Historical Perspective on Macondo Prospect well via @ryansmithTP

A couple of twitpics from Ryan Smith of Da Paper/NOLA.com help put well blowouts into perspective:

and the caption:

The bottom line on this is that the basics haven't changed in forty years.  Something goes wrong, well blows up.  To stop the wild flow, drill a secondary well to catch/block the flow from the primary.  The main difference? The depth of the Macondo well is over 3000 feet more than "B-21" above.

I've often picked on Da Paper for weak use of Teh Internetz, but the extensive use of Da Twittah that the reporters and editors have picked up in recent weeks has yielded wonderful results, including my renewed respect for their skills.  Thanks, again, Mr. Smith