Last modified: Saturday, June 26, 2004 11:56 PM EDT REILLY: Not for homebodies Now that it's summer, some of you are undoubtedly planning on going on vacation. However, if you've been heeding the words of the Department of Homeland Security (Motto: ``We know what you're doing and you should be ashamed of yourself'' ) you are probably planning on spending any time off you have huddled up in a downstairs closet with a transistor radio, a supply of bottled water and a roll of duct tape. Now America's tourism industry (Motto: ``Please, for the love of heaven, get out of the house and go somewhere.'' ) is giving you exactly the opposite advice and is filling the airwaves and travel sections of the newspaper with scores of exciting destinations for you and your credit card, er, family. Recently, in an actual article in an actual newspaper that will remain nameless here but whose initials are ``The Boston Globe,'' readers were urged to visit the scenic Allegheny region that was the site of the Johnstown Flood. Now that sounds like a fun day. `` Gee, Daddy, that was a blast! Maybe next year we can visit the site of the great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919.'' So, perhaps in spite of your misgivings, you have opted to actually get away on your vacation this year, perhaps to some exotic location, assuming that, after all this time, the airline industry has worked the bugs out of its security system. Well, consider this recent story by the Associated Press: More airlines than previously disclosed gave personal data on passengers to the government for testing a computerized background-check project, acting Transportation Security Administration chief David Stone said. Passenger data was obtained from at least two computerized reservation systems, Sabre and Galileo International, and from four more airlines than previously revealed: Delta, Continental Airlines, America West Airlines and Frontier Airlines, Stone said. The data -- known as passenger name records, or PNR -- include credit card numbers, travel reservation information, address, telephone number and meal requests, which can indicate a passenger's religion or ethnicity. Privacy advocates promptly called for a congressional investigation. OK, so maybe you don't want to fly this summer. You can always take the train or even drive to one of America's favorite vacation destinations, the Sunshine State. Or can you? According this from the AP: License plates proclaim Florida the Sunshine State, but the National Weather Service says when it comes to catching rays, it comes in a distant sixth. Arizona ranks at the top, followed by California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas, according to the weather service. Florida has more days where 20 to 70 percent of the sun is blocked by clouds than anywhere else in the continental United States, weather officials said. `` We ought to call ourselves the Partly Cloudy State instead of the Sunshine State,'' said Miami-based meteorologist Jim Lushine. `` But it probably wouldn't get the Chamber of Commerce's vote.'' Well, maybe you could just stay home in your own backyard and enjoy your well-earned comforts in familiar surroundings. Or maybe not. This just in from your friends at the AP: As if West Nile virus wasn't bad enough, now U.S. health officials are on the lookout for another mosquito-bourne disease, fearing it could become a permanent part of the American landscape if it entered the country. Rift Valley fever, which originated in Africa, is the only disease at the top of both human health and agriculture lists of dangerous diseases. The virus can kill people, with a near 1 percent mortality rate, making it deadlier than West Nile. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go pick up my supply of bottled water. TOM REILLY is a Sun Chronicle local news editor who is waiting for his award from the tourism industry. He can be reached at 508-236-0332 or at treilly@thesunchronicle.com.