About The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 2013)
CODE OF ETHICS: Seek Truth <5*? Report It - Minimise Harm - Act Independently - Be Accountable. Where the press is free and every man able to read,, all is safe. Thomas Jefferson 4 THE GEORGIA POST Opinions expressed by writers on this page are their own alone. Don’t let cyber grinches ruin your holidays BY JASON ALDERMAN I ’m usually in too much of a Thanksgiving food coma to hit the sales on Black Friday, but millions of other Americans somehow find the energy. Last year, 89 million people took advantage of Black Friday sales (57 million of them online), while an estimated 247 million shopped throughout the four-day weekend, as stores in creasingly have opened their doors on Thanksgiving it self. In addition, millions of bargain hunters spent another $2 billion on Cyber Monday, so it’s clear that online holi day shopping is here to stay. Unfortunately, cyber crimi nals have zeroed in on this trend and are redoubling their efforts to separate shoppers from their hard-earned cash. Whether you’re shopping online by computer, smart phone or tablet, here are some common cyber scams to watch out for and security precautions to take: Tips for buying gift cards: Only buy from secure websites of trusted retailers (look for an ”s” in the ’’https://” web address and a lock symbol). At walk-in stores, only purchase cards from employ ees who have them locked up. Avoid cards at unattended display racks, since thieves can scan the card’s unique se rial number; then, after you’ve loaded it with cash, drain its value with online purchases before the recipient has a chance to use it. Never purchase deeply discounted cards or event tickets from online marketplaces like eBay or Craigslist - chances are good that the cards are counterfeit or were stolen. Most retailers offer holiday sales as a way to boost their year-end bottom line. If you’ve ’’liked” a product or store on Facebook or Twitter, or have signed up to receive their emails, you may well get genuine offers for steep discounts or last-minute sales. But beware of bogus offers from sites that mimic those of legitimate retailers. They could be: Trying to harvest your credit card number and oth er personal information to make illegitimate charges to your account or open new accounts in your name. Attempting to sell you counterfeit or stolen goods. Trying to gain access to your social media profile to log into oth er accounts tied to it, or to post illegit imate offers purportedly endorsed by you to lure in your friends. A n o t h - er common scam is to send an email claiming a courier is trying to deliver a package or there’s a problem with your order. You’ll be told to click on a link to get details and will likely be asked to reveal account or other personal information to verify. Unless you previ ously provided them your email address, this is probably bogus. A few additional holiday-related security tips: When shopping online, avoid pop-up ads touting in credible deals. If you think it might be real, log into the retailer’s website yourself to see whether the deal is post ed. Hackers create realistic-looking web addresses that, when clicked, take you to a bogus site that can infect your device with malware or install a Trojan Horse program to steal your personal information. To be safe, let your cursor hover over web addresses you didn’t type in your self and look for misspelled or weird-looking sequences of characters. Before completing an online order, visit the site’s ’’Con tact Us” and ’’Terms and Conditions” pages for their phone number, mailing address, return policies, etc. Phony sites often either don’t have such pages or they’re filled with easy-to-spot errors. Don’t let the prospect of getting a great deal on Black Friday allow you to drop your guard against scammers who would love to fill your stocking with coal. JASON ALDERMAN directs Visa's financial education programs. To Follow Jason Alderman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PracticalMo- ney Another common scam is to send an email claiming a courier is trying to deliver a package or there’s a problem with your order. WIND CHILL CHART WIND VELOCITY tUPHl 5 tO 15 is JO 35 40 « SO nj 30 UJ -IO 15 20 25 31.' 33 21 16 12 7 3 3 1 1 O 2? 16 11 3 O -2 -4 -4 -6 -7 21 e> 1 -4 -7 -11 -13 -15 -17 -17 16 2 -6 -9 -15 -16 -20 -22 -24 -24 12 -2 -11 -22 -26 -27 -29 -31 -31 7 -9 -16 -24 -29 -33 -33 -36 ■36 -36 1 -tt -25 -37 -41 -43 -43 -46 -47 -6 -22 -33 -40 -43 -49 -52 54 -34 56 -11 -27 -40 -46 -52 -36 -60 -62 -63 -63 -15 -31 -45 -52 -56 -63 -57 -60 -70 -TO -20 30 -51 -60 67 -70 -72 -76 -76 -79 26 1 U* -60 -73 -73 -63 -67 -67 -66 -31 -32 -76 -S3 -67 -90 -94 -94 -96 -35 -36 -70 -61 -69 -94 -96 -*51 -KJ1 -103 "3 mm m mm mm. mm Ready or not here comes Christmas In disbelief, I stare at the calendar. Just where has this year gone I do not know. Does not seem it should be De cember and Christmas only three weeks away. I am not ready. I do not do the black Friday shopping thing. Once upon a time, I did, but got too aggravated at watching people fight over insignificant things that I quit going. Used to be a fun, family thing we did which we enjoyed but have not done it in years. Honestly, I don’t miss it one bit. However, I must say the few times I have been to the grocery store and here and there, people have seemed a lot nicer and more polite than in years past and for this I am thankful. I did have to go to the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving and while it was a mad-house, people were still very polite. Perhaps the kindness move ment is beginning to pay off. I did hear a few horror stories from shopping trips but not as many and overall everyone I talked with about it said it was not that bad. I am glad, but even happier it was not me out shopping. I do not have a clue where I am on my Christmas shopping. I buy throughout the year and put it in a clos et and I have yet to sort it all out. The closet is overflowing though and I have to get busy wrapping pretty soon or no one will be able to open the closet door without something falling on them. We have actually told everyone we are cutting back this year and we are staying with that idea. Nowadays kids get way too much throughout the year and then way too much at Christmas and it is not possible to truly appreci ate all that you have when there is an overabundance. When I was growing up, Christmas was really special. We were not getting things brought for us throughout the years and usually only got a couple of presents on our birthday so the pres ents at Christmas were really special to us. And we really appreciated them. Many times it was things we needed but there was always a toy or a surprise too. We didn’t ask for a whole lot either, we knew better. As times change so do the gadgets that kids ask for and I am glad that I do not have kids at home. Mine would not like me very much because I think it ridiculous to buy ipads, tablets, etc. or cell phone for kids under age 12. We are asking our children to grow up way too fast and they hardly appreciate any thing anymore. They also don’t know how to entertain themselves or to enjoy the simpler things in life. I am not being judgemental, if that’s what you want to buy your kids, more power to you, it’s just a personal thing with me. I grew up playing outdoors and was not glued to the TV. I could carry on a conversation and I knew how to be quiet when told. It’s quite a different world in that respect these days. Going to grandma’s house was a treat and that’s where I learned about gardening, gath ering eggs and how to cook. There was always something to do outdoors — pick or plant flowers, play in the dirt, run with the animals, etc. Granny even had us sweep her yard with a broom made of straw from the field. The word ’’bored” was not part of our vocabulary and had it been uttered, we would have paid a price and learned never to say it again. We have many conveniences today that they did not have back then and each has its place and I am grateful for most of them. But we need to appre ciate the simpler things in life as well. So, it is my desire to not stress during Christmas over anything. What we get done in decorating will be enough. With David recuperating from surgery this month, we will not be decorating as much either. I love the decorations and seeing the trees and lights. But it can be a lot of work as well which is only enjoyed for a short while. So, I ask myself every year is it really worth it and what’s really important. Cutting back is not a bad thing and can reduce our stress. We all need to remember the reason for Christmas and why we celebrate it, not that we have to buy so and so a gift and get stressed about it. Christmas should be a time of reflection and spending time with our loved ones, not so much hustle and bustle that we do not enjoy it. David always suggests we go camping somewhere during Christmas and just send the presents before we leave. The older I get the more I consider taking him up on his suggestion. But then we would miss the family time. Wishing you a blessed week. Think about simplifying your holidays. VICTORIA SIMMONS is publisher of The Georgia Post. Contact her at vsimmons54@ gmail.com DAY AT A TIME Victoria Simmons Cutting back is not a bad thing and can reduce our stress. w factor A local question column Question: Who decides on the equipment pur chased for city, county and BOE employees? It appears we cannot pay them higher salaries but isn’t it possible to supply them with equipment to make their jobs easier? Question: What is the total number of em ployees of the Crawford County School System which actually live in Crawford County? Come on, can Mr. Douglas please answer this for our readers? Question: Who can name all football coaches in the history of Crawford County? Question: Who could or would introduce an ordinance for the county and/or the county to re quire yard markers in the yard by the road. There are several long drive ways that are not marked and this delays emergen cy services getting to you. Question: When and why is the middle school being annexed into the city? Questions are submitted by readers to get answers from powers that be. THURSDAY DECEMBER 5, 2013 Calories and cold temperatures Feeling the blast of cold air over the past week, most of us have probably at one point done some thing to get warmer or to stay warm. The neat thing about cold weather and our body, “is its own way of heating itself.” Cold can crank up something called cold thermogenesis and it can actually help us burn fat through heat gener ation! We have a pea sized thing in our brain, called the hypothalamus and it| is our body’s thermostat, regulating many other things but a big part of this is regulating our body’s tempera ture and a lot of our body’s required fj YOUR HEALTH daily calories are for the purpose of temperature control. Calories are units of heat and are to temperature control in the body as fuel is to a fire. And stored body fat is to this process like stored logs are “to heat a house during times of gas or electric shortage through the regular power grid or energy source.” Fat storage: when we have a shortage of fuel in our stomach and digestive tract, our body will go to our storage units (fat cells) to release calories/units of heat. Shivering: is a way that our body generates heat as well, through this process will generate heat back into our body and works pretty much opposite of our body’s cooling system where it pushes excess heat out of our body. A lot of the reason many of us experience appe tite increases - . Calories are units of heat and are to tempera ture control in the body as fuel is to afire. during the win ter is because of our body having to build a bigger fire to heat itself. We can use these times to force our body to pull calories (units of heat) from our storage areas (fatty de posits) by dropping our calorie intake for 1-2 days. What our body doesn’t get through our digestive tract it will simply pull from our fatty deposit areas, “whether liver or more visible areas.” Example: if your daily calorie requirement is 2300 calories and you only get 1000 calories through that day’s food intake, “your body will go to your storage areas and release calories from the fat cells,” and in this example would need to release approximately 1300. There are approximately 3500 calories in a pound of fat. I personally believe our winter diet should consist of foods higher in fat and protein and much lower in starches and sugars. It makes sense to me because like throwing fuel on a log fire may cause a spike in heat, “it will be short term” and will not be conducive to creating a good steady long last ing heat source. Also it’s a lot easier when you’re already using a certain type of heat source to stay with this same fuel as the primary source. Example: it would be like having your regular supply of wood beside the fireplace, but if you run low “you can simply carry some in from your porch or other storage area attached to your house.” :) If we use our excess energy properly during the winter, when spring and summer comes around we won’t have to worry about so much excess fat and just like extra logs left unused for too long “can become pitted and old” our fat can also start looking aged in the form of cellulite! WADE YODER is a Master Trainer & Fitness/Nutrition Spe- cialist.Contact him at Vclub@comsouth.net Something on your mind? Write A LETTER TO THE -n nCfje (georgta (Post is published every week by Crawford Publishing, LLC. Floyd Buford - President Victoria ’’Vicky” Simmons - GM/Publisher vsimmons54@gmail.com or byronbuzz@pstel.net Renee Goggins - Layout/Graphic Design Robbie Robertson - Distribution Carey Lee - Sports Photography Denisia Stallings, Student Assistant Tami Walberg, Reporter Contributing Columnists: Trenesia Y. Stubbs, Charles Cook, Nancy Gibbs, Billy Powell, Angie Carr, Wade Yoder, Dan Gatlyn, Rev. James Snyder, Spencer Price POLICIES Deadlines are Noon on Friday prior to issue. The comments featured on the opinion pages are the sole creations of the writers, they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Post management. Letters to the editor must be signed and include a telephone number. We do edit grammar, spelling and punctuation when necessary. Libelous, slanderous or profane letters will not be published. We only accept three letters from the same person on the same subject and letters should be less than 250 words. 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