| New guidelines for schools warn of online dangers
William Fralin, R-Roanoke, sponsored the measure. The department prepared a 43-page manual that contains recommendations and cautions for school administrators, teachers and parents, as well as resources for information about online safety and potential threats to children. "We're really happy to have this in place," said Lan Neugent, the state assistant superintendent for technology. "We think that it's a great step forward." The report, which was published last month, contains several pages of Web-based links to sources covering topics such as filtering, instant messaging and identity theft. The cover has an ominous image of adult-size hands reaching through a computer screen toward a frightened-looking child behind a keyboard. Fralin said the guidelines will help parents and teachers better safeguard children, who often possess more sophisticated knowledge about computers and the Internet than adults.
Dust to dust? More ask for eco-friendly funerals
PORTLAND, Ore. - Cynthia Beal wants to be an Oregon cherry tree after she dies. She has everything to make it happen — a body, a burial site and a biodegradable coffin. “It is composting at its best," said Beal, owner of The Natural Burial Company, which will sell a variety of eco-friendly burial products when it opens in January, including the Ecopod, a kayak-shaped coffin made out of recycled newspapers. Biodegradable coffins are part of a larger trend toward “natural" burials, which require no formaldehyde embalming, cement vaults, chemical lawn treatments or laminated caskets. Advocates say such burials are less damaging to the environment. .
MedBedsNow launches
A new medical company whose Web site is designed to aid health care discharge planners is launching in Austin. MedBedsNow LLC Texas' site targets hospitals, assisted living facilities and nursing homes and allows them post their available beds and level of care. Ann Passino, regional manager for MedBedsNow, says discharge planners who place patients in appropriate care facility once they leave a hospital, as well as family members, will likely be the site's most frequent users. The site is free to search and users pay a fee to subscribe. Passino says launching in Austin made sense because of its technology industry and growing medical industry. "Nursing homes are currently losing on average $125 per day per empty bed," she says.
Brentford Vs Notts County Preview
The Bees have been in impressive form since Andy Scott took over from Terry Butcher around a month ago, and with four straight wins behind them the Bees have quickly buzzed into mid-table after a dramatic slide towards the foot of the table. But Notts are also getting back on track with a win and a draw from their last two games, and there have been plenty of positives to build on for Ian McParland who has made some shrewd signings in the January transfer window and also has Mike Edwards back from injury. .
Community briefs
This year's recipient is Darcy Terry, owner of Nationwide Insurance on Denbigh Boulevard. Established on that road in 1976, the office recently moved to a new location on the street. There, Terry installed a digital sign reminiscent of the bank sign that graced the intersection of Denbigh and Warwick boulevards for decades.
Carol Lannie, RN, BSN, will give a presentation on "The Birds and Bees for Individuals with Special Needs." Specifically, this is for middle and high school students with disabilities and their parents at the Midtown Community Center, 570 McLawhorne Drive.
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Do-It-Yourself Help for Filing
If you do your taxes for a second year in a row with the same company's program, it will remember your info from the previous year, saving you a great deal of typing as you fill out your W-2s, 1099s and Schedule As. So unless you've grown seriously disenchanted with a tax application, stick with it for this year. If, however, you've never used one of these before, here's how the desktop versions of three of the major contenders -- TurboTax, TaxCut and TaxAct -- compare. (All three can also be purchased as cheap or even free Web-only versions, but you must be comfortable with storing your tax data on the venders' computers.) Consider your overall tax scenario before deciding which of these products to buy. Intuit TurboTax Win 2000 or newer, Mac OS X 10.4 or newer: $19.95 to $89.95 for disc or download, free to $74.95 for Web-based service Win 98 SE or newer, Mac OS X 10.2 or newer: $14.95 and up including one eFile Intuit's TurboTax can save you time in two ways: It can automatically extract tax-relevant information from Intuit's Quicken personal-finance program, and it can download some of your tax forms if employers and financial institutions have made them available through the right data networks.
PacificaRiptide.com. New local online outlet working in collaboration ...
Pacifica Riptide is a volunteer-run Web site for local news and opinion. It started up a year ago when a group of activists, fresh off their election victory over Measure L, decided that the community needed an Internet base for sharing information. After consulting with several media and technology experts, including Pacifican Larry Rosenstein and Coastsider.com's Barry Parr, we chose Six Apart's Typepad blogging software, which is easy, intuitive, and relatively cheap for a bunch of amateurs to use. Riptide welcomes contributions of "hot stories, cool pix, and cold cash to keep us afloat," according to the site. "We celebrate Pacifica's natural wonders, green hillsides, open spaces, coastal and marine life, and enterprising people. Our environment and economy are interdependent, natural forces and market forces, like ocean tides and waves." Anyone can post a story or photo to editor@pacificariptide.com.
It’s time to integrate TB/HIV care on a national scale
However, in the last year or so, a few countries, such as Kenya and Rwanda among the PEPFAR-focus countries, have achieved dramatic breakthroughs in screening and other service delivery, demonstrating that where there is a will, integration of TB/HIV service delivery on a national scale is indeed achievable — and quite quickly at that. For instance, Kenya began provider-initiated testing and counselling (with opt out testing) for people in its TB programme in October 2005. By the fourth quarter of 2006, 67% of Kenyan TB patients were being tested for HIV — 85% of those testing positive are getting cotrimoxazole, though the programme is still struggling to get more than a third of the eligible people onto ART. Similarly, Rwanda recently began PITC in its TB patients and TB screening in people at risk of HIV.
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