December 27, 2006: Nigerian gas explosion outcome [very graphic]

[CaliforniaMama]

Originally Posted by GuyNamedGuy

SF writers such as Lester Del Rey and Robert Heinlein have been predicting this sort of thing since about 1940 - and 67 years later we're still sliding towards oblivion. As Heinlein himself put it, we're "Too fat, dumb and happy", like the Romans watching the Visigoths (or whoever it was that sacked the city) approach the city in 410 AD and doing nothing.

Really? And here I thought it was all about politics!

No, seriously. I have always that the major roadblock in progressive development of this sort was because of fights between corporations and politicians who struggle to maintain a balance of power. There doesn't seem to be enough incentive to tip the scale one way or the other, so no one ever seems to do anything dramatic enough to make a difference.

Maybe the laziness is on our part for not pushing more, but from what I see in the press, there is a whole lot of pushing going on from the activist realm, but still no progress.

It amazes me that no major corporation has really invested in being the first out there with some cutting edge technology. Are they looking into it at all? Or do they really just not care?

I know that some of the issues with solar is about cost effectiveness. I think of software programmers and how there are beta testers that have a go at things and work out the kinks. I wonder if the big guys can think in that small of a way to make it all worthwhile?

Or is it still because the power companies don't want to reinvent themselves?

I mean, cars and highways is becoming so old-fashioned in a way, but people don't want to give up their cars and some of us can't. Not because of miles, but because of ability. I am physically incapable of riding a bike, especially with three little kids. So, where are the radical ideas of creating a transport that really works instead of continuing to rely on the same old, same old. Obviously, no one likes mass transit. So come up with something new.

There are hundreds of thousands of brilliant minds out there. Look at the software that is created, the books that are written, the medical advances, the wonderfully creative science fiction that is written!!

So where are the brilliant ideas that are going to save us from mediocrity!!!!!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by GuyNamedGuy

Setting a good example for the world is supposed to be the USA's *JOB*, for heaven's sake.

I don't remember seeing that in the Constitution or hearing it in school. Who determined that is our *JOB*?

Cutting CO2 emissions can't hurt anything. And we can still make some nice low and medium-tech jobs manufacturing and selling alternate energy technology, and making some export bucks would be really nice these days!

Lovely thought, but get real. How long do you think it would be before those "nice low and medium-tech jobs" were exported too? 30days?
And how many of these miracle cures would the third world buy? One, that's all they need to copy or contract a cheaper source.
The problem with the Mother Jones/Whole Earth view, is that it harkens back to a time when the capitalists cared about the country. Long gone, I'm afraid. Now it's the Buck, the whole Buck and nothing but the Buck.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaMama

[very graphic] doesn't do it, eh?

The IOTD has a "blog view" option, and a lot of people just have it bookmarked (so they never see the thread title as a link from the main board.) That's how I used to visit for a very long time before I discovered the rest of the board.

[CaliforniaMama]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

The IOTD has a "blog view" option, and a lot of people just have it bookmarked (so they never see the thread title as a link from the main board.) That's how I used to visit for a very long time before I discovered the rest of the board.

Oh, that's right! That's what I used to do, too.

SORRY!!

[wolf]

I saw the Branch Davidian autopsy photos at a conference. These aren't so bad, even if they are fresher.

[SPUCK]

Buried lines must come up a certain locations for taps and controls...
These lines also usually run at over 1000psi. A pinhole puts out insane amounts of the fluid being transported. So if you have any line to the surface someone can find it and breach it.

[DanaC]

True Spuck. But in developing countries the standard mo of companies is not to bury any of it.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by DanaC

True Spuck. But in developing countries the standard mo of companies is not to bury any of it.

I suppose the people trying to steal gasoline bear no responsibility for their fate...and survivors of those electrocuted trying to steal electricity should be suing the power company for negligence in not burying the power lines to protect theives from temptation.

Obviously the solution to kids killed by joyriding in stolen cars must to bury all autos when not in use.

[Sundae]

In this time and in this place I am a liberal. Probably even a bleeding heart by other people's definition. But I do have a right-wing family history to draw upon which makes me generally unsympathetic to those who break the law.

BUT.

This is not the US, or the UK. I doubt the people stealing this fuel had the means to obtain it in any way other than to risk their lives. And if they did, and were simply lazy, lazy people who couldn't be arsed to get a job, you can bet they weren't on the government tit which allowed them to opt out of the ratrace.

There are a small percentage of people in every society who will take what is given with both hands, and won't understand the words Hard Work or Self-Esteem if they were tattooed in mirror language on their forehead.

But in countries with no safety net there are also intelligent, hardworking, desperate people who perhaps would benefit the world more if million dollar companies considered people as an investment as well as pipes and tubes. I doubt children in the US or the UK starve to death these days, or die for want of simple healthcare. Until that can be said worldwide, who are we to judge?

[xoxoxoBruce]

From National Geographic website...

Emergency workers were held back from the epicenter of the carnage until the early afternoon by intense heat, melted cars and electrical lines, and crowds of grieving people. Crews battled the blaze for more than 12 hours before getting the flames under control.

Thousands of residents, such as this man washing soot from his face, wandered across the charred landscape searching for missing loved ones.

Although officials say they are not sure what ignited the blaze, locals told the Associated Press (AP) that thieves had originally ruptured the pipeline and had been tapping it for months. On Monday night the thieves left without fully sealing their opening, and people from the neighborhood rushed in with bags and buckets to collect whatever they could from the leaking pipe.

note - The picture of the man washing soot from his face is chrisinhouston's second picture.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

But in countries with no safety net there are also intelligent, hardworking, desperate people who perhaps would benefit the world more if million dollar companies considered people as an investment as well as pipes and tubes.

Well, that does certainly sound wonderful, noble and high-minded. "...considered people as an investment...".

What does it mean?

That "million dollar companies" (it doesn't take much to make a "million dollar company" these days, by the way) should give people money in the hopes that they will "perhaps benefit the world" in some unspecified way?

That's not what the word "investment" usually means. It sounds rather more like "charity", or "casting bread upon the waters".

If that's what you actually mean, you should say so.

[CaliforniaMama]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Well, that does certainly sound wonderful, noble and high-minded. "...considered people as an investment...".

What does it mean?

I tend to take that to mean a more wholistic approach by a corporation, making their presence a part of the fabric of a community rather than just running a pipeline through. For instance, employing local labor, developing good will, giving back to the community in some form.

When we improve a community in general, providing jobs, beautifying or making a community safer and more livable, people will tend to have a bit more loyalty to the company.

Paternalistic, yes, we could look at it that way: the grand poobah of the U.S., but it can also be seen as a hand-up and not a hand-out.

[Sundae]

It depends how you define charity.

Cut price fuel programmes in poor areas that the supply lines run through would probably save them money in the long run. Same with sponsoring schools or training.

They are commerical enterprises set up solely to make a profit and I do accept that. But they can probably spend to save in some of the areas they run through - in the same way burying or reinforcing the pipes is a spend to save measure. Only in this case it would mean less corpses, which has to be a good thing surely?

[SPUCK]

I think we saw evolution in action.. The stupid dying and preventing more stupids from occurring.

(with the notable exception of the poor immolated children)

1) This gasoline lake was around long enough for anyone in the area to leave. (say because their house was there)

2) Every single person there was getting the gasoline specifically because it was flammable ! They can't be putting it in cars as how far will any car go on a large baggy of dirt filled gasoline?!

3) They likely wanted it to start cooking fires more easily. (because it is flammable!!) So we have people who are standing in a flammable puddle/s so they can collect something specifically because it lights easily.

4) Not one of those people had to have it. You can't tell me they would've died or starved or ? because they failed to have a pail of gasoline..

They were "stupid" they got culled..

[CaliforniaMama]

sad, but true