Recently the National Safe Boating Council (NSBC) announced that the North American Safe Boating Campaign's Wear It! message is making its way around the world, as other countries begin to promote the safety campaign that encourages wearing a lifejacket whenever someone goes boating. The North American Safe Boating Campaign is produced under a grant from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund administered by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Canadian Safe Boating Council (CSBC) has been working with its partner, the NSBC, for years. Now the council is stressing National Safe Boating Week, with an entire section of the CSBC Web site devoted to it. Canada is bilingual, so a click of the mouse translates the page to French.

In June, the NSBC learned that in Australia's province of New South Wales, New South Wales Maritime began featuring Wear It! on its Web site. On pages that display the Wear It! logo, the logo links to lifejacket information. In November, the rest of Australia, plus New Zealand, have joined the campaign. in Australia alone, 640,000 boaters have registered with the government, so it's an opportunity to reach hundreds of thousands of boaters worldwide.

"The National Safe Boating Council (is) thrilled to see that the 'Wear It!' message is having such a positive effect outside of the U.S.," said Virgil Chambers, executive director of NSBC. "We look forward to continued efforts at home and abroad, helping to get people into life jackets and saving lives."

Web analytics reveal that in 2009, www.SafeBoatingCampaign.com was visited by people in Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Ireland. During National Safe Boating Week 2009, people from 23 countries found the Web site.

For more information about Wear It! and what you can do, click here or e-mail the NSBC Outreach Manager.

For the first time, the Postal Service will offer visitors to the Kansas City Boat & Sportshow the opportunity to apply for a passport or just for the new U.S. Passport Card. Visitors can complete applications, pay fees and get their passport picture taken.

"We're excited to be working with the U.S. Postal Service to help make international travel simple and convenient for our visitors," said Mark Adams, show manager.

Since early in 2008, all travelers entering the U.S. through air, land and sea ports of entry must present documents denoting citizenship and identity. Formerly, many U.S. and Canadian citizens could cross the border by oral declaration alone.

Check the Web site for a list of times the Passport Fair will be open. The Kansas City Boat & Sportshow is produced by the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA). It runs Jan. 7-10 at H. Roe Bartle Hall.

Scuba Regulators Recalled by Cressi

Cressi-sub USA, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Health Canada (HC) have announced a voluntary recall of the Cressi Ellipse Black MC5 Regulator, which divers use to control the flow of air while scuba diving. Scuba divers should stop using this product immediately and return them to a Cressi authorized dive shop for a free repair. Consumers can also return the product to Cressi at One Charles Street, Westwood, N.J. 07675.

Partial obstruction of the High Pressure port can produce an inaccurate reading on the pressure gauge, resulting in a slow descent of the needle in the pressure gauge. The inaccurate reading poses a drowning hazard to divers. For information, call Cressi at 1-800-338-9143 or visit the firm's Web site.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's Hotline at 1-800)-638-2772.Click here to join a CPSC e-mail subscription list.

And Now for Some Historical Perspective

As we slog and suffer through sleet, freezing rain, and snow, perhaps these photos from 1911 will make everyone feel warmer.

Yes, you read it correctly--it's Niagara Falls, frozen solid. Feeling warmer?