Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Read more!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING - FROM THE COLONIES

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. For those from the land that resents Thanksgiving, have some turkey and celebrate anyway! Your currency is kicking our ass.

My husband and I have been recuperating from yesterday, pretty much all day. This is what my "holiday" looked like.

Thanksgiving Day

• Get up at 9 AM.
• Send hubby to store.
• Yard work and clean house until about 4 PM.
• Start cooking (even though did some cooking previous evening)
• Cook until 8 PM
• Menu
  Turkey
  Ham
  Stuffing (Stove Top)
  Homemade cranberry jelly (made with fresh cranberries)
  Real mashed potatoes (ie not out of a box)
  Green bean casserole with homemade cream of mushroom soup (none of that canned crap, green beans or soup)
  Rice
  Homemade cornbread (with cornmeal with germ, not out of a box)
  Bealieau Vineyard Cabernet
  and... kimchee (not my choice).
  My brother's girlfriend also made a delicious pumpkin cheesecake. Ahhh... it was so creamy and smooth. I have to get the recipe.

It turns out my brother had been playing online (no money betting) Texas Holdem Poker all day while his girlfriend Karaoke'd on their PS2 Eye Toy. He says he's in first place and wants to try to get into the World Series of Poker. I wish him the best, but I hope he doesn't lose his shirt. His girlfriend thinks it's just a phase. We'll see.

I woke up this morning oh so late. It was almost not morning. I had a sore back and feet and a mess in the kitchen. We've been working "around" the mess. I watched a little TV, played a little Age of Empires and tried calling a friend of mine to see how she's doing, but I had to leave a message. I also tried taking some photos for a project, but they all turned out looking like doggy doo. If I were shooting doggy doo, that wouldn't be a problem.

I'm actually a little concerned about my friend. She was supposed to be getting married tomorrow, but her fiancee was killed in a car crash on Labor Day weekend. She seems to be doing much better now, but I want to make sure she's okay. I hope she calls back.

Read more!

OOPS! IE DID IT AGAIN

A variant of the MyDoom virus has hit a web browser near you. The virus writers hacked into the servers of a German ad serving and email marketing company, enabling them to infect computers via web banner ads.

During a 12-hour window over the weekend, hackers broke into a load balancing server that handles ad deliveries for Germany's Falk eSolutions and successfully loaded exploit code on banner advertising served on hundreds of Web sites.

The exploit (Bofra/IFrame) takes advantage of an IE vulnerability reported to MS earlier this month. The article goes on to say that

The flaw, which does not affect IE users running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), has not yet been patched.

Well, now that puts the consumer in quite a bind, doesn't it? I posted my problems with SP2 earlier.

Falk said that under 2 percent of users were affected by the virus.

Read more!

LENSDAY - "FUNNY"

Funny Music
Originally uploaded by Rene.

Lensday - "Funny" submission

From the music to a Chopin Etude. The entire text reads, "Revised and fingered by Arthur Friedheim".

Read more!

WANNA GET LUCKY? HEAD TO THE AIRPORT

Since mid-September, the TSA has increased pat-downs and body searches of female passengers. The increased security is in response to two Russian planes that were destroyed by a terrorist attack. Russian officials believe that the act was carried out by two women with non-metallic explosives, but they do not know how the explosives got on the plane.

Female passengers have complained that the searches are humiliating. Women have been patted down, and then asked to remove their shirts, in plain view of the other passengers waiting to pass the security checkpoint. Airport security will then run their hands under the bra, pat down the groin area, etc.

Patti LuPone, the singer and actress, recalled, she was instructed to remove articles of clothing. "I took off my belt; I took off my clogs; I took off my leather jacket," she said. "But when the screener said, 'Now take off your shirt,' I hesitated. I said, 'But I'll be exposed.' " When she persisted in her complaints, she said, she was barred from her flight.

One woman referred to it as a public breast exam.

Women in the airline industry state that the numbers of complaints reported to the TSA reflect severe underreporting of the problem.

"Routinely, my breasts are being cupped, my behind is being felt," Ms. Chekowsky said. "And I feel I can't fight it. If I were to say anything, I picture myself being shipped off to Guantánamo."...

Most of the women interviewed said they did not make formal complaints, most saying that they assumed it would be futile to do so. Ms. Maurer said she and some other women she had spoken to are wary of complaining in writing, both because of the presumed futility and from fear of being singled out when they travel in the future.

"There is this thing about putting your name out there," she said. "Am I going to end up on some kind of list?"

I believe in equality for women in all aspects of life, but haven't these people heard of getting a room? If they asked a hot guy to take off his pants at the security checkpoint, yes, I may want to look, but I could understand if they got a room or a privacy screen and I had to wait. Now I have to lose weight before I hit the airport so people aren't subjected to my jelly roll.

If you want to report a problem, you can contact the TSA online, via email (TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov) or toll-free at (866) 289-9673.

Read more!

COLLEGE BALLS

Cal crushed Stanford in the Big Game yesterday, 41-6. Woohoo! Cal gets to keep The Axe for the third consecutive year. Ahhh... college. It was the best time of my life. I think most people have fond memories of college.

When my husband attended university in Kansas, one of the colleges they competed against in the area was a Christian college,Friends University of Central Kansas.

Being the smart ass that he is, he and his friends would chant, "Go F.U.C.K! Go F.U.C.K!" The alternate chants were "F.U.! F.U.!" and "I'm going to F.U.!"

They've now modified their name to just Friends University. Not nearly as interesting.

For
Unlawful
Carnal
Knowledge
in case you didn't know or don't like Van Halen.

Read more!