LMFAO

I really want a Tee like that. Pass it around to all my friends and have them wear it.

In the end it really does not matter. The Oil is from the earth, and in time the earth will absorb and distribute it. In the timeline of the planet, and the small amount of sea and bird life that may be lost, its really meaningless. We live in an age that agonizes over every dirty duck stuck in the oil muck. Its sad, and svcks, but in the end Oil is still needed for now and will continue to be required. There are risks associated with the production and transport of it. In time accidents will happen. Its the cost of our function. In time perhaps that will change, but not anytime soon.

BP is a company that is responsible for taking all possible measure to ensure that the transport and production is as safe as possible. That being said, crap happens, you deal with it and the earth moves on. Make BP the bad man if it makes you feel more justified for your consumption of the product they sell. But it will not change the fact that this is a part of human life in this century. As long as we learn form our failings and attempt to correct shortcomings, then we are being as responsible as can be expected. Any expectation over that is purely academic that serves as flue for debate over the human condition. Nothing more.

I'm less concerned about the birds and fishes as I am about the thousands of humans who now have no source of income. Fishing and shrimping businesses catch tens of thousands of dollars worth of product on a good day this time of year, and all BP is doing is giving them checks for $5,000. The environment in Alaska from the Exxon Valdez oil spill was so ruined that fishing wasn't viable for years, so it's not like everything's going to magically get better in a few months. This will have serious ramifications for at least a few years.

Agreed. It is BPs mess and they would and should be responsible for reasonable disruption in the area of commerce. That is indeed a slippery slope however. Thats up to the lawmakers to decide to what extent they should be financially responsible for the local community. I highly doubt they will offer anything over then the minimum required.

I heard that the same thing happened 30 years ago. A massive leak in the gulf of mexico (and a spill in Alaska at the same time). They tried the exact same things to stop the leak too, but gave the methods different names. Eventually, after 9-10 months the leak was finally capped. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc

The main difference was that it was 50m of water rather than 1500m.

To be honest I think if we want oil these are going to be the sort of thing we are going to have to put up with every 30 years or so. It is getting increasingly hard to get to. The solution would be to speed up the reduction of our reliance on oil.

Even just things like starting to design airports to use more efficient propeller driven planes rather than jets we use at present (They have a lower climbing rate)

I swear everytime I see a new angle of the spill, it looks worse than the last time. Like it's spewing out MORE.

Couldn't agree more. I'm not so sure that wind or solar power will take off so easily, as it's very energy intensive to make those large wind turbines, and solar cells, etc. But I think something that could be made to be a sort of like fuel/oil would be a better solution. Maybe going back to Steam Ships, could be a start to being a lesser dependent society on oil. For airplanes, I'm not quite sure what could be substituted for their fuel dependency, but maybe Airships (Hindenburg anyone?).

So where are they at now? Plan J?

The cement plan didn't work?

I guess a 70% chance wasn't enough...

I'm telling you people. If they would at least ask for help from people with random ideas, they'd at least look like they were doing something about the oil spill.

My thermite plan is flawless.

Uhm just look XD, it still looks like nothing was done.

In their latest efforts, BP said that they're even unsure if it went well. :banghead:

At this point, they might as well build a giant wall encircling the entire leak drain all the sea water out and go down and fix it personally....or not....they could just make it a giant holding tank....or not.....they could just do what they are doing, which equates to nothing. Idiots.

Nah I'd think a large concrete ring with plastic liner that floats all the way to the top...

See, and that's the thing. I actually have an idea that I've actually researched that could actually work, and there's nobody to contact. It's like they don't want anyone to even suggest stuff to them.

Probably why there's no one to contact, is because BP is under so much pressure, they don't have time to put extra hands out to the public, and ask for ideas. I know if it was me, I'd be focusing on the ideas at hand (no matter who they came from or what they were) and started expanding on them. They're under a lot of pressure to get this thing contained and cleaned up. It's not such an easy job to get a phone line up, and have people calling in telling millions of ideas.

It's probably because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who think they know more about their job than they do trying to contact them with their "perfect" plans.

They're probably making money off of us watching it.

Let's just wait till the far future gets here and send a Terminator back in time to stop it all.

That's probably who started it!

I think this damned leak is going to continue until the relief wells are drilled next to it and up and running before it can be finally capped. I've read this could take up to 3 months from when they started.

I've seen two conflicting reports on the news today... one said the drilling mud being pumped into it was not working, and another said BP wasn't sure yet if it will work. :facepalm:

I'm watching the live press conference on CNN, the Top kill procedure failed utterly. :sadvaultboy:

Now they'll try to put a cap to "plug" the hole and capture the oil. It should take 4 days but could take much longer. And they aren't sure it'll work.

I'll try to keep you posted.

Maybe all the sealife in the Gulf of Mexico will just spontaneously evolve to survive in an oil soaked environment, and all of this will become moot. The oil (spice) will flow, and we can still enjoy all you can eat Shrimp Fests at Red Lobster. Everyone will win.

Watching the press conference reminded me of this video (maybe it was already posted here)

http://www.wbal.com/absolutenm/templates/smith_show.aspx?articleid=51499&zoneid=14

I'll be upset if the result of this isn't anything less than BP going bankrupt. I want to boycott them but I'd feel guilty hurting the people who own the service stations (of which my grandfather is one, but his station has Exxon)