THE STATE OF PLANET EARTH AND HUMANITY ON 18JUNE10

1.  Day 60 of Gulf Oil Spill:  Yesterday, BP recovered a million barrels of oil.  See my blog of 16June2010, but this means they are capturing either 1/3 or 2/3 of the leak.  On average, then, approximately half, or 1 million gallons/day, is still escaping into the seas...exactly the number I estimated on my 1May09 blog.  The foot in mouth idiot yesterday was Texas Congressman Joe Barton.  Click on his name to view him apologizing to BP.  I actually met him as a first termer in my early days of lobbying, as he was interested in fuel cells for Texas A&M.  My shock is that he looks so old.  Wonder what that says about me.  Anyway, BP execs are not exactly doing much better, as President Tony Hayward came across as evasive to the congressional panel, and their chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, can be seen referring to the affected Louisianans as small people.  Is this the beginning of The Venus Syndrome?  Apparently, 40% of the fluid emanating from the damaged subsea well is methane.  By itself this gaseous leak might create dead zones for marine life, but the concern is about triggering something a lot more serious.

2.  In the sports world:  I happened to listen on the radio driving home when the Los Angeles Lakers, in the 7th game of the NBA finals, were losing by 13 points to the Boston Celtics.  After some quick shopping I came home and I turned on the TV to see the Lakers a minute from actually winning, and prevailed, 83-79.  This morning, I woke up to go to the bathroom at around 4:45AM, remembered that the USA was playing Slovenia in the World Cup, turned the TV on, saw America was behind 2-0, and went back to sleep.  Hardly anyone recovers from this kind of early disaster.  Remember, Slovenia was a minor part of Yugoslavia, and only has a population of, maybe, 2 million.  An hour later, I woke up and thought I'd check on the slaughter, and saw the score 2-1 with 10+ minutes left.  Two minutes later, the coach's son, Michael Bradley, scored a goal, and a few after that, we score another, which was disallowed by the referee for an invisible holding infraction.  Everyone was holding on to someone!  Anyway, the score ended 2-2, which means that all the U.S. has to do to make the knockout round is win their next game against Algeria.  We are favored.  The overriding memory of this World Cup, and an even greater irritant than the thunderstick, of course, are the vuvuzela horns.  Everything sounds like you are in a bees's convention.  Oh, you can actually go to Amazon.com and buy one for all of $6.99, plus shipping.

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The Dow Jones Industrials snuck up 16 to 10,451, meaning that it is up 0.22% for the year.  World markets were mixed, although the Japan Nikkei edged below 10,000.  Gold jumped $10/toz to $1256, or $1262, depending on your dealer.  THIS IS AN ALL-TIME HIGH!  Investors are worried about a double-dip recession, and there is an inverse relationship between the dollar and gold.  Crude oil is at $77/barrel.

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Nothing much is happening to that Atlantic storm, but Tropical Storm Blas picked up some speed to 45 MPH, but should weaken over the next few days.  There are now only two disturbances in the Pacific.

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