woolie

Avi Rubin: All your devices can be hacked http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/avi_rubin_all_your_devices_can_be_hacked.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=metkEeZvHTg

Thank you very much...

Thanks for the reminder...That could have been me...

I believe it's ALL girls world wide...

A Pilot Father's Tough Love... Most people today think it improper to discipline children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have had one of "those moments". Since I'm a pilot, one that I have found very effective is for me to just take the child for a flight during which I say nothing and give the child the opportunity to reflect on his or her behavior. I don't know whether it's the steady vibration from the engines, or just the time away from any distractions such as TV, video games, computer, iPod, etc. Either way, my kids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our flight together. I believe that eye to eye contact during these sessions is an important element in achieving the desired results. I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique...

Microsoft Kills Windows Gadgets Via Security Update Posted by timothy on Thursday July 12, @01:00PM from the cutting-losses dept. benfrog writes "Microsoft has taken the unusual step of killing the Windows Gadgets feature completely via a security update. According to an advisory issued Tuesday, an attacker could take over a user's system if they are logged in as admin and they install a vulnerable gadget. Microsoft has pulled the plug on its official Gadgets Gallery and is offering a Fix-it that completely disables the Windows Sidebar and Gadgets. Researchers Mickey Shkatov and Toby Kohlenberg are scheduled to give a presentation on the vulnerability at the upcoming Black Hat conference called We Have You By the Gadgets." http://it.slashdot.org/story/12/07/12/166200/microsoft-kills-windows-gadgets-via-security-update Security flaws signal early death of Windows Gadgets Microsoft is pulling the plug on the Windows Sidebar and Gadgets platform ahead of news that security vulnerabilities will be disclosed at this year's Black Hat conference. Security flaws signal early death of Windows Gadgets Summary: Microsoft is pulling the plug on the Windows Sidebar and Gadgets platform ahead of news that security vulnerabilities will be disclosed at this year's Black Hat conference. Ryan Naraine By Ryan Naraine for Zero Day | July 11, 2012 -- Updated 15:53 GMT (08:53 PDT) Microsoft is speeding up plans to kill off the Windows Gadget platform after receiving word that serious security vulnerabilities will be disclosed at the upcoming Black Hat security conference. According to a brief abstract from the Black Hat site, researchers Mickey Shkatov and Toby Kohlenberg plan to discuss weaknesses associated with Windows Sidebar and Gadgets and demonstrate "nastiness" that can be done on the platform. follow Ryan Naraine on twitter [ Microsoft drops surprise IE patch, fixes under-attack Windows zero-day ] "Gadgets are comprised of JS, CSS and HTML and are application that the Windows operating system has embedded by default. As a result there are a number of interesting attack vectors that are interesting to explore and take advantage of. We will be talking about our research into creating malicious gadgets, misappropriating legitimate gadgets and the sorts of flaws we have found in published gadgets," the researchers said. Microsoft was already planning to deprecate Sidebar and Gadgets in the upcoming Windows 8 but, after working with Schkatov and Kohlenberg ahead of Black Hat, the company decided to push for the immediate death of the platform. From the MSRC blog: As many of you are aware, Windows 8 will deprecate the Sidebar and Gadgets, and Gadget developers are already shifting their efforts to the online Windows Store. Meanwhile, we’ve discovered that some Vista and Win7 gadgets don’t adhere to secure coding practices and should be regarded as causing risk to the systems on which they’re run. With time running out for the Sidebar and Gadgets and with developers already moving on, we’ve chosen to deprecate the Windows Gadget Gallery effective immediately, and to provide a Fix it to help sysadmins disable Gadgets and the Sidebar across their enterprises. The company released a security advisory with information to help system administrators disable the Windows Sidebar and Gadgets on supported versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7 with one Fix it click. Microsoft did not provide details on the vulnerabilities but warned that there is a risk of remote code execution attacks. "An attacker who successfully exploited a Gadget vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take complete control of the affected system," Microsoft warned. This automated Fix-It will disable the Windows Sidebar experience and all Gadget functionality on affected machines. http://www.zdnet.com/security-flaws-signal-early-death-of-windows-gadgets-7000000724/

EFF: Americans May Not Know It, But Many Are In a Face Recognition Database Now Posted by samzenpus on Thursday July 19, @10:08PM from the smile-you're-in-the-database dept. colinneagle writes "People are not going to, nor should they have to, start walking around outside with a bag over their head to avoid security cameras capturing images of them. Yet 'face recognition allows for covert, remote and mass capture and identification of images — and the photos that may end up in a database include not just a person's face but also how she is dressed and possibly whom she is with. This creates threats to free association and free expression not evident in other biometrics,' testified EFF Staff Attorney Jennifer Lynch. There are 32 states that use some form of facial recognition for DMV photos. Every day, Facebook happily slurps up and automatically scans with facial recognition software about 300 million photos that users upload to the social networking giant. 'Face recognition is here to stay, and, though many Americans may not realize it, they are already in a face recognition database,' Lynch said. In fact, when you stop to consider Facebook "at least 54% of the United States population already has a face print." Now it purchased Face.com which had 31 billion face images profiled." http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/07/20/0010234/eff-americans-may-not-know-it-but-many-are-in-a-face-recognition-database-now

An Australian ventriloquist visiting New Zealand walks into a small village and sees a local sitting on his veranda patting his dog. He figures he'll have a little fun, so he says to the Kiwi, 'G'day, mind if I talk to your dog Villager: 'The dog doesn't talk, you stupid Aussie.' Ventriloquist: 'Hello dog, how's it going mate?' Dog: 'Yeah, doin' all right.' Kiwi: (look of extreme shock) Ventriloquist: 'Is this villager your owner?' (pointing at the Villager) Dog: 'Yep' Ventriloquist: 'How does he treat you?' Dog: 'Yeah, real good. He walks me twice a day, feeds me great food And takes me to the lake once a week to play.' Kiwi: (look of utter disbelief) Ventriloquist: 'Mind if I talk to your horse?' Kiwi: 'Uh, the horse doesn't talk either...I think.' Ventriloquist: 'Hey horse, how's it going?' Horse: 'Cool' Kiwi: (scratching his head absolutely dumbfounded) Ventriloquist: 'Is this your owner?' (Pointing at the villager) Horse: 'Yep' Ventriloquist: How does he treat you? Horse: 'Pretty good, thanks for asking. He rides me regularly, Brushes me down often and keeps me in the shed to protect me from the Elements.' Kiwi: (total look of amazement) Ventriloquist: 'Mind if I talk to your sheep?' Kiwi: (in a panic) 'The sheep's a f*****' liar......'

Motoring is not much fun these days...

Many Thanks...

Made me look, too

Latest release of 'X-files' shows MoD took idea of alien visitors seriously Most intelligence officers were deeply sceptical about UFOs but saw the need to cover all bases The Guardian, Wednesday 11 July 2012 Jump to comments (148) A photgraph released by the National Archives, entitled: 'UFO near helicopter'. Photograph: The National Archives Britain's defence intelligence agency considered the possibility of alien craft visiting Earth and asked "UFO desk officers" to monitor any potential threat from outer space, hitherto top secret documents released on Thursday show. Thousands of pages of highly classified files document how officials in the Ministry of Defence were worried they would be accused by the public of not taking UFOs seriously enough, and how some thought there really could be someone out there. "It was important to appreciate that what is scientific 'fact' today may not be true tomorrow," a defence intelligence officer warned in August 1993. He pointed out: "It was only a few hundred years ago that 'scientists' believed that the Earth was the centre of the universe." He added: "It was generally agreed until early this century that the atom could not be split." Sightings of alleged UFOs could be explained by very strange-shaped clouds, ball lightning, or US "black" (secret project) aircraft, the unidentified official suggested. "If the sightings are of devices not of the Earth, then their purpose needs to be established as a matter of priority. There had been no apparently hostile intent and other possibilities are one, military reconnaissance; two, scientific; three, tourism." The clearly frustrated intelligence official observed that the MoD might have taken the prospect more seriously if UFOs had "a red star painted on them", a reference to the Soviet Union. The selection of documents released to the National Archives is the ninth tranche of the UK's "X-files" to be made public since the government decided in 2008 that keeping them secret was no longer justified. Some intelligence officials were excited about the prospect of harnessing rare atmospheric plasmas initially claimed to be UFOs, such as ball lightning, for novel weapons technology. One even suggested that if craft from outer space really did exist, the MoD could adopt their stealth technology. Most officials in the MoD were deeply sceptical. Papers released today show that back in 1979, a UFO intelligence officer wondered why aliens would want to visit "an insignificant planet [the Earth] of an uninteresting star [the sun]". But officials had to cover their backs because of persistent claims of UFO sightings and questions from the public. MPs also regularly returned to the subject, requiring answers from the prime minister. In 2009, before he was elected, David Cameron promised to publish Whitehall's remaining secret files on UFOs. "I don't think any of us have any clue whether there's intelligent life out there, and it is certainly not something that any government should seek to hide from anyone," he said. John Major told MPs in 1996: "The government has no plans to allocate resources to researching extraterrestrial phenomena." The MoD did, however, decide to devote more resources on a study as officials warned Tony Blair he could expect even more questions following the passing of the Freedom of Information Act. A MoD official reported in 2000 that the study concluded: "Many of sightings can be explained as mis-reporting of man-made vehicles, [and] natural but unusual phenomena." In a valedictory note in December 2008, the last unidentified "UFO desk officer" – described yesterday by David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University, author of The UFO Files, as "one of the strangest jobs in Whitehall" – wrote to the RAF's operations headquarters in High Wycombe. "The MoD's position on UFOs, aliens and extra terrestrials is quite clear. We know of no evidence to confirm the existence of aliens, spaceships, extra terrestrials etc, or if they have visited the Earth." Suggestions that there were secret teams of scientists "scurrying around the country in a real-life version of the X-files" was "total fiction". But in a perhaps reassuring conclusion, the officer continued: "However, since the universe is a very large place and mankind has only explored a very small corner of it, we cannot rule out the existence of intelligent life on other planets. We therefore remain open minded on the topic. In the absence of proof either way, this position seems a perfectly sensible one. However, as you can probably guess, the above position does not make very interesting headlines nor, I suspect, would sell many books". UFO 'sightings' Ministers and the MoD have been inundated with claims of many hundreds of sightings of aliens. They include: two tall silver-suited "faceless humanoids" in Wales, three tall "men in black" in Spalding, Lincolnshire, and "golden orbs" across Britain – the result of a craze for releasing sky lanterns. A mounted police officer reported a sighting of a "square/diamond shaped object moving across the sky and changing shape" while on duty at Chelsea football ground in 1999. Files released on Thursday show the MoD recorded "UFO sightings" throughout the UK, from the Orkney Islands to Cornwall, and in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Thailand, New Zealand and the US. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jul/12/ufo-national-archive

They Will Take Everything If You Don’t Stop Them: Ten Things You Must Do To Defend Yourself Be Informed July 13th, 2012 They will take everything if you don’t stop them. At first glance a statement like this brings up thoughts of the government coming for all freedom seeking people. In actuality this is about your neighbors and those in your community that will ruthlessly mob up and literally storm your own home for what you have after a long drawn out disaster, perhaps sooner. It is a fact that most people in the United States, upwards of 99%, have little or NOTHING put away for emergenices. When chaos hits and a country’s infrastructure crumbles into powder, so does the nation’s ability to feed and sustain its citizens. Self reliance and preparing for a rainy day or even for a full blown hurricane has become almost a taboo for many, and a total waste of time, money and effort for the others. While what a person does with their own money and time is their business, the same holds true for the person that sacrifices much to prepare for future mass disorder and total lack of purchasable necessities. The main conundrum with the vast majority of the population is that they have come to totally expect everything provided for them by someone else, human or machine. This “serve me, as I am the only one that matters” attitude is more than an epidemic in the United States and many other countries. As individuals of ALL ages lose the basic skills of self reliance, and more importantly the desire to do any task for themselves, a ticking time bomb becomes more pronounced for when these services breakdown. Various scenarios await the preparedness minded person in the event of a societal collapse. The majority of the country has become totally reliant on daily shipments of food and other necessities. An oil emergency in the Middle-East, for example, can severely limit transportation of the goods that people depend on. A war that would rage on a half a world away would mean that supermarket shelves would be emptied. This would ONLY be regarded as a moderate hit to civilization until a regional war like this actually went global. Most people can only get by without a few days of food before “snap” reactions begin. Remember ONLY 1 to perhaps 1 and 1/2% of the people have stocked up for just such an emergency. One of the most critical threats to be faced will be from those in your immediate vicinity – and those who have prepared will likely be forced to draw a line in the sand. Most of us live around neighbors and are not, for the most part, living an isolated lifestyle. We usually have fair to good relationships with those that live around us. This often leads to the misconception that these neighbors and those that live around our community would never just come and take what we have saved up to keep our family alive after a calamity. In some cases this is true. In most cases it is not. After a week of starvation and lack of access to food, most neighbors will gather together and head for any house merely “suspected” of having food. Unless those desperate individuals are stopped, they will ransack a home of everything that is in it like a hoarde of hungry locusts. It is called the irrational conduct of a mob mentality. An excellent example of this is how a person can be trampled to death by a herd of wild eyed shoppers desperate enough to get some electronic gadget at some super holiday sale. Let’s look at a fictional prepper family named the Smiths that have 1 year worth of food for 8 people, along with food for their golden retriever and cocker spaniel dogs, their tabby cat, and their macaw bird. The Smiths are friendly people but have not told anyone about their stockpile. After a severe incident, call it an ecomonic collapse, war, Earth changes – it really doesn’t matter – the chain links of food being delivered are now gone. Through casual conversations somehow a couple of neighbors have figured out the Smiths have food and have alerted others through the gossip channel. After almost 2 weeks without much food, no FEMA government trucks have come in to rescue, a crowd of almost 100 people have gathered around the Smith house. Similar size crowds have also collected around other people’s homes suspected of “hoarding” food. The Smiths have taken an unrealistic and idealist sentiment towards believing in the good nature of human beings and their community and have not stocked up much at all in self defense. Grandpa Smith understands that trying to feed 100 people would dwindle their supplies quickly and decides to leave everything closed up and not answer the door. The Smiths find out how hunger will drive a civilized person into wanton rage and animalistic acts. Four members of the mob pick up a railroad tie and use it as a battering ram to knock down the front door. Then like a pack of sharks in a feeding frenzy the mob rushes in and takes everything the Smiths have including their food, blankets off the beds, the TV sets and computers, pots and pans, even the refrigerator is hauled out. Why does this happen? People in an erratic state of mind will grab everything they can, most riots prove this all too well. The last items to be picked clean are the family’s pets to the screaming pleas of their 9 year daughter not to hurt her dogs. Of course the dogs, the cat, and the bird are killed and cooked up for their meat. The Smiths are lucky that they too did not become someone’s meal. The simple moral to this story is something most survival orientated people already know – that you must have self defense or you will lose what you have when someone decides to take it. The fact that so few prepare means that food is going to be even more scarce and totally sought after. The Smiths are hardly fictional and can be widely expected after a large scale catastrophe. Most people expect someone to have what they need ALL the time and they will flock towards that source and attempt to get it. Fortunately for the self reliant family, those that live soft lives and allow everything to be done for them makes for a flabby, both in body and mind, person. Usually this type of person is a also a coward and even during irrational hunger spasms will backdown and retreat in the face of dying or being severely injuried. It is one thing to rush into a home with a mob like a pack of wolves with little resistance. It’s a completely different ball game to rush into a well fortified home watching those ahead of them in line being rapidly dropped one by one. Even with this said, self defense of you and your family and your lifeline in what you’ve stored up takes a host of different dimensions that vary significantly with each situation. There are some basics that can be vastly expanded on with each individual case. A term that can be used for this is “CONFRONTATIONAL AWARENESS”. Here are 10 points to think about if and when you are faced with defending you and your own: 1. What type of self defense fits you the best? Some individuals can make very exotic improvised devices, but everyone that can legally own a firearm should have at least one, preferably many. The extreme number of firearms takes up pages, but everyone should have a firearm that can discharge as many rounds as possible without having to reload. A firearm that has some long distance range to it. A shotgun, call it a scatter gun, with at least size 4 buckshot up to triple ought 000. A handgun of course for close range engagement. The simple answer to which one is what is most comfortable with you personally and what you can afford. You want stopping power, but also to be able to at least slow down a lot of targets if this becomes an issue. Other weapons should also be added, such as bear pepper spray that can slow down or stop a large group of people rushing you. Knowing how to jerry rig various home made weapons adds to your security. Have extra ammunition for all firearms. Don’t depend on just one or two weapons for self defense, have back-ups. 2. Litigation. This is an extremely sticky point “IF” the society recovers. It should be remembered that (unfortunately) any act of personal self defense might have to be answered for. The state or country that you are in may or may not view the 40 people you shot “outside” your home as a legitimate threat, even if they had a battering ram and other weapons and total anarachy ruled the day and night. In other words, just because it may seem like the end of the world doesn’t mean that it actually is. Protecting you and your family could also mean carefully assessing your situation and not acting without discretional thought. You never want to be indicted with some mass murder charge should the world reestablish itself enough to prosecute you in the future. Checking out the laws of protecting yourself where you live before the world falls apart is an excellent idea and sound precaution. 3. Determine your boundaries. Where, exactly, does a threat cross that threshold in which you engage them? For some people it is a property line or at the front door - wherever this may be, know it. In some places a mob outside your door constitutes a deadly threat to your family. In some places you may actually have to be backed into a corner and the attacker may even have to possess a weapon for you to legally defend yourself. Know these legal parameters. For some people it doesn’t matter the legal consequences, and this can be a life saving measure taken to stop an attack before a group gets too close that you cannot stop. Establishing a point of no return is a good strategy so that you know where and when you must act to protect everyone. 4. Know the seriousness of what is happening. This is of course ties into the legal ramifications of defending yourself, but especially with just how desperate people will become to try and take what you have. Has the water been turned off? What about the power? Is there any food left in the stores? Are emergency supplies and other food being shipped in, and if so how often? Is there in town rioting? Are the masses of people roaming around looking for food? Have there already been homes attacked from mobs? The more you know about the threat evaluation the better you can prepare your defenses. 5. Know what is around you. This includes having some way of seeing a full 360 degrees around your home, up and down, and someone on watch duty most (or all) of the day and night. An ideal security preventative is to have some sort of observation tower, motion detectors, night vision, and anything else to give you advance notice of anyone trying to sneak in unnoticed. Hidden viewpoints throughout the home are a workable and important addition. Booby trapping your property has been an effective method used in warfare all through history as a means of stopping someone and alerting everyone. Dogs and other animals such as geese are often used as early warning systems. Always try to know what is going on for as far a distance from your home as possible. 6. Decide on your barriers. This brings to mind that raw stopping power of a projectile fired, launched, or even thrown towards you and your family. The standard home (mud and sticks) offers little protection against a bullet travelling at over 3000 feet per second. Consider how you might shield against radiation, and use the same strategy for self defense. The more mass the better. Many excellent materials are out there, but raw materials around the house such as dirt, sand, rock are certainly better than nothing as a shield. Taking advantage of underground levels of the home – because you can’t shoot through dirt – also offers good temperature control and isulation from the outside elements for people, pets and your supplies. Barriers also serve the purpose of slowing down or even stopping advances of individuals trying to come for you and your stockpile. Like many criminals, simple locks and anything that takes effort to break through can impede most individuals enough so they leave you and everyone else alone. The more obstacles you can place to make it as difficult as possible is in your best interests. You want to do everything you can to avoid a situation where you’re left with no other option but hand to hand combat. 7. Be ready to take a stand. Unfortunately many people feel that when the time comes that they can do anything it takes to survive. Yet some will “freeze up” when faced with pulling a trigger and blowing someone away. This is especially true after someone has actually shot one of the first of many individuals rushing in to take what they have and even hurt or kill them and their family. Hesitation is human nature and throughout our lives society has implanted into our psyche that killing someone, even in self defense, is wrong. This is why it is imperative for those in your survival group who have the responsibility of defending everyone to be willing to use those weapons if and when it becomes required of them. Training and practice will make it possible for you to more efficiently and effectively deploy your weapons on a physical and psychological level. There is a reason behind why the military trains and trains, not to just improve accuracy, but to make it mentally routine that a soldier will not vacillate in a life or death situation. The two words that best describe this is “mental toughness.” You must be able to reliably act to save yourself and your family. 8. Be prepared for unconventional attacks. Desperate people will do incredibly stupid and irrational acts that defy reason. If a mob discovers a well fortifed home with food in it, they might try to actually light the entire structure on fire. It doesn’t matter to the insane minds that all the food will be ruined inside; they only see and “think” that this will smoke everyone out. Someone may even get the “brilliant” idea of trying to collide a large truck into you home. The list is endless and depending on your unique circumstances, there are defenses against most if not all attacks. The aim here is to make the distance an attacker needs to travel to your home as long as possible and this is where barriers and booby traps play an important role. It is also passive protection in which someone can help protect their home with high water type bushes, plants, and trees that won’t burn easily. In many high danger wildfire areas homeowners will use fire retardants on their homes, as well as having quick means of extinguishing fires ready to use if the time comes. Help ready yourself by reviewing and thinking about the unconventional ways your refuge can be assaulted. 9. Remember you have the advantage. Mobs will often try to frighten and intimidate people out of their home and/or try to force you to divvy up all what you have. Don’t let them scare you. Those supplies are your lifeline, without them you will be reduced to almost the same level of those roaming around aimlessly that have not prepared. You have the upper hand in that they have to come for you in your own home – a dwelling that you are familiar with. All depending on how well fortifed your place is, anyone coming for what you have will have to get across all sorts of traps and physical hurdles, not to mention various weapons being discharged at them. Most attackers are also going to be depleated in body and mind from not eating, on top of already being out of shape flab bodies. These individuals usually are totally untrained in any type of combat or fighting, and that gives the prepper/survivalist a whopping upper hand. Time is also on the side of the hunkered down people, as a very hungry person will lose interest and go somewhere else easier to get at. They will also likely become too weak to pose any threat after more time. Long standoffs almost always favor those that have everything they need well stored up within easy reach and use. 10. Avoidance of any showdown. Everyone will be better off if neighbors and others decide not to storm your home for food and supplies. Concealment that you have anything is crucial. Remember that the very first “trespasser” that is shot at lets others know that you have something worth fighting for, use good discreation. Convincing others that you have nothing and are just as “bad off” as they are will take some showmanship. Rundown looking property is one way to discourage many, as well as looking as much like a sick or dilapidated person as possible. Still one of the best ways to ward off hungry people is SMELL. Out of the five senses, scent and smell will drive a starving person rapidly towards a possible food source, or very rapidly away from something that reeks. Horrid smells tell the brain to stay far away. Of course not telling anyone about what you have stored up before a disaster is essential. It is often very encouraging to “think” those living around you are all aboard with preparation, but in reality people are likely only telling you what you what to hear. It only takes one person to betray you and let everyone know you have a mini-supermarket ready to be picked clean. True trust in others must be carefully weighed. Remember this before letting anyone outside your family and survival group know that you are even interested in prepping, “most people are just TALK, too much talk, and are not on the side of the prepper (YOU!)”. There are good reasons why close to 99% of the population freely chooses not to prepare. You always hope that you never have to fight off neighbors that have remained friendly and courteous towards you for years, but almost no one has faced what is coming. Insane cicumstances drive many civilized people into blinded insane savages capable of incomprehensible acts of desperation. It has to be remembered that by self sacrificing much, the prepper/survivalist has what they need when civilization implodes. Those who haven’t prepared have consciously decided to enjoy themsleves and waste much. In other words, someone that has taken the money, time, and effort to save for tomorrow makes what they have stored up, “worth it to defend”. Those that have not prepared don’t care if you and your family go hungry in less than a week, if they did they would have stored up supplies themselves. These individuals are going to expect you to “share” everything you have. This is why the prepper needs to be more than ready to defend themselves against those that will “try” to forcefully take your lifeline from you. http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-preparedness/they-will-take-everything-if-you-dont-stop-them-ten-things-you-must-do-to-defend-yourself_07132012

EMP Threat: ‘Within One Year 9 Out of 10 Americans Would Be Dead’ Mac Slavo May 4th, 2010 A spokesman for the Center for Security Policy says that the threat of Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) is real. With Iran developing multi-stage Space Launch Vehicles (SLV) the possibility of such an attack will become even more probable than ever before: From WND: And experts forecast if such an attack were a success, it effectively could throw the U.S. back into an age of agriculture. “Within a year of that attack, nine out of 10 Americans would be dead, because we can’t support a population of the present size in urban centers and the like without electricity,” said Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy. “And that is exactly what I believe the Iranians are working towards.” A recent launch of an SLV by Iran has sparked renewed concern of an attack that could send an electromagnetic pulse powerful enough to wipe out computer controls for systems on which society has come to rely, officials say. As the G2 Bulletin reported last week, Ronald Burgess, director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, revealed that Iran successfully launched a multi-stage SLV, the Simorgh. The device ultimately could be equipped with a nuclear bomb, which the U.S. intelligence community assesses Iran is developing. Officials also report Iran has been testing detonation of its nuclear-capable missiles by remote control while still in high-altitude flight. The development makes a potential EMP attack on the U.S. more probable. An enemy of the United States, be it Iran, North Korea or a terrorist organization, does not need to detonate a nuclear weapon on the ground.We believe this is the only reason why Iran would be testing SLV’s with in-flight detonations. With this kind of weapon, Iran (or anyone else) would simply need to strike first. Once the weapon goes off, it would be difficult to determine from where it came and to respond appropriately, as all forms of traditional communication would be wiped out. A small-scale, five to ten kiloton weapon detonated 200 miles above Nebraska, or a few weapons detonated 50 miles or so above the eastern, western and central United States would do the job. The effects would be nothing short of disastrous – literally the end of the world as we know it. All unprotected and unhardened electrical devices would be left useless. This means that everything, from the refrigerator in your kitchen to the semi-trucks that carry food across the country, would be non-functioning. If an enemy of the USA wants to bring America to its knees without rendering the land completely useless, they could do so with an EMP weapon. We’ve always believed that a mainland invasion of the United Stated would be difficult, if not impossible. But, if an EMP weapon were to be used, our country could effectively be invaded within a matter of months, as most of the population would be wiped out and the government and military infrastructures in disarray. We consider EMP as one of the most significant threats out there. The recovery period from a collapse of this magnitude would be counted in decades, not years, thus, for those who are “prepping” for a worst-case scenario, consider long term sustainability planning when planning for an EMP SHTF scenario. http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-preparedness/emp-threat-within-one-year-9-out-of-10-americans-would-be-dead_05042010 --more-- September 27, 2011 EMP: The Greatest Threat to America, and What We Can Do about It By JanSuzanne Krasner It's bewildering. Pathetic. Frightening. And it seems that the mainstream media avoids talking about it for fear that Americans will panic. Well, Americans ought to be panicking -- anything to get them to bang on Congress's door and force our representatives to immediately act on the pending legislature now in Congress called the SHIELD Act -- a bill based on the previous HR 5026 -- that unanimously passed in the House of Representatives on June 9, 2010. The disaster I am referring to is an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which can easily be caused either by Mother Nature as a geomagnetic solar storm or by an enemy with a low-cost, short range, ship-launched missile armed with a nuclear warhead. The national consequences of an EMP destroying our electrical grid are far-reaching, with long-lasting, continent-wide crippling effects to our electricity-dependant infrastructure. At the press conference organized by EMPactAmerica on September 23, 2011, this dangerous threat to our national security was exposed for what it truly is -- the most likely event to happen to the U.S., naturally or man-made, that has the potential to bring the country to its knees. The National Academy of Science points out that protecting the grid against this threat is critical, and getting a bill passed is necessary to do that. An EMP, if not deflected, will shut down and paralyze our country. Just think about the role electricity plays in water, food, heating and cooling, communications, transportation, distribution, the economy and banking. Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, who made a statement on the floor of the House in support of the HR 5026, told Congress that an EMP attack would create $1-$2 trillion in damages and take four to ten years to recover. The truth is that within one year we would no longer be a sovereign nation. The HR 5026 that passed in the House was stalled in the Senate during the lame-duck session. More recently, Congressman Trent Franks introduced the SHIELD Act, which goes beyond HR 5026 -- i.e., requiring an automated protection plan and hardware-based solution to be developed within six months. EMPactAmerica points out that Americans need to get Congress to focus on this immediately. The EMPactAmerica conference "Standing Up to Ahmadinehad: Military and National Security Policy Experts Call on President Obama to Confront the Iranian Threat" presented the undeniable fact that the Iranian regime is prepared to use its nuclear weapons in the form of an EMP detonation in the skies 70-100 miles above "the great Satan" and to do so without attribution. A panel of ten EMP and terrorist experts spoke to an audience of concerned reporters and involved activists with the hope of stimulating awareness, discussion, and action. The panel was extremely impressive. Opening remarks came from EMPact's president, Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, Director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum. He pointed out that "we are so vulnerable with this threat because we are unprepared." Therefore, "it is not acceptable for Iran to be allowed to build nuclear weapons." Lt. General Thomas McInerny, retired Air Force and member of the Iran Policy Committee, advised that we must have a strategy to hold nations accountable that sponsor or allow terrorists to live in their nation and deter them from doing so. He confirmed that Iran is at the heart of most attacks through proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, and others. "The Iranian regime likes to keep their 'fingerprints off' while spreading propaganda, money and weapons to others ready to do the killing and dying for them." Brigadier General Kenneth Chrosniak, retired, U.S. Army War College, Bronze Star recipient, added to the discussion that "we must plan for the worst-case situation, and we are not being told about the worst threat in the forefront of America." Sitting next to Kenneth Chrosniak was a masked man with several bodyguards. He announced his name: Reza Kahlili, the well-known ex-CIA spy from the Revolutionary Guards of Iran. Reza Kahlili is presently an instructor at the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy of the Department of Defense, and he is the author of A Time to Betray. The audience cheered. Mr. Kahlili clearly stated that "Americans do not understand the ideology of the radicals in Iran who want to conquer the world[.] They are an existential threat to Israel, America, and the world ... they see the weakness of America as a symbol of Allah empowering them with nuclear capabilities[.] ... [W]e must support the Iranians people fighting for freedom through regime change ... this will halt the Iranian threat to Western civilization." Ken Timmerman, CEO of Foundation for Democracy of Iran and author of Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Iranian Nuclear Showdown, spoke passionately about the total ineffectiveness of sanctions against Iran because they are not enforced. Lieutenant Col. Tony Shaffer, retired, U.S. Army, Bronze Star recipient, and Senior Intelligence Officer in the Defense Intelligence Agency, spoke out about "not being able to stop 9/11, but committed to stopping this threat." An EMP will be Iran's best way to "economically destroy our way of life by taking out large portions of our infrastructure." As if these spokespeople weren't enough to convince anyone of the importance of the SHIELD Act, there were four more panelists that added further convincing arguments. Claire Lopez, strategic policy and intelligence expert on national defense, Islam, Iran, and counterterrorism issues, explained that Islamic ideology as written in the Koran drives the Iranian regime to create "proxy" terrorists in other countries, including bases in Venezuela, and weapons-smuggling in Mexico, along with supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. "Iran prefers proxies, and they are united with the same sharia ideology." Chet Nagel, former CIA officer, author of Iran Covenant, suggested that "[t]he military solution is to use EMP against Iran, but with President Obama it will be unthinkable." Therefore, "make the 2012 election count in America's interest." We also heard from Tim Brown, a retired, twenty-year decorated FDNY firefighter, 9/11 survivor, and first responder to the WTC attack in 1993 and to the 1995 attack on the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. He emphasized that there "is no excuse for us to be so vulnerable. The cost of transformers to protect the grid is inconsequential and would give us a fighting chance." Peter Huessy, President of GeoStrategic Analysis of Potomac, Maryland, a defense and national security consulting firm, presented the cost for a "grid insurance' system that is being tested this month and will be ready to go shortly after. The numbers are relatively low in the face of the astronomical losses an EMP attack would deliver to the US." About $60 million to protect the three hundred largest transformers immediately, and $400-$600 million to additionally protect three thousand others. These are one-time costs for equipment that bolts down, plugs in, and immediately works to protect against all forms of electromagnetic storms and nuclear EMP effects as well." All I can say after listening to this panel is that the Obama administration would be much wiser to invest American taxpayer dollars in our national security than it is having issued loans to Solyndra for solar panels! With such a simple solution possible, it is unimaginable that the grave threat of an EMP in America is not being talked about in every news medium, not to mention how the public should be demanding that the SHIELD Act be passed immediately. Dr. Pry summed up the conference with three concepts he feels are necessary for our national security strategy -- "Missile Defense, Iranian Regime Change, and Military Actions" -- and then ended with the slogan of EMPactAmerica: "Prepare. Protect. Recover." So, Americans, let's make our voices heard by demanding that our government protect us by insuring the grid! http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/09/emp_the_greatest_threat_to_america_and_what_we_can_do_about_it.html

SENIOR OF THE WEEK The triumph of age and experience: A farmer stopped by the local mechanics shop to have his truck fixed. They couldn't do it while he waited, so he said he didn't live far and would just walk home. On the way home he stopped at the hardware Store and bought a bucket and a gallon of paint. He then stopped by the feed store and picked up a couple of chickens and a goose. However, struggling outside the store he now had a problem - how to carry his entire purchases home. While he was scratching his head he was approached by a little old lady who told him she was lost. She asked, 'Can you tell me how to get to 1603 Mockingbird Lane ?' The farmer said, 'Well, as a matter of fact, my farm is very close to that house I would walk you there but I can't carry this lot.' The old lady suggested, 'Why don't you put the can of paint in the bucket. Carry the bucket in one hand, put a chicken under each arm and carry the goose in your other hand?' 'Why thank you very much,' he said and proceeded to walk the old girl home. On the way he says 'Let's take my short cut and go down this alley.. We'll be there in no time.. The little old lady looked him over cautiously then said, 'I am a lonely widow without a husband to defend me.. How do I know that when we get in the alley you won't hold me up against the wall, pull up my skirt, and have your way with me?' The farmer said, 'Holy smokes lady! I'm carrying a bucket, a gallon of paint, two chickens, and a goose. How in the world could I possibly hold you up against the wall and do that?' The old lady replied, 'Set the goose down, cover him with the bucket, put the paint on top of the bucket, and I'll hold the chickens.

Cats are Crazy ?? You Decide... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFidYPJVuxM

FIRST INTERNET PHOTOS ?? YOU DECIDE... Oh! And yes, they had Photoshop back then... The first photographic image ever uploaded to the Web was a Photoshop disaster. It was created to sell something, and featured attractive women in a come-hither pose. In short, photo-uploading was born with some original sins that have never quite washed away. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1L2xODZSI4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2_iGal1jKg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQkdk5OzEu8 Source: http://motherboard.vice.com/2012/7/10/crossdressing-compression-and-colliders-the-first-photo-on-the-web

THERE IS NO PRIVACY... privacy Jul 10, 2012 9:40 AM Hidden Government Scanners Will Instantly Know Everything About You From 164 Feet Away NAC Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you. And without you knowing it. The technology is so incredibly effective that, in November 2011, its inventors were subcontracted by In-Q-Tel to work with the US Department of Homeland Security. In-Q-Tel is a company founded "in February 1999 by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of the CIA and with the support of the U.S. Congress." According to In-Q-Tel, they are the bridge between the Agency and new technology companies. Their plan is to install this molecular-level scanning in airports and border crossings all across the United States. The official, stated goal of this arrangement is to be able to quickly identify explosives, dangerous chemicals, or bioweapons at a distance. The machine is ten million times faster—and one million times more sensitive—than any currently available system. That means that it can be used systematically on everyone passing through airport security, not just suspect or randomly sampled people. Analyzing everything in real time But the machine can sniff out a lot more than just explosives, chemicals and bioweapons. The company that invented it, Genia Photonics, says that its laser scanner technology is able to "penetrate clothing and many other organic materials and offers spectroscopic information, especially for materials that impact safety such as explosives and pharmacological substances." [PDF] Please see source link below... Formed in Montreal in 2009 by PhDs with specialties in lasers and fiber optics, Genia Photonics has 30 patents on this technology, claiming incredible biomedical and industrial applications—from identifying individual cancer cells in a real-time scan of a patient, to detecting trace amounts of harmful chemicals in sensitive manufacturing processes. Above: The Genia Photonics' Picosecond Programmable Laser scanner is capable of detecting every tiny trace of any substance on your body, from specks of gunpowder to your adrenaline levels to a sugar-sized grain of cannabis to what you had for breakfast. Meanwhile, In-Q-Tel states that "an important benefit of Genia Photonics' implementation as compared to existing solutions is that the entire synchronized laser system is comprised in a single, robust and alignment-free unit that may be easily transported for use in many environments… This compact and robust laser has the ability to rapidly sweep wavelengths in any pattern and sequence." [PDF] So not only can they scan everyone. They would be able to do it everywhere: the subway, a traffic light, sports events... everywhere. How does it work? The machine is a mobile, rack-mountable system. It fires a laser to provide molecular-level feedback at distances of up to 50 meters in just picoseconds. For all intents and purposes, that means instantly. The small, inconspicuous machine is attached to a computer running a program that will show the information in real time, from trace amounts of cocaine on your dollar bills to gunpowder residue on your shoes. Forget trying to sneak a bottle of water past security—they will be able to tell what you had for breakfast in an instant while you're walking down the hallway. The technology is not new, it's just millions times faster and more convenient than ever before. Back in 2008, a team at George Washington University developed a similar laser spectrometer using a different process. It could sense drug metabolites in urine in less than a second, trace amounts of explosive residue on a dollar bill, and even certain chemical changes happening in a plant leaf. And the Russians also have a similar technology: announced last April, their "laser sensor can pick up on a single molecule in a million from up to 50 meters away." So if Genia Photonics' claims pan out, this will be an incredible leap forward in terms of speed, portability, and convenience. One with staggering implications. Observation without limits There has so far been no discussion about the personal rights and privacy issues involved. Which "molecular tags" will they be scanning for? Who determines them? What are the threshold levels of this scanning? If you unknowingly stepped on the butt of someone's joint and are carrying a sugar-sized grain of cannabis like that unfortunate traveler currently in jail in Dubai, will you be arrested? And, since it's extremely portable, will this technology extend beyone the airport or border crossings and into police cars, with officers looking for people on the street with increased levels of adrenaline in their system to detain in order to prevent potential violent outbursts? And will your car be scanned at stoplights for any trace amounts of suspicious substances? Would all this information be recorded anywhere? Above: A page from a Genia Photonics paper describing its ability to even penetrate through clothing. There are a lot of questions with no answer yet, but it's obvious that the potential level of personal invasion of this technology goes far beyond that of body scans, wiretaps, and GPS tracking. The end of privacy coming soon According to the undersecretary for science and technology of the Department of Homeland Security, this scanning technology will be ready within one to two years, which means you might start seeing them in airports as soon as 2013. In other words, these portable, incredibly precise molecular-level scanning devices will be cascading lasers across your body as you walk from the bathroom to the soda machine at the airport and instantly reporting and storing a detailed breakdown of your person, in search of certain "molecular tags". Going well beyond eavesdropping, it seems quite possible that U.S. government plans on recording molecular data on travelers without their consent, or even knowledge that it's possible—a scary thought. While the medical uses could revolutionize the way doctors diagnose illness, and any technology that could replace an aggressive pat-down is tempting, there's a potential dark side to this implementation, and we need to shine some light on it before it's implemented. The author of this story is currently completing his PhD in renewable energy solutions, focusing on converting waste to energy in the urban environment. Even while most of this information is publicly available, he wanted to remain anonymous. Image by oleandra/Shutterstock http://gizmodo.com/5923980/the-secret-government-laser-that-instantly-knows-everything-about-you

Abuse-Proof Prescription Painkillers May Spur Heroin Habit By KATIE MOISSE | ABC News – 10 hrs ago The move by drug companies to make abuse-proof prescription painkillers may be inadvertently promoting heroin use, a new study found. The study of more than 2,500 people with opioid dependence found a 17 percent drop in OxyContin abuse with the 2010 arrival of a formula that's harder to inhale or inject. During the same time period, heroin abuse doubled. "I think the message we have to take away from this is that there are both anticipated consequences and unanticipated consequences to these new formulas," said Theodore Cicero, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis and lead author of the study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. "Substance abuse is like a balloon: If you press in one spot, it bulges in another." Unlike its predecessor, the abuse-deterring version of OxyContin turns to gel when crushed, making it harder for people to snort or inject for a rapid high. But nearly a quarter of study participants found a way around the formulation tweak, and 66 percent said they switched to another opioid – usually heroin. "Most people that I know don't use OxyContin to get high anymore," one participant said, according to the study. "They have moved on to heroin [because] it is easier to use, much cheaper and easily available." A small bag of heroin – enough for a high – can cost as little as $5, according to Cicero. An 80-milligram dose of OxyContin, on the other hand, can cost up to $80 on the street, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "The rationale was if we reduced the supply, it would decrease the demand," Cicero said of national efforts to limit access to prescription painkillers and minimize the potential for abuse. "But what we're seeing is the demand is still there and it's driving the procurement of different drugs." Different, and potentially more dangerous, that is. Whereas the dose of OxyContin is engraved in the pill, heroin powder is usually cut with other chemicals to bolster dealers' profits. "When people switch over, they don't really know what they're getting," said Cicero. "They don't know the dose or the purity, so overdoses become quite common." OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma said in a statement, "It is unreasonable to expect the reformulation of one medication by one pharmaceutical company would reduce overall opioid abuse. Rather, these data suggest that reformulating all opioid medications over time to incorporate abuse-deterrent properties may help to reduce the overall abuse of this class of medications." H. Westley Clark, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said the shift to heroin use among people with opioid dependence reflects the challenge of obtaining prescription painkillers. "Our belief is that those coordinated and comprehensive efforts to curtail the problem of prescription drug abuse are having an impact. Now we have to be concerned about the unintentional consequences," he said. By ramping up public awareness and cracking down on illicit drug use, Clark hopes to see a downtick in prescription drug abuse without an uptick in heroin use. "We should not attempt to solve one problem by creating another," he said. http://news.yahoo.com/abuse-proof-prescription-painkillers-may-spur-heroin-habit-135122747--abc-news-health.html

Stunning vortex appears on Saturn's moon, puzzles scientists Massive whirlwind could mark the changing of seasons By Mike Wehner, updated 5 hours ago NASA's Cassini orbiter has already taken some stunning photos of Saturn and its moons, but the latest snapshot from the multi-billion-dollar mission might be its most impressive yet. After swinging down to the southern hemisphere of Titan — Saturn's largest moon — the high-powered orbiter captured images of a massive vortex forming at its pole, and scientists can only guess as to why it's suddenly appeared. The massive collection of swirling gas has gathered at Titan's south pole, which measures approximately 3,200 miles across. The whirlwind has never before been spotted, and it remains unclear how long it has been forming. Cassini — which first arrived near Saturn in 2004 (and shot the stunning images below) — had been orbiting the moon too far north to have captured it, until now. Prior to this discovery, the probe spotted images of a large "hood" on Titan's north pole, which researchers believe is the result of cell convection — a process where dense air sinks towards the surface, pushing air at its edges upwards to create clouds. As Titan's seasons change, scientists believe that the same mechanism may be at work at the moon's southern pole, but they can't be sure. A single year on Titan lasts approximately 30 Earth years, making the study of each season a lengthy endeavor. The planet is composed of rock, water ice, and methane, making for some weather formations not typically seen here on Earth. The gigantic, swirling anomaly — which is spinning at four times the speed of the rest of the planet — appears to be yet another interesting characteristic of Saturn's most interesting satellite. [image credit: NASA] http://www.tecca.com/news/2012/07/11/saturn-titan-vortex/ VIDEO: http://vimeo.com/11386048

Microsoft’s Downfall: Inside the Executive E-mails and Cannibalistic Culture That Felled a Tech Giant By Vanity Fair 12:00 AM, July 3 2012 Technology Microsoft C.E.O. Steve Ballmer delivers the keynote address at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, on January 9. Analyzing one of American corporate history’s greatest mysteries—the lost decade of Microsoft—two-time George Polk Award winner (and V.F.’s newest contributing editor) Kurt Eichenwald traces the “astonishingly foolish management decisions” at the company that “could serve as a business-school case study on the pitfalls of success.” Relying on dozens of interviews and internal corporate records—including e-mails between executives at the company’s highest ranks—Eichenwald offers an unprecedented view of life inside Microsoft during the reign of its current chief executive, Steve Ballmer, in the August issue. Today, a single Apple product—the iPhone—generates more revenue than all of Microsoft’s wares combined. Read Paul Allen on First Meeting Steve Ballmer: He Looked Like a Stalinist Police Officer Eichenwald’s conversations reveal that a management system known as “stack ranking”—a program that forces every unit to declare a certain percentage of employees as top performers, good performers, average, and poor—effectively crippled Microsoft’s ability to innovate. “Every current and former Microsoft employee I interviewed—every one—cited stack ranking as the most destructive process inside of Microsoft, something that drove out untold numbers of employees,” Eichenwald writes. “If you were on a team of 10 people, you walked in the first day knowing that, no matter how good everyone was, 2 people were going to get a great review, 7 were going to get mediocre reviews, and 1 was going to get a terrible review,” says a former software developer. “It leads to employees focusing on competing with each other rather than competing with other companies.” When Eichenwald asks Brian Cody, a former Microsoft engineer, whether a review of him was ever based on the quality of his work, Cody says, “It was always much less about how I could become a better engineer and much more about my need to improve my visibility among other managers.” Ed McCahill, who worked at Microsoft as a marketing manager for 16 years, says, “You look at the Windows Phone and you can’t help but wonder, How did Microsoft squander the lead they had with the Windows CE devices? They had a great lead, they were years ahead. And they completely blew it. And they completely blew it because of the bureaucracy.” According to Eichenwald, Microsoft had a prototype e-reader ready to go in 1998, but when the technology group presented it to Bill Gates he promptly gave it a thumbs-down, saying it wasn’t right for Microsoft. “He didn’t like the user interface, because it didn’t look like Windows,” a programmer involved in the project recalls. “The group working on the initiative was removed from a reporting line to Gates and folded into the major-product group dedicated to software for Office,” Eichenwald reports. “Immediately, the technology unit was reclassified from one charged with dreaming up and producing new ideas to one required to report profits and losses right away.” “Our entire plan had to be moved forward three to four years from 2003–04, and we had to ship a product in 1999,” says Steve Stone, a founder of the technology group. “We couldn’t be focused anymore on developing technology that was effective for consumers. Instead, all of a sudden we had to look at this and say, ‘How are we going to use this to make money?’” A former official in Microsoft’s Office division tells Eichenwald that the death of the e-reader effort was not simply the consequence of a desire for immediate profits. The real problem for his colleagues was the touch screen: “Office is designed to inputting with a keyboard, not a stylus or a finger,” the official says. “There were all kinds of personal prejudices at work.” According to Microsoft executives, the company’s loyalty to Windows and Office repeatedly kept them from jumping on emerging technologies. “Windows was the god—everything had to work with Windows,” Stone tells Eichenwald. “Ideas about mobile computing with a user experience that was cleaner than with a P.C. were deemed unimportant by a few powerful people in that division, and they managed to kill the effort.” When one of the young developers of MSN Messenger noticed college kids giving status updates on AOL’s AIM, he saw what Microsoft’s product lacked. “That was the beginning of the trend toward Facebook, people having somewhere to put their thoughts, a continuous stream of consciousness,” he tells Eichenwald. “The main purpose of AIM wasn’t to chat, but to give you the chance to log in at any time and check out what your friends were doing.” When he pointed out to his boss that Messenger lacked a short-message feature, the older man dismissed his concerns; he couldn’t see why young people would care about putting up a few words. “He didn’t get it,” the developer says. “And because he didn’t know or didn’t believe how young people were using messenger programs, we didn’t do anything.” “I see Microsoft as technology’s answer to Sears,” said Kurt Massey, a former senior marketing manager. “In the 40s, 50s, and 60s, Sears had it nailed. It was top-notch, but now it’s just a barren wasteland. And that’s Microsoft. The company just isn’t cool anymore.” “They used to point their finger at IBM and laugh,” said Bill Hill, a former Microsoft manager. “Now they’ve become the thing they despised.” http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/07/microsoft-downfall-emails-steve-ballmer