So I guess someone spilled some oil in the Gulf of Mexico recently. Unlike Dr. Robotnik – who always saw fit to implement a new plan when an old one had failed spectacularly – BP has essentially given up trying to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf, and is just waiting around for the big relief wells to be dug, sometime in August – smack in the middle of the Gulf hurricane season. Good times.
Epic, busily developing Unreal Engine 4.0, saw this as an opportunity to demonstrate the current 3.0 technology’s (durned impressive) physics engine by displaying – then knocking over – 25,000 fully textured barrels of oil… or about half of what BP gives unto the Gulf every day.
Jump the jump to see the video and be depressed – thanks Gizmodo, for the vid.
Note that the barrels are stacked around a central column to make the tower taller, a bit of fudging that’s sort of like the equivalent of measuring an oil spill in barrels instead of gallons. “50,000 barrels per day” sounds less scary than “2,500,000 gallons per day.”
Email the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
One could track the progress of physics simulations with the release of these vids. First 500, then 3000, now 25,000. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG5qDeWHNmk
Oh yah. What a mess.
After looking at that video all I can think is WOW. At the same time it make me upset, because there are a lot of people out there who could care less because they think it doesn’t affect them. But they will soon start to understand when one night they go out to there favorite restraint and orders catfish, And as there eating they find black goo inside.
I was under the impression from the media our side that the latest exercise by BP to stop the flow is working.
Still, out of this saga not only is Obama looking a prick, but also a hypocrit and very anti British. Off topic, apologies! π
Off-topic is what we do here, Lewis. π
It’s working in the sense that they’re pulling off something less than a third of the oil squirting out of the well head.
As for Obama, I don’t really hold it against him. He may have slightly mishandled the situation, but compared to W’s behavior after Katrina it’s pretty minor. Mostly I think the US government isn’t in the business of stopping oil geysers 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. He does need to hold BP’s feet to the fire more, and he should insist that Congress release money to pay whatever the people down there need, and then have the government collect the money from BP. BP is clearly not interested in doing anything to help the Gulf residents survive without their economy.
Has Obama said anything anti-British? Not that I’m aware of. He’s anti-BP, certainly; we are all a little anti-BP right now. Tony Hayward wants his life back, after all. Poor guy’s being inconvenienced. What does he care that blah-millions of people are losing everything they’ve built and earned throughout their lives, or that his company’s carelessness destroyed an entire ecosystem? They’re the- what was it again?
Oh yes, they’re the “small people.”
The fact he continues to refer to them as British Pretoleum despite them changing their name years ago is evidence enough. BP are currently retaining 25,000 barrels a day as a result of their fix, with 5,000 estimated to be leaking. Why aren’t the American government helping, as opposed to just bashing and demanding money? What’s more, he completely ignores the fact that the rig was managed by an American company when it exploded.
Also, his hypocrisy is rediculous- where are his financial demands on the various American firms that have not too long ago had catastrophic chemical spills? I don’t see him chasing those, instead he and his goons are simply political points scoring.
From the impression I get, BP are doing everything in their power, he is just using the situation to forward his green agenda.
Actually the Deepwater Horizon was built by a Swiss company and managed by BP at the time of the explosion. The American firm Halliburton did build some of the rigging and is doubtless partly responsible (Halliburton is evil), but BP held the lease on the rig and is responsible for what happened there.
I used to work for the ad agency that did BP’s advertising, actually, before they merged with Amoco. I remember many lengthy discussions about the plan to change the name from “British Petroleum.” So it was BP/Amoco for a while, but I think the two companies have separated again. Or did Amoco just get swallowed into BP?
What matters most is that when this is all said and done (take that with a grain of salt- this disaster’s aftermath will linger forever) there are no winners. The US loses, Britain loses, BP loses, residents in the immediate Gulf of Mexico vicinity lose, people whose livelihood depends on Gulf waters lose, the aquatic life in the affected Gulf waters lose (read: is dead or dying) and finally the planet’s ecosystem gets a little more fucked.
The cure for those of us who can’t do anything about it? A hard drink and an episode of Planet Earth.
Some will win Xtal, like the pro-green brigade π Do agree though! Will write a big reply when not on my iPhone π
Steerpike you have no idea how close I was to posting that video as well but I’ve been in my own little bubble for the last couple of months and the oil story has totally overtaken me.
When I watched that over at RPS and a commenter remarked: “Scientists estimate that this happens about twice daily in the Gulf of Mexico.” it finally clicked just how much 50,000 barrels a day is. It’s horrible and I think a hard drink and Planet Earth would ruin me right now. I haven’t seen pictures of the catastrophe in weeks but I can’t imagine it’s looking any better.
EDIT: Through the haze of misery surrounding that video, it must be said, it looked very impressive.
Over here BP is coming off as reckless corporate dicks. Sorry but they are. Not sure why anyone thinks there is any anti-British sentiment as I’ve not seen or heard a peep. I think your press is way overplaying that card. Anti-corporate very much so… Just my US guy on the street read.
And yeah, the Green movement (not the Green party per se) is going to “clean up” big time with this.
Good point xtal, about the planet ecosystem. I hear a lot of “save the planet” rhetoric here in good old lefty Portland and I always think to myself, “The planet will survive just fine in one form or another till the sun explodes. A specifically human friendly habitat…maybe not.”
I agree with everything that is being said. Everyday day the planet is getting worst and worst and there isn’t really anything normal people like you and me can do about it. So I understand why people love to drop there heads and spend 40 hours a week playing the game we all love to hate (HALO 3!)
I’m just pleased that America is acknowledging BP for the set of blood sucking parasites that they are. At least the British aren’t on our own in that regard..
As a British person, I’d like to put my opinion of this on record: F*ck BP.. the cretins can pay whatever is asked of them.
It’s accurate, what you say, Scout. While I do harbor a deep love of the pure majesty that is our planet, the scientific pursuit of knowledge, and many things “green,” I by no means want to be lumped in with any group that is so far left as to be considered blinded, blubbering idiots.
I am a “leftist” in almost every sense, but I’m careful to mince my words with so called “doomsday rhetoric:” we are by no means killing the planet. We can do whatever we will to it; it will simply go through a cycle of death and rebirth. All we are doing is endangering ourselves and other species with whom we share the earth.
I spotted this link over at RPS yesterday. To think that the Gulf of Mexico has it bad…
This may turn out to be much worse than anyone could imagine. I read this article at Mother Jones:
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/06/worst-already-true-BP-well-now-unstoppable
Very scary stuff.