The British organization Marine Conservation Society want to ban balloon launches because balloons can entangle wildlife and the balloons are also being consumed which can result in death. Dead birds have been found with balloon remnants around their legs and the same thing happen to turtles eating the plastics. The problem is increasing as research shows that the number of balloons found at the shore has tripled since 1996.

To change this the organization has launched a campaign called “Don’t Let Go” where they want to spread awareness about the problem. Some places in UK has already banned releasing of balloons.
It should be pretty easy to avoid releasing balloons into the wild, but I guess many people don’t think about the harm that they can cause. Kudos to this organization for creating hype about the problem. Those of us that live close to the shore should take some time now and then, and pick up plastics that litter the seaside.

Seems like this blog is turning into a “Save the oceans” blog, but since it’s called “Musings from a male knitter” I’m gonna write about things that concern me and the oceans are very important to me.
Haven’t knitted in quite some time either..

I have mentioned before on this blog that I’m moving to a new house later this summer. When I move into my new home I will have to go shopping for some new furniture. One thing I might need to buy is a new Bathroom Sink because the bathroom is rather old.

A company called Sinks Gallery offer a wide variety of different artisan and designer sinks that you can buy in their online store. They also stock bath furniture, faucets, various types of lighting, bathtubs and all kinds of bathroom accessories.

Among their big selection they got a section for Vessel Sinks. This type of sinks look really good and I especially like the vessel sinks that are made out of wood since I’m interested in having an organic home. If you are unsure about how to install a vessel sink then Sink Gallery can help you with their tips page where they go into detail about the installation of vessel sinks.

They also have section for Kitchen Sinks where you can find lots of different types of sinks. They got some sinks made out stone that have a nice design, but they also have kitchen sinks made out of wood, ceramic, metal and fireclay if those types of material better fit your kitchen.

I wrote earlier today about how a part of the Pacific Ocean is filled with plastic crap. It didn’t come as a big surprise that I found some other bad news about the ocean. According to an article at livescience.com a study by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have found chemicals made by humans in creatures living deep below the ocean surface. The chemicals were found in different species of cephalopods (among the species were octopods, squids, cuttlefishes and nautiluses) which are food for larger animals in the sea.
Among the chemicals that were found were DDT, PCBs and BDEs, all dangerous chemicals that don’t degrade and will get accumulated in bigger animals like different types of whales. The researches were quite surprised to find such chemicals and even high levels of them in an ecosystem so remote from us humans.

I have to say it again: Stop polluting our oceans please!

Investing in real estate can be very profitable if you know the ways of the trade. Getting an education in real estate investing is a must if you want to be successful in this business.

Nouveau Riche University is a school that specialize in real estate investing with classes at different locations in the United States. They are now offering a workshop called The Intensive where students learn how to make a fortune from buying and selling real estate. Among the things that the students will learn are how to find property, turning that property into profit, how to build a team, how to get funding for your buying and many other points. Visit the Nouveau Riche website to check out where the upcoming workshops are located and you can register there if you find one that interest you.

The Nouveau Riche name come from French and means new rich. It basically describes someone who comes from a poor background and is able to accumulate considerable wealth in their life span. Nouveau Riche is also related to the term “Rags to Riches” which is the same concept of going from poverty to wealth and this is what Nouveau Riche University teaches in their classes / workshops.

In the middle of the northern parts Pacific Ocean the currents create a big vortex where a lot of the trash the we dump into the ocean get trapped. This place has been dubbed as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” and there is even a Wikipedia page about it. This would not be a very big problem if all we did was dumping organic waste, but every single day we throw tons of plastic and other toxic materials into the ocean.

A site called vbs.tv decided to sail into this remote part of the ocean and see for themselves what the garbage patch looked like. They also had some scientists with them to test the contents of the ocean.
They have created a 12 part video series about the trip that you can see here.
I have embed part 1 of the video into this blog post, but check out the rest of the parts too. Be warned, there is some cussing in the videos.

We need to put heavy pressure on our governments so they will clean up this patch and the rest of the oceans for that matter. We also need to figure out how to change the common view of the ocean being a big waste dump. One thing that we can do ourselves is start picking up all the trash that litter our coastline. Every little thing helps 🙂

I love going to parties and one of my favorite types are Halloween costume parties because I get to dress up in all kinds of silly outfits.

Getting a cool Halloween costume is of course important for a serious party-goer like me. One website that has a big selection of Halloween costumes is a company called Halloween Adventure. This company has been in the business for over 25 years so it seems like serious place to shop costumes if you live in the United States.
For us adults they got sections on their site for Adult Halloween Costumes and Sexy Costumes where you can pick which costume you want this year. If you are on a budget they got an entire section dedicated to costumes that are on sale.

Halloween Adventure also got a section on their website dedicated to Childrens Costumes where you can find nice costumes for when the kid want to go trick or treating. They got classic costumes for children like Batman, Peter Pan, Jedi and many, many more.

If you are going to throw a party Halloween Adventure also stock accessories and party supplies.
They even have some funny costumes for pets if you should like to dress up your pet. How about a Darth Vader dog costume?

China is not known to have the best track record when it comes to environment issues, but this time they are doing something good. The Chinese government has announced that they will (or has?) ban thin plastic bags and that customers will have to pay for regular plastic bags. This is pretty big news since about 1 billion bags are being handed out every single day in China! Stores that do not follow this ban will be fined so hopefully everyone in China will do as the government tells them
It is estimated that China wastes 37 million barrels of crude oil on producing plastic bags each year. In this day and age of skyrocketing oil prices it is kinda stupid to use this resource on plastic bags.

Other nations such as Ireland, Bangladesh, Rwanda and Uganda has already banned plastic bags. I hope the rest of world will follow this soon. It will be cool to see some cotton or hemp bags (organic of course) at the grocery stores again.