This weeks links: 2007-06-29

Wow, I’m late this week!

High Voltage tyrolean traverse?
High Power Job

Hyperdrive
BBC – Comedy – Hyperdrive: Caught the first episode of this one on the ABC the other night Hyperdrive – A Gift From The Glish … ROTFLMAO!

It is 2151 and the British have launched a fleet of space ships to explore the galaxy in the only way the British can. That means with a stiff upper lip and regular tea breaks. Their mission? To export all things British to all corners of the galaxy – namely overpriced supermarkets, housing estates, call centres and even tractors – and protect Britain’s interests in a changing galaxy.
At the forefront of this expeditionary force is the HMS Camden Lock, helmed by the irrepressible, if a little tetchy, Commander Henderson. He is ably assisted by a crew of misfits. …

DIY Hobbit hole?
A Low Impact Woodland Home – Build yourself a hobbit hole.
Everyone says it is a hobbit house, they all love the lord of the rings at the moment.I think Tolkien draws the hobbits as the naïve or innocent representation of humans in a wholesome natural state. People instictively relate to this, especially in the context of modernity.

Tour de France 2007

With only 8 days to go until the start of this years Tour, I’m getting my 2007 TDF liks in place on del.icio.us tdf2007 ready for the July 7th start.

Tour on TV
SBS will be broadcasting the Tour for their 17th consecutive year! Their broadcast schedule published online showing many late nights for the month ahead SBS also have their Tour de France 2007 forum.

::broadcast schedule::
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Prol – Saturday 7 July 11:50PM SA/NT: 11.50pm WA: 11.00pm
TDF Update – Sunday 8 July 7:20AM
TDF Prol h’lights – Sunday 8 July 5:30PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 1 – Sunday 8 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.30pm WA: 10.30pm
TDF Update – Monday 9 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 1 – Monday 9 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 2 – Monday 9 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.00pm WA: 10.00pm
TDF Update – Tuesday 10 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 2 – Tuesday 10 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 3 – Tuesday 10 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.00pm WA: 10.00pm
TDF Update – Wednesday 11 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 3 – Wednesday 11 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 4 – Wednesday 11 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.00pm WA: 10.00pm
TDF Update – Thursday 12 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 4 – Thursday 12 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 5 – Thursday 12 July 10:35PM SA/NT: 10.05pm WA: 10.05pm
TDF Update – Friday 13 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 5 – Friday 13 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 6 – Friday 13 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.00pm WA: 10.00pm
TDF Update – Saturday 14 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 6 – Saturday 14 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 7 – Saturday 14 July 10:00PM SA/NT: 9.30pm WA: 8.30pm
TDF Update – Sunday 15 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 7 – Sunday 15 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 8 – Sunday 15 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.30pm WA: 10.30pm
TDF Update – Monday 16 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 8 – Monday 16 July 6:00PM
TDF Update – Tuesday 17 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Rev – Tuesday 17 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 9 – Tuesday 17 July 10:00PM SA/NT: 9.30pm WA: 8.30pm
TDF Update – Wednesday 18 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 9 – Wednesday 18 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 10 – Wednesday 18 July 10:00PM SA/NT: 9.30pm WA: 9.30pm
TDF Update – Thursday 19 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 10 – Thursday 19 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 11 – Thursday 19 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.00pm WA: 9.30pm
TDF Update – Friday 20 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 11 – Friday 20 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 12 – Friday 20 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.00pm WA: 9.30pm
TDF Update – Saturday 21 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 12 – Saturday 21 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 13 – Saturday 21 July 10:00PM SA/NT: 9.30pm WA: 9.30pm
TDF Update – Sunday 22 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 13 – Sunday 22 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 14 – Sunday 22 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.30pm WA: 10.30pm
Tour de France h’lights Stage 14 – Monday 23 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 15 – Monday 23 July 10:00PM SA/NT: 9.30pm WA: 8.30pm
TDF Update – Tuesday 24 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 15 – Tuesday 24 July 6:00PM
TDF Update – Wednesday 25 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Rev – Wednesday 25 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 16 – Wednesday 25 July 10:00PM SA/NT: 9.30pm WA: 8.30pm
TDF Update – Thursday 26 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 16 – Thursday 26 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 17 – Thursday 26 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.00pm WA: 9.30pm
TDF Update – Friday 27 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 17 – Friday 27 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 18 – Friday 27 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.00pm WA: 9.30pm
TDF Update – Saturday 28 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 18 – Saturday 28 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 19 – Saturday 28 July 10:00PM SA/NT: 9.30pm WA: 9.30pm
TDF Update – Sunday 29 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 19 – Sunday 29 July 6:00PM
Tour de France 2007 LIVE Stage 20 – Sunday 29 July 10:30PM SA/NT: 10.30pm WA: 10.30pm
TDF Update – Monday 30 July 7:20AM
Tour de France h’lights Stage 20 – Monday 30 July 6:00PM

Tour de France 2007 in Google Earth
Following the Tour in Google Earth using official Google Earth file was a highlight last year, the live tracking was brilliant and the kids loved it! The Google Earth Blog has some details about the 2007 offerings.

The Tour de France Live Tracker is up again in 2007

Live Data
www.polarcycling.com will be streaming live biometry data for a posible 11 teams (Australian Page).

[1] Tour de France [SBS]
[2] Tour de France – 2007 [letour.fr]
[3] Tour de France 2007 [about.com]

Moving to Outlook

As part of the University’s migration to eXchange we have migrated from Eudora (mail client) and Oracle Calendar (calendaring) across to Outlook. Not surprisingly this has created a few productivity issues as we leave our tried and trusted techniques for somewhat uncharted waters.
(Especially true for those of use with 2000 mail filters that could be exported from Eudora to Outlook!)

I’ll list some of the workflow changes that I make as I find them;

(1.) How do I get Outlook Flags to work similar to Eudora Labels?
Naming and Effective Use of Outlook Flags

(2.) How do I re-direct mail rather than forward?
Looks like this is not possible without 3rd party add-ons

(3.) How do I view the mail headers?
Viewing Internet headers in Outlook is not the easiest thing to do…. What is this thing that claims to be a mail client?
Open a message
i.) choose View | Message Header (show more header details From:, To:, cc:)
ii.) choose View | Options. The headers are shown in Internet headers: dialog.

[1] eXchange Project [UniMelb]
[2] Outlook Tips [UW Colleges & UW-Extension]

MS Patches or Whale faeces?

Popular Science magazine lists the absolute worst jobs in science; the ranking for Microsoft’s Security Response Center (MSRC) proves that security isn’t a glamor industry

“The MSRC ranked near the middle as the sixth-worst job in this year’s list.. ‘We did rate the Microsoft security researcher as less-bad than the people who prepare the carcasses for dissection in biology laboratories,’ Moyer said. Moyer didn’t have to think long when asked whether he’d rather have the number 10-ranked whale research job. ‘Whale feces or working at Microsoft? I would probably be the whale feces researcher,’ he said. ‘Salt air and whale flatulence; what could go wrong?’” [2]

I think I might have to find a bucket of whale faeces as an alternative to next Patch Tuesday

[1] The Worst Jobs in Science 2007 [Popular Science]
[2] 2007 list of the absolute worst jobs in science [ComputerWorld]
[3] Microsoft Security Makes “Worst Jobs” List [SlashDot]

This weeks links: 2007-06-19

BAYimg
bayimg – free uncensored image hosting brought to you by Pirate Bay.
bayimg.com is a place where you can host all your images. We do not censor them. We believe in freedom of speech, it’s of utter importance to us. As long as your pictures are legal they will be hosted here, but we reserve the right to remove images due to technical reasons though.

AVATAR SLIDESHOW [NY Times]
NY Times magazine side-by-side photo comparison of real people and their online avatars .

This weeks links: 2007-06-14

The Best Thought Experiments: Schrödinger’s Cat, Borel’s Monkeys [Wired Magazine]
Wired Magazine (Issue 15.06) contains a good look at some of the best experiments of the mind.

World broadband closes in on 300 million subscribers [Point-Topic]
According to the most recent data from Point Topic’s Global Broadband Statistics service there were 298 million broadband subscribers worldwide at the end of March 2007.
“Given the prevailing growth rates it is safe to assume that the number has now passed 300 million,” says Katja Mueller, Research Director at Point Topic.

Further analysis by the Business Guardian in their article Broadband spreads across globe (2007-Jun-13)

24 hours in Melbourne [The Age]
Have a holiday at home. We plan your perfect day in town at three prices: $30, $300 and $3000.

OfficeCat [Snort.org]
OfficeCat is a command line utility that can be used to process Microsoft Office Documents for the presence of potential exploit conditions in the file.
The tool is used on Windows systems and is provided as a binary executable.

Patch Tuesday Wednesday (Jun-2007)

Welcome to the Patch Tuesday patching for June 2007 We have 4xCritical, 1xImportant, 1xModerate patches for our entertainment, all are detected via Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. A restart will be required.

Bulletin	KB number	Description	Severity	Impact	Software
MS07-031	935840	Vulnerability in the Windows Schannel Security Package Could Allow Remote Code Execution	Remote Code Execution	Critical	Windows
MS07-033	933566	Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer	Remote Code Execution	Critical	Internet Explorer
MS07-034	929123	Cumulative Security Update for Outlook Express and Windows Mail	Remote Code Execution	Critical	Windows, Outlook Express, Windows Mail
MS07-035	935839	Vulnerability in Win32 API Could Allow Remote Code Execution	Remote Code Execution	Critical	Windows
MS07-030	927051	Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Visio Could Allow Remote Code Execution	Remote Code Execution	Important	Visio
MS07-032	931213	Vulnerability in Windows Vista Could Allow Information Disclosure	Information Disclosure	Moderate	Windows Vista

PATCH NOW:
MS07-30, MS07-31, , MS07-33, MS07-34, MS07-35

LINKS:
[1.] Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification [MS]
[2.] June 2007, Microsoft Patch Tuesday Overview. [SANS]
[3.] Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for June 2007 [MS]
[4.] Microsoft security updates for June 2007 [MS]
[5.] Microsoft Patch Disclosure – June 2007 [eEye]
[6.] June 2007 Monthly Security Bulletin Release [MS Security Response Center Blog]

Brazil is dead, long live Brazil!

The most important server in our line up, Brazil, went down and was unrecoverable.

That’s right the coffee maker has gone to meet its maker. Now when all else is in flames or making disturbing sounds from deep within the hardware all is not lost as long as there is coffee … with the coffee gone, even fixing a stapler in a multi-function printer becomes an onerous task.

Never fear we now have wonderful new coffee hardware and caffeine level have returned to normal (or slightly higher than normal … this one goes to ten !).

05-06-07

Interesting date pattern “05-06-07″, of course it was much better this morning with 03:04 05-06-07

If you are really retentive you would have loved 02:03:04 05-06-07 this morning, but that’s getting too picky.

This weeks links: 2007-06-04

SANS handler Swa Frantzen has a good post about Invalid ssl certs;
… Doesn’t you car make an annoying noise when you do not wear your seatbelt while driving it?
Then why does your browser only need an obscure “next” to proceed on to a website that has a bad cert? …
I think we need to eradicate bad certificates on all of our websites. Next, teach our users significant better habits and start by increasingly making those bad habits harder to have in the browsers we let our users use.

MS Office 2007? not for Journal authors.

Because of changes Microsoft has made in its recent Word release that are incompatible with our internal workflow, which was built around previous versions of the software, Science cannot at present accept any files in the new .docx format produced through Microsoft Word 2007, either for initial submission or for revision. Users of this release of Word should convert these files to a format compatible with Word 2003 or Word for Macintosh 2004 (or, for initial submission, to a PDF file) before submitting to Science. [Science Magazine]

We currently cannot accept files saved in Microsoft Office 2007 formats. Equations and special characters (for example, Greek letters) cannot be edited and are incompatible with Nature’s own editing and typesetting programs.[Nature]

Uni set to flick its switches
The University of Melbourne is poised to turn on the first stage of its $25 million IT upgrade – a $5 million core network that the university says will be among the world’s best.
It has put to tender the project’s next stages – a campus wireless network and edge switches to link departments. … [The Age]