Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Acrobat misses.. Foxit to the rescue

Just read that there is a vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat.. ..after much digging, I finally found this:


A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 and earlier versions. This vulnerability would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this issue is being exploited.

above is from : http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-01.html

There are patches on the way, but a partial solution is to turn off javascript in Adobe reader & acrobat. It's only partial because someone has been able to reproduce the vulnerability without utilizing javascript.. so turning it off is only a stopgap measure.

I'm sooooooooooo glad I ditched Acrobat reader a long time ago and only use foxit now.

More sites of related interest:

http://secunia.com/blog/44/


http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2690

http://blog.metasploit.com/2009/02/best-defense-is-information.html

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Power of Prayer

While wandering around the web last night I found an essay on why Prayer isn't answered.

I'd love to post the essay here, but as that would be a violation of copyright I'll just have to post the link here.

http://mzbworks.home.att.net/prayer.htm


If you read it, let me know what you think.

To me, it's another way of saying "God helps those who help themselves" among other things.

I do know there was one thing in my life that I wanted so badly, I prayed for it, I prepared for it, I made drastic changes in my environment to let this thing happen.. and it did happen. So I can attest that what the author calls the "Power of Abundance" does work. But.. you may have to give up other things for it.

Has it been a good decision for me? Well, so far I'm happy with my decision. I do know I missed out on other things because of the choices I made, but I would've lived a totally different life.

Read the essay and see if it speaks to you the way it did to me.

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Survivors Club widget

Update on Stray

Well, the vet that I liked wasn't able to see the dog (he had to go home sick) and the other one was tied up in emergency surgery, so they had me sign a paper permitting sedation (just in case) and had me leave him for a few hours.

When I came back about 4 hours later, the vet came and spoke to me. He said he couldn't find any obvious injury to cause the swollen chest and that the abrasions on the back legs were nothing to be concerned about. I asked "what about the matted and discolored fur at his neck". The vet didn't know anything about it. I TOLD the vet tech. Something is wrong here.. there's severe miscommunication.

Anyhow, the vet went back to try to look at him and the dog did his "yipe yipe yipe yipe" routine that he does when he's very frightened. Vet came back and said he couldn't handle it.. that he would have to sedate him to examine him. (Wasn't that what I signed the paper for???) And it being so late on a Friday, that that would get into boarding fees.

I am rather unhappy with this vet and will mention it to my regular vet when I get the chance.

The final verdict is that we decided to take him home (the vet did give him a rabies shot and a long lasting antibiotic) and see how he did. If he was still doing poorly on Monday, I would bring him back in.

I got him home and let him out of the carrier into the bathroom.. he promptly threw up on the bathmat and then went outside. LOL.. thank goodness the bathmat is washable.

We kept him in the bathroom/small yard the rest of Friday and all Saturday.. finally let him go on Sunday afternoon. He's doing alot better.. still not 100%, but better. He's running some and tried to jump, but when he landed he hollered.. so I guess he's still some sore.

I at least feel better to know that he has had a rabies shot since he hangs around my dogs and my house so much.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Taking in Strays

I have a vet appt in front of me today. I know I've talked about the little neighborhood stray that likes to hang out here with Sasha. We don't know who he belongs to or his name.. no collar or tags. We call him "Pogo" because he jumps straight up into the air about 4ft..when he's feeling good.

He's not feeling good at all today. Late yesterday evening, we noticed him in our yard and went to see him and he didn't jump like he usually does.. and when we tried to pick him up, he screamed. (he's a whiner, he hollers when a big dog chases him..and he hasn't even been touched..but this was different)

We got him inside enticed with a bit of doggie treat and once we picked him up, he quit hollering. Looking him over, we at first thought we saw a bb gun wound, matted reddened fur, but we couldn't find an actual wound. Then we noticed that one side of his chest was swollen and two little abrasions on his back legs. So now we think maybe he was grazed by a car.

We kept him penned up in the bathroom that has an outside door with a little fenced yard last night and he seems a little bit more comfortable this morning. He let me lift his front legs off the ground with only a whimper, no screams. I called the vet this morning and they said they would see him at about 11. Now the trick will be to get him into a carrier. I don't think anyone has ever done much with this poor little one. Looks like we're going to be semi-adopting him.

My dh said the other day that what he'd like to do when he retires is to get into Dog rescue. This may be our first step in that direction.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Good Hair Day

I got my hair cut today.

It was down to my waist.

Now it's just below my shoulders.

I didn't mean to cut so much off, but it felt so good, I kept on going.

Actually, it was severely tangled, so we just cut off the tangles.

Now I get to grow it out again.

(The old color is almost grown out.. now I just have to adjust to having so much gray)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

My valentine heart




Your Candy Heart Says "Hug Me"



A total sweetheart, you always have a lot of love to give out.

Your heart is open to where ever love takes you!



Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a surprise romantic evening that you've planned out



Your flirting style: lots of listening and talking



What turns you off: fighting and conflict



Why you're hot: you're fearless about falling in love



humorous pictures
more animals

Friday, February 13, 2009

GRITS.. manna from heaven

Got this in an email from my Uncle. I agree with 99% of it..all but the fork part. I use a spoon.. don't want to miss a single grit.

Southern is as Southern does!

IN GOD WE TRUST, THE SOUTH SHALL RISE AGAIN!

What Are Grits?

Nobody knows. Some folks believe grits are grown on bushes and are harvested by midgets by shaking the bushes after spreading sheets around them. Many people feel that grits are made from ground up bits of white corn. These are obviously lies spread by Communists and terrorists.

Nothing as good as a Grits can be made from corn. The most recent research suggests that the mysterious Manna that God rained down upon the Israelites during their time in the Sinai Desert was most likely Grits.

Critics disagree, stating that there is no record of biscuits, butter, salt, and red eye gravy raining down from the sky, and that God would not punish his people by forcing them to eat Grits without these key ingredients.

How Grits are Formed:

Grits are formed deep underground under intense heat and pressure. It takes over 1000 years to form a single Grit. Most of the world's grit mines are in South Georgia , and are guarded day and night by armed guards and pit bull dogs. Harvesting the Grit is a dangerous occupation, and many Grit miners lose their lives each year so that Grits can continue to be served morning after morning for breakfast (not that having Grits for lunch and dinner is out of the question).

Yankees have attempted to create a synthetic Grits. They call them Cream of Wheat. As far as we can tell the key ingredients of Cream of Wheat are Elmer's Glue and shredded Styrofoam.

These synthetic grits have also been shown to cause nausea, and may leave you unable to have children.

Historical Grits:

As we mentioned earlier, the first known mention of the Grits was by the Ancient Israelites in the Sinai Desert.

After that, the Grits was not heard from for another 1000 years. Experts feel that the Grits was used during this time only during secret religious ceremonies, and was kept from the public due to it's rarity.

The next mention of the Grits was found amidst the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii in a woman's personal diary.

The woman's name was Herculaneum Jemimaneus (Aunt Jemima to her friends.)

The 10 Commandments of Grits:

I. Thou shalt not put syrup on thy Grits.
II. Thou shalt not eat thy Grits with a spoon or knife.
III. Thou shalt not eat Cream of Wheat and call it Grits, for this is blasphemy.
IV. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors Grits.
V. Thou shalt use only Salt, Butter, and red eye gravy as toppings for thy Grits.
VI Thou shalt not eat Instant Grits
VII. Thou shalt not put ketchup on thy Grits
VIII. Thou shalt not put margarine on thy Grits.
IX. Thou shalt not eat toast with thy Grits, only biscuits made from scratch .
X. Thou shalt eat grits on the Sabbath for this is manna from heaven.

How to Cook Grits:

For one serving of Grits:
Boil 1.5 cups of water with salt and a little butter.
Add 5 TBsp of Grits.
Reduce to a simmer and allow the Grits to soak up all the water.
When a pencil stuck into the grits stands alone, it is done. That's all there is to cooking grits.

How to make red eye gravy :

Fry salt cured country ham in cast iron pan. Remove the ham when done and add coffee to the gravy and simmer for several minutes. Great on grits and biscuits.

How to Eat Grits :

Immediately after removing your grits from the stove top, add a generous portion of butter or red eye gravy. (WARNING: Do NOT use low-fat butter.)
The butter should cause the Grits to turn a wondrous shade of yellow. (Hold a banana or a yellow rain slicker next to your Grits; if the colors match, you have the correct amount of butter.)

In lieu of butter, pour a generous helping of red eye gravy on your grits. Be sure to pour enough to have some left for sopping up with your biscuits. Never, ever substitute canned or store bought biscuits for the real thing because they can cause cancer, rotten teeth and impotence.
Next, add salt. (NOTICE: The correct ration of Grit to Salt is 10:1
Therefore for every 10 grits, you should have 1 grain of salt.)

Now begin eating your grits.
Always use a fork, never a spoon, to eat Grits. Your grits should be thick enough so they do not run through the tines of the fork.

The correct beverage to serve with Grits is black coffee.
DO NOT use cream or, heaven forbid, Skim Milk.)
Your grits should never be eaten in a bowl because Yankees will think it's Cream of Wheat.

Ways to Eat Leftover Grits:

(Leftover grits are extremely rare)
Spread them in the bottom of a casserole dish, Cover and place them in the refrigerator overnight. The Grits will congeal into a gelatinous mass.
Next morning, slice the Grits into squares and fry them in 1/2 inch of cooking oil and butter until they turn a golden brown.

Many people are tempted to pour syrup onto Grits served this way. This is, of course, totally unacceptable.

IRISH BLESSING BEFORE EATING GRITS

May the lord bless these grits,
May no Yankee ever get the recipe,
May I eat grits every day while living,
And may I die while eating grits.

AMEN

Now excuse me while I go cook some grits. Anyone know where to get Dixie Lily Yellow Grits? They are exceedingly hard to come by.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Back to the farm

Looks like it's time for us all to start growing our own food.

"Beware of what you eat. You are on your own",
Senator Tom Harkins announces.

http://www.emergencyemail.org/newsemergency/anmviewer.asp?a=346&z=1

Who didn't know this already? I have always maintained that locally grown food is so much more safer than stuff shipped in from who knows where. At least now they have to tell us where the fruits and veggies come from... that's a start.

I do feel for the people in big cities who don't have a farmers market to go to.

I just don't understand

How is it that people in the news keep forgetting that they owe taxes?

The IRS surely doesn't let US forget that our Uncle wants his (more than fair) share.

Do these folks have friends in advantageous positions? I can't figure any other explanation.

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/tax-cheats-or-tax-idiots/

And beyond not understanding.. I'm OUTRAGED at Geithner being our treasury secretary.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (aka Washington, DC).

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090209_Stu_Bykofsky__If_the_rules_apply_to_Betty__why_not_to_politicians_.html

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Showing Off: Valentine Tote

I am going to brag on myself a little here.

I saw a pattern for a square and turned it into a felted tote bag. How cool is that?

Not only is that cool.. I used Tunisian and did lots of color changes.. whoopee!!
Based on the December Square from the Stitch to Win contest at CrochetToday : Pyschedelic Heart. I was also a maverick in that I used TKS instead of TSS.

You might have to register to be able to see the pattern, but it's easy and unobtrusive. I had to enlarge the graph to be able to see where to make the color changes, which means I had to d/l an editor for my foxit pdf reader, but once I had gotten that accomplished, the rest was gravy.

(I did write to coats and suggest that they make the graph larger and on a separate page for those of us with impaired eyesight.. or make the graph in black and white and label the squares p, r, o for the pink, red, orange colors.. they wrote back thanking me for suggestions and offered to send me all the patterns. No telling if they'll take my ideas and use them, but at least I'm getting all the patterns already printed out for free. I'm happy.)

I didn't have any orange wool, so I used white. I know white sometimes doesn't felt as well as other yarns, so that made me nervous.


Here's one side:
OneSide

Another side:
OtherSide

Another thing that made me nervous was all the color changes.. would they hold together during felting?

Here it is this past weekend, 99% complete, waiting for handles and to be seamed up.
PreSeaming

This morning. I finished making handles. Ran out of enough red to make handles and finish off edge, so used some hotpink too. I think it actually looks nice this way.

Seamed

Just another photo. Prefelted the body measures about 11" wide by 14.5" tall.. about the size of a legal sheet of paper.

Ready2Felt

I threw it in the machine with a tiny bit of Gain liquid detergent, hot water and permanent press cycle. (We have soft water..so I can get by with tiny bits of soap). I stopped the machine at the end of the wash cycle before it spun.

Felted

A better angle where you can see the handles. I'm not sure if I like the short handles. If I were plannning on keeping it, I might redo them.

felted2


The finished size is about 12" high and about 9" wide. Not exact measurements cause I measured while it was stuffed with plastic bags drying.

What do you think? I think I love it!!

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Windows 7

Seems Microsoft is beginning to let us know a little bit about Windows 7. It will come in 6 flavors, Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate.

How confusing will that be?

I'm just hoping my win2000 pro and winxp will keep on chugging a good long while.

Read more here if interested.

Monday, February 02, 2009

Felt-it Felting

It's just my luck. About the time I discover a yarn, the company takes it out of production. Such is the case with Caron and it's Felt-it yarn (actually, I think I'm beginning to notice that Caron is rather quick to discontinue yarns.. or is that only my imagination?)

Here is a little tote that I made with 3 skeins of Caron's felt-it. I'm pretty sure the colorway is called Wildflowers, but mine doesn't have as much cream in it as the colorcard at Caron shows.

I had 3skeins and it was barely enough.. but would've been enough if I hadn't experiemented with doing the handles in a different manner and messed up some of the yarn.

I was so short that one of the side seams wasn't stitched securely enough and it came apart during the felting process. I had to stitch it back together while still wet with a totally different wool.. but I don't think it shows very much.

Actually the mend makes it even more unique and one of a kind. ::grin::

Without further ado.. here are the pictures.


Mended
Mended area
PostFelting
Postfelting
Prefelting
Prefelting


I can't give out the pattern, it's based very heavily on the Felted Tunisian tote class taught by Kim Guzman. You can visit her group at Ravelry or one of her websites, CrochetKim or Wips'NChains. Perhaps she might agree to assist someone, but I cannot share it, so please don't ask me.