oil spill
grrlscientist | June 11, 2010tags: BP Spills Coffee, Upright Citizen's Brigade Comedy Team, BP, British Petroleum, oil spill, disaster, environment, social commentary, Gulf of Mexico, comedy, humor, satire, funny, fucking hilarious, streaming video
What would happen if BP spilled a bunch of coffee on their conference room table? Pretty much the same thing if they spilled a whole bunch of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. This Upright Citizen's Brigade theater sketch spoof explores the delicate mapping between the two scenarios, and the delightful comedy that ensues. Kevin Costner's voice, or a reasonable facsimile, guest stars…
sastyk | June 9, 2010Gotta love Richard Heinberg's latest - suggestions for Oil Exec quotes on peak oil:
"We believe fears about Peak Oil to be . . .
a. unsupported by evidence.
b. utter rubbish emanating from cretinous doomsday cultists.
c. compellingly credible.
d. strangely arousing.
"People have been forecasting the end of oil . . .
a. for decades.
b. since the age of the dinosaurs--no, since the Big Bang.
c. with ever-greater urgency--especially since 2005, the year of maximum world crude oil production so far.
d. just to tick me off.
"Such predictions have always…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2010tags: A Bird's Eye View of the BP Oil Spill, oil drilling, oil spill, oil wells, petroleum, BP, British Petroleum, TransOcean, environment, animals, streaming video
This news report of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico features a "bird's eye view" of the spill, including footage of the pelican rookery filled with oiled adult birds and a dead dolphin. Nothing like taking a close look at the REAL victims of this disaster!
grrlscientist | June 8, 2010tags: The Worst Oil Spill in US History, oil drilling, oil spill, oil wells, petroleum, Kern County gusher, Lakeview Gusher Number One, Lakeview Oil Company, environment, history, streaming video
This video discusses the worst oil spill in US history, the Lakeview Gusher Number One that occurred 100 years ago in Kern County, California. The gusher, drilled by the Lakeview Oil Company, blew on March 14, 1910, when the drill reached the 2,440-foot level. This gusher shot oil more than 200 feet into the air for an astonishing 544 days, spewing more than 9 million barrels (378 million gallons/1.…
dblum | June 8, 2010 I was on the phone this afternoon with a friend at what I'll describe as a highly respected national-type newspaper, and we almost simultaneously broke into complaint about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
What set us off was NOAA's grudging admission of the day, that despite angry earlier denials, there were indeed swathes of oil-saturated water coiling for miles, under the surface of the Gulf, emanating away from the site of the BP pipe break.
As The New York Times noted: "the tests confirmed that some toxic compounds that would normally be expected to…
cagapakis | June 8, 2010
In a recent conversation about the safety and ethics of synthetic biology in the wake of the announcement of the synthetic genome, many of the professors I was chatting with commented on how they hoped new synthetic biology technology would lead to bacteria that could eat the oil spilling into the gulf of mexico even as I type this right now. Of course, the "technology" for oil eating bacteria already exists and have already been used for clean up in previous oil spills--many naturally occurring species of bacteria can already break down the hydrocarbons in crude oil. The natural oil eaters…
grrlscientist | June 8, 2010tags: Care for Some Crude With Your Sushi?, toro sushi, maguro sushi, Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus thynnus, Gulf of Mexico, pollution, oil spill, Deepwater Horizon, BP, British Petroleum, overfishing, endangered species, conservation, marine biology, streaming video
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is the worst environmental disaster the US has faced. Toxic oil from the Deepwater Horizon well threatens the region's sensitive shorelines and the nesting birds along the Louisiana coast. But there's another species at serious risk: the Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus. This disturbing video…
dblum | June 7, 2010(Just a note: The giveaway period for the audiobook of The Poisoner's Handbook has ended. If your comment is not published, it's too late to be considered for a free copy. But still glad to hear your ideas! Winners to be notified on Wednesday).
One of the most interesting - and I think important - comment threads on this blog has concerned risks posed by the gas methane, blamed (along with BP) for the devastating oil spill in April and still seeping into the water from the broken drill pipe.
"We don't know the composition of the crude oil as it is leaving the well head. This crude is…
grrlscientist | June 6, 2010tags: Dawn dishwashing liquid, television commercial, advertising, oil spill, Gulf of Mexico, BP oil spill, British Petroleum, streaming video
Experiments have shown that Dawn dishwashing liquid works best to save oiled wildlife and doesn't burn their tender skin and eyes. According to the information I've found, Dawn is donating all the detergent used to clean oiled Gulf of Mexico birds, and is also raising funds to help with the clean up effort.
Learn more about Dawn and their efforts to help save oiled wildlife [facebook group].
grrlscientist | June 4, 2010tags: Laughing Gull, Larus atricilla, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Laughing Gull, Larus atricilla, photographed at East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana.
Image: Charlie Riedel, 3 June 2010 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Here's what this bird would look like without its lovely coating of oil:
Laughing Gull, Larus atricilla, photographed at Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary, Texas.
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 7 April 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.…
grrlscientist | June 4, 2010tags: BP's Spilling Fields, oil spill, Gulf of Mexico, humor, comedy, social commentary, BP oil spill, British Petroleum, Jon Stewart, Wyatt Cenac, streaming video
"BP gave up on getting the oil out of the water a LONG time ago. Now the challenge is to get the water and dead shrimp and stuff out of the oil."
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Cenac - The Spilling Fields - Oil Leak Containment Ideas
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes
Political Humor
Tea Party
Watch the entire episode.
grrlscientist | June 3, 2010tags: Deja Vu (All Over Again), oil spill, Trans-Alaska oil pipeline, Gulf of Mexico, Trans-Ocean, Ixtac oil well blowout, BP oil spill, British Petroleum, Rachel Maddow, streaming video
There was another oilspill in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979 -- and the same corporate players involved with that spill are there now! This 1979 oilspill WAS the worst oilspill in history, until now, of course. Despite corporate lies .. erm, claims that the technology has advanced since 1979, the same identical strategies are being used now to stop this oilspill. How long did it take to stop this oil leak? NINE…
dblum | June 3, 2010 The second post I wrote for this blog was partly to explain the title:
"Why Speakeasy Science? Well, first because I just wrote a book, The Poisoner's Handbook, which is set in Jazz-Age New York, which was home to some 30,000 speakeasies. Also I like the historical feel of the name. I've always been interested in the intersection of science and culture and I find moments in history, where those two forces pull at each other, to be wonderfully illuminating. Speakeasy itself appeals to my sense of word play - I like the idea of speaking easily about science. And finally - some science…
cagapakis | June 2, 2010Biosafety has been on everyone's mind this week after the announcement of the J. Craig Venter Institute's successful transplantation of a synthetic genome. What horrible pathogen will future bioengineers be able to design? What unforeseeable environmental catastrophe will befall us upon the release of genetically engineered bacteria? These are hugely important questions as research in synthetic biology moves forward, being discussed in congressional hearings and as an integral part of every new synthetic biology design.
As the major proposed goal of a great deal of synthetic biology research…
dblum | May 31, 2010 So, at a Sunday news briefing, British Petroleum's CEO, Tony Hayward, announced that there are no underwater plumes of oil resulting from the April accident at the company's Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
Why? Well, first BP's testing hasn't found any such evidence. And second, Hayward reminds us that, you know, oil floats. Or if we didn't get that: "Oil has a specific gravity that's about half that of water. It wants to get to the surface because of the difference in specific gravity."
Let's give the man this: there is definitely oil floating on the surface…
dblum | May 29, 2010 In a recent discussion on this blog, an interesting thread appeared: the idea that BP's heavy use of chemical dispersants to break up the Gulf oil spill was as much damage cover up as damage control.
Here are a few examples:
My suspicion is that the main reason they used these dispersants was to hide the oil from view.... Anything that will keep the oil out of site below the surface allows them a certain measure of plausible deniability regarding their knowledge of the spills true magnitude.
I think there is a big effort on the part of BP to minimize the aesthetic and…
illconsidered | May 28, 2010There remain more questions than answers at this point, but the BP spin from yesterday that "Top Kill" was working appears to have been a falsehood. BP is not the right source for what the actual data from the well head means, but unfortunately they are the only source of said data.
I would like to offer interested readers a couple of better sources of technical information.
This is the live feed from 5000 ft below the Gulf of Mexico.
Apparently what this is showing now (11:02 AM Pacific time) is alot of drilling mud being ejected. This mud is what is intended to counteract the upward…
dblum | May 27, 2010 The latest news from the Gulf of Mexico offers both relief (the "top kill" approach to ending the oil spill may be working) and dismay (the amount of oil pouring into the water is now thought to be closer to 20,000 barrels a day rather than the 5,000 barrels that BP has insisted on for weeks.)
In other words - at worst case - the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the spill amount may be closer to 39 million gallons of oil so far, rather than the 11 million previously suspected. Now, I've spent the last week or so focusing on the chemical dispersants used to break down the oil,…
dblum | May 26, 2010 In the past week, a lot of writers - and, yes, that includes me - have focused on the chemical dispersants being sprayed into the Gulf of Mexico to help manage the ever-expanding oil spill from BP's deepwater drilling rig.
For instance, I recently pointed out while dispersants do help break apart a slick into smaller and more biodegradable fragments, dispersed oil is a great deal more poisonous than crude oil. Further, that post, A Lethal Concentration, generated a great discussion, and one that taught me a lot.
I hadn't considered that the thriving bacterial colonies of warm…
dblum | May 20, 2010 Today, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would require BP to use a less toxic (and more effective) chemical dispersant than the brand used so far. I wish, I wish, I'm always wishing for these actions to sparkle with government intelligence and initiative.
But it's obvious that the EPA was responding to pressure created by media reports, starting with a first class piece of research from Greenwire and by resulting Congressional inquiries. In fact, the EPA appears to have stood passively by while BP dumped more than half a million gallons of the chemical dispersant…