My youngest is just down the coast from Pensacola, he manages a tourist oriented restaurant and is thinking of moving to Texas if the oil kills tourism in PC. So sad to see this happening, spent many a summer catching the rays on Fla beaches...
Maybe you should scratch that itch (referring to your sig line) No news on the Gulf Oil Spill here in Ireland for the last week, Except that a lot of people in the pubs wonder why the Americans don't do more to help themselves. Everyone blames BP sure, .....
That made me think,... since I'm both American & Irish. Why aren't we doing anything? ... I mean, for ourselves - except letting BP decide who to pay and what to do... Why are we not responding as a nation.
Thanks Bolshevik, for the pics. They're the sad reality of it
Except that a lot of people in the pubs wonder why the Americans don't do more to help themselves.
Such as?
I dont think that it is a question that Americans would help if they had the first clue what to do...If there is any disaster anywhere Joe and Jane America are always right there...digging people out of rubble, sending supplies, money, support, doctors..whatever is needed....but this circumstance it isnt quite so clear. I know Im at a loss and Im sure alot of other people are about what exactly they can do about a broken pipeline in the middle of an ocean miles below the sea. Im not an engineer and have no expertise--Even cleanup and volunteer opportunities are being controlled because of the heavy toxicity and potential health hazards to those who would normally be rushing to volunteer lest it put another disaster on top of this one.
About the best I can come up with personally, other than hoping they shut the friggin thing off, is heading down to the Gulf and spending some money on things that I probably really dont want and really dont need at the Mom and Pop shops along the coast that have been hard it. Im goin down for a couple of weeks after the 4th to scope it out and do just that.
I know its not much but its the best I can come up with to add my little piece to a big puzzle--
Thats all I got--If you, or any of the other Irish pubbers have any other ideas--Im all ears. Really.
(Why o Why couldnt it have been a Guinness spill??)
I hear ya mstar1, and I pretty much agree with all your points.
Keep in mind most of the "pubbers" are half-drunken or better at best anyways. They weren't blasting the average Joe, they were talking about the US Government's involvement, or rather lack of involvement. Another topic is that Obama is just out to shut down America's oil industry like Maggie Thatcher shut down Ireland's coal mining industry - by fiat. ehhhhh,... not wanting to talk about political messes, I just ate lunch.
they were talking about the US Government's involvement, or rather lack of involvement
Well as we've heard here at GS many times, the key apparently to fixing anything in the US of A is free markets, deregulation, and lack of government oversight and interference. :unsure: :wacko:
Surely BP will do the right things and the problem will correct itself if we leave them alone long enough --- or so seems to say about half the country except when something like this happens when then they remain oddly quiet.
If I had a few pints of Gunness in me, Im pretty sure I could think of a thousand things the govt could do but chances are that they already are doing anything that I could think of but I havent heard of it.
Im sure there are all sorts of conspiracy theories out there about shutting down the oil industry but its just not feasible, America drinks oil like a drunken sailor spends money. Even though every President since Nixon has screamed about the dependence on Oil imo it will still take a generation or two at aminimum to wean the country off oil and develop some other useful source to fill the energy needs.
The moratorium is just that, a moratorium to let these companies and the oversight people get their sh!t together. Hopefully they are using the time to design and implement blow out preventers that actually work more than 50% of the time and developing technology that wasnt designed by Groucho Marx to clean up accidental spills.
(Im no chemist but I just dont see how pouring millions of gallons of toxic chemical dispersants into the Gulf somehow magically cleans up the water...Unless I missed that day in school where they taught poison is cleaned up by...more poison!)
Anyway--no slight on the pubcrawlers intended-I'd be right there with them if I could
Personally I think its an great opportunity for the folks at Bounty Paper Towels to come up with something--They're the "Quicker Picker Upper" , which is exactly what we need right about now
(Im no chemist but I just dont see how pouring millions of gallons of toxic chemical dispersants into the Gulf somehow magically cleans up the water...Unless I missed that day in school where they taught poison is cleaned up by...more poison!)
Actually, that's not nearly as bizarre as you might think. You can combine two horribly toxic chemicals, sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid, and get salt water.
Obviously, the attempt to mitigate the oil spill is more complex, but anything that can break down the longer molecules in the oil will make the system more biodegradable. As long as the dispersants aren't toxic to the marine biota that eat the oil fragments, the net effect will be to improve the water quality. Oil leaks out underwater all the time, and various microbes have evolved to use the oil as food. (For that matter, it happens on land, too. Have you ever wondered where all the blown tire fragments on the highway wind up? Microbe food!) Unfortunately, a leak this size overwhelms the system, so it will take many years to recover fully. The Pemex oil spill in the Gulf 30 years ago made a mess of Texas beaches for years, but it all eventually got cleaned up by Mother Nature.
Yea but I have to wonder how much ended up in the food chain and what the overall implications of that could be....
I for one love New Orleans seafood but I know that Ill be thinking twice before eating anymore anytime soon....Ive already done more than my share of 'experiments' with ingesting chemicals for one lifetime. I have no desire to be a guinea pig yet again
Gen-2 Glad to see someone remembers the old tongue...my mother was fluent unfortunately she did not pass the gift along to me, however I did get to kiss the blarney stone which probably accounts for my motor mouth.
I think that if the government stepped in to resolve this crisis it would place the responsibility for the clean up on the good old US, something akin to another federal bailout, not something politically feasable these days... besides who is better equipted to deal with the problem than the comopany that started it...
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soul searcher
How nice!
I hear that Pensacola, FL is oiled up.
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herbiejuan
My youngest is just down the coast from Pensacola, he manages a tourist oriented restaurant and is thinking of moving to Texas if the oil kills tourism in PC. So sad to see this happening, spent many a summer catching the rays on Fla beaches...
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Gen-2
Maybe you should scratch that itch (referring to your sig line) No news on the Gulf Oil Spill here in Ireland for the last week, Except that a lot of people in the pubs wonder why the Americans don't do more to help themselves. Everyone blames BP sure, .....
That made me think,... since I'm both American & Irish. Why aren't we doing anything? ... I mean, for ourselves - except letting BP decide who to pay and what to do... Why are we not responding as a nation.
Thanks Bolshevik, for the pics. They're the sad reality of it
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mstar1
Such as?
I dont think that it is a question that Americans would help if they had the first clue what to do...If there is any disaster anywhere Joe and Jane America are always right there...digging people out of rubble, sending supplies, money, support, doctors..whatever is needed....but this circumstance it isnt quite so clear. I know Im at a loss and Im sure alot of other people are about what exactly they can do about a broken pipeline in the middle of an ocean miles below the sea. Im not an engineer and have no expertise--Even cleanup and volunteer opportunities are being controlled because of the heavy toxicity and potential health hazards to those who would normally be rushing to volunteer lest it put another disaster on top of this one.
About the best I can come up with personally, other than hoping they shut the friggin thing off, is heading down to the Gulf and spending some money on things that I probably really dont want and really dont need at the Mom and Pop shops along the coast that have been hard it. Im goin down for a couple of weeks after the 4th to scope it out and do just that.
I know its not much but its the best I can come up with to add my little piece to a big puzzle--
Thats all I got--If you, or any of the other Irish pubbers have any other ideas--Im all ears. Really.
(Why o Why couldnt it have been a Guinness spill??)
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Gen-2
I hear ya mstar1, and I pretty much agree with all your points.
Keep in mind most of the "pubbers" are half-drunken or better at best anyways. They weren't blasting the average Joe, they were talking about the US Government's involvement, or rather lack of involvement. Another topic is that Obama is just out to shut down America's oil industry like Maggie Thatcher shut down Ireland's coal mining industry - by fiat. ehhhhh,... not wanting to talk about political messes, I just ate lunch.
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mstar1
Well as we've heard here at GS many times, the key apparently to fixing anything in the US of A is free markets, deregulation, and lack of government oversight and interference. :unsure: :wacko:
Surely BP will do the right things and the problem will correct itself if we leave them alone long enough
--- or so seems to say about half the country except when something like this happens when then they remain oddly quiet.
If I had a few pints of Gunness in me, Im pretty sure I could think of a thousand things the govt could do but chances are that they already are doing anything that I could think of but I havent heard of it.
Im sure there are all sorts of conspiracy theories out there about shutting down the oil industry but its just not feasible, America drinks oil like a drunken sailor spends money. Even though every President since Nixon has screamed about the dependence on Oil imo it will still take a generation or two at aminimum to wean the country off oil and develop some other useful source to fill the energy needs.
The moratorium is just that, a moratorium to let these companies and the oversight people get their sh!t together. Hopefully they are using the time to design and implement blow out preventers that actually work more than 50% of the time and developing technology that wasnt designed by Groucho Marx to clean up accidental spills.
(Im no chemist but I just dont see how pouring millions of gallons of toxic chemical dispersants into the Gulf somehow magically cleans up the water...Unless I missed that day in school where they taught poison is cleaned up by...more poison!)
Anyway--no slight on the pubcrawlers intended-I'd be right there with them if I could
Personally I think its an great opportunity for the folks at Bounty Paper Towels to come up with something--They're the "Quicker Picker Upper"
, which is exactly what we need right about now
Cheers
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GeorgeStGeorge
Actually, that's not nearly as bizarre as you might think. You can combine two horribly toxic chemicals, sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid, and get salt water.
Obviously, the attempt to mitigate the oil spill is more complex, but anything that can break down the longer molecules in the oil will make the system more biodegradable. As long as the dispersants aren't toxic to the marine biota that eat the oil fragments, the net effect will be to improve the water quality. Oil leaks out underwater all the time, and various microbes have evolved to use the oil as food. (For that matter, it happens on land, too. Have you ever wondered where all the blown tire fragments on the highway wind up? Microbe food!) Unfortunately, a leak this size overwhelms the system, so it will take many years to recover fully. The Pemex oil spill in the Gulf 30 years ago made a mess of Texas beaches for years, but it all eventually got cleaned up by Mother Nature.
George
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mstar1
Yea but I have to wonder how much ended up in the food chain and what the overall implications of that could be....
I for one love New Orleans seafood but I know that Ill be thinking twice before eating anymore anytime soon....Ive already done more than my share of 'experiments' with ingesting chemicals for one lifetime. I have no desire to be a guinea pig yet again
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herbiejuan
Gen-2 Glad to see someone remembers the old tongue...my mother was fluent unfortunately she did not pass the gift along to me, however I did get to kiss the blarney stone which probably accounts for my motor mouth.
I think that if the government stepped in to resolve this crisis it would place the responsibility for the clean up on the good old US, something akin to another federal bailout, not something politically feasable these days... besides who is better equipted to deal with the problem than the comopany that started it...
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cheranne
ewwwwwwwwwwwwww that is awful!
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