Allergy or is it an irritant?

Dear Bloggers,

My wife came home this week with hardly any voice left due to the fact that someone sprayed some kind of perfume. The doctor gives her prednisone for a week and this will do the magic. But it is crap that you have to use these kind of heavy drugs when this could be prevented on the work floor.

Just ask yourself the following question: If you sneeze every time you get a whiff of perfume or room deodorizer, you may be one of millions of people with a fragrance sensitivity.

As many as 30 percent of people surveyed in a study said that they find scented products irritating. Those with asthma or chemical sensitivities may find strong scents particularly problematic due to the allergy-like symptoms they cause.

Unlike tree pollen or dander, for example, perfumes and scents aren't actually allergens, they're irritants  but that doesn't mean that they can't trigger allergy symptoms like sneezing.

Hmmmm.....So what's the difference between an allergen and an irritant? In fairly simple terms, a true allergen causes a person’s immune system to release chemicals to fight the invader. On the way to the battle, inflammation could result — eyes could water, nose could fill, and so on.

"An allergen is a protein that is known to cause an IgE-mediated reaction,"

The immune system's response to allergen exposure can be divided into two phases. The first is immediate hypersensitivity or the early phase reaction, that occurs within 15 minutes of exposure to the allergen. The second, or late phase reaction, occurs 4-6 hours after the disappearance of the first phase symptoms and can last for days or even weeks. During the early phase reaction chemical mediators released by mast cells including histamine, prostaglandins, leukotrienes and thromboxane produce local tissue responses characteristic of an allergic reaction.

In the respiratory tract for example, these include sneezing, oedema and mucus secretion, with vasodilatation in the nose, leading to nasal blockage, and bronchoconstriction in the lung, leading to wheezing. During the late phase reaction in the lung, cellular infiltration, fibrin deposition and tissue destruction resulting from the sustained allergic response lead to increased bronchial reactivity, oedema and further inflammatory cell recruitment. These observations suggest that IgE is instrumental in the immune system's response to allergens by virtue of its ability to trigger mast cell mediator release, leading directly to both the early and late phase reactions.

An irritant, on the other hand, doesn’t provoke the immune system. But it has no problem making eyes water or noses run.

It's not understood how or why this happens. "An irritant is a chemical or product that causes symptoms without a known immunologic cause," says Miller, so it does not cause an IgE-mediated reaction.

Only an allergen can cause a true allergy, while "irritants cause sensitivities."

Bottom line: What people call a "perfume allergy" is either fragrance sensitivity or an allergy to some chemical in the perfume.

Symptoms of Fragrance Sensitivity

You can have two types of allergy symptoms due to fragrance sensitivity respiratory, nose and eye symptoms, much like that of seasonal allergy symptoms  or skin allergy symptoms.

Symptoms of fragrance sensitivity can include:

    Headaches

    Difficulty breathing

    Wheezing

    A tight feeling in the chest

    Worsening asthma symptoms

    Runny and stuffy nose

    Sneezing

    A skin allergy like contact dermatitis — an itchy, red rash that appears on the skin

The Rise of Fragrance Sensitivities

People who have asthma may be more sensitive to fragrances and may experience allergy symptoms or worsening asthma symptoms from exposure to perfumes, fragrances, and other chemicals. Although, says Miller, there isn't really an established link between asthma and fragrance sensitivity.

People who already have allergies, like seasonal allergies or allergies to indoor allergens like molds and animal allergens, may be more likely to experience fragrance sensitivities.

“Often patients with allergies are more sensitive to these irritants due to their baseline allergic disease," says Miller. And with more than 50 million Americans dealing with allergies, that's a lot of people at an increased risk for fragrance sensitivity.

Combine that increased sensitivity with a constantly increasing level of irritating chemicals and fragrances that are ever-present in our environment and the things we use every day (over 5,000 types used today), and it's no surprise that fragrance sensitivities are more common than initially believed.

Preventing and Treating Fragrance Sensitivities

If you're dealing with allergy symptoms caused by fragrance sensitivity, there are some things that you can do for relief.

Nasal antihistamine and nasal corticosteroid medications can effectively control allergy symptoms caused by these sensitivities. But the best medicine is really an ounce of prevention and that means keeping all fragrances off yourself and out of your environment.

There just aren't any "safe" fragrances or products that can be recommended for anyone who has experienced allergy symptoms due to fragrance sensitivities.

"Any product with a scent can be irritating to patients," I am suggesting that patients utilize scent-free products if at all possible." That means fragrance-free:

    Lotions

    Soaps

    Skin care products

    Laundry detergents

    Fabric softeners

You should even be cautious with cleaning and deodorizing products that you use at home look for products that don't contain fragrance, which could cause your allergy symptoms.

You may also need to ask your friends, spouse or partner, and co-workers to avoid wearing or using heavily-fragranced products around you to prevent your allergy symptoms.

Of course, there's no hard and fast rule about what you can and can't use  fragrance sensitivity is an individual issue.

"This type of sensitivity can vary among individuals," every case is unique. "In some patients all scents are bothersome, and in others only strong smells [like chlorine] are irritating."

But rather than run the risk of having allergy symptoms from fragrance sensitivity, it's best to be conservative and avoid all products containing fragrance for the best chance at avoiding your allergy symptoms.

The Old Sailor,

Enjoying the Autumn Sun

Dear Bloggers,

Soon the holidays are coming and autumn is all of sudden there. The weather is a bit funny. Some days stormy weather is bashing on your windows and a day later you can walk around in a shirt as it is nearly 20 degrees Celsius. Anyway I am enjoying the beauty of the landscape that is passing by. 

Autumn colours are so beautiful. And this fall we have been blessed with a couple of sunny days and more than only a few rainy ones. The air is getting crisper and you can smell the lit fireplaces through the chimneys. I love that smell. It means winter is on it’s way.

I love autumn, for so many reasons, and yet it invariably manages to make me sad, I find that autumn turns the still pool of my nature to the very dregs, and kicks up all sorts of murky stuff while it is at it. Coals slowly turning into diamonds, the moon is trapped beneath a branch, and, like the coming winter, it can also cut to the bone, winter winds that twist and turn and are hard to evade.

A series of disappointments that a few years ago I would have either sublimated into hard physical work, or run away from, or sunk deep into and found it hard to get out of again.  This year seems to be different.  I am simply sitting with my feelings, even it feels impossible. 

I saw a butterfly today on my morning walk – a red admiral that settled on the muddy footpath, churned and turned by some farm vehicles. It flittered about, close to the earth as though weighed down by care, and couldn’t seem to lift its way up into the open air, and then it settled, opened its wings to the sun and waited. Just waited. And I waited with it. The sun seemed to fill it, to renew it, colours achingly bright on its wings, and then it picked itself up and flew away, looping and twisting over the fields into a new day.

Perhaps that is the lesson that I need to learn here? To open myself to love and pain in equal measure, and trust that whatever happens, the sun will always shine and I will always be able to pick myself up and move on. Autumn proceeds slowly, hedgerows turning golden in the sunlight, berries picked up by the birds as they prepare for winter. Sometimes it is hard to appreciate all this beauty around me, but it is always there, regardless, just waiting for me to see it once again and to know myself a part of it, connected to the land even as my feet walk upon it, my mind is a million miles away.

Accomplished a bit of Sunday cleaning today, vacuumed the house, rinsed the toilet and got myself ready for the evening shift. Last night I lit some candles. When I pulled the curtains as it was dark and wet outside.  “Hmmm....autumn is really here” I said to my wife. “Poked up” our central heating system and during the day I took the water ornaments out of the garden and stowed them in the shed. 

It’s getting too big for me to pack em all up about every year, so it’s going to a new home as soon as we sell this one and hopefully next spring we’ll live in a smaller home. It’s not that I’m getting too old to carry a big ugly chunk of machinery through the house. It’s not that. I just don’t know what is going to come. Maybe we need to change our garden plans. I really don’t have a clue. I see it as a waste of my time and energy.

Fall is settling into Friesland. The sun is lower in the southern sky, too tired to heat things up anymore. It’s cold enough outside that you could wear a jacket without sweating, and yet still warm enough to walk around without a coat at night. I know because we just got back from a nice little walk to the mailbox in the village centre which is just north of here by about ten minutes. There are already a lot of desiccated autumn leaves blowing around and the grass is still green in every yard. 

It is the in between season as we all know that in a couple of weeks this year will come to an end. The holidays are sitting at our front door and the garden is ready again for Christmas as the lights are installed again.

We are ready for the holidays, it is only a couple of weeks away.

The Old Sailor,

Ending my sweet life the second part

Dear Bloggers,

I was asked a couple of times by fellow blog writers to make a part two on my sweet life is ending. It took me a while to produce a sequel on this story. I am now pretty experienced if it comes to my own case.. In the beginning it scared the hell out of me. And yes I probably will not get very old but that doesn’t bather me. I have it pretty much under control and my life is full of imperfections but I am not much of a cry baby and sit in a corner whining. I have a future to live for and I hope one day to play with my grandchildren. Both my my wife and me have health issues and climbing stairs is getting us into trouble. We decided to put our family home on the market and look for something with everything on ground level. My next move after this one will be in a wooden coffin. Let us hope that we have a couple of great years left with the kids at home and if they fly out that they come and see us frequently with their kids.

Hard reality

Once you know the facts, it is hard not to care about diabetes. In the Netherlands alone, 1 million people have diabetes. Approximately 71000 Dutch are diagnosed each year, and a third of all the people with diabetes are unaware they have it. WHO (World Health Organization) has declared that there is an epidemic of diabetes. Worldwide, there are 200 million diabetes patients, not including those who still do not know that they have it. In the next decade, the projected number of known diabetics is expected to reach over 250 million. Because of the small amount of attention that has been paid to the disease despite these alarming numbers, the rise in diabetes has often been called the “Silent Epidemic”. A possible cause for this epidemic has been attributed to changes in modern lifestyle:

• The type of food consumed contains higher numbers of calories and purified sugars;
• The typical meal size has increased; • People are not exercising adequately;
• Higher stress levels, and;
 • An increase in the elderly population.

What exactly is diabetes? There are several definitions of diabetes, but the most commonly agreed upon definition is that diabetes is a condition when a person's ability to metabolize carbohydrates (sugar) is impaired. Basically, blood sugar does not get burned inside the muscles and tissues, but rather stays in the blood. This results in high blood sugar levels. A person with a sugar level above 150 ml/dl in the blood in the morning is diagnosed as ‘diabetic'. Insulin allows the body to convert sugar in the blood into energy. It is secreted by ß (beta) cells in the pancreas. So, in a diabetic, either no insulin or inadequate levels of insulin are being produced. Furthermore, even if insulin is produced in a diabetic, it is highly unlikely that it will be properly utilized.

How can having high blood glucose affect me?
Diabetes is much more than just a relative lack of insulin. In one sense, it is a disease that affects the blood vessels, or capillaries. A high concentration of sugar in the blood from relative lack or sensitivity of insulin is still not completely understood. However, it has detrimental effects on the blood vessels and they gradually cease to function properly. Since every organ or tissue in the body depends upon capillary flow to transmit oxygen and glucose and remove waste products, this eventually leads to end-organ damage. Yes in the end we are all going to die.

 Diabetes can make your vision blurred

As every cell is dependant to a large degree on glucose for its fuel, any impairment in its supply or being able to properly metabolize that glucose will lead to impairment in the function of those cells and organs. Consequently, the tissues that have the highest demand for proper blood flow and utilization are most susceptible to the damage of impaired flow or metabolism, e.g., the kidneys, heart, nerves, retina. A lack of blood flow and oxygen to the tissues can also result in many infections, and often the only treatment left is amputation. A high concentration of sugar can also cause increased fatigue and weight gain. It does not kill instantly, but causes long-term, permanent damage over many years with lethal complications. That is why we often take a lax attitude: slow and gradual but certain and fatal.

What related complications can result from diabetes?
Diabetes is not only the leading cause of kidney failure, but it is also the leading cause of blindness, particularly among patients between the ages of 25 and 70. It also increases the chance of having and dying from cardiovascular disease and stroke. The probability of dying from stroke and cardiovascular disease is increased by 400% in people with diabetes, and 2 out of 3 people with diabetes die from heart disease and stroke. Diabetes also damages the nervous system. Approximately 60%-70% of diabetics have some form of nervous system damage. This is especially a concern for diabetic males because they usually have trouble functioning sexually. Erections involve blood flow and nerves.

Because diabetes causes nerve damage and affects blood flow, many males struggle with sexual dysfunction. The first question doctors ask when a patient complains of erectile dysfunction is, “Do you have diabetes?” According to statistics, more than half of sexual dysfunctions among males come from diabetes. In addition, diabetes is a major risk factor for heart attacks and amputations. Sixty percent of amputations occur among people with diabetes. This means that each year, 82,000 amputations are performed on people with diabetes.

Long John Silver did not loose a leg to diabetes

What is the relationship between diabetes and obesity?
Diabetes basically involves an inherent metabolism problem. Because of the inability to absorb and process blood sugar in the muscles, the muscles are constantly experiencing malnutrition. Insulin that has been produced may not be efficiently used. Coupled with lack of exercise, excess glucose eventually becomes fat. We also know that this abnormal blood sugar metabolism affects appetite. All of these lead to weight problems. Between 70%-80% of people with obesity have diabetes. Likewise, 70%-80% of diabetics have difficulty controlling their weight.

I don’t have diabetes, why should I be concerned?
Diabetes is the “silent killer”. Often people who have diabetes do not know it because they cannot feel it. People must take a direct measurement of their blood glucose levels to know if they have diabetes. Even more alarming, when a person is diagnosed with diabetes, the actual development of the disease actually started on the average of seven years prior. Once the active symptoms and complications are observed, diabetes has already entered the later stages. Early detection is good, but prevention is even better. A yearly blood test is essential, even if you feel healthy.

What is Pre-Diabetes?

Pre-diabetes is when a person has a higher than normal blood glucose levels (hyperglycemic) but the level is not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetic or they are unable to secrete enough extra insulin in response to a glucose challenge. This is a cause for concern, especially when 700000 people in the Netherlands have “Pre-diabetes”. At this point, long term damage to the body is already occurring and often leads to Type II diabetes. If the blood glucose is controlled at an early stage, the development into Type II diabetes can be prevented. Often, diabetes is referred to as the “Silent Killer” due to the unobvious symptoms of diabetes. People who have diabetes or are pre-diabetic initially do not feel pain or feel any symptoms. It is only when the diabetes has reached a serious stage when all the complications, pain and symptoms surface. As previously mentioned, according to statistics, once a person is diagnosed as diabetic, it is likely that the onset of the diabetes actually started seven years ago. On average, every 10 years afterward, there is a rise in blood sugar of 100 milligrams per deciliter. Diabetes is a progressive disease.

Treatment Goals
The main goal for diabetes management is good blood glucose control. Your doctor will recommend a desirable range for you. Keeping your blood glucose as close to your target range as possible will help keep you healthy. Other important health goals for people with diabetes are lowering high blood pressure and decreasing cholesterol and triglyceride (blood fat) levels. If these are high, you may be more at risk for heart disease and stroke. A big goal for anyone who smokes is to stop! Smoking accelerates all of the problems associated with diabetes, because it cuts blood flow and oxygen to the cells. Good Nutrition Matters Your food choices will affect your diabetes control. Foods that contain natural or added sugar or starch (carbohydrates) will affect your blood glucose more than foods that are mainly protein or fat. A registered dietitian can help you plan a healthy meal plan using a variety of your favorite foods. Controlling calories is important for diabetes control. A weight loss of just 10 to 20 pounds can make a big difference in your blood glucose and blood pressure control. Drinking plenty of water, eating higher fiber foods, and eating less fat will help. Watching your sodium intake is also helpful if you have high blood pressure. Limiting solid fats will help control your cholesterol level.

Eating less fat so next time eat only half of it.

Most people find that eating the same amount of food at about the same time each day helps them control their blood glucose. Skipping meals is a bad idea, especially if you take diabetes medicine. Missing a meal also makes you more likely to overeat later. 2 You do not need to buy special food for your diabetes. The diabetic meal plan is good for both you and your family. Getting Active Is Important Blood glucose and weight control are very difficult to achieve without regular physical activity. Activity may include merely moving around more during the day, driving less, taking the stairs more often, doing yard work, or walking the dog, all of which increase caloric use.

Regularly scheduled exercise is also good. For weight loss, exercise that gets the heart rate up helps the most. Good choices are brisk walking, swimming laps, water aerobics, and biking. If you have not exercised regularly lately, have a doctor’s exam before you start. The results of this checkup will help you choose the activity that is best for you. The main goal is to do more of something you enjoy. You should exercise 5 to 7 days a week. Exercising with a partner or group may help you better stick to your program. Exercising at the same time each day may make your blood glucose levels more predictable.

Blood Glucose Monitoring is the only way to tell how well you have your diabetes under control. Your medical team will tell you how often to check. These blood glucose readings will help you see patterns in your diabetes control. If you have three values at the same time each day that are above or below your target range, you may need to change your eating, exercise, or medication habits. Recording your blood glucose readings, what you ate, what you did that day, and how much medicine you took will help you see those patterns. There are many monitors available. A diabetes educator or a pharmacist can help you decide which one is best for you. Always take your monitor and blood glucose records with you when you see your medical team. They can test to be sure your monitor is working correctly and that you are checking it properly.

Obese and diabetic a deadly combination

Medication Choices
New medicines for diabetes seem to appear every day. Your doctor will decide which medication is right for you. Some people with type 2 diabetes may only require better eating habits and more physical activity to control their diabetes. Medication needs often change over time, so you may switch diabetes medicines or add medicine more than once. Blood glucose monitoring is essential in deciding the correct amount of diabetes medicine for you. Diabetes pills work in different ways. They are not insulin. Some pills cause your pancreas to produce more insulin. Some make your liver produce less blood glucose after meals. Others slow the absorption of carbohydrate. Another type makes you more sensitive to insulin. You may need one or more of these medicines to control your diabetes. You may need insulin shots. Some people need insulin along with diabetes pills. How often you take insulin depends on how much insulin your body still produces and how closely your doctor wants to control your diabetes. Different types of insulin last different amounts of time. Your medical team will tell you how much of each kind you need to take and how often.

 In the beginning your overwhelmed by all the information and medication

Don’t Be Overwhelmed
Diabetes is a complex disease, and it takes time to develop the skills needed to control it. A certified diabetes educator can help. Ask your doctor to refer you to an educator for diabetes education. A diabetes support group may also help.
  

You will be surprised how much you will learn and how much easier it is to adjust your diabetes care so that it fits your lifestyle.

The Old Sailor,

Sailor's wisdom

 

Dear Bloggers,

As the summer weather os on it’s return and the rain bashes on to the windows of the bus, the irst storm is a fact, my mind drifts off to the days that  I was at sea. I rememberred a couple of nautical proverbs that I learned on the way.  It was one of the funny things to do during bad weather for me  hang out in the messroom with some other crewmembers and pop up all these sayings and try to explain them.  Those were the days.

 

If you are a friend of the captain, you can wipe your hands on the sail.
This one is easy if you are a good friend of the boss, you can live a bit next to the rules. 
Where water is the boss, there must the land obey.
We cannot tame nature.
Smooth seas do not make skilful sailors.
A sailor needs to be able to work during  rough conditions  
The water in which one drowns is always an ocean.
If someone gets into trouble or even dies, the consequences are often bigger than you can imagine.
If you want to drown yourself, don't torture yourself with shallow water.
If you want to do something, do it properly.

Don't build a new ship out of old wood.
You might have a stockpile of unused design concepts, but every new client should be afforded the new ideas they’re paying for. 
If rain bothers you, you can always jump into the sea.
 If you are already wet, you won't care about the rain 
No matter how big the sea may be, sometimes two ships meet.
Don’t give up on love, one day you will meet the one
Don't buy a boat that is under water.
Don’t buy something that you cannot see
Seamen learn to get to know each other during a storm.
You learn during rough times to know the ones that you can rely on
A man without money is like a ship without sails.
Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has not a destination. You are only floating around with no steady course

 

Better lose the anchor than the whole ship.
Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.
Better poor on land than rich at sea.
Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and rich.
It is good rowing with the sail set.
Live is easier when things are coming your way.
The best pilots are ashore.
 It is easier to criticise other people than too achieve something yourself
Worse things happen at sea.
if things are bad ashore, then they could be a lot worse at sea.
The surface of the water is beautiful, but it is no good to sleep on.
Things may look beautiful on the outside but not you don’t know what lies underneath

It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man.
the things that you expect to be safe can be more harmful than than the things you think will be dangerous
just because you don't suspect them of being dangerous

Women are as changeable as the sea.
A womans emotions can swing as rapidly as weather at sea,
You know who the good seamen are when the storm comes.
In bad times you know who can handle the situation

After the ship has sunk, everyone knows how she might have been saved.
After something bad has happened everyone has an opinion on how this mishap could have been prevented.

And of course there are many more, strange but true every first stormy day I feel somekind of home sick. But sadly enough these days are over. Don’t worry I am happy now with the life ashore and they are just some sentimental flashbacks. Salt water goes in the brain and the sea will never leave you.

The Old Sailor,

Facebook invite sparks riot in Haren

Dear Bloggers,

It is just a bit more than a week ago that some of our colleagues got involved in this drama in the commuters town of Haren. A small town of 19.000 with pretty normal inhabitants. We have a couple of buslines running through and I never experienced any trouble here. Until this poor high school student placed invitation on facebook and forgot one little mark. The colleagues that have been there during the riots have feared for there lives. As these there vehicles got smashed with bricks, streettiles, sticks and for sale signs and whatever these idiots could find on there stampede. It was a complete warzone one of them told me. 

When Dutch high school student Merthe planned a small gathering with friends to mark her 16th birthday, she had no idea it would turn into a riot-filled night with thousands of sensation seekers descending on her small Dutch hometown of Haren. But one forgotten click meant her Facebook invitation went viral and now editors, journalists, police and public officials are asking who is to blame, and who is going to pick up the after-party damage tab? 

After Merthe neglected to mark her party invitation as “private,” it went viral, with some 30,000 people saying they would “attend” what became known as Project X Haren, named after an American film with a similar theme. I think it is strange that people are coming too a non excisting party to play the hooligan. There must be some wires missing in their brains. Maybe these so called thrill seekers should be sterilized as a part of their punishment.

Police estimate that some 3,000 youngsters actually made the trip last Friday night to the upscale town of 19.000 inhabitants near the northern city of Groningen, where 500 riot police were waiting for them.

“Miserable and frightening”
In a night that saw cars burned and windows smashed, the numbers aren’t pretty: some 35 arrests, 30 people reportedly treated in the hospital, and damages that insurers are estimating could be in the millions. Even the local Albert Heijn supermarket wasn’t spared.

"I went because a friend of mine said it would be fun…we understood something would be organised,” said attendee and University of Groningen student. But after staying for only half an hour, he realised nothing was organised at all and left the scene he called it: “miserable and frightening, not really a success.”
In the aftermath of the Haren affair, indeed, even in the lead-up--there’s been a lot of finger pointing about who is to blame for the out-of-control event. Many observers blame the social media sites where the party originated, not only Facebook, but the re-tweets on Twitter and even promotional videos on YouTube.

Blame the messenger
The Consumer Affairs Minister of Germany, a country that has had at least two of its own viral parties says Facebook should change its privacy settings to avoid private invitations becoming public. “What has to happen before Facebook takes action?’ asked Minister Ilse Aigne. Facebook Netherlands, meanwhile, says while it regrets the trouble in Haren, it is not responsible, and the company maintains its privacy settings are not difficult to use. In the Netherlands a lot of youngsters use Hyves a similar program like Facebook which has a pop up before you place something which asks who should be able to read this? You can choose from options like friends and everyone. I would say Facebook could put in something similar.

On the website of the Dutch media trade magazine Villamedia, editors and academics also weighed in on the debate, with media sociologist Peter Vasterman of the University of Amsterdam saying traditional media’s coverage of the event turned it into something much bigger than social media could have done alone. "Traditional media make an issue really important," said Vasterman of the constant pre-party coverage. But the chief editor of Dutch broadcaster NOS said he was just doing his job. "It's news that a girl makes a mistake on social media and then a village is in fear,” said Marcel Gelauff. “I cannot ignore that."

Haren’s mayor Rob Bats has called for an investigation into the role of both social and traditional media in the Haren affair. “What should we tolerate from the media?” he asked. Dutch Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten, meanwhile, has called the riots “completely unacceptable” and says those who caused the damage should foot the bill.

Double-edged social media
But officials investigating Friday night’s disturbances are using the same social media they blame for the unrest to help them solve it. Police are combing videos and photos from the night in an attempt to track down the troublemakers. A call for the public to upload riot images on the national police’s website has led to four gigabytes of footage so far.

In addition to other public videos of the disturbances that are being used to help identify perpetrators, authorities say they can trace potential witnesses via social media. “We constantly monitor Twitter,” said a Groningen police spokesman.

Facebook, too, is being used by officials to help identity those involved. And in perhaps an even greater irony, the website that spawned Project X Haren may also offer one of the most practical solutions to the town’s immediate problems: according to broadcaster NOS, some 15,000 people have “liked” a Facebook appeal for people to go to Haren to help clean up the mess.

If this is the world we live in, we should fear for the worst if your daughter is on the internet now! So until she has left the house try to explain to her the dark sides of internetcommunities

The Old Sailor,