Conficker Worm Could Be Heading Your Way

Conficker (also called Downadup) will be triggered on April 1st.





This one makes me a little nervous, because it's being taken seriuosly by the major tech security firms. I've read that there are at least 3 million machines that are already infected & ready to be triggered & one of the computer techs in my family has been told by their employer to not make any plans for April 1st, or 2nd, in case they have to stay at work trying to do damage control.

If this worm lives up to the hype I've been reading, we might see networks to jammed with traffic & spotty web sites & email, maybe more. Remember "Slammer" in 2003? I do. Yuck. I don't know too much about it yet, but have been reading up to get up to speed just in case it affects me, mine, yours, ours, etc.

Microsoft announced a $250K reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individuals behind the creation and/or distribution of Conficker

You can test whether they have the worm by trying to access the web site of F-Secure or Symantec Corp. since the worm supposedly blocks those sites.

I read sci-fi, & the apocalyptic takeover of humanity by vicious sentient machines seems pretty plausible to me & this could be the first step. You know, create a massive botnet army that harnesses the power of the internet to do evil against the citizens of the world...

(playing in the background)
"Paranoia will destroy ya..."

Here are some links so you can read up for yourself:

• Statesman article
• CNN article
• Microsoft article
• Wickipedia article
• ABC News article
• CBS13 article
• PC World article
• Tech-Linkblog article

Now go check your machines!

Good Deal

Staples has an Acer X183Hb 18.5" Widescreen LCD Monitor
Reg: $199.99
Save: -$100.00

Price after savings: $99.99 Each

Click here for the link.

Science Fiction No More

The headline reads "UK Scientists Grow A Living Human 'Brain' "

Kind of gets your attention right away huh? I go on to learn that a group of scientists at Aston University have altered cells from a cancer tumor & are making them behave like brain cells with the intention of learning how real brains work.

Huh? Ok, so I don't quite get it. How can you create a brain from a cancer tumor? At this point the article sounded decidedly science fiction-ish, but evidently it does have some merit--at least to the team at Aston U.

I was struck by the headline. How it really grabbed you & reeled you in. Is that good journalism? I guess so, I read it.

I started thinking about the advances in...well, everything. Technology, science, medicine, communications, you name it. And of course our headlines reflect it.

I've been reading science fiction all my life & remember the sense of amazement I got in 1996 when the internet was first blooming across the country. I distinctly remember thinking that the books I had been reading since I was a child had already dreamed it up before it was a reality.

George Orwell wrote about an armor plated war vehicle a full two decades before the first tanks rolled out.

Gardner Dozois is the anthologist for a series I love "The World's Greatest Science Fiction" & compiles a yearly summary of events that frequently reminds me that the world is always trying to keep up with the author's imagination.

So here's to the weird headlines, hope we read a lot more!

Click here to read about how the guys at Aston are doing their thing.

Is This A Ghost?

An eerie image of a figure in period costume at a Scottish castle has spooked experts conducting the biggest ever investigation into photographic evidence for ghosts.

The picture, taken in May 2008, appears to show a man or woman in a ruff peering out of a barred window at Tantallon Castle. No mannequins or costumed guides are employed at the castle, and three photographic experts have confirmed that no digital trickery was used on the photo.

Tantallon Castle, a ruined fortress dating back to the 14th century, stands on a remote rocky headland near North Berwick on the Scottish east coast.



Click here to visit the Science of Ghosts website & learn about the project that brought this photo to the public eye.

Happy Birthday Craig!

Today you are almost middle-aged.

Hope your work schedule eases up soon.

Happy Birthday Leonard Nimoy

It seems like just yesterday you joking around with the Captain...wait, I guess I must be imagining that since you had no obvious displays of emotion after the second episode. At any rate, here's to you!

Er, just a suggestion, now that you're a serious photographer, how about a sci-fi series? You could probably give it a unique perspective.

Raw Chocolate Vitamix Recipes

For the sweet tooth:

Chocolate Covered Cherry Chews

Dehydrate 24 pitted bing cherries until chewy. Set aside
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1 cup raw cacao nibs
1 cup raw agave nector
1/4 cup pure water
Add water, cacao nibs, & agave nector to vitamix & blend till creamy.

Dip cherries into mixture & lay on dehydrator sheet. Dehydrate for 2-3 hours. Roll in cacao powder. Cool in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

A Garden?

We are contemplating creating a garden at work this year. We have really good sun there (as opposed to my yard which is almost all shade), & it would be really nice to put some of that space to use. We're contemplating a vertical garden, which would look similar to the picture on the left.

We eat alot of salads at work & make green drinks almost every day, in addition to growing our own sprouts.

Now if I could just figure out how to get cacao seeds so I could grow my own chocolate tree I would have it made.

I'll let you know how this project turns out--assuming we agree on it in the first place.

Restaurant Review Umi Sushi Hendersonville

My friends & I went to the all you can eat sushi night at Umi's in Hendersonville last night. The food was good as usual but they could have done a better job of crowd control. When it's an invitation-only event & you are paying a pretty good price ($25 each + tax, tip, drinks) you really don't want to have to wait in a line for 10 minutes with a paper plate like you were at a BBQ fundraiser.

We had a good table but I pity the folks who were in the main dining area--the restaurant created a buffet line at the sushi bar & when everybody showed up at the same time the line ended up snaking all through the dining area. Folks sitting there had to be a miserable trying to gobble down dinner with all that noise going on, people staring down at their food, faces right at butt level, etc. I wouldn't have stayed if I had been seated there.

Now before you get on me for hating Umi's let me just tell you that it is my favorite Japanese restaurant--bar none. Every other time I've been there the service has been great & the food (all of it, not just sushi) has been fresh & tasty.

I think next time they have an "invitation only" sushi night I'll decline.

Happy Birthday William Shatner!

Live long and prosper!

Oh & yep, you really were ripped off when they didn't include you in the movie.

RIP White Squirrel

Our favorite white squirrel was hit by a car this morning. He was playing in the yard when we left for breakfast & was dead in the road when we got back. We sure will miss him.

Happy Day

Today is Sunday or sushi day as it is known around here, so I thought I would post a link to this:














It's Sushi Soap by Baron Bob. Stay clean & think about your favorite food at the same time.

Here's the link.

Happy Birthday Johann

Your skill at creating cantatas will never be forgotten. You were & still are an enigma & obvious multi-tasker, making time to father 20 children by your 2 wives & still composing over 1000 works--most of them in record time.

Remember that time in Arnstadt you were playing the organ & ended up drawing your sword on that "nanny-goat bassoonist"? You were such a wild & crazy guy.

Your Toccata in D Minor remains to this day one of the most well known pieces ever written. I'm sure you had no idea you would live on in movies, ringtones, & video games in America. Did you even know about America? If so, you certainly never wrote much about it in your copious notes.

And a great big hooray for you, spelling out your own name in the music in "The Art of the Fugue". I just wish you had been able to finish it...

Thanks again & Ich habe genug to you Mr. Bach.

Click here for the ogg vorbis of bwv565 (Toccata & Fugue in D Minor) Believe me, you'll recognize it.

Another Good Deal

Pyrex & Corelle Amethyst Items, $1.99 Each

Use code A20350 to get additional 20% off.

Here's the link, while it lasts.

Enjoy

What It Really Costs

SEO can be expensive. I came across this report on SEM (search engine marketing) spending. The chart below lists the daily budgets of the current top spenders:

1 geico.com $246,379.60
2 progressive.com $200,614.27
3 expedia.com $136,401.83
4 bank2online.com $127,413.46
5 thinkcash.com $116,581.36
6 ebay.com $102,031.29
7 esurance.com $93,367.57
8 google.com $79,116.47
9 gamespot.com $76,451.85
10 orbitz.com $75,771.79

Wow, I wonder how many click-thru's have to happen before this kind of money pays off?

Buh Bye Internet Explorer 7, Hello IE8

That's right, coming at you with "porn mode" er, I mean "InPrivate" enabled, is the all new IE8. It's been in development since 2006 if you can believe that, & the web is all abuzz...about other stuff, not this.

Despite using a Windows machine, I haven’t touched IE for weeks. I downloaded the release to check it anyway out but since then I have only opened it a few times. I only use IE to check client's work anyway lately, for various reasons.

Here are some items of note:

• IE8 has some new security features (yawn), like an updating list of “bad” sites, and it will pop up a message if you go to one.
  
• IE8 uses "Accelerators" to give you more options in the menu when you right click a word or phrase.
• There's a drop-down menu that previews suggested searches. (joy...the last thing I want is a browser telling me what to look at on the Net)
• Tracks headlines
• Tracks eBay auctions
• Tracks weather
• Uses "Web Slices" to track using the Favorites bar
• Related tabs are color-coded (ok, I kind of liked that)
• Search field can show images now
• Add to Favorites with one click (ok, I kind of liked that too)
• Here's the Wikipedia article about it.
  

For the record, it's already been successfully hacked, more than once. But then again, so have all the other browsers out there so I'm not sure that I just gave you any real news.

All in all, I think this browser is an improvement over IE7, which was an improvement over IE6, etc., etc..

The real question in my mind will concern two things--speed & stability. I run XP & Vista on a variety of machines & whenever I check IE always comes in dead last in speed. IE8 slows down considerably when you have more than about 10 or 15 tabs open, even after they're finished loading. As for stability, only time will tell.

So buh bye IE7, thanks for the memories. Hello IE8, I hope we get along.

Good Deal

GraveyardMall.com has women's Foster Grant Sunglasses for $10 each while they last.

Here's the link.

Enjoy

The Bad Economy Is Not My Master

The economy sucks. There, was that eloquent enough? I'm not breaking any newsflash here, you can't turn on the radio, tv, or whatever gadget you get your info from without yet another sad story. My friends have had to change jobs, move from their homes, drop out of school, you name it, just to get by. Truth is, they're barely doing that sometimes. It's been hard especially on smaller business's. The Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce said at a meeting last year that over 90% of the business's in operation in Henderson County were considered "small business".

Every day I drive about 3 miles to the post office before starting my day's activities. At least every other day there will be another business closed, building empty, or home for rent or sale. What's not to be paranoid about? How many people have lost a huge chunk of their retirement since 2007?

I'll bet we all have recession stories by now.

I bring up this not-so-pleasant subject to make the point that everybody reading this has been affected in one way or another by what's been happening, so what good does it do to lash out against somebody else who is going through it too? I'm getting tired of watching desperate people take the low road time after time. I haven't seen it help their situations at all, I've only seen it damage self-esteem, relationships, etc..

When this is all over, where will they be? I know how it feels to need money, I know how it feels to have bills looming overhead too, & "not good" doesn't begin to describe it. But acting out of fear, anger, desperation, whatever, doesn't help at all. That much I know.

I firmly resolve not to do that! I started yesterday with someone who has treated me pretty unfairly. It didn't feel good & I was arguably within my rights to act in kind, but I didn't even though I was tempted. Maybe some day we'll meet again & get a few things straightened out. Maybe not. Maybe I'll get hit by a milk truck before that happens, but at least I'll know I did the right thing--in spite of the economy.

So take that recession! You might keep me from making a bunch of money but you can't keep me from taking the high road when I have the chance...

Half Off Deals

This site sells certificates for...you guessed it, half off. They have alot of restaurant deals, but what makes them different from restaurant.com is that they also have certificates to other places as well. Currently in Asheville there are certificates being offered for Foot RX, a car wash, a tshirt shop for gals, etc., along with about a dozen restaurants--many that can't be found on restaurant.com.

This site is nice if you are going out of town, they offer lots of travel deals.

As always, caveat emptor. Make sure to read the fine print : )

Enjoy!

Here's the link.

Another Raw Food Vitamix Recipe

Spring Zing Drink

2 cups pure water
1 medium carrot
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 cup sprouts


Add together in vitamix & blend till smooth. This drink is really more healthy if you leave the pulp in, but you can strain it if you want a smoother drink.

Another ingredient that works well with this is one really ripe tomato.

Enjoy!

Awww...Ouch

Poor thing.


Somebody emailed me this pic earlier this week, & I wanted to share.

Twitter Me This...

What is wrong with this picture?

This washing machine posts a message to you on Twitter when it's load is finished washing. Does this mean that corporate Japan is counting on us being so tied to our computers that we can't make it across the house to check the clothes?

Man, are we weak!

Personally, I don't like Twitter at all, and it has nothing to do with my laundry...

Man, There Are Alot Of Phobias Out There

But Tom's mac & cheese phobia is the funniest yet.

Today is Friday the 13th, for the second time this year. Before 2009 is over we will experience another one too.

Lots of folks have phobias about this day. As a matter of fact, lots of folks have phobias about all kinds of things you wouldn't normally think about.

Below is a picture of BHO Tech Watch. For $11 you can protect yourself from those scary static shocks made possible by shag carpet, door knobs, or sweaters you pull out of the dryer. Whew!, it's about time--I was running out of sweaters...

Tightwads Rock

Don't get me wrong--I know how to spend money, & I can do a great job of blowing a budget. It's just that I don't want...stuff anymore, & that's led me to find a new hobby that works for me--saving money.

When I was younger I wanted, wanted, wanted. I didn't really go for the typical girl wants (big diamond, new car, designer clothes), but I always wanted something that was just out of reach. When I got married there were 2 incomes but we still really didn't have much--just enough to pay bills & go out to eat occasionally. Then came middle age, a new job & a new group of friends & co-workers; people who evidently had an endless pool of money to draw from. What I mean is that they charged everything, went everywhere they wanted, ate out daily, & never seemed to worry about anything. What a fun group! I happily jumped in the pool but never could quite keep up. Pretty soon I gave up trying & realized that all that shopping & bar-hopping & keeping up appearances is not only tiring, but also a bit annoying to me. Seemed like I never had a conversation with any of them that had anything in it worth remembering. I still like those folks, but from a distance now.

I work for myself now & it's not exactly easy all the time. I gave up security, a (tiny) bit of schedule freedom, & a life & job I was familiar with in the hopes of...well, I don't really know. I just knew when it happened that it felt like the right thing to do. What I didn't realize at the time was how hard it would be to suddenly not have an ad budget to work with, to not have a guaranteed income at the end of the day, to not have anything guaranteed--not even the ability to pay bills--unless I was doing it myself. What a change for me! I was soft & didn't even realize it.

So the past few years have really been eye-opening for me. Life has trained me to prioritize, to get my ducks in a row, & to really let my inner cheapskate come to the forefront. You know what? It's been fun! Seriously, what a challenge to be able to make it work in tough economic times. To remind yourself that taking a walk outside is free, to hang out with friends in the living room is free, to play music is free. In other words, the best things are free. Funny how hanging out with the wrong crowd can make you forget that.

The rest can be pretty cheap too, if you know where to look--& I am nothing if not internet proficient. So, here's the deal. Once a week at least there will be a post here with a link to one of my favorite money-saving sites or an article, or something that I do now that saves me money. I'm having so much fun with this that I want to share it with all my friends. Hopefully, I can learn something from you too!

With that in mind, here is a link to today's Yahoo! article about cheapskates to get us all in that money saving frame of mind...

Funny Site

The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA), is a private art museum established "to celebrate the labor of artists whose work would be displayed and appreciated in no other forum".

I have been checking out the Museum of Bad Art for a few years now & it just keeps getting better.

I thought I would share it with you here.

Enjoy!

It's That Time of Year

My nose begins to itch, my eyes get watery, & my head swims with congestion. Yep, tree pollen time. It starts around Hendersonville in February & goes straight through till May.

The area we live in gives us a great diversity of plants & trees & all manner of growing things--most of which produce some sort of pollen. After the initial onslaught of tree pollen I can look forward to all manner of plants that will clog up my sinuses & make me miserable from the neck up.

I'm told to stay out of the outdoor air, keep my car windows closed, dry clothes inside in a dryer, etc., but how can a person live here in Western North Carolina & not go outside to enjoy the weather? That's one of the prime reasons for living here.

So it's medicate or be miserable for me.

Weather.com lets you check the pollen count by zipcode. It will even email you when the pollen count is getting mid-range to high.

Here's the link.

More Raw Chocolate Vitamix Recipes

I have been eating so good this week!

Raw Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup pecans (don't soak)
3 to 4 tbs raw agave nectar
1.4 cup raw cacao powder
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup dehydrated bing cherries
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup pure water
1 tsp fresh coconut

Mix together in vitamix w/setting on low/variable. Slowly increase speed till mixture is consistency of cookie dough.

Drop on dehydrator sheets & form teaspoon-sized balls.

Dehydrate at 100 degrees for 4 hours.

Decorate with coconut.

Enjoy!

Boy I'm Glad We Can Automate These Posts

Today we "spring forward" an hour to honor Ben Franklin's idea--daylight savings time. I expect that I'm actually asleep right now--having stayed up late last night to celebrate Tom's birthday by having a party.

In the meantime, my blog should post this at exactly 7am. Way to go blogspot code writers! Technology that is actually useful.

Get Ready To Party!

Come on out to the office--we're celebrating Tom's birthday with food, gaming, & guitars. Starts around 7pm. If you don't already know where the office is, you're not invited! Bring whatever you want to eat, drink, or play.

See you there.

Something In The Milk Ain't Clean

Seriously, there's just something wrong here. A man who tried to commit suicide sued the hospital that saved his live, but hurt his arm in the process--and won.

58 year old Michael Dexter of Oswaldtwistle (a borough of Lancashire, England) took about 100 pills along with rum & cola. After being discovered by his wife & two children, and being rushed to the hospital, he was given "neutralizing" drugs, which caused tissue damage to his right arm that he described as "third degree burns".

He, along with his personal injury lawyer, spent the next six years suing the hospital that saved his life--and won! The daily mail carried the article, along with a picture of poor pitiful Michael holding his arm. Of course he is able to hold his arm, since he is still alive.

I wonder how often that kind of thing happens here in the states?

This story reminds me of the story about the guy who fell through a skylight while attempting to break in to a house. He landed on the kitchen counter & cut himself with a knife laying on the counter. He sued the homeowner & won. I wonder if that is an urban legend?

Here's the article.

Here's a thread about a man who broke into an unoccupied home that was boarded up with no trespass signs around it, & was injured by a booby trap the owner had set up. He sued & won. I don't know much about the website carrying the thread so be warned--it may be weird or something. Caveat Emptor!

Happy Birthday Tom!

Come on everybody--sing along!

You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too--yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party.

I would like you to dance--Birthday
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance-Birthday
I would like you to dance--Birthday
Dance

You say it's your birthday
Well it's my birthday too--yeah
You say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you

Click here to send Tom a birthday greeting.

More Raw Chocolate Vitamix Recipes

A variation on what we have almost every day:

Chocolate Health Shake
4 cups pure water
1.5 cups raw pumpkin seeds (soaked overnight so they're almost sprouted)
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbs raw agave nector
3/4 cup raw cacao powder

Add all the ingredients together into the vitamix. Start on low/variable & work up to higher speed for about 1 to 2 minutes. If you decide to keep the Vitamix on to heat up the drink remember that it shouldn't really get much above 100 degrees if you want to keep the enzymes living.

If you don't like the pulp, filter & keep it to make the recipe below.

Raw Chocolate Cookies

Take the pulp from the drink above. Drop it in teaspoon sized balls then flatten out. Dehydrate at 100 degrees for 4 hours. Enjoy!

The cookies are so good! They have the exact same consistency as little brownies, but are good for you! The recipe above doesn't make too many cookies, just about 6 small ones. Here's a recipe for them that actually makes more:

Raw Chocolate Cookies (bigger batch)

4 cups raw pumpkin seeds (soaked overnight so they're almost sprouted)
1.5 cup raw aguave nector
1 tbs vanilla
1.5 cups raw cacao
2-4 cups pure water

add 1 cup of water & the rest of the ingredients to vitamix & start on variable/low. Slowly add water until consistency is doughy. Be sure that pumpkin seeds are crushed completly. When finished, add in fruit (if desired) by hand. Bing cherry bits are really good with these cookies or fresh blueberries.

Drop onto dehydrator sheet & set to 100 degrees for about 4 hours. These are chewy & so good! It's hard to believe that something that tastes like this can actually be good for you. I love this recipe because it's extremly easy & doesn't cost that much.

Pumpkin seeds are a great source of protein & have a good amount of essential fatty acides, magnesium, iron, & zinc (not to mention fiber). As a matter of fact, raw pumpkin seeds are so healthy that the oil inside of them is pressed & resold as a nutritional supplement. An additional benefit is that they're cheap! I can get raw organic pumpkin seeds for under $2 lb vs $10.99 lb & up for cashews, $7.99 & up for almonds, etc.

I really like trying new raw food recipes. My energy level has shot up since I started including living food in my diet. If your mind is open to trying new things, I highly recommend this.

I dont have

Happy Square Root Day

This holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, is today — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine).

The last square root day was five years ago, Feb. 2, 2004, (Groundhog Day). The next is seven years away, on April 4, 2016.

A Funny Thing Happened Yesterday

We adopted Vena about a year and a half ago when we were on the way home from a sci-fi convention in Tennessee. Vena is a lynx point siamese. She is about 3 years old (we're guessing). Vena is shall we say, a little different. Well, actually alot different. She is super inquisitive, somewhat standoffish, gets highly motivated & rambunctious, & is generally psycho. She is the first female cat we've had.

When we got her there was some doubt as to whether she would make it in our household or not. She spent the entire first week hiding in a closet & not eating. After that she would come out occasionally, but only to wail like a banshee if you tried to get near her. We were at our wit's end trying to help her adjust to life here.

After four cats that were incredibly loving towards each other & mellow as Jerry, it was certainly different being around Vena. Now she's definitely mellowed out & bonded with us (still working on her relationship with the other cat - Napster), & we're getting used to her quirks. Seems like there's always something funny going on nowadays.

Yesterday morning I got up early, opened the living room blinds to look out at the snow, & sat down to read a bit. After awhile, I heard Vena jump down from her bed & pad across the house to the living room. As I greeted her she ran up the cat house & took a running leap into the bay window I had just opened the blinds to. Remember, it snowed last night & the sun had just come out so everything was really really white.

She jumped into the window & I watched her literally jump with astonishment when she saw the snow. It was like she said"oh crap" in kitty body language. Then she turned her head 180 degrees first left, then right, then back again. After a quick meow, she flattened her ears & jumped off the window sill, running as fast as she could around the house 2 or three times. Then she jumped back up into the window again & just sat there staring for about 20 minutes.

Evidently she had never seen snow before & it just blew her mind.

At any rate, I had my laugh for the day. Wish somebody else could have seen it.

Meet Vena the space cadet. She napped most of the day after the little episode I just described:

RIP Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk-radio pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the United States' most familiar voices, died Saturday in Arizona, according to ABC Radio Networks. He was 90.

I will never forget the time I was stuck in a drive-thru line in Hendersonville, listening to him. He was talking about the worst drivers in the nation (statistically). He talked on & on about how bad they were & at the end of the report he finally told the listeners that the drivers were not located somewhere in Florida, nope, they were in Hendersonville NC.

As he said that I watched a tow truck drive by with a big white Cadillac on the back with (bet you've already guessed it) Florida tags.

Snow In Hendersonville

I hope everybody is ok today. Stay home if you can, use your common sense if you can't.

I started the day by taking pictures of the sunrise from my front door.

Here's a link to my Flickr account. I'll upload photos there today.

It Finally Snowed in Hendersonville

We love it !!



Randy took this video at 2pm.

Here's the view from the kitchen window (8pm) Those lights are from the storage building.

Happy Sunday