Life's Great Expectations!

By Craig Goldwyn Craig Goldwyn is a Chicago based writer and artist, and the article below originally ran in the Chicago Tribune in 1979. He invites you to visit his website at http://craiggoldwyn.com . Samuel Johnson wrote "Claret is the drink for boys, port for men, but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy." By that definition Swedish Julglögg, will make us superhuman. Glögg, pronounced gloog, is a high octane, hot mulled wine made with a potpourri of spices and all three of the above: Claret (red wine), port, and brandy. It is the perfect cold weather drink, warming the body and soul from the inside out. Swedish Glögg Makes about 1 gallon 1.5 litre bottle of inexpensive dry red wine 1.5 litre bottle of inexpensive American port 1 bottle of inexpensive brandy or aquavit 10 inches of stick cinnamon 1 Tablespoon cardamom seeds 2 dozen whole cloves Peel of one orange 1/2 cup raisins 1 cup blanched almonds 2 cups sugar Garnish with the peel of another orang...

By MARK JOHNSON Associated Press Writer December 18, 2005, 9:32 AM EST ALBANY, N.Y. -- "Phishing" is a computer scam that can quickly drain entire bank accounts of unsuspecting consumers, but it victimizes bigger players, too. Now, two New York lawmakers want to give legitimate companies whose systems and identities were illegally commandeered to perpetrate such scams the chance to strike back. A bill introduced by state Sen. Charles Fuschillo and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky would allow private companies, nonprofit groups and the state attorney general to bring civil actions against phishing scam artists. The legislation is being supported by Microsoft Corp., AARP and the New York State Telecommunications Association, among others. Phishing refers to e-mails that appear to come from banks or other trusted businesses and are used to induce recipients to verify their accounts by typing personal details, such as credit card or bank account information, into a Web site disguised...

Personal Data for Law Enforcement, Security Professionals Exposed By Brian Krebs washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Monday, December 19, 2005; 5:33 PM Guidance Software -- the leading provider of software used to diagnose hacker break-ins -- has itself been hacked, resulting in the exposure of financial and personal data connected to thousands of law enforcement officials and network-security professionals. Guidance alerted customers to the incident in a letter sent last week, saying it discovered on Dec. 7 that hackers had broken into a company database and made off with approximately 3,800 customer credit card numbers. The Pasadena, Calif.-based company said the incident occurred sometime in November and that it is working with the U.S. Secret Service on a more detailed investigation. Michael G. Kessler, president of New York City-based computer-forensics investigative firm Kessler International, received a letter notifying him that the company's American Express card was...

Microsoft's forthcoming Internet Explorer 7 browser will adopt Firefox's RSS feed icon Rachel Rosmarin, Forbes.com 19 Dec 2005 BURLINGAME, CALIF. - It's just one minor battle in a war it likely won't win, but Mozilla's Firefox has tasted victory--and it is little and orange. Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) forthcoming Internet Explorer 7 browser will adopt Firefox's RSS feed icon , the company announced on a blog--effectively making the orange square with white radio waves the industry standard. RSS, which stands for both Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication, is a system for generating automated feeds of Web site updates--such as blog postings or news--and sending them to an e-mail address or an RSS reader. Some 31% of Web users have used RSS to get information according to market research firm Ipsos Insight. Representatives of giant Microsoft's Redmond, Wash.-based IE7 team even took a trip down to tiny Mozilla's Mou...

Microsoft bids Internet Explorer for Mac farewell Mac browser becomes part of history Tom Sanders in California, vnunet.com 19 Dec 2005 Microsoft plans to discontinue support for its Internet Explorer browser on Mac OS X at the end of this year. The software developer mothballed the browser, which is currently on version 5.2, in June 2003 after Apple released Safari. Development ever since has been limited to the release of security patches. Microsoft's website as recent as last November touted Internet Explorer as an "award winning" browser that "makes it easy to view and find information on the internet." That webpage was changed last week and is now informing visitors that: "In accordance with published support lifecycle policies , Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer for Mac on December 31st, 2005, and will provide no further security or performance updates." Microsoft plans to pull the download from its website on 31 January...

Bill, Melinda and Bono get the big Time gongs Ken Young, vnunet.com 19 Dec 2005 Bill Gates has been named as one of the Persons of the Year by Time magazine Time magazine has named Bill and Melinda Gates, and rock star Bono , as its 'Persons of the Year' citing their charitable work and activism aimed at reducing global poverty and improving world health. The reason for the award is hard to miss. The Microsoft chairman and his wife have built the world's largest charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation . It has a $29bn endowment and has been giving away money faster than any other charity in history. The Foundation is credited with saving at least 700,000 people by investing in vaccination programmes, and has donated computers and internet access to 11,000 libraries. It has also sponsored the biggest scholarship fund in history. Jim Kelly, managing editor at Time, said: "Natural disasters are terrible things, but there is a different kind of...

$1bn for five per cent for global ads tie-in Ken Young, vnunet.com 19 Dec 2005 Google is planning to pay $1bn to take a five per cent stake in AOL as part of a wide-ranging advertising deal, according to the Financial Times . The AOL sales team will get access to the Google network, and Google will give Time Warner's media properties preferential treatment. The move is seen as a snub to Microsoft which was known to be considering buying the stake to further its online ambitions. Google and AOL already work closely following a deal in 2001. AOL currently gets 80 per cent of the revenues from search-related advertising displayed on AOL websites but cannot sell the search ads and has to negotiate deals direct with Google. As a result of the new deal AOL will be able to sell the ads as well, and will sell display ads on AOL and Google properties. The deal also includes promotion of AOL content through Google's paid search. Yahoo was at some point also repor...

A little holiday humor....

Special Report from LapLand Daily (A Proud Member of The Sun NewsGroup) We are all screwed by Christmas Culture! A very upset female reindeer in Lapland together with her feminist lawyer and the Association of "Stop Fluffing the Children" Society, is suing all person/s that is involved in propagating the song "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" for damages. Evidently, "Rudolph” is not...I repeat NOT a male reindeer, as any environmentally friendly and animal loving activitist will know the fact that only Female Reindeers have anthers during this period of time. Henceforth, any reference to the address of “Rudolph” as a “He” is deeply offensive to the newly formed “Female Reindeer Rights” Movement. The court date is set to be on the 23rd of Dec. A multiple of charges will be brought against the defendants. One of the co-defendants of the case is Mr Santa Claus himself. The main plaintiff (female reindeer) is suing him for emotionally trauma, as the “Red-Nose” mentio...

Through Slashdot I hunted down this story about certain Microsoft products being awarded Common Criteria (CC) Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 4 Augmented with ALC_FLR.3 certification. They include: Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit version) with Service Pack 1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit and 64-bit versions) with Service Pack 1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit and 64-bit versions) with Service Pack 1 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Certificate Server, Certificate Issuing and Management Components (CIMC) (Security Level 3 Protection Profile, Version 1.0) Microsoft Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 Microsoft Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2 Achieving this certification is important to Microsoft, because of certain laws : "[E]ffective 1 July 2002... departments and agencies within the Executive Branch shall acquire, for use on national security systems, only those COTS products...

By Wilson P. Dizard III GCN Staff Homeland Security Department secretary Michael Chertoff last week announced a department-wide reorganization plan that will elevate responsibility for cybersecurity, preparedness and operations, and butress several technology programs. The overhaul largely was based on an analytic matrix correlating threats with preparedness and potential consequences , officials said. “The matrix will allow us to match possible threats against possible targets and will map the current state of prevention, protection and response planning with regard to each,” Chertoff told hundreds of DHS employees in Washington. “This matrix will be a critical tool [that will] enable us to identify and remedy current gaps in preparedness.” Chertoff unveiled a technology decision involving the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program that is designed to help detect and thwart terrorists seeking visas. DHS plans to require first-time visitors to the United Stat...

By Patience Wait and Wilson P. Dizard III GCN Staff The Homeland Security Department has made sustained progress in improving cybersecurity in priority areas, but a lot of work remains to be done, according to an advocacy group of IT vendors and a DHS official. Andy Purdy, acting director of DHS’ National Cyber Security Division, held a briefing to field questions about an industry trade association’s report card that gave the department poor grades on cybersecurity. According to the report card released yesterday by the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, the federal government failed to make much progress in securing its information systems in 2005, nor did it do much to encourage industry to strengthen its own IT security . The CSIA graded the government’s actions over the course of the past year on 12 recommendations the organization made a year ago to improve information security. In its harshest evaluation, CSIA gave the government an F on its National Information Assurance P...

California man faces maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and $500,000 fine By Grant Gross, IDG News Service December 14, 2005 A California man who operated a Web site selling millions of dollars of pirated software has pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal copyright infringement, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said. Nathan Peterson, 26, of Antelope Acres, California, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. Peterson was owner of iBackups.net, "the largest for-profit software piracy site ever shut down by law enforcement," U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty of the Eastern District of Virginia said in a statement. Peterson faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for April 14. Including restitution of $5.4 million, the penalties may be the highest ever imposed on a software pirate, said the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). The trade group aler...

At the airport where this pilot fish works, security has gotten a lot more attention since 9/11. "All the security doors that connect the concourses to office spaces and alleyways for service personnel needed an immediate upgrade," says fish. "It seems that the use of a security badge was no longer adequate protection. "So over the course of about a month, more than 50 doors were upgraded to require three-way protection. To open the door, a user needed to present a security badge (something you possess), a numeric code (something you know) and a biometric thumb scan (something you are). "Present all three, and the door beeps and lets you in." One by one, the doors are brought online. The technology works, and everything looks fine -- until fish decides to test the obvious. After all, the average member of the public isn't likely to forge a security badge, guess a multidigit number and fake a thumb scan. "But what happens if you just turn the handl...

NEW LINE OF DEFENCE : One possibility is a pager-like device which generates random codes for Net banking users to type in. Many priority customers already use one, but it may be extended to all users. -- MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN INTERNET banking users are likely to be asked to carry a pager-like device and key in two passwords in the near future, after the authorities issued the toughest guidelines for online transactions to date. In a letter to bank CEOs last month, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it expected all Internet banking systems to offer what is known as 'two-factor authentication' by December next year. The government regulator also expressed 'serious doubts' about the security on current systems. The new rules will mean users not only have to log in with their current passwords, but will have to authenticate their identities, by keying in randomly-generated numbers from a pager-like device, for example. The added security, already offered to prio...

By Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service, 12/14/05 Several of Microsoft 's Windows platform products have achieved a Common Criteria certification of 4+, a rating that bolsters their profile among government and other vertical-market customers that have high-security needs for IT products, a company spokesman said Wednesday. Common Criteria is a standard evaluation rating issued by the National Information Assurance Partnership that primarily government customers use to evaluate the security of IT products before making purchasing decisions. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition with Service Pack 1; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1; and Windows Datacenter Edition with Service Pack 1 have achieved Common Criteria (CC) Evaluation Assurance Level 4, Augmented with ALC_FLR.3 certification, said Mario Juarez, senior product manager in the Security Technology Unit at Microsoft. The certification is more commonly known a...

By Ryan Naraine What's the retail value of a security vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.'s Excel spreadsheet program? At last check: $53 and counting. An unknown security researcher chose a novel way to issue a warning for a code execution flaw in Excel—posting it for sale on eBay. But the auction was pulled late Thursday after discussions between Microsoft and eBay Inc. When the auction was squashed, the bidding had reached $53 and had attracted 19 offers. A spokeswoman for Microsoft confirmed that the eBay listing was indeed a legitimate security flaw in Excel. "[We] have not been made aware of any attacks attempting to use the reported vulnerability or customer impact at this time, but will continue to investigate the public reports to help provide additional guidance for customers," the spokeswoman said in a statement sent to Ziff Davis Internet News. The spokeswoman said the company was investigating the report and working with eBay to determine the appropriate co...

By Joris Evers http://news.com.com/Browsers+to+get+sturdier+padlocks/2100-1029_3-5989633.html Story last modified Mon Dec 12 04:00:00 PST 2005 The yellow security padlock in Web browsers, weakened by lax standards and loose supervision, will get reinforced next year with tougher requirements and browser updates. The browser icon was designed to show that traffic with a Web site is encrypted and that a third party, called a certification authority, has identified the site and vouches for its validity. But in recent years, standards of verification have slipped, undermining the sense of security implied by the padlock. To solve that problem, a group of companies that issue the Secure Socket Layer certificates are working with major Web browser makers to develop a new type of "high assurance" certificate. The informal organization, dubbed the CA Forum, has held three unpublicized meetings this year and plans to meet again next year, representatives from the companies involv...

'It's a good fit in every dimension,' says Del.icio.us CEO Joshua Schachter News Story by Juan Carlos Perez DECEMBER 10, 2005 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Yahoo Inc. has acquired Del.icio.us, a New York-based startup considered a pioneer in social bookmarking, a type of online service that lets users save, annotate and tag links to their favorite Web pages and share their lists with other users. Both Yahoo and Del.icio.us separately announced the deal yesterday via postings on official blogs. Financial terms were not disclosed. "Together we'll continue to improve how people discover, remember and share on the Internet, with a big emphasis on the power of community," Del.icio.us founder and CEO Joshua Schachter wrote in his company's official blog. In the official blog from the search engine unit at Yahoo, Jeremy Zawodny wrote that the Del.icio.us team will be working "in close proximity" to Flickr, ...

by Seo Ji-eun spring@joongang.co.kr > December 07, 2005 The government has established guidelines for electronic financial transactions in a bid to prevent online fraud, which has been increasing recently. The Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Information Security Agency yesterday came up with the so-called "10 commandments on electronic financial transactions" for users of Internet banking and telephone banking services. The list recommends that users refrain from storing certificates or digital credentials that have been issued by financial institutions such as banks and securities firms on the hard drives of their personal computers. The certificates should be saved in another storage area that can be connected to the computer through USB ports or smart cards, which will prevent others from accessing the security information. The agencies, which are under the aegis of the Finance Ministry and Information Ministry, respectively, say that passwords for financial...

Don't Quit When things go wrong, as they sometimes will When the road you're trudging seems all uphill When the funds are low and the debts are high And you want to smile, but you have to sigh When care is pressing you down a bit Rest, you must - but don't you quit Life is queer with its twists and turns As everyone of us sometimes learns And many a failure turns about When he might have won had he stuck it out Don't give up, though the pace seems slow You might succeed with another blow Success is failure turned inside out, the silver tint of the clouds of doubt And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit It's when things seem worst, That you MUST NOT QUIT!

For those who studied in Singapore primary schools ... Remember these? Heartwarming and a little funny... the things we used to do... 50 things for Singaporean teenagers. Sit,enjoy and think back about the past...Were you one of these? 1. You grew up watching He-man, Transformers, Silver hawk an Mickey Mouse. Not to forget, Ninja turtles and Smurfs too. 2. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in Primary school during recess time. You will squat by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brush your teeth with a coloured mug. The teachers said you must brush each side10 times too. 3. You know what's Bin(1) Fen(1) Ba (1) San(1) is all about. 4. You know what SBC stands for. 5. You were there when the first chinese serial, the Awakening was shown on TV. You know who is "Ai Yo Yo Lao Shi" 6. Internet? What the hell is that? So you thought a decade or more ago. 7. You find your friends with pagers and handphone cool in Secondary school. 8. SBS buses used to be no...

A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. Four worms were placed into four separate jars. The first worm was put into a container of alcohol. The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke. The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup. The fourth worm was put into a container of good clean soil. At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results: The first worm in alcohol - Dead. The second worm in cigarette smoke - Dead. Third worm in chocolate syrup - Dead. Fourth worm in good clean soil - Alive. So the Minister asked the congregation - What can you learn from this demonstration? A little old woman in the back quickly raised her hand and said, "As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!"

A Hooters waitress says a promised Toyota prize turned out to be a green subcompact - Yoda. ©Associated Press © St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2001 A Hooters waitress says a promised Toyota prize turned out to be a green subcompact -- Yoda. PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- Oh, what a feeling. Toy Yoda! A former Hooters waitress has sued the restaurant where she worked, saying she was promised a new Toyota for winning a beer sales contest. Instead she won a new toy Yoda -- the little green Jedi master from Star Wars. Jodee Berry, 26, then a waitress at the Hooters in Panama City Beach, won a contest to see who could sell the most beer in April. Manager Jared Blair told waitresses that the contest was a regional promotion, according to the lawsuit, and that the top 10 waitresses from each restaurant would be entered in a drawing. The person whose name was drawn would win a "new Toyota automobile," the lawsuit says Blair told them. In early May, Berry said, Blair told her she had ...

Why do we insist on using the Queen’s English? Singlish is so much more economical and effective? Compare and see! (1) Singlish vs English When going shopping... Britains : I’m sorry, Sir, but we don’t seem to have the sweater you want in your size, but if you give me a moment, I can call the other outlets for you. S’poreans: No Stock! (2) Singlish vs English When returning a call... Britains : Hello, this is Mr Bean. Did anyone page me a few moments ago? S’poreans: Hello, who page? When someone is in the way... Britains : Excuse me, I’d like to get by. Would you please make way? S’poreans: Lai, siam! Or Siam, hor! Or Skius! (3) Singlish vs English When someone offers to pay... Britains : Hey, put your wallet away, this drink is on me. S’poreans: no need lah When asking for permission... Britains : Excuse me, but do you think it would be possible for me to enter through this door? S’poreans: (while pointing at door) Can pass or Not? (4) Singlish vs English When asking to be excused... ...

Mark Townsend in Houston Sunday September 25, 2005 The Observer It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico. Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing. Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme cl...