5 Ways To Fight The Flu

As cold weather approaches, so does the flu season. But there are several things you can do to keep from getting the flu.

1) Get the flu shot. The best way to deal with the flu is to prevent it. Many people worry that a flu shot will give them the flu. Because the vaccine does not have a live germ, it cannot cause infection.

2) Cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough. Teach your children to do the same. The flu germ spreads through the air.

3) Wash your hands often with soap and water. The flu gem can live on doorknobs, telephones and other everyday items.

4) Eat healthy foods and get plenty of rest. Healthy habits help your body fight off germs.

5) Ask your primary care provider if you or a member of your family should get a pneumonia shot. The flu, if not cared for, could lead to pneumonia. This is especially true for the elderly, young children, and those with certain medical conditions.

Golf For Beginners

How To Determine Your Website Page Rank

How good is your Web site?

Is your Blog up to par?

There are actually websites that will measure the ranking of your website. For those of you that don't know what page rank is, it's a tool put together by Google that determines the effectiveness or efficiency of your Web site.

The higher your page rank, the higher your Web site is listed in the various search engines, and that means more traffic to your site. This, in essence, means more people are looking at your site, your products, your services, thus putting more money in your pocket in the form of paying customers.

If more people are going to your Web site then less traffic is going to your competitors' Web site. Unfortunately most people don't even know what page rank is but those visitors that do will place your website in a higher esteem than your competitors and feel that your content is much more valuable and insightful.

Now you are probably wondering how page rank determined? And more importantly how do you increase your page rank?. Well, let's look at the first part of that question.

One way to help determine your page is when another site links to your page with a back link. The more back links you receive from other pages the higher your page rank. It's a good idea to make sure the back links are coming from sites that have content on the same theme as yours.
This process can get quite involved and a little messy because all back links don't carry the same weight or force. The higher the page rank that a link is coming from the more beneficial it is in terms of boosting your page rank. So if you get links from a lot of pages with low page ranks it will not have as strong an impact as a few pages with higher page ranks.

Now this is the complicated part: If you have a page that has a page rank of 7 and it is already linked to 10 or 15 other pages then it will not be any more beneficial to you than a page that has a page rank of maybe 3 or so. There is only so much linking that a page can do. It's almost like the law of diminishing returns, in other words after awhile it begins to have the opposite effect.

Another way to improve your page rank is through the use of web directories. Not only will this increase your page rank but it will also increase the traffic to your site. So if you submit your site to a large number of Web directories you will be able to increase your rank. There are a number of web directories you can submit your website or blog to.

There's a host of other items that will definitely help you to increase your ranking and the general traffic flow to your Web site. Also if you are curious about the page ranking of your own site you can see exactly where you stand by doing a Google search for page rank. This should help you to find some of the sites out there that measure page rank. Once you find a site all you have to do is put your own URL in the designated box and you will have your answer. A page rank of 6 or higher is very high.

About the Author: Mel Richardson - Coach, Author and Internet Marketer has been recently putting together programs for those that are new to the internet and looking to build an online business. http://www.freeonlinemarketingstrategies.com/

Team Work

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Magic Eraser

The photo is of Kolby - 24 hours after being burned by a Magic Eraser sponge. It was much worse the day before.

One of my five year old's favorite chores around the house is cleaning scuff marks off the walls, doors, and baseboards with either an Easy Eraser pad, or the real deal, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I remember reading the box, wondering what the "Magic" component was that cleaned crayon off my walls with ease. No ingredients were listed and absolutely no warnings were on the box, other than "Do not ingest."

My package of the Scotchbrite Easy Erasers didn't have a warning either; and since my child knew not to eat the sponges and keep them out of reach of his little brother and sister, it was a chore I happily let him do.

If I had known that both brands (and others like them) contain a harmful alkaline or "base" chemical (opposite of acid on the pH scale) that can burn your skin, I never would have let my little boy handle them. As you can see from the picture, when the Scotchbrite Easy Eraser was rubbed against his face and chin, he received severe chemical burns.

At first, I thought he was being dramatic. I picked him up, put him on the counter top and washed his face with soap and water. He was screaming in pain. I put some lotion on his face - more agony. I had used a Magic Eraser to remove magic marker from my own knuckles a while back and I couldn't understand why he was suddenly in pain. Then, almost immediately, the large, shiny, blistering red marks started to spread across his cheeks and chin.

I quickly searched Google.com for "Magic Eraser Burn" and turned up several results. I was shocked. These completely innocent looking white foam sponges can burn you?

I called our pediatrician, and of course got sent to voice mail. I hung up and called the hospital and spoke to an emergency room nurse. She told me to call Poison Control. The woman at Poison Control said she was surprised nobody had sued these companies yet and walked me through the process of neutralizing the alkaline to stop my son's face from continually burning more every second.

I had already, during my frantic phone calling, tried patting some numbing antibiotic cream on his cheeks, and later some Aloe Vera gel - both resulted in screams of pain. The Poison Control tech had me fill a bathtub with warm water, lay my son into it, cover him with a towel to keep him warm and then use a soft washcloth to rinse his face and chin with cool water for a continuous 20 minutes. My son calmed down immediately. He told me how good it felt. I gave him a dose of Tylenol and after the twenty minutes was up, he got dressed in his Emergency Room doctor Halloween costume and off we went to the hospital. They needed to make sure the chemical burn had stopped burning, and examine his face to determine if the burn would need to be debrided (from my fuzzy recollection of hospital work, this means removing loose tissue from a burn location). My son was pretty happy at the hospital, they were very nice and called him "Doctor" and let him examine some of their equipment. The water had successfully stopped the burning and helped soothe a lot of the pain. I'm sure Tylenol was helping too.

They sent us home with more Aloe Vera gel, Polysporin antibiotic cream, and some other numbing creams. By the time we got home, my son was crying again. I tried applying some of the creams but he cried out in pain. Water seemed to be what worked the best.

After a rough night, I took the above photo in the morning. He was swollen and wouldn't move his lips very much. The skin on his cheeks was taut.

Today he is doing much better. The burns have started to scab over, and in place of red, raw, angry, skin we have a deeper red, rough healing layer. I can touch his skin now, without it stinging.

If you are a parent or grandparent, this post is meant to save your loved ones from the horror these parents went through. Please share it with other parents, grandparents, babysitters, aunts and uncles ~ anyone you know who spends time with kids.

And no, this was not my child.

FactCheck.Org

Ok.... This election means alot to me... More so than others in the past. I feel like there is more at risk for so many of us, including myself. I'm more effected.

I do my research as far as job losses are concerned here where I live. And it's astounding to me.
When companies compile this list of job losses, they don't look at the reasons why someone lost their job. The fact is, they lost their job. For whatever reason. And I was one of them.

So when a couple ladies knocked on my door the other day to talk with me about the election, I was open and eager to hear what they had to say. Here, they represent Obama. We stood outside a good 20 minutes while they asked about my situation. And I told them everything.
We discussed a few differences between Obama and McCain. Where each party stood.... And yes, I double checked everything I was being told @ http://www.factcheck.org/ to verify what I had heard and learned.

Now I will be volunteering for the Obama campaign... To help out in any way I can. I will meet with other volunteers in my neighborhood and we will work together and try to give the information out to those that are still unsure of where they stand. And they can do their own checking as well.

I feel excited to be a part of this. I have to admit, I have not had one knock at the door from the McCain committee to check in with me and see how I am doing.

If you are still unsure of where you stand... Or need some more info, here's a good source.
http://www.factcheck.org/

Funny

Fact #4

Fact #4: Cancer rates are up, particularly for cancers that affect the young

Cancer incidence increased steadily between 1973 and 1996, and probably for longer than that, although the government did not keep track of cancer rates before 1973. The increase was consistent across many types of cancer, from breast cancer, that increased steadily at 1.5 percent per year, to prostate cancer, that skyrocketed at 4.4 percent per year. Overall, cancer incidence in the U.S. rose by 1.1 percent per year during that time, or about 11,000 more cancers per million people each year. For some cancers the increase appears to have leveled off, but for many other cancers, rates continue to rise (NCI 1996, NCI 1997).

Isn't this just because people are living longer?


No. All of the rates represent the increase after accounting for an aging population.

Isn't the increase just the result of better detection?

For some portion of some cancers better detection explains the increase, but better detection does not account for the overall dramatic increases in cancer incidence that have occurred in the past 30 years (Ekbom 1998, NCI 1996, NCI 1997).

Childhood cancers on the rise

In the 20 years from 1975 to 1995, childhood cancer rates rose 20 percent, from 128 cases per million children in 1975 to 154 cases per million in 1995. Between 1992 and 1996, 20 of every 100,000 preschool-age children (four and younger) were diagnosed with cancer, or 200 times the one in a million lifetime risk level at which the federal government attempts to set regulations controlling chemical exposures. (NCI 1996)


Childhood leukemia: Leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, increased by about 17% between 1973 and 1996 (from 23 to 27 cases per million children) (EPA 2000).

Childhood brain cancer: The incidence of brain and other central nervous system tumors in children rose by 26% between 1973 and 1996 (EPA 2000).


Reproductive cancers on the rise

Since the chemical industrial revolution of the 1940's and 50's the population has been deluged with chemicals that disrupt normal functioning of the endocrine (hormone) system. Today, the average person born in the United States has 50 or more industrial chemicals in his or her blood that have been shown to disrupt normal functioning of hormones in animal studies. The levels of some of these compounds are similar to the amounts linked to adverse effects in animal studies. Many of these substances have also been shown to cause cancer of the testes, breast, prostate, and other reproductive organs in laboratory animals (Toppari et al 1996, Moline et al 2000, Schettler et al 2000). These chemicals include DDT, PCBs, dioxin, bisphenol-A, and phthalates, to name just a few. It is widely suspected that these compounds are contributing to increases in cancers of the reproductive organs in the human population.

Breast cancer. Among girls born today, 1 in 8 are expected to get breast cancer and 1 in 30 are expected to die from it. Invasive female breast cancer increased an average of 1.5 percent per year between 1973 and 1996, for a total increase of 25.3 percent. Among those 65 and younger, breast cancer incidence rose 1.2 percent per year, corresponding to a doubling every 2 generations (58 years). If trends continue, the granddaughters of today's young women could face a 1 in 4 chance of developing breast cancer. (NCI 1996, NCI 1997)

Testicular cancer. At its current pace, the incidence of testicular cancer is doubling about every one and a half generations (39 years). In the U.S. the incidence of testicular cancer rose 41.5 percent between 1973 and 1996, an average of 1.8 percent per year (NCI 1996, NCI 1997). While rates of testicular cancer continue to drop among older men (65 and up), younger men are not so lucky. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer among young men, disproportionately striking men in their 30's, with the highest rate of diagnosis among those between the ages of 30 and 34.

Prostate cancer. Prostate cancer rates rose 4.4 percent a year between 1973 and 1992, or more than a doubling of risk in a generation. Since 1992, the incidence has declined, but it is still 2.5 times the rate in 1973. Part of this increase can be explained by better detection, but increased incidence has also been accompanied by an increase in mortality - which better detection cannot explain. Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer among U.S. men, and the second most lethal, killing an estimated 31,900 men in the year 2000 alone (NCI 1996, NCI 1997).

References

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2000. America's Children and the Environment. A first view of available measures. EPA 240-R-00-006. December 2000.
Moline JM, Golden A, Bar-Chama N, Smith E, Rauch M, Chapin R, Perreault S, Schrader S, Suk W, Landrigan P. September 2000. Exposure to hazardous substances and male reproductive health: a research framework. Environmental Health Perspectives. 108(9).
National Cancer Institute (NCI). 1996. SEER Cancer Statistics Review. 1973-1996. http://www-seer.ims.nci.nih.gov/Publications/CSR1973_1996/
National Cancer Institute (NCI). 1996. SEER Cancer Statistics Review. 1973-1996. http://seer.cancer.gov/Publications/CSR1973_1997/
Schettler T, J Stein, F Reich, M Valenti. 2000. In Harm's Way: Toxic Threats to Child Development. Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility. May 2000.
Toppari J, Larsen JC, Christiansen P, Giwercman A, Grandjean P, Guillette LJ Jr, Jegou B, Jensen TK, Jouannet P, Keiding N, Leffers H, McLachlan JA, Meyer O, Muller J, Meyts, ER-D, Scheike T, Sharpe R, Sumpter J, Skakkebaek NE. August 1996. Male reproductive health and environmental xenoestrogens. Environmental Health Perspectives. 104. Supplement 4.

Hillary Supporters

Senator Clinton made history in her historic campaign—not just because she broke barriers, but because she inspired millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to causes like universal health care that make a difference in the lives of hardworking Americans.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/joinourmovement