Dumper Oil Tanks

China's "nuclear option"--selling its vast stash of U.S. Treasuries to wreak havoc on the U.S. economy and interest rates--has been downgraded by the flood of U.S. investors who have exited stocks in favor of Treasury bonds.

3. As China's trade surpluses with the U.S. surged, generating billions in dollars that China needed to park in a safe, liquid market. U.S. Treasuries offered just such a market.

4. Following the lead of its mercantilist exporter neighbor Japan, which had long recycled its trade surpluses into Treasuries, China soaked up U.S. Treasuries for another reason: to keep interest rates low in one of its biggest markets (the U.S.).

5. If demand for Treasuries slumped, interest rates would rise, rippling through the U.S. economy, pinching credit-dependent U.S. consumers who would then buy fewer goods imported from China.

China's "Nuclear Financial Option" Downgraded to "Financial Firecracker" - Benzinga

MANILA, Philippines - Independent oil player Seaoil Philippines, Inc. and Ocean Tankers Corporation (OTC) filed a formal complaint on Wednesday at the Department of Justice against 13 individuals for alleged petroleum pilferage committed in the high seas, meaning beyond the territorial boundaries of a specific local government unit.

Named as respondents in a 14-page complaint-affidavit are: Sunny Boy Regolis; Leomar Tecon; Alberto Galos Jr.; Noel de Leon; Jose Sison Jr.; Jeffrey Magalonga; Roger Guzman; Jose Sianson; Ernesto Galino; Bernie Gamarcha; Isabelito Sancho Jr.; Rusel Acut; Melvin Nacional.

According to the complaint-affidavit, a witness who served as bargeman-oiler for the vessel narrated that the first pilferage or "pa-ihi" took place on October 13, 2009 when Seaoil was set to deliver some 650,000 liters of unleaded gasoline, valued at that time at P26,162,500, for delivery to its depots in the Visayas region.

Barge 811 was towed by tugboat "Mark Anthony," then under the command of respondent Tugmaster Captain Galos Jr.. All the other respondents were also on board the barge.

Seaoil, tanker firm file oil pilferage complaint - ABS CBN News

Computer Software http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=17555522&postID=9221569040176362595 MIT has created a robotic prototype that could autonomously navigate the surface of the ocean to collect surface oil and process it on site.

The system, called Seaswarm, is a fleet of vehicles that may make cleaning up future oil spills both less expensive and more efficient than current skimming methods. The researchers have developed two models of the SeaSwarm: one that burns the oil it collects and another that dispatches units to dump their tanks into a floating reservoir.

The robot is 16 feet long by 7 feet wide and can gather up to 20 times its weight in oil. The idea is to send thousands of similar devices to clean up a "burgeoning surface spill" very quickly. Another perk of SeaSwarm is that using the flock of robots eliminates the need for human and equipment coordination in a large-scale cleanup effort.

The Seaswarm robot uses a conveyor belt covered with a thin nanowire mesh to absorb oil. The fabric, developed by MIT Visiting Associate Professor Francesco Stellacci, and previously featured in a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, can absorb up to twenty times its own weight in oil while repelling water. By heating up the material, the oil can be removed and burnt locally and the nanofabric can be reused.

MIT Seaswarm Oil Absorbing Robot - Next Big Future (blog)

We may not have figured out how to stop oil spills from happening, but the folks at SENSEable City Laboratory at MIT are one step closer to a solution to cleaning up the aftermath. Their newest project, a swarm of robots called SeaSwarm, proposes to skim the ocean surface and remove oil. The robots use "a photovoltaic-powered conveyor belt made of a thin nanowire mesh to propel itself and collect oil," MIT said in a statement . The first prototype was successfully tested in Boston's Charles River in August, and it responded well to the water's changing surface.

The robots move on the water's surface autonomously, and the cells generate enough energy to keep the bots moving for a few weeks. The conveyor belt constantly rotates and gathers pollutants, gathering the oil in the head of the robot and putting the cleaned belt back into rotation.

The robot is 16 feet long by 7 feet wide and can gather up to 20 times its weight in oil. The idea is to send thousands of similar devices to clean up a "burgeoning surface spill" very quickly. Another perk of SeaSwarm is that using the flock of robots eliminates the need for human and equipment coordination in a large-scale cleanup effort.

As oil from the Gulf oil spill works its way to the surface, SeaSwarm developers say their units could lap it up almost immediately and do so around the clock.

Using Robots To Clean Up Oil Spills - Forbes

We may not have figured out how to stop oil spills from happening, but the folks at Senseable City Laboratory have come one step closer to a solution to cleaning up their aftermath. Their newest project, a swarm of robots called SeaSwarm, proposes to skim the ocean surface and remove oil.

According to a press release, the robots use "a photovoltaic powered conveyor belt made of a thin nanowire mesh to propel itself and collect oil." The first prototype was successfully tested on the Charles River this August and responded well to the water's changing surface.

The robots move on the water's surface autonomously, and the cells generate enough energy to keep the 'bots moving for a few weeks. The conveyor belt constantly rotates and gathers pollutants, gathering the oil in the head of the robot and putting the cleaned belt back into rotation.

The robot is 16 feet long by 7 feet wide and can gather up to 20 times its weight in oil. The idea is, according to the Times, to send thousands of similar devices to clean up a "burgeoning surface spill" very quickly. Another perk of SeaSwarm is that using the flock of robots eliminates the task of human and equipment coordination in a large spill cleanup effort.

Swarm of robots to clean up oil spills? - Mother Nature Network