For while early in my career I was involved in drilling and one of the things we were warned about was "dropping the casing" ( This is the outer tube of metal used to stabilise an oil well and allow it to contain pressure ).
Here is a video of what I assume to be a bad day for someone ...
If you've survived a period of time in postgrad study (grad school in US terms) then you'll appreciate Piled Higher and Deeper. Its a sort of Dilbert for strange alternate world post grad study.
If not then I have to tell you the cartoons convey an suprisingly large amount of contextual truth about the PhD world - and are a lot of fun.
I returned to the world of University after 4 years employment and tried to explain to my fellow grad students why Dilbert was so funny - they just didn't get it then. Maybe the same might be true of the PhD cartoons - they're funny because it hurts!
The Chemical Industry has had an image problem for as long as many of us can remember. It also needs to enthuse the next generation of chemists, chemical engineers and such, so that they will be available when they grow up.
To this end I was up in Liverpool a few weeks ago and decided to drag my Son over to the Catalyst science discovery centre in Widnes. Its a great idea, and a good location in an area where you can still see the UK's chemical industry. However the exhibits are perhaps beginning to wear a little. No doubt it is a great place for a school trip. From a Chemical Engineers viewpoint I was disappointed to see most of the careers advice on offer was aimed at scientists - but there you go it was ever such at school. Some mention of the history of Chemical Engineering was present, but I thought more could have been made of it.
The major problem is not being allowed to take the time I'd like at each exhibit being dragged round by impatient offspring - look a bubble cap distillation tray .... come on Dad etc etc. ( I have images flashing through my mind of my own father who kept getting me into various military aircraft as a child in the hope I'd follow him into the RAF. )
But we need more of this sort of thing to keep people informed about the vital chemical industries in the UK.
Anyone know of any good places to go in the South East of England ?
(Photos from cheap camera phone - you get what you pay for ... ) PS My apologies for not keeping this blog up to date, its something I intend to do far more often from now on.
That is the question. I purchased a machine to be used for testing my product a while ago from Dell with the promised upgrade to Vista to come in the post.
This has meant that I haven't invested much time on the machine yet, as I don't want to be spending time reinstalling software etc.
But now the upgrade CD has come through in the post and its decision time.
On the downside SP1 for Vista isn't expected till OCt-Dec ( a guess from the IT press ) and some things like OPC servers and DCOM have problems with Vista, or so I'm told.
On the upside I can start building up the test machine as I ultimately want to have it. In the end I have to have a Vista machine to test on anyway.
I use XP on my laptop and have Win 96 and yes even Win 95 on old machines around the house. So I'm going to take the plunge - I'll let you know what my initial reactions are.
Update: In the end I had a difficult time with old software and have gone for a compromise of Vista on the laptop, but with a Virtual PC 2007 running XP to handle my old software. Of course that means needing an extra XP license, but I'm keen to use Vista as in the end it will have to be the way forward.
Reading Jim Cahill's blog I saw a reference to this refinery tour of an American Refinery from a Pennsylvania cable company. I especially like the fact that its the president and chief operating officer doing the tour !
I hope there are more such video's out there on the web - they would be especially useful for students considering engineering as a career. And of course people like myself who are just interested !
There are a large number of aging pipelines around the world and more than a few engineers and managers must be looking nervously at BP's actions over at Prudhoe Bay.
As ever it is impossible to get a full picture - especially from the distance I'm at. However in our media in the UK I'd say they are doing better than Shell did with the Brent Spar disposal incident. What is especially interesting is the reporting of the impact on Alaskan State revenues;
Hopefully this is part of a broader realisation of the benefits of industrial activity as well as the costs that are publicised so effectively by environmentalists. ( Not that I think they are necessarily wrong - it is just to take responsibility you need to weigh both sides of the argument).
This story will colour the way a lot of the Oil and Gas industry is viewed over coming years. Lets hope the decisions are good.
Its the summer holidays here in the UK and for the next week and a half I have charge of my two children. My son is becoming a fan of the Disney web site and specifically 'Safety Patrol'. He'll now ask loudly in public - it that a safety violation ? ( The catch phrase of the show ).
Also about a week ago a friend of mine was bemoaning having to start meetings with a 5 min talk on safety. ( He works for a big company - although I've never see this in small companies where everyone time writes. )
It got me thinking a little about safety culture. I remember reading about a new manager of a plant who discovered that his work force thought he was less interested in safety than his predecessor. He protested that he'd never said that - but that was just the point, because he didn't ask about safety a implied message was taken by his workforce.
Hence the 5 mins might now be useful of itself - but the message that the company is willing to pay for 5 mins may be.
And at home with my, at the moment, one man company - I can look forward to many more pestering questions on safety violations from my son. Thanks Disney - no really, I mean it if I think about it.
I returned to the world of University after 4 years employment and tried to explain to my fellow grad students why Dilbert was so funny - they just didn't get it then. Maybe the same might be true of the PhD cartoons - they're funny because it hurts!.jpg)
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The major problem is not being allowed to take the time I'd like at each exhibit being dragged round by impatient offspring - look a bubble cap distillation tray .... come on Dad etc etc. ( I have images flashing through my mind of my own father who kept getting me into various military aircraft as a child in the hope I'd follow him into the RAF. ).jpg)
But we need more of this sort of thing to keep people informed about the vital chemical industries in the UK.
