April 27th, 2009 by Walt
I want to pass some more reliable links on for clearing the air on the severity of the swine flu outbreak and updates on progress clearing it up.
WHO Disease Outbreak News page is a good place to start. They track many health issues as well. Google News is another place to get information.
Avoid social networking places like Twitter, MySpace, etc, as you will read of everything from space aliens and terrorists creating the end of the world on through to news outlets making it up due to lack of other things to report on.
Readiness? Simple: You should already have some food and water stocked for “whatever” just in case there is a rush fearing the stores will close. I try to keep several days of food and water stocked in case of severe weather or any other emergency at all times.
Prevention? Again simple: Practice what your mother taught you about washing your hands and not standing in front of a messy sneeze! ~Duh!!! Oh, and make your mom happier and make sure you eat properly…
What to do? Go about your daily life… Keep informed, and don’t fall for off-the-wall “word of mouth” news. If you hear something off the wall, check the local media, CNN, BBC, wherever you normally get your news from (but not your next door gossip).
One final note: Beware of scams related to swine flu. There will certainly be all sorts of scams surfacing trying to separate you from your money. Do not fall for masks that collect 100% of germs forever, watch out for snake oil type cures. You know…simply don’t fall for people walking up to you on the street with goods that will keep you perfectly safe.
Last note: Beware of malware sent in emails targeted to get your attention about swine flu “news”. Now is the perfect time for malware writers to send infected videos of “the President” talking about the possible pandemic or other well known people talking about it. “Secret tips” on preventing becoming infected will be making the rounds most likely. If you do receive such an email, dump it. If it comes from a friend, ask them if they actually did send it to you, and even then be cautious as they may not realize that they have a worm installed on their computer from that email yet – and of course, it may sound plausable so nobody suspects anything.
Bottom line: COMMON SENSE should prevail! Get your facts from the media and not the neighborhood gossip or the know-it-all in line behind you at the store.
Tags: medicine, public awareness, readiness, safety, scams
Posted in A-All posts, Current Events, Health, The Internet | No Comments »
January 21st, 2009 by Walt
I guess a milestone of sorts has been reached with Barack Obama becoming president…. I find myself older than the President of the United States!!!! Up until now I have thought of them as older men, now, guess what? I’m the old man!!!!! Not by too much, but still it is different thinking that I am senior in age to the President.
Oh, in case anybody wonders, I am over it!
Tags: Politics, random rants
Posted in A-All posts, Current Events, Poly-Ticks, Randomness | No Comments »
May 25th, 2008 by Walt
Just a heads up that NOAA has released a report stating that this year will be anywhere from normal to a bit above normal in storms and severity. Remember that this is simply based on similar years in the past, and they are not 100% sure of what will happen.
Last year didn’t live up to expectations (Nobody in their right mind will complain about that), this year may be another year of not a lot happening, or it may end up being a humdinger…
Common readiness is important anyway as anything may happen where you will need to use some stockpiled water, food, flashlights/batteries, and whatever.
Don’t be complacent, if a storm threatens, take all warnings seriously.
Tags: hurricanes, NOAA, public awareness, readiness, safety
Posted in A-All posts, Current Events | No Comments »
June 21st, 2007 by Walt
I was talking with a friend this morning, and he mentioned that his family and some friends had put together an idea to supply (with proper permission) his son’s platoon in Iraq with fire resistant T-shirts. These are special T-shirts that have fire resistance woven into the fabric, and the shirts still breath, wick sweat for cooling, and anything else natural cotton can do.
I mention this as I constantly read people harping on how wrong things are, but never mention any cures other than maybe that the people in control are idiots, criminals, etc. ad nauseum. I bet they would run several miles from any idea that may actually help those in harm’s way.
For those who are so strongly against our men and women dying, their simple rhetoric on how bad things are is without merit without bringing solutions to the table. Sending vitally needed items to our troops tells them that we support them, even though we may not agree with why they are there
Our troops need to know that we do support them personally, no matter what we feel about the politics of why they are there.
Bottom line, let them know that we do care about them at a personal level, and try to do something to prove it.
Tags: military, support our troops
Posted in A-All posts, Current Events, Lifestyle/Society | No Comments »
April 19th, 2007 by Walt
Scum and scammers have already started crawling out of the woodwork trying to make “easy money” over the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Computerworld has the story.
Needless to say that this is disgusting, that people care so little about the loss of loved ones that they want to register domains related to Virginia Tech and the shootings. Some even look like they would be fund raising sites to help families and survivors. there is nothing wrong with helping, I recommend it, but please, only use trusted sources like your church, school, or links that may be on Virginia Tech’s own site.
WARNING: Email scams are also out and about, as are Trojans social engineered to make you want to open the email. Do not open anything that purports to be a slide show, video, or screen saver, or anything related, even if it appears to be from somebody you may trust, they may be infected. Before opening anything like that, write them back to ask if they sent it to you knowingly.
I must say that eBay seems to be doing a good job in keeping the domain auctions out of action.
While we now get to see the bad side of some people, remember that the good sides are worth so much more in the long run.
Tags: online security, scams, tragedy, Virginia Tech
Posted in A-All posts, Current Events, Lifestyle/Society | No Comments »
