17512 Columbia

Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

The World Wide Web is full of really useful information … and some crapola

In Education, Opinions on May 20, 2013 at 4:45 am

As so often happens to each of us who use the Internet, sometimes some crapola comes across. We sometimes get stuff that appears real. We may like or agree with what it represents and, sometimes, we forward the stuff to others.

Take this email, for instance:

School Answering Machine: This is the actual answering-machine message for the Maroochydore High School in Queensland, Australia

While we may like the message and want it to be so, Snopes.com says it just ain’t so. The email message is false!

So, too, are these other email messages along the same vein.

Police Department Answering Machine

Mental Health Answering Machine

Learn about a successful health coalition & local police partnership

In Education, Opportunities on May 18, 2013 at 5:18 am

county health ratings

Partnership Series: Partnering with Community Police
 
Learn about a successful health coalition & local police partnership
Greater Flint Health Coalition LogoLocal police departments have a special role to play in improving a community’s health, from reducing violence and preventing crime to supporting strong community partnerships between neighborhoods, residents and community agencies. How can communities build effective partnerships with their local police departments? What are the challenges and how can these be addressed?

The Partnership Series: Partnering with Community Police webinar will discuss these questions and more. This webinar will be Tuesday, May 21 from 3-4pm Eastern Daylight Time (2-3pm Central, 12-1pm Pacific).

Flint Police DepartmentRankings & Roadmaps Community Coach Jan O’Neill will lead the webinar. Guest presenters, Kirk Smith, President and CEO of the Greater Flint Health Coalition, and City of Flint Police Officer Tanya Meeks, will talk about how the Flint Police Department is partnering with the community to improve health and safety for all. Participants are welcome to ask questions during the webinar.

Please feel free to invite others in your community who are interested in learning more about taking action to improve health.

“17-year cicadas are set to emerge in Lancaster County”

In Education, History and Heritage, Opportunities on May 13, 2013 at 5:52 am

cicadaThe 17-year cicada. (Marten J. Edwards) – Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

By AD CRABLE,  Staff Writer  | Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

“Scratching a 17-year itch, Brood II periodic cicadas again are emerging from underground burrows in Lancaster County for a noisy trumpeting of one of nature’s great spectacles.

“Already, the website magicicada.org has recorded a resident’s observation of a cicada nymph seen somewhere in Lancaster County on May 6.

“In 1996, the last time the Brood II cicadas appeared here and elsewhere in the eastern third of Pennsylvania, reports were received primarily from the Furnace Hills in northern Lancaster County, according to newspaper records.

“‘Enjoy it,’ advises Marten J. Edwards, an associate professor of biology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.

“‘It’s up there with the great migrations, and it really is a natural wonder that happens only here in the eastern United States and nowhere else in the world. It’s something you will remember.’

Click here to read this Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era in its entirety.

“Hospital charges a mystery to many: Federal report spotlights apparently illogical nature of health care costs for consumers”

In Education, Government, Lists, Opportunities on May 12, 2013 at 3:20 am

Columbia news, views and reviews has posted several articles about the wide range and inconsistent pricing practices of hospitals. We shared our personal experience about prices for the same services at two Lancaster County hospitals.

hospital chargesSOURCE: Wesley Bedrosian | The New York Times

Today’s Sunday News article goes into more discussion of the issue of pricing.
by CINDY STAUFFER | Staff Writer | The Sunday News, Lancaster, PA

“If you need hip replacement surgery, you will face a wide range of charges here, depending on the hospital you choose.

“Lancaster Regional Medical Center charged the most for major joint replacement surgery, $60,434, of the four hospitals here, according to a recent federal report on 2011 charges.

“Across town, Lancaster General Hospital charged the least, $37,761, about $23,000 less than Regional.

“But hang on to your crutches, patients. There’s more.

“Though LGH charged the least, Medicare, the federal insurance for the elderly paid it the most of all the hospitals here, $13,400.

“Confused yet? Join the club.

“The federal government’s recent release of hospital charges and Medicare payments for common procedures at 3,300 hospitals is raising many questions.

“The report shines a light on the seemingly illogical nature of health care charges here Read the rest of this entry »

“Executive Order — Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information”

In Education, Government, History and Heritage on May 10, 2013 at 4:27 am

EXECUTIVE ORDER

- – - – - – -

MAKING OPEN AND MACHINE READABLE THE NEW DEFAULT
FOR GOVERNMENT INFORMATION

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. General Principles. Openness in government strengthens our democracy, promotes the delivery of efficient and effective services to the public, and contributes to economic growth. As one vital benefit of open government, making information resources easy to find, accessible, and usable can fuel entrepreneurship, innovation, and scientific discovery that improves Americans’ lives and contributes significantly to job creation.

Decades ago, the U.S. Government made both weather data and the Global Positioning System freely available. Since that time, American entrepreneurs and innovators have utilized these resources to create navigation systems, weather newscasts and warning systems, location-based applications, precision farming tools, and much more, improving Americans’ lives in countless ways and leading to economic growth and job creation. In recent years, thousands of Government data resources across fields such as health and medicine, education, energy, public safety, global development, and finance have been posted in machine-readable form for free public use on Data.gov. Entrepreneurs and innovators have continued to develop a vast range of useful new products and businesses using these public information resources, creating good jobs in the process.

To promote continued job growth, Government efficiency, and the social good that can be gained from opening Government data to the public, the default state of new and modernized Government information resources shall be open and machine readable. Government information shall be managed as an asset throughout its life cycle to promote interoperability and openness, and, wherever possible and legally permissible, to ensure that data are released to the public in ways that make the data easy to find, accessible, and usable. In making this the new default state, executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall ensure that they safeguard individual privacy, confidentiality, and national security.

Sec. 2. Open Data Policy. (a) The Director of Read the rest of this entry »

More TED brilliance – “David Pogue: 10 top time-saving tech tips”

In Education, Everyday Living, Opportunities, People on May 9, 2013 at 4:54 am

tedIf you’ve not yet discovered the brilliance of the presenters at TED, you’ll love this.

“Tech columnist David Pogue shares 10 simple, clever tips for computer, web, smartphone and camera users. And yes, you may know a few of these already — but there’s probably at least one you don’t. David Pogue is the personal technology columnist for The New York Times and a tech correspondent for CBS News. He’s also one of the world’s bestselling how-to authors, with titles in the For Dummies series and his own line of ‘Missing Manual’ books.”

Click here to watch this six minute video with great tech tips.

“Safety first: The motorcycle death toll argues for a helmet law” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In Education, Everyday Living, Government, Opinions, Opportunities on May 4, 2013 at 4:18 am

DOT-Helmets(photo source: Fat Jack’s Erratic Rants)

“In America, freedom and responsibility often don’t ride together — as evidenced by motorcyclists allowed to ride without safety helmets, a practice that courts senseless death.

“The operation of any vehicle — autos or motorcycles — is a privilege, not a right. States license drivers and riders and rightly insist that they follow rules in the name of safety, like the seat belt requirement for motorists.

“But since 2003 most motorcycle riders in Pennsylvania have been allowed to go helmet-less in the name of freedom. The results have been predictable. The Governors Highway Safety Association reports a rising national epidemic of motorcycle fatalities, including 210 in Pennsylvania last year — a 5.5 percent increase.

“More than 5,000 riders died in the nation in 2012, only the third time that has occurred. The report points out that the number of motorcycle deaths more than doubled between 1997 and 2011, even as overall traffic fatalities fell by 23 percent.

“The Alliance for Bikers Aimed Toward Education, a group that lobbied hard to gut Pennsylvania’s helmet law, argues that more people are riding motorcycles and therefore more are being killed. ABATE is right about that. But the problem is really that more people are riding and riding without helmets — meaning they aren’t part of the general improvement in traffic safety.

“Dangerous situations demand helmets. Football players don’t play without them, soldiers don’t fight without them and competitive motorcycle racers strap them on. The human brain is fragile. When an unprotected skull hits the roadway, the brain usually loses.

“In fact, the exceptions to the state law — helmets are mandated for riders under 21 and for older riders in the first two years of being licensed — underscore how dangerous riding can be.

“Motorcycle tragedies do not happen in a vacuum — they involve first responders, emergency physicians and hospital staff and insurance companies. Families are stricken and the costs spread to society at large.

“It’s time to end Pennsylvania’s failed 10-year experiment of condoning needless injuries by reinstating a comprehensive motorcycle helmet law.”

(SOURCE: Opinion, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Motorcycle and bicycle helmet use laws

 

Town Meeting notes, part III

In Education, Everyday Living, Government, In Columbia, Opinions, Opportunities, People on May 3, 2013 at 5:00 am

Obviously, the better way to find out what happens and what is said at any gathering of people, is to be there. Listen to what people are saying. Watch the Power Point presentation, if there are any. Look at who is saying what to whom. Observe who tends to sit with whom and who gathers together for small group discussion during breaks.

For those who were not in attendance at Tuesday’s Columbia Town Meeting, media reports and reports from those who attended become the source of information.

Here is one observer’s account of the town meeting: “Columbians seek to boost town’s quality of life.” - MyColumbiaNews

This is the third installment of Columbia news, news & reviews’ reporting of the note-taking of that meeting.

Police chief Jack Bromer followed the mayor’s Power Point presentation with his own Power Point presentation about the Columbia Police Department’s resources and statistics. The presentation included staffing numbers; call reports from the county’s 9-1-1 system; and the department’s upgraded weaponry. The mayor injected that the weapons were acquired at minimal cost to taxpayers; the new 40 mm hand guns and AR-15′s were obtained using grant funding.

The chief made references to the need for increased staffing. He spoke to the citations issued so far this year for dog violations; there’ve been 20.

The mayor and police chief agreed that speeding is a problem; the mayor said, “Ninth Street is a raceway.” The department is working on enforcement in town and on Routes 30 and 441. The mayor said the department will be getting “one-officer” radar speed abatement

The chief commented on his department’s responses to direct calls to the department as well as the recorded calls to the 9-1-1 system. He related actions and activities that the police department has been involved with; that list includes: making sure that the borough’s curfew is observed. The borough’s curfew ordinance appears online; it states, “The Borough Secretary/Treasurer shall provide notice of this chapter and of the curfew regulations established by it by having copies of this chapter posted in, on or about such public or quasi-public places as may be determined by the Mayor, the Borough Council and Police Department in order that the public may be constantly informed of the existence of this chapter and its amendments and regulations.”

“The Borough Council of the Borough of Columbia, recognizing the problem of crimes committed by and committed against juveniles during the nighttime and believing that it can be dealt with more effectively by regulating the hours during which minors less than 18 years of age may remain in public places and certain establishments without adult supervision and by defining more clearly certain duties and responsibilities upon those who have the custody and responsibility for the care of such minors, hereby enacts this chapter for the purpose of promoting the general welfare and protecting the general public through reduction of juvenile violence and crime within the Borough of Columbia, promoting the safety and welfare of the Borough citizens under the age of 18 years whose youth and inexperience renders them particularly vulnerable to becoming the participants in criminal activity and in being victimized by perpetrators of crime, and fostering and strengthening parental responsibility for children.

“The period of time between the hours Read the rest of this entry »

“How much do you know about Storm Water?” Storm Water runoff?

In Education, Everyday Living, Government, Opportunities on April 30, 2013 at 4:24 am

“Schools, community invited to learn how to start and enhance gardens to improve children’s health”

In Education, Everyday Living, Opportunities on April 20, 2013 at 5:19 am

get growing

Lancaster, PA (April 18, 2013) – “Lighten Up Lancaster County (LULC) and LiveWELL Lancaster County announce the first School/Community Gardens Forum to be held in Lancaster County. This first-of-its-kind event is open to Lancaster County schools, businesses, and community members interested in gardening.  Two sessions will be held- 101 Gardening for Beginners and 201 Advanced Gardeners. The sessions will cover topics such as garden site design, what to grow, funding options, curriculum integration, and staff buy-in. The forum is being held from 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., on April 22 at Wheatland Middle School, located at 919 Hamilton Park Drive, Lancaster. Attendees also have the option of attending a tour of the Wheatland Middle School Garden, led by Principal Jay Butterfield, at 4:30pm.

According to the PA Department of Health, 64% of Lancaster County adults and 32% of students (K-12) are overweight or obese. Research has shown that, as weight increases to levels referred to as ‘overweight’ and ‘obesity,’ the risk for serious health conditions also increases. In order to combat this increasing local and national health concern, garden-based nutrition intervention programs can be utilized to promote increased fruit and vegetable consumption among youth.  ‘Children who grow and take ownership of their vegetable garden at school are more willing to try new vegetables and fully integrate them into their daily eating behaviors,’ shares Alyssa Densham, Farm to School Program Coordinator with The Food Trust and keynote speaker for the Forum.

“‘Faculty members, teachers, and students should engage with school gardens because they can teach and reinforce responsibility, leadership, group cohesion/team building, environmental awareness and concern, science processes, problem-solving skills, confidence, and self-esteem,’ says Densham.

For more information on the School/Community Garden Forum, contact Courtney Gregor at 544-3802 or cgregor2@lghealth.org. School/Community Gardens Forum is made possible with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Lancaster General Health.

SOURCE: News release, Lighten Up Lancaster

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 69 other followers