TOPIC: Remember When I Told You The World Had Changed?
The Sope-Bocks made that statement on October 9th. Well, here's more proof that the world we live in has become a much more dangerous place. In an article published on FOXNews.com, North Korea called U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear test a "declaration of war" Tuesday and warned of "merciless blows" if its sovereignty was violated.

The communist country's first official response to the U.N. sanctions came as Japan and South Korea said the communist nation appeared to be readying for a second atomic blast. U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill referred to unspecified reports from Seoul that the North was preparing for a second nuclear test, saying it would be "a very belligerent answer" to the world. Hill said the North's latest comments about the sanctions were "not very helpful" and added that Pyongyang was falsely assuming it would win more respect with atomic explosions. "The fact of the matter is that nuclear tests make us respect them less," he told reporters in Seoul.
Japan's government also had "information" about another possible blast, Foreign Minister Taro Aso told reporters, without elaborating. In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepared to leave for Japan, South Korea, China and Russia on a tour to discuss how to enforce the U.N. sanctions against the North, approved Saturday.
The sanctions include a call to inspect cargo on ships sailing to and from North Korea. But China and Russia contend that interdicting vessels might needlessly provoke the North.
North Korea slammed the U.N. measures with a stream of bellicosity in a Foreign Ministry statement released on the official Korean Central News Agency. "The resolution cannot be construed otherwise than a declaration of a war" against the North, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the statement said. The North also warned it "wants peace but is not afraid of war," and that it would "deal merciless blows" against anyone who violates its sovereignty. It said it wouldn't cave in to "the pressure and threat of someone at this time when it has become a nuclear weapons state."
South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Yung-woo said the North's reaction wasn't surprising, and was full of "the usual rhetoric." A senior South Korean official told foreign journalists that despite signs of a possible second test, it was unlikely to happen immediately. "We have yet to confirm any imminent signs of a second nuclear test," the official said on condition of anonymity, due to the sensitivity of the information. China, the North's longtime ally and biggest trading partner, warned Pyongyong against aggravating tensions. "We hope North Korea will adopt a responsible attitude ... and come back to resolving the issue through dialogue and consultation instead of taking any actions that may further escalate or worsen the situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular press briefing in Beijing. Liu wouldn't directly comment on why China refuses to board ships but insisted that "the Chinese side has always implemented Security Council measures seriously and in a responsible manner. This time is no exception," Liu said.
South Korea has said it would fully comply with the U.N. sanctions resolution. Seoul has also indicated that it has no intention of halting key economic projects with the North, despite concerns that they may help fund the North's nuclear and missile programs. "Sanctions against North Korea should be done in a way that draws North Korea to the dialogue table," South Korean Prime Minister Han Myung-sook said, according to Yonhap news agency. "There should never be a way that causes armed clashes."

TOPIC: Computer History -- Banner Ads
The inevitable occured in October, 1994. The first banner ad appeared on a World Wide Web page. HotWired, an early and prolific website content creator, is credited with inventing the banner ad motif. The first banner ad was a 320 x 40 pixel graphic with the text "Have you ever clicked your mouse here?" The ad appears on HotWired.com and is linked to the AT&T website.

TOPIC: Television Program on Call Center Data Theft Prompts Investigation

Original Source: The Register (UK)

A recent television program has prompted the UK's Information Commissioner's Office to launch an investigation into security breaches at Indian call centers that have exposed UK citizens' bank account information. The ICO will look into the practices of the mobile phone companies that have outsourced call centers to India. The ICO has the authority to prevent the companies from sending work outside the country.

[SANS Editor's Note (Pescatore): Will they also investigate the call centers that have *not* been outsourced? There is a lot of jingoism going on - an outsourced call center might be less secure, or it might be more secure, than the original corporate one. Enterprises who make security a top criterion in outsourcing decisions can maintain or increase security. Those who rush to outsource without considering security can drastically reduce security - but those enterprises are also the ones most likely to be doing a bad job at running their own call center securely. ]
[SANS Editor's Note (Schultz): The downsides of "offshoring," especially security-related liabilities, are becoming increasingly evident. I thus predict a reversal in the trend to outsource work to countries where it can be done much more cheaply.]

Personally, I've been complaining about this subject -- long and loud -- for quite a while now. There are several stories of employees from these outsourced call centers in India (and elsewhere) stealing financial data from customers. Since the laws for this type of crime are much more lax in foreign countries, US and UK citizens (who are the groups hit hardest) get little relief from law enforcement authorities in places like India. We ALL need to refuse to deal with outsrouced call centers -- and demand that companies such as Dell, Gateway, Alcatel, HP/Compaq (and many non-tech firms) bring call centers back home!

TOPIC: Animal Study Links Teen Aggression With Prozac

Source: HealthCentral by Amanda Gardner

Scientists have uncovered clues as to why children and adolescents may get more aggressive or even suicidal while taking the widely prescribed antidepressant Prozac. A new study has found that juvenile hamsters became aggressive on low doses of Prozac (fluoxetine) but less aggressive on high doses. By contrast, adult hamsters were calm on both high and low doses of the drug. The bottom line: Adult and juvenile brains are different.
While intriguing, the study has some clear limitations, experts cautioned. "Just remember that a hamster is a hamster is a hamster," said Dr. Jon Shaw, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Which is not to say that the findings don't have some value. "There are a lot of studies on the maturation and evolution of the central nervous system structure through adolescence, and nobody thinks the adult brain is [the same as] the child's brain. And this just reminds us that other studies are needed to try and understand what the difference means in terms of metabolism of drugs," Shaw added.
Pediatric use of antidepressant medications -- especially a newer class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), of which Prozac is a member -- has been the subject of extended controversy. In October 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration directed manufacturers of SSRIs, which include Celexa, Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft, to put a special "black-box" warning on the drugs' labeling. The warning alerts health-care providers about an increased risk of suicidality in children and teens using the medications.
In July 2005, the FDA issued a public health advisory that raised the possibility that the risk of suicidality also applied to adults taking SSRIs, after several studies pointed to that possibility. Other studies, however, have found a lower incidence of youth suicide related to Prozac and other SSRIs. Prozac is the only medication approved to treat depression in children and adolescents.
For the new study, which was published in the October issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin injected hamsters with either high or low doses of Prozac. Two hours later, they created a threatening situation by putting a younger hamster in the home cage of another same-sex hamster for 10 minutes. Usually, male hamsters will respond to such situations with aggression. In these scenarios, the adult hamsters injected with either the high or low dose of Prozac were calmer. Juvenile hamsters, however, reacted differently to the different doses. Those on low doses were more aggressive while those on higher doses were less aggressive, though still not as calm as the adults. "We do know from adolescent studies that the brain continues to mature during adolescence, and even the early adult years," Shaw said. "So, this study is an important study in that it reminds us that further research is really necessary to look at how an evolving central nervous system responds to different stimuli."
The study authors also pointed out that teens may have lower levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in their system than adults, and it might not be enough for an SSRI to work with. It's also possible that some teens who become more aggressive and/or suicidal while taking SSRIs may have an unusual reaction to the drugs. "There is this paradoxical situation that the use of antidepressants reduces suicidal behavior both in adolescents and adult and, at the same time, there are some idiosyncratic situations where some individuals are more hyper aroused and possibly more aggressive," Shaw said.

TOPIC: World Food Day: Why Are There Still 400 Million Hungry Children?

Source: MedicalNewsToday

Speaking to mark the occasion of World Food Day on October 16th, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, James Morris, appealed to the developed world to give a fairer chance to the world's 400 million hungry children, many of whose lives are still blighted by malnutrition in the first few months after being born.
The impact of hunger and malnutrition is often severe for children. New research has shown yet again that the rapid development of the brain during the early months and years of life is crucial and influences learning, behaviour and health throughout the life cycle. Hunger negatively affects the brain development of children, setting back their chances of success later on in life. "Given that 70 percent of brain development occurs in the first two years of our lives, malnutrition in early childhood can have a devastating effect," Morris said. "Even before they can walk and talk, these kids are already behind the curve."
Research in Chile has demonstrated that children who suffered from malnutrition before the age of two tend to have smaller and less developed brains than those who were well nourished and that correspondingly, their Intelligence Quotients (IQs) were also lower. Other studies show that iron deficiency among children under two can be associated with poor performance once they reach school age. Similarly, stunted children can lose years of education because they start school later than they should. By contrast, better nourished children perform significantly better at school.
"The conclusion we can draw from this is the importance of integrating food for education programmes - school feeding - with early child survival and development interventions to achieve the greatest nutritional impact on children," Morris said. "And interventions against child hunger need to start even before the child is born - they need to start with the mother." Morris contrasted the educational opportunities and technology at hand in the developed world to help children achieve their potential with the extremely limited resources available to boost child development in the world's poorest corners. In countries such as Niger, Chad or Bangladesh, millions of children do not go to school at all, as the households they come from need every hand to make ends meet.
"There's nothing wrong with wanting the best for your own children - it would be unnatural to wish otherwise," Morris said. "But next time you upgrade your child's laptop or book those extra tuition sessions, spare a thought for the millions of children whose fingers will never touch a keyboard. They will be lucky if they even learn to read and write or do basic arithmetic."
"We can make a difference. There is more than enough food in the world. For example in Italy, once the population's nutritional requirements are met, there would be sufficient food left over for all the under-nourished people in Ethiopia; in France the 'extra' could feed the hungry of the Democratic Republic of Congo, while in the United States it could cover all the hungry in Africa," Morris said. "Official Development Assistance has been rising steadily for several years and now tops US$100 billion. We can afford to help, but we need to develop a food first policy - poverty cannot be eliminated until hunger and malnutrition are laid to rest. And one way to start would be to prevent hunger from cheating children of hope."

The World Food Day and TeleFood theme for 2006 is "Investing in agriculture for food security". Visit the World Food Programme website to find out more about how YOU can make a difference.

TOPIC: A REAL Hero
Micheal Monsoor is a real hero. In a world bent on providing heroes for youth, this guy is the REAL DEAL. Read FOXNews.com for the story of Monsoor's sacrfice for his fellow man...

A Navy SEAL sacrificed his life to save his comrades by throwing himself on top of a grenade Iraqi insurgents tossed into their sniper hideout, fellow members of the elite force said. Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor had been near the only door to the rooftop structure September 29 when the grenade hit him in the chest and bounced to the floor, said four SEALs who spoke to The Associated Press this week on condition of anonymity because their work requires their identities to remain secret. "He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it," said a 28-year-old lieutenant who sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. "He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs' lives, and we owe him."
Monsoor, a 25-year-old gunner, was killed in the explosion in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. He was only the second SEAL to die in Iraq since the war began. Two SEALs next to Monsoor were injured; another who was 10 to 15 feet from the blast was unhurt. The four had been working with Iraqi soldiers providing sniper security while U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted missions in the area.
In an interview at the SEALs' West Coast headquarters in Coronado, four members of the special force remembered "Mikey" as a loyal friend and a quiet, dedicated professional. "He was just a fun-loving guy," said a 26-year-old petty officer 2nd class who went through the grueling 29-week SEAL training with Monsoor. "Always got something funny to say, always got a little mischievous look on his face." Other SEALS described the Garden Grove, Calif., native as a modest and humble man who drew strength from his family and his faith. His father and brother are former Marines, said a 31-year-old petty officer 2nd class.
Prior to his death, Monsoor had already demonstrated courage under fire. He has been posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions May 9 in Ramadi, when he and another SEAL pulled a team member shot in the leg to safety while bullets pinged off the ground around them. Monsoor's funeral was held Thursday at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego. He has also been submitted for an award for his actions the day he died.
The first Navy SEAL to die in Iraq was Petty Officer 2nd Class Marc A. Lee, 28, who was killed August 2 in a firefight while on patrol against insurgents in Ramadi. Navy spokesman Lt. Taylor Clark said the low number of deaths among SEALs in Iraq is a testament to their training. Sixteen SEALs have been killed in Afghanistan. Eleven of them died in June 2005 when a helicopter was shot down near the Pakistan border while ferrying reinforcements for troops pursuing al-Qaida militants. There are about 2,300 of the elite fighters, based in Coronado and Little Creek, Va. The Navy is trying to boost that number by 500 — a challenge considering more than 75 percent of candidates drop out of training, notorious for "Hell Week," a five-day stint of continual drills by the ocean broken by only four hours sleep total. Monsoor made it through training on his second attempt.

TOPIC: Antibiotics in Poultry May Pose Risk to Humans
Overuse may foster drug resistance in people, study suggests

By Randy Dotinga / HealthDay Reporter

I have been saying this for years! Everyone looks at me like I'm weird, but I keep telling them -- the junk growers force into chickens is hazardous to OUR health. Here's an article from HealthDay. A study by Marshfield Clinic Research in Wisconsin confirms my hypothesis.

Could a turkey sandwich or a bowl of chicken soup be hazardous to your health? Poultry has that potential, according to research that suggests people who eat drug-treated poultry may be at increased risk of developing antibiotic resistance.
Still, the findings are preliminary and shouldn't make anyone stop eating chicken or turkey, the study's lead investigator said. "We don't want to suggest to anyone that they should alter their diet based on this," said Dr. Edward Belongia, director of the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation's Epidemiology Research Center in Wisconsin. But federal regulators should consider the results as they make rules about the kinds of drugs given to poultry, the investigator added.
At issue is the use of virginiamycin, an antibiotic used in farm animals to boost their growth. The drug is banned in Europe, but farmers are allowed to use it in the United States. Some studies have suggested that virginiamycin can cause germs in poultry to become super-powered, much as overuse of antibiotics in humans has made some people immune to certain drugs. This phenomenon, known as drug resistance, happens when an antibiotic is used so often that germs mutate around it. It's possible for drug resistance to be spread through food. "When we consume food with organisms that have resistance genes, these genes can be transferred to our natural organisms, causing them to become drug-resistant," explained Molly Marten, a clinical epidemiologist at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego who's familiar with the study findings.
Belongia and colleagues launched their study to see if people who ate chicken or turkey treated with antibiotics would themselves become resistant to an antibiotic known as quinupristin-dalfopristin, or Synercid. Synercid treats disease caused by Enterococcus faecium, germs that are normally found in the gut and can cause disease in some cases. The illnesses caused by these germs are especially common in hospitals among patients whose immune systems are weakened.

The study authors looked for signs of drug resistance by looking at enterococcus bacteria found in stool samples from 105 newly hospitalized patients and 65 healthy vegetarians, all living in the Midwest. They also looked for signs of drug-resistance in enterococcus bacteria found in 77 samples of ordinary poultry from retail stores and 23 samples of poultry raised without antibiotics. The findings of the study, which was funded by the federal government, are published in the November 1, 2006 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. The researchers said they did not find any sign that the humans had developed resistance to Synercid from eating poultry.
However, they said that "plenty" of drug-resistant enterococcus was found in poultry treated with antibiotics, Belongia said. Furthermore, 38 percent of the hospitalized patients had a genetic trait that might make it easier for them to develop resistance to Synercid; none of the vegetarians had the trait. Patients who ate the most chicken seemed most susceptible to developing immunity to the drug, as did those who touched poultry. Right now, this isn't a major problem because Synercid isn't used a great deal, Belongia said. That means germs haven't had a chance to become immune to it. "But that could change," he said.
Belongia believes that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should take the findings into account. In a written statement, Belongia said that antibiotics should not be used to promote growth in animals. "This research makes a strong case for limiting the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals," added Marten, the epidemiologist. "By using antibiotics for strictly therapeutic purposes (such as treating an infection), rather than as a growth promoter, we will slow the emergence of drug-resistant organisms in human populations."

Although the findings are not conclusive, they are something to seriously consider. THINK!

TOPIC: One of THE Most Important Historic "Computer" Events
Tim Berners-Lee began work on a hypertext GUI browser and editor in October, 1990. One month later, he produced the first web server and the very first ever "web" page. The first web server was nxoc01.cern.ch, which was later called info.cern.ch. The first web page URL was http://nxoc01.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html. Tim Berners-Lee is rightfully credited with inventing the World Wide Web.

TOPIC: U.S. Court Order Could Boost Spam By 50 Billion Daily

Sources: TechWeb / Digit-Life

I just ran across this in my morning news search. For the life of me, I cannot understand how a US court could 1) not realize the e360insight IS a spammer, 2) give a spammer a monetary settlement against a white hat team such as Spamhaus.org and 3) think that it can coerce a non-US group into settling by threatening to take away its domain name. This is a ludicrous situation that is sure to stir more revenge suits by other spammers. The worst part is that the article's title could be correct. We might all end up with MILLIONS more spam emails delivered to our inboxes. Here's the article, in its entirety...

A September decision by a federal court may mean more spam hitting inboxes, an analyst said Wednesday. Last month, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled in favor of e-mail marketing company e360insight, and ordered U.K.-based Spamhaus, a non-profit anti-spam organization, to pay $11.7 million in damages.
e360insight had argued that the Spamhaus blacklist -- a database of spammers and suspected spammers that is widely used by spam filtering services and software -- erroneously included its domain. Spamhaus did not contest the case, but has refused to pay the fine, issue an apology, or remove e360insight from the blacklist.
The fear, said Richi Jennings, an analyst with messaging research company Ferris Research, is that the judge will next order ICANN (Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers), the U.S.-based organization which manages domain names, to strip Spamhaus of its domain in an attempt to force the company to comply.
"In the short term, any spam filter that relies on Spamhaus' blacklist will have a problem with its accuracy," said Jennings. "But I don't think it will come to that. Spamhaus will either find a way to make sure that U.S. law can't touch them, or some other group will step in to fill the hole." Spamhaus itself has said the U.S. court has no jurisdiction, stands by its categorization of e360insight as a spammer, and remained defiant at the news of a possible domain stripping.
"We think it can not actually happen, due to the effect it would have both on the Internet and on millions of users," Spamhaus said in a statement posted on its Web site Tuesday. Spamhaus claimed that its blacklist blocks 50 billion spam messages daily. "The effect of suddenly not blocking such a large amount of spam would mean that volume of unwanted junk hitting mail server queues all over the world. The effect of 650 million email boxes suddenly receiving a barrage of illegal spam, scams, and bank phishes is extremely dangerous. For this reason alone we believe that ICANN suspending spamhaus.org is almost certainly a no-starter."
ICANN also issued a statement Tuesday, saying even if it was ordered, it had no authority to de-list Spamhaus' domain. "Even if ICANN were properly brought before the court in this matter, which ICANN has not been, ICANN cannot comply with any order requiring it to suspend or place a client hold on Spamhaus.org or any specific domain name because ICANN does not have either the ability or the authority to do so," the group said in an online posting. "Only the Internet registrar with whom the registrant has a contractual relationship, and in certain instances the Internet registry, can suspend an individual domain name," ICANN continued.
Spamhaus' domain is registered with Tucows, which is based in Toronto, Canada. Tucows was not available for comment on whether it would comply with a U.S. court order, if one is issued. If that happens, said Jennings of Ferris Research, users will be the ones to feel the pain, not Spamhaus. "There's the possibility that this will scare people off running blacklists in the future," said Jennings.
He also argued that if Spamhaus and its blacklist were to "go dark," it might kick up even more talk by other countries and international organizations to "wrest control of the Internet from the United States." Such efforts have included proposals that the United Nations administer the Internet, and has grown out of frustration with some ICANN decisions, such as its May rejection of the .xxx top-level domain.
Spamhaus suggested that if push came to shove, the all-volunteer organization would simply give up rather than continue to defy the U.S. judge. "The reality is that if Spamhaus gets around the court order by switching domain to maintain the blocking, the judge would very likely then rule us in criminal contempt," the group said. "We don't want a criminal record for the sake of fighting spam. We normally help fit the spammers with criminal records, not the other way round."

TOPIC: Sweeping Changes Needed At US Food And Drug Administration

Source: MedicalNewsToday

Five current or former members of the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) called today for Congress to make sweeping changes to deal with a large number of longstanding problems at the agency.

"The current FDA system of regulating drug safety has serious limitations and is in need of changes," they say in Archives of Internal Medicine, released today. Since Congress is ultimately responsible, "it is up to Congress to take the steps necessary to reinvigorate the FDA's ability to assure the public that approved medical products are safe."

Curt D. Furberg, M.D., Ph.D., professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the lead author, said the five decided to write the analysis after becoming discouraged by the FDA's inability to fix its own problems. "Congress has not provided adequate funding and authority to the FDA," he said.

• The group cites eight major problems impacting FDA performance, including:
• The system of initial approval of drugs often fails to detect serious adverse drug reactions.
• The same FDA center that approves drugs also has the responsibility of taking safety actions, creating a conflict-of-interest situation.
• The FDA is overly dependant on user fees from drug companies.
• The FDA is short on expertise in drug safety and public health.

"The key features of today's media stories about questionable drug safety are the same as with previous drug tragedies," Furberg said. "New drugs are introduced on the market with inadequate safety documentation; serious adverse drug reactions are later reported from the marketplace, and a large number of patients are unnecessarily injured before the drugs are withdrawn or better managed. The only difference is the name of the culprit drug."

Furberg and his colleagues recommend that Congress make five changes:

• "Give the FDA more direct legal authority to pursue violations." The FDA's own report says that drug companies committed to 1,231 post-marketing safety studies that are incomplete; 797 were never started.
• "Authorize the adoption of a conditional drug-approval policy, at least for selected drugs."
• "Provide additional financial resources to support the safety operations."
• "Mandate a reorganization of the agency with emphasis on strengthening the evaluation and proactive monitoring of drug safety."
• "Require broader representation of safety experts on FDA's advisory committees."

"Larger and longer clinical trials ought to be required for drugs that will be given for chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and coronary heart disease," said Peter A. Gross, M.D., chairman of medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center and professor of medicine and public health at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and a coauthor. "Trials should be required to have adequate numbers to assure the tested drugs are reasonably safe."

"Safety evaluation should be given the same priority as efficacy evaluation," the authors wrote, calling for the creation of a Center for Drug Safety within FDA "for continuous post-marketing surveillance and regulation." They say the center should be given adequate funding and staff to take advantage of the valuable data for safety monitoring already collected in private and public databases.

The conditional drug-approval policy could be modeled on programs in other countries for those drugs that have clear benefits but also have lingering safety concerns, requiring a re-review after two to three years. "A time-limited conditional approval status would place pressure on the sponsors to conduct and report post-marketing safety studies they commit to," said Furberg.

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TOPIC: Forward Operating Base Falcon -- ON FIRE!
It's just been reported that an ammo depot, at Camp Al-Saqr, in southern Baghdad (near Dorah) is on fire! The cause of the fire was not immediately known, said Lt. Col, Christopher C. Garver, a military spokesman. Blasts have been going on in the heavily industrial area for at least 30 minutes. The incident began around 10:00pm Baghdad time. There are NO immediate reports of casualties. The military says that all coalition forces and workers have been evacuated from the base.
Explosions from detonating tank and artillery ordnance and small-arms ammunition stored at the site went off for hours afterward. Large flames and smoke rose from the region, and flashes from the blasts and showers of sparks were visible on the horizon visible several kilometers (miles) away in central Baghdad, where the force of the blasts could be felt. The blasts came at time sporadically, at times in rapid succession, lasting into the night.
We hope all is well, but pray for the soldiers at that base. Details are sketchy, so stay tuned to The Sope-Bocks and your favorite news program.

Photo by: FOXNews.com

TOPIC: Grieving Amish Community Overwhelmed by Gifts After Schoolhouse Shooting
I am deeply touched by the reaction of the Amish to the brutality inflicted on their children two weeks ago. Their true Christian love and forgiveness is inspirational to me. The following Associated Press article was published on FOXNews.com this morning.

The Amish community grieving the loss of five girls shot in a schoolhouse say they have been overwhelmed by gifts from the outside world — about $700,000 in donations so far.
The money is expected to go toward short- and long-term medical bills, transportation costs, counseling and other needs. At the request of Amish leaders, a fund has also been set up for the gunman's family. Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old milk truck driver and father of three, took 10 girls hostage at the West Nickel Mines Amish School on October 2nd and shot all of them, killing five and seriously wounding the others before committing suicide. One girl is not expected to survive.
Members of the Amish have not sought the gifts, in part because their religion teaches them to care for themselves. But they also believe that giving is a way of grieving and say they do not want to deny others that experience. They believe "it would be un-Christ-like to deny other people the blessing that comes from giving," said Herman Bontrager, a Mennonite businessman who is serving as a spokesman."There's still a reasonable possibility that a couple of girls might have needs for a long time to come, if not for the rest of their lives," Bontrager said.
On Monday, church bells tolled in memory of the attack a week earlier and the fire department delivered donated flowers, stuffed animals and school supplies to an undisclosed site that will be used as a temporary schoolroom. "Their objective right now is to get back to life, as normal as they can," Bart Township Fire Company spokesman Mike Hart said Monday. Amish officials have not yet decided when classes will resume at a new site, or when the community might raze the one-room schoolhouse. Some wonder if the students or their families may want to see the old school at some point. "They want to make sure that everyone has as much closure as they need," said John Coldiron, a Bart Township zoning official.
The five girls buried last week were Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12; Marian Fisher, 13; Naomi Rose Ebersol, 7; and sisters Mary Liz Miller, 8, and Lena Miller, 7.
Bobbi Roschel, 24, an emergency medical technician who treated one of the victims, stopped to pray at Middle Octorara Presbyterian Church in Quarryville. "The hardest part is you just wanted to pick them up and hold them," Roschel said.

If you want to contribute ONLINE to the fund setup for the families of the victims, visit the following website: http://mds.mennonite.net. If you want to send a donation via check or money order, there are three places to respond:

• Nickel Mine School Victims Fund, c/o Hometown Heritage Bank, P.O. Box 337, Strasburg, PA 17579

• The Anabaptist Foundation, Nickel Mines School Victims Fund, P.O. Box 27, Mifflinburg, PA 17844 (Make checks payable to Amish School Recovery Fund)

• Mennonite Disaster Service, 1018 Main St., Akron, PA 17501 (Make checks payable to Amish School Recovery Fund)

=> Here is another excellent article regarding the people involved -- and their love & kindness towards others.

TOPIC: The World Changed Yesterday
Whether you noticed it or not, the world changed last night. We have entered a new age of possible... no, probable nuclear war. The old "Cold War" between the US and the Soviet Union has not heated up again. There is a new player in the nuclear club -- one that means to use its weapons to destroy other nations and people -- North Korea. While most of us go about our daily routines today, behind the scenes world leaders are scrambling to head off a nuclear showdown that is sure to come if Pyongyang continues along its present course. The North Koreans conducted an underground nuclear arms test, near Hwaderi, last night around 9:00pm ET.
The 550 ton TNT equivalent test, while quite small, has been confirmed as a nuclear test by South Korea and other nations. We already know North Korea has the mechanism for delivering a nuclear bomb to other countries. Now, all that remains is for their rogue leader, Kim Jong Il, to decide where he wants to point his burgeoning nuclear arsenal. Yes, the world changed last night. I'm sure it was NOT for the better, though.

If you want to learn more about the test,
and efforts to thwart North Korea's asperations of
becoming a nuclear power, read the ABC News article linked here.

OnThisDay: October 8th
1840 - First Hawaiian constitution proclaimed
1871 - Great Fire killed 200, destroyed over 4 miles (10 km) of Chicago buildings, along with the original Emancipation Proclamation
1896 - Dow Jones started reporting an average of industrial stocks
1918 - Sargeant Alvin York single-handedly killed 25, captured 132 Germans
1971 - John Lennon released his megahit "Imagine"


Notables Birthdays
Frank Herbert
David Carradine
Paul Hogan
Chevy Chase
Sigourney [Susan Alexandra] Weaver

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TOPIC: Former Muslim Shares Astounding Christian Testimony

Source: ChristianToday

Inshana Jones, a former Muslim, will showcase her own fashion label, ‘Saviour Clothing’, at the Northern Christian Resources Exhibition later this month. The 22-year-old, now a Christian, recently gave her testimony on how her once appalling life has changed since she fled from her bedroom six years ago.
At the age of 16, Inshana was forced to marry her 49-year-old cousin. But on the eve of their wedding, her aunt snuck her out and helped her build a new life. “My parents divorced when I was 10,” she recalls. “This was seen as a great shame and dishonour to my family. My uncles arranged for me to marry my cousin to restore my family’s honour. It was an enforced marriage and I was rescued by an aunt who was a Christian. I climbed out of my bedroom window, to embark on a new life in Manchester - with a new name and identity.”
After moving in with her aunt, Inshana chose a new name. “I made up a name - Inshana. It was the first thing I had ever chosen on my own. It felt wonderful,” she said. With financial help from her aunt, Inshana enrolled on a fashion course at the local college and started socialising with other teenagers. Now Inshana, who studied for a fashion degree at Salford University, has designed a range of clothes communicating that "Jesus is relevant to the 21st century and Christianity is fresh and exciting."
She believes creativity is a gift from God and wants to design clothes "that honour him". Her hope is that Saviour Clothing becomes an established Christian brand, much the same as mainstream fashion brands. “My inspiration can come from things you wouldn’t necessarily connect with Christianity,” she explains. “I pray if I feel stuck. I often feel full of inspiration after reading a particularly encouraging piece of Scripture.”
Alongside Inshana’s t-shirts, a collection of vestments, choir gowns and Christian urban and skater wear will be on display at Faith ‘n’ Fashion, a unique catwalk show on the first day of the Northern CRE.

TOPIC: CyberCrime By The Numbers:

Source: USAToday
$67.2 billion: FBI estimate of what U.S. businesses lose annually because of computer-related crimes. $8 billion: Consumer Reports estimate of what U.S. consumers lost the past two years because of viruses, spyware and Internet scams. 93.8 million: Privacy Rights Clearinghouse's count of personal records reported lost or stolen since February 2005. 26,150: The Anti-Phishing Working Group's count of unique variations of phishing scams reported in August 2006. Typical costs of goods and services in forums: $1,000 to $5,000: Trojan program that can transfer funds between online accounts. $500: Credit card number with PIN. $80 to $300: Change of billing data, including account number, billing address, Social Security number, home address and birth date. $150: Driver's license. $150: Birth certificate. $100: Social Security card. $7 to $25: Credit card number with security code and expiration date. $7: PayPal account log-on and password. 4% to 8% of the deal price: Fee to have an escrow agent close a complex transaction. Free: Access to a service that gives details of the issuing bank for any credit card number.

TOPIC: Amish Community Bury School Shooting Victims

Source: IrishExaminer

It was a solemn scene this warm Fall afternoon...

A procession of 34 buggies and carriages carried mourners to a hilltop cemetery in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, today as the Amish community buried the first of five girls killed by a gunman inside their tiny one-room schoolhouse.
Two state troopers on horseback and a funeral director’s black sedan with flashing yellow lights led the cortege, followed by a long horse-drawn buggy carrying the body of seven-year-old Naomi Rose Ebersol. The route wove past the home of Charles Carl Roberts IV, the 32-year-old milk truck driver who took the girls hostage Monday morning, tied them up and then shot them. One Amish man craned his head out a buggy window to look at the home.
It was the first in a series of funerals Thursday for victims of the West Nickel Mines Amish School shooting. All roads leading into the village of Nickel Mines were blocked by state police so the Amish could gather privately in homes to remember Ebersol; Marian Fisher 13; and sisters Mary Liz Miller, eight, and Lena Miller, eight. The funeral for a fifth girl, Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, is scheduled for Friday. Five other girls survived the schoolhouse attack but were seriously injured.
“They know their children are going to heaven,” said Gertrude Huntington, a Michigan researcher who has written a book about children in Amish society. “They know their children are innocent ... and they know that they will join them in death. The hurt is very great,” Huntington said. “But they don’t balance the hurt with hate.”
In just about any other community, a deadly school shooting would have brought demands from civic leaders for tighter gun laws and better security, and the victims’ loved ones would have lashed out at the gunman’s family or threatened to sue. But that is not the Amish way.
Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman, said an Amish neighbour comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them. Among Roberts’ survivors are his wife and three children. “I hope they stay around here and they’ll have a lot of friends and a lot of support,” said Daniel Esh, a 57-year-old Amish artist and woodworker whose three grandnephews were inside the school during the attack.
Roberts’ relatives may even receive money from a fund established to help victims and their families, said Kevin King, executive director of Mennonite Disaster services, an agency managing the donations. Though the Amish generally do not accept help from outside their community, King quoted an Amish bishop as saying, “We are not asking for funds. In fact, it’s wrong for us to ask. But we will accept them with humility.”
There is talk among the Amish of tearing down the schoolhouse, which is now boarded up, said Daniel Esh, 57, an Amish artist and woodworker. He said he is certain the community will decide to replace and not reopen the schoolhouse.
On the roads into Nickel Mines this morning, families in traditional Amish dress, broad-brimmed hats and bonnets walked on foot and travelled in horse-drawn buggies. The clip-clop of the horses was broken up only by the roar of official helicopters overhead enforcing a no-fly zone over the region.
The attack on West Nickel Mines Amish School began on Monday morning when Roberts took over the one-room school, sent the adults and boys out and bound the 10 remaining girls at the blackboard. He was in the school for about an hour before he shot his hostages and turned the gun on himself as police closed in.

This country would be a MUCH better place to live if we all were as humble and forgiving as the Amish people. God will bless them for being forgiving and loving towards all people -- especially Marie Roberts and her three children.

TOPIC: BestBuy, RealNetworks and SanDisk Come Together to Sell Music Online
With Apple dominating the rest of the field with its iTunes Music Store (88% marketshare) and its iPod music players (between 75% - 80% marketshare), everyone else is left to fight over the table scraps.
Microsoft has already announced its Zune Marketplace music store which will be tightly integrated with its Zune music player. Today we hear that Best Buy is teaming up with RealNetworks and SanDisk to launch the Best Buy Digital Music Store.
The digital music player that Best Buy will be promoting with its new store is the SanDisk Sansa e200R Rhapsody. The music store will be based around the current Rhapsody 4.0 service and will incorporate Rhapsody DNA. Songs will be downloadable for 99 cents apiece and a music subscription plan will be available for $14.99 per month.
Other SanDisk Sansa players are available at good prices -- including the E250 2GB MP3 Player, the E260 4GB MP3 Player, the Sansa E270 6GB MP3 Player and the SANDISK Sansa e280 8GB MP3 Player [also shown below].
Best Buy is a giant in its own right in the retail sector and it offloads its fair share of music players to the buying public. It remains to be seen whether its clout in selling players will translate into booming business in selling music.

Source: DailyTech

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TOPIC: Amish School Update: Two More Girls Have Died
Charles Roberts' murderous rampage in an Amish school yesterday has claimed two more victims. Two more of the eleven young girls who were bound and shot in the head, execution style, have died this morning. That's brings the total dead to six, including Roberts.
Please forgive me for what I am about to write... I realize we are all sinners, but I hope that bastard burns in Hell's hottest pit! What he did was so far beyond any logic, reason or humanity. A grudge for something that happened TWENTY YEARS ago cannot be anywhere near an acceptable reason for murdering little girls at a school house. It's incomprehensible!
When are we going to realize that what goes into our minds through our eyes and ears WILL COME OUT?!? I bet this guy had a penchant for pornography (kiddie porn & "barely legal") on the Internet -- and was a very angry person on the outside, too. We already know his mood had "turned darker" over the last few months. I wonder what other warning signs have been there. In his rambling suicide note and the phone call to his wife, Charlie Roberts mentioned that he had molested two younger relatives when he was just twelve years old. He also said that he had been "dreaming" about molesting more little girls lately. His desire to sexually molest young girls was apparently part of the motive to go to the Amish school just down the road from his home. After all, police found KY Jelly among the items Roberts took the to the schoolhouse.
The KY Jelly wasn't there to keep his hands soft or lube the door hinges. It is pretty clear that Roberts planned to barricade himself inside with just the children -- and molest them before committing suicide. Charlie Roberts was seeking revenge against God for the death of his newborn daughter (Elise) three years ago AND fulfilling his sick fantasies -- by molesting and killing the young Christian girls.
Add to his victims, the three children he left behind -- to question why their Dad (who supposedly was a good father to them) murdered five young girls and then committed suicide. They will have an extremely difficult life -- the torture of the TV images, the taunting of classmates/friends, the stares, jeers and harsh words they are sure to encounter. Marie Roberts, the gunman's wife, released a statement Monday night to the media saying: "The man who did this today is not the Charlie that I've been married to for almost 10 years. My husband is loving, supportive, thoughtful, all the things you'd always want and more…. Our hearts are broken, our lives are shattered, and we grieve for the innocence and lives that were lost today."
The Amish community has been torn from its innocence. They have been on their knees overnight. We all need to follow their lead -- confessing our sins and turning away from the violence we perpetuate on a daily basis. We need to call for the return of morality in public school systems. Shoving God out of the schools has largely created the problem. Now, only He can fix it through the working of His people in teaching a strong moral code and respect for others.

OnThisDay: October 3rd
1789 - George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day for November 26th
1863 - Abraham Lincoln designated the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day
1913 - US Federal Income Tax signed into law (at 1%)
1920 - NFL (then American Pro Football Association) played first games
1948 - NFL became first sport televised as "sport of the week"
1955 - "Captain Kangaroo" premiered, Good Morning, Captain!
1955 - "Mickey Mouse Club" premiered
1974 - The Watergate trial began
1990 - East Germany & West Germany merged to become Germany. The Berlin Wall fell!
1995 - O.J. Simpson wrongly declared innocent in the murder of his former wife Nicole & her friend Ronald Goldman
2002 - With five dead in one day, Washington, DC authorites begin the search for the "Beltway Sniper"

Notable Birthdays for October 3rd:
Chubby Checker
Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac)
Tommy Lee (Motley Crue)
Gwen Stefani
Ashlee Simpson
Keb 'Mo' (Blues singer)
Dave Winfield

TOPIC: Charles Carl Roberts Murdered Three Children at an Amish School
The Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania has been hit by the unthinkable -- a school shooting. So far, four people are dead. We know seven others are in area hospitals -- some are confirmed to have been shot in the head and torso. It is the nation's third deadly school shooting in less than a week, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history.
Apparently, the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts, (32 yrs old) entered the school after backing a blue pickup truck to the school's front door. Charles Roberts was a tanker truck driver for local company, Northwest Foods .
Reports say he burst into the one-room school house at around 10:00am and made demands of the teacher and students. Roberts made all the males leave the school, along with adult teachers and a pregnant aid. He then boarded the doors with 2x4's and 2x6's. One of the teachers called 911 at 10:36am. She told law enforcement what was going on at the school.
Officers responded to the scene around 10:45am -- and set up a parameter around the school building. Roberts called the 911 center around 11:00am and demanded that the police back off or something major would happen. He gave them 10 seconds to respond. While the police were trying to get the word to their officers, and contact Charles Roberts to negotiate, Roberts opened fire. He had already bound the female students, whose ages ranged from six to thirteen years. The children were totally helpless to defend themselves.
ASIDE: The police say Roberts' suicide notes make mention of something that happened 20 years ago, and possible revenge for that event. It looks like he was around 12 years old at that time. He may have been rejected by a school girl friend, but never got over it. He took his revenge at the closest place he could find young girls -- a school just down the road from where he lived.
Just after 11:00am, Roberts called his wife and told her he was not coming home again. He told her that he had left notes for his own children. As Roberts shot the young girls in the head, execution style, troopers stormed the building. They entered through windows (as the doors were blocked off). Roberts fired at officers frantically. Charles Roberts then killed himself.
There are clothes strewn about the otherwise sparse school grounds. I saw a bat laying in the ballfield to the left of the school house -- indicating some children may have been outside when Charles Roberts arrived. There are two spots covered with sheets, presumably blood stains from the shootings.

We are learning more every few minutes. I'll update this story as I receive more information.

ADDENDUM 3:02pm ET: Some reports are now saying that two young girls and a teacher's aide were the three murdered; the fourth being Charles Roberts.

TOPIC: Computer History - 80386
Intel Corporation introduced the 80386 microprocessor chip in October, 1985. The 386 was a 32-bit microprocessor containing over 275,000 transistors on a single chip, capable of four million operations per second. This gave PCs as much speed and power as older mainframes and minicomputers. It also made graphical operating environments like Microsoft Windows and OS/2 for IBM PC and PC-compatible computers practical.

TOPIC: Life Is Short; P_ay Hard!

Devotion by Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett

Perhaps you have seen this slogan: "Life is short. Play hard." Perhaps you have also seen the rewritten version: "Life is short. Pray hard." One letter makes all the difference. It is the difference between a temporal mind-set and an eternal one.
A temporal mind-set thinks primarily about the things of now. It focuses on this world as if it is all there is. The time is now because there is no other time. It embraces an "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die" philosophy of life.
The Christ follower, however, knows that this life is only temporary; the world to come is permanent. So, we have only this much time and we better make good use of it-good use not in the sense of getting maximum pleasure as we play hard, but as we make it count for all eternity.
It is foolish to waste time. Paul, the apostle, both warns and encourages us: the time we have is limited and the days are evil, so we need to make the best use of our time to impact this world for Jesus while we have opportunity.
Opportunity is originally a Latin word that means "toward the port." When the winds and tides were favorable, the sailing ship would take advantage of the "opportunity." The days are evil, Paul says, which sounds like unfavorable winds, not favorable. Still, this is our time, our opportunity. Life is short. Pray hard.

TOPIC: Taxation Without Representation!
I think we need a flat tax system... or some other reformed evaluation system for taxes.
This repeated taxation is absurd. Recently, my wife and I purchased a new Pontiac SV6 van. We had just paid the taxes on our old van ('03 Grand Caravan traded in). We had to pay sales tax on the new van. Then, we had to pay the taxes on the license tags for the new van. Soon, we will pay property taxes on the same van. In all, we will be taxed FOUR TIMES for the purchase and use of our vehicle. That is ludicrous!
If you make money, you pay taxes on your income. When you spend money, you pay taxes on the product/service purchased. If you save or invest money, you pay taxes on any earned interest. If you die, but didn't jump through hoops to distribute your money, your family pays taxes on their inheritance.
No wonder the Boston Tea Party occurred. Taxation without representation is now the law of the land. Worse yet, there is infinite waste of our tax dollars in Washington -- on BOTH side of the aisle.

TOPIC: Dinosaur Sightings: Computers from the 1970s
As you know, I really like computer history! Today, I ran across some pages on TechRepublic.com -- pages that show pics and short blurbs about computers from the 1970s. If you're too young to know that computers existed in the 1970s, you'll find these pages interesting. You might also check out the pages for Computers from 1980-1983.
In case you're wondering -- the first PC yours truly (computer geek) used was a Radio Shack TRaSh-80. Anyway, kick your feet up, get a Starbucks half latte and wander back in time...

TOPIC: Yellow dog icon - Is the Scotty doggie safe?
Speaking of viruses...
We just had a slight crisis in the IT department. All of a sudden one of the guys starts asking questions about a little yellow dog icon attached to an EXE file in his C:\WINDOWS\TEMP folder. He deleted the file, but it came back -- with a different filename. Red flag #1. He tracked down the Windows XP Registry entry and deleted it. Upon reboot, the file was recreated (with a different filename) and the registry entry was back. Red flag#2. The file was running as a Network Service -- from the Temp folder. Red flag #3.
To make a long story short... After some intense research, we found that the little Scotty dog icon represents an executable used by Trend Micro. TM uses this file as part of its security application to keep would-be attackers from killing the browser anti-hijack program. So, if you see a little yellow dog icon in your C:\WINNT\TEMP or C:\WINDOW\TEMP folder, check it out. BUT, if you can't find the culprit AND you (or your company) use Trend Micro, rest assured. Your PC is safe. Anytime you want to be sure, visit a site like TrojanScan or Trend Micro's Housecall to run an online scan (always up-to-date).

TOPIC: The Invention of the Microprocessor
I can't resist just one more piece of computer history today...
Intel scientist Ted Hoff designed the "computer-on-a-chip microprocessor" in mid-1968. His idea of a universal processor, instead of custom-designed circuits, was developed while working with an Intel client on calculator chip designs. Hoff's new chip is dubbed the Intel 4004. It was released to the commercial sector in late 1971. This microprocessor invention is credited as the start of the microcomputer industry.

TOPIC: Computer History - The Virus
In his doctoral dissertation, Fred Cohen formally defined a computer virus as “a computer program that can affect other computer programs by modifying them in such a way as to include a copy of itself.”
Computer virus predecessors had shown up in the 1960s, the first being a memory saturating program called Core Wars. A program called Elk Cloner, written for Apple II systems in 1982, is believed to be the first computer-spreading virus. The first IBM-PC virus is the Brain virus, which appeared in 1986.
Since that time, literally tens of thousands of viruses have been written -- and released on unsuspecting computer users. If you own a home PC or laptop, you shouldn't be without a suite of security products, including anti-virus, firewall, adware killers and even wi-fi protection. I recommend getting something like McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 or AntiSpyware/Personal Firewall/QuickClean 2006. At the very least, get a malware killer like Webroot Spy Sweeper v5! And ALWAYS practice safe hex!