The “9PM Routine” Provides Peace of Mind While Protecting Your Home and Valuables

 There is a popular newphenomenon sweeping the country that is helping people protect their homes and property. Started in 2016 by the Sherriff’s office in Pasco County, Florida, it’s catching on nationwide because it is simple to do and extremely effective.

 

Every night at 9:00, everyone in the community is encouraged to lock up their property, turn on lights, and bring in valuables to reduce the likelihood of falling victim to property crimes. This is the new “9PM Routine.”

 

What to do:

 

Vehicles

 

·     Remove keys, wallets, cash, phones, phone chargers, sunglasses, garage door openers, and all other valuables from the vehicles.

·      If you can’t remove items of value, lock them in the trunk or glove compartment.

·      Ensure all vehicle windows are closed and locked.

·      Store your vehicle keys away from doors and windows. Some criminals use scanners to gain the code for your remote key fob. 

 

Property

 

·      Don’t leave property in your yard that may be attractive to thieves.

·      Close and lock house and garage doors and windows.

·      Turn on outside lights. Motion activated lights work great!

·      Keep shrubbery around your home trimmed. 

·      Set up a home security system. They are easier to use and more cost-effective than ever.

·      Have a neighbor grab your mail and keep an eye on your house when you’re away.

·      Beware of door-to-door scams.

·      Report all suspicious activities.

 

Angela DeLeon, a Crime Prevention Specialist at People’s United Bank, likes the 9PM Routine because it’s an easy and engaging way to help people protect their property. Angela also recommends that people make sure all windows are locked in the house, and if they are open for fresh air, to make sure that they are pinned so that nobody can raise them high enough for a person to enter the home. Also, store all ladders outside in a locked garage at night.

 

Community effort

 

Talk to your friends, family, and neighbors about the 9PM Routine. Call your local police department. Ask if they are participating, and if they aren’t, ask them to join the movement. Commit to the routine seven days a week. And if you are social media-savvy, post, share, and tag! You’ll feel better, and you’ll feelsafer. Who couldn’t use a little feeling better and safer ... particularly now?

SMILING WITH A MASK ON

With face masks now part of our everyday lives, how do we compensate for the apparent loss of the friendliest facial gesture of all—the smile? If a person is friendly, will you recognize it? If you smile, will he or she know it?

The answer is yes — it’s still worth it to smile while wearing a mask, says body language expert Janine Driver, founder and president of the Body Language Institute in Washington, D.C.

“We’re lucky a lot of information shows up in the eyes and the eyebrows,” Driver, who was trained as a lie detection expert and teaches online courses about the techniques, said. “With true happiness, we see it with the wrinkles on the side of our eyes.”

Even above a mask, you can see the raised cheeks and narrowed but sparkling eyes that indicate a smile (also known as smiling eyes). There are also additional ways to help get that smile across more easily:

 

Take off your sunglasses
Wearing a mask and sunglasses while talking with someone is a deal breaker: "You are blocking how you are feeling from the world. When we can't see your eyes, we can't interpret your emotions, and if we can't interpret your emotions, we are left with uncertainty and this uncertainty leads to us not trusting you and us feeling uncomfortable around you," Driver said.

Keep your three “power zones” open
They include the throat, belly button, and groin areas. Blocking them by crossing your arms or holding your throat blocks rapport, Driver noted. Keeping them open increases your approachability and likability.

Be mindful of your head tilt
Tilting your head to the side while talking or listening is seen as compassionate; keeping it straight on your shoulders is saying “I command attention,” Driver noted. If someone is standing too close to you in line, for example, and you want to ask them to keep their distance, doing so with a head tilt may be more effective

Watch the eyes
Relaxed eyes mean a person is feeling comfortable. When they begin to narrow, as if someone is threading a needle, the person may be stressed, upset, or feeling threatened, Driver said.Pupils dilate when we're feeling comfortable; they constrict when people see something they don't like.If you can see the white of the eyes "north, south, east and west" of the iris, that person is likely afraid, she noted.

Observe the eyebrows
You can observe sadness when a person's inner eyebrows are pulled together and up. Eyebrow muscles are some of the hardest muscles to manipulate, Driver said. The brows come down in anger and up in surprise.

Try to position yourself at eye level with others when possible
People are communicating with their eyes more than ever before. Many deaf people, for example, rely on reading lips (although there are now clear masks available so you can see the other person’s mouth). Maintaining contact at eye level makes it easier to read emotions in someone’s eyes. 

 

Find other creative ways to smile

Some people have even created “surrogate smiles,” like the clever health care workers at Stanford Health Care in California who pasted their smiling pictures on their lab coats!

 

The bottom line is: Your face is your vehicle for showing emotions, even when a large part of it is covered up. Keep smiling behind the mask!

 

 

 

 

Youngsters once gathered around radios to hear dramas about the Wild West

The golden horse’s hooves striking the stone floor echoed in the secret cave as the stalwart Indian rode out to combat the outlawry of evil men in the Old West. The Comanche warrior called out to his galloping horse, “Kane-e-e-wah, Fury!”

In the modern West, in the Big Bend country of Texas, a group of cowboys was “riding fast and riding hard. Out in front is the cowboy kid himself riding his golden palomino Amigo.”

Adventures and some humor were ahead.

It would not be long before television killed these and other radio dramas. But in the late 1940s and early 1950s. “Straight Arrow” and “Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders” were two of the favorite shows of youngsters who gathered in front of their radios to listen to them and other shows on the 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday children’s adventure hour on the Mutual and ABC radio networks.

The dramatically written lead in to “Straight Arrow” tells what that show was about:

To friends and neighbors alike, Steve Adams appeared to be nothing more than the young owner of the Broken Bow cattle spread. But when danger threatened innocent people and when evildoers plotted against justice -- then Steve Adams, rancher, disappeared – and in his place came a mysterious stalwart Indian, wearing the dress and war paint of a Comanche -- riding the great golden palomino -- galloping out of the darkness to take up the cause of law and order throughout the West—comes the legendary figure of Straight Arrow.

In the Bobby Benson show, ranch foreman Tex Mason was young Bobby’s guardian. Also serving as Bobby’s protectors and supporters were cowboys Irish, Harka the Indian and Windy Wales, teller of tall tales.

Much greater fame lay ahead for the comic actor who played Windy. He was in his 20s at the time of the radio show. But years later Don Knotts rose to national fame when he played Barney Fife on the “Andy Griffith Show.” His comic skills also took him to starring roles in movies and other popular TV performances.

Howard Culver, who played Straight Arrow, had a long and successful acting career. He was radio’s last Ellery Queen and played ‘Mark’ Dillon in the pilot show for radio’s “Gunsmoke.” Although William Conrad won the lead role as radio’s Matt Dillon, the pilot did not mark the end of Culver’s association with “Gunsmoke.”

He played Howie the hotel clerk in 49 episodes of TV’s “Gunsmoke” during the series’ first 10 years. Culver also had supporting roles in many other TV shows and movies before his death in 1984. He was in Jack Webb’s group of actors and was a regular in Irwin Allen productions in addition to the many other roles he played.

Good accounts of the Straight Arrow and "Bobby Benson" and the B-Bar-B as well as all other radio Westerns can be found in the 2014 book “Radio Rides the Range,” edited by Jack French and David S. Siegel.

Several episodes of “Straight Arrow” and Bobby Benson can be found on old-radio sites on the Internet for free listening and downloading.

Straight Arrow and Bobby Benson are still riding.