NorthStarXO  

Today's Topic: Education & Training what do you need to know and learn and where do you go to get that information?

CNN International

Islamabad, Pakistan - Pakistan on Saturday launched an offensive against the Taliban -- the biggest military push against militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region since a civilian government took power in March.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/28/pakistan.taliban/?iref=hpmostpop

Associated Press

Washington, DC - Violence in Afghanistan will continue to rise this year, as Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters have proved resilient and aggressive foes against coalition forces, according to a new Pentagon report issued to Congress yesterday.
 

Citing a weak Afghan government, struggling economy, massive increases in illegal narcotics production, corruption, growing attacks by insurgents and an increase in civilian casualties, U.S. defense officials said incremental progress in Afghanistan contrasts with significant challenges ahead.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062702202.html?hpid=topnews

Associated Press

Tokyo, Japan - International television crews were invited to reclusive North Korea on Friday to witness the destruction of the cooling tower at the country’s main nuclear weapons plant. Viewers around the world later watched the most visible symbol of the North’s nuclear ambitions collapse in a cloud of shattered concrete.

In North Korea itself, however, the explosion was a nonevent. The state news agency carried no information about it on Friday, and the images had not found their way onto state television.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/28/world/asia/28nuke.html?em&ex=1214798400&en=a2f0655d9a1a3bd2&ei=5087%0A

CNN International

New Delhi, India - A 6.1-magnitude earthquake has struck off India's Andaman Islands. It is the second earthquake to hit the area in as many days.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department there have been no reports of injuries and no damage. There has been no tsunami alerts or warning issued.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/28/india.quake.ap/

Associated Press

Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico's raging drug war claimed the lives of six more police officers, ambushed on patrol in the marijuana-rich state of Sinaloa, authorities said Friday.

The attack followed the slaying Thursday of a senior police commander, part of a long string of killings apparently aimed at eroding public confidence in the government's ability to challenge drug gangs.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-mexico28-2008jun28,0,7214898.story

Reuters

Winfield, Missouri - The cresting Mississippi River washed over more flood barriers on Saturday but drier weather fed hopes of relief as the worst Midwest floods in 15 years added to billion-dollar losses and global food inflation fears.

Thunderstorms this week that had added to a month-long deluge let up and drier, cooler weather was forecast for saturated areas of Iowa, Missouri and Illinois where thousands of residents have been evacuated and hundreds of thousands of acres of prime farmland swamped.

In Winfield, a levee break on Friday sent a rush of muddy water across 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares) of surrounding farmfields and prompted frantic efforts to hold back more water from the town of about 800 people north of St. Louis.

But those efforts failed shortly before dawn on Saturday as the river pushed through a 6-foot-tall (1.8-metre-tall) barrier of sandbags that stretched 2,000 feet (600 metres) along the community's eastern edge.

"The water won," said Lincoln County emergency management spokesman Andy Binder.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKN2836885520080628

Associated Press

Big Sur, California - Many of the rustic inns, restaurants and art galleries that dot the rugged Central Coast are nearly deserted this weekend at the height of the tourist season as a huge wildfire threatens Big Sur.

The blaze had charred nearly 42 square miles as of Friday in the Los Padres National Forest and destroyed 16 homes in the Big Sur area, one week after it was started by a lightning storm that also ignited more than 1,000 wildfires from the Central Coast to the Oregon state line.

Firefighters braced for the possibility of more lightning in Northern California during the weekend.

The Big Sur fire was only 3 percent contained as of 6am this morning. Firefighters concentrated on protecting more than 500 homes and other buildings threatened by the blaze and let the wildfire rage virtually unchecked in remote mountain wildernesses.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gwSSrT7-LciDlr1tYmyE9e19oX9QD91J2SQ00

Associated Press

Washington, DC - It's not much of a report card.

Half of Americans say U.S. schools are doing only a fair to poor job preparing kids for college and the work force. Even more feel that way about the skills kids need to survive as adults, an Associated Press poll released Friday finds.

"A lot of kids, when they get out school, are kind of lost," said Jamie Norton, a firefighter in Gridley, Calif. "When you get out of high school, what are you educated to do?"

The views of the general population echo concerns from business and college leaders, who say they have to spend a lot of time and money on remedial education for people who completed high school but don't have the skills to succeed at work or in higher education.

Education ranks behind the economy and gas prices as a top issue for Americans, the survey said. However, nearly all those polled said the quality of a country's education system has a big impact on a country's overall economic prosperity.

Three-fourths of those surveyed believe schools place too much emphasis on the wrong subjects. Asked what subjects should be given more time in school, more than a third said math. English was a distant second, at 21 percent. A tiny fraction picked art, music and the sciences, such as biology and chemistry.

Parents may want more math in school because they feel unprepared to help at home, said Janine Remillard, who teaches math-related courses at the University of Pennsylvania's education school.

"Math is the subject that parents are often intimidated by," she said. "We've allowed a lot of kids to just say, 'I'm not good at math,' .... and those kids become parents."

Most think the United States is just keeping up or falling behind the rest of the world in education. On some recent international tests, U.S. students have posted flat scores and landed in the middle to bottom of the pack when compared with other nation's children.

Americans have mixed views about standardized tests, which have grown in importance.

The 2002 federal No Child Left Behind law judges schools based on math and reading tests taken by their students. Schools face increasingly tough consequences for scores that miss the mark.

About half of those polled said standardized tests measure the quality of education offered by schools well, while the rest disagree.

The vast majority think classroom work and homework — not standardized tests — are the best ways to measure how well students are doing.

Larry Michalec, a computer programmer in San Diego, called the testing a waste of time. "They're standardized and people aren't standardized," he said. "Children get taught to the test. They get taught to take the test. They don't get taught to learn."

School districts are increasingly tying student performance to teacher pay. Americans seem to support that trend. Sixty percent said the amount of pay teachers receive should be based at least in part on the performance of their students.

The nation is split over whether teachers should be allowed to strike, with half thinking strikes should be allowed. Whether strikes are allowed is governed by state law.

The AP survey of 833 adults and 854 parents of school-aged children was conducted June 18-23 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points for each sample.

The poll was conducted over the Internet by Knowledge Networks, which initially contacted people using traditional telephone polling methods and followed with online interviews. People chosen for the study who had no Internet access were given it for free.

The research was financially supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Associated Press had sole editorial responsibility for the design of the survey questionnaire and the analysis of the survey results.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ii0M-GfTcRlHSY98XhSa7-0pEtMwD91IIF6G0

So let’s start into today’s topic which is Education & Training what do you need to know and learn and where do you go to get that information?

Well let’s start with what you should know. Everyone should know basic first aid and CPR. You should know how to prepare and what you need to prepare. You may want to learn some camping & survival skills. Maybe you just want to know some general survival information. If you or someone you know is disabled you may want to know how to care for them in a disaster. What about neighborhood safety and search & rescue or how to become an EMT or an emergency manager like me? A lot of this information is available for FREE in the form of online classes and community classes in your area. You just have to know where to look.

So that’s what we’re going to learn today.

Let’s start with the basics: General Preparedness and Lists. There are literally thousands of websites that all have the American Red Cross and FEMA emergency preparedness lists. The NorthStar Preparedness Network site has all the lists on the Disaster Preparedness pages. Start with the general information and read through all the different disasters. That’s a general education right there.

The American Red Cross also provides general first aid, CPR and AED (Automatic Electronic Defibrillator) classes. Most are free or a small fee and you should contact your local chapter of the Red Cross for classes in your area. They also offer Babysitter Classes if your teens want to be responsible babysitters, Sport Safety Training for parents who want to coach their children’s games and even first aid for pets. I’ve included the links to the websites.

For more comprehensive training the Red Cross offers Disaster Action Team training, First Responder training and more. Again, contact your local Red Cross chapter.

Ready America offers checklists and downloads as well as a community and state information guide which will show you all your local emergency management offices and organizations.

Citizen Corps is a national group that offers GREAT training. It’s usually one night a week or on Saturdays over a period of weeks but well worth the investment of time.

They have a 210 page book called “Are You Ready?” which outlines preparedness & disaster information.

Currently there are: 55 State/Territory Citizen Corps Councils, and there are: 2,296 County/Local/Tribal Citizen Corps Councils, which serve 223,031,215 people or 78 % of the total US population.

FEMA offers MANY classes online in their online Emergency Management Institute. I would recommend that everyone take the IS-7 course called A Citizen’s Guide to Disaster Assistance and any other classes listed that interest you. Again, they’re ALL free and all offer college credits towards a degree or continuing information if you need that for your job.

The US Fire Administration (USFA) offers online information and classes, also. All free of charge.

Your tax dollars pay for this information so shouldn’t you make use of this valuable information?

There are so many other places that offer classes, seminars and information online that you could spend all your time educating yourself and still find more.

Locally you can find lots of camping information and training, outdoor survival classes, water safety and more. Some are free, some have a nominal charge and depending on the level of training & information some can be very expensive but the education is important. So get out there and learn!

This is all under your own control.

That's our show for today. Our show next weekend will be on Sunday due to the July 4th holiday weekend at noon PST. Thanks for listening and remember, fear conscripts its own armies and takes its own prisoners.

American Red Cross

Ready American

Citizen Corps

FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency

US Fire Academy