Monday, October 16, 2006

Lorraine ( Music)



Lorraine Biography

Lorraine are Ole Gundersen (24, vocals), Anders Winsents (24, guitar) and Paal Myran-Haaland (23, keyboards, programming). Their drummer is a little black box which does exactly what it's told. Between them the members' personal influences range from New Order, Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode to Kasabian, The Smiths and The Stone Roses, so it's no surprise that Lorraine's own music sounds like it should come with 'Your new favourite band' stamped across every CD.

Melodically breathtaking with a lyrical touch that recalls the flamboyant nervousness of Neil Tennant at his most miserably optimistic, Lorraine's songs are finished off with a unique modern twist. After a brief period knocking about with friends in a Prodigy-influenced electro metal outfit, Anders and Ole set their sights elsewhere and, on their way back from a jam session in a local pizza parlour, chanced upon Paal.

He was at a bus stop, drunk and shouting. It was not long before he became Lorraine's third member, his (oddly immaculate) bedroom doubling as the band’s first recording studio.In the summer of 2000 the band, now in their late teens, decided not to go back to school. Paal's bedroom was traded for a work space, 45 minutes outside Bergen, in a decaying factory building. The units surrounding Lorraine's studio were filled with either crackheads or car mechanics. The heating didn’t work.

It's cold anyway in Norway, but in this ice-pocket it was often so cold that floppy discs would freeze in the band's sampler. Then, one day, everything clicked. "Our songs mix reality and unreality," Paal explains. Many of Lorraine's songs are based on dreams; Ole believes that only in dreams are we completely honest and unfettered by often unfairly imposed moral and social codes. "It's about articulating the thoughts in your head," Ole adds. "Thoughts which wouldn’t come out in conversation. Hopes, dreams, a dark positivity. I don't know if our songs are happy or sad – we can be quite melancholic. ." He thinks for a little while. "There is happiness, but it might only be temporary.""We've had some kind of trip into another world making this album," Paal smiles. "We're all about big atmosphere, big sounds, big songs. We always wanted everything to be very big." It's hard to believe these particular dreams won't become a reality in 2006. It is, after all, about defining your own destiny.


George V (6 May 1910 - 20 January 1936) Coinage and History



This is a Crown for George V it's from his Jubilee year of 1935 and the device of St George was done in an art deco style that was popular at the time. I have also posted above a picture of a George V Farthing from 1932.

HOUSE OF WINDSOR



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.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Zero Day

Here is an article about even more security flaws in XP. I really don't understand how Microsoft can come out with operating systems that are so prone to problems like this.

Microsoft releases 6 patches for flaws

October 12, 2006 - 12:16PM

Microsoft has released six patches to fix software flaws that carry its highest threat rating, including three for defects that attackers were already trying to exploit.
The company said all six of the critical flaws could allow an attacker to obtain some access to other people's computers.

The software maker also released four other patches to fix vulnerabilities that the company deemed less severe.
Customers can download all the patches for free on Microsoft's security website and also can sign up to have them automatically delivered to their computers. The automatic update system went down for several hours on Tuesday, but the problem was later resolved.
Microsoft said last month that it knew attackers were already trying to take advantage of defects in its Windows operating system, Microsoft Word software and PowerPoint presentation program.

Christopher Budd, a program manager with the Microsoft Security Resource Centre, said that the company had seen limited attacks exploiting the flaws, but were nevertheless recommending that users apply those and other patches immediately.
Such vulnerabilities are rare. In most cases, security experts quietly provide Microsoft evidence of a security flaw, allowing the company to fix the problem in secret and release a patch before attackers can take advantage of it.
But recently, the company has been hit with a number of so-called "zero-day" attacks, in which flaws are targeted before Microsoft is aware of them or can release patches.
Such attacks have prompted some security researchers to release their own interim fixes. Microsoft also has occasionally taken the unusual step of releasing patches outside of its normal monthly fix schedule, so users can be safeguarded more quickly.

Budd said Microsoft isn't seeing any specific pattern to the burst of zero-day attacks. But he said the company is seeing more focus on attackers trying to infiltrate computers through applications - such as Word or PowerPoint - rather than the Windows operating system.
Microsoft software is a constant target of internet attackers, in part because the company's products are so widely used.
Microsoft has yet to release a patch for one other publicly known flaw - one affecting the Internet Explorer browser that is part of its Windows operating system. Budd said the company was seeing very few attacks as a result of the flaw.

AP

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Victoria (20 June 1837 - 22 January 1901)




Here is an example of a Jubilee Shilling from 1887 of Queen Victoria Spink Number 3926 Small Head some additional information can be found below.

HOUSE OF HANOVER

Victoria (20 June 1837 - 22 January 1901) - born 24th May 1819 - one marriage with nine offspring


Victoria was granddaughter of George III, the daughter of his fifth son Edward. Her father Edward died while she was in infancy, but her mother Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld brought her up under a strict regimen that stood her in good stead to be Queen upon the death of her Uncle William. A Royal wedding took place on 10 February 1840 to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, with whom she had four sons and five daughters, all of whom married into some of the finest Royal families in Europe. Victoria was devastated by the death of her beloved Albert in 1861 from typhoid and never really recovered, known as the “Widow of Windsor” in seclusion for 25 years until she emerged for her Golden Jubilee. During the seclusion Victoria also became Empress of India in 1878.

Victoria enjoyed the longest reign so far of any monarch and saw her Diamond Jubilee in 1897, the only time this has occurred in British history so far. The Industrial Revolution was now in full force, the zenith of which was the Great Exhibition of 1851. Victoria built up the greatest Empire ever seen since the days of the Ancient Romans. There were many technological revolutions with the harnessing of electricity perhaps most significant, also the invention of the telephone and motor transport, as well as the massive growth of railways and shipping and science. Magnificent architecture from the Victorian era not only transformed London, but also cities as far apart as Sydney and Delhi, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Victoria died aged 81 with her family gathered around her at Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight after a 63 year reign, her body was brought back to the Capital by the Royal Train. Her long reign produced some fascinating coinage and many different busts were used for the various Colonial coinages. Branch Mints opened in Australia, first in Sydney then Melbourne, and much later at Perth. There were attempts at decimalization during her reign and the biggest successful move towards this was the introduction of the Florin or one tenth of a pound in 1848.


Some of the finest designs were by William Wyon for the 1839 gold Five Pounds coin used in that year’s proof set and later for the 1847 Gothic Crown. The Wyon family dominated coin and medal production for the earlier part of Victoria’s reign, J E Boehm engraved the Jubilee coinage of 1887, and Thomas Brock the “widow” old head coinage of 1893.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Word Cut UP's in The Footsteps Of Burroughs

A Red Pill, A Blue Pill.
One to make you happy, one to make you sad.
A Blue Pill, A Red Pill.
One to make you forget, The other to numb the pain.
A Red Pill, A Blue Pill.
One to Create an Altered State, The other to change what has been altered.
A Blue Pill, A Red Pill.
Nothing Remains the same, sometimes nothing seems sane.
A Red Pill, A Blue Pill.
The colours are all that remain.