Woman Announces Shopping Spree at Burlington Coat Factory and Causes Riot

Imagine if someone showed up to your business and announced they would purchase items for everyone there. In fact they would be willing to spend $500 for each of your customers.

Sounds like it would be good for you and your customers, doesn't it? Now imagine all of your customers at that location each called five or ten other people and soon your store was filled with 500 people and another 1000 outside waiting to get in. 

The truth is, this really did happen, but it is only the first part of the story and it actually happened. However, the real problem began when the woman left to go to the bank and returned with no money.

After the woman didn't have the money, angry customers began throwing merchandise onto the floor and leaving the store without paying for them. Some people still wanted their "free stuff" and a riot ensued.

The woman Linda Brown, who rented a strech limo and stated she just won the lottery was arrested.

Now I ask you, what is your plan to deal with something like this?

There are a number of other emerging threats out there that are causing problems and potential problems for many businesses. We will be writing about them here in our new "Emerging Threats" category to highlight them and bring attention to them.

Embedded video from CNN Video

Sidekick and Snow Leopard OS...More Reasons You Need To Backup Your Own Data

I have written a number of times throughout the years here on this blog and in other articles about how important it is to backup your critical data.

Recently, especially in the last two years, with services offering to do this back-up for you automatically in the cloud as part of value-added services has caused many people to not take action on backing up their own data.

Two incidents have really highlighted the need to do your own data backups in addition to saving your data with some of these automatic services. One is the T-Mobile Sidekick, in which people using the device have lost their personal and other critical information, and the other, has to do with a flaw in Apples Snow Leopard OS, known as the Snow Leopard Bug, in which all saved data gets wiped out.

I have included links in the reference section that will tell you how to specifically avoid these particular pit-falls. However, I stress just one thing...

BACKUP Your DATA

False Report of A patient With Both H1N1 (Swine Flu) and H5N1 (Avian Flu) Hits The Internet

Reports on the internet and in email boxes around the world were filled with false reports of a patient who tested positive for both the highly lethal bird flu virus, H5N1, and the novel H1N1, swine flu virus.

The electronic surveillance system Promed picked up the report, though it was unconfirmed at the time. Promed moderators also questioned the story and were unsure of its accuracy.

However, Promed is a widely used and read resource and the story was sent off to numerous other sources spreading the story.

The CDC is reporting that they do not believe that the man is infected with both of the above viruses yet, other reports also show the man is co-infected with H1N1 and H3N2 (a seasonal virus).

American Red Cross Launches New Preparedness Initiative

The American Red Cross Launches a new site called Do More Than Cross Your Fingers a new initiative timed with September to coincide with National Disaster Preparedness Month.

It focuses on taking the proper steps to prepare for a disaster and features both a game called Prepare 4 and the actress Jamie Lee Curtis (American Red Cross Volunteer) on video discussing items to include in your preparedness kits.

Through my blog here, I was lucky to get a sneak peak before the official launch of today, but was asked to wait until the launch before mentioning it. I have to say the Red Cross did an excellent job putting this together.

It also timely since FEMA just released a report on American Preparedness, which as many of you know we are severely under-prepared. I did a brief post on this report you can view here: FEMA Issues Report On Personal Preparedness In America or you can view the report directly here at: Personal Preparedness in America.

At the very least be sure to check out the New Red Cross site, the first link above, watch the video, play the game, get prepared.

FEMA Issues Report on Personal Preparedness in America

The findings of this report are particularly interesting in that a large percentage of Americans who completed the survey (30 percent) have not taken steps to prepare because they believe that first responders (Fire, Police, EMS) will be able to help them after a disaster, and that more than 60 percent are expecting the same first responders to help them within the first 72 hours after a disaster.

As we have seen in recent history those who are depending on the government, be it local, state or federal and emergency responders as their primary source for help will be the most vulnerable.

In addition, only 10 percent of respondents are prepared to shelter in place in their homes if required to do so.

Click the link to read the entire report titled: Personal Preparedness in America: Findings from the 2009 Citizen Corps National Survey