Disneyland: It’s the happiest place on Earth! Well, not if you die there, it’s not. In 1984, a California woman named Dolly Regena Young boarded the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Sometime during the ride, her seatbelt came undone and she was thrown from the ride and onto the tracks. As she was riding in the back of […]
You’ve all no doubt heard about the huge earthquake and devastating tsunami in Japan. Our thoughts are with everyone there.
You may have also heard that tsunami warnings were issued for the American West Coast, not far from the BRI headquarters. (We are too far inland to be in any danger, just to note.)
Just two hours and change west of us, Crescent City, California, got hit pretty bad. Andd just to the north of there Brookings, Oregon, got it, too.
Further to the south, someone took a video of a surge entering San Francisco Bay. (No word on damages there.)
Someone has found a rare 1970s board game produced by British Petroleum – BP – now infamous for the still-gushing catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. The goal of “BP Offshore Oil Strike” is to get filthy rich drilling for oil – but you have to watch out for the pesky hazards:
But BP Offshore Oil Strike players must also avoid the dreaded ‘hazard cards’, which state: ‘Blow-out! Rig damaged. Oil slick clean-up costs. Pay $1 million.’
Ignore that man behind the oil slick:
Last night CBS Evening News aired a segment on the oil spill and included a clip of BP contractors turning the CBS crew away from investigating part of the oil-drenched Louisiana shoreline under threat of being arrested if they proceeded. The contractor, or a Coast Guard…it’s not quite clear, told CBS that they were merely enforcing BP’s rules.
BP’s rules? That was a public beach! Unbelievable!
Here’s the video:
Here’s a NASA pic of the slick from two days ago:
Over at our Facebook page a commenter left an email address where people could send ideas to help with the Gulf oil spill – and what a great idea! (Thanks, Krazy Wild Mann.) That led us to do some snooping, and we found several places where people can find out how they can help, whether by reporting finding oiled birds if you’re in the Gulf region, or contributing to cleanup funding efforts. So here goes.
• Here’s the official Deepwater Horizon Response Web site:
They tried the cofferdam, now they’re on to the “top hat,” then they may try the weirdest one—the “junk shot:
It sounds to us like BP is now grasping at straws trying to outsmart the growing gulf coast oil spill. As their next plan of action engineers will shoot a pile of trash at high speed into the blowout preventer at the site of the leak on the ocean floor. Experts in the oil field call this maneuver the “junk shot”.
Let’s hope they don’t need to go that far.
• Some random info from the NOAA:
By the Numbers to Date:
- Personnel were quickly deployed and approximately 10,000 are currently responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife.
- More than 290 vessels are responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.
- More than 1 million feet of boom (regular and sorbent) have been deployed to contain the spill—and more than 1.3 million feet are available.
- Nearly 3.5 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.
- Approximately 325,000 gallons of dispersant have been deployed. More than 500,000 gallons are available.
And here’s a great graphic illustrating what they’re trying to do with relief wells. (They’ll take months to work at least.) Click for a really large picture:
