Rusted Sky

No 'Little Mermaid', I'm afraid - instead, we've got little ROVs cutting pipe, moving cables, monitoring spewing oil, and ... frankly, I'm not at all sure what.

Live video link from the ROV monitoring the damaged riser

There was one stretch where it was hauled up on deck, a guy cleaned the faceplate, then apparently popped it open and cleaned the camera lens. It was moved around some, then the camera cut out.

A while later, they switched the feed to another ROV wielding the biggest rotary saw I'd ever seen.

Hard to say what you might spot, but it's worth keeping an eye on...

J.

Lifeboat News: The Blog - A Space Elevator in 7 Years?

Oh, pleasepleaseplease....

I think, however, that it's not going to be the engineering problems that will be the hardest to overcome.

J.

Morris: Obama doesn’t have a clue - TheHill.com

All of this explains why the oil spill is seeping into his ratings among Democrats, dragging him down to levels we have not seen since Bush during the pit of the Iraq war. Conservatives may dislike Obama because he is a leftist. But liberals are coming to dislike him because he is not a competent progressive.
Meanwhile, the nation watches nervously as the same policies Obama has brought to our nation are failing badly and publicly in Europe. When Moody’s announces that it is considering downgrading bonds issued by the government of the United States of America, we find ourselves, suddenly, in deep trouble. We have had deficits before. But never have they so freaked investors that a ratings agency considered lowering its opinion of our solvency. Not since Alexander Hamilton assumed the states’ Revolutionary War debt has America’s willingness and ability to meet its financial obligations been as seriously questioned.

And the truth begins to dawn on all of us: Obama has no more idea how to work his way out of the economic mess into which his policies have plunged us than he does about how to clean up the oil spill that is destroying our southern coastline.

Well... when you start losing the pundits on the left, you're in trouble. And when you get commenters like this...

President Obama has no skill set with which to manage, no knowledge base with which to lead, and no ideological base that is consistent with a republic and capitalism. To make this sad state of affairs worse, he believes the rabid press image that he is able to bring together anyone or anything. As anyone could predict, he has only looked foolish in his vain attempts to be the world's healer. This administration has no enemies, except for those that make Obama look bad or when they need a scapegoat. Hence BP is an enemy, not Iran. Banks are the enemy, not Fannie May, Freddie Mac or those trying to linejump to the American dream, habitually consuming beyond their means. Insurance companies and doctors are the enemy, not lawyers who force the practice of unnecessary defensive medicine. Obama promised the most transparent administration ever, and he had kept his promise. It is completely obvious that his administration is in over its head and is governing in an immature and thoughtless manner.

I will say, however, Obama's proving himself to be a real uniter. It's just that he didn't figure that they'd be uniting AGAINST him, instead of FOR whatever he wanted.

Obama doesn't have a clue. And we, as a nation, are in deep trouble.

J.

Yes, it's big. And monochrome. And the resolution isn't terribly high, though I think it would be adjustable... kind of.

But it's just the sort of thing that you shake your head in amazement at.

Check it out....

I really like the printhead detailing, too.

J.

To show people just how Presidential you are... or not.

Charge to Obama: 'Go off!' - CNN.com

In the weeks since an oil rig exploded and later sank into the Gulf of Mexico, President Obama has dealt with the tragedy with his signature cool, calm and collected approach.

But with the oil still gushing in what is now the worst spill in U.S. history and the environmental devastation coming ashore, the president is becoming a target of the anger that was originally directed only at BP.

"One time, go off!" director Spike Lee urged on CNN's "AC 360ｰ." "If there's any one time to go off, this is it, because this is a disaster."

Lee's sentiment echoes the frustration of people who want to see Obama get loud, take charge and inspire them like he did during his presidential run.

What purpose could it possibly serve?

Will it get the well plugged quicker?

Will it get BP to do something they haven't yet tried?

Will it have any effect on the currents to the shoreline?

Will it make the people working to clean up the spilled stuff any more efficient or motivated?

No?

Then WHY BOTHER US WITH IT?

Pres. Obama, you've played Chicago politics as usual for the last six+ weeks - and you've 'taken responsibility' and promised aid and support that was slow in coming and limited in scope. It took various government agencies 17 DAYS to approve Gov. Jindal's plan to put up sand berms to protect the beaches. That should have been a no-brainer, but I'll bet the paperwork got misrouted...

Don't throw tantrums - show us just how adult you are by giving BP and the other oil companies all the support you can as fast as you can manage. If someone drags their feet, fire them and replace them with someone who WANTS to be helpful instead of bureaucratic. Don't worry about the lawyers who want to make sure that every T is dotted and I is crossed on every piece of paper before a handful of paper clips is dispensed, the paperwork can ALWAYS be taken care of later when time is of the essence.

So come on - you've already taken responsibility for it - now try ACTING like you want to get the problem solved instead of using it as a political barganing chip.

If you can.

Which I doubt.

J.

Which is more important?

Haitian ‘Social Justice’ Groups Want to Burn Aid - Jeff Stier - The Corner on National Review Online

Four months after a devastating earthquake ripped apart their country, the people of Haiti are still suffering, so you’d think a multi-million-dollar donation of vegetable seeds would be welcome news. But two Haitian groups, backed by the activist group Grassroots International, are urging farmers to do the unthinkable: burn the donated seeds.

This evil campaign puts politics ahead of humanity, and it is sad that charities like the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the New York Community Trust are funding Grassroots International’s perversely named “social justice” campaign.

The two groups, the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) and the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay (MPMKP), argue that the hybrid seeds donated by Monsanto will somehow undermine the “food sovereignty” of Haiti. They also assert, without any scientific basis, that the donated seeds are somehow unsafe. Nothing could be further from the truth, as seeds like those donated have been used safely for generations.

At first blush this might seem like just the latest battle over the use of genetically modified (GM) crops, similar to Zambia’s 2002 decision to let its citizens starve rather than accept GM wheat. But the donated seeds aren’t even GM. Rather than invite a challenge, Monsanto worked with the government of Haiti to arrange the donation of hybrids seeds, similar to seeds backyard gardeners use regularly. Both GM and hybrid seeds are safe, although Haiti doesn’t have the regulatory infrastructure to use GM seeds. But that didn’t stop these “sustainable agriculture” zealots from interfering.

It isn’t the crop they’re against, it’s the corp — they just don’t like private companies. They’re convinced that “agri-business” is a bad thing, as if private companies shouldn’t be in the business of innovating and selling agricultural products to people trying to grow food.

It just makes no darn sense to me at all...

J.

Morris: Obama doesn’t have a clue - TheHill.com
pretty well nails it.

President Obama has no skill set with which to manage, no knowledge base with which to lead, and no ideological base that is consistent with a republic and capitalism. To make this sad state of affairs worse, he believes the rabid press image that he is able to bring together anyone or anything. As anyone could predict, he has only looked foolish in his vain attempts to be the world's healer. This administration has no enemies, except for those that make Obama look bad or when they need a scapegoat. Hence BP is an enemy, not Iran. Banks are the enemy, not Fannie May, Freddie Mac or those trying to linejump to the American dream, habitually consuming beyond their means. Insurance companies and doctors are the enemy, not lawyers who force the practice of unnecessary defensive medicine. Obama promised the most transparent administration ever, and he had kept his promise. It is completely obvious that his administration is in over its head and is governing in an immature and thoughtless manner.

The best thing OBama could do at this point... might be to resign. Of course then we'd end up with Biden and Pelosi - an arguably worse pair.

Man, the 2012 elections can't come soon enough.

J.

U.S. and BP slow to accept Dutch expertise | Business: Loren Steffy | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Three days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch government offered to help.

It was willing to provide ships outfitted with oil-skimming booms, and it proposed a plan for building sand barriers to protect sensitive marshlands.

The response from the Obama administration and BP, which are coordinating the cleanup: “The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,'” said Geert Visser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston.

Now, almost seven weeks later, as the oil spewing from the battered well spreads across the Gulf and soils pristine beaches and coastline, BP and our government have reconsidered.

/sarc

Admittedly, it could be argued that the magnitude of the disaster was not yet known, but don't you find it funny that a government which calls for recalls on millions of cars because of a POSSIBLE problem with unintended accelleration in an almost literal handfull of cars wouldn't take precautionary action on this oil spill?

It'd almost be funny, if it weren't pathetic. At this point, I'd be thinking it's "All hands on deck" time - anyone that's willing and able to help should be gladly welcomed. But... no.

Federal law has also hampered the assistance. The Jones Act, the maritime law that requires all goods be carried in U.S. waters by U.S.-flagged ships, has prevented Dutch ships with spill-fighting equipment from entering U.S. coastal areas.

“What's wrong with accepting outside help?” Visser asked. “If there's a country that's experienced with building dikes and managing water, it's the Netherlands.”

Nah, couldn't be - could it?

J.

Of the XBox game 'Portal' - where you get past puzzles and obstacles using a device that opens a 'portal' between two points. So, when I spotted these, I just had to laugh.

ThinkGeek :: Interactive Portal Shirt

Video cam, TFT LCD screen, wireless communication between the two. At about $100 a shirt.

Incredible...

It's amazing the fun tech that you can find, for cheap, isn't it? Now if the screens were only machine washable and flexible...

J.

Is not necessarily my friend.

Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites - Times Online

Israeli intelligence experts say that Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are at least as worried as themselves and the West about an Iranian nuclear arsenal.Israel has sent missile-class warships and at least one submarine capable of launching a nuclear warhead through the Suez Canal for deployment in the Red Sea within the past year, as both a warning to Iran and in anticipation of a possible strike. Israeli newspapers reported last year that high-ranking officials, including the former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, have met their Saudi Arabian counterparts to discuss the Iranian issue. It was also reported that Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, met Saudi intelligence officials last year to gain assurances that Riyadh would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets violating Saudi airspace during the bombing run. Both governments have denied the reports.

Simply put, the ME is a bunch of feuding tribes... or perhaps redneck families. (And yes, this includes Israel. They're the ones who went off to the military, and came back with money, a work ethic, and the willingness (and ability) to kick ass if need be in order to be left in peace. The others don't much like them, but they serve as a focus for their discontent, and they're also gradually learning newfangled ways from them.) Iran's the crazy uncle, that shows up angry all the time and wants to start fights. Iraq USED to have that role, being a bit crazier, but after getting a 2x4 alongside the head has figured out that maybe it's time to tone down the crazy before the next head whack earns a split skull instead of a concussion.

Problem is, crazy uncle Iran's lately been waving a shotgon around, threatening to kill everyone in the family he doesn't like. And this includes pretty much everyone.

The police (the UN) are telling everyone nearby it's not a problem, that everything is as it should be and there's nothing wrong - every time they go over and talk to Iran it's all good and nothing's too out of shape or unusual. The family knows different, however - it's just a matter of time until Iran loads up the shotgun and starts blasting indiscriminately.

Now they're expecting Israel to, tacitly, take care of the problem. But here's the question...

Will they? I'm doubtful. I don't think Israel's leadership's got a collective death wish - not in the slightest. But why should THEY have to take care of it? I picture them much like Mr. Incredible in the opening sequences of the movie in the interview. "I just cleaned this mess up - can I have just 5 minutes before something else happens I've got to fix?"

So maybe they're not so eager to hit Iran. It can't have escaped their notice that the folks who've formerly condemned Iran for trying to get nukes (IE the Bush administration) isn't exactly all that hot at this point to tackle the issue now. (Yep, Obama's admin.)

In the past, when someone in the area goes insane (like Syria, Lebanon, Libya) the neighbors DON'T attempt to take care of the problems themselves - but instead look to the US and the UN. (But look to the UN, and you might as well give up any idea about actually solving a crisis, or even a minor problem. It simply won't happen.)

So that leaves the US to take care of it. However... we've already seen that the current administration is NOT of a sort which can make hard decisions. Or somewhat difficult decisions. Or even easy ones, for that matter. Unless it's to raise taxes and pass bills that are unlikely to produce anything that they're ostensibly designed for.

Would the US do a unilateral strike on Iran? It's pretty much unthinkable.

So it may come to a point where Israel, for its own survival, will have to take out the nuclear facilities in Iran. And at that time, it will recieve the public condemnation of the world... but the neighbors in that area are going to be thanking them under the table.

And there's a couple of other things...

First, we know how to build nuclear weapons, at this point. However, delivery systems are actually more complicated. Iran's planning on using missiles - but those missiles aren't exactly well tested. And what would the error be on the guidance systems? Iran may well be looking at any misses in the area as still being hits. They hit the West Bank accidentally? The Jews did it. They hit Lebanon? The Jews did it. They hit Gaza? Hey, it's the Jews! Egypt? Jews. Syria? Jews. Saudi? Jews. Iraq? Must have been the Jews. And the average joe who gets his news from some insane mullah seven times a day will gladly believe it's Israel that did it. The leaderhsip will know better - but their survival depends on keeping the people happy, and they know it.

The second thing... you recall how Pakistan and India were always having border conflicts? They kept poking at each other... and then they both got nukes. The border conflicts STOPPED.

They had to grow up. Fast. It could be (and I'm not really expecting it) that the Iranian leadership will look at the nukes they created and go "Okay, all this 12th Iman bullshit... we start a nuclear war, he shows up, we get Islam ascendant over the world... you really believe that?" "No." "Me neither. We've let it go far too long, and way too far. It's time for us to grow up - we use this, and we destroy ourselves."

Iran may grow up - or it may not, and lash out at all its enemies. (Pretty much everyone except North Korea, and they're on a watch list.)

It's interesting times, to be sure. I could wish they weren't QUITE so interesting...

J.

Priorities are a good thing to have - but what if the priority is skewed towards something which won't help?

Boldly going nowhere: Nasa ends plan to put man back on Moon - Times Online

Nasa has begun to wind down construction of the rockets and spacecraft that were to have taken astronauts back to the Moon - effectively dismantling the US human spaceflight programme despite a congressional ban on its doing so.

Legislators have accused President Obama's Administration of contriving to slip the termination of the Constellation programme through the back door to avoid a battle on Capitol Hill.
Constellation aimed to build upon what was arguably America's greatest technological achievement, the first lunar landing of 1969, by launching new expeditions to the Moon and to Mars and worlds beyond. Mr Obama proposed in February that it should be scrapped because it was 'over budget, behind schedule and lacking in innovation', but he has met opposition in Congress, which has yet to approve his plan.The head of Nasa, Major-General Charlie Bolden - an Obama appointee - has now written to aerospace contractors telling them to cut back immediately on Constellation-related projects costing almost $1 billion (£690 million), to comply with regulations requiring them to budget for possible contract termination costs.

Obama pleads for $50 billion in state, local aid

Trillions are meaningless to the Obama administration, apparently - but they'll cut NASA's budget to the bone and beyond for a billion or two. I guess they're not sufficiently unionized.

J.

There's good cases, and bad cases. Then there's really bad cases, and worst case.

It looks like the Deepwell Oil Spill is a worst-case.

The Oil Drum | Deepwater Oil Spill - A Longer Term Problem, Personnel - and Open Thread 2

First of all...set aside all your thoughts of plugging the well and stopping it from blowing out oil using any method from the top down. Plugs, big valves to just shut it off, pinching the pipe closed, installing a new bop or lmrp, shooting any epoxy in it, top kills with mud etc etc etc....forget that, it won't be happening..it's done and over. In fact actually opening up the well at the subsea source and allowing it to gush more is not only exactly what has happened, it was probably necessary, or so they think anyway.

So you have to ask WHY? Why make it worse?...there really can only be one answer and that answer does not bode well for all of us. It's really an inescapable conclusion at this point, unless you want to believe that every Oil and Gas professional involved suddenly just forgot everything they know or woke up one morning and drank a few big cups of stupid and got assigned to directing the response to this catastrophe. Nothing makes sense unless you take this into account, but after you do...you will see the "sense" behind what has happened and what is happening. That conclusion is this:

The well bore structure is compromised "Down hole".

That is something which is a "Worst nightmare" conclusion to reach. While many have been saying this for some time as with any complex disaster of this proportion many have "said" a lot of things with no real sound reasons or evidence for jumping to such conclusions, well this time it appears that they may have jumped into the right place...

I find it very ironic that, in their damnable zeal to make sure that all the shallow water around the US was off-limits to oil drilling, and much of the oilfields in the US, and ANWR - the environmentalists have set themselves up for a nightmare worst-case scenario. What would take a few days to a week to fix on land, a week or two in shallow water - may be unfixable in the deeps.

And they've really only got themselves to blame.

J.

Most married couples have one, some more - some have huge ones...

Prologue - The Diamond Invention

Funny, though, the things don't seem to be worth anywhere near what was paid for them. And they don't seem to appreciate in value over time...

As symbols of love? They're nice. But as investments? Buy land.

And if artificial diamonds ever really go into production, the price for the natural stones will drop like a rock.

J.

iowahawk: Crudezilla, King of All Spills (1954)

Worker #2 - heh.

J.

FOXNews.com - Disruptions at Israeli ambassador's talk prompt suspension ruling for UC Irvine Muslim group

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A University of California, Irvine, disciplinary committee ruled that a Muslim student group should be suspended for at least a year because of a protest that disrupted a talk by Israel's ambassador and led to the arrest of 11 students, according to documents released Monday.

The letter from a student affairs disciplinary committee to Muslim Student Union leaders said the group was guilty of disorderly conduct, obstructing university activities, furnishing false information and other violations of campus policy.

J.

Heck if I know. I do know that the fins that you'll see from the cap they put down - the two fins on the side? The oil volume used to gush out almost to the ends of the fins, and it's significantly less now. I'm occasionally seeing patches of white paint on the cap body itself. At least, I think it's the body of the thing...

Take a look for yourself.

And if you're looking for a list (this may not be a complete list - I think there's at least one ROV that's not on it) of the ROVs down at the BOP, you can find it here.

Maybe they're getting it, maybe not, but it'd be nice to think so. There's still a lot of leakage, but it's not as bad as it was.

J.

Sci-Fi Airshow

A bit sparse right now - but it's got promise!

J.

Slow to get going, reallyfast to stop. Doesn't it figure?

Federal Gov't Halts Sand Berm Dredging - New Orleans News Story - WDSU New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS -- The federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concerns about where the dredging is being done.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, who was one of the most vocal advocates of the dredging plan, has sent a letter to President Barack Obama, pleading for the work to continue.

There's concern that the dredging and berms might affect estuaries in the area... I guess the sand will be more destructive of wildlife than the oil?

Someone in Washington's got priorities. And they're not the same as the priorities of the people trying to fight this stuff...

J.

BP oil containment stopped after gas detected

The containment system capturing oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill had to be removed Wednesday, leaving the gusher unchecked after a collision involving a robotic submarine, US officials said.

How in the hell do you knock off a steel cap, with a mile-long string of pipe on top of it weighing who knows how much, with a 500-lb ROV going maybe a mile an hour?

The cap's sure off... So I wonder what's next.

This sure ain't good.

J.

If it's a war...

In Gulf oil spill 'war,' cleanup foot soldiers threaten mutiny - CSMonitor.com

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, President Obama's pointman on the Gulf oil spill, has called the effort to contain the runaway Macondo well and keep its crude release off beaches and out of marshes "an insidious war."

But if the framing of the Deepwater Horizon accident and its aftermath has morphed from disaster rhetoric to war imagery, local officials say the shared BP and Washington response has suffered from a lack of situational awareness, racking up a long list of battlefield mistakes that is hampering efforts to keep tens of millions of gallons of gooey crude from coming ashore in the kind of "tarball attack" that hit Pensacola Beach Wednesday.

"You've got a militia sitting in this room," Gulf County commissioner Bill Williams told Coast Guard and BP officials in a combative meeting on Wednesday. "They can either be with you or against you."

The Coast Guard has admitted that it has failed to both anticipate and control the 2,500 square mile oil slick that's hiding in the waters off places like Perdido Key, Orange Beach and Plaquemines Parish, resolving to do better.

In recent weeks, the joint BP-Coast Guard Unified Command has created four regional command centers with the goal of pushing command and control down to spill level to better orchestrate the movement of boom and skimmers as the spill evolves.

Throw all the resources in that are needed. Use them effectively as possible. Logistics are key - getting what's needed where it's needed - which is something the military's spent decades on improving their capabilities and implementation. Also, allies aren't a bad idea...

And the plans have to be something that works - not something that's designed to shore up a constituency or push an agenda, or be used for political posturing and positioning.

So far, we're getting more on the way of words than deeds from the government. But... it's about what I expected, personally. Obama's record is not one of quick decision or decisive leadership, and from his 'community activism', problem solving isn't high on his list of accomplishments. (It's somewhere below the final period on the last page of his resume.) We have,. unfortunately, got someone in office who would need on-the-job training to manage a McDonalds successfully - much less the United State.

But we've got what we've got, like it or loathe it.

And we're rapidly becoming the worse for it. He's a lousy wartime President, afraid to commit resources, afraid to actually fight and afraid to win and afraid to lose.

Doesn't leave him many options, does it?

J.