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From what I understand, the cause of the spill is that they did not install the blowout prventer (but had promised they would).
Sure they could blame the manufacturer of whatever gear they did install, but the manufacturer could then point at the lack of (or shoddy) maintenance that was preformed by BP.
BP should be made to pay for the cleanup, and that payment should not hinge on whether or not they can successfully sue the gear manufacturer. The can recoup their expenses any way they think they can, but ultimately, it was THEIR operation that flooded the gulf with oil.
.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
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"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"The staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - J. Jystad, 2001
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My understanding is the device is installed and failed at all 7 layers. Perhaps I am mistaken, but that's what I understand.
A third different party owned and operated the rig ( i.e Maintained also). BP only leased it. Kind of like renting a car. Again they don't have the resources of BP.
BP is the only party with resources capable of the clean so it is logical to hold them to the candle.
I wasn't meaning to infer they should not be held responsible, just to point out a minor inconsistency in all this.
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"up in arms" - well, don't forget it's the media that's adding the frenzy factor. Yeah, we have a big mess. You should have stopped typing when "I don't know much about oil drilling..." came out of your keyboard.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>You're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'm going to beat you to death in your own house.
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
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obviously a touchy subject 
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Why of course, because everyone elsewhere in the rich world always walks to work.
I remember my last job before moving here, pretty mindless data migration that was greatly improved by my 16 mile walk every morning and evening!
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You must have got very fit then.
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MidwestLimey wrote: my 16 mile walk every morning and evening!
Was it uphill both ways?
Snowdrifts up to your armpits?
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Actually I used to walk a mile to school, and it was up hill both ways!
(For those of a slower mental disposition, the hill was in the middle)
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Baconbutty wrote: Now I don't know much about oil drilling, ......... ill-thought out to me
probably best you don't think for too long then.
Anyway, Any country that has had an oil spill impact its coastline, is bound to be a little bit upset, however, the media machine is really well and truly at it again. Thinking back to recent oil spills off of British Coastlines, namely the Sea Empress off Milford Haven and the Braer off Shetland, were both thought at the time to be natural disasters which would ruin the ecology of the area for decades to come. In reality, what happened, not a great deal, the oil dispersed and everything was fine, with no long term environmental impact seen by either of these spills.
Now, yes there will be some impact, yes it will take time to clean up (just be thankful it is a light crude), and yes it impacts everybody, not just the States.
Why does it impact everybody? Simple, oil is what drives the worlds energy markets and therefore the cost of all businesses to operate, the costs of plastics to make things, the costs to transport goods. The suspension of drilling in the region will without doubt add delay to identifying a readying new supplies. It also adds daily costs to the companies that are unable to do their job, i.e. drill.
On the financial markets, look at the collapse of the BP share price. So what you might think, but BP share price account for 6% of the FTSE100, so any significant changes impacts the trackers and pension funds of huge numbers of people.
So, back to this disaster in hand, why is everyone blaming BP? Where they the trained and competent company? NO! What it equipment that was owned and maintained by them? NO! This will all come out in the legal battles of years to come.............
Just think, lets put it another way, you put your car (the well) into the garage (the drill rig) to get some work done. The garage, a qualified mechanic (the drilling company) starts working on your car. The car catches fire, burns the garage down, destroys several other buildings in the neighbourhood and ruins the livelihood of hundreds of people. Who's too blame? you for being the owner of the car?
Hopefully though, this will hopefully refocus the thought processes of energy ministers around the world, and hopefully start to rethink the use of nuclear, increase the investment into renewables etc. etc. because at the end of the day, these things will take years to perfect, so we need to start somewhere!
Now, as someone in the industry, thats just my 2 cents!
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daveauld wrote: So, back to this disaster in hand, why is everyone blaming BP? Where they the trained and competent company? NO! What it equipment that was owned and maintained by them? NO! This will all come out in the legal battles of years to come.............
Just think, lets put it another way, you put your car (the well) into the garage (the drill rig) to get some work done. The garage, a qualified mechanic (the drilling company) starts working on your car. The car catches fire, burns the garage down, destroys several other buildings in the neighbourhood and ruins the livelihood of hundreds of people. Who's too blame? you for being the owner of the car?
Uhmmm, that's not how it works. A better analogy would be:
I want to build a car, but I don't have a shop, so I rent your shop and your workers. (They were drilling a wildcat well, not repairing an existing well.) Since I pay the rent, I'm in charge and tell you how to do the work to my specifications. I decide which welders to bring in, what materials to use, etc. I consult with you, of course, but I do the design and I have the final say on everything. (The company man on any rig has the final say - they pay the bills.)
Now I make a decision and the car explodes killing a few of your unfortunate people. But it's your fault?
What is being played out in the media is typical. Everyone blames the next person, but not too hard. The courts will sort it all out eventually.
However, there is no question that unless the contractors went against BP's decisions, made and communicated by the company man on the rig, it's BP's problem, because they were in charge. Of course they'll look for any possibility of negligence on anyone else's part and everyone else will try to show that BP was the negligent party. It's all part of the show.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Baconbutty wrote: What amuses me is that the US are up in arms about this drilling event - yet they are probably the world's biggest consumers of oil and these drills in the Gulf are probably getting oil for them in the first place. Maybe if some of the USA could use their legs and walk instead of driving everywhere consumption would drop and therefore need less rigs etc etc
yeah... I used to walk to work... but even at a good 5mph clip it was taking me over 5 hours.... and then the trip back.... the 10-14 hour days.... some days I didn't even have time to shower before I turned around and walked back to work.... Speaking of... there is a seat in the desk next to my desk, wanna join the company?? 
Actually some of us try to do our best, however, walking is definitely not a choice. I do have a high MPG vehicle, I try to conserve trips. Many people without odd working hours like mine even carpool. There are the gas-guzzlers, driving king-cab pick-ups 90 miles to work, though even in his case, the first 15 miles I'd want a strong vehicle coming down out of the mountains in the winter.  I am the only person on site that ever drove that road in a Civic (Hybrid or not), but then I was trained for mountain driving by the best.  Anyone else would get stuck, get buried by a snowplow and freeze or starve to death. Leg anyone? I hear it's the other white meat....
Oh... I forgot.... someone from the class ahead of mine invented the oil-spill pontoon nets used internationally that they put around a surface spill in the ocean to contain, and start soaking it up.
_________________________
John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
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The Ben - NanoNote[^]. Pretty cool open source hardware that runs embedded Linux. Only $99! I'm really tempted to get one just to play with at that price.
There's also a review here[^]
Simon
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32,000 drams... I'll take this one[^].
"WPF has many lovers. It's a veritable porn star!" - Josh Smith As Braveheart once said, "You can take our freedom but you'll never take our Hobnobs!" - Martin Hughes.
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Onyx
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Trollslayer wrote: 32MB DRAM? Not much use.
That's only 16 000 times more than I have on my Arduino
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That's stacks for an embedded system.
The PSP only has 32-64[^] and that can do high performance 3d gaming.
Simon
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This is 8000 times of what my first computer had and at the time I had complete interpreters and their programs running in that little RAM. With little graphics, sound or larger text files an application has to try hard to fill that much memory just with code. Actually it sounds quite sufficient for a small device.
A while ago he asked me what he should have printed on my business cards. I said 'Wizard'.
I read books which nobody else understand. Then I do something which nobody understands. After that the computer does something which nobody understands. When asked, I say things about the results which nobody understand. But everybody expects miracles from me on a regular basis. Looks to me like the classical definition of a wizard.
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My old iPaq has that much. It does phone, Wifi, t'interweb, and runs .NET CF 3.5.
You have been well spoiled by desktop bloatware, I'm afraid! 
Did you know:
That by counting the rings on a tree trunk, you can tell how many other trees it has slept with.
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Cool! But how do you hack what seems to be a sealed unit?
I want one of these[^], but cant get them locally and the only international resellers charge an odd $100 extra for delivery (The unit is only about $30).
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I'm guessing it's fairly easy to unscrew the case.
Secondly, they also sell just the board on it's own, so the netbook form factor would be for development, testing and prototyping. Then if you come up with an actual product idea, you buy the boards and design your own case to your requirements.
Simon
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This[^]
Probably not new, but I had no idea this existed, stumbled across it while reading a Gizmodo post, seriously, is there anything in there you would actually want, or be caught dead wearing?
Maybe, just maybe, make that Android flash drive 16GB at that price and I would
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
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I'd pay good money for that 12 foot tall model of the android robot character on the front page.
[Edit: The images change every time. Hit refresh a few times and you'll see it]
[Edit2: mirrored here[^]]
[Edit3: I also wouldn't say no to a giant cupcake, but only if it's edible]
Simon
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They also have a donut, éclair, and froyo there (for every revision for Android).
He who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
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Was this set up originally to sell the Nexus or did it exist before?
Kevin
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It existed for a while before the Nexus One came out.
The missus got me the Android flash drive for Christmas last year
- Rob
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