Oil and Gas Exploration for Dummies

Pumpjack on oil well

The self-proclaimed category experts at eHow.com are a source of endless amusement (and disgust) for our staff here at the Antisocial Network. One of their specializations seems to be the reduction of a complex process to a simple lists of steps, usually by omitting 99.99% of the detail. Take, for instance, the eHow Personal Finance Editor, the anonymous dummy who was paid something like fifteen bucks to write "How to Drill for Oil (6 Steps)"¹...

We say "dumbass" because... well, because he (or she) is a dumbass. The six steps, according to this moron, are:

1. "Analyze mineral and resource maps."  Analyze them for what?
2. "Have the property owner sign a lease agreement." That's right: just look at a couple of maps and then go out and get a lease
3. "Acquire a right of access to the property." Not sure why this is important enough to be a separate step, since it's typically part of a lease agreement...
4. "Build a road and prepare the site." Wow. Now that's important...
5. "Hire a drill rig." What: do it online with Hertz or Avis?
6. "Wait to see if your investment pays off." Ummm, yeah.

We immediately realized that the same six steps, with a little rewording, could be the instructions for building a house: "Analyze blueprints."   "Buy land."  "Put in a driveway."  "Put in a foundation."  "Hire a carpenter."  "Move in." Talk about reducing a complex process to a set of mostly useless instructions. We repeat: what a dumbass! not to mention that the Dumbass of the Day is the hallmark of eHow.com!

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_2120402_drill-oil.html

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