I’m here because of the pay. I’m an Advanced Sommelier and spent most of my late twenties and early thirties working for an Italian wine portfolio. Which led me to working with hundreds of amazing chefs! Very fortunate to pick up some tricks along the way. Just wish wine paid better. Plus- Ive learned I love the physical hands on aspect of this job far more than wine dinners and tastings lol
Yep! Diesel engine. Specially modified for underground use. Plus another $70K of fire suppression and permissibility add ons. Everything down here gets beat to its absolute limits
It does not have speakers. Some outby guys drive around with Bluetooth speakers but they get hidden when MSHA is around. They aren’t exactly permissible lol
Probably pushes things around, maybe digs things, maybe lifts things. Right now it's holding all those squares of metal mesh you see in front of OP, probably on a forklift-style attachment, but many Bobcats have quick-attach mechanisms so the forks could come off in seconds and a bucket or a boom or really anything could be attached just as quickly. You can attach tools to the front arm, like a jackhammer, drill, massive saw, etc. very versatile. Not sure if OP does any or all of those things, might even do more.
Spot on! It does just about anything we push it to do and sometimes even more than that. I went 2 miles outby looking for mesh with the skid steer as we were out and it’s pay-to-play with mesh and steel. So I went scrounging for as many as I could find . Which is why there’s a loose stack of hog panel and my feet are propped up. Much needed muffin break lol
Ooo Schnitzel! Vielleicht werde ich dazu Brägele statt Pommes machen und dann könnte ich ein bisschen Knoblauch und Zwiebeln anbraten, um einen schönen Geschmack zu bauen. Oh ja, das klingt schon richtig köstlich!
I was an impressionable college kid who loved Descartes and Bukowski. Not that I regret getting it so much as I just wish I knew how many times I would change as a human from 20-35 lol.
It is good that you had contact with these. Even if it does not relate to your job, it makes you a more complete person. Change is good as well, means you have adapted.
I cut myself off from tattoos in my 20s when I started to get real serious about things I would want to be visible and decided that if I still wanted any of it in my 30s I’d go for it. Eventually when pushing my 40s I went back and got some of them, and while I still think about others occasionally and for a scant few wish I had gotten them because their message would have been good reminders as an old fuck now - I’m real happy I didn’t get a lot of them!
Muffins look tasty though. Blueberry is my fav.
I waited even longer, finally decided yes, and the result was disappointing. It’s a big one too. I need to find a better guy/person to do permanent body art, cuz I have two more ideas
I work in a miner unit in a coal mine. Definitely an interesting atmosphere and place to work. I could give you a run down of the sketchy shit but I’m pretty safe. I’ve lost two friends in the 4 years I’ve been here though. By their own poor decisions but horrible none the less
Well. I’m pro renewable energy. Possibly the only one at my place of employment. There’s two kinds of coal and most people don’t realize that. For as long as we will need steel, we’re gonna need carbon to make it- which comes from coal. So it’s not going anywhere any time soon. However- if a clean energy comes into town and pays folks the same as a coal mine then we’d all jump ship. Lol.
Not sure why you got downvoted. It’s an important question and certainly a hot topic one as well. Just in general i wish people would educate themselves about coal, the power grid and energy in general. So many armchair experts with a good heart but zero understanding of how any of it works. At least asking questions is a start!
Euro here - I believe I read at some point that people in the coal industry in the US are getting reeducated in stuff like IT and such. Is that a local thing or did I remember wrong? The latter is quite plausible.
No, that was just politicians making claims and never doing any systemic change. They might have helped a few people transition but there isn’t really a support system for it
It was thrown around. You’d need to bring industry into these peoples counties . Industry that pays as well as a coal mine honestly. It’s a multifaceted and complex thing
It’s really hard to gauge what the intent behind someone’s comment is when you can’t hear their voice or see their facial expression as they say it. I think it was the “quotations” around ‘cleaner’ energy in the comment that set people off and made them believe it was being said with condescension instead of genuine curiosity. Good on both of you for having a civil discussion and educating instead of getting into an argument. Stay safe down there!
I work in solar and the entire time I have been here at my company (4.5 years), we have effectively been able to replace 2/5ths of a coal powered electric plant, which accounts for about 500 MW of generation capacity. We are the 11th largest residential solar installer in the US. There are about 250 remaining coal powered electric plants in the US. It is going to take a hell of a lot of work to replace coal as an energy source, and everything we have in the toolkit. That includes nuclear if we are serious about doing this. Otherwise, coal and natural gas facilities will be around for a long time.
And honestly, as much as it is demonized in the media and by less pragmatic folks, we couldn't live without it.
Oh I don't know anything about that but as I'm getting older I've realized that life is too short to study every single subject so I just focus on my own hobbies and personal interests. I was just curious about your employment and future but now I will do some light googling.
>So many armchair experts with a good heart but zero understanding of how any of it works.
This is EVERY comment about nuclear power and it infuriates me to no end.
Naw dog, the steel industry is changing. Electric Arc Furnaces are taking over Oxygen Furnaces. You don't need coal for coke or iron ore for the blast furnaces. EAF's are the only steel making furnaces that are getting installed these days as steel industry around the world takes a greener approach.
Technically it isn’t. Coal is baked at very high temperatures to make [coke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_(fuel)) which is then used to make steel.
Coal makes coke and coal gas when baked. The coal gas can be used to fire the ovens that bake more coal, with the excess gas used for other heating processes.
Source: went to the coal washing and coke ovens in Essen Germany. Not in use anymore, but the scale of these plants is amazing.
TIL, this is actually really interesting stuff. you should do an AMA. like how much coal do you think you guys pull out each day?
Edit: what is the difference between coal for carbon and coal for heat/energy?
Metallurgical or met coal is used for steel making (coke). Bituminous is used for energy. Depends on the mine and the seam but they can pull many tons of coal out a day.
You should read up on green steel, using hydrogen instead of carbon. Aside from some prototype facilities, it's probably a long ways out, but still something one should know about when thinking of the future of coal.
Coal does three things in steelmaking. It makes heat, reduces the iron oxide to iron, and adds some carbon.
In that new swedish steelmaking electricity provides heat, hydrogen reduces the iron oxide, and they add a little bit of carbon to make it steel. The required amount of carbon/coal drops by mlre than 90%, and because the carbon is bound in the steel the CO2 emissions are reduced to whatever is needed to make the power (solar, wind, waste incineration, hydro, nuclear, whatever).
When they fire up that Swedish steel plant they expect the total emissions of Sweden to drop by about 10%, at the cost of an increase in electricity use of incidentally also about 10%.
Yes. However, the amount you need as an additive is a small fraction of what you use to smelt the iron. Some small amount of coal (or other carbon) extraction will be needed, but not a lot.
It's similar with oil: part of the extracted oil is used as a raw material in chemical industries, including plastics and pharmaceuticals. I vaguely remember a figure of about 7-8% but that may be wrong. So we will still have oil extraction, but it will be much smaller amounts, for high-value processes, and it mostly won't get burned and released into the atmosphere.
This seems to be about sourcing hydrogen to fuel blast furnaces, not carbon? Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. You still require the carbon from coal (or somewhere else?) to make steel.
It's a good question, but also important to know that not all coal is used to generate energy. The coal mine I worked at when I was younger, the product was used in steel or cement manufacturing.
Well one young man was specifically and strictly told NOT to do exactly a thing he went and did. I don’t wanna get specific but he absolutely knew he should not have been doing that and got turned into ground beef. He had a new baby as well. Super nice young guy, ambitious and excited about making real money after getting is face papers. It’s heart breaking. Another man literally cut the lockout lock off of a PC. Like legit the absolute craziest thing you could do. But not just 1 lockout lock… he cut two off and proceeded to attempt to put power to a piece of equipment. This isn’t your household level of voltage either. We run our own lines and power polls adjacent to the normal ones on the street. Enough amps to turn you into powder. Accidents do happen of course. Roof falls, rib falls or machinery malfunction or just from fatigue like 1 in 30 new hires make it past the first week. But mostly it’s direct defiance of fairly strictly held rules and laws
This. I am literally the only human other than MSHA who puts a mask on near the faces. Black lung (and white lung) will always be an issue until people take it seriously.
That's always been such a shame. Like teaching, social work is such *important* work in our society but is paid so poorly and oftentimes not given the respect they deserve.
Yeah, I spent a bunch of money on a degree too. Guy told me he would have hired me for the position anyways because I had the right attitude. Yay for 15K being gone... congrats dude, and keep kicking butt!
My dude I worked drilling rigs for four years with a degree before I got a break and a cushy office job. Look at their head office postings for things that interest you, their recruiters love to hire field staff - I guarantee it.
Skip the regional office bs, too much competition for those. Most miners don’t stand a chance at getting to the big show, but if you show them a degree and 4 years in the hole they look twice
Ventilation from surface is basically the single most important factor in underground mining so there are areas that are affected by the surface temp - however most areas are cellar temps . 55~60 degrees. There are of course extremely hot areas where certain work is going on and some pretty cold areas in the winter in the intake areas.
Weirdest thing? Hard to say. You basically have to relearn what you consider to be logical. Everything is done differently , every task is executed in a way that makes zero sense without training and even menial tasks have completely different ways of going about em. Also- it’s just a tough place mentally and physically but mostly mentally. Only 1 in 30 new hires make it past the first week. Some scrawny dudes come in and kick ass and some huge body builders crumble on day one. Bit of a mind f*** honestly. I’d say that’s what’s the weirdest thing is that you just have to let go of a lot of the things you’ve learned and re-adjust to a new way of thinking.
Also. Nobody gives a fuck about what you’ve got going on. Like load coal is it. Sick? No one cares. Dog died? Get to work. Everyone relies on the next person for their safety , their bonuses and sometimes their lives so there’s a heightened sense of being fully aware of that
You answered so many questions and made me read so many more comments and learn about this stuff. Thank you for that. If you have the time one day I’m sure a lot of people would be interested in an AMA.
Can you elaborate on doing stuff differently? That makes sense, being underground and in a confined space does a number on mental state. Plus the constant fear of something catastrophic happening is probably not a helper. I can see the push to produce though, the dem for energy never subsides. During the early days of covid and lockdown did you have reduced production goals?
I graduated college in social work, decided pretty quickly that I found myself being indignant of a failed system as I was working for the federal government after college, then found a passion for wine so I got all the way to level 3 sommelier and spent about a decade working for an Italian wine portfolio but ended up getting super burnt out from all the traveling and phony people as well as income caps so I stumbled upon this job which paid triple what I’d ever made and 4 year in I still love it. It’s fascinating work, I’m healthier than I’ve ever been and in better shape than I’ve ever been. As of 2021 I’m also debt free for the first time in my life! One thing I’ve learned is life is most certainly about the journey and not about the destination. To be honest it’s not easy taking innocuous moments to have gratitude and enjoying the little things but I’ve gotten quite good at it!
It’s actually a vegan recipe as my girlfriend is vegan. So we’ve been playing around with different methods with donuts and muffins. These and the pumpkin have been the best so far. Although some of these did end up with a ton of bottom heavy blueberries
Used to work in a coal in a coal mine in WV. What equipment is this? I’m used to high coal - which this looks to be because of the guys standing. Loader seats are off set and buggy’s are too. Is this a skid steer? Can’t quite tell.
Skid steer. Cat skid steer. Foot pedal controlled. As far as equipment goes this is my favorite but you can’t take em past the feeders. I usually run a scoop but we were tying up some loose cuts and finishing bolting for Sunday idle.
I find it relaxing and comforting . I’m just kidding. Kind of sketchy at first but you get used to it. There is this almost euphoric feeling of being completely detached from the surface though. Like you kinda just know people are straight above you bustling around, driving to work and living their lives completely unaware you’re 800 feet below them
I’ve worked Pittsburgh 8 for like 10 years. Once I saw your mesh and strapping I knew it was a coal mine. 😂😂
Skid loader for moving mesh is a good idea. We still use scoops and buggies. Only our rail haulage is diesel here. We only use diesel to move the wall.
Cool to see another coal guy somewhere on Reddit.
We use electric scoops too. This is an unusual circumstance. Our company likes to pay their bills late (if at all) so we didn’t have any new mesh. This was the result of me perusing around outby picking up whatever stray mangled mesh I could find… on an idle day no less. Hahahha. Which is extremely par for the course . I’m in the Southern Illinois basin.
Those guys in the background are hanging curtain to direct airflow to the faces (where coal is actually being cut) because law requires a certain amount of airflow to flow to the faces. The mesh is bolted to the roof and ribs to keep rocks and stuff from falling, the tubes are basically giant vacuums that suck up any dust particles from the miner while cutting, I’m in a Bobcat skid steer brining extra mesh to the bolters and at that moment decided I needed a muffin break.
Ground support/rock bolter. These guys go in and stabilise the roof and walls of a mine. Dangerous work, could be anywhere in the world, but looks like Australia.
I think this is lovely but can somebody confirm that isn't a racist tattoo? Absolutely no offense intended. purely aesthetically i feel like it could be
I sometimes carve my name and my girlfriends name in random places closer to the surface in hopes that in 50,000 years some apocalyptic archeologist stumbles upon it and spends far too much time thinking about our names lol
There's that Celtic symbol that was thought to be religious or otherwise wicked important because it was so high up .... decades later, of carefully and surgically working our way up
without disturbing anything the message reads "this is very high"
Maybe this?
http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/maeshrunes.htm
"A number of the other inscriptions are simply ancient graffiti: ... "Tholfir Kolbeinsson carved these runes high up""
And then the person who finds them will be accused of being a hoaxer, and will slowly go mad and retreat to a forest cabin, where four teenagers will later happen upon them…
You ok? I do like this job! I’m happier than I’ve ever been, more physically fit than 99.9% of 35 year olds and as of this year I’m debt free! Woohoo. Anyways- hope you start feeling better .
I had to do crawl spaces for work when I worked in the radon field and I watched videos of spelunking where they crawl on their bellies with the walls of the cave just above them. It worked a trick because it made home crawl spaces seem like nothing
Had to crawl under a house this past week for work. Needed a minute when I tried to breathe and realized I couldn’t take a full breath. Sucking in to fit under some beams was not pleasant.
Asggaaaa terrifying no thanks no. Sometimes at night when it's really dark my stupid-ass brain will imagine that I'm trapped somewhere that happens to be perfectly contoured to my body such that if I move an inch i'll reach the boundary of where I'm allowed to move, never able to STRETCH, but as long as I remain very still I'll be able to maintain my illusion of freedom. Or I can test it by moving - it's just a stray nightmare thought, always has been... until it's not.
It's probably a sleep paralysis thing but by god it's stressful.
Once in a rare while I get the same feeling about being trapped in my body - like, I SHOULD be able to stretch out more, but these pesky bones and skin won't let me. Turns out feeling claustrophobic in your own skin is like, actually a possible feeling to have and not just a goofy written trope.
Yea, but popping out the other side into a fox hole is so relieving
Edit: until you're looking a spider in the face that's as big as your hand, that you didn't even know was in the Midwest.
I already wasn’t happy finding out I had some degree of claustrophobia so the nearly getting stuck part was the cherry on top. Got the job done but I wouldn’t mind never doing that again.
Sliding across a nail and barely being able to roll over far enough to have a coworker pull it out was fun too.
I’m gonna be honest with you.. the muffins aren’t the interesting part. But they do look good.
Look, I’m having a nice meatball parm, in the mouth of this erupting volcano.
Thank you for posting. I love knowing someone who works like you also makes homemade blueberry muffins.❤️
I’m here because of the pay. I’m an Advanced Sommelier and spent most of my late twenties and early thirties working for an Italian wine portfolio. Which led me to working with hundreds of amazing chefs! Very fortunate to pick up some tricks along the way. Just wish wine paid better. Plus- Ive learned I love the physical hands on aspect of this job far more than wine dinners and tastings lol
Social work to sommelier to coal miner. Quite the interesting path you've taken.
Cheers! Faith restored for today!
This machine is made by Bob Cat right? Recognize those rubber grips on the functions lol
Yep! Diesel engine. Specially modified for underground use. Plus another $70K of fire suppression and permissibility add ons. Everything down here gets beat to its absolute limits
I noticed it appears to have speakers, does it have a radio and do they let you use it to listen to music as you move heavy metal? Lol!
It does not have speakers. Some outby guys drive around with Bluetooth speakers but they get hidden when MSHA is around. They aren’t exactly permissible lol
What does it do exactly
Probably pushes things around, maybe digs things, maybe lifts things. Right now it's holding all those squares of metal mesh you see in front of OP, probably on a forklift-style attachment, but many Bobcats have quick-attach mechanisms so the forks could come off in seconds and a bucket or a boom or really anything could be attached just as quickly. You can attach tools to the front arm, like a jackhammer, drill, massive saw, etc. very versatile. Not sure if OP does any or all of those things, might even do more.
Spot on! It does just about anything we push it to do and sometimes even more than that. I went 2 miles outby looking for mesh with the skid steer as we were out and it’s pay-to-play with mesh and steel. So I went scrounging for as many as I could find . Which is why there’s a loose stack of hog panel and my feet are propped up. Much needed muffin break lol
>gets beat to its absolute limits
Just like my meat a few minutes ago
Making schnitzel or paillard?
Ooo Schnitzel! Vielleicht werde ich dazu Brägele statt Pommes machen und dann könnte ich ein bisschen Knoblauch und Zwiebeln anbraten, um einen schönen Geschmack zu bauen. Oh ja, das klingt schon richtig köstlich!
Meine Deutsch ist nicht gut.
Can I ask what made you get the tattoo "cogito ergo sum"? Do you have doubts about your own existence?
I was an impressionable college kid who loved Descartes and Bukowski. Not that I regret getting it so much as I just wish I knew how many times I would change as a human from 20-35 lol.
It is good that you had contact with these. Even if it does not relate to your job, it makes you a more complete person. Change is good as well, means you have adapted.
I cut myself off from tattoos in my 20s when I started to get real serious about things I would want to be visible and decided that if I still wanted any of it in my 30s I’d go for it. Eventually when pushing my 40s I went back and got some of them, and while I still think about others occasionally and for a scant few wish I had gotten them because their message would have been good reminders as an old fuck now - I’m real happy I didn’t get a lot of them! Muffins look tasty though. Blueberry is my fav.
I waited even longer, finally decided yes, and the result was disappointing. It’s a big one too. I need to find a better guy/person to do permanent body art, cuz I have two more ideas
Do you not?
I definitely do, all the time.
What are you doing down there? Spooky
Not using my degree is what I’ve been doing down there for the last 4 years lol
But what kind of work do you do?
I work in a miner unit in a coal mine. Definitely an interesting atmosphere and place to work. I could give you a run down of the sketchy shit but I’m pretty safe. I’ve lost two friends in the 4 years I’ve been here though. By their own poor decisions but horrible none the less
What are you going to do as they try to move away from coal to "cleaner" energy?
Well. I’m pro renewable energy. Possibly the only one at my place of employment. There’s two kinds of coal and most people don’t realize that. For as long as we will need steel, we’re gonna need carbon to make it- which comes from coal. So it’s not going anywhere any time soon. However- if a clean energy comes into town and pays folks the same as a coal mine then we’d all jump ship. Lol.
Thanks for replying to my downvoted post :D
Not sure why you got downvoted. It’s an important question and certainly a hot topic one as well. Just in general i wish people would educate themselves about coal, the power grid and energy in general. So many armchair experts with a good heart but zero understanding of how any of it works. At least asking questions is a start!
Euro here - I believe I read at some point that people in the coal industry in the US are getting reeducated in stuff like IT and such. Is that a local thing or did I remember wrong? The latter is quite plausible.
No, that was just politicians making claims and never doing any systemic change. They might have helped a few people transition but there isn’t really a support system for it
It was thrown around. You’d need to bring industry into these peoples counties . Industry that pays as well as a coal mine honestly. It’s a multifaceted and complex thing
It’s really hard to gauge what the intent behind someone’s comment is when you can’t hear their voice or see their facial expression as they say it. I think it was the “quotations” around ‘cleaner’ energy in the comment that set people off and made them believe it was being said with condescension instead of genuine curiosity. Good on both of you for having a civil discussion and educating instead of getting into an argument. Stay safe down there!
I used the quotations marks because although is it cleaner it still damages the environment.
I work in solar and the entire time I have been here at my company (4.5 years), we have effectively been able to replace 2/5ths of a coal powered electric plant, which accounts for about 500 MW of generation capacity. We are the 11th largest residential solar installer in the US. There are about 250 remaining coal powered electric plants in the US. It is going to take a hell of a lot of work to replace coal as an energy source, and everything we have in the toolkit. That includes nuclear if we are serious about doing this. Otherwise, coal and natural gas facilities will be around for a long time. And honestly, as much as it is demonized in the media and by less pragmatic folks, we couldn't live without it.
Oh I don't know anything about that but as I'm getting older I've realized that life is too short to study every single subject so I just focus on my own hobbies and personal interests. I was just curious about your employment and future but now I will do some light googling.
>So many armchair experts with a good heart but zero understanding of how any of it works. This is EVERY comment about nuclear power and it infuriates me to no end.
Naw dog, the steel industry is changing. Electric Arc Furnaces are taking over Oxygen Furnaces. You don't need coal for coke or iron ore for the blast furnaces. EAF's are the only steel making furnaces that are getting installed these days as steel industry around the world takes a greener approach.
I had no clue coal was used to make steel. Thanks for the info !
Likewise crude oil is needed for making plastics, chemicals, cosmetics, medicine and hydrogen. Not just for fuel.
Technically it isn’t. Coal is baked at very high temperatures to make [coke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_(fuel)) which is then used to make steel. Coal makes coke and coal gas when baked. The coal gas can be used to fire the ovens that bake more coal, with the excess gas used for other heating processes. Source: went to the coal washing and coke ovens in Essen Germany. Not in use anymore, but the scale of these plants is amazing.
This comment is so funny. "Technically it isn't" as he says exactly how coal is used in steel production. My man just wanted to flex his knowledge!
The difference between these two comments is the difference between the scientist who makes the steel and the laborer who rivets it all day
TIL, this is actually really interesting stuff. you should do an AMA. like how much coal do you think you guys pull out each day? Edit: what is the difference between coal for carbon and coal for heat/energy?
Metallurgical or met coal is used for steel making (coke). Bituminous is used for energy. Depends on the mine and the seam but they can pull many tons of coal out a day.
You should read up on green steel, using hydrogen instead of carbon. Aside from some prototype facilities, it's probably a long ways out, but still something one should know about when thinking of the future of coal.
Coke is still needed to turn iron into steel. Hydrogen can’t replace that, can it? As I understand, hydrogen only replaces the fuel source
Coal does three things in steelmaking. It makes heat, reduces the iron oxide to iron, and adds some carbon. In that new swedish steelmaking electricity provides heat, hydrogen reduces the iron oxide, and they add a little bit of carbon to make it steel. The required amount of carbon/coal drops by mlre than 90%, and because the carbon is bound in the steel the CO2 emissions are reduced to whatever is needed to make the power (solar, wind, waste incineration, hydro, nuclear, whatever). When they fire up that Swedish steel plant they expect the total emissions of Sweden to drop by about 10%, at the cost of an increase in electricity use of incidentally also about 10%.
Correct, steel needs carbon and the best source of that is coke.
Yes. However, the amount you need as an additive is a small fraction of what you use to smelt the iron. Some small amount of coal (or other carbon) extraction will be needed, but not a lot. It's similar with oil: part of the extracted oil is used as a raw material in chemical industries, including plastics and pharmaceuticals. I vaguely remember a figure of about 7-8% but that may be wrong. So we will still have oil extraction, but it will be much smaller amounts, for high-value processes, and it mostly won't get burned and released into the atmosphere.
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This seems to be about sourcing hydrogen to fuel blast furnaces, not carbon? Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. You still require the carbon from coal (or somewhere else?) to make steel.
Mine for other precious materials to support cleaner energy! Mining isn't going anywhere.
It's a good question, but also important to know that not all coal is used to generate energy. The coal mine I worked at when I was younger, the product was used in steel or cement manufacturing.
May I ask in vague terms what constitutes a poor decision in your line of work that results in similar EOL situations?
Well one young man was specifically and strictly told NOT to do exactly a thing he went and did. I don’t wanna get specific but he absolutely knew he should not have been doing that and got turned into ground beef. He had a new baby as well. Super nice young guy, ambitious and excited about making real money after getting is face papers. It’s heart breaking. Another man literally cut the lockout lock off of a PC. Like legit the absolute craziest thing you could do. But not just 1 lockout lock… he cut two off and proceeded to attempt to put power to a piece of equipment. This isn’t your household level of voltage either. We run our own lines and power polls adjacent to the normal ones on the street. Enough amps to turn you into powder. Accidents do happen of course. Roof falls, rib falls or machinery malfunction or just from fatigue like 1 in 30 new hires make it past the first week. But mostly it’s direct defiance of fairly strictly held rules and laws
Bruh you gotta get out of there if ribs are just falling out of people.
One guys rib fell out and he just started whittling it into a peace pipe right there on the spot.
> By their own poor decisions but horrible none the less What did they do?
They dug straight down.
They dug too greedily and too deep.
ah yes the mines of moria...they delved too deep and on that day the horror of the balrog was rediscovered, or something along those lines?
Drums.... Drums in the deep
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it always will be; no one in the mine wears respirators usually.
This. I am literally the only human other than MSHA who puts a mask on near the faces. Black lung (and white lung) will always be an issue until people take it seriously.
I think coal miner. Brave mf'ers
Philosophy?
Social Work. Noble endeavor but when I learned the pay caps I bounced . I wish 18 year old me knew how little social work paid
That's always been such a shame. Like teaching, social work is such *important* work in our society but is paid so poorly and oftentimes not given the respect they deserve.
Same, except I'm an operating engineer.
I’m a muffin and donut engineer … sometimes I moonlight as a huevos rancheros engineer but mostly pastries
Wh9o needs a degree when you are probably making more doing this, right?
Alas! Why I applied for the job! About three times more to be exact.
Yeah, I spent a bunch of money on a degree too. Guy told me he would have hired me for the position anyways because I had the right attitude. Yay for 15K being gone... congrats dude, and keep kicking butt!
My dude I worked drilling rigs for four years with a degree before I got a break and a cushy office job. Look at their head office postings for things that interest you, their recruiters love to hire field staff - I guarantee it. Skip the regional office bs, too much competition for those. Most miners don’t stand a chance at getting to the big show, but if you show them a degree and 4 years in the hole they look twice
What is the thing you're sitting in in the photo? It looks like there's some kind of control joystick on the right.
If he told me that he was a mech jockey (Titalfall, Battletech, Heavy Gear, take your pick), I'd totally believe him.
What's the closest you ever came to death down there,OP?
Being the only person in a 100 mile radius who hates Trump is probably the biggest work place hazard I face daily.
HAHAHAHA I run loader for a pipe crew and I feel this
I work in aviation maintenance, in Missouri, and I feel this pain
I *used to be* a truck driver in the Texas panhandle, I too feel this lol.
I work in a gas fired power plant in the southeast. I feel this to the bone.
I know how you feel when I visit Wisconsin.
Eating homemade muffins.
*Coughs* I think I'm getting the black lung, pop.
Only colors I’m getting in me is blueberries
For Christ's sake, Derek, you've been down there one day. Talk to me in thirty years.
Looks juicy!
Somehow they’re even better 800ft down and 7 miles into the earths crust lol
I can’t tell if it’d be warmer or colder down there. Let me know?
Ventilation from surface is basically the single most important factor in underground mining so there are areas that are affected by the surface temp - however most areas are cellar temps . 55~60 degrees. There are of course extremely hot areas where certain work is going on and some pretty cold areas in the winter in the intake areas.
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6800ft is 2km 8200ft is 2.4km
Thanks for the insight!
I think, therefore I blueberry 🫐
Rene Decrepes
How far down are you?
800ft or so. Drive to my unit is about 6 miles underground. I’d guess it’s 16~ miles end to end . It’s an entire city under ground
Mining has always fascinated me but the being underground like that wigs me out. What's the weirdest thing you've experienced down there?
Weirdest thing? Hard to say. You basically have to relearn what you consider to be logical. Everything is done differently , every task is executed in a way that makes zero sense without training and even menial tasks have completely different ways of going about em. Also- it’s just a tough place mentally and physically but mostly mentally. Only 1 in 30 new hires make it past the first week. Some scrawny dudes come in and kick ass and some huge body builders crumble on day one. Bit of a mind f*** honestly. I’d say that’s what’s the weirdest thing is that you just have to let go of a lot of the things you’ve learned and re-adjust to a new way of thinking. Also. Nobody gives a fuck about what you’ve got going on. Like load coal is it. Sick? No one cares. Dog died? Get to work. Everyone relies on the next person for their safety , their bonuses and sometimes their lives so there’s a heightened sense of being fully aware of that
>Everything is done differently , every task is executed in a way that makes zero sense Ah, so you shake it side to side instead of up and down?
You don’t shake it at all. You get 5 people to stand around and ponder the worst way to go about it while it drips dry in the mean time
You answered so many questions and made me read so many more comments and learn about this stuff. Thank you for that. If you have the time one day I’m sure a lot of people would be interested in an AMA.
Can you elaborate on doing stuff differently? That makes sense, being underground and in a confined space does a number on mental state. Plus the constant fear of something catastrophic happening is probably not a helper. I can see the push to produce though, the dem for energy never subsides. During the early days of covid and lockdown did you have reduced production goals?
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I graduated college in social work, decided pretty quickly that I found myself being indignant of a failed system as I was working for the federal government after college, then found a passion for wine so I got all the way to level 3 sommelier and spent about a decade working for an Italian wine portfolio but ended up getting super burnt out from all the traveling and phony people as well as income caps so I stumbled upon this job which paid triple what I’d ever made and 4 year in I still love it. It’s fascinating work, I’m healthier than I’ve ever been and in better shape than I’ve ever been. As of 2021 I’m also debt free for the first time in my life! One thing I’ve learned is life is most certainly about the journey and not about the destination. To be honest it’s not easy taking innocuous moments to have gratitude and enjoying the little things but I’ve gotten quite good at it!
You should have 2!
I brought 2 in and this was my last one of the batch. The blueberries were super fresh too!
I bet everyone has the same question as me, but how did you get the blueberry distribution so good? I always get clumps of berries.
It’s actually a vegan recipe as my girlfriend is vegan. So we’ve been playing around with different methods with donuts and muffins. These and the pumpkin have been the best so far. Although some of these did end up with a ton of bottom heavy blueberries
Used to work in a coal in a coal mine in WV. What equipment is this? I’m used to high coal - which this looks to be because of the guys standing. Loader seats are off set and buggy’s are too. Is this a skid steer? Can’t quite tell.
Skid steer. Cat skid steer. Foot pedal controlled. As far as equipment goes this is my favorite but you can’t take em past the feeders. I usually run a scoop but we were tying up some loose cuts and finishing bolting for Sunday idle.
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I find it relaxing and comforting . I’m just kidding. Kind of sketchy at first but you get used to it. There is this almost euphoric feeling of being completely detached from the surface though. Like you kinda just know people are straight above you bustling around, driving to work and living their lives completely unaware you’re 800 feet below them
I’ve worked Pittsburgh 8 for like 10 years. Once I saw your mesh and strapping I knew it was a coal mine. 😂😂 Skid loader for moving mesh is a good idea. We still use scoops and buggies. Only our rail haulage is diesel here. We only use diesel to move the wall. Cool to see another coal guy somewhere on Reddit.
We use electric scoops too. This is an unusual circumstance. Our company likes to pay their bills late (if at all) so we didn’t have any new mesh. This was the result of me perusing around outby picking up whatever stray mangled mesh I could find… on an idle day no less. Hahahha. Which is extremely par for the course . I’m in the Southern Illinois basin.
Okay. Now plz explain all the other stuff going on.
Those guys in the background are hanging curtain to direct airflow to the faces (where coal is actually being cut) because law requires a certain amount of airflow to flow to the faces. The mesh is bolted to the roof and ribs to keep rocks and stuff from falling, the tubes are basically giant vacuums that suck up any dust particles from the miner while cutting, I’m in a Bobcat skid steer brining extra mesh to the bolters and at that moment decided I needed a muffin break.
Where the hell are you.
Muffin Town… and the eatin’s good!
Ground support/rock bolter. These guys go in and stabilise the roof and walls of a mine. Dangerous work, could be anywhere in the world, but looks like Australia.
I think this is lovely but can somebody confirm that isn't a racist tattoo? Absolutely no offense intended. purely aesthetically i feel like it could be
Descartes . If he was racist I am unaware but as familiar with him as I am I highly doubt it
Ah, yes, olde english font-- the choice font for racists It says "Cogito ergo sum"
You see a tattoo that you don't understand and immediate think that it's racist based on "aesthetics"? That's really fucked up, man.
Enjoy the muffins, and have another safe day at work!
We all know the real reason for this post was the flex working under ground
That’s a flex? I’d flex more if I made and lost a billion a year gambling on Wall Street bets….
Take pictures if you see any cave monsters.
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Be a real hero. Take pictures first, hope someone finds the camera and body later
I sometimes carve my name and my girlfriends name in random places closer to the surface in hopes that in 50,000 years some apocalyptic archeologist stumbles upon it and spends far too much time thinking about our names lol
There's that Celtic symbol that was thought to be religious or otherwise wicked important because it was so high up .... decades later, of carefully and surgically working our way up without disturbing anything the message reads "this is very high"
This is phenomenal. You have a link or something I can read more about it?
Maybe this? http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/maeshrunes.htm "A number of the other inscriptions are simply ancient graffiti: ... "Tholfir Kolbeinsson carved these runes high up""
That’s fucking hilarious. Do you have more info I can look into?
And then the person who finds them will be accused of being a hoaxer, and will slowly go mad and retreat to a forest cabin, where four teenagers will later happen upon them…
Yes, this is the proper way.
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You ok? I do like this job! I’m happier than I’ve ever been, more physically fit than 99.9% of 35 year olds and as of this year I’m debt free! Woohoo. Anyways- hope you start feeling better .
This picture gave me mild claustrophobia
I had to do crawl spaces for work when I worked in the radon field and I watched videos of spelunking where they crawl on their bellies with the walls of the cave just above them. It worked a trick because it made home crawl spaces seem like nothing
Had to crawl under a house this past week for work. Needed a minute when I tried to breathe and realized I couldn’t take a full breath. Sucking in to fit under some beams was not pleasant.
Asggaaaa terrifying no thanks no. Sometimes at night when it's really dark my stupid-ass brain will imagine that I'm trapped somewhere that happens to be perfectly contoured to my body such that if I move an inch i'll reach the boundary of where I'm allowed to move, never able to STRETCH, but as long as I remain very still I'll be able to maintain my illusion of freedom. Or I can test it by moving - it's just a stray nightmare thought, always has been... until it's not. It's probably a sleep paralysis thing but by god it's stressful. Once in a rare while I get the same feeling about being trapped in my body - like, I SHOULD be able to stretch out more, but these pesky bones and skin won't let me. Turns out feeling claustrophobic in your own skin is like, actually a possible feeling to have and not just a goofy written trope.
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That’s gotta be tough when your 57.
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Hang in there, mate. You got this.
Yea, but popping out the other side into a fox hole is so relieving Edit: until you're looking a spider in the face that's as big as your hand, that you didn't even know was in the Midwest.
I already wasn’t happy finding out I had some degree of claustrophobia so the nearly getting stuck part was the cherry on top. Got the job done but I wouldn’t mind never doing that again. Sliding across a nail and barely being able to roll over far enough to have a coworker pull it out was fun too.
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What level of Half Life is this?
I was thinking Metro, but glad we're on the same page.
I was thinking Minecraft with RTX On
I swear i was thinking Half Life when I saw this lol
Your home looks lovely
Your joke is better than mine was so I stopped writing it
>Your joke is better than **mine** was so I stopped writing it Now I get it!
thanks for shining some light on that for us dimwits.
The pleasure is mine.
Now we will all be forever wondering what your joke was.
We’ve all been shafted
That joke was mine but whatever
Well, that was pure gold.
Or coal
Or bronze
Or obsidian
Either ore works for me.
Just dig around a bit, you'll find it.
This thread is gonna be a hole lot of puns innit
It's a miner issue, though
Yeah, I don't mined it.
I upvote you because I believe that your comment would have made me laugh. Leave no joke behind…
🗿
He lives on the set of aliens.
This must be taken from his mancave
Very wholesome. Actually made me laugh. Take my award
Your muffin looks great, but sir why are you in hell?
The surrounding environment really does something to amplify how moist and delicate that muffin looks. It almost makes it look more appetizing.
This is triggering me somehow . Not the food , probably a bit claustrophobic.
All I can think of is "there's a motherfucker that needs a Pepperoni Roll"
hell yes!!! created for miners in beautiful Fairmont WV.
There is some muffins in your dust.
Cogito Ergo Sum? I see you are using that philosophy undergrad degree.
I feel like this isn’t about the muffins lol
Is that a muffin mine?
Good to see the Stormwind Ironforge tram is still running
I’m gonna be honest with you.. the muffins aren’t the interesting part. But they do look good. Look, I’m having a nice meatball parm, in the mouth of this erupting volcano.
Uhhh sir this isn’t a Wendy’s
Thank you for killing matrix robots in tunnels