But not Speedway/SuperAmerica or Shell or (evil Hugo) Citgo.
I like the closest one, the 24hr Speedway. They know me, and the only real Slight I got handed there was when I splurged for gas in all 4 vehicles in celebration of my first OT check in over a year, and...
1st time OK, 2nd time enter the number manually, 3rd time DENIED! on the debit card. Here- let's do the 3rd and 4th with checks written from the same friggin' account.
Many years ago, some wise burnout aquaintance of an erstwhile friend gave me a little backdraft when I couldn't get money out of an empty ATM on a holiday weekend;
"foolish people. Putting their trust in machines."
Ate your card? Deposited your paycheck into it, but that takes 10 days to clear? Name got mistakenly placed on the ATM Terror Funding Watch List?
No wonder we have survivalists. When they gonna fire up their own political sideshow?
I just avoid them because we've had a few injector-clogging incidents. Besides, unless you go to the off-Off Broadway stations, it's the same price most anywhere.
It's quality, location, and their price on smokes for me.
Rare Thursday AM brake job for me this week. Made 2nd shift seem long and painful, but I didn't lose any sleep over my lack of productivity.
2 more baby goats Friday AM; yes, they're both bucks again.
Hey Mike- anybody got a mean goat BBQ recipe down by you'se?
i have a zingy sweet BBQ recipe. but no measurements. ketchup, vinigar, brown sugar and chopped onions and green pepper. hell, just add some hot sauce for kick.
Keep an eye on Shell Oil. While BP is busy turning the Gulf of Mexico into a sewer Shell is positioning itself to do the same for the streams and creeks and ponds and lakes and groundwater (drinking water) tables and aquifers of rural PA and NY and West Virginia. From the Wall Street Journal May 28, 2010: --- [snip]Shell Agrees to Buy Natural-Gas Exploration Company By PETER LATTMAN And GUY CHAZAN
Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Friday it has agreed to buy East Resources Inc., a closely held U.S. natural-gas explorer, for $4.7 billion, in a transaction that underscores the frenzied global interest in North American shale-gas production.
Warrendale, Pa.-based East Resources is one of the biggest players in a natural-gas exploration area known as the Marcellus Shale, with control of 1.25 million acres across a territory that stretches from West Virginia to New York.
The sale will provide lavish returns for private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which invested $350 million in East Resources for a substantial stake only 11 months ago. It will also be a boon for East Resources Chief Executive Terrence Pegula, who founded the company in 1983, and still controls it.
Shell's acquisition also includes mineral rights in the Eagle Ford Shale in south Texas.[/snip] --- That means hydraulic fracturing and it means ground water contamination with gas, methane, (tap water that catches fire - literally ignites) surface runoff (such as fecal coliform contamination from farms), hundreds of dangerous chemicals as well as surface pollution and destruction of wetlands and streams and infrastructure such as county roads. Expect a lot of PR happy talk from the oil and gas industry and their bought and paid for shills about - shiny clean natural gas! (Mr T-Boone has a plan!) And what a swell future we'll all have when left in the hands of Shell Oil corporation and their swell partners. Shell has already begun running tv commercials about what a great friend of a green alternative energy future they are (which means the same old stinking oil and gas drilling mess it always has meant - but with a brand new public relations campaign). And thousands of morons living above Marcellus Shale will lap it all up just like the thousands of morons in the Gulf states lapped it up for decades even as it laps up on their shores today.
PENFIELD, Pa. — A blowout at a natural-gas well in a remote area shot explosive gas and polluted water as high as 75 feet into the air before crews were able to tame it more than half a day later, officials said Friday.
The gas never caught fire, and no injuries were reported, but state officials worried about an explosion before the well could be controlled. The well was brought under control just after noon Friday, about 16 hours after it started spewing gas and brine, said Elizabeth Ivers, a spokeswoman for driller EOG Resources Inc.
Pennsylvania, historically an insignificant source of natural gas, is trying to adapt its laws to respond to a furious rush to tap a gas-rich shale formation under its land. The blowout could test the ability of state regulators, who promised an aggressive investigation into the accident.
"The event at the well site could have been a catastrophic incident that endangered life and property," Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said in a statement. "This was not a minor accident but a serious incident that will be fully investigated by this agency with the appropriate and necessary actions taken quickly."
If the agency finds that mistakes were made, it will take steps to prevent similar errors, he said. It was too early to tell the extent of any environmental damage, he said.
Details about the accident were still sketchy, but the agency was told that unexpectedly high gas pressure in the new well prevented the crew from containing it, said Dan Spadoni, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection. [/snip] -------- [snip] - www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/95627159.html?cmpid=15585797
HARRISBURG – Natural gas and polluted drilling water shot out of a rural Pennsylvania well after an accident late Thursday night caused by unexpectedly high gas pressure.
Department of Environmental Protection officials say no drilling water has spilled into a waterway, although the accident occurred in an environmentally sensitive area in the SB Elliott State Park in Clearfield County.
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency officials said that the accident had been contained as of 12:15 p.m.
But flights have been restricted over the area as a precautionary measure, PEMA said.[/snip]
farmer- what of the (WV?) Clean Safe Abundant Domestic NatGas (related;- methane) blowup at an abandoned coal mine- now home to the aforementioned patriotic energy source? Seen that one?
7 burned enough to mention. Haven't heard whether or not Rush wants to blame the Union they may or may not be represented by for that one Too.
Also loved the POET ad from Joe the Farmer espousing the "fact" that the US gets more energy from ethanol than the House of Saud oil we import; strange how they left out the minor detail regarding the need for aprox. 1gal worth of petrol to produce 1gal of ethanol- and the $1.50/gal Fed subsidy on that shit.
I'll paraphrase Cleavon and just ask; Where's the SwitchGrass at?
Monday June 7, 2010: www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/officials-investigate-deadly-texas-543609.html
CLEBURNE, Texas — A natural gas explosion in north Texas killed one member of a crew installing utility poles, and authorities were trying to figure out if the gas line had been marked before digging started.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was among numerous agencies at the scene after a utility crew struck a gas line Monday afternoon, sending a massive fireball into the air.
The lone utility worker missing after the blast was found dead Monday night, once searchers could safely walk through the entire charred area.
Hard to keep up with em all. As for the wells... at the drill sites.... these gas wells leak even after they are capped. You can hear em hissing if you stand next to them. God help anyone who walks up on one of these things that might even appear to be an old capped off abandoned well somewhere in the woods - if there is still pressure in the well and gas is escaping.... with a lit cig... uh... These things can blow up. Just recently i saw a story about a couple of high school kids (in Alabama or somewhere like that) who were hanging around an old capped off well. Seemed harmless enough to them until one of em decided to light up and that was the end of that.
Google natural gas well explosions and see what ya get. I don't think most people really understand what these things are. Or how they work. Or how they are drilled. Or what hydraulic fracturing actually is and how it is done and what kind of toxic waste and toxic cocktail is involved.
The oil and gas cheerleaders will talk all about how much cleaner natural gas is to burn - they don't mention the toxic extraction process or waste disposal process or the volitile nature of these wells or the environmental contamination dangers especially with respect to ground water. Basically, what they are doing is exactly what they are doing offshore. Except on land. But on land - with natural gas - they are allowed to get away with even more toxic (chemicals) and dangerous applications.... none of which people know much about because the oil companies won't disclose their so-called "trade secrets".
Fatal gas tank blast brings calls for better warningsBy Susan Candiotti and Ross Levitt, CNN April 11, 2010 10:34 p.m. EDT
Carnes, Mississippi (CNN) -- The deaths of two Mississippi teens are about to put a national focus on a little-recognized problem.
Devon Byrd, 16, and Wade White, 18, were killed when a natural gas tank at a well production site exploded last fall in Carnes, in southern Mississippi. Local teenagers said the site is a popular hangout because it's quiet and secluded.
But the dead teens' parents say the explosion could have been prevented if some warning signs had been posted -- "something simple as fences, gates and signs, probably very inexpensive, and certainly a lot less expensive that what a child's life is worth," said White's father, Phillip.
Police say they don't know exactly what ignited flammable vapors inside the tank. When it exploded, the teenagers were killed instantly. Their bodies were found about 40 yards from the tank's base; the tank landed another 20 yards from them. Investigators say they found a lighter, but don't know whether it was involved.
"I couldn't believe that my child was gone," White's mother, Wanda, told CNN.
The White and Byrd families have an ally in their camp. The Chemical Safety Board, created by Congress, investigated the accident and found at least 40 other deaths involving oil and gas wells in the past 25 years. Most of them involved young people.
The CSB says it found a patchwork of laws nationwide that don't uniformly address security around oil and gas wells. It's asking the industry to police itself by voluntarily installing fences and warning signs.
"If these tanks are sitting out there in the middle of nowhere, no protection around them, no warning, they are just an accident waiting to happen," CSB Chairman John Bresland told CNN.
Delphi Oil, the company that owns the tank that blew up, told CNN it could not discuss the accident because of pending negligence lawsuits filed by the families. A spokesman called the boys' deaths tragic, but the company says it is complying with all rules.
However, authorities tell CNN there are no state regulations requiring locked gates or no-smoking signs.
There's a guy who teaches at Cornell University named Anthony Ingraffea (Civil and Environmental engineering) -(google his name). He lecture on the dangers of this natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing. One thing he points out is that none of this expanded natural gas drilling and extraction (Marcellus Shale drilling etc) is about meeting any domestic needs but rather its all just about making additional huge profits for the oil companies. As he points out, most of this natural gas they plan to extract will be sold overseas... its all about making a lot of money for the oil companies. We have enough natural gas wells already tapped in this country to meet needs for a decade or more. Time to research safer drilling technology and to develop alternative energy sources.... instead of blindly stumbling down the foolish road we are on.
I first heard about this on Countdown with Olbermann (Worst Person segment). But Joe Conason has a good article about it at yesterdays Salon.com: Glenn Beck's favorite Nazi, Monday, Jun 7, 2010
It is of course true that Dilling, and every other Nazi, Silver Shirt, Bundist and fascist of that era, promoted their ideology as "patriotic," "Constitutionalist" and devoutly "Christian," much as Beck does.
I've mentioned Dilling on several previous occasions (in posts and comments at the old site). Olbermann also stated during the segment that Dilling was a leader of the German American Bund. I don't think that is accurate - as far as I know she was not a leader of the DAB - she wasn't of German ancestery (and her husband Albert Dilling was of Norwegian ancestery). Dilling was sympathetic to the Nazi and fascist and far right causes at the time. She was most notably associated with such pro-Nazi and fascist organizations as the Mothers Movement and the far right Liberty League as well her promotion of Nazi propaganda produced by George Viereck's Flanders Hall Publishing (among other fellow travelers of the day). But she wasn't a leader of the Bund.
The book Beck was waving around for the morons who watch his program is called The Red Network; A Who's Who and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots, By Elizabeth Dilling and published in 1934. The book claims to identify all number of communist infiltrators affiliated with FDR's New Deal administration (including FDR himself). Among the entries that can be found in the book are Eleanor Roosevelt (of course). Other entires Dilling identifies as red menace include:
> The American Federation of Teachers (Beck latched onto this one to explain to his moron viewers that teachers unions are are communist plot... and so forth)
> H.L. Mencken of all people - commie! Because he belonged to the ACLU sponsored (communist!) National Council on Freedom From Censorship and was an occasional contributor to The Nation magazine (insert red meance here).
> Edna St Vincent Millay - because she supported the war against the Nazis.
> the Taxi Workers Union...
and on and on... you get the idea. Dilling was a cerifiable Nazi sympathizing kook. And Glenn Beck is trying to sell her books today. Glenn Beck and FOX: the network of stoopid.
pansy; Natalie Holloway center dedicated today. The esteemed Mr. Van der Sloot back as well..
farmer- re;GB (he still needs to earn that middle letter). Has he already pimped The Turner Diaries yet, on Uncle Glenny's book club?
The Power Of The Will surely occupies a spot in his video library. Not that he agrees with Everything that went on in this or any other country over the past coupla centuriues, but some folks you just have to admire.
the unmarked potential Utility Owned Explosive Devices- pretty bad when I can remember the guy who rammed a big-ass propane tank with his car, lit the car on fire, and locked himself in the trunk.
It didn't blow; he just roasted in his trunk from seats, wiring and tires burning.
So just exactly how lax does the regulation need to be in order that you can kill people that Aren't looking to check out? About equal with kids swimming in culverts, digging snow forts, or surfing from car doors in a downpour?
These things happen, but more frequently when Profit trumps Safety is the game.
If the (red!) Chinese can fold a little capitalism into ther system, can we tell our patriot cohabitants that execution is God's justice for blowing up your employees or poisoning powdered milk?
Don't want to die on the job, myself. Or lighting up in a fuel/explosive cloud.
electric ignition. still not working huh. I think if i were gonna get something new in the more affordable 1599 range i'd go for another Husq but thats just because the one i have has lasted so long and i've never had any experience with the Cadet mowers.
also too... jazz hands meaning in this case (i think) a story meant as distraction (to distract from other bigger national stories).
more teevee gnews jazz hand stories to divert us is jazz hands.
i just got the onion things at the farmer's market. the $1.50 box of them too big, but she needed 25¢s. i gave her a quarter for 4 and she gave me a couple more.
The starter emits a little smoke on my old Briggs after extended efforts to start it, farmer. But I'm ancient enough to remember what old technology condensors can do when they go bad (sounds like a Spike TV special, doesn't it?).
Wrap some aluminum foil in wax paper. That should last Friggin'-FOREVER!
I can indeed check the price on a starter rebuild, and add it to the rest of the sheisen it needs fo' shore.
The starter emits a little smoke on my old Briggs after extended efforts to start it,
That can't be a good sign. Mine was fried when i replaced it. Looked like it had been in a grease fire. New one cost about $45. Thing doesn't have a condenser... (but does have a solenoid).
Yeah, the solenoid was unavailable when it first went, so I slapped a Ford solenoid in it. Worked ok, and when I (probably when I didn't need to) repaced that one, I smoked a ground wire.
Maybe the Chinese wired a few million with crossed terminals.
The starter LOOKS fine, except for the plastic gear being pretty one-sided for wear.
We'll see if I can stomach throwing money down that hole again. Better than a payment?
Does it make that clickety clickety sound when ya try to start it? This all sounds familiar and I dicked around with mine for a long tome too. In the end replacing the starter did the trick and I haven't had a problem since. I wouldn't think you'd need to invest much more than $100 bucks in replacing it and even a solenoid. Advantage of a payment on a new one is ya get a brand new thing to drive ya crazy in brand new ways.
no clickety seems to me to be the starter. which is exactly what mine did and it was the starter. If you are still thinking of buying a new machine: i was at a Huqv dealer today and they had a LTH18538 for sale for $1375. It was last years model i think. I think they've discontinued the LTH line or something like that. It had a 18.5 B&S engine, and lever transmission drive on the side which i like better than the foot pedal. Only had a 38" mower deck but I like that myself because I have to mow around a lot of trees and stuff and in between planing beds and along stone walls and all that kind of thing and a larger mow deck gets in the way. They also had - what i guess replaces the LTH as their smaller machine - was a 2010 YTH2042 with a 42" mow deck, lever drive, 20hp B&S engine... which was $1499. So if you can use something like the LTH you might check a Husqv dealer and see if you can get a deal on last years model. I'm thinking of going back and doing exactly that. The thing i have now being 15 years old and the mow deck can't be lowered or raised anymore on one side or it will fall on the ground (in scalping position). If i got a new one I can remove the mow deck from the old one and use the old one just to pull stuff around.
If the old green mare needs $150 just to get it to act semi-normal for a year (a conservative estimate), and it is now 10 years old, I'm thinking that 10% would be better invested in something I can actually count on to WORK when I need it to.
If I wanted to tinker constantly, I'd buy an old British sports car. That way, it'd be raining when I got it running- and they sho' do love humidity down the carb!
something I can actually count on to WORK when I need it to.
Yeah, speaking of pointless tinkering - i went in to find out how much it would cost for a replacement mower deck and they said $500-600. For a 15 year old machine. I didn't think that was a very good deal.
Sometimes its just time to get on with it. Out the old, in the new.
I'll do what I can to lower the cost of basic auto (fleet) maintenance, but giving myself 2 days worth of leg pain just ain't worth it for thin-guage steel and brittle plastic lawn equiptment.
I might like finding someone who had the spare canolli to rebuild old US farm tractors. That might be a hobby I could get into.
If I keep on smoking, I'd be able to cough up the chunks of airborne rust, but keep me away from toxic solvents and painting.
Remove old parts with new replacements, and the Prime Directive is only don't butcher the thing up in the process, no real deadlines per se, party a little in the process, and I'd be in.
I'd like it better at a Old Tinkery Drunken Farmer's 4-H club than, let's say, a rich teabagger's tax dodge hobby.
Too bad we can't have the cash to do that, even with a multiple income household. "Kids? Dad needs a hobby, so you'll be eating 2 days out of 3 for a while."
36 comments:
so, are we boycotting BP?
Amoco, BP, Exxon-Mobil. Kwik Trip.
But not Speedway/SuperAmerica or Shell or (evil Hugo) Citgo.
I like the closest one, the 24hr Speedway. They know me, and the only real Slight I got handed there was when I splurged for gas in all 4 vehicles in celebration of my first OT check in over a year, and...
1st time OK, 2nd time enter the number manually, 3rd time DENIED! on the debit card. Here- let's do the 3rd and 4th with checks written from the same friggin' account.
Many years ago, some wise burnout aquaintance of an erstwhile friend gave me a little backdraft when I couldn't get money out of an empty ATM on a holiday weekend;
"foolish people. Putting their trust in machines."
Ate your card? Deposited your paycheck into it, but that takes 10 days to clear? Name got mistakenly placed on the ATM Terror Funding Watch List?
No wonder we have survivalists. When they gonna fire up their own political sideshow?
butbutbut the kwik trip in new london is my favorite.
I just avoid them because we've had a few injector-clogging incidents. Besides, unless you go to the off-Off Broadway stations, it's the same price most anywhere.
It's quality, location, and their price on smokes for me.
Rare Thursday AM brake job for me this week. Made 2nd shift seem long and painful, but I didn't lose any sleep over my lack of productivity.
2 more baby goats Friday AM; yes, they're both bucks again.
Hey Mike- anybody got a mean goat BBQ recipe down by you'se?
i have a zingy sweet BBQ recipe.
but no measurements. ketchup, vinigar, brown sugar and chopped onions and green pepper. hell, just add some hot sauce for kick.
Keep an eye on Shell Oil. While BP is busy turning the Gulf of Mexico into a sewer Shell is positioning itself to do the same for the streams and creeks and ponds and lakes and groundwater (drinking water) tables and aquifers of rural PA and NY and West Virginia. From the Wall Street Journal May 28, 2010:
---
[snip] Shell Agrees to Buy Natural-Gas Exploration Company
By PETER LATTMAN And GUY CHAZAN
Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Friday it has agreed to buy East Resources Inc., a closely held U.S. natural-gas explorer, for $4.7 billion, in a transaction that underscores the frenzied global interest in North American shale-gas production.
Warrendale, Pa.-based East Resources is one of the biggest players in a natural-gas exploration area known as the Marcellus Shale, with control of 1.25 million acres across a territory that stretches from West Virginia to New York.
The sale will provide lavish returns for private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which invested $350 million in East Resources for a substantial stake only 11 months ago. It will also be a boon for East Resources
Chief Executive Terrence Pegula, who founded the company in 1983, and still controls it.
Shell's acquisition also includes mineral rights in the Eagle Ford Shale in south Texas.[/snip]
---
That means hydraulic fracturing and it means ground water contamination with gas, methane, (tap water that catches fire - literally ignites) surface runoff (such as fecal coliform contamination from farms), hundreds of dangerous chemicals as well as surface pollution and destruction of wetlands and streams and infrastructure such as county roads. Expect a lot of PR happy talk from the oil and gas industry and their bought and paid for shills about - shiny clean natural gas! (Mr T-Boone has a plan!) And what a swell future we'll all have when left in the hands of Shell Oil corporation and their swell partners. Shell has already begun running tv commercials about what a great friend of a green alternative energy future they are (which means the same old stinking oil and gas drilling mess it always has meant - but with a brand new public relations campaign). And thousands of morons living above Marcellus Shale will lap it all up just like the thousands of morons in the Gulf states lapped it up for decades even as it laps up on their shores today.
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pft. we wanna drive to the walmart down the block.
Thurs - Fri June 3-4, 2010:
[snip] - Gas, fluids spew for hours from blown-out Pa. well
By MARC LEVY and JENNIFER C. YATES (AP)
www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gutnDJYM36f3J62DCRWDA9-gB7ugD9G4O4I80
PENFIELD, Pa. — A blowout at a natural-gas well in a remote area shot explosive gas and polluted water as high as 75 feet into the air before crews were able to tame it more than half a day later, officials said Friday.
The gas never caught fire, and no injuries were reported, but state officials worried about an explosion before the well could be controlled. The well was brought under control just after noon Friday, about 16 hours after it started spewing gas and brine, said Elizabeth Ivers, a spokeswoman for driller EOG Resources Inc.
Pennsylvania, historically an insignificant source of natural gas, is trying to adapt its laws to respond to a furious rush to tap a gas-rich shale formation under its land. The blowout could test the ability of state regulators, who promised an aggressive investigation into the accident.
"The event at the well site could have been a catastrophic incident that endangered life and property," Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said in a statement. "This was not a minor accident but a serious incident that will be fully investigated by this agency with the appropriate and necessary actions taken quickly."
If the agency finds that mistakes were made, it will take steps to prevent similar errors, he said. It was too early to tell the extent of any environmental damage, he said.
Details about the accident were still sketchy, but the agency was told that unexpectedly high gas pressure in the new well prevented the crew from containing it, said Dan Spadoni, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection. [/snip]
--------
[snip] - www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/95627159.html?cmpid=15585797
HARRISBURG – Natural gas and polluted drilling water shot out of a rural Pennsylvania well after an accident late Thursday night caused by unexpectedly high gas pressure.
Department of Environmental Protection officials say no drilling water has spilled into a waterway, although the accident occurred in an environmentally sensitive area in the SB Elliott State Park in Clearfield County.
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency officials said that the accident had been contained as of 12:15 p.m.
But flights have been restricted over the area as a precautionary measure, PEMA said.[/snip]
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2012 end of the world looking likelier. the stupids take over. weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Better luck to the next life forms who inhabit what the for Obscene Profit variety leave behind.
actually animals will make it like it should be.
farmer- what of the (WV?) Clean Safe Abundant Domestic NatGas (related;- methane) blowup at an abandoned coal mine- now home to the aforementioned patriotic energy source? Seen that one?
7 burned enough to mention. Haven't heard whether or not Rush wants to blame the Union they may or may not be represented by for that one Too.
Also loved the POET ad from Joe the Farmer espousing the "fact" that the US gets more energy from ethanol than the House of Saud oil we import; strange how they left out the minor detail regarding the need for aprox. 1gal worth of petrol to produce 1gal of ethanol- and the $1.50/gal Fed subsidy on that shit.
I'll paraphrase Cleavon and just ask; Where's the SwitchGrass at?
In Texas too... (a gas line explosion)
Monday June 7, 2010:
www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/officials-investigate-deadly-texas-543609.html
CLEBURNE, Texas — A natural gas explosion in north Texas killed one member of a crew installing utility poles, and authorities were trying to figure out if the gas line had been marked before digging started.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration was among numerous agencies at the scene after a utility crew struck a gas line Monday afternoon, sending a massive fireball into the air.
The lone utility worker missing after the blast was found dead Monday night, once searchers could safely walk through the entire charred area.
Hard to keep up with em all. As for the wells... at the drill sites.... these gas wells leak even after they are capped. You can hear em hissing if you stand next to them. God help anyone who walks up on one of these things that might even appear to be an old capped off abandoned well somewhere in the woods - if there is still pressure in the well and gas is escaping.... with a lit cig... uh... These things can blow up. Just recently i saw a story about a couple of high school kids (in Alabama or somewhere like that) who were hanging around an old capped off well. Seemed harmless enough to them until one of em decided to light up and that was the end of that.
Google natural gas well explosions and see what ya get. I don't think most people really understand what these things are. Or how they work. Or how they are drilled. Or what hydraulic fracturing actually is and how it is done and what kind of toxic waste and toxic cocktail is involved.
The oil and gas cheerleaders will talk all about how much cleaner natural gas is to burn - they don't mention the toxic extraction process or waste disposal process or the volitile nature of these wells or the environmental contamination dangers especially with respect to ground water. Basically, what they are doing is exactly what they are doing offshore. Except on land. But on land - with natural gas - they are allowed to get away with even more toxic (chemicals) and dangerous applications.... none of which people know much about because the oil companies won't disclose their so-called "trade secrets".
Its fucking maddening.
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here it is - from CNN - this past april:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/11/gas.tank.safety/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
Fatal gas tank blast brings calls for better warningsBy Susan Candiotti and Ross Levitt, CNN
April 11, 2010 10:34 p.m. EDT
Carnes, Mississippi (CNN) -- The deaths of two Mississippi teens are about to put a national focus on a little-recognized problem.
Devon Byrd, 16, and Wade White, 18, were killed when a natural gas tank at a well production site exploded last fall in Carnes, in southern Mississippi. Local teenagers said the site is a popular hangout because it's quiet and secluded.
But the dead teens' parents say the explosion could have been prevented if some warning signs had been posted -- "something simple as fences, gates and signs, probably very inexpensive, and certainly a lot less expensive that what a child's life is worth," said White's father, Phillip.
Police say they don't know exactly what ignited flammable vapors inside the tank. When it exploded, the teenagers were killed instantly. Their bodies were found about 40 yards from the tank's base; the tank landed another 20 yards from them. Investigators say they found a lighter, but don't know whether it was involved.
"I couldn't believe that my child was gone," White's mother, Wanda, told CNN.
The White and Byrd families have an ally in their camp. The Chemical Safety Board, created by Congress, investigated the accident and found at least 40 other deaths involving oil and gas wells in the past 25 years. Most of them involved young people.
The CSB says it found a patchwork of laws nationwide that don't uniformly address security around oil and gas wells. It's asking the industry to police itself by voluntarily installing fences and warning signs.
"If these tanks are sitting out there in the middle of nowhere, no protection around them, no warning, they are just an accident waiting to happen," CSB Chairman John Bresland told CNN.
Delphi Oil, the company that owns the tank that blew up, told CNN it could not discuss the accident because of pending negligence lawsuits filed by the families. A spokesman called the boys' deaths tragic, but the company says it is complying with all rules.
However, authorities tell CNN there are no state regulations requiring locked gates or no-smoking signs.
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There's a guy who teaches at Cornell University named Anthony Ingraffea (Civil and Environmental engineering) -(google his name). He lecture on the dangers of this natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing. One thing he points out is that none of this expanded natural gas drilling and extraction (Marcellus Shale drilling etc) is about meeting any domestic needs but rather its all just about making additional huge profits for the oil companies. As he points out, most of this natural gas they plan to extract will be sold overseas... its all about making a lot of money for the oil companies. We have enough natural gas wells already tapped in this country to meet needs for a decade or more. Time to research safer drilling technology and to develop alternative energy sources.... instead of blindly stumbling down the foolish road we are on.
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Glenn Beck peddling Elizabeth Dilling book on FOX
I first heard about this on Countdown with Olbermann (Worst Person segment). But Joe Conason has a good article about it at yesterdays Salon.com:
Glenn Beck's favorite Nazi, Monday, Jun 7, 2010
Glenn Beck's latest excursion to the farthest fringes of the old American right, which occurred on his radio show last Friday when he endorsed "The Red Network" by the late Nazi author and activist Elizabeth Dilling, revealed much about his own weird outlook. According to the Fox News star, Dilling's book, a racist and anti-Semitic tract published in 1935 as an "exposé of Communism," strongly resembles the patriotic service that he performs today.
It is of course true that Dilling, and every other Nazi, Silver Shirt, Bundist and fascist of that era, promoted their ideology as "patriotic," "Constitutionalist" and devoutly "Christian," much as Beck does.
I've mentioned Dilling on several previous occasions (in posts and comments at the old site). Olbermann also stated during the segment that Dilling was a leader of the German American Bund. I don't think that is accurate - as far as I know she was not a leader of the DAB - she wasn't of German ancestery (and her husband Albert Dilling was of Norwegian ancestery). Dilling was sympathetic to the Nazi and fascist and far right causes at the time. She was most notably associated with such pro-Nazi and fascist organizations as the Mothers Movement and the far right Liberty League as well her promotion of Nazi propaganda produced by George Viereck's Flanders Hall Publishing (among other fellow travelers of the day). But she wasn't a leader of the Bund.
The book Beck was waving around for the morons who watch his program is called The Red Network;
A Who's Who and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots, By Elizabeth Dilling and published in 1934. The book claims to identify all number of communist infiltrators affiliated with FDR's New Deal administration (including FDR himself). Among the entries that can be found in the book are Eleanor Roosevelt (of course). Other entires Dilling identifies as red menace include:
> The American Federation of Teachers (Beck latched onto this one to explain to his moron viewers that teachers unions are are communist plot... and so forth)
> H.L. Mencken of all people - commie! Because he belonged to the ACLU sponsored (communist!) National Council on Freedom From Censorship and was an occasional contributor to The Nation magazine (insert red meance here).
> Edna St Vincent Millay - because she supported the war against the Nazis.
> the Taxi Workers Union...
and on and on... you get the idea. Dilling was a cerifiable Nazi sympathizing kook. And Glenn Beck is trying to sell her books today. Glenn Beck and FOX: the network of stoopid.
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lots of little unheard of leak problems we rarely here about cause gee, michael jackson died or shark attack. the gnews don't do wonk shit.
Easy Rider - on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) begins 2:30 am eastern time.
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Last to first;
pansy; Natalie Holloway center dedicated today. The esteemed Mr. Van der Sloot back as well..
farmer- re;GB (he still needs to earn that middle letter). Has he already pimped The Turner Diaries yet, on Uncle Glenny's book club?
The Power Of The Will surely occupies a spot in his video library. Not that he agrees with Everything that went on in this or any other country over the past coupla centuriues, but some folks you just have to admire.
the unmarked potential Utility Owned Explosive Devices- pretty bad when I can remember the guy who rammed a big-ass propane tank with his car, lit the car on fire, and locked himself in the trunk.
It didn't blow; he just roasted in his trunk from seats, wiring and tires burning.
So just exactly how lax does the regulation need to be in order that you can kill people that Aren't looking to check out? About equal with kids swimming in culverts, digging snow forts, or surfing from car doors in a downpour?
These things happen, but more frequently when Profit trumps Safety is the game.
If the (red!) Chinese can fold a little capitalism into ther system, can we tell our patriot cohabitants that execution is God's justice for blowing up your employees or poisoning powdered milk?
Don't want to die on the job, myself. Or lighting up in a fuel/explosive cloud.
jazz hands? shame another woman died, but still.
OOOH! my onions are up? most of my peas up. pole beans!
You can start earlier with onions & garlic, pansy. If it's under the ground, sporadic frost won't nuke it.
What the Hell are Jazz Hands?
and, farmer, I forgot to ask re: the Husqvarna condensor issue- was that a points system or an electronic ignition which still had a condensor?
Mine's EI, and I'm ready to tell it FU.
electric ignition. still not working huh. I think if i were gonna get something new in the more affordable 1599 range i'd go for another Husq but thats just because the one i have has lasted so long and i've never had any experience with the Cadet mowers.
also too... jazz hands meaning in this case (i think) a story meant as distraction (to distract from other bigger national stories).
more teevee gnews jazz hand stories to divert us is jazz hands.
i just got the onion things at the farmer's market. the $1.50 box of them too big, but she needed 25¢s. i gave her a quarter for 4 and she gave me a couple more.
Thanks for the clarification, people.
A little slight of hand, whether on the tube or by improving machinery so as to render it beyond repair.
Was it Randy Quaid piloting a lawnmower with a V-8 powerplant? Seems more practical than funny to me.
Can't be any worse on fuel consumption or emissions than most of the crap out there now.
PJK, i fucked up when i said it was a condenser that was replaced... it was the electric starter (on a Kohler CV15 engine).
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we have a sweet push mower from l l bean.
PEAS! i got 4lbs of peas! yummy!
The starter emits a little smoke on my old Briggs after extended efforts to start it, farmer. But I'm ancient enough to remember what old technology condensors can do when they go bad (sounds like a Spike TV special, doesn't it?).
Wrap some aluminum foil in wax paper. That should last Friggin'-FOREVER!
I can indeed check the price on a starter rebuild, and add it to the rest of the sheisen it needs fo' shore.
The starter emits a little smoke on my old Briggs after extended efforts to start it,
That can't be a good sign. Mine was fried when i replaced it. Looked like it had been in a grease fire. New one cost about $45. Thing doesn't have a condenser... (but does have a solenoid).
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Yeah, the solenoid was unavailable when it first went, so I slapped a Ford solenoid in it. Worked ok, and when I (probably when I didn't need to) repaced that one, I smoked a ground wire.
Maybe the Chinese wired a few million with crossed terminals.
The starter LOOKS fine, except for the plastic gear being pretty one-sided for wear.
We'll see if I can stomach throwing money down that hole again. Better than a payment?
Does it make that clickety clickety sound when ya try to start it? This all sounds familiar and I dicked around with mine for a long tome too. In the end replacing the starter did the trick and I haven't had a problem since. I wouldn't think you'd need to invest much more than $100 bucks in replacing it and even a solenoid. Advantage of a payment on a new one is ya get a brand new thing to drive ya crazy in brand new ways.
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No, it just gets real slow, real fast. No clickety squared (and I do know what you mean).
no clickety seems to me to be the starter. which is exactly what mine did and it was the starter. If you are still thinking of buying a new machine: i was at a Huqv dealer today and they had a LTH18538 for sale for $1375. It was last years model i think. I think they've discontinued the LTH line or something like that. It had a 18.5 B&S engine, and lever transmission drive on the side which i like better than the foot pedal. Only had a 38" mower deck but I like that myself because I have to mow around a lot of trees and stuff and in between planing beds and along stone walls and all that kind of thing and a larger mow deck gets in the way. They also had - what i guess replaces the LTH as their smaller machine - was a 2010 YTH2042 with a 42" mow deck, lever drive, 20hp B&S engine... which was $1499. So if you can use something like the LTH you might check a Husqv dealer and see if you can get a deal on last years model. I'm thinking of going back and doing exactly that. The thing i have now being 15 years old and the mow deck can't be lowered or raised anymore on one side or it will fall on the ground (in scalping position). If i got a new one I can remove the mow deck from the old one and use the old one just to pull stuff around.
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Sounds good, I gotta tell ya.
If the old green mare needs $150 just to get it to act semi-normal for a year (a conservative estimate), and it is now 10 years old, I'm thinking that 10% would be better invested in something I can actually count on to WORK when I need it to.
If I wanted to tinker constantly, I'd buy an old British sports car. That way, it'd be raining when I got it running- and they sho' do love humidity down the carb!
something I can actually count on to WORK when I need it to.
Yeah, speaking of pointless tinkering - i went in to find out how much it would cost for a replacement mower deck and they said $500-600. For a 15 year old machine. I didn't think that was a very good deal.
Sometimes its just time to get on with it. Out the old, in the new.
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I'll do what I can to lower the cost of basic auto (fleet) maintenance, but giving myself 2 days worth of leg pain just ain't worth it for thin-guage steel and brittle plastic lawn equiptment.
I might like finding someone who had the spare canolli to rebuild old US farm tractors. That might be a hobby I could get into.
If I keep on smoking, I'd be able to cough up the chunks of airborne rust, but keep me away from toxic solvents and painting.
Remove old parts with new replacements, and the Prime Directive is only don't butcher the thing up in the process, no real deadlines per se, party a little in the process, and I'd be in.
I'd like it better at a Old Tinkery Drunken Farmer's 4-H club than, let's say, a rich teabagger's tax dodge hobby.
Too bad we can't have the cash to do that, even with a multiple income household. "Kids? Dad needs a hobby, so you'll be eating 2 days out of 3 for a while."
Till next Fathers Day.
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