Flora loves the beach and many of her photo shoots take place there. She recently finished a video shoot for Bronx channel 68, appearing as a spokesmodel on Orchard Beach.

She has shot plenty of calendars, appeared on postcards and danced her way into rap videos for Ammo, Rob Base, and Creg G.

And she’s taking acting lessons at the Stella Adler School in Manhattan. "It’s not what I thought…you have to put yourself in the moment and allow yourself to let it out."

Born in Ecuador, Flora came to the U.S. at the age of two. Her father is Philippine and her mother has some Italian heritage. She moved to Woodhaven seven years ago.

"It’s comfortable and convenient," said Flora. She enjoys strolling though Forest Park during the summer. "It’s good to go and lay out and get some sun." The little boutiques and cafés on Austin Street in Forest Hills are another favorite of hers. But she doesn’t enjoy Forest Hills prices.

Although Flora previously modeled topless, she won’t anymore. At one point she considered posing for Playboy. "I would, but my boyfriend wouldn’t let me."

Flora goes for older men. "I need a man who is intelligent and older, because I enjoy learning from them. I grow as a person, as a woman."

To maintain her six-pack, Flora works out about four times a week at Gold’s Gym with the help of two trainers. She studied three years of Chinese-American Goju martial arts, which includes Tiger Claw and Jujitsu. She’s won several first place competitions.

Can she kick butt? "I wouldn’t want to take on my boyfriend, he’s so sweet, but I could kick my ex-boyfriend’s ass," Flora giggled.

The recent anthrax scare may not be the Big Apple’s first encounter with bio-terrorism according to a New Yorker article that appeared in the magazine in 1999.

Soon after health officials discovered the presence of the deadly West Nile Virus in College Point’s Powell’s Cove in 1999, the Central Intelligence Agency began investigating whether or not the outbreak of the disease had any connection to terrorist kingpin Osama Bin Laden.

Without quoting anyone directly at the Central Intelligence Agency, the magazine described analysts there as having a "whiff of concern" that West Nile could have been sent deliberately to the United States.

At the time the idea sounded far fetched, but given the events of the past few weeks, maybe someone should question the mosquitoes.

In the wake of the World Trade Center disaster, children are perhaps the best sources of innocent, non-political commentary. Kids have no agenda, no pre-conceived notions, no political correctness and no personal biases. They say what they feel, no holds barred.

One young girl from Jamaica, a family friend of a QConfer, said with extreme sadness on Sept. 12, "Is the Pentagon going to be called a Square now?" An upset first grade boy from Flushing said, "My daddy promised to take me to the top of the tall buildings. Now I guess we can’t go." Comments and questions like these are simple, but tell the story of how children — and most Americans — are really feeling . . . totally confused and innocent, just like little kids.

The Board of Education, however, has decided to keep the thoughts and feelings of children within the walls of school buildings throughout New York. No one is allowed to talk to the children, except teachers and occasionally school psychologists. No media. No outsiders. No stories.

Understandable. Kids are impressionable and easily scared. The Board of Ed thinks it’s "protecting" them. Still, that’s an entire group of society that has no voice. They might not understand terrorism, but they understand something is wrong. How are they feeling? What are they learning in school? How are teachers answering their questions? How are teachers dealing with Muslim students? QConf has talked to some teachers off the record. They seem to be doing a good job.

But what exactly are they doing, readers ask? How exactly are the kids? We’ll never really know.

Life sure has changed around Flushing since Sept. 11.

From the American flags hung in every shop on Main Street to a Town Hall meeting to raise money for the families of New York’s Bravest, residents of Flushing are showing their patriotism and are still dealing with the overwhelming feeling of loss caused by the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers – even though they live thousands of miles away.

That’s right, the sleepy town of Flushing, Michigan – population 8,500 – is coming to terms with the terrorism on the minds of most of the town’s residents, according to Dennis Bow, city manager of Flushing.

Many of the residents were "quite angry" after seeing the events of Sept. 11 unfold and "there is a sense here that [terrorism] needs to be addressed."

"This is a tight knit community," Bow said – something else the town has in common with the neighborhood just eight miles from ground zero.

According to the Michigan official, the mid-western town was named for its "sister city" in Queens when a former resident moved there.

Michigan historians credit the name, Flushing, to Charles Seymour who, with his brother James, founded the town in 1835 after purchasing a large tract of land in the area and building a saw mill on the Flint River.

Charles had lived for some years in Flushing, Queens. His family had ties to Vlissingen, Holland (which translates as "Flushing").

Queens firefighters will be the first to test a new system of alert via their high-tech radios.

Sources told QConf that the alert – a long, loud signal – will be sent out to firefighters who are inside buildings on the verge of collapse. The FDNY’s digital "handy-talkie" radios are in the process of being re-programmed to allow one channel to override the others. A long, shrill tone (loud enough to hear over the fire, manpower and equipment) will alert firefighters to "get out" of any building that threatens to collapse.

Fire officials have dubbed the tone their "evacuation signal," triggering immediate action by firefighters who, in the past, have not received verbal orders due to static-filled channels.

Plans to re-program the radios were on the board on Sept. 11, but fire officials said the signal may not have helped to save many lives at the World Trade Center because so many of the firefighters who were lost were on upper floors of the Towers and wouldn’t have had time to get out, regardless of the warning.

Sources said the FDNY rejected proposals by four companies for global positioning satellite units (GPS) which would track trapped firefighters. FDNY brass said the units wouldn’t work properly because they track to street numbers but cannot locate a person at a specific site inside a building.

During the World Trade Center rescue effort, firefighters tried to locate people through thermal imaging, but the intense heat blocked much of the signal.

The new system should be "up" on radios issued to Queens firefighters "by late October." If the system works inside burning buildings, radios will be re-programmed throughout the city.