I learned of  a computer trick today that's really ingenious in  it
simplicity. As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer
it heads straight for your email address book, and sends itself to everyone
in there, thus infecting all your friends and associates. This trick won't
keep the virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from
using your address book to spread further, and it will alert you to the
fact, that the worm has gotten into your system.

Here's what you do: first, open your address book and click on  "new
contact" just as you would do if you were adding a new friend to your list
of email addresses. In the window where you would type your friend's first
name, type in AAAAAAA.  In the window below where it prompts you to enter
the new email address, type in WormAlert@somewhere.com . Then complete
everything by clicking add, enter, ok, etc.

Now, here's what you've done and why it works: The "name" AAAAAAA will be
placed at the top of your address book as entry #1. This will be where the
worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends. But when
it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA, it will be undeliverable because of the
phony email address you entered
(WormAlert@somewhere.com). If the first attempt fails (which it will
because of the phony address), the worm goes no further and your friends
will not be infected.

Here's the second great advantage of this method: If an email cannot be
delivered, you will be notified of this in your InBox almost immediately.
Hence, if you ever get an email spelling you that an email addressed to
WormAlert@somewhere.com could not be delivered, you know right away that
you have the worm virus in your system. You can then take steps to get rid
of it! Pretty slick huh?

If everybody you know does this then you needn't ever worry about opening
mail from friends.  

I was the first in my family to go into radio as a vocation.  My grandmother Proctor was not sure it would work out, since nobody in the family had ever been in radio. My son was not interested in radio, but did get very much involved with electronics, computers and analytical measurements with Hewlett-Packard,   None of his 7 children seems to be interested in radio with the exception of Jaren and she has no interest in the technical aspects of radio, but may find a career as a performer.  Jaren reeived a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies with concentration in Islam at the University of Colorado at the concludion of the  Summer Semester of 2008.  She did a
talk show, called "Jaren Live" on KFKA in Greelley. CO, for a while as her first
radio experience.  February 21 she was interviewed on the Trevor Carey Show on KNUS, Denver, CO, because of her knowledge of the situation in Sudan.

Here are her qualifications on the subject of Sudan in her own words:
"Sudan is a country I have done years of extensive research on, and an issue I have become a spokesperson for.  I have interviewed countless Southern Sudanese refugees who were the victims of the genocide in Southern Sudan the past 20-25 years - the largest single genocide since WWII in which the radical Islamic government in North Sudan killed a minimum of 4 million Southern Sudanese... yet the media and international community have yet to bring attention to this fact, or even report this history accurately.

Sudan is the largest country in Africa, and it is significant for many reasons.   Not only have two major genocides occurred there in the past 25 years, both being committed by the radical Islamic government in the North (the first being a genocide of around 4 million Southern Sudanese, the second a lesser genocide in Darfur), but Sudan is also key in understanding the global fight against radical Islamic terrorism. Osama Bin Laden, Iran, and Saddam Hussein, to name a few, have been directly linked to working with and helping the government of Sudan in the past 18
years."

Stay tuned!

Necessity is the mother of invention!  In the 1950's  it became increasingly
difficult for the meteorologists at the National Weather Service at Scotts Bluff
County Airport to keep up their weather observations and forecast duties and answer phone calls from the local media seeking hourly weather reports and forecasts.  Of course the information was available on teletype, but was more quickly available by telephone, since he news wires could be busy with other news causing considerable delay in transmission of the weather data. Chief meteorologist Edgar VanTassel decided it would save a lot of time, if they had a telephone answering device on which they could record the hourly observations and forecasts and the local media could call for the information.  I believe the device was called a "Codaphone".  One was installed and it worked great, relieving the meteorologists from spending so much time on the phone until the number was leaked to the public.  Then,when the media tried to call, the machine was frequently tied up with public calls. Changing the number worked for a while, but again the public learned the number and tied up the machine.  So, working with United
Telephone employee, Howard Poppert, I modified the machine, so it would play back only on a dedicated phone line, which had branches  to all the local media. Thus, anyone calling the Codaphone heard nothing on the line on which they called, but the local  media, who shared the cost of the dedicated playback lines could hear the weather information they were seeking.  The same dedicated lines served also to carry the 6:45 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. five minute broadcasts from the Scottsbluff National Weather Service office.  The Codaphone was disabled during those times, so it could not play back during a live weather broadcast.  

When radar was improved to where accurate cloud images could be obtained from greater distances and data transmission was improved with computers, it was decided to close the National Weather Service Office at Scottsbluff and move Nebraska Panhandle forecasting responsibilities to Cheyenne, WY.  In the meantime NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Agency) Radio was born.  There are now more than 940 National Weather Radio stations nation wide with continuous broadcasts 24/7. Until 1997 most of the NWR programming was with human voice, requiring a meteorologist to record each message and set up a looping broadcast cycle. As more transmitters were added to give better radio coverage NWS staff found it increasingly difficult to keep the broadcasts updated, so a Console Replacement System (CRS) was devised. which had a synthesized voice to read announcements from text.  It was a male voice named "NOAA's  Perfect Paul".However, its mechanically awkward pronunciation and intonation earned it nicknames such as :Igor" and "Mr. Roboto".  In 2002 NWS employed Siemens Information and Communication and Speech Works for more natural voices.  "Craig" and "Donna" resulted.  In 2003 upgrades produced "Tom" , which can change intonation depending upon the urgency of a situation.  "Donna" was improved, too, and can still be heard at times on certain products, but "Tom" is the voice most used.  

Human voices may still be heard, but infrequently, mostly during station
identifications, public forecasts, National Ocean Fishery Service Messages,
Public Information Statements, Public Service Announcements, weekly
tests and severe weather events.  A meteorologist may still broadcast
live on any NWR transmitter, if computer problems occur or for added
emphasis.

Three NWR offices in the continental U.S., San Diego, El Paso and
Albuquerque offer broadcasts in Spanish with a synthesized voice
called "Javier".  

I wonder what will be invented, due to the "necessities" of the next 60
years! .

Although my name rhymes with "doctor" I am certainly not a physician and I am not qualified to give medical advice in any way, shape or form, therefore I have been hesitant to post what I am about to relate on my blog.  Let it be understood that I am not suggesting you do what I did without consulting your doctor.  Your metabolism, allergies and medications you are taking are likely totally different from mine, so you need to get your doctor's advice, before trying what I did.  As the saying goes:  "One man's meat is another man's poison"!  That said, this is what I experienced.

In June of 2006 I went to Urgent Care with what I thought was a severe case of sunburn on my head.  I was diagnosed with shingles and given a prescription for medication to kill the herpes zoster virus, which is the same virus that causes chicken pox in children.  Then on a follow-up visit to my doctor, he prescribed Gabapentin. When that did not produce the hoped for pain relief, he prescribed Lyrica to be taken in addition to the Gabapentin.  The pain was confined to the left-rear area of my head.  Like sunburn it was especially painful to touch, so naturally I mentioned it to my barber, who told me she had read in a Bottom Line Personal book that some people got relief from shingles pain with geranium oil.  I didn't know geraniums had oil, so I researched it, and learned that it needed to be 100% pure geranium oil, which is sold at health food stores.  No, you do not eat or drink it!  It is topically applied to the painful area. It comes in a small bottle that dispenses one drop at a time.  I opted for six drops per application, and found I could get as much relief from the shingles pain with the geranium oil as I had been getting with the two prescription drugs that had two side effects:  They made me more sleepy and more lethargic than usual;  and
they were very detrimental to my bank account!  They cost $230 for a month's supply!   I experienced no side effects from the geranium oil, which cost $21 for a small bottle than lasted several months!  I still have a small amount of pain from the shingles at times, but most of the time I don't even think about it, and I have discontinued the geranium oil.  

Again, i want to emphasize that this is not a medical advice blog, and
you must not quit Gabapentin or Lyrica "cold turkey"!  They have to be
tapered off.  Your doctor can tell you how, if he deems it appropriate for
you to do so.  So be sure to consult him, before you make any changes
in your medications!  

Until next time, God bless!

When I started in radio, music that was not performed live was on either 78 r.p.m. records or 33 1/3 r.p.m. transcriptions.  The latter turned slowly enough that the announcer could read the label as it turned, though not always with complete accuracy.  It was very easy to misread the revolving label as to the particular track that was playing, but most of us did it anyway.  There usually wasn't time to cue the next song and try to remember the title and musician, so as we finished reading a commercial or other live announcement, we would start the transcription turntable with the volume turned low enough that we could talk over the instrumental intro-
duction, while reading the revolving label information..I made my share of the bloopers, even though I had become somewhat familiar with many of the transcriptions from playing them frequently.  Pity the part-time announcers, who had no such experience!  I remember one UNL student, who was home for Christmas,vacation and working part time, playing a transcription by Joe Reichman, who billed himself as the "Pagliacci of the Piano".  It was entirely instrumental, no vocal, but the hapless announcer said:  "Now, Joe Riceman with Polly Achison on the vocal". I doubt any listeners were aware that what he announced was a blooper, since it was not a top 40 or 50 selection, but it was funny to me, because I knew what the label really said. Today, all the music is normally on computer hard drive.  There are no turntables, transcriptions, or records.  CD players are used only for backup in case of computer crash.  The computer monitor screen displays the title, artist, and duration of a song before,during,, and after play,making the announcer's job much easier in that respect, but radio announcing can still be a "pressure cooker" with news wire bulletins, weather alerts, networkspecial events coverage, telephone recordings to make and other duties.  What you hear on your radio is not always as easily done as it may sound.