Chuckz Blog II

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/july/34.30.html?start=5

A MUST read article!

From pages 3 and 4:

“The thrust of the pro-gay-marriage argument rests on the assumption that the happiness of the individual is paramount, and that the state’s responsibility is to protect the rights of individuals to pursue whatever they think will make them happy, as long as no one gets hurt. The irony of radical individualism is that it will eventually hurt somebody. In practice, the happiness of one individual always runs into the happiness of another, and then only the strong survive….

“Evangelicals are sensitive to this reality, but are less aware of how much we proactively participate in the culture of individualism. . . .  In essence, we have already redefined marriage as an institution designed for personal happiness.”

Read on at >>
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/july/34.30.html?start=5

Bookmark It at...

Hide Sites

Greetings!

If your one of the faithful few who check this web log from time to time in hopes of finding something new, you may be wondering what’s become of me.

Truth be told, since getting on Facebook, I just don’t seem to have time to maintain a weblog. Most of the content that I used to post in the weblog is now winding up on my wall in Facebook.

Now, if you don’t do Facebook, and don’t even WANT to do Facebook, that’s fine. However, if you’re already signed up,  you can read my postings (musings interesting web sites, quirky stuff, etc.)  by clicking on over to http://www.facebook.com/chuckzface to view my wall. (It’s a new feature!)

So, give it a try….and don’t give up hope! I still DO post stuff on ChuckzBlog 2 form time to time…just not as frequently!

Chuck

Bookmark It at...

Hide Sites

http://www.walletpop.com/specials/top-25-things-vanishing-from-america

Going, Going, Gone?

The landscape of America is constantly changing. As culture shifts and new technologies and products are introduced, this is to be expected. But some things are impacted more than others and the once-ubiquitous can even become extinct.
For the second time, WalletPop takes a look at 25 such things that are quickly disappearing from our country. From maple syrup to Catholic schools to newspapers, we count down 25 more things you may not be able to find in the U.S. for very much longer.

Bookmark It at...

Hide Sites

Man Up, Christians
Resisting the health and longevity gospel.
Mark Galli | posted 3/26/2009 09:34AM

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/marchweb-only/112-41.0.html

“Food” for thought! — Chuck

Excerpt >>>

“A week ago, the Los Angeles Times reported that a new study shows that "terminally ill cancer patients were nearly three times more likely to go on breathing machines or receive other invasive treatments if religion was an important part of their decision-making process." This was true even though such treatments didn’t improve a person’s long-term chances.

“In other words, it was the most religious who seemed to want to hang on to life the hardest, no matter the prospects.”

Bookmark It at...

Hide Sites

News & Notes from the OpenDNS team

Worried about Conficker on April 1? Setting up OpenDNS can protect your network.

by David Ulevitch on Mar 30th, 2009

By now you’ve likely heard the speculation that April 1, April Fools Day, is the date Conficker kicks into action. And unfortunately this isn’t a joke. The virus, also known as Downadup, leverages a known vulnerability in the Windows OS and has the potential to do some serious damage. Some estimates for number of machines infected so far are as high as 15 million. The Internet is abuzz with news about the virus and predictions about what it will do.

As your DNS provider of choice, we’re in a unique and advantageous position to help keep our users safe. OpenDNS has kept our users safe from Conficker for the past several months by blocking the domains it uses to phone home. (We’ve seen lots of you start using our service to protect your networks from the worm.)

The latest variant of Conficker is now churning through 50,000 domains per day in an attempt to thwart blocking attempts. Consider this: at any given time we have filters that hold well over 1,000,000 domains (when you combine our phishing and domain tagging filters). 50,000 domains a day isn’t going to rock the boat.

So here’s our update: OpenDNS will continue to identify the domains, all 50,000, and block them from resolving for all OpenDNS users. This means even if the virus has penetrated machines on your network, its rendered useless because it cannot connect back to the botnet. If you want to disinfect your computer we recommend you check out the tools from our friends over at Kaspersky Lab.

If you’re already using OpenDNS, you’re all set. We’re protecting you automatically. If you’re not yet, simply set up a free account here and secure your network.

Bookmark It at...

Hide Sites

                    National Cyber Alert System

                  Cyber Security Alert SA09-088A

Conficker Worm Targets Microsoft Windows Systems

   Original release date: March 29, 2009
   Last revised: March 30, 2009
   Source: US-CERT

Systems Affected

     * Microsoft Windows

Overview

   US-CERT is aware of public reports indicating a widespread
   infection of the Conficker/Downadup worm, which can infect a
   Microsoft Windows system from a thumb drive, a network share, or
   directly across a corporate network, if the network servers are not
   patched with the MS08-067 patch from Microsoft.

Solution

   Instructions, support and more information on how to manually
   remove a Conficker/Downadup infection from a system have been
   published by major security vendors.  Please see below for a few of
   those sites. Each of these vendors offers free tools that can
   verify the presence of a Conficker/Downadup infection and remove
   the worm:

   Symantec:
http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-011316-0247-99

   Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/worms/conficker.mspx

   Microsoft PC Safety hotline at 1-866-PCSAFETY, for assistance.

   US-CERT encourages users to prevent a Conficker/Downadup infection by
   ensuring all systems have the MS08-067 patch (see
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx),
   disabling AutoRun functionality (see
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-020A.html), and
   maintaining up-to-date anti-virus software.

Description

   Home users can apply a simple test for the presence of a
   Conficker/Downadup infection on their home computers.  The presence
   of a Conficker/Downadup infection may be detected if a user is
   unable to surf to their security solution website or if they are
   unable to connect to the websites, by downloading detection/removal
   tools available free from those sites:
   * http://www.symantec.com/norton/theme.jsp?themeid=conficker_worm&inid=us_ghp_link_conficker_worm
   * http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/worms/conficker.mspx
   * http://www.mcafee.com
   If a user is unable to reach any of these websites, it may indicate
   a Conficker/Downadup infection.  The most recent variant of
   Conficker/Downadup interferes with queries for these sites,
   preventing a user from visiting them.  If a Conficker/Downadup
   infection is suspected, the system or computer should be removed
   from the network or unplugged from the Internet - in the case for
   home users.

References

* Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool -
   <http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AD724AE0-E72D-4F54-9AB3-75B8EB148356>

* Microsoft Updates Website -
   <http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/>

* US-CERT Technical Cyber Security Alert TA09-088A -
   <http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-088A.html>

* Virus alert about the Win32/Conficker.B worm -
   <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/962007>

* The Conficker Worm -
   <http://www.symantec.com/norton/theme.jsp?themeid=conficker_worm>

* W32/Conficker.worm -
   <http://us.mcafee.com/root/campaign.asp?cid=54857>

* Microsoft Automatic Updates -
   <http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/windowsupdate/automaticupdate.mspx>

____________________________________________________________________

   The most recent version of this document can be found at:

     <http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/alerts/SA09-088A.html>
____________________________________________________________________

   Feedback can be directed to US-CERT Technical Staff. Please send
   email to <cert@cert.org> with "SA09-088A Feedback VU#827267" in
   the subject.
____________________________________________________________________

   For instructions on subscribing to or unsubscribing from this
   mailing list, visit <http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/signup.html>.
____________________________________________________________________

   Produced 2009 by US-CERT, a government organization.

   Terms of use:

     <http://www.us-cert.gov/legal.html>
____________________________________________________________________

Revision History
  March 29, 2009: Initial release
  March 30, 2009: Included additional details

Bookmark It at...

Hide Sites

Original page >> The April Fool’s Day Trick Your Computer Might Play On You

The April Fool’s Day Trick Your Computer Might Play On You

03-24-2009 09:29 AM

By Marian Merritt (marianmerritt)

Like a city besieged by a wannabe criminal announcing his next act, the cybersecurity industry is in a wait and see mode to see what the Conficker worm (also known as Downadup) will deliver on April Fool’s Day. 

Security researchers are monitoring this latest viral scourge and estimate between 5 and 10 million computers are already infected. But as with many modern Trojans or "bots", most people won’t even know they are infected. The way your computer "might" be infected is via Windows operating system vulnerabilities. For those global customers using pirated or illegal copies of Windows software, this is your wakeup call to get on board and use the "right stuff." One of the things this software does is disable your computer’s ability to get updates from Microsoft. You should check to make sure you are receiving the latest patches and updates.

Most consumers get enormously frustrated by reports of these widespread virus and malicious threats.

"Who created this?" and "What is their motivation?" are the first questions I hear. Usually the next question is "Will they get caught?" While we don’t yet know who is behind this, there is more possibility we’ll nab the bad guys/girls because a group of cybersecurity researchers are banding together on this one, motivated by a $250,000 bounty offered by Microsoft Corporation.

What’s also frustrating is though the researchers can tell the software will act on April 1 (that’s called the "payload") it’s anyone’s guess as to what the software will actually do. It has the ability to take command from a remote controller or "master" and the range of harm could be a full wipe of the victim’s computer or interruption of normal activities to installing spy software that monitors keystrokes. We may get our best clue at possible intentions from looking at previous versions of this scourge.

Considering the payload of earlier variations of Conficker (this new one is called variant "C"), it’s possible that on April 1^st victims will be seeing pop-up messages and alerts encouraging them to purchase fake antivirus spyware with unusual names like "XP AntiVirus". That implies the primary motivation for Conficker is to make money by selling this fake software.

Smart computer users can stay away from this criminal April Fool’s joke by checking their computer’s updates, using strong security software (and keeping that up-to-date) and not falling for "too good to be true" offers for the latest security software from vendors you’ve never heard of.  It’s also a best practice to run your backup program today to make sure April 1^st doesn’t become the day you realized your taxes wouldn’t be done in time because your computer got fried by a worm.

Bookmark It at...

Hide Sites

The Cross

Bookmark It at...

Hide Sites

It seems that there WILL be an upgrade license available for XP users…just NOT a direct upgrade path. (Can’t install “over the top”.)

Note that this argument is not about licensing or cost. Microsoft will provide an upgrade license for XP users. You’re not going to have to pay the full version price to upgrade from XP to Win 7. But (unless they change their minds in response to customer demand between now and the final) you will need to either upgrade to Vista SP1 first (which seems like an unnecessarily complicated and expensive process) or wipe the drive and install a fresh copy of Windows 7. Here’s confirmation that there will be an upgrade license for XP:
http://www.wxpnews.com/090310-Win7-Upgrade

Windows XP Security News: Should Microsoft provide an XP to Windows 7 Upgrade Path? - WXPNews

Bookmark It at...

Hide Sites