It's a depressing tragedy that could have been prevented. Another example of greed run amok. And now they are saying it could get swept into the Atlantic and up into New England.

I don't know. It's kind of impressive, when you look at it in the larger context. It's like, okay, most of the surface of the world is covered in water, and the oceans produce most of our oxygen and scrub toxins out of the air and are the bottom of the food chain. And they're so big and so deep and so thick with life, they're practically impossible to kill, so at a basic level the planet will always be able to support complex lifeforms like humans.

UNLESS you dump something into them that floats on the surface, cuts them off from the sunlight, and is too toxic for the myriad of lifeforms it supports to consume and metabolize.

Here's another sort of interesting question: how much does it affect global warming if you spread what amounts to a giant black plastic tarp across several thousand square miles of ocean? I mean, is the amount of localized heat created by an oil spill that size -- is it enough to do anything significant to the weather in that area, or to global weather patterns? We know all the asphalt and concrete in cities can fuck with local weather patterns. What about an oils spill the size of Vermont?

Small price to pay to keep gas in our SUV's!! And have you noticed how everyone is changed their travel habits to include more public transit, more car pooling and more walking more since this disaster started? No, I haven't either.

@2, "And they're so big and so deep and so thick with life, they're practically impossible to kill"

I agree, and that's why we should try even harder to prove that your point is wrong!!

"Man vs. Nature: ONWARD TO VICTORY!!!"

And this is just the part we can see. There's that whole "underwater column of oil" issue.

By the way, if you bought shares in solar firms today, they were mostly down 8.2 percent, so you got them at a discount.

Just think of oil geysers in the Caribbean as Cheney's Snot.

I think you'd call it a plume.

In other news, Brit Hume asks, "Where's all this oil? I don't see it!"