Tech Stuff

They Found Grandpa Lemuel

I mean, Grandpa Lemur. 🙄

The search for a direct connection between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom has taken 200 years – but it was presented to the world today at a special news conference in New York.

The discovery of the 95%-complete ‘lemur monkey’ – dubbed Ida – is described by experts as the “eighth wonder of the world”.

Oh. I got the name wrong. Sorry about that, Grandma Ida.

They say its impact on the world of palaeontology will be “somewhat like an asteroid falling down to Earth”.

Researchers say proof of this transitional species finally confirms Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, and the then radical, outlandish ideas he came up with during his time aboard the Beagle.

I thought ole Piltdown was the “finally confirms” they’ve been hunting.

Sir David Attenborough said Darwin “would have been thrilled” to have seen the fossil – and says it tells us who we are and where we came from.

First of all, I thought I’d heard/read information that Darwin actually would have been dismayed. Maybe that’s just an urban legend sprung forth by an overzealous right wing (different, non-simian branch of the evolutionary tree apparently) conspiracy.

Secondly, if a monkey tells us who we are, what are?

Thirdly, and most importantly perhaps, where are we going?

Anyway, if you want to learn more about this Would Have Been Thrilled news (and it may be a good idea), here you go: Missing Link: Scientists In New York Unveil Fossil Of Lemur Monkey Hailed As Man’s Earliest Ancestor

Meanwhile, in other monkey business that should weigh more heavily on your mind than Grandpa Lemur-el Grandma Ida:

Good day?

Morning Hike

Late this morning, our youngest-but-already-fifteen son Andrew and I went on a one-hour hike. Just here on our home place.

If you follow me on Twitter, then you already read this:

Sitting in sun on tree root by tiny babbling waterfall in little creek in back 40. Peaceful!

I posted that to Twitter from my cellphone at 10:52 this morning. (For a practically-fifty-year-old, that’s pretty amazing stuff even yet!)

Anyway, this is where I was when I Twittered that:

Mark Roth, roosting on a root.

Mark Roth, waxing meditative by a creek

Sitting there in the warm sunshine listening to the babbling waterfall was therapeutic, relaxing, and conducive to thinking thoughts.

Then I looked to my right and my thoughts became less meditative and more contemplative. “If he becomes territorial and aggressive, how long will this little creek delay him?”

Alert for the bull, who's keeping an eye on me

After eyeballing me a couple of times, he ignored me in favor of keeping his attention focused on the grass.

So I turned my attention upward:

Looking over my head from my perch on the root over the creek

Then zoomed in on the left-most branches:

Still looking overhead from over the creek, but zoomed in

A very nice place to be. Oh, hey, I just remembered I have an aerial shot:

Our place from space

The tree I sat under is in the tree line to the right of the five-sided field at the right edge of the photo. 🙂

(Over) Collection Agency?

In yesterday’s news from the New York Times…

Officials Say U.S. Wiretaps Exceeded Law

The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.

Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional.

But despite my repeated warnings on this blog, you continue to discuss all manner of stuff via email and phone. Don’t you?! Yeah, I thought so.

I, too.

“I don’t have anything to hide,” is such a lame defense or explanation or boast or whatever it is.

If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn’t mind telling me anything and everything about yourself. 😆

Pep Up Your PC for Free

I just learned about this on Clark Howard’s site. I’m on a very slow dial-up connection here at home, so I’ll have to wait to download some of these programs.

Meanwhile, though, I present to you….

15 free downloads to pep up your old PC

Got an aging Windows laptop or desktop computer, but money’s too tight to buy a new one? Fret not. There’s plenty of life in your old PC. It may seem sluggish and on the point of expiring, and its hard disk may be nearly full to bursting, but there’s plenty you can do to clean it up, speed it up and give it new life.

And here’s the good news: You can do it all without spending a dime, with these 15 free downloads we’ve rounded up for you. They’ll get you more hard disk space, give your PC an overall tuneup, monitor your hardware for potential problems and more.

Just give your PC this dose of virtual Geritol and it’ll soon be as peppy as new.

Coming on April Fool’s Day

Vexing computer worm to evolve on April Fool’s Day

A tenacious computer worm which has wriggled its way onto machines worldwide is set to evolve on April Fool’s Day, becoming harder to exterminate but not expected to wreak havoc.

[…]

“There is no evidence of it going into attack mode or dropping any particular payload on April 1st,” Ferguson said in an interview.

[…]

It can infect machines from the Internet or by hiding on USB memory sticks carrying data from one computer to another. Once in a computer it digs deep, setting up defenses that make it hard to extract.

[…]

A troubling aspect of Conficker is that it harnesses computing power of a botnet to crack passwords.

Microsoft has modified its free Malicious Software Removal Tool to detect and get rid of Conficker.

[…]

Computer users are advised to stay current on anti-virus tools and Windows updates, and to protect computers and files with strong passwords.

Conficker is programmed to reach out to 250 websites daily to download commands from its masters.

On Wednesday, the worm will begin connecting with 50,000 websites daily to better hide where orders originate….

[…]

Among the ways one can tell if their machine is infected is that the worm will block efforts to connect with websites of security firms such as Trend Micro or Symantec where there are online tools for removing the virus.

[…]

Hackers have taken advantage of Conficker hype by using promises of information or cures to lure Internet users to websites booby trapped with malicious software, according to security specialists.

Get a FREE malware scan now (from Trend Micro)

“Over the Top and Unworkable”

Well, that’s good news, isn’t it? 🙄

Facebook, Bebo and MySpace ‘to be monitored by security services’

The private correspondence of millions of people who use social networking sites could be tracked and saved on a “big brother” database, under new plans being drawn up by the UK government.

Ministers revealed yesterday that they were considering policing messages sent via sites such as MySpace and Facebook, alongside plans to store information about every phone call, e-mail and internet visit made by everyone in the United Kingdom.

There was immediate uproar from opposition parties, privacy campaigners and security experts who said the plans were over-the-top and unworkable.

Yeah. Maybe so.

Above all, love God!