One of the things I do every morning is put the key word "Oil" into the NY Times search engine. This is not all I do -- but I do it just about every day.
Today, entries 6-10 were all from today's paper (many older stories come up on the search) -- a combination of by-lined and wire service stories -- really, this was the order:
Oil Prices Take a Nerve-Rattling Jump Past $138
Oil's biggest day yet drags down stocks
Energy chief: Flat production behind oil prices
U.S. Urges Subsidy Cuts, Not Regulation, to Tame Oil
Some Oil Pundits See Crude Hitting $140 Or More
How much do those pundits earn, I want to know...
Today I am wondering what it would look like if there were a search engine for my life. I have the awful feeling that entries 6-10 would hold this same kind of idiotic irony --
If we could just integrate our understandings -- what we do, how we do it, why we do it, where we've been and where we are going... it's all in there for us to see clearly.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
My Apology
Two ships collided of the coast of Uruguay yesterday -- the oil was 13 miles long and heading to Buenos Aires --
"I hope it doesn't get there,"
someone said.
sometimes our weight drives us
sometimes it is too hard to turn
we collide
we spill
we cause damage...
it's the nature of the fundamentals -- of transportation and containment, I suppose.
the nature of toxic cargo and fuel...
"I hope it doesn't get there,"
someone said.
sometimes our weight drives us
sometimes it is too hard to turn
we collide
we spill
we cause damage...
it's the nature of the fundamentals -- of transportation and containment, I suppose.
the nature of toxic cargo and fuel...
Thursday, June 5, 2008
My TV
In case you were wondering what you would watch this summer, I have it for you.
"True TV" actually made a reality show where crews compete to find oil.
" From the creator of "Ice Road Truckers" and "Deadliest Catch" comes a one-of-a-kind series about Texas oil men who gamble everything for a chance to strike it rich. Wildcatters risk their life savings and roughnecks risk their lives. Black Gold takes you inside the action as the race for oil heats up."
I find this so disturbing.
For one thing, running oil rigs is really dangerous -- so if anyone thought Survivor was sporting with disaster... while I'm quite sure they film this all before it happens to make sure no one gets really hurt, when I talked to Michael, my oil man friend, he said this was one of the most dangerous jobs -- "people don't die very often," he said "but people lose fingers all the time."
One has to assume, though, that the point of this show is not to make people think that they should use less oil because of the risk and and the danger to the people working on the rigs -- fingers aside there are 36 hour shifts and fumes being away from families...
The fallacy of "real TV" makes me queasy. People behave differently in front of a camera, and there are certain things that should be taken more seriously.
Can you recall the emblematic photo of the NVA officer shooting a soldier in the mud of Viet Nam? Robert Capa took that photo -- and I believe the story was that the shooting took place for the camera. Capa used to say, if your photo isn't good enough your not close enough.
But at least war photography has at its core the effort to stop war -- to save humanity by exposing the distortions of war.
The idea that we romanticize and justify the things people do to themselves --
the fact that we still romanticize the high risks high stakes money of oil --
the fact that we find misfortune, stupidity and real danger entertainment...
all this makes me want to throw away my TV.
"True TV" actually made a reality show where crews compete to find oil.
" From the creator of "Ice Road Truckers" and "Deadliest Catch" comes a one-of-a-kind series about Texas oil men who gamble everything for a chance to strike it rich. Wildcatters risk their life savings and roughnecks risk their lives. Black Gold takes you inside the action as the race for oil heats up."
I find this so disturbing.
For one thing, running oil rigs is really dangerous -- so if anyone thought Survivor was sporting with disaster... while I'm quite sure they film this all before it happens to make sure no one gets really hurt, when I talked to Michael, my oil man friend, he said this was one of the most dangerous jobs -- "people don't die very often," he said "but people lose fingers all the time."
One has to assume, though, that the point of this show is not to make people think that they should use less oil because of the risk and and the danger to the people working on the rigs -- fingers aside there are 36 hour shifts and fumes being away from families...
The fallacy of "real TV" makes me queasy. People behave differently in front of a camera, and there are certain things that should be taken more seriously.
Can you recall the emblematic photo of the NVA officer shooting a soldier in the mud of Viet Nam? Robert Capa took that photo -- and I believe the story was that the shooting took place for the camera. Capa used to say, if your photo isn't good enough your not close enough.
But at least war photography has at its core the effort to stop war -- to save humanity by exposing the distortions of war.
The idea that we romanticize and justify the things people do to themselves --
the fact that we still romanticize the high risks high stakes money of oil --
the fact that we find misfortune, stupidity and real danger entertainment...
all this makes me want to throw away my TV.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
My Hull
The Exxon Valdez spill was the most expensive spill in history.
But it was only the 35th largest,
according to the www.black-tides.com -- one of two websites I've been reading for the last hour or so. The other is the ITOPF. Both sites appear to be funded by oil companies -- and must constitute some public service arrangement in some clause somewhere. They are not advertising, they are very well written -- but they do seem to have quite a few built-in maze like features... the good news is I scored 5 out of 5 on a quiz about oil pollution -- it's working -- I'm learning! The reason the Valdez was such a big deal, of course, was that it was the first major spill in American waters.
What I'm intrigued by today it these photographs of these huge ships sinking -- broken in half and leaking...
The first time I ever wrote about oil was in 2004 or so -- I was in grad school and I wrote about a ship leaking oil -- when metal is fragile
Amoco Cadiz 1978
Tasman Spirit 2003
Torry Canyon 1967
-- it was a poem about being a mommy, really -- being responsible and also being unable to prevent disaster -- feeling helpless...
But it was only the 35th largest,
according to the www.black-tides.com -- one of two websites I've been reading for the last hour or so. The other is the ITOPF. Both sites appear to be funded by oil companies -- and must constitute some public service arrangement in some clause somewhere. They are not advertising, they are very well written -- but they do seem to have quite a few built-in maze like features... the good news is I scored 5 out of 5 on a quiz about oil pollution -- it's working -- I'm learning! The reason the Valdez was such a big deal, of course, was that it was the first major spill in American waters.
What I'm intrigued by today it these photographs of these huge ships sinking -- broken in half and leaking...
The first time I ever wrote about oil was in 2004 or so -- I was in grad school and I wrote about a ship leaking oil -- when metal is fragile
Amoco Cadiz 1978
Tasman Spirit 2003
Torry Canyon 1967
-- it was a poem about being a mommy, really -- being responsible and also being unable to prevent disaster -- feeling helpless...
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Pay Respect, Exxon
I did not know the ship formerly known as the Exxon Valdez continued to sail after the ship spilled 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William sound.
Honestly, I'm in shock.
During the next three weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to render its final decision on whether Exxon will pay $2.5 billion in punitive fines over the spill.
Exxon made $40.6 billion dollars last year.
It cost $30 million dollars to repair the broken hull of the Valdez, before it was deemed seaworthy and renamed the Mediterranean . According to the KTUU news in Alaska, the tanker was still sailing in 2007.
Seaworthy.
Worthy:
Again, I don't condone Wikipedia -- but they sure do have a lot of dubious information clear and accessible... According to that questionable source:
In 2005 the average age of a tanker was 10 years.
(The Valdez launched in 1986, making the vessel 22 years old this year.)
In 2005, according to the same entry, the price of a new tanker ranged from $43 million to $120 million. (One would imagine this price tag was lower in 1989.)
Buy a new boat, guys! This one ought to (have been) retired!
Not only was it not retired, 13 years after the spill, the New York Times reported that, while laws prohibiting any tanker that had spilled more than a million gallons of oil from entering Prince William Sound, the Exxon subsidiary then operating the Mediterranean was considering appealing the decision to keep the tanker from entering that port.
Really?
Now, it seems to me that a lot of this conversation is about arrogance -- arrogance, entitlement -- and the actions that turn those qualities into cruelty.
It's a little understandable, I suppose, why Exxon would fight this tiny judgement all the way to the supreme court -- because there are a million such law suits -- because you can't back down...
But wouldn't they have done Alaska, themselves -- and people at large -- a better service to make some sort of show of good faith? Turn the ship into a museum 18 years ago? Empty it out, and make some sort of commemorative thing out of it?
Do you really have to accept blame to accept apology? Exxon is the most profitable corporation in the world. They are not worthy.
The Valdez spill was a tragedy. The loss of wild life remains staggering, and for the people who lived and live there a whole way of life died.
Exxon has failed to pay its respects.
Honestly, I'm in shock.
During the next three weeks, the Supreme Court is expected to render its final decision on whether Exxon will pay $2.5 billion in punitive fines over the spill.
Exxon made $40.6 billion dollars last year.
It cost $30 million dollars to repair the broken hull of the Valdez, before it was deemed seaworthy and renamed the Mediterranean . According to the KTUU news in Alaska, the tanker was still sailing in 2007.
Seaworthy.
Worthy:
adj. wor·thi·er, wor·thi·est
1. Having worth, merit, or value; useful or valuable.
2. Honorable; admirable: a worthy fellow.
3. Having sufficient worth; deserving: worthy to be revered; worthy of acclaim.
n. pl. wor·thies
(Free Dictionary.com)
(Free Dictionary.com)
Again, I don't condone Wikipedia -- but they sure do have a lot of dubious information clear and accessible... According to that questionable source:
In 2005 the average age of a tanker was 10 years.
(The Valdez launched in 1986, making the vessel 22 years old this year.)
In 2005, according to the same entry, the price of a new tanker ranged from $43 million to $120 million. (One would imagine this price tag was lower in 1989.)
Buy a new boat, guys! This one ought to (have been) retired!
Not only was it not retired, 13 years after the spill, the New York Times reported that, while laws prohibiting any tanker that had spilled more than a million gallons of oil from entering Prince William Sound, the Exxon subsidiary then operating the Mediterranean was considering appealing the decision to keep the tanker from entering that port.
Really?
Now, it seems to me that a lot of this conversation is about arrogance -- arrogance, entitlement -- and the actions that turn those qualities into cruelty.
It's a little understandable, I suppose, why Exxon would fight this tiny judgement all the way to the supreme court -- because there are a million such law suits -- because you can't back down...
But wouldn't they have done Alaska, themselves -- and people at large -- a better service to make some sort of show of good faith? Turn the ship into a museum 18 years ago? Empty it out, and make some sort of commemorative thing out of it?
Do you really have to accept blame to accept apology? Exxon is the most profitable corporation in the world. They are not worthy.
The Valdez spill was a tragedy. The loss of wild life remains staggering, and for the people who lived and live there a whole way of life died.
Exxon has failed to pay its respects.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Clean Up Breakthrough
Science is pretty amazing.
An international team, lead by scientists from MIT, just invented a "paper towel" constructed of nanowires to clean up oil spills. Apparently it looks, prints and cuts like paper...
"“What we found is that we can make 'paper' from an interwoven mesh of nanowires that is able to selectively absorb hydrophobic liquids — oil-like liquids — from water,” Dr Stellacci said.
“Our material can be left in water a month or two, and when you take it out it's still dry. But at the same time, if that water contains some hydrophobic contaminants, they will get absorbed.”
The membrane is able to repel water because the nanowires are covered with a hydrophobic coating, while the tiny pores in the material are ideal for trapping oil."
You can leave it in water for a month, take it out and it is still dry?
Another cool thing -- the paper towel can be reused -- and so can the oil! The paper traps up to 20 times its weight in oil.
They also think that they can use the stuff to clean up other types of chemical spills.
By the way, according to Wikipedia, "is a wire of diameter of the order of a nanometer (10 to the negative ninth power)" I don't condone Wikipedia use, but every other definition I found was some sort of foreign language you need a PhD to decipher. The negative ninth power.
I learned two other interesting facts about all this. I read the article from the press office at MIT and an article in the TIMESONLINE -- the London paper -- which was largely based on the press release and the original article in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. I couldn't go there -- didn't even look it up.
1. This story, as far as I could tell, wasn't reported in America. I couldn't find it in the NY Times -- not even the Boston Globe, where it all happened. Australia and London carried the story prominently -- and some Science and Nature journals.
2. "Some 200,000 tons of oil have already been spilled at sea since the start of the decade."
An international team, lead by scientists from MIT, just invented a "paper towel" constructed of nanowires to clean up oil spills. Apparently it looks, prints and cuts like paper...
"“What we found is that we can make 'paper' from an interwoven mesh of nanowires that is able to selectively absorb hydrophobic liquids — oil-like liquids — from water,” Dr Stellacci said.
“Our material can be left in water a month or two, and when you take it out it's still dry. But at the same time, if that water contains some hydrophobic contaminants, they will get absorbed.”
The membrane is able to repel water because the nanowires are covered with a hydrophobic coating, while the tiny pores in the material are ideal for trapping oil."
You can leave it in water for a month, take it out and it is still dry?
Another cool thing -- the paper towel can be reused -- and so can the oil! The paper traps up to 20 times its weight in oil.
They also think that they can use the stuff to clean up other types of chemical spills.
By the way, according to Wikipedia, "is a wire of diameter of the order of a nanometer (10 to the negative ninth power)" I don't condone Wikipedia use, but every other definition I found was some sort of foreign language you need a PhD to decipher. The negative ninth power.
I learned two other interesting facts about all this. I read the article from the press office at MIT and an article in the TIMESONLINE -- the London paper -- which was largely based on the press release and the original article in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. I couldn't go there -- didn't even look it up.
1. This story, as far as I could tell, wasn't reported in America. I couldn't find it in the NY Times -- not even the Boston Globe, where it all happened. Australia and London carried the story prominently -- and some Science and Nature journals.
2. "Some 200,000 tons of oil have already been spilled at sea since the start of the decade."
Sunday, June 1, 2008
White on White and the Black Sea
There have been reports for the last week of another oil spill in Black Sea. Last November a massive spill occurred when tankers broke up in a storm just off the coast. I wrote about that spill at the time -- I quoted the NY Times as reporting that the severity of an oil spill is often measured not only in amount of oil, but that extent of damage can also be seen in proximity to land.
Pavel Shevtsov/Reuters
Last week there were reports of another spill in the Black Sea. This spill is suspected to be 100 miles into the sea, and can't be reached for verification, according to an article on novinite.com, which appears to be a Bulgarian wire service.
"Valio Tanov, Director of Border Police in Bourgas has stated earlier Friday that the verification is made difficult by the strong waves, but has also said that the results should be expected around mid-day.
The Maritime Administration announced that they are verifying the reports as well, adding that it is impossible for them to reach the presumed location of the spill since the distance is about 100 miles into the sea. It is also impossible to make another satellite picture right now because there is no satellite over this part of the Black Sea.
Ships passing through the area have been asked to verify the information, however, until now they have not confirmed it."
Isn't it amazing to think of a spot of earth we can't reach or see in this day and age?
I read somewhere that a spot in the ocean has as many life forms as the Amazon Rain Forrest. It seems so like us to think the only deaths there are are the ones we mark with out eyes -- the birds and fish that wash up.
I imagine crawling on the bottom of the ocean -- with a covering of oil descending.
I went to the web site that first posted the satellite photos of the alleged spill.
It's so strange to look at this site -- it's all in Russian -- which I do not speak. This indecipherable language this indecipherable image. And yet here it is. This image reminds me of Malevich's "White on White" which is my favorite painting.
White on White. 1918
Kazimir Malevich. Oil on Canvas.
This painting made people really angry when it came out. There were all sorts of cerebral arguments for and against it. Minimalism v. representation. But when I looked at that painting, it always made me feel at peace. I wanted it on my wall. I wanted to curl up into it -- to fall asleep there.
Abstract Expressionism and it's response to Realism. The plight of the worker the plight of the soul.
The plight of the single-celled v. the plight of the gull.
"Capitan Nikifor Gerchev is the Chief of the volunteers from the border police. He has made statements that the reports are, most likely, "a storm in a glass of water", and that he does not believe that there is an oil spill in the Black Sea."
It is as if it is our nature to assume the non-existence of anything beyond our vision.
All this many years after Galileo Galilei...
Pavel Shevtsov/Reuters
Last week there were reports of another spill in the Black Sea. This spill is suspected to be 100 miles into the sea, and can't be reached for verification, according to an article on novinite.com, which appears to be a Bulgarian wire service.
"Valio Tanov, Director of Border Police in Bourgas has stated earlier Friday that the verification is made difficult by the strong waves, but has also said that the results should be expected around mid-day.
The Maritime Administration announced that they are verifying the reports as well, adding that it is impossible for them to reach the presumed location of the spill since the distance is about 100 miles into the sea. It is also impossible to make another satellite picture right now because there is no satellite over this part of the Black Sea.
Ships passing through the area have been asked to verify the information, however, until now they have not confirmed it."
Isn't it amazing to think of a spot of earth we can't reach or see in this day and age?
I read somewhere that a spot in the ocean has as many life forms as the Amazon Rain Forrest. It seems so like us to think the only deaths there are are the ones we mark with out eyes -- the birds and fish that wash up.
I imagine crawling on the bottom of the ocean -- with a covering of oil descending.
I went to the web site that first posted the satellite photos of the alleged spill.
It's so strange to look at this site -- it's all in Russian -- which I do not speak. This indecipherable language this indecipherable image. And yet here it is. This image reminds me of Malevich's "White on White" which is my favorite painting.
White on White. 1918
Kazimir Malevich. Oil on Canvas.
This painting made people really angry when it came out. There were all sorts of cerebral arguments for and against it. Minimalism v. representation. But when I looked at that painting, it always made me feel at peace. I wanted it on my wall. I wanted to curl up into it -- to fall asleep there.
Abstract Expressionism and it's response to Realism. The plight of the worker the plight of the soul.
The plight of the single-celled v. the plight of the gull.
"Capitan Nikifor Gerchev is the Chief of the volunteers from the border police. He has made statements that the reports are, most likely, "a storm in a glass of water", and that he does not believe that there is an oil spill in the Black Sea."
It is as if it is our nature to assume the non-existence of anything beyond our vision.
All this many years after Galileo Galilei...
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