Just One Word...

In the early 1800's natural gas, derived from coal, resulted in a gunky waste byproduct called Coal Tar. Chemist  August Wilhelm von Hofmann discovered Coal Tar could be distilled into multiple chemical compounds. His assistant, William Henry Perkin, while trying to synthesize quinine accidentally...

"At last! For anyone who hates plastics and likes good writing, this is the book to satisfy your anger, your passion, and your instinctive judgment, and all at once"
                                                                   - NORMAN MAILER

This is a quote from the front cover of the most interesting book I've read in years, entitled The Making of a Synthetic Century

I bought this book, with skepticism, to read and see for myself what horrible things the author was saying about the plastics industry...

Todays new addition to our blog community is Rudy, a self described "young plastics trader" who will share his journey as he learns about the plastics industry in a blog entitled Poly What. Welcome Rudy!

In his first post he has learned the heard way that Nitrc Acid stains skin... atta boy Rudy, we may enjoy watching you learn, hehe :)

Just a quick welcome to our newest blogger, Skip. He's going to ramble on about PVC and other assorted tidbits. He packs a six shooter so think twice before you mess with him. Skip's been a contributor here on plastics.com.. well, forever.  He must be older than dirt!

Got PVC questions or stories? Drop skip a line at skip AT plastics.com

By the way, Why does plastics attact all the industry curmudgeons?  :)  And there must be some kind of secret curmudgeon association because it seems they all know each other, hmmm.

Even worse, I fear I may be invited into it!

Ok, ok so I promised to write about my mafia experience... I guess I should do it since I said I would, but after this, no more war stories for a while.   Oh, unless I decide to tell you about my experiences with communists in Bulgaria. But thats another story. And so it all began...