Monroe

Came across this interesting article dated July 26th ... "Researchers have stumbled on a new virus in our gut that may be linked to obesity and diabetes." "A new study out of San Diego State University (SDSU) has found that more than half of people on earth have a newly discovered virus — dubbed crAssphage — that infects common gut bacteria known as Bacteroides. These bacteria are thought to be connected to obesity and diabetes. Learning more about the virus could shed light on those and other gut-related diseases." A Newly Discovered Virus Is Lurking in Your Intestines Written by Kristen Fischer Published on July 26, 2014 http://www.healthline.com/health-news/newly-discovered-virus-lurking-in-intestines-072614 Researchers have stumbled on a new virus in our gut that may be linked to obesity and diabetes. Is there a secret virus lurking in your gut? Probably. A new study out of San Diego State University (SDSU) has found that more than half of people on earth have a newly discovered virus — dubbed crAssphage — that infects common gut bacteria known as Bacteroides. These bacteria are thought to be connected to obesity and diabetes. Learning more about the virus could shed light on those and other gut-related diseases. Robert Edwards, a bioinformatics professor at SDSU, made the discovery with his colleagues by accident. He and Bas E. Dutilh, a professor who is now at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands, were screening for new viruses by examining results from other studies. When the pair looked at DNA in fecal samples from 12 people, they noticed that all of the samples contained a strange cluster of viral DNA. When they assembled the pieces and compared it to a list of known viruses, they came up empty. (The cross-assembly software program they used, called crAss, was the inspiration for the virus' name.) They also looked at databases from the National Institute of Health's Human Microbiome Project (HMP) and Argonne National Laboratory's MG-RAST database, but did not find the virus they had discovered. That’s when John Mokili, a virologist from SDSU, used DNA amplification to grow many copies of the virus in order to prove that the DNA sequence Edwards and Dutilh had found actually came from a single living organism that exists in nature. Mokili identified the virus in the original samples that make up the NIH database. "It's not unusual to go looking for a novel virus and find one," Edwards said in a press statement. "But it's very unusual to find one that so many people have in common. The fact that it's flown under the radar for so long is very strange." The research was published this week in Nature Communications. Because the virus is so widespread, it probably did not evolve recently. Edwards said they found crAssphage in every population they examined. "As far as we can tell, it's as old as humans are," Edwards said. Some of the proteins in it are similar to those found in other viruses. That’s what helped the researchers determine that crAssphage is a bacteriophage, an organism that infects bacteria and then replicates inside of them. CrAssphage thrives by infecting Bacteriodes, a common gut bacteria. CrAssphage could be involved in managing weight because of its effect on Bacteroides. Bacteriodes live toward the end of the intestinal tract, and likely play a role in the link between gut bacteria and obesity. The researchers want to know where crAssphage fits in to that process. Edwards said the virus may mediate the activity of these Bacteriodes colonies. If researchers can isolate it, it could be used to help prevent obesity as well as other gut diseases. "This could be a key to personalized phage medicine," Edwards said. "In individuals, we could isolate your particular strain of the virus, manipulate it to target harmful bacteria, then give it back to you." Dutilh said the finding is significant for a number of reasons. “It highlights that the viral component of our gut flora is under-studied, similar between totally unrelated people, and evolves slower than previously thought,” he told Healthline. The researchers do not yet know how the virus is transmitted. It is not found in infants, so it probably is not passed along from mothers to children. What does the virus look like? The scientists think that crAssphage is circular, and more research indicates that it is a single organism, though it has been hard to isolate. "We know it's there, but we can't capture it quite yet," Edwards said. Dutilh said the team does not think the virus is harmful because it was found in many healthy people, though other known types of bacteriophages do cause disease.

Another sad unbelievable story ... and these were two girls. I hope a Judge or someone will throw the book at them. I happen to like tortoises and turtles of all kinds ... being slow and helpless yet able to live longer than humans ... they always save on lodging since they carry their home with them. When I lived in Florida in the 80's, there was a certain time of the year when turtles (or tortoises) would be all over the roads ... mating season I guess, these were country roads, not a busy highway, but I'm sure they were probably out on the busier roads also. I'd stop the car and try to get them off the road ... many had already been run over by cars but every so often I found one to save ... I'd carry or toss them as far as I could into the grass or weeds ... but I always wandered if they just didn't turn around and head for the road again. They probably did ... this was in northern Florida and I only lived there a few months so I never really got to know much about them or their habits. Just hated seeing them run over ... I was never sure which way they were headed, the side of the road I was on or the other side. This is a terrible story and I can only hope these two girls will change for the good, since they are only teens. Two Florida Teens Arrested After Filming Themselves Torturing Tortoise: Wildlife Officials Jennifer Emoke Greene, 18 and a 15-year-old girl, both from Orange Park, face charges including felony cruelty to animals after an extremely disturbing video surfaced on Facebook last week. The threatened gopher tortoise is seen being kicked, lit on fire and ultimately crushed to death. BY Nina Golgowski NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, July 25, 2014 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/teens-arrested-torturing-turtle-officials-article-1.1880668 Two teenage girls who filmed themselves setting fire to a small gopher tortoise before crushing it to death have been arrested, according to Florida wildlife officials. Jennifer Emoke Greene, 18, and a 15-year-old girl, both from Orange Park, face charges including felony cruelty to animals after a disturbing video surfaced on Facebook last week. The girls were seen kicking and pouring a flammable liquid on the tiny tortoise before setting it on fire while laughing as it tried to escape the flames. "Burn baby, burn baby. Now you're scared of us, huh?" says one of the animal abusers. A second video allegedly captured one of the two girls then stomping on the animal's shell until it broke and the tortoise died. Gopher tortoises are a threatened wildlife species in the state of Florida and consequently protected under state law. "We take these issues very seriously," said Col. Calvin Adams, director of the Florida Wildlife Conservation's Division of Law Enforcement. "We appreciated the help from the public and our partners in working to protect our valuable natural resources." Authorities said they were tipped off to the video on July 15. The two girls were arrested this week and charged with felony cruelty to animals, a third-degree felony, and taking, harassing, harming or killing a gopher tortoise, a second-degree misdemeanor. If convicted, Greene faces up to five years in prison on the animal cruelty charge and up to 60 days in jail and/or a $500 fine for the misdemeanor charge. The younger teen will be prosecuted as a juvenile. ...

I decided to will weigh in with my XP thoughts ... I guess I'm stuck with XP by choice. In 2009 when I was still 100% with Windows 98SE, I decided to buy two Pentium M ThinkPads ... a T41 and a T42 to use with my 98SE machines. In 2010 I bought another T42, almost like new ... couldn't pass it up but I really didn't need it. They weren't as cheap as they are today, being a few more years older but at the time they were reasonable ... these were all used notebooks of course. Up until buying those Pentium M notebooks, I had two P 3 notebooks. I had read that the ThinkPad T42 was the last ThinkPad in that series that could be used with Windows 98SE ... I still thought I'd be with Windows 98SE till the end of time, or my time anyway. However, I was having some Wi-Fi problems with a newer Netgear card ... it was hit and miss using it with Windows 98SE ... so in April 2012 I decided to give Windows XP another shot ... I had tried it a few times before over the years but it didn't seem to take hold ... this time it did and after a month or two of fine tuning and installing programs (new and old) I had a really nice XP setup. That continues to this day ... my only problem now seems to be finding a good working browser. I am using as my main browser ... K-Meleon 1.6 by JamesD, from the K-Meleon forum ... it works for the most part but I am running into web pages where nothing opens or the page looks crazy. However, as I type this they are working on a new modern version of K-Meleon ... it's up to Beta 4 now and many people are involved working out problems, so maybe one day there will be this newer K-Meleon version as a final release. K-Meleon 74 Beta 4 http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?8,127809,page=7 I also have Opera v12.17 ... this newer version was just released in April and I just found out in early July. It was an update for people not liking the newer Opera versions. I have not really used it very much and I need to work with it more, may just be the answer for now. I was using Opera v12.16 ... there were some security updates. Opera 12.17 Out ... 23 April 2014 http://blogs.opera.com/desktop/2014/04/opera-12-17/ I also use QtWeb but it hasn't been updated for awhile but when K-Meleon doesn't work with certain web pages ... usually QtWeb will. I might add that all these browsers are portable versions. Having invested in these three Thinkpads and adding DVD burners and such, I feel this has to be my last stand and Windows XP will also be my "final OS". My only problem that I see for the future will be trying to find a good working browser ... I have all the programs or software that I will ever need ... I will just need a good browser that will work with XP. I have high hopes that the new K-Meleon browser one day will be that browser ... unless they decide to move past Windows XP. ...

I guess to do a "certain" kind of search a person needs to go to a free Wi-Fi location, from reading this article. "Online users who search for such software, including the popular TOR, have their IP addresses logged by the National Security Agency and may be put on a list by the government for future monitoring. The spying was discovered through a review of leaked source code linked to the NSA's "XKeyscore" software." ... But according to Wired, simply doing a private search is enough to flag you to the NSA as an "extremist" ... German Report: NSA Tracks Users Researching Privacy Software Online http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/privacy-software-online-tracking/2014/07/24/id/584800/ Thursday, 24 Jul 2014 08:19 PM By Andrea Billups A warning to those who might do a little online research about Internet privacy software: The NSA is tracking you, a report by the German public broadcasting group ARD concludes, according to a story published by The Independent. Online users who search for such software, including the popular TOR, have their IP addresses logged by the National Security Agency and may be put on a list by the government for future monitoring. The spying was discovered through a review of leaked source code linked to the NSA's "XKeyscore" software. Such software was described by exiled NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who says the government can use it to monitor "nearly everything" a user does online. TOR, or The Onion Router, masks a user's online activity by bouncing through a computer network that makes tracking difficult to trace. It is free software that was funded originally by the U.S. military, the Independent noted. But according to Wired, simply doing a private search is enough to flag you to the NSA as an "extremist,' a potential legal issue over the authority of the federal agency to track citizens who may have no interest in anything nefarious. "Under [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] there are numerous places where it says you shouldn't be targeting people on the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment," Kurt Opsahl, deputy general counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Wired. "I can’t see how this activity could have been properly authorized under FISA. This is suggesting then that they have come up with some other theory of authorizing this." The findings also contradict longstanding NSA claims that its surveillance targets only those suspected of engaging in activity that threatens national security. "They say, 'We're not doing indiscriminate searches,' but this is indiscriminate," Opsahl notes. "It’s saying that anyone who is looking for those various [services] are suspicious persons." The NSA pushed back on any notion it was targeting citizens unfairly through XKeyscore, Computer World reported. "The communications of people who are not foreign intelligence targets are of no use to the agency," the agency noted in a statement to ARD.

Interesting replies ... I was sure something couldn't be right, but then Amazon has the product for sale on their site. So it's probably inferior or junk parts ... reminds me years back when I worked with a smoker (cigarettes) ... he smoked a "generic off-name" brand. They were cheaper, he said "they were probably made from the scraps of tobacco that fell on the floor when they made the better cigarettes". Could well be the case, maybe the same for these flash drives, in a way. However, you wonder why Amazon would even allow them to be sold, if they are defective or have a short life. They don't cost all that much so the commission to Amazon for a sale would be very low anyway. Doesn't make much sense.

Either I'm missing something or prices have dropped ! ... The people in the reviews keep talking about a GB flash drive yet the ad says something else ... 128 GB Flash Drive for $10.79 with Free Shipping. What am I not reading correctly? MECO 128GB Swivel USB 2.0 Flash Drive Memory Thumb Stick Pen Storage U-Disk Gift Price: $10.79 & FREE Shipping http://www.amazon.com/128GB-Swivel-Memory-Storage-U-Disk/dp/B00LEG6580/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1405894258&sr=8-10&keywords=flash+drive ... I just came across this ad for a 256 GB Flash for $25.00 ... I haven't looked at flash drives for awhile, prices seem to have dropped. USB 2.0 Flash Drive 256gb Memory Stick Pen Drive (Color Varies) 4 new from $25.00 http://www.amazon.com/USB-2-0-Flash-Memory-Varies/dp/B00B4W34T2/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1405894258&sr=8-15&keywords=flash+drive ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Just like last summer for a "Going Back to School" sale ... Walmart has these 8 GB SanDisk Flash Drives on sale for $4.97 ... they are at the Walmart close to me as you walk in the door with all the bins of Back to School stuff ... pens, notebooks, glue and such. They are $4.99 at Amazon ... SanDisk Cruzer Blade 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Blade-Drive--SDCZ50-008G-B35/dp/B002U28LZC/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&qid=1405898442&sr=8-23&keywords=flash+drive As I said, they are $4.97 but not sure if all Walmart stores have the same price.

A new version of CPU-Z was released on July 18th ... CPU-Z v1.70 ... for anyone using the program. There is both an install version and also a portable version. CPU-Z http://www.cpuid.com/ CPU-Z download ... http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z/versions-history.html

Not sure vinifera what program you are talking about as working fine under Windows 7 ... maybe SpywareBlaster? GrofLuigi ... I have never noticed any problems with my XP setup, everything seems very fast. SpywareBlaster is not supposed to slow things down, it doesn't run, as I understand it ... for now it seems to work OK with XP along with MVPS Hosts File in my setup. SpywareBlaster: * doesn't slow down web browsing * doesn't interfere with the "good side" of the web * doesn't slow down your computer * doesn't use up any memory or take any cpu Perhaps there may be problems for others ... I'm not seeing anything on my side at this time. Maybe in the future that will change with a newer version.

GrofLuigi ... thanks for the eDexter mention, I never heard of it also. I will check it out. Maybe this is also news to other people. You use the term "tiny webservers" ... I am not familiar with the name. Would be interested in any additional information if you do some tests or come across test results from someone else. Are there more of these of these little programs out there? Would you still use the MVPS Hosts File and SpywareBlaster with them? thanks ...

Thanks for mentioning Web Bubba ... never heard of it so I will check it out. Just to add to my first post ... I also use SpywareBlaster along with the MVPS Hosts File and I manually insert the hosts file into the "etc" folder. I used to use the auto update with Windows 98SE but it didn't seem to work right with XP, so I just update it myself. I like them both for the extra protection on XP. C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC SpywareBlaster https://www.brightfort.com/spywareblaster.html

Not sure when this actually happened, I guess since Windows 8.1 was released. I have been using the MVPS Hosts File for years but today I just noticed this little paragraph update notice under the July-08-2014 update. MVPS HOSTS http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm Important Note: The HOSTS file now contains a change in the prefix in the HOSTS entries to "0.0.0.0" instead of the usual "127.0.0.1". This was done to resolve a slowdown issue that occurs with the change Microsoft made in the "TCP loopback interface" in Win8.1. This change in the prefix should not affect users. I've had some feedback and COMODO antivirus, Homer Webserver and System Mechanic seems to have issues with the "0.0.0.0" prefix ... to resolve this issue: You can use the "Replace" function in Notepad to convert the entries, or HostsMan (see below) has an option for converting the entries to "0.0.0.0". If this proves to be a permanent fix ... I will update the website to reflect the changes. ... it still seems to be OK with XP ... just a "heads up" on this change since Windows 8.1 was released.

Maybe some will see this ... if the sky is clear. Supposed to happen also in August and September. Spectacular 'Supermoon' Rises This Weekend http://news.yahoo.com/spectacular-supermoon-rises-weekend-203754189.html July 11, 2014 You might want to step outside tomorrow night (July 12), when a bulging "supermoon" will rise in the evening sky. Tomorrow's supermoon, which will be bigger and brighter than most other full moons this year, will be the first of three such moons in consecutive months. The next supermoons will occur on Aug. 10 and Sept. 9, according to NASA. The moon follows an oval or elliptical orbit, and a supermoon occurs when the moon is in the part of its orbit closest to Earth. At this point, known as "perigee," the moon is about 30,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) closer to the planet than at its farthest point, or "apogee." [in Photos: Glitzy Images of a Supermoon] Tomorrow and Sept. 9, the moon will be full on the same day as perigee, and on Aug. 10, it will be full during the same hour as perigee, making it especially bright. Supermoons gained attention last year, when a June 2013 full moon was 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons, according to NASA. But these monstrous moons aren't all that uncommon, as it turns out. "Generally speaking, full moonsoccur near perigee every 13 months and 18 days, so it's not all that unusual," Geoff Chester, an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., said in a statement. "In fact, just last year, there were three perigee moons in a row, but only one was widely reported." To the casual observer, it's not easy to tell the difference between a normal full moon and a supermoon. Clouds and haze can obscure the supermoon's brightness. "Also, there are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters," NASA officials said in a statement. However, many people looking at the supermoons this summer may be tricked into thinking they're bigger because of an illusion that, for reasons astronomers and psychologists don't fully understand, makes moons look much larger near trees, buildings or other objects near the horizon. Consequently, people watching the moon rise tomorrow may confuse its size and think the supermoon is actually much larger than it is. Manhattanhenge In any event, it should be a spectacular sight, weather permitting. For New York City residents, it won't be the only reason to look at the sky this weekend; tomorrow's full moon coincides with "Manhattanhenge," which occurs when the setting sun is aligned along the east-west streets in the grid of Manhattan. On two sets of consecutive days a year, the sun sets in line with the city streets, casting a glow across the skyscrapers' north- and south-facing edges. The name comes from a similar alignment of the sun at Stonehenge, the prehistoric stone structure in Wilshire, England. This year, Manhattanhenge occurred on May 29, and New Yorkers will be treated to the stunning sight again tomorrow evening, provided that conditions are clear. Manhattanhenge will peak tonight (July 11) at 8:24 p.m. EDT, when the full sun will be visible along Manhattan's grid, and tomorrow at 8:25 p.m. EDT, when half of the sun will be visible above the horizon, astrophysicist and "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" host Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, wrote on the museum's website. The best place to see Manhattanhenge is from as far east on the island of Manhattan as possible, while still keeping New Jersey visible across the Hudson River. Good streets for viewing include 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd and 57th streets, and ones that are adjacent, Tyson said. In addition, 34th Street and 42nd Street offer particularly stunning views of the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building, respectively. Tyson joked that future civilizations may think that Manhattan's layout had some astronomical significance, much like the mysterious Stonehenge. ...

I completely agree with you ... amazing. I would have thought there would be a muscus film buildup that would prevent a person from having good vision. I wore hard plastic contacts many years ago, before the soft or disposable ones appeared on the scene. I could never go more than 6 hours with them in and also with plenty of eye drops for lubrication. One day I just gave up and bought several pairs of prescription sunglasses ... the kind that look just like regular sunglasses ... been happy ever since. I use regular sunglasses most of the time but for driving ... need the prescriptions. Just posted the article for anyone wearing contacts to be aware of what could happen ... that amoeba is pretty versatile ... "A microscopic organism, an amoeba, found in soil, dust and fresh water (lakes, rivers, hot springs and hot tubs). Acanthamoeba also occur in brackish water and sea water as well as in heating, venting and air conditioner units, humidifiers and dialysis units." ...

Came across this story and was looking for more information about Acanthamoeba ... it's a wonder most of us are still alive. There are many species of Acanthamoeba and they seem to be almost everywhere. Student goes blind after keeping her contact lenses in for six months and microscopic bug EATS her eyeballs http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2687477/Student-goes-blind-keeping-contact-lenses-six-months-microscopic-bug-EATS-eyeballs.html A student in Taiwan who kept a pair of disposable contact lenses in her eyes for six months has been left blinded after a microscopic bug devoured her eyeballs. The tiny single-cell amoeba ate away at undergraduate Lian Kao's sight because she didn't take out and clean the contacts once during that time. According to a warning issued by doctors the case was a particularly severe example of a young person under pressure who did not take the time to carry out basic hygiene on their contact lenses. Definition of Acanthamoeba A microscopic organism, an amoeba, found in soil, dust and fresh water (lakes, rivers, hot springs and hot tubs). Acanthamoeba also occur in brackish water and sea water as well as in heating, venting and air conditioner units, humidifiers and dialysis units. Acanthamoeba can enter the skin through a cut, wound, or through the nostrils and, once inside the body, can travel to the lungs and through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, especially to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Through improper storage, handling, and disinfection of contact lenses, Acanthamoeba can enter the eye and there cause infection. A particularly dire infection caused by Acanthamoeba called granulomatous amebic encephalitis is characterized by headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, confusion, loss of balance, seizures, and coma that can progress over several weeks and end in death. Acanthamoeba infections occur more frequently in people with compromised immune systems and the chronically ill. Eye and skin infections are generally treatable while infections of the brain are almost always fatal. -------------------------- Acanthamoeba - Wikipedia Acanthamoeba is a genus of amoebae, one of the most common protozoa in soil and frequently found in fresh water and other habitats. -------------------------- Do You Wear Contact Lenses? ... There's something you should know. http://water.epa.gov/action/advisories/acanthamoeba/index.cfm What is Acanthamoeba? Pronounced A·can·tha·moe·ba, acanthamoeba is a microbe that is very common in the environment, including in tap water. It has two forms: the trophozoite and the cyst. The infective form is the trophozoite, which can change into a cyst and survive a long time. These trophozoites and cysts can stick to the surface of your contact lenses and then infect your eye.

NoelC ... an amazing story about Quacky and the one egg that hatched. He never knew his mother or sibilings but he carried on for them to live a pretty good life so far. Like the photo of little Quacky ... hard to believe 8 years have have passed and he still comes around for a visit. Wonder how long a duck in the wild can live ... he seems to have a leg up on survival. Very nice story ... hope Quacky has many more years to come and visit.

NoelC ... glad to hear about you and your wife "running" an animal rescue service. Lots of satisfaction when an injured animal recovers or an orphan finds a home. Looking at your picture ... wasn't sure if the duck was real ... maybe just a very nice carved wood duck. I think I see a Christmas tree or holiday decorations in the back. So Quack the duck is real and a friend of the family !

The article on Raju has been updated with a new link that has a video and more pictures. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2682388/Incredible-sight-elephant-cried-Raju-held-chains-beaten-abused-fifty-years-day-released-tears-rolled-face.html These incredible pictures show the moment an elephant who was held in chains and beaten and abused for fifty years cried as he was released to freedom. Raju the elephant was left bleeding from spiked shackles and living on hand-outs from passing tourists after he was captured and tied up by his ‘owner’. But, after 50 years of torture, the animal cried tears of relief after he was rescued by a wildlife charity in a daring midnight operation – fittingly on American Independence Day.

larryb123456 ... thank you for posting the video, I had not heard that story and just watching those "happy cows" going to the green pasture, the video says it all. They may be just cows but they do feel emotion, as you say ... and want to enjoy "life" as we all do. So many sad animal stories out there but some do have a happy ending ... I hope the elephant Raju can salvage some really good years of a happy life and having other elephants for company. Here is an elephant story from a few weeks ago that does not have a happy ending ... Kenya at the weekend revealed the loss of an “old friend” known as Satao ... I read one story that the elephant seem to sense that he was in danger from having large tusks ... perhaps from seeing what had happened to other elephants, his friends. He would seem to try and hide his tusks. His age estimates seem to be from 45 to 50 years. From one article: Conservationists told how Satao moved from bush to bush always keeping his ivory hidden amongst the foliage. “I’m convinced he did that to hide his tusks from humans, he had an awareness that they were a danger to him,” said Mark Deeble, a documentary maker who has spent long periods filming the elephant. Satao’s killing is the latest in a surge of elephant poaching across Africa. ... there are pictures at both links below. Kenya’s famous bull elephant Satao slain in Tsavo by poachers with poison arrows June 16, 2014 http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/kenyas-famous-bull-elephant-satao-slain-in-tsavo-by-poachers-with-poison-arrows/story-e6frfq80-1226955859080 ONE of Africa’s largest and best-known elephants has died after being shot by poachers using poisoned arrows. Wildlife officials in Kenya at the weekend revealed the loss of the “old friend” known as Satao, who was famed for his giant tusks — the big-money target for his killers. The bull animal, who was aged around 45, was slain in May in Kenya’s vast southeastern Tsavo national park. He was thought to have been the continent’s biggest elephant — or certainly one of them — which would make him the largest wild land mammal in the world. His tusks were so large they could drag on the ground. -------------------------------------------------------------- Satao, one of Africa’s largest elephants, killed by poachers for ivory tusks weighing more than 45 kg http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/15/satao-one-of-africas-largest-elephants-killed-by-poachers-for-ivory-tusks-weighing-more-than-45-kg/ One of Africa's last "great tuskers", elephants with ivory weighing more than 45 kilograms, has been poisoned by poachers in Kenya. The bull, named Satao, and likely to have been born in the late 1960s, succumbed to wounds from poison darts in a remote corner of Tsavo National Park, where he had migrated to find fresh water after recent storms. Yesterday, his carcass lay with its face and great tusks hacked off, four legs splayed where he fell, left only for the vultures and the scavengers. ...

Another sad animal story ... hard to read this story and not feel sorry for Raju ... can't imagine this going on for 50 years. "The squad raided the farm in India's Uttar Pradesh region, where Raju — who'd been regularly beaten and abused by his owners, who used him to beg for money — was being kept. And they claim that, as they liberated him from his manacles, he openly wept because he realized that his half-century ordeal was coming to an end. "Raju was in chains 24 hours a day, an act of intolerable cruelty. The team were astounded to see tears roll down his face during the rescue," Wildlife SOS-UK's Pooja Binepal said." There are pictures at the article link ... Elephant who was chained for 50 years cries tears of joy after being freed in India July 7, 2014 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/elephant-chained-50-years-cries-freed-india-article-1.1857195 An elephant who'd been shackled with spiked chains for his entire 50-year life cried tears of joy when he was finally freed from his horrific captivity. Raju had water streaming down his face as a daring team of rescuers swooped in on Wednesday night to release him from his confinement in India. Vets and wildlife experts from the British-based Wildlife SOS-UK were joined by 20 Forestry Commission officers and two cops in the dangerous nighttime operation. The squad raided the farm in India's Uttar Pradesh region, where Raju — who'd been regularly beaten and abused by his owners, who used him to beg for money — was being kept. And they claim that, as they liberated him from his manacles, he openly wept because he realized that his half-century ordeal was coming to an end. "Raju was in chains 24 hours a day, an act of intolerable cruelty. The team were astounded to see tears roll down his face during the rescue," Wildlife SOS-UK's Pooja Binepal said. "It was incredibly emotional. We knew in our hearts he realized he was being freed," Binepal added. Raju, believed to have been snatched from his mom as a young calf, is thought to have had 27 owners —and was being used as a "beggars' prop" from dawn until dusk. The rescue mission took place a year to the day after the charity had been alerted to Raju's plight by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department. A court order allowed rescuers to seize the giant animal, but Raju's owner refused to give him up. Deciding enough was enough, and seeing the terrible suffering that the elephant was enduring, rescuers approached Wednesday night with a truck. They loaded the sedated bull onto the back before driving him 350 miles to the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre at Mathura, where his shackles were removed. There, Raju took his first steps to freedom at 12.01 a.m. July 4 — America's Independence Day.

Very nice pictures ... thanks for sharing, I've never seen the Milky Way look like that.

Thanks dencorso for the additional information ... I really wasn't checking for MS XP updates anymore. I had planned to maybe check every 6 or 8 months to see if anything was showing up. I really wanted to stop with update checks after the last official April update release, including that last XP update on May 1st. After I installed those last "official" updates, I then made a clean image backup to a DVD in early June ... just don't want to fool with image backups anymore, now that I seem to have a very good one. With the new free RollBack XP, everyone should be able to achieve a good XP setup and be able to keep it that way. ...

Today I decided to run the IE 8 MS Update check and found these two Office 2007 updates were available for June. I only have Office 2000 installed and there have been earlier updates for Office 2007 before the last XP updates in April. I wasn't going to check for updates "every" month but I guess I will still have to run a "monthly" update check. I am surprised to still find Office 2007 updates for XP after April 2014. I manually downloaded the two updates to install later and also save. They were published on May 27, 2014 and provided with the June 10, 2014 Update release. Both updates are for: Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP Security Update for Microsoft Office 2007 suites (KB2878233) 06/10/2014 (6.1 MB) Security Update for Microsoft Office 2007 suites (KB2880513) 06/10/2014 (4.2 MB) Just a heads up that a monthly update check still seems to be required with XP. This was sort of news to me. ...

Just wanted to add a few things to my first post ... it's already long enough so I will start a new one. Years ago when I was still with Windows 98SE, I bought the program Go Back to use, since there was no System Restore program with 98. It was OK but I never really liked it, it was always working (running) ... wasted my money. After I switched to XP, I used System Restore but it never seem to work for me in "crunch time" ... fortunately I was already into DVD image backups at the time, so I always had that option to completely start over clean. However, installing image backups usually takes some time to complete, not a terrible amount of time but when I came across Rollback RX and discovered that a "fresh install" only took about a minute or two, I picked up a copy. It's really good for a quick return to a former Snapshot or to the Baseline shot ... really great for trying out software or researching a problem ... over and over. It is still necessary for a good, clean image backup, since Rollback RX or Rollback XP would be useless in a hard drive failure. You probably should also have System Restore turned off ... you would no longer need it anyway ... also do a really good image backup ... clean off all useless junk and whatever you no longer need, then do a system Defrag (that's always my last step) ... make the image backup and then install Rollback XP and you can always return quickly to that point and "start over" ... I don't do very many snapshots, if at all ... I just always go back to the Baseline shot and do any updates and create a new Baseline shot, but a regular snapshot might be better then you don't mess up the original Baseline shot ... Flash, Shockwave, my Favorites List, Hosts file, Event Viewer log ... anything you want to clean or update and then make a new Baseline. Remember, do a Defrag before installing Rollback RX or Rollback XP ... you really can't do that anymore once you install Rollback, so I have read ... Rollback will do it's own Defrag automatically after so many snapshots ... four or five snapshots I think will trigger Rollback to do a Defrag. It's just important to get a good clean image backup, the way you want it or what could be called a "Factory CD" ... like I got from Packard Bell with my first computer in 1998. Then you install Rollback and get a "near perfect" image to always go back to quickly just to start fresh every so often ... if your hard drive goes bad then you have the homemade Factory CD or DVD ... I get everything on one DVD today ... used to be a CD or two with Windows 98SE. Hope this is of some help ... it can be a lot of work to get that perfect image backup, looking for junk in every "nook and cranny", cleaning the registry, then defrag the registry, then a registry backup with ERUNT, if you want to ... then the final complete Defrag. However, it's worth the effort and then you are always finished with that, unless you add more software or find stuff you missed from before or have some new settings. In June I finally achieved that perfect backup (so far) ... I thought I had done so in April and May but I found some hidden junk and logs that I had missed ... I keep a list of problems to fix for the next backup, so far I have found nothing. Of course, you will always have updates ... Flash, Shockwave ... if you want those ... SpywareBlaster, MS Money, Favorites List additions or removes and other stuff but those only take maybe 30 minutes to do. RollBack XP Now Released - Freeware Resurrects the Windows XP Operating System http://www.wfla.com/story/25783565/rollback-xp-now-released-freeware-resurrects-the-windows-xp-operating-system Monday, June 16, 2014 Horizon DataSys announces today, the official release of its' RollBack XP software. RollBack XP is offered as a freeware utility, that is designed to lockdown and secure the Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. ...

I just came across information from Horizon DataSys ... the company that makes RollBack RX, a really good recovery program, not free of course. They do make Reboot Restore RX, which is free to use. The new program is for XP users only, since MS dropped the OS in April. The new program is called RollBack XP and I'm reading it's completely free. No XP User Left Behind May 21, 2014 http://www.horizondatasys.com/blog/post/2014/05/21/instant-recovery-software-for-xp.aspx ... this is the last part of the article: We thought that if we released our freeware Reboot Restore RX as a SteadyState alternative last year, then why not do the same thing for the Windows XP lockdown? Reboot Restore RX was a big success in terms of the number of downloads we got. It really helped users out who needed a quick fix with a simple restore upon reboot functionality. The community really ended up benefiting from this software, and it helped us improve our premier products, RollBack RX and Drive Vaccine as well! So, if you want to protect Windows XP on your machine and not have to upgrade to a new OS, then have no fear, RollBack XP is here! The client will be available for download from our website next week. ---------------- There is one limitation that I know off, you can only take 10 snapshots ... but that's not really a problem ... that's plenty ... if not, just go back to the Baseline backup and start over with new snapshots would probably work. http://www.horizondatasys.com/en/Windows_XP_lockdown.ihtml RollBack XP Removes the Need for Costly Industry-Wide OS Upgrades There are many data recovery software tools that are available for Windows, but there is nothing that is catered to Windows XP specifically now that there is a support lockdown for the OS. RollBack XP fixes this issue by providing a 10-snapshot, 1-baseline solution for instant recovery. It functions just like RollBack RX, but the freeware version can only take up to 10 snapshots. There will be an option to upgrade to a paid version and have an unlimited number of snapshots as well. This all makes RollBack XP an ideal recovery solution for XP. RollBack XP http://www.horizondatasys.com/en/products_and_solutions.aspx?ProductId=40 ... I have not tried it yet.

Vinifera ... you bring up a good point with .NET Framework ... I only have .NET 2.0 on my setup, decided to stop there. Every so often I find a program that I would like to have on my XP setup but it requires .NET Framework, most of the time I am lucky that .NET 2 will be enough. Perhaps that could be a "problem" someday that I might need all the newer versions of .NET installed but I have no plans to ever go beyond .NET 2. I am not sure about flash player ... I don't see .NET listed as a requirement for flash player: Flash Player Requirements Microsoft® Windows * 2.33GHz or faster x86-compatible processor, or Intel® Atom™ 1.6GHz or faster processor for netbooks * Microsoft® Windows® XP (32 bit), Windows Server 2008 (32 bit), Windows Vista® (32 bit), Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit), Windows 8 (32 bit and 64 bit), or Windows Server 2012 (64 bit) * Internet Explorer 8.0 or later, Mozilla Firefox 17 or later, Google Chrome, or Opera 11 * 512MB of RAM (1GB of RAM recommended for netbooks); 128MB of graphics memory