Recall on Shrek Glasses ~ Last Straw China!

I'm just now looking at my local news stations web page checking the status of the rain that is coming our way when I notice on their sidebar that McDonald's is recalling the Shrek glasses they are now selling! I'm outraged! I am fit to be tied! McDonald's you should know better! I actually bought one for my Little Man to drink from and he has been drinking from it for a good 2 weeks now! This is the last straw China! I will not buy anything made by you anymore! Nothing will be coming into my house that is made in China! And I mean nothing! I have already tossed all kitchen utensils that I had that was made in China. I did this several months ago. I have also made sure that all of my dishes, pots and pans are not made in China. I did that last year. Fortunate for me I did not need to toss any of those.

Here is the news article I found in it's entirety.

McDonald's is recalling 12 million drinking glasses featuring characters from the "Shrek" movie series because the paint used contains cadmium, which can pose health risks.
The fast-food company announced the Shrek glass recall Friday in conjunction with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The 16-ounce glasses were sold for $2 each at McDonald's locations across the country in May and June to promote the new movie "Shrek Forever After 3D."

Each glass features one of four painted designs. Consumers are advised to keep the glasses away from children and to return them to McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) for a refund.

The manufacturer of the products is ARC International, based in Millville, N.J.
While no injuries were reported and the cadmium level in the glasses is low, long-term exposure to the metal can cause adverse health effects. Cadmium, which at high levels is a carcinogen, can cause kidney and bone damage.

A CPSC spokesman said the agency is working to establish a "highly protective" level of cadmium. These glass products were slightly above that level, he said, even though the agency has not yet established an acceptable cadmium standard.

The products being recalled don't pose a toxic risk to consumers, he added.
A statement from McDonald's said the glassware was evaluated by an independent third-party lab that is accredited by the CPSC, and the products were "in compliance" with state and federal law.

Previously released promotional glassware and Happy Meal toys are not involved in the recall, McDonald's said.

CPSC said the office of Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., made it aware of the matter. A statement on Speier's website said she learned of potential issues with the glasses through an anonymous tip.

Toxic chemicals find way into the womb - CNN
"Our children's health should not depend on the consciences of anonymous sources," Speier said in the statement. "Although McDonald's did the right thing by recalling these products, we need stronger testing standards to ensure that all children's products are proven safe before they hit the shelves."

Last month, the CPSC recalled children's jewelry made in China that was found to contain cadmium. The agency said it was expanding its investigation of the metal's use in paint for children's products.

United States Census ~ Creating Jobs

It's all official now, my family has just now been counted for the 2010 United States Census. This morning there was a knock at my front door. I opened it to find a man wearing one of the 2010 Census lanyards around his neck. He asked me if I had a few minutes to fill out the Census questionnaire. I told him I already had it filled out and was waiting for him to come and get it. Which I did. I've had it sitting on my table since I received it and filled it out. You see, I couldn't swear to the fact that all of the people lived in my house by April 1 and yet mail it before April 1. To me that is fraudulent. So I decided to wait to mail it after April 1 so I wouldn't be committing perjury.

April 1 rolled around and all they kept saying on the news was that they were going to have to hire people to go house to house to get the information needed for the 2010 Census. It was at that time that I got the bright idea that "I am creating a job if I don't send it in"! So I kept my filled out forms until this morning when a man came to the house.

I told him what I just told you. I told him how I wanted to create a job. He then humbly lowered his head and said "Thank You"! I told him he was welcome and off he went. It was a good feeling this morning. Knowing that I created a job for this man and that he was appreciative of what I had done.

Angela

Oil & Gas Seepage in the Ocean Floor ~ Natural Occurrence ~ Part Two

Here is yet another article I found that also states that Oil in the ocean bubbles up naturally from the seafloor. I have also copied this article in it's entirety. The source of my information is at the bottom of the article. You might want to take a look at their page as they have satellite images that show the natural occurrence of oil floating in the ocean.

Oil In Ocean Shows Up On NASA Images: Half Of The Oil In The Ocean Bubbles Up Naturally From Seafloor

ScienceDaily (Feb. 20, 2009) — About half of the oil in the ocean bubbles up naturally from the seafloor, with Earth giving it up freely like it was of no value. Likewise, NASA satellites collect thousands of images and 1.5 terrabytes of data every year, but some of it gets passed over because no one thinks there is a use for it.

Scientists recently found black gold bubbling up from an otherwise undistinguished mass of ocean imagery. Chuanmin Hu, an optical oceanographer at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and colleagues from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth (UMass), found that they could detect oil seeping naturally from the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico by examining streaks amid the reflected sunlight on the ocean's surface.

Most researchers usually discard such "sun glint" data as if they were over-exposed photos from a camera. "Significant sun glint is sometimes thought of as trash, particularly when you are looking for biomass and chlorophyll," said Hu. "But in this case, we found treasure."

The new technique could provide a more timely and cost-effective means to survey the ocean for oil seeps, to monitor oil slicks, and to differentiate human-induced spills from seeps.

Oil decreases the roughness of the ocean surface. Depending on the angles of the camera and of the light reflection, oil creates contrasting swaths that can show up in airborne images as either lighter or darker than the surrounding waters.
The detection and monitoring of oil spills and seeps by satellite is not new. Visible, infrared, microwave, and radar sensors have all been used, with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) being the most popular and reliable method in recent years according to the study authors. SAR imagery can be very expensive, the authors note, and timely, repeat coverage is not always possible, particularly in tropical regions.

Using imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites, Hu and colleagues assert, is far cheaper because the data is collected daily and provided freely by NASA, without the need for special observation requests. And the polar orbits of Terra and Aqua allow images of oil slicks to be collected several times per week in tropical regions and perhaps several times a day at higher latitudes. The description of the new technique was published in January in Geophysical Research Letters.

Hu actually happened upon the oil imagery while looking for signs of harmful algal blooms—commonly referred to as "red tide"—in the western Gulf of Mexico. Examining MODIS images, he kept noticing streaks across the sun glint reflections. After conferring with study co-authors Xiaofeng Li and William Pichel of NOAA and Frank Muller-Karger of UMass, Hu became aware that the streaks could be oil from natural seeps on the seafloor.

Hu and colleagues then defined a geographic area of the western Gulf and obtained MODIS images for the month of May for nine consecutive years (2000 to 2008) from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The team reviewed more than 200 images containing sun glint, and found more than 50 with extensive oil slicks.
Exactly how much oil naturally seeps out of the seafloor is unknown, and most estimates are very crude because there has never been a proper global survey made for the public record. Researchers identified the natural seepage rate as a critical unanswered question when the National Academy of Sciences compiled its third Oil in the Sea report in 2003.

"This capacity for detecting oil in the ocean has great potential, not just for oil seeps but for responding to oil spills," said Chris Reddy, a marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. "Scientists might be able to use this to forensically study old spills, to watch how new ones evolve in real time, and to rule out a spill when there is none. Ultimately, this could lead to a better use of our public resources."

The technique could be useful for detecting and monitoring oil spills from ships and other platforms, though Hu emphasized that the spills must be large enough (at least hundreds of meters or feet) to be visible in the MODIS imagery. If there is suspicion of a large human-caused spill, for instance, researchers would be able to review ocean imagery to see if the slick was present before the alleged spill, indicating a natural seepage. On the other hand, MODIS satellite imagery collected on a regular basis could help coastal managers track and mitigate the effects of large accidental spills.
The new method is not perfect, as cloud cover or a lack of sun glint can limit its use. Hu and colleagues suggest it may be best used as a complement to SAR, which penetrates cloud cover and can be tilted to get the necessary imaging angle.
"If you can get an image on a two- to three-day time frame and anywhere on the globe, that's pretty spectacular," said Reddy. "The first few days are critical to tracking oil in the ocean, so it helps to be able to use technology in real time to make informed decisions about cleanup."

Source: Science Daily

Oil & Gas Seepage from Ocean Floor ~ Natural Occurrence ~ Part One

We are all aware that there is a major oil spill occurring off the shore in Louisiana. Most might not be aware that it is a natural occurrence that Oil and Gas seep from the ocean floor on a daily basis. I just found an article that I think everyone will be interested in reading. I copied it in it's entirety and have listed the source of my information at the bottom of the article. While I do think it is a tragedy that we have a lot of oil spilling in the Gulf Coast which it is, I do feel like most people aren't aware that oil and gas seep into the ocean naturally and will continue to do so even long after we are gone. According to the article below one of the proven methods of eliminating the natural occurrence of oil seeping into the ocean is by Oil Production.


OIL AND GAS SEEPAGE FROM OCEAN FLOOR REDUCED BY OIL PRODUCTION
November 18, 1999
(Santa Barbara, Calif.)

Next time you step on a glob of tar on a beach in Santa Barbara County, you can thank the oil companies that it isn't a bigger glob.

The same is true around the world, on other beaches where off-shore oil drilling occurs, say scientists, although Santa Barbara's oil seeps are thought to be among the leakiest.

Natural seepage of hydrocarbons from the ocean floor in the northern Santa Barbara Channel has been significantly reduced by oil production, according to two recently published peer-reviewed articles, one in November's Geology Magazine, the other in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans.

The Santa Barbara Channel provides an excellent natural laboratory, as it is among the areas with the highest levels of seepage in the world, said co-author Bruce P. Luyendyk, professor and chair of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The studies were not funded by oil companies, but rather by the University of California Energy Institute and the U.S. Minerals Management Service, states Luyendyk, responding to the fact that the results favor off-shore oil production and are opposed by some environmentalists.

"We've done a good piece of science," said Luyendyk. "We've developed a good understanding of a natural process. It's all public data; it's all straightforward. If I thought the study was compromised I wouldn't be involved in it."

Most of the seepage is methane, a potent greenhouse gas which escapes into the atmosphere, said Luyendyk. About 10 percent of the seepage is composed of "higher hydrocarbons," or reactive organic gases which interact with tailpipe emissions and sunlight, creating air pollution.

The researchers state that the production rate of these naturally-occurring reactive organic gases is equal to twice the emission rate from all the on-road vehicle traffic in Santa Barbara County in 1990.

According to the articles, studies of the area around Platform Holly showed a 50 percent decrease in natural seepage over 22 years. The researchers show that as the oil was pumped out the reservoir, pressure that drives the seepage dropped.

"If the decrease in natural seepage found near Platform Holly is representative of the effect of oil production on seepage worldwide, then this has the potential to significantly alter global oil and gas seepage in the future," state the researchers in the article "The World's Most Spectacular Marine Hydrocarbon Seeps: Quantification of Emissions " in the Sept. 14 issue of the Journal of Geological Research - Oceans.

They continue, "For example if the 50 percent reduction in natural seepage rate that occurred around Platform Holly also occurred due to future oil production from the oil field beneath the La Goleta seep, this would result in a reduction in nonmethane hydrocarbon emission rates equivalent to removing half of the on-road vehicle traffic from Santa Barbara County. In addition, a 50 percent reduction in seepage from the La Goleta seep would remove about 25 barrels of oil per day from the sea surface, which in turn would result in a 15 percent reduction in the amount of tar found on Santa Barbara beaches."


They conclude by saying that the rate of increase of global methane atmospheric concentrations has been declining for the past 20 years, and that a "worldwide decrease in natural hydrocarbon seepage related to onshore and offshore oil production may be causing a global reduction in natural methane emission rates."

Sources: University of California, Santa Barbara