Monroe

Ha Ha ... that's good ... I wasn't even thinking about that, that means there are more zombies in this country than I thought !!! Good luck on your fight for survival !

An absolute must for a Zombie survival kit ... I have a gun, a pick-ax and a long handled shovel ... if I run out of bullets and my pick-ax handle breaks then I will fall back to my shovel ... but if I had that mini-gun I wouldn't need the shovel. I don't know if you have zombies in Italy, the United States is full of zombies, some areas more so than others. Whatever you have to do to survive ... you can't talk or reason with a zombie. I don't know how these zombies reproduce but there are many more today than there were in the 1950's. Yes, I wondered about about the "global warming thing" when I posted the virus story yesterday but the virus did turn up and made news.

We are still safe but that's close ... not much news on it, just a mention. "The newly discovered asteroid, called 2014 DX110, will hurtle between the moon and Earth on Wednesday. DX110 will pass an estimated 217,000 miles from Earth." Asteroid Passing Earth Will Be Closer Than Moon http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/24884193/asteroid-passing-earth-will-be-closer-than-moon#ixzz2v2AVf4eA CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - An asteroid is headed this way. But even though it will come closer than the moon, astronomers say it will pose no danger. The newly discovered asteroid, called 2014 DX110, will hurtle between the moon and Earth on Wednesday. DX110 will pass an estimated 217,000 miles from Earth. That's approximately nine-tenths of the distance between the moon and Earth. The asteroid is an estimated 45 to 130 feet across. Relatively close approaches like this occur all the time, although DX110 is extra close.

I guess this is sort of like finding Spanish or Pirate treasure off the coast of Florida ... I think Florida goes after every discovery ... not sure about the IRS but they may be in there somewhere also. Maybe if they made a deal with the IRS to give them half the coins and then be left alone with the coins they still have, to do what they want. I just recently saw something on TV where a large treasure was found in International waters ... a Spanish ship or ships were on their way back to Spain with gold and precious gems from the New World only to be sunk by a hurricane ... Spain insists everything belongs to Spain even though the discovery was in International waters. One of the finder ships was blocked from leaving port somewhere by the Spanish navy. I would think "money hungry" California would also want in on the tax bite. I would say just keep quiet and get rid of a few here and there but it would take a lifetime to sell that many in "quiet mode" or do what LostInSpace suggested ... melt them down and loose the coin value and sell at today's gold price ... just hate to see some history destroyed going that route.

Perhaps they could have just kept quiet and taken a few coins every so often to a dealer to sell. Just say the coins were left by an older relative to the family and just slowly get rid of them. Of course doing it that way would take forever and would have to maybe be passed on to other family members. Also, who could really keep quiet about a find like that ... it's human nature to "shout it out" to the world, remember the old prospector from old western films ... they finally discover the "glory hole" or "mother lode" ... come back to town, start buying drinks for everybody, grab 15 minutes of fame and then the next morning they are found dead behind the saloon. I would hate to see them melted down since they were in such great condition ... maybe there should be a nice reward for finding the coins ... the gold is worth much more today than when they were minted and the coins would sell at a great price just for the condition ... there could be a nice reward there or let the couple keep some coins tax free. ...

I remember as a kid watching the re-runs into the 60's and as an adult in the 70's ... there were stations always playing the show back then ... probably not anymore today. Several years ago the show was starting to be released on DVD and I bought Season 1 and 2 ... later the other seasons were released but I never bought those ... as I said in my earlier post, the later seasons were toned down in violence, nobody ever got killed or hurt and the episodes were really silly in nature ... Season 1 is a must have, Season 2 is so-so borderline and nothing much after that ... there are a few later episodes that are entertaining but it's Season 1 that gives a person some information on Clark Kent as Superman in various episodes ... personal stuff that he can't really share with anyone ... really no one until Corky shows up in Season 2 does he appear to have a real friend, even though it's a dog. Like Lois says at the end of the episode: "What's the matter Clark? You look as though you lost your best friend," she says. "Maybe I have, Lois. Maybe I have," Clark replies somberly. Now for Season 1 interesting episodes ... the is one where someone has broken into Clark Kent's apartment and found a secret compartment where there was a Superman costume. It is titled "The Stolen Costume" ... he has a friend who is a detective who he calls to help but he can't tell him "what" was stolen ... his friend is going crazy ... "How am I supposed to find what was stolen if you won't tell me what was stolen?" The "Haunted Lighthouse" is good and "The Deserted Village" also along with "The Secret of Superman". Adventures of Superman: The Complete First Season (2005) http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Superman-Complete-First-Season/dp/B000A5046K/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1394021603&sr=1-1&keywords=adventures+of+superman Look at the episode titles from Season 1 ... they just read excitement from the title. • Pilot 18/Dec/51 The Unknown People (1) 18/Dec/51 The Unknown People (2) • Season 1 01 1-01 19/Sep/52 Superman on Earth 02 1-02 26/Sep/52 The Haunted Lighthouse 03 1-03 03/Oct/52 The Case of the Talkative Dummy 04 1-04 10/Oct/52 Mystery of the Broken Statues 05 1-05 17/Oct/52 The Monkey Mystery 06 1-06 24/Oct/52 Night of Terror 07 1-07 31/Oct/52 The Birthday Letter 08 1-08 07/Nov/52 The Mind Machine 09 1-09 14/Nov/52 Rescue 10 1-10 21/Nov/52 The Secret of Superman 11 1-11 28/Nov/52 No Holds Barred 12 1-12 05/Dec/52 The Deserted Village 13 1-13 12/Dec/52 The Stolen Costume 14 1-14 19/Dec/52 Mystery in Wax 15 1-15 26/Dec/52 Treasure of the Incas 16 1-16 02/Jan/53 Double Trouble 17 1-17 09/Jan/53 The Runaway Robot 18 1-18 16/Jan/53 Drums of Death 19 1-19 23/Jan/53 The Evil Three 20 1-20 30/Jan/53 Riddle of the Chinese Jade 21 1-21 06/Feb/53 The Human Bomb 22 1-22 13/Feb/53 Czar of the Underworld 23 1-23 20/Feb/53 The Ghost Wolf 24 1-24 27/Feb/53 Crime Wave ...

Sad story of the the young woman possibly committing suicide ... maybe there is more to it but it's still sad ... too bad she couldn't have just tried starting over from square 1 or 2. Unless there is more to the story ... ... and then another Bitcoin exchange has gone down from bpalone's post ... Flexcoin is shutting down. more on the story that jaclaz posted about the gold coins found in California. There is a report saying the coins were stolen in 1900 from the US Mint ... have to see where that goes. Somebody buried the coins and never came back for them and never wrote anything down or told anybody about the gold. I posted a small paragraph near the bottom from the article where the US Mint seems to have nothing to say about this story. $10M Gold Coin Hoard Found in Yard May Have Been Stolen From Mint http://gma.yahoo.com/10m-gold-coin-hoard-found-yard-may-stolen-141317823--abc-news-personal-finance.html?vp=1 A California couple who found a stash of buried gold coins valued at $10 million may not be so lucky after all. The coins may have been stolen from the U.S. Mint in 1900 and thus be the property of the government, according to a published report. The San Francisco Chronicle's website reported that a search of the Haithi Trust Digital Library provided by Northern California fishing guide Jack Trout, who is also a historian and collector of rare coins, turned up the news of the theft. The California couple, who have not been identified, spotted the edge of an old can on a path they had hiked many times before several months ago. Poking at the can was the first step in uncovering a buried treasure of rare coins estimated to be worth $10 million. "It was like finding a hot potato," the couple told coin expert Don Kagin from Kagin's, Inc. The couple hired the president of Kagin's, Inc. and Holabird-Kagin Americana, a western Americana dealer and auctioneer, to represent them. The coins are mostly uncirculated and in mint condition, and they add up in face value to $27,000. "Those two facts are a match of the gold heist in 1900 from the San Francisco Mint," the newspaper reported. Jack Trout told the paper that an 1866 Liberty $20 gold piece without the words "In God We Trust" was part of the buried stash, and the coin may fetch over $1 million at auction because it's so rare. "This was someone's private coin, created by the mint manager or someone with access to the inner workings of the Old Granite Lady (San Francisco Mint)," Trout told the newspaper. "It was likely created in revenge for the assassination of Lincoln the previous year (April 14, 1865). I don't believe that coin ever left The Mint until the robbery. For it to show up as part of the treasure find links it directly to that inside job at the turn of the century at the San Francisco Mint." .... however the US Mint is saying something a little different. Mint spokesman Adam Stump issued this statement when contacted today by ABC News: "We do not have any information linking the Saddle Ridge Hoard coins to any thefts at any United States Mint facility. Surviving agency records from the San Francisco Mint have been retired to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), under Record Group 104. Access to the records is under NARA's jurisdiction: http://www.archives.gov/."

I always thought George Reeves was terrific in this classic show from the 1950's. The first season was as rough as you can get in violence for a "kid" show at that time. I think the first season is the best as it was more true to the times ... the second season was OK but you will notice a change and drop in the violence. Kellogg's Cereal was a sponsor of the show and wanted the violence toned down since it was a "kid's" show. The later seasons were so-so ... if just not down right silly but they were in color. Many great episodes in the first season but in the second season there was a really heart warming episode (#09) titled "The Dog Who Knew Superman". Corky is the dog and he is in a well and rescued by Superman ... he's not treated very well by his owners and being that Superman (Clark Kent) saved him, he remembers the kindness and sets out to find Superman, only he finds Clark Kent at The Daily Planet ... problems start from there. I see someone has posted the episode on YouTube (and others also) in Jan 2014. I will post a link but I don't know if it will work until I post this. If it doesn't work, just search for "Corky the dog who knew Superman" in Google ... it will be there. If you like dogs or animals, this is a "must see". I will get into a few really good episodes from Season One where Clark Kent was almost found out and had to do some fancy footwork to keep his identity a secret ... really, the violence made it a good season to watch and then the "tone it down" crowd spoke up. Season 2 - Episode 9: "The Dog Who Knew Superman" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYlpZo0PBt4 I don't think that YouTube is working right ... this link to Google search should have the link about three or four down along with other links to that episode. https://www.google.com/search?num=100&safe=off&hl=en&complete=0&site=webhp&source=hp&q=Corky+the+dog+who+knew+Superman&oq=Corky+the+dog+who+knew+Superman&gs_l=hp.12...5771.19546.0.24498.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1.1.36.hp..0.0.0.USql_uljlMI Original Broadcast Date: November 09, 1953 http://www.supermanhomepage.com/tv/tv.php?topic=reviews/aos-ep035 "The Dog Who Knew Superman" Reviewed by: James Lantz A group of people is attempting to rescue a dog named Corky who is trapped inside a well. The owner, Joyce, wife of gangster Hank Carey, is frantic with worry. She is also angry with her husband because he had pushed Corky into the water. Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent has arrived on the scene seeing that Superman is needed. Removing his civilian garb, the Man of Steel digs a tunnel and exits with a wet Corky in his arms. The Careys fight as they walk the animal to their car. Corky then finds a glove that Clark had dropped before changing into Superman. The couple thinks nothing of this and throws it away. However, the Last Son of Krypton realizes one thing. Corky may know Superman's true identity. Corky is now safely home, but this lasts only a few minutes. Hank has ordered his yo-yo loving henchman Louie to open the apartment door, allowing Corky to run away. This angers Joyce greatly. She wants lost dog advertisements in all the major newspapers - including the Daily Planet. If Hank and Louie do not find Corky very soon, Joyce will make life very difficult for both of them. Corky has made his way into Clark Kent's office. Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen have even seen the dog kiss him. Finding it difficult to explain Corky's presence to them, Kent does everything he can to get the animal away from him. Corky eventually leaves with the glove that matches the one Clark had lost at the well site. Shortly afterwards, Jimmy says something that would later prove to be prophetic. "I don't think you're rid of that little dog by a long shot." Word has spread all over Metropolis about Hank Carey offering a five thousand dollar reward for Corky because he can lead the gangster to Superman thanks to Clark's glove. Louie has even agreed to give Clark the newspaper story about it. Hank thinks the dog is worth the money after seeing him in front of the Daily Planet building. Now, Lois, Jimmy and Clark are trying to find a safe place for the animal while they attempt to put the pieces of this mystery's puzzle together. Secretly, Clark is afraid something will happen to the dog because he knows the truth that the mild mannered reporter is really Superman. Should Hank put two and two together, both Superman and Corky could be in grave danger. Jimmy has taken Corky to the Canine Kennels on Harper Street. Hank, Joyce and Louie learn this when they capture and blindfold the cub reporter and make him take a lie detector test. Once Carey has Corky, the dog will lead him to Superman. Hank intends to make a deal with the Man of Tomorrow. He'll keep Superman's identity a secret if the costumed hero leaves the Carey's crime syndicate alone. Otherwise, every criminal in Metropolis will know about Superman's double life. Thinking he was helping Superman, Louie has placed Corky in a dogcatcher's wagon. Should the animal be taken to the pound, there is a possibility that he will be killed if nobody claims him. Now, the Metropolis Marvel must search the entire city before it's too late for poor Corky. Superman has found Corky, and the dogcatcher has his hands full with some dogs that had escaped from his truck. Now, Lois is watching over Corky while Clark Kent is out. In the meantime, the Careys free Jimmy. He returns to discuss the day's events with his colleagues when he gets an idea about where he was. By tracing the number of Corky's dog license, they can know to whom he belongs and, thereby, learn who had kidnapped Jimmy. Lois now has a plan that can help answer everyone's questions. It could also put her, Jimmy and Corky into a trap from which even Superman cannot save them. Lois has brought Corky to Hank Carey in exchange for the story on why he wants the dog so badly. Carey doesn't like her hanging around and insists that she leaves. Lois now knows who offered the reward for Corky. What she doesn't realize is that she may have put Superman at risk. For Hank is walking through Metropolis with Corky searching for the Man of Steel. Should they succeed, the caped hero's greatest secret could be in jeopardy. Corky is hot on the trail of Hank Carey's quarry. The dog's barking warns the approaching Clark, giving him time to become Superman. Hank has found the person whom he was looking for. Unfortunately, for the gangster, he's also found himself hanging on a city burglar alarm, from which the police later take him down. Corky will return home to Joyce, for Clark cannot keep him because he's the only being in the entire world that knows that the reporter is really Superman. Kent is saddened to see the dog go away when Lois enters his office. "What's the matter Clark? You look as though you lost your best friend," she says. "Maybe I have, Lois. Maybe I have," Clark replies somberly. ...

"What's the worst that could happen?" ... I don't even want to think about it !!! I think I would rather face zombies coming down the street ... I would hope they would be zombies from the 1950's as they were much slower back then ... the zombies of today are much faster and seem to be smarter. ...

I don't know about the "Zombie" part but it was in the title, so I left it there. The article is from last year but news to me. Frozen Zombie Plants From Little Ice Age Revived After 400 Years http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-zombie-plants-revived-little-ice-age-20130528,0,5312337.story By Amina Khan May 28, 2013 Given the short half-life of DNA, we may never have a Jurassic Park – but could we one day boast of an Ice Age Garden? Scientists have brought back to life a collection of roughly 400-year-old frozen plants recovered from melting glaciers in the Canadian Arctic. The feat, described in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that certain plants might be much tougher than previously thought, able to regenerate after centuries under ice. "Their structural preservation is exceptional," the study authors wrote. The plants were dug out from Sverdrup Pass, where the Teardrop Glacier has been melting at faster and faster rates – from 3.2 meters per year between 2004 and 2007, up to 4.1 meters from 2007 to 2009. Both of these are roughly double earlier calculated rates from just a few decades ago. The melt has been exposing long-frozen Arctic plants, whose blackened and discolored remains were long considered dead. But researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, who were collecting these dried-out plants for study began to notice something strange: Some of their samples were sprouting new growth – little green branches and stem buds – straight out of the supposedly dead material. At first, this seemed unlikely – after all, these plants had been entombed since the Little Ice Age, a frigid 300-year period between AD 1550 and 1850. So the researchers dug up a sample of various bryophytes – hardy plants, including mosses, that lack the vascular tissue that other plants use to transport fluids around the body. Based on radiocarbon dating, their samples ranged in age from roughly 400 to 600 years old. This is not the first time apparently dead plants have been brought back to life – Russian scientists recently revived a 30,000-year-old Ice Age plant known as Silene stenophylla and even coaxed it into flowering. more and picture at the link ...

We have to wonder what might show up one of these days ... those good old 1950's sci-fi films ... giant ants, grasshoppers and a giant virus. "Researchers revived a virus dormant in a 30,000-year-old ice core. They warn that oil and gas development in far northern latitudes, such as near Salym, Russia, could disturb microbes harmful to humans." Giant Virus Revived from Deep Freeze in Siberian Tundra http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-giant-virus-revived-20140302,0,4662287.story#ixzz2uvwls53Y Geoffrey Mohan March 3, 2014, 12:20 p.m. A 30,000-year-old giant virus has been revived from the frozen Siberian tundra, sparking concern that increased mining and oil drilling in rapidly warming northern latitudes could disturb dormant microbial life that could one day prove harmful to man. The latest find, described online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, appears to belong to a new family of mega-viruses that infect only amoeba. But its revival in a laboratory stands as “a proof of principle that we could eventually resurrect active infectious viruses from different periods,” said the study’s lead author, microbiologist Jean-Michel Claverie of Aix-Marseille University in France. “We know that those non-dangerous viruses are alive there, which probably is telling us that the dangerous kind that may infect humans and animals -- that we think were eradicated from the surface of Earth -- are actually still present and eventually viable, in the ground,” Claverie said. With climate change making northern reaches more accessible, the chance of disturbing dormant human pathogens increases, the researchers concluded. Average surface temperatures in the area that contained the virus have increased more steeply than in more temperate latitudes, the researchers noted.

Harkaz ... sounds to me like a nice project with a good future and will benefit people making the switch to XP after April 2014 and beyond. I'm sure there will be tweaking along the way but it's a beginning that may lead to many new XP projects as Windows XP officially comes to an end. Look at the excitement in the Windows 98/98SE forum and improvements that have happened over the years. This is just the beginning of a continued or second life for Windows XP ... Windows 98/98SE needed some tweaking with USB and software (KernelEx) and so forth. Windows XP is beyond all that already and may not need much tinkering or tweaking but every so often someone might make a nice discovery or solve an ongoing problem. We have a very good OS in Windows XP but others will possibly make it better down the road. ...

Some additional news and insight on the missing Bitcoins ... "online computer" treasure hunters are searching for the coins and also people who lost Bitcoins. "Some computing experts believed any hackers might be capable of covering the tracks of a potential computer break-in. But if each bitcoin has a marker, it would make it more difficult for thieves to try to convert a big stash into another currency, in the same way it would be difficult for an art thief to pawn off a pilfered Matisse painting quickly. Those factors are giving hope to the wave of Mt. Gox victims and treasure hunters who have fanned out in search of the missing bitcoins. The virtual currency that disappeared represents nearly 7% of all bitcoins in circulation. Devon Weller, a 40-year-old freelance Web developer in Nashville who said he had a "small amount" of bitcoins stashed at Mt. Gox, tossed aside his regular work Friday morning to start looking for missing bitcoins. He tapped into the public ledger from his home office and started following the trail of large transactions." Almost Half a Billion Worth of Bitcoins Vanish Updated Feb. 28, 2014 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303801304579410010379087576?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303801304579410010379087576.html%3Fmod%3DWSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

That is some find ... I missed that story ... near perfect gold coins just laying around waiting to be discovered. There may be more coins on the property. Even better than Benjamins, being that gold doesn't deteriorate or break down from moisture. Fantastic story.

This was out a few days ago ... 850,000 bitcoins missing. Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange is bankrupt, 850,000 bitcoins worth hundreds of millions missing. Mt. Gox, once the world's biggest bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan on Friday, saying it may have lost nearly half a billion dollars worth of the virtual coins due to hacking into its faulty computer system. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Friday, February 28, 2014 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/mt-gox-bitcoin-exchange-bankrupt-850-000-bitcoins-worth-hundreds-millions-missing-ceo-article-1.1705005 TOKYO — The Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo filed for bankruptcy protection Friday and its chief executive said 850,000 bitcoins, worth several hundred million dollars, are unaccounted for. The exchange’s CEO Mark Karpeles appeared before Japanese TV news cameras, bowing deeply for several minutes. He said a weakness in the exchange’s systems was behind a massive loss of the virtual currency involving 750,000 bitcoins from users and 100,000 of the company’s own bitcoins. That would amount to about $425 million at recent prices. The online exchange’s unplugging earlier this week and accusations it had suffered a catastrophic theft have drawn renewed regulatory attention to a currency created in 2009 as a way to make transactions across borders without third parties such as banks. It remains unclear if the missing bitcoins were stolen, voided by technological flaws or both. The loss is a giant setback to the currency’s image because its boosters have promoted bitcoin’s cryptography as protecting it from counterfeiting and theft. more at the link ...

I've read about this for years ... "Spontaneous human combustion". True or not ... or just known as "unverified natural phenomena" this story from the link is humorous ... the wick effect ! Henry Thomas, a 73-year-old man, was found burned to death in the living room of his council house on the Rassau council estate in Ebbw Vale, south Wales, in 1980. His entire body was incinerated, leaving only his skull and a portion of each leg below the knee. The feet and legs were still clothed in socks and trousers. Half of the chair in which he had been sitting was also destroyed. Police forensic officers decided that the incineration of Thomas was due to the wick effect. His death was ruled 'death by burning', as he had plainly inhaled the contents of his own combustion. ...

That's what was presented in the two hour special about the Megalodon Shark possibly still alive in ocean ... Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives There was, in the beginning of the program, a "discovered" video (a la Blair Witch) of a South African charter fishing vessel with 5-6 people aboard being capsized by some sort of sea animal. The video is purportedly real, and even includes news footage of South African authorities conducting a news conference re: the incident. The vessel was capsized on April 5, 2013 in Hout Bay South Africa and the people's bodies were never recovered. The television program goes on to speculate that a giant "Megalodon" shark (60-100 feet long and thought to be extinct for 2 million years) was responsible for the boat capsizing. Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives http://www.snopes.com/critters/malice/megalodon.asp Then the two Mermaid shows (three hours total) had interesting video and eyewitness accounts that Navy sonar was not only killing whales but also mermaids. OK, so you are laughing but remember I was watching all this on the Discovery Channel and I was inclined to buy into the whole thing. Mermaids: The Body Found http://www.snopes.com/photos/supernatural/mermaids.asp OK ... so now we can't trust the Discovery Channel anymore ... what's next !

No No ... I don't mind all the posts ... maybe if this was my very "first post" and all this was going on, I might be inclined to move on. I've been fooled before, I posted something way back and it was sort of a hoax ... jaclaz had a link to an urban legend site, Snopes - Urban Legends. I was just recently fooled this past Sunday by the Discovery Channel dealing with Mermaids and the Megalodon shark ... they ran a three hour special on Mermaids possibly existing in the ocean and then a two hour special on the Megalodon shark still alive in the ocean ... all were broadcast in 2013 but I missed them ... the mermaid show had video and eye witnesses but when I checked it all out on Monday, the whole thing was a joke/hoax ... but I didn't "expect" that from the Discovery channel. I am easily fooled which means you may be reading more future posts that will need debunking !!! ...

I was wondering if this story "might" be real but I had never heard of a WiFi virus before and since I do most all my internet time with a WiFi connection ... I decided to post it. Figured some of the regulars would debunk the story or add more information.

I guess this is just a "practice run" for now ... the “Chameleon” virus ... “It was assumed, however, that it wasn’t possible to develop a virus that could attack WiFi networks — but we demonstrated that this is possible and that it can spread quickly.” First Contagious WiFi Computer Virus Goes Airborne, Spreads Like the Common Cold 02/25/2014 http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/25/first-contagious-wifi-computer-virus-goes-airborne-spreads-like-the-common-cold/ Computer science researchers have demonstrated for the first time how a digital virus can go airborne and spread via WiFi networks in populated areas at the same pace as a human diseases. The “Chameleon” virus, designed by a University of Liverpool team, showed a remarkable amount of intelligence by avoiding detection and breaking into personal and business WiFi networks at their weakest points — spreading at an alarming rate. Network Security Professor Alan Marshall said the virus doesn’t try to damage or disrupt established networks — instead, the virus slips in unnoticed to collect the data and log-in information of all users connected to the network via WiFi, and seeks other WiFi networks through them — a much more subtle, sinister and dangerous objective. “WiFi connections are increasingly a target for computer hackers because of well-documented security vulnerabilities, which make it difficult to detect and defend against a virus,” Marshall said in a ScienceBlog report. “It was assumed, however, that it wasn’t possible to develop a virus that could attack WiFi networks — but we demonstrated that this is possible and that it can spread quickly.” The secret to Chameleon is the method by which it avoids detection. Traditional computer antivirus programs look for viruses present on computers and the Internet itself. Chameleon sticks strictly to WiFi networks, bypassing secured, more heavily encrypted networks to enter and spread through weaker ones — especially free public access points like those found in cafes, on trains and in airports. A lab experiment by the University’s School of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and Electronics simulated what researchers likened to an airborne contagion attack against Belfast and London, entering WiFi access points that connect public and private networks to the Internet. The virus traveled fastest across access points within a 160 feet or less of each other, following similar rates of human infection by viruses among more densely populated areas. “We are now able to use the data generated from this study to develop a new technique to identify when an attack is likely,” Marshall said. ...

Interesting stuff jaclaz ... one tip off from the first article that we can watch out for ... if someone or a crew starts digging up the sidewalk in front of your home / office ... or road if you are in the country ... start to get concerned. "There were curious moments in New York, too, from where many Snowden stories were reported. Within hours of publication of the first one - which revealed that the NSA was mass-scooping data from the US telecoms company Verizon - diggers arrived outside the Guardian's loft office in Broadway. It was a Wednesday evening. They dug up the pavement and replaced it. The same thing happened outside the Guardian's Washington bureau, four blocks from the White House and the Brooklyn home of US editor-in-chief Janine Gibson. Coincidence? Perhaps." Three different sidewalk locations dug up ??? ... too bad when the dig crew left, they didn't have another crew come in to see what might have been placed there ... some sort of listening device? I just looked out my window, nobody digging there yet !!! ...

As JorgeA mentioned earlier ... Welcome back! ... never realize how much you miss posts from various members until it actually happens. I figured it has to be the weather as you said as much earlier but the thought did cross my mind that maybe the "spooks" were nearby surrounding the property and all communication was cut off. I guess when most of us think of spooks we picture them dressed in black, or at least I do ... easily seen in the snow but maybe they also dress in white every so often to blend in with the snow pack ! ...

GrofLuigi ... thanks for the reply, no it didn't make sense to me but that's usually the case with me ... sometimes I have to read something over a few times (or many times) to make some sense of it or hunt up more information. So Winapp2.com is an add on ... never heard of it. This sounds very much like a program I found last week as an "add on" for CCleaner ... It slowed CCleaner up quite a bit but I didn't take time to tailor it or work with it very much. I decided not to use it for now until I have more time for all that. CCEnhancer v3.8 http://singularlabs.com/software/ccenhancer/ 08/26/2013 Windows XP/Vista/7/8 172 KB - Freeware CCEnhancer is a small tool which adds support for over 1,000 new programs into the popular program CCleaner. The tool uses the winapp2.ini system built into CCleaner to easily add new rules and definitions for programs. The rules were sourced mainly from the Piriform Support Forum, with several sourced from other places around the internet. Instructions: The actual file containing the definitions is not included with the program, but is instead downloaded by the program. Simply press ‘Download Latest’ and the tool will automatically download the most recent version of the definitions. If CCEnhancer cannot locate the CCleaner.exe file you can open a dialog box and select the page yourself. ...

I have been looking for some older CCleaner Portable versions to try out on Windows XP ... I have searched the last few months and just couldn't seem to find any older versions. I am thinking maybe some of the older versions "might" run better on XP before all the Windows 7 and 8 add ons. Perhaps there would be no difference in the latest version compared to an older version with XP ... just curious. I found a site that seems to have all the older CCleaner Portable versions up to the latest. All the versions seem to have been added on 23 Jan 2014... if you click on the Info tab, so it's been less than a month for them to all be available in one place ... if you had been looking for some older portable versions for XP, 2000 or any other OS ... enjoy! CCleaner (portable) v3.05.1408 http://www.afterdawn.com/software/security/system_cleanup/ccleaner_portable.cfm/v3_05_1408#tab1 Click on the "All Versions" tab for the list. All Versions http://www.afterdawn.com/software/security/system_cleanup/ccleaner_portable.cfm/v3_05_1408#all_versions Added: So far with two older versions that I have tried against the latest version, I don't really notice much difference in the speed they all operate at. Just a difference in download size of course, in MBs from older to newer.

Thanks Charlotte for clearing it up about Bob Ross ... I knew the name but couldn't register it in my brain and I was too cold and lazy to search it out. I also liked William Alexander and watched him for years ... but my really favorite was Morris Katz who could paint a "masterpiece" in less than ten minutes using only "toilet paper". He was great, saw him several times on TV as a guest ... truly entertaining and he painted really good. He was known as the "fastest painter" also ... like I said, a masterpiece in less than ten minutes ... sometimes only seconds! Morris Katz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Katz Morris Katz (born Moshe Katz on March 5, 1932 in Galicia, Poland, died November 12, 2010 at age 78 in The Bronx, New York) was a Jewish-American painter. He holds two Guinness World Records as the world's fastest painter and the world's most prolific artist. He has also been called the "King of Schlock Art" and the "King of Toilet Paper Art" because of a novel means of painting he developed using a palette knife and toilet tissue instead of a paintbrush. Morris Katz (web page) http://www.morriskatz.com/ Some of his paintings in the Art Gallery tab. Beautiful Scenes Gallery http://www.morriskatz.com/sceneGallery.cfm ... I didn't know he had passed away ... you posting about Bob Ross brought him back into my head.