Thanks, Katrina

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Saving White Pelicans

From a clarionledger.com article about a zoo in Jackson, Ms. helping oiled, handicapped white pelicans:

Cautiously shifting from right to left in opposition to Dave Wetzel's motions, the 20 American white pelicans have not adapted to their temporary home - a large wire holding cage with two kiddie pools that has become their sanctuary since the Gulf Coast oil spill damaged their habitat and forced their removal.

Volunteers rescued the pelicans being rehabilitated and housed at the Jackson Zoo until permanent homes at animal facilities can be found.

Wetzel, the zoo's deputy director, has a degree in zoology fueled by an interest in birds. That's one reason the Jackson Zoo was able to become a bird holding hub.

"We volunteered because it's our state that is going to be affected," he said Tuesday.

Read the full article here

Drilling ban is Louisiana's third calamity | Washington Examiner

Jazz Funeral

On July 8th the final external fuel tank manufactured at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans East was delivered to NASA. We celebrated the way only New Orleans celebrates: with a Jazz Funeral. Here is a short film put together by Lockheed Martin.

that methane bubble

There has been a rumor going around about a huge methane bubble in the Gulf of Mexico that is going to cause the evacuation of the entire Gulf Coast and create an oil tsunami. Wow, some people have too much time on their hands.

Here is a blog that puts this crazy myth to rest:

http://all-geo.org/highlyallochthonous/2010/07/the-gulf-of-mexico-spill-is-bad-enough-without-turning-it-into-a-disaster-movie/

Thanks to Maitri for the link. (http://vatul.net/blog/)

Day 85 Numbers

From deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

By the Numbers to Date (7/13/2010)

· The administration has authorized the deployment of 17,500 National Guard troops from Gulf Coast states to respond to this crisis; currently, 1,564 are active.

· More than 45,000 personnel are currently responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife and cleanup vital coastlines.

· More than 6,800 vessels are currently responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.

· More than 3.15 million feet of containment boom and 6.34 million feet of sorbent boom have been deployed to contain the spill—and approximately 892,000 feet of containment boom and 2.66 million feet of sorbent boom are available.

· More than 31.4 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.

· Approximately 1.81 million gallons of total dispersant have been applied—1.07 million on the surface and 735,000 sub-sea. Approximately 502,000 gallons are available.

· 330 controlled burns have been conducted, efficiently removing a total of more than 10.3 million gallons of oil from the open water in an effort to protect shoreline and wildlife. Because calculations on the volume of oil burned can take more than 48 hours, the reported total volume may not reflect the most recent controlled burns.

· 17 staging areas are in place to protect sensitive shorelines.

· Approximately 550 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline is currently oiled—approximately 311 miles in Louisiana, 102 miles in Mississippi, 66 miles in Alabama, and 71 miles in Florida. These numbers reflect a daily snapshot of shoreline currently experiencing impacts from oil so that planning and field operations can more quickly respond to new impacts; they do not include cumulative impacts to date, or shoreline that has already been cleared.

· Approximately 83,927 square miles of Gulf of Mexico federal waters remain closed to fishing in order to balance economic and public health concerns. More than 66 percent remains open. Details can be found at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/.

· To date, the administration has leveraged assets and skills from numerous foreign countries and international organizations as part of this historic, all-hands-on-deck response, including Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Spain, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization, the European Union's Monitoring and Information Centre, and the European Maritime Safety Agency.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A little levity

July 10--LAS CRUCES -- It's not unusual for motorists to report a suspicious-looking hitchhiker to the police -- unless the hitchhiker is naked and running into highway traffic with a prosthetic leg on fire.

The 47-year-old Mesilla Park man is recovering at a Texas burn center after being found on the U.S. 70 bridge over Del Rey Boulevard just before 7 p.m. Monday, with "significant" burns to his leg, buttocks, his plastic prosthesis "and what was left of his sock," according to Las Cruces Police Department reports.

In addition to "the burnt remains" of his clothing, an officer also found a 5-inch tube stuffed with wire mesh, which appeared to have been used as a smoking pipe.

The cause of the burns, the man told police, was losing a drinking game for having "only drank a six-pack," according to the police report.

As punishment, his three friends set his jeans and his prosthesis on fire and let the material -- then his flesh -- burn and blacken until he "could not stand the pain of wearing clothes" and stripped down to his shoes, the police report states.

When he couldn't stand the flames any more, he asked for a ride from his friend's home on Butterfield Boulevard to somewhere near a medical clinic, since his friends "didn't want to take him all the way to the hospital because they thought they were going to get arrested," the man told police. His friends got nervous when he complained of his pains, he said, and dropped him off on the highway.

Before police arrived, the man

ended up throwing his cigarettes and wallet into the bed of a truck, whose occupants locked the door and drove off when they saw he was naked. (The motorist later contacted police to return the man's wallet.)

No criminal charges were filed against the men who set him on fire or left him on the highway, and the man told police he didn't once try to stop them.

"If they had lost the bet," the man told police, "he would have done the same to them."

Oilspill Website for public comments

Gulf Oil Spill Commission Launches Public Comment Feature on Website, as First Public Meeting Begins
Source: PRNewswire
PRESS RELEASE
Publication date: 2010-07-12

WASHINGTON, July 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Commission on the BP Oil Spill wants to hear from residents of the Gulf. To help, it has launched a new feature on its official website, which allows members of the public to make comments about how they have been impacted by the spill and offer suggestions about prevention and response.

Those who want to make their voices heard can do so at www.oilspillcommission.gov. Details about the time and place for the first public meeting can also be found on the site.