BP Oil Spill Fix #10 – Takin’ it from the Navy

June 15th, 2010. By AbiK

Tonight, President Obama addresses the nation on the BP Oil Spill at 8:00 p.m. EDT, and I’m sure we’re all anticipating the details he’s got in mind regarding his earlier statement that this is an unprecedented environmental disaster that will come with an “unprecedented response”. As clean-up efforts continue—and efforts are made to speed up maritime waivers in order to allow more foreign ships to assist—two of our readers look to the Navy (or at least the shipping industry) for their inspiration on how to fix the oil spill mess…

Fix the BP Oil Spill Idea #10

From Cory…

“SINK A OUT-DATED BATTLE SHIP OR LARGE VESSEL OVER IT..” 

From Nate…

“I’m a commercial contractor in Utah and this would be the simplest way I can think of to contain the spill.  Bp could purchase an old ship, strip it down to just the hull. Weld the devices valves and ports for hose linkage to the bottom of the hull. Tow the enormous cap out to the site. Submerse it over the cap and invert it over the leak.  It could be tamped down to seal to the ocean floor. This allows for a number of attachments and the water could be filtered out on the surface or on land by BP’s facilities.”

Got an idea you’d like to share? Let us know. Or email our editor at .

Thanks Cory and Nate!

Feedback is Food Back at Wendy’s Drive-Thru (it’s Tortelicious)

June 15th, 2010. By LucyC

Welcome to Totally Tortelicious—a review of some of the more bizarre legal stories making news—and there’s certainly no shortage of them.  

Wendy’s…Wendy’s what went wrong…oh so wrong? What is it about Wendy’s fast food? Not too long ago I wrote about an altercation at a Wendy’s  involving a couple of taser-totin‘ girlies who decided to re-write the protocol on customer complaints. Needless to say it all ended rather badly. 

Well—it seems that showing the employees instead of telling the manager about your bad experience is becoming all the rage (bad pun, I know) in fine fast food establishments across the US. Case in point, a fight broke out recently at a drive-through Wendy’s in Kalamazoo, MI, between four car-bound customers and the employee who handed them their order. 

However, the customers apparently claimed the order was wrong, so they threw drinks, hamburgers and fries at employee inside the booth. Now that’s effective problem solving. No? 

Umm… maybe not. The employee, probably deciding that his or her minimum wage didn’t really cover taking this kind of abuse, hurled a drink, fries and ketchup back at the car and hit a home run. So, the customers got out of their car and continued the food fight inside the restaurant. (I use the term loosely). But this time, the fight was a little more evenly matched as more employees became involved. 

Ok—you know what—this is just a little more excitement than any patron really needs. 

Anyway, back to the story. The police arrived, as somebody evidently had the initiative to call them, and two of the ‘customers’ were arrested. The employees reportedly told the police there had been a “communications breakdown.” Ya think? 

Maybe somebody should be checking the ingredients in these foods a little more carefully… 

She likes men in uniform? I love this—talk about redefining the term “emergency”. A 57-year old woman in Alliance, OH decided to call 911 to look for a husband—not her husband—a husband. She called five times.

Hey—desperate times call for desperate measures. (Personally, I would say count your blessings). 

You can imagine the poor dispatcher who took the calls. She was reportedly quite flabbergasted by the request—as any sane person would be, for a number of reasons….So, Read the rest of this entry »

BP Oil Spill Fix Inspiration: The Toy Store

June 14th, 2010. By AbiK

As officials try to get a better gauge on just how much oil is spewing from the undersea well, and as we all await President Obama to address the nation on the BP Oil Spill tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. EDT, we take a look at a couple of BP Oil Spill Fix ideas-of-the-day that take their cues from an unlikely source: the toy store. The beauty of both ideas is that they come from toys that are now considered “classics”–the one, Kerplunk, now has jazzed up colors but remains pretty much as it always was; the other, the Phlat Ball, has its design foundation in the quintessential beach disc, the Frisbee.

Fix the BP Oil Spill Idea #9

Kerplunk! from sent in by RS

“1 word – Kerplunk.  In this game several sticks are inserted horizontally through a vertical shaft to prevent marbles from falling. Couldn’t they insert a few thousand rods of steal at an angle from the sides of the shaft effectively stemming the spew of oil. This wouldn’t be the end answer but it would slow things down and maybe give that hydrolic mud they tried pumping down there something to cling on to. Heck they could use something like rubber marbles instead and that would work..” 

 

 

 

Dilating Frisbee sent in by Michael:

“I recently saw a toy that might be enlarged and modified to contain the flow and possibly enable capture. It is a dilating frisbee. When thrown from its compressed size it expands to its full size. With a larger modified version (perhaps a collar attached to the bottom edge) it could be lowered at its full size and then reduced/dilated to its smaller stronger size. The collar would help funnel the gusher gradually to the center where a collection point where the oil could be focused in to a pumping device.”

I’m thinking Michael’s referring to a Phlat Ball, shown here at left in its flattened state. Once airborn it opens up and looks more like a ball than a frisbee.

Got an idea you’d like to share? Let us know. Or email our editor at .

Thanks RS and Michael!

BP Oil Spill Fix (#8)

June 11th, 2010. By AbiK

The latest news on the BP Oil Spill puts the estimate on the amount of oil leaking out at 1.7 million gallons per day. That’s a lot of oil, and as cnn.com notes, that means the BP Oil Spill is now approximately eight times that of the Exxon Valdez mess. Or, as a NY Post headline states, the BP Oil Spill makes the Exxon Valdez look like a grease spot. Indeed. With that, our latest idea on how to fix this mess is from Lorraine, who also refers to herself as a “concerned citizen”:

Fix the BP Oil Spill Idea #8

“Instead of trying to plug up the well, how about creating a funnel or hose of some type in order to direct the oil into a container or where it needs to go?  My idea is that: using a pliable material (waterproof fabric?), such as the one they use for fire hoses, create a large enough “hose” that would fit around the neck of the well and long enough to reach a container of some sort.   Since the “hose” is made out of a pliable fabric, it could be brought down to the well folded accordian-style into a  ring and then slipped over the neck of the well and then attached with rivets.  Then once the rivets were secure, the fabric could then be unfolded over the spill and the oil should funnel into the hose and into whatever containment area is decided upon.” 

Got an idea you’d like to share? Let us know. Or email our editor at .

Thanks Lorraine!

Asbestos News Roundup: 6.10.10

June 10th, 2010. By AbiK

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Tyler, TX: Claudia Headley’s husband and sons have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Shell Energy North America LP, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., and Alon USA. Mrs. Headley was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma and subsequently died from the disease. She passed away on May 30, 2008.

The lawsuit claims that Mrs. Headley was exposed to asbestos fibers when she would wash her husband’s, father’s, and son’s clothing; all three men worked in refineries where they were exposed to asbestos.

The companies named as defendants are alleged to have breached their duties to provide a safe place to work, to warn of the hazards of employment, to protect independent contractors from work-related hazards, and in taking precautions to protect the safety of others when an employee performs work that is inherently dangerous and to avoid a foreseeable risk of injury to others. The lawsuit also states that as a result of the male Headley’s working in this environment, the defendants would have known that Mrs. Headley’s exposure to asbestos dust and particles was unavoidable.

In the suit the plaintiffs are seeking wrongful death damages for pecuniary loss, termination of the husband-wife relationship, mental anguish, loss of household services, termination of the parent-child relationship, necessary medical, funeral and burial expenses, exemplary damages, interest and court costs. (setexasrecord.com)

Asbestos Hot Spot

Carbondale, IL: A chemical fire that caused damage at Southern Illinois University’s Neckers Lab last week will now cost more than expected to clean up. Initial estimates for the clean-up were at $250,000, however, since the discovery of asbestos—used in the construction of the lab—the estimate is now at over $1 million.

According to University spokesman, Rod Sievers, once workers started to clean up the site, they found asbestos had been used to wrap some of the pipes—and that will need to be removed.

Adding to the cost of the clean-up is the lack of insurance—according to Sievers, “Some of the contents were insured, some of the contents were not.”

The fire broke out when a student who was cleaning the lab with hydrocarbons got too close to a heat source. The fire has been ruled an accident, and the student will not be held responsible. (wsiltv.com)