Professional Journey – New feature from Slideshare. Let's take it for a spin. #contentmarketing #stl #digitalmarketi…https://t.co/4Ch1zidUkH
— Donald Meissner (@DonaldMeissner) December 17, 2014
All posts by Donald Meissner
NASA’s Swift Mission Observes Mega Flares from a Mini Star
On April 23, NASA’s Swift satellite detected the strongest, hottest, and longest-lasting sequence of stellar flares ever seen from a nearby red dwarf star. The initial blast from this record-setting series of explosions was as much as 10,000 times more powerful than the largest solar flare ever recorded. Read more: 1.usa.gov/1poKiJ5
Harvest Moon
Two Remarkable Things About Home Depot’s Security Breach
#HomeDepot wrote the world a very sweet letter, announcing:
1) One year of free credit monitoring for anyone who used a card at the store in the last year.
2) They know you might think the apology email itself is a fraud: “Should you have questions regarding the authenticity of this email…”
So it just goes to show: even if you are one of the largest retailers in the country, offering a major apology to the entire world, and your email comes directly from your customer service department: people look askance at your email and think you may be a scoundrel.
Gotta go now, need to get that free credit monitoring up and running.
Dear Valued Customer,
As you may have heard, on September 8, 2014, we confirmed that our payment data systems have been breached, which could potentially impact customers using payment cards at our U.S. and Canadian stores. On September 18, 2014, we confirmed that the malware used in the breach has been eliminated from our U.S. and Canadian stores and that we have completed a major payment security project that provides enhanced encryption of payment data at point of sale throughout our U.S. stores, offering significant new protection for customers. There is no evidence that debit PIN numbers were compromised or that checks were impacted. Additionally, there is no evidence that the breach has impacted stores in Mexico or customers who shopped online at HomeDepot.com.
We are offering customers who used a payment card at a Home Depot store in 2014, from April on, 12 months of free identity protection services, including credit monitoring, beginning on September 19, 2014. We apologize for the frustration and anxiety this may cause you and we thank you for your patience during this time.
For more information, please visit our website where you’ll find frequently asked questions, helpful tips, our Important Customer Notice, and information about how to take advantage of the free identity protection services, including credit monitoring. Should you have questions regarding the authenticity of this email or any additional questions over the coming days and weeks, please call 1-800-HOMEDEPOT.
We hope this information is useful and we appreciate your continued support.
The Home Depot
The Veteran’s Administration denied lifesaving treatment since 2006
Excerpt from my June 2006 column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Post refused to print this column, and fired me for publishing on my blog. They said it was too political.
No record of [Jim Talent’s] legislative accomplishments or reasoned positions on central issues compares to the story of Fields Lloyd Black.
A Marine who served in the Gulf War Special Forces 1st Recon, Fields came home with a debilitating lung condition caused by inhalation of oil well smoke. He suffered for years, was treated by the Veterans Administration, and ultimately told he had two months to live. His treatment discontinued by the VA Hospital, Fields was admitted to Barnes-Jewish, where an MRI and CAT scan indicated that an operation could save his life. It was the duty of the VA to perform the surgery. Armed with the new diagnosis and treatment plan, Fields went back to the VA. Unbelievably, from the vast frigid bureaucracy, his request for treatment was denied. He was told he had two weeks to live.
A lifelong Democrat, Fields grew up in University City, and has deep roots in the community; his family and friends called “every bigwig in town” to save his life. They got nowhere until they described his predicament to Senator Talent, who called the VA Hospital. Fields has no idea what transpired during that telephone conversation. The next time Fields’ phone rang it was the VA telling him to get to the hospital immediately to prep for surgery. Today Fields is healthy, getting back in shape, and eternally grateful to Senator Talent. He never met the Senator, never even had the opportunity to personally thank him. Fields is still a Democrat, but will absolutely support Talent—he saved his life, and asked for nothing in return.
Postcript 2014: Fields is healthy today; he and his wife are expecting a baby.
So cool, a 14 year old fixed Windows 7 – Plugged In – Not Charging
Very impressed that a kid knocked this one out of the park.
Thank you Library of Congress. (Another government program I support.)
- Title: Costumes and characters, etc. Group of old Jews / American Colony, Jerusalem.
- Creator(s): American Colony (Jerusalem). Photo Department, photographer
- Date Created/Published: [between 1898 and 1934]
- Medium: 1 photographic print : albumen.
- Summary: Three elderly men holding books.
- Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-84235 (b&w film copy neg.)
- Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
- Call Number: LOT 13756, no. 34 [item] [P&P]
- Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
- Notes:
- On mount: Palestine Jerusalem Learned Jews.
- On mount: LC-M36-556.
- Title from: Catalogue of photographs made by the American Colony … 1914.
- Collection profile with information about the Matson Collection and a bibliography is available online http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/matpchtml/matpcabt.html
- Forms part of: the G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection.
- Albumen print by American Colony Photo Dept., Jerusalem.
- Subjects:
- Format:
- Collections:
- Bookmark This Record:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002712698/
Does human cloning make you at all nervous?
Embed from Getty Images
(Reuters) – Scientists have moved a step closer to the goal of creating stem cells perfectly matched to a patient’s DNA in order to treat diseases, they announced on Thursday, creating patient-specific cell lines out of the skin cells of two adult men.
One key to Mitalipov’s success was letting the engineered eggs rest for 30 minutes before zapping them to start dividing.
Chung and his colleagues waited two hours before triggering the egg to start dividing, which Lanza believes was a key to their success: “It gives you time for the massive amount of genetic reprogramming required” to turn back the calendar on adult DNA so that it can direct the development of an embryo, he said in an interview.
It worked: They generated two healthy embryos, one from each adult donor, aged 35 and 75. [Reuters article link]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/17/us-science-cloning-idUSBREA3G1KD20140417
Best Day of My Life: American Authors
This song will definitely get you some giddyup!
#stl #missouri #stormsareover #bestdayofmylife
Donald Meissner 