Gulf oil rig disaster
10. May 2010
Jim Gras
Is Gulf oil rig disaster far worse than we’re being told?
Reports about the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill have been largely underestimated, according to commentators, including Paul Noel, a Software Engineer for the U.S. Army at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. He believes that the pocket of oil that’s been hit is so powerful and under so much pressure that it may be virtually impossible to contain it. And Noel is not the only person questioning the scope of this disaster.
A recent story from the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) reports that many independent scientists believe the leak is spewing far more than the 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, per day being reported by most media sources. They believe the leak could be discharging up to 25,000 barrels (more than one million gallons) of crude oil a day right now.
The riser pipe that was bent and crimped after the oil rig sank is restricting some of the flow from the tapped oil pocket, but as the leaking oil rushes into the well’s riser, it is forcing sand with it at very high speeds and “sand blasting” the pipe (which is quickly eroding its structural integrity).
According to a leaked National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration memo obtained by an Alabama newspaper, if the riser erodes any further and creates more leaks, up to 50,000 barrels, or 2.1 million gallons, per day of crude oil could begin flooding Gulf waters every day.
When this disaster first occurred, the media downplayed it. BP spokespersons were quick to claim that the leakage was minimal and that crews would eventually be able to contain it. But as time went on, it became clear that things were not under control and that the spill was far more serious than we were originally told. (Gee, sound familiar? Remember Katrina?)
Yet some of the media reports still seem more like press releases than actual reporting because they continue to repeat what the public relations cleanup crews (pun intended) would like the public to believe rather than what’s actually happening. Reality, it seems, has a nasty habit of interfering with corporate spin.
Cap and trade becomes “cap and pray”
The New York Times yesterday reported that BP is working on a large containment dome that is intended to cap the leak and catch the escaping oil so that it can be safely pumped to the surface. Meanwhile, crews are said to be working on fixing the broken blow-out preventer valve that should have stopped the leak from happening in the first place, but they have been unsuccessful thus far.
Almost every report says that BP is doing everything it can to contain the spill and stop the leak, even though the company claims it is not technically at fault. According to an article from the U.K. Daily Mail, BP’s CEO Tony Hayward recently responded to the cleanup efforts by explaining, “This is not our accident but it is our responsibility to deal with it.”
Swiss-based Transocean is the company that actually owned and operated the sunken rig. It manned the rig with its own crew and BP just leased it from Transocean (which makes you wonder why BP is so willing to take full responsibility for everything).
BP says that it’s working on a relief well, but that it could take up to three months to complete. Until then, the company is trying several different approaches to at least slow the leak and hopefully stop it altogether.
Mind you, almost all of the information about the spill from day one has come directly from BP which obviously has every incentive to downplay the true environmental destruction that could be caused by this oil spill.
Even the word “spill” is incorrect. This isn’t some ship of oil that spilled into the ocean — it’s a “volcano” of oil spewing from the belly of Mother Earth herself. It’s under extremely high pressure, it’s spewing a huge volume of oil directly into the ocean, and there so far seems to be no human-engineered way of stopping it (short of setting off an underground nuclear bomb near the well site).
Addressing the unanswered questions
According to the CSM article, environmental risk models are normally performed for pollutants like crude oil, yet not one model has yet been released for this incident by BP or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Many are wondering why this crucial information has not been made public. Could it be because the results of the model might seem too catastrophic?
Neither has there been an adequate explanation given for exactly why the oil rig exploded… twice! Some reports indicate that the crews responsible for properly cementing the well casing didn’t do it right. Others suggest that the oil deposit was just too large and under too much pressure for the equipment to handle it. (Be careful where you poke around the planet if you can’t handle what comes out, right?)
It’s also important to note that, according to a recent New York Times article, Halliburton was actually the company responsible for all the cementing work on the rig, which brings a third party into the picture.
BP’s federal permits allowed the company to drill up to 20,000 feet deep, but according to one of the workers who was onboard the rig during the explosion, drilling in excess of 22,000 feet had been taking place. This same worker is said to handle company records for BP, but BP has denied these allegations.
BP has declined to comment, however, on other allegations that the spill happened because it chose not to install necessary deep-water valves which would have acted as a last resort seal of protection in the event of an emergency.
Several other allegations include suspicions that the crews allowed gas to build up in the well bore and that the rig operator tried to detach too quickly from the well, causing a disruption.
BP, Halliburton and Transocean have all indicated that they are continuing to investigate the situation. When companies investigate themselves, however, the truth rarely comes out.
The possibility of an extinction event?
It’s hard to say exactly what’s going on in the Gulf right now, especially because there are so many conflicting reports and unanswered questions. But one thing’s for sure: if the situation is actually much worse than we’re being led to believe, there could be worldwide catastrophic consequences.
If it’s true that millions upon millions of gallons of crude oil are flooding the Gulf with no end in sight, the massive oil slicks being created could make their way into the Gulf Stream currents, which would carry them not only up the East Coast but around the world where they could absolutely destroy the global fishing industries.
Already these slicks are making their way into Gulf wetlands and beaches where they are destroying birds, fish, and even oyster beds. This is disastrous for both the seafood industry and the people whose livelihoods depend on it. It’s also devastating to the local wildlife which could begin to die off from petroleum toxicity. Various ecosystems around the world could be heavily impacted by this spill in ways that we don’t even yet realize.
There’s no telling where this continuous stream of oil will end up and what damage it might cause. Theoretically, we could be looking at modern man’s final act of destruction on planet Earth, because this one oil rig blowout could set in motion a global extinction wave that begins with the oceans and then whiplashes back onto human beings themselves.
We cannot live without life in the oceans. Man is arrogant to drill so deeply into the belly of Mother Earth, and through this arrogance, we may have just set in motion events that will ultimately destroy us. In the future, we may in fact talk about life on Earth as “pre-spill” versus “post-spill.” Because a post-spill world may be drowned in oil, devoid of much ocean life, and suffering a global extinction event that will crash the human population by 90 percent or more.
We may have just done to ourselves, in other words, what a giant meteorite did to the dinosaurs.
1 Comment on Gulf oil rig disasterHappy Mother’s Day!
8. May 2010
Jim Gras
…We wish all the moms out there a very happy Mother’s day!
And may you each be fussed over, abundantly cherished and treated with all the kindness and caring that loving mothers everywhere have clearly earned.
For, who else but a loving mother is always there when you need her?
Who else can contribute the quality of love, understanding and caring which has been universally recognized as a depth of love that only a mother can provide?
So, thank you, loving mothers everywhere.
May you be loved the same in return!
Local searchers = ready to buy
3. May 2010
Jim Gras
Your Local Search
Local Searchers = READY to BUY
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone who came in your store was ready to buy, and not just there to browse or kill time?
One reason the yellow pages has such a strong hold over small businesses is that when Joe Consumer opens the yellow pages, he’s almost always ready to buy. (Have you ever known anyone to read the yellow pages casually?)
A person looking for a local retailer, entertainment outlet, or service business is often much closer in time to a buying decision, and their level of interest is greater. “Local clicks” very often represent better leads and convert better than general clicks.”
Think Local
Listen up, little guys. Google and the rest of the search giants are giving you a shot at a potentially huge business–for now.
The market for local searches on the Internet–searches that include geographic information like a state, city or ZIP code–should be booming. Research shop the Kelsey Group estimates the sector generated $3.4 billion last year, but it could grow to $13 billion by 2010. Meanwhile, traditional local advertising–from newspapers, local commercials, yellow pages ads and the like–generates an estimated $100 billion per year.
But while Google and Yahoo! dominate nearly every other part of the Web, they have yet to fill up on local-search traffic. The top five local search sites are only reaching about 55% of the general Internet audience.
Google itself isn’t even making the most of the local-search market share it has. About 25% of all Google searches are local, but only about 10% of Google’s ad revenue–about $220 million in its last quarter–comes from ads generated through local searches, says Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy.
What gives? “Everyone is tantalized by the sheer volume and wants to tap into these billions upon billions,” says Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, “but it’s very difficult to capture those dollars–it’s a complex, fragmented and inefficient market.”
The biggest problem is getting small mom-and-pop business owners–some 23 million of them–to sign up and pay for online ads. The auctioned-off, pay-per-click pricing for ads at search engines like Google and Yahoo! are far too complicated for small retail and service businesses, says Assaf Ran, chief executive of DAG Media, a niche online directory company.
Whether or not you have a brick and mortar store, it is vital to ensure your web site is ranked well in searches for your local area. What does this mean?
People aren’t just searching for ’widgets’ anymore they are searching for “widgets AND my town” more and more trying to narrow their searches to their own neighborhood. Why is this?
People want to know whom they are dealing with online. They want to be able to visit your business location for your offerings, or at least have the peace of mind that they could if they wanted to.
We love helping local businesses succeed in the ever evolving online world. In fact, we spotted the opportunity of “local search” well before Google began showing map results for local businesses inside it’s main search results.
The trend towards local search is growing every day and our clients have been seeing huge, and growing, rewards from their internet exposure with the help of our local SEO services.
Local SEO for Organic Search Rankings
Organic search results are the usual listings you see when you do a search in Google, Yahoo or MSN. Good rankings in organic search will drive the bulk of the traffic to your website. It is here where we can also target a wider range of keywords to maximize the local traffic your website receives.
We’ve been practicing organic SEO since before Google Maps and Yahoo Local even existed. We have a deep understanding of how the search engines operate and have stayed ahead of the curve when the engines make changes to their ranking algorithm. You’ll see long term benefits from our experience in developing local seo strategies.
Optimized Placement in Local Search Engines
Within the last couple of years the search engines have been providing improved “local search” features. Google in particular has been embedding these “Maps” inside their search pages as part of their Universal Search results. This has opened new opportunities for local businesses and requires different techniques, from organic SEO, to get exposure there.
We can help your business get more exposure with Local Maps SEO. As Maps usage grows it is becoming more important to be seen here as well as in organic search.
For More Information Contact SEO-Specialist-Online.com or call 800-897-6458
Important Information for AOL Users
30. April 2010
Jim Gras
America Online (more commonly known as AOL) has been a popular Internet service since the dawn of the Internet. The customized AOL software provides a user-friendly look, giving computer novices a comfortable environment from which to harness the power of the Internet. Unfortunately, many AOL users may be sacrificing performance, compatibility and even security protection by using the software.
The most popular way to access the AOL network is to install the American Online software on your computer. This software manages the physical connection to AOL’s Internet servers, authenticates logon (verifies the subscribers identity), and manages the entire Internet experience within a single application. If you pay for AOL, it’s a safe bet you are using this method to connect.
Unfortunately, the AOL software significantly alters the “personality” of Windows, consumes quite a bit of system resources, and even alters some networking configuration settings that can bypass some of the new security technology that is available (like OpenDNS). It has also been known to display Web pages incorrectly. For these reasons, network security policy at many companies prohibits employees from installing AOL on office computers.
We can already hear the moaning and groaning out there:
“But I’ve used AOL for years.”
“I don’t want to change my email address!”
Don’t panic. There is another way to access America Online without compromising your computer and incurring the wrath of your company IT Department. And, better yet, it’s free! That’s right: free. Simply open Internet Explorer, Firefox or another preferred Web browser, navigate to www.aol.com, then enter your screen name and password – voila! You’re now authenticated to the AOL network without any special software; you can send and receive email, view your address book and access many other AOL services as well. Since this method utilizes standardized software and Windows networking settings, your computer will run faster, Web pages will appear as they were designed, and your security applications will not be compromised.
Since computers require no special software to connect to AOL.com (other than a standard Web browser), you can literally logon to your AOL account from any computer in the world that has an Internet connection.
Granted, you will notice a few changes in the appearance of AOL. However, given the improved performance and security, as well as the flexibility to logon from anywhere, most people find that they are willing to put up with the new look and feel. Of course, to fully realize the benefits of switching to the Web-delivered version of AOL, you will need to remove (uninstall) the America Online software from your computer. If you need help making the switch, please let us know. In most cases, we can take care of everything remotely, without a visit to your home or office.
