Kids Need to be Ready

By C. Todd Lopez
Army Morale/Welfare and Recreation
June 26, 2009

 Hurricane season is underway, and families need to be prepared.

“Now is the time to make your plan if you don’t have one, or rehearse your old plan,” said Jim Platt, deputy director of the Army Protection Division. “And to make sure you’ve got everything in your kit you need and most importantly to double-check your evacuation route so your family knows where to go — and not just from your home.”

Ensuring families are prepared for emergencies is one of the roles of the Army Protection Division, and it does so through the Ready Army program.

‘We realize preparing for an emergency is the responsibility for every Soldier, family member, Department of the Army civilian and contractor,” said Jim Platt. “So we want to make sure in the ‘Ready Army’ program we give them the tools they need to get prepared, to make a kit, and to survive any emergency.”

The Ready Army program, which began in September 2008, is designed to prepare the entire Army family at installations and communities across the nation and around the world for all potential hazards, natural and man made.

This year, the Ready Army program is sponsoring a new program, “Prepared Kids,” the aim of which is to get younger family members involved in the discussion about how to be ready for disasters.

“To make sure families are involved we are (providing) the kids with some fun activities to get them involved so that they talk to their parents,” Platt said. “It opens an avenue so they can talk to their parents and become the impetus for getting the program started.”

This year, kids aged 7-18 can participate in the Prepared Kids Competition. The idea is for Army children and teens to share their ideas for preparing for emergencies by creating individual works that highlight preparedness.

Children and teens can submit such things as a poem or song lyrics they have written, a short video, a poster, T-shirt or bookmark design, a personal story of experiencing an emergency, an essay or creative novella, a 30-second public service announcement for radio or television, a preparedness game, a drawing, sculpture or musical piece; or even computer software they have written.

“Anywhere their imagination takes them, they can use to submit to the program, with the intent of helping other kids get ready,” Platt said. “When you get the kids involved in this, it opens up a dialogue with parents and gets parents thinking about readiness.”

Being prepared for an emergency such as a hurricane, a flood, a fire or a tornado means planning as a family, Platt said. Families must have the tools ready if an emergency happens, having everyone know what the plan is, and having everyone well-versed in how to execute that plan.

More information on the “Ready Army” and the Prepared Kids competition.

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

 

Does Baby Look Like You?

by Chris Pummer
June 25, 2009

Scientists are working to figure out why one grandchild has your eyes while another doesn’t.
Maybe you have Liz Taylor lavender eyes that still melt hearts. Or maybe you have a Cyrano nose you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. What are the odds your grandchildren will be blessed – or saddled – with your most distinguishing features?

Why one child resembles his maternal grandfather while another favors her paternal grandmother involves a staggering set of variables, says University of Michigan genetics professor David Burke.

“Think about the probability of drawing four aces in a hand of poker – and that’s just 52 cards,” Burke says. “We’re talking here about 100,000 genes that get reshuffled with every generation in a complicated process that, truth be told, we really still don’t understand.”

New genetic testing techniques can now reveal individuals’ shared lineage going back multiple generations but still can’t determine if your grandchild will have your high cheek bones. And yet there is some familial resemblance in every new grandchild.

The features you’re more likely to see carried over in your new grandchild are more likely to include hair, skin, and eye color, than the actual contours of your face, says Barry Starr, director of Stanford at The Tech, a program run by the Stanford University genetics department at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Calif.

While determining a baby’s eye color is a function of dominant and recessive genes, Starr says, skin and hair color are generally a result of blending. For example, a child whose mother is a blonde and father is a brunette stands a good chance of having sandy blonde hair – but there are no guarantees.

There are certain physical characteristics, or “single-gene traits,” that are determined by the presence of one specific gene, but they’re relatively few – think red hair, dimples, a widow’s peak, or the ability to roll one’s tongue. The red-hair gene usually carries with it the likelihood of freckles and pale skin – both of which can also surface through various gene combinations.

Not by Genes Alone

Anne Matthews, director of the graduate program in genetic counseling at Case Western University in Cleveland, likens the process of passing down facial traits to baking a cake. And genes aren’t the only ingredients. In the “oven” – a mother’s womb – a wide variety of non-genetic environmental factors can have a potentially major effect on a fetus that scientists are still trying to understand.

“Every time you bake a cake, even if you think you put in exactly the same measure of ingredients and cooked it at the exact same temperature as before, it never comes out exactly the same way,” Matthews says. “The shape of a nose alone, for instance, has to do with hundreds of genes all working in concert.”

Eyes of the Beholder

If there are so few traits that carry directly from one generation to the next, and if general appearance is determined by such a wide range of genetic and environmental factors, then why does one grandparent look at a newborn and see herself in his eyes, while another looks at the same grandchild and sees his own mouth smiling back at him? More than anything, it’s all in the eye of the beholder, says Angela Trepanier, president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors.

“I might be more inclined to look at a child’s eyes while someone else might focus on the nose and cheekbones,” she says. “Why we have those specific recognition patterns, we have no idea – but there’s probably some genetic basis to that too.”

Parents often speak of seeing a grandparent’s personality reflected in a child’s mannerisms or facial expressions, and Matthews agrees there’s something to that: “How a child smiles affects their looks and who they might more likely resemble.”

The Search Continues

Geneticists are making remarkable discoveries since the mapping of the human genome, but their work, probably correctly, remains concentrated on using the genome for medical applications, rather than to answer question like whom a child will most resemble. For example, scientists have studied the red-hair gene somewhat more closely than others because redheads are more inclined to get skin cancer due to their fair skin.

“We’re still looking for what might give you an aortic aneurism because that’s what gets funded,” Burke says, “not why you look like Uncle Bob.”

The experts say that any future discoveries about how appearance is carried through a child’s genes are likely to come as a byproduct of other research, such as DNA sampling for crime-scene investigations.

Until then, Trepanier says, predicting whom a child will resemble remains open for speculation and the best science can tell you is, “It really is the luck of the draw who you end up looking like.”

Source: Grand Parents

Editor’s Note: We want to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

 

 

The Fine Art of Texting

By Mike Slosberg
May 28, 2009

Back in the ’70s, Tom Robbins’s novel, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, introduced his readers to Sissy Hankshaw, a young lady born with enormous thumbs.

I was reminded of Sissy the other morning at my local coffee shop. Waiting in line behind a bunch of teenagers yakking away, laughing, goofing around, and clutching cell phones in both hands, I was struck by their remarkable thumbs. Blurred digits, dancing across cell phone keys, at speeds approaching hummingbird wings.

Obviously, I was witness to an advanced form of text messaging. Darwin was correct. These children had taken the opposable thumb to a higher order.

One day, my old friend Rocco held out his cell phone, and blurted, “Take a look-see at this mess and please tell me what it says.”

“It’s a text message,” I answered, ever so haughtily.

“That’s just brilliant, Sherlock,” Rocco countered. “I know what it is, for crying out loud. I just can’t read the darn thing!”

I looked again and realized I couldn’t read the darn thing, either. Because right there, in front of my eyes, was a puzzling array of black uppercase letters that said:

THX BDAY 2G2BT. AAMOF UR CARD MADE ME LSHMBH. SWMBO WAS FUBAR WEN I WNTD A SLEEP O. BUT @TEOTD SHE CHILLED. TY, TY, GP. UCMU. XOXOXO TOY.

Here were familiar English letters, arranged in groups that looked a lot like word clusters, and yet I hadn’t the foggiest idea what they said.

“Pardon,” I said, leaning over the shoulder of the nearest teenager. “Do you, by any chance, speak text?”

The girl smiled. A pleasant aroma of fruity shampoo and Clearasil wafted toward me as she took the instrument.

“Oh, sure. Like no problem.” She read it with ease.

“Thanks. Birthday was too good to be true. As a matter of fact your card made me laugh so hard my belly hurt. She who must be obeyed was fouled up beyond all recognition when I wanted a sleep-over but at the end of the day she chilled. Thank you, thank you, Grandpa. You crack me up. Hugs and kisses hugs and kisses, hugs and kisses. Thinking of you.”

And I thought: Good Lord! Two revelations in one day: First, that thumbs have risen out of the muck and taken wing as a major tool for communicating, and that gibberish has become a mainstream language.

But, as in all evolution, there was a piper to be paid. Thumbs and gibberish could possibly become a technological membrane, standing between Rocco and his granddaughter.

Wait, I thought. Didn’t every generation have its own version of texting – those little quirks of communication, embraced by the young, which mystified and irritated their elders? Whether it was ancient glyphs etched on tomb walls, Beatnik vocabulary, or rap lyrics, the objective was clear: Fool the big people!

Texting is simply the latest obfuscation, filtered through two intersecting realities: technology and universal laziness, creating a brevity code where thoughts can be squeezed into short monograms.

But as I eventually discovered, texting isn’t mysterious. And even though thumbs attached to older bodies can’t move as fast, it’s a cinch to master.

The important point is this: Texting puts you at the side of your grandchild, 24/7. Once you get over the initial fear of mastering this new lingua franca, TXT MSGING turns out to be as simple to pick up as pig Latin.

Just think of acronyms and abbreviations. We all know what ASAP means, right? And FYI? And etc. Texting uses lots of them. Like LOL, for laughing out loud (it could also mean lots of love, so be careful with that one). And B4N, for bye for now.

Start with something simple yet exquisitely guilt-inducing, such as: DRLG, Y DNT U CALL ME? It will blow your little darling’s mind to deal with Grandpa via text, and you’re likely to get a quicker reply than if you merely called that same phone. She’ll also brag to her friends about how cool you are.

And, more important, to paraphrase Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, “This could be the beginning of a beautiful texting friendship.”

Source: Grandparents

Memorial Day Poem

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
May 24, 2009

 

While looking for stories to honor those who have gave their lives on Memorial Day. I came across this poem. That I think shows the true meaning of this special day. It was written by Cadet Major Kelly Strong Air Force Junior ROTC Homestead Senior High School Homestead, Florida 1988.

I hope you will enjoy it. We would like to hear from you on how this poem affected you if it did. You could reach me at dan@youngchronicle.com

 

A wonderful Poem…For Memorial Day and every day…

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform
so young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert.
He’d stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers’ tears?

How many pilots’ planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
No, freedom is not free.

I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant “Amen,”
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom is not free.

Source: Navy For Moms

Cold Case Heats Up Part One

By FBI/PIO
May 19, 2009

The innocent face of 8-year-old April Tinsley is projected from a large screen in front of the conference room as about 50 law enforcement officials-including a special team from the FBI-begin their meeting.

April’s picture was a powerful reminder of why the group had gathered: on Good Friday 21 years ago, the young girl was abducted from her neighborhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana and then raped and murdered. Her killer is still at large.

The meeting at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in Virginia took place because state and local Indiana law enforcement officers-who remain dedicated to solving the case-have asked for help from our Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team, known as CARD.

CARD Teams were created three years ago to bring together a variety of experts in child abduction cases who could quickly respond on the ground to help local authorities with time-sensitive investigations.

Team members include:

a. Personnel from our Behavioral Analysis Unit, who profile offenders’ personality traits and possible motives;

b. Agents and analysts from our Crimes Against Children Unit;

c. Coordinators from the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime

d. Representatives from the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP).

CARD consists of 48 members organized into 10 teams in five regions around the country. Since the program’s creation, teams have deployed 38 times and aided in the recovery of 18 children.

As the name suggests, CARD Teams respond rapidly in cases of non-family abductions, ransom abductions, and the mysterious disappearances of children. But CARD also works cold cases, such as the April Tinsley murder. And as team members discovered, there is enough evidence-including notes, pictures, and DNA left by the killer years after the murder-to make investigators hopeful they can break the case.

It was a chilly Friday afternoon in 1988 when April was abducted walking home from a friend’s house. Her body was found three days later about 20 miles away in a rural area dotted with Amish farms.

Despite an intensive search, police were unable to find her killer. Two years later, a message written in pencil or crayon appeared on a barn door not far from where April’s body had been discovered. The writer claimed responsibility for the murder.

Then, in the spring of 2004, four notes appeared at various residences in the Fort Wayne area-several placed on bicycles that young girls had left in their yards-believed to be written by the killer. The notes, all on lined yellow paper, were placed inside baggies along with used condoms or Polaroid pictures of the killer’s body. Several of the notes referred to April Tinsley.

During the spring of 2004, the killer left four similar notes at residences in the Fort Wayne area.

Since those 2004 notes, the killer has not been heard from. But he has left a trail of evidence that the CARD Team hopes to exploit during its deployment to Fort Wayne, tentatively scheduled for later this spring. Investigators believe the case is “highly solvable,” and after 21 years, their desire to bring April Tinsley’s killer to justice is stronger than ever.

We need your help.

Contact your FBI

How to Make a Difference

By Alexis Wiseman
May 11, 2006

Students around the country are organizing environmental clubs to take action to improve their environment. All of these student environmental groups shout one big message: it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can take action to change your community. How would you like to learn how to start an environmental club to help your community?

Based in New York City, the Collegiate School started its environmental club, CENIC, in 2006. CENIC (Collegiate with the Environment Naturally In Check) is making Collegiate a greener school. They signed on with an energy company to purchase 100 percent of its electricity from wind power sources. That move prevented the emission of 385 tons of greenhouse gases.

They installed more efficient fluorescent lights and a waterless urinal that saves 28,000 gallons of water and a large amount of electricity. CENIC successfully campaigned for using 100 percent recycled paper and expanded bottle and can recycling in the school. They worked with the Environmental Defense Fund to get New York City to enforce stricter fuel efficiency standards for more than 13,000 taxis.

Harrison Monsky, co-President of CENIC and a National Student Coordinator of the Green Schools Alliance, talked with Scholastic News recently about how the group works to conserve.

Scholastic News Online: What was the hardest thing you accomplished?
Harrison Monsky: Last year we moved the school to 100 percent green electricity. In order to do that, we found a company that was an electricity supplier that specialized in renewable energy windmills.

SNO: What was the most impactful change you accomplished?

Harrison: We changed the community a lot by acting to make the school use more sustainable sources of energy. Our school is a k-12 school so to do this you have to involve the entire community. When we moved to wind power, we put up posters everywhere. We had a big assembly for all different parts of the school where we talked about what the move meant. Seniors went into classes of lower school students to read stories of what happens if you don’t think about the future and you only think about today.

SNO: How did you handle any controversy that came about because of some of your decisions?
Harrison: There’s going to be controversy whenever a change is made, especially at our school because there are over 600 people with different opinions and competing viewpoints. You have to stick to what you think is right, because most of the time if you’re willing to do the work change will happen.

SNO: How do you research your proposals? How do you decide about which green choices to make?
Harrison: Some are easy to see. For the lighting project we saw how wasteful the lights were. Another way is through conferences where we bring together green companies and schools.

SNO: What simple things can any kid do to help make their communities greener?
Harrison: Make sure you’re not wasting electricity. It’s amazing how much you can waste just by leaving the lights on. Use public transportation-less cars on the road reduces carbon pollution that contributes to global warming.

As you can see, taking action to make a change to your community doesn’t mean you have to be an adult. Student environmental activists like Harrison show us that kids can make a difference and lead the way.

Tips for starting your own environmental club

1. Start small. A group of five committed people is a good start. If you do a project really well more people will want to join. CENIC now has 40 members!
2. Create a list of goals. What do you want your work to accomplish?
3. Call local environmental groups to see how you can get help with current projects.
4. Make sure everybody has a job.
5. Recruit help from teachers to be advisers and make sure the school building facility manager is on board.

Tips for Success

1. Stay motivated by staying focused on the positive changes you are making.
2. Determination is critical for working through challenges.
3. Organization is important to make sure people work together.
4. Partner with other club members, clubs and companies to get things done.

Useful Links for your environmental club

• greenschoolsalliance.org
• CENIC

Source: Scholastic News Online

Scholastic News 4 Sticky Situation

By SN4
May 12. 2009

Maria is really good at science, but Kurt struggles. While taking a test one day, Kurt realizes that he can see Maria’s paper. Kurt thinks that Maria probably has all the correct answers, and that he would get a good grade if he copied them. But Kurt knows that copying answers from another person’s paper is wrong.

What should Kurt do? 

Click on “Comments” to write a paragraph explaining what you think Kurt should do. Other Scholastic News readers will be posting their thoughts about this week’s ethical dilemma, too. So come back to the Sticky Situation blog to discuss their solutions!   

Source: Scholastic News OnLine

 

Kids With Asthma Breathe Easier Away From Air Pollution

by: Steven Dowshen, MD
May 11, 2009

Better air quality is associated with a significant reduction of airway inflammation in kids with asthma, according to a new study.

Researchers report that just 1 week after a group of school-age kids left an urban area for a rural one, airway inflammation went down and “virtually every single child more or less increased pulmonary [lung] function.”

The study recruited 37 children with mild but persistent untreated asthma who lived in a highly polluted urban environment and moved them to a less polluted rural area.

After 7 days, researchers noted that most of the kids had a rapid and highly significant improvement in lung function. While other studies have shown that pollution exposure increases airway inflammation, this is the first to suggest that this effect might be reversible.

The study concludes that some kids with asthma may need much less or even no asthma medications if they breathe cleaner air. But, of course, that’s not possible for many kids with asthma, so the researchers urge officials to work to “clean the air in cities. Our situation in the U.S. has improved, but there’s much more to do.”

What This Means to You

Although ozone has received a great deal of press, it’s not the only pollutant that causes poor air quality. In 2004, the American Lung Association also included particle pollution levels in its annual “State of the Air” report for the United States.

Particle pollution refers to tiny particles of acids (such as nitrates and sulfates), dust, dirt, smoke, soot, and droplets from aerosols that are suspended in the air we breathe. The smaller the particles, the deeper they can get into the lungs, where they cause problems.

Twenty-three percent of the population of the United States, including 1,500,000 kids with asthma, live in areas with levels of particle pollution that are unhealthy year-round.

If you live in an area with poor air quality, it might not be possible to completely eliminate your child’s exposure, but you can minimize it by monitoring pollution levels and planning accordingly when they’re going to be high.

The Air Quality Index (AQI), created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), monitors outdoor air quality by measuring levels of five major air pollutants in 700 U.S. counties. The AQI uses a color-coded system to indicate when air quality is dangerous. Green or yellow are acceptable colors, and orange, purple, or maroon mean kids should limit their time outdoors.

The AQI varies from season to season, day to day, and even from morning to evening. In cities of more than 350,000 people, state and local agencies are required to publicly report the index daily, but many smaller communities also do so. Your area also might report the next day’s index, allowing you to plan ahead.

You can obtain Air Quality Index information:

a. from weather reports

b. in the newspaper

c. at www.airnow.gov

On days when air quality is poor, run the air conditioning and limit your child’s time outside. Plan any outdoor activities for early in the day – when air quality tends to be better – and avoid spending time in areas where there’s a lot of traffic.

If your child participates in a sport that practices outside during hot weather, you should talk to the coach about alternate arrangements, such as working out in an air-conditioned gym. Also, make sure your child always has his or her rescue medication on hand.

Improving the air quality in your home is also a good idea. You can do this by using an air cleaner, venting all gas appliances to the outside, and avoiding wood fires in your house.

You should also talk to your child’s doctor about increasing medication during times when air pollution is high. This can be included as part of your child’s asthma action plan.

Source: “Less Air Pollution Leads to Rapid Reduction of Airway Inflammation and Improved Airway Function in Asthmatic Children.” Pediatrics, March 2009.

Source: Kids Health

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