Things you can do to prevent getting the H1N1 flu:

• Wash your hands.
• Cover a cough with a sleeve.
• Don’t touch your face with your hands.
• Eat healthy foods.
• Get enough sleep.
• Stay away from people who are sick.
• Stay home if you are sick.

Make sure you know what is going on with the flu on campus. Be watching for when the vaccines become available.

More information:

Dyer KA. How to Prevent Getting H1N1 Flu or Swine Flu.

This video clip from Mr. Owen used for an Intro to Computers class demonstrates how to upload a document as an assignment or attachment in Blackboard.

Note that the version and colors of the Blackboard for the Nutrition course are different than the ones use in this Intro to Computers course, so the Blackboard interface may look a bit different.

I’ve also added this video under the Online Page of this blog as “Tips for Uploading Documents.”

In real life Shelby Allen didn’t survive the drinking game.

Shelby’s Rules.com website was set up to tell her story:

On December 20th 2008 17 year old Shelby Lyn Allen died at a friend’s home of alcohol poisoning. You would have liked her, she was fun, lively, silly and wise beyond her years, but what she didn’t know killed her.

She and her friends were ignorant of the fact that approximately 8 ounces of hard liquor (the size of a small juice glass) consumed in under 2 hours can be lethal.

Shelby’s Rules Foundation

The Shelby’s Rules – Alcohol Poisoning Education Foundation was founded by her mother Debbie to raise awareness about Alcohol Poisoning:

I founded the Shelby Lyn Allen Alcohol Poisoning Education Fund after my 17 year-old daughter, an 11th grade student at Foothill High School in Palo Cedro, California died of acute alcohol poisoning. On the first night of Christmas break 2008, my daughter and her friends began drinking at a nearby home. It is unclear what happened, but we are told Shelby became violently ill and was semi-conscious when her friends left her propped up over the toilet. When she was discovered the next morning, she could not be revived.

I have vowed to do whatever I can to educate teens, young adults and parents to the dangers of alcohol poisoning. I want all of them to know that immediate medical intervention can save lives. It is my deepest desire that no other families or friends will have to endure the pain of loss that we experience every day of our lives.

Shelby’s Rules
The rules that the foundation has come up with

• “Secrets Kill”

• Alcohol + Vomiting = 911

They are also working on getting out the word about the Warning signs of Alcohol Poisoning:

Warning signs of alcohol poisoning:

* Vomiting
* Person cannot be roused
* Semi-Concious or Unconcious

If you see someone with one or more of these symptoms, CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY.
Waiting can result in brain damage, coma or death.

Don’t be afraid to call, every second counts.

It is a very sad legacy to have left behind for one’s parents. I talked to my daughters (9 and 7) about Shelby’s story and told them about the possible deadly effects of drinking too much Alcohol this morning. I hope it registered with them.

Image: Nico Van Der Merwe. Shot Glass 02.  Royalty Free Use.

I discovered one of my poems, “A Message from an Angel Above,” was being used as a tribute on a Memorial Page set up for a college student, Sam Spady, who died of alcohol poisoning on September 5, 2004.

You can learn more about Sam Spady by watching the Video clips below:

Death By Alcohol: The Sam Spady Story

In June 12, 2006 Sam’s Parents Rick & Patty Spady and film producer Barry Bortnick appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to discuss binge drinking and the new DVD on Sam’s death.

You can watch the interview with co-anchor Charles Gibson here.

More about the Sam Spady Foundation
The mission of the Sam Spady Foundation is to educate all parents and students on the dangers of alcohol, specifically high risk consumption, and the signs and symptoms of alcohol poisoning.

In addition to making public appearances and having a DVD available on Sam’s unfortunate story, the Sam Spady Foundation also makes SAM Wallet Cards available for students. The foundation advocates that this is the one card that every student needs.

The back of the card has good reminders of what to do in case of suspected Alcohol Poisoning.

You may order up to 10 cards at no charge by sending an email to walletcards@samspadyfoundation.org with your name, shipping address and how you will be using the cards.

More on the Affects of Alcohol

A related post from November 2008 looks at a reporter who is Reporting on Driving Under the Influence.

The new version of Microsoft creates documents as a .docx format, which is only readable if the person has the latest version of Microsoft (or has the program to convert files). Another issue with Microsoft documents even just .docs it that they are more likely to transmit viruses.

The concern about transmitting computer viruses is the main reason that many instructors require that documents submitted as attachments (which will be opened by the instructor) are submitted as .rtf, .txt or .pdf files.

I found a couple of great online Video resources on YouTube with reminders about some basic computer skills that many online instructors figure their students already know how to do.

Take a look at Tips for Converting Documents and Tips for Copying and Pasting Information if you need a reminder in how to use either of these skills on the Online Success Page of this blog.

Image Source: Wikimedia. Control cut copy paste.jpg. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

You can find them in the right hand side bar under “Additional Online Links” or by following this link, Lecture Links Recorded Lectures.

All of the lectures for the course have been archived through CCC Confer so you can get them through your computer.

Here is a rather amusing comment from one of the online students this semester about using the Virtual Lectures:

“I just wanted to say I love the virtual lectures.

I have never had an on-line class with narrated power point lectures, its just like being in class. My daughter enjoyed it, too. She thought it was neat that my instructor was inside the computer. In fact, when I went to close my laptop she yelled, “No, Mommy! Don’t close that! Your teacher is in there!” (She tends to take things very literally) I am really looking forward to the semester. Thanks again.

The article takes a look at What’s inside Squirt Cheese.

They found the following ingredients:

• Whey – Byproduct of cheese-making process used as a filler.
• Canola oil – Keeps the cheese from solidifying.
• Salt – Preservative, contains twice the sodium of typical organic cheddar.
• Sodium citrate – Emulsifier.
  
• Sodium phosphate – Degreaser, preservative.
• Calcium phosphate – Adding calcium makes it legal for Kraft to label every can “an excellent source of calcium.”
  
• Lactic acid – Byproduct of bacteria digest the milk sugar lactose.
• Sodium alginate – Gum to increase viscosity.
• Apocarotenal - Yellow-orange pigment.

Food Label

In looking at the food label, you can see that most of the calories come from fat, most of them from saturated fat.

One 32 gram serving has over 400 mg of Sodium.

Due to the addition of Calcium Phosphate, the product provides 20% of a Daily Value of Calcium, which appears to be the only healthy component to this cheese product.

It doesn’t appear to me in reviewing the ingredients in Easy Cheese or Cheez Whiz that it would qualify as a healthy food, or as a milk product in the milk group of the food pyramid.

Ingredients:
MILK, WATER, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, WHEY, CANOLA OIL, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SALT, SODIUM CITRATE, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, LACTIC ACID, SORBIC ACID AS A PRESERVATIVE, SODIUM ALGINATE, APOCAROTENAL (COLOR), ANNATTO (COLOR), CHEESE CULTURE, ENZYMES.

More about Easy Cheese from the Nabisco Website.

Sources:

Ingredients from EASY CHEESE KRAFT EASY CHEESE CHEDDAR. Nabisco World.

Justo P. October 2006. What’s Inside: Squirt-On Cheese. Wired Magazine.

Easy Cheese. Wikipedia.

December 1, 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of celebrating World AIDS Day, a day set aside to recognize the disease that has killed over 25 million since it was identified in 1981.

The focus on this 20th anniversary is how the response to AIDS has greatly changed, some for the positive, but an anniversary provides an opportunity to highlight how much more still needs to be done.

Take the Test. Take Control.

A unique campaign has been developed using text messaging to promote HIV testing.

Mobile phone users can send a text message with their zip code to “KNOWIT” (566948). Within seconds, they will receive a text message identifying an HIV testing site near them.

This mobile phone service connects users with CDC’s testing database found at www.HIVtest.org.

Find out more about World AIDS Day at 20, 1988 – 2000.

SuperSize Me Video on Google Videos

This is particularly an eyeopening film when viewed at the end of a nutrition course.

His report shows some of the sobriety checks done by police officers to determine if someone has had too much to drink.