Kevins Tips

Searching for News on Balloon Boy, which we now know is a hoax, can result in a Virus or Malware to be placed on your computer.  I was scanning the Internet today for stories, and almost half of the pages I went to were malicious sites.  Stick with the major sites like CNN.com, ABC.com, NBC.com, etc. and you’ll be fine, but if you are doing searches on this or any major news story BEWARE!

Balloon Boy Falcon Heene Father Richard on CNN who also appeared on Wife Swap with wife Mayumi

How did I know about the Virus and Malware problems?  Because I have blocks in place to protect me.

Here are two things I have installed that are picking up problems — both are FREE.

– McAfee Site Advisor
– AVG Anti-Virus

I also have Symantec (and McAfee) Anti Virus Installed, but AVG always seems to pick up things it doesn’t.

ALSO - Generally speaking, Firefox tends to be the Safer Browser.

Here is info from one page AVG protected me from….

These days, it’s not only viruses that can harm your computer. Online criminals can potentially take control of any webpage and infiltrate your computer.

Web-based threats like exploits, phishing, and social engineering can corrupt your computer, steal your identity or make your computer part of a “bot” network. AVG is committed to protecting you while online, and is constantly analyzing web sites on the Internet for these and other online threats.

Susan Boyle, 48, from West Lothian stunned the judges on Britain’s Got Talent singing ‘I Dream A Dream’ from Les Miserables.

Website: Britains Got Talent
Website:Susan Boyle Fansite

Here is her first public appearance on Britains Got Talent in HD Video

Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle on Vimeo .

Elaine Page

Elaine Paige, as an actress, recording artist and producer, has made a major contribution to the modern musical which ensures her own chapter in the entertainment world and justifies the title “The First Lady of British Musical Theatre”.

In 1978 Ms Paige was chosen by Hal Prince to create the role of Eva Peron in the original production of “Evita” and she went on to sweep the boards with her award-winning performance in London’s West End (Society of West End Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Variety Club Award for Showbusiness Personality of the Year). In 1981 she starred in “Cats” when she played Grizabella in the original London production and thereby became the first actress to perform the classic song “Memory” - one of her many hit records. Ms Paige revisited this role in the television film and video of “Cats” which was released in 1998 and went straight to the top of the video charts becoming the best selling music video ever in the UK and America.

More on Elaine Page

Baby-faced Alfie, who is 13 but looks more like eight, became a father four days ago when his girlfriend Chantelle Steadman gave birth to 7lb 3oz Maisie Roxanne.

“I didn’t think about how we would afford it. I don’t really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me £10.”

Dennis (Alfies Dad), 45, said: “He could have shrugged his shoulders and sat at home on his Playstation. But he has been at the hospital every day.”

Website: The Sun

Meant more or less as a joke, a new website designed by a young NY couple, collects photos of some outrageous food inventions.

The site was launched on February 9, 2009 and received over two million page views in less than 48 hours. There seems to be lot of people anxious to view fatty foods like this French Fry Coated Hot Dog

When they were asked about that the politically incorrect title they responded: “It wasn’t meant to be offensive, we thought of the title as a joke. But of course, in every joke there’s a little truth”.

Website: This is Why Youre Fat

When a 47-year-old man married an 8-year-old girl in Saudi Arabia, there was public outrage. CNN’s Nic Robertson reports.  The practice is not uncommon, nor is it illegal.  Fathers of young girls can use them to settle debts or other transactions.  Saudi mothers have no rights to stop the transaction.  It is a practice that most know goes on, but few rarely talk about for fear of retaliation.

Check it out.  It’s the latest thing on campus.  A company that get’s late night snacks (cookies mostly) to those hard working college students studying late at night or just getting late night munchies. In about 30 minutes you too can get a delivery of cookies, milk, soda and such.  As late as around 2am.

Campuses include…

Cornell University
Indiana University
Michigan State University
NYU / Manhattan
NYU Dining
Ohio State University
Penn State University
Purdue University
Syracuse University
Temple University
University of Delaware - Newark
University of Illinois
University of Kentucky
University of Michigan
University of Pennsylvania
University of South Carolina
University of Wisconsin - Madison
West Virginia University

Website: Insomnia Cookies

The gadget has six balls trapped inside transparent plastic spheres. To solve it, you have to figure out how to get the internal balls “from an inner sphere into matching slots on the outer sphere by shaking them through a middle sphere that has only two holes.”

You’ll have to wait until August 2009 before getting your hands on one.

The new software released Wednesday will enable people with mobile phones and other wireless devices to automatically share their whereabouts with family and friends.

The feature, dubbed “Latitude,” expands upon a tool introduced in 2007 to allow mobile phone users to check their own location on a Google map with the press of a button.

“This adds a social flavor to Google maps and makes it more fun,” said Steve Lee, a Google product manager.

It could also raise privacy concerns, but Google is doing its best to avoid a backlash by requiring each user to manually turn on the tracking software and making it easy to turn off or limit access to the service.

Google also is promising not to retain any information about its users’ movements. Only the last location picked up by the tracking service will be stored on Google’s computers, Lee said.

The software plots a user’s location — marked by a personal picture on Google’s map — by relying on cell phone towers, global positioning systems or a Wi-Fi connection to deduce their location. The system can follow people’s travels in the United States and 26 other countries.

It’s left up to each user to decide who can monitor their location.

The social mapping approach is similar to a service already offered by Loopt Inc., a 3-year-old company located near Google’s Mountain View headquarters.

Loopt’s service is compatible with more than 100 types of mobile phones.

To start out, Google Latitude will work on Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry and devices running on Symbian software or Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile. It will also operate on some T-Mobile phones running on Google’s Android software and eventually will work on Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iTouch.

To widen the software’s appeal, Google is offering a version that can be installed on personal computers as well.

The PC access is designed for people who don’t have a mobile phone but still may want to keep tabs on their children or someone else special, Lee said. People using the PC version can also be watched if they are connected to the Internet through Wi-Fi.

Google can plot a person’s location within a few yards if it’s using GPS, or might be off by several miles if it’s relying on transmission from cell phone towers. People who don’t want to be precise about their whereabouts can choose to display just the city instead of a specific neighborhood.

There are no current plans to sell any advertising alongside Google’s tracking service, although analysts believe knowing a person’s location eventually will unleash new marketing opportunities. Google has been investing heavily in the mobile market during the past two years in an attempt to make its services more useful to people when they’re away from their office or home computers.

Learn More…

Website: Google Latitude

The Peggy Sue singer died, aged 22, on February 3, 1959, alongside fellow musicians J.P “The Big Bopper” Richardson and Ritchie Valens, when their four-seater plane crashed in Iowa, a few minutes after take-off.

Immortalised as “The Day the Music Died” by the Don McClean song American Pie, their deaths remain one of the most poignant moments in rock history.

Read more about Buddy Holly…

Website: Buddy Holly

“American Pie, By Don McLean - Lyrics Explained”

Kellogg Company Announces Voluntary Nationwide Recall of Select Keebler® Soft Batch Cookies and Special K Protein™ Meal Bar Honey Almond Flavor and Expansion of the 01/16/09 Recall of Various Crackers and Cookies

Contact:
Kris Charles
269-961-3799

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Battle Creek, MI – February 2, 2009 — As a result of the expansion of Peanut Corporation of America’s recall to include all peanut ingredients produced in their Blakely, Georgia facility since Jan. 1, 2007, Kellogg Company has issued a voluntary nationwide recall for the following products:

• Keebler® Soft Batch Homestyle Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, 2.5-ounce size only, with a “Best If Used Before” date prior to June 30, 2009 (06 30 9), with the following UPC codes: 3010032708, 3010037899.
• Special K Protein™ Meal Bar Honey Almond variety only, 6-count and 8-count packages, with a “Best If Used Before” date prior to February 1, 2010 (FEB 01 2010), with the following UPC codes: 3800039778, 3800039935, 3800039931.

No other Special K® products are part of this recall. No illnesses have been reported to date in connection to the above products.
Although these products do not contain any peanut ingredients from Peanut Corporation of America, they were produced at another company’s facility on the same line as products that were made for other companies using potentially contaminated PCA ingredients. For that reason, this voluntary recall is being issued out of an abundance of caution.

Also as a result of Peanut Corporation of America’s expanded recall, the January 16, 2009 Kellogg Company recall of Austin® and Keebler® Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers and select snack-size packs of Famous Amos® Peanut Butter Cookies and Keebler® Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies is now expanded to include all code dates.  Retailers had previously been advised to remove all of these products from store shelves, regardless of code date, so the vast majority of these recalled products are no longer in the marketplace, but consumers having any of these products in their homes are urged to destroy them.

Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis. For more information on Salmonella, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Website at http://www.cdc.gov.

Consumers who have purchased the recalled products are urged to destroy them. Consumers with questions or who would like a refund may contact 877-869-5633. Consumers with questions or concerns about their health should contact their doctor.

For a list of various company recalls and for more information on FDA’s ongoing investigation, visit FDA’s Web site at www.fda.gov.