Tuesday, May 04, 2010

50 Ways To Fail

I have no room in my philosophies for pessimism. Doing something is better than doing nothing. Ere on the side of action. And Results kick Planning's ass every single time.

But I also believe in admitting when I do not know something. I support those that know enough to ask for help. And people ought to know when something is destined for failure.

Case in point: these feeble, wasted efforts by BP to mitigate the damage from their Deepwater Horizon oil spill. They've abandoned the robotic repairs. In the open sea, with the weather being what it is, burning the oil is not going to work. 12" tall plastic booms are not going to provide a defense against any waves over two feet. And using chemical dispersants to fight an oil spill is nothing but doubling the amount of pollutants we're releasing into the environment. We've got 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, and BP is paying to prove there are 50 Ways To Fail in an oil cleanup.

Surely they have hired men smarter than I am? Don't they have some professionals on their payroll? Aren't they running simulations on their ideas? How can they not see that the chance of failure exponentially exceeds the chance of success? And why is BP going at it alone?

Frustrating. Frustrating. Frustrating.

The good news? We have no oil on shore.

Yet.

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