Prime Minister To Meet With The Dalai Lama

The Gaden Tangka Of Tibet ( Coinage And History Series)

This is part of an ongoing series about coinage and history. I thought since the 14Th Dalai Lama will be visiting Canada soon it might be interesting to see a Coin from Tibet.

The coin pictured above is from 1880-1894 the following below is a description for this coin type.

Gaden Tanka Circa 1880-1894 All Classes Have the following types:

Obverse: Stylised Lotus design within circle surrounded by the eight Buddhist lucky symbols in radiating petals.

Reverse: Eight petalled flower within star surrounded by inscription broken up into eight oval frames. Inscription in Tibetan reads as: "Ga-den Pho-dang chhog-le rnam-gyal" The Golden Palace Victorious on all sides.

This Gaden Tangka I believe to be a Class B Type IV using Rhodes Classification system.

This coin is from the time of the 13Th Dali Lama a brief biography follows below in an attempt to put the coin into an historical perspective.

Thubten Gyatso (born February 12, 1876; died December 17, 1933) was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet. He was an intelligent reformer who proved himself a skillful politician when Tibet became a pawn in the great game between Imperial Russia, China, and the British Empire. He was responsible for countering the British expedition to Tibet, restoring discipline in monastic life, and increasing the number of lay officials to avoid excessive power being placed in the hands of the monks.

Legislation was introduced to counter corruption among officials, a national taxation system was established, and a police force was created. As a result of his contacts with foreign powers and their representatives (e.g., Pyotr Kozlov and Gustaf Mannerheim), the Dalai Lama showed an interest in world affairs and introduced electricity, the telephone and the first motor car to Tibet. Nonetheless, at the end of his life in 1933, he saw that Tibet was about to enter a dark age.

The 13th Dalai Lama predicted before dying:

"Very soon in this land (with a harmonious blend of religion and politics) deceptive acts may occur from without and within. At that time, if we do not dare to protect our territory, our spiritual personalities including the Victorious Father and Son (Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama) may be exterminated without trace, the property and authority of our Lakangs (residences of reincarnated lamas) and monks may be taken away. Moreover, our political system, developed by the Three Great Dharma Kings (Tri Songtsen Gampo, Tri Songdetsen and Tri Ralpachen) will vanish without anything remaining. The property of all people, high and low, will be seized and the people forced to become slaves. All living beings will have to endure endless days of suffering and will be stricken with fear. Such a time will come."

Furthermore, the 13th Dalai Lama went on to predict the invasion of Tibet and announced that he would die early, in order that his successor would be old enough to act as a leader for the Tibetan people at the time of this invasion. He died several months later.

I hope you find this interesting please let me know what you think any feedback would be great.

Microsoft addresses new reports of forced Windows updates and reboots

This seems to be an ongoing story that keeps changing as Microsoft seems to be trying to spin it it, maybe I'm just dense, but what part of no does Microsoft not understand? To make it plain and simple no means no and whatever way Microsoft wants to spin it people still have the right to choose what they want updated or not updated. Microsoft can spin it any way they want, either way they have broken peoples trust, and I think most people will see that. Microsoft spin away, how stupid do you really think people are?

Microsoft has posted a long and complex explanation to its Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) blog, explaining the latest case of why software updates are being pushed to users who believe they've turned automatic updating off. Here's the abridged version of what the Redmondians said.

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The Ontario Election The Day After The Vote

Well the official count is in and the Liberals won a majority government the first one back to back in over seventy years. This gives the government a clear mandate to start working on the issues like health care, taxes, infrastructure and education.

It should be interesting though as those issues were overshadowed in the election because of the debate on faith based schools. John Tory really put his foot in his mouth on that one and killed any chance of seeing a minority government or even a Conservative majority.

I suspect John Tory will not be around for long, as he did not even win a seat in Parliament, that's not a good thing when you are the leader of a party. This though I think will open up the doors for the more extreme member's of his party. So we will probably see an surge for new leadership from the neo-conservatives in the party, and a an attempt by them to move back to those policy's that were so popular under The Harris regime. This is not a good thing.

Dalton McGuinty's majority government has it's work cut out for it as voters have either forgotten all his broken promises from the last election or they have become so cynical that they no longer care. Thias could be a possibility as we saw the lowest turnout for an election ever at only Fifty Percent of eligible voters.

The Liberals this time around though will have no one to blame for their woes, this time they can't claim they did not know what the debt is or use all the other excuses they made to explain away why they could not keep their promises. This time around it's all on their heads, remember everyone you get the government you deserve in the end.

The Ontario Election

Hmm, what to say it looks like the Liberals won a majority government with probably at least 70 seats in Provincial Parliment Giving them a strong majority. I'm completly disgusted, it seems like everyone forgot all the broken promises and lies, I guess in the end you get the government you deserve and if voters are that stupid, well they are going to get what they deserve for at least four more years, hope you enjoy it.

The Storm A Minimalist Production

The Storm A Minimalist Production By R.Mac. This is my first short film let me know what your thoughts and impressions are.


If you would like to use my Film for Derivative Works or other use please contact me for permision. I can also provide Higher resolution if needed.




This
work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Licence.

Village People and Sen. Craig: A Real Toe-Tapper!

From Crackle: Sen. Craig's New Music Video

George V (6 May 1910 - 20 January 1936)

This is a shilling of George V Spink 4013 and is part of the ongoing series of Coinage and History. I hope you find it interesting.

HOUSE OF WINDSOR Formally Known As The House Of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

George V (6 May 1910 - 20 January 1936) - born 3rd June 1865 - one marriage with five offspring

Second son of Edward VII, George Duke of York was a fine naval officer and pushed his career until the death of his elder brother Albert made him heir to the throne. He married Mary of Teck in 1893 who bore him four sons and one daughter. George saw Britain through the crises of World War I and even visited the front, one occasion at which he broke his pelvis after falling from his horse, the injury would pain him for the rest of his life.

George suffered badly from Bronchitis in the early thirties and spent a lot of time in Bognor on the south coast of Britain to take in the good air, and henceforth the town has been known as Bognor Regis. The King was still in ill health by the time of his Silver Jubilee in 1935, and it was bronchitis that eventually killed him in January 1936 aged 70.


Under George V's reign paper money was issued by the treasury to replace internal gold usage though branch mints remained open at Australia and South Africa continued striking Sovereigns until 1930 to 1932. The steep rise in silver prices at around 1919-1920 led to the issue standard of .925 silver being discontinued and coins of .500 silver were minted.

In 1918 as half sovereigns were not being minted farthings were issued with the ordinary bronze finish. Crown pieces had not been issued for awhile for general circulation but were struck in a small number around the Holidays for people to give as gifts. There was also a special commemorative crown issued in 1935 using an Art Deco design of George and The Dragon to celebrate George V's Silver Jubilee and is sometime affectionately called the Rocking Horse crown, because George V died on January 20Th it is most likely that coins dated 1936 were struck under Edward VIII.

Confirmation of stealth Windows Update

Yes, Microsoft is screwing with your system behind your back! This is very interesting and Windows has a lot of explaining to do. They have no right to play with your computer without your permision, shame on Microsoft for violating peoples trust.

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9/11 Six years

Its hard to believe that six years have passed since that fateful day on September 11Th 2001. As I look back on that day I can't help but think that this is my generations Pearl Harbour or the Kennedy assassination. I think it's a part of History where everyone remembers what they were doing that day, I know I remember. If you are able too light a candle and think about those who lost their lives on that day they deserve to be remembered.

Strange News Strange Days

I thought it might be nice to add a new feature. As offten as I can I thought it might be interesting to show some strange news stories. Let me know what you think and if you would enjoy this.

Coin May Revolutionize British History

I know this is probably old news, but I thought people might be interested in it just in case they did not see it.

Pills D & A

Pills D & A
Originally uploaded by Night Vision--IntaglioSunSet

This is a More personal photo from my Experiments In Photography series. I do think though that it can have many meanings for people. I'm looking forward to your thoughts and responses let me know what you think.

Thoughts

This is a concept I have been thinking about lately. Can everything be explained by mathematics to the point that nothing is truly random or chaotic in existence? What are your thoughts and ideas? I'm still working mine out.

Experiments in Photography Name Me II

This is a on going photo series I'm doing called Experiments in Photography. I'm trying to play with textures,light and perspectives. I have all ways been creative in one form or another. I finally decided it was time to see if some of my work would appeal too others, so I decided to take the chance and start showing some of my work. My subject matter can vary quite a bit and I have a few on going projects, I hope you stay along for the ride and any feedback and support is appreciated. Best Regards, R.Mac

P.S. This Photo needs a name submit one if you like in the comments section

10th Century Viking Hoard Found ( Part II)

10th Century Viking Hoard Found

I thought people might be interested in this story if they have not all
ready heard about it on the news. I hope you enjoy it and find it as
interesting as I do. I can't wait to see some images of the new coin
types. The obove picture shows the hoard find but not individual coins the picture is from the British Musuem via AP

The most important Viking treasures to be discovered in Britain for 150 years have been unearthed by a father and son while metal detecting in North Yorkshire.

David and Andrew Whelan uncovered the hoard, which dates back to the 10th century, in Harrogate. The British Museum said yesterday that the treasures were of global significance and could shed new light on the period.

Andrew Whelan, 35, said it had initially felt like an unlucky day when they drove out to the countryside with their metal detectors one Saturday morning in January.

He and his father, 65, had been turned away from two farms and had had a squabble before reluctantly visiting a field as a "last resort" because they had only ever discovered buttons there.

The pair then unearthed a bundle which included 617 silver coins, a gold arm-ring and a gilt silver vessel so rare it is only the second of its kind ever to be found in Britain, and is among six or seven in Europe.

Mr Whelan Jnr, who has been metal detecting for six years, said it quickly became apparent they had stumbled upon an extraordinary find.

"My father got a strong signal and a cup tumbled out after a couple of scoops of earth. There was a coin sat on top of this bundle. We knew then it was something big and we were shaking with excitement as we lifted it out," he said.

After transporting the hoard to their home, they left it on their kitchen counter while they went to report it to their local finds liaison officer in Leeds. It was transferred to the British Museum where conservators carefully examined each item over months.

It is thought that the treasure was buried for safekeeping by a wealthy Viking leader during the unrest that followed the conquest of the Viking kingdom of Northumbria in AD 927 by the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstan (924-39).

One of the coins, which bears the Latin inscription, Rex Tiotius Britanniae, dating to 927, is the earliest indication of Britain being under one ruler, at a time when the country was split between Viking and Anglo-Saxon control. The medieval objects were found to have come from Afghanistan, Russia, Scandinavia and continental Europe.

The gilt vessel, made in France in the first half of the ninth century, has roundels inscribed with seven animals around it, and was believed to have been intended for use in church services. It was probably looted from a monastery by Vikings or given to them in tribute.

Most of the smaller objects were hidden inside the vessel. The coins included several new and rare types, suggesting that there were more mints in the country than previously thought.

The coroner, Geoff Fell, declared the hoard as a treasure, at a court hearing in Harrogate. "Treasure cases are always interesting, but this is one of the most exciting cases that I have ever had to rule on. I'm delighted that such an important Viking hoard has been discovered in North Yorkshire. We are extremely proud of our Viking heritage in this area," he said.

Margaret Hodge, the Culture minister, added: "Finds such as this are invaluable in teaching us about our history. I commend David and Andrew Whelan for their prompt and responsible reporting of this hugely significant find, which will enrich our understanding of the Vikings."

The hoard will be valued and then the British Museum and York Museum Trust plan to appeal to the Heritage Lottery Fund for its acquisition so they can exhibit it.

The Vikings in Britain

* In the year 793, Viking pirate raiders sailed across the North Sea to attack a Christian monastery at Lindisfarne in north-east England and pillage the surrounding area. Viking raids spread across Britain soon afterwards.

* In 865, a huge army of Danish Vikings invaded England. The fighting went on for several years.

* Vikings conquered all of northern, central and eastern England, and seized much of the land for their own farms. They called the area The Danelaw.

* In the ninth century, Norwegian Vikings sailed to northern and western Scotland and seized land. They also settled on the Isle of Man and Wales.

The tension between Google and ebay

This is very interesting I think and really brings into question when is E-Bay and Paypal going to be seen as a Monopoly in my opinion, as they herd their client's into a one payment option or you lose your fraud protection with them.

I’ve been watching with great curiousity the, ummm, tension between Google and ebay with great interest.Who hasn’t?



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Spain sues over shipwreck booty - coins could be worth $500 million!

The Spanish government said Thursday it has filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court against an American treasure-hunting firm over a shipwreck the company has found laden with a colonial-era booty.If the vessel was Spanish or was removed from Spanish waters, any treasure would belong to Spain, Spain says.



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A Review By Any Other Name

I have noticed lately that there seems to be a growing trend with Blog review sites though with a twist. They want you to pay them for the review, so far the price range I have seen was from 40USD to 500USD.

This poses an interesting question when is a review not a review? In my opinion when you pay for it, the review becomes something else, and that's called an advertisement unless it is disclosed in the review that it has been payed for by the owner, I just don't see a way around it not being biased. So let me know what are your thoughts on this trend?

Area 419 Sorry the Number You Have Dialed is Not In Service Please Try Again (An Old Scam) Part Two

Since it's Friday and the weekend is upon us I thought I would end off the week with a laugh. Here is another one of those 419 scams, as I get them I will post them here so people can see them and have an idea of what they are like. I'm still surprised that people fall for these things. I really Liked " The armed Rubbers" part in the response it's great for a chuckle or two.

From Miss Blessing Soke
Bp ave 6 Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire
Email :blessingsoke1@yahoo.fr

Pls do response via this email address : blessingsoke1@yahoo.fr

Dear one,

It is my pleasure to contact you for a business venture which I intend to establish in your country for our mutual benefits hence I write with due respect .

I am Blessing Soke and I inherited an important sum of money from my late father who was killed by the rebels in northern part of the country in a recent crisis in Cote d'Ivoire in 2004. I wish to request for your assistance in transfering and investing this money in a lucrative venture under your directives and guidiance in your country.

I want you to assist me for the transfer of this sum of Three million, five hundred thousand United State Dollars.($3.500,000)to your account designate hence I will give you the contact of the bank where the money is so that you can contact them immediately and discuss with them since I do not know much about financial issues.

I will give you some resonable percentage from the total sum for your assistance while I pray that you do not betray me at last. Please it is important you contact me immediately for more clarifications on the next step hence it is my wish to relocate to your country as soon as this transaction is concluded.
Awaiting your immediate response via this email address : blessingsoke1@yahoo.fr
God bless you.

Miss Blessing Soke .

My Reply

Hello Blessing Soke,

I would like to be of service please forward to me the details on how
I might be able to assist you. Keep in Mind I know this is a con job I'm fishing to see what the response will be.

Here is the response

My Dear,

Thanks a lot for your mail, This is a long story that tears don't allow me explain to you out my condition and what i have been passing through here since the death of my father. Infact it is by the grace of God i contact you, i prayed and ask God to do his wish if you will be my messiah in this my agony. I know this may come to you as a surprise but
please, i want you to find it in your heart to help me out of the agony am facing here, I am hiding in a guest house now because of my uncle who would have been my father, but turn to hunt for my life because of the only thing i inherited from my father.

Like i told you that before the death of my father , he advise me to seek for a reliable partner who will help me transfer this money and invest it wisely,since his death, his junior brother has claim everything and even the cars my father left, that is not my problem but he turns to hunt for my life because of the onlything i inherited, that is why i ran away to the church but still he wanted to kill me that he even sent some armed rubbers to harm the Rev Father, the Rev father has to advise me to go and secure a hiding place in one of the guest house, that is where i find my self in agony, even feeding here is difficult to me,

Please i have consulted the bank here about the deposit and informed them that i want to transfer the money abroad and they said that they will hear from my partner before they commence the transfer, Please for God sake, i want you to stand as my guardian towards the deposit so that the bank will release into your account and you kindly help me come
over to your country and start a new life, I have with me here the documents about the deposit and i can send it to you please help me out, i need your urgent assistance.

Please what i need from you now is to indicate your interest towards contacting the bank on my behalf so that they will transfer the money to your account.please do send your picture to me for more details and also give me your tel number so that i will call you. this is my number where you can reach me +22508747657

I will be expecting your kind mail please urgent and always remember me in prayer as am facing agony here and even feeding is very difficult to me and all my hope relies on the deposit. God bless and give you the strenght to help me out.
Thanks for your concern and may God continue to bless you .
Regard from
Blessing.

Malware, Spyware And Google

This is rather funny in a way, you should read this paper Ghost In The Machine it is informative, though it can cause a chuckle or two.

The reason why it's funny in a way is because one of the sites that google Blogger recommends to use for a Hitscounter is Statcounter you can find the recommendation here

Google recommends these Counters

The funny thing is once you install this little piece of code you will find that programs like Spybot and Addaware will give you a warning after a scan that what some people consider is spyware has been found on your computer.You can try it all by yourself paste the Statcounter code in your webpage then visit your site, make sure your computer is clean beforehand and just go to your Blog or Homepage right after you run the scan so that you know you are free of any Spyware, Malware and if you want drop back here and let me know what you found I know what I did.

Maybe Google needs to look in their own backyard first before they take on the rest.

let me know what you think Leave a comment.

Victoria Day

Today is Victoria day a celebration and a Holiday in Canada to remember Queen Victoria's Birthday, as I write this fire works are going off everywhere, it's the first long weekend, though it's been a bit cold, I can't wait for Summer to get here.

Michael Moore What Do Think ?

What do you think, is Micheal Moore being Investigated because of his stance on the Bush Administration and his critical films about it?

The British Trade Dollar ( Coinage And History)

With the extension of British trading interest in the East, especially after the founding of Singapore 1819 and Hong Kong in 1842, it became necessary to produce a special Dollar so as to remove the reliance of a British Colony upon the various foreign coins then in circulation. The two Pictures above are Trade Dollars from my collection both from the reign of Victoria, One is a 1897 B Mint the other is a 1900 B mint

China Trade, Silver Dollars were a direct result of the Opium Wars (1839-1843, 1856-1860), which began when China tried to stop Britain from selling opium to its citizens. The loser, China, had to open up a number of ports to British trade and residence, and cede Hong Kong to Britain. In the decades that followed, merchants and adventurers flocked to these areas, and international trade flourished. Foreign banks were established, and large silver coins from all over the world began arriving to pay for tea, silk, and Chinese porcelain to be shipped abroad. These .900 fine silver trade dollars were then circulated throughout China, where they were readily accepted as a medium of exchange. The British Trade Dollars, minted exclusively for use in the Far East, depict Britannia standing on shore, holding a trident in one hand and balancing a British shield in the other, with a merchant ship under full sail in the background. On the reverse is an arabesque design with the Chinese symbol for longevity in the center, and the denomination in two languages— Chinese and Malay.

The British Trade Dollar was minted from 1895, with the last being produced in 1935. Those with the mint mark "B" were produced at the Bombay mint; others, marked "C", were struck in Calcutta. The mint mark "C" can be found in the ground between the left foot of Britannia and the base of the shield, while the mint mark "B" is located in the centre prong of the trident. The 1921-B dollar was struck but never released for circulation, and only a limited number of 1934-B and 1935-B coins were released. Certain dates are found with a new date being over-struck on another; these include 1897-B over 1896-B, 1900-B over 1894-B, 1901-B over 1900-B, 1909-B over 1908-B, 1904-B over 1898-B, 1903-B over 1902-B, 1908-B over 1903-B, 1904-B over 1903-B, 1929-B over 1901-B, 1908-B over 1907-B, and 1910-B over 1900-B. The British Trade Dollar was demonetized on August 1, 1937.

Shipwreck Treasure Found III

Shipwreck Treasure Found Part II

It looks like the secracy will go one for a bit here is a report for today where they speculate that the shipwreck find was off the coast of Corwall, so now we have two places either off the coast of Flordia or Corwall another interesting thing was the stock for the company clossed out yesterday up by Eighty Percent.


Odyssey Marine Exploration Stock

So all in all this is going to be fun to follow.


Record wreck 'found off Cornwall'

The haul was salvaged using a tethered underwater robot

The haul of coins

A record haul of half a million silver and gold coins from a 17th Century shipwreck may have been found just 40 miles from Land's End, an expert said.
US treasure hunters said the coins, worth an estimated $500m (£253m), were recovered in the Atlantic Ocean.

But Odyssey Marine Exploration, who described it as the largest find of its kind, refused to pinpoint the location.

US coin expert Dr Lane Brunner said there was evidence the shipwreck was lying off the Cornish coast.

Dr Brunner, from the American Numismatic Association, told Five Live there were clues about the location in a statement given to a US federal court in the autumn.

"They told a judge at that point that they had found the wreck of a seventeenth-century merchant ship in the Atlantic Ocean, just outside the English Channel - about 40 miles off Lands' End.


So all we can do is add two and two together
Dr Lane Brunner


"So all we can do is add two and two together. It would seem logical given the timing and everything that could be the site."

In 1641, an English ship called the Merchant Royal sank off the Scilly Islands, laden with bullion from Mexico. There is speculation that this is the wreck salvaged by Odyssey.

'Dazzling specimens'

Odyssey said it had kept the location secret because of security and legal reasons.

"The gold coins are almost all dazzling mint state specimens," Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm said.

The artefacts, including more than 17 tonnes of silver coins plus a few hundred gold coins, have been shipped to the US and are being examined by experts at an undisclosed location.


The mammoth haul was salvaged using a tethered underwater robot.

Odyssey, which used the code name Black Swan, said it expected the wreck to become one of the "most publicised in history".

It said the site was of huge historical importance because of the insight it would offer into seafaring and the social life of the period when the ship sank.

"Our research suggests that there were a number of colonial period shipwrecks that were lost in the area where this site is located, so we are being very cautious about speculating as to the possible identity of the shipwreck," said John Morris, Odyssey's co-founder.

"We have treated this site with kid gloves and the archaeological work done by our team out there is unsurpassed.

"We are thoroughly documenting and recording the site, which we believe will have immense historical significance," he said.

Odyssey said the coins were recovered in international waters, "beyond the legal jurisdiction of any country", and had been legally imported into the US.

Shipwreck Treasure Found

This is interesting wish they could release more
details about what coins they found or what ship it
might be. I hope the respect the archaeological
aspects of the site as well. It could be very exceptional if it is a
British Ship.


I hope you find it interesting, as I think we will
probably see these coins at some point on the market.


TAMPA, Fla. - Deep-sea explorers said Friday they have
mined what could be the richest shipwreck treasure in
history, bringing home 17 tons of colonial-era silver
and gold coins from an undisclosed site in the
Atlantic Ocean. Estimated value: $500 million.


A jet chartered by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine
Exploration landed in the United States recently with
hundreds of plastic containers brimming with coins
raised from the ocean floor, Odyssey co-chairman Greg
Stemm said. The more than 500,000 pieces are expected
to fetch an average of $1,000 each from collectors and
investors.


"For this colonial era, I think (the find) is
unprecedented," said rare coin expert Nick Bruyer, who
examined a batch of coins from the wreck. "I don't
know of anything equal or comparable to it."


Citing security concerns, the company declined to
release any details about the ship or the wreck site
Friday. Stemm said a formal announcement will come
later, but court records indicate the coins might come
from a 400-year-old ship found off England.


Because the shipwreck was found in a lane where many
colonial-era vessels went down, there is still some
uncertainty about its nationality, size and age, Stemm
said, although evidence points to a specific known
shipwreck. The site is beyond the territorial waters
or legal jurisdiction of any country, he said.


"Rather than a shout of glee, it's more being able to
exhale for the first time in a long time," Stemm said
of the haul, by far the biggest in Odyssey's 13-year
history.


He wouldn't say if the loot was taken from the same
wreck site near the English Channel that Odyssey
recently petitioned a federal court for permission to
salvage.


In seeking exclusive rights to that site, an Odyssey
attorney told a federal judge last fall that the
company likely had found the remains of a 17th-century
merchant vessel that sank with valuable cargo aboard,
about 40 miles off the southwestern tip of England. A
judge signed an order granting those rights last
month.


In keeping with the secretive nature of the project
dubbed "Black Swan," Odyssey also isn't talking yet
about the types, denominations and country of origin
of the coins.


Bruyer said he observed a wide range of varieties and
dates of likely uncirculated currency in much better
condition than artifacts yielded by most shipwrecks of
a similar age.


The Black Swan coins - mostly silver pieces - likely
will fetch several hundred dollars to several thousand
dollars each, with some possibly commanding much more,
he said. Value is determined by rarity, condition and
the story behind them.


Controlled release of the coins into the market along
with their expected high value to collectors likely
will keep prices at a premium, he said.


The richest ever shipwreck haul was yielded by the
Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank
in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1622.
Treasure-hunting pioneer Mel Fisher found it in 1985,
retrieving a reported $400 million in coins and other
loot.


Odyssey likely will return to the same spot for more
coins and artifacts.


"We have treated this site with kid gloves and the
archaeological work done by our team out there is
unsurpassed," Odyssey CEO John Morris said. "We are
thoroughly documenting and recording the site, which
we believe will have immense historical significance."


The news is timely for Odyssey, the only publicly
traded company of its kind.


The company salvaged more than 50,000 coins and other
artifacts from the wreck of the SS Republic off
Savannah, Ga., in 2003, making millions. But Odyssey
posted losses in 2005 and 2006 while using its
expensive, state-of-the-art ships and deep-water
robotic equipment to hunt for the next mother lode.


"The outside world now understands that what we do is
a real business and is repeatable and not just a lucky
one shot deal," Stemm said. "I don't know of anybody
else who has hit more than one economically
significant shipwreck."


In January, Odyssey won permission from the Spanish
government to resume a suspended search for the wreck
of the HMS Sussex, which was leading a British fleet
into the Mediterranean Sea for a war against France in
1694 when it sank in a storm off Gibraltar.


Historians believe the 157-foot warship was carrying
nine tons of gold coins to buy the loyalty of the Duke
of Savoy, a potential ally in southeastern France.
Odyssey believes those coins could also fetch more
than $500 million.


But under the terms of a historic agreement Odyssey
will have to share any finds with the British
government. The company will get 80 percent of the
first $45 million and about 50 percent of the proceeds
thereafter.

Vista Day One

I thought it might be interesting to give some updates about the trials and tribulations of using Vista.

This is day one, so far I have spent way too much time removing crapware on top of that you have the constant barrage of yes or no's being asked to run or not run a program.

This in my opinion is a crock of you no what, so that Microsoft can claim they are concerned about security, as these messages do not give you any useful information and for the lay person creates a condition of a person just saying yes without really knowing what they are saying yes to just to get the system to work.

It also creates for Microsoft Vista a tech support excuse of Hey you caused the problem not us, you clicked yes! as opposed to saying hey we created a system that has legacy code and still has poor security, using Vista feels all most like it's running on top of XP so far it just does not feel right.

Also Vista is a RAM Hog Computers are being shipped with the bare minimum needed to run each flavour of Vista, I'm running the premium flavour with one gig of Ram, it's not enough in my opinion you need at least Two gigs and for things to get back to a XP like speed you need Three GiGs and a good graphics card if you want anything near average performace in the real world.

Needless to say I'm not impressed, maybe in time I will change my mind, but so far Vista is all flash and hype with no substance stay away from it at all costs. That's my opinion, let me know what you think? Do you Like Vista or do you hate it?

CrapWare

I just bought a new computer from HP, I must say I'm not thrilled, Vista is slow and Flashy, yet I don't see much of an improvement over XP SP2 if you have any choice at all stick with that.

The other thing I really hate is all the crapware that's being loaded I have spent hours trying to get rid of it as some of it is in hidden folders or have logfiles missing that one I keep getting when I try to get rid of the yahoo toolbar, needless to say I'm really ticked off with that. When are company's going to figure out that crapware just annoys your customers too death, at the very least make it easy to remove. No one likes something forced on them. All I can say is I'm going to put my money where my mouth is and the next computer I buy will be crapware free if I have to build it myself.

Computer company's take note people don't want Crapware.

I'm Still Here

I'm still here, I'm sorry to say I have not been posting much as for the most part nothing has really grabbed my attention enough to want to write about it. I guess everyone has that experience every now and then, hopefully with spring here and the days getting nicer I will find something to write about.

Microsoft unveils enhanced Xbox 360 Elite

Well this is a very interesting article, it could really give Sony some Trouble with market share, and I really like this idea Internet Protocol-based TV (IPTV), as it could open the doors for a lot of media gaining access to people.

One Thing I know for sure it will be fun to watch what happens, it looks like Microsoft and Sony are heading towards a good fight, and the consumer I think is going to be the winner.

Let me know what you think, will it be Sony or Microsoft that wins the console battle?


Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday took the wraps off of the Xbox 360 Elite, confirming weeks of intense speculation that it would release a new version of its flagship video game console.

The upgraded machine is to launch April 29 in the United States, sporting features not found on the two existing versions of the console, including a 120 gigabyte hard drive, high-definition media interface (HDMI) port and cable, and a black finish instead of the white one on current versions, Microsoft said. It will not include a high-definition HD-DVD hard drive.

The package will also come with a black wireless controller and headset, and sell for about $480 US.

Canada will be included in the initial launch period according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News, but specific dates and pricing were not immediately available.

"Today's games and entertainment enthusiast has an insatiable appetite for digital high-definition content," Peter Moore, corporate vice president for Microsoft's interactive entertainment division said in a written statement. "Xbox 360 Elite's larger hard drive and premium accessories will allow our community to enjoy all that the next generation of entertainment has to offer."

Speculation rampant for weeks
Rumours and photos of the new model have been spurring heavy speculation on internet video game and gadget discussion forums for weeks but Microsoft would not offer direct comment.

"It is our standard policy to not comment on speculation," Jeremy Bartram, a spokesman with Microsoft's public relations agency in Seattle, told CBC News Online when asked for official comment on the rumours. "Microsoft has not announced anything regarding a new Xbox 360."

Microsoft's Canadian spokespeople made a similar statement in response to CBC's inquiries.

Photos of the console and advertising for its 120 GB hard drive had surfaced on the internet in recent days. One set of images on a Chinese-language website depicted units of the new console coming off an assembly line in a Chinese factory. An image published on the Xbox 360 Fanboy website on Monday is apparently a shot of a poster promoting the new hard drive.

Microsoft targeting Sony: experts
The refreshed console is a significant improvement on the existing versions, and surpasses rival Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation 3 console on some features, according to observers who spoke to CBC News Online.

The current Xbox 360, moulded in white plastic, comes in two versions. The Premium version includes a 20 GB hard drive but no HDMI connector and retails in Canada for about $500. A lower-priced Core version sells without the hard drive and several accessories for about $400.

Sony sells two versions of its PlayStation 3 console, both of which include a high-definition Blu-Ray DVD drive built-in. The premium version of the console, which has a 60 GB hard drive, sells for about $660 in Canada, while a version with a 20 GB hard drive is priced at about $550. Neither includes an HDMI connector cable.

"A 120 [GB] hard drive versus 60 [GB] on the PS3 sounds like penis envy on the part of Microsoft," Michael Pachter, director of research at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, Calif., said ahead of Wednesday's announcement.

Analysts divided
Ruminations about whether the new Xbox unit would come with a HDMI connector cable were clarified by the announcement.

"One thing I'm pretty confident is wrong [about the reports] is that it includes a HDMI cable," he said, explaining he had recently bought one for $300 US. "It's frickin' expensive, which is why the PS3 doesn't come with one, and Microsoft doesn't have the buying power to make it cheap."

Eddie Chan, an analyst with market research firm IDC Canada, disagreed.

"The HDMI cable is a non-issue in my books," he said, explaining that bridging the gap between an analog signal and a superior digital signal is a logical step.

The price is just a function of how "clean" a signal you want, and most people are not going to shell out for a top-quality cable that has low electrical resistance (and therefore a better signal) for what they may see as a marginal improvement on picture quality, he explained.

"Sure, you can pay $300 for a Monster [brand cable] and lower-priced cables have more resistance, but you can get one for cheap — $10 or $20," Chan said.

Device sets stage for IPTV
"It would not surprise me to see a new console come to fruition," he added, noting that Microsoft has been talking about Internet Protocol-based TV (IPTV), which would use internet technology to stream a video signal across a data network such as Microsoft's Xbox Live. "It's probably a good segue in preparation for those rollouts."

In a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Robbie Bach, president of the entertainment and devices division, made remarks that some say hinted at the new console.

"I can play the best next-generation games, download movies and TV shows, connect to my Windows PC, and access my music and my photos, watch HD-DVDs, and now experience next-generation TV programs with IPTV," or Internet Protocol TV, Bach said. "This is everything I want, it's all in one box, it's all on Xbox 360."

"It's pretty self-evident what the strategy is," Sam Punnett, president of Toronto-based FAD Research Inc., said about Microsoft's approach. "It's reminiscent of the walled garden idea — they have a sufficient claim to a captive audience that they can create an environment to sell content."

Punnett, who has been a consultant to federal and provincial governments on developing strategies that would foster new media and video game industries in Canada, noted that Microsoft has a unique advantage over competitors.

"They have that channel into the living room that no one else has," he said. "They can take that captive audience and branch it off … and expand into music services, streaming video. It's one of those [Holy] Grail dreams of the games industry."

Area 419 Sorry the Number You Have Dialed is Not In Service Please Try Again (An Old Scam)

Well this is funny, it's a new twist on the old 419 scams, this one though was traced to Venezuela.

I'm amazed that these still work, though I can only assume they do as they keep making the rounds so there must be a payoff of some sort. Below you will find the trace results along with the scam mail. Please feel free to leave any comments or feedback.

1 319 ms 6 ms 6 ms 10.45.28.1 2 * * *
Request timed out. 3 7 ms 6 ms 5 ms gw03.etob.phub.net.cable.rogers.com

[66.185.93.161] 4 6 ms 7 ms 8 ms gw02-pos1-0.wlfdle.phub.net.cable.rogers.com

[66.185.82.97] 5 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 66.185.80.42 6 138 ms 7 ms 7 ms

64.71.240.110 7 22 ms 33 ms 23 ms pos-2-0.igw01.ny8th.phub.net.cable.rogers.com

[66.185.81.102] 8 185 ms 60 ms 26 ms GE3-0-1-0-grtnycpt3.red.telefonica-wholesale.net
[213.140.52.201] 9 25 ms 27 ms 56 ms
So2-3-0-0-grtmiana2.red.telefonica-wholesale.net [213.140.36.114]
10 55 ms 86 ms 85 ms CANTV-5-0-0-0-grtmiana2.red.telefonica-wholesale.net [84.16.8.14]
11 601 ms 547 ms 701 ms CANTV-5-0-0-0-grtmiana2.red.telefonica-wholesale.net [84.16.8.14]
12 709 ms 192 ms 378 ms cha-ge-10-0-0-00.dist.cantv.net
[200.44.43.199]
13 * * 93 ms 200-11-184-130.genericrev.cantv.net [200.11.184.130]

14 101 ms * * correo.universia.edu.ve [200.11.183.3]
15 92 ms 104 ms 108 ms correo.universia.edu.ve [200.11.183.3]

Trace complete.

X-YahooFilteredBulk: 200.11.183.3
X-Originating-IP: [200.11.183.3]
Return-Path:
Authentication-Results: mta337.mail.re4.yahoo.com from=universia.edu.ve; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 200.11.183.3 (EHLO soluniver02.universia.edu.ve) (200.11.183.3) by mta337.mail.re4.yahoo.com with SMTP; Wed, 28 Mar 2007 04:50:40 -0700
Received: from universia.edu.ve (soluniver02.universia.edu.ve [200.11.183.3]) by soluniver02.universia.edu.ve (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.1 Patch 1 (built Jun 6 2002)) with ESMTP id <0jfl00cc4s48si@soluniver02.universia.edu.ve>; Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:43:24 -0400 (VET)
Received: from [80.255.40.250] by soluniver02.universia.edu.ve (mshttpd); Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:43:20 -0800
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 23:43:20 -0800
From: jjudge@universia.edu.ve Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Subject: ENQUIRY
Bcc:
Reply-to: jjudge10@sify.com
Message-id: <449a6ed1.6ed1449a@universia.edu.ve>
MIME-version: 1.0
X-Mailer: iPlanet Messenger Express 5.1 Patch 1 (built Jun 6 2002)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-language: en
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Content-disposition: inline
X-Accept-Language: en
Content-Length: 5207

Good day,

I am John Judge, a staff of ADAM & COMPANY I am contacting you
independently of my investigation and no one is informed of
this communication. I would like to intimate you with certain
facts that I believed would be of interest to you.I Would
respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail
confidential and respect the integrity of the information you
come by as a result of this mail.


I am contacting you in respect of $10.5 Million USD deposited
with our private bank whose original depositor died in mid
2002,According to practice, The bank will by the end of its
financial year broadcast a request for statements of
claims,failing to receive viable claims they will probably
revert the deposit back to ADAM & COMPANY.This will result in
the money entering the ADAM & COMPANY accounting system,This
will not happen if I have my way, the world of private banking
especially is fraught with huge rewards for those who occupy
certain offices and oversee certain portfolios.As a matter of
fact,In line with our internal processes for account holders
who have passed away,we instituted our own investigations in
good fate to determine who should have right to claim the
estate. This investigation has for the past years been
unfruitful. We have scanned every continent and used our
private investigation affiliate companies to get to the root
of the problem. It is this investigation that resulted in my
being furnished with your details as a possible relative of
the deceased.


My present official capacity as the Head of private banking
sector dictates that I am the only party to supervise the
investigation and the only party to receive the results of the
investigation,leaves me as the only person with the full
picture of what the prevailing situation is in relation to the
deposit and the beneficiary of the deposit.


My proposal:I am prepared to place you in a position to
initiate the release of the deposit to you as the closest
surviving relation,Upon successful delivery of the deposit to
you,I am prepared to share the money with you. That is: I will
simply norminate you as the next of kin and have them release
the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 50/50 %.The
alternative would be for us to have The bank ADAM & COMPANY
direct the funds to another bank with you as account holder.
This way there will be no need for you to think of receiving
the money from The bank. We can fine-tune this based on our
interactions am aware of the consequences of this proposal. I
ask that if you find no interest in this project that you
should discard this mail. I ask that you do not be vindictive
and destructive. If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete
this message and forget I ever contacted you.


My present official capacity as the Head of private banking
sector I assure you that I could have the deposit released to
you within few days. I shall validate the claim, make a
customary writing report that you are the Beneficiary.This
report will validate the bonafide of your claim and confirm
you as the beneficiary and therefore entitled to an allocation
of Control Approval code for the release of the deposit by the
bank .once i validate the claim, the bank is bound to approve
same, this is why i have an unflinching confidence in the
safety of our arrangement.The transaction will be 100% legal.
From the foregoing, you are therefore able to appreciate why i
have hammered on the absolute necessity of our maintenance of
confidentiality of the project and the transfer even after we
have disbursed the money after arrival in your position.


I am not a criminal and what I do, I do not find against good
conscience,this may be hard for you to understand, but the
dynamics of my industry dictates that I make this move. Such
opportunities only come ones' way once in a lifetime. I cannot
let this chance pass me by,I am a family man and this is an
opportunity to provide them with new opportunities.There is a
reward for this project and it is a task well worth
undertaking. I have evaluated the risk and the only risk I
have here is from you refusing to work with me and alerting my
bank. I am the only one who knows of this situation,If you
find yourself able to work with me, contact me through this
email account. If you give me positive signals, I will
initiate this process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform
you that should you contact me via official channels; I will
deny knowing you and about this project.


I repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my official
phone lines nor do I want you contacting me through my
official email account. Contact me only through the numbers I
will provide for you and also through this email address. I do
not want any direct link between you and myself. My official
lines are not secured lines as they are periodically monitored
to access our level of customer care in line with our Total
Quality Management Policy.Please observe this instruction
religiously.

Awaiting your immediate response.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Please to my private email address jjudge10@sify.com

yours faithfully,
John Judge

The Gozi Strikes Back ( Russian Gozi Trojan powering massive ID-theft ring)

I have just taken two points from the article below "Users state-of-the-art, modularized Trojan code" " Launch attacks through Internet Explorer browser exploits"

Now if you read The article it's rather scary, that all that information was being gathered and put up for sale and even might still be up. When is Microsoft going to take security seriously?

Even with Vista that was delayed a year, has bugs up the gazooo, one reason why a lot of Business are reluctant to jump on board.

My advice stay with XP and try and make sure you can be as secure as you can be. Remember though, even then you could still be prone to attacks as long as Windows chooses to make security a lower priority. Let me know what you think? Are you tired of this? What Should Microsoft Do?

Russian (Gozi) Trojan powering massive ID-theft ring by ZDNet's Ryan Naraine -- Researchers at SecureWorks have stumbled upon what appears to be a massive identity theft ring using state-of-the-art Trojan code to steal confidential data from thousands of infected machines in the U.S. The Trojan, which connects to a server in Russia, has so far pilfered information from more than 5,200 home computers with 10,000 account records. The [...]

Experiments In Photography (Name Me)

I thought since it's Friday I would end the week with an image from the ongoing experiments in Photography series. With this photography I liked the play of light and texture, to me it has a mixture of the everyday with a surreal quality. This presents a problems though, I don't know what to name it. Maybe you can help me, if you like submit names for it in the comments section.

There are some other photos as well that are nameless please feel free to look around, and suggest some names. Have a great weekend everyone.

Google and Privacy

Google has announced that it will be changing it's policy of data storage about you and your searches. It's a move in the right direction, though much more could be done.

"Under the new policy announced on Wednesday, which Google expects to have fully implemented by the end of the year, the company will anonymize the final eight bits of the IP address and the cookie data after somewhere between 18 months and 24 months, unless legally required to retain the data for longer."

The entire article can be found here http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6167333.html?tag=nl.e539

Now if you are a person that likes having privacy, this could be disturbing and a lot of privacy advocates feel the same way. I'm wary of this, as information is power and could be misused, though perhaps I'm just old fashioned.

I like to think of privacy on the Internet like this, it's just like a telephone conversation, but you are using a computer, the only time your privacy should be invaded, is when you give permission for it, and there should be full disclosure in a transparent manner of what information is being stored and gathered about you. I would also like to stress it should not be in tiny Print ,but stated in a clear manner.

I would like to know your feeling's about privacy, how much should people have? Who should control that information? Who has ownership over it? Who can access it?

My opinion is that the individual should have the final say on their information and privacy. The only time that should be invaded is either when a person commits a crime or they give permission.

Do You Know Where Your Bananas Come From ?

Do You Know Where Your Bananas Come From ? Well if the allegation's are true, they may have come from groups that the Untied States have on their terrorism list. I guess we will just have to wait for the trial, if there is one, to get all the facts. In The meantime what are your thoughts? My opinion is if the allegation's are true, this could be very damaging to the company, after all do you want to buy bananas from a company that deals with terrorists? I know I don't.

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization.

Federal prosecutors said the company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers did business with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The group is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization.

The company also did business with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.
The payments were approved by senior executives at the Cincinnati-based company, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Corporate books were kept to conceal the deals, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a meeting in 1997.
"No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's court filing.
The document filed by federal prosecutors is known as an information. Unlike an indictment, it is normally worked out through discussions with prosecutors and is followed by a guilty plea. A plea hearing is scheduled for Monday.
___
On the Net:
Chiquita: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/terrorism_bananas/22266840/SIG=10q1588e6/*http://www.chiquita.com/

You-Tube And Copyright

I don't know maybe I'm just dense, though I see this as causing a bit of a commotion given all the talk about it, I'm left with the thought, why not use a copyright that is domain specific? It seems to me, we are seeing basically turf wars over who has what rights to media, it's kind of funny and sad in a way, as the company's talk about their losses, but where does the artist come into play? At the same time the Internet and the media,mediums used, do not have to be seen as enemies of these company's, they can be a artist's or company's friends, just ask any artist who has embraced the Internet.

Digital culturus interruptus: Right here, right now, the almighty copyright finally comes home to roost by ZDNet's David Berlind -- Sooner or later, it was bound to happen. Like teenagers biologically programmed to step across every boundary put in place by their parents, the digerati, equipped with the constantly evolving tools of their trade (everything from YouTube-like video sharing sites to widely available hacks of anti-piracy systems), have been been running a full-court press, brazenly [...]

Elizabeth I (17 Nov 1558 - 24 March 1603) Coinage and History

This is another part in the coinage and history series, I fear I have been somewhat slow with the release of posts with this, though a lot is dependent, on when I purchase new coins. I have also been experimenting with Photographing the coins as opposed to scanning them to get the best image.

The picture above is of a Shilling from Elizabeth I it is from the year 1560-1561 Mintmark-Cross-Spink-2555-A. The Obverse portrait side may look the worse for wear, but it was very common with the larger coins for them to be weakly struck. So this is still a very nice example given that it has not been clipped, another practice that was very common. The practice of clipping is very much what it sounds like, people would clip small potions of the sliver off of the coin, pretty much whatever they felt they could get away with.

This coin is also interesting as it was minted at the start of Elizabeth I great recoinage of the realm, as the coinage under her Brother Edward VI, and Her Father Henry VIII had been debased mostly under Henry VIII, in order for him to finance his wars and household, This is where Henry The VIII received the nickname old Coppernose from, as the silver would wear away on the high points of the coin and reveal the base metal, most offten than not on the nose first.

At this time when Elizabeth, was still very early into her queenship, The Tudor house was not in great financial shape as the spending under her father and mismanagement had sorely pressed the royal coffers. Elizabeth I though had been very good at managing her estates, so she used the funds from them to finance the recoinage, just one other little thing of interest Elizabeth I also used some of the royal households silver service to be melted down and used in the recoinage as well. You will find below some more information on The House Of Tudor. I hope you have enjoyed this and please feel free to leave any comments or feedback you may have.

HOUSE OF TUDOR

Elizabeth I (17 Nov 1558 - 24 March 1603) - born 7th September 1533The Virgin Queen Elizabeth or ‘Gloriana’ un-did Catholic Mary’s work as England reverted to Protestantism and pacified the religious divide. Skilled at politics, she was lucky to be surrounded by talented advisors, but angered them by avoiding the issue of marriage and of course never had children. She assisted Dutch Protestants, and is most famous for defeating her unpopular brother in law, Philip II during the Spanish Armada war of 1588. Her reign is also known for the introduction of the potato and tobacco from the “New World” by Sir Francis Drake.

A long and prosperous reign ended in 1603 when Elizabeth died of old age at 75.A significant reign for coinage as the first machine made pieces were struck from the presses of the Frenchman Eloye Mestrelle in 1561. However they were not popular as production was slow with the horse drawn mill press, though the quality was very good. Mestrelle was dismissed in 1572 and later executed for his collusion with forgers in 1578 some historians believe this may have been engineered by rivals. Elizabeth enjoyed a long reign and this covered many different denominations being issued at various times.

The gold crowns were again issued and it was not till 1600 that the large silver crown was again minted. In 1559 the old debased coins of Edward VI were called in for counter marking at a lower face value and the silver fineness was restored to 0.925 by 1582. A new denomination the three-farthings was introduced to help with small change transactions. The first attempt at international trade coins occurred in 1600-01 with the Portcullis Money for use in the East Indies with weights equivalent to the already popular Spanish trade Reales.

The Stock Market,Spam and Your Money

The Stock Market,Spam and Your Money

I wanted to add a short editorial to this article, as though I found it interesting this is not new. This has been going on for a very long time. The thing that does surprise me though is that people are still falling victim to this old pump it and dump it scheme with stocks. I'm only left with the thought that it work's because there is no accounting for the greed of man.

Some other thoughts arise as well, as the writer points out in his Blog the securities commission has opened up the door for a new crime against company's and stockholders, where the people that now perform the pump and dump Email spam can now extort directly from the company. There is another question that comes to mind as well, it may not just be spammers that are doing this but some company's could also be very well doing it an angle that is not explored fully , in a way it's the ultimate inside trade.

One thing for sure though has me thinking as we have become a worldwide economy, with worldwide trading in stocks and commodities, who and what can possibly track all of it, if some company's or people want to commit these acts. So in the end the message is be careful where you put your money, and don't let greed rule your common sense.

How lucrative is pump-and-dump spam? by ZDNet's Ryan Naraine -- Are pump-and-dump spammers really making money from hyping penny stocks in e-mails? Paul Moriarty has the answer and it's an eyebrow-raising sight. Over the last month, Moriarty, director of product development for Internet Content Security at Trend Micro, has been running a virtual portfolio of selling short on stocks found during spam runs. After [...]

Blog Of The Day Award (The Medium has become the message)

Blog of The Day Award

I received a Blog Of The Day Award, all I can say is I feel honored. This Blog is not very old, and really is still in the process of evolving. I don't all ways write as often as I would like, but that's because I feel the act of writing should be inspired by a need to communicate an idea, not just for the sake of writing itself.

A Blog to me is a new type of media a melding of writing, editorials, photo's, and film the list could go on. All have the potential of being part of a Blog, This media I think requires one to attempt to think about what they are writing and why. A Blog also allows for you to attempt to engage readers in a way that other media can not. A blog allows for a two way conversation about the media, idea, and Medium.

Marshal McLuhan said "The Medium Is The Message" And Blogging is a New Medium where both the writer and the reader can decide together what the message is. Maybe now The Medium has become the message. Thank You and please feel free to leave your comment's and thoughts.

The Dangers of Becoming

This article I think shows how we must be careful that in our anger ,fear, acts of emotion, we create Laws where we become like those who did us harm. We are a Democracy not a police state, and rights should not be cast aside with ease.

On the Net:

The report is at: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/national_security_letters/22207893/SIG=11g7gvn4m/*http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/FBI/index.htm
Justice Department: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/national_security_letters/22207893/SIG=10m1k3jtt/*http://www.usdoj.gov
FBI: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/storytext/national_security_letters/22207893/SIG=10lo5b2hr/*http://www.fbi.gov/

E-Bay Article Senior Director of Disruptive Innovation

Don't let the title keep you from reading this article, but as titles go for company directors it is a bit weird when put into context of the story. I thought fellow Bloggers would be interested in it though ,as it talks about some idea's of where E-Bay maybe going in the future. The Talk as well of Third party APIs and Social Commerce is really interesting, just think of social Commerce as The six degrees of separation idea for sales and E-Commerce. I could see this having other uses as well depending on how creative a person can get. I hope you enjoy it. You can link to the full story below.

Video: eBay’s Chief Disruption Officer: UI to eBay’s “commerce operating system” could be left to others by ZDNet's David Berlind -- Meet Max Mancini. Although he's not a newcomer to the eBay family, he does have a new title at the commerce giant: Senior Director of Disruptive Innovation. It's the first time I've ever heard of such a title (although why not just make it CDO: Chief Disruption Officer?) and a couple of weeks ago, Mancini [...]

WordPress Hacked/Cracked

It seems that the servers for Wordpress a popular program for Blog Publishing was Cracked.

An unknown cracker broke into a server hosting downloads of the popular WordPress blogging software and rigged the file with a remotely exploitable code execution vulnerability.
News of the hack comes directly from WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg:
"If you downloaded WordPress 2.1.1 within the past 3-4 days, your files may include a security exploit that was added by a cracker, and you should upgrade all of your files to 2.1.2 immediately."

Mullenweg described the code planted into the download as "unusual and highly exploitable" and stressed that the 2.1.1 download was the only thing touched during the attack.
"This is the kind of thing you pray never happens, but it did and now we're dealing with it as best we can. Although not all downloads of 2.1.1 were affected, we're declaring the entire version dangerous and have released a new version 2.1.2 that includes minor updates and entirely verified files. We are also taking lots of measures to ensure something like this can't happen again, not the least of which is minutely external verification of the download package so we'll know immediately if something goes wrong for any reason, he added.
He did not say how the attacker was able to breach the server.
Now, WordPress is trying to get the word out to any user who may have downloaded the rigged version 2.1.1.

If your blog is running 2.1.1, please upgrade immediately and do a full overwrite of your old files, especially those in wp-includes. Check out your friends blogs and if any of them are running 2.1.1 drop them a note and, if you can, pitch in and help them with the upgrade.
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WINDOWS THE TWILIGHT ZONE

I have thought about this for about a day, as I did not want this to be just another among endless Windows rants. I finally decided to write about it as some thoughts came to me that I hope people might like to add their opinion too.

I'm using Windows XP SP2, my problem developed yesterday, when I tried to play a game. I received an error message that the driver binkw32.dll could not be found. I thought to myself Ok this should be easy to fix as I had the driver. I put the driver in the locations I thought it should go, I'm no computer expert, though I can find my way around. This is where some fun began, I got an error message saying the driver was in the wrong location and that it had to be located in another location, I can not remember where now as it's probably a side effect of hours spent trouble shooting.

The funny thing is this would have been so simple if the error message said along with it being in the wrong folder the location and how to find the proper folder that it needed to be in. This to me is just common sense why can't Windows get it?

Needless to say I did get the problem fixed, though I had to do a complete system restore, as I could not find where to put the driver, that seemed to be the easiest fix. This though caused me to lose hours of time that I will never get back re-downloading all the security patches and re-installing anti-virus and so on. So I had a thought how many people have lost time and productivity to Windows bugs? This is where things get fun hopefully if you decide to participate in this informal survey. How many Hours Have you lost trying to fix Windows bugs? Please leave your estimate in the comments section.

Also, to get the ball rolling here is my estimate of lost time With Windows, I think I have lost about 400hrs of time to Windows probably more , but I'm trying to be conservative. I started out with Windows 98 SE so I'm including all the time spent with all versions of windows.

So please in ending let me know how much time have you lost to the twilight zone that is called Windows?

Storm Night

Well, as I write this I'm unable to sleep, because there is one great storm going on. The city has battened down the hatches and is waiting to see just like me what the morning brings. I just hope the power stays up.

The Priory Cross

This is one of the first pieces of jewelry I designed it's based off of the Proiry Cross in Ireland, some History on the symbolism follows, and all comments are welcome.

The Celts were the ancient inhabitants of much of Europe. A spiritual people, their rich mythology and The symbols later merged with the Christian beliefs they embraced to create a distinctive art, seen especially in Ireland and Scotland. The Celtic Cross is known throughout the world as the emblem of Celtic Christianity, and it can be considered the symbol of The Celtics culture itself. Celtic Crosses began to appear during the fifth century A.D., it's shape is derived from a pagan sun symbol, the sunwheel, which later became a symbol of the Christian Godhead.

The sunwheel was originally a cross surrounded by a circle with a center stone representing the sun and mock suns at the four quarters. The stone at the center of the circle also represents the navel of the world. The stone pillar of the cross also embodies phallic and fertility characteristics. The cross represents eternal life; it's horizontal axis being the earthly world and the vertical axis the heavenly world coming together as the union of Heaven and Earth. Celtic Crosses are imbued with continuous and interwoven knot and spiral motifs symbolizing the continuity of life, death and rebirth.