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Another Gulf Oil Rig Explodes
A few readers have noted that another gulf oil rig has exploded. This one is off the coast of Lousiana. So far all the workers are accounted for, but they are in immersion suits waiting for rescue.
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Call me back when there's oil spewing.
-- Let us endeavor so to live that when we pass even the undertaker shall be sorry. -- M. Twain
The experience gained over the last few months means they should be able to cap this one very quickly.
Got Code?
It will be obviously difficult for mainstream media to cover this objectively. Hope the drillers are safe... BTW first post Oops second post
Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
publicity stunt to take some heat off of them. "look it happens to everyone here"
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
I wonder if BP execs will give themselves a bonus.
"Hey! It wasn't one of ours!" bonus.
BP. "See! We're not the only ones!"
JUST MAYBE, we should look into this stuff.. I know, it happens off of the land so "civilians" are safe, but I am about 99% sure when big metal buildings *EXPLODE*, something is wrong. Once in a year? Extremely bad. Twice in a year? Something is broken.
So basically, -1 troll/offtopic is really slashdots way of saying "I hate that you thought of something before me."
Here we go again...
i can still remember all the companies telling they are taking realy good precautions and spend sooo much money on safety and quality....
Wanna bet who will pay the bill for the loss of their revenue?
Let's see how they'll spin it this time /sarcasm mode idle
Message from god, Please logoff, rebooting the Universe
Oh yeah, that 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling seems like an overreaction now...
I'm sure we'll be hearing all kinds of crackpot theories from the usual suspects in the far right of the political spectrum.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
DRILL BABY DRILL!
Start building nuclear plants, and invest in clean-coal.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
Even though it's not their rig, I'm sure BP had some nefarious hand in it all. The oil leak, hurricanes, Lockerbie, 9-11 etc and now this!
I don't think that's necessarily going to soothe people. They've seen the repercussions at their worst, or very near it, and now they're seeing what looks like evidence of a high failure rate. Outrage can be expected, and to some extent it's understandable. It's anecdotal evidence, and screams of observation bias, but the existence of those biases does not mean that people are wrong. Scrutinizing the source of all that outrage can't possibly hurt. A properly functioning government would ensure that's done.
If only there had been some sort of procedure by which the off-shore drilling could have been suspended, like, say, a moratorium....
Different article on the newly exploded oil rig:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/09/wdsu-oil-rig-explosion-in-gulf-off-louisiana/1?csp=hf [USAToday]
According to this article, the rig was/is not producing any oil at all, and it's a different type of rig compared to the BP rig that we all know of. It's bad, sure, but beyond politics making a huff about it, I doubt this will turn into anything really major.
Then again, politics/media WILL make it a big deal regardless.
So... how exactly are the Feuding Teutels going to be of any use? Will Vinnie fix the oil rig? Will Mikey bake the rescued workers some special brownies?
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
and extract NATURAL GAS to power vehicles and heat homes. However, the OIL LOBBY would stop that.
Yours In Akademgorodok,
K. Trout
This is breaking news. The details are a little sketchy right now. Nobody said oil was leaking either, so calm down.
Post @ 11:53am EST on CNN: Asked about concerns regarding oil leaks or pollution, [U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill] Colclough said "there are reports the rig was not actively producing any product, so we don't know if there's any risk of pollution." I'd hardly give that a "No Oil"... I'd rather wait and see the facts... but "No Oil" sounds better, right? In the mean time, they'll have to put out the fire, and tend to the 13 rig workers who went overboard.
Except, with recent history as a precedent and still fresh in peoples' minds, most people would immediately assume the worst, ie another spill with millions flowing out a day. Prudence dictates that it should be mentioned that there is no known leak at this time. Otherwise it IS sensationalism (although apparently someone above doesn't seem to like it being pointed out)
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Okay, so the oil industry says that this sort of event is "a million to one" to happen, and we've had two within a few months. By their estimates, we've already reached a scenario less likely than Evangelion's Zero-Nine probability... or maybe, just maybe, these oil rigs are a lot less safe than they'd have us believe?
Dunno, but you were third in your attempt to gain slashdot karma out of this, so you tell us.
Which, if true, begs the obvious question (yeah, I used that phrase that way, fuck off pedants): how the hell does a non-producing oil rig explode?
When I first read the lined "in immersion suits" I thought 'immersed in (law)suits', a sign of the times I suppose.
Yeah, and it's Obama's fault, of course.
Those non-oil-having spontaneously exploding buildings.
Well, Deepwater Horizon wasn't actively pumping oil either if you recall.
Remember after the massive earthquake in Haiti, the news started reporting earthquakes about once a week? Accidents and casualties are nothing new to the oil industry.
"Trade baby, trade" is more likely to be the new slogan. I can hear the selloffs now.
--
Toro
How about mentioning in the summary that, as of right now, it is believed that the rig was not actively pumping oil and that there is currently no known oil leak into the gulf? Or does that take too much of the sensationalism out of it?
Yes. and in addition, in all probability the blow out preventer works.
I for one welcome our spontaneously combusting oil rig overlords.
Bracing for sensationalist media storm blaming TERRORUHISM!
It's terrorists, I tell ya! And remember, if you stop drivin' your Hummer, the terrorists win!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Jumping to conclusion is the only excercise that Slashdot readers perform frequently. This kind of summaries are that way for our own health.
Well played!
As to the question itself.
I dunno who'll be first. But I would imagine a fair few PR firms and spin doctors in the US and elsewhere are warming up in preparation for it.
regards, the_leander
Apparently Louisiana really pissed off Poseidon sometime in the last few years. Y'all might want to update your Kraken attack response drills just in case...
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
Spontaneous celebrations are reported in the BP executive suites...
Well, at 80 miles out, I'll be they're got a diesel generator on board.
The most recent news is that the rig was not actively pumping oil to the surface. I speculate that if this is true that it was likely down for maintenance. Either way the coast guard does not think there is any leak but is ready to deploy vessels to contain any leak that is reported.
Really? I assumed folks had already started the "let's blame Bush" chant . . . . go figure.
There's a yougottobeshittingme tag missing in the article.
so you don't fund chavez in venezuela, salafists and wahhabi fundamentalism via saudi arabia, the destruction of our environment, lowered air quality, etc
you are part of the problem, every time you pull into a gas station. policy change on a national level is only half the solution. the other part of the solution is a personal decision all of us have to make to do what is right
don't let your next car be fueled by gasoline, for the sake of national security, and your environment. since militant muslim fundamentalism and petrodollar socialism is something that bothers the right, and environmental destruction and poor air quality something that bothers the left, then surely, this is something that both the left, and the right, can agree on, for once
imagine that: a monumental personal decision that both bush haters and obama haters can agree on
no. more. gasoline. cars
for the sake of your country
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Lousiana in the summary, Louisiana for real. Sorry had to nitpick but c'mon there are only 50 states you would think all U.S. residents would know how to spell them! Or was this outsourced to India too?
This post brought to you by your friendly neighborhood MBA.
Yeah, and it's Obama's fault, of course.
At least he blew one up that isn't spewing oil this time.
Maybe now when he calls up the oil companies to talk business, they'll listen. I can just see him saying "The harder you tighten your grip, the more oil rigs will slip through your fingers."
...goes the dynamite!
You got to be kidding, once ok, twice, too close to be just conincedence in my books, especially after the last fiasco.
How much you wanna bet, we have infiltrations by agents working for xxx inside BP, and now this company....seeing the twin towers brought down made becoming a pilot much harder and with longer approval process, now I guess getting on oil rigs, and then sabotaging them is easy enough...until we get enough oil spills to damage our food and local economy and also creae
a major demand for oil again because this would be the perfect excuse of all excuses for them to keep raising oil prices.
I may be a conspiracy fanatic, but this one is too obvious....
AND another one gone, and another one gone.... another one bites the dust......
One in a million occurences would happen daily if there were millions of oil rigs out there. There aren't.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
39,998 to go in the gulf
News is broken? Can we put it back together again? Will any extra-components remain after we manage to put the news into one piece once more?
--
BTW., NOBODY said oil was leaking in the first days of the BP oil spill either.
You can't handle the truth.
Actually, I believe this story comes directly from the we-dont-care-how-you-spell-Louisiana dept.
So stating facts that ARE know is sensationalism unless you also explicitly state the facts that AREN'T know?
The experience gained over the last few months means they should be able to cap this one very quickly.
Thankfully that is not the case. My understanding is that it is in about 300 feet of water. They have many decades of experience dealing with problems at that depth.
""a press release that no hydrocarbon spill has been reported after an initial flyover of the incident.""
This is really non news. It happens, not all the time, but it does happen. If the Deepwater Horizon hadn't exploded 5 months ago most of you probably never would have heard anything about it.
sorry for my comments, I'm drunk
Oh yeah, that 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling seems like an overreaction now...
Actually it seems quite irrelevant. This was a *shallow* water rig. However your injection of politics and hysteria into the mix is still appreciated.
you don't irritate me, you mystify me
your antipathy to my words cannot be separated from an antipathy towards anyone advocating for any positive cause, which is just odd. you don't mind my message, you seem to be angry at the idea i should say it, without proof of doing it i live in midtown manhattan dude, i don't own a car, if that means anything to you- as if it should mean anything to you apart from evaluating what i say independent of who says it?
why can't you evaluate my words on the substance of the message, and that alone. that's not a valid frame of reference for you? you apparently want to do the right thing, and then have absolute silence, as if evangelism for a good cause is wrong
i think you have some sort of hypersensitivity to the idea of "do as i say, not as i do". well ok. but you should have no antipathy to someone who says "do as i say, and as i do, which are the same thing". its almost like you assumed i was the former hypocrite. i am the latter, but even if i wasn't, who cares, on an internet forum? isn't the merit of my message the most valid thing to criticize or not?
finally, there's the realm of personal decision, and the realm of national policy making. both are important and valid avenues of discussion
so frankly, you're just bizarre, and i don't understand your priorities
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
to solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, etc...
with absolutely no effect on the consumer, who doesn't have to know or care where the electricity comes from when he plugs his car in the wall
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Maybe all this drilling for oil in the Bermuda Triangle isn't such a good idea after all! :)
and the middle class grows in brazil, india, china, consuming more
and as the petrol gets deeper and more expensive to dig up...
then consider the gas price shocks of a few years back to be a warning of far worse ahead
plan now, or allow me to pass you on your bike in my electric car
yes, gas is cheap now. its not going to stay that way, by anyone's calculations. consider yourself warned
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
no it's just people cutting corners to save cash sometimes it's cheaper to pay on then death of a working then to pay the cash to make it safer it's time for some big time fines for doing that.
no it's just people cutting corners to save cash sometimes it's cheaper to pay out on the death of a worker then to pay the cash to make it safer. It's time for some big time fines for doing that.
They'll keep reporting each and every one, now that the Obama administration is on a mission to push through new legislation promoting "alternate energy". After a few of them, they should have the public alarmed enough to agreeably pass things taxing them for their carbon footprint and much more....
It's terrorists, I tell ya! And remember, if you stop drivin' your Hummer, the terrorists win!
Screw that! It's the queers! They're in it with the aliens! I swear to God!
grrr.
See subject.
They don't say 2500 anymore.
Disclaimer: There are several assumptions I've made in the following that could be wrong. Please let me know if that is the case. I'm also ignoring the political aspects of your post; I'm not an American.
I'm looking forward to owning an electric vehicle. I'm in a location where electricity is relatively inexpensive and cleanly generated; the vast majority of power generation in my area is hydroelectric, and we produce more than we use. However, I have some valid concerns before diving in.
Mainly, I need to know how they'll perform in low-temperature conditions. Where I live, temperatures routinely hit -30 and -40 in the depths of winter. Many electronic devices cannot operate properly at this temperature, and batteries' output are greatly reduced. I'll need to know that I can reach my destination, because being stranded in those temperatures can be life-threatening. One option is an internal heating system that could be activated while charging upon reaching a low temperature threshold. It could function similar to a block heater for an ICE, but would probably have to heat both the motor itself and the batteries. Electric heat can be costly. Another concern is heat generation. Combustion-based engines have a useful side effect - they generate heat, which is used to heat the interior of the vehicle. An electric motor won't produce nearly as much heat. That means there'll be an even bigger drain on the batteries. As it currently stands, even with low electricity costs, it appears gas would be a cheaper and more efficient way to go.
Also, cost is a major issue - not just the initial purchase price, but maintenance and energy usage over its life. This can't be known until the vehicles have been in use for a number of years. Mechanics are currently familiar with ICEs, and there won't be an immediate uptake; supply will eventually follow demand, so many won't be familiar with electric vehicles until enough people have them. Until then, those that maintain electric vehicles will be in higher demand, thus a higher cost. I'm sure that initial costs will be higher - the manufacturers have to recover that initial R&D investment somehow.
"When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
-Sinclair Lewis
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
That would imply to me that the people cutting corners to save money are the enemy.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2010/09/02/northwest-passage-oil-tanker-spill.html
fuck this shit
the way global warming is going, all of your problems with cold temperatures will be historical about the time the gas goes to $40/ gallon and you have to switch to electric
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
no it's just people cutting corners to save cash sometimes it's cheaper to pay out on the death of a worker then to pay the cash to make it safer. It's time for some big time fines for doing that?
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
You're correct, crude oil itself is difficult to ignite, but the Vermillion380 rig was a processing rig.
Processing means refining... methane isn't the only thing that it combustible or flammable on a processing rig. And it seems that the thousands of rigs in the Gulf are engaged in processing crude off-shore in order to keep the danger and the appearance of such operations out of sight.
This also accounts for much of the press in the last several years regarding the lack of investment in the oil industry toward new or replacement refining facilities. It was a misdirection to keep people who aren't part of the industry from understanding that the capacity to refine has been outsourced and off-shored.
The rigs are mobile and moved from wellhead to wellhead. It cuts time and transportation costs by allowing producers to process on-site then move product directly from well to market. Additionally (I'll wager) that the regulations governing offshore operations are less costly because safety is generally defined in terms of loss of life and not environmental damage. Isolating refineries off-shore at the wellhead implies that producers argued for a new set of regulations, and we all know that if something is kept out of sight and out of the press, it's ripe for industrial abuse.
Too bad we don't have the former head of Minerals and Mining to "kick around anymore." Perhaps he'd be in a position to tell us where the bodies are buried. OH, WAIT... they would have drifted out of sight by now...
yes, canadian national character seems pleasant and agreeable enough, almost lobotomized
but those canucks are the ones secretly driving and manipulating this whole global warming thing to fruition. to turn their icebox into a socialist tropical paradise, be damned how many good american patriots they force onto government mandated healthcare in the process! devils!
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Time to go nuclear, folks. Face it - it's safer. Really.
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
Wow, I didn't know the conspiracy paranoids have gone so far. That one is brilliant! The extremely ultra-rich, extremely ultra-powerful oil executives all shaking and trembling under the Super-Obama-Don-Corleone! Is tour imagination great, or you're just high on acid?
It is part of the problem.
http://www.google.com/search?q=disabled+alarms+so+workers+could+sleep&btnG=Search
Situation
Normal
All
Fucked
Up
But don't worry : it's an 'Merican company spilling 'Merican oil into 'Merican water. We'll sue their asses to death here in Europe in the spirit of fairness. And then we'll doubly sue them for over-applying Korean rules where Korean rules don't apply.
Pass me the yard-arm, and a few metres more rope - then we can have a barbecue.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
If the alarm is that much of an annoyance, that means the smoke alarm is too old, and you should replace the smoke alarm
As photoelectric detectors age, they become LESS sensitive.
As ionization sources age, those detectors become LESS sensitive.
Those are now LESS likely to give a false alarm.
If you're having problems with a smoke detector, the problem is LOCATION.
...and don't put it near where people smoke(duh), cook, or apply hair spray.
Hint: A ceiling is a BAD place to put a smoke alarm; a *WALL* (about a foot down from the ceiling) is a much better spot.
gewg_
Nuclear meltdowns in all three of my cities with nuclear power plants in short succession.
Yeah, I've been playing too much of that game lately.
Moral of the story is the same: research Fusion Power as soon as possible.
(IRL, even fission nuke plants are a better idea, but I still foudn this analogy amusing, dammit.)
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
Not all things can be made safer by not cutting corners.
I watched yesterday an asphalt laying crew get ready. They blocked off one lane for 20 minutes so they could line cones along the road. Anyways, the one guy was jumping in and out of the back of a moving pickup. Three times he slipped. Two of those next to the huge ass rollers they were offloading.
There is no fine or cutting corners here, just plain stupidity.
Another round of "Lets completely fuck up the Earth."
Boredom is bliss.
Considering that this is a rather inflamed subject at the moment, I think it is remarkable that there seems to be nothing about this; certainly not when I search for "Vermion 380", which seems to be the name of the rig, according to the picture.
Does anybody else have any links to a reliable, main-stream news site, please?
I can't believe they haven't yet fixed the misspelling in the summary. Is Louisiana that hard of a word? Are they using some magical web browser that doesn't include a spell check?
Is tour imagination great, or you're just high on acid?
I believe it's neither, as the post is, I believe, referencing the quote from Princess Leia. One might believe with this post, as well as the rest of slashdot, that it is simply a sarcastic nerd.