Oh Boy, It's Molasses Bar Day. Who Wants A Molasses Bar?

I do not! It does not sound like a thing that would be good.

The late, great GG, courtesy of our pal Rodger

Happy(ish?) weekend!

I guess today is Molasses Bar Day, which I don’t think is a thing I want to eat (although I do like the canned brown bread, which is also made with molasses, so who knows!). However, it’s good to know (I checked) that today is not the anniversary of the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, a thing I definitely only think about a normal amount.

Should you not be aware, in January of 1919, a giant steel molasses tank burst and 2 million gallons of molasses rushed through the North End at 35 miles per hour, killing 21 people and injuring 150.

It feels like an opportune time to bring this up, given that the reason the molasses tank exploded was because there were basically no safety regulations at that time and no one really thought to check to be sure if the tank could actually handle 2 million gallons of molasses (which, obviously, it turned out it did not). The steel wasn’t thick enough, the rivets were flawed and the people in charge were not remotely interested in listening to people who were telling them that it was going to end poorly.

Via History.com:

Both the inadequate thickness and rivet issues were signs of negligence, and structural engineers knew better at the time, says [civil engineer Mark] Rossow. But the tank had been built quickly in the winter of 1915 to meet rising demand for industrial alcohol, which could be distilled from molasses and sold to weapons companies, who used it to make dynamite and other explosives for use during World War I.

And instead of inspecting the tank and filling it with water first to test it for flaws, USIA ignored all warning signs, including groaning noises every time it was filled. There were also obvious cracks. Before the tank blew, children would bring cups to fill with sweet molasses that dripped out of it.

As we are very likely about to embark on a future with few to no safety regulations, I would advise all of you to ensure you do not live anywhere near a giant molasses tank.

While there is no footage of the disaster (probably for the best!), I did manage to find this 1948 silent film featuring people attempting to wrestle in molasses, which does not seem like a very good idea.

Today also happens to be Opera Day (which I actually did not know until just this moment), so I present to you a production of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, which I actually went to go see last night at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I have so many thoughts! Mostly thoughts about how I really don’t like to blame the victim, but if you go to some guy’s house and he shows you his torture room that is covered in blood, his walls that are covered in blood, his armory which I am just going to assume was also covered in blood but I don’t remember it being mentioned, his room of riches that includes many tiaras covered in blood, and he keeps telling you “Don’t ask questions about all of this blood everywhere, just love me,” he is probably not the man of your dreams and if I were you I would leave.

That being said, I do watch a lot of Dateline so perhaps I am attuned to some things that others are not.

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