Author: luken7

Windows Vista, Microsoft most secure OS, is hackable by a mouse cursor file ??? Oh yeah, I can hear it now, my mouse killed my OS.

Attacks on Windows flaw increase Hackers stepped up attacks Friday on computers running some versions of Windows, a day after Microsoft disclosed a hole related to the mouse cursor. Microsoft Corp. sent out a security advisory Thursday warning customers that a vulnerability in ".ani" files — used to change the cursor into an hourglass while a program works, or into a dancing animal or other animation on specially designed Web sites — was allowing hackers to break into computers and install malicious software. "Overnight we did see the attacks change from limited and targeted attacks to slightly more, but do still categorize it as a limited attack," said Mark Miller, director of the software maker’s security response group. The so-called zero-day attack, a vulnerability that is discovered before Microsoft has a chance to fix the problem, is aimed at PCs running Windows Vista, the new operating system that the company has touted as its most secure. The hole has also been found on Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 2 and some versions of Windows Server 2003.

No words…just watch ….
Listening Post – Wired News Video: Has Karl Rove Lost His Mind?

Circuit City Cuts Wages to Juice Profits Circuit City Stores (CC) said Mar. 28 that it’s planning to lay off around 3,400 store employees – but only to hire them again at lower wages. The Richmond, (Va.) consumer electronics retailer will also outsource its information technology department and possibly sell its Canadian unit InterTAN, in an effort to manage costs and survive better in its battles against rivals. Circuit City is hoping to cut its expenses by around $110 million during fiscal 2008 and at least $140 million beginning in fiscal 2009. "We are taking a number of aggressive actions to improve our cost and expense structure, which will better position us for improved and sustainable returns in today’s marketplace," said CEO Philip J. Schoonover in a press release Mar. 28.

Whenever profits fall, what’s the first thing to do? Business 101, aka "The CEO’s Pocket Guide to Better Earnings" dictates that the fastest way is to cut headcount and salaries. Definitely a short-term win. But let’s look at this some more. Why don’t people go to Circuit City? Their return policy is not as good as Best Buy’s, their stores are small and unorganized, and frankly, the service and attitude wasn’t really there by the sales staff. So Circuit City will gain in the short term, but what do you think will happen past mid-2008? Just get worse because if the service was what it was today, imagine what it will be like with lower paid employees…

Circuit City also hired Goldman Sachs for financial advice on what to do with and whether to sell its unit InterTAN, an Ontario consumer electronics retailer that had been acquired in 2004 for around $284 million.

I think Circuit City should also retain Goldman Sachs for more advice as to the sale of the company to a private equity firm that can really turn it around. Don’t worry, I’m sure the CEO, the board, and the executives will fair very well with their exit packages, for doing such a wonderful job in leading the company…

Don’t even know where to start with this one. So apparently there’s a connection with eating lots of beef with chemical and hormones and low sperm count in children of the mothers who ate the beef. Now…although it’s banned in Europe, the US still allows all kinds of stuff in beef…because the FDA says it’s safe, or at least that’s what Monsanto says anyway.

So will the US follow Europe’s lead and ban the other items placed in beef? Of course not, there’s a new economic opportunity here for pharmaceuticals to create drugs to raise sperm count.  Marriage  made in heaven. 

Scientists have produced evidence to suggest that Europe was right to ban the beef industry from using growth promoters to increase yield.

A US study has linked use of the chemicals to damage to human sperm.

The University of Rochester found men whose mothers ate a lot of beef during pregnancy had lower sperm counts.

The Human Reproduction study found they were three times more likely to have a sperm count so low they could be classified as sub-fertile.

The use of growth promoting chemicals was banned in Europe in 1988.

But although the US banned the use of some growth promoters in 1979, others, such as the sex hormones testosterone and progesterone, are still in use in the beef industry.

The Rochester team examined sperm counts among US men born between 1949 and 1983.

They found those whose mothers ate more than seven beef meals a week had an average sperm concentration of 43.1 million sperm per millimetre of seminal fluid.

In contrast, the sons of mothers who ate less beef had an average of 56.9 million sperm.

I guess you can’t apply Reaganomics to every aspect of your business….It didn’t work for the country back then and I guess it didn’t work for him directly today either.

‘Reaganomics’ pioneer faces jail term for fraud – Independent Online Edition > Americas Once he was the poster child of "Reaganomics", the workaholic whizz-kid who masterminded the trickle-down, supply side economic revolution launched by the 40th US President, before he spectacularly fell into disgrace with his boss. Now, however, David Stockman risks a far greater disgrace: conviction and a prison term for fraud, false accounting and obstruction of justice in the downfall of the car components company he ran before it went bankrupt in 2005. That strange circle was completed on Monday as Mr Stockman, 60,and three fellow defendants surrendered to a federal court in Manhattan. There, they entered not-guilty pleas to charges that carry a maximum of 30 years in jail. The alleged offences relate to the management of Collins & Aikman, which was acquired in 2001 by Heartland Industrial Partners, a private equity firm founded by Mr Stockman. Four years later, Collins & Aikman went bankrupt, brought down, as Mr Stockman claims, by the larger crisis engulfing the Detroit car-makers that were its prime clients.

Yup, The Penguin is at it again. Fresh off yet another hospital visit, he’s flapping off at the gums about Dems not supporting the troops. If you’re interested in what it means to really support the troops. please see my previous post about troop support.

Cheney says House doesn’t support troops – Yahoo! News Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday accused the Democrat-led House of not supporting troops in Iraq and of sending a message to terrorists that America will retreat in the face danger. "They’re not supporting the troops. They’re undermining them," Cheney told a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition at the oceanside Ritz-Carlton hotel in Manalapan, Fla., about 60 miles north of Miami.

Yup..guaranteed that in America, nothing like this would ever take place. No formal apology, no recognition of the damage done, and definitely nothing from the extreme right "Christian" community. YOu would never hear our president comment on this, out of fear of loosing is god loving religious support. But what can you expect anyway, we’re big on talking about values, just short on doing anything.

BBC NEWS | UK | Archbishops lead slave trade walk The Archbishops of Canterbury and York led a procession through London to mark the 200th anniversary of Britain’s abolition of the slave trade. Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu were joined by foreign dignitaries and leaders of other churches for the Walk of Witness. Dr Williams said it was a way Anglicans could try to heal "historic injustices inflicted in the name of the Church". Last year the Church of England made a formal apology for its role in slavery. The Church held slaves on plantations in the Caribbean. An amendment "recognising the damage done" to those enslaved was backed overwhelmingly by the General Synod in February 2006.

So while I’m listening to the Diane Rehm show, and interesting point comes up. The majority of democrats have only been married once, and have children. A larger quantity of Republicans have had several marriages and broken families. So, which party talks about family values and which party lives family values. Jut look at the current presidential candidates from both parties, and tally up the marriages, and the marriages of their spouses.

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I wonder if it’s directly proportional to the amount of layoffs since that’s the new gold standard in generating revenue. no longer is growing a company the standard. But then again, when you’re the chairman of the board, who’s going to not endorse  your paycheck?

Verizon chief’s pay valued at $20.2M in ’06 – USATODAY.com NEW YORK — Verizon Communications (VZ) Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg received total compensation valued at $20.2 million last year, the telecommunications company reported Monday in a regulatory filing. Seidenberg was paid $2,100,000 million in salary and $4,252,500 in non-equity incentive compensation during the year. He also received $13,125,018 worth of ‘stock awards and $734,400 worth of perks, the company estimated in its annual proxy statement. The compensation was received during a year in which Verizon’s stock rebounded strongly after a dismal performance in 2005. Verizon’s shares rose 24% during 2006, or nearly 35% including the spinoff to shareholders of stock in the company’s phone book and directory listings business. The perks received by Seidenberg, 60, included $177,000 worth of personal use of a corporate jet, $311,000 in deferred compensation, and a $218,000 contribution to a bonus life insurance plan. The $13.1 million restricted stock award was valued using Verizon’s average share price on the grant date, March 3, 2006. The payout could be lower or, if certain goals are met, substantially higher.

Christian right at crossroads – USATODAY.com According to national exit polling, white evangelicals or born-again Christians were about one-quarter of the electorate in 2004. Nearly 80% voted for Bush.  See what happens when you stand in the middle of the street?