The Idea: The Ottimat was invented by Phil McCory, a hair stylist in Huntsville, Alabama. While watching television coverage of the 1989 Valdez oil spill, McCory noticed the difficulty volunteers were having cleaning the fur of otters. McCory thought, “ if animal fur can trap and hold spilled oil, why can’t human hair?”
In a home experiment, McCory stuffed 5 pounds of hair he’d cut into a pair of his wife’s pantyhose. He tied the ankles of the nylons together to form a ring shaped collection bundle. Then, filling his son’s baby pool with water, he poured a gallon of used motor oil in the pool and then dunked the pantyhose. Two minutes later he pulled out the nylons and noticed the water was crystal clear. Not a trace of oil was left in the water, said McCory.
My wife mentioned something about the hair mat idea the other day. It makes sense to me, considering how good my still-attached hair is at soaking up skin oil from my scalp.
We can’t be very far off from being able to culture artificial hair in the lab (or in a factory).
I have one word for you, young man. Methane-hydrates.
They have a blowout preventer alright, but why it has failed probably has something to do with the extreme depths and pressures and the presence of methane hydrates, themselves once proposed as the Fuel of the Future. This is also the explanation as to why the Big Box has clogged.
We are in a new frontier with this deep-ocean drilling, and I am interested in more technical reporting on what is really taking place rather than the usual finger-pointing, and I include the BP execs in this.
Whatever we do, we must blame somebody. Somebody must have broken a rule or this wouldn’t have happened. And if there was no rule we’ll write one retrospectively. Remember — lawsuits increase national productivity.
Who says popular ignorance about science, technology and business has consequences?
I think they should just float another platform out over it. put a sleeve over the bore hole and just go back to pulling oil out of the ground like they were before. Any money you make from that site has to go towards the cleanup. Shit happens, roll up your sleeves and deal with it.
Hair mats
http://www.ottimat.com/videos.html#reuse
The Idea: The Ottimat was invented by Phil McCory, a hair stylist in Huntsville, Alabama. While watching television coverage of the 1989 Valdez oil spill, McCory noticed the difficulty volunteers were having cleaning the fur of otters. McCory thought, “ if animal fur can trap and hold spilled oil, why can’t human hair?”
In a home experiment, McCory stuffed 5 pounds of hair he’d cut into a pair of his wife’s pantyhose. He tied the ankles of the nylons together to form a ring shaped collection bundle. Then, filling his son’s baby pool with water, he poured a gallon of used motor oil in the pool and then dunked the pantyhose. Two minutes later he pulled out the nylons and noticed the water was crystal clear. Not a trace of oil was left in the water, said McCory.
My wife mentioned something about the hair mat idea the other day. It makes sense to me, considering how good my still-attached hair is at soaking up skin oil from my scalp.
We can’t be very far off from being able to culture artificial hair in the lab (or in a factory).
I have one word for you, young man. Methane-hydrates.
They have a blowout preventer alright, but why it has failed probably has something to do with the extreme depths and pressures and the presence of methane hydrates, themselves once proposed as the Fuel of the Future. This is also the explanation as to why the Big Box has clogged.
We are in a new frontier with this deep-ocean drilling, and I am interested in more technical reporting on what is really taking place rather than the usual finger-pointing, and I include the BP execs in this.
Whatever we do, we must blame somebody. Somebody must have broken a rule or this wouldn’t have happened. And if there was no rule we’ll write one retrospectively. Remember — lawsuits increase national productivity.
Who says popular ignorance about science, technology and business has consequences?
I think they should just float another platform out over it. put a sleeve over the bore hole and just go back to pulling oil out of the ground like they were before. Any money you make from that site has to go towards the cleanup. Shit happens, roll up your sleeves and deal with it.