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Page added on November 4, 2015
Crude oil smells bad and could kill you
Crude oil — black gold as it’s known — is not as simple a commodity to turn a profit on as actual gold.
Sure, with volatility in the oil market it might seem tempting to buy a few barrels, store them in your garage and wait for the price to go up.
But as Bloomberg’s Tracy Alloway found out, it really isn’t all that simple. She ended up with more like a jar because a barrel would be just too dangerous to store . And even acquiring that took some harrowing work on her part. Alloway also learned how the hydrogen sulfide gas emanating from her crude could silently suffocate a person. The black gold smells like rotten eggs too, she points out.
Once Alloway finally gets payment for the oil (which she’s storing in her New York apartment) she expects to make about seven cents. And, of course, that seven cents does not take into account insurance, transportation and the myriad other factors that go into trading crude oil futures.
Alloway wrote about her experience trying to buy a barrel of crude oil for Bloomberg, and spoke with Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal about what she found.
Click the above audio to hear the full interview.
9 Comments on "Crude oil smells bad and could kill you"
rockman on Wed, 4th Nov 2015 8:05 pm
A simple question: why? It has nothing to do with the real world of oil production, transportation or refining. IMHO if they really wanted to explain something meaningful to the public they should have written about the process of buying oil futures.
idontknowmyself on Thu, 5th Nov 2015 9:14 am
My experience with a chronic anal fissure
Posted over a year ago
Hi all
I thought that I would post this as a lot of people appear to be going through the same agony that I was going through for over a year.
Anyway, I was at uni and going through a bad time in my life, whenever I get stressed my guts go into turmoil. As a result I was off uni for a week with severe rectal pain and feeling lower than a snake’s belly. I booked an appointment with my GP as I had experienced similar symptoms before.
My GP recognised the symptoms immediately, I thought I had piles, she said I was too young so had a look. The digital examination wasn’t fun, in fact she said she had never seen anyway change colour so quickly but it was worth it because I was refered to a colo-rectal surgeon.
I took my sick note back into my tutor and as I was doing a clinical degree, he said straight away that fissures were worsened and sometimes caused by stress. The penny dropped.
As I said I was going through a very very bad time in my life which necessitated me going on antidepressants (Cipralex) for my emotional state. When this was added to wall climbing agony due to fissures I was near breaking point. I remember after one bowel movement almost fainting with the pain, I was lying at the top of the stairs at my mum’s house and clawing at the wallpaper with my fingernails – I have had a broken leg and in terms of pain that fissure was far worse, trust me.
I went to see the colo-rectal surgeon a few weeks later, I was terrified, but he was a lovely man, very very considerate. He told me that I had a large fissure that could be helped with an ointment. I told him my background so he talked a bit more openly and said that fissures are an incredibly debilitating condition. He once had a 16 stone rugby player openly weeping on his consulting couch with the pain – I can understand why.
I was prescribed GTN ointment and started using it as directed. I had a slight headache which I could live with, but this was far better than the agony of the fissure and this headache was pretty much gone after the first week. After a week of use the pain from the fissure had also subsided to nothing. After six weeks I went back to the surgeon and I was healed.
I wish that was the end of the story but it isn’t, I have probably had four or five bad flare ups since and dozens of other twinges, spasms, bleeds and itches since but I am nowhere near as bad as the first time – I can live with this now. I have seen the surgeon twice since and he has offered surgery but my frame of mind precluded me from that, I was simply terrified.
My GP is very understanding and I can get GTN on prescription whenever I need it. I was prescribed Anoheal by the surgeon as well but this didn’t work as well as GTN for me, but I have seen cases in work where this has been incredibly effective.
As I said earlier, I was doing a clinical degree, which I have now passed, so I feel that I am pretty well qualified to offer a bit of advice, so here it is.
1. Go and see your GP. Don’t be embarrassed, your doctor has seen dozens of these – they are very very common. If you get fobbed off or feel that you haven’t got anywhere, go back and tell him/her that you are not happy and you will go elsewhere i.e. change your GP. Changing your GP hits their bank balance, and as GPs are notoriously greedy, they will do something. Nobody should have to suffer with this.
2. Take something for the pain but NOT codeine. Ibuprofen worked best for me.
3. Drink plenty of fluids and lay off the alcohol while you are healing.
4. Eat lots of fibre and fresh fruit and veg, switch to brown bread and have something like Weetabix for breakfast. This softens stools and makes them easier to pass – less pain and less damage to existing fissures.
5. Use a stool softener, one Movicol sachet daily really really helped me. You can buy these over the counter from your local Pharmacist but tell them what it is for. Alternatively get them on prescription from your GP.
6. Lay off the red meat, there is some science to this as meat increases the residence time in the gut and predisposes to harder stools. This really helped me and I have seen a few accounts here where sufferers also say that.
7. Try to relax, easier said than done, but try simple things like having a hot bath instead of a shower. If anything helps you, no matter how crazy or off the wall it may sound, carry on doing it. Going out for a drive helped me. Staying active also helps constipation and makes you feel better. Don’t stay in and stew – stay positive.
8. Stick to the doctor’s directions of any drugs you are given. If you are told to apply a cream for 6 weeks into the anus, then make sure it goes into the anus for 6 weeks. And into the anus means into the hole – not nice, but a lot nicer than the agony from an untreated fissure.
Remember you are not alone, these things can be cured. You will feel terrible and you will feel like nobody else understands what you are going through but believe me, these things are very very common.
And if all the above doesn’t help there is a simple operation that can be done on a day case basis that has a 95% chance of curing it for good.
If you are reading this you are no doubt feeling horrible but believe me, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
mike on Thu, 5th Nov 2015 11:56 am
Idiotknowmyself is just going through the motions with this latest posting. Can’t someone ban him.
dave thompson on Thu, 5th Nov 2015 12:05 pm
Idontknowmyself is proving (along with others be un-named) that this site attracts bot-assholes, sent by the PTB, to disrupt conversation by and for those of us concerned with the real problems confronting all.
HARM on Thu, 5th Nov 2015 2:52 pm
C’mon, guys, lay off the trollbot. What about all the people suffering from chronic anal fissures? This information could save someone’s life!
rockman on Thu, 5th Nov 2015 3:19 pm
I agree with HARM. So far his contributions have exceeded that of our resident hungry kitty. LOL
idontknowmyself on Thu, 5th Nov 2015 3:45 pm
How come I am not ban. i would like to know because otherwise i cannot take that blog seriously
Dredd on Thu, 5th Nov 2015 3:59 pm
Same with crude oil people.
Exxon Mobil Investigated in New York Over Possible Lies on Climate
he subpoenas for records going back to 1970 have been served.
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