Think back, if you will, to 1979 and how much technology has changed since then. My computer was a kit that I had built myself. The PCs available at the beginning of the year were the original IBM PC, the Apple II, and the Commodore PET. That year Texas Instruments releases the TI-99/4. 8 MhZ was a fast CPU, not today’s 2.4 GhZ which is over 300 times faster. Those of us who communicated between computers did so at 110 bits bps, not today’s 4 Gbps, which is over 39 million times faster. Todays cell phones have far more computing power that the desktops of that day. Watching the advance of technology in this and most other fields has been sufficient to boggle the mind. Last night I saw a video segment from Rachel Maddow that takes us back to 1979 to compare the Ixtoc oil spill in the gulf and the industry response with the GOBP Gusher earlier this year. Here it is.
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Considering the rapid advances in technology in so many other fields makes the advance of technology for preventing and recovering from oil spills conspicuous for the complete lack thereof. The only explanation is that the oil industry simply did not try to advance it to their shame and the even greater shame of US politicians who sell out the American people to enable these companies. We will not know the true cost of the GOBP Gusher for years. Can we afford to learn the lesson again in 31 more years?
Each time history repeats itself, the cost of the lesson goes way up.
5 Responses to “The GOBP Gusher Had Priors!”
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Transocean sure has a fine record in the gulf with their equipment eh? Profits up the ass for the company bosses and the shareholders and pennies to not develop a new type of blow out preventer. Same shit different day. You know ecological science is beginning to voice real concerns over not just climate change but how much longer the EARTH itself will be able to breathe. Hey there ya go a new market—oxygen stations where we can refill our life support bottles.
Mark, that humor is far too close to reality. I would not be at all surprises to see the earth’s population at 1 billion or less a century from now.
Otis and I were just discussing the improvements in computing power. He just bought a 128G flash drive that he’ll use as a harddrive in his computer. It is 5 times faster than his current hard drive. Why can’t the oil companies do that? They are not even half as efficient as computer power is now. I was telling him that 128G of power in the 80’s was 6 full floors of the CNA building. Now, you can hold it in your hand.
Tom I am sorry for your condition but I was not (this time) trying for humor. The earths ability to exchange Co2 for oxygen is diminishing exponentially.
Mark I never thought of that. The reality I was thinking of is the trashing of the planet, not my own oxygen use.