VIRUS AND OTHER STINKY STUFF TECHNICALLY SPEAKING INTERESTING SITES
The Start Of he End - Finally in America the Spam War Heats Up and the Spammers are about to get their jets cooled. (Mike) Spammer Stopped - Fined By Dawn Kawamoto, Staff Writer, CNET News DC Enterprises has agreed to settle a spam-related case with the Massachusetts Attorney General's office, marking a resolution of the first state case under the federal Can-Spam Act, state regulators announced Monday. DC Enterprises and its principal owner, William Carson of Florida, agreed to pay $25,000 and halt further violations of the Can-Spam Act, as well as Massachusetts mortgage broker laws and advertising laws. Carson could not immediately be reached for comment. Under the case, filed in June, Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly alleged that DC Enterprises and Carson sent thousands of unsolicited commercial e-mails touting low-interest mortgages. But the bulk e-mails allegedly failed to provide a working "opt out" provision that would have allowed recipients to prevent future e-mails, did not clearly identify the notices as advertisements and used a nonfunctioning return address--all of which violate provisions of the Can-Spam Act and the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act. Read More. http://news.com.com/Alleged+spammer+settles+with+Massachusetts/2100-1030-5406062.html?part=dht&tag=ntop&tag=nl.e433
From spam king to spy master? By John Borland, Staff Writer, CNET News October 12, 2004 In what could prove to be one the great second acts in Internet history, erstwhile king of spam Sanford Wallace takes center stage this week as exhibit A in a federal crackdown on invasive online advertising software. The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday is scheduled to announce an aggressive new strategy in taking on alleged purveyors of "spyware," a vague term that describes software that may track unsuspecting Web surfers and bombard them with advertisements or even steal login information and passwords. What's new: The former king of spam Sanford Wallace has returned to the Internet spotlight, this time as the subject of a lawsuit charging him with installing spyware on unsuspecting users' computers. Bottom line: Wallace is the poster child for the Federal Trade Commission's aggressive new strategy to rid the Net of software that may track unsuspecting Web surfers and bombard them with advertisements or even steal login information and passwords. In the first action of its kind, the agency last week filed a civil lawsuit against Wallace, charging the admitted former junk e-mailer with fraudulently installing advertising and other software on consumers' computers through his network of Web sites. The lawsuit is expected to be the centerpiece of Tuesday's announcement. As in the early spam battles, the bombastic Wallace has become a lighting rod for efforts to clamp down on what many now consider to be among the most virulent Net pests. Tuesday's lawsuits--particularly in conjunction with federal anti-spyware legislation nearing passage--could help rein in business practices that have posed increasing risks for Net surfers during the past few years. "Very much like with spam and the spam legislation last year, spyware can be fought through a combination of efforts: enforcement, legislation, technology and consumer education," said Dave Baker, an attorney for Internet service provider EarthLink, which has been an active participant in anti-spyware efforts. "No one thing cures the problem by itself." Read More: http://news.com.com/From+spam+king+to+spy+master/2100-1032-5406348.html?part=dht&tag=ntop&tag=nl.e703
THE TALLY: Thursday, September 07-- Thursday, October 14 According to Sophos, a leader in Anti Virus Software development, 18 new/improved viruses which required Anti Virus upgrades were released into cyberspace via email. & KCnet's anti virus program caught and "defanged" 13,174 email viruses in addition to refusing 188,172 spam messages.
IF YOU SUSPECT THAT YOU HAVE A VIRUS OR IF YOU HAVE NOT SUCCESSFULLY SCANNED YOUR DRIVES FOR VIRUSES LATELY... THIS NEXT SITE IS FOR YOU. Free Virus scans. Trend Micro, more commonly referred to as Housecall, offers free virus scans and in most cases can fix damage down by a virus or worm that your computer may have contacted. The program works well. The first time one uses the free program it is necessary to download a small program. Trend Micro walks you through the process. Then the virus scans are quite simple for each return. You should disable any anti virus program that you have running. If you do not have a virus program I recommend that you use this program first and then download one of the free programs listed above of install any anti virus program you have purchased. Go to http://housecall.antivirus.com/ then choose the link "Scan without registering". Follow the directions.
Computer Associates, another reputable and reliable anti virus developer introduced a new free program which allows anyone to do a virus scan without downloading any software or registering for an anti virus program. You must use Internet Explorer for access to Computer Associates and to perform the scan. This is a good one and very simple to operate The address is http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx
Free Virus programs to download Quite a few KCnet members use these programs and like them. Be careful if you download a virus program and you already have one installed on your computer. You need to at least disable the program already installed. http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php Another good free program to take a look at is: http://www.free-av.com/
Top 5 Viruses for October 01 to October 07 from Trend Micro 1 WORM_NETSKY.P 2 HTML_NETSKY.P 3 PE_ZAFI.B 4 WORM_NETSKY.D 5 JAVA_BYTEVER.A
True Viruses and Warning Letters of Impending Doom. Believe it or not, the amount of harm done by sending false computer virus alarms and letters of impending doom to your thousand closest friends can be just as damaging as the alleged virus (if it even exists!); if you remember the story of the boy who cried wolf, you understand why. If you think you've got the scoop on the latest new devastating virus or latest doom warning, check it out at the Web sites below before taking it on yourself to alert the world. If the virus is as terrible as you think it is, odds are the virus fighters already know about it and -- good news here! -- your anti virus software provider probably knows about it too and already has an update for it. Sophos supplies this current information about actual hoaxes. Look at them. Read about them. If you are sent one of them, delete it.
Here are a few sites of many that can help you determine if an email is a hoax or real. http://www.quatloos.com/ http://www.snopes.com/ http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/ http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxIndex.html http://vil.nai.com/VIL/hoaxes.asp http://kumite.com/myths/ http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html http://www.scambusters.org/VirusHoaxes.html http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes/ http://www.truthorfiction.com/
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: XP SP2 - Are we there yet? Is it time to download and install? Hey, I know this is long article but if you have not installed yet this will be interesting and very informative, amust read. I've been following the leads of Fred Langa, Patrick Crispen and Scot Finney on this controversial subject. Each publish highly informative and accurate weekly Newsletters. This is Scot's latest take on the situation. (Mike) Windows XP Service Pack 2 Decisions It's been a little over two months since Microsoft released Windows XP Service Pack 2. My position on this major update to Windows XP may have seemed a little contradictory to some of you. On one hand, prior to the release, I said that everyone should install this update. On the other hand, the day after it was released I sent you a special edition of this newsletter advising that unless you were prepared for problems or severely unprotected security wise, you should wait at least 30 days. In the last issue of the newsletter, I didn't make a hard recommendation. Instead, I reported my lack of any serious issue on nine PCs, and also reprinted some tales of trouble sent me by many readers who had tried SP2. Now 60 days later, it's time to come clean. Should you install Windows XP Service Pack 2? Before I give you my answer, you need to know some of the background that went into my thinking. The two main reasons not to install XP SP2, at least not right away, are: 1. Installation Woes and Other Problems 2. Web Browsing, Email, and Other Application Inconveniences 1. Installation Woes and Other Problems. Some people are having very serious problems during installation of XP SP2. In fact, there are several different install problems have been identified. Some research a few weeks ago turned up four different SP2 install problems that Microsoft had acknowledged, and that number has probably risen since. You can be sure that there are other problems as well that haven't been identified yet. To help readers of my PC Today column and Scot's Newsletter navigate any troubled waters they may encounter with XP SP2, I've put together a list of Microsoft SP2 resources: 60 Useful Windows XP Service Pack 2 Links This links page covers: - Pre-Install Must Reading - Installation Issues - SP2 Problems/Solutions - Uninstalling SP2 - Internet Explorer - Outlook Express - Windows Firewall - Networking/Wireless - Miscellaneous - Microsoft Knowledge Base Searches A look at this list will also show you some of the trouble spots, which extend into areas beyond installation. Update for XP SP2 A couple of days ago Microsoft released "Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB885894)" designed to solve what's probably the most common installation problem with XP SP2: A freeze part-way through the setup process, leaving you with a failed installation. If that happens to you, Microsoft is offering this 760K download. You install it, restart your machine, and you should be able to complete your XP SP2 installation successfully. Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB885894) Note: This installation bug fix is poorly named. "Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2" sounds like it's something everyone should download and run, but that is not the case. It's only if you run into trouble with a hung installation. I'd like to thank SFNL reader Mark Brent (A.K.A "markb") for bringing the Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 to my attention so quickly. Thanks, Mark! Darker Reader Reports You should be aware that the tenor of the XP SP2 emails from SFNL readers over the last 30 days has been increasingly negative -- including more varied installation problems and other issues after installation. The thing is, that's the normal course of events with a Windows service pack. There are always a long list of problems, but the numbers of people who actually experience the exact same problems aren't usually large. Microsoft knew this would be the case when it decided to go with a more ambitious release. This is a bite-the-bullet upgrade. They bit the bullet in delaying Longhorn significantly to bring it to you; and you should approach this upgrade with a bite-the-bullet mentality too. The primary goal of providing a significantly greater degree of security for all Windows users is a worthy one. But no pain, no gain. XP SP is in no way a painless upgrade because it makes many under the covers changes for security sake. I believe that 60% of the people who install it will wish this or that worked like it used to, or have more fundamental problems. 2. Web Browsing, Email, and Other Application Inconvenieces. I wrote a feature story for the January 2005 issue of PC Today magazine (due out soon) that you should keep an eye out for. It details the 10 Things You Need to Know About Windows XP Service Pack 2. In particular, it charts some of the changes in behavior under Windows XP SP2. And that's the second area of "reasons not to install XP SP2" worth considering before you install it. In particular, I'm talking about the way things work in Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and issues with application incompatibility. Many people have reported problems with Norton AntiVirus 2004, for example. In some cases, serious issues. Symantec has been pretty quick to release patches for things they know are wrong, but everyone -- including third-party software makers -- are still climbing a learning curve in the wake of XP SP2's wide release. My personal pet peeve is intermittent pop-ups that temporarily block file downloads from some shareware sites. The problem doesn't appear universally, and it depends on the way download sites serve up files. But some people are reporting serious issues related to this too, like the inability to install or run files they download. And anyone who downloads frequently could quickly find themselves using an alternative browser after installing XP SP2. (SP2 is clearly going to drive additional acceptance of the Mozilla Firefox and Opera browsers; all of my computers are running Firefox as a secondary browser.) Some people have already reported that this or that problem or inconvenience caused them to uninstall XP SP2 entirely. I can sympathize with that inclination, although I have not felt compelled to do that (I've just tested it to ensure Uninstall works properly). Because I have had no trouble installing XP SP2 on 12 machines now and counting, it's this second area -- inconveniences and changed behaviors -- that I find to be a larger, longer-term concern. Another pet peeve is the changes that SP2 brings to the Internet Control Panel's Security tab settings. The settings are not explained well, the words are ambiguous in some places, and there's little of use from the Help text, which in many contexts offers nothing but the same generic sentence or two. What becomes clear is that some of the most annoying protect-you-from-yourself security settings don't come with any way (at least via the user-interface) to change their defaults. Most of the security changes I agree with, but some of them border on paranoia. If you know of Registry hacks that allow us to revise the behavior of security controls under SP2, I'm very interested in anything you can pass along. I hope to cover customizing SP2 in a future issue of this newsletter. The Bottom Line Despite all of the above -- and despite numerous reports posted on beta sites, forums, and newsgroups about dire or just messy problems with XP SP2 -- I believe that the time has come for at least some people to install it. I've been through many service packs and Windows updates and similar changes with several other operating systems over the last 25 years. 60 days later, it doesn't look to me like Windows XP Service Pack 2 will stand out as one of the more problematic Windows upgrades. That said, here are my specific recommendations: 1. Any IT person reading this newsletter who is responsible for rolling out XP SP2 on multiple seats, test the heck out of this upgrade before you do so. In particular, test it with unique, low-cost, regional, or outdated hardware that you may be using. Hardware support is changed with Windows XP Service Pack 2. Probably almost as much as with your average major point release of Windows, judging from the mail I've been getting lately. That's been a little surprising to me. But application issues are the ones that are even harder to fix. Do your homework by checking the functionality of all your apps first. Be sure. If your environment is secure and you encounter app and/or hardware problems, the benefits of XP SP2 probably do not outweigh the disadvantages. I'm not saying never install it. I think everyone should eventually install this release. But business environments are probably the riskiest ones for XP SP2. Hang back until additional problems are worked out, newer drivers are available, and application patches become available. 2. Individual users who are experienced, if you have not already installed this service pack -- and especially those who stay on top of issues with your computers -- the time has come to consider installing it. The vast majority of people have encountered no serious issues with SP2. Remember, people who have no problems don't post in newsgroups, etc. It's just another day for them. And this phenomenon, that negative experiences are magnified, skews our sense of the real-world experience toward the negative. Be careful not to get sucked all the way into the buzz; it's not statistically representative. For most people, the negative results, if any, are a bevy of small annoyances (most of which are not universal at all). It's just not enough to keep you from exploring SP2. The update is also fully uninstallable, and the Uninstall seems to work pretty well (although it does leave Internet Connection Firewall turned on). If possible, install it on a machine other than your main machine first to see how it goes. But I don't think you should hang back any longer just because of potential major universal problems. After 60 days, the threat of that is less apparent. There's one caveat to my recommendation to go ahead and install: If you are fully protected with a software firewall, an up-to-date always-running antivirus program that scans your email at least inbound, and you have installed all critical security updates (other than SP2) for Windows XP, there's also no wild rush to install SP2. There are numerous vulnerabilities that Microsoft has plugged in XP SP2, but the majority of those have been previously released. If you have a solid understanding of the Internet and the threats it poses, delaying your installation of SP2 for a while longer is not the end of the world at all. If you don't feel like dealing with a potential hassle, hang back. Every day that goes by, Microsoft and OEM PC makers are learning more and more about the issues that some people have with XP SP2. And they're working on solutions for them. A few months down the line, many problems that some people are having now will be avoided by subsequent patches and workarounds. So long as your security is sound and you're savvy about Internet threats, do not feel compelled to install this update right away. 3. Relatively inexperienced users or those who are not very confident about their ability to extricate themselves from computer problems, you represent the toughest choice. This user group, which is by far and away the largest group of Windows users, stands to gain the most from Windows XP Service Pack 2. I can't promise you an easy installation experience of Windows XP Service Pack 2. I can tell you that the majority of people have literally no problem whatsoever. It's been estimated that only 10% of people who install this upgrade experience a serious problem. My data shows the success rate might even be slightly higher than that. So, it's my considered opinion that for you, the overall threats from the Internet and how you might interact with it outweigh the potential trouble you might encounter during or after installation of Windows XP SP2. There is one thing you can do to help yourself: Bone up on XP SP2 before you install. Start by consulting these documents. And review the rest of the documents on that page as well. Arm yourself with information. Plus, review these pre-installation tips you should take seriously. Pre-Installation Tips Before you install SP2 (or any Windows upgrade), please follow these steps: 1. Consult Scot's Newsletter's 60 Useful Windows XP SP2 Links. Also, check the Scot's Newsletter Forums' Windows Forum for the latest word on issues and known problems. 2. Back up your personal data. My preference is for using imaging software like Norton Ghost for this purpose. Your backup should be made to a separate hard disk (another partition is OK, but a separate physical hard drive is better), network volume, or writable DVD. 3. Check with your system manufacturer about known issues with SP2 and your machine. Specific models of PCs may be more prone to SP2 trouble than others. So consult with your system manufacturer or major component makers. 4. Temporarily disable or uninstall software firewall and antivirus software before installing. I can't tell you how many times people have come to me with Windows upgrade problems who have not followed this step. If you neglect to do this, it doesn't mean an automatic melt down of your PC, but the incidence of woes is very high if you don't -- higher than even many experienced PC users realize. After installation is complete, be sure to re-enable your security software. Remember, Windows XP SP2 turns on its own Windows Firewall automatically. It is possible for two running software firewalls to conflict with each other, so that's a second reason to disable your firewall. 5. Check your hard drives for disk errors. In XP, that means running chkdsk /f from a command line. You'll need to restart your machine to allow this process to run on your boot volume. 6. Make a named Windows XP System Restore point beforehand. (Check out Basic Instructions on Working with System Restore.) 7. Shut down all unnecessary applications. This comes under the heading "don't tempt fate." The admonition includes software with open windows and also those running in background. Most Windows services are not at issue, but application-installed background applications should be dumped where possible. The easiest, surest way to do this is with the System Configuration Utility. Click Start > Run > Type "msconfig" and press Enter. Click the Startup tab. Remove checks beside items that you want to temporarily disable. If you're not sure whether to turn something off, don't. After you install SP2, remember to come back here and set things back the way they were. (Or uninstall some of these things if you don't want them. Before you uninstall, though, turn them back on here on the Startup tab.) For more information about items you find in the System Configuration Utility's Startup tab (or on the Ctrl-Alt-Del Windows Task Manager's Processes tab), please consult Scot's Newsletter Link of the Week-Award-winning Startup Contents' database of background applications. It gives you information about programs running on your system based on the cryptic names that Windows reports. Startup Contents, by Paul Collins, is one of the most valuable Windows helps sites on the Internet.
Kazaa loses P2P crown By John Borland, Staff Writer, CNET October 11, 2004 Kazaa, once the top Net nemesis of record companies and movie studios, appears to have lost its role as the world's most popular file-swapping software, network watchers said Monday. According to BayTSP, a California firm that monitors file-swapping networks on behalf of entertainment companies, Kazaa rival eDonkey was the most widely used peer-to-peer application last month. Kazaa's lead on rivals has been sliding for more than a year--at least since the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) started filing lawsuits against individual file swappers, with a focus on the Kazaa network. But many observers say Kazaa simply hasn't kept up with the technological times. "We've known that trend was coming," said BayTSP Chief Executive Mark Ishikawa. "It was just a matter of time. eDonkey is a much better protocol for large files." Kazaa's slide, along with eDonkey's rise, has marked a slow generational shift in the file-swapping world, analogous to the explosion of Napster alternatives when that original song-trading service went offline. The spread of broadband networks, DVD burners and increasingly powerful compression technology has helped boost online demand for videos, including full-length movies. Previously, the vast majority of file-swapping traffic had been focused on MP3-formatted music. Several of the new file-trading software packages, including eDonkey, have created their technology in order to speed the transfer of large files of this kind. Kazaa's core technology, by contrast, is now several years old. Another video-friendly technology, called BitTorrent, also has quickly gained users but does not have a simple way of measuring how many people are online at any given time. Net-monitoring company CacheLogic found last summer that Kazaa had fallen far behind BitTorrent in terms of bulk traffic sent over the Internet. According to BayTSP, eDonkey averaged 2.54 million users a day in September, while Kazaa averaged 2.48 million users a day. Those figures have fluctuated for weeks, but this was the first monthlong sample in which eDonkey had retained the lead, Ishikawa said.
Worldstart has some good info for an 'oft asked question. What is Virtual Memory? Virtual memory is non-physical memory (yeah, that helps). Windows uses virtual memory when it doesn't have enough "regular" physical memory to perform a task. When it does this, Windows uses your hard drive to store information that normally would be put into your RAM memory. Here's an overly simplified example: Let's say you have 32 meg of RAM available. Now, you load a program that takes up 20 meg, and another that takes up 22 meg. You need a total of 42 meg, but you only have 32 meg of actual RAM memory. However, both programs still run. What's happening? Windows is using 10 meg of hard drive space to supplement your physical 32 meg of RAM (don't worry, this 10 meg will be erased once Windows is done with it). I know what you're thinking. Why bother to add extra RAM to my computer if it can use hard drive space instead? Main reason - RAM is much faster. Whenever you're using a lot of virtual memory, you're slowing your computer down (way the heck down). The best work around is to get more physical memory. I recommend 64 - 128 meg, depending on how many programs you run simultaneously. Oh, one more thing. If you don't have a lot of hard drive space left (I recommend a minimum of 100 meg) and you're experiencing lots of problems, lack of virtual memory may be why. When Windows runs out of memory (virtual and non-virtual), it just doesn't run all that well.
OK but what about managing that Virtual Memory. Well Worldstart has a suggestion for that question too. Adjust Virtual Memory If you have two hard drives in your computer and your C: drive is about full, you can tell Windows to use your other drive for virtual memory. OR—if you have one hard drive that is faster than the other, it's probably better to use that one for virtual memory, since your data is retrieved faster. In any event, if you want to change the drive Windows uses for virtual memory, here's how: A word of caution first: If you mess something up with virtual memory (you know, like change the amount Windows can use or shut it off altogether), it can stop your system from functioning properly. So be careful! For Windows 95, 98 & ME 1. Right-click My Computer and select Properties from the resulting menu. 2. Next, click the Performance tab and click the Virtual Memory button. 3. By default, Windows manages your virtual memory. Select "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings". 4. From the "Hard Disk" drop box, select the drive you want to use. That's it. Hit the OK button and you're all set. Again, if you feel the need to mess with any other settings, you do so at your own risk. Windows XP hides the VM adjustment—probably because they don't really want you messing with it. 1. Right-click My Computer and select Properties (or hold down the Alt key and double-click "My Computer") 2. Click the Advanced tab then under Performance, click "Settings". 3. There will be another Advanced tab to select in the "Performance Options" window. Down where it says "Virtual Memory" click Change. 4. Finally, we get to the screen we're looking for. You will see a window with available drives where you can select the drive you want (if you have more than one). Notice that it also shows how much space you have available on that drive. You can specify a Custom size, or let the system manage the size for you. After you've made your selection, click Set and OK.
More Worldstart and just in time for this week's peak splendor. Digital Imaging Tip: Fall Color Tricks And Tips With autumn here already (where, exactly, did summer go?), we've been getting lots of requests for fall color tips. So, when you venture out this season to grab some brightly colored autumn imagery, keep this in mind: 1. Shoot during good light — we've been talking about his for the last couple weeks, so I'm not going to get too detailed. Suffice to say that the warm colors of sunrise / sunset really enhance the already "warm" colors of the leaves. Plus, you can't beat sunrise light on a frosty fall morning. For more on shooting in the right light, refer back to: Part 1: http://www.worldstart.com/php/newsletters?ct&09-21-2004 Part 2: http://www.worldstart.com/php/newsletters?ct&09-28-2004 2. Get a polarizer — A few months back, we discussed the use of a polarizer filter. This filter removes reflections from shiny surfaces (like leaves). See, although they don't look it, leaves always seem to have a bit of a shine to them. This shine masks the color. When you slap on a polarizer, it eliminates a lot of this reflection and allows the true color of the leaves to dazzle your CMOS sensor (not to mention it produces ridiculously blue skies). That's how the pros do it ;-) For more on polarizers: http://www.worldstart.com/php/newsletters?ct&06-08-2004 3. Keep an eye on the color — This is really the biggest factor. Keep an eye on how the color is coming along in your area—you want to shoot during peak color and that generally only lasts for a few days. Try to keep a flexible schedule when you know it's getting close so you'll have time to go out and grab some of that great color for yourself.
INTERESTING SITES: Sree, WABC TV's Tech Guru has food on his mind this week and then some. First some new ("new" to Sree) food sites. The first site's slogan is "Tips and tricks for hungry chicks." Written with real attitude and has lots of information, too. It is OK for guys to view this site. http://www.hungry-girl.com/index.php
Everything you ever wanted to know about carbs and low-carb diets. Recipes, news and more. http://www.carbwire.com/
A site that explores one woman's cookbook collection, one recipe at a time. Lots of neat ideas here. This 101 is like the course level not a hundred and one cookbooks. http://www.101cookbooks.com/
Some other delectable sites. Best set of links for all kinds of cooking and recipe sites. http://www.bestcookingsites.com/
This comprehensive site says it has he "world's greatest recipe collection." It also has stories from such magazines as Gourmet and Bon Appetite. http://www.epicurious.com/
"quickest way to find out what's good and bad about the foods you eat" - more than 7,500 foods, includes your favorite fast foods. http://nutritiondata.com/
Nutrition Analysis Tools and System (NATS): analyze the content of the foods you eat everyday. http://nat.crgq.com/
CalorieKing.com: Has more than 30,000 foods and a version you can download to a PDA. http://www.calorieking.com/
A game that teaches you about serving sizes. http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/14220/20760/227175.html?d=dmtContent
Creative Americans: Portraits by Carl Van Vechten Amanda comes through again - This is a beautiful site to browse. Carl Van Vechten was born on June 17, 1880 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His name might not mean anything to you, but if you read his biography by clicking on the link of his name in the first paragraph you learn how he eventually turned to photography and promoting African-American artists. "Some of his subjects from this period include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Alfred A. Knopf, Bessie Smith, and Gertrude Stein." Surfing around this site took me a few minutes to find where you could look at his artwork, but after diligently searching it out I found it. Then I realized it was really very simple you can do a search by keyword, browse the Subject Index, or browse the Occupational Index. This site is not kidding you when they say that they have over 1,000 pictures that Van Vechten took. You can view everything from abandoned buildings to the greatest stars of his time. (To see the building you need to choose the Subject Index.) In the Subject Index you will also find images of locations. I choose to view the list for United States and saw some really nice historic images of different locations. You'll probably love the images of the stars of the 30's and 40's, I know I did. The best way to view these is to choose the Occupational Index. You'll notice that the listing is by job title so if you are looking for an actor or actress you should choose A — Actors, African-American Leaders, Artists, and Authors. Here you'll find Earl Jones, Mary Martin, Laurence Olivier, and even Orson Welles. You'll find a great lot of historical images under African-American leaders too like W.E.B. DuBois. You should take your time browsing and exploring as there is a lot of different galleries to cover. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/vvhtml/vvhome.html
Only in America. You can spend years on this site and they update it daily. There are seven click opportunities available on the following graphic.
The Number of the Beast There's some stuff here that will boggle your mind about 666. The number 666 is cool. Made famous by the Book of Revelation (Chapter 13, verse 18, to be exact), it has also been studied extensively by mathematicians because of its many interesting properties. Here is a compendium of mathematical facts about the number 666. Most of the well-known "chestnuts" are included, but many are relatively new and have not been published elsewhere. http://users.aol.com/s6sj7gt/mike666.htm
Time Magazine's Pictures of the Week for the year 2004. Hey, that's this year. Many, actually all of 2004's weeks are accessible and the pictures are color magazine quality. http://www.time.com/time/potw/
PETSWELCOME - If you've ever been burned by the "Sorry, we don't accept pets" experience, PetsWelcome can help. The site lists hotels, apartments, ski resorts, campgrounds, and even amusement parks that are pet friendly throughout the world. http://www.PetsWelcome.com
HEALTHY PET - This site is from the American Animal Hospital Association is an excellent source for accurate, entertaining pet care information. http://www.HealthyPet.com