Heads-Up For Our Friends In France

[bumberjack]

Here's something you WOULDN'T want to sink into.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090828/ap_ ... ic_beaches

[Duncan Edwards]

Moderator - While this is a very important and informative article I felt it belonged in the "Off Topic" section. "General Discussion" really is about topics specific to sinking. Thanks for the post.

I work in a chemical plant where concentrations of hydrogen sulfide far lower than anything mentioned in the article will set off alarms. Scouting a site and looking at its history are something we should all think through before charging into any new area.

[Mynock]

Wow.....killed a horse withing 30 seconds.....that guys lucky he lived.
This is definitely something that would interest those of us who sink near/on beaches. You'd never think (at least I wouldn't) that a mudhole on an otherwise clean looking beach could contain poison gas. Wonder if this ever happens anywhere other then France.

[Nessie]

It does sound like the rotten-egg stench, and the fact that the picture shows a beach totally covered in algae-green, would pretty much drive off most reasonable sinkers, but it's still scary since one wouldn't expect algae, which is among the commonest of ordinary pond scums, to be able to kill in such a swift manner.

I do not like mudpits with green slime on top, and I am sensitive to how my bogs smell. I have rejected a few mudpits on no more than the fact that I thought they stank.

I thought I was being a tad sensitive, especially when I read that others do tolerate strong odors in their bogs...but maybe...does the body instinctively know some things without being told?

Stories like that do make me wonder.

Nessie

P.S. The mudpit that has appeared in my recent clips borders a lake that has gotten some positive data from the Department of Natural Resources on its low pollution level. It has plenty of frogs (which indicates a healthy environment) WITHOUT extra legs (a red flag to the opposite).

[bumberjack]

@ Nessie:

I would guess that the scent of sulfur would be enough to detract some people, but different people have different tolerances of odors. Some among us associate a really smelly bog with a really good time. I think we know through instinct (or through personal experience) that, generally, something smelly is something nasty. Nasty stuff can makes us sick.

[Nessie]

@ Nessie:

I would guess that the scent of sulfur would be enough to detract some people, but different people have different tolerances of odors. Some among us associate a really smelly bog with a really good time.

Yeah, I've known people that have gone ahead and gotten into those. Not me. I gotta have a nice clean bog.

My nose, by the way, isn't very sensitive. I had a lot of sinus infections when I was young. So if I think it's only icky, other people probably think that the stench is enough to faint by.

Hey, did you notice that your avatar is almost all nose?

Nessie

[Lomax]

Wonder if this ever happens anywhere other then France.

Word is that this weed has now been spotted in Scotland.

[bumberjack]

@ Nessie:

Yeah, the avatar was mostly nose. Now it's mostly creepy. And no, my eyes are not that large.