Kinda like ‘People Magazine’ but with occasional real stories.
Other sources:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i2r8dGOhEqNaj8NEcZEIwSEseRWAD9FG5QKO0
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/05/05/bloomberg1376-L1YZ650D9L35-2.DTL
Just for point of record, that was Bush I (HW), not GW
Whatever.
Ban BP from the US. Force liability through top channels.
How’s that for squeeze?
Where do you get the idea that it generates more power than the average wind farm. What are you talking about? The current booms are too small for open ocean use. You seriously think they can’t be improved upon? Seriously?
You sound like all the people who said I couldn’t lift and install the roof trusses on my garage by myself using only a ladder.
You’re right.
On one side we have the resources and expertise of Big Oil brought to bear on a calamity that might just sink the company; and the laws of physics.
On the other we have DIY and a couple of roof trusses.
I’ve been pwned.
There is a large industry built around oil spill response. They have conventions at which all the latest techniques and gear is discussed and sold and demonstrated. Booms, pumps, skimmers, oil/water separators etc You should go along and explain how simple it is and where they’re all going wrong, Magiver.
Indeed, the OTC just wrapped up in Houston.
Lots more at the link.
Meanwhile, Bill White released a statement on the event. Popular Mayor of Houston until term limits got him, he’s the Democratic candidate for Governor. He takes Perry to task for his clumsily worded “Act of God” claim. Yes, it’s a legal term; but Texans are getting tired of Governor Good Hair & are now remembering that he is, after all, an Aggie. White has experience in the field; here’s what he had to say.
Well that’s the general offshore technology conference. But I’m talking about Spillcon, the truly specialised version, the most recent was in Melbourne (last month) and the next is Oregon by the looks of it:
Yes, but the mess was discussed in Houston, as the linked article indicated. When did they start drilling off Oregon?
The company that sells the boom system (used to corral and burn oil) has a very small clientele. It wasn’t used in the United States and we had to borrow them from other countries. The money isn’t there for product development. Take a product as simple as a grass harvester. They existed for years on a commercial basis for companies that sold grass sod but the average homeowner couldn’t buy one. They now make small units you can buy (or rent). Is the technology an engineering marvel? No. There wasn’t a market for them years ago and now there is. I can list tools all day long that are innovative in design but not complex. They didn’t exist 40 years ago but are now common items. Take something as innocuous as a socket wrench. Someone came out with a design that allows you to twist the handle and drive socket in place. It’s one of the handiest tools in a mechanic’s tool box yet it didn’t exist when I was a kid. It was a simple mechanical idea re-applied in a tool.
Because a simple idea doesn’t exist does not make it a complex engineering problem.
From today’s New York Times:
Sex, Drug Use and Graft Cited in Interior Department
Republicans did a heckuva job managing that organization.
A Nuke could do it.
Really cute.
I saw a story on TV saying that when Transocean took the workers off the platform they kept them on a boat while the rig burned. They sat for hours out there. Then when they finally took them to shore, they were faced with company lawyers trying to get sign paper work saying they did not see what caused the accident and that they were not hurt. The paper work was pre-written and just required a signature. The workers had been on a burning rig ,where friends had been killed and they went without sleeping for over 48 hours. They also knew that if you said anything on the rig, you would be fired. Many signed so they could go see a doctor.
If you ask the Soviets, apparently a nuke could do it.
But nuking the Gulf, even under the circumstances, seems, erm , , politically unpalatable?
Sorry, I can’t resist…
Magiver is a lot older than I would have guessed, given that the ratcheting socket wrench (Richardson’s Patent Wrench) was invented in 1863.
Aaand now it’s looking like it was Halliburton’s fault. They’re blaming methane leaks. Which means the concreting job was not so good. Makes this the second major concreting failure from Halliburton.
Well, BP is liable. They are allowed to seek damages from Halliburton.
That’s just how this thing is structured.
You should have resisted a little harder. I specified ratchets where you twist the handle and the socket spins. there are a number of them on the market now. Without rotating the handle around the socket you can twist the handle in place and the socket spins. Very handy in tight spots where you have limited movement of the handle.
There are a number of variants such as this where the handle comes off and you can attach a drill to it.