4 ms·

This is really scary stuff (and I was hoping that it would never make it on HN) I saw this on reddit today and a few of the better comments debunked the scare m

This is really scary stuff (and I was hoping that it would never make it on HN) I saw this on reddit today and a few of the better comments debunked the scare mongering hype: http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_is_forbidden_aboard_airplanes/c08ahms http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_i... And yet here we are with popsci near the top of HN. I blame Jeff Atwood.

cdr 18y ago
PopSci from 2004, no less. Did Atwood finally break HN?
- tom_rath 18y ago
  Atwood is starting to become Emmanuel Goldstein around here. Am I in time for today's Two Minute Hate?
jcl 18y ago
Note that the comment "debunking" the article is by the author of the article itself (or so he claims). The debunking seems to consist of repeating what is in the article: the FAA doesn't allow large amounts of mercury, as is present in a professional barometer. The scariness of the article seems to reside mostly in the comments here and choice of headline. (although the picture of the dissolving I-beam isn't particularly reassuring...)
- Xichekolas 18y ago
  Well the comment biohacker24 linked to wasn't really debunking it, but it was by the popsci author (supposedly). Both of these comments (in the same thread) do debunk it: http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_is_forbidden_aboard_airplanes/c08agdw http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_i... http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_is_forbidden_aboard_airplanes/c08agl8 http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_i...
  - JacobAldridge 18y ago
    Wow. That was my first Reddit experience in a long time - I appreciate the links, because I wouldn't have come close to trawling through the conversational inanities to find the nuggets of perception buried in a shit-storm of self-flagellation. Dear HN - I love youse guys.
    - Xichekolas 18y ago
      Yeah the whole thread of Sherlock Holmes quotes totally threw me... I knew reddit was bad... but that bad? Wow.

cdr 18y ago

PopSci from 2004, no less. Did Atwood finally break HN?

tom_rath 18y ago
Atwood is starting to become Emmanuel Goldstein around here. Am I in time for today's Two Minute Hate?

jcl 18y ago

Note that the comment "debunking" the article is by the author of the article itself (or so he claims). The debunking seems to consist of repeating what is in the article: the FAA doesn't allow large amounts of mercury, as is present in a professional barometer. The scariness of the article seems to reside mostly in the comments here and choice of headline. (although the picture of the dissolving I-beam isn't particularly reassuring...)

Xichekolas 18y ago
Well the comment biohacker24 linked to wasn't really debunking it, but it was by the popsci author (supposedly). Both of these comments (in the same thread) do debunk it: http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_is_forbidden_aboard_airplanes/c08agdw http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_i... http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_is_forbidden_aboard_airplanes/c08agl8 http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/85clw/why_mercury_i...
- JacobAldridge 18y ago
  Wow. That was my first Reddit experience in a long time - I appreciate the links, because I wouldn't have come close to trawling through the conversational inanities to find the nuggets of perception buried in a shit-storm of self-flagellation. Dear HN - I love youse guys.
  - Xichekolas 18y ago
    Yeah the whole thread of Sherlock Holmes quotes totally threw me... I knew reddit was bad... but that bad? Wow.