Sunday, February 24, 2008

Oil Exhibit and Saved By The Bell

After reading through many of the previous blogs, we all seem to share the same feelings on the oil exhibit. It is good, but it could be and should be better. I did notice the sign, "This exhibit proudly sponsored by Exxon Mobil". I would think with them making record profits, they could afford to spruce up the exhibit a bit. Oil in TX was like gold in CA. It brought a lot of people here and changed the culture of TX. It would have been nice to see a little bit more. Being a Mech E, I would of liked to see some more of the mechanical type artifacts from the time period. Some giant drill bits or a big counter weight pump and some explanation how they operated.

As a side note, right before I went to the museum on Saturday morning, I was watching one of those old reruns of Saved By The Bell. It turned out to be the episode where they discover oil on the Bay Side football field and a company promises to pump it out and make improvements to the school. Meanwhile, the students are taking care of some animals they plan to release (frogs, fish and Becky the Duck). Of course, an oil spill happens and Becky the Duck dies. The show concludes with an oil man (dude with slicked back hair) making a presentation to the school board with a model of the new and improved school. Zach (now against big oil because of Becky), makes a passionate counter presentation by placing a bunch of oil derricks all over the model then covering the model with oil. The school board says no to big oil.

Ahhhhhhhh how times have changed. 60 years ago those derricks were a sign of prosperity, modernization and the great state of TX. Now they represent old fashion, polluting sleaze balls who just want to make a buck no matter the cost.

No comments: