Author: Bradley Jones

The Fear of Zika

Bradley Jones

mosquitoThe Zika virus has many people concerned about epidemic outbreaks across the world. Recently, a person I know posted that they were concerned with the number of reported cases of Zika in Chicago. Being in the Midwest, it seemed to her that the spread of the disease happening, and that we should be frightened for our lives. Even at a recent school board meeting, the topic of the Zika virus came up as something that schools needed to address. The fear of Zika is growing, but is it justified?

My school district is being asked to have a plan regarding protection for the Zika virus. As a result, information was presented to the school board on the Zika virus showing that the fear has been blown out of proportion to the risk. This is not to discount that there can be severe issues with Zika; there can be. The fear around this, however, needs to be put into perspective.

First, the Zika virus is spread primarily through mosquitoes, and primarily by the Aedes species of mosquitoes. It cannot be transmitted from person to person with normal contact, so if someone in Chicago has the virus, others in Chicago don’t need to ostracize that person. Being that the Aedes mosquitoes are primarily found in the tropics and very southern parts of the United States, those of us in the Midwest have very little to fear. In fact, while there have been people who have traveled outside of the United States that have contracted the virus, until recently there have not been any reports of anyone getting Zika while in the United States. Recently, a case in Miami (the hotter, lower areas of the US) was reported.

If you were to get bitten by an Aedes mosquito and get the Zika virus, there is about an 80% chance you wouldn’t even know it. Of those that do get the virus, 80% show no symptoms. Even those that do show symptoms generally don’t get sick enough to go to the hospital. The general symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain, and red eye. Some people also get muscle pains or headaches. While the symptoms can last for a few days up to a week, the virus itself last about a week for most people, although it can remain longer.

The Zika virus is real. For those of us in the Midwest, the risk of infection is near zero unless you travel out of the country or to the very southern regions. With such a near zero risk, what should be feared more than the Zika is that there are people who will sensationalize a topic to levels of causing excessive fear as well push schools create plans for protective measures on something that is unlikely to ever happen.

The state of Indiana has even allocated $3.6 million in funding to protect Hoosiers from the Zika virus over the next five years. It is amazing how much money fear can drive.

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Note:
While the Zika virus is currently low risk, the West Niles virus is one that does happen in the Midwest. This post is based on publicly available information, as I’m definitely not a mosquito expert!

 

Update (8/22):

Mosquito-borne Zika cases have been found in two neighborhoods of Miami-Dade County. These are the first areas in the US, although other very southern states have potential exposure.

Cats That Eat Elephants: SEO Ranking Promises

Bradley Jones

Yes, I just titled my blog post, “Cats That Eat Elephants.” What is scarier is that you are actually reading this post. That begs the question of “why?”

Not why are you reading this post, but why did I write a post with a title that seems to be talking about elephants that get eaten by cats. After all, this doesn’t seem like a technical topic, it isn’t political (that I know of), and it really just doesn’t fit with my other topics.

The answer is SEO.

SEO is Search Engine Optimization, which is a big topic for those involved with web development or putting content on sites. People who have built websites want them to be found in Google and the other search engines. The process of adjusting your site and its content to get better ranking in the search engines is called SEO. There are many companies that charge a lot of money to help you improve your site’s SEO rankings.

The goal is generally to have your content listed by the search engines in the top spot on the first page for a topic related to your site. If you can’t get to the top spot, then you want to be on the first page. Most people aren’t going to look past the first page of results when they search. One way to get to a top spot is to pay the search engines for placement. The other is to try to make sure your site follows as many SEO “rules” as they can.

SEO rules are not really rules, but rather guesses that people have made regarding what they believe the search engines are doing to determine what sites and content ranks above other content. In some cases the search engines will increase your ranking if you do certain things, and in other cases they might penalize you. For example, lots of ads on a page is bad, where as good content that really explains a topic is good.

The “rules” can change at any time, and often do. Search engines, such as Google, have algorithms that do the ranking. These algorithms are updated regularly to try to help the better content rise to the top. As such, some things you do today might not be good tomorrow.

Why do I mention cats that eat elephants?

I oversee a number of technical web sites including WebDeveloper.com. SEO questions are constantly being asked on the site. This includes questions around hiring SEO experts. My general response is that there are tools and sites that will provide you with the same information that an SEO expert can provide you. In general, most SEO information is available online or via web applications if you look or ask.

I get ads from SEO experts that promise first page ranking. If you hire them, they guarantee they will get you on the first page of search results. This alone sounds like a fantastic reason to hire an SEO company. Can they get you on the first page of search results?

As I mentioned, there are no guarantees for first page, but it can easy be done. For example, my intent is to get this blog post on the first page of search results. Hopefully I succeed, or what I’m writing now about elephants that cats eat will be just silly. Am I going to rank on the first page about hiring SEO experts (something that would be valuable)?  That is very unlikely. However, I bet I end up on the first page of results for searches about “cats that eat elephants”.

SEO Ranking Can Be Meaningless

SEO ranking can be meaningless if the search team is one that people don’t actually use. Obviously, my ranking on cats that eat elephants will be of no value. Similarly, phrases that a SEO company gets you ranked on will be worthless if people aren’t actually searching for them. As mentioned before, there are tools that will tell you if people are searching on a term – free tools. I can use these tools to learn that there are a lot of searches on “elephants”, there are a lot of searches on “cats”. If my intent is to rank on those two terms, then it is going to take more than my little blog to make it happen. It would be unrealistic (I won’t say impossible) to rank on those two individual words. An SEO company would be unlikely to agree to help me rank on the first page for those two words. They would, however, be able to suggest a phrase like “cats that eat elephants.” They could even help me get a first page, if not top ranking for the phrase.

Being Fair to SEO Experts

To be fair to SEO experts, they might still be worth hiring. While information is available online, an SEO expert with (real) experience can help you understand what is likely to truly impact your ranking. They can also help you find the right tools to tweak and hone your content and site for the best chance at ranking on real keywords. They can help you determine the chances of ranking as well. If they are aware of search algorithm changes, then they can also caution you on things to avoid. Like with any activity, an expert with real experience can provide guidance that justifies the cost. Of course, if you hire an SEO expert, make sure they aren’t simply packaging up reports form software packages and selling you the ‘prettified’ results.

In Conclusion

In short, be careful what people try to sell you. If promises are made, make sure you understand how they are going to be accomplished. If a coach promises that he’ll train you to be a runner that an have top 10 finishes, then make sure you are going to be in races with more than 10 people. Similarly, if an SEO expert promises you rankings, make sure those rankings are relevant and will actually drive traffic.

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Using Cool Tech to Teach in a Fun Way…

Bradley Jones

I just saw this video from Sphero and was impressed to see that the featured teacher is Brad Lowell from Hamilton Southeastern’s Fall Creak Intermediate school. It is impressive to see how Mr. Lowell has taken what was initially a shared interest with students and turned it not only into a club, but evolved it into classroom learning.

Rather than write numerous paragraphs on what Mr. Lowell is doing and the results, let me simply post a video here where he explains it himself. The video starts with one of the best quotes as to what makes a great teacher, “The trick is that your really disguising the learning in the fun. There is so much learning that they’re getting, that they don’t even realize. The math the science…” Rather than quoting the whole vidoe, here it is:

I actually own a Sphero myself. While it is a simplistic device in what it can do, it is a great device to entertain and challenge a person into working through basic concepts around programming and such. It is also a great way to get into robotics.

If you are unfamiliar, a Sphero is a plastic computerized ball that can be controlled remotely. You can control the direction of its movement including its speed as well as control the color of the light that is shining within it. Using Bluetooth, it can be controlled by a phone or tablet such as an iPad.

As you can see in the video, the HSE class is using iPads to do their controlling of the devices. As a note, all fifth graders in the Hamilton Southeastern schools have to have an iPad. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about Spheros. You can, however, find Spheros at places like Brookstone or on Amazon. There was also a special Star Wars BB-8 version of Sphero available.

As Mr. Lowell says, it is also a way to apply some of the core topics students are learning such as math.I’ll be curious to see how Hamilton Southeastern schools applies what Mr. Lowell has done to the other intermediate schools in their district. With my kids being in one of those other schools, I hope the information is shared and replicated!

 

Let’s Help our Neighbors in Hamilton County Today

Bradley Jones

There are times when people simply need a little bit of help. It is common knowledge that you should save enough money to cover at least two months of expenses in case of an emergency. Unfortunately, even in more affluent areas like Hamilton County here in central Indiana, there are a lot of people who are barely surviving from paycheck-to-paycheck. Many of these people don’t have the luxury of saving two months. Rather, they are doing everything they can to simply pay the rent and buy what groceries they can to make it through the current week. When something unexpected happens to these folks, reality becomes very hard. In many cases, it means not paying bills or not eating.

This is happening even here in Hamilton County. Noblesville, Carmel, Fishers, and the other towns are not immune to people who are wondering how they are going to keep a roof over their head or buy food for their kids. Fortunately, the percentage of people that run into this situation are a lot lower than other parts of Indiana and other parts of the country. Even so, a tiny poverty rate still can mean hundreds or thousands of people. As such, some of our neighbors are in the position of not knowing how they are going to make ends meet. For Fishers, a low, low poverty rate of 1.8% still equates to over 1500 people considered “in poverty”. Even beyond that, we have people who have lost jobs, or had unforeseen circumstances that have impacted their financial stability.

There are a number of organizations in Hamilton County that help provide various services. We have 40 food banks/pantries and other organizations that do what they can. One of the organizations that I hope you are familiar with is Good Samaritan Network (GSN). This is an organization that has worked to connect the various charitable organizations across Hamilton County to help with a more coordinated effort in helping our neighbors in need. GSN is most known at Christmas when they host an event in Noblesville to provide toys, clothes, and food to families in the county.

While GSN is very visible at Christmas time, they are active from their office in Fishers year round. They provide services and items to families in need. One of the programs they offer is financial assistance to those families that do hit a crisis where they are in desperate need. This “client assistance” program uses funds that donated by organizations as well as by the community – people like you and me – to help people who are under-served by some of the other organizations within Hamilton County.

You can check out a couple of stories on the GSN site regarding stories of people they have helped. This includes helping a family with unexpected medical bills, but also helping a young man struggling to be able to make it to his two jobs so he could keep his life on track. In the case of this young man, they were able to connect him with an elderly person who also needed help.

GSN tries to keep a store of funds in place to help in these situations where one of our neighbors could benefit by a quick kick in help. GSN refers to this help as a ‘hand up’ in that these people just need a little help to stay on track or get back on track.

My Call to Action for You!

In that regard, Good Samaritan Network is doing a fundraising drive right now. They are trying to raise $20,000 by the end of May. Their goal is $650 a day for each of the remaining days of the month. In these last few weeks of political campaigns, it is worth stating that this is not money that will help get a politician re-elected in Washington or to stop the drought in California. Rather, this is money that will be used to help our neighbors – the people right here in our community. These are neighbors you and I might never see. Or these might actually be people we see but are totally unaware of their need. Either way, these are our neighbors. These are neighbors that GSN can help. These are neighbors we can help through GSN.

For those of you reading this in Hamilton County, including my friends here in Fishers and Carmel, I ask that for the rest of this month, you simply collect your change. Drop it in a bowl. At the end of the month either drop it off at the GSN office or make a donation for the amount on their website. That’s a nearly-no effort act you can do to help our neighbors. For those of you that can, I ask that you consider doing a little more. Every little bit adds up. Every little bit can help.

If you want to donate right now, you can find a link on the GSN site. You can also mail or drop off donations.

Link to GSN page on this fundraiser:  http://www.gsnlive.org/#!fundraising/c19t8
Link to GSN site: http://www.gsnlive.org/

For those of you outside of Hamilton County, please consider the organizations around you that are helping your own neighbors. Let’s help our neighbors.

As a note – GSN does not know I’m writing or posting this. This post is from me, your neighbor, asking you to join in helping our other neighbors.

Drug Testing for Government Handouts – Let’s Do it Right

Bradley Jones

There are those that believe that in order to receive welfare payments, you have to pass a drug test. There are those that believe this should apply to food stamps and other government entitlements as well. What do you think of this concept?

States like Maine, Michigan, and Missouri have pushed hard for drug testing people in order to receive welfare, food stamps, or even unemployment. Other states like Kentucky, Montana and Texas have tried to push forward testing as well.

These testing programs have actually been done. It has been stated that the number of people who have been found to fail drug testing related to these entitlement programs is minimal. In fact, they state that the cost and burden to do this testing exceed the results. Regardless of the failure of testing to justify their cost to implement, people continue to push for these testing programs.

My initial inclination was that testing for these government entitlement programs was not justified based on their costs and on the prejudicial statement the make toward those in need of government services. The issue of testing gets even more complicated as some states begin to legalize the use of drugs like marijuana.

Regardless, the idea of testing still remains a discussion point. The biggest argument seen for testing is that if a person has money to buy drugs, then they have enough to buy food or cover living expenses. Of course, a thrifty person could grow their own marijuana at no cost.

Recently, I’ve changed my stance on drug testing.

Originally, I considered the testing a waste of tax payer money based on the number of people found. Now I’ve decided that the idea of testing people in order to receive government subsidies is something we should consider and talk about a lot more. If we are going to do this, however, then let’s go all-in. Let’s make sure we test everyone getting a handout from the government. Rather than start with the people getting small amounts from the government (such as those getting welfare and food stamps), let start with those getting the big handouts.

Let’s start by going back and testing all of the CEOs and corporate officers that received bailout money. Let’s make sure they get tested, and let’s make sure everyone knows they are being tested. Let’s treat them the same as the person getting food stamps. Consider the auto bail outs and the more recent bank bail outs. Let’s start with the CEOs and CFOs of those companies. If they fail, then they need to give back the billions. After that, let’s look at all the businesses getting tax breaks or tax kick-backs for locating in specific towns. This includes big box stores, restaurant chains, and businesses of all sorts. In exchange for those tax breaks (which is effectively getting to keep money that should be going to the government), let’s again test all the owners of those companies.

The question comes down to, why only target welfare and food stamp recipients? If we are going to do this, then let’s be fair and apply the testing to the people getting the big dollars from the government. Let’s not stop there. Congress, the President, and all the other politicians are receiving money from the government. Let’s put them at the front of the line. Based on what a lot of these folks are doing, they must be on drugs. Let’s get them to the front of the line just ahead of the bankers.

It makes you wonder, which group will have more people fail the tests. Those getting food stamps so they can eat or those in politics and running big businesses that tend to not worry about their next meal. I bet the results might surprise us.