What are the odds that you are going to read this whole blog post? I don’t know. But I do know the odds that a person will visit an emergency department due to an accident involving a drinking fountain in a year are 1 in 220,700. Thanks to the Book of Odds!

Now this Book of Odds is not a literal book. It is an online “book” where you can see the odds of something happening. But it is not limited to the things or persons around you. The odds can apply to yourself as well. As you well know, odds (or probability of something happening) are all about numbers. You can be part of this number by suggesting that you are part of the X part of the equation in “1 in X” !

I will not explain it all here as that will destroy the excitement. Why don’t you check out the site yourself => http://www.bookofodds.com.

Well, yes you read that right. Reader’s Digest is filing for bankruptcy. According to The Wall Street Journal, Reader’s Digest has “reached an agreement with its lenders on a restructuring plan that it will likely complete under a prepackaged bankruptcy filing in order to reduce its debt.”

Much like any other printed media that failed and became bankrupt, Reader’s Digest would need to become more of an online presence rather than an offline one. This is to ensure that they survive since offline media is being forgotten by the day and becoming less appealing to the younger generation.

[image byhttp://ec.mashable.com]

Carl Reiner, who is a writer, producer, comedian and director is set to publish and release 2 books this coming September. Reiner now 87 years old and whom we might know and recognize from the famous Ocean’s Eleven trilogy have written 2 new books entitled “Just Desserts: A Novellah” and “Tell Me Another Scary Story…But Not Too Scary”.

These 2 new books are set to be released on September 1 and 29 respectively.

[image from http://photos.upi.com]

So how do you protect yourself from swine flu? If you live in the Philippines, who do you contact and where do you go when you experience symptoms of this contagious flu? Well, I received another email that is worth taking a look and that will help all of us in case we have encounters with the said flu. Here are the hospitals you can contact just in case (from government digital flyers):

DOH Hospitals designated as Referral Centers for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases

National Referral Center Research for Tropical Medicine (RITM)
Alabang, Muntinlupa, Metro Manila
Tel No. 809-7599

Sub-national Referral Centers
Luzon and Metro Manila
San Lazaro Hospital
Quiricada St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
Tel. No. 732-3776 to 78

Lung Center of the Philippines
Quezon Avenue, Quezon City
Tel. No. 924-6101/924-0707

Visayas
Vicente Sotto Medical Center
Cebu City
Tel. No. (032) 253-9891/2540057

Mindanao
Davao Medical Center
Bajada, Davao City
Tel. No. (082) 227-2731

Satellite Referral Hospitals
Regional Hospitals/Medical Centers
of 16 regions

The said flyers also contain additional information about the A(H1N1) virus:

What is Influenza A(H1N1)?

• Influenza A(N1H1) is caused by a novel virus that resulted from the reassortment of 4 viruses from pigs, human and birds.
• It is a new virus causing illness in people that may lead to death.
• It was first detected in April 2009 in the United States.
• This virus is spreading from personto-person, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread.
• There is no vaccine yet to protect humans from this virus.
• But there are existing and recommended medicines that are effective in treating these Influenza
  A(H1N1).

What are the signs and symptoms in humans?

• Similar to the symptoms of regular flu such as:
• • Fever
  • Headache
  • Fatigue
  • Muscle or joint pains
  • Lack of appetite
  • Runny nose
  • Sore throat
  • Cough
• Some cases have reported having
  diarrhea, nausea or vomiting

What is the mode of transmission of Influenza A(H1N1)?

• Exposure to droplets from the cough and sneeze of the infected person.
• By touching your mouth, nose or eyes after you got in contact with contaminated object and infected person.

Influenza A(H1N1) is not transmitted by
eating thoroughly cooked pork.

What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?

• Cover your nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing.
• Always wash hands with soap and water.
• Use alcohol- based hand sanitizers.
• Avoid close contact with sick people.
• Increase your body’s resistance
• • Have at least 8 hours of sleep
  • Be physically active
  • Manage your stress
  • Drink plenty of fluids
  • Eat nutritious food

What to do if there is a sick person at home?

• Immediately bring the sick person to a doctor.
• Provide a separate room in the house.
• If this is not possible, keep the patient at least 1 meter away from other family members.
• Use surgical mask when caring for the sick person.
• Wash your hands with soap and water thoroughly after each contact with the sick person.
• Have proper ventilation where the sick person stays.
• Keep the environment clean.

This information can also be obtained from a PDF file. Download it here => DOH How to Protect Yourself from Swine Flu

Recently bought 2 new books from Powerbooks Greenbelt. As stated above, I bought Geek’s Guide to World Domination and Photoshop CS3 Visual Quickstart Guide.

The first book is just a cool book where you can find and read about almost every geeky stuff imaginable. Here you will find instructions ranging from how to brew your own beer to how to injure a fish.

While the second book is a must have for those who want to learn the basics of Photoshop. This book uses high-quality paper for its pages and is in full color. Not only is it visually pleasing but its pages are packed with rich quality content that would make you a Photoshop beginner to a Photoshop Expert in no time!

If you have read Robert Kiyosaki’s best-selling Rich Dad Poor Dad’s book series, you’ll probably be interested in his latest project. In this latest project, Robert put his still on-going , “in the works” book online and made the already made pages available for viewing online. The catch is, you have to register first before you could view his book. I guess this is fine for security purposes. You can’t just let others read the unfinished book, copy it and publish it as their own right?

Additionally, there are links to certain parts of the books which he left open for discussion. I think this is a very good idea since this would involve his readers and could sort of feel that the book is somewhat “theirs” as well since they contributed to the contents of the book or if not directly, indirectly providing information to the author himself.

As usual(like his other books), he is again letting us know of the danger of not having a financial education. This is important especially now where the whole world is in financial peril. People can no longer afford to not know how to use money appropriately. And I do agree that financial education should be included in the school’s curriculum.

I do hope that Robert would give out free copies of his book once finished to those who helped him and provided feedback on various parts of his book (like me? hehe).