They don’t build them like that anymore.

Oil pours from cap over Gulf gusher, some captured

By MELISSA NELSON and HOLBROOK MOHR, The Associated Press

Saturday, June 5, 2010; 3:31 AM

PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — Oil poured out of a cap that robots adjusted over the gusher in the Gulf, though some was being collected, as the slow-motion catastrophe spread deeper into the marshes and beaches of four states along the coast.

The spreading slick arrived with the tide on the Florida Panhandle’s white sands Friday as BP continued its desperate and untested bid to arrest what is already the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

“Progress is being made, but we need to caution against overoptimism,” said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government’s point man for the crisis. Early Friday, he guessed that the cap was collecting 42,000 gallons a day – less than one-tenth of the amount leaking from the well. Later, BP said in a tweet that since it was installed Thursday night, it had collected about 76,000 gallons.

On April 19th, 1989, 47 sailors were killed following an explosion in the Iowa’s No. 2 turret.

Forty seven, eleven, the Iowa was not retired out of respect for the dead.  It was because we simply did not have the technology to replace that turret any more.  All the machines to build it had been disassembled and sold for scrap.

Want to go to the Moon?  How about vacation in low Earth orbit?

We don’t do that any more.  We have iPhone 4Gs assembled in China by suicidal slaves.

Welcome to your virtual life (not to be confused with your real one).

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted, it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in which instinct has learned nothing from experience. – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

From AP

Children are more sensitive to pollution than adults, and parents should watch for rashes on their skin or dark sticky spots that are hard to wash off, the CDC says.

Long-lasting skin contact with crude oil can cause skin to redden, swell and burn. The problem can get worse if the skin is exposed to the sun.

Oil on bare skin should be washed off as soon as possible. Call the local poison control center if a rash or other problem develops, health officials advise.

Soap and water, baby oil or petroleum jelly are the best way to remove it. Avoid using kerosene or gasoline. If you get oil in your eyes, rinse them with water for 15 minutes, the CDC says.

Swallowing small amounts of oil – less than a coffee cup – can cause vomiting and diarrhea, but is not likely to have long-lasting effects, government doctors say.

U.S. Falls From Internet Elite, Aims to Catch Iceland, Hungary

By Todd Shields and Matthew Campbell, Bloomberg Businessweek

June 02, 2010, 12:30 AM EDT

June 2 (Bloomberg) — Laurent Bernard, an intern at HSBC Holdings Plc in Paris, recalls his U.S. Internet experience in 2008, the year he moved to New York City as a student.

“I noticed right away that the Internet was slower,” Bernard, 24, said in an e-mail. “The most annoying thing was the time it took for each Web page to load on the screen. In France, it’s pretty much instantaneous.”

After ranking third in the world a decade ago, the U.S. has dropped to 15th in the proportion of citizens receiving fast Web service, or broadband, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. South Korea, Iceland and Germany are among the countries that ranked higher in 2009, the Paris-based group says. Connections were both faster and cheaper in 12 countries, including Hungary and Denmark.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigns

By Blaine Harden, The Washington Post

Wednesday, June 2, 2010; 5:03 AM

“It is unfortunate that people have come gradually to not listen [to my government] and I realize that I am to blame,” Hatoyama said, in announcing his resignation at a meeting of party leaders.

…

“I hope you understand my pained grief that we must sustain trust between Japan and the United States,” he said, noting that the March sinking of a South Korean warship, apparently by North Korea, shows that “security has not been secured in Northeast Asia.”

At some point in the distant future, Hatoyama said, Japan will not need the security umbrella provided by the United States, nor will it have to accommodate the “burden” of hosting tens of thousands of Americans troops. But he said that “is not possible in my era” to secure regional peace without Japan’s partnership with the United States.

Foxconn Workers in China Say ‘Meaningless’ Life Sparks Suicides

Bloomberg Businessweek

June 02, 2010, 6:04 AM EDT

June 2 (Bloomberg) — Ah Wei has an explanation for Foxconn Technology Group Chairman Terry Gou why some of his workers are committing suicide at the company’s factory near the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

“Life is meaningless,” said Ah Wei, his fingernails stained black with the dust from the hundreds of mobile phones he has burnished over the course of a 12-hour overnight shift. “Everyday, I repeat the same thing I did yesterday. We get yelled at all the time. It’s very tough around here.”

Conversation on the production line is forbidden, bathroom breaks are kept to 10 minutes every two hours and constant noise from the factory washes past his ear plugs, damaging his hearing, Ah Wei said. The company has rejected three requests for a transfer and his monthly salary of 900 yuan ($132) is too meager to send money home to his family, said the 21-year-old, who asked that his real name not be used because he is afraid of his managers.

Al-Qaeda is likely to replace No. 3 leader with ease

By Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller, Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The death of al-Qaeda’s third-ranking leader in a drone strike was portrayed by U.S. officials Tuesday as a severe setback to the terrorist organization. But if history is any guide, the network will have no problem replacing him.

On at least 10 occasions in the past decade, al-Qaeda has sustained the loss of a senior operative described at some point as the No. 3 figure in its hierarchy. Each time, the group has moved quickly to appoint a successor, demonstrating a resilience that has enabled it to survive a dozen years of open warfare with the United States and defy repeated predictions of its demise.

Al-Qaeda, it seems, has gotten used to filling the No. 3 spot, an especially high-risk job that involves overseeing terrorism plots, recruiting, raising money and providing internal security.