When BP's newest spill-containment strategy in the Gulf yielded such encouraging initial results, many asked why the oil giant didn't hit on this solution earlier in the crisis.
The short answer is that the model of the well cap now in place didn't exist in the earlier stages of the spill saga. But what's more noteworthy than the timing issue is the likelihood that the device owes its origin to the same authority that any homeowner turns to in order to get a leak plugged: a professional plumber.
That, at any rate, is the theory that the Christian Science Monitor's Patrik Jonsson has floated and the recent sequence of events leading to the plugging of the leak make it seem plausible.
Jonsson reports that six weeks ago, University of California, Berkeley, engineering professor Robert Bea received a late-night call from an anonymous plumber. According to Bea who had formerly worked as an oil-industry executive before his present gig as an academically backed manager of engineering crises the "mystery plumber" reached out to him because he had an idea for how to plug BP's busted well in the Gulf. The plumber provided Bea with sketches of a containment cap that upgraded some of the design flaws in the cap the oil company deployed in its unsuccessful bid to plug the leak several weeks ago.
Bea passed the plumber's sketches on to a contact at the Coast Guard, and to a panel of experts who were evaluating proposed schemes to repair the leak submitted by the general public. Jonsson writes that when Bea first got a glimpse of the containment cap that has stopped the flow of oil into the Gulf, he noticed striking similarities to the designs dreamed up by the plumber.
"The idea was using the top flange on the blowout preventer as an attachment point and then employing an internal seal against that flange surface," Bea told Jonsson. "You can kind of see how a plumber thinks this way. That's how they have to plumb homes for sewage." You mean the kind of toilet seal that inserts inside the flange that sticks out of the floor?
BP spokesman Mark Salt told Jonsson that he presently has "no way of finding out" if the well-capping crew used any of the mystery plumber's ideas. Salt added that there's "a good chance that this was already being designed" when Bea handed over the sketches.
Still, there's one way that BP's containment officials can be sure if they followed the plumber's blueprint: When he submits his three-figure-an-hour bill.
#4
It sounds similar to the idea that my Dad wound up sending to a friend of his at Halliburton, but that one involved a makeshift seal made out of tires filled with water.
I didn't waste any time on it because I kinda got the impression noone _wanted_ a solution from watching him try to get through.
Posted by: Things From Snowy Mountains ||
07/17/2010 14:00 Comments ||
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[Arab News] An Austrian woman has had to convince her electricity supplier that she is alive after the company wrote to her asking for information about her contract following her "passing away."
In a personally addressed letter, the Linz-based company said it had heard of her death through her bank, daily Oesterreich reported on Thursday.
"I am not the dead one," 58-year-old Christine R. wrote back in a fax and e-mail to the company, explaining that it was her neighbor who had died and she was the custodian. She eventually went to the customer center in person to prove her existence.
"It was an unfortunate mistake," a spokeswoman for the company said. "There was a muddle in the paperwork and the letters we automatically send out. It has been resolved now.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2010 00:00 ||
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Fascinating flash map showing succeeding empires covering the Middle East.
Ponder that the smallest "empire" shown here is the one that takes up 1/1000th as much land as the largest empire shown, and yet accounts for 100,000x as much contemporary internet bandwidth as all the other empires combined....
Nice to see TARP dollars being put to good use
America's three largest banks have paid more than £1bn in taxes on the bonuses of their UK-based staff, highlighting the bumper windfall the Government received from the one-off levy.
A former State Department analyst was sentenced to life in prison Friday for spying for Cuba for almost 30 years.
His wife and partner in spying received a sentence of six years and nine months, but will get credit for more than a year already served.
Kendall Myers, 73, pleaded guilty last November to conspiracy to commit espionage and wire fraud. His wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 72, admitted to one count of conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information.
Kendall Myers' life sentence does not include the possibility of parole.
In a prepared statement, Myers said he and his wife never wanted to harm Americans.
"We wish to add at this time that we acted as we did for 30 years because of our ideals and beliefs," he said. "We did not seek nor receive payment for our work. We did not act out of anger at the United States or from a feeling of anti-Americanism. Nor did we ever intend to hurt any individual Americans. Our overriding objective was to help the Cuban people defend their revolution. We also hoped to forestall conflict between the two countries."
"We share the dreams and ideals of the Cuban revolution," he added. "We are equally committed to helping the struggling people of the world, whether they are here at home or abroad."
As part of their sentences, the couple also agreed to pay the government more than $1.7 million, a figure matching Kendall Myers' estimated salary over the years while working for the U.S. government and secretly spying for Cuba.
The two were arrested in June 2009 after meeting several times with an undercover FBI agent to whom they admitted their activities on behalf of Cuba. Those meetings were captured on video and audio tape.
Court documents painted an intriguing picture of a couple motivated by admiration for Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution. They used code names. Kendall Myers was known as Agent 202. Gwendolyn Myers used the names Agent 123 and Agent E-634.
They used a shortwave radio to communicate from their District of Columbia home with their Cuban handlers. The couple also admitted they met Cuban agents on overseas trips to various places, including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina.
Kendall Myers worked at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute and later at the department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He received a "top secret" security clearance in 1985.
According to court documents, Myers told the undercover FBI agent he usually took information from the State Department by memorizing it or taking notes, and upon occasion he actually took classified documents home. Gwendolyn Myers said she would process the information to be delivered to their Cuban intelligence handlers.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/17/2010 13:15 Comments ||
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#4
Who wants to bet that Zero will pardon this guy before he leaves office in 2012?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/17/2010 16:48 Comments ||
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#5
Besoeker post Jan 2013 prediction. A soundly defeated and spiteful I'll show you white racist bastids Barry Obama Hussein Soetoro Barrack will set new records with executive pardons.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns of several years of weak economic growth as many countries are still struggling to emerge from the financial crisis.
IMF Secretary General Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the current status of the European economy threatens to increase unemployment rates and weaken the spending power of citizens.
Strauss-Khan told France 24 on Friday that despite the recovering growth in Asia, Africa and the United States, "the risk for Europe is several years of weak growth."
"That means little spending power, problems in welfare systems for pensions and health and a rise in unemployment," he added.
The remarks come as the tide of the global financial meltdown has gripped much of Europe, forcing many governments including those of Italy, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Britain to introduce fiscal austerity measures aimed at trimming their huge budget deficits.
Such decisions have triggered widespread opposition as many people continue to go on strike and demonstrate against the high unemployment rates and living expenses.
The IMF last week raised its 2010 global growth forecast by 4.6 percent.
The figures reflected a glimmer of hope for several major regions, but the grim forecast for Europe has remained steady at 1.0 percent.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2010 00:00 ||
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From the article: I have obtained this document sent by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It appears the Washington Post is about to push the bounds of intelligence reporting. The intelligence agency seems concerned. See letter below. More coming later. Click the link to see a photo of a letter directing companies that are doing top secret work for the us on how to respond to the upcoming action by the WaPo. If I were advertising in the WaPo, I would be having a serious talk with their executives over this one.
#5
Answer to the question posed is YES. I am not at more risk than before. Thanks Wapo. Anything happens to me or mine, and I survive it, I will kill the reporter and editor that did this.
#10
We will see what the WaPo rolls out tomorrow, and then continues to dribble out over time. If as has been suggested they are threatening to list the locations where highly classified work is being done, along with some sense of what that work entails, the potential harm is immeasurable.
And the WaPo knows that. My guess is that, among other things, this represents a hard shift left for the paper similar to what they attempted with Newsweek, i.e. that they are angling for a national / international subscription base as well as for impact on the upcoming elections.
After all, this is nicely poised to deflect attention from Obama's failings, stir up outrage over 'excessive defense spending' and give the hard left clear marching orders re: where to protest and disrupt, which workers to follow home and harass/intimidate/threaten, and maybe where to try a bit of sabotage.
That it also constitutes a map for self-organizing jihadis is just a bonus so far as the WaPo is concerned.
#11
This sort of thing explains a lot about the Russian Spy Case. They don't have to do any spying themselves, all they have to do is money laundering and make suggestions and we'll do all the espionage to ourselves.
Posted by: Things From Snowy Mountains ||
07/17/2010 17:49 Comments ||
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Eliminate the "Dodd Clinic" Earmark From Obamacare Savings of $100 million over ten years
Section 10502(a) of the over 2,000 page recently enacted Obamacare government healthcare bill provides $100 million for construction at an unnamed "health care facility." However, the language in health bill is tailored in such a way as to ensure the funding is earmarked for the University of Connecticut. By eliminating this special interest funding, we can protect taxpayers while we work to repeal the entire health care law. I was originally concerned I'd get spammed by voting with my e-mail address. I've now voted with three different addresses. Not against the same stupid program, of course; that'd be bullet voting. Once for me, once for Mrs. Bobby, and once for the dog. Who -tragically - died last year at the ripe old age of 15. Sometimes paranoia is unfounded. It's easy and it's fun. Tell your friends!
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/17/2010 09:01 ||
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#1
I was originally concerned I'd get spammed by voting with my e-mail address.
As was I, but after many weeks of voting; no spam ... knock wood.
Rather than risk infringement I'll just post the link and let you check it out. My how the ACLU is helping illegals cross the border and get away with it. Even includes a Bust Card to help them get away with it. I have no idea why it's in english. Attention wh0ring, maybe?
#1
Attention whoring. That they called it a "racial profiling" law shows that their information is not directed to illegals, but to agitators.
Amusingly, the advice they give is standard to anyone stopped by the police. However, it is out of date, based on subsequent legal decisions.
When "rules" are established, the police automatically look for ways to obey the rules and still do their job. So they come up with all sorts of "tricks" that eventually have to be adjudicated as to whether they are proper or not.
For instance, when someone asks "Am I being detained?", they don't answer "yes" or "no", but "we'll see" or "maybe, based on your answers".
And your ability to *not* answer questions is inhibited if they have not arrested you. Just because information may not be admissible against you, because you have not been read your rights, it may be very admissible against the person sitting next to you.
There has even been a major court case in which someone gave incriminating evidence during arrest, so it was not admissible, but the police released him from arrest, then used the information to get incriminating evidence, then rearrested him. Since he was not under arrest when they used his information, it was admissible.
Ay-Pee ...
The president said in the interview he believes voters "are going to say the policies that got us into this mess, we can't go back to." You just keep thinking that. We'll vote you out last.
They were all disloyal. I tried to run the ship properly by the book, but they fought me at every turn. If the crew wanted to walk around with their shirttails hanging out, that's all right, let them! Take the towline - defective equipment, no more, no less. But they encouraged the crew to go around, scoffing at me and spreading wild rumors about steaming in circles and then 'Old Yellowstain.' I was to blame for Lieutenant Maryk's incompetence and poor seamanship. Lieutenant Maryk was the perfect officer, but not Captain Queeg. Ah, but the strawberries! That's, that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes, but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and with, with geometric logic, that, that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist. And I would have produced that key if they hadn't pulled the Caine out of action. I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officer. (He pauses - looks at all the questioning faces that stare back at him, and realizes that he has been ranting and raving.) Naturally, I can only cover these things from memory..
Ay-Pee ...
"It's a very small group. The people we've identified certainly have some strong political opinions and seem to be frustrated with some of the issues around immigration," said Kristen Cox, executive director for the department. "I think it's an immense hypocrisy to talk about taking people to task for being illegal and doing so by breaking the law." They're illegal. Since when do they get afforded the same privileges as a citizen?
#1
If people are engaged in illegal activity, isn't obstructing justice by hiding the fact just as criminal? Being of public office with the responsibility to enforce laws and refusing to either resign or actually enforce the laws, does it make one a co-conspirator to the crime as in aiding and abetting?
GENEVA -- The World Health Organization found itself Friday in the strange position
Not so strange, they've folded themselves like this before ...
of defending North Korea's health care system from an Amnesty International report, three months after WHO's director described medicine in the totalitarian state as the envy of the developing world.
Amnesty's report on Thursday described North Korea's health care system in shambles, with doctors sometimes performing amputations without anesthesia and working by candlelight in hospitals lacking essential medicine, heat and power. It also raised questions about whether coverage is universal as it -- and WHO -- claimed, noting most interviewees said they or a family member had given doctors cigarettes, alcohol or money to receive medical care. And those without any of these reported that they could get no health assistance at all.
#1
The big picture is that WHO is desperate to remain on NKor's good side for one very good reason. Avian flu.
Yep, it's still here. Even though NKor has horrific epidemics that afflict major cities, of things like Typhoid and Scarlet fever, only the Avian flu has scared them enough to cooperate with the WHO. Just barely.
Which matters a great deal, because NKor is danger close to the most likely area of emergence of Avian flu in a lethal human to human form. So they *have* to be in on an epidemic ASAP.
Yes, it's a sh*t sandwich. But Amnesty International is too goddamn dumb to see the forest for the tortured and abused NKors.
#3
That to secure these rights, Goverments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed, that when any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to establis new Government, laying it's foundation on such principles and organizing it's powers in such form, as to them seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudent, indeed, will Governments long established should not be changed for light and transiet causes; and according all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which the are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security....
Indonesia's Muslims learned on Friday they have been praying in the wrong direction, after the country's highest Islamic authority said its directive on the direction of Makkah actually had people facing Africa. That's why they have all those earthquakes and tsunamis, I'll betcha... They probably moved stuff around... The Chinese have had compasses for 3000 years now, and we Americans have GPS ...
I wonder how many will quietly give up on Islam as a result?
Muslims are supposed to face the holy city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia during prayer and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict in March stipulating westward was the correct direction from the world's most populous Muslim country.
"But it has been decided that actually the mosques are facing Somalia or Kenya, so we are now suggesting people shift the direction slightly to the north-west," the head of the MUI, Cholil Ridwan, told Reuters. "There's no need to knock down mosques, just shift your direction slightly during prayer."
Ridwan said Muslims need not fear that their prayers have been wasted because they were facing the wrong way.
"Their prayers will still be heard by Allah," he said. How do you know? You're the one who was telling them to pray towards Africa. Maybe Allah's saying "Hmmmmm. I haven't heard from my Indonesian followers. Maybe this will bring them around." Before you know it, you're under 10 feet of water. Again. Insh'allah...
Said Agil Siradj, head of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama, told English language newspaper the Jakarta Globe that the confusion showed the MUI issued edicts too fast and that this was a lesson for them.
The MUI has, in the past, issued controversial edicts banning Muslims from chanting during yoga, and from smoking.
Indonesia is a majority Muslim but officially secular country.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/17/2010 00:00 ||
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From Associated Press so it's brief.
DENVER -- A law that makes it illegal to lie about being a war hero is unconstitutional because it violates free speech, a federal judge ruled Friday as he dismissed a case against a Colorado man who claimed he received two military medals.
Rick Glen Strandlof claimed he was an ex-Marine who was wounded in Iraq and received the Purple Heart and Silver Star, but the military had no record he ever served. He was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have won a military medal.
U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn dismissed the case and said the law is unconstitutional, ruling the government did not show it has a compelling reason to restrict that type of statement.
Eugene Volokh and Drew at Ace of Spades provide considerable analysis.
I think they have a point. There's a difference between telling a woman at a bar that you were a Navy SEAL, and claiming on a job application that you were a SEAL. The former should be punished, when caught, with scorn and ridicule, the latter should be punished as fraud. Valor is important; it's just where you draw the line for legal action.
Additional: Loyal reader Nimble Spemble had a duplicate in the hopper (put there about the same time as this post) and adds this commentary, which contrasts with my own thoughts.
In my local paper's version of this story it said Blackburn dismissed the case, ruling the the government did not show it had a compelling reason to restrict that type of statement. I read a great article yesterday that the Instapundit has now linked. I couldn't find a juicy excerpt for the burg, but it is about how detached our ruling class has become from the country and the peril it poses for the republic.
This case is a perfect example of that disconnect. Doesn't that idiot judge understand who maintains the order so his pomposity can preside over the court? But he'll be the first to condemn the military when the hordes fail to defend his sanctum sanctorum while the rest of Denver is overrun.
This asshole judge should be sent to Ft. Carson to explain to the 4ID why he has no compelling interest in defending their honor.
This will not end well.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/17/2010 09:01 ||
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#1
Then it must be free speech to impersonate a cop or a judge?
#2
The judge is very wrong here. Heroism impersonation is not just an "ego trip" on the part of the criminal, it inherently seeks to defraud. So the important question is, does a particular act represent "legal fraud" or "illegal fraud"?
"Legal fraud" neither demands nor receives "consideration", a valuable return, for that lie. Importantly, this is not just personal consideration, but any consideration.
For example, say a charity organization has an unpaid spokesman who falsely claims to be a war hero, when soliciting contributions. Though he does not directly personally profit from his fraud, the charity does. This is the same reason commercials have a disclaimer "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV", for example.
An exception to this is performance acting, in which someone could play a war hero, because the general assumption is that he is just an actor acting, even if he is Audie Murphy.
But even the status of a popular actor has to be taken into account in commercials, where it is noted that they are a "paid endorser" of some product or service.
Another variety of "legal" fraud is the aforementioned lying to a woman in a bar hoping to get sex. While there is certainly consideration involved, the courts have wisely decided that while heroism alone might help a person get laid, if they are dog ass ugly, heroism alone won't cut it. Unless the defrauded is easy.
Heck of a decision there.
Importantly, the courts have previously held that using false heroism to influence the political debate is also fraudulent, because that comes under the increasingly strict laws government political contributions. So when some weener pretends to be a war hero for Code Pink, the courts have said they are violating the law.
Political speech is supposed to be the strongest possible defense for freedom of speech, but even it has some pretty tight rules, in some respects.
#3
Did he try to use it to get any thing or was he just being a complete loser? How do you prosecute a pathological liar that hasn't used the position to gain any thing?
#4
Seems like identity theft. Although you are not stealing someone's specific identity, it seems like you are stealing something that does not belong to you; valor. If a person misrepresented themself as a teacher, doctor, lawyer, or judge, it would not be a free-speech issue. Bum decision on the part of the judge. Lying and misrepresentation does not seem like a free speech issue. The Stolen Valor Act or other acts, passed by a legislative body, should not be so easily overturned by an arrogant and elitist judge. Hope the decision is appealed and reversed.
#5
Ace is right in that this is a terrible test case, as the individual in question was committing actual fraud, there were damages beyond the simple misrepresentation.
I'm just not clear on whether public falsehood should be protected speech. Let's clear the immediate political element from the question. Say I stomp around claiming to be black, or Jewish, and exploit this claimed (but false) status; however, I limit my benefit to political advantage rather than government benefits or financial donations. My political opponents can certainly exploit my falsehood (when discovered) to their hearts' content, and shred me in the public eye. My falsehood will undermine every political group I'm in contact with, wreak havoc on every victory I had any involvement in, open the door for re-ligation of every settled question in my vicinity. Why exactly do we need a law to pile further abuse upon my annihilated carcass? Yes, my behavior is justifiably abominable, but it's the sort of misrepresentation which blows itself up once properly exposed.
Now, if our hypothetical "Stolen Ethnicity Act" restricted itself to penalties upon misrepresentation where there are non-political - IE, financial - benefits to the fraud, well, then. That's just the "Stolen [X]" equivalent of "hate crimes" or "gun crimes" statutes, and the courts seem to be jake with that sort of borderline-constitutional intensifier-riders upon existing crimes.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/17/2010 13:52 Comments ||
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#6
Perhaps cases like these are best handled by the citizenry, not the judiciary.
A thorough arse-whoopin would probably leave him with a much clearer picture than this judge has.
#7
Hmmmmm...get em drunk and tattoo "I'm a cowardly liar and stealer of others honor and valor" across their forehead? Best to check how big a forehead they have first and then pic your font size appropriately. Prolly start with a 26 Times New Roman? My point: make your art match the canvas.
/jk kinda
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/17/2010 16:09 Comments ||
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#8
Isn't the problem here actually that the MSM will only check the backgrounds (service, medals) of veterans who's political positions they disagree with?
Then there is the left-wing crew who consider people like this 'heroes' for impersonating a veteran. Don't be surprised about where this clown ends up working.
#9
From comments on Ace: I support the "Vigilantes Kicking the Dog S**t Out of Lying Disgraceful Mutherf***ers in Broad Daylight at the Local VFW Hall Act of 2010"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
