Oct 19 Weather Update: Typhoon Juan

Weather Update, as of 5:00pm today, Oct 19, PAGASA announced that Typhoon “Juan” has maintained its strength while slowly moving in a northwestward direction.

Typhoon Juan (international codename: Megi) could be pushed back to the Philippines by two weather systems in the vicinity of China which were holding the typhoon back from its northwesterly track.
Science Undersecretary Graciano Yumul, Pagasa officer-in-charge, said Juan had become “quasi-stationary” as it moved away from the Philippine area of responsibility because of the two high-pressure areas northwest of the archipelago.
“Is there a possibility that this typhoon would come back? There’s always this kind of possibility and this is the reason why every hour on the hour we are watching the typhoon,” Yumul said at a news briefing in Malacañang.

Safety reminder: Always take extra precautions when travelling during this kind of weather conditions.

Safety Reminders: Tropical Storm Megi

Further on the monitoring of Typhoon Storm “Megi” (International Name), PAGASA announced as of 12pm today, Oct. 15 that:

“Tropical Storm Megi further intensified as it approaches the country and is forecast to enter Philippine territory late Friday night or early Saturday morning. The storm is also expected to bring Ondoy-like rains to affected areas.

Officials from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) also said at a press conference in Quezon City that Megi will make landfall between Isabela and Cagayan provinces Monday afternoon.

Megi, which will be codenamed "Juan" once inside Philippine territory, was spotted 1,300 kilometers east of southern Luzon as of 10 a.m.

The storm, the tenth to hit the country this year, was monitored to be packing maximum winds of 105 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 135 kph.

Nathaniel Servando, PAGASA deputy director for research and development, said Megi is expected to intensify into a typhoon in the next two days, with winds reaching beyond 150 kph.”

Please take necessary precautions when travelling and avoid going to flood-prone areas / landslide-prone areas starting this weekend.

            Other Contact Details:

            NDCC (National Disaster Coordinating Council – NCR)

                        Tel. No: 467-3749     

            PNRC (Phil. National Red Cross)

Hotline: 143

Trunkline: 527-0000

           

7 things You Need to Stop Doing on Facebook

7 Things to Stop Doing Now on Facebook

by Consumer Reports Magazine

1.  Using a Weak Password

Avoid simple names or words you can find in a dictionary, even with numbers tacked on the end. Instead, mix upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols. A password should have at least eight characters. One good technique is to insert numbers or symbols in the middle of a word, such as this variant on the word "houses": hO27usEs!

2.  Leaving Your Full Birth Date in Your Profile 

It's an ideal target for identity thieves, who could use it to obtain more information about you and potentially gain access to your bank or credit card account. If you've already entered a birth date, go to your profile page and click on the Info tab, then on Edit Information. Under the Basic Information section, choose to show only the month and day or no birthday at all.

3.  Overlooking Useful Privacy Controls

For almost everything in your Facebook profile, you can limit access to only your friends, friends of friends, or yourself. Restrict access to photos, birth date, religious views, and family information, among other things. You can give only certain people or groups access to items such as photos, or block particular people from seeing them. Consider leaving out contact info, such as phone number and address, since you probably don't want anyone to have access to that information anyway.

4.  Posting Your Child's Name in a Caption

Don't use a child's name in photo tags or captions. If someone else does, delete it by clicking on Remove Tag. If your child isn't on Facebook and someone includes his or her name in a caption, ask that person to remove the name.

5.  Mentioning That You'll Be Away From Home

That's like putting a "no one's home" sign on your door. Wait until you get home to tell everyone how awesome your vacation was and be vague about the date of any trip.

6.  Letting Search Engines Find You

To help prevent strangers from accessing your page, go to the Search section of Facebook's privacy controls and select Only Friends for Facebook search results. Be sure the box for public search results isn't checked.

7.  Permitting Youngsters to Use Facebook Unsupervised

Facebook limits its members to ages 13 and over, but children younger than that do use it. If you have a young child or teenager on Facebook, the best way to provide oversight is to become one of their online friends. Use your e-mail address as the contact for their account so that you receive their notifications and monitor their activities. "What they think is nothing can actually be pretty serious," says Charles Pavelites, a supervisory special agent at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. For example, a child who posts the comment "Mom will be home soon, I need to do the dishes" every day at the same time is revealing too much about the parents' regular comings and goings.