CNN is reporting that the EPA boosts radiation monitoring after low levels found in milk

Results from screening samples of milk taken in the past week in Spokane, Washington, and in San Luis Obispo County, California, detected radioactive iodine at a level 5,000 times lower than the limit set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, officials said.
…

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said tests confirmed the milk is safe to drink.

“This morning I spoke with the chief advisers for both the EPA and the FDA and they confirmed that these levels are miniscule and are far below levels of public health concern, including for infants and children,” Gregoire said in a statement.

“According to them, a pint of milk at these levels would expose an individual to less radiation than would a five-hour airplane flight.”

Ah, Governor, How many toddlers take a “five-hour airplane flight” on a daily basis, as opposed to the number who drink a pint of milk a day?

Is there no difference between external sources of radiation, and radiation that is ingested and, in the case of iodine, concentrated in a small area of the body, the thyroid gland?

Did they mention that flight crews receive more radiation exposure in a year than workers in nuclear facilities?

FYI: at cruising flight levels in an aircraft you receive 6 µSv per hour. That is “microsieverts”, one-thousandth of a millisievert [mSv], which is the unit normally used in these discussions. The issue is that when you land the exposure ends. With iodine in food, it stays with you and emits that dose 24/7.

A sinking Titanic as a cat tower?

The CBC tells us that a U.K. house cat’s purr may be world’s loudest: “A British community college has recorded a house cat named Smokey whose lawnmower-like purr hit 73 decibels — 16 times louder than the average feline.”

The EPA has found that ambient sound levels above 70 decibels may result in “hearing loss, annoyance and activity interference”, but YMMV.