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I've seen diagrams of planets' retrograde motion, but this time-lapse photo of Mars, complete with dates, really helps me understand it.
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National disapproval of teabaggers has climbed sharply, from 39% to 50%. That's because anger mixed with ignorance is not a political philosophy. It's a recipe for trouble.
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There's been a weird privatization of beaches along the Gulf coast, with BP and the Coast Guard working jointly to prevent reporters from visiting areas affected by the ongoing spill. To their great credit, New Orleans TV station WDSU left the cameras rolling as they tried to gain access to such an area, and then broadcast the uncut tape of what happened.
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About the security company and the BP spill: That security guy sucked at PR and was not properly briefed and was ill equipped to do his job.
That said, when doing spill response, you need to form an exclusion zone. The workers getting in and out of the kiddie pool is a standard segue from the “hot” zone to the “clean” zone. If you’re busy decontaminating and making sure everyone is safe, you know, doing your job, you can’t keep morons out of the exclusion zone. Regardless if it’s a “public” beach. This is guidance from the EPA. Police know it. Firefighters know it. Journalists do not. John Q Public does not.
There have been many times I wish I had a security team to keep the nosy public away. It’s for their safety. Just this week I had some moron walk up on my team and flat out say, “I saw you guys in the white suits and I wanted to see what you were doing.” Really? And I would never want to talk to the press while I was working, because, you know, I’m working with hazardous materials.
The Emergency Response Guidebook put out by gov’t agencies lists guidance for exclusion and safety zones. I say that because I’ve heard and read people state that the 100 yards or whatever the security people mention is an arbitrary distance.
Again, the security guy handled it very poorly, but he’s not the villain people on the intertubes are making him out to be. And I think the journalist was a jerk.