The blog and discussion forum for BulletBlocker products from user feedback to development ideas to questions and answers.
Our product line of Threat Level 3a bullet resistant aka "bulletproof" products include the original and patented Bulletproof Backpacks as seen on CNN and many other mainstream media outlets, also incl. Bulletproof Inserts and Panels and Bulletproof Vests.
The difficulties of mainstream media are associated with overly generalized content. This applies to newspapers, radio and television - a program schedule and content designed to try to get everyone's attention. It's the idea of providing a little something for everyone - though you will have to find it or wait for it. In line with this consideration, BulletBlocker's pulling away from one single generalized blog to develop multiple more specialized "mini-blogs".
Our aim is to consolidate "the best of information" applicable to each area of what we do - we make and sell products designed to help save lives. Topically, this comes down to Occupations, Communities, Interests and Concerns. The interests of an executive protection specialist, a parent with schoolchildren in Michigan or Texas, and a hunter in Maine or Colorado are all completely different. They are somewhat related where it concerns protection, but vary according to the types of protection needed, the root causes of why protection is needed, and with that all of the information, news, organizations and other resources available to them.
So, we have, are, and will be developing numerous mini-blogs to address each of these niches. Our aim is also to become more community interactive, network with other specialists, and engage to provide both product and information-based solutions. The key process of resolving problems is to achieve an understanding of the nature of a problem, collect all of the information relative to it, organize it, and increase accessibility to that information. This, in turn, facilitates communication and interaction to cultivate better responses and solutions.
This is an ongoing process with the intention of continuously improving the mini-blogs as we learn and discover more. The current phase is focused on establishing proof of concept, to basically get something for show. Following this, we are very much open to developing dialogue with others specializing in subjects in developing our list or resources, adding mini-reviews, and eventually interviews, too.
For examples of what we are working toward - we welcome you to check out the following mini-blogs that we've just started:
We've got a lot more lined up that we are working on, so this general blog will serve to provide announcements of new mini-blogs as they are added, and to cover other important developments, too. We will be adding more feautures including a forum to support discussion on a per topic basis, and eventually moving on to develop white papers. Our products are designed to help save lives. Our next phase is developing the information, awareness and consolidated lists of resources where anyone concerned about their personal safety can turn and find something intrinsically useful.
Despite what appears to be a lull in activity on the blog, writing continues. We are in the process of migrating everything over into mini-blogs to better cover a wider range of topics and interests. Check out the full Gang Violence Mini-Blog - we'll be improving upon it as we move along, expect to see more like this very shortly!
Gang Violence:
Size: According to the FBI, gang population was estimated to be up by 200,000 in January of 2009 from 2005. That brings estimates up to about 900,000 gang members with about 147,000 more in prison or jail. Bear in mind that the prison population in the United States in 2008 reached over 2.3 million with another 1.5 million under some form of state or federal jurisdiction or supervisory program. Per the National Drug Intelligence Center, "Gangs are present in every state and U.S. territory and some particularly violent urban gangs have expanded from inner cities to suburban and some rural areas. Gangs increasingly represent a threat to many smaller communities, and they control most retail-level drug distribution nationally. Gangs are also increasing their involvement in wholesale-level drug distribution."
Scope: In another report, "As of 1995, gang problems had been reported for all 50 States and the District of Columbia, for about 700 counties, and for about 1,500 cities and towns... States accounting for 100 percent of the population of the United States, cities and towns accounting for 50 percent of the total municipal population, and counties accounting for almost 80 percent of the all-county population reported the existence of youth gang problems." Gang activity can take place anywhere and everywhere - and that's based upon a 1995 report. Today, with the ongoing financial crisis in the United States and around the world, government budget cuts are forcing early releases of thousands of criminals. Federal courts in 2009 have mandated for California to reduce its prison population by 36,000 to 57,000 inmates over the next two to three years.
Solutions? Obviously, there is no single miracle solution for fighting gang violence; there are numerous root causes to tackle. Root causes can only be addressed at the family and community levels. There are eight basic layers of response:
1. Parents 2. Teachers 3. Neighborhoods 4. School Systems 5. Police 6. Courts 7. Prison 8. Government
The higher up this chain you have to go, the less effective the problem solving is - as it turns more and more from prevention to response and punishment. Quite obviously, *overall* none of these are working very well - not to say they are not trying. Everyone has their own pressures from work to paying the bills - life is getting harder for everyone. Families need to work together, develop buddy systems, communicate more and perhaps stop minding their own business a little less. It is one thing if one parent chastises a kid for spraypainting a wall, but when everyone is on the watch and children know they are being watched, and that their parents will be told - they will think twice.
When the next round of budget cuts starts hitting the ranks of the police and law enforcement, the matter will get worse. This is inevitable - 41 of 50 states are having budget problems in 2009 and anticipate it to continue well into 2010. Fifteen of these states have budget deficits in excess of 18% of their annual tax revenues. Consequently, local communities will by necessity need to step up to confront the presence of gangs or face even greater risks to safety and security. Communities which develop aggressive neighborhood watch programs that work together with local police are effective. There was an incident in which a store clerk was shot and those within the store simply continued to shop. Only one person called 911. If someone believes they can get away with anything, the odds are higher they will try to get away with anything. That's really what it comes down to.
One or two people trying to do this all on their own makes them vulnerable. Get the whole community involved - and it is the gang members, their methods of operation, and their entire organizational basis that becomes vulnerable. We can actually kind of take a look at foreign policy - if a country is unwilling or unable to police themselves, it increases the odds another country will step into police things. That's not very effective either, but when you start getting multiple communities communicating and working together to solve problems, things will change. This is what needs to be done. Community organization.
We're going to do a series about Gift Ideas - For Dads Who Kick Butt! Hard core guys who like cool things. Remember, Dad's Day is June 21st - third Sunday in June. So, let's kick this first series off with...
Mo Hotta, Mo Betta! - You may have heard about Dave's Insanity Sauce and Salsa, consider Dave's Special Reserve - a veritable collector's item weighing in at a cool 93,000 scoville units. In comparison, a regular jalapeno is only about 2,500 scoville units. There are "sauces" out there that can get up over a million. Trust me, 93,000 scoville units will make a grown man cry. One jar of Dave's Insanity Sauce is sufficient for more chilli than your Dad is likely to eat in a lifetime, unless he really likes hot chilli, double chilli-cheeseburgers with extra jalapeno peppers and of course chilli cheese-fries with extra jalapenos and a side order of chilli...and an Ice Cold Coca-Cola. There's more super hot sauce at Mo Hotta, Mo Betta than you'll know what to do with - and with all kinds of great names, like "Scorned Woman", "Lynchburg Tennessee BBQ - Firey Smokin' Hott (86 Proof)" and "Arizona Gunslinger Hot Sauce" - just to name a few. Then, there's the Ass Kicking Pistachios and Dave's Microwave Popcorn. So, if you want to see your father break into tears on Father's Day - this is the place to go. Personally, one of my favorite online stores in the whole world. If it doesn't make you cry, it ain't worth eatin'! - Available in Gift Certificates, too! Caution - see video below - read the warnings on the labels, they are serious.
Casio's G-Shock Watches - I guess you could say this is like the Samsonite of Men's Jewelry. The testing of these watches actually makes the 600 pound gorilla look gentle in comparison. There's the ice test, the underwater test, the drop test, and then there's the vibration test. If those four don't convince you, there's the piston test...and theHAMMER TEST! By golly, it looks like this thing is darn near indestructible! We could probably ship it over to North Korea to see whether it can stand up to their nuclear testing. So, if you're dad goes through cheap watches like underwear, get him a G-Shock Watch - he will probably never wear it, but it will keep him entertained for years!
Machines that Go BING! - Tech, high tech and cool stuff, and lots of it - too much tech stuff to cover so, we'll hand it over to Machines that Go Bing's Blog because that's what Steve does and he was very helpful in recommending the best Twitter application for Blackberries - that being UberTwitter.com. What kind of stuff does he cover? Let's start out with the Mazzer Robur - the MEANEST Espresso Grinder... ever....an Espresso Grinder so powerful it can reduce your coffee beans to dust. Then, there's the Dual Fuel Cocktail Shaker which puts a spin on the old twist and shake. Hard core tech stuff - Machines that Go BING!. While you're at it, make sure to follow him on Twitter at @meteorit.
Angler's Access - A fishing/hunting trip to Lake City, Michigan where you can stop by Angler's Access and meet Denny and Beth. Angler's Access is a "24 hour bait and tackle shop" located in downtown Lake City, Michigan. They provide everything you need - fresh bait, tackle, camping supplies and great conversation. They know what's best locally for lodging, for boat rentals, and everything else. It's summer and a weekend out to Michigan would be a good way to get away for a few days and let Dad relax. Okay, that last part about relaxing - that's not going to happen. But, it's the thought that counts. You can also hook up with them on twitter at @anglersaccess
BulletBlocker's Executive Briefcase - Yes, this is a shameless plug, but it fits perfectly for Dad's who are very protective about everything on their laptop than they are about themselves. Instruct your dad, that the briefcase is for him, too. This is a briefcase that will stop 9mm, .357 and .44 Magnum shells from penetrating and taking out his entire computer... and providing him some protection, too. It's airport friendly and has everything that other briefcases have - and it is bullet proof, too. If James Bond was going to a meeting, this is what Q would give him. And, of course, BulletBlocker has many other great products for men, women and children - bullet proof vests, bullet proof backpacks, and school safety kits, and more. Be prepared wherever you go - because you never know when something tragic will happen, but if something does, you'll have a fighting chance. Get us on Twitter, too at @bulletblocker
Okay - so there's a lot of cool stuff here, but it is easy to get carried away... like with the Hot Peppers. Dave's Insanity Salsa is about the hottest sauce anyone would want to try. It has a warning on the label to not eat it if you have heart or stomach problems. The sauce is made to be diluted, like a few drops for a full vat of chilli. I've had one drop on a chip and my face was red for a good 30 minutes. Dave's Insanity Salsa is more tolerable, but it is very, very hot. That's about 93,000 scovel units - meaning it would take like 93,000 equal parts of water to eliminate all trace of heat. Here's what happens when you try to take it too far, serious stuff. Yes, it starts out funny - but it can get extremely serious, real fast. So, use some common sense. Jalapeno peppers are one thing, a little bit of really hot salsa is another - but after that 100,000 scovel units, you really don't know how it will effect you... or your dad.
Just came across another great video of BulletBlocker's My Child's Pack being put through some serious testing. This video shows a live fire test of a BulletBlocker backpack being shot with a 9mm handgun for the Armed American Report published by the United States Concealed Carry Association by Cody S. Alderson
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What can you really do when someone does have a gun and is shooting?
I'll start with a story. When our group first arrived in Iraq, we were treated with a nearly constant barrage of warning sirens - indicating an incoming rocket or mortar attack. If you hear the siren, per official instructions, you are to grab your personal protective equipment (PPE) and head immediately to a bunker. The sirens don't tell you when or where something is going to hit, just that something will hit, somewhere. After a solid eight hours of this, no one in our group had heard a single explosion. Night time. The sirens continued into the night. Gradually, fewer and fewer people were grabbing their stuff and going to the bunker. Once everyone got in bed, almost no one was going to the bunker. At about 2330 - Very, very big BOOM - followed by our tent getting sprayed with dirt. No one was hurt, but in five seconds everyone had their PPE on and they were sitting in the bunker. Yeah, that got our attention. Getting concerned after the fact does not help very much - though it certainly impacts how you respond to every future incident. But, all it takes is one time of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
According to iCasualties. org, there have been 4,311 military deaths and 31,169 military injuries in Iraq since we first went in (2003). Civilian casualties are not tracked. Civilians from the United States and other countries with contractors in Iraq are not quite as exposed, though there are certainly exceptions to that general rule - especially in the case of truckers - the guys who are the lifeblood of everyone there. However, it is appropriate to bear in mind that this reflects cumulative casualties over a six year period in a zone of conflict. The burden has been enormous on Iraqi citizens. Iraq was not particularly a safe place even before this war, the threat just changed names. I have no intention of diminishing the value of any single life - military or civilian, American or Iraqi or Indian (lots of Indian workers in Iraq), or those from any other country. I've worked with them, they are all good, hardworking people.
Over six years, military deaths stand at an average of 718 per year, combat related injuries at 5,195 per year. That is for a whole country, close to the size of California, in a conflict zone, where Americans are targets and stand out like a sore thumb. In contrast, Detroit experienced nearly 24,000 violent crimes in 2007, of which 418 alone involved murder or non-negligent manslaughter. One city for one year has over half the fatalities associated with violence as the entire country of Iraq.
Wikipedia's statistics on fatalities from automobile accidents is also a good comparison where the average number of fatalities for handgun related causes also tops 40,000 per year. We have mandatory seat belt laws and air bags, but our chances of dying in an automobile accident or about the same as our chances of actually getting shot. Or, we can look at drowning - 7,000 deaths per year, and yet it is mandatory for every boat to have a life vests and floatation devices.
Point is, that you don't know when someone is going to freak out and go on a rampage at school, in a mall or simply just drive by and pop one off. There are some who take precautions and are prepared for situations when they happen, and they have a fighting chance. Leastwise, if you hear a gun shot, and you are still standing, you can take action to defend yourself. Get down, low to the ground, reduce your chance of being seen, reduce your profile in the case that you are seen. The military trains soldiers to use cover and concealment, but also to crouch and crawl. But, you can also get the equivalent of a safety belt or life preserver, by getting some bullet resistant protection. Nothing is completely bullet proof, but when something has a 97% chance of stopping a bullet from virtually any handgun from hitting your vital organs - you do feel much safer.
You do what you can. But, to say this is hype or over-reaction? It is when nothing happens. It is not when something does happen. America likes to react to things after they happen - like this global financial crisis. We've been talking and talking about the growing amount of household and government debt since at least the 1980's. Did we do anything about it? Only after it became a massive crisis. We like to laugh at the people who warn us - like Roubini and Celiente. After it happens, after it gets personal - that's when we get concerned. Or, we can look at the trends, look what is happening, and maybe take a reasonable step or two to prepare for them before the problems do get up close and personal.
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If you have not done so already, go check out what Mark Shaw is doing, and check out his free 19-page Twitter for Business E-Book. Then you can follow it along, or you can scroll down a bit on this page and see the first six applications covered. Twitter without 3rd party apps is like a cup without coffee, or sugar. That's my feeling anyway. The more you understand how to use third party applications, the more you will love Twitter. Following on my previous posts, I want to introduce you to a few more applications that are also covered in Mark Shaw's book.
Tweetake.com - Now, if you followed the video along yesterday on Tweetdeck, you probably note that you don't want to push the "x" on your groups - cause that deletes everything. Everything. I hate it when that happens. But Tweetake.com lets you back things up - your followers, favorites, direct messages, friends, tweets...and everything. Is that cool? That's cool. It gives it to you in one nice neat Excel file that you can save on your hard drive and another storage back up... just in case. Just make sure to put your secondary storage unit someplace away from your computer. You never know when there'll be a flood taking out your fourth story apartment. Okay, that is a little extreme, but you get the idea. If it's really important, it's best to keep it in a secure second location in a different building.
Twitbiz.com - Another very easy to use and add your listing Twitter Busines Directory. I just did it in like 15.375 seconds. I will be back to add more to it, but easy-easy, if it was any easier, it would already be done...so go do it. Now.
Tweetbuzzer.com - Give this one 15.376 seconds to load and it will start retweeting the top 100 buzzing brand names. Down on the left hand corner, you will see some small text. Try clicking on it, it does something. Otherwise you might be watching the screen for a while. If your favorite brand name is not bee-ing buzzed, then go ahead and submit. I don't know what happens after that...but it never hurts to try. Well. Sometimes it does.
Okay, so that's three... Going to get another big coffee. Incidentally, in Europe - it is not a always easy to find places that have big coffee. Their big is like a small cup in the United States. The waitress always looks at me strange when I try ordering a pot. You've been to restaurants where they leave the whole pot - right? Well, they used to leave the whole pot. I don't care what I do here, they won't leave the whole pot. So, I got smart, and now bring my own 64 ounce mug with me and ask them for 8 cups of coffee. Believe it or not, that does work.
Now, if you are going to come over to Europe and plan on staying for a while - two options. A) Bring your own Mr. Coffee with you. or B) Buy one when you get here. I bought three. Also, I know there is another crew getting ready to deploy to Iraq - there's one awesome thing about Iraq during the summer, it gets so hot that you never have to worry about your coffee getting cold. If you set it down at 0800, it will still be hot at 1400. Never let coffee go to waste. Just pick out the flies first.
So... now that I've got my fix again, we're gonna do one more.
MrTweet.com - First, make sure you are following MrTweet with your Twitter account. Next... wait a little while after you sign up. Then... Okay, well - there's what it says it does, but I don't believe anything until after it has happened. Even then, some things defy imagination. So, tomorrow - I'll come back to MrTweet after I've seen Mr Coffee again, and tell you all about what this does and what it is good for.
At the London G-20, the Guardian, the Telegraph, Al-Jazeera and other mainstream media used Twitter to provide continuous updates on how things were going. So did the protest organizers. And, so did the police...and the secret agents?
Per the Telegraph, "In the weeks leading up to the G20 summit, the police have been monitoring these sites in an effort to stay one step ahead of the protesters. One senior officer warned it could turn in to a "cat and mouse" game around the streets of London, with police trying to stop incidents, organised hastily and online, as they flare up... Marina Pepper, one of the organisers of G20 Meltdown, said that Twitter was a key tool in terms of “mobilising people and shifting them around”, because it allows people to file and read updates via their mobile phones."
What we saw in London, however, was a police force that knew what was coming, had trained and prepared for it, and was no stranger to very large and disruptive protests. So, what happens when something similar happens where there is no training or preparation? Moldova. Twitter's role is under debate, but there is consensus that a variety of social media was used by protest organizers. An extended article on Moldova is not intended, social media was used. To protest anywhere in Eastern Europe requires a more guts than it does in the west, as the police have no qualms whatsoever about using excessive force.
So, for the above to happen, even if violence was not the objective of the organizers, is more than noteworthy. These films don't show all of the damage that was done to the parliamentary building, suffice that the entire first three floors were pretty much dismantled. If they don't have computerized records, it will take decades to get all of their paperwork back in order. Police and Fire departments throughout the United States have started using Twitter and other social media to connect with their communities. That's realistic and progressive, something you would expect to see in the United States, Moldova's response was simply to shut down local internet service providers, thereby cutting off the majority's access to Twitter messages. In the United States, doing that might actually cause a riot...
The point is, that organizationally, it is increasingly important for someone to have their thumb on the pulse of social networking tools, techniques and methodologies, now. Thirty years ago, the idea of a small business having a computer was unbelievable. In 1998, even into 2001, people still thought the Internet was just a fad, and early on said the same about some social networking venues. Yet, the Internet has effectively brought down some of the most prestigious mainstream newspapers in the country, is pulling revenue from both radio and television. If you really want to get deep into the understanding of technological bellcurves, development and proliferation, you might try to pick up Ray Kurzweil's "Age of Spiritual Machines" to see exactly where we are headed. Here are some excerpts. He's quite possibly one of the most intelligent people you will ever learn about, alongside Stephen Hawking, working in the development of Singularity University, a joint effort between Google and NASA.
Whatever is going on with the Internet now will only be more pervasive in five years, the names may change, but the essential dynamics don't. Observe the trends and think how they will play out in five more years. Yes, there's enough to worry about the way things are today, but it is the fixation on the near term that really got us into this global financial mess - and it is so big that it will require a lot of long-term planning to sort out.
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The more one gets into the Third Party applications for Twitter the more you will like Twitter, because the more useful Twitter becomes. As mentioned in my post this morning the first place to start is to get Mark Shaw's Twitter for Business E-Book. It's easy to follow and gives you like $50 Million worth of free advice just in his recommendations of people you should follow. Is that a deal or what? Well, you have to put everything to use, but... let's not get too technical. Heh!
So, Twitter pretty much kept me busy all day - just going through the following third party applications...learning how to use them, and using them, with pretty good effect for my first day putting it to use. We'll go over these one by one (not all 26...just a select few).
TweepSearch.com - Enter a keyword and you'll get a load of people associated with that keyword, which requires further screening. I'm not seeing a direct link from the results to people's actual twitter page, but all you need to do is add their name to twitter.com/ - like twitter.com/bulletblocker so you can read what they're saying, message or follow them. Pretty easy.
Twellow.com - Very useful, lets you add more information to your Twitter details - local to Twellow; and lets you do keyword searches and find people in specific geographical locations. Basically like a Twitter Yellow Pages.
FriendOrFollow.com - This one - highly, highly recommended - you get to see who is following you but who you are not following; who you are following who is not following you and who is following each other. Confused? No need to be - this is important so you can give attention to those who are following you. You can only follow 2000 people on Twitter before you run into a 10% proportional margin that paces relative to how many are following you. It's a quality control mechanism to offset networking by the numbers. So, I'm going to spend some time right now to make sure we are following everyone following BulletBlocker!
TweetStats.com - Okay, I like stats, but this looks to be useful for the more hard core Twitter users out there. I don't know what to do with it, so... for now, I'll do nothing.
Twitalyzer.com - This is mainly an aggregator of how well you are measuring relative to others on Twitter, comparing among other things your signal to noise ratio (outward informative links vs. "my cat just took me for a walk" type posts, a measure of generosity (retweeting), etc. Useful, but not essential.
TweetDeck.com - This is an awesome Twitter management tool - so good that it deserves a video...voila - video - below!
So, that's going to be about it for... today. Why? Because we're going to do some more, tomorrow! And... the day after that. Is it useful? Yes, if it wasn't I would not be doing it. I'll be adding some of my own ideas in this, too. Everyone have a good day and remember - if you don't stay out of trouble... you will be in trouble.
Did anyone tell you that networking takes time? Okay, well it does take time. There's a few things to keep in mind with... Everything. A little bit of effort toward anything every day, consistently, will yield results. Moreover, the more you work at it, the more efficient and effective you get.
Starting out at anything is kind of scary. Starting out with Social Networking is kind of scary. My moving out of my comfort zone is kind of scary... but, you can sit there and do nothing about it and complain that nothing's happening, or you get proactive. When I went to work in Iraq, the team I was with arrived at a totally new work site to support the Marines. Marines will be the first to tell you they don't get many luxuries - it's the basics and that's about it...if they are lucky. It's better today, today they are elite - first on the ground just about everywhere. They guard our embassies - and it's not just because they have the sharpest looking uniforms.
So, Iraq in the summer easily gets up to 110 - 120 degrees Farenheit. That's acceptable if you're out on the sand trying to get a tan. It's something else if you happen to be wearing 30 pounds worth of personal protective gear which was contracted by KBR for all of their civilian contractors and subcontractors. Ours consisted of an ugly blue vest with two very large, very heavy metal SAPI plates. Depending on your size, it ranged from 20 - 30 pounds. After six weeks of wearing those while working... I lost a good 30 pounds. In the heat, my record was drinking 18 liters of water in one day - and going to the bathroom once. Evaporates as fast as you can drink it. When we first got there, there weren't many refrigerators, virtually no air conditioning anywhere. We had warm water, sometimes hot - whatever it was, we had to drink it.
Terry, one of the guys in our group (he's on the left, that's me on the right), decided he would refurbish the basement of one of the old Iraqi bunkers. The basement amounted to a single dark set of stairs leading down 10 ft x 10 ft cement room with an air shaft that leads to the roof. It was filled with lots of old trash that had been sitting there for a good year... about two dozen bats and lots and lots of bat guano. That's poop. Bat poop. Cleaning that out? Gotta start somewhere - and he did. At first no one really helped, but the more he went at it the more others started lending a hand. Soon, Terry had a clean 10 x 10 room. Then he went about the requisitions process of trading a piece of copper wire for a favor, then he traded the favor for a small broken refrigerator... and so on and so on.
Two months later?Best Gourmet Coffee Shop in Iraq - for marines and civilians, even some army, to sit someplace cool, out of the sun, and have some cold water or some hot gourmet coffee. He had to fight for it, but soon everyone was fighting for it. There's nothing like seeing a grizzled old US Marine Sergeant Major, mean and tough as nails, who never smiles... get a nice cup of coffee, good coffee, and smile. We had pictures of it, sure they are still floating around somewhere - hard drive crash took mine out, might go looking for my backups. But, that's one story of thousands world wide - a little bit of effort, day by day, builds into something meaningful.
Now... about those 30 pound "bullet proof vests" - BulletBlocker's vests can do the same thing with the same level of NIJ Threat Level IIIA protection for under five or six pounds depending upon your size. Pretty close to the same weight that the Marines used, except better.
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Alrighty then, the first stop in the Twitter Tour is to check out what Mark Shaw is doing, he's a friendly English guy who also happens to be quite active with Ecademy.com. Mark's produced his own Twitter for Business E-Book which is a free download. It's a 19 page book for first time users that guides you through setting up a Twitter account, how to use it, how not to use it, and a number of high profile users you can immediately start to follow to learn more about Twitter and Social Networking for business.
That list of people to follow is worth a million times its weight in gold, free - yet massive corporations spend millions of dollars in sales and marketing seminars every year. By following these guys and gals, you are always able to tap into quick tips and complete e-books, and brilliant ideas regardless what you are doing. So, I just went in and added about 15 people who I will be following on Twitter. Obviously, you won't be watching everyone all of the time, you don't need, too - you can do it as you see something of interest. As we learn more, we'll be able to home in on the precise things we want to learn more about, "Now". Blogging is not always easy, but it goes hand in hand with Twitter, so the first thing that attracted my attention was Chris Brogan's 23 Essential Elements of Sharable Blog Posts. You can always risk sticking with what you know, but the world will evolve around you - and leave you in the dust.
The next thing in Mark Shaw's free e-book is a list of 26 third party Twitter Apps. 26? We're going to pick five, because there's plenty of overlap. On Twitter, a keyword search is not very useful without a third party app, so we're going to look at TweepSearch.com. Another thing you can't do without an app, is find people by profession or location, so we will also look at Twellow.com. As I mentioned yesterday, I also downloaded TweetDeck.com which helps you to better manage your... Tweeting. Another good one is FriendOrFollow.com and TweetStats.com. Ultimately, I will probably look at all 26 of these. A tool is a tool... and most auto mechanics have more than a screwdriver and a hammer in their shop. Not sure what they use a hammer for... but I'm certain it does get used.
So, I'm going to go do that and provide a quick recap at the end of the day of how each of these work...
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BulletBlocker is the producer of the Original My Child's Pack Bullet Proof Backpack. What other School Safety Products do we have?
Good Morning! Today's Twitter Day here on the BulletBlocker Blog. And you're asking, What does Twitter have to do with BulletBlocker? That's not a bad question. Now, I could say it is a marketing ploy and that would be mostly honest. Where do you get honesty these days? But that's not the only reason why we're focusing on Twitter today. There are other questions to answer, too - like, How is Twitter of relevance to you It's a social media tool, it works for business, for lawenforcement, for mainstream media at the G-20 conference in London in early April, and for protesters in Moldova.
I've been part of the Twitter Club at Ecademy run by Mark Shaw for a few months, participated in an extended review of Twitter, but personally the nature of my work and projects is usually more discreet. One of the things echoed by several high placed businessmen who also participated in the review were along the lines of, "Do I need to know when someone is getting on a bus or eating a triple chili cheeseburger with extra chili? No, I don't need to know that, so why waste my time?" Another line echoed was, "Social media like Twitter can be an enormous distraction from work."
These are valid points, but like every tool you need to learn how to use it in a manner that supports your work. Not 25 years ago, a lot of business were like, "Why do we need a computer? Those are for IBM and NASA, what possible relevance could they have to my business?" And, then just 12 years ago, we were asking the same things about the Internet. Now, we're asking about specific functions of the Internet.
Twitter is one system, but it is supported by a number of third party applications that really help bring out its true usefulness. It takes some effort to work through all of this - may involve time you don't have. My intention today is to learn everything I can about Twitter and its third party applications that I can. Then I want to share it with you in a manner where it will take you mere minutes to an hour so you can more easily make it work better for you. This will involve several posts throughout the day for those who wish to follow along. At the end, I'm going to do a summary to consolidate all of the best information into one super-valuable post...so you can skip all of my other ramblings.
Forget the salad. Forget the soup. I don't want any veggies. Keep the fries. All I want is a great big steak. Charbroiled. Medium-rare. Some A-1 Steak Sauce. And... a Cheesecake. Heh...
Waking up is hard to do without coffee. My mother started giving me coffee when I was three years old - to try to stunt my growth. It didn't work.
So, there's a lot to do, so much to do in fact that it all has to be taken step by step. Shortcuts do not work, at least not very well. I'm a huge fan of documentation, of gathering information, organizing it and increasing accessibility to it. That solves a LOT of problems. It is why good companies develop "Standard Operating Procedures". An SOP is a step by step instruction on how to do any given task. Each step has a desired outcome. Everything you do should be associated with a desired outcome. It runs from accurately matching product to order to avoid returns or packing it in a manner so it does not get damaged in transit. So, I would like to talk about that a little bit.
Especially with small businesses - family run businesses or a sole proprietorship, there is a tendency for a very small handful of individuals to try to do everything themselves. Scaling to growth is not always easy. The threshold of exactly how much you can do and still be efficient about it usually hits a wall faster than one would expect. Starting out, too, you operate on the basis that you will always be there to take care of business. We can call that optimism bias - it's hard to factor the future. That's why there's contingency planning - for the days that you are too sick to get out of bed, or when after a year, you decide that you do need a vacation. Entrepreneurs can easily put in 80 hours a week and still never be done.
An Standard Operating Procedure assists you in scaling for growth by providing step by step instructions so that anyone who walks in the door can do your job. There are a lot of companies who define their profitability on less than a 10% profit margin. Okay, so some of them have some pretty fancy accounting tricks. We know that the bigger a company gets, the fancier those tricks get. That's a different story for a different day, though.
Lets look at that 10% margin. You take three days off in a month, that's a 10% net loss in work hours. Five percent of your products are returned for replacement by your customer? Is that a 5% loss? More than that, probably like 7.5-8% loss per item in actual work hours - which is fine if you are not at capacity, but then... if you aren't at capacity, you could have done things right the first time and not jeopardized customer satisfaction.
Yes, SOP's are boring, but they make it possible for you to have fun while being more productive. But, What does all of this have to do with BulletBlocker?
Ahhh, you're reading my mind! It has everything to do with every business, ever. My intention is to share as much as I can about what and how I'm doing in the course of developing our online program - to essentially build an SOP for social networking and online business development. I'll make it a little more interesting to read than a technical manual written in twelve languages in font size 1. A lot of it is not new, but some is. There are dozens, probably hundreds, of other examples out there you could use, too. Point is to get it all organized into one coherent set of documents that you can easily access anytime.
So, yes - we're going to have some fun - because if you look around at the economy, what you are seeing are the results of excessive fixation upon short-term results. If you focus on results, sometimes you'll get it right, most of the time you won't. Focus on the process and perfecting that process and your result will be consistently and predictably near perfect. There's always room for improvement. Perfection is impossible, because by the time you reach perfection, your standards for perfection will have changed.
For the sake of an introduction, Dave Soucy said I'm boring. And Seth Godin said it, too. Truth is that I can be at times, depends on comfort zone. I'm the new guy working with BulletBlocker's online efforts and my name is Dabbs, Mark Dabbs. I like my coffee shaken, not stirred, in 64 ounce buckets. Bill and Joe may use me as target practice if I don't show what I can do... they didn't say whether that was with or without BulletBlocker protection. So, if nothing else, I need to be a moving target.. Sitting in the comfort zone? Boring... and not safe.
So, briefly, I'm an expatriate - originally from Tacoma, now living in Odessa, Ukraine. I moved here in October 2005, after completing a 16 month contract in Iraq with Lear Siegler. My background is in logistics/operations and corporate communications - having also worked with Continental Satellite Co/Primestar, Amazon.com and CyberCraft Corp. Why am I in Ukraine? Not a simple answer, so I'll put it this way. Most people go to where everything is to see what is there. In logistics, we have a tendency to go where everything isn't and get it there. So, that's the other part of my life that doesn't have much relevance here, except may offer a little different perspective on things... as may be seen living in a portion of the Former Soviet Union.
BulletBlocker's Mission is to save lives. The objective here, of course, is to promote BulletBlocker online - through the blog, through the web site, and through social media. There are a couple ways to go about this, but sitting in the comfort zone is not one of them. BulletBlocker products like bulletproof vests and My Child's Pack are of a very serious nature. Bulletproof products support one half, sharing information supports the other half of Bulletblocker's mission. So, we're going to share an awful lot of information - some of it serious, some of it lighter. Life without some fun is... boring? I think worse than that. And, that adds another dimension to this effort.
It's easy to dwell on the negative. Looking around today, there's not a lot of good news. But, when the going gets tough, the tough get going - things could always be worse. In Iraq, when our latrine was hit by an enemy rocket... we were all just very thankful they didn't hit our baby wipes. Sometimes, gallows humor is appropriate. Grown men using baby wipes and having baby soft skin? Wrong. Very wrong - but very effective!
Some Statistics. In 1992, the Center for Disease Control initiated the Firearms Surveillance Study. Their intention was to understand firearm injuries better, in that intentional gunshot wounds rank as the 15th leading cause of death in the United States. On average 50,000 people die annually in the United States for causes attributable to firearms. This includes accidents and suicide. Its significance extends from data over one year spanning non-fatal shootings from sixteen states.
Per the CDC's 1992 Study, what were the locations of non-fatal shooting injuries?
Finding the location of fatal injuries is proving a little more elusive, but we're working on it. Leastwise, we can generally presume that the majority of fatal gunshot wounds are not specific to gunshot injuries to the extremities. That is not to say that this does not happen, only that a significant majority do not. Why? Vital Organs
Vital Organs. Most of us aren't doctors, but let's list some important bodily organs thta come to mind - brain, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, and gallbladder. We can add the spinal cord in here, too.
Center Mass. Most weapon instructors teach to aim "center mass" - which can be defined roughly as the mid-upper torso. It's the easiest target to hit, the portion of the body that moves the slowest, has the largest concentration of vital organs. Even if a shot does not kill someone who has been hit "center mass" - odds are they won't be moving quite so fast afterwards.
Vest Protection. How many of these vital organs are completely or mostly under the protective area of a bullet proof vest? All of them except for the brain and top/bottom portions of the spinal column. Bullet proof vests provide the best front and back protection for your "center mass" - and the majority of your vital organs.
That's protection against 47.1% of non-fatal bullet penetrations; and we can reasonably say the vest provides even more protection against what would otherwise be a fatal penetration. We're working on finding better statistics for this - but even this is quite noteworthy.
And if Your Child Can't Wear a Vest at School?BulletBlocker has a full line of school safety products including the original My Child's Pack providing National Institute of Justice Threat Level IIIA protection. Backpacks provide coverage to one half of your child's body by wearing it on their back. However, it can also be used as a shield against threats from the front. When you have time to react, it's nice to have something convenient at arms reach to provide near immediate protection.
In the National Institute for Justice’s NIJ Journal, Issue #262, pages 42 – 46, managing editor Beth Schuster examined trends of violence and safety in public schools bringing to light some important information. Her article cites studies regarding 37 school shootings and patterns of behaviors of attackers before attacks. There’s a wealth of very good and important information in her article and in other government publications deserving broader attention. We will be referencing some of this information so that it gets more public exposure.and use it in a follow-up article to get an even better quantitative understanding of what is happening in our school system, today.
The following comes from one section of her report, “The Larger Scope of School Violence”:
School shootings are only part of the problem of violence in schools. During the 2005–2006 school year, for example, 86 percent of public schools reported that at least one violent incident, theft or other crime occurred at their school, according to the 2007 Indicators of School Crime and Safety by the U.S. departments of Education and Justice.
In 2005, students aged 12–18 were victims of approximately 1.5 million nonfatal crimes at school. In the same study, 8 percent of students in grades 9–12 reported being threatened or injured with a weapon in the past 12 months. Add another 28 percent of students reported having been bullied at school during the previous six months. Six percent more said that they had avoided a school activity or a particular place in school during the past six months because of fear of attack or harm.
This really should not come as a surprise to us. If you think back to when you were in school, how many times did you witness some pushing and shoving in the hallway? How many times did you actually see a fight? It happened frequently enough when I was in school more than twenty years ago. If anything, we’ve seen people become less civil to one another, growing quicker to anger over the years.
What used to be "old-fashioned fist fights" have a greater potential for escalating into the use of weapons – about one in twelve students have reported being threatened with a weapon? Yes, some of it is hot air with kids letting loose steam, but 1.5 million non-fatal crimes? That deserves attention and we’ll be on it with more articles coming soon.
School's out for the summer, but if you are interested in personal protection, bullet proof vests, take a look at everything available at BulletBlocker - products good all year round for hunting, travel and commuting to work.
At BulletBlocker, our original concept of bullet proof backpacks was meant to help prevent unnecessary deaths of school children at the hands of random gunmen in their schools. As former law enforcement officers we knew, first hand, that the stats were being skewed by school boards and law enforcement reporting organizations across the country. Their interest is to downplay the fear the real information would create about our schools, colleges and universities. In the development and subsequent sales of our product we have become even more aware, by the shear volume of customers that buy our products to protect themselves in places other than schools, that school violence is only the tip of the iceberg. Millions of regular people are in potentially violent situations every day. The streets of America are violent, but the workplace of America is a high risk place as well. This is especially true as we watch the economy put even more stress on all of us.
It's even easy to say the economy, but we all hear and see what is happening: The average person has accumulated too much debt. That brings on a whole set of undermining psychological issues like depression, worthlessness, feeling stupid, frustrated, hopelessness and often a sense of being victimized. Now add in some anger towards the government for not bailing out the people but rather bailing out the banks so that they stay solvent long enough to put the squeeze on the borrowers. Then add in some job losses or cut-backs while the CEOs have salaries that average about 100 times more than the average employee. Together, you have all the ingredients you need for people to act out. Even if only one percent of 1% (.0001%) of the population is borderline, that means hundreds of thousands of people are at work at least wanting to act out. This type of analysis led us to the idea that we need to make products for more than just school safety. We need to offer protection for everyone. What was once only available to law enforcement officers needs to be made available to everyone, both in design and price.
Think about this: The sheriff's dept. where I worked for over 11 years had 500 deputies/officers (+/-). In the 200+ years of it's existence no officer had been shot in the line of duty. Yet every officer is issued a bullet proof vest (body armor). That same statistic stands true around the nation. Towns, counties, states and the feds all spend millions of dollars to protect their officers based on the fairly slim chance that someone will get shot. Where do those millions of dollars come from? You and I pay for it every year in income taxes and property taxes. Do I think it is wrong? No.
It's not practical to think that we should all be walking around wearing concealed bullet proof vests. Even if we bought them we probably wouldn't wear them because they are generally not comfortable, hot and make us look too fat. So at BulletBlocker we decided to take our child safety concept one step further. We expanded our development to bullet proof briefcases and bullet proof panels (bullet proof inserts that you can put in your own bag, pack, case, etc.). We also developed bullet proof carry on luggage, and emergency bullet proof vests that lie flat at approx. 1/2 inch thick. These can be kept in your briefcase, pack or bag just like a thicker version of our panels.
Our idea was to make a practical, lightweight product that could offer protection from 99% of the bullets that are used in random violence situations; handguns. At the same time we realized that some people will actually want the full protection offered by traditional law enforcement body armor. So we offer 2 lines of full concealment bullet proof vests. The difference with our vests is that we do not price to the government budget. We price for the public. It means a smaller profit margin but it also increases accessibility and affordability to our primary product line of practical, lightweight dual purpose bullet proof consumer products. The results so far have been outstanding. Our products aren't cheap, but starting at $35 for bullet proof notepads and ranging up into our bullet proof vest lines that start at $275 for sale at our discount price, we offer anti-ballistic products at a fraction of the cost per square inch that can be found anywhere else.
Furthermore, we only use new materials. Old bullet proof vests / body armor can be found on eBay for under $100. The problem is that all of the manufacturers rate vests as having a lifespan of about 5 years. Moisture (sweat) and sunlight both act to break down the effectiveness of the material. Personally I might buy an ebay vest to take to the gun range to shoot for experimental purposes to understand how the stuff works but I would never put my life on the line with a used bullet proof vest or anything made from anti-ballistic materials that aren't new.
If you want protection that you can take with you, check out our line of bullet proof products at BulletBlocker.com.
This is a great story about workplace violence by Evan Goodenow of The News-Sentinel:
Violence at Work Takes Worker Toll
Violent crime has occurred at 5.3% of private U.S. companies, survey says.
Bartender Paula Richardson likes her job and can't afford to retire, so quitting wasn't an option when she was shot by a man during an attempted robbery at the Office Tavern on Nov. 20.
"I can't let that little creep run me away from my job," said Richardson, who returned Jan. 5. "I'm 60 years old. I have to work for my wages."
While work can take a crime victim's mind off being victimized, it's a lot tougher when the victim's place of work is where the crime was committed. A 2005 survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found workplace violence had occurred at 5.3 percent of the 7.1 million private U.S. businesses in the previous 12 months.
The majority of the violence in larger establishments involved co-workers, customers or domestic disputes; but in small businesses such as the Office Tavern, while incidents were rare, they were just as likely to involve criminals.
While nearly a third of the businesses where incidents occurred reported they had a negative impact on workers, the majority of businesses did not change their workplace violence-prevention procedures; 9 percent had no policy or procedures.
Workplace violence led to increased absenteeism, decreased productivity and more job turnover, but the biggest increase was often in fear. Richardson, who fought the robber before being shot - "I figured he was going to shoot me anyway," said she's been vigilant since the shooting. The shooter has not been arrested, and Richardson asked that The News-Sentinel not photograph her due to safety concerns.
"I'm more cautious of my surroundings when I'm here," said Richardson, a bartender for about 39 years. "I just look at things different now than the way I did."
"That'll be something she'll have to deal with every day," said Lynnice Hamilton, head of the Fort Wayne Police Department's victim assistance unit. "Is my next customer going to rob me? Am I in jeopardy? Those are feelings and real issues she has to deal with."
Hamilton said most people expect to be safe at work. "Trying to regain the sense of safety and security (is) a big issue," she said. She said workplace victims often rely on counseling, friends, family, religion or a combination to cope. Some leave their jobs. Emotional recovery varies depending on the victim.
The bureau found that more than 70 percent of businesses don't have a formal program or policy addressing workplace violence. Hamilton said employers without plans need to create them, and some that have them need to improve them.
"We are surprised by workplace violence, but we really shouldn't be," Hamilton said. "…That's why we all have to be concerned about it. It affects us all."
Any questions? Contact us at BulletBlocker.com or make a comment here.
BulletBlockermakes more than just produce bullet proof vests and backpacks for school safety. We also make specific School Safety Products. Additionally, we promote open dialogue about school safety issues and we would like to share this story with you:
Lately it seems there has been a lot of interest in schools and colleges instructing teachers to fight back when confronted with an armed attacker. Certainly the thought of having teachers (and even students) being told to throw books and fight back against a gunman is incredible and counter-intuitive. Luckily no one ever told Ryan Crowley, Jake Ryker, Josh Ryker, Douglas Ure, Davis Ure, Ada Walberger, Joshua Pearson and Travis Weaver not to fight back against a school shooter. In 1998, these seven students prevented an attacker from killing more of their schoolmates.
On May 20, 1998, 15 year-old Kipland (Kip) Phillip Kinkel was expelled from school for possessing a loaded firearm. His father, Bill Kinkel, a 59 year-old Spanish teacher picked him up from the police station, where they stopped at a Burger King on the drive home.
This was not Kip’s first mishap and his obsession with guns was well known to his parents. In fact, his Dad even purchased him numerous weapons for Kip despite disturbing tendencies such as building bombs, torturing neighborhood cats, throwing rocks off freeway bridges and treatment for mental disorders that included hallucinating and hearing voices. Bill Kinkel’s inability to grasp just how dangerous Kip was concluded around 6 pm that day when Kip shot him in the back of the head while his Dad was seated at the Kitchen table. A little later that evening, Kip waited in the garage for his mother Faith’s return. After helping her unload groceries from the car, he shot her twice in the back of the head. Upon realizing she was still alive, he shot her three more times in the face and once more in the heart.
That night Kip prepared himself for one final attack; arming himself with three guns, two knives and enough ammunition to kill over 1,000 people. To ensure this was indeed his last stand, Kip taped one .22 and one 9mm caliber to his chest. This last reserve of bullets was to guarantee he would be able to kill himself regardless which weapon was in his hand when the time came.
Kip drove his mother’s Ford Explorer to Thurston High School, where he arrived in time to reach the cafeteria by 7:55 am; the time it was the most crowded. On his approach to the cafeteria, Kip warned a friend not go to into the school. Seconds later, just outside the cafeteria, Kip shot Ben Walker in the back of the head. Less than 20 yards away, Kip zeroed in on his next victim; shooting Ryan Atterberry in the side of the face. Despite, being shot in the face at point blank range, Ryan would survive. Moments later Kip was inside the cafeteria that was packed with over 250 students. Using a semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle, Kip fired nearly 50 rounds; wounding 25 people. After the initial spray of gunfire, Kip started selecting his targets, killing Mikael Nickolauson.
Shortly after killing Mikael, Kip’s realized his magazine was empty when he attempted to shoot another student. This brief window of opportunity was exploited by Ryan Crowley, Jake Ryker, Josh Ryker, Douglas Ure, Davis Ure, Ada Walberger, Joshua Pearson and Travis Weaver. The seven students, two of whom were shot and injured in the process, overpowered Kinkel and stopped the killing.
Kip Kinkel murdered his parents, two students and wounded 25 others. He was sentenced to 111 years in prison without possibility of parole. The very same day as Kips’ attack a plot by three six graders to carry out an ambush style attack was uncovered in St, Charles, MO.
Fighting back against an attacker should be taught as a last resort as part of a larger security strategy that includes threat assessment and physical security. All security procedures should be developed in conjunction with local law enforcement and trained experts.
Are you concerned about the safety of your child? Maybe the school safety products designed by BulletBlocker can help, if interested check out BulletBlocker's School Safety section.
All of our products are tested to NIJ Threat Level 3A standards: Effective with ammunition up to and including 44 magnum! Bulletproof Backpacks and computer cases, bullet proof vests, classroom safety kits, Bulletproof teacher safety seats and more. Take a look!
Threat Level 3a protection by the National Institute for Justice
NIJ Threat Level 3a standard.
This rating indicates effectiveness against handgun
ammunition up to AND including 44 Magnum!
-That's approx. 99% of all available Handgun ammo.-
These products are designed to be airport security and metal detector friendly. We have integrated the lightweight bulletproof material into products that can be used everyday yet provide life-saving protection from random violence.
Not available in stores.
Visit our online store at BulletBlocker.com to view our online catalog and learn more about protection from gun violence.
BulletBlocker, the original manufacturer of the bulletproof backpack known as My Child's Pack, is offering a threat level 3a concealment body armor wrap around coverage vest for only $388! Plus you get an additional 5% off with the coupon code "save5" at checkout. Free shipping is also available for ground shipping orders. This is an incredible price! Threat Level 3a bulletproof vests usually range from $450 to $1,000 or more. BulletBlocker's low overhead and direct from the manufacturer pricing makes it possible for them to offer this incredible savings on this life saving, survival product. The Defender threat level 3a vest comes in sm, med., large, XL and XXL and is available in blue, white or black. The Executive Vest is a bullet proof vest (aka bulletproof vest) that offers emergency threat level 3a coverage in a sleek and compact carrier and only costs $275 on sale! Plus free shipping. This is a one size fits all, discreet, front and back coverage vest for emergency survival situations and can be easily carried in any pack or briefcase. It weighs less than 4 lbs. and lays fat at under 1 inch of thickness! Both of these vests complement the BulletBlocker line of products: Real life gear for real live people. This is the first time that law enforcement and military level protection has been offered, by any manufacturer, at a price the general consumer can afford. The line of backpacks, computer bags and do-it-yourself inserts is designed to be able to be used by real people in their everyday lives. Then, when the need arises, the protection is built in and ready to defend them from random violence. The threat level 3a protection is effective and independently tested up to and including 44 magnum, which is about 99% of all handgun rounds. Some of the ammo it will stop: 22LR, 22short, 25acp, 38 cal, 38+p, 380acp, 357 magnum, 9mm, 9mm FMJ,40 cal, 45acp, 44 magnum. The bulletproof vest and emergency bulletproof vest, bullet proof backpacks, and bulletproof computer bags, bullet proof gym bags, and bulletproof panels and inserts offered by BulletBlocker are an inexpensive and innovative way to keep protection from random violence available when you need it.