I cannot personally say that I use a Blackberry aka Crackberry, but I know plenty of people that can’t live without their cell baby, and apparently Barack Obama is one of them. Advisors are now urging Obama to give up his Blackberry because his ”e-mail can be subpoenaed by Congress and courts and may be subject to public records laws. And there may be security issues about carrying around trackable cell phones.” Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton didn’t e-mail while in office, but I wonder how they accomplished anything without email (obviously you can tell me addiction to email). The article “Obama may have to give up e-messaging” has several people weigh in on how Obama will deal without his Blackberry. Some think it will be torturous, and others think it might be freeing. There is no final decision yet but I can’t imagine living without email.

I have always considered myself self-sufficient and knowledgeable, but when the topic of credit came up years ago, I was very confused. It all came about when I called a lab to check on results and they said I had a bill at collections from two years previous. It wasn’t until then that I realized the importance of learning about credit. The first step was to submit a note of dispute to my credit report detailing that I never received any bills from the lab. I then learned my score and went to various resources to learn more about credit. I talked to the financial aid office, my bank, friends and family. These days, I have a high credit score but I still don’t really know what revolving credit is. I always wondered how you’re supposed to know about credit without being taught it. Credit is so vital but so easy to damage, so I was happy to see a story on CNN titled “Social workers to teach money management.”

There are now several schools teaching social work students about financial management, like:

• The University of Maryland’s School of Social Work recently embraced the concept of “financial social work,” offering workshops and mini-courses for students and people already working in the field. Professor Dick Cook, who runs the school’s outreach service in Baltimore, said a primary goal is to help clients think more broadly about how to build assets.

• In St. Louis, social work professors have organized a “think tank” to brainstorm on how social work schools can better prepare their students to assist clients with financial decisions.

• In Ashville, North Carolina, social worker Reeta Wolfsohn is offering an online certificate course in financial social work that has extended into 20 states. The Social Services Department in North Carolina’s Wilson County last fall hired a “financial coach” who had taken Wolfsohn’s course.”.

“Many social service agencies have launched so-called financial literacy courses. New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services recently started a program for youths aging out of foster care that teaches basic financial skills and enables them to open savings accounts.”

A friend of the family on Hilton Head has started a business that seeks to educate high school students about credit and money-I wish that was around when I was younger!

Activities for the twentieth annual World AIDS Day (WAD) will take place at various locations in Charleston on Monday, December 1. The events will honor those affected by AIDS but also serve as an educational resource for prevention and awareness. All events and activities are free and open to the public.

This year’s events are a collaborative effort of various organizations and groups, including: Lowcountry AIDS Services, Trident Tech, College of Charleston, Medical University of South Carolina, It’s Up to Me—The Citadel, Region 7 Health Department (DHEC) and Roper/Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital.

The following events are planned for World AIDS Day (December 1):

• AIDS quilt panels will be on display from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at Roper Hospital (316 Calhoun Street) and Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital (2095 Henry Tecklenburg Drive, West Ashley). Ann Caldwell and the Magnolia Singers will perform in the Roper lobby at 11 a.m. and in the Bon Secours St. Francis lobby at noon.

• Free HIV Testing by Lowcountry AIDS Services at Palmer Campus of Trident Tech (66 Columbus Street) from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

• AIDS Vigil and March begins at 5:30 p.m. in Marion Square. The group will march to College of Charleston Stern Center Garden via Calhoun Street to St. Phillips Street. Mayor Riley and Mayor Summey will each read a proclamation, and Carolyn Murray will serve as the MC. The College of Charleston gospel choir will also be performing.

• Free HIV Testing by Region 7 Health Department (DHEC) in Marion Square Region from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

For more information, contact Mark Gray at 843.747.2273 or tenebo@aol.com.

Tristan will be serving a special Thanksgiving menu from 11:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. For your tryptophan fix, Chef Deal created a Keegan Filion Farms Turkey dish with Foie Gras Stuffing, Fall Mushroom, Brussels Sprout, Butternut Squash and Turkey Ju. Finish off your meal with a Pumpkin Creme Brulee! Check out the Thanksgiving menu.

Tristan will be serving lunch Christmas Eve from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. and will be closed for dinner. The restaurant will also be closed Christmas Day.

Ring in the New Year with Tristan and enjoy a three-course meal with champagne toast at midnight. Each course features several choices and guests can choose 1 item from each course. Seatings are available at 7, 8, 9 and 10 p.m. A Touch of Class will be playing jazz/funk originals and covers beginning at 8 p.m. View the New Year’s Eve menu.

A new study found that women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do. Why? Possible explanations include: bacteria being absorbed differently in men and women because women’s skin is less acidic, differences in sweat and oil gland production, the frequency of moisturizer or cosmetics applications, skin thickness or hormone production.

Other findings: everybody has more types of bacteria than the researchers expected to find, hands on the same person varied in the amount and types of bacteria (the left and right hands of the same individual shared only about 17 percent of the same bacteria types) and women also may have more bacteria living under the surface of the skin where they are not accessible to washing.

• After testing 102 college students hands, researchers identified 4,742 species of bacteria overall, only five of which were on every hand, and the average hand harbored 150 species of bacteria.
• The differences between dominant and non-dominant hands were probably due to environmental conditions like oil production, salinity, moisture or variable environmental surfaces touched by either hand of an individual.

Researchers remind that most bacteria is harmless or maybe even beneficial, and although regular hand washing is important, it may not eliminate bacteria. GREAT!

Our good friend Tom Jeffery at Hook forwarded an interesting list of statistics about social networking by Obama and McCain. This really highlights how Obama motivated the young adults.

Facebook
Obama: 2,379,102 supporters
McCain: 620,359 supporters

Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain

MySpace
Obama: Friends: 833,161
McCain: Friends: 217,811

Obama has 380% more supporters than McCain

YouTube
Obama: 1792 videos uploaded since Nov 2006, Subscribers: 114,559 (uploads about 4 a day), Channel Views: 18,413,110
McCain: 329 videos uploaded since Feb 2007 (uploads about 2 a day), Subscribers: 28,419, Channel Views: 2,032,993

Obama has 403% more subscribers than McCain
Obama has 905% more viewers than McCain

Twitter
Obama: @barackobama has 112,474 followers
McCain: @JohnMcCain (is it real?) 4,603 followers

Obama has 240 times more followers in Twitter than McCain

I knew that a law passed last year made internet radio stations pay to play songs, but I had no idea that just playing a CD could get you fined. Classic Cookie in Waldo, MO got repeated letters from BMI, an agency that represents music artists. The owner thought it was a scam so she disregarded the notices until someone delivered a notice in person. The store owner assumed if you purchase a CD, then you can play it. As it turns out, you must pay to play CD so the owner paid $300 in licensing fees for the year.

I researched a little further to find out more about licensing and found these FAQ…

According to the BMI website FAQs:

Q: We Use Our Own Tapes, CDs, And iPod. Isn’t This Our Private Property To Play Where And When We Like?

A: Although most people buy tapes, CDs, or digital audio files thinking they are now their property, there is a distinction in the law between owning a copy of the music and owning the songs on the CD, etc. There is also a difference between a private performance of copyrighted music and a public performance. When you buy a tape, CD, or digital audio file, the purchase price covers only your private listening use, similar to the “home” use of “home” videos. Once you decide to play these tapes, CDs, or your iPod in your business, it becomes a public performance.

It looks like voters will be getting plenty of perks tomorrow. Here are some freebies I’ve seen around town and the nation

• Charleston’s own Tristan will be serving a complimentary glass of champagne to anyone with an “I Voted” sticker
• Starbucks will be offering a free 12-ounce drip coffee
• Krispy Kreme is giving away a free star-shaped doughnut with patriotic sprinkles on Election Day to those wearing “I Voted” stickers
• Ben & Jerry’s is offering a free scoop of ice cream between 5-8 p.m.
• Shane’s Rib Shack will give you three chicken tenders, fries and a 20 oz. drink with your “I Voted”
• Chick-fil-a will give you a free Chick-fil-a sandwich if you turn in your “I Voted” sticker from 10:30 a.m. until 8 p.m.

I am a self-admitted cat lady but I did a double-take when I saw a headline about a glowing cat.

The Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans performed a genetic experiment where scientist introduced a gene that would then produce a protein that glowed fluorescent green. This glowing clone cat will hopefully help ”combat animal diseases via gene therapy and, later, to increase the possibility of inserting good genes into humans while taking bad genes out.” Scientist needed to test the gene implants, so they decided to try it out on a cat. If the genes made it to the cloned cat successfully, then it would glow and glow Mr. Green Genes did!

“We wanted to know for sure that we could insert this gene into a cell and have it multiply,” Dresser explained. “If nothing glows, we wouldn’t know if the gene was really inserted. So, because it glows, we know we inserted the gene and were successful with that technique.”

Mr. Green Genes under an ultraviolet lamp.

In the future, a gene with a specific disease could be pulled out at the embryo stage of endangered animal species to give the species a better chance at surviving and prospering. In humans, this experiment could help those with diabetes by inserting genes that make diabetics produce their own insulin, then we hope to stop diabetes.