Thursday, February 28, 2013
Cannon Mt Ski Weather
We didn't get any snow. Despite Winter Storm Warnings, clever weather maps, endless babbling by TV newsies, no snow. Its beautiful, sun is out, icicles are dripping, tramway is taking a day off. But no snow. There is plenty left on the mountain, but it would have been nice to get that foot of new snow the TV promised but failed to deliver.
Why have they not discovered a "root cause"?
For the lithium battery problem on the 787? According to yesterday's Wall St Journal, the National Transportation Safety Board doesn't have anyone who knows anything about batteries or lithium, or even lithium batteries. They are much more complex than those lead acid car batteries whose chemistry we learned in high school. At least at my high school.
Apparently both the Japanese and US safety boards have a single charred battery, taken from a 787, sitting on the bench, looking burnt. The investigators have no clue as the how they came to catch fire. And that's where it stands. They haven't taken the batteries apart, analyzed the charcoal for dendrites, molten lithium, or whatever, 'cause they don't know how.
Gonna be a long time before those 787's fly again.
Apparently both the Japanese and US safety boards have a single charred battery, taken from a 787, sitting on the bench, looking burnt. The investigators have no clue as the how they came to catch fire. And that's where it stands. They haven't taken the batteries apart, analyzed the charcoal for dendrites, molten lithium, or whatever, 'cause they don't know how.
Gonna be a long time before those 787's fly again.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Feds and Staties go after Fung Wah Bus
The cheapest trip between Boston and NYC is the Chinatown bus, fare go as low a $10 one way a couple of years ago. It's still cheaper than the Hound, Trailways, Amtrak, or flying. Fung Wah has been running for at least ten years that I know of.
According to the Wall St Journal, the Massachusetts authorities have petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to take 21 of Fung Wah's 28 buses off the road for cracked frames. The Feds obliged by shutting down all 28 Fung Wah buses.
Fung Wah says service is continuing using chartered buses.
Someone made the right campaign contributions. Or failed to make them.
According to the Wall St Journal, the Massachusetts authorities have petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to take 21 of Fung Wah's 28 buses off the road for cracked frames. The Feds obliged by shutting down all 28 Fung Wah buses.
Fung Wah says service is continuing using chartered buses.
Someone made the right campaign contributions. Or failed to make them.
Feds take out the Scooter Store
You must have seen the ads on TV. Happy grandmother seated in an electric wheel chair, whirring about the kitchen. Voice over saying "Medicare or your insurance will defray all costs." Looks like the Scooter Store hasn't been making political contributions to Obama. The Feds used 150 agents to raid the Scooter Store, shutting them down. They claim the Scooter Store has been gouging Medicare. Never the less the TV ads are still running.
Better the Scooter Store, than Gibson Guitar.
Better the Scooter Store, than Gibson Guitar.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Toasting BP
Lawyers have been submitting plenty of billable hours in the three years since BP's well blew in the Gulf of Mexico. Today they are actually in court, making arguments to a jury. One thing the delay has done is allow time for people to forget what happened.
Let's do a little review. The BP well was drilled 13000 feet into a high pressure gas and oil deposit. For some reason BP decided not to bring the well into production. Instead BP tried to shut it down. They pumped cement between the drill pipe and the rocky hole to seal it. After the cement was given enough time to harden, pressure readings indicated that the cement job was leaking. Donald Vidrene and Robert Kaluza, two BP executives aboard the drill rig, ordered the readings ignored and to proceed to pump out the drilling mud. Personnel from Trans Ocean (rig owner) and Halliburton (cement contractor) protested, saying the well was leaking high pressure natural gas. The BP men ignored this advice and continued to pump out the mud and replace it with sea water. The mud is very heavy and a 5000 foot column of mud is enough to contain the gas. Seawater is much lighter and cannot withstand gas pressure. The highly flammable natural gas, under great pressure, forced its way all the way up the drill pipe out onto the drill rig and ignited. The resulting fires and explosions sank the rig and killed 11 workers. Mr Vidren and Mr. Kaluza took the fifth amendment to avoid testifying at the inquiry, and then fled the country.
An attempt was made to close the blow out preventer, a 500 ton valve on the sea floor to shut off the drill pipe. This attempt failed. Better than a year later, the blow out preventer was salvaged from the sea floor and brought up to a dock. Engineers reported that the drill pipe was off center which prevented the rams from closing the pipe off. That's a major design failure of the blow out preventer..
The root cause of the accident is the decision by the BP executives on the rig to ignore indications of a leak and pump out the drilling mud. The failure of the blow out preventer is a secondary issue, apparently that design is an industry standard. I won't fault BP for using an approved industry standard device, even it failed to work.
The above information is from the Wall St. Journal, the only paper to cover the accident. The rest of the MSM were conspicuous by their absence.
Let's do a little review. The BP well was drilled 13000 feet into a high pressure gas and oil deposit. For some reason BP decided not to bring the well into production. Instead BP tried to shut it down. They pumped cement between the drill pipe and the rocky hole to seal it. After the cement was given enough time to harden, pressure readings indicated that the cement job was leaking. Donald Vidrene and Robert Kaluza, two BP executives aboard the drill rig, ordered the readings ignored and to proceed to pump out the drilling mud. Personnel from Trans Ocean (rig owner) and Halliburton (cement contractor) protested, saying the well was leaking high pressure natural gas. The BP men ignored this advice and continued to pump out the mud and replace it with sea water. The mud is very heavy and a 5000 foot column of mud is enough to contain the gas. Seawater is much lighter and cannot withstand gas pressure. The highly flammable natural gas, under great pressure, forced its way all the way up the drill pipe out onto the drill rig and ignited. The resulting fires and explosions sank the rig and killed 11 workers. Mr Vidren and Mr. Kaluza took the fifth amendment to avoid testifying at the inquiry, and then fled the country.
An attempt was made to close the blow out preventer, a 500 ton valve on the sea floor to shut off the drill pipe. This attempt failed. Better than a year later, the blow out preventer was salvaged from the sea floor and brought up to a dock. Engineers reported that the drill pipe was off center which prevented the rams from closing the pipe off. That's a major design failure of the blow out preventer..
The root cause of the accident is the decision by the BP executives on the rig to ignore indications of a leak and pump out the drilling mud. The failure of the blow out preventer is a secondary issue, apparently that design is an industry standard. I won't fault BP for using an approved industry standard device, even it failed to work.
The above information is from the Wall St. Journal, the only paper to cover the accident. The rest of the MSM were conspicuous by their absence.
Sequester Sky is still Falling
We have the president and secretaries of Navy and Interior on TV whining about awful budget cuts. Suck it in Obama administration. If you can't handle a chicken feed 3% fake budget cut, the Republic is doomed.
Fake budget cuts happen when the agency gets less than it asked for. Real budget cuts happen when the agency gets less money than it got last time. The famous sequester is all fake budget cuts. Nothing real about the sequester.
The Republicans gave you a $600 billion tax hike just last month . Naturally they aren't gonna give you another one this quarter. Get used to it.
Fake budget cuts happen when the agency gets less than it asked for. Real budget cuts happen when the agency gets less money than it got last time. The famous sequester is all fake budget cuts. Nothing real about the sequester.
The Republicans gave you a $600 billion tax hike just last month . Naturally they aren't gonna give you another one this quarter. Get used to it.
Oscars go world wide
Iranian TV carried the Oscar show. The mullahs thought Michelle Obama's dress was too revealing and had them airbrush on a high necked blouse.
The amusing part is that Iran is so hungry for Hollywood fluff from the Great Satan that they are showing the American Oscars. Presumably it ran with Persian subtitles, but it is hard to imagine getting much enjoyment out of the Oscars if you don't understand English. And know something about the movies, actors and actresses. It's like watching football or NASCAR. You have to be a fan to get much out of it. Sounds like Hollywood still has a lot of fans in Iran. There is more to being a superpower than nukes and planes and tanks.
The amusing part is that Iran is so hungry for Hollywood fluff from the Great Satan that they are showing the American Oscars. Presumably it ran with Persian subtitles, but it is hard to imagine getting much enjoyment out of the Oscars if you don't understand English. And know something about the movies, actors and actresses. It's like watching football or NASCAR. You have to be a fan to get much out of it. Sounds like Hollywood still has a lot of fans in Iran. There is more to being a superpower than nukes and planes and tanks.
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