Major Oil Discovery in Gulf of Mexico: Exxon estimated 700 million barrels

ExxonMobil has struck oil in the Gulf of Mexico, enough to power the U.S. for 28 days.
The world uses about 72 million barrels of crude oil per day. The recent find is enough to power the world for about 10 days_________________________________________________________________________

Exxon makes major oil discovery in Gulf

By Andrew Restuccia  
06/08/11
thehill.com
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Exxon Mobil said Wednesday it has discovered an estimated 700 million barrels of oil equivalent at a deepwater well off the Louisiana coast, a major find that a top House Republican argued should push the administration to speed up offshore permitting.
"This is one of the largest discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico in the last decade,” Exxon Mobil Exploration Company President Steve Greenlee said in a statement.

Exxon Mobil made the discovery after the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) approved an application in March allowing the company to resume exploratory drilling. Drilling at the well was halted in the aftermath of last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The well is located about 250 miles south of New Orleans in about 7,000 feet of water, Exxon Mobil said.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) applauded the discovery Wednesday and argued it shows the Gulf’s potential as a source of domestic oil.

“This is the exact reason why Republicans have been pressuring the Department of the Interior to issue offshore permits—America has abundant oil and natural gas reserves, we simply need to allow the hardworking men and women in the energy industry to do their job,” Hastings said in a statement.

Republicans and drill-state Democrats have alleged that the Obama administration is slow-walking the issuance of Gulf drilling permits. But the administration insists that it is working diligently to approve permits under a new regulatory scheme that includes beefed-up safety and environmental standards.

BOEMRE has approved 15 deepwater permits since February, when the industry was able to show that it can contain well blowouts.


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Hermann Middle School 4th Quarter Honor Roll released

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CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Hermann Middle School 4th Quarter Honor Roll
  
4th Grade

Audrey Baumstark, Titus Beasley, Korinna Bickmeyer, Kyle Bruckerhoff, Shilynn Calvert, Brianna Cornman, Karlie Eldringhoff, Austin Ellis, Haley Gale, Jacob Giles, Thomas Hagedorn, Thomas Henson, Bobbijo Johnson, Mary Keiser, Calli Kernen, Samuel Krull, Mark Landrum, Brendan Leibach, Madison McDaris, Tyler Minks, Alexus Ostrum, Hattie Portell, Chase Racherbaumer, Audrey Robertson, Naomi Rodriquez, Tyler Rutledge, Peyton Schafer, Mason Scheible, Rhet Scheidegger, Avery Sherrow, Alicia Smith, Courtney Smith, Baylee Starke, Benjamin Stephan, Jada Sutton, Andrew Warfield, Leighton Weckter, Bailey Whithaus and Terrance Williams.

5th Grade

Gregory Bader, Kimberly Barr, Noah Boyer, Benjamin Brennell, Cody Bruckerhoff, Timothy Byers, Taylor Eldridge, Evan Eldringhoff, Tessa Eldringhoff, Jesse Embrey, Mikale Eslinger, Symantha Fredrick, Alyssa Gale, Madison Gard, Bridget Gleeson, Casey Gleeson, Brooke Grosse, Cecelia Heil, Haley Hingst, Grace Hoener, Cody Horn, Regan Horstmann, Lexi Isaak, Justice Kiderlin, Maria Krull, John Lensing, Jamie Limberopoulos, Charles Moody, Trent Oberg, Billee Page, Caitlin Pottebaum, Raven Radosh, Brianna Rucker, Colter Scheible, Emmett Scheible, Craig Schluss, Makinna Schneider, Alana Seamon, Jared Seamon, Ashley Smith, Laura Smith, Bernard Steinhoff, Rachel Swayze, Colin Taylor, Elissa Thurman, Destinee Tidwell, Karina Vega, Aleigha Whitt and Sophia Winters.

6th Grade

Julie Anderson, Dalton Bickmeyer, Candice Boehmer, Carly Brown, Malorie Deeken, Allison Edwards, Deshoda Eldridge, Madelyn Eldringhoff, Marissa Grannemann, Dakota Hackmann, Matthew Heidger, Ross Henson, Heather Hofmeister, Michaela Hubbard, Gregory Jacquin, Sarah Keiser, Dalton Krimmel, Gunnar Krull, Tyler Kuhn, Shyan McKee, Isaac McMahan, Andrew Niiro, Olivia Pohlmann, David Robertson, Kaitlin Rohlfing, Katherine Rose, Claire Schneider, Sean Sullens and Hailey Warfield.

7th Grade

Anna Baumstark, Jacob Bockting, Shania Branson, Isaac Brooks, Dakota Eikermann, Kaylee Eldringhoff, Brittany Godat, Cameron Hackmann, Katrina Hagedorn, Colton Hale, Trevor Hartman, RoseMarie Hill, Heather Hingst, Donnita Johnson, John Keiser, Conner Lane, Elijah Mure, Marshall Mure, Joshua Schroer, Quentin Starke, Taylor Stutzman, Victoria Tidwell, Tiera Walkenbach and Kyle Walker.

8th Grade

Hunter Birkenstock, Blake Gleeson, Levi Gleeson, Matthew Hagedorn, Carly Heil, Colton Hubbard, Kara Hughes, John Knudsen, Emily Kunz, Veronica Laboube, Victoria Roodhouse, Tesla Ruediger, Arthur Schneider, Kody Thompson, Hannah Weaver and Hunter Wilkinson. 
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STUDENT LOAN POLICE DEBTORS PRISON: SWAT team launch dawn raid

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A little over the top?: SWAT team launch dawn raid on family home to collect unpaid student loans

By Daily Mail Reporter


8th June 2011

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A father was dragged from his home and handcuffed in front of his children by a SWAT team looking for his estranged wife - to collect her unpaid student loans.
A stunned Kenneth Wright had his front door kicked in by the raiding party at 6 am yesterday before being dragged onto his front porch, handcuffed and led to a police car with his three children.
He says he was then detained for six hours while officers looked for his wife - who no longer lives at the house

Mr Wright was later told by Stockton police that the order to send in the SWAT team came from The U.S. Department of Education who were looking for his estranged wife to collect defaulted loan payments.
Speaking to ABC News 10, a visibly shaken Mr Wright described what happened when he was woken by a banging on his front door.
He said: 'I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers.
Dressed in his boxer shorts, Mr Wright says he rushed downstairs and was about to open the door when it was kicked open.
An officer then grabbed him by the neck before dragging him out onto the front lawn.
His 3, 7, and 11-year-old children were also removed by officers and put in a waiting police car.
'He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there,' Mr Wright said.
'They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatising my kids.'

The Department for Education refused to comment on the incident, saying they would not do so until the case was closed.
They did however confirm that their Office of the Inspector General had issued the search warrant.
The office has its own branch of federal agents that carry out search warrants and investigations.
Mr Wright is now trying to get compensation for the destroyed door.
Speaking to ABC, he demonstrated that although the door had been patched up, the handle no longer worked.
He said: 'They busted down my door for this.
'It wasn't even me.
'All I want is an apology for me and my kids and for them to get me a new door.'
He even had words of advice for anyone thinking of skipping paying their college bills.
He added: 'People who have student loans , pay your bills, take care of your credit.
'If you don't belive me, this could be you one morning 6 o'clock.'

Commission Structure of Student Loan Collector

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Facebook's New Face Recognition Raises Privacy Concerns Around the World

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How to get around Facebook's new face recognition

    By Claire Connelly
    From: news.com.au
    June 08, 2011

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New face recognition is on by default 

You can turn it off, or have some fun 

FACEBOOK wants to know what you look like, and it wants you to like it. The social networking website has been rolling out a facial recognition feature called Tag Suggestions since late last year.
Now the feature has become available for Australian users, and by default, it's turned on.
Tag Suggestions is designed to make it easier for you to tag photos of friends. When you upload a photo, the site will make suggestions based on who it thinks appears in the picture.
Professor Brian Lovell of the University of Queensland said Tag Suggestions posed serious privacy risks for some users.
"The software might actually be labelling people who don’t want to have their faces known," Dr Lovell told news.com.au.
"You put these things up in innocent way and they can be used against you."

Dr Lovell, who heads the university's Advanced Surveillance team, said users with assumed or suppressed identities were particularly at risk.
"If your photo was taken before you enter witness protection, it's very hard to remove those photos," he said.
Many Facebook users have complained on the site that the feature was turned on without their consent.
"Change settings and ask questions later, hey! Nice one," said one user.
"Once again, the user has to react, after the fact. Once again, not opt-in, as should be, but opt-out," said another.
Tag Suggestions can be turned off by customising your privacy settings under the "Things others share" heading.

However Dr Lovell said there may be another, more novel way to get around the feature — by taking bad photos.
"It's not a matter of does it work, or does it fail, it's about just how well it works," he said.
Given that many Facebook users uploaded photos taken on their mobile phone, Dr Lovell said the software may not work as well as it was meant to.
"The best recognition photos come from 10 megapixel photos," he said.
"iPhones have a 5 megapixel camera."
And if you wanted to make Tag Suggestions work even harder, you could upload photos taken at night or in low light.
"Most people socialise at night, they go to clubs and restaurants and take photos of their friends and you find the quality of the photos is quite poor," Dr Lovell said.
"You start to get problems in low light performance... it becomes very noisy."

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Downgraded to 3.9 - UPDATE: AUDIO OF NATIONAL RADIO COVERAGE MOMENTS AFTER QUAKE: ADDED: 4.2 Magnitude Missouri Earthquake Rattles Franklin, Gasconade County Area 3:10 AM JUNE 7, 2011: FELT IN HERMANN

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Light earthquake rattles St. Louis region
BY KIM BELL 
June 8, 2011
www.stltoday.com

ST. LOUIS • A light earthquake rattled the St. Louis region early Tuesday.
The quake, which hit at 3:10 a.m. Tuesday, was a magnitude 3.9 temblor, according to scientists examining data at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo..
"A lot of people felt it, but we're not talking about damage," said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey. "It was pretty short duration."
The city closest to the epicenter is Richwoods, six miles northeast of the quake center.
No damage was reported. About 2,600 people logged onto the Geological Survey's website to report having felt the quake. Most said it was very subtle shaking or swaying. Several hundred people from the St. Louis metro area's zip codes reported the quake as having the intensity of subtle shaking.
The shaking lasted several seconds. Some said three or five seconds; others claimed it lasted about 30 seconds, although Blakeman said the fear a quake produces likely caused those people to exaggerate.
Mary Morgan, 52, of Bonne Terre, said she woke up to the shaking. She said she thinks she is more sensitive to the tremors because she is deaf. Morgan's house is on a hill, and she said she was reluctant to go back to bed.
"If that was an earthquake, do I dare go back to sleep?" she said. "The shaking lasted 30 seconds to a minute. It was a constant rumbling."
In some areas, such as in Potosi, some reported a more intense shaking. It was felt indoors by many people who reported dishes, windows and doors rattling, and the walls making a cracking sound.
Brad Barton, director of the Washington County 911 service, said police dispatchers got calls from about 30 people right after the earthquake.
"A few thought it was an explosion," Barton said.
Barton drove around the county near the epicenter to look for damage. He was looking for anything out of the ordinary — leaning utility poles or cracks in the concrete at low-water crossings — but found nothing amiss, he said.
A handful of reports came in from people in the Illinois communities of Belleville, Red Bud, Granite City and Caseyville who said they felt it. A few people as far away as Kentucky, Ohio and Alabama also reported feeling the swaying from the earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's earthquake hazards program.
It apparently occurred in what's called the Ozark dome region outside the New Madrid zone.
Blakeman said the earthquake was shallow, at least by earthquake standards, at three miles deep. He said it's unclear which fault it was on; he added that authorities might never be able to pinpoint which fault.
BE READY
The American Red Cross took the quake as an opportunity to remind people to have a plan in case of a disaster.
The Red Cross suggests people put together an emergency preparedness kit that is portable and stored in a water-resistant container. The kit should have enough supplies for three days. If you already have a kit, check to see that nothing has expired.
The kit should include a first-aid kit; essential medications; canned food and a can opener; at least three gallons of water per person; protective clothing; bedding or sleeping bags; a battery-powered radio; and a flashlight with extra batteries. The kit also should include written instructions for how to turn off gas, electricity and water if authorities say it should be done.
The American Red Cross said everyone should also have an earthquake plan. Know the safe place in every room where you can seek shelter, such as beneath a sturdy table or desk or against an inside wall where nothing can fall on you. Teach children to drop, cover, and hold on.
For more information on earthquake preparedness, contact the St. Louis Area Chapter of the American Red Cross at 314-516-2800 or go to the agency's website at www.redcrossstl.org.

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You may felt a rattle in Hermann at 3:10 AM, Tuesday, that is if you were awake!!!

An earthquake with an epicenter near Sullivan, MO rattled the local area at around 3:10 a.m. on Tuesday.
The National Weather Service estimated the magnitude of the quake, which lasted several several seconds, to be 4.2 on the Richter scale. The quake's epicenter was located approximately 14 miles southeast of Sullivan and 30 miles south of Washington.
Residents in St. Charles and Chesterfield reported feeling the quake, as well as those as far away as Potosi, Farmington and Columbia, MO.

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