Education – Page 2 – RioVida Networks

June 4, 2018June 7, 2018

What you want to know before you buy a Smartwatch

Smart watches for Kids from www.vigilintbiosensors.com

Wearable technology offers a wide array of choices. Keeping track of the options is a daunting task. Here are some quick tips.

Does it work with your smart phone? All Smart Watches for kids are tethered to the parent’s smartphone, but you need to know not all watches work with every mobile network plan. as

Does the watch come with a SIM Card installed? All smartwatches that receive text, calls and data require a SIM Card.

Does the SIM card on your watch work with your mobile carrier? Many smartwatch providers sell to customers without explaining whether their mobile carrier supports the watch in their local area. Most smartwatches are sold without a SIM card plan, leaving you, the customers, to tackle the issue.

How long does the battery last and can you reload with via USB? Many smart watch customers (and their kids) complain about short battery life, often running out in mere hours. Make sure your batteries last for a full day or more. This way you can reload the batteries every night while you sleep.

What are the important features on a watch for your kids and which do you really need? Simple, reliable, trusted communication with your child is paramount. Many smartwatches sell a catalog of games — but your kids already have access to games on a tablet or computer at home. When they are on the way to school or outdoors playing, they shouldn’t get distracted. Wouldn’t it be better if they paid attention to their safe travel or playing with other kids?

Is your watch water-resistant or waterproof? Most smartwatches like most watches are water-resistant, but not waterproof. Make sure you buy a watch for your specific needs.

Can you communicate with the smartwatch? Many smartwatches are only glamorized pedometers. So carefully read about all the features when you choose a smartwatch. There are only a few companies that actually want you to be able to communicate via the watch. Apple Watches run from $1,299 for their top products all the way to $139 for their Walmart specials. Naturally the features from each smartwatch vendor vary greatly.

Some are specifically designed to keep families together, Vigilint Biosensors’ Hawkeye Smartwatches inform parents, babysitters about the children in their charge. Hawkeye Smartwatches link and work with every major U.S. mobile carrier: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, unlike most other kids smartwatches, that only work with one or two. This is due to the fact that Vigilint Biosensors offers Hawkeye smartwatches with SIM cards pre-installed and ready to use and compatible with all major smartphone carriers for $10 per month. Vigilint Biosensors customer service test it for you before it is shipped after you fill out the COPPA compliance form. Keeping kids safe is a top priority.

Vigilints’ Hawkeye GPS keeps a close eye on where your kids are, and if there is an emergency, allows others you designated to text or speak with them directly. Hawkeyes run on the proprietary SIM cards and are fully functioning right out of the box, unlike many of the very inexpensive watches that need assembly and are not out-of-the-box ready found on Amazon and other retailers. Many come without a SIM card or a service connection to the parents’ smartphone. This is frustrating for parents who don’t have the time to become watchmakers before their kids smartwatch works. So check the fine print before you buy.

Buying a smartwatch for your kids may be a bit confusing and overwhelming. Choosing well is worth the time and effort. Just do a bit of homework and compare features. When you want to keep a family together by sharing parenting and babysitting with up to 3 adults and a total of 8 connections, Hawkeye smartwatches are a great solution for your young child. They stay on their little wrists. Thus they are a great alternative to buying smartphones and plans for each your 3 to 6 year olds. Phones are too big of a responsibility for young children. Put a Hawkeye on their wrist and relax. Affordable, ready to use, and designed with the parent / child relationship in mind.

May 29, 2018May 29, 2018

Dr. Robin Goodman recommends to help kids feel good on the inside for a positive self image.

Stay connected with your kids. Let them know they are important to you. Give them ideas on how to feel good about themselves. Sit down with them to make a list about all the things that makes kids unique. Help them become self-aware of their wonderful qualities. This will help their self-esteem.

Remind them of their own unique qualities when they have a hard time with other skills. Model non-competitive behaviors with other. If they see the parent compete with the neighbors, it will make them think they have to become competitive whether they wish to or not. Instead point out that everyone has different qualities and that is ok. Finding the good in oneself and in others is a great practice and can become a fun game.

This will help the child become more resilient. If they have a hard time with one thing, they and you can remind them about something that they are naturally talented in. Remind them of a skill they acquired through practice.

Share with them if there is something is hard for you, so they know that it is normal that we have good days or bad days. This will help them cope when thing are difficult. Self-esteem is closely related with a realistic self-image.

Also listen to them and pay attention to them. If you are separated from your kids all day because of school and your work, you can connect with them through their Hawkeye Smartwatches and your Vigilint Family Assistant app.

Hawkeye Watches by Vigilint Biosensors keep parents connected to kids.

May 24, 2018May 26, 2018

Guns, guns, guns – Americans love guns, despite the many mass murders

In America, we grow up with a romantic vision of being explorers who conquer the wilds and create new homes and lives in the wilderness. During the frontier days Americans hunted for food. They sustained themselves and lived off the land. Beautiful vistas, wide open grasslands, forests, and log cabins by the lake were a fact of life, not such a very long time ago.

Shooting dear, rabbits, or even wild boars, geese and ducks was a way of life. Hunting was a necessary part of sustaining the family in a land that had few stores. It was romanticized in literature, in TV Shows and the movies.

Fast Forward to Parkland, FL and Santa Fé, TX in 2018

“I’d be comfortable with our teachers having guns,” said Tessa Ybarra, 15, a sophomore at Santa Fe High School. “If Ms. T and Ms. Perkins had guns, maybe they could have protected themselves,” she said, referring to Cynthia Tisdale and Glenda Ann Perkins, the two teachers killed on Friday. NYT

Do you agree with Tessa Ybarra? The gun lobby agrees with her.

The NRA, a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization, claimed that they provided a means to raise millions of dollars to fund gun safety and educational projects of benefit to the general public. While they certainly succeed in influencing Congress and have over 5 Million members, and a supportive group of wealthy individuals who support assault rifle sales to 18 year olds, the gun safety part of their proclaimed mission is failing miserably. Now they practically promote gun violence.

“I don’t understand why I could still go in a store and buy a weapon of war,” said Sam Zeif, 18, sobbing after he described texting his family members during the attack. “Let’s never let this happen again, please, please.” Reuters

Why is it that Americans as a whole, can’t understand that guns are used to kill innocent children and adults?

With school shooting on the rise it actually is not romantic any longer. Good Housekeeping reported that since the beginning of 2018, 20 people were killed at school to do gun violence.

Recie Tisdale, son of Cynthia Tisdale, who was a substitute teacher at Santa Fe High School. told the Washington Post, “She started substitute teaching because she loved to help children. She didn’t have to do it. She did it because she loved it.”

Gun violence is not romantic. Letting go of the Frontiers’ men fantasy will take a long time. It is so compelling. Meanwhile stay in touch with your kids and parents. Talk to them, stay aware of what they are going through. The Vigilint Parental Assistant App is designed to allow parents to communicate via Hawkeye Smartwatches with their elementary school children. Harvard research shows that stress affects brain development. The damage caused to the next generation goes way beyond the gun violence.

Protect, Encourage and Communicate with Your Children Always

Photo by https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gun-deaths-wars/

May 18, 2018May 26, 2018

How to help kids fit in while teaching the positive aspects of our heritage.

We fall in love, get engaged and get married. When we have kids we start to genuinely reflect about our own heritage and value system.

Immigrants experience culture shock when value systems clash with those of others.

When our kids arrive we naturally remember our own childhoods. We want our kids to enjoy their childhood and grow up to have a wonderful life. As parents with want to prepare them in the best possible way. When kids go to school they experience new attitudes by their teachers and especially by their peers. Often, these attitudes might raise issues that we never really consciously contemplated.

To keep them our kids emotionally safe, we want the ability to communicate with them. We need to allow them to ask questions, as they arise. We do well to genuinely try to answer as many questions our children ask, as possible. We want to admit that we may not have the answer ourselves. We also need to acknowledge that there are differences between the way we live at home and the way society shapes our attitudes and value systems.

Other parents may have raised their kids with entirely different value systems. They may think it is adorable when a child doesn’t worry about soiling their clothes, touching doorways with muddy or sticky hands, rough-houses, or throws rocks. “Kids will be kids.” is often the prevailing attitude. In other cultures the prevailing attitude maybe: “Kids are seen not heard.” Straddling the differences is a challenge for all families who wish to raise kids who develop situational awareness.

I believe that being polite, considerate, and honest helps to foster self-respect. These are traits that help us to get along with others and ourselves. Regardless of the setting, it fosters friendships and good will. Most people greatly enjoy being treated in a considerate way; being heard and listened to politely; being able to rely that they are not lied to or deceived; that they are not being taken for granted.

Most people regardless of their background love being treated with respect.

Parents often struggle to find a healthy balance between the ways they wish to pass down to their children, and the need to allow kids to adapt to their surroundings. Children need to get along with others, even with kids who encouraged to be tough and and mean.

Communicate with your child, and perhaps even listen in with the Vigilint Family Assistance app. By empowering the child to share with you in real-time, what they are dealing with, as it happens, helps parents to better guide them in practical ways.

Your real-time advice helps your children feel safe and cared about. At the very least kids will know, their parents care about them deeply. This fosters self-esteem and helps children to develop a solution-oriented attitude and to seek advice when needed. They will not feel alone. They feel supported by their families.

May 10, 2018August 14, 2020

Check in with your friends and family. Make sure they feel loved.

We are apparently living in a loneliness epidemic. Over the past 80 years our culture has changed a lot and over the past 30 years industrialized nations may have lost our cultural bearing.

I learn recently of a lady in Japan who died and only after her corps smelled terrible did the neighbors realize that she had passed. In Japan they have a word for “dying alone,” they call it Kodokushi. Several hundred thousand people pass away, without a relative or friend who cares about them. I thought it was terrible and I was shocked that a nation of over 100 Million people would not care for their families or neighbors. Then I found out that over 45 Million people in quasi “First World Nations” are lonely. That doesn’t sound very “first world.” It is embarrassing and a sign we need to rethink our lives.

Recently I joined the marketing effort of Vigilint Biosensors, a company that has designed affordable smart watches that allow parents to check in on and communicate with their children and loved ones. The Vigilint Family Assistant is an app that you can download that links to the kids or elderly parents Vigilint Smartwatches. When I started reading up on the topic I couldn’t believe it. OMG. It is a world wide epidemic. Apparently over 40% of people in the US report that they are feeling lonely. And experts think that the actual number is higher. How can that be?

Loneliness is deadly. Literally. First of all it doesn’t feel very nice. Remember how you felt when your first girl friend or boy friend didn’t call you back for several hours, when you first started dating and you were not sure whether they really loved you yet? That feeling. It feels like that. Most unhealthy.

Apparently it is genuinely unhealthy to feel lonely. Vivek Murty, who served as the 19th Surgeon General in the US, shared that one of his more shocking experiences as SG was loneliness: “I met middle and high school students in urban and rural areas who turned to violence, drugs, and gangs to ease the pain of their loneliness. I sat with mothers and fathers who had lost sons and daughters to drug overdoses and were struggling to cope alone because of the unfortunate stigma surrounding addiction.” He went on to say: “During my years caring for patients, the most common pathology I saw was not heart disease or diabetes; it was loneliness. The elderly man who came to our hospital every few weeks seeking relief from chronic pain was also looking for human connection: He was lonely. The middle-aged woman battling advanced HIV who had no one to call to inform that she was sick: She was lonely too. I found that loneliness was often in the background of clinical illness, contributing to disease and making it harder for patients to cope and heal. ” (1)

Vigilint Biosensors has been created by a bunch of highly successful Silicon Valley Semiconductor engineers, who created microchips for mobile phones that measure vital signs. Is the person moving, is the person where they are supposed to be? It also allows you to talk to them through their affordable VB wrist watch. They will not lose their phone, since it is tied around their wrist. Brilliant I say!

And apparently it not only reduces the stress of the parent, it also reduces the stress in the kids and the elderlies. Social connections are so vital to our health. Apparently stress increases the cortisol level which is some kind of hormone in our bodies. Loneliness increases the stress hormone called cortisol very much. This causes inflammation which according to Time Magazine is responsible for stress-related difficulties including obesity, diabetes, metabolic disorders, heart diseases and other disorders. (2)

So this weekend, hug your mom, your grandmother, your dad and your kids, and make sure you check in with your neighbors. Apparently for young and old loneliness is an epidemic and nearly every second person feels lonely. Smile, say hello and ask: “How do you do.” And mean it. Increasing your social circle may be the best medicine against: “Kodokushi.” And I am sure you agree, none of us want to have that.

Instead talk with your family regularly. Even if they are all grown, talk at least once a week, but more often if possible that is the only way you have enough time for a genuine relationship. Only regular contact let’s you know what is going on in their lives and for them to know what is going on in yours. Bob Black once wrote a great tagline: “Reach out and touch someone.” If you can’t do it physically, do with via a text and even better a conversation.

There are plenty of people to call. The New York times claimed that about one-third of Americans older than 65 now live alone, and half of those over 85 do. Loneliness can be fixed. We need to reintroduce the concept of TLC and talk to each other. I love the quote that Vigilint Biosensors execs use:

Vigilint Biosensors is about moving people from the Internet of Things to the Internet of Caring.

Love that! Happy trails and if you feel lonely reach out. Call someone you haven’t talk with in a while. Remind them of the good times you had. You will be surprised how happy it will make them to get your call after all these years. Tell them you remember them and you feel good about your memories. It works.

May 1, 2018May 1, 2018

Vigilint Biosensors and School Districts in California work together to increase school safety.

San Jose, California – May 1, 2018 – Vigilint Biosensors, leading supplier of Family Assistant Parental Services through smartwatches, is extending its Educational Support Programs which increases school safety, helps child learning and raises money for Educational Foundations, Schools, PTAs, and Booster Clubs. After successful pilot programs in San Ramon and Sacramento California school districts, Viglint Biosensors is offering the program to qualified organizations in all fifty states.

“Vigilint Family Assistant Services provide parents with life-altering insights collected from the kid’s smart watch that can inform parents of a child’s location and allows them to speak when needed,” said Kris Narayan, Chairman of Vigilint™ Biosensors. Mr. Narayan continued, “I am grateful Vigilint Biosensors can get our smart watches to the children, parents and schools that want the help kids with deal with stress and adversity to improve our children’s emotional resilience.”

Vigilint Biosensors Education Programs allow school districts to raise money while they provide kids smart watch phones and software to parents and their children which increase school safety. Modern tools like Vigilint Family Assistant help working parents stay in touch with their kids via calls, chat and the ability to guide the kids 24/7. Kids have access to parents each time they need their parents’ input and feedback. Hawkeye kid’s smart watches and the Vigilint Family Assistant app allow parents to create custom SafeZones™. School safety is increased when at the moment the child moves out of the SafeZone™, parents are alerted.

Knowing exactly where and how our children are is a major comfort for parents and kids. Each kids smart watch holds up to 20 parent-selected numbers that children can call. Kids are able to speak to their siblings and close friends through a direct kid-to-kid “walkie-talkie” connection. The more parents and kids communicate the less stress they have due to wondering and worrying. Relaxed parents enjoy happier and more confident kids that have a better, healthier and smarter life thanks to increase emotional resilience as recent studies by the Harvard Child Development show. For more information regarding kids smart watches and child learning, please click here.

Tonja Jarrell, Principal of Paso Verde School, in California’s capital city: “Partnering with Vigilint Biosensors provides a valuable resource to our school community. We work with families and the community to offer solutions that increase school safety, allows our staff and scholars to focus on teaching and make our students feel safe enough to learn thereby increasing their outcomes.”

Th improved communications via kids smart watches help teachers deal with children’s and faculties’ anxieties about the fears regarding school safety related to the recent increase of shootings at schools: “My experiences in the educational community, have shown that these tragedies affect all of us, not just the families involved,” said Nancy Phelps, President Coyote Creek Learning Fund. “Vigilint Biosensors software and smartwatches help protect our kids while providing parents peace of mind.”

Every school, school program, non-profit or educational program manager is invited to join the Vigilint Biosensors Education Program, thereby increasing funding for vital programs, raising awareness of how to help children learn better and increase school safety.

About Vigilint Biosensors

Hawkeye kids smart watches from Vigilint Biosensors provide fun and safe solutions to families and younger children: communications and learning for children and peace of mind for parents. The combination of the best location technologies (GPS, GNSS, A-GPS and sensors) will easily locate your child, anytime and anywhere. Visit http://www.vigilint.store/ for complete product details.

Vigilint Biosensors is dedicated to improving the quality of care that parents and senior caregivers provide through a complete 360o intelligent family care assistant, that connects family members together via wearable devices like Hawkeye. Vigilint Biosensors provides the family/caregivers with a cloud infrastructure of devices and software services, which strives to improve time management and reduce stress by improved non-intrusive care for kids, seniors, and other loved ones in need. This is achieved through the most modern application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies to life data that provide alerts, if and when needed. “When those we care about are well, we can relax and focus on our day.” www.vigilintbiosensors.com

Learn more about our dedicated team: Vigilint Biosensors

Learn more about our products and services: Vigilint Store

Vigilint Biosensors
20315 McKean Rd
San Jose, CA 95120

bizdev@vigilintbio.com

April 30, 2018May 1, 2018

Paso Verde School in Sacramento joins Vigilint Biosensors Education Program

Vigilint Biosensors and Paso Verde School District in Sacramento, California work together to increase school safety and raise child self-esteem.

San Jose, California – April 29, 2018 – Vigilint Biosensors, leading supplier of Family Assistant Parental Services through smartwatches, is expanding its joint program with school districts with the addition of the Paso Verde School in Sacramento, CA to provide kid smart watch phones and software to parents and their children.

Reduced school safety and child self-esteem costs real dollars. The Sacramento Bee regularly reports about the high cost of bullying to the emotional welfare of students. It costs California $267 Million each year. A recent study conducted by Stephen Russell, a professor of child development at the University of Texas, Austin, and published by School Psychology Quarterly, found that 10.4 percent of students statewide reported missing at least one school day in the last month because they felt unsafe. Roughly half of the students also said they experienced bullying because of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

“Vigilint Family Assistant Services provide parents with life-altering insights collected from the kid’s smartwatch that can save a child from bullying and informs parents of a child’s location even when communications are jammed during shootings, ” said Kris Narayan, Chairman of Vigilint™ Biosensors. Mr. Narayan continued, “I am grateful Vigilint can get our smartwatches to the children, parents and schools that want them.”

Vigilint Biosensors is committed to provide Parents and Children with tools that protect and raise self-esteem via products that inform and communicate at all times. Parents are able to talk with their children about their lives in the moment. With the hawkeye kid smart watch phone and the Vigilint Family Assistant cloud services, parents provide their kids guidance on how to better communicate with others. During times of bullying their kids can allow parents to listen in and provide guidance in real-time. These valuable tools leave children feeling empowered and protected. Kids are able to share their feelings which lowers the chance of anxiety, depression and feelings of helplessness. They know both their parents care and are with them at all times. It helps fathers and working mothers to be more engaged with their young kids. The fitness tracker allows parents to encourage their children to engage in physical fitness activities during recess.

The Vigilint Biosensors Non-Profit Educational Support Programs generously offers a $20 donation to participating school districts when a parent purchases hawkeye kid smart watch phone plus the monthly Parental Assistant Service Subscription, allowing parents to better connect with their kids and support their school. A Win-Win. Through the program, Vigilint is also providing hawkeye kid smart watch phones to schools for auction with proceeds going to support STEM and safety programs. Vigilint Biosensors is currently expanding this program to school districts throughout the United States.

About Paso Verde
PVS is committed to developing resilient students by providing quality instruction and challenging learning experiences in a safe and nurturing environment, which will foster life-long learning and responsible citizenship. We are honored to partner with our families, and community to provide an academic experience to our students that Is relevant, rigorous, and based on trusting relationships. Parents have an opportunity to work as an integral part of the PVS community by coming to their child’s classroom, communicating with their child’s teacher, volunteering and attending school events and fundraisers, joining our Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and Boosters, working with the School Site Council (SSC), and the English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC).

About Vigilint Biosensors
Hawkeye Smart Watches from Vigilint Biosensors supply fun and safe solutions to families with younger children providing: communications and learning for children with peace of mind for parents. The combination of the best location technologies (GPS, GNSS, A-GPS and sensors) will easily locate your child, anytime and anywhere. Visit http://vigilint.store/hawkeye/

Vigilint Biosensors is dedicated to improving the quality of care that parents and senior caregivers provide through a complete 360^o intelligent family care assistant, that connects family members together via wearable devices like hawkeye. Vigilint Biosensors provides the family/caregivers with a cloud infrastructure of devices and software services, which strive to improve time management and improve non-intrusive care for kids, seniors, and other loved ones in need thereby reducing stress for all types of caregivers. This is achieved through the most modern application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies to life data that provide alerts, if and when needed. “When those we care about are well, we can relax and focus on our day.” www.vigilintbiosensors.com

Learn more about us and our dedicated team: Click on Vigilint Biosensors or contact as us at

Vigilint Biosensors
20315 McKean Rd
San Jose, CA 95120
info@vigilint.store

To join the Safe-Kid Program or Education Program, please contact Kris Narayan at kris.narayan@vigilintbio.com or call him at +1 408 497 1197. We donate part of the Hawkeye Smartwatches sales back to the school for STEM, Sports, Music or other programs.

To get an introductions and appointments with the appropriate contact persons or press materials and white paper links contact

Edie Okamoto at +1 510 693-0166 or edie.okamoto@meet3chords.com

April 25, 2018May 21, 2019

Positive Kids and Parents Interactions assure healthy Brain Development

Hawkeye Smartwatches with Vigilint Family Assistant App

Science shows that the more parents interact with their children the happier their lives will turn out.

Talking, writing, encouraging, hugging and interaction with your children in their formative years, is not just good parenting skills. It set them on a path for the rest of their lives. The Harvard Child Development Science findings show that the ability to communicate with parents literally shapes the biology of children’s brains’ architecture. The reciprocal relationships of “Serve and Return” back and forth interaction is crucial for good parenting to maximize your child’s cognitive functions, emotionally support and social competence. As a result, the kids have increased learning capabilities. Healthy development in the early years is the foundation of everything that a child learns and how the child learns, how healthy the child will be throughout their life.

Protect, Encourage and Communicate with Your Children

These good parenting skills help parents guide communications to provide a sense of independence in their kids as well as helping be more assured. Hawkeye smartwatches for kids inform, protect and reassure parents/caregivers by allowing access to their kids and the ability to provide guidance every time it is needed. The fun Hawkeye Smartwatches bluetooth kid-to-kid communication enables a child to talk to their friends ‘walkie-talkie’ style. Hawkeye Smartwatches also offer a step tracker feature which kids love, as they compare their physical activities with their friends during recess.

Modern tools like Vigilint Family Assistant help working parents stay in touch with their kids via calls, chat and the ability to guide the kids 24/7. Kids have access to parents each time they need their parents’ input and feedback.

Hawkeye Smartwatches and the Vigilint Family Assistant app allow parents to create custom SafeZones™. The moment the child moves out of the SafeZone™, parents are alerted. Imagine you are cooking and the kids are on the playground, park, afternoon program. Knowing exactly where your child is a major comfort for both parents and kids.

Each watch holds up to 20 parent-selected numbers that children can call. Kids are able to speak to their siblings and close friends through a direct kid-to-kid “walkie-talkie” connection. The more parents and kids communicate the less stress they have due to wondering and worrying. Relaxed parents enjoy happier and more confident kids that have a better, healthy and smarter life.

Source: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and www.vigilintbiosensors.com/

April 23, 2018April 23, 2018

Vigilint Biosensors and Coyote Creek Elementary School partner to achieve Peace Of Mind for Parents

Artificial Intelligence & Wearables to Transform Parenting

“The child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.”
-Benjamin Spock

Vigilint Biosensors launches School Programs across California

SAN JOSE, Calif., Apr. 23, 2018 – You drop your child off at school and relax. With an Hawkeye Smartwatch on your child’s wrist, you can breathe a little easier again. Hawkeye will let you know where your child is all day and connects you to them at any time. Vigilint Biosensors, a leading supplier of Parental Assistant Service through smartwatches, has launched a joint program with the Coyote Creek Elementary School to help parents provide Hawkeye smartwatches to children through their school and donate to STEM programs. Nancy Phelps, President of Coyote Creek Learning Fund, stated, “Vigilint software and its Hawkeye smartwatches help protect our kids while providing parents peace of mind.

Hawkeye smartwatches inform, protect and reassure parents/caregivers. The watches allow parents to create custom SafeZones™. The moment the child moves out of the SafeZone™, parents are alerted. The watches also offer a step tracker which kids love, as they compare their physical activities with other kids during recess. Parents can check on their physical fitness via a convenient app. Each watch holds up to 20 parent-selected numbers that children can call. Kids can also speak to their siblings and close friends through a direct kid-to-kid connection. You can even add two other trusted family members to be contacted in an emergency. No more scrambling for phone numbers when it is least convenient—like when you are stuck in traffic somewhere or a meeting runs overtime. Simply call your child and activate your back-up plan. Problem solved. Relaxed parents enjoy happier and more confident kids.

Vigilint Biosensors Non-Profit Support Programs generously offers Hawkeye smartwatches for $99 plus a $10 monthly Parental Assistant Service subscription, and Vigilint Biosensors will donate 20 dollars to their child’s school for each watch purchased. Win-Win. Vigilint is also providing Hawkeye smartwatches to schools for auction with proceeds going to support STEM and safety programs. Vigilint Biosensors is currently expanding this program throughout the United States. “I realize parents need a lot of support for the care of their kids during these hectic times,” said Vigilint Biosensor Co-Founder, Kris Narayan. Vigilint Biosensors was founded specifically with that goal in mind, by Kris Narayan and his long-time colleague Jodie Hughes. They joined forces to help bring fun and communications to kids and feeling of safety parents via Hawkeye Smartwatches.

About Vigilint Biosensors

Hawkeyes Smart Watches from Vigilint Biosensors provide fun and safe solutions to families with younger children: communications and learning for children and peace of mind for parents. The combination of the best location technologies (GPS, GNSS, A-GPS and sensors) will easily locate your child, anytime and anywhere. Visit www.vigilintbiosensors.com

Vigilint Biosensors is dedicated to improving the quality of care that parents and senior caregivers provide through a complete 360o intelligent family care assistant, that connects family members together via wearable devices like hawkeye. Vigilint Biosensors provides the family/caregivers with a cloud infrastructure of devices and software services, which strives to improve time management and reduce stress by improved non-intrusive care for kids, seniors, and other loved ones in need. This is achieved through the most modern application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies to life data that provide alerts, if and when needed. “When those we care about are well, we can relax and focus on our day.” www.vigilintbiosensors.com

Learn more about us and our dedicated team: Vigilint Biosensors or contact as us at:

Vigilint Biosensors
20315 McKean Rd
San Jose, CA 95120

to get an introductions and appointments with the appropriate contact persons or press materials and white paper links.

edie.okamoto@meet3chords.com

Call Edie Okamoto at +1 510 693-0166 or contact the company directly at +1 408 497 1197

Learn about how your school can join our program.

Vigilint BioSensors

To learn more about Vigilint BioSensors, Vigilint STEM School Program and how to join our school program School Program or our Non-profit Program

April 20, 2018

Comcast NBCUniversal donates $300,000 and volunteers to beautify Santa Rosa on April 21, 2018.

Fountain Grove Parkway, Santa Rosa, CA, U.S.A. January 5, 2016 by Timothy Allen

Comcast Cares Day – Comcast NBCUniversal will donate $300,000 to the Santa Rosa City Schools district (SRCS) for the development of a facility to serve communities impacted by the North Bay wildfires. Called the Santa Rosa Integrated Wellness Center, the new facility will serve the more than 1,000 families and children within Santa Rosa who lost their homes or suffered in other ways during the fires.

Comcast will also partner with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees nearby Fountaingrove Parkway where more than 90% of the landscape was damaged by the fires. Together they will plan 400 trees in the area.

Each year Comcast has a single day during which 100,000 Comcast employees, their families and friends help make a difference in their communities. This year in Santa Rosa Comcast executives and volunteers gather for the groundbreaking ceremony, painting, landscaping, freshening up the surrounding areas at Santa Rosa High School.

Members of the community are invited to participate, but must register at: www.comcastinthecommunity.com.

STP is sponsoring a Green Up Day (Campus Clean-up) scheduled for Saturday, April 21st @ 8am (breakfast at 7:30). Meet at Nevers Field. For questions, contact Lynn Valentine lvalentine@sonic.net

For details about how to support the Santa Rosa City school system and the families that were affected by the fires get in touch with Beth Berk, Santa Rosa City Schools. Beth Berk, 707-528-5072, bberk@srcs.k12.ca.us

For more photos by Timothy Allen visit
https://allentimphotos2.wordpress.com/tag/fountaingrove-pkwy/

October 12, 2017October 12, 2017

Funny Videos: Tracy Ullman on Merkel, Judy and Maggie, and Stephen Colbert

September 20, 2017

A spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. Thank you, Colbert.

Just in case …

On Oct. 24, 1945, the United Nations was ratified by five permanent members of the Security Council which consisted – right after WWII – of the United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the Republic of China and was able to secure 46 other members. It was originally conceived in San Francisco and the charter was created in April and signed into being by the people who conceived it on June 26, 1945.

The United Nations charter back then was described as being created to maintain international peace and security and to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems that are derived from economic, social, cultural, issued or are the result of problems with humanitarian character – namely it’s lack. Hitler, and Mussolini to a lesser extent, had shown clearly how devastating the lack of humanity and a humanitarian culture that cared about social and economic issues of the mass population could be on the entire world.

The goals were noble and as always when dealing with large groups of people problems started immediately. For instance: May 14, 1948, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed as British rule in Palestine came to an end. The next day NYT reported: “The declaration of the new state by David Ben-Gurion, chairman of the National Council and the first Premier of reborn Israel, was delivered during a simple and solemn ceremony at 4 p.m., and new life was instilled into his people, but from without there was the rumbling of guns, a flashback to other declarations of independence that had not been easily achieved.” The goal was to give a sense of permanency to the many Jews who were transported to or had fled to Palestine, while it was under British rule. The United Nations partitioned Palestine into Arab and Jewish sections. in November 1947. Naturally we all know about the many humanitarian issues that evolved from this decision and especially how it was implemented. Arab Nations are still today upset about it and they often use it as an explanation for their own inhumane behavior. Naturally Israelis now live in a nation that legitimately needs defend itself. When they are ruled by someone who doesn’t really care about economic, social and humanitarian issues in the West Bank or Palestine ever more problems are created.

The original purpose of the United Nations was good. The way it has been run since Kofi Annan tried to get fairness and attention for African Nations has been pretty awful. He wanted justice for the African Nations since they often were used and abused by business interests who didn’t care about the population at large. Unfortunately, a lot of the African leaders are incredibly corrupt and self serving, often killing entire villages to allow international business to “license” the right to excavate property stolen from these villages. Are there problems? Yes.

Does the current US administration help solve any of the issues? According to the recent US speeches it seems they want to become one of the top problems in the world. Declaring Nuclear War as an option is hardly in line with the UN Charter. Perhaps it is a good thing. Maybe now leaders will finally realize they are equal. Now we live in an equal opportunity world. The world needs leaders who want to create peace and social and economic justice for all in a democratic and humanitarian way. Maybe now countries from all around the world will create their own versions of world peace. Clearly at this moment in history, the US has lost its way as a peace loving nation. Trump’s speech is undeniably and very clearly proof that there is no US commitment nor interest in world peace. The truth is out. It is time for new peace loving leaders. no matter where they come from.

It is most heartening that more and more Americans who are listening to the current chosen American leaders like Pence, Sessions, Cruz, McConnell, McConnell, who clearly want Americans to die in the street, and their chosen “education leader” DuBois – ever more people are wondering whether it is time to improve education in the US. It is finally becoming clear to more and more people , that after 40 years of hoping the various States will educate kids on their own volition has left a country where there is much room for improvement.

September 14, 2017October 11, 2018

Are Facebook and Twitter becoming a bit more conscious and aware? Maybe!

Facebook in their media relations page claimed this:

“Over the past few months, we have taken action against fake accounts in France, Germany, and other countries, and we recently stated that we will no longer allow Pages that repeatedly share false news to advertise on Facebook.”

I rejoice since I think at last the manipulations of nefarious activities manipulating the public, whether it is Russians getting conservatives hyped up into a mob mentality against the LGBT community, or having an unqualified real estate maven, who seemed surprised that he was chosen to be president, or providing a platform for hate speech for German Nazi’s, which happened to be against the law.

I followed the development of the extreme right groups who are often sponsored and supported by Russia – take hold in Western Europe and I was surprised since it used to be against the law to even whisper the word “Nazi” in Germany. The punishment in the 1980s was severe – over $1000 in fines or 2 weeks in prison.

How the world has changed since the Reagan era when we become “one world.” Germans seem to have forgotten their history and now Neo Nazis are running around demonstrating and promoting their hate freely in public, protected by the free speech laws. Erdogan’s dictator supporting Turkish soldiers are running around Germany turning in ex-soldiers, if they practice German free speech, and Erdogan tried to shut up a, perhaps a bit tasteless, German comedian. He launched lawsuits in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerlands. Only in Germany he received an audience by politicians who pushed for silencing their own citizens in support of the dictator.

Facebook and Twitter helped these trends, there is no doubt about it. No matter how much they wanted to deny it or ignore it initially. They forbade pictures of classic Greek statues and paintings from the Renaissance if they offended some religious desire – but hate speech, even illegal hate speech was entirely ok to them. We now know that it was because they made good money with it. The bot factories paid precious advertising dollars. Art lovers who shared a beautiful Botticelli painting could not compete with the foreign dictators’ budgets. People who portrayed rape scenes were okay, women’s nipples were not. When questioned in Germany, they arrogantly proclaimed that the Facebook police were run out of India, thus not subject to German law. Only when Merkel got so frustrated by the public furor that she promised to shut the site down altogether, was she able to get Zuckerberg’s attention.

Now in Germany they are working on a “Facebook-Gesetz” – a law that is targeting social media companies. the law is meant to stop social media companies from spreading illegal hate speech. The German press is concerned that while there is an attempt to create such a law, it is far from certain that there will be such a law. Political infighting points that in Germany freedom of speech and the fight against hate speech vs. mob rule attitudes are literally at odds.

While politicians are discussing the pros and cons of the formulation it is up to Facebook to keep order “voluntarily.” In German fashion, they don’t seem to care if they tacitly allow hate speech free reign while they fight about the way the law is worded.

Thankfully, there definitely have been some improvements as the top management of Facebook finally is starting to become aware that they may be destroying Western Civilization by allowing “free speech” to extremists, while being responsive to complaints by extremists whose goal is quite literally to abolish the Freedoms of Western Culture as we know it.

Facebook informs us: “We are also experimenting with changes to help us more efficiently detect and stop inauthentic accounts at the time they are being created.”

Hopefully this is a priority and completed before the next elections. Trump fans are right that Western Civilization is under attack, mostly by ourselves. Business leaders will ultimately decide whether democracy will survive. Business leaders are pro democracy and those who are against democracy will decide our future as they deploy artificial intelligence who write programs which determine how we will be able perceive our world now and in the future.

July 14, 2017May 7, 2019

Time to think? Universities are starting to self reflect on their contribution to our culture.

Is the time-honored tradition of Fraternities and Sororities coming to an end?

A committee announced on Wednesday, July 13, 2017, that they recommend that Harvard completely forbid students from joining “fraternities, sororities, and similar organizations.” They feel so strongly about it that they wish to replace existing penalties for members of the social groups that are set to go into place in the fall.

Harvard is not the first University who is grappling with the problems caused by these “private” clubs. Amherst College, Bowdoin College, and Williams College all prohibited undergraduate participation in fraternities, sororities, and similar organizations in recent years.

Undergraduate Council Vice President Cameron K. Khansarinia, class of 2018 said the proposed policy completely “takes away personal responsibility and choice” from College students—and that it is unlikely to be effective. “It’s simply going to either force [the clubs] underground or literally dry out any semblance of social life on campus,” Khansarinia said. “It’s really not the right way to go about this.”

The faculty needs to guide Harvard into the present-day realities and prepare students for life in a gender neutral world. This is an issue that needs to be addressed in most traditional colleges and society at large.

Department of Labor Statistic about workforce participation by sex.

Several of the social clubs, for instance the “Fly Club” are seeking legal council on how they can fight the effort.

Statistics about rape point in a direction that something really needs to be done.
Rainn provides data that shows that sexual violence on campus is pervasive.

- 11.2% of all students experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation (among all graduate and undergraduate students).²
- Among graduate and professional students, 8.8% of females and 2.2% of males experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation.²
- Among undergraduate students, 23.1% of females and 5.4% of males experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation.²
- 4.2% of students have experienced stalking since entering college.

Student or not, college-age adults are at high risk for sexual violence.

- Male college-aged students (18-24) are 78% more likely than non-students of the same age to be a victim of rape or sexual assault.¹
- Female college-aged students (18-24) are 20% less likely than non-students of the same age to be a victim of rape or sexual assault.

University culture have a profound impact on overall culture around the world.

In June the Harvard Crimson reported:

Harvard College rescinded admissions offers to at least ten prospective members of the Class of 2021 after the students traded sexually explicit memes and messages that sometimes targeted minority groups in a private Facebook group chat. A handful of admitted students formed the messaging group—titled, at one point, “Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens”—on Facebook in late December, according to two incoming freshmen. In the group, students sent each other memes and other images mocking sexual assault, the Holocaust, and the deaths of children, according to screenshots of the chat obtained by The Crimson. Some of the messages joked that abusing children was sexually arousing, while others had punchlines directed at specific ethnic or racial groups. One called the hypothetical hanging of a Mexican child “piñata time.”

No one would dispute that people who engage in threatening deaths and child abuse and find it humorous or in anyway acceptable should not be let loose on society, much less on a top notch educational institution.

Is it time to think yet?

The “Fly Club” an all male institution retained an attorney who made some interesting points in an op-ed in 2016. Silvergate:

“The report acknowledged the correlation between alcohol-fueled partying and sexual assault, which we believe implies that forcing independent organizations to go co-ed would only lead to an increase in the high-risk encounters that lead to assaults. Their proposed alternative is to create a blacklist of non-complying organizations, thereby abridging the freedom of association—a bedrock principle of our nation’s constitution—for its very own students. This latter course of action is particularly galling: Harvard appears to be moving towards a policy that would expel students simply for membership in a club, while it simultaneously fails to properly adjudicate sexual assault cases. The University is blaming an entire class of students for the condemnable and illegal conduct of a small minority—a clearly backwards approach to community safety.”

He later goes on to state:

“We are witnessing a return to the College operating in loco parentis, as it attempts to both dictate social-sexual norms and limit students’ independence. Harvard bureaucrats continue to expand their numbers while also attempting to bring independent single-sex organizations, including the Final Clubs and the growing number of Greek letter organizations, under their control, if not to eliminate them entirely. Unlike past debates about sexual mores and student liberty at the College, undergraduate students appear unperturbed by, if not supportive of, this assertion of administrative control over their private lives, while the Faculty of Arts and Sciences seems to have little influence with regards to the issue. The administration is leveraging the current political climate to achieve policy goals that will unfortunately do little to prevent sexual assault, but will certainly make Harvard more illiberal.”

In my opinion there is much to think about and the trend to have “Big Brother” forbid you to get drunk and rape people instead of encouraging public debates that allow a culture of inclusion, respect and with humanistic values to thrive voluntarily, is a debate that does and should go on and on until we all live in a free society in which everyone is safe from assault, and free to excel at their own personal highest level.

Equality in a society where women make up more than 1/2 of the work force is a must have. Being able to feel safe is a need that both women and men should be able to enjoy. How to accomplish that reality should really become part of the public debate. Forbidding public gatherings of like minded people may just drive the activity underground and it may be unconstitutional. Eliminating “wanna be” and actual racists and rapists should be a must for every educational institution. Racists and Rapists need therapy not more easy access to victims. However driving racist and misogynist attitudes underground may not be a long term solution for our society either.

When studying Victor Frankl someone who has experienced the worst of human kind in person while he was incarcerated by Nazis during the Holocaust, we may learn that we have to raise our expectations of each other and teach our young future leaders to thrive and foster their wish and their ability to create “Lives with Meaning”, people who are happy and content while working on making life better for everyone. This is what moves people to feel content. Busy and content leaders don’t have time to be jerks. Most jerks are either unhappy and insecure or are pathologically damaged. As we know from some of our current public leaders being a jerk does not make you popular and the ill manners actually make people more lonely and give them a craving for attention and love that will stay unfulfilled. Nobody likes these lonely jerk or brute. We have to aim higher for our students. We need to encourage them to be the better.

Maybe it is time to bring back the education that is deeply rooted in the Humanities that sets the aim high and encourages students to create a better world.

July 11, 2017July 11, 2017

Staying calm when times of stress. Techniques that work.

Enjoy your inner rhythm and share it with your friends.

Neuro-plasticity is the reason why we are able to learn and modify our responses to life’s events. Over the past few decades many forms of therapy have been developed and practiced. Over the past decade through new technology, gene therapy, and applied nano-technology we now know in no uncertain terms that the mind and body are linked. The body is able to influence the mind and the mind is able to influence the body.

Dr. van der Kolk suggests that all effective treatments involve some way for people to learn to recognize when they change their arousal system. When a person learns how to become aware if they get upset, learns to take 60 breaths, focuses on the out breaths, they are able to calm both their brain right down. We are able to choose to engage in soothing techniques like pressing on acupressure points. A most effective methods to calm frayed nerves are walks in nature. The earlier in life children learn how to recognize that they are upset, that their heart is beating hard or irregularly, that their breath is short, the sooner they can be taught to engage in effective self soothing behavior. It is wonderful that our children learn early in life how to calm down, practice yoga, go for soothing walks in nature.

Now that we are certain about the human mind’s ability to learn at every age everyone is able to learn and to engage in healthy self-moderating behaviors with positive effect. After learning how to recognize that we are growing upset, and how to calm ourselves down when we get upset we can progress to the next step.

Learning how to avoid getting upset

The core idea of Dr. van der Kolk’s teaching is that we recognize that we are not a victim of what happens. We are able to do things to change our own thoughts. The new applied sciences in medicine overturn the mistaken belief that if we can’t stand something, we should just take a pill and make it go away. The best treatment is to realize that when something is happening to we it is our own choice how we wish to interpret the situation. We can be frightened or we can change the sensations by moving, breathing, tapping, and touching or by avoiding touch. We are in charge of how we feel and we can influence the way we feel physically. Dr. van der Kolk has devoted his life to creating tools that will provide us with the emotional management tools. Healthy body habits have positive effects on our emotional habits. With practice we become ever more in charge of our own physiological system. We now know that we can calm ourselves down by talking or through one of the many other processes. We greatly benefit from programs that provide us with empowerment. Physical impact, like model mugging (a form of self-defense training), martial arts or kickboxing, or an activity that requires a range of physical effort teaches us to actually defend ourselves, stand up for ourselves, and to literally feel the power in our bodies are very effective. We can retrain our emotions to realize that we have power and we are not victims or our fate.

Dr. van der Kolk, M.D., teaches that to realize that we are not victims of circumstance. We are capable to focus our attentions on learning how to express ourselves better. When we learn how to effectively communicate our feelings, we are impacted by other people’s behavior we engage in a positive way with others. One way to learn is to share our feelings and to seek out therapy to find the proper language for our internal experience. As we become more adept to share our inner life effectively and to learn how to communicate with others, the quality of our lives improves.

Dr. van der Kolk and communications experts teach that most of our communication takes place on the physical plan. We communicate by nodding our heads, we smile, we frown, move, shift our weight and stance. Kids and adults, who were victims of physical abuse and neglect, lose those interpersonal rhythms. As we engage in self soothing behavior and learn to express ourselves we are ready for the last and most fun step. Dancing, listening to music, play music, practice QiGong and find our own rhythm. Soon our life energy will flow and we will enjoy life.

Dr. van der Kolk, M.D. has been active as a clinician, researcher and teacher in the area of post-traumatic stress and related phenomena since the 1970s. His work integrates developmental, biological, psychodynamic and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and its treatment. His book Psychological Trauma was the first integrative text on the subject, painting the far ranging impact of trauma on the entire person and the range of therapeutic issues which need to be addressed for recovery.

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk has been involved in creating tools for stress reduction. Learn more by Publications and Products