--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Mike Dixon <mdixon.6...@...> wrote: > > Their work looks very dangerous but they also look so skilled > that the could do it in their sleep. Thanks for sharing!
It is incredibly dangerous. It may be even *more* dangerous once they acquire that degree of skill; they have to be on their guard every second against losing focus and going on automatic, because that's when accidents happen. Since the blowout in the Gulf, I've been reading this blog called The Oil Drum. Its topic is Peak Oil, but it's had many discussions on the spill, in which a whole bunch of oil industry folks have become involved, from managerial types to engineers to geologists to roughnecks. Oil drilling, especially offshore drilling, has its own subculture, very macho and cowboy-like, with an all-for- one-and-one-for-all ethos. (They are NOT supportive of BP, however. The ethos doesn't encompass the corporate aspects of the industry.) I've been surprised to find myself drawn to it; I wouldn't have thought it was my kind of thing at all. Not just the people but also the equipment, the platform rigs and drill ships. Normally I think of any kind of industrial structure as ugly, but all of a sudden I'm developing an aesthetic appreciation for the offshore oil-drilling structures, even a strange kind of affection and protectiveness. There's something oddly poignant about seeing the ships in the Gulf that are taking on the oil from the spill and flaring off the gas surrounded by other, smaller ships spraying water around the flaring pipes so they don't get too hot and ignite the gas and oil fumes at the wrong places. The big ships doing the flaring seem so vulnerable, almost heroic. The whole operation is terrifically dangerous, with all those ships concentrated in that small area transferring huge quantities of volatile substances from the well to the surface, then from one vessel to another. I'm sort of fascinated by my reaction to all this. I knew *zero* about oil drilling before. I'm having to deal with a good bit of cognitive dissonance, because with my political leanings, the oil industry approaches being satanic. I'm not quite sure what to do with all these positive feelings I've developed for the people and the equipment.
