We called some local grocery stores in Lethbridge to find out if they carry the King Nut brand of peanut butter, and they do not, and they suspect it’s only sold in the United States, so that should ease some worried minds.

Many of us have heard of Salmonella, but may not know exactly what it is, or what to do if you discover it’s made you sick.

“Salmonella is a bacteria, an infection of the intestines,” explains Andrea Hohne, Public Health Inspector for Chinook Health. “[You can get Salmonella] by eating undercooked meat and poultry, drinking raw (unpasteurized) milk, [or] contaminated food or water.”

Salmonella poisoning can present many symptoms that are similar to a stomach flu, and Hohne strongly recommends anyone with these symptoms immediately see their doctor to find out the exact cause.

“In general, [the symptoms include] vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, cramps, and fever,” says Hohne. “[symptoms can show] 6 to 72 hours after being infected.”

One website, Healthsquare.com recommends anyone recovering from Salmonella poisoning “rest in bed at least 3 days after your symptoms go away”, “use a heating pad or hot water bottle to help relieve stomach cramps,” and “drink plenty of liquids that have a lot of minerals and vitamins in them until the diarrhea stops”, as this will replenish the nutrition your body expelled along with the bad bacteria.

This brings up the issue of food poisoning, as well as how to tell if you’ve become a victim, and how to avoid becoming sick in the first place.

“Cook meat or poultry to the correct internal temperature, 74 degrees celcius, [and] check with a thermometer,” says Hohne, adding that people should always wash their hands before eating to prevent any bacteria from entering your body.

If you happen to suffer from food poisoning, emedicinehealth.com suggests watching out for additional symptoms, including, “fever and chills, bloody stools, dehydration.

The same website also shares some interesting stats, such as the “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that in the United States, food poisoning causes about 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and up to 5,000 deaths each year.”

Another statistic explains that “more than 250 known diseases can be transmitted through food. The CDC estimates unknown or undiscovered agents cause 81% of all food-borne illnesses and related hospitalizations. Many cases of food poisoning are not reported because people suffer mild symptoms and recover quickly.”

Food poisoning can be easily avoided by simply making sure your food is completely cooked, and that you properly wash your hands before you sit down to eat or put your fingers in your mouth. It’s just that simple, and it takes mere seconds to prevent.

Originally posted 2009-01-17 20:36:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

My first story of the semester will be on the difference between Adobe Creative Suite CS3 and CS4, and why the college upgraded so quickly. The second story is on what people can expect from Windows 7 (from the info I’ve been able to find).

My first column of the semester will likely be how people need to be more careful on who and what websites they trust online, particularly with direct messages they recieve on Twitter and Facebook.

You can look forward to those posts as of Jan 15.

Originally posted 2009-01-06 20:45:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The most popular smart phone is Apple’s iPhone, originally released in 2006, and recently upgraded last June. Although expensive, at $199, the main issue consumers have is the price of the data plans that must be purchased to surf the net, or download files.

Rogers was the first to introduce the iPhone to Canada, but in the first month of its release, consumers made it clear that the data plans weren’t affordable, and the pressure forced Rogers to reduce its prices. To find out more, visit http://tinyurl.com/cbcrogers or http://tinyurl.com/canadaiphone.

Another issue with the iPhone is that Rogers forces buyers into a three-year contract in order to get one, though that is becoming more common with most carriers, according to many students.
Few students using iPhones, Blackberrys or Windows Mobile phones due to the cost, but they’re out there, and consumers seem to like them.

“When people ask to see my iPhone, I actually warn them that if they are not willing to spend the money, they should not look at it. They’re just so easy to use,” said Dwayne Harapnuik, manager of educational technology at the college.

Many college employees are using Blackberrys and iPhones to communicate, store their contacts information and email.

“The Blackberry is the smart phone of choice currently,” said Harapnuik. “With the release of the iPhone, we are starting to see more requests for it.”

The biggest benefit of smart phones is that they bundle the features of many devices into just one. Instead of carrying an mp3 player for music, a laptop for the web, and a PDA for GPS, smart phones consolidate it all into one device.

Another benefit to smart phones is that they can use Wi-Fi (public wireless internet access) networks, which means customers can avoid paying steep data charges to a cell phone provider, according to Harapnuik.

There are many options for consumers who want a smart phone, The iPhone is just one choice. Others are the Blackberry Bold, the Samsung Instinct, and the just-released T-Mobile G1, which has the Google phone operating system.

Before you get a smart phone, do some research, find out which phone is best for you. There’s no point paying for a phone with features you’ll never use.

To see this story or my column, visit www.lethbridgecollege.ab.ca/endeavour/ or www.thedigitaldistraction.com.

Originally posted 2008-10-09 17:27:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Limited time has forced a lot of us to be very selective of the TV shows we do watch. The solution seems to be catching up on missed episodes via websites such as YouTube, and by other ways using the internet, allowing us to choose when we watch, instead of TV schedules dictating that for us.

That’s not to say TV will be going away anytime soon. The internet simply gives people additional options in terms of how they watch programming. When viewers have the opportunity to watch good ‘ol TV, they do.

“My first resource is TV. If I can’t, I watch it online. I don’t download, I watch it streaming,” says Jason Bass, a student at Lethbridge College.

Jason brings up a very good point. People are doing what they can to watch content legally. Some websites that stream programming to viewers are more legitimate than others, but viewers who want to watch U.S. programming, but can’t, are doing what they can to watch the content without getting themselves in legal hot water.

Many students are hoping that the major networks in the United States will soon start allowing residents in Canada the ability to watch and download their shows, and the idea of having control over how they watch that content and when is a very powerful motivator.

“If I could, I would watch it online or download it at my convenience,” says a very enthusiastic Chelsi Brisebois, a General Studies student at Lethbridge College.

TV stations in the U.S. and Canada are recognizing the changing television landscape and are offering their content online after their shows originally air for people to watch at their convenience, albeit with a 30-second ad before the show starts. All major Canadian broadcasters are included in this movement.

Many issues plague the possibility of watching U.S.-based content, including copyright issues, copy protection, and legal roadblocks, Many websites, including NBC and CBS, which are based in the United States, don’t stream or allow access to downloads of their programming across the border, forcing many to get that same content by other means.

An increasing number of TV shows and movies are available through alternative services, such as the iTunes Store, offered by Apple Inc, which allows those who have chosen to download content alternative legal ways of doing so.

Originally posted 2009-01-26 18:17:25. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

“In Canada, every seven minutes, a person will have a heart attack. 17,000 people die each year [from heart attacks],” says Valerie Fraser, who works with the Heart and Stroke Foundation in Medicine Hat. “We really push the importance of looking after our hearts.”

The best ways to take care of our hearts are pretty obvious, including not smoking, if you do drink, do so in moderation, limiting stress, and of course, exercise. These are things we’re all aware of, but many people don’t follow these simple guidelines that can help them live longer, and we need to.

“High on the list is smoking. Please don’t smoke; being inactive, high blood pressure and high cholesterol,” says Fraser. “Age, gender, family history are [also] general risk factors.”

Another risk factor to our general health and our hearts is stress, something we all deal with, and if we don’t take steps to handle it, it can have harmful effects on our bodies and our hearts.

“We all have stress in our lives, we need to learn to manage it,” says Fraser.

If you feel you are at risk for heart disease or heart attack, it’s very important that you go and see your doctor, and make him or her fully aware of your family history, so you can work to prevent a heart attack.

People need to take care of their bodies, and their hearts. If we don’t, we might not live as long of a life as we might like.

“You only get one body. You get one chance to take care of it,” says Fraser.

The Heart and Stroke Foundations also wants to remind students and those in Alberta communities, including Lethbridge, to volunteer their time to spread the word of the importance of taking care of our hearts and to raise money for the foundation.

“If students are interested in helping with the fundraiser, contact the Lethbridge [Heart and Stroke Foundation] office,” says Louise.

Originally posted 2009-02-01 03:27:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Starting this week, students will be emailed an invitation to take a survey to better understand student experiences with technology. It’s completely confidential, and no personally identifying information will be published.

To take the survey, go to http://tinyurl.com/collegesurvey.

The winner of the iPod Touch will be randomly chosen within four weeks after the study is completed.  All you need to do is place your student ID at the beginning of the survey.

The survey itself will be thorough, discussing everything from what software you use on a regular basis, to what sites you use to blog and or do social networking (Facebook, MySpace, etc.).

It will ask questions about what kinds of electronics you use, which email provider you prefer, and the ways you communicate (e-mail, text messaging, etc).

It is important that students respond to the survey because it is essential that we understand the technology that runs in our daily lives. However, that doesn’t mean everyone has equal knowledge about how to use it. This survey will gauge that understanding.

This survey is a fantastic way to address that knowledge gap. It will also help the college better target the most common issues students are having with technology.

It will be of great benefit to students that the college knows your level of skill with technology.

This way, they can create better methods in helping you understand how to use computers, especially during your college life.

If you have any questions about the survey, you can contact Dwayne Harapnuik at dwayne.harapnuik@lethbridgecollege.ab.ca, or (403) 320-3202 Ext 5349. You can also visit http://learn.lethbridgecollege.net.

In my next column, two weeks from now, I’ll take a look at Windows Vista and the controversy surrounding it. If you have any thoughts on any of my articles, please email me at kevin.lloyd@lethbridgecollege.ab.ca or visit www.thedigitaldistraction.com.

Originally posted 2008-10-02 10:44:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Most of us use Microsoft Office, but there is a free office suite you can freely download and use at no cost to you, called Open Office. It is developed for the most part by volunteers who goal is to create a strong and free competitor to Microsoft Office. It is completely compatible and it uses up less memory.

On a Windows machine, anti-virus software is a must. Norton or McAfee are options, but they’re bloated and not as effective as they used to be. AVG Free Edition, Avast Home Edition, or BitDefender are free, and won’t slow your system down. Don’t use more then one anti-virus at a time, though.

Most of us have heard of Ad-Aware and Spybot, but a great, and more thorough anti-spyware program is Spyware Terminator. Most anti-virus solutions contain equally effective spyware detection, but it never hurts to have a second opinion.

I use Adobe Photoshop often in college. It’s very popular, but very expensive. If your tasks only require simple image editing and don’t need anything elaborate, get Picasa, Gimp, or Inkscape to do many of the same things.

WinZip or WinRAR seem to be the most common programs to extract and create compressed files. Zipeg or 7-Zip handle all of the most common file formats, and will accomplish the same tasks.

There’s no need to buy programs that will “clean” your system. There are free applications that will do the exact same thing. One is IE Privacy Keeper. Another is Ccleaner (crap cleaner).

With all of the files on hard drives, it’s important to keep everything organized so your computer does slow down while it’s looking for particular files. Windows does come with a defragmentation program, but IObit Smart Defrag has more options and does a better job, for free.

Instead of sifting through the start menu looking for the program you want every time, use Launchy. Type alt+space, and type the first few letters of the program you want and press enter, and it opens. It’s very similar to a feature built into Mac OS X called ‘Spotlight’.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my columns this semester, and I look forward to writing more of them next semester. For links to all of the programs, please visit my website at www.thedigitaldistraction.com.

Originally posted 2008-12-04 19:16:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

from left to right: Allan Wilson, teacher and writer; Bridget Pastoor, MLA Lethbridge East; and Dr. David Swann, Leader of the Alberta Libera Party.

Dr. David Swann, who has led the Alberta Liberal Party since December of 2008, after Kevin Taft resigned, wants to make it perfectly clear that his party’s mission is to renew itself by reaching out to young people, end voter apathy, make the environment a much larger focus, and renew Canada’s democracy.

Swann has spent over three decades in the field of medicine, and admits jumping from medicine to politics has been ‘really interesting’. Swann says both medicine and politics are essentially about the same thing, creating healthy communities. He says it’s been a ‘fun transition’.

He wants to increase the involvement in Canadian politics, starting with getting people back to the polls at election time.

“It’s a challenging time for the party. You know, we only had a 40 per cent turnout in the polls last year. Our vote dropped, and our membership has dropped to 6,000, our peak membership was in the ‘90s when we had 100,000. A tremendous amount of work needs to be done, I’ve called for a renewal process within the party,” says Swann.

Dr. Swann is scared that we’re losing democracy in our province, and is determined to do something about it by creating ways for people to have a say on issues that concern them.

“That’s why I’m in politics, I’m afraid we’re losing our democracy in this province.  This is 37 years of increasing entitlement, power broking, and self-serving that seems to be a tighter and tighter connection with the corporate community and making decisions in short-term interests of private enterprise, not public interest, for the long term, which is what I’m about,” explains Dr. Swann.

One of the key ways Dr. Swann and his Liberal Party are using to connect with young people is by using the web services they use, such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, keeping a blog, and producing a podcast on Swann’s website, which is http://www.davidswann.ca/.

“[We’re] using web based interaction to hear from people about what they think about the Liberal party,” says Dr. Swann.

For the first time in Alberta history, the Conservative government will be running under a deficit of more then $1 billion. Swann says this is because of a lack of responsible spending, and that the provincial government wasn’t saving during the past decade, when it had oil and gas surpluses of nearly $10 billion per year.

“We’ve spent [all of the] oil wealth coming out of the ground in the last 15 years. The Heritage Fund is worth less then it was when Peter Lougheed left office.”

“We should have been saving during that boom time, because by spending, we caused such an inflation. Housing, costs went sky high, we had everyone wanting to come here because the economy was doing so well, that’s when we should have been saving,” explains Swann.

Dr. Swann says the best way to stimulate the economy is to move away from non renewable resources.

“We need to move away from this fixation on fossil fuels. It’s not only unsustainable, because of the non-renewable resources, it’s unsustainable because we’re killing our climate.  We can tax carbon and give tax incentives for retrofitting your home, for using a high-energy furnace, [and] for using public transit.”

“It’s a lack of imagination, lack of commitment. The [Conservative government is] so tied in tight with the oil industry that they can’t back out,” says Swann.

A lack of affordable housing is a huge issue. Dr. Swann says that the way to solve the housing crisis is to slow down the population growth that has been encouraged in recent years.

“Slowing down the growth would be one thing. That would make less inflation, more affordable housing. We have to, federal, provincial, municipal, develop a longer term plan. We have the largest homeless population in the country in Calgary,” says Dr. Swann.

Dr. Swann blames the growth of the oil sands in respect to our current environmental and economic threats. He says that because of the inflation, the oil sands themselves are in trouble.

“We’ve allowed the oil sands to grow as fast as they’ve wanted to grow without respect to environmental, social, or even the economic threat that we’ve created. Because we’ve increased the level of inflation, we’ve now threatened the oil industry itself,” says Dr. Swann.

Dr. Swann also explains that the government needs to invest more in green technology, and give more incentives.

“If you’re going to invest in a real legacy for future generations, if you’re going to give more incentives for green technology, like solar and wind, geothermal, giving money to create energy efficient buildings. That’s a good investment. We know [the cost of] fossil fuels are going to go higher and higher,” emphasizes Swann.

Swann says the current provincial government isn’t doing enough to monitor or enforce environmental protection.

“They denied climate change up until three years ago. It’s not a priority for this government, to educate people on the greening of their lifestyle, or how to reduce their carbon footprint. That’s where the environment department needs more resources.”

A common complaint among young people and many Canadians is that the level of rhetoric in the legislature needs to be toned down, since seeing our leaders screaming and yelling at each other is hardly inspiring, nor conducive to meaningful conversations.

“My goal is very simple, I want to attract people to politics. I don’t want to repulse them. I think what you called apathy is really repulsion. They don’t like who we are, they don’t like what we do. I want to attract people to politics. If we’re going to attract, we have to act in a responsible, mature, respectful way,” says Dr. Swann.

Last semester, students were quoted saying they would really appreciate it if politicians would come to their workplaces, and our schools, to speak directly to people, many saying it might change their vote if that happened.

“Definitely. I would love to see that. I want more younger people involved. This is your future we’re playing with,” says Dr. Swann.

Originally posted 2009-03-17 01:34:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

It’s important to note that just buying a Blu-Ray player doesn’t give you the high-quality picture and sound, you need a TV that supports it, and audio equipment if you want the best sound.

“You need a TV with 1080p. [If you don’t have one], you won’t notice the difference. If you’re a stickler for sound, you can buy the speakers,” says Rob Horlacher, a supervisor at the southside Blockbuster video store in Lethbridge.

Those who want the full experience can talk to an expert at Future Shop or other electronics store to ensure they purchase the proper speaker setup.

Many argue that DVDs work just fine, and have a hard time justifying the purchase of a Blu-Ray player or the discs.

“I just get the regular DVDs, [they] work just fine, [and] I don’t have the player,” said Charlotte Etches, a student at Lethbridge College.

Blu-Ray players are not cheap, as those who choose to pay for them can look to hand over $200 or more. The good news is they do play regular DVDs as well. The bad news is consumers can’t enjoy the full experience without having a decent home theatre setup to enjoy the advanced technology.

It seems age might have something to do with whether people choose to invest in Blu-Ray movies or not.

“It depends on the age bracket. [Those between] 30 and 50 are more inclined to rent Blu-Ray movies. After 50, people don’t really care,” says Rob Horlacher, a supervisor at the southside Blockbuster video store in Lethbridge.

Horlacher also points out the obvious in saying poor college students aren’t likely to spend the money on Blu-Ray, and will likely stick with DVDs, since it’s ‘good enough’, which we confirmed after asking a few students on the Lethbridge College campus.

“I walk right by the Blu-Ray [discs] to the DVDs, because I don’t have the desire, nor the money,” said Chris Smith, a student at the college.

One argument that can be made is that just because the industry is moving forward with new formats and technology, that doesn’t mean all consumers are ready, or willing, to abandon what they have for the latest and greatest thing.

“I’m used to DVDs. I’m not really into the new technology. [I have] no desire to get [a Blu-Ray player],” says Hanna Graves, a college student in the Child and Youth Care program.

Another valid point is that consumers are often weary of how long a new technology will be around, since things in the industry move so quickly.

“[Some people] wait until [new technology] is around for a while; make sure it’s not just some trend,” says Stephanie Rush, a nursing student at the college. “If I had the money, I still don’t care about [high definition]. Eventually, everyone will have [it]; it’s not a necessity, you get it because everyone has it.”

Originally posted 2009-01-26 18:11:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Sadly, no user manual comes with computers, only useless little booklets and pamphlets that bore you with warranty details and support information. We must learn for ourselves how to make our time spent on computers more efficient, and more user-friendly.

First, when you’re surfing the internet, sometimes you may want to zoom into a YouTube video, or maybe some text that you’re finding a little hard to read. In recent versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer. To do this, press the left “CTRL” and the “+” next the backspace key to zoom into the area where your mouse is hovering. Use “CTRL and “-“ to zoom back out.

We all hate the tedious task of sifting through the start menu to find a program. In Windows Vista, simply type the Windows logo key on your keyboard, and start typing the first few letters of the name of the program. It should show up in a list. You can use your mouse to click it, or use your arrow keys and press the “enter” key.

If you use a program on a daily basis, you can assign a key on your keyboard to open it quickly. Use the last tip to find the program in the Start Menu, then right-click the program and choose “properties”, then in the field next to “shortcut key”, press a key you won’t use for anything else. In my case, I chose F9 to open Editpad Lite, and F4 for Paint.

In Windows Vista, you can avoid the painstaking task of renaming a group of files individually. Click on the first item, then hold down the left “shift” key and left-click only once on the last file in the group. Then press F2 to name the first file, and Vista will rename the rest in numerical order.

Also in Windows Vista, you can get a real-time preview of each of your open windows or programs by pressing the “Windows Key” and tapping the “tab” key. This is useful for quickly switching between a few open programs and saves the extra mouse clicks.
In the early years of the internet, in Internet Explorer, we had to type the http:// and “www” before the actual website address. Now, you can avoid that altogether, and just type the address, such as “CNN.com” (without the quotes).

A great deal of students and residents have laptops these days, and most people use Google to search the internet. There is an add-on for the Firefox web browser that will highlight the Google search results and let you scroll through the results with your keyboard’s arrow keys. Once you’ve found the result you want, press enter to go to that site.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my columns and stories this year as much as I’ve truly enjoyed writing them. You can continue to find my work on my website at http://kevins-stories.ca, and I hope you’ll even leave a comment or two.

Originally posted 2009-03-17 01:43:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter