If you spend any time outdoors doing work in your yard or hiking through woodsy areas, you should probably become familiar with the symptoms of Lyme disease.  You can read about them in MedlinePlus, here:

And here's a map from OSHA showing where in the country the danger of Lyme disease is highest:

And here are some pictures from the CDC of the ticks that most commonly transmit Lyme disease:

To the best of my knowledge, this Tick does not carry Lyme disease:

If Parker Posey had known all of this, perhaps she wouldn't have had to drop out of the off-Broadway play she was scheduled to appear in:

Lori

Ever wonder where old military airplanes go when they retire?  Like a lot of people, they go to Arizona. 

The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is a unique storage facility for military aircraft.  The facility currently includes more than 4400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles placed in storage there by a number of government agencies.  You can see the 309 AMARG web site here:

Sadly, if you just need a few more parts to finish that B-29 you've been building in the garage, AMARG isn't going to be able to help you.  Once the aircraft are ready for disposal, they're sent to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office to be sold at government auction.  Their web site is here:

Lori

Wondering what's new at the White House?  Curious about current events at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?  Perhaps you'd like to take a peek at the press releases of the National Park Service?

This site, compiled by the Federal Citizen Information Center, gives you links to the news and press release sites of numerous federal agencies:

If you prefer to get your news via an RSS reader, here's a page from USA.gov that tells you about government RSS feeds:

Have a newsworthy day.

Lori

Mid-August is home to the anniversaries of several historic events.  Here are some government sources about a few of them:

1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Fair
http://historywired.si.edu/object.cfm?ID=119
http://americanhistory.si.edu/lisalaw/1.htm

1969 - Hurricane Camille
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/history.shtml#camille
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/camille1969.html
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/historical-storms/camille/
http://www.usace.army.mil/History/Pages/Hurricanes.aspx

1977 - Death of Elvis Presley
http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/presley.htm
http://www.history.army.mil/faq/elvis.htm
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/nixon-met-elvis/index.html
http://www.doi.gov/news/06_News_Releases/060327.htm
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/exhelvis.html

With luck, the rest of the month will be full of peace and love and no huge hurricanes will leave us all shook up.

Lori

Do you need to design or improve a website?  Do you need help with that?

The Usability.gov site maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services could have just what you need:

The home page for the site says, "Usability.gov is a one-stop source for government web designers to learn how to make websites more usable, useful, and accessible."  The site includes a number of public domain templates that you can adapt for your own use.

Hopefully you'll find Usability.gov itself to be useable, useful, and accessible.

Lori

The remains of a Navy fighter pilot shot down in 1991 during the early hours of the first Persian Gulf war were recently found.  The truth about what happened to Captain Speicher can now be recorded in Naval history.  If this event has sparked your interest in Naval history, or if you've always had an interest, the Naval History and Heritage Command web site has many resources you may want to explore:

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, to events happening at Naval Museums, to the many publications in the Online Reading Room, the site is a rich resource.  Dive right in.

Lori

If you've watched TV over the last several days, you've likely seen some commercials from car dealerships saying that they participate in the "Cash for Clunkers" program and that you may be eligible for a rebate from the government.  If you have no clue what all the hype is about, here's the official site for the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS):

This program resulted from the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009.  The point of the rebates is to encourage people to trade in their old, gas-guzzler cars for newer, more fuel-efficient models.

So, if you're ever going to do it, now may indeed be the time to bid a fond farewell to your old clunker and to upgrade to something made in this decade.

Lori

Have you been hurt on the job?  If so, ambulance-chasing lawyers and that insurance company with the cute spokes-duck aren't the only ones out there prepared to help you.  You may be eligible for workers' compensation benefits.  A FAQ on workers' compensation on the USA.gov site says:

"Workers' compensation laws are designed to ensure that employees who are injured or disabled on the job are provided with fixed monetary awards, eliminating the need for litigation. These laws also provide benefits for dependents of those workers who are killed because of work-related accidents or illnesses. Some laws also protect employers and fellow workers by limiting the amount an injured employee can recover from an employer and by eliminating the liability of co-workers in most accidents. State workers' compensation statutes establish this framework for most employment. Federal statutes are limited to federal employees or those workers employed in some significant aspect of interstate commerce.

Individuals injured on the job while employed by private companies or state and local government agencies should contact their state workers' compensation program for eligibility, assistance, and filing procedures for workers' compensation benefits."

A list of links to the state workers' compensation programs is available from the Department of Labor site:

Once you enter the workers' compensation system, be prepared to be a patient patient.  Paperwork can cause delays.  (And I know this from personal experience because my carpal tunnel surgery had to be postponed due to paperwork delays.)

Lori

Do you ever experience numbness or tingling in your hands?  Does hand pain ever wake you up at night?  Have you lost any strength in your grip?  If so, you may have carpal tunnel syndrome.  You can read about the symptoms and treatments on these pages:

MedlinePlus: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/carpaltunnelsyndrome.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000433.htm

WomensHealth.Gov: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/carpal-tunnel-syndrome.cfm

And for some advice on how to possibly prevent repetitive motion disorders:

NIOSH: Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ergonomics/

If you think you might have carpal tunnel syndrome, talk to your doctor!  The symptoms may just seem like a minor annoyance, but you could end up with permanent nerve damage if you don't address the problem.

I myself will be out the next few weeks having carpal tunnel release surgery on my right hand.  See y'all again in August.

Lori

If you need to apply for a passport, or renew your passport, or report that you've lost your passport, or get a corrected copy of your passport, the Passport Home page from the U.S. Department of State should have information that will help you:

You can also find out there about the relatively new Passport Card and the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

Once you've got your travel documents in order, you should be able to safely pass through the port of your choice.

Lori