Thread

B5-BJ2 – Ice Cream Barges – Concrete Ship Constructors (2023)

22 points · 8 comments · nixass

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gwbas1c · 1790269682 · focus · HN ↗
> It used a combination of pumped brine, and Freon Gas, which is a non-combustible gas, still used today as a refrigerant in air conditioning applications.
Freon (from then) is generally illegal to use today, as it depletes ozone. As a trademark, the name is often applied to newer refrigerants.
WorldPeas · 1790271321 · focus · HN ↗
this website is a marvel, makes me wonder if there are concrete or nonmetallic ships still being constructed today for secondary purposes like carrying garbage or as bridges
1. strongpigeon · 1790277155 · focus · HN ↗
  The 520 and I-90 bridges in Seattle are built with floating concrete pontoons.
  1. mulmen · 1790285582 · focus · HN ↗
    Ooh! Are we talking about infrastructure projects in Washington State? This is a nerd-snipe headshot.
    Washington State has four of the top five floating bridges in the world!
    I-90 is actually two bridges, the second and fifth longest in the world.
    SR-520 is the longest.
    Hood Canal is third.
    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pontoon_bridges" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pontoon_bridges
ceejayoz · 1790271442 · focus · HN ↗
There's a (likely apocryphal) story of a Japanese official realizing they'd lost the war when these showed up.
guyzero · 1790273423 · focus · HN ↗
I'm curious how they got the raw material to them. You can't make 5 tons of ice cream a day out of thin air. Were they shipped premixed sugar & milk or did they get straight raw ingredients and mix them onsite? I feel like the refrigeration capabilities are a pretty small part of the supply chain required to actually produce ice cream. Did they get a floating milk tanker to stop by every few days? Were they loaded on shore and just made do with what they had until the next port call?
1. cameron_b · 1790274085 · focus · HN ↗
  Spray-dried whole milk especially, but also wartime dairy infrastructure in general on which powdered milk production depends, was a generation-defining nutritional element during that wartime period.
  1. tadfisher · 1790277232 · focus · HN ↗
    The wartime infrastructure got so large that lawmakers feared a widespread economic collapse, and signed into law the National Dairy Council, the "strategic cheese reserve" (AKA "government cheese"), and requirements that dairy milk be served with all school lunches. It's one of the most subsidized and most health-damaging industries there is.

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