The Associated Press is reporting that the Failed blowout preventer on BP oil well reaches the surface. They finally got it aboard at about 7PM CDT after almost 30 hours. The FBI was waiting on the vessel and will escort the BOP to a NASA facility for examination.

McClatchy reports that Up to 90% of oysters dead in Mississippi reef sample

PASS CHRISTIAN — Officials from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources took oyster fishermen out on the reefs off the Pass Christian Harbor on Wednesday to give them a preview of what to expect from the upcoming oyster season.

Catches resulting in an abundance of empty oyster shells led some fishermen to doubt the viability of the season, which typically begins in September or October.

“We’ve lost this season,” oyster dredger Loe Nguyen said.
…

Scott Gordon, director of the DMR shellfish bureau, said there have been more oyster mortalities this year, but he doesn’t know whether it can be attributed to the BP oil spill.

That’s right, Scott, it might have been a roving gang of Chinese Red Starfish that wiped out the oysters… 😈

Keith at the Invisible Library wrote a post, Either Or, about the “game” that Jon Stewart started usually called “Evil or Stupid”. Keith points out that the sets are not exclusive and there are certainly some people who are both evil and stupid.

I favor “ignorant” over “stupid” because “stupid” implies that they are incapable of understanding, while most people to whom the designation would apply are either uninformed or misinformed. Someone who doesn’t apparently know that Medicare is a government program is ignorant without regard to the reason.

Keith mentioned Grey’s Law, “Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice“, and that sent me on a search.

You start with Ockham’s razor: “entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem”

[Isaac Newton’s translation: “We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances. Therefore, to the same natural effects we must, so far as possible, assign the same causes.“]

Using that format you travel to Hanlon’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity“, which is seemingly almost the same as Grey’s Law, but you need one more piece.

Clarke’s Third Law states: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Most things are derivative, but that’s a slightly different field of math.

As if the destruction caused by the earthquake wasn’t enough, people fled from houses and apartments in their nightclothes in the winter, and now Gale force winds head for Christchurch.

The storm will probably knock down some of the damaged buildings and the associated rain will destroyed things that might have been salvaged if there was time.

You would think that the media has enough to report on without starting fights over nothing, but they just can’t resist.

Professor Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA has a new book coming out, The Grand Design, which will be released on September 7, 2010.

Like many books today, the publishers have sent out review copies to the media, hoping for some nearly free publicity. Professor Hawking’s earlier book, A Brief History of Time, was a best-seller, so the media couldn’t really ignore it.

The problem is that the only part of the new book they want to talk about is a brief passage: Stephen Hawking: God did not create Universe.

With a statement like that it was obviously time to invoke Clarke’s Fourth Law, “For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert“, which CNN does: Religious leaders hit back at Hawking.

Religion and science are different spheres and they don’t intersect. Religion is about belief which is not a subject that can be proved or disproved – it is. Science is all about proof, which is constantly tested and subjected to attack. If people would just accept that reality, the world would be a more peaceful place.

[Note: since I started composing this entry, the Wikipedia page I linked to for a brief description of the book has been pulled. No doubt it was under attack. The release date link is Amazon if you are interested.]

Position: 50.7N 59.2W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [030°] near 46 mph [74 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [100 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [115 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 240 miles [390 km].
Minimum central pressure: 970 mb ↑.

Currently about 180 miles [295 km] Southwest of Marys Harbour, Labrador.

Earl made landfall near Western Head, Nova Scotia earlier this morning as is moving at very high speed to the Northeast. Earl is now Post-tropical and this will be the last advisory.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre will continue to issue statements.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Newfoundland from Stones Cove to Boat Harbour.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]