Depleted Cranium

Still alive.....

2009-07-12T11:21:00.005-04:00

And getting pissed off at the way things are going in the not so good USofA. My latest pissy attitude comes form the rise in prices of cigarettes. For my brand which is also a generic brand mind you, the price went up $9.00us a carton. Now it cost $35.00us.

Why am I pissed about this? Because they don't and wont raise the price of Alcohol, which I don't drink. See, my smoking only kills me, whereas people who drink alcohol and drive kill other people. Hell, people who drink sometimes kill other people without driving. Ive never heard of a smoker doing either.

So to get around the high price of me killing myself, I've taken to loose tobacco and rolling my own smokes. I buy a 12oz bag of tobacco, the tubes as they call them [which are basically a pre made cigarette without the tobacco in it, with filter] and a 1 time purchase of the little machine which injects the tobacco into the tube.

The 12oz bag of loose tobacco cost me $25.00us and makes two cartons or 400 cigarettes. The tubes cost $2.45 a box of 200. The rolling / injecting machine is a manual one and cost a one time price of right at $7.00us.

So this basically means I get 2 cartons of cigarettes for less than I used to buy 1 for.

Next year I am going to try and grow my own tobacco. I'll let you know how that goes. Well until next time I feel the need, Take it easy or anyway you can get it.

Neglected

2009-02-08T15:49:00.001-05:00

Its been awhile since my last post. In fact almost a year has gone by. I have been busy working like most, and maintaining another website like some. It is a delicate balancing act that has consumed my time. When I started 'Depleted Cranium' it was going to be a place to post interesting material that I intended to keep separate from the Political type I post on my other site. However, with time being a factor I chose to....well basically and to the point.....ignore this blog. I ignored it for so long that I even had to search my boxes for the user account and password.

I haven't forgotten about this site and will in the future at least offer one post per month. Its the least I can do. So until next month [maybe] thanks for stopping by.

My main website- Not Another CONspiracy...maybe you've heard of it?

RCA DCM425 Cable Modem

2008-03-18T17:53:00.004-04:00

Problems with your Modem? Me too. I might have figured out mine, maybe yours.
Elevated Modem
For the past few weeks I have had connectivity problems. I called,and called and called. Nobody could find the problem inside or outside. Then it hit me. Maybe the modem is getting hot. Why did I think of this? Well last month when I was paying my bill, a fellow in front of me had his modem and it had caught on fire. Yes on FIRE! It was melted and had he not been home who knows what may have happened.

Well today was the last straw for me. My RCA DCM425 cable modem no warmer to the touch than usual went off again. So I thought, it might have a safety knock off switch inside that acts just like a Breaker or Fuse in your house does when overloaded and becomes hot. It Knocks itself off to prevent a fire or damage to the device.

So I took the modem and Put it In the Freezer to cool it down for about 15 minutes. After the 15 mins, I reconnected it and booted it up. It has know maintained its connection. I elevated the modem instead of it sitting on the desk so air could circulate through it better. I also placed a small fan blowing directly on it keeping it that much cooler. So far this seems to have solved the problem.

The problem NOT SOLVED and there are many people unaware of it is, The Modem Overheats and May cause a fire in your home while you are Not there or sleeping. I pull the Power plug on mine at night, when not in use or I'm not home.

I do not think going to your provider will solve this, as they will only swap it for another just like it.

In my personal opinion, the RCA DCM425 is defective.

What can you do: [NOTE: Do this at your own risk. I will not be held responsible.]

* Do as I explained above to keep your Modem cool.

* When Not in use, unplug the modem. Do not use the Power button, this only puts it in standby mode.

* Go and BUY a different modem from your local store and replace it. If you do this, be sure to let your Internet Service Provider[ISP] know about this so you can give them theirs back. This will also reduce your Bill a couple of dollars.

* You may have to have them come out to your house and reconnect the service, if they have a WALLED GARDEN and you don't know how to access it to reconnect. **There may be a service charge for this**.

I'm going to use mine for a couple more days like this just to see for sure if this was the problem. It's been 3 hours now and no problems. Either way, in the next couple of days I will go buy one and replace it. I will post an update later this week letting you know if this solved the problem or whether it was just a temporary fix.

Windows Task Manager Not Working / Accessible- EXPLOIT

2008-03-17T00:07:00.004-04:00

After seeing post after post on various security / computer forums where people are stating their task manager No Longer works, I decide to look around. I first suspected a virus disabling the Task manager to hide it's process from the user. Little did I know, it would be verified. So if you have this problem, it isn't your only problem. You more than likely have a Virus or some type of Malware.
This is Not a fix, It is a possible Reason.

Windows XP SP2 Taskmgr bug

http://core-security.net/archive/2008/march/index.php#14032008

Back in 2006 Izee of the EOF virus writing team discovered a possibility to crash the Windows Taskmanager. It was easily done by setting a REG_BINARY value in the Registry of Windows to 0x00. The key is the following:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\TaskManager:Preferences

If you set it to 0x00, 0x00, 0x00... the Taskmanager will crash on the next startup. I (skyout) have therefore coded an exploit and used it back in 2006 in one of my first viruses as a very basic technique to hide my process to the user. Then we waited for a long time without using this bug anymore. With the release of Windows Vista we tested it again and it was fixed. In 2008 now, exactly in February, I got in contact with Microsoft Germany and informed them about the bug. They told me, that they will work on it, but for weeks not even an email came back. Now it is time for making this public! Now this bug is open for every person and everyone can use it and put pressure on Microsoft to fix it.

Here you can find the exploit: [taskmgr_dos.c.txt]

polimedia.us / doingfine.org

2008-02-29T21:45:00.001-05:00

How to ruin your reputation

by paperghost
Vitalsecurity.org

This is a really weird one - I've had quite a few people email me about this, thinking it might be along the lines of ye olde 419 scamme. Everything about it just looks a little odd, but it's more down to the people responsible for the marketing than the site itself. With that in mind, here's a cautionary tale with regards how your online rep can take a very sudden nosedive when you hire the wrong people to promote your website.

++++++++++++++++

Related posts on this subject:

The Right Way, The Wrong Way

Scamming By Spamming – They Just Won’t Quit!

Tips for safe blog advertising

419 scams

FlickrCentral/Discuss polimedia.us

B-2 and the Flying Wing

2008-02-27T09:39:00.006-05:00

After the Crash of The Spirit of Kansas, a B-2 Spirit On 23 February 2008 shortly after takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, I thought I would provide a little History of the Wing.

The B-2 might look futuristic, but the basic design isn't new at all, the same manufacturer Northrop did two very similar designs just after world war two, the propeller driven B-35 and the jet driven B-49.

Northrop B-35

The B-35 was America's first attempt at an all-wing heavy bomber. In the darkest days of World War II, when it
appeared that Nazi Germany might well conquer Great Britain and the Soviet Union, the Army Air Forces saw the
need for a large bomber with intercontinental range. Such a plane, based in the United States, must be able to cross
the Atlantic and hit Germany with a large bomb load. The XB-35 was required to carry a 10,000-pound bomb load
a distance of 10,000 miles. Four Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines mounted internally, close to the leading edge.
Each engine drove a pair of counter-rotating four-bladed propellers by means of a long extension shaft and a complex
gearbox. The XB-35's first flight, on June 25, 1946, was a success. But that was about the only trouble-free flight the
bomber was ever to have. Numerous equipment failures had already delayed the plane's development by more than a year.
Only three B-35s were completed. The remainder of the initial test models were converted to jet power.
---------

Northrop B-49

With the wing development program falling farther behind schedule daily, the AAF entered into negotiations with Northrop during the summer of 1944 about the possibility of replacing the troublesome R-4360 engines with (General Electric designed) Chevrolet built TG-180-A7 jet engines and designated YB-49. The final YB-49 configuration was powered by eight Allison J-35-A-15 engines developing 3,750 pounds of static thrust.

Still without a production contract, Northrop explored the possibility of producing a B-49 derived photo-reconnaissance aircraft designated YRB-49. To make room for photographic equipment, extra fuel and flash bombs, the six engined aircraft carried two jet engines in pods outboard of the main landing gear under the wings.

Slower, shorter ranged than its progenitor, and not wanted by the USAF signaled the end of flying wing bombers in the U.S. until the advent of the Northrop B-2 bomber. No examples of the XB-35/YB-49 family exist today. The last YRB-49 was scrapped by December 1953.
--------

Northrop B-2

The first B-2 was publicly displayed on 22 November 1988, when it was rolled out of its hangar at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, where it was built. Its first public flight was on 17 July 1989. The B-2 Combined Test Force, Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, is responsible for flight testing the engineering, manufacturing and development aircraft.

The original procurement of 132 aircraft was later reduced to 75 in the late 1980s. In his 1992 State of the Union Address, President George H.W. Bush announced total B-2 production would be limited to 20 aircraft, with a total inventory of 21 by upgrading the first test aircraft to B-2A Block 30 standard. This reduction was largely a result of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which effectively rendered void the Spirit's primary mission.

The cost of the B-2 program in 1994 dollars was reported at $737 million per plane; however, the total cost of the program with development, spares, and facilities averaged over $2.1 billion per plane as of 1997 according to the B-2 program office

The first operational aircraft, christened Spirit of Missouri, was delivered on December 17, 1993

Related Links:

http://www.airbornegrafix.com/HistoricAircraft/FlyingWings/XB35.htm

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Edwards2005/B2/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-2_Spirit

Another reason to Save Windows-XP

2008-02-17T19:59:00.004-05:00

Yet another reason For Micro$oft toContinue distributing Win-XP. If you would like to help Save Windows XP, see the Banner at the top of this Blogs homepage, or use this link- Save Windows XP

Vista SP1 prerequisite updates send some PCs into endless reboot

Last week's updates prompt support complaints; problem first reported in December

By Gregg Keizer

February 17, 2008 (Computerworld) Updates that Microsoft Corp. began feeding Windows Vista users last week to prep PCs for next month's release of Service Pack 1 (SP1) have crippled some machines, according to messages posted to the company's support site.

Last Tuesday, Microsoft started sending Vista users two final prerequisite updates that are required before SP1 can be installed in March. The updates to the operating system's install components were delivered via Windows Updates, which automatically downloaded and installed them on the majority of Vista machines.

Users quickly started squawking.

In most cases, they reported that the final update hung while displaying the message "Configuring Updates Step 3 of 3 - 0% Complete," which was followed by a reboot of the PC. Which was followed by another reboot, and another. "[It] reboots ad infinitum," said Frank Melk on the Microsoft support newsgroup. A smaller number reported a different problem: After the update, their computer refused to boot normally.

Trying to boot into Safe Mode did no good, users said; the reboot loop cranked up then as well. "I am unsure as to what to do, because entering Safe Mode gives the same screen," Melk said. "Furthermore, I have no restore points saved, so going back to a known previous good config is no good either!"

Full Article @: ComputerWorld.com

I won, and you may have too..........

2008-02-08T16:34:00.000-05:00

And all they want is My Personal Information.............Oh, and my Bank Account Number, And a copy of my Identification. And since they want me to contact them, I will, Many, many times. Want to help? here is the address..mr_richardudoh@yahoo.com

What is sad is where it originated according to the IP. Scroll down and see the ARIN WHOIS IP result for yourself.
==========

Yahoo! Mail
X-Apparently-To: MEXXXX@yahoo.com via 206.190.38.207; Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:28:44 -0800
X-Originating-IP: [193.86.238.3]
Return-Path:
Authentication-Results: mta109.mail.re4.yahoo.com from=lottery.com; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 193.86.238.3 (EHLO mail.pipni.cz) (193.86.238.3) by mta109.mail.re4.yahoo.com with SMTP; Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:28:41 -0800
Received: from mail.pipni.cz ([193.86.238.3] helo=inbox202.net) id 1JNTHL-0001cr-Po; Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:28:33 +0100
From: "AUSTRALIAN CASH OUT LOTTERY"
Reply-to: mr_richardudoh@yahoo.com
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS !!! YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAVE WON $600,000.00 USD (AUSTRALIAN CASH OUT LOTTERY 2008)
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2008 14:28:31 +0100
Message-Id: <20080208132831.M4416@lottery.com>
X-Mailer: OpenWebMail 2.52 20061019
X-OriginatingIP: 81.91.235.152 (aus@inbox202.net)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=OPENWEBMAIL_ATT_0.730357023692829"
Content-Length: 18796

FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARDS DEPARTMENT
AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES LOTTERY
COORPORATION.2008
CASH-OUT PLAZA, SUITE 1102A
AMSTERDAM ZUID-OOST
AUSTRALIAN NEW YEAR PROMOTIONS LOTTERY 2008

Dear Lucky Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final draws of AUSTRALIAN CASH-OUT LOTTO BV international Lottery programs. The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 21,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet, no tickets were sold. After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one of two winners in the category "A" with the following winning information:
Ref: ILP/HW 47509/02
Batch:05/763638/IPD
Winning no: 11 13 26 34 44 48
Ticket number: 275-189-657-23-05 with Serial number 8756-05 drew the lucky numbers and bonus ball number
Ball number 11Ball number 13Ball number 26Ball number 34Ball number 44Ball number 48 Bonus Ball number 2
You as well as the other winners are therefore to receive a cash prize of $600,000 Dollars (Six Hundred Thousand Dollars Only) each from the total payout.

Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address and will be transferred to you upon meeting our requirements, statutory obligations, verifications, validations and satisfactory report. To begin the claims processing of your prize winnings you are advised to contact our licensed and accredited claims agent for category "A" winners with the information below:

To file for your claim, please contact the processing agent;

PERSON IN CHARGE (MR RICHARD HARDGETT UDOH)
Email address: mr_richardudoh@yahoo.com
Remember to quote your reference information in all correspondence. You are to keep all lotto information away from the general public especially your reference and ticket numbers. (This is important as a case of double claims will not be entertained). Anybody under the age of 17 and members of the affiliate agencies are automatically not allowed to participate in this program.

Please note; You are hereby advice to send the asigned fudiciray Agent details below for Processing of your Claims;

(1.) FULL NAME .....................................................
(2.) FULL ADDRESS ..................................................
(3).NATIONALITY. .....................................................
(4) AGE......................................................................
(5) OCCUPATION........................................................
(6)TELEPHONE NUMBER...........................................
(7) DATE OF WINNING NOTIFICATION........................
(8) SEX.......................................................................
(9) TOTAL AMOUNT WON..........................................
(10) MARITAL STATUS ...............................................
(11)EMAIL ADDRES.................................................
(12) YOUR BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER.........................
(13) ADDRESS OF THE BANK....................................

Scan a copy of your id or international passport and send together with this payment form to the claim agent that will enable him to processed your winning prize easy.

Contact to this confidential email account :

you are advice to contact to our claim agent with this EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW:
EMAIL: mr_richardudoh@yahoo.com

ENDEAVOUR TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE ON OR BEFORE THE 25TH DAY OF FEB,2008.

ANY BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF THE WINNERS WILL RESULT TO DISQUALIFICATION.

Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program.
Yours in service,
Mrs. Basheera Abubakar
(Co-coordinator).
(australian Lottery Inc).

Dr. P. Swier, Mr. Gerald Goodman (Manager Foreign Operations), Mr. Franklyn Van Der Weijden (Manager Domestic Banking Operations), Dr. James Williams (Director International Credit Department), Mrs. Sandra Murphy (Executive), Mr. Michael Cole (Executive), Mr. Stephen Boer (Chairman).

Below are one of our winner,He won prize money release to him with award certifecate.
Past winners.

======================
Search ARIN WHOIS for: 81.91.235.152

OrgName: RIPE Network Coordination Centre
OrgID: RIPE
Address: P.O. Box 10096
City: Amsterdam
StateProv:
PostalCode: 1001EB
Country: NL

ReferralServer: whois://whois.ripe.net:43

NetRange: 81.0.0.0 - 81.255.255.255
CIDR: 81.0.0.0/8
NetName: 81-RIPE
NetHandle: NET-81-0-0-0-1
Parent:
NetType: Allocated to RIPE NCC
NameServer: NS-PRI.RIPE.NET
NameServer: NS3.NIC.FR
NameServer: SUNIC.SUNET.SE
NameServer: NS-EXT.ISC.ORG
NameServer: SEC1.APNIC.NET
NameServer: SEC3.APNIC.NET
NameServer: TINNIE.ARIN.NET
Comment: These addresses have been further assigned to users in
Comment: the RIPE NCC region. Contact information can be found in
Comment: the RIPE database at http://www.ripe.net/whois
RegDate:
Updated: 2005-07-27

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2008-02-07 19:10

-------------
% This is the AfriNIC Whois server.

% Note: this output has been filtered.

% Information related to '81.91.235.128 - 81.91.235.191'

inetnum: 81.91.235.128 - 81.91.235.191
netname: NTIC-OPT
descr: Office des Postes et Telecommunications (OPT)
descr: Reseau Internet
country: BJ
admin-c: LA212-AFRINIC
tech-c: AG2749-AFRINIC
tech-c: FD331-AFRINIC
status: ASSIGNED PA
remarks: INFRA-AW
mnt-by: OPT-NTIC-MNT
mnt-lower: OPT-NTIC-MNT
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered
parent: 81.91.224.0 - 81.91.239.255

person: Louis Agbaholou
address: Office des Postes et Telecommications (OPT)
address: Reseau Internet
address: B.P. 5959
address: Cotonou (Rep. du Benin)
phone: +229 31 4990
fax-no: +229 31 3843
e-mail: agbaholou@intnet.bj
e-mail: agbaholou@opt.bj
mnt-by: OPT-NTIC-MNT
nic-hdl: LA212-AFRINIC
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered

person: Adolphe Gbedissin
address: Office des Postes et Telecommications (OPT)
address: Reseau Internet
address: B.P. 5959
address: Cotonou (Rep. du Benin)
phone: +229 31 8888
fax-no: +229 31 3843
e-mail: gbedissin@intnet.bj
nic-hdl: AG2749-AFRINIC
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered

person: Franck Dossou
address: Office des Postes et Telecommications (OPT)
address: Reseau Internet
address: B.P. 5959
address: Cotonou (Rep. du Benin)
phone: +229 31 8888
fax-no: +229 31 3843
e-mail: dosfrk@intnet.bj
nic-hdl: FD331-AFRINIC
mnt-by: OPT-NTIC-MNT
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered

===================

Search ARIN WHOIS for: 193.86.238.3

OrgName: RIPE Network Coordination Centre
OrgID: RIPE
Address: P.O. Box 10096
City: Amsterdam
StateProv:
PostalCode: 1001EB
Country: NL

ReferralServer: whois://whois.ripe.net:43

NetRange: 193.0.0.0 - 193.255.255.255
CIDR: 193.0.0.0/8
NetName: RIPE-CBLK
NetHandle: NET-193-0-0-0-1
Parent:
NetType: Allocated to RIPE NCC
NameServer: NS-PRI.RIPE.NET
NameServer: NS3.NIC.FR
NameServer: SUNIC.SUNET.SE
NameServer: NS-EXT.ISC.ORG
NameServer: SEC1.APNIC.NET
NameServer: SEC3.APNIC.NET
NameServer: TINNIE.ARIN.NET
Comment: These addresses have been further assigned to users in
Comment: the RIPE NCC region. Contact information can be found in
Comment: the RIPE database at http://www.ripe.net/whois
RegDate: 1992-08-12
Updated: 2005-08-03

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2008-02-07 19:10

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

% This is the AfriNIC Whois server.

% Note: this output has been filtered.

% Information related to '0.0.0.0 - 255.255.255.255'

inetnum: 0.0.0.0 - 255.255.255.255
netname: IANA-BLK
descr: The whole IPv4 address space
country: EU # Country is really world wide
org: ORG-IANA1-AFRINIC
admin-c: IANA1-AFRINIC
tech-c: IANA1-AFRINIC
status: ALLOCATED UNSPECIFIED
remarks: The country is really worldwide.
remarks: This address space is assigned at various other places in
remarks: the world and might therefore not be in the RIPE database.
mnt-by: AFRINIC-HM-MNT
mnt-lower: AFRINIC-HM-MNT
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered

organisation: ORG-IANA1-AFRINIC
org-name: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
org-type: IANA
country: EU # Country is really worldwide
address: see http://www.iana.org
remarks: The IANA allocates IP addresses and AS number blocks to RIRs
remarks: see http://www.iana.org/ipaddress/ip-addresses.htm
remarks: and http://www.iana.org/assignments/as-numbers
e-mail: bitbucket@ripe.net
admin-c: IANA1-AFRINIC
tech-c: IANA1-AFRINIC
mnt-ref: AFRINIC-HM-MNT
mnt-by: AFRINIC-HM-MNT
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered

role: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
address: see http://www.iana.org.
e-mail: bitbucket@ripe.net
admin-c: IANA1-AFRINIC
tech-c: IANA1-AFRINIC
nic-hdl: IANA1-AFRINIC
remarks: For more information on IANA services
remarks: go to IANA web site at http://www.iana.org.
mnt-by: AFRINIC-DB-MNT
remarks: data has been transferred from RIPE Whois Database 20050221
source: AFRINIC # Filtered

========================

Search ARIN WHOIS for: 206.190.38.207

OrgName: Yahoo! Broadcast Services, Inc.
OrgID: YAHO
Address: 701 First Ave
City: Sunnyvale
StateProv: CA
PostalCode: 94089
Country: US

NetRange: 206.190.32.0 - 206.190.63.255
CIDR: 206.190.32.0/19
NetName: NETBLK1-YAHOOBS
NetHandle: NET-206-190-32-0-1
Parent: NET-206-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.YAHOO.COM
NameServer: NS2.YAHOO.COM
NameServer: NS3.YAHOO.COM
NameServer: NS4.YAHOO.COM
NameServer: NS5.YAHOO.COM
Comment:
RegDate: 1995-12-15
Updated: 2005-03-02

RTechHandle: NA258-ARIN
RTechName: Netblock Admin
RTechPhone: +1-408-349-3300
RTechEmail: rauschen@yahoo-inc.com

OrgAbuseHandle: NETWO857-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Network Abuse
OrgAbusePhone: +1-408-349-3300
OrgAbuseEmail: network-abuse@cc.yahoo-inc.com

OrgTechHandle: NA258-ARIN
OrgTechName: Netblock Admin
OrgTechPhone: +1-408-349-3300
OrgTechEmail: rauschen@yahoo-inc.com

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2008-02-07 19:10

Russian Army Newspaper

2008-02-04T21:58:00.000-05:00

englishrussia.com

A few days ago one guy has got his next issue of a Russian Army newspaper he is subscribed too. He was lazy looking through it until on one page, devoted to the department of Nuclear Defense he found a photo of one of the departments of Nuclear Defense Ministry. Look down what shocked him so much:

So maybe next time when the countries would decide to reduce there nuclear weapons potential they would call this process ‘neGOTHiations'.

Oil Barons reap Huge Profit.....again

2008-02-02T21:26:00.000-05:00

I don't have a problem with a business or person making money.

But Damn............
When someone Works one week out of the Month just to Fill the Tank, thats ridiculous. And when that Tank of Gas only last Two weeks, thats two tanks a month Or working half a month for Gas, just to work the Whole month. Did that make sense? My Cranium Hurts.......

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Exxon shatters profit records
Oil giant makes corporate history by booking $11.7 billion in quarterly profit; earns $1,300 a second in 2007.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/01/news/companies/exxon_earnings/?postversion=2008020109

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chevron 4th-Quarter Profit Rises on Record Oil Prices

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aj_MaL1gAHqk

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Shell Rakes in $8.5 Billion in Three Months

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2008/01/31/shell-rakes-in-85-billion-in-three-months.html

EXploiting children

2008-02-01T05:06:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know; I'm no better than he is for posting this.

Like Trevor, sometimes you have to do things too make your point. Using kids for your Propaganda is wrong. Whether it be selling something on television, begging for aid, or in this case, Bush Bashing.

The parents of these children have no morals to let them be used in this way.
And some of the language/description used...........oh my!

Trevor talks to children!

QTRAX

2008-01-31T08:02:00.000-05:00

Review #1 of QTRAX: A P2P Legal file sharing program

By:Ed Quinn
7:57 AM 1/31/2008

As with any program, or most, the download and install went smooth. Unlike Morpheus or Limewire, you do not have to Open any extra ports on your computer. Maybe because The SONGBIRD Browser part of this is basically a FireFox browser. It Does Listen On Ports 1573, 1575, 1577. Although a browser, remember it is a file sharing program able to Serve others request.

So I run the program and look around. The first thing I did was click on a link on the home page. I thought I was going to listen to a song. It didn't happen. What did happen was it loaded all 15 songs in to the songbird player. After it did this, it didn't and wont play them. So I tried again with the same results.

I wanted to try it out so I thought, maybe I have to register just to listen. So I click on register and proceed to do so. Unlike other P2P apps this is not required and I don;t know why it is here, unless some time in the future they want too prosecute you for Downloading songs. Anyway, short of your actual street address everything else is required. Full Name, user ID you select, password, Date of Birth, ZIP Code, Country, Email address. I don't know why they need all this info.

After filling out the required info I hit the submit button and waited. And Waited and waited and waited and, well you get the point. A couple of times during this submission process it returned a blank page. After it doing this a couple of times, I filled out the form again and re-submitted. And waited and ,.... get it. I don't know if my information was accepted or not.

As I thought might happen with this being a Browser and a P2P program bundled, it sucks as of this post. The only thing that does seem to work at this time are the Banner adds. From looking at the home page of this browser there are only 37,835 users online at this time, with 9,695,469 tracks available.

So I shut it down and reboot hoping this will have some affect, but I doubt it. So I type in my user name and password and hit enter. What do I get back, INVALID ID or password. So I guess it didn't take the first three time so I will now try again. It must work because there are now 38,308 users online. Up 203 from last look.

Success!!!! The registration went through.

I go to my email to retrieve the activation code. I click the link to activate and , NOTHING HAPPENS. The page wants to load as before when trying to create an account but doesn't. So I decide to go to my email on another box,One that is running Linux. I open the mail and click the link and It goes through. I do not understand this. None the less, my account is NOW activated. So now we will go back on the other box and try and log in. Success....we are able to log in. Now we shall see what we are allowed too do after going through all this, and providing them with more Information than I care to share. It better be worth it.

Well at this point everything I click on pops up a window that tells me, "DOWNLOADS COMING SOON". From the Home page of this program I see that the Most downloaded songs are from LED ZEPPELIN and BARBARA STREISAND, Neither of which I have ever cared for. At my age, most people I grew up with were in to Zeppelin. But I will see if I can DL some ZEP just to see.

I am NOT A HAPPY CAMPER AT THIS POINT......Everything I try to DL say the same thing, "DOWNLOADS COMING SOON". Well I am going to play with it some more, but I don't think It will get any better.

I have used other P2P programs with MUCH better luck, and more users online than this. I also noticed that my clock has been reset. It has been moved 3 hrs back. I Don't know why this would happen unless it installed some spyware/malware or some other hack. We will find out shortly. They do tell you that it does not contain any on their website. How many times have you heard that before. This is why it is always best to run these type and any other programs you want to try, on a TEST BOX if you are lucky to have more than one.

Sad, but at this point the ONLY thing they are serving are Multiple Banner adds, trying to sell you something. I will continue and post an update sometime later. Until then remember, If it sounds to good to be true, It usually is! In this case, It doesn't sound at all. You cant even play the damn songs. All you can do is look at the pages. So I end this review with giving it 1 out of 10 stars. 1 because it looks good.

If you want too try your luck, heres the link: http://www.qtrax.com/

Where do they come from

2008-01-30T02:02:00.000-05:00

If you don't watch this, you may miss the best Laugh of your day.

Seriously..........

World's Most Powerful Rail Gun Delivered to Navy

2008-01-29T14:26:00.000-05:00

For true sci-fi fans, any mention of a real-world rail gun will draw an instant, slightly audible gasp. Instead of relying on chemical propellants -- such as gunpowder -- a rail gun uses magnetic "rails" to launch a solid, nonexplosive projectile at incredible speed. Theoretically, rail guns would be able to precisely strike targets at extreme ranges, and would negate the risks associated with carrying around tons of explosive ammo. More to the point, they're cool-sounding, just like lasers.

Which is why the news that BAE Systems has delivered a functional, 32-megajoule Electro-Magnetic Laboratory Rail Gun (32-MJ LRG) to the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va., is exciting. Installation of the laboratory launcher is currently under way, and according to BAE, this is the first step toward the Navy's goal of developing a tactical 64-megajoule ship-mounted weapon.

The lab version doesn't look particularly menacing -- more like a long, belt-fed airport screening device than like a futuristic cannon -- but the system will fire rounds at up to Mach 8, drawing on tremendous amounts of electricity to generate the current for each test shot. That, of course, is the problem with rail guns: Like lasers, they're out of step with modern-day generators and capacitors. Eight and 9-megajoule rail guns have been fired before, but providing 3 million amps of power per shot has been a limitation. At 32 megajoules, this new system appears to be the most powerful rail gun ever built, and the Office of Naval Research is installing additional capacitors at the Dahlgren facility to support it. The planned 64-megajoule weapon, if it's ever built, could require even more power -- a staggering 6 million amps.

Full Report Here- www.military.com

Also see - How Rail Guns Work There is a cool graphic that lets you fire the Rail Gun, on the second page. [I think it's Cool, your opinion may vary.]

Better Integrated Spy Chip ???

2008-01-27T23:57:00.000-05:00

Method of reliably electroless-plating integrated circuit die

Abstract

The present invention is a reliable method of electroless-plating integrated circuit die that achieves high yield. Die are attached to a holder using a polyimide adhesive to eliminate voltage differences on bond pads which would otherwise interfere with the plating. The die are aggressively cleaned using multiple cleaning solutions, one heated to a user-defined temperature. Each cleaning is followed by an aggressive rinse in de-ionized water. Die are immersed into multiple metal solutions at user-definable temperatures. Each immersion is followed by an aggressive rinse in de-ionized water, one with heated de-ionized water.

Inventors: Pal; Rathindra N. (Beltsville, MD), Berlin; Kingsley R. (Odenton, MD)
Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the National Security Agency (Washington, DC)
N/A (
Appl. No.: 11/253,879
Filed: October 19, 2005

More:http://tinyurl.com/356pby

Call-jacking VOIP / More Worms for Cellphones

2008-01-23T13:48:00.000-05:00

New VOIP 'Call-Jacking' Hack Unleashed

JANUARY 22, 2008 Dark Reading

Now there's a way for attackers to hijack a user's voice-over-IP service: "call-jacking" could let the bad guys launch sophisticated phishing attacks as well as perpetrate lucrative toll fraud.

Researchers from the hacker group GNUCitizen have released a proof-of-concept for call-jacking via a BT Home Hub user's router. The attack exploits cross-site request forgery (CSRF) and authentication bypass vulnerabilities in the router that were previously discovered by the researchers. The attack works even if the default password in the router has been changed.

"We believe that this technique, which we coined as 'call jacking,' is completely new. There is nothing like this in the public domain as far as we know," says Adrian Pastor, a senior IT security consultant for an unnamed penetrating testing firm in London. "The beauty of the attack is that the victim user thinks he/she is receiving a phone call, but in fact he/she is making the phone call and paying for it. We find this quite innovative and unique, hence the need for coining a new term."

The exploit could be used in a phishing attack, where the victim would get a phone call from his "bank" after clicking a link in a phishing email. Phishers typically don't know their victims' phone numbers, he says, so the phone call would help the attacker appear legitimate and gain the victim's trust.

Another attack scenario involves toll fraud, where the victim's router would be forced to dial a toll number. "Premium numbers are very expensive, and allow the identity who registered them -- in this case, the attackers -- make money every time someone dials them," Pastor says.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Malicious MMS worm hits Nokia handsets

January 22, 2008 (TechWorld.com)

-- Security vendor Fortinet has uncovered a malicious SymbianOS Worm that is actively spreading on mobile phone networks.

Fortinet's threat response team warned on Monday that the worm, identified as SymbOS/Beselo.A!worm, is able to run on several Symbian S60 enabled devices. These include the Nokia 6600, 6630, 6680, 7610, N70 and N72 handsets.

The malware is disguised as a multimedia file (MMS) with an evocative name: either Beauty.jpg, Sex.mp3 or Love.rm. Fortinet warned this is deceiving users into unknowingly installing the malicious software onto their phones.

Unlike Microsoft Windows, SymbianOS types files based on their contents and not their extensions, so it is worth noting that recipients of infected MMS would still be presented with an installation dialogue upon "clicking" on the attachment. "Therefore, users could easily be deceived by the extension and unknowingly install the malicious piece of software," warned Fortinet.

After installation, the worm harvests all the phone numbers located in the phone's contact lists and targets them with a viral MMS carrying a SIS-packed (Symbian Installation Source) version of the worm. In addition to harvesting these numbers, the malware also sends itself to generated numbers as well.

Final UPDATE: Storm of the Century - 2008 ?

2008-01-19T08:53:00.000-05:00

This is an update to a previous post. You can read it HERE.

Further UPDATEs will be added to This POST.

As soon as the Rain/Sleet changes to SNOW, I will post Pictures and Video.

Yes, it is a BIG DEAL when it snows this far South.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bummer.....In my area we 'Did NOT' get any Snow. We Didn't even get any Flurries. All we got was a little Sleet and Not very much of that, So I have No pictures of snow for my area. I look forward to seeing what the rest of the Winter season holds for my area as we usually have our Snow in Late February through Mid March.

Final UPDATE: Snowfall Amounts- January 19, 2008

On January 19, 2008 A low pressure system over the northwest Gulf of Mexico spread abundant moisture over a cold airmass to produce widespread snow across northern Georgia. The precipitation began in the form of rain in the hours around daybreak...but quickly changed to mostly snow between midmorning and the noon hour. Since the ground was relatively warm...and temperatures during the event were generally slightly above freezing...some of the snow that fell melted. This resulted in snowfall accumulations that were fairly light.

Reports from individual counties...

LOCATION COUNTY AMOUNT COMMENTS

5 S. CUMMING FORSYTH 2.00
ALPHARETTA N. FULTON 1.75
MATT FORSYTH 1.50
WOODSTOCK S. CHEROKEE 1.50
STOCKBRIDGE HENRY 1.25
DOUGLASVILLE DOUGLAS 1.25
PINE MOUNTAIN HARRIS 1.00
SANDY SPRINGS N. FULTON 1.00
MIDTOWN FULTON 1.00
DALLAS PAULDING 1.00
DECATUR DEKALB 1.00
VININGS COBB 1.00
LA GRANGE TROUP 1.00 SPOTTER REPORTS 0.5-1.0 ACRS CNTY
PALMETTO COWETA 1.00
CARROLLTON CARROLL 1.00
ZEBULON PIKE 1.00
GRIFFIN SPALDING 1.00
CONYERS ROCKDALE 1.00
GREENVILLE MERIWETHER 1.00
6 NNE DALLAS PAULDING 0.80
SUCHES UNION 0.80 EMA REPORTS 0.5-1.0 ACRS CNTY
ATL AIRPORT CLAYTON 0.80 HARTSFIELD-JACKSON OFFICIAL OBS
SENOIA COWETA 0.50
DAHLONEGA LUMPKIN 0.50
PEACHTREE CITY FAYETTE 0.50
CEDARTOWN POLK 0.50
GAINESVILLE HALL 0.50
LAWRENCEVILLE GWINNETT 0.50
FRANKLIN HEARD 0.50
COVINGTON NEWTON 0.50

National Weather Service Forecast Office
Peachtree City, Georgia
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/html/sno11908.shtml
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Heavy Snow Warning

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEACHTREE CITY GA
406 AM EST SAT JAN 19 2008

...ACCUMULATING SNOW HEADED FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH AND CENTRAL
GEORGIA TODAY...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

UPDATE 2

The NWS has canceled the 'Heavy Snow Warning' for my area, but still say we are to get 2"- 4" of Snow. It hasn't made it to my area yet but it's coming.

In the meantime , here are some images of Snow in the Atlanta area pulled from the Department of Transportation Cameras.
The cameras can be found on this site, http://www.georgia-navigator.com/

Save Windows-XP

2008-01-18T19:58:00.000-05:00

You may have NOTICED the banner at the top of the Home page asking you to help Save Windows-Xp. Why Save Windows-XP, you might be asking yourself. Because there are some of us out here that still use it, and will continue too use it. But Why you ask, Don't you want VISTA? Well sure some of us want Vista. We just can't afford it.

I have 3 boxes running Xp-pro and it would cost me a pretty penny to replace them with ones that could run Vista.

They say you would be able to buy a NEW Computer with XP installed for awhile, you just wont be able to go and buy the OS as a stand alone. I have gone to ALL of the stores in my area and it is NO where to be found.I have ask the sales people at these stores if they could Order me a copy and the Answer was NO.

My other reason besides the one above is- 'If it ain't Broke, why fix it'.

There are many more reasons and you can find them HERE

They walk among us........

2008-01-18T08:28:00.000-05:00

Jon sends: Subject: Priceless

A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy
boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of
him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even
though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through
the intersection.

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming
in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the
intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and
looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The
officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.

He took her to the police station where she was searched,
fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After
a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the
door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the
arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up
behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off
the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him." I
noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose
Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School'
bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on
the trunk; naturally ... I assumed you had stolen the car."

Priceless. --

Internet billing based on usage

2008-01-17T17:55:00.000-05:00

I guess this is the Wave of the future, like most European countries.

So, Time Warner Cable Inc said on Wednesday it is planning a trial to bill high-speed Internet subscribers based on their amount of usage rather than a flat fee.

I don't have Time Warner as my ISP. If I did And they Jacked My Bill they would more than likely Lose a customer.

My Provider from what I have been able to find Charges one of the Highest Rates in the country for high-speed Internet. I don't have a package deal or Bundle where you have Cable TV, Phone and Internet for one LARGE price. I don't watch much of the BOOB-TUBE, nor do I make long distance or international calls. I only have high-speed Internet and Pay $60.95 a Month. If, in the Near future my provider follows suit, I would hope my bill would decrease. If it doesn't decrease and stays the same I will continue my service. If it goes Up, I will cancel my service because I feel what I already pay is extreme.

So what if I have multiple boxes in my network. It is very rare that all are on at the same time. I don't DL videos or large files. I do run Limewire once in awhile, but even then I don't DL any videos or MP3's. [Yes, there are other types of Files out there that do contain information.]

I have family that Has high-speed Internet with a different ISP than myself. Their Monthly rates are anywhere from $24.95 / $42.00. I wish I could Change my ISP but that is part of how they screw you. You would think I could as we Live within a Mile of each other, yet the services offered seem to Stop on the Property lines. Go figure. I guess it really doesn't matter though, as we all have a different ISP by name, They are ALL Operated By AT&T.

I don't look forward to going back to Dial-up service, but it may come to this.

Anyway, this is my rant.

Malware Quietly Reaching 'Epidemic' Levels

2008-01-16T22:43:00.001-05:00

New reports say malware increased by a factor of five to 10 in 2007

JANUARY 16, 2008 | 5:40 PM
By Tim Wilson
Site Editor, Dark Reading

Everybody knew it was bad, but few knew it was this bad.

In separate studies released yesterday, two research firms now say that malware increased between 500 percent and 1,000 percent in 2007, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

"The number of new strains of malware that appeared in 2007 increased tenfold with respect to the previous year," said PandaLabs, Panda Security's research arm, in a report issued yesterday. "Over the last year, PandaLabs has received an average of more than 3,000 new strains of malware every day. This represents a malware epidemic which -- although silent, with little media coverage and no widespread alerts -- is nevertheless dangerous."

The results indicate that signature-based defenses for malware are no longer effective, the research firm said. Some 72 percent of networks with more than 100 workstations -- and 23 percent of home users -- are currently infected with malware, despite having operative antivirus or other signature-based tools in place, PandaLabs said.

Experts at AV-Test, an independent testing organization, also reported skyrocketing incidence of malware yesterday. After a detailed count, the organization said it identified nearly 5.5 million different malware files in 2007 -- more than five times as many as in 2006.

AV-Test counted the number of files with different MD5 hashes, sometimes called "fingerprints." This includes malware which is packed using a different run-time packer or is differently encrypted, the testing organization said.

In 2007, AV-Test found almost 5.5 million such files, up from about 973,000 in 2006 and 333,000 in 2005, the report said. And the trend is accelerating: The group already has identified more than 118,000 different malware files in the first two weeks of January.

The results drove AV-Test to concur with PandaLabs's assessment. "The figures clearly demonstrate that the signature-based approach of current anti-virus software is no longer appropriate," the report said.

Storm of the Century - 2008 ?

2008-01-15T08:38:00.000-05:00

[Disclaimer: I am NOT a Meteorologist.]

With that being said, If you are in the Southeast I would get your Supplies NOW!

I have been watching this take shape for about 5 days now. I had Just mentioned this to My Family this past Sunday.I told them the indications that I see reminded me of the 'Super Storm of 1993', or the 'Storm of the Century', as it was Called.

As we know, Meteorology is a Science based on gathering information and making a Forecast/Speculation. Even the PRO"S are wrong 30% of the time. So on with my Speculation....er, Forecast....

First a little History of 'The Storm of the Century' from 1993-

On March 12, 1993, a newly formed cyclone moved into a low level baroclinic zone already in place over the Gulf of Mexico and began to rapidly intensify. The deepening cyclone turned northeastward and the center of low pressure made landfall in northwestern Florida during the early hours of March 13.

As you can see from this CURRENT[as of this post] image the Low Will be about in the SAME position as was in 1993, if not a little further south as compared to the above Storm Track image.

These next images Show the Forecasted development of this system.

In this image you can see the projected path of this current storm through Thursday January 17,2008.

In this Image you can see where the Storm in 1993 made landfall in Florida.

The area for land fall is similar, as are the conditions in the rest of the US, meaning the COLD temperatures.
This is the Loop of the 'Storm of the Century' from 1993.

Satellite Loop.

When all was said and done, 270 people were dead and total property damage estimates exceeded $3 billion. According to the National Disaster Survey Report (NDSR 1994), twenty-six states were affected, impacting the lives of nearly 100 million people, approximately half the nation's population. More than a foot of snow fell from Alabama into Maine, combined with record cold in the storm's aftermath. Seventy record lows were set on March 14, with an additional 75 that following morning.

Sources:
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/arch/cases/930312/hist.rxml
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/outlook_tab.php

Micro$oft or MicroShaft

2008-01-12T08:01:00.000-05:00

I reformatted my Laptop back in December to a Dual-Boot running WinXP-Pro and Linux-Kubuntu. I didn't update winXP until this morning. I have another box running Win-XP pro and Another Dual-Boot running the same as the Laptop,so I had plenty too play with. Anyway............After I downloaded the updates on the laptop I went to install them. I always Choose the custom install as I don't require all the BS Micro$oft wants to install, such as the Malicious Software Removal Tool. After My first experience with running it some time ago, when it would detect some of my NON-Microsoft programs and wanted me to let it 'FIX MY PROBLEM'.......Well you get the point.

So after removing the CHECK by the updates I didn't want and installing the updates, I also check Do not show these un-installed updates again. The prompt says It will Not Show them Again,so I reboot. After doing this 4 times and doing the same as stated above, I decide I would Capture what was going on. PAY Attention to the Video especially if you like many others don't really pay attention to the Prompt when Installing updates in the custom mode.

The catch when doing it the custom way is, when it is complete the Next Prompt should be to restart your computer so I pretty much just click the next or restart button Without Paying Attention. I know those of you out there know what I'm talking about. Anyway Long story short, Watch the Screen capture Below. It isn't the Best Quality.

If you want a FREE open-source Screen Capture Program, this is the one I used.

http://camstudio.org/

Image

2008-01-11T14:58:00.000-05:00

Nationwide alert is issued for missing Lancaster oil truck

2008-01-09T18:35:00.001-05:00

Have you seen me?

January 9, 2008

DENVER, Pa. (AP) — A nationwide alert is out for a fuel truck that was stolen from Leffler Oil Company in Lancaster County.

The 1992 truck has Leffler markings on the doors but not on the tank.

The truck was last seen parked at a fuel station on North Sixth Street in Denver, Pa.

The alert went out on Monday when a driver noticed the truck was missing. The truck was carrying about $3,500 worth of a low-sulfur fuel.

The truck is valued at $25,000.

http://www.globalincidentmap.com/eventdetail.php?ID=6634

__________________________________________

Commet DC admin:

Notice how they try to SCARE you with the remark "low-sulfur fuel". Do you know why? Because this is the same type of Fuel used in the OKC bombing that was mixed with fertilizer[ammonium nitrate].

What is low-sulfur fuel?

In simple speak, it is #2 Diesel fuel or as some in areas where they use it to HEAT their homes call it, 'Heating Oil'.
The low-sulfur part is about Vehicles that use Diesel such as the Very Truck used to transport it and Many other Big rigs on the road today which emits less pollution. High-Sulfur #1 fuel is used in Farm equipment or Off road equipment and is DYED RED.

Speculation:

I can almost bet this FUEL was stolen because people that use it for Heating can not AFFORD it, and if the person responsible sells it for Half price he'll make a pretty penny and make the buyer nice and warm. If he doesn't get caught.

However, We can not RULE out a Truck Bomb. So have you seen this truck, or one like it? If so Contact your local Law Enforcement. Oh yeah, It will probably have NO NAME [Leffler Oil Company] on the DOOR's any more.

Hackers from China force Pennsylvania to shut down state government's Web site

2008-01-06T23:41:00.000-05:00

Could all the recent hacks from China just be a way of covering up domestic hacking? I say this because if you the General American Public knew this was happening from within your own country, you would 5hit even more.

"Administration spokeswoman Mia DeVane said there was no reason to think anyone's personal data had been compromised."

Would they really tell you if it was?

I also wonder if this is another attempt to sway the Vote in the upcoming election. Pennsylvania with 21 electoral votes is a large state and could be in the running again this year as the swing state.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/1/5/apworld/20080105085041&sec=apworld

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) - Hackers from China infiltrated the Web site of the Pennsylvania state government, but officials said they found no evidence of damage.

Four state departments had security problems with their Web pages, leading to a decision to take down nearly all of the state's Internet site on Friday morning.

Office of Administration spokeswoman Mia DeVane said there was no reason to think anyone's personal data had been compromised or that any damage occurred when a hacker "got into what we would say is a back door.''

By late afternoon, nearly all of the state's site had been put back online. "It was more that we needed to take down those sites to make sure a virus couldn't spread,'' she said.

The problems arose at pages of the departments of Labor and Industry, Education, and Military and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Pennsylvania Lottery's page.

Investigators tracked the source to a domain registered in China, she said.

Wow, they traced it to China. There are many different ways I could make you think I hacked you from another place than from where I am actually at.

It is not unusual for the state's computer system to be the target of hackers, but having problems at four separate branches of state government prompted the decision to take down nearly the entire system, she said.

DeVane said Pennsylvania's information technology officers learned during a conference call held by the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center that four other states and one state university had been attacked in a similar manner.

Digital photo frame contains Virus/Malware part2

2008-01-03T23:52:00.000-05:00

In a previous post HERE
we learned of people either buying or receiving NEW hardware loaded with a virus or malware. While the reports speculate that this is not widespread, or in the wild, this can not by any means be the end of this. Since most,'not unlike myself' do not suspect a NEW device to contain a virus, we don't even think of looking/scanning for it on said device. This being the case, I am sure there are many others out there in the world that have become infected in this manner and don't even realize it.

In my previous post on this subject I said:

"Well the who seems fairly easy. Correct me if I'm wrong. The who is China. I say this due to the fact most of these types of electronics and damn near everything else comes from them. Under the Direction of whom is all together another Question."

This appears to have been somewhat CONFIRMED in this latest post from SANS Internet Storm Center where a reader reports, "Google-ing the name of the virus executable turns up three Chinese-language links."

What makes this all the worse is that some have an autorun.exe file. For those that don't know/understand what this is I'll try and simply explain. You know when you put a music CD or a movie DVD in and it starts Automatically, that's what autorun does. If this is the case, there is NO WAY to SCAN the device to detect the infection before it runs.

As I stated before this is BIG, and NO telling how many devices are infected without people realizing it.
_______________________________

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=3807

Digital Hitchhikers Part Two
Published: 2008-01-04,
Last Updated: 2008-01-04 02:51:08 UTC
by Marcus Sachs (Version: 1)

Several days ago David Goldsmith posted a diary concerning a digital photo frame that came with a value added feature. Since then, two more readers have sent us notes concerning malware on digital photo frames that were purchased or received as Christmas presents last week. We've been in contact with the security team of the retail store chain where they were purchased as well as the product vendor and both swear that no malware is on the units they are selling.

So, dear readers, here is your first project for the New Year. If you either purchased or were given a digital photo frame, GPS unit for your car, external hard drive, or any other device that connects to your computer via a USB cable and
appears to your operating system as one or more mounted drives, please let us know via our contact form if you experienced any suspicious behavior that smells like malware.

To give you an idea of what we are talking about, here are edited excerpts from the three notes we have received so far:

First notification.

Behavior after attaching the USB digital photo frame to the PC:

1. MSCONFIG would not run - it would briefly open and then terminate

2. Blue screen when starting in safe mode

3. Many antivirus websites would result in browser terminating

4. Various popups for random name.exe "not valid image messages"

Using the CA AV2008 product, a new aggressive virus named Win/32Mocmex.AM was found on the photo frame (filename: kwjkpww.exe ). No detailed info on it is listed yet in their database. (More information was later available at http://www.prevx.com/filenames/394470622808329496-0/KAWDHZY.DLL.html.)

Second notification.

The attached file is from a digital picture frame. This file was originally named "autorun.inf", was marked as a hidden, system file, and was located along-side the sample pictures shipped with the picture frame. The program file launched by this autorun was deleted, but is a variant of the trojan Win32/Agent virus. This file was also marked as hidden.

It did appear all seals were intact and the product was carefully wrapped when it was unpacked. However, I can't say for sure that this frame was not a victim of a prior connection.

The virus scanner I'm using tagged the virus .exe file "cfhskjn.exe" as shown in this log entry:

Threat Name:Trojan:Win32/Agent

Detection Date and Time:1/1/2008 4:23 PM

File Name:G:\kwjkpww.exe

Threat Severity:Severe

Threat Category:Trojan

Threat found by On Demand Scan:(ANTIVIRUS_ONDEMAND)

Threat Status:Removed

so I'm thinking it was not the autorun.inf worm or "silly worm" as described in this link. Although I've not dug into this particular .exe code that was found on this frame, the classification as a Win32/Agent threat tells me it is not of a worm (self-propagating) type and behaves more as a Trojan threat.

Google-ing the name of the virus executable turns up three Chinese-language links. Using the Google-translate function, you get this web page from the first link:

http://tinyurl.com/28w8vc

which tells me this virus has been in circulation since at least Oct 30 of 2007.

Third notification.

I too connected a digital picture frame to my computer and received the nastiest virus that I've ever encounterd in my 20 plus year I/T career. The product vendor tells me it's not true however I know exactly what, how and when. The virus absolutely came from the frame. Is there any way to cooberate this?

This virus was indeed on the frame. It propagates to any connected device by copying a script, a com file and an autorun file. It hides all systems files and itself while completely eliminating the user admin ability to show hidden files. It creates processes that negate any attempt to go to anti virus and anti spam web sites. It prevents the remote installation of any anti virus components. I was able to remove it by using the attrib command to unhide then delete the files, then run Symantec anti virus. I also manually deleted the files from my USB drive and and flash drive that I used to back up my data. I then had to long format and rebuild my computer because I had no trust that it was safe.

I was using my computer the morning that it crashed without any troubles at all. I web mailed, VPN connected to my business network which is FDA regulatory compliant and very secure. When I completed my work I then connected the picture frame and my system immediately went crazy. After this happened I ceased to use my system and went to a second computer here I your publication that re-enforced my immediate conclusion.

By the way, I also received a digital photo frame for Christmas but have not had any problems with it other than the resolution totally sucks. But that's a subject of another diary some day. The GPS unit I bought in November mounts as a drive letter in Windows but it too had no malware on it. We are pretty certain that this is not a wide-spread problem but we need to know if others have experienced anything like this. Please use our contact form to report any observed malware-like behavior in any of these external devices you recently purchased or received as gifts. Please be sure to include information about the model name, where you bought it, and if you've been in contact with the store or product vendor. We'll provide a summary in a few days with details on what was reported.

Many thanks to readers Edd, Larry, and Rick for bringing this issue to our attention.

Marcus H. Sachs
Director, SANS Internet Storm Center

Military Issues Warning on Chinese Hackers

2008-01-02T02:53:00.000-05:00

I have known about China hacking various nations for awhile. They[meaning you know who] try and keep things like this from making the snooze in the USA. Hell, I'll go as far to say that 85% of all hacks come from China. At least thats what my Smoothie tells me.

Military Issues Warning on Chinese Hackers

By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
01-01-2008
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/01/205_16537.html

The South Korean military has issued a warning that computer systems of soldiers and defense institutes have become the victims of presumed Chinese hacking activities, a military source said Tuesday.

The source said hackers, believed to be Chinese nationals, penetrated computers of soldiers by sending e-mail involving hacking programs falsely titled ``the situation on North Korea's arms power.''

``We are now investigating several cyber hacking cases believed to be conducted by Chinese nationals based on evidence that the hackers stole information stored in soldiers' computers,'' the source said, asking not to be named.

The hackers appeared to have penetrated Web sites of military units and retired soldiers to steal e-mail adresses of individuals registered to the sites, he said.

The Defense Security Command recently distributed up-to-date vaccine programs to service members as a precautionary measure, he added.

Cyber attacks from China have become frequent and aggressive in recent years, according to reports.

The Chinese military created a cyber-hacking unit named ``NET Force'' in 2000 operated by about 1 million hackers, the reports said.

In 2004, the state-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analyses was hacked by a Chinese person.

Reports said last year Chinese military hackers were preparing a detailed plan to disable America's aircraft carrier fleet as part of an aggressive push by Beijing to achieve ``electronic dominance'' over each of its global rivals by 2050, particularly the United States, Britain, Russia and South Korea.

The U.S. Department of Defense said China's military regards offensive computer operations as ``critical to seize the initiative'' in the first stages of a war.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr

Of course you do know who pretty much controls the South Korean government;.........don't you? Of course you do.......

2008 Election to be decided in Tennessee

2007-12-31T05:11:00.000-05:00

By:Ed
12/31/2007

From Will Bush Cancel The 2008 Election?Global Research, August 7, 2007 Via~freepress.org We find -

In Florida 2000, Team Bush had a game plan involving a handful of tactics. With Jeb Bush in the governor’s mansion, the GOP used a combination of disenfranchisement, intimidation, faulty ballots, electronic voting fraud, a rigged vote count and an aborted recount, courtesy of the US Supreme Court.

In 2000 a compliant Democrat (Al Gore) allowed the coup to be completed.

In Ohio 2004, the arsenal of dirty tricks exploded. Based in Columbus, we have documented more than a hundred different tactics used to steal the 20 electoral votes that gave Bush a second term. More are still surfacing. As a result of the King-Lincoln-Bronzeville federal lawsuit (in which we are plaintiff and attorney) we have now been informed that 56 of the 88 counties in Ohio violated federal law by destroying election records, thus preventing a definitive historical recount.

As in 2000, a compliant Democrat (John Kerry) allowed the coup to proceed.

In 2008 they plan on stealing the Election, by Stealing identifying information of every voter in Nashville.

It was revealed Friday, 12/28/07 from Tennessean.com, That Multiple Computers [Electronic Voting Machines] containing the names, addresses and complete Social Security numbers of more than 337,000 Davidson County voters were Stolen over the Christmas holiday from the Metro Election Commission offices at Howard School Building, 800 Second Ave. S..

County election officials are warning the public to monitor their credit accounts for any suspicious activity.
They say the information could be used by identity thieves.

Identity Thieves? Funny they don't Mention Election Thieves.

On the contrairy, They tell you 'Trust Us',"The theft should not cause any problems for Nashvillians casting ballots in the upcoming presidential primary. Early voting begins Jan. 16."

It gets Better

During the same period, the State Safety Department's Information Technology building in south Nashville was broken in to.
Several laptop computers and a desktop computer were stolen from The agency that issues Tennesseans handgun-carry permits, and in the past it has overseen the unit that issues drivers' licenses.

But again don't worry, The Safety Department officials said they believe personal information was not compromised, because nearly all of the computers were taken from a repair office and their memories are believed to be blank.

I guess they don't understand themselves How A Computer Works. Yeah Right..

So the Memory is believed to be blank. What About the Hard-Drives ?

So on this, the Last day of 2007, we find the E-Voting Corruption already beginning. 2008 should be an Exciting year.

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
—George W Bush Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

"The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it".
- DR.Joseph Mengele

Where's the Beef ?

2007-12-28T13:13:00.000-05:00

American Fresh Foods Urges Texas Consumers Not to Purchase Ground Beef Under Questionable Circumstances After Trailer is Stolen From Plant

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- American Fresh Foods in Ft.
Worth, Texas, is urging Texas consumers not to purchase its ground beef
under questionable circumstances. This precaution comes after the company
reported, early the morning of December 27, the theft of one of its
refrigerated trucks containing 14,800 pounds of ground beef products.

According to American Fresh Foods' officials, the stolen meat had been
placed in a refrigerated truck and held on the plant's property. The
product, a portion of which had been segregated as possibly affected with
E. coli O157:H7, was being removed from fresh commercial sale.

"Consumers need to know that our meat products being sold through
normal retail channels -- such as grocery stores -- are safe. Our primary
concern, however, is for the safety of those people who may be persuaded to
buy beef products under questionable circumstances," says Tim Biela, chief
food safety and quality assurance officer for American Fresh Foods. "Our
first priority is their safety. We do not know how this product has been
handled since it left our control. The stolen truck had only a limited
supply of refrigeration fuel."

American Fresh Foods is working with U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) officials and local and state law enforcement authorities to issue a
public health alert and to recover the stolen product and vehicle.

The consumer products subject to the public health alert include:
-- 2-pound approximate weight packages of "73/27 GROUND BEEF" bearing a
sell-by date of "12.30.07" with production times between 14:27 - 15:28
-- 2-pound approximate weight packages of "80/20 GROUND BEEF CHUCK"
bearing a sell-by date of "12.31.07" with production times between
13:40 - 14:27
-- 1-pound approximate weight packages of "85/15 GROUND BEEF ROUND"
bearing a sell-by date of "12.31.07" with production times between
13:51 - 17:01
-- 1-pound approximate weight packages of "90/10 GROUND BEEF SIRLOIN"
bearing a sell-by date of "12.31.07" with production times between
13:49 - 15:35
-- 1-pound approximate weight packages of "96/04 EXTRA LEAN GROUND BEEF,
4% FAT" bearing a sell-by date of "12.31.07" with production times
between 14:25 - 17:22

Each package label bears the establishment number "EST. 13116" inside
the USDA mark of inspection and the company name "American Fresh Foods, Ft.
Worth, TX 76102" below the nutrition information. Each package has a net
weight of approximately 1 to 2 pounds.

Bulk product also subject to this alert includes:
-- 40-pound "net wt." box of "73/27 100% GROUND BEEF; REWORK MAP"
-- 260-pound "net wt." combo bin of " CHUCK 100% GROUND BEEF; REWORK MAP"
-- 370-pound "net wt." combo bin of "SIRLOIN 100% GROUND BEEF; REWORK"

Each bulk product label bears the establishment number "EST. 13116"
inside the USDA mark of inspection as well as a date of "12-19-07" with the
production information filled in by hand.

The consumer and bulk ground beef products were produced on Dec. 19,
2007.

The company asks that anyone, who may have seen or knows the location
of the tractor trailer, immediately contact the Fort Worth, Texas, Police
Department's Crime Stoppers hotline at 817-469-8477.

The tractor trailer, which bears an "Xtra Lease" logo on both side
panels toward the rear of the trailer, is a 2000 Great Dane model with the
trailer number Q61232. The truck has a Maine license plate number 1925071.

If a consumer has purchased American Fresh Foods' ground beef products
under questionable circumstances, like in a parking lot or along the side
of the road, Biela recommends the following: "Do not consume the product;
but retain the packaging label, discard the product, and immediately report
the incident to the American Fresh Foods consumer hotline number at
1-800-724-1136 (This toll free line will be available beginning Friday,
December 28, at 9 a.m. central standard time)."

"We really appreciate the public's help with this situation," says
Biela. "Anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the
culprits and the recovery of the stolen vehicle will be appropriately
rewarded."

Consumers with questions can call American Fresh Food's toll free at
1-800-724-1136 beginning Friday, December 28 at 9 a.m. central standard
time. The toll free customer service line will be available throughout the
week.

An additional resource is the USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline at
1-888-MPHOTLINE (1-888-674-6854, available in English and Spanish from l0
a.m. to 4 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday) or visit
http://www.fsis.usda.gov.

SOURCE American Fresh Foods

New Hardware contains Virus/Malware

2007-12-25T22:34:00.000-05:00

This is another report of buying NEW Hardware with Virus/Malware pre-installed on it.

So lets see now......We have HD's with them, We have USB sticks with them, and now the Digital Picture Frame.[Which I still think are cool.] I'm sure there are many other devices out in the Wild we don't know about. I mean if some of these things happened on your Box, would you suspect the New Hardware of installing or having installed it??

My Question is: Who is doing this, and why.

Well the who seems fairly easy. Correct me if I'm wrong. The who is China. I say this due to the fact most of these types of electronics and damn near everything else comes from them. Under the Direction of whom is all together another Question.

Is this another way to prepare for the coming 'CYBER WARS'?
Infect and control as much as possible before your adversary has a chance.
Sounds about right in War strategy.

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

Digital Hitchhikers

Published: 2007-12-25,
Last Updated: 2007-12-25 23:24:44 UTC
by David Goldsmith (Version: 1)
http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=3787

We received a report this afternoon from someone who had recently received a digital picture frame. Unfortunately, it had a extra component with it. The built-in storage came with what appears to be some malware already loaded on it -- a file called 'cfhskjn.exe' was on it when unpacked.

Some of the behavior seen when the digital picture frame was connected to the computer was:

* MSCONFIG would not run - it would briefly open and then terminate
* The system would blue screen when starting in safe mode
* Going to various anti-virus websites would result in the web browser terminating
* Various popups for random name.exe "with 'not valid image' messages

This specific product was an "ADS Digital Photo Frame - 8" (sold by Sam's Club - see http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=368725) but this type of infection can, and has affected other portable devices with internal storage.

Kaspersky has a blog entry 'Adventures at altitude' (see http://www.viruslist.com/en/weblog?discuss=208187471&return=1) about one of their employees who bought a Kingston CF memory card that came with a virus on it.

Whether its a picture frame, a digital camera or any USB, CF, SD, etc memory card, the portable nature of these devices dredges up of memories of all the floppy boot viruses we used to have to deal with. [ What's a 'floppy disk' you ask? ;-) ]

Care should be taken when attaching storage devices to your computer to ensure you scan them for possible malware and handle them in as secure a fashion as is possible.

David Goldsmith (dgoldsmith -at- sans.org)

Christmas Confession

2007-12-23T12:18:00.000-05:00

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.I don't know when this aired. I found it on another site I frequent.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem .We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing? Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards.
Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein

Slow start

2007-12-19T16:45:00.000-05:00

If you are Free, why do you need a Passport?

If you think you are Free because they say you are, then now you are a goat because I say you are.

What do you expect from a Depleted Cranium..........

More goodies soon on every subject.