Monroe

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. ...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2015! ... Thank you xper The same back to you and your loved ones and everyone else for a good 2015 ... only 85 years left in this century ... give or take.

Maybe so ... I'm still taking precautions: JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank http://www.amazon.com/JL421-Badonkadonk-Land-Cruiser-Tank/dp/B00067F1CE/ref=pd_sbs_misc_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0T0J0TZ2165J514T3W0K Carries cargo or a crew of up to five internally or on the roof. Piloted from within the armored shell or from an exposed standing position through the hatch. 6hp Tecumseh gasoline engine, top speed 40 mph. Includes head/tail and turn signal lights, trim and underbody lighting. 400 watt premium sound with PA system, plush interior, and external camera. 1 new from $19,999.95 ... I'm a little short on the price at this moment but I am getting the Geiger Counter ... like last year, can't decide on the model. ...

Some time back last year there was some discussion about the radiation approaching from Japan. We are going to need geiger counters ... "(NaturalNews) Beta radiation levels are off the charts at monitoring sites all across North America, according to new reports. But experts are blaming these radiation spikes on practically everything except for Fukushima." "San Diego appears to be one of the hardest-hit areas, with a CPM reading of 650, as of October 1. This figure is 60 times higher than it was last year on the same date, despite the fact that San Diego's normal background radiation rate typically hovers around 20 CPM." "Radiation testing site near Chicago records radiation levels thousands of times higher than maximum safety threshold." "California official blames plastic eating utensils for radiation spike, insist it can't be Fukushima." http://www.naturalnews.com/047996_radiation_levels_Fukushima_government_denial.html Deadly Fukushima radiation up 50,000% as elevated radiation levels seen across North America December 15, 2014 (NaturalNews) Beta radiation levels are off the charts at monitoring sites all across North America, according to new reports. But experts are blaming these radiation spikes on practically everything except for Fukushima. Data gathered from tracking units in California, Arizona, Illinois and elsewhere reveal radiation levels up to 50,000 percent higher than what was observed at the same time last year, and in some cases compared to levels seen this past summer. EnviroReporter.com says the impacted sites are scattered throughout the country and aren't just confined to the West Coast. Readings taken near Los Angeles; Chicago; Montgomery, Alabama; and Madison, Wisconsin, reveal total beta counts per minute (CPM) greatly exceeding the 1,000 CPM threshold considered by the government to be problematic. In Tucson, Arizona, for instance, a 460 CPM reading was recently taken, which is more than 10 times higher than the reading taken last year on November 27. Similarly, Phoenix, Arizona's 735 CPM reading measured more than 21 times higher than last year's reading. San Diego appears to be one of the hardest-hit areas, with a CPM reading of 650, as of October 1. This figure is 60 times higher than it was last year on the same date, despite the fact that San Diego's normal background radiation rate typically hovers around 20 CPM. "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency RadNet radiation monitors have detected renewed surges in atmospheric readings of dangerous beta radiation across the country," explains EnviroReporter.com about the seemingly inexplicable phenomenon. "Over a dozen metropolitan test sites have registered four-month highs in EnviroReporter.com's most recent comprehensive assessment." ... more at the link

Everybody has left the house ... you get a few quiet moments at the computer ... but maybe you are not really alone ! ... or alone at work when the others have left for the day ! Average worker comes into contact with more than 10 MILLION disease-causing bacteria lurking on their keyboard, phone and mouse. 5 December 2014 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2859334/Why-s-time-detox-desk-Average-worker-comes-contact-10-MILLION-disease-causing-bacteria-lurking-keyboard-phone-mouse.html More than 10 million bacteria lurk on the average office desk with 7,500 organisms hidden in your keyboard Unhygienic working conditions are a 'key contributor' to millions of working days lost to sickness each year Hygiene expert Dr Lisa Ackerley said bacteria and viruses can survive on hard surfaces for up to 24 hours Says our hands are a germ motorway; many surfaces they come into contact with can breed bacteria and viruses Millions of us spend our days slaving over a keyboard. But lurking between the keys, hidden on the mouse and nestled in your phone lies more than 10 million bacteria - 400 times more than on the average toilet seat. Unhygienic working conditions are a 'key contributor' to the 131 million working days lost each year in the UK and millions more around the world, to illnesses including colds and flu. Bacteria and viruses can multiply on hard surfaces, remaining infectious for up to 24 hours, hygiene expert and visiting professor at the University of Salford, Dr Lisa Ackerley told MailOnline. ... more at the link

Came across this page dated September 29, 2014 ... probably a good page to bookmark for future reference as the list grows. http://portableapps.com/node/42651 Apps That Have Dropped Windows XP Support: List, App Homepage Indications September 29, 2014 We're now starting to see more apps which are dropping support for Windows XP. I'm wondering how the community would like to handle this. We'd like to maintain a list of last-working versions for users to be able to obtain. We'll include a caveat about bugs, security issues, and it being unsupported, of course. I'm inclined to have a single page listing all the last-working versions and including links from each app's homepage affected to that page. That way we can have all of them in one place and only have one big notice about why it's a bad idea as well as how to install it so the updater won't offer to update it. It's possible we could also do a specific XP version with a renamed AppID (FileZillaPortableLegacyForXP) as a last release as well using the updated installer so that it will continue to work. We could even include a warning about it being unsupported on install. Thoughts? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Very good discussion about XP and SSE2 just below the list. There's some mention of a "go around fix" for some apps ... "As I mentioned in LibreOffice, the problem seems not to be so much a problem of XP but the CPU it is running on. If the CPU supports SSE2 then XP with SP3 should be good for awhile longer. Unfortunately the developers releasing new versions of software are not considering backward compatability for older CPUs and OSs. A quick google turned up SSE2 issues with Skype 6.2, uTorrent 3.4, and MuseScore 2 beta. There was a post at MuseScore that was pretty in depth:" ... also a fix maybe for some apps ... October 8, 2014 "If by soft fail and hard fail, they're both hard fails in our usage. If we mark an app as MinOS=Vista, that means it requires Vista and later no matter what CPU or anything else you have. It won't work on XP full stop. The same goes for requiring SSE2. An app that requires SSE2 won't work without it due to the way it was compiled. Note that we make a best effort to get apps working on XP even when no longer supported. For example, Blender is now only supported on Windows Vista and later, but we add the appropriate Visual C++ runtimes to our package and it continues to work on Windows XP. It's like a later release will be compiled with a newer compiler and not work on XP at all, but that's a different scenario." ------------------------ I didn't fully understand what has been happening so this page has brought me up to speed ... look forward to more discussion here also. A lot of reading at that web page. *** As a side note further below in the discussions ... a "small fight" or "brush fire" over also including Windows 2000 has started ... Ditching 2K We're ditching 2K. It's barely used and most apps no longer support it. Windows XP is still widely used. ------ Poor Win2K, this makes me very sad. I would think you'd want to make it a reusable system, in case Vista (not likely) or Se7en (more likely) decide to hang on like XP has, in which case adding 'Legacy Win2K' support wouldn't be much more of a burden then adding 'Legacy XP' support already is. (I'll make 'Legacy Win2K' Plugins [see below] for you if that'll help to change your mind.) ------ First, we're dropping Windows 2000 support in the platform, so they won't even have access to the ability to download alternate versions by the platform, rendering the alternate packages moot. Second, even if we did tie ourselves to the dead Delphi XE2 release in order to keep supporting Windows 2000, the bigger issue is time. At present, all releases have to be reviewed, digitally signed, uploaded, and added to the database by me. I'm not going to spend time doing that for the 150 apps in our database that dropped Windows 2000 support 1 or more years ago. Windows 2000 users have no active support from most apps right now, so it's not like they're losing anything. Windows 2000 also has barely any userbase. Windows XP is a very different situation. There are probably more Windows XP users today than there were Windows 2000 users 3 years before it was end of lifed. And the majority of apps today support Windows XP. So, this is a small amount of work for the handful of apps dropping Windows XP support that we'd have to test for anyway for a benefit for a good number of users. Windows 2000 is a ton of work for a handful of users for very old and insecure versions of apps. --- I answered what you asked. And you did have 2000 or 2K 5 different times in your post. My point was that it would only serve Windows 2000 right now, which doesn't make sense because it's barely used, would require a ton of effort to sort through the apps for little benefit, and the platform will be dropping support for it anyway which makes it moot. We don't need to worry about Vista until 2017... and then not much at all since it's the ugly stepchild with hardly any users. So, Windows 7 in 2020 is the likelier bet due to the large installbase and the fact that desktops get replaced much less often than 10 years ago. ... Oh well those old Windows 2k die hards ... hope it just stays XP, will be complicated enough. ... also as mentioned in the discussions ... the little free program CPU-Z will show if your CPU has SSE2. I have used it for years as most everyone has but if you never heard of it ... here's the link. I am still using version 1.70.0 but the current version is CPU-Z 1.71.1. http://www.cpuid.com/ ... this is from a posting at the discussion section: I think an addition to your proposed page instructing the users to try CPU-Z to check their CPU. If it doesn't support SSE2 then they are probably stuck with an older version of the App they are trying. Maybe a sticky somewhere is needed to alert XP users to check their CPU if they are having problems with new version of an App. ...

If anyone is interested in the portable version of CCleaner ... it is also available. CCleaner Portable 4.19.4867 http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/ccleaner_portable.html older portable versions are here ... it usually takes this site a few days to post the latest portable version. Click on the "All versions" tab. http://www.afterdawn.com/software/security/system_cleanup/ccleaner_portable.cfm#all_versions ...