Althouse: An explosion caused by cows burping and farting

January 28, 2014

An explosion caused by cows burping and farting — in Germany.

Methane plus a static electric spark blew up a cow shed in Rasdorf.

24 comments:

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Hey Now Blown Up Cow.; 1/28/14, 7:39 AM
peacelovewoodstock said...: Ah, so maybe the story about Mrs. O'Leary's cow and the Chicago fire was missing in a key detail.; 1/28/14, 7:42 AM
Clyde said...: Now THAT'S some Fahrvergnugen!; 1/28/14, 7:55 AM
rhhardin said...: There's probably a single German word for it.; 1/28/14, 7:56 AM
Clyde said...: Let's get umlauted:

Fahrvergnügen!; 1/28/14, 7:56 AM
Curious George said...: Funny little story, but why is the BBC interested? Oh, of course.

"Cattle ranching is a polluting business - methane is a potent greenhouse gas and cows also release large amounts of ammonia, which can lead to toxic acidification of soil and water bodies."; 1/28/14, 8:01 AM
Clyde said...: Maybe Rinderfurzmethanentladung?; 1/28/14, 8:01 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Thank goodness no one lights a match at the SOTU address.; 1/28/14, 8:02 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Or the rebuttal. That even has 'butt' in it.; 1/28/14, 8:04 AM
Rusty said...: Methane plus a static electric spark blew up a cow shed in Rasdorf.

They really need to ventilate those places better.; 1/28/14, 8:22 AM
Rusty said...: Laslo Spatula said...
Thank goodness no one lights a match at the SOTU address.

That'll be mostly just bullshit and hot air.
Although it's always fun to see who shows up with a bucket.; 1/28/14, 8:24 AM
Moose said...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5_D0rdqeAs&feature=youtu.be; 1/28/14, 8:30 AM
Bob Ellison said...: rhhardin, I'm going to be laughing all day at that one.; 1/28/14, 8:33 AM
Ipso Fatso said...: I read somewhere that the average human farts 17 times per day. I am above average, thank you.; 1/28/14, 8:33 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Curiously analagous to some Althouse comment threads.; 1/28/14, 8:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Cattle ranching is a polluting business - methane is a potent greenhouse gas and cows also release large amounts of ammonia, which can lead to toxic acidification of soil and water bodies.

And this statement bothers you why?; 1/28/14, 8:40 AM
Wince said...: "And in 1889, the Peace of Humus broke out, ending the Hundred Years War against the Cows."

PATTY: That's why he's so mean! Well, what else happened in history today, Hugh?
HUGH: In history, Patty, well, today, of course, is the 38th of Cunagonda, and on this day in one nine three eight, BC, that is...
PATTY: Ha ha ha...
HUGH: Mr. George N. Trobus invented the wheel.
PATTY: And just in time!
HUGH: And in 1889, the Peace of Humus broke out, ending the Hundred Years War against the Cows.
PATTY: Yup.
HUGH: And, uh, last year, Patty, you and the viewers will be interested in, uh, noting that the world ended.
PATTY: As we know it, Hugh!
HUGH: Heh. You're darn tooting, Patty.
PATTY: I sure am.
HUGH: Uh, say, who was born today?
PATTY: Ahh, nobody, Hugh.
HUGH: I mean in history, Patty, before they changed the water.; 1/28/14, 8:45 AM
MadisonMan said...: And this statement bothers you why?

It's not really pertinent to the story, is it?

Why didn't the add a sentence extolling the iron-rich qualities of good lean beef?; 1/28/14, 8:48 AM
KCFleming said...: @MadisonMan

The statement is added to provide the religious context for the article, i.e. its entire purpose.

Meat is evil because CO2 and pee and big booms.

Amen.; 1/28/14, 8:51 AM
KCFleming said...: "It's not really pertinent to the story, is it?"

That portion was the story.

Cow fart explosions were just the means to that end. So to speak.; 1/28/14, 8:54 AM
Bob Ellison said...: It seems to me that we are all missing the big opportunity here. Methane is a combustible gas. If we could capture it from the cows' butts (and mouths, apparently), we could heat our homes, light our bathrooms, and even cook our steaks. It's like a perpetual-motion cow machine!; 1/28/14, 8:59 AM
jr565 said...: Cows are responsible for global warming...and now for explosions. We have to eat them as soon as possible so they don't cause more mayhem.; 1/28/14, 9:21 AM
Saint Croix said...: hey, the shit hit the fan!; 1/29/14, 9:20 AM
Saint Croix said...: All of my life, I've heard about the shit hitting the fan. Watch out for that shit hitting the fan! But how do you prepare for it? How do you keep the shit from hitting the fan?

And then one day I decided, you know, the odds that a shit hits the fan has to be incredibly low. I was like, "oh, that's just a metaphor."

If they just said, "fart hit the fan," we all would have been ready for it. But we were woefully unprepared.; 1/29/14, 9:24 AM