Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Hat tip to Ace of Spades for the Ixtoc I information.

Let’s start with some history. The last big Gulf oil spill was from the explosion and sinking of the Mexican Ixtoc I oil platform in June 1979 – the well wasn’t capped until March 1980 – about nine months after the incident.

Here’s the NOAA Incident Report about Ixtoc I:

On June 3, 1979, the 2 mile deep exploratory well, IXTOC I, blew out in the Bahia de Campeche, 600 miles south of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico. The IXTOC I was being drilled by the SEDCO 135, a semi-submersible platform on lease to Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). A loss of drilling mud circulation caused the blowout to occur. The oil and gas blowing out of the well ignited, causing the platform to catch fire. The burning platform collapsed into the wellhead area hindering any immediate attempts to control the blowout.

Sound familiar?

…experts were contracted to bring in skimming equipment and containment booms, and to begin cleanup of the spilled oil. The IXTOC I well continued to spill oil at a rate of 10,000 – 30,000 barrels per day until it was finally capped on March 23, 1980.

The Deepwater well is leaking at a rate of 5,000 (officially) to 25,000 barrels per day. It is expected to be capped in 90 days – compare that to the nine months it took to cap Ixtoc.

Here’s an interesting tidbit about Ixtoc I from Wikipedia:

The US government had two months to prepare booms to protect major inlets. Mexico rejected US requests to be compensated for cleanup costs.

Compare that to BP’s response to the Deepwater incident:

BP will compensate all those affected by the oil spill saying that “We are taking full responsibility for the spill and we will clean it up and where people can present legitimate claims for damages we will honour them. We are going to be very, very aggressive in all of that.”

This is what NOAA has to say about the BP / Transocean Deepwater Horizon:

A fire and explosion occurred at approximately 11:00 PM CDT, April 20, 2010 on the DEEPWATER HORIZON, a semisubmersible drilling platform, with more than 120 crew aboard. The DEEPWATER HORIZON is located some 50 miles SE of the Mississippi Delta and contained an estimated 700,000 gallons of #2 Fuel Oil or Marine Diesel Fuel.

Since the Deepwater Horizon incident is so recent, details are still sketchy (and developing). Keep this information (NOAA update) in mind as you read about the oil spill – people died – the 11 “unaccounted for” are presumed dead:

126 people were on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig when the incident occurred. 11 remain unaccounted for; 17 were injured, 3 of them critically. 1 injured person remains in the hospital.

I realize that this post is kind of choppy, but I wanted to get something out there. The bad news is pretty bad – the economic impact of this spill is expected to be tough on coastal businesses. The better news is that this too shall pass - Mother Nature’s winds and tides cleaned up the Mexican spill (with some human help). We should do better than the 1979 Ixtoc spill, in terms of capping the spill earlier and using improved technologies and mobilizing the clean up efforts.

*** MORE ***

Here’s the BP / Transocean website for the Deepwater Horizon Response:

http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/site/2931/

Here’s a great roundup from Texas A&M:

http://gulfseagrant.tamu.edu/oilspill/index.htm

Here are links to Alabama organizations that plan to help clean up the spill:

http://www.mobilebaykeeper.org/

http://www.joinacf.org/index.html

http://www.mobilebaynep.com/

Right now they don’t seem to need volunteers (maybe as soon as tomorrow), but they are taking names (and donations) at their websites. Also from the Baykeepers:

…the best thing we can do right now to prepare for oil making landfall is to clean up the shorelines. The less garbage and debris on shorelines the easier they are to clean up. We know the weather is not going to be friendly, but if you can get to your favorite shoreline today or tomorrow you can help speed up the clean up process.

DO NOT remove any live plants. Simply remove any garbage, large shells, drift wood, etc. Debris should be removed to the extent that wave and tides can reach.

That sounds like good advice no matter where you live…
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Bungie

Bungie
May 3, 2010
By Indian
Bungie, Halo Reach going wild after being released from Bungie’s pen. Bungie and Activision announced a 10 years partnership on the 29th of April, 2010. Activision will have exclusive rights to distribute and publish Bungie’s new IP over multiple platforms.

Director of the Bungie community Brian Jarrard said “Microsoft still owns the Halo IP but we will still support Reach post release and we have a great relationship with our community, so we want to make sure we keep the game going. So there we have it if you were worrying that the game would not be receiving any Bungie DLC after release later on this year, think again. It appears that Halo will always be in Bungie’s hearts. We also know that Bungie’s new Activision published games will be multiplatform, no longer chain locked to the Xbox 360, and that Bungie can’t say enough about online gaming.

If you want to read more about the Bungie, halo reach beta, beta halo reach, halo reach beta release, halo reach beta time and halo reach stay with us.
Lables:halo reach beta, halo reach, beta halo reach, halo reach beta release, halo reach beta time
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Boondocks Season 3 Episode 1

ANGELES (GaeaTimes.com) — The most popular and award-winning comic,The Boondocks is back once again. Now you can watch the new episode of your favorite adult animation on Adult Swim.

The series is produced by Rebel Base and has completed airing its second season. Season three being produced at JM Animation in Seoul, Korea is currently running.

The Boondocks is a social satire of American culture and race relations. The story revolves round the lives of Freeman family that consists of ten-year-old Huey, his younger brother, eight-year-old Riley, and their grandfather, Robert.

Viewers will find the Boondocks taking place in the same location and time frame as its comic counterpart. The Freeman family has moved from the South Side of Chicago, Illinois to the peaceful, fictional suburb of Woodcrest, Illinois. They find different way out to cope with a totally new suburban culture. The mixture of cultures, lifestyles, races add much of the comedy in this series.

The Boondocks Season 3 Episode 1 is scheduled to be aired on May 2, 2010. The title of this new episode is “Love All”. You can watch live steaming of this episode below.

Lables:boondocks season 3, boondocks season 3 premiere, boondocks, the boondocks season 3, the boondocks season 3 episode 1
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Michael Mcateer


DERRYLIN, NORTHERN IRELAND (GaeaTimes.com)- It has been announced by Michael McAteer, one of the liquidators for Quinn Insurance, one of the biggest insurance companies in Ireland, and in fact the entire United Kingdom, that about 900 workers would be losing their jobs in the next one to one and a half years. The company, which is presently up for sale, as was announced by the board on Friday, insisted that it was necessary for them to lay back the workers in order to safeguard its future, financially. The company has been one of those which were hit the hardest during recession. The branches that are going to lay back their employees are Enniskillen and Derrylin, which would be laying back 179 and 21 people respectively. The other vacancies would be made in the other branches.
Lables:michael mcateer cold case, cold case
Although it was well known that the company would be going for job cuts, the number has turned out to be more than was being expected. It was initially being speculated that the company would be laying back about 800 people, according to Michael McAteer. He mentioned that the laying back of the jobs would be taking pace in the voluntary method, and that a trawl for the voluntary candidates are about to begin very soon. He said that at present, the employees are being explained the entire package by the employee representative committees.

The voluntary package comes into effect about a year to 15 months from now, said Michael McAteer. The time period will be giving those who are laid back to look for another job. The owner of the company, Sean Quinn, sympathized with the workers, appreciating their efforts, though he himself was totally ‘devastated’ by the development.
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Halo Reach Beta

Halo Reach Beta – Halo Reach Beta Start Time

Halo fans all over the world are getting ready today for the Halo Reach Beta to launch. The beta is set to launch, from what I can gather anyway, today (Monday) around 1pm EST/10am PST.These times are definitely not set in stone as there isn’t a whole lot of information out about the Halo Reach Beta start time.

However, the Halo Reach Beta is coming and it is expected that it will consist of two maps – Swordbase and Powerhouse.

According to Hovied, Skwordbase is an indoor, multi-leveled map, separated into two parts by a central area. Powerhouse on the other hand is an outdoor map that focuses on a circular wall situated in the center of the map. These two maps provide you with opposite playing experiences in order to give you an taste of what is to come in the full game. The level design for both maps seems well-balanced and I haven’t experienced any hiccups trying to get around.

So come 1PM EST, it will be interesting to see if the Halo Reach Beta actually launches. I’m sure there will be no shortage of bloggers updating all of us about the launch and I will try to keep updates posted here.

Let us know if you see the Halo Reach Beta launch at 1pm.
Lables:
halo reach, halo reach beta release date, halo reach beta time, halo reach beta release time, halo reach beta release
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