What I See on Wednesday. . .

I know I am supposed to share a recipe today but it was an exhausting day and we had pizza.   We have a little place that has a special on Wednesday that you can get two large one topping pizzas for for $14.  You cannot beat that, feeding a family of four.  
It is so funny what you see when nobody thinks you are looking.  It is funny what you hear when nobody thinks you are listening. These days not much shocks me.   Today while pumping gas I watched as our local bum gets out of her brand new Hyundai and walks across the street to her perch to beg for money.   We have a group that share this particular spot to beg from and they rotate on shifts.  This strikes me as funny because I am sure they make more money begging than most people do working.  They are not paying taxes on any of it.  Every time I see someone give them money I just want to shake them and tell them to wake up and see the brand new car sitting in the gas station parking lot  that they are funding.  
People are stealing wallets out of women's purses in stores as they are shopping.   People are stealing pocketbooks off women's shoulders in the parking lot.  This is happening in the morning hours not at night when you might expect this kind of behavior.   People are breaking down doors and breaking into homes in broad daylight.   It has become a normal thing to hear in the news or on the street.  We are gradually going to a state of what ever you want just take it, whether it is yours or not.
When I go shopping I am going over in my head what I am buying and what I am looking for and most days I am not thinking about anything else.   Since all of this theft and purse snatching I have been paying more attention to my surroundings.  I usually do my shopping first thing in the morning, 8am.   The other day while I was in the store where these thefts have happened I decided I would do a little people watching while I was shopping.  I have to say I was amazed at how many women had their pocketbooks laying open in their buggy.   A couple of them even walked away from their buggy with their purse still in it open.   It is easy to get distracted when shopping, especially in this type of store.  Ladies please keep hold of your pocketbooks and keep them closed.  
When these stories hit the news (Facebook) I began watching more closely those around me.   I have seen a couple of out of place people wandering around.  I always keep my purse close to me and I keep my eyes open for people that do not belong and at the Mart you never know what you might see.  Please be safe when out shopping or going to and from your car in mall parking lots.  I remember one of our friends that just happened to be a police officer was out shopping with his wife when a would-be thug attempted to rob them.  The shock that must have fallen on this fellas face when our friend pulled his gun and pined him to the car to wait for back-up.   This was in our local mall parking lot more than twenty years ago.  
These are my tips for women when going to and from your car with packages or not.
1.  You should always have your keys out before you leave the store.
2.  Walk with your head up and with a purpose.  Do not look like a victim.
3.  Look around you, who else is in this parking lot.
4.  Look at your car as you approach it.  Is there anything odd about the vehicles parked near you?
5.  Once in your car, lock it and immediately start your engine.
6.  Do not sit in your car and balance your check book or check receipts.
 If anything looks odd when you go out to your car, go back in the store call a friend or alert mall security and let them walk with you to the car.  I promise, if they are worth a grain of salt they will not mind and they will applaud you for calling them.

Internet and Social Media Safety

I am going to get on my public address soap box today.  A friend of mine shared one of her friends posts about a man, and I use that term loosely,  that is stalking young girls on Facebook.   Here is my beef.  If you do not know someone personally why on earth would you be friends with them and open your whole life up to them on Facebook.  When I say personally, I mean a face to face knowledge of them.  Everyone on my Facebook I have a face to face relationship and I don't understand people just accepting friend requests if you do not know the person.   I think young people are especially guilty of this.  This is a dangerous practice because this is how pedophiles,  perverts,  and stalkers get started.  This is also how your profile picture could get stolen and a new  Facebook account could show up.  Think about all of the things that you share and the pictures that you post on social media.  Now would you want just anyone seeing these family pictures or knowing some of the things you might share. Please educate your kids if they are on social media.  I think kids are the most susceptible to these kind of things and they are also guilty of the over share on social media. 
We have been submerged in all of this technology and there is so much that we as adults still need to learn.  Do not forget about your kids,  they are conditioned to jump in and embrace all new things.  It is our job to remind them to be cautious.  The old look before you leap adage.  

School finishing up. . for me

My computer class is over and I just finished my last project for Ethics.  I finished up with the computer class with a 98/A for the semester.  I am pretty excited about that.  I turned in my term paper for Ethics on pornography for an A.  My last project was to research a recent law and do a power point presentation on it.  That was an interesting assignment.  I picked a law that had passed the House and was still in the Senate. I researched a cyber security law that deals with sharing information between the government and the private sector with regard to cyber terrorism.  I hope this one passes, but it has a lot to overcome with the civil liberty groups.  My power point presentation was pretty cool, it was my first one and I think I did a pretty good job.
After all the research I did for my term paper on pornography I started looking in to how I can better protect my family.  The pornography industry has free rein on the internet.  There are no laws governing them or protecting our children.  I am using Norton antivirus software and they have a free add-on called Norton Family.  Norton family deals mostly with protecting your children from pornography and pedophiles while surfing.  If you would like more information about how to protect your children check out one of these sites:  www.netnanny.com and  www.staysafeonline.org.   They both have good information about how to protect your family.  https://metacert.org  this site has free software you can download to help protect your family while they are on the net.
The pornography industry thrives on the fact that unsuspecting people stumble on their websites.  That is why they use common names for some of their website addresses.  In fact did you know that www.whitehouse.com used to be a porn site?  Yes, children doing simple research for school could stumble on pornography by looking up something as simple as the White House.  This is the seedy side of the internet that we want to protect our families from.  Do some research, check things out, and keep a watch of your history on your computer.  The internet is wonderful place to find good information but, it is also a dangerous place for your children to be by themselves.