Obama fiddles as Gulf burns

"Blame the EPA: Dutch Oil Spill Response Ships Could Suck 99% of Oil From Gulf, But Can't Get Approved, Because EPA Demands 99.9985% Purity"

So for weeks now the Dutch have offered us "super sucker" ships that could get the bulk of the still spewing oil from the Golf but due to EPA regulations, are currently not an option.

After finally relenting and allowing the superior Dutch technology to be used, another road block was thrown in the way: Because the U.S. didn't want Dutch ships working the Gulf, the U.S. airlifted the Dutch equipment to the Gulf and then retrofitted it to U.S. vessels. And rather than have experienced Dutch crews immediately operate the oil-skimming equipment, to appease labour unions the U.S. postponed the clean-up operation to allow U.S. crews to be trained.

Now nice. We are in the very best of hands...

"Smart Sheets" that can self-fold

This is fantastic, a constructed material that can form its self into a variety of shapes based on pre-programmed instructions. It is described as "automatic origami". The technology is in its early sages but is still quite impressive. There would be limits to what you could do with this material as it has to have enough flex points to make a variety of shapes but due to flex points, can only be so thick. Still, very innovative. Follow the link and watch the video.

Who is to blame for the oil spill? Try BP and Obama!

Obama recently gave a speech where he wanted to know who's a-s to kick, apparently he should start with his own...

From a comment thread in another blog:

As the Wall St. Journal reported recently, Barack Obama's Interior Department approved three permit modifications for the Deepwater Horizon well one week before it exploded. These modifications allowed BP to use a single pipe into the oil and gas zone instead of the 'gold standard' inner and outer pipes.

Three major modifications were granted by the Barack Obama Administration (MMS) within 24 hours.

"On April 14, at 8:34 p.m., BP informed the MMS that it planned to use the one-pipe method, using a single 7-inch-wide pipe for the whole length of the well. The MMS approved the permit at 8:13 the next morning, according to federal records."

...The two-pipe method was the safer option, according to many industry experts, because it would have provided an extra layer of protection against gas traveling up the outside of the well to the surface. Gene Beck, a longtime industry engineer and a professor at Texas A&M University, said the two-pipe method is "more or less the gold standard," especially for high-pressure wells such as the one BP was drilling..."

At 9:54 a.m. on April 15 BP filed another permit informing the MMS of a correction. Rather than using a 7-inch-wide pipe the whole way, it planned to run a tapered pipe that was wider at the top than at the bottom. This was approved by the MMS seven minutes later.

Then, at 2:35 p.m., BP filed another revision. This one informed the MMS that it had "inadvertently" omitted mention of a section of pipe already in the well. Four and one-half minutes later, MMS approved this permit also.

So there you have "the rest of the story".

Main Stream Media, a national disgrace

Read this article and then tell me there is any way that you can not call the national news in this country an national disgrace. The press screamed bloody blue murder when the government had the audacity to try to find out the source that leaked government secrets (under Bush) and yet when there is a very near country that routinely jails and tortures true, brave journalists, those that occupy that field here in the US are silent. So much for speaking truth. Yet another sad example of why they are ever more irrelevant.