Thursday, October 7, 2010

A flood of toxic sludge

On Monday, October 4th, a large reservoir filled with toxic red sludge in western Hungary ruptured, releasing approximately 700,000 cubic meters (185 million gallons) of stinking caustic mud, which killed many animals, at least four people, and injured over 120 - many with chemical burns. The 12-foot-high flood of sludge inundated several towns, sweeping cars off the road as it flowed into the nearby Marcal River. Emergency workers rushed to pour 1,000 tons of plaster into the Marcal River in an attempt to bind the sludge and keep it from flowing on to the Danube some 45 miles away. The red sludge in the reservoir is a byproduct of refining bauxite into alumina, which took place at an alumina plant run by the Hungarian Alumina Production and Trading Company. A criminal probe has just been opened by Hungarian authorities.

A flood of toxic sludge by Boston.com with incredible photos about the catastrophe

 

 Something to think about:

185 million gallons of toxic mud flooded in 10 minutes... To give perspective on this. The Gulf Oil Spill released an estimated
205 million gallons of oil over the months it was uncapped.

 

Friday, February 26, 2010

All time Olympic medal list - not included 2010

Like everything the Olympics comes down to finances as well just like many things in this world.
If you have money as a country you can build world-class ranks etc, you can afford to pay excellent trainers and if you personally have lot of money or your parents then you can pursue sport careers, train hard for the Olympics. No surprise even the Russians go to the US for training in certain sports.
Many countries like the US, Germany, Canada etc put an enormous effort to train and qualify more athletes improving the chances for them for medals. There are hundreds of them on the Olympics while many other countries can only send maybe 10 athletes, that is a big difference.
In my opinion it is already an achievement for all those countries that can send athletes who qualify only to participate no matter where they land on the rank.

Im kinda disappointed in the US broadcasting... they cut most of other countries athletes out to show theirs... I know they have so many but still I am used to watch all kind of nations and now I can barely see some out of North America.
In one minute I am watching speed skating next minute jumps two minute later figure skating... it is kinda dizzying.

Oh and about the comparisons i would say it is better to compare results in the unified medal table ... not all countries have a chance to shine on winter olympics.

I think Hungary has nothing to be ashamed of. Being about the size of an average-sized state in the USA in the combined list Hungary is on the 9th place from all the participant countries with almost 500 medals all together.