Another story concerns the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. There is some stormy weather some 1600 miles from the area of the spill. They aren't sure what they're going to do about continuing to work on fixing the spill and cleaning up the damage in light of the anticipated storms.
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Brewing tropical rainstorm halts work to plug well
- By COLLEEN LONG & DAVID DISHNEAU
- Associated Press writers
- Published: Jul 21, 2010 - UPDATED: 4:35 p.m.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Tropical rainstorms moving toward the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday threatened to shut down undersea efforts to seal BP's ruptured well, interrupting work just as engineers get close to plugging the leak with mud and cement.
A weather system brewing in the Caribbean prompted crews to temporarily cork a relief tunnel deep beneath the sea floor, BP vice president Kent Wells said Wednesday afternoon. The storm is still hundreds of miles away and may never reach the area, but the oil giant doesn't want to risk damaging BP's best bet at permanently sealing the well.
"What we didn't want to do is be in the middle of an operation and potentially put the relief well at some risk," Wells said Wednesday afternoon. "It just seemed like the logical thing to do."
Forecasters say the storm system likely will move into the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, although it appears to be weakening. Right now, it has a 50 percent chance of becoming a tropical depression or storm within the next 48 hours.
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There has also been a story concerning an air scare overnight - a flight that came out of Kansas and wound up being diverted to Denver. There was severe air turbulence and a number of passengers were injured - supposedly because they didn't keep their seat belts on while seated as the pilot instructed.
Brian is talking about the giant bluefin tuna in the Gulf waters and about how they may become extinct as a result of the oil spill. They are running a story about the attempts to save the fish.
Today I've stayed at home and have done 2 loads of laundry and watched some TV - including the MLB game between the Angels and Yankees - that the Yankees won and then "bonus coverage" of the Astros and Cubs. The Astros won the game in extra innings - 12 or 13 I think.
I did take a short nap and I got a new picture of Sukiey on my cell phone. It's a close up shot of her - a real close up shot - and I have it set as my wallpaper.
Brian talked about a discovery in astronomy:
Scientists find most massive star ever discovered
Published: Wednesday, July 21, 2010, 4:45 PM
A huge ball of brightly burning gas drifting through a neighboring galaxy may be the heaviest star ever discovered -- hundreds of times more massive than the sun, scientists said Wednesday after working out its weight for the first time.
Those behind the find say the star, called R136a1, may once have weighed as much as 320 solar masses. Astrophysicist Paul Crowther said the obese star -- twice as heavy as any previously discovered -- has already slimmed down considerably over its lifetime.
In fact, it's burning itself off with such intensity that it shines at nearly 10 million times the luminosity of the sun.
"Unlike humans, these stars are born heavy and lose weight as they age," said Crowther, an astrophysicist at the University of Sheffield in northern England. "R136a1 is already middle-aged and has undergone an intense weight loss program."
Crowther said the giant was identified at the center of a star cluster in the Tarantula Nebula, a sprawling cloud of gas and dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy about 165,000 light-years away from our own Milky Way.
The star was the most massive of several giants identified by Crowther and his team in an article in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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My housemate came in and she was excited - she had the portable radio with her and had it tuned to AFR. Kim Wade, a local talk show host, was doing an interview with Dr. Chuck Missler. He is going to be making an appearance at FBCJ on August 1st to conduct a seminar:
She has left to go to the fitness club after changing clothes and locating her missing shoes. I've eaten supper and taken my PM meds.
Barbie did the weather and she said that today's high was 96; she is calling for a high of 97 tomorrow and little to no rain chances until sometime towards the end of next week - unless, of course, that "brewing tropical rainstorm" arrives soon and pays us a visit.
This is all I've got for now....
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