The 'Father' of Oil Well Firefighting & Blowout Control
Much of the film used in this video is very old and was originally shot on 8 MM format and converted to digital for production purposes; the quality is not very good, unfortunately.
Please note in this video that shot canisters (drums of explosives) used to extinguish well fires in the early years were actually placed at the base of a fire, in what is called the "mixing chamber" by carrying the can, or drum, in to the well by hand or by pushing the can into the fire via a trolley system. Both methods are shown in this film. The viewer must take a moment, close one's eyes, take a deep breath and imagine the balls these guys had to do what they did with unstable explosives.
By the early 1930's Kinley developed the use of Athey tracks to build a long boom that would be facilitate more precise shot placement.
There is actual footage in this video of a fire in Gladewater, Texas in 1931 where Kinley broke his ankle. Myron broke the same ankle and leg two more times in his career and was essentially left with a bad limp. It was this bad leg that prevented him from running from a Venezuelan blowout in 1942-1943 that caught fire while he was working on it. He was badly burned by that fire and spent six months in a hospital. On the Gladewater job his brother Floyd, along with others, can be seen carrying Myron away. Five years later Floyd was killed on a blowout in Goliad County.
Young Red Adair can be seen briefly in the clip, around 1948-49, not long after he was hired by Kinley.
Myron Kinley spent nearly 40 years teaching the entire world how to fight oil well fires and control blowing wells; many of the well control techniques Kinley developed 90 years ago are still being used today. Adair, Boots Hansen, Coots Matthews and Richard Hatteberg were all taught the business of oil well firefighting by Myron "Mac" Kinley.
Kinley's role in the protection of the worldwide oil and natural gas industry is unparalleled in history. Simply put, the oil and gas industry could have not succeeded without him. Adair often gets all the credit, but Kinley was the man that led the way.
The situation at Canada’s Alberta Tar Sands Operations has gone from bad to worse as the super-low oil price is now costing the industry billions of dollars each month. Unbelievably, the price for the Western Canadian Select heavy oil fell to a gut-wrenching $14.65 yesterday down from a high of $58 in May. Tar sands oil is now selling at an amazing $40 discount to U.S. West Texas Oil which is trading at $56.
Many “energy experts” have said that a Manhattan tar sands project could prevent oil decline in the future. But that’s not likely. Here are a few reasons why:
Reaching 5 Mb/d will get increasingly (energy) expensive, because there’s only enough natural gas to mine 29% of tar sands (and limited water as well). Using the energy of the tar sand bitumen itself would greatly reduce the amount that could be produced and dramatically increase the cost and energy to mine it.
Since there isn’t enough natural gas, many hope that nuclear reactors will replace natural gas. That would take a lot of time. Kjell Aleklett estimates it would take at least 7 years before a candu nuclear reactor could be built, and the Canadian Parliament estimates it would take 20 nuclear reactors to replace natural gas as a fuel source.
Mined oil sands have been estimated to have an energy returned on invested of EROI of 5.5–6 for mined tar sands (perhaps 10% of the 170 billion barrels), with in situ processing much lower at 3.5–4 (Brandt 2013). Right now, 90% of the reserves being developed are via higher-EROI mining, yet 80% of remaining oil sands reserves are in situ, so the remaining reserves will be much less profitable.
Counting on tar sands to replace declining conventional oil, with an EROI as high as 30 will be hard to accomplish, especially if it turns out to be the case that an EROI of 7 to 14 is required to maintain civilization as we know it (Lambert et al. 2014; Murphy 2011; Mearns 2008; Weissbach et al. 2013)
I believe the biggest problem with the sustainability of tar sands if we ignore the nasty environmental issues, is the low EROI – Energy Returned On Invested. As point (4) states, a minimum of 7-14 EROI is needed to maintain civilization. However, I believe the realistic range of a minimum EROI to sustain our modern societies is likely 10-12 EROI. So, shale oil at an EROI of 5/1 or less (probably much less) and tar sands at 4-6/1, these are not sustainable energy sources.
I'm taking the other side of the Foxconn gamble in SE WI - which is to say that it is destined for failure, was ill conceived from the beginning, and will only lead to the eventual and ultimate collapse of SE WI as part of Industrial Civilization. Understand that Collapse was always the end result - your actions only hastened it.
Politicians have to lie, because it is their only means of support.
They justify endless wars, instill fear, demand endless tribute, and bully the productive. Their ranks multiply until they become a unstoppable swarm whose demands exceed the capacity of the productive, rapes the land, and creates societal collapse. Soon to be coming to SE WI and beyond.
Amnesty International announced it would strip Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi of its top award, saying it was “profoundly dismayed” at her failure to acknowledge the full scale of atrocities against the Rohingya people
.
Before you are tempted to view this as some kind of principled, honorable move on Amnesty’s part, stop yourself and check out its dubious government and corporate funding sources, its selective support for the concept of free speech and the fact that it spends quite a bit of time soft-pedaling Western imperialism and its atrocities while magnifying the wrongdoings of the West’s adversaries.
Amnesty’s attempt to win plaudits for its decision to revoke Suu Kyi’s award has come after mounting calls for the controversial figure’s 1991 Nobel Peace Prize to be stripped from her. Nearly half a million people have signed a Change.org petition calling for the Nobel Committee to take back the award.
The first unworthy awardee that springs to mind is, of course, former US President Barack Obama, who, rather inexplicably, was presented with his Nobel Peace Prize a mere nine months into his first term as president on the basis that it seemed like he might do something worthy of the honor at some point in the future. Sadly for the Nobel Committee, which clearly had high hopes for the man, Obama went on to bomb seven different countries over the course of his two terms.
Chris Mueller, Appleton Post-Crescent Published 11:43 a.m. CT Nov. 13, 2018
Employees at BenShot, a business that produces glassware embedded with bullets, show off their guns at their workshop in Hortonville. Each employee was given a handgun as a Christmas gift from the business.(Photo: Courtesy of BenShot)
HORTONVILLE - A local business that produces glassware embedded with bullets recently decided to give every employee a handgun as a Christmas present.
Ben Wolfgram, who co-owns Hortonville-based BenShot, said the decision to give employees handguns as a gift was made as part of an effort to promote personal safety and team building.
The business has 16 full-time employees, including several military veterans. But the business also had employees who had never fired a gun before, Wolfgram said.
Good morning everyone I hope you are doing alright with the nasty white stuff that has come are way. I will let you know the roads are slippery and if you have to go out please be very careful out there and give yourself extra time. Here are your questions.
1) Do you have plans for Thanksgiving?
2) If you have plans does it include traveling?
3) Are you going to spend Thanksgiving with family or friends?
Hello, my friends and enemies! How are you? How do you like this chilly weather? We've had snow and temps in the teens - winter is here, early. Let's hope that climate change keeps it a mild one.
How about those fires in California. It's literally hell on earth. They're blaming the drought on climate change. It's made the landscape a tinder box, ready to burn on a moment's notice.
Hey der, how about dem Packers? They finally won one. They claim to be all tired and injured, but I think that's smoke for their upcoming game with the Seatle Seahawks. (Psst, what is a seahawk?) Seatle is struggling, too, so the game may be interesting. I'm picking the Packers in this one.
Here's the standings from the Irregular Football League:
My Screaming Psychics have clinched a playoff spot. I'm right behind The Mighty Bears. Mr. OrbsCorbs' Orbliterators are in the toilet. Ha-ha!
Have you been following the strange case of Sandy Weidner? Judge Eugene Gasurgrghbrregiwk has sealed her open redords case. He's sealed everything about it, even the court dates and times at first. Numerous organizations have filed suit. Meanwhile, the judge has found her guillty of contempt of court and fined her $130,000. But he suspended imposition of the ruling until the appeal is heard first. Huh?
How about that "blue wave" in the last election? Tonu Evers won the governor's spot and already the opposition is talking about how they're not going to co-operate with him. Our fine government at work. The guy hasn't even been sworn in yet and already he faces stiff opposition. Whatever we do, we cannot work together. We must stay bitter and angry at each other. Always.
Donald Trump is blaming the raging fires in California on poor forestry practices. Again, huh? The damn drought has made everything drier than dry. There's always some idiot tossing a cigarette butt out of his window. I can't imagine the loss. Complete cities flattened by the fires. So many people who have lost everything. You can feel it in the force. A satellite has snapped a picture of the smoke. The best we can do is pray for those people.
Looks like the "holiday season" is already here. Christmas trees are going up. Lights are being strung. Thankfully, I haven't heard any Christmas music yet. The later, the better. And, of course, we have Black Friday coming up. Black Friday is an ode to consumerism. The ultimate shopping day. Be sure to wear your shoulder pads and helmet for this one. Or maybe a Kevlar vest would be better. Heck, wear both.
Enjoy the sunshine. Bundle up for the cold. The word is wind.
_________________________ Please donate: paypal.me/jgmazelis If you don't like PayPal, send me a note at madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com and I'll send you my street address so you can send a check or money order. Thank you.
But as the people’s spokesperson, I feel obligated to fill this page with something or another, so I’m on my way over by the Uptowner tavern/charm school to see if any of the fellas would like to fill in for me. Tag along if you’d like, but I got to warn you that labor negotiations can be mighty tedious and technical with this crowd. Ernie: Took a ride on that new Hop streetcar the other day. Thought it was pretty nice, but I wish they would’ve spent a little more dough and added a club car where a guy like me could go back, have a smoke and a nice cocktail while taking a gander at the sights passing by, over and over and over again. Herbie: And it’s still got that new streetcar smell, although I’ll bet you a buck two-eighty it’s only a matter of time ’til it fades to the more familiar Milwaukee County Transit System bus fragrance I call “Ode a la Unregulated Nursing Home.” Julius: I hear they’d like to expand the area the streetcar can go, ain’a? Ray: But they don’ need to go into the focking suburbs, I don’t think. They already got their transportation for a select clientele. It’s called The Cop—a transit system for black guys out on the street at night that travels directly to the station. Little Jimmy Iodine: So I was reading about all this research on brain concussions, and it made me wonder if they still had Jeffrey Dahmer’s brain in a jar somewheres ’cause they wanted to use it for science, remember? Emil: Science? Herbie: What do you mean, “science?” What the hell you think they’re going to use it for, a Caesar salad? Ray: What’re they going to learn from Dahmer’s brain; how to bullshit cops? Ernie: Good one, Ray. Little Jimmy Iodine: Hey, Artie! Over here. Put a load on your keister. Art: Hey gents, what do you hear, what do you know. Any you guys want to write my essay for me this week? I can’t pay you’s anything, but it’d be good exposure. Emil: What the hell are these scientists going to find out all the time keeping these guys’ brains around for, ain’a? It’s not like these focking things can talk. The scientific rule is you got to have a body, otherwise the brain won’t work. Herbie: And having a body is no guarantee that the brain will work, as you focking prove every goddamn time you open your mouth. Emil: Fock you. Little Jimmy: Scientists have to study exposed brains ’cause if the brain’s still in a guy’s head who’s alive, all you could come up with is that some guy could be acting like a focking nut but you wouldn’t technically know why his brain was telling him to act like a focking nut. See? Like it was only recently they discovered that ladies’ brains work differently than men’s do. Ernie: Who the hell didn’t know that? Must’ve been the bachelor scientists come up with that brainstorm. Julius: Fock exposure. Write your own damn essay Artie, you cheap knob. Herbie: You’re telling me it’s some kind of brain chemical why the wife can’t focking parallel park the focking car to save her life, and not ’cause she wants to drive me focking nuts? Emil: I’d say it’s focking dangerous to the public welfare to have these brains in jars laying around. What the hell, these scientists never heard of Franken-focking-stein? Yeah, a lot of people think it’s only a movie but I tell you, with the goddamn technology these days, who’s to say there’s not some nut scientist out there who’s only one brain short of creating his own personal guy? They are besmirching with disaster to us all, I swear. Ernie: Emil, if anybody’s one brain short—it’s you, you focking nitwit. They don’t have to dick around with making up a being out of used parts like they had to in the olden days. Now they can do it with those genes in some kind of fancy pressurized tube, I shit you not. Little Jimmy: They say they haven’t perfected the cloning yet, but I bet you a buck-two eighty they can do it. There’s a lot of stuff they never tell us. Like that time aliens from space landed in New Mexico. Herbie: That’s a load of crap. How come these so-called aliens always crash-land in a desert or some focking hillbilly bayou? How come they never go down Fifth focking Avenue in the middle of rush hour? Julius: A lot of Mexicans say that whole Southwest was stolen by the United States gringo, that it used to be Mexico and they want it back. Art: Que de la fock. About the essay, guys? Ray: Yeah, that’s just what focking Mexico needs, more cactus land with no water on it.
(It’s getting late and I know you got to go, but thanks for letting us bend your ear, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.)
At the most recent International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) conference in Atlanta, Walmart announced new plans to repurpose twelve of its locations into Town Centers --
an outdoor gathering area with seating, community activities,
entertainment, dining facilities, jogging paths, fountains, green
spaces, playgrounds, and even space for live music.
The idea behind Walmart's seismic shift is that it wants to recreate
the downtown of small communities that it was instrumental in
destroying.
Walmart Town CenterImage courtesy of Walmart & MMA
The above is parked in our garage. That's right, a Yugo with collector plates. Today at Home Depot I parked next to quite the opposite: a Dodge Hellcat. Are they all 1,000 plus horsepower? How much horsepower did the Yugo have? They have no horses in Yugoslavia so they measure power in oxpower. The Yugo had 1/2 oxpower.
Yesterday's Journal Times contained this line: "RACINE COUNTY — The Sheriff’s Office is beginning to see a disturbing trend, an increase in methamphetamines."
Under Village President Dave DeGroot budget expenses have exploded over the last two years:
Fire Department increased 11.1%
Police Department increased 14.7%
Contracts & Professional Services increased 18.6% Salaries & Wages increased 13.1 Assessors Department increased 45.7%
Since becoming Village President there have been no performance reviews for salary increases, no annual reports of police crime and call statistics, no annual report of fire service calls or community response times.
No facts, data or community comparisons are required or used to determine village spending.
These increases don't even reflect expenses and wages hidden in TIF districts which residents pay interest on.
We can't afford this kind of reckless behavior. #BootDeGroot
