Streaming live video by Ustream

No, it’s not a new indie rock band; BP is attempting its “top kill” procedure to shut down the leaking oil rig, and you can watch their efforts live over the internet.

Honestly, it’s difficult to tell what’s happening, if anything, but here’s a video showing what is supposed to happen:

Here’s hoping it works.

In the meantime, BP is apparently sharing some “data” to reassure the public that it’s working hard and making progress. This chart appeared on Rachel Maddow’s blog:

That increasing slope might lead you to believe that BP is collecting a greater and greater portion of the oil each day, but in fact, it’s just a running total of what they’ve collected. Of course it looks like it’s increasing.  So would the graph of cumulative oil being leaked into the gulf!

Stephen Few caught the subconscious slight-of-hand and re-plotted the data as a daily collection:

Bit of a different story, no?

videos via Consumerist

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