This is unreal. It's Orange Beach Alabama. We were considering a vacation there next year. The beaches are a lot like what you've seen in Pensecola. I guess that was before the spill.
I can't imagine anything being alive in the ocean after this.
Years ago I would not have ever considered myself an environmentalist - and even now I'm not what you'd call rabid - but the oil and strip mining with chemicals and logging to bare dirt is really starting to piss me off.
It turns my stomach to see the destruction - they ought to make that ass hole from BP move in to LA and live on the coast with all the people and animals he's screwing over.
I'm with you Duck. I'm not much of an environmentalist either. I actually didn't have a problem with deep water drilling. My wife's family makes a lot of money thanks to the oil and gas industry. But I do have a problem with companies that cut known safety standards just to save a buck.
But this turns my stomach and makes me wonder if I should feel different about oil.
Yeah it's been going on for how many weeks now? Then you go and look at the live video and the oil just keeps spewing out, even after they said they were siphoning most of it onto ships. They keep increasing the estimate of how much oil has actually gotten spilled into the gulf and it's astronomical. What really makes me sick is seeing people trying to clean it up while all along more oil is on the way. They simply can't keep up.
This incident is really independent of environmentalism. Nobody wants this to happen, and for darn good reason. They'll probably have to ban fishing in the gulf for a decade or more to let the species repopulate.
Hopefully the only good thing to come from this is that it never happens again. I mean, it was bad enough when a tanker ran aground, but this is absolutely insane. Drilling at such depths means it's incredibly difficult to handle a situation if something goes wrong. But then again, they shouldn't drill if they aren't capable of avoiding such a disaster. I'm sure the Government is going to implement all kinds of strict regulations after this - they always do after it's too late.
Obviously as I have said before, I am an environmentalist. But a true environmentalist needs to understand that sometimes things aren't all rainbows and we have to allow development and industrialisation to happen. BUT you need to let it happen in the best places for it.
I am not against drilling per se, but as with any construction application, we shouldn't be doing it where we don't have the ability to maintain it or fix it in a disaster scenario.
One of the bigger issues I have with this situation is how it has become political. This spill helps no one. Minimizing the true impact helps no one. Making off the cuff predictions about when and how this will be fixed helps no one. We need politicians to butt out for once and allow the engineers and thinkers around this to do what they need to do to fix this. Like anything, this was a matter of thinking before doing, and it appears no one tried to think in this.
All this said, I have a buddy in Pensacola, and he said it's an utter mess.
At the same time though Bubba, a lot of people are screaming at the President and everyone else "What are you going to do about it?" so they have to respond. Unfortunately, they aren't responding by staying out of the way and letting the people who know how to clean it up do their work. There will be plenty of time for assigning blame and extracting dollars from BP after the oil has stopped flowing.
I'm not sure which is the sadder part of this whole thing, the oil spill itself, or the supposition that the President's speech about it last night apparently was "over the head" of most Americans as it was written to be understood at a 10th grade level 😳
That is the problem I have Sarge... the president can't micro manage every situation, but yet the American public expects that. He knows it's there and there is nothing more he can do about it. Politics should be involved after, when developing policy, but for now, they should only be involved enough to hold everyones feet to the flame.
Bubbaspanky wrote:That is the problem I have Sarge... the president can't micro manage every situation, but yet the American public expects that. He knows it's there and there is nothing more he can do about it.
Amen! It's like everyone expects the president of the USA to make sure we all have a job, a house, a girl, some cold beer in the fridge and smile on our face. When the hell did that become the president's job? It seems like most americans have over-simplified things by putting everything on the shoulders of whoever is president. Let alone the fact that we have a legislative branch, judicial branch, state governments, counties, municiplaties and this silly little thing called a free market. Oh yeah, and sometimes mother nature has a way of making us change our plans... and she wasn't even elected.
I meant U.S.A. residents of course. It's hard to get out of the habit of using the short-hand lingo. It's similar to when my buddy who lives in the "state" of Washington always makes me clarify when I refer to Washington D.C. as plain old Washington.
One MEASLY pork chop and F-Ing Bubba won't leave me alone!!!!
At least he's stopped calling me Big Daddy..... it was so embarrassing having him padding around behind me - everywhere I went - always decked out in those electric purple booty shorts.......
-=NC=-Larva wrote:When the hell did that become the president's job?
It became his job when he campaigned under the guise of doing exactly that. Hope and Change and all.....
And this is becoming dangerously close to a political thread, so if you feel things getting out of hand, remember we're all friends, then feel free to make fun of Bubba. It works for Duck!
I wonder if we'd be better off replacing the entire congress and president with comedians. They may not be experts, but at least they have common sense and the ability to identify when something isn't working. Our politicians seem to be under the false impression that they're doing a mighty fine job.
Too bad Sam Kinison is dead - he'd have made a great president. 😈
Not someone who would tend to vote for someone based on their celebrity (or lack thereof, South Carolina), but I would have voted for George in a second.
Larva, I thought you were a north of the border kind of guy... one of them weird hokcye watching, curling playing, "Red Green" on TV canucks.
Bubbaspanky wrote:Larva, I thought you were a north of the border kind of guy... one of them weird hokcye watching, curling playing, "Red Green" on TV canucks.
No, I'm a weight-lifting, computer-programming, beer-guzzeling, piano-playing, hot-wing eating, gamer from Cleveland, Ohio in the USA. I've always lived here and always will. Besides a few imperfections and abnormalities I'm perfectly normal. 😉
-=NC=-Larva wrote:No, I'm a weight-lifting, computer-programming, beer-guzzeling, piano-playing, hot-wing eating, gamer from Cleveland, Ohio in the USA. I've always lived here and always will. Besides a few imperfections and abnormalities I'm perfectly normal. 😉
Atomm wrote:BTW, geeks do not lift weights. The two are counterproductive......
I claimed to be a gamer, not a geek. 😎 I have to lift weights because it's the only thing that burns calories and keeps me from turning into Jabba The Hut. Unfortunately writing code and playing games isn't good excerice. 🙁 Plus for us 30-something fellas it's the easiest way to keep our triglycerides down and avoid heart attacks, especially if you hate diets like me. 🙂
I've seen that etch-a-sketch artist's work before. It is amazing that such patience still exists in today's world.
Bad news about the oil spill - the underwater robot made a boo boo and now the cap that was catching the oil isn't working anymore, so they're almost back to square 1. Absolutely sad. Apparently they need to shoot somebody to get them motivated enough to put an end to it.
Ok, you got me there. My Tri's are terrible...... I've modified my diet and lost weight, but I really need to start exercising to really get to where I need to be.
Atomm wrote:but I really need to start exercising to really get to where I need to be.
The hardest part is just getting started and making it a habit. It takes about 3 weeks before it becomes 2nd nature for me. The key is to start off light and do the workouts you enjoy the most - make it enjoyable. Don't bother with a pre-determined number of reps - just work until exhaustion. I just do curls, push-ups, jumping jacks, and switch between jogging by myself and walking with my wife. There's no need for a gym membership. You can buy a good dumbell from Walmart for super-cheap: $10. And I always have good tunes to work out to - sometimes I listen to the Gamers Radio Metal station while I work out.
Atomm wrote:Ok, you got me there. My Tri's are terrible...... I've modified my diet and lost weight, but I really need to start exercising to really get to where I need to be.
Diabetes runs in my family like water. I SHOULD HAVE started watching it in my 30-somethings..... 18+ years after my missed starting gate - I've decided to make sure my A1C (3 month map of blood sugar) stays below 6.5 "normal-normal.
Simply by programming my mind to yell DEATH when I see processed sugar items - cereal, soda, fast food (though harder to hear...) candy - I've dropped 1.7 points on my A1C and 8 pounds in 2 months - simply by NOT saying YES to processed foor.
When I want sweet - an Orange or apple or 100% fruit juice..... wife has some cookies - I go for fresh apple....
It's much easier that I thought. - bought a bicycle..... have yet to use it.....but I will soon - promise - and next week (or so) getting shoes and starting the 30 min a day walking.... Gotta' cuz' I AM NOT poking my self w/needles. EVER!
Duck you are certainly on the right path. Same here in Sept I was force to worry about my a1c and well I dropped it somewhere around 2 pts in 5 months, at the same time, that voice telling me no to the few remaining sugars I ate also got me to drop about 40lbs. (the bitch of it is that you can barely notice)
The one thing I will say, fruit juice can be a killer, its better than soda because at least there is some beneficial value, however, too much can certainly tip you blood glucose too high quickly.
Larva, Back when I was competitive; one of my trainers showed me that the best stuff you can do for fitness requires no special equipment. BUT, you need to ensure your technique is proper. Lifting free weights incorrectly is one of the most efficient ways to harm your body quickly. You can damage yourself with machines too, but it's a touch harder to do. Still you'll never beat running, pushups, crunches, pull ups, dips for adding good strong muscle.
Bubbaspanky wrote:Larva, Back when I was competitive; one of my trainers showed me that the best stuff you can do for fitness requires no special equipment. BUT, you need to ensure your technique is proper. Lifting free weights incorrectly is one of the most efficient ways to harm your body quickly. You can damage yourself with machines too, but it's a touch harder to do. Still you'll never beat running, pushups, crunches, pull ups, dips for adding good strong muscle.
Yeah I've learned you can hurt yourself with plain old pushups too if you're not careful. I've hurt my neck and back of my head a couple of times. I always stretch 1st and try not to overdo it now. If I feel the onset of any type pain, as opposed to a healthy burn, I stop and wait a few days.
I just do basic curls with the dumbells, with a few variations and a final set of negatives. But the pushups are what really help me lose the weight.
On a sidenote they got the temporary cap back on to siphon most of the oil. Bad robot! BAD robot! I like how they blamed the cap getting knocked off on the robot. I hope the oil still isn't a point of discussion a year from now. The spill is so gargantuan it's tough to even think about anymore.
Dude, if their robot is autonomous, maybe this is how the Terminators take their revenge on humankind!!!!!
I know what you guys mean about convincing yourself that something is bad. I lost 30lbs when I moved from Virginia just by cutting out fried foods and sugary cokes. I still eat ice cream more than I should. The thing with Fried Food is I literally get sick from the smell of it any more. If I eat anything fried, even a few fries, I'm physically ill.
There is still room for me to work on it, but I've swung things around quite a bit.
Christ - we're sounding like were on deaths bed - old men at the retirement home in the rocking chairs of DOOOOOOMMMMM
Bubba how's the prostate? Did you hear Atomm's knee gave out again..... poor Sarge keeps drooling more than he should...... we having green jello today?