There are two interesting weather facts about 1934:

1) It is the warmest recorded year in the history of the US
2) The highest winds ever recorded in the western hemisphere (231 MPH / 370 KPH) were in 1934 at Mt Washington New Hampshire.

Also, the further weather drought problems in the US Midwest continued in 1934 and some 35 million acres of farmland were utterly destroyed and a further 225 million acres were in danger.

The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 was passed.
The turning point in the great depression in America with unemployment decreasing to 22% .
Alcatraz federal penitentiary known as "The Rock" opens
The First Ever general strike in the US
Trampoline was invented by George Nissen and Larry Griswold
The president set up public works around the US including bridges, roads and flood control Dams in an attempt to put America back on it's feet.
The FBI had considerable success ending the careers with celebrity criminals and John Dillinger , Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson.
Donald Duck appears for the first time in "The Wise Little Hen"

In Germany Adolf Hitler declared himself the Fuhrer (not just Chancellor)
In Russia Stalin began his massacres
In China Mao Tse-Tung spread the communist doctrine.
The Loch Ness Monster is spotted for the first time
The Luxury Liner Queen Mary is launched in Scotland

World Cup Facts:
Winner Italy, Second Czechoslavakia, Third Germany, Fourth Austria

The Following People were Born in 1934:
Giorgio Armani July 11th -- Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Brigitte Bardot September 28th -- Paris, France
Pat Boone June 1st -- Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Charles Manson November 12th -- Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Bill Moyers June 6th -- Hugo, Oklahoma, United States
Ralph Nader February 27th -- Winsted, Connecticut United States

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It seems that people are really stupid when it comes to internet security. I guess that is why there are so many scams running rampant across the internet.

Anopther way people are generally stupid is the use of passwords.

"I guess it's just a genetic flaw in humans," said Amichai Shulman, the chief technology officer at Imperva, which makes software for blocking hackers. "We've been following the same patterns since the 1990s."

Mr. Shulman and his company examined a list of 32 million passwords that an unknown hacker stole last month from RockYou, a company that makes software for users of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The list was briefly posted on the Web, and hackers and security researchers downloaded it. (RockYou, which had already been widely criticized for lax privacy practices, has advised its customers to change their passwords, as the hacker gained information about their e-mail accounts as well.)

... More disturbing, said Mr. Shulman, was that about 20 percent of people on the RockYou list picked from the same, relatively small pool of 5,000 passwords.


Read the story here.


Here are the most used passwords:

So if you use one of these passwords - you may want to rethink what you are using!

Most Importantly - Stay Safe!

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Today I am a part of bloggers Unite for Haiti.



We are as bloggers trying to help with aid to Haiti in our own way. I am sure that you are well aware of the over-all situation in Haiti.

First, I would like to point out that though I am currently in the Eastern Hemisphere, there are people in Haiti that I know and have known for quite some time. When you work with the UN as much as I have, this is something that happens.

The "Little Miracle" story of Tarmo Joveer is an example of what I am talking about. I have known Tarmo since around 2000. He was a part of the Eastonian Police Contingent that was deployed to the UN Mission in Kososvo. I remember their first official day and I met all 5 contingent members. Later on I joined with them in Eastonian Contingent meetings and felt a close camaraderie to them.

I remember when Tarmo left Kosovo he said he was getting a security job in Haiti. That was really the last real contact with him.



When I saw him on TV I knew it was him immediately.

I am glad Tarmo is a part of the good things that are happening in Haiti.

The road is long and hard to any kind of “recovery” for the people of Haiti. They hardly had anything before, and now what was there is all but destroyed.

So please donate if you can to relief efforts. There are some good sites that have various lists of ways that you can donate. One is Its Just Light which has a mirror page on Facebook .

If you have doubts as to where to send donations – send to an organization that you already know and trust. This will take a long time for Haiti, but for now just getting essentials to people can be a real issue.

God Bless the people in Haiti – and be Safe!

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Scams continue to be prevalent across the internet. The most common as we all see is the phishing scam when unsolicited email asks you to give private information like real name, date of birth, social security number, etc.

Despite awareness, sometimes people get caught off guard – usually because they get in a desperate situation. Right now many are unemployed or have the homes being foreclosed on. Of course this leads to scammers going after the remaining few dollars the now downtrodden possess.

These are the biggest consumer scams of 2009 – According to Consumer Reports.

Acai Supplements and Other "Free" Trial Offers – these often cost up to hundreds of dollars, month after month.

Stimulus/Government Grant Scams —Offers for worthless assistance and advice on how to get government grants swamped consumers emails.

Robocalls — Owning a cell phone or having a phone number on the do-not-call registry didn't halt harassing automated telemarketing calls in 2009. The prevalence of robocalls violating federal telemarketing laws prompted the FTC to increase restrictions on the practice.

Lottery/Sweepstakes Scam — Victims received letters in the mail pretending to be from Reader's Digest etc. Informing them that they'd won millions. Any time anyone asks you to pay anything to go further in a contest – it is a scam.

Job Hunter Scams — Scams targeting job hunters varied and included attempts to gain access to personal information such as a bank account or Social Security number – just a variant of the phising scam.

Google Work From Home Scam — Need I say more?

Mortgage Foreclosure Rescue/Debt Assistance —victims paid hundreds of dollars up front for assistance they desperately sought after but never received.

Mystery Shopping —A seemingly real-looking check supposed to cover the costs, but they are fakes, and victims were out hundreds, even thousands, of dollars.

Over-Payment Scams — Over-payment scams usually targeted small business owners, landlords, or individuals with rooms to rent, and sellers who placed classified ads on sites like Craigslist. Once again this is usually a variant of the phishing scam.

H1N1 Spam —Spam e-mail focusing on products designed to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus were rampant in 2009.

For the whole story – go here.

If you want to investigate the email that these scams are sent from, you can try using email tracer. I have used it with limited success. It is not totally the answer, as we all know we can open an email account anywhere with false information. You will be surprised at how public records can give information on an email address. But is ain't half bad!

I hope you can stay away from being scammed – and most of all…
Stay safe!

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OK, the title may be a bit misleading - this is really just a post about raising interest in helping with disaster releif in Haiti.

Many UN workers are feared dead including the head of the mission there.

There are many organizations that can help. Some other bloggers have joined in efforts to make an impact like at Angelawd.

Check out my detailed post on my other blog.

I have joined other bloggers at Bloggers Unite for this cause.



Pray for the victims and send help - whatever you can - and Be Safe!

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Why is “health insurance change” considered health care reform?

I am just wondering, because health care and health insurance are way two different things. When you really boil down health insurance change – and I am yet to see it as reform, because the biggest reform is not taking place, it is not about health insurance – it is about taking rights away from the states.

Currently, all health insurance regulations (except for nationalized health insurance like medicare and medicaide) are totally controlled by the individual states. This puts the whole health-care debate in another light. My question is – why is this major key issue not being discussed by Congress? I mean both houses – not just the House of Representatives.
States’ Rights is a very important issue for the States. Plus this puts the matter (whatever the issue is) in the hands of State Government where it rightfully belongs closer to the people. Why is it that the President or Congress thinks that the Federal Government can take care of us better than the States?

What is really “funny” is a lot of Democrats say there is a lot of disinformation about the “health Care” Reform. So why call it health care reform at all. Call it what it is Health Insurance Adjustment. So who really is giving dis-information? Will Obama come clean? Actually, he is about the only one who really has. This is what he says are key issues in health care reform:

• People with pre-existing illnesses or conditions will be able to buy affordable health insurance.
• Children with such conditions will no longer be denied coverage.
• Small-business owners who can't afford to cover their employees will get tax credits to help them do so.
• Insurance companies will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers and will be prohibited from dropping coverage when someone becomes ill.

OK, here is what does not make sense – we are told it will not cost us any more – yet Insurance companies will be required to insure people with pre-existing conditions. Now think about it – why do they not cover those people now? Simple – it costs too much. The insurance companies will not lose money - they will pass on the higher costs to the customers.

There are much simpler ways to reform health Insurance than these ginormous bills that have been passed. One simple solution is to make all small businesses part of one big group plan. Small business owners have asked for this for years in many states. That way they have the same opportunities for health insurance coverage as the large companies at the same costs.

If this was real reform – ask yourself a simple question – If this is such a grand plan – what is Congress not required to follow the plan? Really, if it is so great – why not use it themselves?

I hope this helps - Stay safe!

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Wow! I am so amazed at the lack of qualified people in key positions in the intelligence community. Almost everyone knew that Leon Pannetta was totally not qualified to head the CIA. His only "qualification" was that he had badmouthed the Agency over a year ago.

So far there is no evidence of improvements to the intelligence agency or how it operates.



"Spokesman Robert Gibbs says Obama has full confidence in director of national intelligence Dennis Blair and CIA Director Leon Panetta. Both are among the high-level officials who will meet with Obama at the White House Tuesday to discuss the reviews the president ordered after the failed attack. "



Now for the other real winner: Dennis Blair seems to have a real grasp of the situation - or does he? Look what he says about guys that hide illegal stuff in their underwear:





"The threat has evolved, and we need to anticipate new kinds of attacks and improve our ability to stay ahead of them and protect America."

It has evolved? How ancient is hiding stuff in your shorts? Everyone knows this one. Maybe he means new kinds of attacks - like terrorists trying to blow up airplanes.

The best gaff is from the big O himself when he tries to explain about Guantanamo Bay:

“Make no mistake, we will close Guantanamo prison,” Obama said. The prison, he said, “was an explicit rationale for the formation of al-Qaida "

Unless he has some super inside information no one else knows - How did this prisons use for holding terrorists become rationale for the formation of Al-qaida? Especially since al-Qaida has been around longer than we have been detaing terrorists there?

Real genius - it appears we are all but doomed.

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