What a day. It all started off with some technical education up at Snob Hill (kind people refer to it as the University of Kansas). The first speaker works with the utility systems of Wichita, Kansas. Thanks to those darned Okies injecting water all over the place and creating earthquakes, Wichita had four different earthquake events in 2016 far larger than might be expected. This has forced the City to learn about earthquakes and what may or may not happen to their utility systems and the support buildings. One thing they learned on the first one was what they called the "halftime effect". That one struck a bit after 10:30 P.M. The first thing they noticed was a huge spike in the call for water all over their system. They eventually determined there had been no line breaks of any size, so they blamed it on people being awakened by the event and then doing what many people do when they wake up. The whole city was flushing at the same time. Or, as one of his superiors referred to it: "It scared the crap out of everyone."
The next speaker had a very interesting presentation on using UAS for a very wide variety of uses involving engineering projects around the world. Everything from getting close up views of electric transmission lines to determining approximate quantities of tree and undergrowth clearing required prior to creating a new highway route to inspecting bird nests in sensitive areas to monitor to what extent some project is disturbing the nest residents. Their projects go far beyond the surveying-related projects I've read about here.
On the return trip I encountered a highway bottleneck caused by maintenance workers forcing about three miles of single lane traffic. While waiting near the end of a very long line of vehicles I could see far ahead that drivers were attempting to move off the road and onto the shoulder as much as possible. Finally, I saw the truck hauling the wide load approaching very slowly as each vehicle tried to give him every inch of road possible. Every traffic cone that had been set up on the center stripe was being toppled. A few would topple and roll just right to get run over by his rear axles.
Today was one of those days where you notice snakes on the roads. If I saw one, I saw 20 in my 300 miles of driving. The last one was a dandy. This was on a gravel road between two of my cattle pastures. I could see him from a long way off. He was just a baby.....only about 5'-6" long, give or take an inch. I call them king snakes but I'm sure they have some Latin-based nomenclature to be more accurate. He was a bit on the yellow side but had the markings many people think of as rattlesnake markings. Nope. A nice pointy tail with no signs of buttons. He was big enough to make a muskrat nervous, though.
Holy Cow, post: 424421, member: 50 wrote: He was just a baby.....only about 5'-6" long, give or take an inch. I call them king snakes but I'm sure they have some Latin-based nomenclature to be more accurate. He was a bit on the yellow side but had the markings many people think of as rattlesnake markings. Nope. A nice pointy tail with no signs of buttons. He was big enough to make a muskrat nervous, though.
Sounds like what we call a bullsnake in western Nebraska.
Gene nailed it. It was a bull snake. Those rascals get really big. Probably about 20 years ago I was walking across a pond dam that happened to have a large limestone rock about four feet in diameter on it. As I walked by I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye that seemed to be sticking out from under the rock. I soon discovered about 30 inches of bull snake sticking out from under that rock as straight as an arrow. It didn't really care whether I looked at it or not. It didn't even seem to mind when I jumped 12 feet straight up in the air. Once I regained my sensibilities, and breath, I gave him a really good stare. Finally, he made a U-turn and I was then able to watch the other 30 or more inches come out of the first hollow spot and disappear into the one into which he was headed.
Holy Cow, post: 424421, member: 50 wrote: Thanks to those darned Okies injecting water all over the place and creating earthquakes, Wichita had four different earthquake events in 2016 far larger than might be expected.
If you are referring to fracking, that procedure is designed to release the tension of underground formations in smaller, more frequent increments. This causes less damage compared to one large catastrophic event. It is my opinion that California needs to get started right away, before it is too late. 🙂
James
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JaRo, post: 424457, member: 292 wrote: If you are referring to fracking, that procedure is designed to release the tension of underground formations in smaller, more frequent increments. This causes less damage compared to one large catastrophic event. It is my opinion that California needs to get started right away, before it is too late. 🙂
James
I wish it was just the fracking. Oklahoma allows the disposal of the waste water produced by fracking with high-pressure (really, really high pressure) injection of this waste water back into the ground. That is what is causing our earthquakes. While illegal in a lot of other states, our crooked government allows well operators from those states to truck their waste water here and let the oil producers here pump their crap back into our ground and make a lot of money doing it. We're quickly becoming a toxic waste dump. Oh BTW, the lobbyists have smeared enough money around to make sure it's illegal for the corporation commission to ask HOW MUCH crap is being injected. That would unnecessary government oversight...
On a serious note it is only a matter of time until the local aquifers from which most folks get their domestic water will be rendered contaminated and unsuitable for humans. I've moved some of my investments over to the larger bottled water producers.
JaRo, post: 424457, member: 292 wrote: If you are referring to fracking, that procedure is designed to release the tension of underground formations in smaller, more frequent increments. This causes less damage compared to one large catastrophic event. It is my opinion that California needs to get started right away, before it is too late. 🙂
James
Fracking doesn't ease the tension of underground formations. It fractures the rock in the production zone around a well to improve the flow of oil and/or gas to the well. It is a well development tool. Fracking is also used to improve water well yields in tight formations like the fractured crystalline rocks in the Foothills west of Denver where water yields are often less than 1 gpm.
And while fracking isn't the culprit for increased seismic activity, it does create a lot of waste water during well development and production. Deep well injection of the waste fluids is what causes the earthquakes.
Gene Kooper, post: 424464, member: 9850 wrote: Fracking doesn't ease the tension of underground formations. It fractures the rock in the production zone around a well to improve the flow of oil and/or gas to the well. It is a well development tool. Fracking is also used to improve water well yields in tight formations like the fractured crystalline rocks in the Foothills west of Denver where water yields are often less than 1 gpm.
And while fracking isn't the culprit for increased seismic activity, it does create a lot of waste water during well development and production. Deep well injection of the waste fluids is what causes the earthquakes.
I guess I should have added a whole bunch of smiley faces to get my point across
:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)
If anybody has ever pissed off a bull snake before, they know that they can be more aggressive and intimidating than a rattlesnake.
Only once have I been chased off by a snake - and it was a pissed off bull snake. Of course I gave him plenty of reason.
JaRo, post: 424497, member: 292 wrote: I guess I should have added a whole bunch of smiley faces to get my point across
:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)
My apology. I thought the smiley only went with the last sentence about California.
