Dave and Bill  

A webside chat with the CyberHood Watch partners Dave & Bill. Every so often, Dave and Bill, like to just sit back and share their own personal thoughts. Recently we were invited to share our thoughts with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (associated with the University of Utah), and if all goes well the CyberHood Watch partners will be teaching a course, "Enjoying The Internet Safely".

Pure and steamy, sounds like the beginning of a good romance novel. Moreover, at 300 degrees, this little red box on wheels is a killer.

The CyberHood Watch partners typically are not tracking down hot steamy stories unrelated to Internet safety for children and their families, but too many coincidences kept presenting themselves.

I have friends who say there are no such events as coincidental; they occur for a reason. No matter what your belief, sometimes events occur at random but strangely enough all the pieces mesh seamlessly. For example, Christi and I planned a week earlier to meet with Joyce and discuss her Internet marketing ideas for Sargent Steam.

I was back home in my office when Bill, (unaware we had just visited with Joyce) sends me an instant message (IM) suggesting the idea of contacting “the steam lady” to be on the show. Coincidence?  Maybe, maybe not. Initially, my thoughts were Internet safety – steam cleaning, hmmm. We resolved the issue in our minds by tying it to keeping families safe and healthy.

Therefore, I called Joyce and invited her to be a guest on CHWradio show. Normally, our publicist, Anissa, handles that for Bill and I, what a blessing she is, but that would not be necessary in this case. Long story short, Joyce agreed, but before Joyce hung up, she made an interesting comment. Joyce had recently received an article from the Department of Labor talking about the current concerns of Swine flu; she suggested swine flu as a public service announcement.  

Doing the amount of research Bill and I do regarding child Internet safety, we use certain tools to help with the research. One of the tools we use, offered by Google, which searches and pulls in information based on specific keywords, had sent me an email. One of those keywords I have searched, by Google, is “Responsible CyberCitizen”. 

I am telling you this, because no sooner did I finish my conversation with Joyce, I opened my email to find an interview, based on that keyword search, with the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Center for Disease Control (CDC). It was an interview talking about how swine flu and internet safety had more in common than anyone might imagine.

Well, Dave & Bill were all steamed up (shameless attempt) as Joyce shared her wisdom with our listeners.

It is just business…Cigarettes - it’s just business…Engineered and modified foods – it’s just business…Chemical cleaners – it’s just a casualty of doing business. When Joyce made the analogy we live in a chemical soup, she is not far off. Most of the chemicals we use in our homes are byproducts of chemical warfare used to kill or maim. In addition, the combination of many different chemical cleaners reacting with one another could potentially be more harmful than the germs we attempt to kill.

Joyce shared an excerpt from the Department of Labor’s article regarding how air freshener products make our homes smell like spring. Did you know the chemicals released from those air fresheners coat the inside nerves of your nose – you are better off plugging your nose, than coating them with chemicals.

Don’t you think it makes more sense, since odors are due to bacteria and germs, to remove the cause rather than coat the nose with chemicals? 

Steam is the purest sanitizer, and according to a study performed by Brigham Young University, direct steam, minimum of 150 degrees, kills germs in two seconds. The benefits of cleaning with steam have such a wide reaching positive effect on the environment and the health of families it makes you scratch your head and wonder why it is not the norm.

We asked Joyce why she thought more families were not using Sargent Steam. Her response was open and honest – she did not know how to market to the masses. I felt that having 12,000 customers was not something to sneeze at (germ free sneeze followed up with a triangular brush and Sargent Steam), another shameless attempt. Where
was I? Oh yeah…

Joyce made reference to the reversed engineered and manufactured units built in China and then sold on TV, which she in jest, said, may have sold 12,000 in a week. More than not, you will also find out, you get what you pay for. It occurred to me, with such poor quality knock-offs that you negatively influence the market. Those who bought the inefficient models, who believed in the concept and advantages of steam are now dissatisfied, and
convinced that using steam is messy, inconvenient, and inefficient.

Sargent Steam, is as close to industrial for the home as you will get. You get what you pay for…Sixteen years later and Joyce’s earliest customers are still using their original Sargent Steam and getting what they paid for.

Like most quality, you pay more. However, most individuals fail to recognize the true costs savings in quality. I can assure you Joyce’s earlier customers whether they are aware of it or not have benefited financially because of their decision to go steam.

Joyce shared another statistic from the Department of Labor that the average
household in 2005 spent approximately $611.00 a year on cleaning products, which could very well be costing you more in terms of your health. If you are suffering from allergies, (caused by mite feces living in your bed, pillows, and/or carpet) you are probably buying medications – more costs, not to mention the health risks. Eliminate your cleaning product costs, and apply those costs towards your Sargent Steam cleaner, and in a couple of years you have paid for your steamer, which means Joyce’s earlier customers have saved thousands of dollars.

There are more germs in your kitchen sink than in your toilet. This also holds true for the bottom of your purses ladies. That should make a point.

As always, hand washing, not just during flu season, is paramount in the prevention of curbing the spread of disease. Teach children to sneeze into the bend of their elbow.

I know this post addresses cleaning the home and every surface in it, but do not overlook the versatility of this machine. Joyce mentioned its uses from restoring the tack on your golf club handles, to Harleys, to automobiles (rims), to boats, to tile grout, to blanching tomatoes and peaches.

Like most Sargent Steam customers you just don’t know, what you don’t know, until you have one.

As always, be safe…

david c ballard

PS: We have prepared a Swine Flu report available at Online Security Authority

The CyberHood Watch partners, Dave & Bill will deviate a bit today from Internet safety and keeping children and their families safe online, to talk about a healthier, safer cleaning solution, while protecting our children and their living environment. With the flu season and the public concerns regarding Swine flu, we would like to share our time with a leading authority in chemical free cleaning, specifically steam cleaning, and tips to avoid getting sick. Joyce Mathie does not know the meaning of the term "mandatory retirement”. At age sixty, when all her friends were ending their careers, she started up a fabulous new company selling environmentally friendly steam cleaners. It began with her infectious enthusiasm for a remarkable product that literally changed her life. On four different occasions, Sargent Steam was named one of the top 100 fastest growing companies in Utah by the Mountain West Venture Group. Today, Joyce boasts more than 10,000 happy customers. Joyce has had regular appearances on Good Things Utah as an advocate for a better green community and a chemical free cleaning environment, achieved through the power of natural steam cleaning. Because of the superior cleaning, the Sargent Steam machine was a contributing factor in helping maintain a germ free environment making life a lot easier for Jill & Emily, a SCIDS baby, also know as the Bubble Boy Syndrome.

Stacy Dittrich is an award-winning 17-year law enforcement officer, author, media consultant, and former detective specializing in sex crimes. With past training by a former FBI Behavioral Specialist, Stacy is certified through the National Institute of Truth Verification as an examiner (CVSA- lie detector). She is assigned to a federal drug task force and has been involved in the investigations of numerous homicides. Stacy, a certified law enforcement instructor, received the Victim’s of Crime Award from former Ohio Attorney General, Jim Petro. She has instructed on topics ranging from sexual assaults to “stranger dangers”. Stacy retired early in 2008 to focus solely on her writing and media commitments. Stacy is still a sworn special deputy with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department in Mansfield, Ohio and is assigned to running the voice stress analysis tests for new hires and criminal suspects. Stacy has appeared as a law enforcement commentator on Fox, “The O’Reilly Factor, CNN, Fox’s Geraldo at Large, The Nancy Grace Show, E! True Hollywood in Crime, The War On Crime, The Dana Pretzer Show, “That’s Life” with Cleveland’s Robin Swoboda, and hundreds of radio stations nationwide. She has appeared in the pages of SELF magazine, Women’s World magazine, Allure Magazine, The Boston Herald, The UK Observer, and The Miami Herald to name a few. Stacy has given her expert and professional opinion on cases ranging from the Jon Benet Ramsey and Caylee Anthony case, to the Manson Family and Natalee Holloway. She has spoken on topics ranging from the American Mafia to Islamic honor killings, and just about everything in between. Stacy Dittrich currently resides in Ohio with her husband, Rich—a police officer, and their two daughters.

The CyberHood Watch partners, Dave & Bill, once again find a diamond in their own backyard with Ken Knapton. Ken has recently authored the book, “Cyber Safety: Maintaining Morality in a Digital World” that every parent, grandparent, or guardian needs to invest the time to read.

Ken possesses that gift of interpreting the technical jargon, which creates most of our technophobia parents, and converts it into a clear, simple, and concise easy explanation to understand. Because of this digital divide, we have created a gap between our children, which allows them to explore the net unsupervised, not a wise decision.

In case you are wondering if Ken, is qualified to author a book on “Cyber Safety”, maybe a few points of accomplishments would qualify him.

Ken is the author of “Cyber Safety: Maintaining Morality in a Digital World”, published by Cedar Fort in August of 2009.  He was named “Chief Technology Officer of the year” in 2006 by the Utah Technology Council, when he was serving as the CTO for the Internet Content Filtering company ContentWatch, makers of NetNanny.

During his tenure there, he oversaw a complete overhaul of the filtering technology, greatly improving its usefulness and accuracy.

Prior to ContentWatch, Ken worked as the CTO for AccessData, where he worked very closely with the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, and their equivalent organizations in other countries, developing forensic software and password recovery applications and tools.

In addition to these Internet Security roles, his more than 20 years in the high tech field include leading IT teams at Intel, WordPerfect, and currently at the LDS Church.

He holds three U.S. patents for his work on enterprise security and anti-virus technology, and has published articles on his unique development concepts and processes. Ken holds a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science and Information Systems from Utah Valley University, and an MBA from Brigham Young University. He currently blogs about Internet Safety at http://Knapton.blogspot.com, and on twitter at http://twitter.com/kenknapton.

That works for Dave & Bill…

One of the first pieces of advice you will receive regarding online safety is to keep the computer in a public space. So, what do you do with cell phones, which are capable of accessing the Internet?

Ken shared a tip with us how to deal with cell phones, which I thought was down to earth and sensible. Place your chargers in a common area, and when the kids go to bed or even when they get home, they place the phones in the charger(s). Then you can be assured they are not surfing the web on their phones.

Ken had a boatload of practical information to share with our listeners. One of which is the false sense of security that accompanies the use of technology. Parents will assume everything is okay after taking steps to install security software or monitoring software. The truth is parents need to monitor the technology usage, and what makes the software a valuable tool.

Following is one of many questions we asked Ken. His response and analogy to “Natural Bounds” was unique:

Q: “What specific Internet guidelines do you find helpful for parents and children?”

A: "There are no “natural bounds” with technology. When children play outside, eventually nature tells them when it is time to come in. Either the sun goes down, or some friends simply leave, or they get too tired to play any longer, or it rains – something happens to prevent them from continuing the activity forever. Technology knows no such bounds. It is easy to sit in front of a game all night long – never getting tired, never running out of “friends” to play with. It is up to parents to recreate those “natural bounds” when it comes to technology. Enforce time restrictions for your family; require cell phones to be charged in the kitchen each night, etc.

Also, learn about the technology that your children are using. You don’t have to become an expert, but know enough about what they are doing to simply hold a conversation with them about it – know what friends they are connected to in their social network, know which social networks they use, etc."

Remember, earlier I pointed out how Ken had the ability to take technical information and present it in a clear, simple, and concise easy explanation to understand? Well, when I asked Ken, how a parent might know if their child’s visit to an objectionable site was an accident or intentional, Ken shared a technical solution on how to read a “Query String”.

For a copy of Ken’s questions and answers click here: CyberHood Watch Interview with Ken Knapton.

Do you feel like a “techno-phobic”   or “digital immigrant” parent? Then grab yourself a copy of “Cyber Safety”. Pull back the OZ curtain and de-mystify the Internet and the foundational technologies that make it operate, and join the other parents who have become Responsible CyberCitizens.

by: david c ballard

It is refreshing to talk with Anne Collier, and hear her approach on how to mitigate the problems facing the digital community. We are all familiar with the phrase, seeing the glass half-empty or half full, I suspect Anne’s comment might be just to say, maybe we need another glass.

Anne’s approach to education and the new media literacy is exciting to hear. Children today are tuned in to informal learning, which are driven by their interests and friendships.

The education system needs to embrace media literacy, including social networking and quit demonizing new technologies as the culprit. Anne pointed out it is not question of adding something on, or an addition to the system.

Everything needed is already available, and already existed. Our own children will let you know it is not social networking; it is socializing. It is more about life than technology. Anne recalls her interview with Winn Schwartau (Internet & Computer Ethics for Kids) and his thinking it is not just about being responsible cybercitizens, digital responsibility, or being a good citizen, all of which are good. It is not about blaming technology.

The important underlying idea is it is protective for all of us to empower our children with civility, empathy, caring, and ethics. If we are not aggressive, we are safer, therefore; if we are good citizens, we are safer citizens.

We need to educate and empower our children with media literacy and the values of digital citizenship, or as the CyberHood Watch partners, Dave and Bill, refer to it as, responsible cybercitizens.

Connect Safely has introduced its version of Online Safety 3.0, a positive approach and a proactive way of empowering our children and their parents on mitigating a better life experiences for our children online and offline.

We need to stop blaming technology for problems our children face, as well as parents, grandparents, guardians, and the community. These problems are not new, however; technology has been a powerful catalyst in dispensing a more pandemic, and pervasive exploitation of an old existing problem.

Again, technology is not the problem. Our decisions on how we empower children to use these technologies, and how we instruct them to apply critical thinking to make informed decisions are the important issue.

Online Safety 3.0 is a refreshing approach, which will help to eliminate most of the fear mongering, and focus on a positive, safe, and healthy approach to sustaining a safe and fun Internet.

by: david c ballard