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The Hartford Home Fire Index has identified 100 U.S. cities with the highest fire risk. How do you think your city ranks? The top five cities for fire risk are the following...

Even if you live in an area prone to flooding, there are specific things you can do to lower your flood risk. This post gives homeowners practical tips.

Research suggests that it'snot giving out personal information that puts kid at risk. It's not having a blog or a personal website that does that either. What puts kids in danger is being willing to talk about sex online with\nstrangers or having a pattern of multiple risky activities on the web\nlike going to sex sites and chat rooms, meeting lots of people there,\nkind of behaving in what we call like an internet daredevil."

One of eight interactive case studies for kids (GR 4-8) from Cable In the Classroom: Power to Learn.
It's very popular for young people to meet and connect online at sites like MySpace.com. However, an awareness of the risks and steps for being safe can ensure a positive experience with social networking. Don't give yourself away! This unit explores the concepts of identity, at-risk behaviors and safety online. The graphics are Nickelodeon style. A short quiz assesses learning. For the entire series, check out: http://powertolearn.com/internet_smarts/interactive_case_studies/index.shtml

One problem with most of today's Internet safety messaging campaigns is that there is only one set of messages for the entire population of youth and parents. But, an extensive literature review conducted by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force Research Advisory Board found that "not all youth are equally at risk" and that "those experiencing difficulties offline, such as physical and sexual abuse, and those with other psychosocial problems are most at risk online."

Common Blood Test Could Predict Risk Of Stroke Recurrence: Research

This research is being carried out for The National Youth Agency who offer a range of opportunities for young people to influence policy and practice. How does youth work best support young people to manage the risks and make the most of the opportunities presented by social networking technology? Running from December 2007 till mid-January 2008 this UK-based survey seeks to identify youth workers current use of social networking technologies; their current role support young people to safely and effective use social networking technologies; their understanding of the benefits and risks of social networking technologies; their interests in developing their use of social networking technologies; and potential barriers to youth workers using, and supporting young people to use, social networking technologies.

17-minute parent presentation on cybersafety developed by IKeepSafe and Comcast with Bob McDonnell, Attorney General, Commonwealth of Virginia. The video is available free for all Comcast Digital Cable customers via Comcast's signature On Demand service. It explores the risks associated with the Internet, and teaches parents and guardians how to become involved and take action to protect their children from these risks. It can also be downloaded online.

We can never eliminate all risk; but there are ways to maximize our students' safety while using these incredibly powerful tools. Each tool needs to be analyzed individually to ascertain its benefits and the specific risks it might present. From there, thoughtful people can find solutions to the student safety issues that may arise.\nAs educational leaders we need \nto be safety conscious. We need to be prudent, reasonable; but we won't live in \nfear and we won't act from fear.\nIt is by opening doors, not closing \nthem that we create new possibilities for our children and new futures for \nourselves.

Cell phones are useful tools, and they're lots of fun too. But cell phones do have risks. If you have a cell phone, it is important to understand these risks, and learn how to enjoy your cell phone safely. [Scholastic News, 5/09]

Pupils given a greater degree of freedom to surf the internet at school are less vulnerable to online dangers in the long-term, inspectors say. "Managed" online systems were more successful than "locked" ones at safeguarding pupils' safety, they said. The inspectors' research was commissioned in response to a report by Dr Tanya Btron, which assessed the risks children faced when using the internet and video games.

A history of childhood abuse and use of a provocative online identity increase the risk that girls will be victimized by someone they meet on the Internet, according to a study appearing in the June issue of Pediatrics.

Doug Foderman and Marje Monroe of ChildrenOnline.org review concerns about Facebook and the risks for kids.\n\nThey have Facebook accounts and actually see it as a wonderful, and valuable, resource. However, just because Facebook says that anyone 14 years or old CAN use Facebook, doesn't mean that they should. It isn't an age-appropriate or developmentally healthy place for our children and younger teens to hang out. Facebook is not working to protect our children and the laws in our country are terribly inadequate to safeguard our children online, in general. Not enough is being done to protect and educate children and teens against the risks that come from using the Internet, and Facebook in particular. We (adults, parents, educators) need to do more.

Larry Magid discusses the shift in thinking -- from a focus of constraint and protection against predators to one of developing a culture of responsibility and digital citizenship. For those "at risk" students, school psychologist, Patti Afgatson, suggests that we consider using health prevention models for Internet safety education - basic safety advice for most youth and intense counseling from mental health professionals for the small minority of young people who are taking extraordinary risks both on and offline.

Credit scores are used to assess risk in most financial applications; qualifying for a credit card, buying a car, or getting approved for a mortgage. One thing that most people are not aware of is the impact a credit score can have on homeowner's insurance premiums. Most states allow the use of credit scores to determine insurance rates as they help to assess the homeowner's risk of potentially submitting a claim.

Today's cellular phones (cell phones) are more than just phones, they are hightech appliances that also serve as a mini-computers. Cell phones are electronic gadgets that allow users to surf the web, conduct text chats with others, take photos, record video, download and listen to music, play games, update blogs, send instant text messages to others, keep a calendar and to-do list, and more, much more. But cell phones also carry risks and cause distractions.

Presentation by Nancy Willard outlining the dangers of association with online communities by at-risk youth. This includes self-harm communities, hate groups and gangs and suicide communities.

A warning from the head of a prominent cancer research institute has rekindled fears about the possible health risks associated with extensive cell-phone use, especially among children--and it comes as a growing number of children are using cell phones to communicate.

The first study of drivers texting inside their vehicles shows that the risk sharply exceeds previous estimates based on laboratory research - and far surpasses the dangers of other driving distractions.

TEENAGERS should think twice before posting personal information and photos on the internet, as they might come back to haunt them, privacy experts warn. Young people risked losing jobs or being embarrassed by teachers and relatives viewing party pictures or sexually explicit images uploaded on social networking websites.