HCS’s and Gen’s Place

Dell, Lenovo to offer Windows XP beyond June 30 cutoff
Is there any way to get Windows XP after June 30th? Customers may continue to get Windows XP Professional by exercising Downgrade Rights that come with Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate licenses. Dell has the ability to exercise “Windows Vista downgrade rights” on your behalf in the factory if your business is still reliant upon Windows XP and you’d prefer to have Windows XP Professional preinstalled on your PCs.

Users must select either “Genuine Windows® Vista Business BONUS” or “Genuine Windows® Vista Ultimate BONUS,” for Dell to install Windows XP Professional. The computer will ship with a backup media disc for Windows XP Professional, as well as the media for Windows Vista for upgrade purposes (since the computer is licensed for that OS as well). Dell will provide technical support for both operating systems.

There you have it.  You can still get xp Professional through this workaround.  Now there is no need to worry about being forced to run Vista..at least until MIcrosoft kills downgrade rights.

AVG has come out with a new version of their free software.  it includes not only free anti-virus but also free anti-spyware and anti-phising.  While i did not install the toolbar that comes in the installation you can if you would like.  You can get the latest version at this link.

I have been listening to the RSA 2008 security conference. I have learned quite a bit but the funniest thing i heard was during the “Hugh Thompson Show”. He was interviewing Bill Cheswick and Bill mentioned this new type of attack. Enjoy!!

New Security Attack

*UPDATE* at the end he has his band make up a song on the fly.  I’ll call it sqlinjection..:)

SQL Injection

Mothers from polygamous sect separated from young children|ABC 7 News
Authorities are investigating whether the call that prompted the raid came from a woman in Colorado who has a history of making fake calls to authorities. The purported 16-year-old caller has not been identified, but state child welfare officials say their investigation has uncovered evidence of abuse and that they responded to the call in good faith.

this quote says volumes.  This particular story leaves some serious details about the caller out.  A british newspaper has the gory details:

An arrest warrant affidavit has been made public showing the phone number used to make calls to the crisis centre, a Texas branch of the Phoenix-based Child Protection Project, was previously used by Rozita Swinton, of Colorado Springs.

According to the affidavit, Swinton, 33, is accused of posing as a teenager to make false reports in a February case in Colorado Springs unrelated to the Texas raid.

In this case, a woman calling herself “Jennifer” rang 911 from the same mobile number, claiming her father had locked her in her basement for days.

She was arrested on April 16 in relation to this case and later released.

Flora Jessop, executive director of the Child Protection Project, which helps girls and women fleeing polygamous communities, said she had been talking to Swinton since the end of March. She told the Associated Press she had recorded nearly 40 hours of conversation with Swinton, who said her name was Laura.

“She claimed to be the twin sister of Sarah, who made the initial call in Texas,” Mrs Jessop said.

While Swinton got most of the details of the sect right, she also made a few mistakes that raised suspicions, such as calling her parents “Mum” and “Dad” instead of “Mother” and “Father” as the FLDS do, Mrs Jessop said.

Swinton was previously arrested in Castle Rock, Colorado, in 2005 after she contacted an adoption center, claiming to be a 16-year-old name Jessica who was suicidal after giving birth.

Child welfare workers in Texas say their investigation into practices at the ranch has uncovered evidence of abuse such as the marrying of underage girls to much older men. The sect has denied the claims.

 This is pretty cut and dry.  This is a known hoaxster who perpetrated a hoax.  The Texas authorities have removed all of these children on the basis of a lie.  In any competent legal court this would be grounds for immediate dismissal of all charges and the children should be returned.

U.K. unveils a $100 billion credit crunch plan - World business- msnbc.com
The Bank of England, aiming to deal with the crippling impact of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, on Monday announced a $100 billion plan to allow banks to swap mortgage-backed securities for British Treasury bills.

So the UK’s central bank is going to do the same thing our Fed is doing. Inflation is going to get out of control as the central banks will have to print money out of thin air to cover these bad debts they are taking on.

The day the financial world almost ended
“Yes, we bailed out the economy,” said Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in Senate testimony on Thursday, referring to the Fed’s role in responding to the Bear Sterns collapse. But since when is it the Fed’s job to authorize spending taxpayer money, which violates the long-standing separation between Fed and Treasury duties?

I hve to agree here.  The Fed did not bail out the US economy though..it has set things up to be much worse.  Bear could have failed and that would have been absorbed..however now with the Fed holding billions in bad mortgages on it’s own things are going to get worse before they get any better.

Lst night i woke up literally unable to breathe. It’s a terrifying prospect to face the fact you are suffocating and you are conscious while doing so. I had no idea why. I was stuck upstairs with no phone and my wife was sleeping downstairs. I wouldn’t call out as that would use what precious air i had. Luckily my throat loosed up enough after a minute or so(it felt like an eternity) so i could at least get enough air through to call. She came running upstairs but by that time the attack had passed. It was hard to breathe but i could so i did not call the ambulance(out ambulance service isn’t that reliable anyways). I’m no big fan of doctors(i distrust them actually) but this prompted me to head straight to the doctor. The following morning i made an appointment to see my doctor. The diagnosis: asthma.

It turns out i have some risk factors: Post nasal drip, hay fever, overweight, and i used to smoke a pack a day or more for 10 years. Mine is chronic but not severe. The fact i could gasp makes it a less severe form than the life threating one some have. I still have to keep an inhaler with me though. I will now always have my inhaler and my cellphone(or a phone nearby) in case i have issues. This also means we have to change how we live. The Lord has blessed me with a wife who is amazing at doing research online. I’m sure within hours we’ll already have enough information about my disease that we’ll be able to come up with a good game plan really quickly. I am alive though. The hard part is going to be training myself mentally to slow my breathing down so i can hit the inhaler while having this feeling of suffocating. Luckily i can still work my business and my summer job as well..:)