Monroe

It's good to know that good money is being spent to find these things out ! They say if the zombies are on the East Coast then head West ASAP ... Cornell Researchers Find Safest Place to Hide from Zombies February 25, 2015 http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/02/25/cornell-researchers-find-safest-place-to-hide-from-zombies/?intcmp=latestnews If a zombie outbreak were to strike US shores, East Coasters should head west ASAP. That recommendation comes by way of Cornell University researchers, who have modeled the statistical mechanics of, yes, zombies and will present their findings at a meeting of the American Physical Society on March 5 in San Antonio. The researchers used a number of techniques that are used when modeling real diseases, and the abstract ends with this dismal line: "We build up to a full scale simulation of an outbreak in the United States, and discover that for 'realistic' parameters, we are largely doomed." But Phys.Org relays a glimmer of hope by way of Alex Alemi, a grad student involved in the research: He says those who want to remain safe from the undead for as long as they can should head to the northern Rockies. He explains that while books and movies typically show an outbreak touching all corners of the country immediately, "in our attempt to model zombies somewhat realistically, it doesn't seem like this is how it would actually go down." Yes, major cities could be toast within days, but less populated areas could be unaffected for weeks, and the northern Mountain Time Zone could be safe for months. "Given the dynamics of the disease, once the zombies invade more sparsely populated areas, the whole outbreak slows down—there are fewer humans to bite, so you start creating zombies at a slower rate," says Alemi. "I'd love to see a fictional account where most of New York City falls in a day, but upstate New York has a month or so to prepare."

That's very good ! This thread used to get a lot postings a year or two ago ... anything from "drones" to "deep space asteroids" and everything in between ... but people seemed to have moved on. I just post for a "heads up" on something, I don't expect many comments or any comments for most of my posts. As a sad note ... it has been almost a year since there's been a post from CharlotteTheHarlot ... some of his last posts he made mention of having a rough winter with the cold and snow ... and then all went quiet. I think the last post might have been last March ... maybe April. I for one miss reading all the information he posted ... waited all of 2014 hoping the posts would start up again. If anyone knows anything or has some information, please let us know. monroe

Could be around in other places ... Kansas Man Dies From Virus Never Before Seen in America http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2962430/Kansas-man-dies-Bourbon-virus-spread-ticks.html 02/20/2015 Man was previously healthy before falling ill after a tick bite and dying 11 days later after organ failure The CDC has called the new virus 'Bourbon' after the man's county The virus belongs to the thogotovirus group, which has only caused symptoms in humans eight times - in Africa, Asia and Europe This is first time the CDC has seen a strain of thogotovirus affect blood cells CDC Discovers New Virus in Kansas 02/20/2015 http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/02/20/cdc-discovers-new-virus-in-kansas/?intcmp=latestnews The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Friday the discovery of a new virus that may be spread through tick or insect bites. The virus may have contributed to the 2014 death of a Kansas man who was otherwise healthy. Working with experts from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and University of Kansas Medical Center (UKMC), researchers found that the virus is part of a group of viruses called thogotoviruses. The virus was named Bourbon virus for the county in which the patient lived. The case is the first time a thogotovirus has been shown to cause human illness in the U.S. and the eighth known case of it causing symptoms in people. According to the report, the patient, who was over 50 years old, was working outside on his property in late spring 2014 when he received several tick bites and found an engorged tick on his shoulder. Several days later, he fell ill with nausea, weakness and diarrhea. The next day, he developed a fever, anorexia, chills, headache, myalgia, and arthralgia. The patient visited his primary care physician on the third day, at which point he was prescribed an antibiotic for a presumed tickborne illness. The next morning, his wife found him experiencing reduced consciousness and we was taken to the local hospital. Test results for many infectious diseases came back negative and a sample of the patient’s blood was sent to the CDC, which found evidence of an unidentified virus. Researchers used Advanced Molecular Detection (AMD) and determined it was a new virus. According to the news release, the CDC is working with KDHE and UKMC to identify additional cases of Bourbon virus disease, determine who gets sick and with what symptoms, and how people are getting infected. CDC experts are also working to better understand the virus itself to potentially prevent and control Bourbon virus. CDC researchers believe other undiscovered viruses are likely causing illness, with this finding and recent discoveries of Heartland virus in Missouri and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome viruses in China. ...

jaclaz ... I probably will not fool around at this time with deleting very small bytes or kb of data, unless it would be stuff that will never show up again ... I never new that some of these folders or items might actually be safe to delete. I am more after larger files for now. For instance, in the C:\Windows\System32\DLLCache" folder I have about 550 MB sitting in there ... I might try cleaning that out ... from the one article: c:\windows\system32\dllcache\ *NOTE*: Don't delete this folder, only the files inside. This folder uses a LOT of hard drive space, it holds a backup of every system file that windows uses. Deleting this will cause a SFC error when you replace a system file instead of windows putting back the original file. For people who want to mod their system, this is a good thing. The other article mentions that it could free up almost 1 GB for some people. submix8c ... I used Windows XP Update Remover which removes both the updates and the Control / Add Remove information. I tried CCleaner but I think it only removes the updates and I already had Windows XP Update Remover installed from last year. Windows XP Update Remover http://www.tech-pro.net/windows-update-remover.html I will check out everything you posted ... I didn't know about WinUpdatesList v1.32 from NirSoft ... I have downloaded it. I have many of the NirSoft programs already installed ... it's amazing all the programs they offer. I guess all this searching and getting rid of unnecessary "stuff" would mainly be for people like myself who have decided to mainly stay with the last official XP updates from April 2014. I am not adding any "unofficial" updates at this time. So if a person has nothing much changing on their XP setup ... then maybe it's time to clean some things out. ...

I use several Nirsoft utilities but wasn't aware of this one ... I was sure it may have already been mentioned in a post somewhere ... but where? Leave it to "The Finder" to find it ... I never had any doubts. He can finds things that haven't even been posted yet ... he's that good !!! Thanks for the mention of pserv 2.x ... I never heard of that program either. ...

I really couldn't think of a "good" title for this topic but it does pertain to only Windows XP but could work with another OS (?) but I am not going there. Since the last official Windows XP updates have long been released and my system seems to be running just fine ... I have image backups and hardly do them anymore ... used to be every month or two but now every six months or more works for me. I now have plenty of time to "walk the dog" except for now I don't have a dog. I still get some MS Office 2007 updates for my Office 2000 setup as I did this month (Feb) and just finished adding them and doing a new image backup last week ... of course when I add those new Office updates I also update other regular programs like Flash, Shockwave and so forth. I decided last year that sometime very soon I wanted to search around for information on files and hidden files and anything that could be be removed from my XP setup. Last month I finally removed all the hidden MS update uninstall files ... c:\windows\$Uninstallxxxxxx$ ... I wanted to do that last year but I left them on till now. So yesterday I decided to hunt around for additional information on files, logs, junk and whatever else can be "safely" removed. I don't need the space just want to clean these unnecessary items off the hard drive. So I am open to ideas and suggestions ... I came across (so far) three nice articles about cleaning many items that I knew nothing about. Maybe this might be also of interest to others. 01 Delete Log Files From Windows Directory Using Command Prompt http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/delete-log-files-from-windows-directory-using-command-prompt/ There is a command line mentioned here: "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 500mb of clutter from systems that had not be 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." 02 [Tip] How to Get Extra Free Disk Space in Windows http://www.askvg.com/how-to-get-free-space-in-windows/ There are many tips here ... I pulled just one out to post here ... there is a link to a WFP Patcher download STEP 7: Disable Windows File Protection Service You can also disable WFP (Windows File Protection) service in Windows XP using WFP Patcher. This service runs in background and checks for system files status. Whenever it finds that a system file has been changed/modified, it replaces the new file with the original file stored in "DLLcache" folder. First disable this service and after disabling the service, open "C:\Windows\System32\DLLCache" folder (it'll be HIDDEN & System Folder, so copy paste the path in address bar and press Enter key). Now you can safely delete all files present in this folder. It'll give you approx. 1GB free disk space. 03 Tips to Shrink the Windows Directory to Create Space http://www.marcofolio.net/tips/tips_to_shrink_the_windows_directory_to_create_space.html There are a lot of tips here also ... is this completely safe to do??? I'm not too worried about "messing" things up to experiment since I have the recent image backup ... I'm open to a little "experimenting". c:\windows\inf\ *NOTE*: Don't delete this folder, only the files inside. This folder contains a lot of windows drivers, if you ever add new hardware, windows looks in this folder, then on your CD drive for the latest drivers. Any hardware you might get will probably come with the drivers on a disk, so this folder is just a wasting space on your hard drive with outdated drivers. If all of your hardware is working fine, and you don't plan on adding any new hardware for a while, deleting this won't effect your system at all. If you don't want to delete everything in it, you can go into the folder, press CRTL+F and search for mdm*.* and delete everything that comes up. These are all modem drivers, and it is very unlikely you will ever need them because you either have a modem installed already, or if you do add one, it will come with newer drivers. I will be doing more searching around ... to be continued. Just to add ... of course a person should have a good backup or something to fall back on ... I will be trying some of these things later today or tomorrow ... so I have no idea what might happen. You could also use the free Rollback XP for "damage" control ... go all the way to bottom of page to get the "free" XP download under the Free XP column. Rollback XP http://www.horizondatasys.com/en/RollBack_XP.ihtml RollBack XP™ is a FREE instant time machine for your XP workstation(s)... A Comprehensive Windows System Restore solution that empowers users and IT administrators to easily restore their PC's to any previous state within seconds!!! ...

I came across this free Windows Services utility ... it does list a lot of information if someone would need all that information. ServiWin v1.65 http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/serviwin.html This utility works under Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003/2008, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. Windows 98 and Windows ME are not supported. ServiWin utility displays the list of installed drivers and services on your system. For some of them, additional useful information is displayed: file description, version, product name, company that created the driver file, and more. In addition, ServiWin allows you to easily stop, start, restart, pause, and continue service or driver, change the startup type of service or driver (automatic, manual, disabled, boot or system), save the list of services and drivers to file, or view HTML report of installed services/drivers in your default browser. ...

A British woman opens a can of tuna and sees a pair of eyes looking at her ! ... kinda comical looking but probably not too funny ... pictures at the link. British mom finds tongue-eating parasite inside can of tuna, experts say http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/british-mom-finds-tongue-eating-parasite-tuna-article-1.2105693 Friday, February 6, 2015 Zoe Butler spotted the critter when she was making dinner for her kids last month. She took to Twitter to ask for help identifying the unwelcome dinner guest. Experts said it is likely a Cymothoa exigua, also known as the tongue-eating louse. The beady-eyed parasites attach themselves to a fish's tongue, but are not harmful to humans, scientists said. A British mom opened up a can of parasites when she tried to make tuna for dinner. Zoe Butler found a tiny parasite inside a can of tuna — and scientists said it is likely a tongue-eating variety. The Nottingham mom found the beady-eyed parasite tucked inside a can of Princes tuna chunks last month. She posted images of the alien-like creature on Twitter, hoping someone could identify her unwelcome dinner guest. Finally, she got her answer. The parasite is probably a Cymothoa exigua, also known as the tongue-eating louse, Stuart Hine from London’s Natural History Museum told the Telegraph this week. A Cymothoa exigua enters a fish through its gills and attaches to the host’s tongue. The parasites are not considered harmful to humans. Hine hasn’t inspected the parasite in person and noted that only through a thorough examination could he confirm its identity; but he said the photos suggest it is a tongue-eating louse. Other experts speculated it could be a juvenile crab or a tadpole. A spokesman for Princes said it asked Butler to send the company the parasite so it could conduct an analysis. Butler bought the tainted can from a Nottingham grocery store last month. She was getting ready to serve it to her kids for dinner when she noticed the canned fish had eyes, she said. "I opened the top of the lid and saw a purply thing, a gut sack or intestine — then I turned it round and pushed it with a fork and saw it looking back at me,” she told the Nottingham Post last month. It was dead when she found it. She continued: "I haven't shown it to the kids because they might get put off eating tuna.” Butler said she’s working with the tuna company, but she doesn’t want any compensation — and she definitely doesn’t want any free tuna. "I just want to find out what it is and to make sure it doesn't happen to somebody else,” she told the British newspaper. ...

Well if this is true that other beings far out in the Milky Way have been getting our TV broadcasts ... I can only hope that they like "I Love Lucy" ... it's been on TV forever and still broadcasting into deep space. If by chance they have been driven crazy by this one TV show, then we can probably expect some sort of imminent attack at any time. I really hope we have not destroyed another alien race or have caused them to leave the Milky Way for a better life elsewhere !!! ...

This is the one I use ... it plays very good audio once set up and lots of cool skins ... there is a midi plugin. XMPlay v3.8.1.2 http://www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html XMPlay is an audio player, supporting the OGG / MP3 / MP2 / MP1 / WMA / WAV / AIFF / CDA / MO3 / IT / XM / S3M / MTM / MOD / UMX audio formats, PLS / M3U / ASX / WAX / CUE playlists, and ZIP archives. A load more formats are also supported via plugins. When XMPlay was first released in 1998, only the XM file format was supported, hence the name "XMPlay". No installation UnZIP where you want and go! ...

Interesting story but this one line from the article is amazing: "Emerging from an unknown source, these bursts are bright flashes of radio waves that emit as much energy in a few milliseconds as the sun does in 24 hours." Mysterious Radio Signal From Space Caught Live for First Time http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/01/26/mysterious-radio-signal-from-space-caught-live-for-first-time/?intcmp=latestnews January 26, 2015 Astronomers in Australia have picked up an “alien” radio signal from space for the first time as it occurred. The signal, or radio “burst”, was discovered on May 15, 2014, though it’s just being reported by the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. “The burst was identified within 10 seconds of its occurrence,” said Emily Petroff, a doctoral student from Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology. “The importance of the discovery was recognized very quickly and we were all working very excitedly to contact other astronomers and telescopes around the world to look at the location of the burst.” Emerging from an unknown source, these bursts are bright flashes of radio waves that emit as much energy in a few milliseconds as the sun does in 24 hours. “The first fast radio burst was discovered in 2007,” Petroff tells FoxNews.com, “and up until our discovery there were 8 more found in old or archival data.” While researchers use telescopes in Hawaii, India, Germany, Chile, California, and the California Islands to search for bursts, it is the CSIRO Parkes radio telescope in Eastern Australia that is the first to catch one as its happening. The cause of these mysterious signals remains unknown, with possible theories ranging from black holes to alien communication. However, UFO hunters shouldn’t get too excited. According to Petroff, “We're confident that they're coming from natural sources, that is to say it's probably not aliens, but we haven't solved the case completely. The two most promising theories at the moment are that these bursts could be produced either by a star producing a highly energetic flare, or from a neutron star collapsing to make a black hole. Both of these things would be from sources in far-away galaxies just reaching us from billions of light years away.” Catching the bursts as they happen is key to finding the source, and though Petroff’s team scrambled upon making their discovery, they didn’t move fast enough to find the afterglow and pin down the cause. “Finding one in real-time has been the goal for a while because we would then be able to act on it and mobilize other telescopes to look that way,” Petroff says. “We did this in the case of this real-time discovery, but we didn't get on the target until about eight hours later with other telescopes, at which time nothing was found.” However, they were able to eliminate a few possible causes, such as gamma-ray bursts from exploding stars and supernovae. Also, the team was able to determine that the source had been near an object with a sizeable magnetic field from the way the wavelengths were polarized. While the source of the fast radio burst remains a mystery, the team remains hopeful that they can learn from their mistakes and one day solve the case. “All we can do is learn from our experience with this discovery and create a more efficient system for next time,” Petroff says. “We still spend a large amount of time looking for fast radio bursts with the Parkes telescope and the next time we are in the right place at just the right time, we'll be able to act faster than ever before and hopefully solve the mystery once and for all!” ...

The two most important games playing on Super Bowl Sunday Feb 01, 2014 and no deflated or "flat" footballs. Looks like the puppies will get more air time than the kittens !!! Just to add ... not sure if Keyboard Cat's Puppy Bowl Halftime Show will be back again this year. https://www.google.com/search?q=Keyboard+Cat&num=100&safe=off&sa=G&complete=0&hl=en&gbv=2&sei=upvGVL_ZL4OrNvu5gMAL&gws_rd=ssl Kitten Bowl II The Hallmark Channel http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/kitten-bowl Sunday February 01 12 PM EST 03 PM EST 06 PM EST ---------------------------------------- Puppy Bowl XI Animal Planet http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/puppy-bowl-xi/ Sunday February 01 03 PM EST 05 PM EST 07 PM EST 09 PM EST 11 PM EST 01 AM EST

It's gotta be cold out there and it awoke from hibernation ... NASA Spacecraft Almost to Pluto http://www.aol.com/article/2015/01/23/nasa-spacecraft-almost-to-pluto-smile-for-the-camera/21134147/ CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - It's showtime for Pluto. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has traveled 3 billion miles and is nearing the end of its nine-year journey to Pluto. Sunday, it begins photographing the mysterious, unexplored, icy world once deemed a planet. The first pictures will reveal little more than bright dots - New Horizons is still more than 100 million miles from Pluto. But the images, taken against star fields, will help scientists gauge the remaining distance and keep the baby grand piano-sized robot on track for a July flyby. ... more at the link

Who would think ... 4.9 million dollars last year ! Who said there's no easy way to make money ? The Highest Paid YouTuber Makes Millions Opening Toys Jan 22nd 2015 http://www.aol.com/article/2015/01/22/the-highest-paid-youtuber-makes-millions-opening-toys/21133749/?ModPagespeed=noscript Here are some things that you probably would never think could make you money: opening packages of toys, playing with toys and recording videos of yourself opening packages of toys and playing with them ... and yet, the highest paid YouTube star raked in millions doing just that. Open Slate, a video analytics platform, made a list of the highest-earning YouTube channels based on ad revenue. Taylor Swift's channel and MovieClips Trailers made the top 10 -- but at the very top of the list is DC Toy Collector, a channel that showcases a woman -- well, woman's hands -- opening boxes of toys. According to the numbers, those hands (and their channel) banked 4.9 million dollars last year. The mysterious and well-manicured hands are featured in hundreds of videos. Each video showcases a different Disney toy being opened and an accented voice describing what's inside. No one has the slightest clue who the YouTuber with the golden touch is. A few media outlets have taken guesses, but no dice. Why on Earth is someone taking toys out of a box so lucrative? Well, Reel SEO a video marketing site says, "viewers are looking to reviews, how-tos, and unboxing content as part of their research into toy products." What do you think about this phenomenon? Do you get sucked into these videos, too? ...

Interesting way of life ... Florida widow has lived on same luxury cruise ship for nearly 7 years Lee Wachtstetter, known aboard the Crystal Serenity as 'Mama Lee,' sold her Florida home and began her residence at sea after her husband passed away. She estimates that she will pay $164,000 this year for her cruise expenses. http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/florida-widow-lived-cruise-ship-years-article-1.2085442 She's just "cruising." An 86-year-old Florida widow has been living on the same cruise ship for nearly seven years — and she's enjoying every minute of it, the Asbury Park Press reported. Lee Wachtstetter, known affectionately aboard the Crystal Serenity as "Mama Lee," sold her Florida home and began her residence at sea after her husband passed away. "My husband introduced me to cruising," she told the newspaper. "Mason was a banker and real estate appraiser and taught me to love cruising. During our 50-year marriage we did 89 cruises. I've done nearly a hundred more and 15 world cruises." When asked how many countries she has visited, Wachtstetter told the paper: "I stopped counting after 100. Just say I've been to almost any country that has a port." Her favorite stop is Turkey, where she can't get enough of the Grand Bazaar shopping center in Istanbul. For the most part, though, she's been there, done that. "And when most everybody goes ashore it's so quiet, and I have almost the whole ship for myself," she told the Asbury Park Press. Mama Lee also manages to keep in close touch with her three sons and seven grandchildren despite being at sea most of the year, thanks to her laptop. She estimates that she will pay $164,000 this year for her cruise expenses. The Crystal Cruise Line is highly regarded, but it's the dancing that separates her cruise from the rest of them, she said. "I enjoy dancing, and this was the best of the remaining ships that still use dance hosts," she told the paper. "My husband didn't dance, just didn't like to, and encouraged me to dance with the hosts. "Before coming aboard this ship I lived on a Holland America liner for three years," she continued. "The day they announced they were stopping the dance host program was the day I decided to leave." Mama Lee has no plans to slow down. Luckily, thanks to what she calls a strong immune system, she rarely needs to go to the doctor's office. "The day before my husband died of cancer in 1997, he told me, 'Don't stop cruising,'" she told the newspaper. "So here I am today living a stress-free, fairy-tale life." ...

Hard to believe these haven't been found yet with all the various detection equipment of today ... the ancients had their eyes and later small telescopes and found planets and moons ... Galileo observed some of Jupiter's moons in 1610. Two More Planets in Our Solar System, Say Astronomers http://news.yahoo.com/two-more-planets-solar-system-astronomers-134043845.html 1610: Galileo Galilei Observes the Moons of Jupiter https://cosmology.carnegiescience.edu/timeline/1610 Galileo’s telescope was only an inch-and-a-half in diameter. Although he did not invent the telescope, and may not even have been the first to use it to observe the sky, Galileo’s interpretation of what he observed with his tiny telescope changed people’s view of the universe in two fundamental ways. Galileo saw countless stars in the milky-white cloud in the night sky, and realized that the “dome of the fixed stars” is not a dome at all, but has depth. Galileo observed Jupiter’s Moons, providing a powerful argument that Earth may not be the center of the Universe, but instead circle the Sun. Galileo also measured the phases of Venus. ... I just spotted this, this number has really gone up from 30 - 40 years ago. Jupiter has more than 60 known moons. ...

This article is from last year but interesting to read ... a few of the foods I'm disappointed to read about. 16 Cancer Causing Foods You Probably Eat Every Day http://naturalon.com/10-of-the-most-cancer-causing-foods/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pc1&utm_content=ibtimes 1. Microwave Popcorn Those little bags of popcorn are so convenient to just stick in the microwave, you wouldn’t think for a minute that they could be dangerous to your health, but they are. First, let’s talk about the bag itself. Proved by Wikipedia, conventional microwave popcorn bags are lined with a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA). This is a toxin you can find in Teflon also. According to a recent study at the University of California, PFOA is linked to infertility in women. Numerous studies in lab animals and humans show that exposure to PFOA significantly increases the risk of kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas and testicular cancers. You can read more about this substance and the above mentioned studies at cancer.org. Now, let’s talk about the contents. Although every manufacturer uses slightly different ingredients, most of them use soybean oil (a GMO product) as well as various preservatives such as propyl gallate, a chemical that is causes stomach problems and skin rashes. Now they don’t actually say they are using GMO corn kernels, but that’s because the government says they don’t have to. Even if they don’t use GMO corn, you can bet they aren’t using organic corn! Also, applied to the popcorn itself, is a chemical called diacetyl. Use of this chemical caused Conagra Foods to remove it from their brand of popcorn, ACT, because it was causing lung diseases in the workers at their factory. *** I just posted the first one mentioned ... there are 16 pages, some are probably known to people but a few surprised me ... like tomatoes in a can, most cans seem to have the white lining inside these days and I thought that was a plus ... here's number 3 on tomatoes and maybe other canned vegetables. 3. Canned Tomatoes Actually, most canned foods are a concern because of what the can is lined with. The lining of almost all canned foods are made with a chemical called bisphenol-A, or BPA. A study published in May of 2013 by the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences showed that BPA actually affects the way genes work inside the brain of rats. Even the FDA agrees that there is a problem with BPA as it is supporting efforts to either replace or at the very least, to minimize the amounts found in canned foods. You know it must be bad when even the very lax FDA is concerned! Tomatoes are exceptionally dangerous due to their high acidity, which seems to cause BPA to leech from the lining of the can into the tomatoes themselves. The level of BPA can be so high in fact; you should seriously consider not feeding them to children. Due to FDA laws, there are no standards for labeling BPA so simply because a can does not say it has it does not mean that it does not contain BPA. Be safe and avoid cans. Cook fresh or buy glass bottles. ...

JorgeA ... no those shows are just fine, enjoy them myself and what bphlpt says is right on. The Mermaids show and the "Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives" were presented as a documentary type show with reporting and video included. They were both cleverly done and especially the Megalodon was a possibilty to me, since who can say what still might be around in the deep oceans. I suppose the DC gets an award for being "clever" ... I recommend watching them both one day on DC or Animal Planet but now you know they are not real ... the Megalodon shark show starts off with a boat or yacht being attacked off the South African coast and people were killed ... now whether people actually died in this boating mishap or was there a yacht even sunk or lost. It's worth watching in some ways ... just for what I said earlier, it was cleverly done and presented and only if you really have nothing else to do. I never tuned in to the "snake swallowing a man" that was just broadcast ... I would have rather had the snake left alone and not used for ratings. ...

I don't plan on seeing it ... I have not seen the last films ... lost track of how many there are now. The more they crank out new films with the phony digital special effects ... the more I like the films from from the 1920's, 1930's, 1940's and 1950's ... TCM over the last 3 or 4 months has been playing many films from those years ... many are really good and well made, lot of actors that are forgotten today. Of course there are some good films today even with digital ... just depends on the story line ... but it's nice to see the older films from another era. ...

Some eight or ten years ago the Discovery Channel was still OK ... through the years I guess they went for ratings ... The History Channel doesn't seem to be part of the group ... A&E might own that channel. Discovery Communications consists of 13 U.S. cable and satellite television networks comprising one of the media industry’s most widely distributed portfolios of brands, reaching approximately 836 million cumulative subscribers. The portfolio includes three channels – Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet and eight channels - Investigation Discovery, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, Science Channel, Discovery Family Channel, American Heroes Channel, Velocity, Destination America and Discovery Fit & Health – that reach between 46 and 86 million households. The portfolio also includes two Hispanic brands in the U.S. – Discovery en Español and Discovery Familia. We shall see ... if they get the old audience back ... like the new handle, sounds like a TV show from the 50's ... ZortMcGort, Video Ranger of the Universe !!! ...

I remember over a year ago watching a Discovery show about "Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives" and a show on Mermaids ... both shows fooled me at the time ... since they were broadcast on the Discovery Channel. Needless to say after I got more information on those shows and realized they weren't real ... I have rarely watched the DC anymore. Now they have a new guy in charge and he vows a change ... Discovery boss vows change: No more anaconda stunts, fake sharks Jan 8, 2015 http://insidetv.ew.com/2015/01/08/discovery-anaconda-sharks/ Under Discovery Channel’s new regime, fake shark movies and man-eating anaconda stunts are out. In an apparent response to viewer dismay over ratings-grabbing stunts that went against Discovery’s science-and-nature brand, the cable channel’s new president, Rich Ross, said he will avoid such content under his leadership. Appearing at the Television Critics Association’s semi-annual press tour in Pasadena on Thursday, Ross was first asked about bogus nature documentaries, like last year’s Shark Week movie Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives – a fictional film about a “serial killer of the seas” disguised as a legitimate documentary. The project was slammed by fans of the annual programming stunt and is part of a line of programs that includes Discovery sister channel Animal Planet’s notorious mermaid films. ... more at the link, but there is hope for the old Discovery Channel returning.

LostInSpace2012 ... interesting observation with the chicken bone and cola ... something else that can be added to the list that cola is good for. Welcome back ...haven't seen you post here for awhile ... except under the Windows 9x thread. We would always get an early warning with an asteroid fly-by ... if you ever get to see the movie "Star Runners" on the Syfy channel ... at the beginning of the film the main star of the film and his sidekick are in a small spacecraft sitting out of sight on an asteroid ... hiding from the stellar star patrol. Ponch ... one thing can be definitely said about the clinic over those two years ... they don't have any rats !!! I thought it was interesting reading ... not going to try it though. ...

No time to eat your fast food order ... save it till later. Fast Food Looks ‘Fresh Off The Grill’ After 2 Years On Display At Michigan Clinic January 6, 2015 http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2015/01/06/fast-food-looks-fresh-off-the-grill-after-2-years-on-display-at-michigan-clinic/ WATERFORD (CBS Detroit) – Have you ever wondered how long an untouched fast food meal could survive? One fast food meal on display at a Waterford chiropractic clinic is celebrating its second anniversary. The meal sitting on the counter at Vaughn Chiropractic consists of a McDonald’s cheeseburger, fries and a Taco Bell soft shell chicken taco. Two years ago Dr. Jaqueline Vaughn bought the meal and put it on the reception desk without a cover. She notes there are no bugs, “there is no smelling, no decay, the only issue that we’ve had is people are so intrigued by it they’ll pick it up and because the bun now is so … almost mummified.” Fast food meals are notorious for the amount of preservatives they contain … but just how long can they survive and exactly what is keeping that food so ‘fresh’ looking? It’s a preservative called calcium probinate says Wayne State University Assistant professor of food science Yafan Zhang. “These ingredients, they have potential to cause some inflammation in our stomachs … unless you eat a lot of this type of food everyday – then you will be okay.” Dr. Randa Marshall says patients reactions have been priceless: “People will make jokes all the time – ‘hey, let’s drop some water on it and nuke it – see what happens.'” The meat, cheese, even the lettuce and pickle are still intact, although they are pale and hard reports WWJ’s Marie Osborne. The display is now more for education and the clinic hopes that people think about what they are eating. Marshall says there is nothing better than a visual. “A lot of times it’s for the kids, we have a lot of kid patients that come in here, they love McDonalds,” said Marshall. She notes the display is not about never having fast food, once in while, Marshall says, it’s okay. It’s good to make a connection between what we are eating and our bodies. ...

I thought some other replies might be posted offering some ideas ... just wanted to mention what I do with the .NET Framework 3.5 update that keeps showing up for me ... I stopped at .NET Framework 2.0 just to have it available for a few programs. Whether you need it at all or just the 2.0 version ... would be what you decide. I do have the .NET Framework 3.5 update downloaded and stored on a CD if I would ever want it installed one day. So some of those updates will be a judgement call on your part ... I would think all security updates should be downloaded and then carefully look at the others. Others might have some suggestions. ...

I don't know why you couldn't just run the regular MS Update check on IE8 and see what happens. I hadn't checked for any additional XP updates since September but I wanted to close out 2014 with a nice clean updated backup image of my XP setup going into 2015. I last had some updates show up in June but they were only because I had the MS Office 2007 Compatibility Pack installed with MS Office 2000. That is also the case again when I just ran the MS Update check last week ... there were two updates shown: Microsoft Office 2007 Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP Security Update for Microsoft Office 2007 (KB2920790) 12/09/2014 - 9.4 MB Date Published: 11/26/2014 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Security Update for Microsoft Office 2007 (KB2920792) 12/09/2014 - 4.2 MB Date Published: 11/26/2014 Of course there are no more actual XP updates showing up but I just wanted to be sure for my last 2014 image backup. I wasn't aware that there were Microsoft Office 2007 updates available for December. I cleaned up and updated some software programs ... added these two MS Office 2007 December updates and am ready for whatever shows up in 2015. This is what I just did ... maybe others can offer more information and help. Have you tried running the MS Update service to see what shows up for downloading? I assume that all the earlier updates are still available but maybe I am wrong in that regard. ...