Thursday July 8

This is Week 27 of 2010, Day 189 with 176 days left. It is Day 80 of the BP Mess.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

Monsoons are so close I can smell the rain…nothing yet, but maybe tonight.

Spain and Germany had a good soccer game today. Spain triumphed in a good game. So the World Cup has just two games left: Uruguay and Germany play for 3rd and 4th place on Saturday; Netherlands and Spain play for the Championship on Sunday. Both games should be very good. Then everyone goes home and waits for four more years. South Africa seems to have done a good job as host, even with those very loud vuvuzelas.

First we hear that MMS is not really watching over oil companies, and some employees are snorting cocaine while they are at work. Then we find that they never really checked the process for handling deep water drilling. Today we learn that there are thousands of temporarily capped wells that are not ever monitored. Some are capped with metal caps, some with cement caps. They are called ‘temporary’ caps—some are still there since the 1950’s—to save money. If the oil company says the cap is a temporary cap that means two things: it can be reopened to pump more oil at a later date and they don’t have to write the potential oil off their books. Let’s say that a well has the potential of 100 barrels. The oil company pulls out 10 barrels and decides that it is not economically feasible to continue. If they permanently cap the well, they have to take 90 barrels off their books, and they have to be inspected to be sure it is not going to leak. However, if they put a temporary cap on the well, they keep the 90 barrels on their books and no one inspects it. When a well is drilled it has to have a temporary cap after the well is flowing so that the drilling rig can move out and the pumping rig can move in. The Gulf mess we have occurred when something went very wrong as the drillers were attempting to put on the temporary cap. To date we don’t know of any failed temporary caps. We can all hope that the thousands of temporary caps continue to hold and that somehow they get inspected every couple of decades or so.

Flag was very nice today. I did a long walk in the early morning coolness. Then our temperature climbed to 85° and there was basically no breeze. I have a hanging bird bath and I think a squirrel found it as when I left this morning for my walk, it was about ½ full. This afternoon it was bone dry. It was hot and it was dry, but don’t think the birds used that much water, nor do I think it all evaporated.

HOLY MACKEREL: On this date in 1947 ►There were a number of reports of a mysterious flying disc ( Spaceship ) landing in Roswell, New Mexico.

MY QUOTE FOR THE DAY

Victor Hugo: The human soul has still greater need of the ideal than of the real. It is by the real that we exist; it is by the ideal that we live.

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION

Camel’s milk does not curdle.

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1

What phrase is represented below?

Sigh_

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM

An alleged drug dealer in Minnesota called the police to his home after his stash of marijuana and $3,200 in cash were stolen. Once the police showed up the man conceded that the thief had made off with his marijuana stash, breaking into a locked closet to complete the deed.

An officer also reported scraps of paper with names, amounts and weights in another closet.

He questioned the homeowner, who then allegedly said the burglar made off with baggies of marijuana and $3,200 cash.

"He also implied that his drug dealing was all right, stating, 'I just sell to my friends,'" said the police report.

A LITTLE LAUGH

Some people grow old gracefully, while others fight and scratch the whole way.

Andy's wife, refusing to give in to the looks of growing old, goes out and buys a new line of expensive cosmetics guaranteed to make her look years younger.

After a lengthy sitting before the mirror applying the "miracle" products, she asks her husband - "Darling, honestly, if you didn't know me, what age would you say I am?"

Looking over her carefully, Andy replied,... "Judging from your skin, twenty; your hair, eighteen; and your figure, twenty five."

"Oh, you flatterer!" she gushed. Just as she was about to tell Andy his reward, he stops her by saying...

"WHOA, hold on there sweety!" Andy interrupted. "I haven't added them up yet!"

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2

I went on a trip last week. The traffic was moderate and the journey took two and a half hours. On the return journey, the traffic was similar, but I made it back in 150 minutes. How come?

FOUND ON YOU TUBE

returns tomorrow

GREY MATTER PICTURE

This is a close up of what common object?

returns tomorrow

SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION

► Weekly Observances ◄

4-10: Freedom Week AND Be Nice To New Jersey Week

► Today’s Observances ◄

SCUD Day (Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama)

US : Liberty Bell Day [1835]

Skagway: Soapy Smith Wake (): Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artistand gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal operations of Denver, Colorado, Creede, Colorado, and Skagway, Alaska, from 1879 to 1898

► Hit Songs on this date ◄

The Gypsy: The Ink Spots in 1946

The Wayward Wind: Gogi Grant in 1956

Paperback Writer: The Beatles in 1966

Afternoon Delight: The Starland Vocal Band in 1976

Holding Back the Years: Simply Red in 1986

► Born today ◄

…The Arts

Alec Waugh, novelist (Island in the Sun); brother of Evelyn born in 1898 London.

Roone Arledge, TV executive (ABC) born in 1931 in Polk County NC

+++

Kevin Bacon, 52, actor (The Woodsman, Mystic River, Apollo 13, Footloose), born Philadelphia, PA

Anjelica Huston, 59, actress (Oscar for Prizzi’s Honor; The Royal Tenenbaums, The Addams Family), born Los Angeles, CA

Toby Keith, 49, country singer, born Clinton, OK

Steve Lawrence, 75, singer (“Party Doll,” “Go Away Little Girl”), born Sidney Liebowitz at New York, NY

Craig Stevens, actor (Craig-Dallas, Peter Gunn) born in 1918 Liberty Mo

…Athletics

--

…Business & Education

Wolfgang Puck, 61, chef born in Sankt Veit an der Glan,Austria

John D Rockefeller, US capitalist; founded Standard Oil, born in 1839 Richford, New York

Alyce Faye Wattleton, 67, former executive director of Planned Parenthood Federation, born St. Louis, MO

…Politics

George W Romney (Gov-Mich)/US Secretary of HUD (1969-73) born in 1907 Colonia Dublán, Galeana, in the Mexican state ofChihuahua – one of the Mormon colonies in Mexico

Nelson A Rockefeller. (Gov-R-NY) 41st VP born in 1908 Bar Harbor, Maine

…Science / Religion

Count Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, invented rigid dirigibles born in 1838 Constance, Germany

► Obituaries today ◄

James Franciscus, actor, emphysema @ 57 in 1991

Dale Buisand & Chester Ovnand, 1st Americans killed in Vietnam War in 1959

► Events ◄

…The Arts

--

…Athletics

1953 ►Notre Dame announced that the following five years of its football games would be shown in theatres over closed circuit TV.

…Business & Education

1889 ►The Wall Street Journal is first published by Dow Jones & Company

…Indigenous People

1539 ►The Francisco de Ulloa Expedition is designed to explore the coast of Baja California. This expedition proves California is not an island. Three ships, the Santa Agueda, the Trinidad, and the Santo , leave Acapulco, Mexico.

…Politics (US)

1693 ►NYC authorizes 1st police uniforms in American colonies

1777 ►Vt becomes 1st state abolishing slavery, adopts male suffarage

1797 ►1st US senator (William Blount of Tennessee) expelled by impeachment

1835 ►Liberty Bell cracks (again)

1981 ►Senate confirms Sandra Day O'Conner to Supreme Court (99-0)

…Politics (outside US)

1959 ►Dale Buisand & Chester Ovnand 1st Americans killed in Vietnam War

…Science / Religion

1892 ►American Psychological Association organized, Worcester, Mass

GREY MATTER ANSWERS

…1

No end in sight.

…2

The times are the same!

…Photo
Returns tomorrow

TODAY’S PHOTO SHOT

Returns tomorrow

 

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