Bullethead 12 Posted May 24, 2010 What a difference 5 months makes. Thermometer just topped 30 deg C today. 30 deg! In May! In Scotland!!!! Well, what are you complaining about? Doesn't your national anthem wish for that? Land o' the kilt an' sporrrran Underrrr them be nothin' worrrr--nnn Ach, I weesh tha wind was wahrrrm in Scotelan' tha Brrrahve! Ah a'mit it can get grrruesome Strrrollin' wi' a frrrozen twosome They'rre all we got, we da'enae lose 'em Scotelan' tha Brrrave! Over here, lately it's been mostly in the low 90^F range with humidity to match and just enough wind to make it feel like you're being panted on from head to toe, at close range, by all 3 heads of Cerberus. That's why we call this type of weather "dog's breath days": hot, damp, and redolent of whatever rotten carcass the dog's been gorging on. The mildew under the air conditioner condensation drains is in full bloom and if you wear glasses, they fog up instantly when you step outside. All in all, quite typical for this time of year in Lousy Anna's armpit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flyby PC 23 Posted May 24, 2010 (edited) Well, what are you complaining about? Doesn't your national anthem wish for that? Land o' the kilt an' sporrrran Underrrr them be nothin' worrrr--nnn Ach, I weesh tha wind was wahrrrm in Scotelan' tha Brrrahve! Ah a'mit it can get grrruesome Strrrollin' wi' a frrrozen twosome They'rre all we got, we da'enae lose 'em Scotelan' tha Brrrave! Over here, lately it's been mostly in the low 90^F range with humidity to match and just enough wind to make it feel like you're being panted on from head to toe, at close range, by all 3 heads of Cerberus. That's why we call this type of weather "dog's breath days": hot, damp, and redolent of whatever rotten carcass the dog's been gorging on. The mildew under the air conditioner condensation drains is in full bloom and if you wear glasses, they fog up instantly when you step outside. All in all, quite typical for this time of year in Lousy Anna's armpit. Never read that before. Love it. By the way, is Cerberus about to be gorging himself on crude oil? Looks like a serious and nasty mess in your part of the world. Doesn't look good from this side of the pond. Edited May 24, 2010 by Flyby PC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullethead 12 Posted May 26, 2010 (edited) Never read that before. Love it. It's from a parody by The Corries. This is the only part I found funny. By the way, is Cerberus about to be gorging himself on crude oil? Looks like a serious and nasty mess in your part of the world. Doesn't look good from this side of the pond. Even with my proximity, it's hard to get an accurate picture of what's going on because the media is utterly ignorant of the technical issues, is in the business of promoting disaster, . Still, I think I've got a reasonably accurate idea of the situation. Things don't seem to be nearly as bad as has been reported or as some fear, but OTOH they're not particularly good, either. This isn't like when a tanker hits the rocks just off the coast, where you instantly get beaches buried in thick goo. This is way out in the ocean so it's taken the better part of a month for anything to come ashore at all. Given the time and distance involved, natural and human forces have inflicted significant attrition on oil. Plus, not as much has been coming out as originally thought, and I believe that for the last couple of weeks, a fair amount has been being captured at the source by various means. Thus, what's now coming ashore is pretty much dribs and drabs which is being dealt with pretty much as it happens. OTOH, there's a month's worth of dribs and drabs out there already and more to follow until they finally stop the leak, so this effort will have to continue for a long time to come. And then there's the possibility that a hurricane could come along any day now and push everything ashore all at once, plus at least temporarily stop whatever on-site work is being done to stop the leak. From what I can tell, the current coastal impact is about like it was in WW2 when the U-boats were routinely sinking tankers in the Gulf. That doesn't seem to have done any long-term damage and there doesn't seem to have been any effort to clean that mess up, so at present I'm not too worried about the actual damages this leak is doing. What I am worried about is the political fallout, which can do nothing but hurt domestic oil production at a time when we most need it. And, of course, there's the possibility that this could go on and on for months to come. Despite going on for so long already, the spill is still literally just a drop in the ocean, but it IS adding up and hurricane season is upon us. On the plus side, however, while some previous attempts to capture the oil at the well have failed and the rest have been only partially successful, the effort has at least produced a better understanding of what's actually going on down there. This has shown that 1) the amount of oil coming out is about 1/2 what was originally thought, the rest being gas. And 2) the stuff is coming up inside the well pipe instead of around the outside of it, meaning that it SHOULD be possible to kill the thing from the top. In fact, BP is going to attempt that in the next day or 2. Keep your fingers crossed. Of course, they'll still have to kill it below ground with relief wells and that won't happen for a month or 2 yet, but a successful top kill will be a huge improvement over what's happening now. BTW, I hope you all are impressed with the technology on display here. All the ROVs and such doing complex tasks a mile underwater, the ability to drill 1 well into another from several miles away, etc. Not to mention even finding oil in water that deep. All this stuff is hugely expensive even when things are going correctly. Keep that in mind when you complain about the price of gas :). Edited May 27, 2010 by shredward Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
themightysrc 5 Posted May 26, 2010 (edited) "the media is utterly ignorant of the technical issues, is in the business of promoting disaster, " Edited May 27, 2010 by shredward Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bullethead 12 Posted May 26, 2010 (edited) Last chance; no more political comments, or this political commisar will close the thread! the shredder Edited May 27, 2010 by shredward Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
