Monroe

I have tried a few programs but they are not able to capture this video from an Ohio TV station ... it's not a YouTube video and it's probably protected in some way. I can watch it but I would like to save it to show or watch later on. Any ideas if such a program exists ... a local girl from Toledo was the winner of Project Runway Junior last night (Thursday) and there was a show party at a local pizza place with around 200 people watching the final episode on big screen tvs ... when she won the place went wild with everyone watching. http://www.wtol.com/clip/12192895/toledo-school-for-the-arts-student-maya-ramirez-wins-project-runway-junior Maya Ramirez, 14, of Maumee, Ohio was one of four finalists in the reality show. And when they announced her as the winner in the season's last episode Thursday, her fans back at home went wild. I watched this new show on Lifetime when it started Nov 12, 2015 to the end last night. It was really good and she was my pick to win on the first night the show aired last November. That's the TV News web page with the video. It may be two videos totaling 8 and 2.5 minutes long ... they run together. Can videos like this be saved ... I think they could years back but everything is different now. I posted here since I am using XP. thanks ...

Eagles Being Taught to Destroy Drones ... Watch a police eagle take down a drone http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/02/01/watch-police-eagle-take-down-drone.html?intcmp=hpbt3 February 01, 2016 Police in Holland are touting a unique anti-drone weapon – a specially trained eagle. The Dutch National Police have trained an eagle to take down Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), as revealed in a video posted to YouTube Sunday. The video, which is in Dutch, shows an eagle swooping to grasp a small commercial drone in its talons before landing with its ‘prey’. A quadcopter drone that crashed onto the White House grounds last year highlighted the growing security threat posed by small UAVs. The White House incident came less than two weeks after a drone flew over the French presidential palace in Paris. Drones, thanks to their small size and ability to hover low over the ground, can pose a huge security headache, experts have warned. Technologies touted to combat UAVs include a new breed of ‘interceptor’ drones. Michigan Tech University, for example, has developed an anti-UAV octocopter that uses a net to disable smaller drones. The U.S. military is also ramping up its anti-drone efforts. In 2014, for example, the Office of Naval Research announced plans to build a laser weapon to shoot down drones. Last year Boeing demonstrated a laser cannon that could be used to destroy drones. ...

Who's hacking who ? ... are you actually safe only in an underground cave home with no internet connection? "Hackers release 631 aircraft and radar videos, 2,143 flight logs and data on 2,414 employees" Hackers Allegedly Hijack Drone After Massive Breach at NASA http://www.infowars.com/hackers-allegedly-hijack-drone-after-massive-breach-at-nasa/ January 31, 2016 Members of the AnonSec hacking group have released more than 276GB of data after allegedly spending months inside NASA’s internal network. The collection of files, provided to Infowars by AnonSec admin Dêfãult Vírüsa prior to being made public Sunday, include 631 videos from aircraft and weather radars, 2,143 flight logs as well as the names, email addresses and phone numbers of 2,414 NASA employees. A “zine,” or self-published paper detailing the hack, dubbed “OpNasaDrones,” reveals everything from AnonSec’s motives to the specific technical vulnerabilities that enabled the extensive breach. “NASA has been breached more times than most people can honestly remember… However, this hack into NASA wasn’t initially focused on drones [sic] data and upper atmosphere chemical samples. In fact the original breach into NASA systems wasn’t even planned, it was caught up in a gozi virus spread,” the hackers write, referring to an infamous Trojan that has infected more than 1 million computers to date. The Hack After purchasing an “initial foothold” from a hacker with knowledge of NASA servers over two years ago, the group says it began testing how many machines it could “break into” and “root” – a term referring to an account with complete control over a computer or network. Brute forcing an administrator’s SSH password, which reportedly only took “0.32” seconds due to the credentials being left as default, AnonSec gained further access inside – allowing them to grab even more login data with a hidden packet sniffer (tcpdump). The hackers say while some members mapped the network, others analyzed the “different missions, airbases and aircraft” listed by the agency. Public missions like “OIB – Operation Ice Bridge” and drones such as the “Global Hawk“ were among those mentioned. Deleting records of their presence as they hacked deeper into the agency’s system, AnonSec, who even hacked security cameras and uncovered the schematics to one base’s camera layout, then infiltrated the networks at “Glenn Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center and Dryden Flight Research Center.” Once inside, the group says it began noticing numerous systems and networked devices “popping up in scans that were not previously visible…” After sniffing a password belonging to the system administrator, the hackers say they were eventually able to gain full root access to three network-attached storage (NAS) devices tasked with compiling backups of aircraft flight logs. more at link ...

Since I have never used Google Chrome, I don't completely understand everything being discussed here. I'm using a version of K-Meleon that is not well known, v1.8 ... it doesn't play the H.264/MP4 test page video but does play the WebM and Ogg/Theora videos. I just throw this in for viewing YouTube videos if all options run out one day ... as a backup. Have used it for several years and while the videos have to be downloaded, they can be easily saved if one wants to. I only use the portable version and then the K-Lite Codec Pack (Full) with Media Player Classic included seems to play all videos. It's not as convient as having a browser ready to play any type of video ... but it may be the future with XP one day. Youtube Downloader HD http://www.youtubedownloaderhd.com/download.html Youtube Downloader HD - Portable Version Version 2.9.9.27 Free. 10 MB. Without installer. Standalone exe file. For Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7/8/10 K-Lite Codec Pack 11.9 http://www.free-codecs.com/download/k_lite_codec_pack.htm Updated: 29 Jan 2016 K-Lite Codec Pack is a comprehensive selection of codecs which guarantees that you will be able to play almost any video or audio file. It offers support for 32-bit and 64-bit codecs and it works irreproachably. You will be amazed by the complexity and the configuration options of these applications starting with installation process, when you have the possibility to choose the settings for each and every codec. If you are a basic user, avoid the advanced mode and trust the program’s default options. In the end you will be able to play media files without any inconveniences. Whenever and wherever you need a complete codec, you can use K-Lite Codec Pack. ...

Came across the new free version of Auslogics Disk Defrag v6.2.0.0 which was just released on Jan 13,2016. I tried and liked the portable version ... no adware, spyware or toolbars so they say. If anyone is interested ... page link below. Auslogics Disk Defrag Free Latest ver. 6.2.0.0 (13/01/2016) File size: 7.2 Mb (Portable version: 4.7 Mb) http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/ Portable version is a single ".exe" application that doesn't require installation and can be run directly from a USB drive. Portable version is about halfway down the page on the right side. ...

Ok ... it's clear now, two different cases ... criminal and civil. I'm interested in how the civil case turns out. If you see a later article on it, please post the news ... I will be on the lookout myself. ...

The kangaroo story has taken a twist with a new theory ... still sad for the little one. Kangaroo in Heartbreaking 'Grieving' Photos May Actually Have Killed Its Mate Photos of what seemed to be a heartbreaking death scene between marsupials touched the hearts of many. But experts suggest it may have been the aftermath of a kangaroo killing. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/12099012/Do-these-heartbreaking-kangaroo-photos-actually-show-a-brutal-scene-of-murder.html Helena Horton 14 Jan 2016 Pictures of a dead kangaroo dying in the arms of a male kangaroo, while her joey looked on, touched the hearts of many this week. It looked as if the marsupials were showing human-like emotion as the female kangaroo passed away. However, it looks as if this story has taken a shocking twist. Experts have said the male kangaroo may not have been mourning after all. more at link

Thanks for the followup story ... sort of. The article at your link is dated Oct 2015 and the one I posted is dated January 13 ... I assumed it was 2016. It still seems to be "old news" what I posted. Maybe that will be the determining factor in how much air space a home owner actually owns above their property ... the tree line. "According to local television station WDRB, Judge Rebecca Ward found that because three witnesses said that they saw the drone "below the tree line," the drone flight was a violation of privacy. " So if your neighbor has taller trees ... then they own more air space above their house or property ... now if you were very lucky and had giant redwoods growing around your house or on your property, then that should be a major plus. A new selling point for real estate ... property with tall trees, worth a lot more than property with just bushes or shrubs! ...

Just to add a few lines about .NET Framework ... in late December I decided to remove .NET Frame from my XP setup. The highest version that I had installed was v2.0 but I decided to remove v1.1 and v2.0 ... everything. I do remember a few software programs requiring .NF v1 but I can no longer remember exactly what programs they were. I am sure these few programs are probably still on my computer ... however, so far I have not noticed or run into any problems with .NET Framework completely removed. I have always tried to mostly find programs that don't require .NET Frame. ...

You May Be Powerless to Stop a Drone From Hovering Over Your Own Yard January 13, 2016 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/01/13/you-may-be-powerless-to-stop-a-drone-from-hovering-over-your-own-yard/ William Merideth had just finished grilling dinner for his family when he saw a drone hovering over his land. So he did what he said any Kentuckian might do — he grabbed his Benelli M1 Super 90 shotgun, took aim and unleashed three rounds of birdshot. “The only people I’ve heard anything negative from are liberals that don’t want us having guns and people who own drones,” said the truck company owner, now a self-described “drone slayer.” Downing the quadcopter, which had a camera, was a way to assert his right to privacy and property, he said. The drone was owned by John Boggs, a hobbyist, who told authorities he was trying to take pictures of the scenery. He argues in a lawsuit filed this month in U.S. District Court in Louisville that Merideth did not have the right to shoot the craft down because the government controls every inch of airspace in America. For decades, the issue of who controls the nation’s air didn’t matter much to everyday Americans. Planes, after all, typically must stay hundreds of feet above ground while in the air. But drones that can take off or land almost anywhere -- and the tech companies who dream of using them to deliver goods to your front porch -- are igniting a debate over who exactly owns the air just above ordinary homes and lawns. “There is gray area in terms of how far your property rights extend,” said Jeramie Scott, national security counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “It’s going to need to be addressed sooner rather than later as drones are integrated into the national airspace.” The issue is becoming more urgent as drones are crowding America’s skies: The Consumer Technology Association estimated 700,000 were sold last year. more at link

Not much to say ... the pictures pretty much say it all. The heart-wrenching moment a mother kangaroo reaches for her joey one last time - before dying in the arms of her male companion. A mother kangaroo has been photographed reaching out for her joey while her male companion holds her tight The young joey stands loyally to her side as she lays lifeless underneath the shade of a mango tree The touching moment was captured by Evan Switzer on a bushland property in River Heads, Queensland 13 January 2016 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3396905/The-heart-wrenching-moment-mother-kangaroo-reaches-joey-one-time-dying-arms-male-companion.html This is the heart-wrenching moment a grieving male kangaroo cradles the head of his lifeless female companion as she reaches for her joey one last time underneath the shade of a mango tree. Evan Switzer noticed the touching marsupial interaction while going for a walk on bushland property in River Heads, a coastal town close to Fraser Island in Queensland, on Monday morning. 'I saw the male pick up the female, he looked like he was just trying to get her up and see what was wrong with her,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'He would lift her up and she wouldn't stand she'd just fall to the ground, he'd nudge her, stand besides her ... it was a pretty special thing, he was just mourning the loss of his mate.' The mother's lifeless body is propped up at the neck by the male - who appears to look solemnly ahead, overcome with sadness. The baby kangaroo can do little but hold out its claws and touch its mother softly, before standing upright to her side in a protective stance. Mr Switzer - a keen photographer who has been walking in the area with his dog twice a day for close to ten years - first noticed the kangaroos after hearing an unusual 'thumping sound.' He raced back home to grab his camera and returned to find the protective male in the same position. 'I’ve travelled around a bit and you see a lot of dead roos on the side of the road – but I've never seen anything like that before,' he said. 'The male would chase the other kangaroos that came around away – he was sort of protective over the female.' 'The young one looked kind of confused, it would stand by the mother and then hop off and chew some grass, and then come right back again.' Mr Switzer was unsure how the female - who had no visible wounds - ended up limp on the grass. ...

ROTS "So we are going to take the Sharks glow in the dark DNA and put it, inside of Jaws......................So we could immediately tell when a shark is in the sea." I think that's a great idea ... I would say instead of "in the sea" ... "in the area". That way swimmers along the shore would have a "heads up" and be warned to get out of the water. Of course, this would only work for people swimming at night ... day swimmers would still be on their own with " a hope and a prayer". However, thinking along those lines .. if all sharks could be briefly caught ... have a microchip inserted and then released, like people do with pets ... shark microchip detectors could be set up around various beaches just under the water to detect sharks coming into the area. The DNA glowing shark would have another thing going against it ... it would be more easily spotted for fishermen to catch ... maybe in time there would be no sharks left in the ocean ... the same with an implanted microchip, they would be to easily located. I guess ... to be fair to the shark, we will have to continue swimming at our own risk and hope we come out of the water exactly like we went into the water !

submix8c ... well, I didn't think about that, I will let the Moderators decide since I've already posted about it. I appreciate the heads up ... I looked at some pages of programs but didn't see any MS items. I should have thought that out better ... oh well. ... as soon as I posted this, I did spot this MS program ... Microsoft Word for Windows 2.0c, so I guess there may be more.

I just came across this site looking around for an old program ... they make this claim ... "the biggest free abandonware downloads collection in the universe" ... there is a large number of old programs there, the claim could well be true. It's very easy to sign up to download ... name and e-mail and they send you a password for the site. ... the more I think about it, I may have known about this site a long time back but forgot about it. Maybe some others will find it as a "new discovery". Also, click on the yellow title (OS - System - Utilty) on the top line and pages of old programs will open up. monroe

ZortMcGort11, rn10950 ... Thanks for the information on cleaning ... I found a couple of web pages that did not open completely but most have so far. Just wanted to experiment with RetroZilla and see how it would work on XP. I will continue to follow your project. ...

rn10950 ... nice project, I tried it with XP and it works very well. I know there are more improvements - changes in the future. I'm only asking ... I might have missed it. Is there a setting to automatically clean everything when the browser is shut down? ... cookies, history and such? Really works great on XP ... so far anyway. thanks ...

I thought I would post about my working to get the perfect "XP Factory CD" backup over the last 10 days. I wanted to achieve this before the end of 2015 ... have it ready for 2016 and beyond. I had always decided to stop at version 2.0 for .NET Framework, just to have it available for any program that might need it. I decided to update to version 2.1 and then to version 2.0 SP3. That took a day getting all the final MS updates downloaded and installed on my ThinkPads ... then after cleaning junk, logs and burning it all to a DVD ... I had a very good backup on Dec 26th ready for 2016. However, the very next day I was thinking ... why do I need .NET Framework at all on my XP setup? I wasn't even sure I had one program on my XP setup requiring it. So I decided to remove all traces of .NET Framework ... do all the cleaning again and burn a new DVD backup. I still would have the Dec 26th backups with .NET Framework 2.0 SP3 installed but would use and work with .NET Framework removed. So on Dec 28th ... I had those backup DVDs burned ... found a few mistakes or missed items ... I have a check off list but missed doing a log cleaner program and a setting or two. So a new set of DVD backups were made on Dec 30th ... had a new problem with saved web pages not working correctly ... I posted about that here ... got it figured out and finally on Jan 6th made another DVD backup set for my ThinkPads ... finally the perfect backup ... I missed my goal of doing this before the start of 2016 ... but this should be that perfect Factory CD backup that I have been after for all of 2015. I post all this because I was surprised at just how much space I gained on the DVD backup once I removed .NET Framework. I did not have the whole .NET Framework installed ... I knew the complete install does take up a lot of space ... I just didn't know only having part of it installed also took up a large amount of space on the hard drive. I was still able to get everything on one DVD but it was getting close to where two DVDs would be required one day ... I didn't want to get there, wasting a second DVD for a just a few items. Now with .NET Framework removed completely ... I will not be needing a second DVD ever or anytime soon. Here are my DVD backup figures with .NET Framework installed and then removed on one ThinkPad. With .NET Frame 2.0 SP3 installed: 5,092 GB ... with compression 4,580 GB With .NET Framework completely removed: 4731 GB ... with compression 4,219 GB So I now have more room to stay with just one DVD required in the future but I plan to burn no more DVD backups unless I discover some other missed items or junk hidden somewhere. I will maybe do backups from now on to a 16 GB or 32 GB flash drive. Have piece of mind now that I can quickly get back to a good, working system ... the only updates from MS these days for me ... are the MS Office 2007 updates that keep showing up almost every month. I'm good through the Dec 2015 updates on the DVD backups and I'm not even sure I will add future Office 2007 updates ... I will save them but do I really them, not sure at this point. So far with .NET Framework removed ... have not noticed any problems. ... just to add or ask, if anyone else has made this decision earlier to completely remove .NET Framework from their XP system ... have you run into any problems doing so and had to re-install it? Also to add, I did these additional clean ups on my system ... I found the information at a forum or an article a year or so back. I rebuilt the Layout file in the Prefech folder ... I had not done this since 2013 and it seemed to really have grown in size ... I guess it can be rebuilt over 72 hours but I found this instant rebuild ... I clean the items out of the old Layout file and then run this. Rebuild Layout.ini File Why wait three reboots or 72 hours, rebuild now ... Start | Run | Paste: Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks Click OK DFRGNTFS.EXE and DEFRAG.EXE will run ... assuming your disk is formatted NTFS. then I came across these cleanup suggestions which I saved and have used with no problem except for one which I will go into detail later ... I had to reset a Service from Manual to Automatic and no longer have a problem. I still say to be careful using this information ... I've used the information enough on my XP system and now know what to expect. The one log cleaner may free up a lot of space on a computer ... this is from the system administrator who posted about it. "Being a system administrator, I have used this command line to free as much as 500 MB of clutter from systems that had not been formatted for a long period of time. It is worth mentioning here that many cleaning tools had already been used on these systems on a periodic basis including the windows disk cleaner. However, these log files never seemed to be removed until this command was used." From that forum I saved these various suggestions: Cleaning Before Backup Flushing the DNS Cache Flush cache - Command: ipconfig /flushdns View cache - Command: ipconfig /displaydns Defrag Prefetch File - Command: defrag c: -b ** I'm not sure Flushing the DNS Cache really is important ... it seems to fill right back up with information. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: A College of Ag Sciences Enterprise machine Windows XP-based computer records events in as many as six logs. You may clear all these logs. Normally, the largest log is the Security log. If you are receiving "log full" errors when the computer starts, you may clear just the Application, Security and System logs. Under the Event Viewer, Right Click on Application and choose Clear all Events. When asked to save the log, click No. Under the Event Viewer, Right Click on Security and choose Clear all Events. When asked to save the log, click No. Under the Event Viewer, Right Click on System and choose Clear all Events. When asked to save the log, click No. Close the Computer Management window. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Delete Log Files From Windows Directory Using Command Prompt Many times after using numerous tools for cleaning clutter from a system, the primary drive still seems to lack free space despite the fact that there is little data saved on it. This is because there are many log files that remain in the Windows directory in the primary drive, which many tools are unable to remove. This command line will help you remove such unnecessary files which will help clear the log files from the Windows directory. Simply open the command prompt and type: cd\ ... and hit enter. Then type: cd windows ... to select the Windows directory and hit enter again. This will select the appropriate directory and give you the access from the command prompt to delete log files. Now type: del *.log /a /s /q /f ... and press enter to delete the log files. All log files will be deleted from the directory. In this command "a" signifies all, whereas "s" deletes files from all sub folders, "q" bars from any prompts to ask for a yes/ no question and "f" forcibly removes the files. Being a system administrator, I have used this command line to free as much as 500 MB of clutter from systems that had not been formatted for a long period of time. It is worth mentioning here that many cleaning tools had already been used on these systems on a periodic basis including the windows disk cleaner. However, these log files never seemed to be removed until this command was used. You can also empty TEMP folders (just type TEMP and %TEMP% ... one by one in RUN dialog box and press Enter and C:\Windows\Prefetch folders regularly to free up disk space. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now to the problem I ran into using the "del *.log /a /s /q /f cleaner". I had the Distributed Transaction Coordinator -- MSDTC Service set to Manual and it would not start after I ran the log cleaners. I found these instructions to restart the service and then I also changed the service from Manual to Automatic. Distributed Transaction Coordinator Service Error Tip 10458 - When you start the Distributed Transaction Coordinator service in Window XP, or Windows Server 2003, you receive error -1073737712. When you attempt to start the MSDTC (MicroSoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator) service in Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003, you receive: Windows could not start the Distributed Transaction Coordinator on Local Computer. For more information, review the System Event Log. If this is a non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor and refer to service-specific error code -1073737712. The Application event log records: Event Type: Error Event Source: MSDTC Event Category: LOG Event ID: 4163 Description: MS DTC log file not found. After ensuring that all Resource Managers coordinated by MS DTC have no indoubt transactions, please run msdtc -resetlog to create the log file. Event Type: Error Event Source: MSDTC Event Category: TM Event ID: 4185 Description: MS DTC Transaction Manager start failed. LogInit returned error 0x5. The System event log may record: Event Type: Error Event Source: Service Control Manager Event Category: None Event ID: 7024 Description: The Distributed Transaction Coordinator service terminated with service-specific error 3221229584 (0xC0001010). This behavior will occur if the MSDTC service cannot access the %SystemRoot%\System32\Msdtc\msdtc.log file. To resolve this issue: 01. Open a CMD.EXE window. 02. Type "msdtc -resetlog" and press Enter, making sure that you DO NOT have any pending pending transactions before you run the command. 03. Type "net start msdtc" and press Enter. If your problem is resolved, exit this procedure. *** There are more steps but fortunately for me the problem was fixed. As I said be careful ... experiment with a backup in place. That log cleaner (del *.log /a /s /q /f) did seem to remove a lot of files and I use various cleaners all the time. If you run it a second time you may see a difference in cleaning speed from the first time you ran it ... it all happens very fast. monroe

The problem seems to be fixed with running the HTM/HTML Associations (Restore the default associations for htm/html files) and I had to reset K-Meleon as the default browser. The pages look OK ... just as they always have. Not sure what happened but that little file must have repaired something. Thanks for your help. Just some additional information ... I have another ThinkPad setup the same ... the web pages also did not work correctly on that computer. I did not apply that HTM/HTML Associations (Restore the default associations for htm/html files) fix. I just made K-Meleon the default browser again and everything worked just fine after doing that. So the little download fix was not really needed but that still seems to be a good little collection of downloads to have around. K-Meleon is always my default browser but somehow that got changed and needed to be set again. ...

I am using mostly K-Meleon v1.8 and also Pale Moon v25.8.1 (Atom/XP). I don't get a correct web page with either version ... but for years everything worked just fine. All the old web pages that I saved can no longer be opened. I have come across this information and am in the process of downloading all these files into a folder to keep. Windows® XP File Association Fixes http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm I'm wondering if running the HTM/HTML Associations (Restore the default associations for htm/html files) will fix the problem? I will try it after I download all the files to burn to a CD for possible future use. ...

Been doing this for years with no problem. A few weeks ago I noticed that I could no longer open correctly a web page that I saved about a year ago. I didn't have time to really check it out and decided that the page had not been saved correctly ... although everytime I do save a web page, I will check the saved page to be sure it was saved correctly. Well, today I discovered that my web pages that I have saved recently or over the last few years no longer work. They were working just fine a few weeks ago ... now nothing. So in the last few weeks something has been changed on my setup. I have spent an hour or so searching Google for some answers or tips ... I'm only finding "How to save a web page" nothing on trouble shooting a web page problem. Hoping someone here has some ideas or a solution ... I go to the File tab - Save Page As - Web Page Complete. I've tried saving several web pages today and they are not being saved correctly or like they used to be. thanks ...

Well another thing about people changing their own oil ... it's harder to get rid of the stuff in today's world. Years ago you could just dump it on your neighbor's property when he wasn't home !!! All these regulations today have put a stop to that ... life was so much simpler back then. ...

I will wait to see if jaclaz weighs in on this ... this is my diet ! ... man, don't tell me it's over ... no point in wanting to move to Italy now. I still like the Italian accent and the old violins ... hope that's not on the way out. Italians Lose Appetite for Healthy Mediterranean Diet Fears of obesity epidemic as Italians turn away from vegetables and fish in favour of red meat and dairy produce. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/12072005/Italians-lose-appetite-for-healthy-Mediterranean-diet.html By Alice Philipson, Rome 28 Dec 2015 It has long been lauded by doctors across the world for its health benefits and life-lengthening properties, but it appears the Mediterranean diet is becoming increasingly unpopular in Italy. A study has shown that fewer than half of Italians now eat a traditional diet rich in vegetables, olive oil, pasta and fish. Instead, many people are turning to foods more commonly found in the British or North American diet, including red meat and butter. Scientists at the Institute of Clinical Physiology in Pisa found that a diet low in fruit and vegetables and high in dairy and protein was linked with obesity – a phenomenon once rare in Italy, but now increasingly common. The study, published in the Eating and Weight Disorders journal, measured to what extent Italians adhered to the principles of the Mediterranean diet on a scale of one to ten. “Fifty years ago our country measured between eight and 10, depending on the region,” study coordinator Antonino De Lorenzo, a diet and nutrition professor at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, told Corriere della Sera. “Now it’s less than two. Almost like in the United States, where it’s less than one.” Overall, only 43 per cent of Italians now eat a diet rich in vegetables, olive oil, pasta and fish. Instead, one Italian in three follows a diet classed as "lacking in fruit and vegetables", eating an average of one or two vegetable portions a week. Almost a quarter of Italians – 23 per cent – said they preferred a "Western-like” diet, eating red meat and dairy products once or twice a day. However, far more young people – 31 per cent – admitted a preference for foreign eating habits than those aged between 55 and 64 years – 16 per cent. The findings come several years after Italy was found to have the highest proportion of overweight children in Europe. more at the link ...

Well, I was in that crowd many years ago ... something new, why not ... go for it. Eventually we get older and wiser and our brain adapts to the old saying ... "if it ain't broke" ... or maybe if it is broke ... "live with it". I remember in my very early years when I bought my first car .. it was a jewel ... special order with a nice color ... Gulfstream Aqua ... back then it was a special color, today I would just say "blue". Anyway, it came complete, it had everything including a three year car loan. Well, I kept it clean ... and all the other good stuff that you do to with your very first car. Then one day I noticed a "scratch - dent" type of thing ... I can only guess it happened at the shopping center with someone being careless with a shopping cart ... only a guess. So now in my mind ... my new car had this "scratch - dent" ... I actually lost interest in the car and didn't want it anymore! ... however, I still had three years to pay on the piece of junk. Today, I drive a 25 yr old car ... in very good shape but with many dents and scratches from being on the Earth for 25 years. So the moral of this story ... I don't think there is one ... I can look back and laugh at that first "dent and scratch" but it sure wasn't funny back then, especially having to make payments for three years on something you no longer want. ...

The story ... "Scientists have discovered a shark that glows in the deep ocean and is so tiny that it might even fit in your hand." Tiny shark that glows discovered in the deep ocean By Michael Casey December 28, 2015 http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/12/28/tiny-shark-that-glows-discovered-in-deep-ocean.html?intcmp=latestnews Scientists have discovered a shark that glows in the deep ocean and is so tiny that it might even fit in your hand. Named Etmopterus benchleyi in honor of shark conservationist and “Jaws” author Peter Benchley, the jet-black lanternshark with glass-like teeth and emerald eyes was caught in 2010 as part of an expedition off the Central American coastline on the Pacific Ocean side. With only eight specimens to go by, very little is known about this shark which spends most its time in the darkest parts of the ocean at depths ranging from 2,742 feet to as much as 4,734 feet. Scientists still don’t know what it eats, what threats it faces and even how widespread it is. “It is probably living in an environment where it might, even though it is really small compared to other sharks, be one of the larger things there,” said Victoria Elena Vasquez, a grad student at the Pacific Shark Research Center in California and part of the team that made the discovery along with David Ebert of the center and Douglas Long of the California Academy of Sciences. “We’re not totally sure what this one is eating but other lantersharks are eating smaller fish, crustaceans,” she said. “It’s likely that it’s eating the same things or something similar.“ But the scientists behind the discovery can say for sure this pint-sized shark wouldn’t send beach goers into a tizzy – as the famous great white shark did in “Jaws.” “I've seen a few reports alluding to how dangerous and scary this shark might be, which is pretty funny to me since the largest one we found (a full grown adult) was 515 mm long (20 inches) from head to tail,” Vasquez said. “Since we don't have a lot of specimens we can't confirm if they grow larger, but since it lives in the deep sea, it would be too challenging for people to have a chance encounter in the water without a submersible,” she told FoxNews.com. “So I just wanted to clarify that there is no danger to people with this new species.” Although this shark has the characteristic glow of most lanternsharks, they believe it uses that skill much less – hence its common name, the Ninja Lanternshark. That name was suggested by several cousins of Vasquez ranging in ages 8 to 14 and inspired by its black appearance. “The idea is that they would be stealthier than other lanternsharks,” Vasquez said, adding they found fewer of the photophores or dots that emit light on this species than on other lantersharks. .... more at the link

heinoganda ... I was checking the situation on older ATI drivers before I posted earlier and I have mostly found this answer with relation to the drivers. I have this driver: ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 Driver ... but I have found this in searching Google. April 12, 2006 My X1900XTX is my second ATI card, and I resisted installing .NET on my computer for my Radeon 9700 Pro for about a year because of the nasty stuff I'd heard, but after installing .NET I really can't say anything bad about it. It didn't break anything that I'm aware of and there are security updates for .NET. April 12, 2006 You only need the .NET Framework if you install the Catalyst Control Center. And yes, its a piece of crap. When you're installing the driver choose a custom installation and only select to install the driver itself. No problems then. The .NET Framework itself isn't the problem though. .net is not the devil and it does not break anything. You are right however that you do not need it for the drivers... only the Control Center. You need Microsoft .NET Framework installed for Catalyst Control Centre (CCC) to work. I am pretty sure I do not have the Catalyst Control Centre on my computer ... just the ATI 7500 driver, so that may be OK. I did find this information: After Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) acquired ATI, the utility became known as AMD Catalyst Control Center. monroe