Hide and Seek: Discovering LA's Hidden Oil Production.

Los Angeles -  This town started growing rapidly in the late 1800s with the arrival of the railroads from across the country.  People were lured here by the slogan, "Oranges for health, California for wealth."  Midwesterners were told of the new miracle fruit, the orange.  They were also told of the great potential of agriculture and abundance of water resources.  Such promises were highly exaggerated or straight-out lies, depending where you settled in the LA area, but many soon discovered a gold other than oranges: black gold.  


Los Angeles, it would turn out, sits atop the nation's 3d largest oil field.  Indeed by the early 1900s, the city's first skyscrapers were oil derricks, which densely sprung up from Venice to downtown, Hollywood to Signal Hill and beyond.  As the sub-terrain was seemingly drained, developers moved in to replace forests of oil fields with grand boulevards and single family homes.  


Yet today, throughout our city, oil drilling continues and not just in the very visible cities of Carson or Signal Hill.  Dotted throughout the urban core stand hidden oil derricks.  Slant drilling takes place--oil could be being pumped from right beneath your feet and you'd not know it.  These operations are disguised:  An obelisk-like structure on a high school campus; an island with no people, but tall "buildings;" an "office building" on a major thoroughfare with no windows.  Watch the video below to see a bit of hidden Los Angeles.


-ry

SCUM OF THE EARTH

Hey Israel, want us to look the other way as you raze Palestinian homes and expand & build settlements in the West Bank? How about we stop selling you arms and defending your asses? Still want us to look the other way when Iran bombs the shit out of you?!!

The spinless U.N. and Obama need to grow some balls and introduce sanctions against Israel!

MK Danny Danon is a fucking idiot for calling Obama a racist for asking Netanyahu to halt settlements!

NY State Assemblyman Dov Hikind needs to come home and worry about his own district and quit meddling in foreign affairs! Mr Hikind,you are a jackass for saying that halting settlements amounts to segregation! What the hell do you think settlements are?!! Jews aren't integrating and assimilating into already existing Arab neighborhoods. Israeli settlements are concentrated areas for Jews only. What the hell do you call building walls around Gaza and through Jerusalem?!! What do you call closing the Gazan-Egyptian border?!! What do you call a sea blockade of the strip?!!

A blockade is an act of war! A winding wall which isolates a religious community--why does that sound familiar? Sounds like a ghetto to me. But where has that happened before? Germany, perhaps? Hmm....

ASSHOLES!!!

Written in response to:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1129089.html

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1129190.html

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/125860135015.htm

*No, i am not anti-semetic.

When i say "Israel," i usually mean the government of, not all Israelis.

No, i do not support or condone Hamas or terrorism.

I don't think Palestinians get fair media coverage in this country.

IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THE LAW!

This is what i filled out for a form for a website that asked me to help repeal anti gay marriage laws. It asked me to fill out an "About Me" and a "What marriage means to me." I had nothing to say about me, but each section only 1500 characters and it takes more than 1500 characters to even briefly explain what marriage means to me so i had to utilize the "About Me" section to write a semi-description of how i felt.

[website is: http://www.signforequality.com/ i tried to sign up thru Safari, but it wouldn't work so i opened up Firefox to sign up successfully]

Though i never plan on getting married and am atheist, this is not about love or religion for me; this is about equality! If i had my druthers, i'd not let the state "marry" gays--OR straights! Marriage seems more suited for religious institutions. But alas, the issue it seems, is already married to government. This is the kind of shit that happens when church and state mingle. If it really is about "protecting" the institution of marriage, then relegate it to the church. Then we shall see how many back down and how many bigots are still resistant to equal rights for the LGBT community. Like i said, this about EQUALITY. Civil Unions are the LGBT's "colored only" water fountains. We learned from Brown v. Board that SEPARATE IS NOT EQUAL. SEGREGATION IS WRONG. DISCRIMINATION IS EVIL. Civil unions are NOT totally equal, in fact. All this does is make us 2d class citizens! This is not India, damn it! I will NOT be relegated to a lower caste! This is America, founded on idea of equality. Though Equality did not originally apply to all, America has come to realize it's wrongs and been corrected and the general poulation has come to see such decisions as right. Women, Blacks, Irish, Amer-indians, Catholics, children (by proxy), the un-unionized et al. have had to fight and struggle to show America as a whole the right path. This is OUR cause, OUR future path. We must again show America the correct path.

They say ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law! I say that the law is no excuse for ignorance! People must be set straight!

For the religious objectors, i say, we are not trying to change your religion! You may continue to believe and practice whatsoever you may wish. Religious organizations are private organizations and if you wish to be discriminating, that is your prerogative. All we ask is that you not ask our government, which should represent ALL of the people, to discriminate based on your religious sect's beliefs and values, which represent only SOME of the people of the nation. Surely you cannot deny the logic in this statement if you exist in a DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. We do not ask you to live our "life style," as you call it, we ask that you live and let live. Two people in love and wishing to express that love through a government sanctioned institution should not be denied such an opportunity. The government grants certain rights, benefits and privileges to those married. All we ask is for the same rights, benefits and privileges, for we pay the same taxes. Actually we pay more taxes, because we do not share the same rights, benefits and privileges as married folks. That's right, some of us pay more to be discriminated against! Oh, the privilege of that!! >:o(  

We do not seek to degrade your institution, indeed i think that heterosexual actions such as incest, polygamy, rape, spousal-rape, adultry, and divorce have already done enough harm to the institution. Outlaw such things; but not love!

What an asshole! I can't believe this guy!

I held a meeting in a warehouse in Mafia Wars and negotiated a lasting peace.

I dumped the entire can of fish food into the tank in FishVille.

I found a lonely black sheep on your farm in FarmVille
and promptly killed it...mmm...mutton!
Then i salted the earth.

In Roller Coaster Kingdom,
i built a roller coaster where it free falls into a dark tunnel.
I made it a dead-end tunnel (literally).
I ran the remainder of the park into the ground.

I went to your restaurant in Cafe World
and dumped cyanide into your water
and shat in your soup du jour.

I walked into the town square in YoVille
and set off a nuclear bomb.

Thanks for the invites folks, but i waste enough time between Facebook, ryspace, twitter and other sites that shall remain un-named. I can't handle all these online games.

Yes, i know i am an asshole. Please feel free to tell me off, then delete me from your friends if you so wish

THE DAY I WATCHED THIS MOVE (2009)

Just finished watching The Day The Earth Stood Still (2009).  Of course capital punishment is wrong.  I like how the kid in the film represents those death penalty supporters who are more apt to think and take action on emotion than reason and logic.  Emotions cloud logic and proper & just judgement.  While i hope the whole human race perishes very soon, the death penalty is wrong!  

I disagree with the film that humans can change, however.  It is in human nature the capacity to be evil, to be power hungry and greedy, to have a need of superiority.  It is within human nature to band together in similarity, which therefore means that you are distinguishing others as different.  You revel in your similarities, which are arbitrary, fools!  There are many names for this, here are a few: nationalism, nativism, rascism, apartheid, Repblicans, Democrats, Tories, Labor, Protestants, Catholics, Sunni, Shia....*  If we ever learn to not hate, we cease to being human.  Good ceases to exist without evil.  (*No, not every aspect of some of these groups is bad or evil)  Humanity is doomed to always embrace evil.

My message is: keep as much love in your heart as possible.  Treat others as you wish to be treated (yes, as an atheist, i know the irony of that statement, see *above).  Keep YOUR community safe, sane, loving and caring.  Explain logic to others, but know that you can rarely force change; it'll come when the individual is ready. Do not close yourself or your community out from the world at large.  Emanate love and peace and you might just get some new community members.  Shit's gonna happen, just be strong, you can get through this horrible wo/man made world with the support of those who love you.

Wow, so that was uncharacteristically optimistic of me!

What the fuck is wrong with me?!!