Life in St. Charles, Missouri

Ameren UE set to try and raise electric rates... again

2011-01-06T09:07:00.001-06:00

The Missouri Public Service Commission announced that it will hold 14 local public hearings in February and March in an electric rate case filed by Ameren UE.

On September 3, 2010, Ameren Missouri filed an electric rate case with the Missouri Public Service Commission seeking to increase annual electric operating revenues by approximately $263 million. For the average residential customer the proposed increase would be approximately $9.30. Ameren Missouri's filing also includes a request to continue its fuel adjustment clause that reflects changes in the cost of fuel used to generate electricity on customers' bills through a separately-identified surcharge or credit outside a general rate case.

The public hearings in the metro are:

February 16-St. Louis. University of Missouri at St. Louis, Millennium Student Center-Century Room A, One University Blvd. A PSC staff public information/question and answer session will start at 5:30 p.m. with the local public hearing and the taking of sworn testimony to follow.

February 17-St. Louis. Holiday Inn Southwest-Viking Conference Center, Salon 1, 10709 Watson Road. A PSC staff public information/question and answer session will start at 11:30 a.m. with the local public hearing and the taking of sworn testimony to follow.

February 17-St. Louis. Julia Davis Regional Branch Library, Auditorium, 4415 Natural Bridge Avenue. A PSC staff public information/question and answer session will start at 5:30 p.m. with the local public hearing and the taking of sworn testimony to follow.

February 22-O'Fallon. O'Fallon Municipal Center, Multi-Purpose Room, 100 North Main. A PSC staff public information/question and answer session will start at 5:30 p.m. with the local public hearing and the taking of sworn testimony to follow.

Comments from consumers may also be registered in the case by calling 1-800-392-4211, e-mail at pscinfo@psc.mo.gov or by using the Commission's electronic filing system at http://www.mailermailer.com/rd?https://www.efis.psc.mo.gov/mpsc/Comments.html.

Proposed Fair Tax--Only Fair For The Rich?

2011-01-05T07:14:00.001-06:00

I just read a great blog article about one of the proposals that the GOP will try pushing through this legislative season down in Jefferson City. Basically, the proposal as it stood at the end of 2010, called for a state constitutional amendment that would eliminate the state income tax and replace it with a broader sales tax that its proponents call the 'fair tax.'

Amy Blouin, executive director of the Missouri Budget Project, warns that proposal would increase the financial burden on Missouri families. She explains the proposed rate would be higher, and would apply to services not currently subject to sales tax, such as child care, health and dental care, prescriptions and rent. At the same time, says Blouin, replacing the state income tax with the 'fair tax' will not ward off cuts to the state budget.

"When you really dig into it, it's a significant increase for the average person in taxes – but at the same time, it does not increase revenue and could diminish revenue in the state, dramatically."

To make sales tax income match our current income tax revenues, it is estimated that the statewide sales tax would have to be approximately 6 to 7 percent, up from the current 4.225 percent. In the first year of the phase-in, the proposal caps the amount of the sales tax at 7 percent. However, the language within the current proposal would allow the legislature to increase the state sales tax rate above that amount as the changes are phased in, without a vote of the people.

Missouri's new sales tax rate would be significantly higher than neighboring states. More significantly, no other state taxes services such as child care and health care as broadly as Missouri would under the current proposal.

Here is how the proposed tax rate of Missouri would compare with our neighbors:

Proposed Missouri Sales Tax Rate: 7 percent (first year)

Arkansas: 6 percent

Iowa: 5 percent

Illinois: 6.25 percent

Kansas: 5.3 percent

Kentucky: 6 percent

Nebraska: 5.5 percent

Oklahoma: 4.5 percent

Tennessee: 7 percent

The "fair tax" proposal would raise taxes on 95 percent of Missouri individuals and families without generating any new revenue for services or benefits for families. Most Missourians would pay significantly more under this proposal, because the tax proposal shifts the responsibility of funding state services and infrastructure away from a diversely shared responsibility of individuals and corporations to one that relies entirely on the spending of individuals. Estimates are that in order to replace the revenue lost as a result of eliminating corporate and individual income tax, the increased sales tax rate would have to be at least 12.96 percent. And this does not even take into account people that live in border cities that will go to another state and spend their money (and taxes) in order to avoid spending extra inside the state.

How soon they forget...

2011-01-04T06:21:00.000-06:00

So I see that the Missouri Leadership Project has a new bogey man in Jefferson City. Apparently they sent out the following memo to their members without checking to see that they people they helped elect actually helped to push it through the legislature in the first place. Whoops.

From: Missouri Leadership Project
Date: December 28, 2010 2:58:04 PM CST
Subject: Bill making YOU a felon... Rally at the Capital -- Opening Day of Session
Rally Day: Wednesday, January 5, 2011 -- Jefferson City, MO -- 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Join Us at the Consent of the Governed Rally
[NAME], Last spring a bill that would have made you, the average citizen activist, a felon almost became law. On May 6th, 2010, Senate Bill 844, the so-called Omnimbus Ethics Bill, blazed through Missouri's legislative process. In a single day, an unrelated one page bill morphed into 66 pages, passed through a standing House committee, the Rules Committee and then was finally passed on the House floor. The legislative body had to vote on the bill an hour after receiving it. Some of the many provisions in the bill were designed to effectively squelch citizen involvement in the legislative process. One such provision would require a common citizen to register as a lobbyist if he or she "Attempts to influence any elected official other than an elected official who represents the legislative district where the person resides." (Page 16) The penalty for infraction? A class D felony. (Page 19) Fortunately, some of the very citizens who would have been made felons raised the alarm and most of the offensive provisions were stripped out in a conference with the senate. The Lesson? There have been times when some powerful leaders in the Missouri legislature didn't want you in the the way of their plans to manage your life and money. Our message for them? "We're from the People and we're here to help!" Please join us in sending this message on the opening day of the 2011 legislative session. We want to celebrate a revival of political concern and involvement among Missouri citizens, rejoice in the victories we have witnessed in 2010, welcome and encourage our incoming freshmen representatives, highlight strategic legislation for the coming session, and commit ourselves to working with our elected officials for the good of our state.
As we welcome the freshmen legislators we will remind them and the veteran lawmakers alike that they are there at the "Consent of the Governed".
Please plan to attend the rally and please forward this information to your list and invite other groups to participate. We want more sponsor groups. Let's all help start the new session with a strong message of unity and support for the cause of liberty.
For liberty,
Sponsors of Consent of the Governed Rally Scheduled Speakers & Itinerary
Speakers
Dave Roland
Rep. Ed Emery
David Linton
Steve Rupp
Bev Ehlen
Mitch Hubbard
Carl Bearden
January 5, 2011
1st. Floor Rotunda, Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO
Itinerary:
9:30 - 10:00: Come Early for Assistance locating your Rep. & Senator
10:00 - 11:30: Speakers
11:30 - 12:00: Take your place in the Senate Gallery (4th floor)
12:00: Watch the Senate floor vote for the President Pro Tem
Visit with your senator and rep in their office. Sponsors Franklin County Patriots Missouri Campaign for Liberty Missouri First Women for America Jefferson County Tea Party Sullivan 9/12 Missouri Sovereignty Project Crawford County Campaign for Liberty Warren County Patriots Branson Tea Party Coalition Eureka Tea Party Lebanon Tea Mid-MO Patriots K&N Patriots Buffalo Tea Party Capitol Tea Party Patriots Show Me Tea Central Camdenton Tea Party Lake Area Conservative Club Callaway Tea Party Mexico Tea Party Sikeston Tea Party We the People of St. Francois County (more coming)
www.MoLeadershipProject.com

Yep. The bill the MLP doesn't like and somehow forgot to mention that it was rammed through the House by Speaker-elect Steve Tilley, Rep. Tim Jones and then-Speaker Ron Richard over the objections of everyone who wasn't a member of the House GOP. Color me surprised that politics in Jefferson City overrides the needs and wants of the population of the state just to make sure a few people (those already elected) get to keep running the state.

Check out the article on Fired Up Missouri

Can a streetcar be the savior for a city?

2010-12-20T11:29:00.002-06:00

Streetcars are increasingly seen as boons to local economies. And with a $130 million federal fund aimed at streetcar projects, some are expecting more systems to develop, according to this article. Others, though, still question the investment. St. Charles, MO has discussed in the past implementing a streetcar. Since the city has now sidelined the "trolley", is it time to discuss fixed rail streetcars again?

"[T]here's nothing streetcars can do that buses can't do better, faster, safer and for far less money, said CATO Institute senior fellow Randal O'Toole. 'Even though a single light-rail train can hold more passengers than a bus, a bus route can move more passengers per hour than any light-rail line.'

Portland's streetcar system attracts about 12,000 daily riders at an average ticket cost of $1.47. Its creators credit it with $3.5 billion in surrounding development, including shops, restaurants and 10,000 new housing units."

Story and Video on CNN

A Consignment of Tea December 16th, 1773

2010-12-16T07:37:00.002-06:00

A Consignment of Tea December 16th, 1773

via Freemasons For Dummies by Chris Hodapp on 12/15/10

By 1770 British troops stationed in Boston were uniformly resented by the public, and the 29th and 64th Regiments were in for special scorn. Street fights were common, and the city was in an ugly mood. Yet, the records of the Freemsason-owned Green Dragon Tavern, ground-zero for the most notorious of Boston's rabble-rousers, show that they rented their meeting room to military lodges from both the hated 29th and 64th regiments of the British Army, and even cooperated with the Masonic troops when they applied to the Grand Lodge of Scotland for a charter. (The lodge purchased the tavern in 1764).

For years, the saying was that if you were in Boston's Green Dragon Tavern and ordered tea, you were a Tory. If you ordered coffee, you were a Patriot. This was a tough sacrifice, tougher than it sounds. The Colonists loved their tea, as syrupy sweet as they could make it, and it was hard to give it up for a mere political principle.

Boston's Green Dragon Tavern was a popular public house with the largest private meeting room in town, and many organizations connected with the early days of the revolution made use of its facilities. The North End Caucus, the Selectmen, the Long Room Club, the Loyal Nine, the Committees of Correspondence, and the Sons of Liberty were all groups engaged in various subversive activities in and around Boston. It was in this tavern that the Boston Tea Party was undoubtedly planned, and with plenty of men who shared membership in St. Andrew's Lodge.

In 1770, the Crown finally responded to the shrieking from British merchants who were losing their shirts from the trade boycott in the Colonies, and repealed all but the Tea Tax. Tea ranked fourth among all of Britain's exports to the Colonies, in spite of the fact that three fourths of the 1.2 million pounds per year of it Americans drank were illegally smuggled in from the Dutch. The tax on tea was a piddling one, but when Parliament had reluctantly repealed the rest of the taxes on the Colonies, King George III had insisted the tea tax remain, as proof that the Crown still had the right to tax its colonial citizens. Americans didn't happen to agree. Benjamin Franklin, in London to plead the case for the Colonies, made no headway.

On November 29th, 1773, the tea ship Dartmouth arrived in Boston. Attendees at a Town Meeting declared that they would never allow the tea to come ashore, but the Admiral of the British Navy announced he'd sink any ship loaded with tea that tried to leave the harbor without unloading it first. The Sons of Liberty sent guards to stand on the wharf to make sure the tea stayed on the ships. In response, the governor called out his Cadet Corps, and gave their colonel orders to keep peace at the wharf. Unfortunately for the governor and the Customs Office, the colonel of the Cadet Corps was St. Andrew's member John Hancock, so there probably wasn't a lot of peacekeeping to be in the offing. But the Sons of Liberty were in a bind, and the clock was ticking. The rules were that cargo had to be cleared by customs within twenty days, or it could be confiscated by the Crown revenue officers and distributed.

On the 15th of December, Grand Master of North America for the Moderns, John Rowe, and Grand Master of North America for the Ancients, Dr. Joseph Warren, met to discuss something other than a disagreement over Masonic rituals. Rowe owned one of the tea ships in the harbor, and Warren was a powerful ringleader in several Revolutionary organizations. Both men agreed that the Governor needed to act fast to avoid the potential danger to ships, cargo or people. Warren knew what was coming, even if Rowe did not.

On the last day of the Customs deadline, Brother John Hancock and Grand Master Rowe, along with the owner of the tea ship Dartmouth, met to convince the governor to step in and find some kind of compromise, but to no avail. The ships were not going to leave Boston Harbor without unloading the tea and paying the tax.

Brother Rowe's nephew John attended the Boston Town Meeting that night and wondered, to the amusement of the crowd, whether tea would mix properly in salt water. The Dartmouth's owner arrived at the meeting and reported the results of the day's meeting with the governor. Seven thousand Bostonians surrounded the Old South Meeting House to hear the news. At the same time, almost one hundred badly disguised Mohawk Indian imposters gathered at St. Andrew's member Johnathan Edes' print shop, waiting for Samuel Adams' signal to come from the Town Meeting.

At last, Adams stood and said, "This meeting can do nothing further to save the country." The word was passed to the street, and the "Indians" made for the harbor. Thousands of spectators made their way to the wharf and watched quietly as the raiders boarded three ships and sent 342 boxes of tea into the sea. The crews of the ships stayed below decks and did not put up a fight, and Governor Hutchinson's Cadet Corps moved away from the wharf. The British ships did nothing to stop the raid – a sixty-gun warship was within easy range – but its commanding officer, Admiral John Montague, watched the whole operation from his nearby home.

When the task was completed, the men shook their shoes out over the side of the ships to dump out any possible incriminating tea leaves. They then swept off the decks, and made each ship's first mate attest that only tea had been destroyed. As the weary "Indians" marched up the street, they passed the open window of Admiral Montague, who yelled down at them, "Well boys, you have had a fine, pleasant evening for your Indian caper, haven't you? But mind, you have got to pay the fiddler yet!"

Three months later, Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill, closing the harbor until somebody paid back the value of the destroyed tea, £9,659 and 6 shillings, just to be annoyingly precise about it, plus the lost duty on it. Not everyone was so pleased with the actions of the Sons of Liberty. In London, Ben Franklin recommended Boston pay for the cargo, but got little support. It is said he even offered to pay for it himself.

The original Green Dragon Tavern, known for many years as the Freemason Arms, was demolished in 1854. Boston's current current Green Dragon Tavern is at 11 Marshall Street in Boston's North End, despite its lofty historical claims, it is not the original.

(excerpted from Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington DC)

Right to Work is a lesson in failure

2010-12-02T04:27:00.000-06:00

Sen. Rob Mayer of Dexter, recently argued that Missouri could spur economic development by adopting a right-to-work law, as several low-wage Southern states have. What he doesn’t point out is the people who live in these same Southern states have the lowest standards of living in the country.

They have higher rates of poverty, fewer people with health insurance, higher infant mortality rates, lower education levels and higher job injury and mortality rates. The number of people without health insurance in right-to-work states is rising nearly 70 percent faster than in other states, 3.2 percent compared to 1.9 percent from 2000 to 2009.

Right to work laws lower wages for everyone. The average worker in a right to work state makes about $5,333 a year less than workers in other states ($35,500 compared with $30,167).[1] Weekly wages are $72 greater in free-bargaining states than in right to work states ($621 versus $549).[2] Working families in states without right to work laws have higher wages and benefit from healthier tax bases that improve their quality of life.

According to the federal census poverty data base [3] the states with the highest percentage of people under the poverty line (2008 numbers) are:

(RTW)Texas: 15.8%
(RTW)Alabama: 15.9%
New Mexico: 17%
(RTW)Arkansas 17.3%
Kentucky: 17.3 %
West Virginia 17.4%
(RTW)Louisiana 17.6 %
(RTW)Mississippi: 20.8%

The US Average is 13.2% and Missouri is at 13.5%.

Federal law already protects workers who don’t want to join a union to get or keep their jobs. Supporters claim right to work laws protect employees from being forced to join unions. Don’t be fooled—federal law already does this, as well as protecting nonmembers from paying for union activities that violate their religious or political beliefs. This individual freedom argument is a sham.

Right to work endangers safety and health standards that protect workers on the job by weakening unions that help to ensure worker safety by fighting for tougher safety rules. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of workplace deaths is 51 percent higher in states with right to work, where unions can’t speak up on behalf of workers.[4]

Our country and the state of Missouri has a serious unemployment crisis and our state needs to create jobs. With 48 out of 50 states losing jobs, we should be working together to demand a responsible industrial policy that helps grow good jobs and rejects ill-advised trade deals that send our jobs overseas. Corporations are sitting on record profits rather than creating jobs and CEOs make record amounts compared to line-level workers.

--------------------------------------------------------

[1] Average Annual Pay, 2001 from Bureau of Labor Statistics, State average annual pay for 2000 and 2001 and percent change in pay for all covered workers.

[2] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[3] US Census Poverty Database http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/saipe/national.cgi?year=2008&ascii=

[4] Workplace Fatalities from Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect. afl-cio. April 2002.

Moving towards the east...

2010-08-24T22:24:00.001-05:00

Good time at lodge tonight. We had a Past Masters meeting and had to have a short lodge meeting to conduct some business that could not wait. The installation of officers for the 2010-2011 Masonic year was this past Saturday. I am personally very excited because I will be sitting as Senior Deacon for the next year. Not only do I have my own duties to perform, it is also my time to really dig into the meat of studying in preparation to become an elected officer of the lodge. After this year, it will be a short couple of years until my turn in the east.

Let's have a good week out there...

2010-08-23T04:24:00.024-05:00

Looks like great weather this week for those of us fortunate enough to live down here in the St. Charles locale. Yesterday was quite the hot and humid day! Wife wanted to take a trip down to Festival of Little Hills in old town. We were there quite early and the vendors were just opening up. Like most Festival of Little Hills in the past, storm came in during the festival (Friday afternoon) and dumped a bunch of water on the park. So by Sunday the humidity and mud was pretty bad.

Surprisingly, a lot of people were turning out as we wandered about the tents and vendors. About 20 minutes into our walk about, we were totally soaked from sweat. Managed to retreat after about an hour without buying anything. Not that there wasn't anything that I wanted to buy, but with the wife still unemployed we need to keep watching the money. Maybe next year she can buy stuff... if she gets a job.

My wife's mother took our daughter to the Cardinals game and they had a great time, especially with the Cards winning 9-0. She talked about it all evening. She was still so excited about it she ended up being very difficult when we told her it was time for bed.

New Urbanism

2010-08-22T07:37:00.005-05:00

The hottest topic in urban design and planning is “new urbanism”. Creating a sustainable, pedestrian-friendly, people-centered community that isn’t totally dependent on automobiles is the core idea of new urbanism. The urban sprawl that has run rampant throughout the United States has made a lot of people question the appeal of the suburbs. There are claims that the rise of strip malls, big-box stores and the ever shrinking downtown areas have weakened community bonds and interactivity that used to happen downtown.

We have a "new urbanist" community here as well. New Town at St. Charles endeavors to push at some boundaries that suburbs, especially in St. Charles County, are able to accomplish. It is certainly not sustainable at this point, there aren't enough people living there yet. New Town does have a lot of potential. But the biggest problem is that the location of New Town, it is on the edge of the city of St. Charles. There isn't an infrastructure that closely ties it into the downtown of St. Charles or really within the structure of the city of St. Charles.

The other problem facing New Town is a completely indifferent City Council and Mayor. New Town seems to be the red-haired stepchild of the city of St. Charles. The residents pay their taxes and have actually been adding quite a bit to the moribund city coffers. But when it comes time for the city to maintain services, it seems that New Town and the residents seem to be left to themselves. At least that is the perception from out here in the cornfields.

And all of this does not mean that New Town is doomed to failure, just that it is as different form of New Urbanism. Many of the new urbanist communities are actually attempting to rebuild in an existing infrastructure. As an example, Metropolis Magazine had an interesting article a few weeks ago highlighting two urban design projects – the State Center Complex in downtown Baltimore, MD and the Great River Park Project in St. Paul, MN. Both projects are governed by overarching ideas of new urbanism – hoping to increase pedestrian interaction in the city scape and promote urban environmentalism.

Redesigning City Centers, Rejuvenating Riverfronts

Have we forgotten what it means to be American?

2010-08-20T20:19:00.000-05:00

Never forget what it is that makes America great especially as our cultural dialogue focuses and polarizes around race, religion and cultural identity. Remember, your duty to your country is constant. It's a fundamental duty to fight for equality - both for yourself and your fellow human.

Stand up for truth and justice. Stand up for America!

Feeling hoppy

2010-08-17T21:34:00.004-05:00

The weather this morning was FANTASTIC! I just can say how much I've been enjoying getting up in the morning and the temps are under 70F. Woo-hoo!

This afternoon, my wife and I started harvesting the hops I've been growing in the backyard. We lost several of my plants when a neighbor took a trip through our yard into the side of another neighbor's garage.

We've been letting the trellis lay on the ground because it is bent so badly that it is not going to stand straight again and amazingly not all the plants were killed right off. We didn't get that many off it, but we were able to salvage a few.

Essentially, I cut off strands of vine and hops and my wife went through and was pulling the good hops out and throwing away the rest. We ended up with two large grocery bags full. Which isn't bad considering this is only their 2nd year. After we cut down the vines, we're going to have to re-consider how we're going to grow them next year. I'm obviously going to have to get a few more plants to replace the ones that were lost.

The weather looked like it was going to storm all late afternoon, so I worked at a good pace to get all the harvestable hops down before it rained. I don't think it did anything at all last night, rain-wise that is. I'm paying for it this evening, because my allergies are going full-tilt.

Anyway, glad to hear that the St. Charles City Council has taken a step back on giving the mayor a huge pay-raise. Like I've mentioned previously, I do believe that the mayor position is deserving of a pay-raise for everything the office is now responsible for. However, giveing a 40% raise when the city is struggling isn't going to be a good move at this point.

Freedom of Choice

2010-08-16T20:49:00.015-05:00

Came across a great blog posting today, New Urbanism - Freedom of Choice. I agree with much of what the author has posted here. Specifically, "...problem with zoning laws in this country that have had the unintended consequence of leading us to suburban sprawl, a dependence on automobiles, and a loss of opportunities to interact with neighbors..." really nails the current state of affairs that we see around us.

And it doesn't help with a lot of people that think along the same lines start backbiting either. I've seen a lot of this disagreement coming up with the people that are anti-anything that isn't Downtown St. Louis. If you live beyond Highway 270 ring, according to them, you're racist and participating in white-flight. Hmmm. Nope. Sorry. You're absolutely wrong, for all the wrong reasons.

I grew up in St. Charles County. I lived in St. Louis city for nearly 20 years. For that 20 years, nothing much happened to make the schools any better. In fact, I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say that the school situation is now worse than it was when we moved to the city. Although we've moved to St. Charles, we opted to move into New Town at St. Charles, because we do like the environment and the school district we're in now (Orchard Farm). If you don't want to live here, don't denigrate me for my choice. I had a specific punchlist of items that needed to be met before we made the choice. Likewise you have a similar list for why you are living where you are at.

It is almost as silly as the people that want to complain about a show on television that they don't like. Stop broadcasting! Boycott! Mmm, how about changing the channel or not watching television? Grump grump grump.

Now I'm just going to take my beer out front to the porch and listen to the cicadas sing me a lullaby.

Long day

2010-08-15T20:44:00.015-05:00

Going to be a short post tonight. Just spent a long day at the part-time job. The weather was feeling pretty good tonight as I left the building. It was a beautiful sunset.

I'm hoping the wife has better luck this next week in trying to find a job. Unemployment is going to be running out pretty soon and we've been doing alright to this point, but I'd really rather not have to work multiple jobs. I'm just soooo tired sometimes.

Ahoy, Pirates!

2010-08-14T15:33:00.005-05:00

We took our daughter down to the St. Louis Science Center today, specifically for the Real Pirates exhibit. We had a great time. They don't allow pictures from inside the exhibit, so I don't have any pictures to post. The took the concept that many of the Titanic exhibits have taken and featured one specific pirate ship and the crew.

It was very educational and showed pirates of the Golden Age of piracy in a new light. Or at least in a new light for me. We ended up spending almost two hours going through the exhibit. Towards the end our six-year-old was just wanting to get through the end (she was somewhat bored). I was having her read all the signs and helping with word pronunciation. She was very happy to learn that there was a type of ship called a "Pink". Pink being her favorite color, of course.

Spectrum is playing at New Town at St Charles tonight. It will be a great show, if you have time to show up. I won't be there because my Mother-In-Law's birthday is today and the family will be gathering for dinner.

Friday "Holy Cow Hot" Night

2010-08-13T23:27:00.009-05:00

Friday was just such a hot day that you couldn't fry eggs on the sidewalk, because they would evaporate before making it to the concrete. OK, maybe not quite that hot, but it really felt like it. They were saying the heat index could approach 120F, but I'm not sure if we made it or not.

Friday night we took in the last show of the Muny season, "Show Boat". And as my dear wife said, if we didn't like the show so much we would have stayed home. As it was, we made it through the show and it was fantastic. The singing and dancing was phenomenal as usual. And the big news was that Paul Blake announced that next year would be his last year of producing shows at the Muny. I had not realized he has been doing this for over 20 years.

It's going to be just peachy

2010-08-10T07:23:00.001-05:00

It is going to be really hot by this afternoon, but that is not deterring my wife and daughter to head over to Eckert's today to go peach picking. My daughter starts school on Wednesday at the new Discovery Elementary School and this will (obviously) be the last summer break activity that they'll get to do together. I wish I was in a position to take off work and join them as I'm sure it is going to be lots of fun. I'm hoping my wife will at least take a lot of pictures.

Summer is ending

2010-08-09T11:45:00.001-05:00

OK, the temperatures that we're supposed to see (Excessive Heat Warning through Thursday night) would seem to indicate that we're still in the depths of summer. However, over at Orchard Farm Elementary School they are having open house tonight and school starts on Wednesday. And my baby girl is starting first grade this year!

We attended the first PTO meeting of the year last week at the new Discovery School, which Orchard Farm was able to build in the southern end of the district due to passing a no-tax increase bond issue a few years back. The need for the additional space became quite apparent last year when they had 7 classes of Kindergarten. Holy Cow! That was a lot of kids. The elementary school on the main campus was utilizing all rooms available for teaching space.

The bond issue is only going to go so far though. One of the things that is really hurting the Orchard Farm school district is all the TIFs that the St. Charles city council has given out in the last five years. The city council has really built up the Fountain Lakes Industrial Park, but money is not flowing into the school district because of the TIF.

And over in the St. Charles School District, they expected to receive a one-time, $1.2 million payment in lieu of taxes in 2008 from Cullinan Properties, the company building a mixed-use center at the site of the former Noah's Ark hotel. The district still has not received the payment, although it's in the budget for the 2010-11 year.

According to the Suburban Journals (http://is.gd/eadvu), there is going to be a meeting between the St Charles City Council and the Orchard Farm, St. Charles, and Francis Howell School Districts to "improve communication." The meeting is over in the St. Charles School District's administration center at 400 North Sixth Street at 6pm on Tuesday night.

I'm not sure if it is open to the public or not, but I would anticipate the discussions to be about as hot as the weather.

Crazy Busy Saturday

2010-08-08T07:44:00.001-05:00

I am not a rich man by any means. In fact, I have to work a part-time job, in addition to my full-time job. And that is especially important since my wife has been unemployed since July 2009. Her employer at the time rolled up their operations here and moved to them to Ohio. Since my wife was just an administrative assistant, her job did not move. Not that we would have moved anyway.

She has been looking for work doing what she knows how to do, but has not been lucky enough to find an employer that wants her. She and hundreds of her "closest" friends are all looking for work doing the same thing. She found out last weekend that the last job that she interviewed for had over 200 applicants for one opening. At least she made it to the interview part.

Anyway, it is Sales Tax Free Weekend in Missouri this weekend. And my part-time job (and I thank God that it is only my part-time job) is at a retail store in St. Peters. Oh. My. God. It was crazy busy all day long. We finally really had a break about 30 minutes before the store closed last night.

Not that I'm really complaining, just not enough time to really get done everything we needed to get done yesterday. We're always stuck in two cycles of operation: not having enough work coming in and too much work coming in.

On my way to work this morning, I passed by Crossfit-TNT on New Town Blvd and the crowd of participants in the BackStoppers fund raiser was definitely building. The parking lot was pretty full and they were spilling over into the parking lot next door. Which is encouraging. I'm glad they're getting started early in the day, because that 5K run would be brutal if it later this afternoon.

A better morning?

2010-08-06T08:40:00.001-05:00

The scene was horrible yesterday morning. The sight of two school buses carrying school band members to their fun day at Six Flags met with disaster, leaving two dead. I can't even think how horrible it would be to get that phone call from the school.

Here is a short list of articles around the net covering the accident: St. Louis Post Dispatch; NPR; Chicago Tribune; USA Today; KMOV; CNN; Salon

And to add further injury, the bus that was dispatched to pick up accident victims has brake failure and also crashes. Fox2Now

If you are going to be in St. Charles this weekend, be sure to check out the Backstopper Fundraiser - Heroes For Heroes Challenge - Aug 8 @ 8am. The fundraiser will be held at 3683 New Town Boulevard(Crossfit-TNT gym) in St. Charles.

How much is enough?

2010-08-05T08:37:00.001-05:00

Story posted today in the St. Louis Post Dispatch (http://is.gd/e4bI9)
about a bill sponsored by Councilman Richard Veit to give a big pay
raise to the mayor of the city of St. Charles, MO.

For those playing along, the position of mayor was a part-time
position until 2007 when the council agreed to get rid of the City
Administrator position and make the position of Mayor full-time. The
salary of Mayor was increased at time to $60,000.

I agree with Councilman Dave Beckering that the current salary is too
low for somebody managing 500 employees and a budget of $100 million.
However, with the current economic climate I really don't think this
is the time to give a major increase to anybody.

Under the current setting, the Mayor's salary will raise to $64,000 in
January 2011. Veit's bill will mandate a 2.5% annual increase over
three years which will take the salary over $91,000 by 2014.

With tax revenues staying relatively static and casino revenues
dropping, now is not the time to be talking about large salary
increases. Shouldn't the city be working getting more business into
the city and encouraging city businesses to expand? How do we get the
EDC to get business growing in St. Charles?

What do you think?

It's an Orange Day

2010-08-04T08:28:00.001-05:00

With temperatures expected to pop over 100F with a heat index of 115F,
it is going to be a hot one in St. Charles today. The air quality for
today is "Orange". Which means that sensitive children and adults and
people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit
prolonged, moderate exertion outdoors. Looks like we might get a break
tonight though when a front moves through. The high for Thursday is
supposed to be just under 90F. Whew, almost parka weather there.

An eventful weekend

2009-12-15T10:04:00.001-06:00

Life keeps getting in the way of everything. I wasn't feeling well a couple of weeks ago. Ended up with a high fever and the staph infection in my leg coming back to bite me. Fortunately, I caught it early this time and the doctor perscribed some good antibiotics and I spent the next 5 days either on the recliner in the living room or in bed. It was not a very exciting or pain free time. We also received a large quantity of rain which ended up making a lot of our Christmas lights fizzle out.

All that being said, most of last week I was still taking pretty easy. The operative thing is to try and get better as soon as possible. But this past weekend ended up being very busy.

Friday night, my wife and I went to the Scottish Rite Holiday Party, in mid-town St. Louis at the Scottish Rite. I was disappointed that attendance was down this year. However, master Chef Eric Strong, as well as Chef Jim, did an outstanding job with the food. The prime rib was delicious!

Saturday was my parent's surprise 50th anniversary party. We rented one of the upstairs room at Pio's Resturant. We had selected fried chicken breast and pork lion for the entrees. Oh the food was soooo good. And it was great that my parents were able to celebrate with family and friends. I'm glad they were really happy about that. We're looking at renting those rooms again when Mo's parents have their 50th anniversary. I can't say that I've ever had anything that I didn't enjoy at Pio's.

Saturday night was a little hard on me. My wife has been wanting to attend the Journey To Bethlehem at Harvester Church for the past several years, and we just always seem to miss out because of different events going on. We made it this year. There is a lot of walking involved and although it didn't really bother me while we were going through it, later in the evening when we got home my legs and feet had swollen up because I had spent too much time on them. Anyway Journey was great! We'll definitely do it again next year. Hopefully we can find a night where it doesn't rain hard. We ended up being very wet by the time we reached the end.

Sunday we were back down at the Scottish Rite for the Officer Installation. I'm also in the Knights of St. Andrew and we held a knighting ceremony for all members that had not yet been knighted. It was very cool, one of our brothers plays the bagpipes and piped us into the auditorium where we had the ceremony. The officer's for the Four Bodies of the scottish Rite were installed later in the afternoon. And after installation, everybody headed downstairs for another excellent meal.

I'm going to need this week to rest up for another weekend!

Rainy Days

2009-12-02T20:35:00.003-06:00

It is a good thing we're in a drought with all the rain we're getting.

Didn't get to do a whole lot tonight. We did have to run out and pick up more extension cords for the Christmas light display. We find that we're needing to move the electrical sources around the house so we don't overload a circuit. We arrived home to see that the front of the house was dark. I figured that the rain was probably most of our problem. Indeed, the GFI circuits keep popping, so somewhere there is a connection that is not dry. We'll have to content ourselves with just the wreaths on the windows tonight. I'll attempt video tomorrow night if all goes well.

I heard from Jeremy, a lodge brother, this evening. His father passed away this morning. That so totally sucks. He didn't have any information to pass along at this point, but I'll make a special effort to head to the wake. I sent out a note to the brethren as soon as I got home to let them know.

I am looking forward to Lodge next Tuesday. My "nephew" doesn't read this blog, nor do I think he even knows of its existance. *chuckle* Anyway, I asked the Worshipful Master if he would mind if I did the Worshipful Master role during the initiation. He agreed to allow me this honor. I have been going over the part now for several weeks. I feel 90% confident that I won't have any serious glitches. I'm really hoping to do it well. Adam is signed up for the Marines and will be heading to bootcamp in January. Only thing that would make this better is that his father, Rob, is also very seriously considering joining the fraternity as well.

working on it

2009-12-01T22:00:00.000-06:00

Holy Cow. The day just slipped right by me. There was lots of work to accomplish and though I stayed very busy all day, it just doesn't seem like I got all that much done. I did knock out a big project at work and I got one finished at home. I finally took a break around 7pm and put up more Christmas lights. We're finally almost finished with the outdoor decorations we were planning on putting up this year.

My wife and daughter had dinner on the way home after my daughter's ice skating lesson. It's kind of a "girls night out" that they get every Tuesday. I finally had my dinner around 9pm. Started feeling a bit peckish, so I walked up to Beatniks and had a bowl of chili. They know I like it hot and brought me a bottle of hot sauce and some fresh cut jalapenos. Mmmmmm.

Speaking of Christmas decorations, walking down Hempstead Street in New Town last night was amazing. Seems like almost the entire street is lit up with holiday decorations. Huzzah! I'm hoping to maybe take some video Wednesday night when it may be snowing. I'll post that if I'm able to get out and take it.

Christmas Lights and Season

2009-11-30T07:31:00.006-06:00

It's been a difficult year to say the least. My father had another stroke on March 22, 2009. It was a bad one and it took a lot out of him. He was in the hospital for 2 months and in rehab center for about another month after that. He probably should have stayed longer in the rehab, but because his insurance ran out. He put 38 years in at GM and GM has basically told all the retirees that they're worthless and cut off their insurance. Of course, the executives never did have to pay the piper for the dance until this year, but that is another rant. Anyway, my father is on Medicare and the insurance ran out but he was well enough to go home. It has been a very long year for both my parents.

A lot of people in New Town worked during the nice weather over the past two weekends to get up a whole lot of Christmas lights. If you come over to New Town, Hempstead Street seems to have the majority of lights (at this time).

Fortunately a lot of people are getting into the "Spirit" of Christmas. From a group of people deciding to have a Christmas House Tour in New Town to raise money for charity to a group of friends deciding to adopt 4 families for the holidays. We may not do the Christmas cookie exchange this year, but we're all putting a lot of love out there.

If you live in the New Town at St. Charles area, the New Town Organic Farm is offering free delivery of trees to your door. Just come over and talk to Nate and Angie. It was very cool to see Nate going through town on his tractor that has been decorated with Christmas lights delivering trees. It is something to check out, if you have time.

'Christmas Traditions' has returned to Historic Main Street. Main Street St. Charles celebrates with an old-fashioned Christmas filled with storybook characters, Victorian Carolers and Santas from around the world! It’s a perfect holiday experience for everyone! New this year is the Holiday Skating Rink located down in Frontier Park. It will be open all days the Christmas Traditions Festival is active. For those with children, be sure to come out on Saturday mornings when Santa arrives on Main Street in a horse-drawn carriage. We're hoping to be there this weekend, weather and time permitting.

IT News for 2008-12-15

2008-12-15T07:53:00.002-06:00

Internet Explorer suffers from zero-day vulnerability

Recent patches from Microsoft have failed to protect against a zero-day vulnerability.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Internet-Explorer-suffers-from-zero-day-vulnerability/article/122772/

Microsoft acknowledges IE 7 zero-day attacks

The exploit was mistakenly released by a Chinese security team.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1342135,00.html

IE7 Exploit Also Affects IE5, IE6 and IE8! More Users In Trouble

I’m sure you’ve heard about the Microsoft IE7 Exploit that allows Remote Code Execution on XP & Vista, it turns out it’s actually much worse than first expected.

The exploit also affects IE5.01, IE6 and IE8 on all OS versions! That’s a pretty worrying turn of events for MS especially as they are seemingly leaving it unpatched.

http://www.darknet.org.uk/2008/12/ie7-exploit-also-affects-ie5-ie6-and-ie8-more-users-in-trouble/

Zero day exploit for Internet Explorer is spreading

According the security firms, more and more servers are being compromised so that seemingly trustworthy sites launch the particularly dangerous attacks on Internet Explorer

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Zero-day-exploit-for-Internet-Explorer-is-spreading--/news/112251

Social networking dominates Google searches in 2008

Popular social networking website Facebook was the most searched item on Google in the UK in 2008.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Social-networking-dominates-Google-searches-in-2008/article/122770/

Symantec security update

A flawed driver in Symantec's anti-virus products can be exploited to crash a PC

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Symantec-security-update--/news/112253

Google Chrome bottom in Password Security

Password management in major browsers is still somewhat insecure and according to a security expert, Google Chrome and Safari 3.2 for Windows are the worst offenders

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Google-Chrome-bottom-in-Password-Security--/news/112248

From Fake Banking to Regionally Targeted Malware

From fake online banking to regionally targeted celeb porn - that’s just two days in the life of a “FormSpy” (a.k.a. “Infostealer”) malware campaign. In the past few days a spam run started to promote a fake “Bank of America” web site, announcing a change of the online banking’s interface to its “customers.”

http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2008/12/11/from-fake-banking-to-regionally-targeted-malware/

Identity Theft, Organized Retail Crime On The Rise

Security managers should consider doing more information sharing, nonprofit group says

http://www.darkreading.com/security/cybercrime/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=L2T1OKXZWM5VGQSNDLPCKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=212500159

Test Center preview: Windows Azure Services Platform gives wings to .Net

Microsoft intends its new Windows Azure Services Platform to be a serious cloud computing platform for a broad range of developers and scenarios, from lone developers starting up a new Web-based company on a shoestring to large teams of enterprise developers looking for high-performance, highly available, and scalable Web sites, computing, and storage.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/infoworld/20081215/tc_infoworld/120189

Delta to offer Wi-Fi on Shuttle Flights

Delta Airlines is teaming up with in-flight communication company Aircell to provide Wi-Fi Internet access on shuttle flights between Boston, New York and Washington, D.C.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Midmarket/Delta-to-offer-WiFi-on-Shuttle-Flights/?kc=rss

Intel, Qualcomm Grow Chip Revenue but Semiconductor Industry Sinks in 2008
The world’s semiconductor makers watched their revenues fall by more than 4 percent in 2008 as the ongoing financial crisis continues to have a major impact on IT companies and technology vendors.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Gartner-Intel-Qualcomm-Grow-Chip-Revenue-but-Semiconductor-Industry-Sinks-in-2008/?kc=rss

Aptana Releases PHP Development Tool

Aptana releases Aptana PHP 1.0, its integrated development environment for PHP development. Aptana PHP extends the functionality of the company's Aptana Studio tools suite, which is an Eclipse-based IDE for AJAX and Web development.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Aptana-Releases-PHP-Development-Tool/?kc=rss

Windows Vista SP2 Beta Preview

Is Microsoft finally getting Vista right? The recent release of the Service Pack 2 beta is a step in the right direction. This update not only installs cumulative security and compatibility fixes, but also adds a few goodies like simplified wireless network setup, Bluetooth 2.1 support, and the ability to burn Blu-ray discs.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2336802,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

Brazilian hackers blamed for aiding Amazon deforestation

Malicious hackers have been charged with all manner of misdeeds, from mounting the biggest military hack ever to sending Viagra to Bill Gates to crashing sewerage systems. On Friday, Greenpeace accused cybercrooks of conspiring to allow actions that threaten the balance of nature by helping to destroy the Amazon rainforest.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/12/brazil_hackers_deforestation/

AT&T, T-Mobile Fined For Voice-Mail Security

After a string of high-profile hacks, the Los Angeles district attorney has filed an injunction against the carriers for overstating the security of their voice-mail systems.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212500153&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Poor Computer Security Putting Immigrant Data At Risk

Vulnerabilities are common where money transfers, check cashing, bill payment, travel services, auto insurance, or notary services are provided, a research firm found.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/client/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212500122&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Chip Industry Revenues Drop By $12 Billion

To weather the economic slowdown, Garter said semiconductor companies would have to focus on preserving cash and managing inventory.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/processors/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212500113&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Ad-Aware gets an antivirus cousin

Lavasoft on Monday unveiled a new antivirus application it hopes will do as well as its runaway hit Ad-Aware.

http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10122608-12.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Mahalo expands human-powered search with paid Answers service

Jason Calacanis is adding another human-powered angle to the Mahalo curated search page service he launched in May 2007. Mahalo Answers, launching Monday, lets users ask specific questions of the Mahalo audience, and, of course, answer other users' questions as well. The twist on this standard model (see also: Yahoo answers) is financial.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10122762-2.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

RadioShack to sell Acer netbook for $99 - with 2-year contract

RadioShack will put an Acer Aspire One 3G Netbook on sale Sunday for $99. But there's a catch. You also have to buy a two-year AT&T DataConnect contract.

http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-255502.html

Sun exec OK with rant by MySQL co-founder

Michael "Monty" Widenius, the original developer of the MySQL open-source database, put a damper on Sun Microsystems Inc.'s recent release of MySQL 5.1 by sharply criticizing the decision to make the update generally available.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=331311&source=rss_news

Spam levels rise again after McColo fallout fades

Spam volumes are creeping up again after plummeting four weeks ago when a rogue hosting company was yanked off of the Internet.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=331300&source=rss_news

Microsoft update leaves some bugs unpatched

Microsoft Corp. last week acknowledged that its massive December security update didn't include patches for potentially critical vulnerabilities in Windows and Internet Explorer.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=331278&source=rss_news

WiMax market set to slide next year

The market for WiMax is set to decline in 2009, as mobile WiMax is hit both by the economic squeeze and competition from the LTE standard, according to an analyst report.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=108404

Attack of the quarter-ton, 'fridge-sized' killer jellyfish

The US government has warned that enormous swarms of killer jellyfish - some the size of fridges and weighing up to a quarter of a ton - are ravaging the world's oceans. Particularly aggressive specimens are said to be capable of causing serious damage to ships, and have even managed to knacker nuclear power plants.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/15/jellyfish_gone_wild/

Five Best Sites for Finding Deals Online

Did your holiday gift budget shrink considerably this year? Your friends and family need never be the wiser: You just need to know where to find the best deals

http://lifehacker.com/5109289/five-best-sites-for-finding-deals-online

It's a small world after all

2008-12-10T11:56:00.002-06:00

Sleep Issues

2008-12-05T08:50:00.013-06:00

Yeah for Friday! I picked up a new CPAP mask yesterday and slept very nicely last night. Woot! Plans for tonight involve getting dinner and maybe watching Band of Brothers at home. Today is the 75th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition. I may just have to celebrate with a cold brew. *chuckle* I can't get too wild and crazy as I've still got to get up early to work at my part-time job tomorrow morning at 6am. Then I have to run home and change and head to lodge as it is the annual Christmas/Holiday party, which is mainly for the kids. Since the ladies of the house won't be able to make it, I'll be showing up to assist with food prep and cleanup. Still hoping to have a few friends over Saturday night to open up some of the pumpkin ale, but I've only heard from one of the people I've invited over that is able to make it. Everybody else seems to have plans. Darn.

Last night, we attended a parenting seminar at the pre-school Munchkin attends (Little Guppy). The topic of the seminar was "Sleep Issues." The seminar was presented by Nancy Birkenmeier from St. Luke's Hospital Sleep Medicine & Research Center, which is one of the largest sleep clinics in the country. There were over 24 people that were signed up for the seminar and I was planning on helping out with watching the kids (ie spend more time with the Munchkin). Only 6 parents showed up (counting me), so I didn't need to be with the kids as they had staff there for that and there were only 4 kids to watch.

Mo and I had attended this same seminar two years ago, when it was presented by Children's Hope International. Nancy had helped us out 2 years ago, when we figured out that Munchkin had some real sleep issues (in addition to other problems). The upshot was that we couldn't address anything else until we tackled the sleep issues first. Sleep issues will exacerbate other problems that a child will have and it is so hugely important that they get enough sleep (not to mention adults really need enough sleep too). Children that are sleep deprived have very similar symptoms as those children with ADHD. The problem that Munchkin was having was that she was waking up multiple times a night and would cry until we went to her and soothed her back to sleep. Neither Mo or I was getting enough sleep by far. I definitely recommend contacting the Sleep Center at Saint Luke's if you have similar problems. Their phone number is 314-205-6030.

Some of the things that came up in the seminar (and I'm typing off the list they handed out):

Signs of insufficient sleep in children:

Falls asleep in the car, in a high chair, or when watching TV when it is not nap time

Frequently awakens tired and crabby in the morning and following naps

Seems irritable, low tolerance, difficult to please off and on during the day, especially between 4pm-6pm. May hit, spit, or bite during this time if significantly sleep deprived

Appears unusually clingy and will not let Mom out of sight intermittently during the day, especially between 4pm-6pm.

Has to be awakened most morning, looks as if he could easily sleep another hour

Often has a very short attention span, can't sit to look at books with parent for more than a few minutes. When sleep loss is severe, appears overactive or "wired".

And we were provided with a quick chart of what the average sleep time requirement is, broken down by age. Especially with the younger children, they don't get all that sleep at one time, they will get the biggest chunk when they sleep at night, but then they make up the rest by taking naps. Around age 3, most children are down to one nap a day and by age 4 they stop taking naps or may take naps 2-4 times a week.

Age	Average Total Sleep Time per Day (in hours)
0 - 6 months	14 - 16.5
6 - 12 months	14 - 15
1 year	13.75 - 14
2 years	12.75 - 13
3 years	12 - 12.5
4 years	11.5 - 12
5 - 7 years	11
8 - 9 years	10.5
10 -11 years	10
12 - 14 years	9.5
15 - 24 years	9
25 and older	7.5 - 8.5

With most sleep issues children have, the sleep clinic doesn't usually need to see the children. They interview the parents and then develop a set of strategies and instructions for the parents to follow and then provide follow up calls. Most insurance pays for it, so there are usually limitations to the number of visits, the fewer the better. They will see children when they are diagnosed with stuff like sleep apnea, sleep terrors or sleep walking.

Just so you know, winter operation hours have started at Saint Charles County parks and continue until March 1, 2009. All parks, except the Youth Activity Park, will be open from 7am to 6pm during the winter. If you want to use Klondike, Indian Camp Creek or Quail Ridge parks outside of those hours you must obtain a special use permit from the director and rent the Quail Ridge Lodge, Curt Loupe Conference Center or a camping facility. The county operates eight parks. For more information, call 636-949-7535 or visit http://parks.sccmo.org/parks.

And there is a lot of stuff going on this weekend in the area.

Job's Daughters, Bethel 4, will be having a egg, sausage and pancake breakfast at the Applebee's at Olive and 270 (11950 Olive Blvd, Creve Coeur, MO 63141) this Saturday (Dec 6) 8am-10am. I'm pretty sure that Santa may be showing up. Cost is $7 for adults, I'm not sure what the child price is.

Samaritan Lodge #424 in Bonne Terre, MO on Saturday (Dec 6) is having an All-You-Can-Eat-Breakfast from 6:30am-10:00am. Breakfast is Eggs,Sausage,Biscuits & Gravy. $5.00 They say to come early and help them prepare breakfast.

Another Breakfast with Santa, this time at the Lower Level at Memorial Hall-Blanchette Park from 9am - 11am. Cost is $8 per person and it has to be pre-paid. The breakfast is eggs, sausage and biscuits. After breakfast, Santa will meet with each child and even pose for pictures. Some Christmas crafts will also be available. Registration: 949-3372 or online

The Tree Lighting in the New Town neighborhood is on Saturday (Dec 6) 4pm-6pm at the Town Hall. They will have holiday activities for the kids, holiday music, free cookies (provided by Whittaker Homes) and free coffee (provided by Marsala's Market).

And in downtown St. Charles city, the Las Posadas Procession is Saturday (Dec 6) at 6pm. Begins 1000 S. Main - Ends with program in Frontier Park. Mary and Joseph travel along South Main looking for room in the "inn". The evening culminates with a living nativity program and Christmas sing-a-long around the Yule log bonfire in Frontier Park.

Next week, Art Schneider will host a karaoke session at the Brickhouse Bistro on Tuesday December 9, 2008 from 7pm - 11pm. Along with a large selection of music, Art is including Christmas selections. This is a great opportunity to see the changes the ownership have made to the Bistro. Not to mention enjoying Art on stage. (3245 Rue Royale, St. Charles 63301) For more information 636-493-1900

Pinhedz (3212-1 Rue Royale, St. Charles, MO 63301) is supplying anyone who has a competitive bone in their body a chance to snag some quick cash. Yep, Richard Kennison is conducting a pinball tournament for the lightning fingered, flipper flappers at his new place…Pinhedz Pinball Arcade. Call 636-724-7501 for more info.

Details follow for tournament:

1. $5.00 gets your anxious carcass a position next to the machine of the month – Lord of the Rings.

2. Your first game is free…after that, the rest are on you.

3. Play as often as you want in your quest to top the current high score…139,000,000 (Larry Duffy).

4. The high score at the end of December claims the braggin’ rights and collects the booty…which is half of the collective entry fees, an additional prize, and a photo of your mug on the ‘Wall o’ Champions’.

5. High scores will not be recognized, unless you first register for the tournament. No previous high score funny business here…

6. Once you’re registered, you can play towards the high score at any time Pinhedz is open. If you succeed in topping the current high score, simply notify the arcade staff, and your score becomes the new target.

7. Your e-mail address is requested on the registration list allowing Richard to inform everyone of a new high score when someone beats the target score.

8. Anyone can play, so tell your friends… The more who enter, the more booty someone will collect.

IT News for 2008-12-05

2008-12-05T06:57:00.000-06:00

Rogue DHCP servers

Fellow researchers from Symantec posted technical details about an interesting variant of a well known DNSChanger malware. The analysis is available at http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2008-120318-5914-99&tabid=1

The DNSChanger malware has been in the wild for quite some time and already drew our attention previously when authors started attacking popular ADSL modems. As the name says, the malware changed DNS server settings, typically to servers in the "popular" 85.255 network. We published several diaries about this malware, the most recent one from Andre is available at http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5390.

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5434

Been updatin' your Flash player lately?

We received a couple of submissions from ISC readers that indicate that a new wave of rogue "Flash Player" updates is making the rounds. This latest version is pretty artfully done - the pages hosting this malware actually do contain a real flash movie that is not malicious and plays in a Youtube-like embedded frame. After the movie has been running for a couple seconds though, a pop-up opens that indicates that a "Flash Player Update is available". It all looks credibly enough like one of those usual auto-update pop-ups, but if you click OK, you get an EXE which isn't really a Flash player update of course.

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5437

2008: A year of cybercriminal innovation

With the emergence of new attack techniques and the reinvention of old ones, 2008 has been a year of cybercriminal innovation.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/2008-A-year-of-cybercriminal-innovation/article/122026/

Spam declines, Web-based attacks rise, says MessageLabs

Spam was down 3.4% in 2008, but attacks on social networks and flaws in websites are rising, according to an annual report from Symantec's MessageLabs.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1341130,00.html

The World’s Fastest MD5 Cracker - BarsWF

BarsWF is basically an MD5 cracking tool and at the moment, is currently the fastest. Right now on nVidia 9600GT/C2D 3Ghz CUDA version does 350 M keys/sec, SSE2 version does 108 M keys/sec.

http://www.darknet.org.uk/2008/12/the-worlds-fastest-md5-cracker-barswf/

Update for SquirrelMail resolves cross-site scripting vulnerability

Using maliciously crafted HTML code in emails, it was possible to trick the HTML filter into executing JavaScript in the user's browser when opening an email

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Update-for-SquirrelMail-resolves-cross-site-scripting-vulnerability--/news/112159

ClamAV 0.94.2 resolves buffer overflow when scanning JPGs

A recursive buffer overflow could occur when checking malformed jpegs with embedded thumbnails, effectively crashing the program

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/ClamAV-0-94-2-resolves-buffer-overflow-when-scanning-JPGs--/news/112156

Trillian Multiple Vulnerabilities

Some vulnerabilities have been reported in Trillian, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.

http://secunia.com/advisories/33001/

BlackBerry Maker RIM to Make $52 Million Bid for Certicom

BlackBerry maker RIM (Research In Motion) said on Dec. 4 it plans to make a direct takeover offer to Certicom for $52 million in cash.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Blackberry-Maker-RIM-to-Make-52-Million-Bid-for-Certicom/?kc=rss

External Disk Storage Market Dodges Recession Effects

Researcher IDC reports that third quarter factory revenues posted solid growth of 8.8 percent year over year, totaling $4.9 billion in the quarter. Total disk storage systems market grew to $6.6 billion in revenues, up 1.1 percent from the same period a year ago.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Data-Storage/Sagging-Macroeconomy-Not-Affecting-External-Disk-Storage-Market-One-Bit/?kc=rss

The Good and Bad in 64-bit Vista

If you're buying a computer this holiday season, you're very likely to end up with Windows Vista. Not just any version of Vista, a 64-bit version. For most people, that's actually good news because of better memory use and potentially improved performance. But it can cause a problem with certain applications -particularly if you're buying a laptop you'll need to connect to a Cisco VPN.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2335978,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

Electric car seller hits brakes as UK EV sales plunge

Electric cars sales have tanked in the UK. A mere 156 EVs were sold between January and October 2008, compared to 347 in the same period in 2007 - a drop of 58 per cent. To deepen the gloom, the Nice Car Company has gone into administration.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/12/05/uk_ev_sales_plunge/

MIT boffins crack fusion plasma snag

Boffins at MIT say they have cracked some tricky problems in the design of power stations running on nuclear fusion, though they hasten to add that many more hurdles remain before fusion energy becomes a reality.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/05/mit_fusion_boffins_iter_tech/

Second Firefox 3.1 beta under starters order

A second beta release of Firefox 3.1 is on the starting blocks, with the publication of an almost ready version of the latest edition of the open source browser due in days. A third beta is expected before Mozilla ships a final version of the software next year.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/05/firefox3_1_beta2/

Atlantis Hubble mission set for 12 May

NASA has announced that the space shuttle Atlantis's STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope will finally blast off on 12 May next year.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/05/hubble_mission/

Microsoft preps IE 8 for the web-challenged

Internet Explorer 8 will feature a user-generated list of "compatible" web sites, after trials found many ordinary surfers and major web sites can't work with Microsoft's next browser.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/04/interent_explorer_8_list/

SanDisk Offers Secure USB Flash Drive For Mac

Features include log-in and shutdown access to the encrypted storage area and the ability to change and manage passwords and to change contact information

http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/portable/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212202059&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Microsoft Overhauls Online Services Group

Qi Lu will report to CEO Steve Ballmer and take over after former aQuantive chief Brian McAndrews departs.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212202018&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

E-tailers ready for cybercrooks this season

One predictable trend in recent years has been a sharp increase in online attacks directed against retailers during the holiday shopping season.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9122600&source=rss_news

Web attack might have guided by phishing trap

A phishing campaign in October may have given criminals the information they needed to seize control of payment processor CheckFree's Internet domain this week

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=108007

RIM gets hostile over security firm

RIM's hostile bid for Canadian security firm Certicom could make the BlackBerry a safer choice for enterprise customers, particularly within the public sector, according to industry analysts.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=108013

A $100 Midget PC at the local dollar store? Not so fast

A number of prominent websites have recently reported that Coby Electronics, a company that specialized in manufacturing low-end electronic devices is preparing to launch its own line of systems. Dubbed "Midget PCs," it's been widely reported that these Linux-based portables will feature 7"-9" screens, use a Chinese "Longsoon" processor, and cost just $100. It's Nicholas Negroponte's dream of a $100 laptop made possible by Chinese technology, right

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081204-a100-midget-pc-at-the-local-dollar-store-not-so-fast.html

Yahoo launches iPhone-friendly Flickr with video support

Search engine giant Yahoo has formally launched an updated version of Flickr optimized for mobile phones and with special formatting friendly to the iPhone, including a newfound ability to watch streaming videos.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/12/04/yahoo_launches_iphone_friendly_flickr_with_video_support.html

The Votes Are In: BlackBerry Storm Sucks

Though Verizon says the Storm is its fastest selling handset yet, the touchscreen phone is also generating more negative buzz than any BlackBerry before.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/the-votes-are-i.html

Japanese Start-up Readies Flexible, Transparent Plasma Screens

A Japanese start-up is trying to shake up the display scene with the latest version of their flexible display prototype. Shinoda Plasma's three-meter wide, 1 mm-thick plasma made some waves earlier this year, but the new panel shown at the FPD International show in Yokohama, Japan, is the almost-final version they’ll be releasing next year.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/japanese-start.html

Food vs Fuel: Saltwater Crops May Be Key To Solving Earth's Land Crunch

Saltwater-loving plants could open up half a million square miles of previously unusable territory for energy crops, helping settle the heated food-versus-fuel debate, which nearly derailed biofuel progress last year.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/12/saltwatercrops.html

Large Hadron Collider gears up for July restart

According to an internal report sent to the physicists working on the giant particle-smasher at the CERN laboratory near Geneva in Switzerland, the LHC should be ready to collide proton beams at the end of July next year.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026854.400-large-hadron-collider-gears-up-for-july-restart.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Spanish Inquisition left genetic legacy in Iberia

It's not often that cultural and religious persecution makes countries more diverse, but the Spanish Inquisition might have done just that. One in five Spaniards and Portuguese has a Jewish ancestor, while a tenth of Iberians boast North African ancestors, finds new research.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16200-spanish-inquisition-left-genetic-legacy-in-iberia.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Iran to Launch Animals to Space

Iran is planning to launch animals into space. According to Mohammed Ebrahimi from Iran's Aerospace Research Institute, in the near future, the Kavoshgar-3 and -4 rockets will use animals as test passengers before they attempt a human mission.

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/12/04/iran-to-launch-animals-to-space/

Teddy Bears Go To Space

I don't think this is what Iran has in mind about launching animals into space, but … you never know. Four teddy bears voyaged to the edge of space on Monday, December 1st via high altitude helium balloon.

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/12/04/teddy-bears-go-to-space/

Job losses may hit 30-year high

Government expected to report that November ranks as worst month for jobs in at least 30 years: 350,000 more jobs gone; unemployment rate up to 6.8%.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Labor-market-got-uglier-November/story.aspx?guid=%7B6A8AA73D%2DC840%2D44CF%2D8F1F%2D2C3C547004DE%7D

Starting to wind down the week

2008-12-04T09:02:00.003-06:00

We managed not to get all the snow and other freezing precipitation that was being predicted for the St. Louis metro area. After hearing that it was sleeting in Fenton and the wind blowing past the house around 30 mph, I was not very enthused about Mo wanting to go shopping. Mo, Munchkin, and Mo's mom and sister are heading up to Chicago for a fun girls weekend. And Mo needed some stuff to take with them. They are traveling up on the Megabus so they don't have to deal with vehicles. I know that they are planning on getting to the American Girl store, Macy's, and the old Navy pier.

I also know that I'm happy that I'm not being forced to go shopping. There isn't anything wrong with it, but my approach to shopping is to research possible targets, identify specific target, identify store with best price, execute purchase, withdraw back to home base. Mo's approach is to identify what she wants, go to store and pick up product, and then browse the store for a couple of hours to see if there is anything else she needs. And in the case of clothing stores, no wait, lets not go there.

Munchkin seems to be picking up on the shopping gene from Mo. She loves to go shopping with Mo. Which can end up being a very frustrating trip for both mother and 4-year-old daughter, especially when said 4-year-old is already tired. And it gets compounded when Mo is also tired.

So we had to run to Best Buy at Mid-Rivers last night to check on a few items, a couple of gifts and some stuff for the trip. Mo had picked up a portable DVD player on Black Friday and last night we picked up a case and an 8 hour battery. The DVD player only has a 2 hour rated battery and the trip to Chicago (without weather or traffic delays) is 5 hours. We also picked up a pair of child headphones. Didn't end up getting gifts.

Then we headed over to Target for some other home neccessities, plus a couple more things for their trip. Then it was time to finally head for home. Snow had ended by that time and the sky was clearing off, because we could see the cresent moon in the west. The wind was still blowing just a little and it was definitely COLD!

When we got home, Mo started making the cookies for the cookie exchange on Sunday. Munchkin went to bed, after she had a small melt down with me. She had fallen asleep in the car on the short trip from Target to home and she said she didn't really want to go to bed. Once Mo had calmed her down and got her into bed Munchkin pretty much went right to sleep. I knew she was tired. Anyway, Mo is making sugar cookies and I've got to pick up some pecans this afternoon so she can make the cookies tonight. I'll be going to the cookie exchange alone, because they won't be back in St. Louis until around 10:30pm Sunday night.

This morning was clear and it took a while to get the car warmed up and chipped out of ice. Because it was clear overnight temps were around 12-14 when I got up this morning. Actually wore a heavy coat today, which if you know me, you know I hate having to wear the heavy coat. *chuckle*

If you are down towards Bonne Terre, MO on Saturday (Dec 6), Samaritan Lodge #424 is having an All-You-Can-Eat-Breakfast from 6:30am-10:00am. Breakfast is Eggs,Sausage,Biscuits & Gravy. $5.00 They say to come early and help them prepare breakfast.

If you are in the New Town neighborhood on Saturday (Dec 6), the Tree Lighting is 4pm-6pm at the Town Hall. They will have holiday activities for the kids, holiday music, free cookies (provided by Whittaker Homes) and free coffee (provided by Marsala's Market).

Next week though (Dec 12 & Dec 13), Erin Bode is having a holiday concert at the New Town Chapel (3420 Civic Circle, St. Charles, MO 63301). Doors open at 7:30pm, but you have to get tickets ($20) at the Domain Street Wine Bar (3301 Domain Street #1, St. Charles, MO 63301). To get more information, call 636-90-0457. A portion of the proceeds benefits the New Town Trust for Arts & Entertainment. Cool, cool, cool. But then I really enjoy Erin Bode's music. Also happy that the Domain Street Wine Bar manages to get her and her band for so many concerts.

I'm having a few friends over Saturday night (some lodge brothers and some neighbors) to taste up my pumpkin ale, as well as drinking up some of the other stuff that is sitting in the basement. We'll see how that goes.

Read the story yesterday about the trail for a St. Peters man that was charged with killing his estranged wife in front of her workplace in 2007. The update this morning was that it only took the jury 15 minutes to return a guilty verdict. His formal sentencing happens in January, but it looks like he'll be serving a life sentence with no chance for parol.

Also in the paper yesterday, St. Charles County's Economic Development Center (EDC) announced some new tenants for their business incubators. At the EDC St. Peters branch,

• Respond Right, offers classes in first aid, CPR, defibrillators and extinguishing fires. Typically, the instructors visit businesses to give employees hands-on lessons on site;

• Advertising Communication, which operates KLPW 101.7 FM and is owned by Randy Wachter;

• Dijital Media, an e-marketing and IT consulting company started by Jit Gohill;

• The Envision Group, debt management services agent of United First Financial started by Jason McMillan;

• 2 PH Group, another debt management services agent of United First Financial with Dave Schwent;

At the EDC St. Charles branch, new tenants include the Law Offices of Kenneth P. Carp, and Edward J. Rolwes Attorney at Law with Rosenblum, Goldenhersh, Silverstein & Zafft.

The latest EDC tenant to expand is Keller Williams Realty/The Scotty Patton Group, a real estate brokerage firm formerly known as Camdyn Properties.

The latest company to graduate from the EDC incubator program is Spencer Web Design, now with offices in St. Peters.

And I have a new business hero. According to the St. Louis Business Journal yesterday, a one-man St. Louis startup called Ceramitron LLC has landed a $99,000 contract with NASA to build miniature sensors for weather balloons, land rovers and submarines. What is even better is that Philip Berger, the man behind Ceramitron, sees even more commercial potential for his invention, including monitoring landfills for greenhouse gas emissions. Sweet.

IT News for 2008-12-04

2008-12-04T07:10:00.001-06:00

Apple drops support document encouraging anti-virus adoption

Apple has taken down its recommendation that Mac OS X users deploy anti-virus technology.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Apple-drops-support-document-encouraging-anti-virus-adoption/article/121947/

Apple yanks antivirus advice from its Web site

Apple Inc. late Tuesday yanked a controversial support document from its Web site that had urged Mac users to run antivirus software because the recommendation was "old and inaccurate," a company spokesman said today.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9122359&source=rss_news

Report: Nearly all computer users running insecure programs

Only two per cent of computer users are fully patched and the other 98 per cent are running at least one insecure, unpatched program, security firm Secunia said this week.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Report-Nearly-all-computer-users-running-insecure-programs/article/121946/

FireFox 'plug-in' harvests web passwords

BitDefender report discovery of a new type of malware, a trojan that collects web log-in passwords by masquerading as a FireFox plug-in. A significant number of UK banks are on the target list.

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/FireFox-plug-in-harvests-web-passwords--/news/112147

Koobface remains active on Facebook

A new variant of Koobface (a worm that spreads over Social Networking sites) was recently making the rounds on Facebook. When a user follows the link, they’re redirected to one of many different compromised hosts, which displays a fake error message that the version of Flash is out of date. Next the user is prompted to download/open flash_player.exe, a new Koobface variant.

http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2008/12/03/koobface-remains-active-on-facebook/

Popular Home DSL Routers At Risk Of CSRF Attack

Researcher demonstrates ease of hacking home routers with insidious cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attack

http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=WOMLCPKO1BYSIQSNDLPCKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=212201777

Copper Thieves Threaten U.S. Infrastructure, FBI says

Copper thieves, sometimes acting as "organized groups," are threatening what the FBI said is "critical" U.S. infrastructure, from electrical sub-stations, cellular towers, telephone land lines to railroads and crops, the agency said in an unclassified report unveiled Wednesday.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/12/copper-thieves.html

Valve says DRM is stupid, but Microsoft still doesn't get it

Valve's Gabe Newell calls most forms of DRM "stupid," but Microsoft's Randy Milller's response misses the point entirely. The war between PC gamers and publishers seems likely to continue.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081203-valve-calls-drm-stupid-microsoft-still-doesnt-get-it.html

Nearly all Windows PCs are security risk

Nearly every Windows PC harbours at least one unpatched application, and nearly half contain 11 or more programs at risk from attack, according to a Danish security company.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107943

Tech jobs down sharply but not out

Online job listings for technology workers are down sharply, but there are still plenty of openings for people with the right skills, or for those living in the right metropolitan area.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9122358&source=rss_news

Americans are Ferengis, Europeans are Vulcans

It's that time of year again. The organization's training and travel budgets need to get spent, or they'll be reduced for next year. So, it's time to hurry up and pick out conferences to attend that are scheduled for the last three months of the year.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9122238&source=rss_news

IT faces 'dire shortage' of core skills

The lack of core IT skills is a major impediment to modernizing key IT assets, according to a survey by application-management company Micro Focus.

http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-253449.html

Microsoft boosts OOXML compatibility

Microsoft on Wednesday announced several incremental enhancements to the compatibility of its Office Open XML document format.

http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-253622.html

IBM offers a 'Microsoft-free' desktop

IBM wants corporate customers to cut the cord with Microsoft. The tech pioneer is launching a Linux-based collection of virtual desktop applications that run on a server without the need for desktop hardware--or Microsoft software, according to a report Wednesday evening on The Wall Street Journal's Web site. The Linux-based software package, which is available now, runs on a back-office server and is accessible to customers on thin clients, the paper reported.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10113197-92.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Online Money: Fidelity expands online news focus

Fidelity Investments is joining the rush to satisfy investors' growing appetite for news about financial market turmoil.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081204/ap_on_hi_te/online_money_fidelity

NFL offers first live game broadcast in 3-D

In broadcasting the world's first live 3-D football game to theaters in Los Angeles, New York and Boston on Thursday evening, the NFL promises an "up close, personal, visceral" experience that could open a new revenue stream for the league.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081204/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/nfl3d

IDC sees decline in US PC market next year

U.S. shipments of personal computers are expected to drop nearly 3 percent next year, while demand in much of the rest of the world will slow down quickly as the financial crisis spreads, research firm IDC said Wednesday.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081203/ap_on_hi_te/tec_pc_sales

Server Market Sees Largest Drop In Six Years

In the U.S., weak demand and intense price competition drove x86 server revenue down 12.2%, according to IDC's numbers.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/unix_linux/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212201824&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Fun And Games Dominate iPhone App Chart

The success of the App Store has not gone unnoticed by Apple's rivals like Google, RIM and Microsoft.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/iphone/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212201822&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

eBay Holiday Contest Overrun By Automated Scripts, Honest Users Disgruntled

E-commerce juggernaut eBay is under fire because of a holiday giveaway contest gone awry. On Tuesday 25 November, eBay announced its $1 Holiday Doorbusters deals promotion, giving away 100 gifts ranging from jewelry, clothing, digital cameras, GPS devices to a brand-new Chevrolet Corvette for a $1 fixed price on a daily basis

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/04/ebay-holiday-contest-overrun-by-automated-scripts-honest-users-disgruntled/

GoDaddy Uses Standard Tactics To Warehouse Domains

Having working in the domain name industry myself for a couple of years, I’ve always been intrigued by the fact that there’s such a big business formed around something as trivial as a bunch of letters and numbers used to ‘translate’ IP addresses. And when there’s a big business in something, you just know there will be a grey area as well where ethics are left at the door sometimes

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/03/godaddy-uses-standard-tactics-to-warehouse-domains/

YouTube Uglifies Embedded Videos With A Search Bar

YouTube added (without warning) an fugly search bar to embedded videos. if you want to turn it off, simply add the parameter “&showsearch=0.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/03/youtube-uglifies-embedded-videos-with-a-search-bar/

Logitech Ships One Billionth Mouse

At nearly the same time as the world celebrates the 40th anniversary of the computer mouse, which occurs next week, Logitech announced that it has shipped its billionth one of the ubiquitous little devices.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2335868,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

AMD tweaks 2009 chipset roadmap

AMD updated its chipset schedule for 2009, adding plans for a new low-end, integrated graphics processor chipset based on the 780G architecture catering to budget DirectX 10 gaming.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/03/amd_releases_shanghai_in_shanghai/

2500 Theaters to go 3-D by April 2009

Jeffrey Katzenberg boldly predicted Monday that there will be nearly 2,500 screens ready for 3-D in time for the March 27 release of DreamWorks Animation's "Monsters vs. Aliens."

http://digg.com/movies/2500_Theaters_to_go_3_D_by_April_2009

Apple argues only a fool would believe its iPhone 3G ads

Apple isn't lying in television ads that tout the iPhone 3G as twice as fast as its predecessor, but customers would have to be fools to take those claims at face value, the company argues

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/12/03/apple_argues_only_a_fool_would_believe_its_iphone_3g_ads.html

Apple's unexpected iPod shortage spreading

Although Macs and iPhones were seen as Apple's ticket to a healthy holiday quarter, the electronics maker has reportedly been struck by surprising demand for iPods and is now scurrying to restock some of its reseller channels.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/12/03/apples_unexpected_ipod_shortage_spreading.html

First superconducting transistor promises PC revolution

The world's first superconducting transistor, a long-standing goal for applied physicists, could lead to dramatically faster microchips.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026856.600-first-superconducting-transistor-promises-pc-revolution.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Megathrust earthquake could hit Asia 'at any time'

A devastating "megathrust" earthquake could occur at any time off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, according to new research. Previous quakes have failed to release all of the energy that has built up over hundreds of years, leaving the fault zone vulnerable to another large earthquake.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16192-megathrust-earthquake-could-hit-asia-at-any-time.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Head-sized Meteorite Found From Canadian Fireball

Several more fragments have been found from the 10-ton asteroid that exploded over western Canada on November 20, including a head-sized piece weighing 13-kilograms (28 lbs). Imagine that landing on your house or car (or head!).

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/12/03/head-sized-meteorite-found-from-canadian-fireball/

Thousands of New Species Discovered on Tiny Island

An expedition to a tiny island in the South Pacific's Republic of Vanatu has yielded hundreds of new species, including possibly 1000 new species of crab.

http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2008/12/thousands_of_new_species_disco.php

Alternative Currency

http://xkcd.com/512/

Already the middle of the week

2008-12-03T07:15:00.003-06:00

Good morning! The weather people are calling for some interesting weather for us over the next 24 hours. It is supposed to start raining around noon, switch to rain and snow this evening, and then switch over to all snow overnight. Yeah. Of course, now Mo says "Let's put up the outside Christmas decorations."

I received an email from my friend Angie about her class project. She says, "I just wanted to let you know about my project. I made a delivery yesterday and my Saturn was full. I had to put the seats down to get it all in. That was just the first delivery too. There will be one more delivery to the center tomorrow. " Very cool.

My lodge (Polar Star Rose Hill Lodge #79) has adopted a nursing home. We want to help out those people that aren't able to get a lot of the things we tend to take for granted and they may not have easy access to. We're currently collecting items such as shampoo, toothpaste, tissues, crossword puzzle books, etc. If you are interested in assisting, please contact me and I can arrange to pick up or let you know where you can drop it off. We are also in the middle of a canned food drive. We will be collecting canned food and taking it to a local food bank for distribution. We are also involved in a project to help out local school children that have a need for basic necessities like pencils, pens, notebooks, paper, coats, shoes, hats, etc. If your school is in the St. Louis metro area and you would like to be included, please send me an email with the contact info for your school and I can forward your school's info over to the coordinator for this project.

Locally, St. Charles County is honoring 12 local eateries with the "24 Carrot Gold Food Safety Excellence Award." That's a mouthful of a title. This is the second year for the award and to be considered, the restaurant has to have had no critical violations for the last twelve months and no more than six non-critical violations at the same time. It is a diverse collection of places to eat and who would have suspected school cafeterias would have been on the list? Here is the list of honorees:

* Assumption Church School Cafeteria, 405 N. Main Street, O’Fallon
* Louis P. Balducci Vineyards, 6601 Highway 94 South, Augusta
* Burger King, 2882 Highway K, O’Fallon
* Denny’s 1423 South Fifth Street, St. Charles
* O’Charley’s, 2204 Highway K, O’Fallon
* Orchard Farm High School, 2165 Highway V, St. Charles
* Wentzville Prairie View Elementary School, 1550 Feise Road, O’Fallon
* SSM St. Joseph Health Center, 300 First Capitol Drive, St. Charles
* Schnucks, 8660 Veterans Memorial Parkway, O’Fallon
* Fort Zumwalt South Middle School, 300 Knaust Road, St. Peters
* Steak ‘N Shake, 1134 Pearce Boulevard, Wentzville
* White Castle, 2000 S. HIghway 94, St. Charles

Job's Daughters, Bethel 4, will be having a egg, sausage and pancake breakfast at the Applebee's at Olive and 270 (11950 Olive Blvd, Creve Coeur, MO 63141) this Saturday (Dec 6) 8am-10am. I'm pretty sure that Santa may be showing up. Cost is $7 for adults, I'm not sure what the child price is.

Christmas party with Santa and MoCHIP event at the South Side Community Center in St. Louis, sponsored by The Patch Center on Saturday (Dec 6) 10am - 3pm.

Even though St. Louis unemployment rose 6%, according to a survey reported on in the St. Louis Business Journal, 13% of St. Louis CIO's plan to add IT staff during the 1Q2009 and 2% are anticipating reductions. This ends up being a 1% decrease from the 4Q2008 forecast. The good news is that IT employment in the St. Louis metro area is up over nationwide trends. The survey and report was conducted by Robert Half Technology and they surveyed 200 local CFOs from companies with 20 or more employees.

Just across the Missouri River from where I live, Dickies has opened a retail store over at the St. Louis Mills Outlet Mall in Hazelwood, MO. This is apparently their first store in Missouri. Guess we'll have to get over there at some point. Or the next time Mo is planning a trip to scrapbook store at The Mills, I'll at least have someplace I can wander through.

If you are planning on being out and about near Highway 270 and 40 this weekend, expect traffic delays. According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, they are planning on re striping the interchange in preparation of the December 15th re-opening of Highway 40's western portion. Personally, I'm not going anywhere near it this weekend.

IT News for 2008-12-03

2008-12-03T06:16:00.001-06:00

VMware security advisories

VMWare have today released a security advisory, and updated another.

- VMSA-2008-0019 (new advisory)

http://lists.vmware.com/pipermail/security-announce/2008/000046.html

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5425

Sun Java 6.0 Update 11 is now available

Our carbon based RSS news reader known as Roseman has alerted us to the availability of a new Java release. Sun Java 6.0 Update 11 is now available!

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5422

Sonicwall License Manager Failure

Details are still sketchy as to the cause of a failure overnight of the Sonicwall License Manager Server. We are receiving reports from Sonicwall users that the server "reset" (meaning invalidated) the licenses on all of their email security products. The customers are reporting that this is causing them to be unable to login to their own systems. It is reported that the support calls are not being answered and are going straight to voicemail.

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5419

Worm exploiting Microsoft vulnerability developing into botnet

The "W32.Downadup" worm, exploiting the patched Microsoft's Windows Server Service (MWSS) vulnerability, is the key component in a developing botnet, researchers at Trend Micro said this week.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Worm-exploiting-Microsoft-vulnerability-developing-into-botnet/article/121768/

SquirrelMail Malformed HTML Mail Message Script Insertion

Unpatched. Do not open untrusted e-mail messages.

http://secunia.com/advisories/32143/

Hulu Competitor Sling.com Launches Public Beta

Think of the new Sling.com as the cloud destination for all of your Slingbox content. If you're used to receiving your Slingbox video subscriptions wherever you are around the world, the new video website, opening today, gives you the opportunity to check it out on one more platform: the browser.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/hulu-competitor.html

Odd microtransactions may point to credit card breach

A recent rash of small microtransactions, often followed by larger expenses, have consumers up in arms. Adele Services is always the company behind the fees, but the people running Adele itself remain elusive.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081202-odd-microtransactions-may-point-to-credit-card-breach.html

Rumor: White knight wants to take Yahoo private

Yahoo is yet again the subject of takeover rumors, this time with a new twist: a former head of AOL is supposedly trying to line up backers for a bid to take the company private. It's scenario that makes sense, but will be tough to pull off given the state of the economy.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081202-report-white-knight-wants-to-take-yahoo-private.html

Yahoo shares climb on hopes for $30B takeover bid

Yahoo Inc.'s stock rallied Tuesday on a report that AOL's former chief executive believes he can raise enough money in a worsening recession to buy the struggling Internet company for as much as $30 billion.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081202/ap_on_hi_te/yahoo_mover

Another Bogus Yahoo Takeover Story - The WSJ Gets It Wrong

Today’s Wall Street Journal story talking about yet another takeover attempt of Yahoo is incorrect, say our own sources. And unlike The Times’ story over the weekend, which was equally fictitious (and, here’s an interesting fact - both publications are owned by News Corp.), this story had direct consequences in the market.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/02/another-bogus-yahoo-takeover-story-the-wsj-gets-it-wrong-and-this-time-people-lost-money/

Time for forced updates? Conficker botnet makes us wonder

New to the botnet scene is Conficker, a botnet that exploits a critical security vulnerability Microsoft actually patched in late October. It may be time for Microsoft to begin forcing critical security updates upon home users.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081202-time-for-forced-updates-conficker-botnet-makes-us-wonder.html

Sorry, Beaumont! AT&T brings (more) bandwidth caps to Texas

AT&T is expanding its usage caps to another market. The company has identified a great method to determine where to roll out this potentially unpopular scheme: pick a location where another ISP is already limiting customers.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081202-sorry-beaumont-att-brings-bandwidth-caps-to-texas.html

Windows 7 will sport a DX10 "software GPU"

Microsoft has spilled the beans on WARP10, a technology slated for Windows 7 that will bring DirectX 10 capabilities to systems that don't even have GPUs.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081202-windows-7-will-sport-a-dx10-software-gpu.html

Windows workgroups get encryped sessions

Unisys has come up with an encryption-based method that lets "communities of interest" using Windows securely share data based on group policies.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107917

World gets peek at Vista and Server SP2

Microsoft has given its MSDN and TechNet subscribers access to the beta of Service Pack 2 for Vista and Windows Server 2008 and will make the software available to the general public in two days.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107909

Microsoft releases Vista SP2 beta

Microsoft Corp. today released the beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 to subscribers of its developer services and said it would open the preview to the general public on Thursday.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9122131&source=rss_news

Clues point to Jan. 13 release of Windows 7 beta

Microsoft Corp. will have a beta of Windows 7 available shortly after the first of the year, the company has hinted on its Web site.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9122158&source=rss_news

Report: Hard drive shipments slumping

Worldwide shipments of hard disk drives (HDD) used in PCs and other consumer electronics gear will be flat or could even decline in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to last quarter, according to iSuppli Corp.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9122130&source=rss_news

CIOs vote on Vista for '09

The latest silicon.com CIO Jury has unanimously voted that they are not ready to invest in Microsoft's latest OS Vista.

http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-253520.html

Vlingo one-ups Google with a better voice-powered iPhone app

Voice-transcription service Vlingo has launched a really fantastic new iPhone application that lets users talk into their phones to search the Web, dial contacts, and update their status on Twitter and Facebook. Much like Google's iPhone app which was released early last month, users are able to do all this without ever having to use their keyboard.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10111763-2.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Twitter CEO: The revenue's coming soon, but I won't tell you how

At a Churchill Club event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams brushed off--again--criticisms that the company is slow to turn on its revenue-generating engines.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10112037-2.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Nokia device to challenge RIM and Apple next year

Nokia Corp., the world's largest maker of cell phones, is launching a new phone next year that is designed to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerrys at the high end of the market.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081202/ap_on_hi_te/tec_nokia_smart_phone

Firefox's Market Share Increases, IE's Falls

Also showing steady growth is Apple's Safari browser, which rose to 7.13% after starting the year with a 5.82% share, Net Applications' figures showed

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/browsers/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212201517&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Employees Suing Sprint Over Commission Snafu

The wireless carrier is facing a class-action lawsuit over allegations that it shafted employees of commissions totaling more than $5 million.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/compensation/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212201505&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Apple's Ban On iPod Sync Software Stymied By Wikileaks

The iPodHash project is an effort to open the iPod and iPhone to third-party media software other than Apple's iTunes.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/ipod/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212201495&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Google Chrome Claims Facebook May Be A Phishing Site (Update: Safari Too)

Conspiracy theory lovers are going to have a field day with this one: when you try to access Facebook using the Google Chrome browser today, you’ll get a warning that the social network may in fact be a phishing site.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/03/google-chrome-claims-facebook-may-be-a-phishing-site/

SpringSource Teams with VMware for Virtualized Spring Solutions

In a move considered a precursor to a full-fledged cloud computing play, SpringSource announced a partnership with VMware to help virtualize its Spring software. The arrangement includes integration between SpringSource Tool Suite, an Eclipse-powered development environment for building enterprise applications using the Spring Portfolio, and VMware Workstation to enable the dynamic creation of virtual machines on the developer’s desktop.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/SpringSource-Teams-with-VMware-for-Virtualized-Spring-Solutions/?kc=rss

Internet Policy Advice Rolls in for Obama

From a national broadband policy to open government proposals to federal financial incentives, President-elect Barack Obama is being swamped with high-tech ideas for his new administration. Getting Americans connected to the Internet, though, remains almost everyone's top IT priority.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Internet-Policy-Advice-Rolls-In-for-Obama/?kc=rss

Be Creative and Win Stuff from Intel

If you have that precious creative spark, get ready to use it. Intel is running a contest called What's Inside You, and you can enter today by submitting an image, an audio file, or a video file to the chip giant.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2335834,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

Dell opens up on NAS gateways

Dell is to produce a NAS gateway for its EqualLogic PS iSCSI-attach block storage arrays. At a Dell Enterprise Vision day event this week, Joe Joseph, Dell's VP for EqualLogic storage marketing, said: "A NAS gateway sitting on top of EqualLogic is probable."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/03/dells_nas_gateway_box/

Review: Logitech Digital Video Security System

We’ve seen a number of PC-based home security systems in the past, but they all tend to share one common – and fundamental – flaw. The standard approach is to use motion-detection software running on a PC to tell the camera to record video footage of anyone that’s sniffing around your home or office without your permission.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/12/03/review_security_camera_logitech_wilife/

Online payment site hijacked by notorious crime gang

Online payment service CheckFree lost control of at least two of its domains on Tuesday in an attack that sent customers to servers run by a notorious crime gang believed to be based in Eastern Europe.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/03/checkfree_hijacked/

Apple's Snow Leopard still evolving, developers say

Although there's been some evidence to suggest Snow Leopard could hit the market several months ahead of expectations, new information reveals that Apple remains heavily engaged in building out some of the features first previewed back in June.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/12/02/apples_snow_leopard_still_evolving_developers_say.html

Battlestar Galactica prequel shuns space, spaceships

Battlestar Galactica, the hit sci-fi thriller about humans searching the galaxy for a planet to call home, will be spun off into a prequel that is set 50 years before androids rebelled against their makers and destroyed civilization as it was known.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/02/battlestar_galactica_prequel/

Another month, Welcome to December

2008-12-02T07:03:00.008-06:00

Well, I'm still holding out hope that my day is better today than yesterday.

My car broke down and I had to have it towed to my mechanic yesterday. Basically, driving along and a loud fwapping noise coming from the engine and I lost power steering and power brakes. Fortunately, it happened before I made it to the highway. Mechanic called back after they had a chance to stick it up on the rack. My problem was a large rat. Yes, a rat. Apparently climbed up on the engine because it was warm and ended up getting caught between the belt and pulleys. I took a picture and it is definitely a size LARGE rat. I haven't had a chance to take it off the camera yet, but I'll get it up here as soon as I can. One of my co-workers says it looks like a river rat to him. Weird things always seem to happen to me. *sigh* And not in a fun way.

Anyway, good weekend, what there was of it. Saturday we spent the day cleaning up the house and Mo had a hair appointment in the afternoon. Munchkin stayed home with me and watched TV while I used the carpet cleaner to try and get some spots out and I washed some of the big pots. We were getting ready to have our immediate family over for our Thanksgiving at our house, more of an intimate affair. Mo picked up the ingredients for brining the turkey and got it all in the big pot (my big brew pot - so that she doesn't feel bad about me spending the money on buying it). The turkey came out of the brine at 2:30am. Then we had to wash it down and put it in the fridge to rest. We went back to bed.

Munchkin woke us up later with a blood curdling scream. She was having a night terror and it took a while for us to get her to wake up. I hate it when she has night terrors because we are powerless to resolve the situation until she wakes up. It took about 5-10 minutes before she "woke" up. Then we finally got out of her that she had dreamed that she was playing and a stranger came up to her and when she would not go with him, he chased her and was trying to catch her.

After munchkin was squared away, we started cooking. Mo got triple chocolate mud pie and pumpkin pie (made from fresh pumpkin) in the oven and I started on peeling 10 pounds of potatoes. We got the turkey into the oven around 2:30pm and continued getting everything going. Family started showing up around 4ish and we were still cooking. It took a lot longer to get the potatoes boiling than I thought. Anyway, my mom & sister and Mo's mom helped us get the food finished. Our menu for Thanksgiving Sunday was:

17 pound Turkey
home-made mashed potatoes
home-made mashed sweet potatoes
home-made cranberries
stuffing
salad
corn
triple chocolate mud pie
home-made pumpkin pie
home-made apple crisp pie
brownies
chocolate chip cookies
pumpkin bread pudding

We had a lot of food. Which (even though my mother was upset that we ended up with so many leftovers) was part of the plan. We're going to have a few meals off that turkey and fixings. *chuckle* Mmmmmmm

Bad news this morning, about 53,000 Ameren UE customers lost power this morning around 4:30am down in the South city area we used to live in. A transformer caught fire near Shrewsbury this morning, and Ameren customers from Clayton to South County are in the dark. There is an article about it in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In St. Charles county, consignment stores are reporting a spike in sales and new consigners, and the county's three MERS Goodwill stores are reporting modest gains, while pawn shops are reporting an overall downturn in business. Lisa Korn (owner of Changing Hands in St. Peters) attributed the sudden boost in sales and consigners to the falling price of gas. "When gas dropped below $2 it got crazy. People suddenly could spend money."

This morning, I read a report from an American Forces Press Release blog about Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Sims (Sgt Sims and his wife call St. Charles, MO home). Sgt. Sims was wounded three times during his yearlong deployment to Iraq with the 1st Armored Division's Company B, 270th Armor Battalion, out of Fort Riley, Kan.

Sgt. Sims, a medic, was riding in a tracked ambulance between two M1-A1 Abrams tanks when a roadside bomb detonated. Shrapnel pierced the vehicle and penetrated his flak vest, puncturing his left lung. He was evac'd to the hospital in Balad. He spent about three weeks recovering before returning to his unit.

Three months after he'd returned to duty, his unit was on a foot patrol when it started taking enemy mortar fire. One mortar landed near Sims. "Shrapnel hit near my lower left leg, penetrating through the front lower part and coming out the back," he said. "[I] almost, almost lost that limb in that incident, but everything's fine now." Sgt. Sims spent another four weeks at the hospital in Balad before rejoining his unit to complete his tour.

Company B was patrolling one of the Main Supply Routes around 4am when Sgt. Sims, who was riding in an Abrams tank, detected flashes in the distance. That is all he remembers about the incident however. "I took a sniper bullet – 7.62 mm – to the front of the helmet -- straight in front, almost right between the eyes," Sgt. Sims said. The bullet fractured his neck and skull and knocked him unconscious. As he fell unconscious, he fell into the tank turrent. As the turret turned to return fire it broke his right femur.

Sgt. Sims returned to the hospital in Balad for another two months. Sgt. Sims tour in Iraq has earned him three purple hearts. He said that he would not hesitate to return if called upon. Which is good, since it would appear that his current unit, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 15th Engineer Battalion based out of Schweinfurt, Germany, is certain to deploy.

Personally, I hope that when Sgt. Sims returns home that St. Charles chooses to honor his service. I don't recall hearing anything before today about it. In fact, I'm going to drop a letter over to city hall with the info from this press release and see if they had done anything to honor this man's service to the country. All I can say is wow. This guy is awesome. Sgt. Sims has said that he like to become a doctor or a physician's assistant. Sgt. Sims has served ten years in the military since enlisting out of high school.

[Update] Steve, from the Urban Review St. Louis blog, is putting up two tickets to St. Louis’ 2009 Inaugural Ball, sponsored by the St. Louis African American Caucus Foundation and the St. Louis Young Democrats and held inside the beautiful rotunda of the St Louis City Hall. Tickets for this black-tie event are $50 per person or $125 per person for the VIP ticket which includes valet parking, a cocktail party and dinner. The Ball starts at 8pm with the VIP events starting at 6:30pm. He has two regular tickets (non-VIP) for a lucky reader. The contest is open between now and 5pm Friday January 2, 2009. Head over to this blog entry for more information about entering.

IT News for 2008-12-02

2008-12-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

McDonalds phish being dished out

A new phishing scheme is masquerading as a McDonald's member satisfaction survey, researchers warned on Monday.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/McDonalds-phish-being-dished-out/article/121711/

US central command hit by malware

The United States central command was hit by an attack and affected computers in combat zones in the Middle East

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/US-central-command-hit-by-malware/article/121614/

Microsoft learns of successful RPC worm infections

Microsoft said a number of customers are infected with worms that successfully exploit the RPC flaw and download malware.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1340546,00.html

Malware Researchers Discover Rootkit HKTL-BRUDEVIC Similar to Sony CD Malware

You might remember the Sony BMG Rootkit fiasco back in 2006 when the whole Internet was up in arms about Sony installing a rootkit in the name of Digital Rights Management.

http://www.darknet.org.uk/2008/12/malware-researchers-discover-rootkit-hktl-brudevic-similar-to-sony-cd-malware/

Email Trojans threaten to block email accounts

The "account-rendered" Trojan is appearing in a new guise, alarming its recipients by threatening to close their accounts. So far, only a few virus scanners can recognize it

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Email-Trojans-threaten-to-block-email-accounts--/news/112120

Botnet rises again

Srizbi, one of the largest known botnets, appears to be regaining strength. Following the loss of their main artery of communication, the bots have switched to a kind of emergency communication

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Botnet-rises-again--/news/112118

Apple recommend anti-virus software [Update]

Apple suggests Mac users should install anti-virus software, but not because of any viral outbreak

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Apple-recommend-anti-virus-software-Update--/news/112115

Microsoft, Yahoo coy as reports of new search deal surface

After the messy breakup between Microsoft and Yahoo, most observers never expected the two to get back together. But after a brief rebound fling with Google that eventually went sour, it seems as if Yahoo has been driven back into the comforting arms of Microsoft—at least according to the latest rumors. Over the weekend, news leaked that Microsoft was in new talks to buy Yahoo's search business for $20 billion, but the two companies aren't ready to discuss any possible deal just yet.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081201-microsoft-yahoo-coy-as-reports-of-new-search-deal-surface.html

Major e-stores malfunction on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Sears, Saks Fifth Avenue, Costco, Dell, Victoria's Secret, Bloomingdale's and Williams-Sonoma all saw their sites malfunction at some point between Friday and Monday, according to companies that monitor Web performance.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121982&source=rss_news

New Windows worm builds massive botnet

The worm exploiting a critical Windows bug that Microsoft Corp. patched with an emergency fix in late October is being used to build a new botnet, a security researcher said today.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121958&source=rss_news

Hackers boot Linux on iPhone

A new front has opened in the ongoing arms race between Apple and iPhone hackers, with one hacker group making the iPhone boot with a Linux 2.6 kernel.

http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-253200.html

Intel, Hitachi to develop solid-state drives

Intel will target solid-state drives for server computers in a tie up with Hitachi that was announced Monday night.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10110921-64.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Malware is Getting Smarter, CA Warns

Online attacks will be dominated by smarter malware and bots targeting Web users ranging from gamers and social network users to the elderly and unsuspecting parents.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20081202/tc_pcworld/malwareisgettingsmartercawarns

OneCare Was Not a Failure, Microsoft Exec Says

Critics asserting that Windows Live OneCare didn't succeed on its own have got it wrong, according to Microsoft's chief security advisor for the EMEA region. Roger Halbheer, in a blog posting on Monday, said it was "nonsense" for anyone to suggest that Microsoft's consumer antimalware security solution had somehow "failed."

http://redmondmag.com/news/rss.asp?editorialsid=10422

Server Revenues Down In Tough Economy

The sales drop in expensive servers was particularly felt by vendors of RISC-Itanium Unix servers.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/unix_linux/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212201274&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Intel Arms Lenovo ThinkPad Laptops with New Anti-theft Technology

Lenovo ThinkPad T400 series notebooks will be the first laptops to use new Intel anti-theft technology called Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection. This anti-theft technology, which Intel is building into the chip set, will work in conjunction with Lenovo ThinkPads that use the newer Intel Centrino 2 platform and Intel's vPro technology.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Intel-Arms-Lenovo-ThinkPad-Laptops-with-New-AntiTheft-Technology/?kc=rss

HP, IBM Watch Server Revenue Drop as Financial Crisis Continues

As the financial crisis continues and as the United States officially enters a recession, top server vendors Hewlett-Packard and IBM watched their revenue drop in the third quarter of 2008. In addition to HP and IBM, Dell and Sun Microsystems watched their server revenue fall in the third quarter. In terms of shipments, HP and Dell managed to increase their share.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/HP-IBM-Watch-Server-Revenue-Drop-as-Financial-Crisis-Continues/?kc=rss

Call of Duty: World at War--ATI vs. Nvidia

Our series looking at graphics performance in the hottest fall PC games continues, following our looks at Far Cry 2 and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2335760,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

Panasonic, Samsung Invest in SiBeam

Wireless multimedia chip developer SiBeam said Monday that both Samsung and Panasonic have invested in the company, although the amount of the investment was not disclosed.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2335767,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

Windows internet share drops below 90 per cent

The number of Windows users surfing the web fell below 90 per cent for the first time, making for Microsoft's biggest market share drop in the past two years, according to new statistics.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/02/windows_internet_user_shares_below_90/

Study spanks Adobe Flash for abuses of power

We've known for years that graphics based on Adobe Flash and other third-party programming software can be clunky, time-consuming affairs that put our security at risk. Now comes new research suggesting they needlessly consume more power too.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/02/green_browsing_study/

Apple swings DMCA at Hackintosh maker

Just two weeks after US District Judge William Alsup threw out wannabe Mac-clone vendor Psystar's countersuit against Apple, the One True Mac-Maker has un-holstered another weapon in its campaign to crush the Florida-based upstart.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/02/apple_psystar_dmca/

VMware to cut desktop storage by 80 per cent

VMware is rebranding its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) technology as VMware View, and having virtual desktops built from a generic golden master and user-specific files that cut VDI storage space by up to 80 per cent.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/02/vmware_view_desktop_virtualisation_launch/

Pentagon Shoots $22 Million Into Guided-Bullet Tech

What if a sniper could fire a bullet that changed course in midflight, to hit its target? The Pentagon is handing out nearly $22 million to try to find out.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/what-if-a-snipe.html

Top 5 Nintendo Wii Games of 2008

Nintendo's little console that could is shattering sales records left and right, and might just move more units in 2008 than any game system in history.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/12/best-of-2008-to.html

4,000 Electric Vehicles To Be Leased by US Army

Considering that many of its higher profile vehicles really suck fuel like there ’s no tomorrow, you may not think that the US military concerned itself much with reducing fuel usage, but based on a recent announcement that’s apparently not the case.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/4000-electric-vehicles-leased-by-army.php

Safari Tops 7% Of Browser Market Share, Mac OS X On The Rise

Apple's Safari web browser has crested 7% of worldwide browser market share according to online research firm Net Applications.While Safari's accomplishment is significant the biggest winner is clearly Mozilla's Firefox which crested 20% market share and climbed nearly an entire percentage point in one month.

http://www.macrumors.com/2008/12/01/safari-tops-7-of-browser-market-share-mac-os-x-on-the-rise/

Boeing Airborne Laser Weapon Fires for the First Time

Boeing and the US Air Force keep advancing in their airborne high-energy laser weapon, the modified 747-400F that is designed to shoot down missiles as they fly to their targets. Last week they fired the entire laser system for the first time ever at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.

http://gizmodo.com/5100377/boeing-airborne-laser-weapon-fires-for-the-first-time

Left 4 Dead carries Linux binaries

Though some will protest that its DRM system is detestable, Valve's Steam platform is by far one of the best compromises between publishers and gamers, and it's a key contributor to the overall health of PC gaming.

http://digg.com/linux_unix/Steam_Linux_on_the_way_Left_4_Dead_carries_Linux_binaries

Made in Korea: Lunar Lander Unveiled

Everybody wants to go to the moon! Scientists from Korea recently unveiled a spacecraft developed completely in-house that could potentially be used for robotic exploration of the Moon.

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/12/01/made-in-korea-lunar-lander-unveiled/

Just How Stupid And Poor Are MySpace Users, Exactly?

If you thought Randall Stross’ attack on Tesla yesterday was in poor taste, wait until you read what Michael Wolff has to say about MySpace.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/01/just-how-stupid-and-poor-are-myspace-users-exactly-a-look-at-the-data/

This Bear Market, Brought To You By Jack Daniels

File this one under “Unfortunate Ad Placements.” On a day that the Dow dropped 680 points (7.7 percent), MarketWatch ran the Jack Daniels banner ad in the screenshot above.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/01/this-bear-market-is-brought-to-you-by-jack-daniels/

Memories may be stored on your DNA

Remember your first kiss? Experiments in mice suggest that patterns of chemical "caps" on our DNA may be responsible for preserving such memories.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026845.000-memories-may-be-stored-on-your-dna.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Brains of autistic children slower at processing sound

Communication problems associated with autism may be explained by the discovery that the brains of autistic children are a fraction of a second slower to react to sounds than those of normal children.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16174-brains-of-autistic-children-slower-at-processing-sound.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Black Friday

2008-11-28T07:41:00.003-06:00

We didn't take any pictures of the parade (memory card was full and Mo didn't realize). But we enjoyed ourselves. Only problem was when the breeze would pick up and you could really feel the cold. We had to walk about 6 blocks from where we parked the van to the spot where the parade started. It got underway at 8:45am and was done at about 10:50. Munchkin really wants to be a cheerleader when she gets bigger (oh boy). A couple of interesting notes, the balloons were down one street kind of far. They called for "Buzz the Astronaut" balloon to move up and it didn't move. They called again and told them to run (they did that for several balloons before the rest caught on). We saw John Gonzalez and the Boy Scout troop working a Christmas ornament balloon. We said "Hi" and they all ran around in a circle to make the ornament spin. And Santa was the last float in the parade. They had problems with the reindeer not working right at the last moment before they pulled into the parade. It took them a couple of minutes before they pulled into line.

Here are a few links from KMOV-TV to some of the marching bands that were in the parade (ah, the memories of marching in freezing weather):

Belleville East Marching Band
Bayless Marching Band
Mater Dei High School Band
De Soto High Marching Band
Ritenour High School Marching Band
Windsor High Marching Band
Mehville Marching Band
Fox C-6 Honor Band

Today, I had to get up at my regular time and then off to work, like normal. Mo has other plans and is hitting the stores this morning for the little bit of Christmas shopping that still needs to be done. Pretty good Thanksgiving yesterday, not a whole lot of family drama. Which was definitely a plus. Would have enjoyed it more, if I had not had another migraine along with sinus issues in the late afternoon, which left me feeling ill and out of sorts all evening. Still feeling headache this morning and lots of drainage (I know you don't really want to know). Gah! The pain. Oh, the pain.

Our munchkin was really good yesterday, only got a little bit of food on herself and behaved pretty good considering she was tired. She went home with mama and papa last night, so Mo could do her shopping this morning. I won't get to see them tonight as I have to go to work the part-time job at BB tonight, and I expect they will be having dinner with mama and papa. On schedule at BB for 6pm - 1am. *sigh* And have to work tomorrow 6pm-10pm. Hours have really been cut though. Once again, I lose out on holiday hours. This time due to the bad economy. Which, all things considered, I would rather lose out due to bad economy than to illness again. Getting sick during the holidays really sucks.

Don't forget about St. Charles Christmas Traditions starting today at 11am at the Gazebo in Kister Park when Santa arrives via horse drawn carriage! From the official website, "Christmas sparkles each year in historic St. Charles, Missouri during our one-of-a-kind Christmas Traditions festival. While you're making holiday plans, escape to an old-fashioned Christmas with storybook characters, Victorian Carolers, and Santas from around the world." The official website has the dates and times when activities are running.

Also, on Saturday Nov 29, Overland-Occidental #623 is having a Pancake Breakfast (10770 Page Overland, MO 63114) 7am-11am. All you can eat for just $5.00! And Farmington Lodge #132 (221 West Columbia, Farmington, MO) is having a Pancake and Sausage Breakfast 7am-10am. Cost is $5 and includes your drink too. Arrive early and help them prepare breakfast if you'd like. Mmmmmmmmmmm, pancakes...

I saw this in the news this morning. According to an AP news report, the rapper Nelly is teaming up producer Jermaine Dupri to host the third annual Black and White Ball. The event will be used to announce a new scholarship program which will provide full tuition for two students from the St. Louis area to attend Lindenwood University.

IT News for 2008-11-28

2008-11-28T07:37:00.000-06:00

Good Morning out there! I trust that you all survived Thanksgiving. It is supposed to be another very fine day in St. Louis metro area, but they are saying we may see snow showers on Sunday (no accumulation).

Anti-virus no defence against botnets, says vendor

A new analysis of botnets has come up with a possible reason for their prodigious ability to infect PCs - many anti-virus programs are near to useless in blocking the binaries used to spread them.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107714

New attack threatens Windows PCs

Microsoft has issued another warning about a flaw it patched last month after confirming that there had been an increase iin exploits of the bug. This followed earlier reports by Symantec that the worm was out in the wild.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107693

Tmobile G1 handsets having DNS problems?

John Kuhn Sent in the following links, which are of some interest.
http://forums.t-mobile.com/tmbl/board/message?board.id=Android3&thread.id=19618

http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f7/browser-hijacked-help-8057/

John of course has impeccable timing given my previous diary entry on OS X based dns changers. Given the lack of solid data to pinpoint the issues that these users are observing we cannot come to any definitive conclusion. If you have a G1 and have been experiencing these issues feel free to contact us with whatever information you have. We would be curious to see if this is an infrastructure issue (dns poisoning comes to mind), some installed application that has a hidden surprise, or previously owned home wifi routers.

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5393

CBS page compromised by hackers

Finjan has warned internet users to be on their guard following an apparent compromised webpage on one of the sub-domains on the CBS.com portal.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/CBS-page-compromised-by-hackers/article/121610/

Christmas tactics already being used in spam campaigns

Websense has identified a spam postcard campaign that is using Christmas as a tactic

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Christmas-tactics-already-being-used-in-spam-campaigns/article/121609/

Korea is largest sender of malware during November

More malware attacks originated from Korea during November.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Korea-is-largest-sender-of-malware-during-November/article/121608/

Free security tool helps track down bots

BotHunter, a free tool that monitors traffic flows between infected hosts and external attackers helps organizations track down infected hosts and battle botnets in their network.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1340205,00.html

Microsoft adds malware detection to its Webmaster tools

The malware detection tool looks for malicious code in all retrievable web pages of a site and checks links to external pages for possible infection. This is to enable web site operators to provide better protection for their visitors against attacks

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Microsoft-adds-malware-detection-to-its-Webmaster-tools--/news/112087

Windows worm infection accelerates

Microsoft is currently observing an acceleration in the spread of another Windows worm that exploits the known vulnerability in the RPC functions of the Server service. The worm is reported to be spreading over company networks in particular

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Windows-worm-infection-accelerates--/news/112077

Nightmare Before Christmas: Researchers Warn Of Holiday Shopping Threats

Increases in malware, enterprise vulnerabilities, laptop theft expected

http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=CEDFHOSAVZQBOQSNDLPCKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=212200731

Nat'l Guard Gets Spying, 'Flying Beer Keg' for Iraq

A Pennsylvania National Guard unit will get a new toy before it deploys to Iraq in January -- an odd-looking robotic aircraft, sometimes referred to as "the flying beer keg."

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/national-guard.html

No Court Order Needed to Spy on Americans Overseas, Appeals Court Rules

The Fourth Amendment’s shield against invasive searches reaches only partially across the border, a federal appeals court ruled this week, finding that the nation’s spies don't need a court order to wiretap an American overseas, though there has to be a good reason for listening in.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/no-court-order.html

Atlantic makes label history as digital sales surpass CDs

The music industry has come a long way from battling the threat of P2P and through the rise, and ongoing fall, of music DRM. Today, Atlantic has announced one of the most significant milestones in this transition, and one that many record label execs probably considered impossible just a few years ago: the last quarter was the first time in which Atlantic's US digital sales outpaced physical CDs.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081126-atlantic-makes-label-history-as-digital-sales-surpass-cds.html

AIDS: a good example of why science policy matters

AIDS is a serious problem for Africa. The least developed continent (obviously not counting Antarctica) on the planet has to deal with poor governance and crumbling infrastructure; add HIV/AIDS into the mix and the result is an extra 1.5 million deaths every year. That's a Rwandan genocide every eight months. That need not be the case, argues a study published in The Lancet.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081126-aids-a-good-example-of-why-science-policy-matters.html

ISP chops last head off Srizbi bot

An Estonian ISP that temporarily hosted the command-and-control servers for the notorious spam-spewing Srizbi botnet, has cut off those servers, according to computer security analysts.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107772

PCs bought for Windows XP as cult grows

Many used PCs are being purchased because people want to get their hands on a copy of Windows XP, according to industry analysts and hardware suppliers.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107766

Micron to launch hyperfast SSD, touts 1GB/sec. throughput

Within the next year, Micron Technology Inc. expects to bring to market a high-end solid-state disk drive that could achieve 1GB/sec. throughput, according to a company executive. The transfer speed is four times that offered by Intel Corp.'s newest SSD, the X25-E.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121698&source=rss_news

Benchmarks: AMD's 45nm 'Shanghai' Opteron

AMD's 'Shanghai' processors are the company's first chips to utilize the improved performance and efficiency of 45nm technology. ZDNet Germany tests show that they have made up important ground on Intel Xeon chips.

http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-251980.html

Online retailers ramp up deals to capture dollars

Online retailers are ramping up heavy-duty deals to turn skittish shoppers into buyers during the crucial Thanksgiving weekend and "Cyber Monday" — but even so, online sales are expected to be fairly flat after years of strong growth.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081128/ap_on_hi_te/holiday_shopping_online_sales

Silicon Valley Starts To Feel The Sting Of Layoffs

The scene may remind some of 2001 and 2002, when the Internet bubble exploded and dumped hundreds of thousands of engineers in the area onto the unemployment rolls.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/trends/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212200779&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

U.S. Army Goes Bot Hunting

As an automated network-flow analysis tool, BotHunter uses IDS routines to scan inbound and outbound network packet headers and payloads.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/government/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212200774&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

History Reloaded: Changing The Past To Suit The Present

The authors of a new report argue that revisions to the White House Web site reflect a willingness by the Bush administration to whitewash history.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/policy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212200754&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Cheap Blu-ray Players Seen Scarce in Europe

A scarcity of cheap Blu-ray video players and the effects of a recession are expected to delay adoption of the high-definition Blu-ray DVD format in Europe, according to media research company Screen Digest.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Video/Cheap-BluRay-Players-Seen-Scarce-in-Europe/?kc=rss

Public Safety Airwave Auction Faces Next Test

A renewed effort by U.S. regulators to auction off part of the airwaves to a commercial entity that must share the spectrum with firefighters, police and other emergency workers faces its next test within weeks.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Public-Safety-Airwave-Auction-Faces-Next-Test/?kc=rss

Online Networks a Magnet for Job-Seekers

Janel Landon, who runs a small PR consultancy in Chicago, has long been aware of the potential of online networks: Now in her mid-50s and facing a global recession, she's decided to sign up. "Given the state of the economy, I recently decided to jump on board," Landon told Reuters.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Networking/Online-Networks-a-Magnet-for-JobSeekers/?kc=rss

How Windows 7 shames Vista on battery life

If a notebook runs Windows Vista, it will run Windows 7 and it will get better battery life, promises Gabriel Aul of the Windows Performance team. But PC manufacturers and device suppliers are also going to have to do their part to make a big difference to power consumption on new notebooks.

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/how-windows-7-shames-vista-on-battery-life-489109?src=rss

OpenStreetMap grows, spawns ecosystem

OpenStreetMap started four years ago in the UK as a project to create a free and editable world map. What began as a few geogeeks wandering the streets with their GPS’s has turned into a global movement with over 75,000 registered contributors.

http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/11/27/openstreetmap-grows-spawns-ecosystem/

My iPhone Is a Mac, My Android Is a PC

I’ve been using an Android G1 phone for more than a month now on a daily basis, but I still haven’t given up my iPhone. The more I use them both, the more that I realize my iPhone is a Mac and my Android is a PC.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/28/my-iphone-is-a-mac-my-android-is-a-pc/

Newspaper Death Spiral Continues; Industry Advertising Contracts $5 Billion So Far This Year

The newspaper industry in the U.S. continues to shrink at an alarming rate. According to the Newspaper Association of America,, total industry advertising (both print and online) in the third quarter was $8.9 billion, down 18 percent from the year before.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/27/newspaper-death-spiral-continues-industry-advertising-contracts-5-billion-so-far-this-year/

I Can’t Believe Some People Are Still Saying Twitter Isn’t A News Source

Twitter is emerging as a major force in breaking news. But some people disagree.

Today we saw yet another illustration, when people in Mumbai got the word of terrorist attacks out to the world well before mainstream media even knew something was happening. Mathew Ingram points out previous examples of Twitter users breaking important world news.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/27/i-cant-believe-some-people-are-still-saying-twitter-isnt-a-news-source/

Nanomachines Powered by Light

Solar power is great for converting light energy into electricity. But what about harnessing light energy directly? After all, photons—discrete packets of light energy—exert force themselves, albeit on a pretty small scale.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=light-powered-nanomachines

Hopes high for science-friendly approach in US politics

It's early days, but it looks like good news for science and the environment as jobs are handed out in the wake of the 4 November US election.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026843.800-hopes-high-for-sciencefriendly-approach-in-us-politics.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Down's symptoms may be treatable in the womb

A pregnant woman who knows her unborn child has Down's syndrome might one day be able to prevent some symptoms before giving birth.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026844.600-downs-symptoms-may-be-treatable-in-the-womb.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Pig organs: Ready for humans at last?

In the not too distant future, a person in need of a heart transplant could be offered a pig's organ. That's the hope of a group that met in China last week to agree global guidelines for the first clinical trials of "xenotransplants".

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026844.500-pig-organs-ready-for-humans-at-last.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Major North American breakthrough for dialysis patients

Suffering from end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a growing number of patients at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), have become the beneficiaries of a North American breakthrough: high efficacy hemodiafiltration

http://www.physorg.com/news147001312.html

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T06:06:00.002-06:00

I didn't get around to posting anything yesterday, other than IT news headlines. I was trying to finish up stuff at work and then had to leave to go down to CIS in downtown St. Louis. Since we have filed to go to Vietnam and adopt a brother for the munchkin, we had to go down and renew our paperwork. The paperwork is active for 18 months and then everything has to be refiled again. We've been in the pipeline for 18 months now. *sigh* It just doesn't get any easier. I'm hoping that with a new administration that the State Department actually gets to work to resolve the differences between our two countries and allow the people that have passed the documentation test to continue to adopt.

I am thankful this Thanksgiving. In no particular order: I am thankful that my father is still with us. I am thankful that my wife and I have the munchkin. I am thankful that the problems that munchkin has had appear to be being resolved and she is doing and feeling much better. I am thankful that we still have our jobs, house, friends, and neighbors with us. I am thankful that this year's election cycle is finally over, that a president was elected in a fair contest, and that the transition of power seems to be underway. I am thankful that I am able to help out (in my spare time) at my lodge and the Scottish Rite. I am thankful that the people that I knew that had to rotate out to Iraq have made it back home. I am thankful that my friend that is currently on duty in Kosovo will be able to be back home soon. I am thankful that I am able to brew good beer.

Take it easy out there and be safe. Or at least as safe as you want. :) We'll be heading off to go see the parade downtown soon. Then it is off for a day of eating!

IT News for 2008-11-26

2008-11-26T06:35:00.003-06:00

Melamine Traces Found in U.S. Infant Formula

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it had discovered the toxic chemical melamine in infant formula made by an American manufacturer, raising the possibility that the problem was more extensive in the United States than previously thought.

While few details were available late Tuesday, agency officials said they had discovered melamine at trace levels in a single sample of infant formula. It was also discovered in several samples of dietary supplements that are made by some of the same manufacturers who make formula.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/us/26formula.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

Fraudsters use chancellor's announcement as phishing material

Phishing campaigns have appeared following the chancellor's pre-budget announcement

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Fraudsters-use-chancellors-announcement-as-phishing-material/article/121475/

MessageLabs believes malware and phishing will become more sophisticated next year

Morphing malware and phished social networks will increase in 2009.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/MessageLabs-believes-malware-and-phishing-will-become-more-sophisticated-next-year/article/121477/

Spam Back on the Rise with Srizbi Resurrected

After McColo was partially disconnected from the Internet by it’s peers global spam dropped noticeably.

It seems however that the spam was emanating from a zombie network and the control servers were hosted by McColo, the creators of the botnet (Srizbi) were smart about it though and built a fail-safe system into the the malware.

http://www.darknet.org.uk/2008/11/spam-back-on-the-rise-with-srizbi-resurrected/

Further MS08-067 Woes

First let me say, “PATCH your systems” if you have not done so already! Seriously, you and your machines are sitting ducks for attacks such as MS08-067, which we learned about from Microsoft last month. This type of attack is especially dangerous if your Windows Updates or security products are not up to date. Microsoft released its out-of-cycle emergency patch on the 23rd of October–more than one month ago–so you have no excuse today for being at risk!

http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2008/11/25/further-067-woes/

Spam is silenced, but where are the feds?

On Oct. 14, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, with help from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and New Zealand police, announced that it had shut down a vast international spam network known as HerbalKing.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121599&source=rss_news

Spam levels fluctuate as crooks try to revive botnets

Two weeks after a hosting firm's shutdown sent global spam volumes plummeting, some researchers continue to claim that junk mail rates remain dramatically down, while others say spam has already bounced back.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121558&source=rss_news

TiVo reports profit in fiscal 3Q

TiVo Inc. recorded a profit for its latest quarter because of a $105 million settlement it received in a patent suit, but revenue declined, the maker of digital video recorders said Tuesday.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081125/ap_on_hi_te/earns_tivo

Gmail 'vulnerability' turns out to be phishing scam

Reports that a purported Gmail vulnerability was being used by unauthorized third parties to hijack domains turned out to be nothing more than a phishing scam, Google announced Tuesday.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/cnet/20081126/tc_cnet/8301100931010852983

Obvious Mistakes Caused Europeana Site Failure

"Brussels, we have a problem." That was the message to the paymasters behind Europeana, an Internet portal designed to pool all of Europe's most treasured cultural icons, as it tried unsuccessfully to launch last week

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20081126/tc_pcworld/obviousmistakescausedeuropeanasitefailure

Lenovo Service Disables Laptops With Text Message

If a laptop is lost, now there is a new way to remotely shut it down -- just text it. Lenovo plans to announce on Tuesday the Constant Secure Remote Disable service, allowing users to remotely disable a PC by sending a text message. Users also receive a confirmation text message that validates the disabling of a PC.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20081126/tc_pcworld/lenovoservicedisableslaptopswithtextmessage

Sling takes its video portal public

Sling.com, the streaming site of Slingbox maker Sling Media, has emerged from private beta and is opening up access to its video content to the public.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10108618-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Why is Yahoo peddling old plug-ins?

It's hard not to pity Yahoo's very public decline, but that doesn't keep us from scratching our heads over the once-great Silicon Valley powerhouse's recent promotion of a plug-in that debuted a year ago and which its developers say is sorely outdated.

http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10106556-12.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Microsoft ranked fifth worst spam service ISP

Microsoft is listed fifth in the Top 10 list of the worst spam service ISPs compiled by Spamhaus.org.

Spammers are advertising links to sites that "peddle fake pharmacy products, porn, and Nigerian 419 scams" on Microsoft's Live.com and Livefilestore.com sites because they know that the Microsoft sites won't get blocked by antispam groups, writes Brian Krebs on his Security Fix Blog at the Washington Post.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10108283-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Fedora set to boot up faster

The Red Hat-sponsored Fedora Project has released Fedora 10, the latest version of its Linux operating system, with what the company claimed was a wide range of improvements in areas such as virtualisation management, networking, boot time and security.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107627

Mozilla slips an extra beta into Firefox schedule

Mozilla is to add a third beta to the development schedule for Firefox 3.1. The move will enable the company to get a better handle on remaining bugs and give several new features, including a faster JavaScript engine and a private browsing mode, more testing time, the company's browser director said yesterday.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107632

Experts urge rapid DNS patch

Experts and vendors are urging the US government to rapidly deploy security mechanisms at the top level of the DNS hierarchy, which is known as the root zone.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107613

Tweeting from Mars: NASA's outreach for the Phoenix lander

It's pretty easy to get people to pay attention when NASA does something big; the press will happily jump on both major discoveries and mishaps. But the actual research process is typically a collection of small triumphs and tragedies; conveying that to the public is much harder. With the Mars Phoenix Lander, NASA used Twitter, a microblogging service, to get its message out, and the Twitter feed attracted nearly 40,000 followers. Ars talked with the JPL's Veronica McGregor about the experience.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081125-tweeting-from-mars-nasas-outreach-for-the-phoenix-lander.html

Synthetic Viruses Could Explain Animal-to-Human Jumps

In a technical tour de force with potentially profound implications for the study of emerging diseases, researchers have built the largest-ever self-replicating organism from scratch.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/synthetic-virus.html

Give Thanks? Science Supersized Your Turkey Dinner

Your corn is sweeter, your potatoes are starchier and your turkey is much, much bigger than the foods that sat on your grandparents' Thanksgiving dinner table.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/turkeytech.html

HP Calls PC Sales Environment 'Challenging"

Hewlett-Packard is gaining market share in every segment, and is at or ahead of its integration plans for computer services provider EDS, Chief Executive Mark Hurd said on Monday.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2335432,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

VW to speed up rollout of cut-price EV

German car maker Volkswagen is to accelerate development of its two-seat electric city car, it has been claimed.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/26/vw_to_accelerate_chico_roll_out/

Facebook spams social networkers with phishy email

Facebook has taken the unusual step of sending its users email asking them to click on a link so they can restore site configuration settings that were recently lost. Facebook isn't kidding, and neither are we.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/26/facebook_email/

Unofficial fix issued for Vista networking flaw

A system-crashing bug with potential malware implications has been uncovered in Vista. But a fix for the vulnerability, which revolves around flaws in the operating system's network stack, may have to wait until the next service pack.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/25/vista_networking_flaw/

Dell Adds 3G Option For Mini 9 Netbook

The device, powered by AT&T in the United States, supports download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and upload speeds of 2 Mbps.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212200566&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Fewer Than Half Of Available PCs Reused

Transportation costs, import tariffs, and environmental legislation are among the hindrances cited by refurbished PC exporters.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212200535&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Europe tackles space ambitions amid financial crisis

European nations met on Tuesday to decide how to carve up €10 billion of spending needed to maintain the region's activities in space and tackle new initiatives amid rising pressure on budgets.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16139-europe-tackles-space-ambitions-amid-financial-crisis.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Hope for Rabies Victims: Unorthodox Coma Therapy Shows Promise

Four years ago, Jeanna Giese, now 19, became the first person to survive rabies without a preventive vaccine. Now, the medical procedure developed for treating Giese may have saved the lives of two children in South America.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=hope-for-rabies-victims-unorthodox-coma-therapy-shows-promise

Induced Current

http://xkcd.com/509/

Early Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T13:06:00.004-06:00

It is supposed to be a beautiful day today, sunny and a high around 52 degrees F. It would be great fishing weather according to one of my co-workers. Mo gave me the approval to purchase 2 kegs for my home brewing, so I'll be able to start kegging early next year. Woot!

It's an early Thanksgiving dinner tonight. We're having our first Thanksgiving dinner tonight at my lodge (Polar Star Rose Hill). We will also have the DDGM and DDGL in attendance, so the meeting will actually be short.

If you are out and about on Wednesday (Nov 26, 2008) a friend of mine has a band that is playing at Rich's Place in St. Charles. The band is Who's Drivin', which is a classic rock and dance band. They'll be at Rich's Place from 9pm - 1am. Rich's place is at 4149 S Old Highway 94, St. Charles, MO 63304. It is in the Plaza 94 strip mall, the same one with the Post Office, License Bureau, and is just southwest of Kohls.

We'll be having a long Thanksgiving day on Thursday as we'll be spending time with my side of the family at Grandpa's nursing home (they're letting us have one of their big rooms) in the morning and then off to Maureen's side of the family for Thanksgiving dinner. And Sunday we'll be having Thanksgiving dinner for our families. Making home-made cranberry salad, home-made mashed potatoes and candied yams, and home-made pumpkin pie. Yeah, I imagine I'll be putting on weight.

News just came out this afternoon from the Orchard Farm School Board pertaining to the new elementary school to be built. Well, it is not in New Town. And it is only going to serve grades Pre-K through 1st grade starting with the 2010-2011 school year at first. Since the first part of the message is about the size of the lot that has been acquired (19.8 acres), I am assuming that this was done to accommodate future growth of the school. Especially since the housing growth has tremendously slowed, there is a little more breathing room for the OFSD to grow at a reasonable rate that won't incur too much debt. Here is the info from the Orchard Farm School District newsletter:

SUPERINTENDENT'S MESSAGE

I am very proud to begin this newsletter announcing the purchase of 19.8 acres just off of Highway 94 and the end of Mercantile Drive in St. Charles for the construction of a new elementary school. In April of 2007 the voters approved construction improvements on the main campus and the construction of a new elementary school in the southern portion of the district. The improvements on the main campus are in full use providing valuable resources for the students and staff. The new land purchase will provide a valuable resource to the district initially serving the primary grades PK – 1 beginning in 2010. I am currently working with our architect to design a master plan of the site with the intention of starting construction in May of 2009. More information will follow and be posted on the district website for your review at www.ofsd.k12.mo.us.

Another thing that came out of the OFSD newsletter was that beginning December 16, 2008 people interested in running for the school boards 2 positions that are coming up may start registering at the district's main office. The 2 board positions are for a 3-year term and the election is scheduled for April 7, 2009. Anybody in the area planning on running? I don't know if the two people whose terms are coming up are planning on running.

In the news this morning was a report showing that St. Louis metro area housing sales dropped 63 percent since October last year, for the biggest drop in the nation. And home sale prices dropped 9% from last year. The Associated Press-Re/Max Monthly Housing Report found that sales fell in 10 out of 12 midwestern metro areas. The two exceptions were in Minneapolis and Detroit because of the wide spread foreclosures and buyers that are taking advantage of the deep discounts that are being offered.

For a positive bit of news, the employment picture in Missouri and Kansas was statistically brighter than the national labor market. The nationwide numbers for job losses was 240,000 in October, whereas the number for Missouri had a net gain of 5,300 jobs in October (3,800 in September). Unemployment numbers are 1.1% higher (6.5%) than the same period in October 2007.

Also, gas prices continue to decline. Missouri has some of the lowest prices per gallon of gas in the nation. I actually saw $1.48 yesterday at the Quicktrip at St. Charles Rock Road and Highway 170 (I think that is in St. John). The most expensive gas is in Alaska, where the average price is $2.866.

IT News for 2008-11-25

2008-11-25T12:56:00.001-06:00

Buffer overflow in Vista's TCP/IP stack

A buffer overflow in Windows Vista's TCP/IP stack can be exploited to overwrite kernel memory

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Buffer-overflow-in-Vista-s-TCP-IP-stack--/news/112040

Wal-Mart is victim of phishing campaigns

US supermarket giant Wal-Mart has been the subject of recent phishing campaigns.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Wal-Mart-is-victim-of-phishing-campaigns/article/121409/

Guessing ahead of cybercriminals is crucial to prevent infection

Companies need to step up their ability to guess where cybercriminals will strike next.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Guessing-ahead-of-cybercriminals-is-crucial-to-prevent-infection/article/121407/

Symantec values market for stolen data at $276 million

The buying and selling of stolen credit card and account data on the black market is in the millions, according to a new report from Symantec.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1339990,00.html

Browser Rider - Web Browser Exploitation Framework

Browser Rider is a hacking framework to build payloads that exploit the browser. The project aims to provide a powerful, simple and flexible interface to any client side exploit.

http://www.darknet.org.uk/2008/11/browser-rider-web-browser-exploitation-framework/

Europol to establish a centre to fight cyber crime

EU home affairs ministers have adopted a conclusion to establish an EU-wide platform for collecting information on cyber crime and child pornography

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Europol-to-establish-a-centre-to-fight-cyber-crime--/news/112044

Feds Put Brakes On ID Theft Ring That Targets Home Equity Accounts

Four arrested in scheme to steal money using customers' home equity lines of credit

http://www.darkreading.com/security/cybercrime/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=I5SP1DN5MFJSIQSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=212200289

Cybercrime Servers Selling Billions of Dollars' Worth of Stolen Information, Illicit Services

New Symantec report puts dollar figures on full potential value of stolen financial data, malware, and pirated software

http://www.darkreading.com/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=I5SP1DN5MFJSIQSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=212200149

Dell Offers 'Black Friday' $349 Notebook

Dell also slashed the price of the Vostro 200 Slim Tower and the PowerEdge SC440 single-socket tower server on its Web site.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212200199&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Best Buy cuts MacBook prices by up to $150

Best Buy has cut prices of Apple Inc.'s MacBook laptops by between $100 and $150, with the cheapest model now selling for under $900.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121339&intsrc=hm_list

Opera Mini 4.2 jumps into final release

Only yesterday Opera Mini 4.2 beta joined Google's Android Market. On Tuesday, the mini update to Opera's mobile browser for Java phones became the app's new benchmark

http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10107322-12.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

YouTube videos get widescreen treatment

YouTube announced Monday that it has expanded the viewable width of all videos appearing on the site, creating an image that viewers will likely associate more with a movie theater screen or high-definition television.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10107536-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Program your DVR from the road with TiVo Mobile

TiVo is launching a cell phone-friendly Web site that will allow users to search programming and set their TiVo DVRs remotely. TiVo Mobile will be a free service available "with any Internet-enabled phone through any network, regardless of carrier," according to the company. Any user will have access to the program listings, but only TiVo owners (Series2 or Series3/HD) will be able to set their home DVRs to record programs they would've otherwise missed.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10107464-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

LinkedIn unveils new search platform

Nearly a month after unveiling a new developer platform, business social-networking site LinkedIn took the wraps off a new search platform Monday night.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10107341-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Forecaster lops 10 pct off 2009 online ad estimate

A marketing research firm is dimming its Internet advertising outlook for the next four years, the latest sign of the more austere times looming for the high-tech sector.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081125/ap_on_hi_te/internet_ad_forecast

Blockbuster to rent through new on-demand device

Blockbuster Inc. will start renting movies and television shows through a new gadget that may give consumers another reason to bypass the struggling video chain's 7,500 stores.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081125/ap_on_hi_te/blockbuster_on_demand

Blockbuster takes on Netflix with new set-top box

Blockbuster Inc on Monday said it would roll out a new digital media player that brings fewer, but more recent titles from the Internet to consumers' televisions than a six-month old offering from rival Netflix Inc.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081125/media_nm/us_blockbuster_player

Windows Vista, Multimedia Codec Vulnerabilities Found

Certain administrative rights are required for the vulnerability to be exploited, making it a risk primarily for malicious insider scenarios.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212200255&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

MySpace App Shatters BlackBerry Download Record

In a sign that BlackBerry is gaining traction in the mainstream market, the social messaging app has been downloaded more than 400,000 times in its first week.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/blackberry/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212200265&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Facebook Wins $873 Million Judgment Against Spammer

The penalty is the largest award yet under the 2003 Can-Spam Act.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212200205&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

BlackBerry Storm Sees Long Lines, Delays

Analysts estimate the first touch-screen BlackBerry sold more than 100,000 units over the weekend, but the demand may be outstripping supply.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/blackberry/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212200204&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Lenovo ThinkPad Notebooks Will Use Text Messages for Additional Security

Lenovo is using text messaging to add an additional layer of security to the company’s line of ThinkPad notebooks. Starting in 2009, Lenovo ThinkPad notebook users can use an SMS text message to shutdown a laptop that has been stolen or has been lost. This new feature, called Lenovo Constant Secure Remote Disable, was developed in conjunction with Phoenix Technologies to work with the ThinkPad’s BIOS.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Lenovo-ThinkPad-Notebooks-Will-Use-Text-Messages-for-Additional-Security/?kc=rss

Phishers Increase Abuse of Specific Top-Level Domains

A study from the Anti-Phishing Working Group shows phishers are increasing the use of top-level domains in their campaigns to breach security through social engineering. According to the APWG research, the .hk and .th domains lead the way with the most phishing attacks per 10,000 domains.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Phishers-Increase-Abuse-of-Specific-TopLevel-Domains/?kc=rss

Apple Sued over Tech That Helps iPhone Surf Web

A lawsuit claims the way the Apple iPhone lets users browse the Web infringes on a patent granted in October. The lawsuit was filed by EMG Technology in the U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas, by Los Angeles real estate developer Elliot Gottfurcht and two co-inventors. The suit alleges that the technology the iPhone uses to navigate and display some Web sites designed for small phone screens infringes on a patent obtained by Gottfurcht and his co-inventors and assigned to EMG.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Apple/Apple-Sued-over-Tech-That-Helps-iPhone-Surf-Web/?kc=rss

What Not to Buy in 2008

Powerful financial waves are buffeting the USS Economy in extraordinary and dangerous ways, making it clear that this will be a holiday buying season unlike any other. But if you think recession (some say depression) concerns are going to keep me from producing my fourth annual guidance report on what to buy, consider, and just plain avoid, you're sorely mistaken, my friends.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2335366,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

US utilities moot massive EV order to boost car biz

The idea of somebody picking up the phone and ordering 10,000 Chevy Volts should be more than enough to improve any General Motors executive's day - and it may not prove to be that hopelessly optimistic.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/25/us_utility_ev_order_plan/

NASA's Juno set for Jupiter jaunt

NASA has confirmed a 2011 launch date for its Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft, equipped to probe the planet's "formation, evolution and structure".

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/25/juno_launch/

Tax break phishing scam aims to harvest details

Fraudsters with their finger on the financial pulse have launched a scam designed to exploit interest in UK government tax breaks.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/25/tax_break_phishing_scam/

NASA's lost toolbag filmed from Earth

The tool bag lost by NASA astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper during an ISS space walk has been filmed sailing over Earth by a veteran satellite observer over the weekend.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/24/nasa_lost_toolbag_filmed_on_earth/

Security breach gives PayPal phish the personal touch

Skype users who use a piece of software dubbed Pamela to manage their online phone accounts should be on the lookout for customized phishing attacks following revelations that one of more user databases containing names and email addresses have been breached.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/24/pamela_security_breach/

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie trailer

Warner Brothers has been delayed the new Harry Potter movie for a July 2009 opening. But to tide people over cable network ABC Family is hosting a weekend of the four “Harry Potter” films PLUS a “first look” at portions of “Half-Blood Prince” December 5-7.

Couple of teaser trailers for the movie

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809791044/video/10774936
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/3496905/Harry-Potter-and-the-Half-Blood-Prince-new-trailer-for-sixth-Potter-movie.html

Star Wars Parrot

The Japanese owner of this parrot is a huge Star Wars fan, and his love for the movies seems to have rubbed off on his pet. The bird is singing along with Star Wars music and imitating Darth Vader.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UttQ5Aa_lI

Apple updates Safari for second time in two weeks

For the second time in less than two weeks, Apple Inc. updated its Safari Web browser by issuing version 3.2.1 today.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121419&source=rss_news

HP results lifted by laptop PCs, EDS buyout

Hewlett-Packard (HP) reported a 19% jump in revenue for the October quarter, lifted by its EDS acquisition and strong sales of laptop computers and blade servers.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121418&source=rss_news

Bug allowed free access to Sirius radio service

Sirius XM Radio has quietly fixed a bug in its satellite radio system that since 2002 had provided a way for former subscribers to gain free access to the Sirius service, according to security vendor TippingPoint Technologies.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121386&source=rss_news

U.S. agency sees robots replacing humans in service jobs by 2025

A U.S. government intelligence agency thinks robots may be so capable by 2025 that questions such as "Would you like fries with that?" may be uttered by a smiling machine at the order counter.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121385&source=rss_news

USB flash drive gets eSATA port

Kanguru Solutions has announced the first USB flash drive that also has External eSATA connectivity.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107561

Video demand fuels 40G demand

The 40Gbits/s market is moving into general deployment phase due to video-stressing network capacities, according to research firm Ovum.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107560

Credit crunch hits Google workers

Google may be preparing to lay off thousands of workers, if a Silicon Valley information service is to be believed.

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=107559

Teacher in porn popup case dodges jail but loses creds

Substitute teacher Julie Amero's life was hijacked along with her browser, but her long legal battle is finally over -- along with her teaching caree

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-teacher-in-porn-popup-case-dodges-jail-loses-creds.html

Americans hugely addicted to TV, but money doesn't follow

Internet usage isn't killing TV; in fact, TV watching has hit record levels in the US. So why aren't broadcasters rolling in fat autumn piles of cash?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-americans-hugely-addicted-to-tv-but-money-doesnt-follow.html

Cell jammers still illegal, but may come to state prisons

In the US, cell phone jammers can only legally be used by federal law enforcement agencies. But a move is afoot to expand their use in state and local law enforcement, an effort promoted in part by a company that makes the hardware

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-cell-jammers-still-illegal-but-may-come-to-state-prisons.html

New Longevity Drugs Poised to Tackle Diseases of Aging

Cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, heart disease: All have stubbornly resisted billions of dollars of research conducted by the world's finest minds. But they all may finally be defied by a single new class of drugs, a virtual cure for the diseases of aging.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/11/two-mice-on-tre.html

Alien-Like Squid With "Elbows" Filmed at Deep Drilling Site

A mile and a half (two and a half kilometers) underwater, a remote control submersible's camera has captured an eerie surprise: an alien-like, long-armed, and—strangest of all—"elbowed" Magnapinna squid.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081124-giant-squid-magnapinna.html

Amazon Kindle 2 Slated For “Early Q1″

Update on the Kindle 2: It was scheduled to be released in October in time for this holiday season, but Bezos himself reportedly pulled the plug for last minute changes to the software. Our sources now say it’s tentatively scheduled to go on sale in “early next quarter.”

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/25/amazon-kindle-2-slated-for-early-q1/

Prop M - The other shoe drops

2008-11-24T11:27:00.001-06:00

Totally forgot to mention this, since I was originally going to say something last Friday. Anyway, on last Friday, Metro approved a 25-cent fare increase for MetroLink and public transportation buses, effective Jan. 1. So one-way fares will increase from $2 to $2.25 along the light-rail line, and from $1.75 to $2 on Metro buses. Both fares will increase again by another 25 cents July 1, 2010. Monthly bus and train passes will increase from $60 a month to $68 a month. And passes will increase, again, to $70 on July 1, 2010.

The Metro board is supposed to meet again on December 11 to discuss more cuts to service. One proposal is to cut the train intervals from 10 minutes to 15 minutes during rush hour and from 15 minutes to 20 minutes in non-rush hours.

Metro claims that they are facing revenue shortfalls which Prop-M would have covered. I don't know as I haven't looked at the books. And really, a lot of people didn't take Metro's threat seriously. And the Metro really needs a lot of cleaning up before people are going to be able to trust them again. It is unfortunate that we have to have this crisis (of their own making) at this point in time.

Good Morning, where did the weekend go?

2008-11-24T07:11:00.009-06:00

I managed to get sick last Thursday. Actually, it started Wednesday night with a massive migraine, but it continued over into Thursday with sore throat and that achy feeling in my bones. I slept off and on and drank plenty of fluids. I was feeling better by Friday morning, but it was still quite the chore just to make it out the door and into work. And Friday was pretty much playing catch-up all day with several projects. Mo said she started to feel bad Friday afternoon and so she wasn't feeling too good by Friday evening.

My father continues to improve. It is, of course, a slow road back to good health. He said the therapy really makes him tired and he usually takes a nap when he gets home. But the doctor has advised him to start cutting back on the naps as his sleep pattern has been getting off. When I talked to him on Friday afternoon, he was feeling very tired. He has gotten a lot of the feeling back in his arm and his leg is starting to get some feeling back in it. They are continuing the work with getting strength back in his leg. They are also working on his eyesight and there is the possibility that he will be able to drive again after all.

On Saturday, I took the munchkin to "Breakfast with Santa" which was an event at the Maplewood Applebees that was being run by Bethel 19 of Job's Daughters to raise money. Mo stayed home as she still wasn't feeling all that well and needed some more sleep. Our little munchkin was a little shy at first and didn't want to have anything to do with Santa. Eventually she did get over her shyness and sat on Santa's lap so I could snap a couple of pictures. The pictures are still in the camera, sorry about that. Then we sat down for a pleasant breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and sausage. Munchkin had fun, so all was well. When we got back home, we played a little, read a few books, and watched a movie. After we had lunch, I had to get ready to head off to work at the part-time job. I was working the closing shift so it was pretty late by the time I got back home.

We didn't do a whole lot on Sunday. I didn't have to work, so worked some around the house and getting some cleaning done before the holiday. We drove down to Mo's parent's house and I helped move their cable box to a different television. Then we drove over to Mo's sister's house. She is doing much better now that the doctor has said that she can start driving again. She had cut her hand in an accident a while back and has been unable to drive or use her hand for anything. She has been doing well in therapy and I believe the prognosis is good for getting over 90% of the functionality back.

The pumpkin beer is now bottled and resting in the basement. It has a good taste and quite a bit of sludge on the bottom of the fermenter. I'm hoping that I get good carbonation this time around. The alcohol level looks to be about 4.5%. The color was close to a orange or reddish-brown. It didn't really have a lot of the pumpkin pie aroma though. The bottling process wasn't too bad and I wasted very little beer. The bottling wand worked very well this time around. Of course, I took flack for getting the floor sticky after it had just been cleaned. Not to mention the counter top ended up being sticky as well, since I overflowed several of the bottles by just a little.

I came across what looks to be a clone recipe for Young's Double Chocolate Stout and I'm going to price out the grain bill. BYO printed a clone of this Stout a while back, here is the recipe:

3.1 kg of pale ale malt
0.31 kg Crystal 60
0.37 kg Chocolate malt
0.34 kg Lactose
0.23 kg Invert sugar
0.11 kg Cane sugar
0.17 Kg Cocoa Powder
9.4 g Liquid Chocolate extract
1/8 tsp yeast nutrient
40 g Fuggles
7g EK Goldings
Wyeast 1318

Mash at 67C for 60 min
Boil for 90 minutes add the cocoa after 75min.
Add Liquid Chocolate extract to the secondary

Coming up this weekend, on Friday November 28, 2008, is the Christmas Traditions Opening Ceremony at 11:00 AM in the Gazebo (400 Block of S. Main Street, Kister Park). Santa arrives by horse-drawn carriage to open the holiday shopping season. Festival runs 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM
http://www.stcharleschristmas.com

IT News for Nov 24, 2008

2008-11-24T07:09:00.000-06:00

Large quantity SQL Injection mitigation

As botnets and other automated tools are hammering at websites trying to exploit SQL injection vulnerabilities, site operators are trying hard at defending their websites. ASProx and other botnets were hitting hard at the ASP + MS SQL platform, millions of websites fell victims to the SQL injection vulnerabilities already.

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5381

Malware laden USB sticks stoke holiday attacks

IBM's ISS division said consumers and businesses face increased security risk as cybercriminals take advantage of the holiday season with phishing and malware laden USB sticks.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1339672,00.html

Orphaned Bots Not Necessarily Free Or Clean

Half a million former bot machines are at risk of reinfection or are still under cybercriminal control

http://www.darkreading.com/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=E2WVW0WIWWJNQQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=212101163

Mac OS X targeted by Trojan and backdoor tool

Two pieces of malicious software affecting Apple's Mac OS X appeared this week: a Trojan horse with the ability to download and install malicious code of an attacker's choice, and a hacker tool for creating backdoors, according to security vendors.

http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-251586.html

Gmail exploit may allow attackers to forward e-mail

A Gmail security vulnerability may allow an attacker to set up filters on users' e-mail accounts without their knowledge, according to a proof of concept posted Sunday at GeekCondition.com.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10106275-83.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Picture Printing Kiosks & Flash Memory Devices

Whether its the Secure Digital device in your Digital Camera, or the USB Flash Drive that you carry around the office, the convenient and widespread use of Flash Memory Devices also offers a negative element - as an effective method of malicious software propagation.

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5387

Symantec identifies underground criminal economy

An underground criminal economy is booming.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Symantec-identifies-underground-criminal-economy/article/121361/

Fortinet predicts bleak future for security industry

Stronger security and greater attacks are the predicted trends for next year.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Fortinet-predicts-bleak-future-for-security-industry/article/121350/

Apple iPhone 2.2 firmware has critical security patches

Apple addressed a dozen iPhone and iPod Touch security issues, including dangerous flaws in its Safari browser that could allow an attacker to gain access to sensitive information.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1339859,00.html

Internet Freedom and Security Are Necessarily At Odds

When people are free to run whatever they want to on their own computers there's no way to make the overall system secure

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Internet-Freedom-and-Security-Are-Necessarily-At-Odds/?kc=rss

Do You Know Where Your Laptops Are?

Laptop thefts are a huge problem for individuals and companies of every size. Personal and corporate information are at risk when they're stored on devices that can "pick up and walk away" easily. This video discusses tools that help prevent laptop theft and that minimize the damage in case a mobile machine is stolen.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Do-You-Know-Where-Your-Laptops-Are/?kc=rss

Script Fragmentation Attack Could Allow Hackers to Dodge Anti-virus Detection

Stephan Chenette of Websense describes a new Internet attack vector that could allow hackers to bypass anti-virus protection at both the gateway and the desktop. The technique, called script fragmentation, involves breaking down malware into smaller pieces in order to beat malware analysis engines.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Script-Fragmentation-Attack-Could-Allow-Hackers-to-Dodge-AntiVirus-Detection/?kc=rss

Botnet Operators Likely to Change Tactics in Wake of McColo, Intercage ISP Shutdowns

Botnet operators may change their tactics due to the shutdowns of ISP Intercage and Web hosting company McColo.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Botnet-Operators-Likely-to-Change-Tactics-in-Wake-of-McColo-Intercage-Shutdowns/?kc=rss

Samsung demos amazing folding phone

A video has appeared online of what’s claimed to be an OLED display able to fold itself in half to become a mobile phone.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/24/folding_oled_samsung_phone/

Western Digital opens door to flash

Western Digital is open to entering the solid state drive (SSD) market when it presents "appropriate opportunity."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/23/western_digital_on_flash/

NASA celebrates return of the Zeppelin

NASA got a great big balloon for the 75th anniversary of its iconic Moffett airfield in the heart of Silicon Valley.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/21/airship_ventures_names_zeppelin/

Be-A-Magpie Is PayPerPost For Twitter

Like much-criticized PayPerPost for blogs, German/UK startup Be-A-Mapgpie will pay you to insert advertisements into your Twitter stream.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/23/be-a-magpie-is-payperpost-for-twitter/

Facebook Getting Serious About Classifieds; May Relaunch This Year

Here’s a rumor that won’t go away - Facebook has been quietly searching for a partner to take over their year and a half old classified listings application, and may relaunch as early as the end of December.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/22/facebook-getting-serious-about-classifieds-may-relaunch-this-year/

How To Buy A Laptop

Whether you are a road warrior, daily commuter, or media mogul, make sure that your next notebook is a good fit. We look at gear from Lenovo, eMachines, HP, Sony, and Acer.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212001505&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Job Cuts At Akamai, Despite Net Usage Gains

Growth was driven by new undersea cable links, the launch of many global WiMax networks, and new fiber-to-the-premises services.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/data/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212101439&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Dell Profit Beats Wall Street Expectations

Dell posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit Thursday as cost cuts offset lower revenue, sending its shares up about 6%

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212101311&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Random House to digitize thousands of books

With e-book sales exploding in an otherwise sleepy market, Random House Inc. announced Monday that it was making thousands of additional books available in digital form, including novels by John Updike and Harlan Coben, as well as several volumes of the "Magic Treehouse" children's series.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081124/ap_on_hi_te/digital_random_house

Hands-off hackers: Crooks opt for surgical strikes

Internet criminals have been getting more "professional" for years, trying to run their businesses like Big Business to get better and more profitable at selling stolen data online. Now the bad guys of the cyber-underworld are exhibiting other unexpected traits: remarkable patience and restraint in stalking their victims.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081124/ap_on_hi_te/hands_off_hackers

First Look video: Picoli for iPhone

Until Apple blesses the iPhone with a camera worth talking about, you're just going to have to improve photos by transferring them to your desktop to edit.

http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10105724-12.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Windows Live Search to be rebranded Kumo?

There have been tremors on the Web that Microsoft was considering a new brand name for Live Search, and now LiveSide.Net is reporting that Microsoft has taken control of the domain name Kumo.com from its registrar and directing internal traffic to it as a test site.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10106314-75.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

IE8 Release Candidate Coming on 1Q 2009

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 apparently will have its product debut sometime next year, according to an announcement released on Wednesday by the company. The Web browser is currently available as IE8 Beta 2, and Microsoft hopes to get some more feedback from the public and technical community before finalizing it.

http://redmondmag.com/news/rss.asp?editorialsid=10411

Microsoft's Ballmer ordered to testify in 'Vista Capable' suit

A federal judge on Friday ordered Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to testify in the "Vista Capable" class-action lawsuit, rejecting the company's contention that Ballmer knew nothing about loosening hardware requirements for the marketing program.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121238&intsrc=hm_list

Judgment favors Novell in ongoing SCO case

Another chapter in the lengthy legal saga between SCO and Novell is closed, with the release of a final judgment by a Utah court on Thursday.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=009121219&intsrc=hm_list

Apple patches 12 iPhone bugs, adds Street View, podcast downloads

Apple Inc. early today released iPhone 2.2, the first update to the phone's firmware in more than two months, patching a dozen security vulnerabilities and adding several new features, including Google Street Views to the device's mapping tool.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121101&intsrc=hm_list

Wii Boxing Gloves: Score Virtual Points for Real Violence

Wii Boxing just got a whole lot more realistic. While these Everlast branded gloves are little more than a regular pair of boxing gloves, with the addition of pockets into which you can slide a couple of Wiimotes, they change

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/wii-boxing-glov.html

Biofuel-Powered Flying Car Cleared for Takeoff

Parajet is preparing for the inaugural flight of SkyCar, a biofuel-powered land/air hybrid vehicle the company says will deliver rally car performance on the ground and aircraft performance in the sky. Since it runs on biofuel and features an aluminum frame, ParaJet says it's jut a matter of time before the clean, green SkyCar is the airborne equivalent of a Toyota Corolla.

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/11/the-worlds-firs.html

Old worm infects Department of Defense computers

Department of Defense computers have been hit with an old worm that the DoD won't discuss other than to say it is taking steps to mitigate its effects.

http://www.itworld.com/security/58270/old-worm-infects-department-defense-computers

Toshiba Demonstrates Quick-Charging Electric Bike

This past week, Toshiba exhibited a snazzy power-assisted bicycle manufactured by Cannondale Sports Group that uses a quick-charging lithium ion battery. The SCiB battery uses lithium titanate for enhanced safety and is made up of ten battery cells connected in series.

http://cleantechnica.com/2008/11/22/toshiba-demonstrates-quick-charging-electric-bike/

Play Doom online - thanks to Adobe Alchemy

One of the games that started the FPS genre - now in your browser.

http://www.flashmagazine.com/News/detail/play_doom_online_-_thanks_to_adobe_alchemy/

Class Project

2008-11-19T06:17:00.004-06:00

The following note was sent to me from a friend of mine. I think it is a worthwhile venture, especially with the amount of problems going on with the economy today. By the way, the USDA yesterday released a press release that said the number of children that went hungry in 2007 had increased more than 50% from the previous year. Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. That was 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives. Here is Angie's email:

Greetings;

My American Schools final course assignment is a whole class project. We are collecting donations of food, school supplies and warm winter clothes.

The food we collect and the new winter clothing items will go to Food Outreach. Food Outreach does a project with needy children that do not have food at home over the weekends. Food Outreach fills a backpack with food that the kids can take home for their weekend meals.

The school supplies and the used winter clothing will be delivered to Youth in Need by my class as a whole on Wednesday December 3.

There are children in our communities and our neighboring communities that need help. These children don't get regular meals, don't have warm clothes to protect them and do not get school supplies to take to school.

They need help, even if it is a pair of mittens or a hat that costs no more than a dollar or two. They need soup to eat and a breakfast bar to help with their hunger. They need their own school supplies so they feel ready to learn. They need our help.

I know it is Scouting for Food time, every child you know is asking you to buy something from their fundraiser, you're worried about how to buy your own food and winter clothes for your child. But please remember that there are children you don't know that need your help too.

I am asking for your help, to help a child you have never met. I will be collecting and accepting donations until Sunday November 30.

Sincerely,

Angela Gonzalez
Elementary Education Student
University of Missouri - St. Louis

You can reach Angie by email at asgmtf [at] umsl.edu if you would care to contribute. Or drop me a note and I can get it to Angie.

Letter from the Instructor

This University of Missouri-St. Louis student is collecting items (food, clothes, and school supplies) for needy children. This is being done as part of a course assignment - teaching future teachers about the importance of teacher leadership and student advocacy.

If you have any questions, or comments, please call me on my cell phone at 314-210-4241, or send me an email at the address below.

And, thank you so much for your kind support of this initiative.

Robin R. Wiseman, MBA, MEd
Adjunct Faculty
University of Missouri - St. Louis
Teaching & Learning Department
ruawise1 [at] sbcglobal.net

Where do we go from here?

2008-11-18T08:32:00.002-06:00

It was a great morning for me in New Town. I let the dogs out at about 4am and the sky was clear, lots of stars, a little bit of a breeze and a brisk 22 degrees F. I actually had to wear my wind breaker to work this morning. It was just the wrong side of cool with the breeze. Most of the leaves are off the trees now. It was a beautiful fall, with some very vibrant colors this year. Going to be really nice for the next couple of days. Today's high is only 41 degrees, but tomorrow it gets up to 55. They are currently saying we may see a few sprinkles on Sunday, but no real rain over the next couple of weeks. The extended outlook shows Thanksgiving here to be bright, sunny and a high temperature of around 50.

St. Charles is getting into the Christmas spirit already. The sixth annual Christmas train event began over this past weekend. This train display will be at the Frenchtown Heritage Museum (1121 N. 2nd Street). This year's layout consists of a Victorian winter scene, a circus theme and a western scene. Call 636.946.8682 for more info. It is open Wed & Thur 12pm-3pm, Fri 12pm-3pm & 5pm-8pm, Sat-Sun 12pm-5pm and runs through Dec 21. Cost is $2 Adults and $1 Children.

Also, the St. Charles City Beautification Commission is sponsoring its 5th Annual Competition. The Commission is accepting applications through November 26, 2008. Applications can be obtained at City Hall, Foundry Art Centre or Convention & Visitor's Bureau on South Main. Applications can be mailed to Mayor's Office, 200 North Second, St. Charles, MO 63301, fax 636-949-3275, e-mail Patti.York@stcharlescitymo.gov.

Coming up on the Friday after Thanksgiving (Nov 28) is the official opening of the Christmas season in St. Charles called Christmas Traditions. The ceremony starts at 11:00 AM at the Gazebo in the 400 Block of S. Main Street in Kister Park. Santa is set to arrive by horse-drawn carriage to open the holiday shopping season. The website is at http://www.stcharleschristmas.com/ with details. Christmas Traditions runs every Wed (6:30pm-9pm) and Fri (6:30pm-9pm), Sat (11am-9pm), and Sun (noon-5pm) from Nov 28 through Dec 27.

Back to the transit issues, as I see them. I don't want you to think I'm an apologist for the Metro. I do think that it is a good idea. I think as far as it goes, they did the best with what they were given to work with. The first line was created in an existing railbed, which kept costs low. The first expansion, in Illinois since St. Charles and St. Louis voters had rejected earlier funding increases, was successful and doubled the line size. It currently stretches from Lambert Airport to Scott Air Force Base. The cross-county line, which basically goes from the Forest Park station, past Washington University, through Clayton and then south to Shrewsberry is where a LOT of the problems really crept in. And it may be nothing untoward actually happened, but it is the perception of something fishy that is driving the issue. When they made the plan, there was no concern about the hauling of dirt and debris through existing neighborhoods. This led to the first lawsuit of many that affected the timing and cost overruns this project had. Looking backwards, I think the other failure on the part of Metro, was the decision to act alone on the cross-county line expansion without any Federal funding. Anyway, long story short the project took longer than anticipated with a huge cost overrun. Lots of finger pointing going on and I'm sure enough blame to share amongst all of them. But one of the most telling aspects was the refusal to allow a state audit of Metro to proceed. All of the bad things were in front of a lot of people this past election cycle. Metro is going to have to convince people that they can manage their budget and spend time rebuilding their reputation.

What does the future hold? Much of my info is over 6 months old, because I haven't managed to keep up with because of work and family issues. Anyway from what I remember, they have several expansion possiblities, 2 of which are in the city. One possibility was an expansion route through north city into Florissant/Ferguson and another possiblity was an expansion into south city. If Prop M had passed, the St. Louis County Council wanted to see the next expansion to come off the Shrewsbury spur and head out towards Westport.

The objective for line expansion (in my opinion) should to hook up service to areas with employers and the neighborhoods where people can take advantage of riding metro to work. Many of the complaints about metro is that it just doesn't go anywhere near enough places. Well, you have to start somewhere. We managed to get what we have built for a lot less than many other locals with LRT (light rail transit) because we've tried to keep utilizing old railbeds. But we're running out of railbeds we can follow and sooner or later to make it succeed we're going to have to spend some serious money acquiring land.

Another thing to keep in mind is the weird way that the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) works. It used to be called the State Highway Department because that's all they took care of. Well that's all they still care about. MODOT doesn't take into account any transportation other than car or truck on highways. Unfortunately, there is the attitude in Missouri (don't know if it exists elsewhere) that the city folks don't care about rural folks and vice versa. What we end up seeing down in the state capitol is that the rural representatives consider mass transit as a city problem (St. Louis and Kansas City) and don't want to see state funds allocated for that purpose. Of course, MODOT has their own issues with running overbudget and losing their reputation. Enough so, that a year or two ago when we had the opportunity to raise taxes specifically for MODOT it was a decisively defeated. We are also seriously behind on maintenance on highways and bridges that we currently have, not to mention the new ones that they want to build.

Which gets me back to St. Charles. It's all about the infrastructure, baby. Employers don't just look at a map and pick a spot at random. They take many things into account before deciding where they will locate: taxes, land acquistion, how easy is it for customers to get there, and where is their potential employee pool. By building a local infrastructure, we can help ourselves. Not only can we help out existing businesses by providing access to potential customers, but we can also increase the ease and size of potential employees. Is it totally all about streetcars/trolleys? No, there has to be a plan to incorporate different transportation methods. The feeder system does work in most circumstances. For taxing purposes though, a fixed rail system does end up providing longer term taxing revenue by increasing the value of businesses along the route. And as pointed out by a friend in a comment to my previous post, trolleys/streetcars have a longer life and less maintenance cost than running buses.

Anyway, I appreciate hearing anything back. Really. Especially if I've gotten any of the facts incorrect. Thanks much!

IT News for today follows:

Critical update to Adobe AIR

The folks at Adobe have released a bulletin and update to Adobe AIR that they classify as critical. It fixes some of the same vulnerabilities announced earlier in Flash player. Time to update if you are using AIR. Details related to that CVE number are not yet available at nvd.nist.gov.

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5363

New Tool: NetWitness Investigator

A new freeware version of Netwitness' core product, NetWitness Investigator, was made available today. I was able to get access to it several days ago for a test run. It looks and feels much like Wireshark, but with a lot more capability.

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5351

For Symantec CEO, a legacy of growth

Company is poised to weather tough economy with diverse portfolio and strong customer base, analysts say.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1339312,00.html

Thompson to step down as Symantec CEO

Thompson, who has been at the helm since the late 1990s, will be succeeded by Symantec COO Enrique Salem in April 2009 when Thompson steps down. (Security Bytes blog)

http://security.blogs.techtarget.com/2008/11/17/john-thompson-to-step-down-as-symantec-ceo/

Hacked dental school server compromises 300,000

A hacker used a vulnerability scanning tool to compromise a server at the University of Florida's College of Dentistry, compromising the sensitive information of patients.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1339267,00.html

Microsoft Security Assessment Tool - Free for Windows

The Microsoft Security Assessment Tool (MSAT) is a free tool designed to help organizations like yours assess weaknesses in your current IT security environment, reveal a prioritized list of issues, and help provide specific guidance to minimize those risks. MSAT is an easy, cost-effective way to begin strengthening the security of your computing environment and your business.

http://www.darknet.org.uk/2008/11/microsoft-security-assessment-tool-free-for-windows/

Vulnerability discovered in SSH specification

An error in the secure shell protocol (SSH) specification can in rare cases be exploited to reconstruct part of the plain text. The problem is reported to occur in CBC mode, in conjunction with specific error states

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Vulnerability-discovered-in-SSH-specification--/news/111977

New HP Ethernet Module Aimed at Eliminating Network Switches

Virtual Connect Flex-10 Ethernet module can allocate the bandwidth of a 10Gb Ethernet network port across four network interface card (NIC) connections. HP also claimed that users deploying virtual machines and utilizing Flex-10 can cut their network equipment costs in half.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Networking/New-HP-Ethernet-Module-Aimed-at-Eliminating-Network-Switches/?kc=rss

Yang to Step Down, Yahoo Searches for New CEO

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang will return to his former role at the company once a successor has been found.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Yang-to-Step-Down-Yahoo-Searches-for-New-CEO/?kc=rss

HP to Extend Holiday Shutdown to Cut Costs

Hewlett-Packard, the world's top PC vendor, will give employees an additional week off later in 2009 in order to cut costs.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/HP-to-Extend-Holiday-Shutdown-to-Cut-Costs/?kc=rss

Symantec CEO John Thompson to Step Down Next Year

Symantec CEO John Thompson is stepping down as CEO next April. Thompson will be replaced by Symantec COO Enrique Salem.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Symantec-CEO-John-Thompson-to-Step-Down-Next-Year/?kc=rss

PETA cooks up gory game in Cooking Mama protest

Animal Rights group PETA has designed a gory cooking videogame that’s definitely not for vegetarians, because it’s intended to shame the Cooking Mama videogame series which the group’s claimed is too meat focused.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/18/peta_videogame/

Cybercrooks launch DDoS assault on anti-fraud site

Unidentified miscreants have launched a denial of service attack on a UK-based anti-fraud website.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/17/bobbear_ddos/

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 spec finalised

USB 3.0 is complete, the group of companies behind the project announced last night. The specification is now officially at version 1.0.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/18/usb_3_completed/

NASA images LA wildfires

NASA has released an image captured on 16 November by its Aqua satellite, showing the extent of the California wildfires which, the BBC estimates, had by yesterday destroyed a total of 800 homes and razed roughly 22,000 acres (8,900 hectares):

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/18/wilfire_sat_images/

Billions of particles of anti-matter created in laboratory

Take a gold sample the size of the head of a push pin, shoot a laser through it, and suddenly more than 100 billion particles of anti-matter appear.

The anti-matter, also known as positrons, shoots out of the target in a cone-shaped plasma “jet.”

https://publicaffairs.llnl.gov/news/news_releases/2008/NR-08-11-03.html

MacBooks enter a golden new age of anti-piracy cruft: HDCP for all

It has come to pass that HDCP - High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (or, in this case, DisplayPort Content Protection) - is now built into the new MacBooks to protect iTunes Store media. Most of the content is not protected but it seems some newer videos are, which means you can’t play them over a non-HDCP compliant TV or monitor.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/11/18/macbooks-enter-a-golden-new-age-of-anti-piracy-cruft-hdcp-for-all/

Google’s Voice Search Finally Hits The iPhone

Google’s search-by-voice application is finally available on the App Store. The application was originally announced on Friday, leading to widespread excitement that quickly turned to unrest as the application failed to make its debut on the App Store.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/17/googles-voice-search-finally-hits-the-iphone/

It’s Official. Facebook Is Running A Protection Racket On App Developers

Earlier today Facebook released details on its new Verified App Program for third party developers.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/17/its-official-facebook-is-running-a-protection-racket-on-app-developers/

Sun Updates StarOffice 9 For Microsoft Office, Macintosh

With its increased compatibility, StarOffice represents a low-cost alternative for companies looking to save on their IT budgets.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterpriseapps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212100362&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Domino's Offers Pizza Through TiVo Service

TiVo subscribers can set up user names and passwords on Dominos.com, which will enable them to place orders through their TVs using only an account number.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/TV_theater/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212100383&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Hurtful Google Docs Study Tied To Ex-Microsoft Employees

The ClickStream report suggests that a mere 1% of U.S. adult Internet users used Google Docs, while Microsoft Office is in use by more than 50% of adult U.S. Internet users.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterpriseapps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212100385&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Mobile TV Sees Little U.S. Interest

Adoption is at only 1% due to limited channels and poor networks, but a Jupiter Research reports shows interest in watching recorded content on mobile handsets is on the rise.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/business/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212100381&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Google powers Safari's new antifraud warnings

Google Inc.'s blacklist powers the antiphishing tool Apple Inc. just added to Safari, links in the new warning indicate.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9120562&intsrc=hm_list

Citigroup's 52,000 layoffs will impact IT

Expect Citigroup to reach headcount reductions by selling off and outsourcing IT operations where it can, one analyst said

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9120659&intsrc=hm_list

Adobe shows ARM-ready Flash 10; Spansion names Apple in suit

Adobe has pledged to optimize a version of Flash 10 for smartphones using ARM processors like those of the iPhone -- but iPhone itself isn't getting that upgrade. Also, flash memory maker Spansion has implicated Apple in lawsuits against Samsung that could block the import of iPods.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/17/adobe_shows_arm_ready_flash_10_spansion_names_apple_in_suit.html

Apple releases fix for quirky MacBook glass trackpads

Apple has released a software update to address an issue where trackpad clicks would randomly go unrecognized on its latest notebook offerings: the MacBook (Late 2008) and MacBook Pro (Late 2008).

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/17/apple_releases_fix_for_quirky_macbook_glass_trackpads.html

Apple flirting with another record quarter for Mac sales

After spending 25 hours counting sales of iPhones and Macs at Apple's US-based retail chain, investment bank Piper Jaffray said it believes the company this quarter could meet or beat last quarter's record 2.6 million Mac sales total while again selling more than 6 million iPhones

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/17/apple_flirting_with_another_record_quarter_for_mac_sales.html

Best Buy Black Friday 2008 Ad

A lot of people have been anxiously waiting to see what kind of electronics deals stores were going to offer this year, and one of the most sought-after ads has finally been posted to the Internet. That’s right, the Best Buy Black Friday 2008 ad is available

http://cybernetnews.com/2008/11/13/best-buy-black-friday-2008/

Intel's 3.2GHz monster Nehalem roars onto the scene

Intel has officially launched Core i7, a.k.a. "Nehalem."

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081118-intels-3-2ghz-monster-nehalem-roars-onto-the-scene.html

Internet, IP legislation gets promoted to House big leagues

In recognition of the growing importance and influence of Internet- and IP-related legislation, House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers is taking over IP issues from the body's Courts subcommittee—and giving it discretion over antitrust issues (including net neutrality) instead.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081117-internet-ip-legislation-gets-promoted-to-house-big-leagues.html

Study reminds us why we're always fixing our parents' PCs

The American public has a lot of technology‚ and a lot of tech headaches. People have the most frequent problems with their Internet connections, cell phones, and home PCs, according to data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081117-study-reminds-us-why-were-always-fixing-our-parents-pcs.html

Why Apple Won't Allow Adobe Flash on iPhone

Don't hold your breath waiting for the iPhone to support Adobe's Flash software: Apple's terms-of-service agreement prohibits it.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/adobe-flash-on.html

A Starter Guide to Roleplaying with Kids

In my first post for GeekDad I shared some thoughts about gaming with children. This generated many emails and comments which were both inspiring and encouraging. There are many people out there engaged in some old-school dice rolling with their kids. What I am learning through my own efforts is it is never too young to start.

http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2008/11/roleplaying-wit.html

Sci-Fi Writer Wears His Book on His Shirt

The image above may look like a meaningless block of jumbled up pixels to you, but it's actually a multimedia science fiction novel.

The novel's called Manga Man, and you'd access it by snapping a photo of the black-and-white block with your camera phone and a piece of software. Then, the software will direct your mobile browser to the novel.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/sci-fi-writer-w.html

Fujitsu Laboratories Develops Wrap Around Video for Drivers

Fujitsu technology creates all around view for car drivers to enhance awareness

http://www.dailytech.com/Fujitsu+Laboratories+Develops+Wrap+Around+Video+for+Drivers/article13446.htm

Evidence For Vast Oceans On Ancient Mars

Data from the Mars Odyssey orbiter's Gamma Ray Spectrometer provides new evidence for the controversial idea that oceans once covered about a third of ancient Mars. Spacecraft images going back to Mariner 9 in the early 1970s and the Viking orbiters and landers later in the 1970s up to the current orbiters and rovers have showed widespread evidence for a watery past for Mars.

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/11/17/evidence-for-vast-oceans-on-ancient-mars/

Could fertilising trees save the climate?

Should we "dope" trees with nitrogen fertiliser to engineer a cooler global climate? New findings suggest the nutrient could be a switch for determining how much solar energy forests in Earth's cooler regions reflect back out into space.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16061-could-fertilising-trees-save-the-climate.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Ancient grave reveals 'Flintstone' nuclear family

A Stone Age massacre has provided evidence of the earliest known nuclear family. The evidence also suggests that, just like today, some early humans lived in blended families.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16054-ancient-grave-reveals-flintstone-nuclear-family.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Man dies after eating extra-hot chilli peppers

The majority of us have, at some point, been dared to eat hot foods that have resulted in burned taste buds, fateful post-digestion trips to the bathroom and eventually, extreme anguish and generally feeling rather ill.

http://www.oklol.co.uk/man-dies-after-eating-extra-hot-chilli-peppers/

It's another Monday

2008-11-17T10:20:00.004-06:00

Good morning!

The sun is up now and very bright. It was definitely a bit cool this morning on my trek into work, but warmer than yesterday morning. Looks like we may be in for a bit of an Indian Summer this week as we approach low 60's by Thursday. Weather was really nice yesterday, especially when we went over to the meeting at the Organic Farm in New Town. Not very many people attended unfortunately, but they did bring out a fire pit and as we discussed issues for our district. Basically, we're going to see some cutbacks in some of the fun activities because the economy is sucking for the housing industry. Big shock there. I will be disappointed if we don't have the whole shebang for July 4th. But as was brought up, this is the city of St. Charles' 200th anniversary, so the the city is planning on a number of things this year. And if you are in the St. Charles area, the Elm Street reconstruction is FINALLY done. Huzzah!

This morning Citigroup announced some massive layoffs coming. They are planning on slashing their global workforce by around 50,000 in the short-term to help shrink costs after taking on huge losses to their business. Unfortunately, I have one close friend that works in the IT support group over there. He'll find out this morning what the restructing is going to do. Not exactly on his list of things to be looking for a new job in today's economy. Especially, since he really likes his current job and does it well.

I'm aiming to talk about transit a lot this week and the lack of it in St. Charles. We did have the opportunity to extend Metrolink through St. Charles but was voted down in the mid-1990's. Based on the election (in which the 'No' vote was only separated from the 'Yes' vote by less than 2% and only garnered about 25% of possible voters) the East-West Gateway group and Metro decided that St. Charles residents didn't really want Metro at all. Subsequently, Metro bus service to St. Charles city/county was also stopped as part of the vote decision not to fund Metro operations in St. Charles. The following year, St. Louis county also failed to pass a funding bill for metro which would have brought a cross-county line much sooner than it eventually did. Durning the construction of the cross-county line there were many questions about how money was being spent and with the refusal of Metro to submit to audits, St. Louis county stopped a large part of their funding of Metro.

During this past election cycle, Metro was trying to get prop M passed which would have brought St. Louis county payments back into the system and additionally create funds for another county line, which the county really wants to go toward Westport Plaza. It didn't pass, in my opinion, because of the same ill-will that is still left off from the cross-county line debacle. There are still a lot of questions to be answered by Metro before people are going to be comfortable giving them a lot more money. They talked tough the last time they had a tax increase on the ballot about cutbacks in service if it failed. The proposal failed to pass at the ballot box, but budget cutbacks didn't happen. This time, Metro has announced their budget cuts, and it isn't going to be pretty for a lot of the people that really depend on Metro to get around town.

This is all part of the background floating around St. Charles and its approach to mass transit. The city (and county for that matter) have indicated that if mass transit does come to fruition in St. Charles, they do not want Metro handling it. They also want to have very strict budget process to control costs and keep an eye on whomever is running it. That's good so far as it goes. We've still got to get over this pariochal attitude that people seem to have in St. Charles, that the only people that ride mass transit come from somewhere else and they will come here to rob us. You have got to get a grip. There are a lot of white-collar employees and blue-collar employees that would take full advantage of mass transit if it is available. I don't think you are ever going to get rid of crime, but what the heck is supposed to prevent people that are set on perpetrating crime from using a car to commit it?

It seems worth pointing out that it is easy to armchair quarterback what is going on with Metro. It is a quite different thing to try to get good information and attempt to devise a plan that works well for everybody (or at least as many people as you can). A survey conducted by the American Management Association indicated that "as much as 70% of all business decisions are bad ones." You only have to look as far as New Coke, Tyco, Enron, WorldCom and the subprime mortgage crisis to see there are huge examples of business "duh moments" to around. But that doesn't mean that sitting on our hands is the correct decision either. Not making a decision is still making a decision.

Our population is aging, gas prices are currently low ($1.76 this morning and it wasn't that long ago that they were bouncing between $3.50 and $4.00), employees are unable to find affordable housing near where they work, and the economy is struggling to keep moving. Having an effective and reliable transit system is both necessary and vital to our economic interests, not to mention the long-term growth strategy of the city of St. Charles. No, there is no good time to increase taxes, whether the economy is growing or slowing. But the decisions we make today will shape the future of our city for the short and long-term future.

And given that the economy is struggling, we must come together as a community. All of us. Frenchtown, the Historic District, North 94 corridor, New Town, Charlestowne, Whether you're in Ward 10, Ward 6, or somewhere else, we have to come together and make this work. In the future, riders will choose to use the system because of higher gas prices, where they live versus where they work, if the system works for their schedule and mobility needs, and if it goes where they need it to go. Don't be disillusioned, yes, gas prices are not going to stay this low, they will be going back up. Will we learn our lesson this time? The choice is ours. We can either start to work towards a community transit plan or just let it go until it is too late to do anything except to turn the lights out.

IT News for this morning follows:

A combination approach could be the best solution to malware threats

A combination of the best features of locally running systems with security services running in the cloud would be an ideal solution to beat malware threats.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/A-combination-approach-could-be-the-best-solution-to-malware-threats/article/121018/

Attacks on networks are increasing in size and frequency

Malicious attacks on networks are continuing to grow.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Attacks-on-networks-are-increasing-in-size-and-frequency/article/121016/

McColo shutdown won't stop spam, malware

Increased cooperation among security researchers and ISPs are resulting in victories against spammers and botnet operators. But, cybercriminals move to new spots on the Internet.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1339006,00.html

FBI tried to lure Half Life 2 hacker to the US

Valve, the US games developer, in co-operation with the FBI, tried to use a job offer to lure the German Axel "Ago" Gembe to the US in order to apprehend him there

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/FBI-tried-to-lure-Half-Life-2-hacker-to-the-US--/news/111968

Passwords snooped on during break-in to TYPO3.org web server

Attempts by password thieves to use the stolen passwords to access other web sites are already being reported. Users who use the same passwords on other sites and TYPO3.org are being urged to change them

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Passwords-snooped-on-during-break-in-to-TYPO3-org-web-server--/news/111964

Intrepid iPhone developers bypass security for functionality

The Apple iPhone is vulnerable to a new bug related to the signing of iPhone applications. Applications that are created with the official iPhone SDK need to be cryptographically signed by the author and Apple before they’re allowed into the App store or installed on an iPhone. The digital signing is a security measure that serves two purposes; helping to identify the developer in case of any problems and making sure that an approved application hasn’t been modified.

http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2008/11/15/intrepid-iphone-developers-bypass-security-for-functionality/

Researchers Find Flaws In Microsoft VoIP Apps

Vulnerabilities could lead to denial-of-service attacks, researchers say

http://www.darkreading.com/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=DYNDWN0LRLUF2QSNDLOSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=212100043

Standards Come to Anti-malware Testing

Security industry organization AMTSO develops high-quality guidelines to help vendors, analysts and publications test anti-malware products in a fair and thorough way.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Standards-Come-To-AntiMalware-Testing/?kc=rss

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Cyber-crime Edition Slideshow Summary

Software pirates are winning the battle against vendors on the high seas of the Internet. Such activity costs the software industry billions of dollars. V.i. Laboratories, which specializes in anti-piracy technology for software, took eWEEK on a brief tour of the piracy underworld. Here is a look at a piece of the software pirate economy.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-The-CyberCrime-Edition/?kc=rss

Taking COBOL to the Cloud

Micro Focus is gearing up to help enterprises move their legacy COBOL applications to the cloud, first on Microsoft’s Windows Azure and then...who knows? With its ongoing relationship with Microsoft, Micro Focus has helped enterprises migrate mainframe-based COBOL applications to Windows and .NET and now is targeting the cloud.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Taking-COBOL-to-the-Cloud/?kc=rss

The New Washington Tech Agenda

President-elect Barack Obama brings a decidedly different technology agenda to the White House than President Bush did eight years ago. Widely considered the most tech-savvy president ever elected, Obama sees an activist government – tinkering here, readjusting there and spending here, here and here – as the path to innovation and the future.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/The-New-Washington-Tech-Agenda/?kc=rss

Review: CoolIT USB Beverage Chiller

Are you the type that enjoys your beverage cold—the ones that fill the beverage cup with ¾ full of ice? If so, CoolIT Beverage Chiller is the perfect gift for you. The Beverage Chiller is powered by a five foot long USB cable and plugs into any USB port, desktop or laptop. The Chiller looks like an iPod charger with a small intake fan on the side. But does it work?

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2334763,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

Unhappy people watch more telly

The University of Maryland has concluded that "unhappy people watch more TV", while those who reckon they're "very happy" tend to pass the time reading or socializing.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/17/tv_study/

'Meh' makes Collins English Dictionary

The interjection "meh" has beaten "frenemy", "huggles" and "jargonaut" for inclusion in the 30th anniversary edition of the Collins English Dictionary following an invitation to the unwashed masses to submit neologisms reflecting the current state of play with our beloved mother lingo.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/17/meh/

Obama inaugurates YouTube-side chats

US President-elect Barack Obama plans to use YouTube to modernize the traditional White House weekly radio address.

In addition to audio, Obama will for the first time release a video recording of the Democratic address this Saturday, his office said today. The video will be posted to Obama's transition site, Change.gov.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/14/obama_youtube_side_chats/

Microsoft nobbled ‘Vista-Capable’ for Intel

High-ranking Microsoft and Intel executives were involved in a plan to re-write the Windows Vista Capable program to save both companies - and OEMs - millions of dollars, according to unsealed court documents.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/14/intel_microsoft_vista_capable/

Motrin screws up in Tweet-land

This is a little off-topic for CG at least, but I’m actually amazed at the audacity of Motrin in drumming up their little social networking play aimed at Mommy bloggers. The video itself looks like they took something from column A that could cause pain (”Baby slings!”) and added a body part (”Backs!”) and got Motrin.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/11/17/motrin-screws-up-in-tweet-land/

Flash Is Now A Platform, AIR Gets An Upgrade, And Adobe Puts A Catalyst In Gumbo

Realizing that Flash is a better name than Flex for a platform, Adobe is now referring to everything it does related to Flash (including the Flash Player, Adobe AIR, Flex developer tools, and Flash media servers) as the Flash Platform. That’s what I’ve been calling it anyway, so I’m glad they finally caught up.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/16/flash-is-now-a-platform-air-gets-an-upgrade-and-adobe-puts-a-catalyst-in-gumbo/

AOL Gets Out Of User Generated Video Business

AOL is on a product-cutting spree. In addition to the shuttering of XDrive, AOL Pictures, MyMobile And Bluestring, the company will also be shutting down the AOL Video Uploads service starting this week.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/15/aol-gets-out-of-user-generated-video-business/

Twitter’s Hockey Stick Moment

October was a good month for Twitter. All those election Tweets brought a 25 percent increase in U.S. visitors from the month before, to 1.45 million unique visitors, according to comScore. (Worldwide, the number was 5.6 million in September). Since January, Twitter has experienced a 16-fold growth in the U.S. And that is just visitors to Twitter.com. These numbers don’t count all the people who send and read Tweets from other Websites, desktop apps, or their mobile phones.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/15/twitters-hockey-stick-moment/

Is Obama Ready To Be A Two-Way President?

Where there’s victory, there’s also opportunity…

This Presidential election was profound in its results. Obama won both the Electoral College vote 364 to 163 and the popular vote 53% to 46% with roughly 120,000,000 votes cast. This election was the first in 50 years, in which there was no incumbent President or Vice President from either party competing for the Presidential nomination. Close to 65% of the American population voted in this election, its highest turnout since the election of 1908.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/15/is-obama-ready-to-be-a-two-way-president/

AMD Steers Clear Of 'Netbook' Market

The chipmaker differentiates its Yukon strategy from Intel's Atom processor line by targeting ultraportables and not netbooks/mini-notebooks.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/processors/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212100064&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

HP, Dell Results Due As Economic Crisis Worsens

Investors will be looking for signs of whether Dell will cut prices to gain market share and how HP plans to further diversify.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/desktop/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212100019&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

Consumer Electronics Show Preview: CES 2009 Gadget Gallery

Check out 50 photos of the hottest new digital-video systems, smartphones, and PCs -- including SlingCatcher, Maingear's media center, Callpod's Chargepod, and a $2,500 electronic massage chair -- in our advance look at the 2009 International CES.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/smartphones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212100094&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

AIG to Pay Millions To Top Workers

American International Group plans to pay out $503 million in deferred compensation to some of its top employees, saying it must tap the funds to keep valuable workers from exiting the troubled insurance giant.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/13/AR2008111304446.html?sub=new

Oil falls below $56 as Japan slips into recession

Oil prices fell below $56 a barrel Monday as news that Japan fell into recession highlighted investor fears that a global economic slowdown will hurt crude demand.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081117/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices

With Sun's job cuts, tech sector layoff toll in '08 hits 140,000

The economic downturn that has resulted in tens of thousands of layoffs in the housing and financial services sectors is now bearing down on the tech industry. The job cuts announced by Sun Microsystems Inc. on Friday are only the latest in the growing toll.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9120323&intsrc=hm_list

Apple plays catch-up, adds anti-fraud safeguard to Safari

Apple yesterday added anti-phishing protection to Safari, the last major browser to receive the feature that blocks known identity-stealing sites. The company also patched 11 security bugs in the program, the bulk of them specific to the Microsoft Windows version.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9120302&intsrc=hm_list

Spam drop could boost Trojan attacks

The dramatic fall in spam traffic reported last week after alleged rogue ISP McColo was taken offline will only be a temporary reprieve and could actually generate a new wave of Trojans, experts have warned.

http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsid=107159

Emails reveal HP's anger at Vista marketing

An HP executive was furious at Microsoft over the company's decision to loosen the requirements for its "Vista Capable" marketing campaign, internal emails unsealed by a federal judge have shown

http://www.techworld.com/security/news/index.cfm?newsID=107165&pagtype=all

Trend Micro fleshes out email encryption line

Trend Micro has released a gateway appliance for large enterprises as the final piece in its new encryption line up.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2230577/trend-fleshes-email-encryption

New seed shows Apple near wrap-up of Mac OS X 10.5.6

A quickly released follow-up test build of Mac OS X 10.5.6 comes with no known problems and points to Apple getting much closer to a finished patch.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/16/new_seed_sees_apple_near_wrap_up_of_mac_os_x_10_5_6.html

Apple sued over hairline cracks in iPhone 3G casings

Apple is facing yet another lawsuit over the performance of its iPhone 3G on AT&T's network but with added allegations that the company is ignoring the occurrence of hairline cracks in the handset's enclosure.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/14/apple_sued_over_hairline_cracks_in_iphone_3g_casings.html

FOIA docs show feds can lojack mobiles without telco help

Documents obtained by civil liberties groups suggest the feds can track cell phone locations without the help of providers

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081116-foia-docs-show-feds-can-lojack-mobiles-without-telco-help.html

Army to Part with 'Weapon of Choice?'

After pressure from Congress -- and a scathing cover story in Army Times -- it looks as if the Army may finally part ways with the M4 carbine -- or at least consider the alternatives.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/army-to-part-wi.html

Intel Core i7 chip launches in Tokyo

The desktop processor represents the vanguard of Intel's new Nehalem microarchitecture.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10098154-64.html

Google patches Chrome file-stealing bug

Google Inc. has patched Chrome to prevent attackers from stealing files from PCs running the open-source browser.

http://www.itworld.com/security/57891/google-patches-chrome-file-stealing-bug

A sneaky security problem, ignored by the bad guys

Frank Boldewin had seen a lot of malicious software in his time, but never anything like Rustock.C.

http://www.itworld.com/security/57878/sneaky-security-problem-ignored-bad-guys

Sprint Asking for Layoff Volunteers

Cost cutting measures take all kinds of shapes at the wireless carrier along with early retirement offers

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3785226/Sprint+Asking+for+Layoff+Volunteers.htm

What if The Matrix ran on Windows? Whoa.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1886349

Xbox 360 Far Ahead Of PlayStation 3 This October

The PlayStation 3 was once again left behind by its main green rival in the sales race. Somebody better be ready with a new marketing campaign.

http://news.portalit.net/fullnews_xbox-360-far-ahead-of-playstation-3-this-october_1805.html

First Look: NMobile for iPhone

If you find yourself running into police speed traps often, then you might want to give a new iPhone app a try. NMobile [iTunes link] allows you to locate speed traps, red light cameras, and radar locations. All of these speed detection devices are mapped out on a Microsoft Live map -- this is one of the first native uses of Microsoft Live Maps on the iPhone

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/11/17/first-look-nmobile-a-radar-detector-for-iphone/

Starting the week off

2008-11-16T06:12:00.002-06:00

It's a little chilly out there, the skies are clear and just a hint of orange and pink in the east. Quite a few stars are still in the sky. I am hoping for a good day today. Heading into work at the BB early this morning. Getting to get a little work done before the store opens. It's a good thing because I actually get to be home before noon. There is a town meeting in New Town this afternoon over at the Organic Farm and I hope we get to find out when the Organic Farm is going to be operated next year amongst other thing.

By the way, when doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get.

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

The other day I was talking about getting mass transit going here in St. Charles. I just wanted to enumerate a few of the positive aspects such a project could bring:

They bring new investment along their lines. A streetcar line was installed along a twelve mile stretch of road in an abandoned industrial neighbourhood known as the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon. Almost immediately, over one hundred new businesses came to the neighbourhood along the track, as well as seven thousand new residents. The return of investment was over two thousand percent, and the new businesses garnered a large amount of tax revenue for a once cash strapped city. Now, Portland is known as one of the most desirable places in the US to live.
Streetcars have a much longer lifespan than buses, and are cheaper to maintain. Their operating costs are far lower, since there is a much larger driver to passenger ratio. Some expanded streetcars can carry up to three hundred passengers at a time. Streetcars can also be scaled up or down to suit ridership requirements, and attract new riders. Buses have their set capacity, with no flexibility in the event of increased ridership. Ottawa, who implemented a Bus Rapid Transit system is now running at over capacity, and is seriously looking into having a LRT line built to suit demand and reduce traffic gridlock, which is a chronic problem in our nation’s capital, as it is here in Windsor.
The environmental benefits are numerous. Buses expel diesel fumes into the atmosphere and their idling in traffic causes even more particulate matter to invade our lungs. A streetcar has no emissions, because it runs on totally clean electricity. Some say the increased generation of electricity to accommodate an LRT line causes increased air pollution, but there really isn’t any comparison. Street-level pollution is a chronic problem in Windsor, and an LRT line would help curb some of these problems. Streetcars are also wheelchair and limited mobility accessible since they are at grade with the surrounding pavement.

The project as envisioned by the team that put it together for the city would connect several areas of the city (which are each important in their own way) and were considered the biggest bang for the buck: convention center/hotel, Bass Pro Shop, Main Street, Ameristar Casino and Hotel, Foundry, Government offices, Hospital, Lindenwood University, North 94 Corridor, New Town/Charlestowne. The project is considered more of a people circulator than just a streetcar system. If combined with a more reasonable bus system (meaning one that operates more than 9am-4pm Mon-Fri) this would be an awesome way to move about the city.

More later, gotta scoot to work now.

A little blustery today

2008-11-15T09:49:00.004-06:00

It was a little blustery and chilly out there this morning. The munchkin stayed at momma and papa's last night, because we were going to the Archon debrief and the party that always follows the debrief. We ended up closing down the house at 1AM, there was only one other person there in addition to the convention chair and his wife. Good times had by all.

As to Archon, we're kind of on hold until the hotel figures out what they are doing. The hotel, formerly known as the Holiday Inn, was seized by the state of Illinois last year and sold off due to non-payment of taxes, fees, etc. The company that has acquired it is going to spend big bucks to make repairs, upgrade systems, and turn it into a Double Tree Hotel. Unfortunately, the company has brought in a new person to deal with clients (like us) that make major bookings. And they haven't gotten down to the brass tacks of dealing with anybody yet, apparently. This is all supposed to be resolved in the next week and we can get started on confirming guests and getting the news out about Archon 33.

Tried out my cream ale last night. I was disappointed in how it turned out. It tasted good, the alcohol level was fine, but the carbonation just wasn't there. This generally means that the yeast didn't reactivate for some reason when I put the priming sugar in. I'll have to keep that in mind for future use. The pumpkin brew fermentation appears to have really slowed down, so I anticipate bottling it real soon. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm currently thinking about what I want to do next. I may try my hand at another stout or a porter. I know that they really taste better after a longer time on the shelf, so if I want to have some ready by next Archon, I probably should start soon.

Currently spitting a little snow out there and already quite dark by 4:30pm today. Wow. It is supposed to get down to 27 tonight, but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and a high of 48. Sweet.

One last thing before I go. Job's Daughters, Bethel 19, is putting on a 'Breakfast with Santa' at the Applebee's in Maplewood Commons on Hanley Road on November 22, 2008 from 8am - 10am. Have a good breakfast of eggs, pancakes, bacon/sausage and a beverage and have a picture taken with Santa. Bring your camera, your children and grandchildren. Adults $7 and Children under 12 $5. All profits support the program and charities of Bethel 19, Job's Daughters International.

Have fun out there tonight. Remember, we're all pulling for you.

I made it! Thank God it is Friday!

2008-11-14T08:11:00.004-06:00

Good morning out there!

Well, we made it to another Friday. It's cloudy and raining here in St. Louis (as of 5:30am). And they are predicting snow flurries after midnight tonight. Woot! Other than that, working on my second cup of coffee and not feeling so great. I don't know if I mentioned it, but they are saying that the west end of the Hwy 40 reconstruction project may open the first week of December. The east end of the project is going to start before the end of the year, but they haven't officially stated when yet. MoDOT is having a press conference at 10am CST to talk about it.

On another note, the pumpkin beer has a nice heady foam on top so the fermentation is going along quite nicely. Ah well, I'll probably be bottling it next week. One of my co-workers is working on a making mead. That is also something I'm thinking about trying, but it can take anywhere from 6 months to a year just for the fermentation to finish, and up to another year before being able to drink it. Definitely a longer term project.

Also, if you are in the St. Louis metro area, there are 2 MoChip (http://www.mochip.org/) events on Saturday, Nov 15. One event is at the St. Louis Science Center from 9:30am - 4:30pm (http://is.gd/7ta1) and the other event is at the UMB Bank in O'Fallon (http://is.gd/7ta9).

I saw gas priced between $1.85 and $1.88 a gallon between home and my drive to work. I'm definitely not going to complain about not having to spend all that extra money, things were getting quite a bit tighter around the house when gas cost closer to $4 a gallon. I do worry that with gas prices low and still dropping apparently because of the economy, there will be less pressure to continue on with development of alternative sources of energy and mass transit projects.

In the past, we (as Americans) have pretty conveniently forgotten high fuel costs and their byproducts as soon as the costs ease. Of course, this time around the costs were so severe that our economy, and really the global economy, was pushed down. Now the reason for lower prices at the pump is because we are still driving less because a lot of people don't have the jobs to drive to. I think that it's going to take a while to get the economy humming again. But we shouldn't take our eyes off the ball. We still need to research, invent, or innovate our way into an acceptable solution to get out of foreign fuel dependence.

And we should continue with projects to extend the reach of mass transit. Nothing says says loving to potential employers like being able to get their workforce to work. For the city of St. Charles, there is a potential plan in place for a streetcar line and an expanded bus route. By making sure that a large number of the citizens of our fair city can ride mass transit to get to work, we also help to decrease their cost burden and increase their spending potential. If we had mass transit that made it easy for people (residents and tourists) to get down to Main Street, other shopping areas, government buildings, and large employers, I think we would have the potential to see: an increase in retail sales (and subsequent city taxes), more people at the resturant businesses in those areas, and with the added advantage of more of the local money being spent locally.

The biggest problem in trying to get mass transit going at this time is that we are seeing a huge drop off in the amount of taxes that are being collected from retail and big ticket items. House sales down. Car sales down. Big screen T.V. sales down. Resturant business down. But with the new administration promising some love in the area of mass transit, it would behoove us to really start looking at it now, so that we can get on board before everybody else jumps the line and gets in front of us. That's my opinion anyway, for what it is worth.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Men accused in mortgage fraud scheme seek low bond

The two men accused of pocketing almost $500,000 from a mortgage fraud scheme pleaded poverty Thursday in seeking a low bond while they await trial.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lewis Blanton set the bond at $20,000 each for Robert Wrolstad, 59, and Russell T. McBride, 46, after the attorneys for each man said they were unemployed and could not afford the higher $50,000 bond sought by assistant federal prosecutor Paul Hahn.

http://www.semissourian.com/article/20081114/NEWS01/711149968

From green to red

Times are bad for Highland Homes — until recently one of the area's high-flying house builders.

The company website is up but the office phone is disconnected. Liens and lawsuits over disputed bills abound. St. Peters is condemning at least part of its largest project.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/developmenteconomy/story/D92F137426044B5C86257501001161FF?OpenDocument

Missouri gets disaster declaration from September flooding due to Ike

The White House this morning granted Missouri's request for a disaster declaration as a result of the September storms and flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ike.

The declaration from President George W. Bush makes federal funding available to people and businesses in St. Louis, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Lincoln County and elsewhere in Missouri.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/washington/story/95CBABCE4F66C26E86257500005A9997?OpenDocument

Some recently updated tools

A few of the tools I'm rather fond of have been updated recently, if any of our readers use them, you might want to update. We already mentioned that Wireshark has been updated to v1.0.4. Tcpdump and libpcap have been updated to v4.0, I saw the announcement thanks to the wireshark folks. Also, our friend Daniel Cid has updated OSSEC to v1.6.1. Matthieu Suiche has updated win32dd to v1.2

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=5339

Green address bar only affects minority of internet shoppers

More is needed to encourage the public to feel secure online than the green address bar.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Green-address-bar-only-affects-minority-of-internet-shoppers/article/120982/

Microsoft hits back at counterfeit and illegal software sellers

Two former company owners have pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit software to customers.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Microsoft-hits-back-at-counterfeit-and-illegal-software-sellers/article/120966/

PC users experience loss of data due to poor backup methods

PC users are storing vast amounts of data on their home computers with 46 million users losing valuable data last year.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/PC-users-experience-loss-of-data-due-to-poor-backup-methods/article/120965/

Web-borne malware targets unexpected industries

A rise in social engineering tactics leave some industries more at risk to malware exposure, according to a report from

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1338866,00.html

Express Scripts offers reward in hacker extortion case

Online criminals threatened to expose sensitive member data.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1338895,00.html

Maltego - Forensics and Intelligence Application & Information Gathering Tool

Maltego is an open source intelligence and forensics application. It allows for the mining and gathering of information as well as the representation of this information in a meaningful way.

Coupled with its graphing libraries, Maltego, allows you to identify key relationships between information and identify previously unknown relationships between them. It is a must-have tool in the forensics, security and intelligence fields!

http://www.darknet.org.uk/2008/11/maltego-forensics-and-intelligence-application-information-gathering-tool/

Friend at the Window

Recently, we at Avert Labs received word of a new Windows CE/Mobile polymorphic, companion virus. This was a bit odd since companion viruses used to be more popular in the days of DOS and we haven’t seen too many on newer platforms.

Unlike more standard file infecting viruses, companion viruses do not infect program files but instead pretend to be the original files. A companion virus will rename a clean file to a hidden or random name and rename itself to the clean file’s name. The result is that the user runs the virus when intending to run the original program. To avoid raising suspicion, the original is run once the virus is done executing. There may not be a noticeable delay before the original program runs.

http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php

Schools Suffer One-Third of Total U.S. Data Breaches

New report reveals 12.4 million student and consumer profiles were compromised in 324 breaches at colleges, K-12 schools

http://www.darkreading.com/security/attacks/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212002468

Widespread Account-Sharing Threatens Corporate Security, Revenues

Many users break security defenses by simply handing over their credentials to colleagues, friends, experts say

http://www.darkreading.com/security/client/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212002459

Dell CTO to Leave in January 2009

CTO Kevin Kettler plans to leave PC vendor Dell in January after trying to help the company reshape its approach to technology. In the past year, Kettler has focused much of his time as Dell's CTO on storage and other IT hardware technology.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Dell-CTO-to-Leave-in-January/?kc=rss

Pimp My Programming Language

It's hard out here for a programmer! Should programmers be allowed to add personalized bling to their languages of choice? Programming language experts debate to what degree developers should be able to tweak standardized languages.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Pimp-My-Programming-Language/?kc=rss

CA to Buy Role-Based Identity Management Vendor Eurekify

CA has agreed to purchase Eurekify for an undisclosed sum. The deal is meant to deepen CA's ability to offer role-based identity and compliance management and is the fruit of several months of collaboration between the two vendors.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/CA-to-Buy-RoleBased-Identity-Management-Vendor-Eurekify/?kc=rss

AVG Offers Free Subscription for Deleting Key File

Security vendor AVG said Thursday that the company will offer a free year of service, after its antivirus software misidentified a key Windows system file as malware.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2334709,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

AMD to Launch 'Phenom II' at CES

As suspected, Advanced Micro Devices will launch its Phenom II microprocessor at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this coming January, executives at AMD's annual analyst meeting said Thursday.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2334696,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532

Tens of thousands of kids need to be protected from ContactPoint users

Data on about 55,000 children will need to be protected from estranged and abusive family members, or because they are under police protection, according to figures from local authorities.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/14/contactpoint_shielding/

Google to launch iPhone voice search app

Google is set to launch an iPhone application that’ll let you search the web using the power of speech.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/14/google_voice_search_iphone_app/

AMD readies 'Yukon' for netbook gold rush

AMD has, as expected, announced its plan to tackle arch-rival Intel's dominance of the netbook arena. But its efforts will centre on a new CPU: a 45nm dual-core part dubbed 'Conesus'.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/11/14/amd_mobile_roadmap_nov_08/

eBay bans sale of Obama inauguration tickets

eBay has agreed to ban ticket sales for US President-elect Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration ceremony on its websites.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/14/ebay_bans_obama_inauguration_ticket_sales/

Microsoft: 'Patents are gibberish - unless you're a patent lawyer'

Microsoft's internal advice when you're potentially treading on someone else's patent? "Ignorance is bliss."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/13/microsoft_employee_patent_ignorance_is_bliss/

DARPA: Self-repairing, learning kill-robot tech is go

Once again the observant techbeat watcher finds his or her lower-torso garments endampened by fear, as news emerges that heavyweight US military nerds believe that they have developed IT tech which can "regenerate" autonomously, allowing it to self-repair in the face of shutdown attempts - and even to learn and develop its capabilities. More terrifyingly still, plans are afoot to put this technology into the US forces' next generation of robotic weaponry.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/13/darpa_aware_ware_srs_go/

Mars Rover Contact Reestablished, Spirit is Alive!

Just when we were growing concerned that we might be losing two Mars surface missions within a week of each other, it turns out Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has survived its recent run-in with a Sun-dimming dust storm.

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/11/13/contact-restablished-mars-rover-spirit-is-alive/

Rescued Moon Photos Restored to Unprecedented Detail

Earlier this week we had a story about old data from the Apollo missions that could potentially be lost if an "antique" computer from the 1960's can't be renovated. But now comes good news about more old data which has actually been restored and enhanced to an exceedingly high quality.

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/11/13/rescued-moon-photos-restored-to-unprecedented-detail/

GirlInYourShirt: $75 Buys Your Startup Marketing For A Day

I imagine more than a few startups will take Jenaé up on her offer to wear your startup shirt and talk about your company for a day. It’s $75, and she posts videos on her site, YouTube, Seesmic and Viddler, posts pictures on Flickr and tweets about it all as well.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/13/girlinyourshirt-75-buys-your-startup-marketing-for-a-day/

'Invisible' transplant organs now in sight

Pigs really could save our bacon. Organs that are invisible to our immune system and so won't be rejected when they are transplanted could be ready within 10 years, thanks to a faster way of genetically engineering pigs.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026823.400-invisible-transplant-organs-now-in-sight.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Moon takes a backseat in new space plan

The US should be aiming to put astronauts on Mars in the long term and on asteroids in the short term, according to a new report from the Planetary Society.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16038-moon-takes-a-backseat-in-new-space-plan.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

ICANN Shutting Down EstDomains Nov. 24

A day after Web hosting site McColo had its Internet access cut off for serving spam and malware sites, Internet registrar EstDomains was notified that it will be deaccredited on Nov. 24, a decision that will put the controversial domain registrar out of business.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/data/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212002478&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

'Lich King' Chapter Of World Of Warcraft Begins

The massively multiplayer online role-playing game requires the player to have the original World Of Warcraft game and its first exten

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/virtualworlds/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212002379&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All

New WATCHMEN Trailer online!

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/watchmen.html?showVideo=1

University of Florida warns 333,000 dental school patients of breach

In an incident that is likely to further reinforce the reputation that college networks and systems have of being notoriously insecure environments, the University of Florida yesterday disclosed that it has notified more than 333,000 people about the potential compromise of their personal data following a system intrusion at its dental school.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9120188&intsrc=hm_list

Sysadmin under house arrest for blackmailing finance company

A systems administrator accused of trying to blackmail his former employer out of money and even good job references after being laid off was ordered today to remain confined to his home.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9120186&intsrc=hm_list

Hosting company says London power shortage is a myth

A hosting company has poured scorn on the received wisdom that data centres in London are struggling with shortages of power

http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsid=107067

Apple job listing hints at iPhone nearing China launch

A single listing on the Apple's career pages suggests the company has pledged itself to releasing the iPhone in China, one of its most elusive markets.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/13/apple_job_listing_hints_at_iphone_nearing_china_launch.html

Apple releases Safari 3.2 with phishing protection

Apple on Thursday afternoon released Safari 3.2, a recommended update for all Safari users that delivers protection from fraudulent phishing websites and better identification of online businesses.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/13/apple_releases_safari_3_2_with_phishing_protection.html

New Intel Xeons offer upgrade path for Mac Pro in early 2009

Intel during the first quarter of next year will introduce a total of 13 new Nehalem-based Xeon chips, at least two of which are likely to turn up in a long-awaited upgrade to Apple's Mac Pro workstations.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/13/new_intel_xeons_offer_upgrade_path_for_mac_pro_in_early_2009.html

Bush Administration: Dismiss RFID 'Mark of the Beast' Lawsuit

The Bush administration on Thursday urged a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of Amish farmers in Michigan claiming RFID chips required on cattle "are a mark of the beast."

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/11/bush-administra.html

Dual-Core Atom Not Much Faster Than Single-Core

PC Pro has been testing Intel's new dual-core Atom 330 processor, and while it's faster than the netbook-favorite Atom N270, it isn't by much.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/dual-core-atom.html

October Game Sales: Wii Rocks Face, Fable Tops Charts

Microsoft's Xbox 360 role-playing game Fable II topped the U.S. game sales charts for the month of October 2008, beating out newcomers like Sony's LittleBigPlanet and established hits like Wii Fit.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/11/october-game-sa.html

Sci Fi Orders Second Season of Sanctuary

With TV shows dropping like flies, Sanctuary seems to have found a safe home on Sci Fi Channel: The network ordered a second season of the green-screen-heavy show Thursday.

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/11/sci-fi-orders-s.html

US healthcare lags in care delivery for chronic conditions

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund compares the experiences of patients with chronic healthcare needs in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK, and finds that high costs and a lack of access to healthcare are impacting care in the US.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081113-us-healthcare-lags-in-care-delivery-for-chronic-conditions.html

Businesses warm up to the iPhone

The original iPhone was not welcome in corporate America. While the BlackBerry still rules the boardroom, the second-generation iPhone is getting a fresh look.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10095020-37.html

Telecoms: Don't mess up the Net with regulations

A congressional staffer said Net neutrality and broadband legislation will surely be reintroduced in the next Congress, but representatives of the telecom industry say there are better ways to keep the Internet open.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10097004-38.html

American Airlines getting in on that cellphone boarding pass fad

American Airlines has joined its peers at Continental in offering boarding pass barcodes that you can download to and display on your BlackBerry, iPhone, G1, or whatever have you. Presently the airline is only offering the option on domestic, non-stop flights departing from O'Hare -- LAX and Orange County will start on the 17th.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/14/american-airlines-getting-in-on-that-cellphone-boarding-pass-fad/

User Friendly

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20081114

MoCHIP events this weekend

2008-11-13T11:58:00.002-06:00

There are going to be two MOCHIP events this Saturday (Nov 15, 2008) in the St. Louis metro area. MOCHIP is the Missouri Child Identification & Protection Program. One event is at the St. Louis Science Center from 9:30am - 4:30pm (info) and the other event is at the UMB Bank in O'Fallon (info).

If you are not familiar with MOCHIP, the following is from one of their press releases:

With more than 64,000 children processed through the MoCHIP Child ID program in 3 years, MoCHIP is clearly a presence in the community and vows to remain so! Taking place this Saturday the Missouri Masonic Family will be on hand to further ensure the safety of area children FREE OF CHARGE.

No parent wants to believe that the unimaginable could happen to them, though nearly 2,000 children are reported missing or abducted in the United States each day. The peace of mind MoCHIP provides to Missouri families is invaluable. Once the child is processed through the program, which generally takes only 15 minutes, the parent is armed with a single pre-printed envelope that instructs authorities in the event of an emergency, something a parent in crisis would undoubtedly have trouble with, and a proactive measure to combat the time sensitivity involved in recovery. Within a matter of minutes the MoCHIP CD can be loaded into a computer directly form a police officers automobile and entered into the Amber Alert system.

Deemed “one of the most comprehensive child recovery and identification programs in the nation,” by The National Center for Exploited and Missing Children NCEMC—the Missouri Masonic Child Identification & Protection Program, MoCHIP is solely sponsored by the Masonic Children’s Foundation of the Grand Lodge of Missouri Masons. The program consists of five major components—digital photographs, digital fingerprints, vital child information and emergency contacts, a dental bite impression, and two laminated ID cards. The photographs, fingerprints, and child data are burned onto a mini-CD that is compatible with the AMBER ALERT system already in place. The dental impression provides a virtual diagram of the child’s biting surface, which, like fingerprints is unique to each individual, and further supplies enough saliva to provide a DNA sample that can also be used as scent source for trained canine search teams. Combined, this five-part process provides a dramatic, time-sensitive recovery tool for authorities.

On the day of the MoCHIP event, parents are urged to gather pertinent information about such as, doctor, dentist, and emergency contact and phone numbers, allergies, medications, and parent work, cell, and assorted phone numbers. Information Collection Forms and Permission slips can be downloaded from the mochip.org Web site and filled out ahead of time. Height charts and scales are available at the event to facilitate the most current details regarding the child. As would be expected, security and privacy are of utmost importance. All information and specimens are collected on site, processed and provided to the parent or legal guardian in a yellow envelope. At the end of each event, databases are erased using state-of-the-art software. The only item retained by the Masonic Children’s Foundation is the signed permission slip.

The MoCHIP program was adapted from the National Masonichip Foundation, and since its inception in August 2005, MoCHIP has quickly become the most successful and thorough of the “CHIP” programs and Masonichip’s “prototype” for future state programs. Collectively the CHIP programs have processed more than 1,100,000 children throughout the United States.