Capture Them on Film

One of the best deterrents and tools to help to identify people who break into your business or residential property is some type of video camera system – but a surprising number of persons don't seem to be making use of if.

I was talking to the General Manager of construction company specializing in renting the climbing cranes after the fourth alleged theft of copper wiring from construction cranes which would reportedly cost about $100,000.00 to replace according to one police officer.

Amazingly even thought this has allegedly happened on four previous occasions nobody has thought to install a camera system around this property and the Manager seemed absolutely stunned that I would suggest such a thing.

Yet a good quality colour camera system that could be set to work in concert with a motion detector so it was not running all the time would be one of the best ways not only to discourage such crimes but more importantly to get good descriptions for the police. Something they do not seem to have in this case.

In addition to such installation around business property it would be a good idea to install such camera around the perimeter and interior of the homes of any elderly family members who are living by themselves.

You could discourage any such attacks by posting notices on the exterior of the house and making sure that the cameras where installed with battery back-ups and in locations where criminals could damage or remove them before trying to break into the house.

These cameras nowadays do not have to be huge (think pin-hole cameras) to take excellent pictures.




 

Gulf Oil Crisis Illustrates Murphy's Law

The recent explosion at a BP oil drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico is a tragic illustration of Murphy's Law (that if anything can go wrong it will and at the worst possible moment) in operation and also the need to create a continuous assessment, planning and action program in order to deal with emergencies of all kinds.

With modern technology it would have been too difficult or design and create working models of that oil right coping with all kinds of natural or man made disasters from tropical storms and hurricanes to disasters such as the one which resulted in many deaths as well as the continuing destruction of animal and bird life in the Caribbean.

If they had any it doesn't appear that it included a plan to cope with things like explosions and how to deal with them. This has left BP having to play a desperate catch-up game which does not appear to be working.

Ideally one of the most critical things they should have done – and on a smaller scale – every person should do – is make it a practice to not only develop a plan to assess problems, plan effective responses and take the most effective action as they are erupting but also to make it a practice to anticipate problems -- before -- they happen so an effective solution can me put it place immediately instead of experimenting in the hope that something will work.

Maybe some of the game developers so preoccupied with creating war games could divert a little of their attention to creating a few games with possible solutions to such problems if nobody else can dol it.



See the report from AP  on the Google News  page Saturday, June 26, 2010 for a good illustration or example of what I mention here. Click on "Little Spent on  Oil Spill Clean Up Technology"


 

Assess – Plan --  Act

Whether your are working in the law enforcement and security fields or just going about your daily business, social, or recreational activities this is a critical formula if you want to protect yourself.



Now I know that everyone does a lot of this stuff automatically, but if you're at all like me you probably don't do it as much as you should and the more we make a conscious habit of all this the more likely  the APA habit will become more a beneficial havit in  our all of our daily activities.


A perfectly good example of this is a little accident I just had in running my car wheel up against the roadside curb. This resulted in one of the plastic hub caps getting pushed in.  My first inclination after taking a quick look at the wheel was to run over to Canadian Tire here in Vancouver and buy a new hub cap which I was sure was ruined.


Then I remembered the APA formula, drove the car home and discovered that the damage was wasn't as bad as I thought and that I could probably repair it  myself with a kitchen knife and a small hammer.  In the end this worked and I saved  myself a needless bill (about $75.00 Cdn.) for a new hubcap.  So making that careful assessment, then planning  -- before acting worked. And it can work for everyone in a wide variety of situations.


It involves the need to carefully assess situations we are entering either while working as a security professional or while just out for a stroll in the evening.

You need to constantly analyze the situation you find yourself in. This of course requires not only that you stay aware of not only of your ability to handle any possible violent encounter, but also of any sudden changes in disposition or demeanour in the person or persons you are dealing with.

Their initial friendliness or cooperativeness could be only a tactic to get you to let your guard down, leaving you open to assault.

It is also critical to maintain good peripheral vision when dealing with anybody you do now know -- or when you are just talking down the street by yourself -- to protect yourself from being suddenly attacked by somebody you were not even aware was nearby.

Even professional security professionals , such as a Loss Prevention Officer in a store who was suddenly attacked by a person with bear spray make this mistake. He was so engrossed in dealing with another man that he had not noticed his attacker sneak up on the other side of him. He took a full blast of bear spray right in the face. Fortunately in this case a paramedic team just happened to be parked outside the store and were able to flush out his eyes.

You might not be so lucky. One young lady I was reading about in the news a few weeks ago was not. She ran down a trail into a park by herself and just disappeared. Her burned body was found some time later.

This assessment should continue from the start of our encounter with this other person or persons -- or while we are passing through a potentially dangerous area by ourselves -- right through to the time it is all over and you are away from the person or area.

You do not want to make a nervous wreck out of yourself with all of this but you do need to be constantly assessing your surroundings and then be ready to take quick evasive action to protect yourself from dangerous people and other threats.



It is even something you should be doing when out riding your bicycle in traffic or driving your car or other vehicle. You should stay aware of your surroundings, alert to potential dangers and ways to protect yourself from them.

What would you do, for instance, if a car suddenly cut you off while you were riding your motorcycle or bicycle. or was suddenly heading right for you from behind? Or what would you do if an approaching vehicle suddenly swerved into your lane and was on a collision course with your car or truck? Is there another lane to turn into? Would it be better to go over a bank? These are things you should thinking about (in a very relaxed manner).

Such assessing, planning, and acting (sometimes very hastily) could become a part of your daily activities.

Although we are talking only about physical dangers here this APA formula can be put to good use in just about all of your daily activities – even when you are planning and engaged in carefree recreational activities.






 

Playing Russian Roulette with Your Eyes?

 

The old game of putting one live cartridge into a chamber of a revolver, spinning the cylinder and then putting the pistol to your head and pulling to trigger Russians used to force captives to engage in –with the promise that would be spared if the gun didn't go off is still played today in many countries and with many different versions.

One version which popped up here in British Columbia, Canada , was created by the Ministry of Health and has to do with your eyesight and probably exists in other parts of the world as well.

 

The game started here in British Columbia when the Ministry of Health in BC, Kevin Falcon reversed his ministries previous stand and has decided to allow people with existing prescriptions to buy glasses directly from such online lens retailers as Coastal Contacts without an optometrists examination.

The about-face not only made this possible but it has also made it possible for opticians (who have less training than optometrists) to conduct sight tests without having their findings reviewed by a medical. Until now their clients still had to have this done in order to have a prescription filled.

Falcon's rationale for this is that by lowering the standards it will open up more opportunities for customers and that there is no medical evidence to show that an examination by an optometrist -- is absolutely necessary -- in healthy adults.

What all of this has done of course is to put the whole problem in the hands of the customer which is fine –except for the fact that things like cataracts, and glaucoma have a habit of sneaking up on you –even in otherwise health adults.

The bottom line is that if you are tempted to buy your eyewear here in British Columbia or anywhere in the world where this is an option, you should still be having your eyes examined regularly by an optometrist who is trained to detect such problems at an early stage. (In addition to this they can also often detect other health problems during such examinations).

Protect your eyesight in this way and there should be no reason why you could not also save money by filling existing prescriptions online. Just make sure that you have made a diligent background search about any such online retailers – first.

More information about this topic can be found in the April 24, 2010, edition of The Globe and Mail on page A7/

The Benefits of Acting Like Superman

Nobody will be able to soar through the air, deflect bullets, lift huge vehicles in order to rescue people trapped underneath or perform any of the other acts depicted in Superman, Batman or other super hero movies, but according to one researcher we can still benefit physically and emotionally by copying their examples.

At least that is the claim of Kent Gray a Canadian psychology student at Harvard University as reported in the editorial pages of the Vancouver Sun on May 15, 2010. Gray claims that his research has revealed that people stereotype heroes ( and villains) as having , "a mind less sensitive to pain and more capable of exerting willpower."

And he says that studies show that does happen. Persons who are engaged in thinking about or even better - doing good things for other persons do gain in both physical and emotional endurance while engaged in these activities.

As it turns out the same studies Gray speaks about also showed that persons engaged in evil thoughts or actions that resulted in harm to other also gained both physical and emotional strength and endurance while engaged in these -- but we won't go there because we know that such acts in the end are destructive not only for the victims but also for the perpetrators.

Our brains and consciences are just like that automatic pilot on an airplane. Good information loaded into that automatic pilot will help ensure a safe flight. Wrong will cause a disaster, like guiding that airliner into the side of a mountain and killing everybody. Wrong information or ideas that we load into our brains and conscious will also result in a disasters for ourselves and others.

What we want to focus on is doing good for other because the studies that Gray referred to showed that the real winners were people who were engaged in thinking about and carrying out acts that helped others.

You can get more information about this at either the Vancouver Sun Web site: vancouversun.com or the print journal - Psychological and Personality Science.

It sounds like it could be very interesting reading – and very logical. If you listen to the stories from people who have spent years working tirelessly to help people in Africa and other countries you realize that Superman was really onto something.

Be More Observant

 

I see it everywhere: I see it in pedestrians who cross intersections oblivious to what vehicles are bearing down on them. I see it in cyclists who really believe they are safe because of their flashing lights or brightly coloured jackets. I see it in drivers who pull out of inter- sections completely unaware of cars coming down the other way and just missing them by inches. I see it in people – men and women – walking along the sidewalk lost in another world – blind to who is sitting in a car they are approaching or just past or who is walking beside or behind them on the sidewalks or who is watching them from a doorway. And I see it in people who take strangers they have just met at face value – just because they have a beautiful smile or appearance or personality.

 

And then – I see it in news accounts of pedestrians killed as they attempted to cross the street -- of cyclists scattered along the roadside like rag dolls -- of drivers whose mangled bodies have to be cut out of their vehicles and of women and men who simply vanished after going for a bike ride or to a dance or for a drink at the local pub. With this last group sometimes their bodies turn up alongside a trail, in a lake or river. Sometimes they vanish forever.

All of these tragedies occur because people go about their activities without being tuned into their environment – until it is too late.

 

The need to continually access our environment and then take appropriate action to protect ourselves never goes away. Unfortunately very few of us remember this and practice that continuous assessment, planning and acting to protect ourselves – no matter what we are engaged in.

 

Don't Kill Your Pet with Vaccines!

 

Like many pet owners you are probably bombarded with reminders from your local veterinarian to protect your cat or dog by having its latest booster vaccine shot – but by following their advice you might be killing your pet rather than protecting it. At least that is the opinion of a Dr. Jean Hofve, a Dr. of Veternary Medicine

According to Dr. Hofve, writing in the April-May 2010 edition of The Pet Connection Paper giving your cat or do the annual booster vaccinations which many mainstream veterinarians promote is not only a waste of time and money but also create dangers for your pet.

He says, that, "Additional vaccine doses in an immunized animal do not increase or improve the immunity, but they do increase the risks."

According to this doctor you should think twice about subjecting your pet to any additional vaccination after the first one when they are young because of the risk that some of these vaccines might cause Vaccine Associated Sarcomas (VAS) in the connective tissues of the cats and can also have adverse affects on the connective tissues of dogs as well.

According to Dr. Hofve statistics show the vaccination can cause this cancer in up to 1 in 10,000 cats in some studies or as many as 1 case in 1,000 cats in other studies.

Obviously more research needs to be done but regardless of the severity of the risk, as he points out in his article, you could be subjecting your pet to this risk for nothing and your pet could be one of the ones to develop cancer from a vaccine – especially if they have a genetic susceptibility to cancer already.

Here is a case were you need to assess the facts carefully before giving in to any pressure from your pet's veterinarian to continue a series of booster vaccinations throughout their lives.

You could be cutting their lives short rather than protecting them from disease.