Armed Polite Society

Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: MechAg94 on April 21, 2022, 10:21:19 PM

Title: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: MechAg94 on April 21, 2022, 10:21:19 PM
Multiple Large Food Processing & Distribution Plants in US Have Recently Exploded or Burned Down
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/multiple-large-food-processing-distribution-plants-in-us-have-recently-exploded-or-burned-down/

Quote
Since the beginning of the year, there have been several very large food processing facilities that have exploded or burned to the ground across the U.S.

I saw this a few times on Instragram.  Looks a little too good.  I didn't notice any debunking links, but all the links that did come up are less well known to me.  Any thoughts? 
https://www.instagram.com/p/CcnsnJErl2R/
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: French G. on April 21, 2022, 10:37:33 PM
Haven't read the link. If it were true there are several things at work. First someone just noticed how often large industry screws up. Second, what workers and maintenance workers have shown up for the last two years at food plants have been worked to death. Heck, blame Trump. All the local food plants have been wall to wall bilingual ads since he was elected with ridiculous wage hikes even before Joeflation. And good luck shutting down a line to actually fix it. Plant managers don't like that.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: 230RN on April 21, 2022, 10:45:20 PM
Expect the best, plan for the worst.

I would not be surprised if it were a one-at-a-time-let's-not-cause-too-much-suspicion phenomenon.  Plan accordingly.

That recent Wal-Mart distribution center fire always looked funny to my inexpert eyes, Tom Swift said, paranoidically.  Yeah, "wooden floors."  Su-u-u-ure.

Non-clinical "paranoia" is a survival trait.

D'ja ever watch an old alley cat cross an alley?  How do you think he got to be an old alley cat?
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: MechAg94 on April 21, 2022, 10:56:15 PM
Expect the best, plan for the worst.

I would not be surprised if it were a one-at-a-time-let's-not-cause-too-much-suspicion phenomenon.  Plan accordingly.

That recent Wal-Mart distribution center fire always looked funny to my inexpert eyes, Tom Swift said, paranoidically.  Yeah, "wooden floors."  Su-u-u-ure.

Non-clinical "paranoia" is a survival trait.

D'ja ever watch an old alley cat cross an alley?  How do you think he got to be an old alley cat?
I find it hard to disagree, but never underestimate the ability of companies to be cheap and think short term.  If there isn't a govt standard/regulation to worry about, don't spend money or push it off to future fiscal years.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: 230RN on April 26, 2022, 12:31:52 PM
I find it hard to disagree, but never underestimate the ability of companies to be cheap and think short term.  If there isn't a govt standard/regulation to worry about, don't spend money or push it off to future fiscal years.

Which of course provides a perfect vulnerability.

Paranoia is a survival trait, and there are times when we ain't paranoid enough here on the good ship Lollipop.

Terry, 230RN
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: Boomhauer on April 26, 2022, 12:40:03 PM
It’s what happens when the people that know what they are doing are retiring or quitting in droves and there aren’t people coming in behind them to learn the skills and pick up the work. You can thank the attitude of “everybody should have an easy job” for killing the supply of people who make society run.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: HankB on April 26, 2022, 12:52:26 PM
I find it hard to disagree, but never underestimate the ability of companies to be cheap and think short term.  If there isn't a govt standard/regulation to worry about, don't spend money or push it off to future fiscal years.
Very true. I remember when I was a tyke my father worked for an engineering consulting company. He was tasked with designing some kind of industrial building for a customer - warehouse, factory, whatever. The customer took the design and gave it to a builder, who took it upon himself to save money by using smaller roof girders and spacing them further apart. Snowstorm came - roof collapsed. Comparing the ruins of the building with original documentation showed that THEY changed the design radically from what my father produced, so they didn't find the scapegoat they were looking for.

I saw MANY similar things happen during my career - people with too much authority meddling with things they truly didn't understand - but fortunately not with equally catastrophic results.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: WLJ on April 26, 2022, 01:01:22 PM
Very true. I remember when I was a tyke my father worked for an engineering consulting company. He was tasked with designing some kind of industrial building for a customer - warehouse, factory, whatever. The customer took the design and gave it to a builder, who took it upon himself to save money by using smaller roof girders and spacing them further apart. Snowstorm came - roof collapsed. Comparing the ruins of the building with original documentation showed that THEY changed the design radically from what my father produced, so they didn't find the scapegoat they were looking for.

I saw MANY similar things happen during my career - people with too much authority meddling with things they truly didn't understand - but fortunately not with equally catastrophic results.

Hyatt Regency Skywalk
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: K Frame on April 26, 2022, 01:27:46 PM
The Hot Pockets one was a mercy killing. Nothing less.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: 230RN on April 26, 2022, 01:54:21 PM
The Hot Pockets one was a mercy killing. Nothing less.

Two retired businessmen meet at a bar and strike up a conversation.   One says he had a great business but a fire destroyed it, so he collected the insurance and retired.

The other one says he had a similar thing but a flood was what wiped out his business and he also collected the insurance and retired.

The first one looks at the other guy and asks "Really? So tell me, how do you start a flood?"

Swiped from Playboy joke column.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: charby on April 26, 2022, 02:29:52 PM
As fast as this one this story is spreading through social media, I'm going to call bullcrap on a master plan or conspiracy. Some troll is having a lot of fun.

I was just thinking about how many food factories and food warehouses within 100 miles of where I live.

Smithfield, Hormel, Prestage, Zinpro, Daybreak, Centrium, Sparboe, Martin Brower, Cargill, AMP, ZinPro, Purina, AGP, Land o' Lakes, Heinz Kraft, Martin Brothers, Cysco, Michael Foods, JBS, Malt o Meal, Northwood Foods, etc.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: MechAg94 on April 26, 2022, 02:42:16 PM
As fast as this one this story is spreading through social media, I'm going to call bullcrap on a master plan or conspiracy. Some troll is having a lot of fun.

I was just thinking about how many food factories and food warehouses within 100 miles of where I live.

Smithfield, Hormel, Prestage, Zinpro, Daybreak, Centrium, Sparboe, Martin Brower, Cargill, AMP, ZinPro, Purina, AGP, Land o' Lakes, Heinz Kraft, Martin Brothers, Cysco, Michael Foods, JBS, Malt o Meal, Northwood Foods, etc.
That was part of the information that was missing.  How many food processing locations are there?  This number of fires is likely meaningless to total production. 
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: RocketMan on April 26, 2022, 03:44:16 PM
As fast as this one this story is spreading through social media, I'm going to call bullcrap on a master plan or conspiracy. Some troll is having a lot of fun.

I was just thinking about how many food factories and food warehouses within 100 miles of where I live.

Smithfield, Hormel, Prestage, Zinpro, Daybreak, Centrium, Sparboe, Martin Brower, Cargill, AMP, ZinPro, Purina, AGP, Land o' Lakes, Heinz Kraft, Martin Brothers, Cysco, Michael Foods, JBS, Malt o Meal, Northwood Foods, etc.

That was part of the information that was missing.  How many food processing locations are there?  This number of fires is likely meaningless to total production.

This in spades.  Same thing regarding non-food distribution centers catching fire.  Some folks lumped the recent Walmart DC fire into this conspiracy nuttery.  Do they have any idea how many DCs Walmart has?  Over 150 at last count if I remember correctly.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: WLJ on April 26, 2022, 03:53:38 PM
This in spades.  Same thing regarding non-food distribution centers catching fire.  Some folks lumped the recent Walmart DC fire into this conspiracy nuttery.  Do they have any idea how many DCs Walmart has?  Over 150 at last count if I remember correctly.

So aliens
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: RoadKingLarry on April 26, 2022, 05:10:56 PM
It's enough to raise an eyebrow and cause elevated interest and increased attention.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: charby on April 26, 2022, 05:22:43 PM
It's enough to raise an eyebrow and cause elevated interest and increased attention.

Not really, there was 120,000 structural non-residential fires in 2019.

see page 4

https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/US-Fire-Problem/FireLoss2020.ashx
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: RoadKingLarry on April 26, 2022, 05:30:30 PM
How many food processing facilities burned in the same time period last year? Or the year before?
Not saying  it's a major conspiracy but I don't much believe in coincidence.
All I'm saying is such bears a little extra attention.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: JTHunter on April 26, 2022, 05:49:19 PM
Which of course provides a perfect vulnerability.

Paranoia is a survival trait, and there are times when we ain't paranoid enough here on the good ship Lollipop.

Terry, 230RN

"Just because you ARE paranoid doesn't mean they AREN'T out to get you !  >:D >:D
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: charby on April 26, 2022, 06:09:29 PM
How many food processing facilities burned in the same time period last year? Or the year before?
Not saying  it's a major conspiracy but I don't much believe in coincidence.
All I'm saying is such bears a little extra attention.

I don't have a number but food plants typically have industrial sized gas fired cooking machines and don't exactly hire the cream of crop of workforce, so I would say they have a higher risk of fires.

According to the USDA there is 36,xxx food and beverage plants in the US.
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: Hawkmoon on April 26, 2022, 06:24:24 PM
Very true. I remember when I was a tyke my father worked for an engineering consulting company. He was tasked with designing some kind of industrial building for a customer - warehouse, factory, whatever. The customer took the design and gave it to a builder, who took it upon himself to save money by using smaller roof girders and spacing them further apart. Snowstorm came - roof collapsed. Comparing the ruins of the building with original documentation showed that THEY changed the design radically from what my father produced, so they didn't find the scapegoat they were looking for.

Yeah -- the builder probably called it "value engineering." There's an entire specialty of "value engineers" who make it their profession to tell clients that the engineers and architects made everything more expensive than it has to be. Building inspectors are supposed to catch that, but ... A lot of "value engineers" and "construction managers" are former general contractors who went belly-up because they didn't know how to build or how to properly price a job.

I once looked at an ocean-front multi-story condominium while it was under construction. The drawings called for a steel frame, and the building was at the maximum number of stories for a non-combustible building. When we got to the site, we found that it was being built using wood studs, which made it one or two stories taller than allowed by code. When my client called the building official, the answer was, "Oh, we give our field inspectors a lot of latitude to decide what's okay."

Yeah, right. Never mind that pesky code book (which, BTW, is by law the minimum standard for a safe building).
Title: Re: Conspiracy or Master Plan?
Post by: K Frame on April 26, 2022, 08:14:08 PM
The way I see it, I think it's something of a miracle that more of these food processing places don't go up in flames.

Think about it...

LOTS of flammable products. LOTS of cooking going on -- some of these places have enormous banks of ovens, retorts, etc.

More than a few of them deal with large quantities of flour and other organic dust producing ingredients... Ever see the results of a flour dust explosion? They can be quite... energetic.