60 Minutes: Deepwater Horizon Rig
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 18th, 2010
Lots happening out there in the world as usual; I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I’m trying to stay positive but the oil rig disaster is still heavy on my mind. How can it not be? It gets worse daily as oil gushes into our ocean and sea life continues to perish.
I watched 60 Minutes the other night and was shocked about the news regarding the Deepwater Horizon rig. Did any of you see? Here it is in case you didn’t:
Readers: Once again, money is the driving force here, and human life, our environment, and the sea life is put second.
And now to add to the misery of this disaster, tar balls have been found off Key West, Florida.
Some 5 million gallons of crude has spewed into the Gulf and tar balls have been washing ashore in several states along the coast.
Scientists are worried that oil is getting caught in a major ocean current that could carry it through the Florida Keys and up the East Coast.
The Coast Guard says the Florida Park Service found the tar balls on Monday during a shoreline survey. The balls were 3-to-8 inches in diameter
There are also few hundred areas in our oceans called Dead Zones. They are called this because these areas are oxygen deprived. When fish come across these areas, they swim away to a more oxygen rich environment. If the Dead Zones are really big, covering a great distance and the fish can’t swim to get out of it, they die.
How are these Dead Zones created? Pollution. And oil polluting our water is another way that Dead Zones are created. In areas surrounding these new found oil plumes, that have formed because of the oil spill, the oxygen levels have dropped 30%. And if they continue to drop, New Dead Zones will be created.
When will we wake up and stop polluting our Mother Earth? When will we care enough to take the precautions that are needed instead of only thinking of the bottom line?
Clarence: It seems that you got the best of me yesterday. Although I can’t ever understand your viewpoint and I don’t accept it, I shouldn’t have threatened you with the wrath of Madaline. Albeit I was having a bit of fun, but nonetheless, it was a threat. My apologies.
Zen Lill: I haven’t seen that docu but it looks interesting. Thanks for sharing. In regards to your questions, I don’t have the answers yet, but we are at least some new people are being appointed to the high court, and I think they will make a difference. This will not be the last of my writes in regards to this topic.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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May 18th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
I couldn’t get in yesterday. I had a lot to say. today I will try again to comment on today’s topic. It is scary what these corporation will do for money.
Pearl
May 18th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Zen Lill
I would love to pre-shop for you. And of course I will follow the rules and remove with my teeth anything that doesn’t fit.
Kerry
May 18th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Zen Lill
I agree with you and Anonz. We need to vote our rants out of us.
May 18th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Michelle
Sir
We will give you the Senate victory in Penn. if it is your wish. As requested we removed Spector.
We will replace Blanche Lincoln in the run off if you can stand her losing to man.
We await your orders.
Sir
Lacy
May 18th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Zen Lill
I want to shop for you without you. If you are displeased for any reason with my choices I will personally remove each item with my teeth. I will use my tongue whenever appropriate.
I will in all cases do it slowly, very slowly.
John
May 18th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
“GOLDEN OLDIES” TRIGGER MEMORIES FOR DEMENTIA PATIENTS
I bet you’ve had this experience — you’re driving somewhere and a song from 20 or 30 years ago comes on the radio… and you remember every word. Not only that, it brings to mind a host of great memories too.
Music therapists at Beth Abraham Health Services in the Bronx are now using old-time tunes in this way to help people with dementia sharpen their memories.
I called Concetta M. Tomaino, DA, director of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF) to learn more — including how families of dementia patients might be able to use this technique on their own.
MUSICAL MEMORIES
Dr. Tomaino told me that music can serve as a gateway into the brain that actually stimulates its function. In one study at the University of California at Irvine, researchers found that listening to Mozart helped Alzheimer’s patients improve their scores on memory tests.
And, in an as-yet-unpublished study conducted by Dr. Tomaino and her colleagues, 45 patients with mid- to late-stage dementia who participated in a music-based reminiscence program three times a week for 10 months boosted their scores on cognitive function tests by 50%.
Dr. Tomaino told me that after several sessions, one patient even recognized his wife for the first time in many months.
Music can reach people who are unreachable by other means, says Dr. Tomaino. Often an Alzheimer’s patient who cannot recall a close family member’s name is able to summon the words of a favorite old song and recapture seemingly lost memories.
Sometimes therapists stop singing and patients fill in the words… and some are even able to learn new songs. At Beth Abraham, music therapists most commonly use music from patients’ teen years and early 20s, Dr. Tomaino told me, finding that listening to these familiar tunes can help them to…
Improve memory and cognitive skills.
Increase attention, motivation, focus and awareness of self and others.
Reduce agitation.
Perform daily activities such as eating, toileting and bathing.
USE AN iPOD AND TRY IT YOURSELF
Aging patients don’t need formal music therapy to reap benefits from listening to music from the past.
At http://www.imnf.org (see “Well-Tuned”), you can find suggested Top Ten lists for people with memory impairment (http://www.bethabe.org/Top_10s_for_Memory327.html).
Favorites from the 1940s, for example, include “Unforgettable,” “Some Enchanted Evening” and “Que Sera, Sera.”
You can play old-time music as often as your loved one seems to enjoy it — but whatever type of music you choose and however you play it, try to listen together.
Even fleetingly, you can recapture a sense of closeness by singing together, holding hands, dancing or just quietly listening to the music and enjoying the memories it unlocks.
Source(s):
Concetta M. Tomaino, DA, MT-BC, LCAT, executive director/cofounder, Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, senior vice president for music therapy, Beth Abraham Family of Health Services, Bronx, New York. She is past president of the American Association for Music Therapy.
May 18th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Subject: Take two aspirin…
Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays.
These excerpts are published each year for their amusement.
Here are last year’s winners…
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
May 18th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Hey Zen Lill can I get in on that shopping deal? I’m fairly certain that as a woman I can do a better job shopping for a woman.
And I am definitely certain that i can use my tongue better.
Tina
May 18th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Those of us suffering below. Will not hold off visiting the surface with earthquakes, hurricanes, and increased volcanic action.
The example this week shall emphasize our point.
UWi
May 18th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Hafa adai
Peter why don’t you check on the rumor that so many scuba divers around have been encountering encounters of the 1st kind that the government is seeking to limit the number of scuba divers by out lawing spear fishing.
Juni
May 19th, 2010 at 7:01 am
Michelle
That report has changed my mind about off shore drilling for oil. I can’t see the up side. Even if we get oil, it will not be worth whatever we get if a spill causes this type of disaster.
I live in Alabama and as much as I hate Obama and his tax and spend politics, I will support his efforts to make the off shore drilling more responsible.
Bert
May 19th, 2010 at 7:19 am
Peter
Thanks for your out spoken efforts to rein in the cowboy attitude of the old police chief and his police force that often policed the island like it was their private fiefdom.
==========================
Spokesperson for the Acting Governor, Carlotta Leon Guerrero, confirmed for PNC News that the Acting Governor is backing up Acting Chief Rick Leon Guerrero in the Acting Chief’s decision to transfer 19 GPD personnel.
“The transfers will stand” said Spokesperson Leon Guerrero. “I just got off the phone with the Acting Chief and he told me that the transfers that he ordered will be carried out.”
The transfers were ordered by Acting Chief Leon Guerrero just two days after his appointment by Acting Governor Mike Cruz.
PNC News learned that among the transfers is Criminal Investigation Division [CID] Chief Captain Kim Santos who is being assigned to the Forensics Division. She is being replaced by Captain Manny Babauta as Head of CID.
CID led the controversial police search of the KUAM Newsroom last Wednesday.
Shortly before 6 pm Wednesday, GPD PIO A.J. Balajadia confirmed that the transfers had been ordered. But he would not confirm details. Then at 6:10 pm Balajadia called PNC News back to say that the transfer orders had been rescinded.
Sources told PNC News that an appeal had been made to Adelup to rescind the transfers.
However, the Acting Governor’s Spokesperson, Carlotta Leon Guerrero told PNC News at 7pm that Balajadia was mistaken. The 19 transfers will stand and have not been rescinded.
She was not able to explain the confusion.
=============================
The removal of the leaders that encouraged the rank and file to ignore the constitutional rights of the people they were hired to serve and protect is fantastic.
We Guamanians appreciate your dedication to the issues that effect all of us.
Hafa ada Peter
Irene
May 19th, 2010 at 7:46 am
Bert,
The funny thing most people DON’T realize about politics is that BOTH parties are continuously guilty of tax and spend. The difference lies is which class of citizens the taxation gets handed to. Or perhaps which class of citizens the perception of the taxation gets handed to. In most cases, in goes to the middle and lower classes, regardless of the semantics and spin Washington puts on it…
As for those in the government, that read this blog. When will you realize that your continued arrogance to any policies and to the discrediting of Alien visitors to this planet, will continue to present ever increasing and dramatic global situations that humans have no control over. You must come to a point of clarity and understanding that we are simply participants in this sphere and not owners whatsoever…or we be damned…