Good afternoon to you all.  The message below comes from a friend of the family who’s child just had a close call with H1N1. You need to take 5 minutes to read this and forward this as it contains important information pertaining to symptoms and what authorities are not telling us.

This is obviously a problem far beyond Toronto and the GTA but I know of a few schools with more than a dozen kids at home with serious flu symptoms, while many more children are attending school with milder symptoms.  If this were happening in the fall/winter, I would be a lot less concerned.  However, this is June so I have to believe that H1N1 is the culprit

Finally I give the mom credit for sugar coating the message and not letting her true emotions come out … but I will take the liberty of going a step further:

IF YOU OR YOUR CHILDREN ARE EXPERIENCING FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS IN JUNE, WAKE UP AND  QUARANTINE YOURSELF. My infant daughter is showing the symptoms below and will have to go back to the doctor tomorrow to be tested.  As such, I’m going to work from home for the next 2 days.  That includes missing the PROFIT 100 ceremony this evening. This could have prevented if others who were well aware of their sick children exercised the same common sense.  Wake up people.

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June, 14th, 2009
Markham, Ontario

Hello Everyone,

As most of you already now, our daughter just recently was diagnosed with complications (double pneumonia) that developed from the H1N1 influenza virus. She had to stay in the hospital a full week, with the majority of the time showing little improvement and having a hard time breathing. She needed to be on oxygen, antibiotics, and IV in the isolation wing of the hospital. She was constantly on motrin and tylenol to try to keep her high 40/41 degree fever down (sometimes nurses gave tylenol, then motrin just 1 hour later, when the fever did not budge!) All nurses and doctors had to wear goggles, scrubs, gloves, and masks everytime that they came into the room, trying to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus.

She had such a difficult time breathing, and her heart rate so elevated, that my husband and I were thinking the worst for the first few days, until she finally began to improve. We would never want ANYONE, child or adult to have to go
through what our daughter went through.

Looking back, there are some things that we could have done to perhaps have helped our daughter, knowing what we know now. We want to pass this information onto you. PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN,
that way we can all help in preventing a similar situation to happen to your child, you, or others in your community!

THE SYMPTOMS

First off, the SYMPTOMS.  For our daughter, The virus presented itself through a cough that did not bother her, and since she is mildly asthmatic,we just thought it was mild asthma. She went to school, for a couple of days with it. Did not really think much of it, but found it strange to be showing up in June, since her asthma usually shows in fall to early spring (cold season). End of the second day, we picked her up from school and she complained of having had a headache all day. This was strange–my daughter is 7 and she has never complained of a headache.

That night the high fever began, and motrin barely brought it down, she coughed all night, and did not sleep a wink due to the incessant cough.  This was her reaction. My bout with H1N1, which began on the second day
that she was in the hospital, began as a mild cough and runny nose. Honestly felt like a mild cold.

Here is the official list of symptoms from one of many sites on this topics:

cough,
sore throat,
headache,
high fever,
body aches,
runny nose,
chills,
fatigue,
eye pain,
shortness of breath,
and lack of appetite.

Some people have also reported nausea,
vomiting,
and diarrhea

Now, you may only start with one of these symptoms. You may not have all of these symptoms once it runs its course.

HOW IT STARTS

The tricky part is how it starts. FOR MY DAUGHTER AND I IT STARTED AS A MILD COUGH. SHE WENT TO SCHOOL WITH IT AND SHE WAS CONTAGIOUS DURING THIS TIME! If I had known that H1N1 was in the school, we would NEVER had sent her to school with the cough. But it WAS in her school, that is where she caught it. KEEP YOUR KIDS HOME THE MINUTE THAT THEY HAVE ANY SYMPTOM, AND PARENTS STAY HOME IF YOU SHOW ANY. Do not have grandparents care for the sick, do not have others involved if you can. Stay home from work and care for the sick yourself. You would not want to spread the virus to others.  Wear a mask (easiest if it is an adult that is sick). Coughing into the mask helps prevent the spray of the cough into the air. You will prevent the spread of this virus, if in fact you have it. Don’t go out in public, have a good friend of neighbour get groceries, etc. for you. Remember my
daughter–you don’t want your child to get that bad.

SOME CHILDREN/ADULTS WILL JUST HAVE A FLU, SOME WILL HAVE COMPLICATIONS. If you go to work or
your child goes to school, who are you giving it to, and how will they react to this flu?–They could be in the hospital like our daughter. NO PERSON SHOULD HAVE TO GO THROUGH WHAT WE WENT THROUGH.

WHAT THEY ARE NOT TELLING US

This is what we found out about what they are not telling us… Family doctors can no longer test for H1N1 in their patients UNLESS they are having complications.

Hospitals will NOT test you for H1N1 unless you have complications.

This means that all those confirmed cases of H1N1 in Canada, those that have happened in the last 2 weeks, are people that have gone to hospitals with complications and have most likely been admitted. The rest of us that have
it, like me for example, know we have had it through association, but have not been offically tested. THOSE NUMBERS THEREFORE ARE NOT ACCURATE.

THE TAMIFLU CATCH

You cannot get Tamiflu (the antiviral medication) unless you are a confirmed case. BUT HERE IS THE CATCH–it takes about 4 days to get the results back to find out if you in fact have H1N1, BUT TAMIFLU WORKS BEST IF YOU START TAKING IT WITHIN THE FIRST 2 DAYS OF HAVING THE FLU. Ridiculous! My daughter never took this med, as she found out 5 days after the start of her flu, so it was deemed useless at this point. I myself did take it, and think it helped somewhat. Tamilfu only shortens the length of the flu, and lessens the symptoms somewhat. It does not cure” the flu. And trying to get it was not an easy task for myself. We had to get forceful with the clinic doctor and explain our family situation (since I did not have my daughter’s H1N1 confirmation at that time, although we had confirmation of an influenza type A, the doctor did NOT want to give me the prescription). Remember, they want H1N1 confirmation before they give the Tamiflu prescription. Doctors have been told NOT to prescribe unless confirmed.

SCHOOLS NO LONGER ADVISING PARENTS OF CONFIRMED CASES

Schools are no longer telling parents and students if there is a confirmed case of H1N1 in their schools. WE WERE NOT TOLD ABOUT OUR DAUGHTER’S SCHOOL, but apparently lots of kids have been absent with flu-like symptoms
for weeks prior to our daughter’s ordeal.

PUBLIC HEALTH NO LONGER INFORMING SCHOOLS

PUBLIC HEALTH NO LONGER INFORMS SCHOOLS since this flu is so virulent, they can no longer keep tabs! Our child’s pediatrician said that H1N1 IS CURRENTLY MORE PREVALENT THAN THE COMMON COLD OR THE COMMON FLU (June 2009). If you have these symptoms, in other words, you probably have it.

SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN FOR YOU? This is not meant to make you panic. Rather, we hope that it just makes you more aware, for your sake, but more importantly for everyone in your community’s sake! If we are aware, and
stay home AT THE FIRST SIGN OF ILLNESS or ANY OF THE ABOVE SYMPTOMS, and STAY HOME UNTIL YOU HAVE HAD AT LEAST 2 DAYS WITHOUT SYMPTOMS, we can all do our part in helping prevent the spread of H1N1. I know that this goes against our cultural work ethic, just a sniffle, go into work/school, but with this current virus, I don’t think that works anymore!And if you don’t have H1N1, at the least you have been diligent! NOT ONLY WILL YOU BE AWARE AND GET CARE SOONER IF YOU NEED IT, but YOU WILL PREVENT little Johnny, your son or daughter’s classmate, who was a preemie, from getting PNEUMONIA complications and going to the hospital, or little Rosie with asthma, or the teacher who has heart issues, the diabetic grocery clerk, or your pregnant co-worker…you get the picture!

RISK FACTORS

Here is a short list of risk factors for complications with H1N1:

* Children younger than 5 years old. The risk for severe complications from seasonal influenza is highest among children younger than 2 years old.

* Adults 65 years of age and older.

* Persons with the following conditions:

* Chronic pulmonary (including asthma), cardiovascular (except hypertension), renal, hepatic, hematological (including sickle cell disease), neurologic, neuromuscular, or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus);
* Immunosuppression, including that caused by medications or by HIV;
* Pregnant women;
* Persons younger than 19 years of age who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy;
* Residents of nursing homes and other chronic-care facilities.
Some might say that the number of deaths if relatively low. YES, that may be true, but in your life, how many people do you know that have been HOSPITALIZED by the regular flu? I have not known one person in my whole life that was hospitalized by complications caused by the regular flu, but just this week, I personally know of 2 that were hospitalized directly linked to H1N1 flu complications.

Let’s all work together to prevent the spread!

Good sites to refer to:

http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/qa.htm

http://www.who.int/en/

AGORACOM is proud to announce the results of our Carbon Footprint findings in recognition of ‘Earth Day‘.  Our digital delivery of investor relations makes AGORACOM the most ‘environment-friendly’ investor relations firm in the industry.

In 2008, we delivered investor relations on behalf of 85 companies to more than 1.3 million investors in over 200 countries -  and we did it without having to take planes, trains and automobiles to meetings all over the world.  In addition, the digital delivery of investor relations means we didn’t need to senselessly cut down a single tree to produce collateral materials that unfortunately end up in a recycling bin within 24 hours.

AGORACOM CARBON FOOTPRINT

The results from an online Carbon Footprint calculator show that AGORACOM has a carbon footprint of 76.7 tonnes per year, which translates into 5.11 tonnes per employee.  To put this number into perspective, the average Torontonian’s carbon footprint measures 8.6 tonnes per year, lower than the average American’s footprint, which measures at about 11.9 tonnes.

 ”While we realize online calculators measuring carbon footprints only offer an approximate indication of an organization’s emissions output, the results are relative and we challenge any investor relations firm with more than 50 clients to beat us”, Tsiolis added. “As a pure online investor relations firm, I am very confident that our carbon footprint is significantly lower than any traditional IR firm. Our use of Web 2.0 tools such as electronic shareholder forums, blogs, webcasts, video and other tools allow AGORACOM to fill the information void created by the lack of small-cap coverage in the media while keeping our carbon footprint to a minimum.”

3 KEY AREAS THAT MAKE AGORACOM ‘GREEN‘:

1. No Micro Meetings -Thousands Of Investors Amalgamate and Communicate In Online HUBS.
2. No Traveling – Clients Are Not Forced To Travel Around The World To Meet Investors.
3. No Printing – 99% of Collateral Information Is Produced and Consumed Digitally.

For those whose inner environmentalist speaks loudest on April 22, visit the Earth Day Network to make a public commitment to take an environmental action.

Happy Earth Day,

George

If you agree with this – or don’t agree and need further explanation – take 4 minutes out of your day to watch this very funny but poignant video from a recent Conan O’Brien show. Enjoy.

Regards,
George

Tags: Lessons Of Life, spoiled kids, spoiled generation, happiness, unhappy

I don’t post too many personal items to this blog but I have to wish my awesome wife a very Happy Birthday! Despite a tough year for the markets, 2008 was another great year for life (the most important things of all) that saw the arrival of our baby daughter, so we’re going all out and celebrating life with 12 of us heading down to Ultra Supper Club for dinner and dancing.

I won’t tell you how old she is … and hope my ugly mug doesn’t give it away but here are a couple of snaps for you:

Happy Birthday Junior!

George

– Users Are Tossing Their Landlines Overboard

-  Mobile Phone Use Raises Children’s Risk Of Brain Cancer 5 Fold.

Scary. Technology is great but this serves as an example of what can happen when we blindly rush into it.

I love technology as much as anyone but my kids won’t have (or need) anything more than a simple text messaging device.

Hat-tip to Rob Hyndman for discovering the latter study.

Regards,
George

Good evening to you all. John McCain gave us quite a lot to talk about following the surprise announcement of Sarah Palin as his choice for Vice-President.

True, she is an unknown quantity but is that a positive or negative? We’d like to hear from you, so we’ve prepared the following anonymous survey. If you have more to say beyond the multiple choice answers, speak up by posting your comments below!

If you want to keep track of the responses, you can view them here.

Regards,
George

Tags: small-cap, small cap, smallcap, micro-cap, micro cap, microcap, TSX Venture, OTCBB, AMEX, Pink Sheets, CNQ, AGORACOM, Infectious Greed, Paul Kedrosky

Good afternoon to you all. The following has nothing to do with investor relations, the small-cap world or Web 2.0. It has everything to do with the gift of life and how some people are able to live it to the fullest despite having the odds stacked against them.

Until 20 minutes ago, I didn’t know the story of Glenn Cunningham (Wikipedia Profile). Cunningham set a world record for the mile and indoor world records for the 1.500 meters and the mile. What is miraculous is the following (courtesy of The Adam Ad Group):

————

As a little six year old boy, he had the job of heating his tiny country schoolhouse with his older brother. They came in early so the building was warm when everyone arrived. One February morning in 1916, the stove exploded, killing the older brother and leaving the little boy with incredible burns brutalizing the lower half of his body.

From his hospital bed the painfully burned, semi-conscious little boy faintly heard the doctor telling his mother that her son would surely die – which was for the best because the poor little boy would surely be a cripple. But this boy wasn’t quitting! He made up his mind then and there that he would survive.

Every day his mother would massage his little lifeless legs, but there was no feeling, no control, nothing. Yet the determination that he would walk was as strong as ever. One sunny day his mother wheeled him out into the yard to get some fresh air. Instead of sitting there, he threw himself from the chair, pulled himself across the grass and raised himself up on the picket fence. He then proceeded to drag himself along the fence, determined that he would walk again. He did this every day until he wore a path along the fence.

Through his daily massages, his iron persistence and his resolute determination, he did develop the ability to stand up, then to walk with assistance, then to walk by himself – and then – to run. He began to walk to school and then to run to school.

And run he did. This little boy that was told he would never walk again, made the track team in college and then one day in Madison Square Garden, this young man who was not expected to survive, who would absolutely never walk, who could never ever dream of running – this determined young man, Glenn Cunningham, ran the world’s fastest mile!

——————-

Great story. I’m glad I came across it. Had to share it. Hope you feel the same.

Regards,
George

Tags: Glenn Cunningham, Adam Advertising Group, inspirational stories, life

Despite the fact they crushed my season by taking out my Dallas Cowboys, I am calling the Giants to not only cover the spread but win the Super Bowl outright. It’s called PYMWYMI – Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is – and I’ve done it in this video here.

I’m not a Patriot hater – I think Brady is the coolest guy on the planet – but momentum is clearly on the side of the Giants. They’ve gotten better every week through the playoffs, while the Pats have been less than impressive in their wins.

FYI – I’ll be watching the game from the Waldorf in New York where AGORACOM is sponsoring Money:Tech, a conference that brings together the best of Web 2.0 and finance. How good is this conference shaping up to be? Chris Anderson, Editor-In-Chief over at Wired Magazine said:

“Money:Tech is the first conference I’ve seen in years that I feel I absolutely must attend.”

In the meantime, if when the Giants win, I’ll have a first hand view of the biggest party in the Big Apple in years.

UPDATE: Sunday, 9:10 PM EST – Giants Up 10 – 7 with 11:30 to go in Q4.

UPDATE: Sunday, 10:10 PM EST – Giants Win! My straight up bet pays 5-1.

UPDATE: Sunday, 10:30 PM EST – I’m going for a walk.

UPDATE:  Monday 12:45 AM EST – I’m back from Times Square and it was fun!

Regards,
George