Archive for the ‘Local news’ Category

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21.June.2010

90,000 barrels is roughly one third of the Exxon Valdez

If the rate of flow in the gulf of Mexico is 90,000 barrels a day, then we’ve had ourselves an Exxon Valdez every three days. Recent estimates, put the rate of flow between 50,000 and 150,000 barrels a day (BPD). In EVUs (Exxon Valdez Units), this is between .2 and .6 EVUs per day. That puts the carnage at between an Exxon Valdez every five days, or an Exxon Valdez every two days (even less). Over 60 days, that’s between 12 EVUs and 36 EVUs. 1

  1. Of course, BP’s liability is directly proportional to the amount of oil that has polluted the Gulf. This explains why they are on record for trying to claim that the the rate of flow was only 1000 BPD. Over 60 days, this is only .2 EVUs in total. ↩

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Posted in Local news, science | 2 Comments »

19.June.2010

The Buddha Bear

This bear is sitting in a kind of relaxed pose with his legs almost crossed. And his, well, pawms are turned up. It looks like sitting meditation. Check it out here. I was trying to think of an appropriate caption – but if he is the buddha bear, then his mind would be empty right?

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Posted in Local news, Online resources | 1 Comment »

19.June.2010

So how much oil is it?

Well, a standard barrel of oil is about 42 US gallons. And a gallon is about 4litres. I say this because I, for one, don’t convert between these units often enough to always understand the reports I hear. The Exxon Valdez catastrophe dumped about 11 million gallons of oil (or roughly 262 thousand barrels, or about 44 million litres), so let’s call 11 million gallons, 1 EVU (Exxon Valdez Unit). 1

So, 1 EVU is about 262,000 barrels, which is about 11 million gallons, which is about 44 million litres.

The spill gushing started on April 20th 2010.

The public relations strategy cover up by BP, and BP experts, have been steadily underestimating the flow of oil.2 3 It is interesting to note that prior to the rupture, BP had estimated the worst case flow rate of about 162,000 barrels a day. 4 That’s about 6.8 million gallons, or roughly 0.6 EVUs per day.

Steve Wereley, an engineer from Purdue University, initially thought the leak may be 70,000 barrels or roughly .25 EVUs per day. Later, publishing with Ian R. MacDonald, John Amos and Timothy Crone, they collectively estimated the flow at between 40,000 barrels and 100,000 barrels a day. That’s between .15 EVUs and .38 EVUs per day.5 6 It’s refreshing to read their article because it so clearly indicts BP in regards to their refusal to allow effective third party measurement of the flow.

So do the math

We’re coming up on two months of gushing oil. If you take the lesser estimate, we’re looking at about: 60 days x .15 EVUs = 9 EVUs

If you take the greater flow rate, we’re looking at about: 60 days x .38 EVUs = 23 EVUs

In conclusion

Looks like the BP oil catastrophe has so far gushed between 9 and 23 times the amount of oil that the Exxon Valdez dumped.

For Further Reading

  1. Is America’s Chernobyl in Canada’s Future
  2. Are We Poisoning Ourselves or What?
  3. Dispersant is a Cover Up and a Toxic Chemical/
  4. BP Executive Denies Oil Plume
  1. I might have just coined a new unit. Did I? ↩
  2. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/06/09/bp-executive-oil-plume.html ↩
  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill#Spill_flow_rate ↩
  4. Griffitt, Michelle. “Initial Exploration Plan Mississippi Canyon Block 252 OCS-G 32306″ (PDF). BP Exploration and Production (New Orleans, Louisiana: Minerals Management Service). http://www.gomr.mms.gov/PI/PDFImages/PLANS/29/29977.pdf ↩
  5. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/opinion/22macdonald.html ↩
  6. I should add that Ian R. MacDonald is a professor of oceanography at Florida State University, John Amos is the president of SkyTruth, which uses satellite images to monitor environmental problems, Timothy Crone is a research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Steve Wereley is a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. ↩

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Posted in Local news, science | 1 Comment »

18.June.2010

How much oil is it? A challenge for science

I am a huge fan of science. I even believe in objectivity. Not absolute objectivity, mind you. But I believe in kinds and degrees of objectivity – dimensions of objectivity, if you will. For example, if someone makes a claim to knowing something, and another person is able to reproduce this something in the lab or corroborate it somehow, that means that this claim is more objective than a claim that no one could corroborate. If the claim is predictive, well heck, that’s a really important sort of objectivity.

Another kind of objectivity is related to the knowledge garnering process. I am referring here to the process by which we get knowledge. It’s no surprise that people who are more, shall we say, invested in the conclusions of a discovery process, are more likely to skew the results of that process.

Another kind of objectivity is related to the integrity and particular disinterestedness of the person making claims. So if I’ve been asked to count the pencils in your office, the number I arrive at is probably not controversial… unless I sell pencils.

Okay, so this isn’t rocket science. Everyone gets this. Moms get this. Dads get this. Kids get this. Don’t ask sales people if they like the product. Don’t expect an objective analysis from GM about Toyota. We trust people in certain contexts, given their expertise and investments in those context.

Ah, there’s a sticky point.

The folks that have the expertise in some contexts are also often the people with the biggest investments. This is because science is expensive. Science is, more and more, the slave of industry. It can be hard to find experts at arms length from critical issues. It’s even harder when industry hacks, industry front groups, and industry lobbyists are challenging and marginalizing the views of other experts. The tobacco lobby and the global warming denial industry are both excellent examples of how powerful this can be.

Latest estimates from scientists studying the disaster for the US government suggest 160-380 million litres (42-100 million US gallons) of oil have already entered the Gulf. Most experts believe there is more oil gushing into the sea in an hour than officials originally said was spilling in an entire day. — guardian.co.uk, Helen Pidd and agencies, Friday 11 June 2010 10.07 BST

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11.June.2010

Ronald Reagan comes to Victoria (Esquimalt)

Ever walk into an elevator with someone you think might be packing a handgun under their coat? What if you know they have a pistol? It changes more than the vibe or the atmosphere. It takes a lot of trust. Just look around and see how people react when a police officer walks into a coffee shop or apartment hallway. They carry lethal force on their belt and they have the authority of the state behind their willingness to use it. It changes the way people see and interact with them.

Well we have a guest here in Victoria right now – a bunch of guests. And they’re all packing. Navies from six countries, and some eight thousand sailors have descended on our little town. And the USS Ronald Reagan is the largest and the meanest, I think. Supported by several submarines, and nuclear missile enabled, this is a machine that’s packing serious heat. And it’s manned by thousands of soldiers willing to serve, protect and attack on command – and who generally don’t demonstrate any understanding of the history or impacts of colonization, gendered violence or racialization. But they’re committed to our protection, right?

That said, I couldn’t help but marvel at the sheer size and cost and capacity of this titan of the ocean. A modern titan.

USS Ronald Reagan sitting in Esquimalt Harbour, by Darcy Merrick

photo by Darcy Merrick

USS Ronald Reagan, photo from above, public domain

USS Ronald Reagan with jets on deck

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10.June.2010

The voice of Lynn Strongin

Lynn Strongin’s recent publication, Portraits in Glass and Light, is a collaboration with photographer, Penelope Weiss. We designed it and we’re unabashed fans of Strongin’s poetry. I’m writing about the book because I’ve been asking Strongin for months to make a short sound recording. Words on the page are great. But the spoken word, even with a poor recording, has a different power. Because my recording is not stellar, I’ve included the text below. You can hear Strongin read live on October Third at the Legacy Cafe and Gallery. Here she is reading “It Will Take Maturity & Patience,” from Portraits in Glass and Light.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It Will Take Maturity & Patience

said the latest Chinese fortune. Now no silver spoon. Now no second piece of
cake. Both of us deprived children, before a blackboard in a French provincial
town: children who do not understand the inflection, hands behind backs
standing in the corner because the two girls have a smash on each other.
Yes I had a thing for you from the get-go, a thing hard to bury alive.
Submarine, aqua & teal green buoyed me up, angst my bride.

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Posted in Local news, audio or video | 2 Comments »

04.June.2010

Coalition governments can play an important part in democracy

We don’t elect a prime minister here in Canada. We vote in our own constituencies for a representative. Government is usually formed by the party with the most representatives. But sometimes, government is formed by a coalition of parties. No big deal. We elect a parliament, not a particular party. Parliament sorts it out. 1

And just because a minority government gets a non-confidence vote in the House, a whole new election doesn’t have to get triggered. When a government falls, it’s just not true that the only option is to have an election. But you hear this falsehood spoken often. You hear journalists say it. You hear newspaper editors say it. And you hear big business say it. And of course, lately the Conservatives have been saying it.

When a minority government falls, any other portion of parliament can come forward with the intent to form government. The majority of Canadians voted against Harper’s Christians last election. I would prefer a coalition.

  1. Our type of democracy is not the most democratic. Most advanced democracies use some form of proportional representation. But that’s another question for another day. ↩

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26.May.2010

Are we poisoning ourselves, or what?

I am amazed by the range of estimates. The Exxon Valdez was 10.8 million gallons. So based on the Wereley average1, we’re looking at about one of those every three or four days. Forever. For the record, it’s not a spill.

  1. Thanks to Hugh Stimson for this: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/01/us/20100501-oil-spill-tracker.html ↩

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Posted in Local news | 2 Comments »

18.May.2010

WD My Book® Studio™

Having purchased the one Terabyte external hard drive to back up my data, I made the mistake of letting it sit on my shelf for two weeks before actually trying to use it. It’s the WD My Book® Studio™. The first indicator that it’s wasting my time is the propriety software that it assumed I wanted to install on my computer in order to run the external hard drive. The software is slow, loaded with branding and attempts to get me to “shop“. And the software uses up a significant portion of the drive itself. So the drive is no longer even 1 TB! This kind of thing makes me angry. But then I wasted time trying to re-purpose it to use as a simple external hard drive. Apparently Western Digital doesn’t want me to use my own software. I even tried using my disk utility to wipe the drive and reformat it – but I was somehow prevented from doing this. I think the software additions might actually be firmware. Anyway, it’s going back to the store. This is a big hassle, but I refuse to buy their crap. I found this article by Jeremy Kessel1 singing it’s praises. But what is super funny is the 70 plus comments almost unanimously slamming the Western Digital product:

If you want to relinquish ALL control of your computer to Western Digital, then this is a good choice. If you get annoyed with software that auto-starts, can’t be shut off, and consumes virtually all computer capacity for extended periods of time “categorizing your files”, then stay away from Western Digital Smartware (I prefer to call it “Dumbware”). I bought the 1TB Essential and it will be my last Western Digital purchase. My second drive was a Seagate — and that’s where I’ll stay. Software developers and distributors who usurp control (apparently because they know what I want to do better than I do), should look forward to a purgatory of infinite loops! — Ron Williams – December 18th, 2009 at 1:27 pm EST

  1. Seriously, Jeremy, what were you thinking. I hope they payed you well for this advertisement posing as an article. ↩

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Posted in Advertising (& branding), Local news | 1 Comment »

02.May.2010

Raucous Ink is coming to Victoria Island

In local news, three awesome poets are doing a house concert this Wednesday and I plan on being there. You can download the poster here (pdf). You can check out lisa b. here, Tristan Silverman here, and Tara Hardy here.

Raucous Ink is coming to Victoria Island

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