Some people are annoyed when this pop-up appears on their screen, and wonder if it is legitimate or necessary:

This is indeed a legitimate software update from Sun Microsystems, the vendor that provides Java. Java is a programming language and runtime environment used by a number of websites to display interactive web content. In order to secure your computer from online threats, you should keep all of your online software up-to-date. This includes Java. So, the next time this pop-up happens, you should click on the pop-up window and allow the update to proceed. It should only take a few minutes.

We certainly have had more than our share of rain in the Atlanta area recently! Many areas experienced historic levels of flooding as swollen streams and area lakes overflowed. Lots of people had wet basement, but many were really flooded!

Is your home in a flood hazard area? FEMA has online resources which outline the extent of the officially calculated hazard areas. One such resource is FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer for Google Earth.

To get started, download and install Google Earth if you do not have it already. Then download the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer and save it. Opening this file will launch Google Earth with the FEMA layer loaded.

Here is a screenshot showing the overlay after choosing “Special Flood Hazard Areas” and “Floodways”.

The red areas indicate flood hazard zones, where flood insurance may be mandatory.