Chinese Drywall, The Latest In Toxic Imports From China

In recent years, Chinese imports have been implicated in one safety scandal after another: lead-laced toys; toxic pet food; poisoned toothpaste and snacks; contaminated heparin and other medicines; tainted seafood and beef; defective tires and valve stems. Now add drywall to the long list of products from China causing problems.

Apparently a number of home builders in Florida were using imported drywall from China, which is causing bad odors, and corrosion in the homes.

Home owners have filed complaints and a class action lawsuit is underway citing builders for being slow to respond.

Home builders usually use domestically produced drywall made from gypsum. However in 2006, with supply shortages due to the housing boom, and rebuilding from hurricane Katrina builders started importing the product from China.

Building companies already suffering from cash and credit shortages due to the economic crisis are struggling to temporarily relocate homeowners while they test and replace drywall in homes.

Disaster Tip of The Week: Have A Designated Meeting Place For Your Family

Last weeks disaster tip mentioned the importance of having an out of State contact. It also mentioned the possibility of being separated from family members which leads me the disaster tip of the week: Have A Designated Meeting Place For Your Family.

If you and your family become separated during a disaster, it is important to have a predetermined place to meet. This becomes especially important should you have no other means of communicating with your family members.

Some points to remember in choosing your meeting location,choose several locations so that if one or more are inaccessible you can meet at another (I recommend 6 locations). Make certain that each location easily accessible and easy to remember and that each family member knows where it is.

You'll also want to have a designated family member to check each location for other family members. Should the designated person not show up or rescue personnel suggest leaving, go with the rescue people and inform them of the other locations missing family members may be gathering at.

Have each family member carry a card with meeting place addresses on them, and if possible include times and frequency of how often the location will be checked by the designated family member. I also recommend having these cards laminated to protect them from the elements.

These suggestions should give you more than enough information to get you started in creating your own designated meeting place if a disaster occurs.

Irans Secret Nuclear Ambitions Not So Secret

Photo by Hamed SaberIran continues to ignore the sanctions imposed by the U.N. along with help from China in gaining illegal materials that will aid the nation in building long range missiles capable of carrying nuclear missiles.

The shipment to Iran from China of the high-tech material was intercepted by the United Arab Emirates and contained 66,000 pounds of tungsten copper used for making advanced missile guidance systems. UAE also intercepted shipments of specialized aluminum sheets that can be used to make ballistic missiles and titanium sheets that can be used in long-range missiles all heading to Iran from China.

Communications of Iranian front companies set up by the country have also been intercepted and it appears that China, was not the only country helping Iran. One focus of the inquiries is the role of Italy, including the Rome branch of Iran's Bank Sepah and Italy's Banca Intesa Sanpaolo Spa. Banca Intesa said it is cooperating in the inquiries.

The actions of the banks, companies and individuals involved are being investigated by U.S. officials. Last week, Lloyds TSB of London agreed to pay $350 million to settle U.S. sanctions-busting charges with Mr. Morgenthau's office and the Justice Department. The bank admitted it violated U.S. law but said the practice has ceased.

Earthquake Detectors Created

Researchers from two California Universities have found a way to utilized the tiny accelerometers that are used in laptops to detect falls in a revolutionary way.

They discovered they can use these sensors to detect earthquakes, and they have created the world's largest, low-cost strong-motion seismic network.

Interested in participating in the network? You can go to their site to download the Quake-Catcher software onto your laptop and it will convert your computer into a sensor when not in use.

The systems largest success happened last July when computers detected the 5.4 quake in Los Angeles.

Security Managers Take Note, Key Duplication Possible From Photographs

The next time you go out to grab your Latte, you may want to reconsider leaving your keys on the counter, table or anywhere else someone can take a photo of them.

Recently a group of computer scientists at UC San Diego created a key from a photo taken from the roof of a building 195ft away of a set of keys laying on a table in the open.

Special software was used in the process, nor do they intend to release it to the public, but you have been warned.

It is no longer safe to leave your keys, especially keys for secure locks and areas, in open view where they can be photographed or seen.

For more on this capability and the published paper see the references below.