Gulf Oil Spill
No, this isn't some tirade on oil companies or the environment. This is a rant on how the press and company talking heads deal with what they consider the "unwashed masses." A couple days ago on the way to work, I heard on the radio that the oil company was going to plug the well with drilling mud to stop the mess. My girlfriend, who has never been around oil rigs, asked if that stuff was like concrete or something. A reasonable question and that's what the oil company and the press would expect people to think. For those of us who have worked oil rigs, we know that drilling mud is used to hold the oil in the pipe. In other words, the drill pipe is filled with mud. The mud is mixed at a rate where the weight of the column of mud in the entire pipe equalizes the pressure of the oil that is trying to blow up out of the pipe. So, with the correct drilling mud mix, the pipe stays in the ground and so does the oil. The stuff is like concrete in that if it's not quite the right mix, it comes blowing out of the pipe and then you get to wear it for days as it hardens on you. It's not like fix a flat, though. It won't just plug leaks. If it did plug leaks, it wouldn't be drilling mud, since it couldn't be used while putting the pipe in the ground.
Anyway, I get to work today and the CNN breaking news email says "BP's top official upgrades impact of Gulf oil spill from "very modest" to "environmental catastrophe." You think? And what a jump that is, too. Is that a one to a ten jump?
"What went up?"
"Somebody set off a grenade."
"Oh. Lots of flash for a grenade."
"Not a grenade, a nuclear missile. Fallout to follow."
Where do these companies get their press handlers? I can do better at bullshit than that. At least upgrade on the hour or something so you're not caught with your ass out in the breeze, going from very modest to environmental catastrophe. The guy should have jumped up yesterday and called it a "disaster" or some such thing. Stupid is everywhere and we're expected to believe it.
Personally, I think there's a village that's missing its idiot.
Anyway, I get to work today and the CNN breaking news email says "BP's top official upgrades impact of Gulf oil spill from "very modest" to "environmental catastrophe." You think? And what a jump that is, too. Is that a one to a ten jump?
"What went up?"
"Somebody set off a grenade."
"Oh. Lots of flash for a grenade."
"Not a grenade, a nuclear missile. Fallout to follow."
Where do these companies get their press handlers? I can do better at bullshit than that. At least upgrade on the hour or something so you're not caught with your ass out in the breeze, going from very modest to environmental catastrophe. The guy should have jumped up yesterday and called it a "disaster" or some such thing. Stupid is everywhere and we're expected to believe it.
Personally, I think there's a village that's missing its idiot.
"BP's top official upgrades impact of Gulf oil spill from "very modest" to "environmental catastrophe."
Very much like companies that advertise products that they do not have.
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Agreed on that and where I work, that happens all the time. Despite best efforts by a talented group of people, sometimes suppliers just fall short. How did that sound? I'm working on Bullshit 201 right now. Actually, it's pretty common for companies to advertise something that the company has no real intention of getting - but they want to gauge demand and then they will get the toys if the demand is high enough to justify the inventory cost. Of course, that leaves the initial customes hanging in the fucking breeze. This kind of logic, I think, comes from the money people and not the real true users of the products. But, what the hell do I know? I'm not stupid enough to be at Vice President rank - I'm just stupid enough to be one below the VPs. If I were you, I'd bitch loudly and often. Bitching from inside just makes me tired. Shit - got to go shoot a coyote.
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