1999.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Oh, yeah.

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When NASA had launched the Mars climate orbiter.

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Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Um, it had a very clear mission. The spacecraft was designed to study the Martian atmosphere.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

Like in the name.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Uh-huh. And it was to gather um that it would gather data that would help scientists um understand like the planet's climate and weather patterns.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Um, and to like serve as like a larger effort um to explore Mars with a little bit more precision with all that data.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

What do you what do you think of like Elon Musk wanting to colonize Mars and get there?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

I mean, he's welcome to go.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Why?

SPEAKER_00 2:01

If he wants to go, he's welcome to go.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

It's just weird, like some of the information that they've not him on this part, but like that it used to have water and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

It's I mean, obviously a long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

I don't know. I think Matt Damon would tell us otherwise.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

Well, he ate poop potatoes.

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Also, if anyone out there has not read the book The Martian by Andy Weir, you're missing out. Well, it's a great, great book. And it they turned it into a great movie as well.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

But the book is the book is so good.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Yeah, no, I get that. Um one thing that I would like to do more of is read. But I never seem to have enough time.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

I'd love to read that book, but that movie is pretty fantastic. It is. I just saw a video of him, since we're getting off topic here, of Matt Damon saying, because he was cast to be in that movie after he was in Interstellar, which he calls it a cameo. I'm like, that's a pretty significant role in Interstellar. It's like, are you sure you really want to cast me in this? Because I was just in that. Yeah. But it was great. So oh yeah, he did a great job. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Okay, so the orbiter represented years of work, careful planning, and a budget of roughly$125 million in 1999.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

That's crazy.

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Which is about$230 to$250 million today.

SPEAKER_03 3:26

That's wild.

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So it was all directed towards a mission that depended on accuracy at every level. Well, that's that's NASA.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

Well, yeah, you're go you're going to space and you're trying to get to another planet and you know, not crash and have shit work.

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So the spacecraft itself performed exactly as it was supposed to. However, for most of its journey. Okay. Um it traveled millions of miles through space following a carefully calculated trajectory that would bring it into orbit around Mars.

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Right.

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That trajectory, however, trajectory. Trajectory depended on precise calculations being shared between multiple teams of people.

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Oh.

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Each responsible for different aspects of the mission. Gotcha. Somewhere in that process, a mismatch occurred.

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Uh oh.

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It went a little bit unnoticed for far too long.

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Okay.

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One team had been working in metric units. Oh, God. Using the international standard that NASA has officially adopted.

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Right.

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Another team, however, was working in imperial units using pounds of force instead of newtons. Oh.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Newtons. Everyone knows you should use newtons.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

So the difference between those systems was not super obvious at first.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Um, in that data being exchanged. Right. Because everything else in the mission appeared to be functioning normally.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Um, so one pound of force is equal to four point four five newtons.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Okay, so if one team sends a value of a hundred pounds per force, another team reads it as a hundred new newtons, yeah, the actual force would have been like a four point four five difference.

SPEAKER_03 5:29

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

So it doesn't seem like a huge difference, but when you're going to have to be as precise as you need to be, that's yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

I mean, any little deviation from what it's supposed to be would be significant in space travel. Yes. You know.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

So as the spacecraft approached Mars, um, that small mismatch began to compound. Okay. The trajectory calculations that had been feeding into the navigation system were slightly off. Not enough to trigger a concern, but enough to gradually alter the spacecraft's path. Spacecraft's path.

SPEAKER_03 6:10

Try and not say that again.

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Yeah. So instead of entering orbit at a safe altitude, the orbiter descended too low into the Martian atmosphere.

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Gotcha.

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So the spacecraft immediately entered the atmosphere at the wrong angle and altitude, and within moments, it was gone.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

Did it crash?

SPEAKER_00 6:28

It either burnt up or kind of flitted off into space, not knowing not ever to be seen again.

SPEAKER_03 6:34

Well, that's 120 whatever million gone at$1999. Well, that seems like it's funny because it's such a small difference.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah.

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But it's amazing what it did. Yeah.

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Gone.

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And they're just like, all right, back to the drawing board. Hey, let's uh let's get on the same page here with our as Kate would say, new tons.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Newtons.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Wow. Well that is weird because I mean I feel like okay, it's NASA. Figure how how do you how do you not know which one okay. That's weird. They wouldn't they wouldn't talk about hey, uh, which which uh which one are you using?

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Which uh numerical system are you using?

SPEAKER_03 7:23

Yeah. Using Imperial or using what is what is the other one called?

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Metric.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

Just metric? Yeah. Okay.

Lake Peigneur Drains Into A Mine

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Yeah. Okay, so now we're gonna go to 1980. Oh, back in the time. Louisiana. Oh, down south there in Louisiana to bayou. Mm-hmm. Force gump. There was a drilling operation sh that set off a chain of events that would transform an entire landscape within a matter of hours.

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Matter of hours.

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The Lake Penier disaster began with something that did not seem super dramatic at the time. However, however, an oil company had been conducting drilling operations on Lake Pener, a body of water that on the surface appeared super unremarkable.

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Okay.

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Beneath that lake, there was a um a network of salt mines. Oh, and it was carved out over time and expanding far below the waterbed.

SPEAKER_03 8:20

Yeah, I've heard about this actually, I think.

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Have you?

SPEAKER_03 8:23

I believe so.

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So those underground spaces were stable as long as the layers above them remained intact.

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Of course.

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And but they were never designed to withstand a direct breach from above.

SPEAKER_03 8:35

No, god no.

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So through a miscalculation, the drilling team placed their rig in the wrong location and punctured the roof of one of those salt mine chambers.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

And wasn't there people down there working?

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Um did I am I missing? I think they got out in time. Okay, because I don't believe there were any deaths in this one. Oh, good.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

Because being trapped under a lake in a salt mine and being flooded to death. I mean, I obviously drowned, but that would suck. Yeah. I would not want to be, I would not want to do that.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

So water from the lake began to pour into the mine, widening the opening and accelerating the flow in a way that could no longer be controlled. As water rushed downward, the process fed itself, pulling in everything around it. The lake began to drain, forming a massive whirlpool that swallowed not only the water, but also the drilling platform, oh dear nearby barges and sections of land along the shoreline.

SPEAKER_03 9:37

So I have a question. If this water from this lake is going into these salt mines, is it now an ocean? Shut up. Sorry. Salt water, you got it. We got there.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

So trees tilted and disappeared and the ground gave away.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

So did it plug up the hole?

SPEAKER_00 9:58

I mean it created a much bigger lake.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

It oh, it did.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 10:03

Oh, so because of the whirlpool, it ripped apart the shoreline, more or less, right? Yeah. And then it created that. How did it just not like go away?

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Plug itself? Plug itself or just a plug of hair?

SPEAKER_03 10:18

Yeah, you ever like been been in the shower and it's like, oh man, there's hair in the drain. Kate loves drains. She's told me this before. But I don't know. Either that, plug it up, or how much water was in this lake that that it it didn't just go, well, there's now it's water salt mines. Water salt mines. And it's dry up above. I don't know. I don't know what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

So somehow, despast despite the massive and chaos, yeah. Everyone did make it out. Thank goodness. Um the equipment functioned, the drilling followed its intended process, but the plan had just been built on incorrect positioning.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Yeah. So they were aware of the salt bias, and they just put it, they got their location wrong, more or less. Okay. Yeah. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Yeah. So there ended up being a legal battle between the oil company that drilled in the wrong place, the mining company that lost everything beneath the surface, and the landowners who watched their property collapse into it, all trying to figure out like who started this disaster by this little miscalculation.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

I feel like it's the oil company.

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In the end, the responsibility landed on Texaco, which was found liable and forced to pay out massive settlements to both the mining company and the landowners.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Yep.

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While the workers who had depended on the mine were largely left out of that outcome, losing their jobs without sharing in the settlement.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

See, how how is that fair at all? Exactly. That's that's horse shit. Because they're the ones making that whatever mining company it was money by working in these fucking mines. Yeah, their shit got fucked, but why aren't they a part of it? They lost their job because of it. And they're just like, well, we got ours. Let's move on to the next mine, boys. Yep. But we're not hiring you guys back to fuck off. So what the shit, man? It's always a little guy that gets fucked.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yep. So speaking of little guy, okay. Have you ever taken a magnifying glass and tried to create like a beam of light and torch an ant or something?

SPEAKER_03 12:27

Yeah, I'm a boy. I was a kid once.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

I mean, I'm a girl, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

Like, oh my god. I think Xavier's even tried to do that. I believe.

The Building That Melted Cars

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Well, that happened on a larger scale in London in 2013. That's not that long ago. A modern skyscraper, officially known as 20 Fenchurch Street.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

20 Fenchurch Street. Okay.

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But is more commonly referred to as the Walkie-Talkie Building. Because it's narrow on the bottom and white on the top, and some people think it looks like a walkie-talkie. So they call it the Walkie-Talkie Building.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Fair enough.

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It had been constructed with a curved glass exterior that was narrow at the bottom, white or at the top.

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Oh dear.

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Slightly curved.

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Yeah.

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And that reflected sunlight in a way that its designers had not planned for. The walkie-talkie building turned into a um solar concentrator, much like a magnifying glass.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

The sunlight hit the curved surface. No. It was focused into a concentrated beam that reflected down to the street below.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

The beam was intense enough to heat objects to the point of damage. Warping metal, cracking tiles, and melting parts of parked cars. That's wild. That is weird. At certain times of day, the reflection would align in such a way that it created a hot spot on the street.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

And um a localized areas where these temperatures rose dramatically.

SPEAKER_03 13:58

So when the sun obviously moves in the sky, did the spot move with it?

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Um, I think it was dependent on one, the sun where it is, but also where on the building is hitting. Because remember, there were parts that were curved glass. Yeah, knowing it. And I think it was part of that.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

So I would imagine it moved a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

Well, it would have to. It would have to. I would think.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

But not the whole building was curved.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

So well, good thing um London is awfully rainy.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

So did they have to fix this?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:33

Okay. Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

So um once identified, um, the problem was mitigated with modifications. Right. Um, they actually put up scaffolding and protective coverings on the street temporarily while they figured shit out.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

Right. They should have just put large blinds on it.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Well, they actually kind of did. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. Um, they they added horizontal aluminum fins to the facade of the building. Okay. And these would break up and scatter the reflected light instead of focusing it.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

Sure. So yeah, it's just basically like slat blinds where you can turn them and um apparently a jaguar that was parked on the street.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Not like the cat, the car another car had melted in spots. And the developers agreed and did pay 946 pounds, um, it which is about$1,300 in 2013. Okay. Or$1,900 now uh for repair costs.

SPEAKER_03 15:42

Sure. So interesting. Wow, that is weird because I mean, how would you have you're you're designing, creating this building. I've got a splendid idea, old chap. Let's put some curvature to our glass and not even understand that. Yeah. Oh fuck, we're melting shit. Melting shit. I mean, that is weird. Isn't it? How would you have I mean, I wouldn't have never thought of that. No. That's just crazy. Not saying like I'm a super smart man or would have thought of that, but never even would have fucking crossed my mind that, like, oh shit, dude, we're melting that jaguar.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

You see that beam of light down there? Oops, it is.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

We should probably go.

Vasa Warship Sinks On Launch

SPEAKER_00 16:26

All right. So now we're gonna go way back in time.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

1628.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

That is a bit back, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Um, Sweden launched what was intended to be one of the most powerful warships of its time.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

The Vasa warship. Vassa had been built to protect uh excuse me, project strength and dominance, and was equipped with an array of cannons designed to serve as a symbol of the the naval capability. You said Switzerland? Sweden.

SPEAKER_03 16:57

Sweden. Sorry. For some reason, Switzerland went into my head. I'm like, I know that doesn't sound right.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

So the king of Sweden at the time, Gustavus Adolphus.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

I love that name.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

That is a great name.

SPEAKER_03 17:07

Gustavus, that's fine. Adolphus, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

That's awesome. Um, he made these demands. So he was deeply involved in military expansion. He wanted a warship that projected power, dominance, and intimidation. So he wanted more cannons.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

More cannons. Oh no. Did he put too many cannons on?

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Oh no. He it was originally designed one gun deck, and then the king pushed for two full gun decks.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Oh my word.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Which dramatically increased the weight higher up into the ship.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

He wanted it bigger and he wanted it more impressive, and he wanted it to look powerful.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

He wanted it to be intimidating. Intimidating.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

He also wanted a faster completion time.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

Oh, so let's cut corner boys.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

So Sweden was actively at war. It was the 30 Years' War. Um, so there was pressure to finish quickly.

SPEAKER_03 18:02

Sure. I mean, I I I can understand that at least, but dude, maybe just one deck of cannons would have been enough.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

So as more cannons were added, the ship's weight distribution shifted. Of course. Concerns were raised during construction, and even informal tests suggested that the ship might not be able to hand handle strong winds. Well, uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 18:27

Yeah. And especially because back then it's not like you have a motor, you have sails. Yeah. That's how you moved. It's not like they had engines. So it's like that fucking wind. Whoa, whoa. It's like, holy Christ, that would just be oh man, what an idiot.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

So despite those warnings, the project moved forward. Um, of course. On its maiden voyage in calm conditions, okay, the Vasa set sail with crowds watching from the shore.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

Did they break a bottle of champagne on there?

SPEAKER_00 18:58

It had barely traveled a mile when a gust of wind caused the ship to tilt. Did it capsize? Water began to enter through the open gun ports, and with its compromised stability, the ship was unable to correct itself. And within minutes, bless me, it sank, settling to the seabed in full view of the crowd.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

Is it still there today?

SPEAKER_00 19:24

I don't know. I didn't look into that.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

And let's go to Sweden. On this tour of Sweden, we have the Vasa.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

The Vassa.

SPEAKER_03 19:32

It lasted one hour.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Yeah, but I think about so I read that no one died. I also read that about 30 people died. So I mean, if I'm just gonna say 30 people died.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

Let's cut it in half. 15. I have no idea. But like again, they were not that far out of port or whatever. But you're still in the ocean, someone could have got stuck somewhere, whatever. You don't know. So there is a high probability that a few people might have died. Yeah. Whether it's zero or thirty, who knows? But I would imagine there's a good chance that they maybe could have died. Yeah, I think so. Which is too bad.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

So that's the avoidable disasters.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

So make sure you use the proper units with your your cohorts. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

NASA.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

Um fuck curved glass.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Fuck curved glass. And don't drill too far down.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

Don't drill too far down.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Well, it's not even that. It was just a mis drillation.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

I'm sorry, let's rephrase. Drill in the right spot.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Drill in the right spot.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

And less is more. I'm just saying. So well.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

I suppose.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

All right, buffoons. That's it for today's episode.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time. Feeling hungry for more buffoonery? Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

SPEAKER_03 20:57

Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube, X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also email us at History Buffoons Podcast at gmail.com. We are Bradley and Kate, music by Corey Akers.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

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Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us.

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Remember, the buffoonery never stops.