Off-Topic: Rambling on Risk

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	Name:	MAJ USA RET -
	Subject:	Rambling on Risk
	Date:	5/26/2010 9:30:07 AM

Drilling for oil is a risky and dangerous endeavor. In seconds, what is grueling… becomes deadly. Disasters are not slow in coming on. Engineers remotely monitor progress and conditions at drill bits which are miles away and operating at mind-boggling temperatures, pressures, and stresses. These engineers evaluate a myriad of unexpected conditions DAILY. This bind… or that unexpected reverse torque… or this decrease in mud pressure (etc) all pass their eyes and minds 24 expensive hours a day. The engineers are under intense stress themselves to “pass” anything which does not exceed their collective risk threshold. And then… do all this at the sea bottom!

So… BP tells us they knew something unusual was happening down there. It didn’t… like all the decisions… exceed their risk threshold. They chose to watch it either develop or, like so many “conditions” before, pass. In a blink of an eye… they were wrong.

If I were there… I would have been wrong. What if YOU were there? Maybe you don’t have the courage to take risks. The oil companies are not hiring couch potatoes or quaking Lizzies.

How much is at risk drilling for oil? To pull the drill string… how much do you think that costs? START at $5,000,000… ON LAND.
We do not live in a risk free environment. Every time you do ANYTHING you are at risk (despite the feelings of the ACLU, Green Peace, Al Gore, et al [SIC]).

And sometimes… you lose!

But, all in all, we live a better, healthier, happier life. If you do not see my point in your hot steaming cup of morning coffee… then, you don’t understand how risk and pleasure are inextricably intertwined. How much risk was taken to get that coffee to your lips? You cannot list them.

And sometimes… like a chain reaction wreck on a foggy interstate…, the innocent get caught up in a failed risky undertaking.

If you cannot stand the burden of risk, give up coffee. No... you just need to give up!