Do people really not understand how tides work? or the basic dynamics of wave-action?

[SoCalDem]

I cannot believe the (feigned?) surprise about the fact that oil is now UNDER the top sand..

Or that the oil would not just stay "out there", and would never come ashore..

Every day I get angrier at the so-called media for not stepping it up and laying out the FACTS..

Fact:

Once spilled/dumped/leaked etc., oil WILL come ashore.. somewhere,sometime

You CANNOT ever really "clean it up"

Once emulsified, you cannot "skim" it..(try this experiment..put flour & water in a blender, and then "skim" off just the flour)

Any storm action will drive the gooey mess inland

Tides bring it in, and then take it out and bring it back in again & again.

The ONLY people "responsible" for it are the ones who loosened the regulations, and the ones who used sloppy drilling procedures..and the ones who thought it was ok to poke holes in the earth's crust..a mile down.

A president cannot mitigate the damage done, no matter which party is in power or how much money is thrown at the "problem".. Once it's in the water, it's too late.

[SunnySong]

1. People thought "bombing the moon" would effect tides...

No certainly ever went broke underestimating the scientific illiteracy of Americans. Just ask the manufacturer of those copper magnet golf bracelet things.

[niyad]

2. one would almost think that the msm is being deliberately ignorant on these facts.

then again, they are playing to an audience, many of whom think the earth is less than 6,000 years old.

[GoCubsGo]

3. Most people are scientifically illiterate.

62% think we descended from a couple of naked people who conversed with a talking snake, as opposed to those who accept Evolution as a legitimate natural process. It should come as no surprise that they don't understand how tides and waves work.

[Ready4Change]

5. Tides/waves = alchemy.

Tides/waves are things only read about in books. So, such things are on par with unicorns and heffalumps.

[undeterred]

9. I'm pretty sure I descended from naked people.

Didn't everyone?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Are you kidding? Have you seen the crap that people post on this issue?

No, the oil will not be sucked up by a hurricane, ignited by lightning, and toast Mexico and Texas to a cinder.

No, toxic oil rain will not be landing on the blue mountains, or anywhere else, in a conspiracy to destroy all organic crops and sell toxic oil rain resistant Monsanto foodstuffs.

No, the oil gusher will not create a subterranean cavity which will collapse and create a megatsunami that reaches the supersonic speed of 300 mph and destroys florida.

No, the ocean is not boiling like acid. Whatever the fuck that means.

No, super toxic oil will not combine with super toxic detergent to great some new ultra super toxin that kills any clean up work it comes in contact with.

No, the tectonic plates will not lose their precious lubricants and cease up.

No, the oceans will not be killed resulting in the depletion of oxygen in the atmosphere.

No, the mermen of Atlantis will not rise up and poke us with their tridents.

No, just because BP is deceitful and dishonest, it does not mean that everything you can imagine is therefore true.

OK, I've made one of those claims up. But other people have made the other things up, and unlike me they were being serious.

[SoCalDem]

6. I can see how "ordinary" people can be "befuddled", but it's so damned annoying to see media

spending an inordinate amount of air time on the Know-nothings, and seemingly shunning the academics & specialists

[SunnySong]

7. I have always found the news media completely accurate and fair.

Unless it is a subject of which I have first hand knowledge then they tend to be batshit crazy and remarkably uninformed.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. What is "cease up"?

[SoCalDem]

10. Pretty sure they meant seize up

:)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

11. Thx

I was being deliberately obtuse. HFPS loves to regale others with his superior understanding of events and solicitations as to what is real and what is fiction. I thought maybe he had stumbled upon an event that was new to me... :-)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. I don't particularly care either way when regaling others with my superior understanding of events.

It's just that I don't like really stupid shit, some examples of which I've posted.

[Posteritatis]

21. If they cease upping, they'll start downing and *the Earth will implode!* (nt)

[Posteritatis]

22. It sorta bugs me that I can't tell which claim is the made-up one

I mean, I'd guess the mermen one, but I've seen enough people here who believe Atlantis existed (or exists) to not be sure...

[Fire1]

12. Hell, from what I've read most don't know how GOV'T works

let alone, TIDES!!

[Jackpine Radical]

14. That's an easy one.

Tidal actions are produced by the gravitational field of the moon.

Political actions are produced by the gravitational field of money.

[Fire1]

16. Your knowledge doesn't change the previous FACT!

Furthermore, "money" is not the answer to HOW government works!

[Greyhound]

13. Are you surprised that a people that are confused by the complexity of the four-way stop sign

don't understand gravity and fluid dynamics?
:kick: & R

[HCE SuiGeneris]

15. LOL

:toast: :rofl:

The pandemonium of four-way stop signs! My god, the sadists that invented those in-navigable impediments should be shot.

[MindPilot]

23. And they actually sometimes make you interact with other drivers!111!1

The horror!

[SoCalDem]

18. ahh yes.. the ubiquitous 4 way stop

Out here you can always tell the people who came from the midwest,... we understand how they work, but I swear, some people have NO CLUE how to work a 4 way stop

[MindPilot]

17. It is the very first thing I learned in oceanography.

The professor started with "I cannot emphasize strongly enough that EVERYTHING eventually disperses into the ocean. If you go to the end of the pier and take a piss, within about 100 years there will be a part of your urine in every drop of seawater. That is fundamental to any further study of the ocean."

[Posteritatis]

19. Consider how many people are dumb enough to believe in homeopathy

Once you get to the point of thinking water has memory - but only of good things, mind! - you're pretty far into the Land of Not Understanding How it Works.

[lonestarnot]

20. a glass of wine with a few drops of deadly poison in it: Although not all the liquid is poison, all

the liquid is poisoned. The lesson for the day is depravity.

[Odin2005]

24. Most people are too stupid and are stuck in Magical Thinking.

Remember that by definition half of people have an IQ below 100.

[SoCalDem]

25. The thing that gets me is that so many of these people actually live at or near the coasts

and some even make their living on the sea. Surely THEY had to know that the surf would grind the oil into the sand and under it.. All the folks out there with Ziplocs & sand shovels are kind of wasting their time. A better way would be to close the damned beaches to lookeeloos & sunbathers & wait until the "event" is waning and then bring in front end loaders & just scrape it as deeply as possible & accept a steep beach until nature "fixes" things...or pay through the nose & re-sand it. What they are doing now is cosmetic..not therapeutic. They are looking for individual grains of paprika in a giant pot of goulash.

[Greyhound]

29. "You know how dumb the average person is, right? Now, look around and realize that

half the people you see are dumber than that."

An oldie.. :rofl:

[Odin2005]

30. Who was it that said that? I can't remember!

:rofl:

[Iggo]

27. Yes.

[zorahopkins]

28. Whales

Aren't waves caused by whales? They come up for air, and then go back under water -- and that causes waves. I'm pretty sure I'm right about that.

And tides are caused by the moon.

Why are there tides when there is a new moon?

I slept through science classes, so I don't remember everything.