OT: This should be interesting

[lazlo]

TATA desire to be the biggest steel producer in the world, i think they will get there too if the managements attitude has anything to do with it.

Ironically, TATA produced the steel for the pipe in the existing Keystone pipeline, and will probably manufacture the steel for the Keystone XL pipeline, if it's approved.

US senator asks TransCanada to avoid Indian steel in pipeline

WASHINGTON, MARCH 2:
TransCanada has been asked by yet another top US Senator not to use steel made in other countries, including India, in the construction of the controversial, multi-billion Keystone XL pipeline.

“In the past, TransCanada has chosen to buy their steel from India. When it comes to the Keystone Pipeline, the steel should be stamped with ‘made in America’,” Senator Tom Casey said.

[oldtiffie]

I would have thought that a project of that magnitude and all its component parts would have sought - and it seems was granted - Government Approval both in Canada and the USA.

If that is the case, is that US Senator just "grand-standing"?

I seem to recall - a while ago - that neither Canada nor the USA had the facilities to roll those pipes.

Putting that aside, would there not be a lot of USA and Canadian "employment" once the installation project gets under way?

[oil mac]

Nowadays in this wonderful world, One does not know who to trust It seems to me that gone are the days of the old traditional entrepenuers, who built up home grown factories and ran them with some commitment to the local workforce O.K. they made sure they did damned well for themselves in the process

Generally speaking along comes foreign firms and by and large it is bad news all round some two or three years ago in Scotland, the Indians bought over Ayr Stamping &Engineering Co - Neptune Stamp works A long established firm, formally owned by a family, Then G.K.N.& then asset stripped and off to India, I cannot say if it was Tata or another Indian firm But this firm had one of the largest drop stamp hammers in the world, A big American Chambersburg.

Back to my kneck of the woods! we havew a large steelmill, capable of rolling the broadest steel plate in the world now owned by Tata, It previously was a Colvilles concern, Then stuffed up by British Steel Corporation, a corporation who could
A) keep their furnaces suplied full tilt, by cutting up their own plant, or
B) exceed tonnage quotas by scrapping their own plant and sending it overthe seas to China ( I think i feel a song coming on!) Hence not a lot of British steel works left in this country

However back to Tata , recently, good credit to the company they formed a consortium to quote for manufacturing and fabrication of a large major new bridge to be built over the Forth in Scotland This would have kept the works really in clover for some years, They also seem to treat the workers a lot better than British Steel ever did in this works.

Along comes the Scottish parliament who grant the contract to China , Spain & Poland, Too bad about the Scottish jobs, Common market rules must be obeyed is the plaintif & politically correct cry ESpecially as the leader Salmond Who, seems to me to be the "Trade legation officer" for China etc, Never mind Salmond organised two damned Pandas for the zoo from China On Loan , & they cost an exhorbitant sum to keep for a specific number of years-- Seems a good deal dont you all think???????

Who do you trust?

[saltmine]

Sometimes I wonder if Joseph Lucas was even born in England. I think his introduction into making electrical components was either political or the result of falling into a rather large peat bog. (both of which seem to be plentiful in England.)

"The Prince of Darkness" was introduced to me one night on a dark Southern California back-road. Astride a Triumph motorcycle of questionable vintage. The Zeiner diode clamped under the headlamp chose this minute to vibrate loose (vibration is something that Triumph had cases of, so they included a lot of it with each bike they built). Quick as a flash, all of the lights, without the diode to absorb excess voltage from the generator, flashed, like flashbulbs. And....there I was roaring down a two-lane secondary road, seeing purple spots before my eyes, in pitch darkness.
Somehow, I managed to slow the bike, and get it off the road, without damaging it or myself. The remainder of the ride was quite slow, with me squinting to see the edges of the road.

I had a Renault which had "improved" electrical components, by Lucas.
The improvement was an upgrade from Le Rhone electrical components which were manufactured by Joseph Lucas' family "black sheep" Le Rhone.
Quite an improvement, I might add.

I also once owned a very pleasant sports car (yes, back in the day when "sports cars" only had two seats and may or may not have had doors)
made by Triumph. And yes, Lucas was in attendance. My huge Irish Setter thought it was her's....I didn't argue. It was one of the nicer cars I owned, a 1964 Triumph TR-4. But, somebody must have liked it more than I did....Because one morning I walked out to it's parking space, and it was gone. Never recovered....I still suspect it was the Irish Setter.

[oldtiffie]

Ring the "Prince of Darkness" and complain.

I think his number is: 666

Google it:

http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&sugexp=frgbld&gs_nf=1&cp=3&gs_id=c&xhr=t&q=666&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=666&aq=&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=&pbx=1&rlz=1W1IRFC_enAU360&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=56afa242754894c9&biw=1280&bih=523

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Darkness