Oil Rigs

I work for a company that deals with subsea drilling, so I hear a lot about different oil and gas things. The other day I heard about this contest that Morris Architects won (this was actually quite a while ago, it just came up today). I can't remember the exact design challenge, but I think the contest was to create an innovative hospitality design. What they came up with was converting abandoned oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico into luxury hotels. I accept that this idea has many limitations and impracticalities (bringing in guests from long distances, housing staff in such a limited space, flying in fresh food, bringing the rig up to safety standards, hurricane evacuation plans, etc.). However I still think the idea is pretty cool.

Currently there are only a few options for abandoned/decommissioned rigs. I have heard of companies dismantling the rig and hauling it away for scrap. There is also the rigs to reefs programs where the leave the bottom half of the rig as a habitat for local fish. Or sometimes they just blow the whole thing up (This is what the Morris Architects claim happens most often). I once read something that said that some of Greenpeace tried to live on a part of an abandoned rig. What Morris Architects’ design does is convert the oil rig into a luxury hotel that is powered completely by renewable energy sources (Think wind turbines and wave power).



The hotel would have an entertainment level with a casino, and a place where shows like cirque du soleil could be preformed. On the roof there would be an infinity pool, and water sports of every kind would be offered. The rooms would be designed off shore as little containers that fit into the outer sections of the rig and fold out to become rooms once they are installed. Although the rooms would be smaller than most luxury resort rooms, their positions on the outward edges of the rig would give every guest an amazing view of the ocean. The hotel would also have a diving bell so guests could go observe the ocean wildlife firsthand. Anyways I think this would be amazing! I would definitely spend a night on one of these.



I thought I'd include their drawing of their future oil rig hotel. It's pretty classy, lol.

Currently excited for: SYTYCD, of course

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/02/19/oil-rig-eco-resort-by-morris-architects/

Brown Eyes

Ok so the other day I had to watch the Eye of the Storm video for something. I’d heard of it before, but I’d never actually seen it. The video is a documentary of an experiment a schoolteacher, Jane Elliot, decided to do with her elementary school class after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. All the children in her class were white Christians in an itty- bitty town in the middle of Iowa. They didn’t really seem to understand the magnitude of what had just happened. So for her experiment Jane Elliot told her students that blue eyed students are superior to brown eye students. The next day she reversed it. It was interesting to see how quickly the students’ behavior changed. By recess on the first day two students had already gotten in a fight because one called the other “brown eyes”. The students’ grades were also affected. The students that were told they were superior did better in class exercises than the “inferior” students. Jane’s theory is that racism must be taught; it is not inherent in a person. Jane did this with all her classes until she left the school. Obviously, the whole thing was extremely controversial. Many teachers and parents did not agree with her. After her experiment became so widely known she began receiving hate mail (Supposedly the most famous piece of hate mail quoted was, “How dare you try this cruel experiment out on white children.”). Other children attacked her children, and even today she is not welcomed in her home town. However there are some people who truly admire her and many of her students say the experience was life changing. Now I can’t say if I was teacher that I would necessarily do what she did, but Jane definitely made an impact and got her message to stay with those kids. Anyways it’s a thought provoking video and if you haven’t seen it you should consider checking it out.

I couldn't find the link to the one I saw, but this is a link to a Frontline episode they did about it with updates with the original kids. I haven't actually watched it yet so I hope its as good as the one I saw :)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6189991712636113875&ei=E_g3SpiTKp62qQLFjKTmDw&q=blue+eyed+brown+eyed+experiment&hl=en&client=firefox-a

Currently reading: Love in the time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Currently watching: Bones

SYTYCD

So work was terrible yesterday. Truly terrible.(This wasn't really reflected in my post yesterday because I actually wrote that a couple of days ago and just got around to spell checking and hitting publish). The only highlight to my day was watching the first top 20 episode of So You Think You Can Dance. So I think I am just going to ignore real life for a bit and fixate on that. Life is about to get super busy so I'm relishing this TV watching time that I have.



Fox.com
Anyways, ten couples danced. Here were the ones that stood out to me (I'll keep it short):

Phillip and Jeanine. Loved it, but I pretty much always love a Napoleon and Tabitha story dance.
Ade and Melissa. Beautiful, in a retro kind of way.
Caitlin and Jason. Who doesn't love Bollywood? Plus the kiss at the end was fun :)
Randi and Evan. Mandy Moore's choreography = Magic.

Those were my four favorite couples. I thought they were a little hard on Vitolio, Asuka, Paris, and Tony. I mean they weren't great but I enjoyed their dances. The truth is I pretty much liked all of them, and I could have talked in depth about every single one, but I am pretty sure nobody wants to read that! Anyways, the only couple I didn't really like was Jonathon and Janette. I also didn't really get into Wade Robson's crash dummy thing. Maybe it was the white face paint thing. That was super distracting.I can't wait to see who got voted off tonight. Alright I'm off to live in the real world again.

Currently Visiting: My Grand-Parents
Currently Looking for: Cheap Art Supplies

June

So I feel like there are so many things I could talk about (another reason I need to update more often). So Hurricane Season officially began last week. We haven’t had anything yet, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast that there will be 14 named storms this season. They also predict that 1-3 of those hurricanes will be category three or above. However they expect an “average” hurricane season, so hopefully things stay on the less severe side of the forecast. I am sorry if I am boring you with weather talk but for Texas, hurricanes are kind of a big deal. Beach towns like Galveston and Surfside are still recovering from last year’s Hurricane Ike.

Ok so in lighter news the Forbes most powerful celebrity list also came out. Now I know 95% of people do not think about this for more than 5 seconds. However the 5 % who do are Radio DJs trying to fill Morning show air time, and I have a 45 minute commute so I have heard a lot about this list. The main discussion seems to be that Angelina Jolie took the #1 most powerful celebrity spot from Oprah Winfrey. While I may not be super surprised by this, I admit I am a little disappointed. I mean Angelina is an interesting and successful woman, don’t get me wrong. But doesn’t anybody else remember when her claim to fame was being the Girl Interrupted actress that wore a vial of Billy Bob Thornton’s blood around her neck? All of the sudden she marries Brad Pitt, takes a few humanitarian trips, rocks a few red carpet dresses and bam she dethrones Oprah. I mean come on, I know Oprah is not a perfect model for society, and gets entirely too excited about cashmere sweaters sets and kitchen gadgets, but at least she has a book club. Other rankings you might find interesting: Steven Spielberg owned George Lucas. 30 rock costars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin ranks were almost equal. She is 86th and he is number 91 (I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Jack McBrayer will appear one year). Stephenie Meyer came in at 26, beating most of her tween market competition including Miley Cyrus (29) and the Jonas Brothers (60), as well as any writer competition (Stephen King is #68, and I’m not really sure where JK Rowling went L). Obama came in at 49. I think if I remember correctly he is one of the few, if not the only president to make the list while they are still in office.

Eep that was not supposed to be that long! Sorry!

Currently watching: The Mentalist!! and So You Think You Can Dance

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/53/celebrity-09_The-Celebrity-100_Rank.html
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=76833