Dry Drowning - A fact every mother should know
Dry Drowning - I never heard about the term until tonight when a friend forwarded a link to me. Reading the article from MSNBC gave me goosebumps. I have a three year old daughter and a one year old son who absolutely love water, they would play with water during their baths and it is always a fight to get them off the pool even when their skin is wrinkled from being in the water too long. Just thinking about the possibility of them Dry Drowning is enough to send me on edge and keep them off water forever, but I know I couldn’t do that, so just knowing about what Dry Drowning is and its symptoms would do.
So, what exactly is Dry Drowning and why did it make me write this post? For starters, the article I mentioned is about a 10 year old boy who died more than an hour after he had gone swimming because of this little-known phenomenon. The symptoms are very hard to distinguish, but just knowing about them will make a difference. I would never forgive myself if a child of someone I know dies (God forbid!) from Dry Drowning because I never told them what I know, the least I could do is spread the word out and hope that the awareness will be enough to make everyone cautious about this phenomenon.
According to the article: “The three important signs of Dry Drowning are difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness and changes in behavior. All are the result of reduced oxygen flow to the brain.”
Borrowing from Wikipedia:
Dry drowning is when a person’s lungs become unable to extract oxygen from the air, due primarily to:
* Muscular paralysis
* Puncture wound to the torso (affecting ability of diaphragm to create respiratory movement)
* Changes to the oxygen-absorbing tissues
* Persistence of laryngospasm when immersed in fluid
* Breathing for too long any gas other than oxygen that does not kill the patient on its own. (e.g. Helium)
The person may effectively drown without any sort of fluid. In cases of dry drowning in which the victim was immersed, very little fluid is aspirated into the lungs. The laryngospasm reflex essentially causes asphyxiation and neurogenic pulmonary edema (oedema).
Dry drowning can occur clinically, or due to illness or accident, or be deliberately (and repeatedly) induced in torture (waterboarding). It can be traumatizing, and it can be deadly.
In children, this can happen during a bath. SCARY - A very scary possibility.
How to Determine a Dry Drowning
(an article from eHow)
Medical examiners determine that about 15 percent of drowning victims have experienced dry drowning. Whether it is a wet or dry drowning, death occurs due to lack of oxygen or cardiac arrest from a low body temperature. There are certain things that happen during dry drowning, which may be evident upon examination.
Instructions
Step1
Determine whether the victim entered a body of water forcefully from a high diving board or slid down a long steep slide. These two activities have been associated with dry drowning. The victim involuntarily suffocates by holding his breath or experiencing a muscle spasm of the larynx.
Step2
Decide if it’s possible the victim’s epiglottis was hit forcefully with droplets of water. This causes the flap to spasm and close over the windpipe. Once it is closed, water and air are unable to enter the lungs.
Step3
Notice whether someone is choking or gagging while they are in or around water. It may be an indication that water has hit the epiglottis and caused spasms. This can happen in the water or after leaving the water and usually occurs 6 to 10 minutes after the water hits the epiglottis.
Step4
Examine a dry drowning victim, and it may reveal water in the stomach but not in the lungs. Water in the lungs indicates the victim was alive before submersion, but the absence of water indicates dry drowning or death before drowning.
If you notice any of these signs or anything peculiar after your child came in contact with water (yes, even bath water), don’t dally, bring your child to the emergency room immediately. It never hurt to be too cautious when it comes to your children’s welfare. Better to be told that you’re wrong by a doctor than finding that your child will never wake up again.
Content Dethroned
There’s been a buzz in the online world about the dethroning of Content. As much as I do not want to believe it, the evidences are there. If truth be told, I have been postponing this post for a long while thinking that by doing so would make me believe that content is still the be all and all of the online world. Content was king but like all kings, they must eventually bow down to their predecessors. Content reigned for a long while and it is now time to give in to the new king - Community.
Together with the influx of social networking sites and its users it is but a short time before we, in the SEO community, bow down to the new king. Yes, content is still important but it is no longer as important as we once thought, content does not give you everything you want to achieve, SEO wise. The new king - Community - has the sole role of saying who’s hot and who’s not. It does not matter if you have slaved for a week, for a month, to write that killer campaign, that killer content, if you do not appeal to the Community, if you do not give them the experience that they are looking for, then all your endeavors are all for naught.
Here are some guidelines that will help you in the new King’s reign:
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- Do not underestimate nor overestimate your users. They know what they want and they want to get what they want. You do not want an Idiot’s Guide nor a Geek’s Guide content, what you need is content that is easy to understand, all you have to do is provide just the right amount of information to first time and returning users and you’re all set.
- Love your users. A website that is very technical in nature is very daunting to a newbie, who would want to go into an impersonal website with little or no direction? I know I wouldn’t unless I really have to, but then again, once I’ve done what I need to do I will quickly close that website and forget about it. Providing your users a great user experience will make them stay and will keep them going back for more.
- Provide easy access to information, how-to’s and guides. Users are generally hungry for information and if you can provide those information in easy to swallow, bite-size pieces, then you can expect more users to come knocking. The community has its way of disseminating information and creating a buzz for a particular website that they like.
- Build your own community. Create a space for your users to interact with each other, share thoughts and air out grievances. Take Ebay for example, they did not build their content around their products, instead, they built a community around the product interest - just look how successful they have become.
- Be There. Be there to answer any question or complaints. Make your users feel special and well taken care of by providing a customer support that really supports and does not just leave users hanging clueless.
Community is now king and Content has to step down. Although content has been dethroned, it will never lose its importance. But we must all bow down and pay homage to the new king.
Blackjack Live Launched
Blackjack for those who are clueless is a card game where players bet against the dealer and not with each other. I have been playing blackjack , or 21 ,as it is more popularly known where I came from, since I can remember. Everytime there is an occasion where family members and long lost relatives gather we always burn the midnight oil playing blackjack until we lose all our hard earned allowances. I was never a dealer, through experience playing with my cousins, the dealer almost always loses the biggest money, and I don’t want to experience that.
I play blackjack online as a past time, never for money, I’m not much of a gambler anyway. But I can imagine people getting addicted to this game and if you want to keep it low, the best thing to do is play in online blackjack rooms with table limits of $15 or $25 . You can play blackjack online anytime of the day with players all over the world against the dealer and win real money! All you have to do a backgammon download and you’re off. The best blackjack software to download is that of BackgammonMasters, not only is their software available in 12 languages, they also have a live customer support feature, making it easier for those who are clueless to quickly find their way.
With the popularity of online blackjack it is only apt that a customer support is set up for those who are clueless about the game or for those who are experiencing technical issues. Having these issues in mind, BackgammonMasters recently launched Blackjack Live, their live customer support feature. With just a click of a button in the game lobby you can either connect directly to an operator or opt to answer a series of short questions to pinpoint their exact problem and direct them to the operator that can help them with their issues. It is currently available in English, but once this feature is fully tested, they have plans of expanding the language functionalities of the live support feature. Their press release got my attention, because it shows that this is one company who takes care of its clients and only have the client’s best interest in mind.
“Backgammon Masters Launches Live Customer Support”
Press Release:
BackgammonMasters Company’s recent explosion of traffic to their All-in-One Game Lobby has prompted the launch of their Live Customer Support Feature. This new addition to their software allows players logged into the platform to instantly contact customer support and receive immediate help on any number of issues.
The influx of traffic is due to the fact that the software is available in 12 languages as well as the recent launch of real money 21 BlackJack in the game lobby alongside the real money Poker, Perudo and ever-popular backgammon games and tournaments.
BackgammonMasters Live Support Feature lets customers click the Live Support button in the game lobby and either connect immediately to an operator or they may choose to first answer a series of short questions which will pinpoint their problem and direct them to a relevant operator.
The Live Support Feature is currently available only in English, but after this feature is launched and fully tested, BackgammonMasters plans to add live support to the other software language platforms as well. A BackgammonMasters spokesperson stated that the Company believes their relationship with the customer is vital to the success of the company and that opening these additional lines of communication will be a positive move enabling the company to enlarge their loyal customer base and increase their points of contact with members.
http://www.BackgammonMasters.com Live Support System currently support all four games including real money 21 blackjack games. More about 21 blackjack - http://www.backgammonmasters.com/blackjack.html and blackjack game rules can be found at: http://www.backgammonmasters.com/blackjack-articles.html
Release by http://www.gammonish.com source for backgammon news and information.
For further information about 21 Blackjack see:
http://www.gammonish.com/blackjack.html
