PROTECT YOURSELF!!!
There appears to be
another round of e-mails, allegedly from the IRS, telling recipients
they are entitled to a refund. The IRS, FTB, etc., will NOT
e-mail you to advise you of a refund.
They will NOT ask for your credit card information. They
will NOT ask for your Social Security number. If you get an
e-mail and you are asked for private information you may be sure IT
IS A SCAM. The sender is attempting to steal your identity and-or
money. DO NOT RESPOND. DELETE THE E-MAIL IMMEDIATELY. Beware of
telephone calls, too. The IRS, FTB, etc., and governmental agencies do
NOT call people. They work by U.S. Mail, only.
Thanks Marilyn F.
WHY PLASTIC ISN’T SO GREAT FOR HOLIDAY GIVING
The average person
spends $1,000 during the holidays. If you charge your holiday expenses
to a credit card and pay $50 per month you will still owe $550.24 after
50 weeks (at 14.57 percent APR). It will take almost two full years to
pay off the charges for one Christmas shopping spree. On the other hand,
if you deposit $20 per week into a Holiday Club savings plan at your
bank, after 50 weeks you will have saved $1,007.84 (at 1.5 percent APR).
This covers your Christmas shopping without putting you deeper in
debt.
AARP Bulletin,
November 2007
DRIVING IN THE RAIN
Rainy season is
almost here. Remember, if it is raining hard enough for you to use
windshield wipers you must have your headlights turned on to
avoid getting a ticket.
http://www.dtv.govHELPING
THE BLIND
Have you ever
pre-judged anyone? Most of us do it. We see someone and BAM! Just like
that! They are incompetent. We do not know a thing about them, but we
know they must be incompetent--they are blind.
During the 12 years
I have been teaching the blind to live, work and associate within
sighted society, I have discovered the number one obstacle to blindness
is the public’s perception that blind people are not equal to the
sighted. However, with proper training and opportunity, blind people can
perform jobs with the same speed and accuracy as the sighted.
If you are an
employer, please consider hiring qualified, blind applicants. I neither
support nor endorse hiring unqualified people or lowering job standards
to accommodate the blind, I do, however, suggest keeping an open mind to
the possibility of a blind person’s being the best person for the job.
Sometimes alternate methods of performing tasks are an improvement to
conventional methods as was demonstrated to me by my blind car mechanic
who “felt” a cracked radiator hose after a sighted mechanic missed it.
If you find
yourself working with a blind or visually impaired person, have and keep
the highest expectations for that working relationship. Expect to work
with this person as with any other peer, on equal terms. They should be
expected to work independently, take on equal responsibility and carry
an equal work load. Occasionally, you may be called on to help a blind
peer by reading a memo or offering directions, but your blind peer
should be expected to return the favors by helping you with your work
load or granting other assistance.
Employers, if you
hire a blind person, expect the same level of job performance you would
from a sighted employee. The blind people I train are willing to take on
equal responsibility in exchange for an equal opportunity to work.
If you would like
more information or links to resources about blindness, please visit my
website at
http://www.blindcoach.com/
Joanne Laurent is a
Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist. She helps the blind
learn to live in a sighted world.
Thanks Joanne L.
KIDS SCIENCE EXAM
Q. Explain one of
the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A. Flirtation makes
water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand,
dead sheep and canoeists.
Thanks Dave S.
THE FEMALE HEART ATTACK
Women rarely have
the same dramatic symptoms men have when experiencing a heart attack
(MI); sudden stabbing pain in the chest,
cold sweats, etc. One woman’s experience began around 10:30,
p.m., without prior exertion or the emotional trauma one would suspect
might bring on such an attack. Here is her story.
I was relaxing in
my recliner when I felt the awful sensation of indigestion; the one that
follows quickly grabbing a bite of sandwich and washing it down with a
sip of water; the food feels like you swallowed a golf ball and it is
going down in slow motion. The only problem was, I had not eaten since
5:00, p.m.
This feeling
subsided and I began to feel little squeezing motions racing up my spine
(aorta spasms) gaining speed as they continued up and under my sternum
(breast bone) and into my throat. These feelings then branched out into
my jaws. This is when I realized what was happening. We have all read or
heard about pain in the jaws being one signal of an MI.
I lowered the foot
rest, got out of my chair and tried to walk but fell to the floor. I
thought to myself, “If this is a heart attack, I should not be
walking... but, on the other hand, if I don’t, nobody will know I need
help, and if I wait much longer it may be too late.” I pulled myself up
using the chair for support and slowly walked into the next room and
called 911. I told the woman I thought I was having a heart attack. She
said she was sending the Paramedics and asked if I was near the front
door and was the door unlocked. She told me to lie down on the floor
where the Paramedics could see me when they came in.
I laid down on the
floor and, apparently, lost
consciousness as I do not remember the Paramedics coming in or anything
else until regaining consciousness briefly when we arrived
at the
hospital. The
Cardiologist, was already there, bending over me and asking questions. I
could not make my mind interpret what he was saying or form an answer. I
nodded off again, not waking up until the Angiogram balloon had been
threaded up my femoral artery, through the aorta and into my heart where
two side-by-side stents were installed to hold my right coronary artery
open.
More women than men
die from their first MI because they did not know what was happening.
Pay attention when something unusual happens in your body. Symptoms vary
with each of us, if anything unpleasant happens, something you have not
felt before, call the Paramedics. Time is off the essence! Your most
important need during an MI is oxygen, which is always carried by
Paramedics.
Do NOT drive
yourself to the hospital.
Do NOT call
your doctor, he cannot help you at that point and, most likely, will
tell you to call 911.
Do NOT
assume it could not be a heart attack because you have a normal
cholesterol count. MIs are usually caused by long-term stress and
inflammation in the body.
DO
pay attention to pain in the jaw, which can wake you from a sound sleep.
Be careful. Be
aware. The more you know, the better your chances of survival.
Thanks Pauline M.
SECURITY TIP
If you leave your
garage door open, even for short periods of time, a burglar casing the
neighborhood can see what you own.
Also, most people
do not lock the door between their garage and the house. This is an
excellent way for intruders to get in. Make it a habit, check your doors
to be sure they are closed and locked... especially before turning in
for the night. Post Alarm,
Keeping you Posted, July 2007
WORDS OF WISDOM
No effort we make
to attain something beautiful is ever lost. Helen Keller
OTHER WORDS OF WISDOM
Instead of getting
married again, I’m going to find a woman I don’t like and just give her
a house. Rod Stewart
NEW APPLE VIRUS
On October 31,
professional, on-line criminals were found using Trojan-horse software
to target computers running Apple’s OS X operating system, just as they
do on Windows. The Trojan comes disguised as a video-decoding plug-in
that users are told they must install to watch free porn clips. Instead,
the software burrows into the operating system and diverts some of the
victim’s future web surfing to sites under the attacker’s control.
This shows
cyber-crooks have decided there are now enough
Apple systems
on-line to make attacking them profitable.
Thanks Fred C.
STAPH INFECTIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
Recent news reports
detailed super-drug-resistant staph infections in schools across the
country and school closings to clean “shared” surfaces, more
particularly computers, shower areas and sports equipment.
Staphylococcus
aureus (staph) are bacteria commonly found on the skin or in the noses
of healthy people. About 25 to 30 percent of the population are
colonized (bacteria are present without causing infection). Staph
bacteria are some of the most common causes of skin infections but can
also cause more serious infections, e.g., surgical wound and bloodstream
infections.
MRSA (methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus) is resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics; which
include common antibiotics; oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. While
25 to 30 percent of the population may be colonized with staph bacteria,
only about 1 percent are colonized with MRSA.
Factors associated
with the spread of MRSA include: close skin-to-skin contact, openings in
the skin (scrapes, wounds), contaminated items and surfaces, poor
hygiene and crowded living conditions.
Prevention of staph
or MRSA infections includes good hygiene practices:
1. Clean hands
regularly with soap and hot water or by using alcohol-based hand
sanitizer.
2. Keep cuts and
scrapes clean and covered with dry bandages.
3. Avoid contact
with other people’s bandages or wounds.
4. Avoid sharing
personal items like razors or towels.
5. Regularly use an
alcohol wipe to clean “shared areas,” e.g., telephones, keyboards,
mouse, etc. Thanks Fred C.
PREVENTING DRY EYES
Dry eyes is
something we all experience from time-to-time. It can be triggered for a
variety of reasons; aging and eyestrain to name a few. The U.S. National
Library of Medicine offers the following suggestions to soothe dry,
itchy eyes:
* Use artificial
tears or other moisturizing eye drops or ointments.
* Avoid smoking and
exposure to secondhand smoke.
* Avoid direct
exposure to wind or air conditioning.
* Use a humidifier
in your home, particularly during the dry winter months.
* Blink often to
rest your eyes.
* Wear sun glasses
to protect your eyes from harmful rays.
Daily Health Tip,
VitaCost
NANOTECHNOLOGY AIMS AT NONINVASIVE CANCER THERAPY
Carbon nanotubes
embedded in tumors and heated externally by radio frequency energy
achieved total tumor necrosis in pre-clinical studies. Research
involving microscopic technology has shown promise in animals as a
noninvasive approach to treating cancer. The heated nanotubes initially
destroyed cancer cells in vitro and then obliterated tumors in a rabbit
model of liver cancer. This approach suggested a potential noninvasive
means to treat tumors virtually anywhere in the body.
Although some
healthy tissue adjacent to tumors was damaged, investigators were
encouraged with the overall results. This procedure has not yet been
tested in humans. Thanks Fred C.