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This morning SpaceShipOne soared over the Mojave desert and into history as the first privately funded craft to make two flights into space within two weeks. This amazing feat won Scaled Composites, the creator of SpaceShipOne, $10 million and the convented X-Prize. A deal has already been inked with Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways, to commercialize SpaceShipOne’s technology and offer commercial suborbital space flights to the general public. The resulting company is to be called Virgin Galactic and is planned to offer flights for $200,000 starting in 2007. So, start saving your pennies because in a couple of years you can become an astronaut if you have the money.

I just finished posting pictures from last Saturday of our trip to the Kern County Fair. We had a lot of fun but it really wore us out… 3.5 hours of walking will do that.

My favorite part was the exotic animal petting zoo. I got to pet goats, a camel, some baby antelope, a deer, and Scottish Highland cattle. The baby furry cows were the best. They loved to be petted and were very soft. I have never seen such furry cows! The pictures are available in our photo album.

This posting is a shameless plea for everyone who reads this blog to go and vote for my two applications listed on GnomeFiles. If you have ever used either of my programs, which are called Gnome Blosxom and Gnome Password Generator, then go to the site and rate them. If you have never used them, then go to the site anyways and rate them a 10

Here are the direct links to my program listings:
Gnome Blosxom: Click Here
Gnome Password Generator: Click Here

Building on my last post about Firefox, there is now an even better reason to dump Microsoft Internet Explorer. According to this article on news.com, Microsoft reiterated its position that it will not fix any security problems in Internet Explorer, except the version that is in Windows XP. This means that if you run an older version of Windows, like about 200 million other people, then you are going to be forced to upgrade to Windows XP if you want to keep your computer secure. Without the security fixes, which come out on a monthly basis, your Windows 2000, Me, NT, or 98 version of software will be wide open to viruses, spyware, malware, and all sorts of other horrible problems.

I have known for years that Microsoft is an evil company but this sinks to a new low. Now they are using the rampant security problems in Internet Explorer, which is built into all versions of Windows since 98, to force their customers to upgrade to Windows XP. Many customers have chosen not to shell out the $99+ to upgrade their version of Windows because they feel that what they have works good enough. In fact, according to IDC, 49.2% of Windows users don’t currently
run Windows XP. With Microsoft’s next version of Windows not being released until sometime after 2006, it looks like Microsoft had to get ‘creative’ to find a way to get people to give them more money.

So, what should you do to protect yourself? I would start with dumping Internet Explorer and using Firefox instead. It is free, secure, and fast. But, because Internet Explorer is built into Windows, you still will be vulnerable, although by not browsing the Internet with IE you will have some protection. You should still make sure to run a virus scanner and firewall. If you really want to be secure, install Linux on your PC or go buy a Macintosh.

In the last 6 days over 1.5 million people have downloaded the Firefox web browser, so why haven’t you? This browser is the most recent in the line of Mozilla (Netscape) based web browsers and it is simply the greatest web browser in the history of the Internet. It is a wonderful replacement to the crappy Internet Explorer web browser most Windows users browse with. Firefox is much more secure, much faster at rendering pages, and includes modern features such as pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, and spyware protection.

But don’t just take my word for it. Look at what others are saying:

“Beware of spyware. If you can, use the Firefox browser.” – USA Today

“…a breath of fresh air… Microsoft should be worried.” – Forbes

“I suggest dumping Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser…” – Wall Street Journal

So, don’t wait! Install Firefox now… it is easy, fast, and 100% free. Get Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

I ran across this article on Wired that actually shows how you can open a supposedly unbreakable lock with a ballpoint pen. Having owned one of these locks in the past, it was quite a shock to see. According to the article, all you do is take the tube of the pin, cut four small slits in the top of it, and shove the tube into the lock’s cylindrical lock hole and twist. This news story has been spreading around news groups all over the Internet and surely every criminal in the country will know this knowledge soon.

I recommend taking a look at the article yourself and then go to your bike shop and get a lock not based on the “axial pin tumbler” locking mechanism. A strong chain with a combination lock would even be better, even though chains are pretty easy to cut. The vulnerable type of locks are also used for locking down laptops so you should replace those as well.

Here is the link to the Wired article: Click Here

Microsoft dropped a bomb shell on the security world today with its latest monthly security patch. This round of fixes includes a major flaw in the way Windows handles the JPEG graphics format. Most of the images you see in emails and on the Internet are JPEG files, commonly ending in “.jpg”. By just looking at an infected JPEG file this flaw can allow bad people to install viruses on your computer. That means, without the fix installed, by just opening an email with a picture or looking at a website you can become infected!

I highly recommend that everyone who is using Microsoft Windows go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and install the fix. You should also go to http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdate/ to fix this problem in Microsoft Office products.

The good news is that there isn’t a virus that takes advantage of this latest problem with Windows and other Microsoft products. But, if the past is any indication, there will be viruses released in the next month that will spread using this security problem. So, every Windows user needs to install the updates before it is too late.

Here is a good article from CNet: Click Here

Here is the link to Microsoft’s security bulletin: Click Here

Yesterday, Aliciana and I visited the California Living Museum (CALM) which is located out by Hart Park. Everyone knows that I love animals and Aliciana is quite fond of them as well, so, as you can imagine, we had a blast. There are plenty of photos of the animals we saw and of me petting the farm animals in the petting zoo. It was a hot day and you can tell from the photos that the animals sure were feeling the heat. For the first time in my life I saw a squirrel laying down. He was just sprawled out on the ground… it was a weird sight to see.