31. December 2003 - Saturn's going to be really beautiful
When the clock strikes midnight tonight, heralding the start of 2004, go outside and look
up. Directly overhead you'll see a yellow star outshining the others around it. That star
is the planet: Saturn. After Mars, Saturn is having its closest encounter with Earth for
the next 29 years.
2004 is going to be a big year for Saturn. The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, en route since
1997, will arrive there in June. Other spacecraft have visited Saturn--Pioneer 11 and the
Voyagers--but they merely flew by, taking hurried pictures during encounters that lasted
little more than days. When Cassini reaches Saturn it will stay, orbiting and studying the
planet for at least four years.
06. December 2003 - ASTEROID FLYBY ... or was it Santa ...
Discovered only yesterday, a small asteroid named 2003 XJ7 will fly by our planet today
150,000 km away--barely 40 percent of the distance to the Moon. Closest approach occurs
at approximately 19:04 UT on Dec. 6th. The asteroid is small, about 20 meters wide, and
fast moving. At closest approach it will race across Canis Major at a rate of 0.4 deg.
per minute. Glowing like a 13th magnitude star, 2003 XJ7 is too faint to see with the
unaided eye. Even so, advanced amateur astronomers might be able to photograph it using
large backyard telescopes and CCD cameras.
02. December 2003 - Rip-off Ireland: it’s official ...
A major study found that, of 15 developed economies, Ireland was the most expensive
for goods and services, alongside Finland, and that price increases are eroding our
ability to attract and maintain jobs.
The Annual Competitiveness Review, which is appointed by the Government, found Ireland
was fourth most expensive for insurance premiums and the third dearest for electricity
and landfill costs. Ireland also has the lowest broadband internet penetration and the
second most expensive.
The National Competitiveness Council also warned that unless price increases are
tackled, the country risks missing an economic upturn.
"As if we didn't know" ...
24. November 2003 - Town requires homes to have guns ???
GEUDA SPRINGS, Kan. -- Residents of this tiny south-central Kansas community have
passed an ordinance requiring most households to have guns and ammunition.
Noncomplying residents would be fined $10 under the ordinance, passed 3-2 earlier
this month by City Council members who thought it would help protect the town of 210
people. Those who suffer from physical or mental disabilities, paupers and people who
conscientiously oppose firearms would be exempt.
The ordinance is similar to one passed in Kennesaw, Ga., 21 years ago, which is
still in effect.
20. November 2003 - "ISS" five years in orbit ...
Today, the International Space Station reached a milestone -- five years in orbit. The
Zarya Control Module became the first ISS component to reach space on Nov. 20, 1998.
The Zarya Control Module, also known by the technical term Functional Cargo Block and
the Russian acronym FGB, was the first component launched for the International Space
Station. This module was designed to provide the station's initial propulsion and power.
The 19,323-kilogram (42,600-pound) pressurized module was launched on a Russian Proton
rocket. Click here to see ISS's next visible oasses, over Ballydehob
11. November 2003 - "Once and again" ...
As if we didn't know:"The dominant influence on Ireland's climate is the Atlantic
Ocean. With southwesterly winds from the Atlantic dominating, rainfall figures are
highest in the northwest, west and southwest of the country, especially over the higher
ground. Rainfall accumulation tends to be highest in winter and lowest in early summer.
The annual number of days with more than 1 mm of rain varies between about 150 in the
drier parts and over 200 in the wetter parts of the country.
08. November 2003 - LUNAR ECLIPSE ...
On Saturday, Nov. 8th, the full moon will glide through our planet's shadow and turn a
delightful shade of sunset-red. This is the second lunar eclipse of 2003. Observers of
the first one in May might remember that the moon was nearly invisible during totality.
This eclipse will be different. During totality on Nov. 8/9th the moon will remain
relatively bright, and there will be a pleasing gradient of color across the face of
the moon--pale-white on one side, crimson-red on the other. Why the difference ??? Click
here to read more.
| |
Moon enters
Earth's shadow
|
totality
begins
|
totality
ends
|
Moon exits
Earth's shadow
|
| Universal
Time |
23:32 (Nov.
8)
|
01:06 (Nov.
9)
|
01:31
(Nov. 9)
|
03:04
(Nov. 9) |
|
03. November 2003 - Happy 20th Birthday Computer Virus ...
On November 3, 1983, the first virus was conceived of as an experiment to be presented
at a weekly seminar on computer security. The concept was first introduced in this
seminar by the author, and the name 'virus' was thought of by Len Adleman. After 8
hours of expert work on a heavily loaded VAX 11/750 system running Unix, the first
virus was completed and ready for demonstration. Within a week, permission was obtained
to perform experiments, and 5 experiments were performed. On November 10, the virus was
demonstrated to the security seminar.
31. October 2003 - ...
31. October 2003 - BRIGHT AURORAS and MAGNETIC STORM
It's been a wonderful week for sky watchers. Two fast-moving clouds of gas from the sun
(CMEs) swept past Earth--one on Oct 29th-30th and one on Oct 30th-31th and sparked extreme
geomagnetic storms. Beautiful Northern Lights appeared as far south as Ballydehob. The ongoing
geomagnetic storm, which began on Oct. 29th when a coronal mass ejection swept past Earth, is
subsiding. The source of all this solar activity is giant sunspot 486. It unleashed two of the
most powerful solar flares ever recorded toward Earth. More such eruptions are possible in
the days ahead (Sunspot 486 is so big it's easy to see from Earth, but never look directly
at the sun) ... Although mid-latitude auroras have faded, high-latitude auroras however are
persisting.
04. October 2003 - IE Patchwork quilts of our time
THERE'S A NEW security patch at Windows Update which will fix the gaping hole The
INQUIRER reported on yesterday.
See Internet Explorer trojan problem
still not patched.
Microsoft rates the patch as critical, so if you use Internet Exploder, you'd better
get it quickish. A number of orgs have already pointed out it was a critical hole that
needed to be fixed quickish.
Secunia rates the problem as "extremely critical", according to this web page.
Microsoft's earlier attempt to patch up this problem didn't patch up the problem.
Full details at the Microsoft security page, here ...
28. September 2003 - WHAT IS GOING ON ...
Power cut affected whole of Italy. The cut started about 3.30am this morning.
This power cut follows problems last week in Denmark, before that in London,
and first of all in the Northeast region of the USA, from New York to Cleveland
and Detroit, as well as Toronto and Ottawa in Canada.
28. September 2003 - Europe goes to the Moon ...
ESA PR 60-2003. SMART-1, Europe’s first science spacecraft designed to orbit the Moon,
has completed the first part of its journey by achieving its initial Earth orbit after
a flawless launch at 01:14 Central European Summer time from the Guiana Space Centre,
Europe’s spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana. The European Space Agency’s SMART-1 was
one of three payloads on Ariane-5 Flight 162. 42 minutes after launch, all three
satellites had been successfully released into a geostationary transfer orbit (742 x 36
016 km, inclined at 7 degrees to the Equator). While the other two satellites are due
to manoeuvre towards geostationary orbit, the 367 kg SMART-1 will begin his much longer
journey (ten times more distant than the geostationary orbit). The spacecraft has deployed
its solar arrays and is currently undergoing initial checkout of its systems under control
from ESA/ESOC. This checkout will continue until 4 October and will include the initial
firing of SMART-1’s innovative ion engine.
22. September 2003 - A dramatic end for GALILEO ...
a dramatic end for a vehicle that travelled 4,631,778,000 kilometres, taking
it past Earth, Venus, Jupiter and five of Jupiter's moons. After a 14-year celestial
tour, the Galileo spacecraft was steered into Jupiter's atmosphere and destroyed. Galileo
was the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter and probe its atmosphere. It did 35 laps around
Jupiter and made a number of orbits around its largest moons: Europa (11), Callisto (8),
Ganymede (8), Io (7) and Amalthea (1).
20. September 2003 - Fake Microsoft security spam conceals virus
First of all: MICROSOFT NEVER sends you emails with patch or fixes embedded in them – and
you only get security alert notices if you've opted for. Even if a email looks convincing ...
don't click ... a particularly ugly one that's doing the rounds at the moment, spreads by a
Virus called W32.Swen.A@mm. This one, claiming to come from "Microsoft Corporation Public
Support" looks highly convincing [click here to see a screen shot] comes with an attachment
called Q934821.exe which you shouldn't click under any circumstances.
If you're concerned about holes and other Microsoft security information,you should click
here.
Symantec Security Response has developed aremoval tool to clean the infections of W32.Sobig.F@mm.
07. September 2003 - Fury over Meacher claims ...
The US government last night expressed abhorrence at Mr Meacher's views. An embassy
spokesman in London said: "Mr Meacher's fantastic allegations - especially his assertion
that the US government knowingly stood by while terrorists killed some 3,000 innocents
in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia - would be monstrous, and monstrously offensive,
if they came from someone serious or credible.
"My nation remains grateful for the steadfast friendship of the British people and Her
Majesty's government as we face, together, the serious challenges that have arisen since
September 11 2001."
06. September 2003 - M. Meacher: "This war on terrorism is bogus"
Michael Meacher: "The 9/11 attacks gave the US an ideal pretext to use force to
secure its global domination" ...
Wow, these are unusual clear words from a politician, in todays Guardian.
Michael Meacher MP was Labour environment minister from May 1997 to June 2003.
30. August 2003 - Oh! ... "The New Law" ...
After the Columbine incident in Colorado, Oklahoma passed a new law against planning or
carrying out that kind of violent event. Unfortunately, the law -- hastily constructed
and passed in a knee-jerk reaction to public fears -- is quite vague and over-broad,
and doesn't even require the state to prove criminal intent to convict someone of
felonious conduct. In fact, the law is so wide open to interpretation that it could
even allow a person to be convicted of a felony simply for having violent thoughts or
imagining and writing stories about violent incidents
27. August 2003 - EYE-CATCHING MARS ...
On Tuesday night (Aug. 26th) and Wednesday morning (Aug. 27th), Earth and Mars are going
to have a historic close encounter--the closest in almost 60,000 years.
The two worlds, center-to-center, will be just 56 million kilometers apart--a short
distance on the scale of the solar system. The last people to come so close to Mars
were Neanderthals.
Go outside around midnight, look south and up. Mars will be the brightest object in the
sky. The view through a telescope is very pleasing.
27. August 2003 - Demonstrations against EU Software Patent Plans
The Proposal for a software patent directive, which will be submitted to the European
Parliament for plenary debate and subsequent decision on September 1st, is giving rise
to another wave of protests. Various groups in Belgium and elsewhere are mobilising for
a rally in Brussels on August 27th and are calling on web administrators to temporarily
block their web sites. [Click here for more information]
27. August 2003 - Shuttle disaster report criticises Nasa
A report into Columbia's break up as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere in February
this year said that a schedule-driven culture starved of funding and burdened with an
insufficient safety programme was as much to blame for death of its seven astronauts as
mechanical failings.
It said that Nasa's attitude towards safety had improved little since the 1986 Challenger
disaster and mission managers at the space agency had fallen into the habit of accepting
some flaws as normal.
The root causes of the Columbia disaster were also an "echo" of the Challenger accident,
repeated for 20-years and embedded in Nasa's organisational system.
But most of all, the report noted, there was "ineffective leadership" that "failed to
fulfil the implicit contract to do whatever is possible to ensure the safety of the
crew" ...
23. August 2003 - W32.Sobig.F@mm Worm ... WARNING ...
On August 18, a new mass-email worm called W32.Sobig.F@mm was discovered. This worm
arrives as an attachment to an e-mail message. Often, the message appears to come from
a trusted person.
Once it successfully infects your machine, the worm can update itself over the network,
steal e-mail addresses stored in files on your system, and spread the infection to other
machines through e-mail. [Click here for more information]
Symantec Security Response has developed aremoval tool to clean the infections of W32.Sobig.F@mm.
22. August 2003 - Egyptian Jurists to Sue 'The Jews' ...
The August 9, 2003 edition of the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi featured an interview
with Dr. Nabil Hilmi, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Al-Zaqaziq who,
together with a group of Egyptian expatriates in Switzerland, is preparing an enormous
lawsuit against "all the Jews of the world" for Compensation for 'Trillions' of Tons of
Gold Allegedly Stolen During Exodus from Egypt
18. August 2003 - 'HAPPY HOURS' will be banned, from Today ...
PUB 'happy hours' will be banned from Monday.
The practice of selling cut-price drink at selected times is being outlawed under tough
new measures brought in yesterday by Justice Minister Michael McDowell.
He signed an order which will allow for fines of up to €1,500 for first offences and
temporary closure orders.
It gives undercover gardai the same enforcement powers as their uniformed colleagues.
And it will place a new onus on publicans not to supply drink to people under 18, to ensure that drink is not given to people already drunk and to prevent disorderly conduct.
New powers will allow gardai to seek the wider use of temporary closure orders where pubs permit drunkenness, disorderly conduct or when they supply alcohol to someone who is drunk or under age.
18. August 2003 - W32.Welchia/Lovsan.D Worm ... WARNING ...
W32.Welchia.Worm is a worm that exploits multiple vulnerabilities, including: The DCOM
RPC vulnerability (described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-026) using TCP port 135.
The worm specifically targets Windows XP machines using this exploit. The WebDav vulnerability
(described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-007) using TCP port 80. The worm specifically
targets machines running Microsoft IIS 5.0 using this exploit.
W32.Welchia.Worm does the following:
Attempts to download the DCOM RPC patch from Microsoft's Windows Update Web site, install
it, and then reboot the computer. Checks for active machines to infect by sending an ICMP
echo request, or PING, which will result in increased ICMP traffic. Attempts to remove
W32.Blaster.Worm.
Symantec Security Response has developed aremoval tool to clean the infections of W32.Welchia.Worm.
16. August 2003 - Today Debian celebrates its 10th Birthday ...
Debian, the popular open-source linux distribution, celebrates its tenth Anniversary
today - The Debian Project was officially founded by Ian Murdock on August 16th,
1993. At that time, the whole concept of a "distribution" of GNU/Linux was new. Ian
intended Debian to be a distribution which would be made openly, in the spirit of Linux
and GNU. The creation of Debian was sponsored by the FSF's GNU project for one year.
14. August 2003 - An enormous power failure in Northeast USA
Thursday, August 14, 2003; 6:00 p.m ET
Major U.S. cities in the Northeast region, from New York to Cleveland and Detroit, as
well as Toronto and Ottawa are experiencing a massive power outage. The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) Thursday said that a massive power outage that hit New York
City and other East Coast cities was not caused by a terror attack. [Click here to read more]
13. August 2003 - W32.Blaster.Worm ... WARNING ...
W32.Blaster.Worm is a worm that exploits the DCOM RPC vulnerability (described in
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-026) using TCP port 135. This worm attempts to
download and run the Msblast.exe file. Systems Affected: Windows 2000,
Windows XP ...
It's good advice to patch your Windows-System N O W (click here) ...
The W32/Blaster worm exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft's DCOM RPC
interface as described in VU#568148 and CA-2003-16. Upon successful
execution, the worm attempts to retrieve a copy of the file
msblast.exe from the compromising host. Once this file is retrieved,
the compromised system then runs it and begins scanning for other
vulnerable systems to compromise in the same manner. In the course of
propagation, a TCP session to port 135 is used to execute the attack.
However, access to TCP ports 139 and 445 may also provide attack
vectors and should be considered when applying mitigation strategies.
Microsoft has published information about this vulnerability in
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-026.
CERT/CC:
"Lab testing has confirmed that the worm includes the ability to launch
a TCP SYN flood denial-of-service attack against windowsupdate.com. We
are investigating the conditions under which this attack might
manifest itself. Unusual or unexpected traffic to windowsupdate.com
may indicate an infection on your network, so you may wish to monitor
network traffic".
Symantec Security Response has developed aremoval tool to clean the infections of W32.Blaster.Worm Webcast.
11. August 2003 - Slán agus beannacht leat ...
06. August 2003 - Binky, Scasy, Dia or what ...
Just arrived ...
Say hello to a new sunshine and family member of us, our little female
Kitten without (so far) a proper name. Any good ideas are welcome and very much appreciated.
27. July 2003 - Nessie does not exist ... BBC 'proves'...
A BBC team says it has shown there is no such thing as the Loch Ness monster.
Using 600 separate sonar beams and satellite navigation technology to ensure that none
of the loch was missed, the team surveyed the waters said to hide Scotland's legendary
tourist attraction but found no trace of the monster.
Previous reported sightings of the beast led to speculation that it might be a plesiosaur,
a marine reptile which died out with the dinosaurs. The team was convinced that such an
animal could have survived in the cold waters of Loch Ness, despite the normal preference
of marine reptiles for sub-tropical waters.
"There was an anticipation that we would come up with a large sonar anomaly that could
have been a monster - but it wasn't to be."
The BBC team says the only explanation for the persistence of the myth of the monster
is that people see what they want to see. [Check for yourself]
25. July 2003 - Windows MIDI Decoder Heap Corruption ...
A set of integer overflows exists in a DirectX library included in Microsoft Windows.
An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code or to cause a
denial of service.
It's good advice to patch your Windows-System N O W (click here) ...
Microsoft Windows operating systems include multimedia technologies called DirectX
and DirectShow. DirectX consists of a set of low-level Application Programming
Interfaces (APIs) that are used by Windows programs for multimedia support. Within
DirectX, the DirectShow technology performs client-side audio and video sourcing,
manipulation, and rendering. DirectShow support for MIDI files is implemented in a
library called quartz.dll. This library contains two (newly known) vulnerabilities.
A specially crafted MIDI file could cause an integer overflow, leading to incorrect
memory allocation and heap corruption. Any application that uses DirectX/DirectShow
to process MIDI files may be affected by this vulnerability. Of particular concern,
Internet Explorer (IE) uses the Windows Media Player ActiveX control and quartz.dll
to handle MIDI files embedded in HTML documents. An attacker could therefore exploit
this vulnerability by convincing a victim to view an HTML document, such as a web
page or an HTML email message, that contains an embedded MIDI file. Note that in
addition to IE, a number of applications, including Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora,
AOL, Lotus Notes, and Adobe PhotoDeluxe, use the WebBrowser ActiveX control to
interpret HTML documents.
18. Jul 2003 - Today, Nelson Mandela turns 85
Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time. His role in
fighting apartheid, his imprisonment on Robben Island, and his ability to steer South
Africa through the crisis of its re-birth earned him the international reputation of
benevolent negotiator and quintessential peacemaker. Join the rest of the world in
celebrating the birthday of a man who epitomises the spirit of human courage and freedom -
post your birthday message, greeting, wishes for Nelson Mandela, click here!
15. Jul 2003 - Matilda creates her first and own jam brand
Recipe:
300 Gr.Loganberry, 100 Gr.Strawberry, 50 Gr. Raspberry, 30 Gr. red Currant,
20 Gr. white Currant, 10 Gr. black Currant ... and ... 500 Gr. Jam Sugar ...
14. July 2003 - MEMORANDUM for President Bush
By Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity ... hear, hear, hear ...
Attempts at cover up could easily be seen as comical, were the issue not so serious. Highly
revealing were Ari Fleisher’s remarks early last week, which set the tone for what followed.
When asked about the forgery, he noted tellingly—as if drawing on well memorized talking
points—that the Vice President was not guilty of anything. The disingenuousness was capped
on Friday, when George Tenet did his awkward best to absolve the Vice President from
responsibility.
31. May 2003 - PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
Sky watchers in Alaska, parts of Canada, most of Europe and Asia will experience a
partial eclipse of the Sun this weekend. The event takes place on Friday evening,
May 30th, in Alaska and northwestern Canada; and on Saturday, May 31st elsewhere.
Click here, to read the full story from Science@NASA.
19. May 2003 - More madness - US killers blame 'The Matrix'
It is not unusual for violent criminals to identify with popular culture – bank robbers
often take inspiration from heist movies like Point Blank, and there is evidence that
the destroyers of the World Trade Centre were fans of Independence Day – but The Matrix
appears to have a special hold ... essentially the line is: I can't be guilty, because
this isn't reality and we live in a computer-simulated world just like the one depicted
in the film.
15. May 2003 - Net losses: Industrialized fishing hits fish stocks
Net losses: Horrific revelation in todays "natur" published. Industrialized fishing hits
fish stocks. Analysis of data from five ocean basins reveals a dramatic decline in numbers
of large predatory fish (tuna, blue marlins, swordfish and others) since the advent of
industrialized fishing. The world's oceans have lost over 90% of large predatory fish, with
potentially severe consequences for the ecosystem. These findings provide indirect support
for goals established at the UN's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg
last year. UN officials argued that three-quarters of the world's fisheries were fished to
their sustainable limits or beyond, and made proposals for the restoration of depleted fisheries
by 2015.
12. May 2003 - Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team to Leave Iraq
Despite the supreme confidence of the Bush administration that evidence of weapons of
mass destruction would be found, special U.S. search teams, equipped with state-of-the-
art field labs are leaving Iraq disappointed. To date, their search for Saddam Hussein's
notorious weapons program has been fruitless.
09. May 2003 - Let it "Bee" ... 
... Gabrielle in action ...
07. May 2003 - MERCURY TRANSITS THE SUN
It happens only 13 times each century: Mercury passes directly between the sun and Earth.
The next such transit is only days away on Wednesday, May 7th. Sky watchers in Europe,
Asia, and Africa will have a good view of the planet's tiny silhouette creeping across
the face of our star. Tune into spaceweather.com next Wednesday for images from around
the world ... and some from out of this world, too. The transit begins at 0513 UT and
ends a little more than 5 hours later (click here to read more).
01. May 2003 - Remarks by President Bush
"Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups and seeks or possesses weapons of
mass destruction is a grave danger to the civilized world - and will be confronted".
Well spoken (I should say) ... but did you know, that the United States is the only
country (ever) convicted by the "International Court of Justice", "the World Court"
and the "UN Security Council" for "unlawful use of force" and for "supporting
terrorism" against a democratic elected government (Nicaragua). The United
States, of course, dismissed the court judgment with total contempt and announced that
it would not accept the jurisdiction of the court henceforth (and that's where we stay
today" ... "Any outlaw regime that has ... "
25. April 2003 - Guess what ... Sonja is here ...
25. April 2003 - Celebrating 50 years of the DNA Double Helix
On April 25th 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick described the structure of DNA in the
journal Nature. This momentous discovery, which was the culmination of research by Medical
Research Council scientists, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin in London, and James
Watson and Francis Crick in Cambridge, was one of the most significant landmarks of 20th
century science.
08. April 2003 - Watch ISS (Internationl Space Station) pass over
On April 8th (evening) ISS will beautifully pass over Ballydehob (north-west Europe). Rising
above horizon (WNW) at 20:29:30 (UT) and entering earth shadow (ESE) at 20:39:01 (UT).
Maximum altitude will be (SSW) at 20:34:44 (UT) with it's closest distance of 448(km).
If the sky is clear it will be a lovely sight. ISS will pass close to Mercury, Moon and
Jupiter and fly by Saturn. (Click here fore more details).
">
04. April 2003 - An early touch of summer (life is easy) ...
01. April 2003 - March basked in rare sunshine ...
It's official now: Ireland has just enjoyed the sunniest March in decades, with exceptional sunshine
figures experienced everywhere. Met Eireann monthly data records reveal that it has been the sunniest
March in 20 years. Sunshine figures were up all over the country with 165
per cent. But the all over record goes to Malin Head in Donegal, where it has been the sunniest
March since 1929. The sunshine was due to a system of high pressur that moved north from its
traditional spot near the Azores and settled for an unusually long time very close to Ireland.
No record for lack of rainfall were brocken though, as the month started out very wet with heavy rainfall
until March 12th.
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29. March 2003 - After 3 Years the Chicken House is finished ...
We had a great time with nice people and we are very proud, that no one "chickened out"
on the (chicken) run to the chicken house for the opening ceremony and "cock tail" ...
kikeriki ...
27. March 2003 - Bush and Blair in despair ...
22. March 2003 - Blasts Rock Baghdad After 2-Day Assault
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Explosions rattled the city toward evening Saturday and there
was a dark plume of smoke rising southwest of the city center after two days of fierce
bombardments destroyed presidential palaces, government offices and military headquarters.
21. March 2003 - Astronomical Spring Is Here
Equinox at 01:00 Universal Time, the time when night and day are of equal length in all parts of the Earth. The
word equinox comes from a Latin word meaning "equal night." Spring equinox: the beginning
of spring, often called the vernal equinox. Vernal means "of spring." It occurs usually on
March 20th or 21st.
">
19. March 2003 - The true meaning of Easter
Easter spirit has taken over ... one month to early ... see for your self, if you
can find the eggs.
14. March 2003 - Happy Birthday NCSA Mosaic 0.10
As if we didn't know:"The dominant influence on Ireland's climate is the Atlantic
Ocean. With southwesterly winds from the Atlantic dominating, rainfall figures are
highest in the northwest, west and southwest of the country, especially over the higher
ground. Rainfall accumulation tends to be highest in winter and lowest in early summer.
The annual number of days with more than 1 mm of rain varies between about 150 in the
drier parts and over 200 in the wetter parts of the country.
Sun 14. March 1993 - 03:00:45 -0800 the first (real) WWW Browser, NCSA Mosaic for X 0.10,
was released allowing people to view HTML (combining, for the first time, graphics and text
together) with an easy-to-use interface . This caused the explosion of people using the
World Wide Web as we know it today. Mosaic was produced by the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications (NCSA), which licenses its code (Netscape/Microsoft etc.) under the name of Spyglass.
In 1994, Netscape (founded by programmers of Mosaic) Navigator was released, followed by Internet
Explorer (Microsoft) in 1995.
Having watched RTEs 'You're A Star' competition for the last couple of weeks, I must say ...
very exciting ... and I am really pleased that one of my contenders finally got through.
Mickey Joe Harte, the 29-year-old from Lifford, Co Donegal, is on his way to Latvia to
represent me and of course Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Today, Los Angeles passes 107th resolution opposing war!
The weather really doesn't show it (or, maybe it does) it's springtime and the breeding
season is on. This little black fellow was born today 15:45 GT as the first to start with
this lovely business ... an there will be more to come (hopefully as healthy as this one).
Don't Be Afraid, Be Ready--One individual, One family, One Community At A Time.
Already in April 2002 appeared a message concerning a new virus that was reportedly
discovered in Windows utility JDBGMGR.EXE. This is a hoax and like the SULFNBK.EXE Warning
hoax, tries to persuade you to delete a legitimate Windows file from your computer.
Jdbgmgr.exe is the Microsoft Debugger Registrar for Java. The Jdbgmgr.exe file may be
installed when you install Windows. (CAUTION: Don't mistake JDBGMGR.EXE with the Bugbear
worm, this is a real worm and completely unrelated to this file).
Secretary of State Colin Powell called the British intelligence dossier on Iraq a "fine
document" when he presented his case to attack Iraq at the U.N. on February 5th. The next
day the news broke over BBC News as well as in The Guardian, that significant pages of the
intelligence brief were essentially plagiarized from a graduate student's thesis along with
copies from the Internet. Some of the information in the dossier pointed to information
from the Gulf War, not the current situation. It looks as if there wasn't any "new evidence"
to speak of.
Click here to read the transcript of the: "DoD News Briefing - of Secretary Rumsfeld and
General Myers"
Just two days before his retirement Rep. Governor George Ryan of Illinois made a spectacular
mark in US History ... he pardoned 4 candidates on Death Row and changed 156 Death Sentences
to "Life In Prison Without Parole". The Governor declared that his state's death penalty was
fraught with error and has come so close to the ultimate nightmare, the state's taking of
innocent life.
The freezing of Lake Hofmann in Ballydehob Ireland.
From The Irish Independent Front Page...