follow the link-bricked road for your reading pleasure. (links post)

1. oil spills around the world
2. Sarah Palin says drill baby drill
3. Rules are stiffened for offshore drillers
4. Colbert on Obama's oil speech
5. Humorous oil spill videos
6. Niger- Delta Spills
7. Pollution in Ecuador
8. Universities investigate oil spills
9. List of recorded spills around the globe
10. lessons to be learnt

reflective post

    I was initially not sure I wanted to work on this topic because it's very controversial; furthermore, I thought I wouldn't find enough public discourse and credible sources to sustain my internationally oriented blog.The next challenge was eliminating bias from my blog, which was hard, because it wasn't always easy to separate emotion from such a controversial topic. But as I posted more and did more research, it became easier to understand and relate to the different schools of thought expressed by the respective parties.
      I would start out researching one particular topic, but as I read more articles, I would find myself indulged in an unintended branch of my topic. This was because my blog was initially mainly focused on major oil spills occurring around the world, but as time elapsed, I became interested in the oil industry itself. I was looking for answers to why the spills were occurring at such a fast pace globally and why efforts being made to rectify the damage done to the environment weren't really working. Fortunately, I discovered interesting revelations to my unanswered questions which ultimately became a huge part of my blog. Analysing all these different pieces of the puzzle helped me to create a great picture of the world of oil. I definitely do not know everything about the industry because it is really just that complex, but I am glad that I was able to broaden my scope of thought and explore areas of my topic which were indirectly linked to it and consequently would have otherwise ignored had I not researched as intensively. Ultimately, I successfully expanded my knowledge base on a topic that I knew relatively nothing about.

Armageddon: final showdown between government and oil.

      Recently, The University of Houston hosted an oil spill symposium whereby specialists in the oil industry came together to give their opinions on preventing oil spills (especially) in the USA. What I found interesting after reading the article was that the number of offshore drilling rigs have more than doubled over the decades, while the number of regulators have reduced by a quarter. This is largely because of the increased distance and depths oil companies face when looking for oil. Also, the number of specialists in the regulatory field have reduced over the years because of increased retirements. Another interesting factor to which the regulation of drilling sites have decreased is that there is actually some confusion over an authoritarian figure, i.e. the oil companies believe that it is mostly the duty of the government to impose regulatory policies on companies in their countries, while the government, to some extent, believes and almost trusts in a sense, that the oil companies are be drilling as safely as possible and with the 'right' equipment.
      As a result of this confusion of authority between the government and the oil companies, a partial state of nihilism erupts which in turn increases the probability of oil spills. In my opinion, this disorderliness is the main reason for the occurrence of oil spills everywhere. At least there is some form of governance in USA, but in countries like Nigeria and Ecuador where the exportation of oil is the main source of GNP, the government is less likely to impose regulations that benefit the environment. As a result, major oil spills tend to occur annually in these countries compared to the occurrence of major spills in the U.S, which is 1 every 20 years.
      The likelihood of oil spills will drastically fall, if governments everywhere take control of regulating the actions of oil companies, because they (oil companies) won't do it (properly) as it's unprofitable for them. If governments everywhere enforce similar regulatory policies, then oil companies wouldn't make profits no matter where they relocated. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, governments should make sure that these regulation continue to be updated and reinforced, because as the specialists in the symposium noted, once major oil spills occur, restrictions tend to be enforced, but for another decade or so, they aren't followed as strictly and thus a spill occurs again and the cycle just repeats itself.

blogging on blogs - read these 3. *update*

1. The Border: Where Immigration and Race meet: I was initially assigned to read this blog as an assignment. But after reading the first post, I thought it would be an interesting one to follow because it's been the topic of debate for so long and I wanted to get more info on the different positions and opinions on handling illegal immigration. This blog did exactly what I wanted; it clearly broke down the opposing sides of the topic and I felt like I fully comprehend the situation without being biased. I could tell that this blogger evolved as his postings went on because of the level of understanding displayed in the theory post.
2. A Public Pariah in Muslim America: This blog was interesting to follow because it focused on a very controversial topic and thus had a high probability of becoming biased. Even though,there was a hint of bias in some posts, the blog was informative and written in such a way to give the reader a deeper understanding of the topic and got its points across by appealing to the emotion of the reader. 
3. Affirmative Action or Inaction: I knew absolutely nothing about this topic; I didn't even know that affirmative action existed in the first place. But I think I understand the situation more now. This blogger clearly organized the arguments surrounding the topic, but sometimes, I felt the posts were overwhelmed with facts and not enough thought. But like I said, I understand the topic now and that's good.

Mental Health hotline

The Black side of Gold - implications post

    The implications of oil spills on the environment are already atrocious, but the implications arising from ignorance are worse; issues are more likely to be resolved if people are consciously aware of them and are trying to create ways to rectify them. Thus it's only logical that since everyone uses refined crude in one way or the other and is affected by its consequences, whether directly or indirectly, then more people should be proactive about its effects around the globe. I'm conjuring that the only reason the CEO's of the top 5 oil companies in the USA admitted that they were not, and for the foreseeable future won't be, adequately equipped to handle huge oil spills was because people realised the extent to which BP wasn't able to handle the spill in the Gulf. Only 10% of the oil has been able to be cleaned according to the Baltimore Sun, and this 10% is actually in par with the 10-20% of oil that's usually removed from the sea.
      If we do not bring to light the numerous ramifications of oil occurring everywhere, then the implications would still just be what the status quo is now: unresolved oil spills in less economically powered countries like Ecuador; ancient oil clean-up strategies which are of a deplorable quality and efficiency when compared to the sophistication of oil rigs; oil companies using savvy lawyers to reduce their liabilities in the event that something goes wrong- and as we have seen, the probability of things going wrong is high. Ultimately, the oil companies would continue to get away with inefficiency-related disasters that could be otherwise avoided if there's an increase in global attention, (which can be generated through equal media coverage of similar oil related disasters everywhere). Therefore, if the status quo persists, oil will continue to be more of a foe than a friend to many.

Time to sign divorce papers?

      Is it actually time to throw oil's bags out of our homes? All she ever does is make it extremely expensive to afford my dear shrimp because she intoxicates most fish with her poison! She starts some fire out there in the ocean whenever she gets angry at the new shoe she just bought  because it doesn't fit comfortably. Did I mention that she releases invisible toxic gases into the air each time she opens up her mouth to complain- and she knows how to nag! Oh, I almost forgot, in addition to her many problems, she also empties out my wallet; whenever she has mood swings, for some unknown reason, I end up spending more money on her - and it's not like she gets any better the more I pay!      
        But wait, if I kick her out of my house, I probably won't watch as much as cable as before; there goes my NBA finals, Glee, the Office and my Smallville(yes, my Smallville)! Will I even have sufficient electrical power to sleep with the AC on those fiery summer nights? The thought of her not being there, the other side of the bed empty, I'm sure to have sweaty sleepless nights.
        Nevertheless, I'll probably find another substitute for her eventually, I mean I was kind of already cheating on her with solar panels and wind turbines, but they didn't feel quite right. The solar panels, didn't satisfy my needs and desires as much as I thought she would have and the wind turbine - no offense but she's not necessarily attractive, and on some days, no matter what I did, there just wasn't enough wind to turn her on and that was frustrating; I felt inadequate. I've heard about algae - but even the name turns me off. I wouldn't date that - at least not yet, but one never knows what the future has in store.
    So back to my soon to be ex, oil. Do I really want to divorce her after all, or am I just really upset with her at the moment because she literally exploded in six months ago and wouldn't stop complaining just because she didn't find the right shoe size again? I guess, if I lay down stricter rules with her she will behave more...but she is too unpredictable.