The BBC asked readers to submit their ideas on how the Gulf oil disaster might be resolved. Iraj Ershaghi, USC’s director of petroleum engineering, went down the list and briefly explained how each idea would fail. We’re pretty much doomed.
Another day, another update on the ongoing oil disaster in the Gulf. BP’s latest containment dome effort has successfully siphoned 250,000 gallons of oil to the surface, though that’s only a third of the 798,000 gallons spilling daily.
Another reason I’m glad I’m a dog person: Fire crews in Queensland are investigating whether a house fire on the Gold Coast was started by a cat peeing on the family laptop.
As you’re almost certainly aware, the State of Victoria is in devastation today after some of the country’s worst ever bushfires have ravaged through the country, killing at least 108 people, destroying 750 homes and burning over 330,000 hectares of country. Obviously, our thoughts go out to those who have battled and are continuing to battle the ongoing flames, but for those of you who are either waiting for news, worried about loved ones or just curious about the magnitude of this natural disaster, Google has created a flash map of the Victorian fires, taking the latest information from the Country Fire Authority’s RSS feed.
The NTSB is currently investigating whether or not text messaging may have played a part in the tragic head-on Metrolink train collision last Friday in LA that has claimed 26 lives. So far, they have confirmed that the engineer, who was among those killed, failed to stop at the final red signal. However, two teens have come forward saying that they received text messages from him shortly before the incident. Yeah, that sounds creepy—but the teens claim that they befriended the engineer after expressing interest in his work, often contacting him with questions about his job.
