Drummers, the endangered musicians.

Cadbury’s Gorilla Advert

GORILLA CRITICAL REMIX
The famous drumming gorilla like you’ve never seen him.

One of the UK’s favourite ads just got a bold new makeover by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
You might recognise the purple-walled studio and the silver drum kit, but something is missing…
IFAW’s message – a world without gorillas is closer than you think – is intended to highlight the deadly threats that endangered species face and to invite the public to join our global effort to save the world’s most threatened species. — www.ifaw.org

Season’s Greetings

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
~Dr. Seuss

In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukkah’ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah!’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall!’
~Dave Barry, “Christmas Shopping: A Survivor’s Guide”

User State Migration Tool (USMT)

User State Migration Tool (USMT)
The User State Migration Tool (USMT) captures desktop, and application settings, as well as user accounts and users’ files, and then migrates them to a new Windows installation. Using USMT can help you improve and simplify your migration process.

USMT v.3.0.1 can be downloaded from Microsoft

USMT works with the following systems
Source system: Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Vista.
Destination system: Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Vista.
Note: USMT does not support any version of Windows Server as either a source or destination system.

Using the USMT
Using the USMT with its default migration settings is not difficult; you run Scanstate.exe to save user documents and settings to a temporary location (removable drive, a network share) and then run Loadstate.exe to restore those documents and settings.

Microsoft® Windows® User State Migration Tool (USMT) version 3.0.1 migrates user files and settings during deployments of Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista. You can use USMT to perform unattended migrations and to migrate files and settings for computers with multiple users. Also, with USMT you have the ability to encrypt and compress the store. USMT 3.0.1 is intended for administrators who are performing automated deployments. [1]

OBJECTIVE:
Migrate user profiles (Domain only) from an old PC to a new PC during the computer upgrade process. Do not clobber upgraded config’s hence migrate rather than copy.

In these examples the temporary storage location is “E:” (removable drive, a network share) The drive needs to be NTFS or similar as these migration files can be quite large., and you’ll be quite upset when the migration falls over when the file hits 2GB on a FAT formatted drive

Create a folder structure so that there is a PROFILES directory in the root of E:.

Inside this directory use folders to identify your storage areas for each machine. In our testing we have found it useful to create a baseline profile set for each base image, to recover local admin settings in case of “oops!” occasions – this location is named “baseline-%imagename%“. When migrating from a machine create a folder based on the asset number ie. NNNNNw

E:\PROFILES\baseline-%imagename%\
E:\PROFILES\NNNNNw\

Also inside the PROFILES directory have a copy of the USMT301 installation;

E:\PROFILES\USMT301\

COPY:
scanstate E:\PROFILES\NNNNNw /i:MigUser.xml /i:MigApp.xml /o

RESTORE (Domain Users):
loadstate E:\PROFILES\NNNNNw /i:MigUser.xml /i:MigApp.xml

Other data?
Have the users move critical/sensitive/private/confidential data onto the server befoer the migration process.
What about the other data left by users that is not in the tool migrated locations? Perform a quick search across the HD and copy these files into
E:\PROFILES\NNNNNw\extra\
Then on the new machine restore these files to
C:\migrated\

LINKS:
[1] Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT) Version 3.0.1 (2007-Apr-20) [MS Download]
[2] User State Migration Tool 3.0 [MS Technet]
[3] Quick Start Guide to Windows Vista User Profile Migration [MS Technet]
[4] User Profile migration / relocation [Google Groups]
[5] The USMT team blog [MS Technet]
[6] What is the User State Migration Tool? | The USMT team blog [MS Technet]

Censorship Minister Stephen Conroy

Censorship Minister Stephen Conroy
Proving you can’t have too big a turkey for Christmas;

THE Federal Government’s controversial internet censorship scheme may extend to filter more online traffic than was first thought, Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy revealed today.
In a post on his department’s blog, Senator Conroy today said technology that could filter data sent directly between computers would be tested as part of the upcoming live filtering trial.
“Technology that filters peer-to-peer and BitTorrent traffic does exist and it is anticipated that the effectiveness of this will be tested in the live pilot trial,” Senator Conroy said. …
– (2008-Dec-22) [news.com.au]

When was it to start again? Looks like someone has some overtime during the Christmas break … perhaps we can just “turn on the filter switch”.

… A live trial of filtering technology is scheduled to begin this week, but internet service providers have so far been kept in the dark over the details.
Less than a week before the trial was due to begin, participating ISPs Optus and iiNet said they had not been told if their applications had been accepted … — (2008-Dec-22) [news.com.au]

Minister Stephen Conroy has even started to blog (?) regarding the issue; unfortunately like most of this process the blog was more for looks at was scheduled to turn off at 3pm on the 24th Dec 2008 BEFORE any actual trial results can be evaluated.

One element of this program is the Government’s proposal to introduce internet service provider- (ISP-) level internet filtering. I’m aware that this proposal has attracted significant debate and criticism—on this blog and at other places in the blogosphere. I’m following the debate at sites like Whirlpool and GetUp and on Twitter at #nocleanfeed.
The Government takes the issue of cyber-safety extremely seriously and welcomes public debate about how we can achieve our goal of protecting children from harmful internet content. We wouldn’t have set up this site (or published negative comments on it) if we were trying to close down discussion. –
Minister Conroy on: Promoting a civil and confident society online (2008-Dec-22) [Minister Conroy]

Ok Minister there is a vast difference between following and listening to. Perhaps rather than just following you start listing to some of the opposing opinion especially when some of the opinion if from the experts in the field;

The System Administrators Guild of Australia (SAGE-AU) represents professional system administrators across Australia. System administrators are the technical people behind commercial networks and computing systems, large and small. Accordingly, we believe SAGE-AU is in an excellent position to contribute to the discussion of the technical issues with your Department’s proposed network filter. Our Code of Ethics (1) requires that we communicate with users regarding computing issues likely to affect them; and thus we feel it essential that we explain these issues to you. … The proposed Internet filter cannot achieve its stated goal …
–

This weeks links (2008-12-22)

Microsoft Extends XP To May 2009 For OEMs
Microsoft has given another reprieve to its faithful old operating system Windows XP in a sign of the lingering difficulties facing its successor Windows Vista.
The software giant announced over the weekend that it would allow computer makers to receive copies of the old system until the end of May 2009, which is shortly before the successor to Windows Vista is widely expected to hit the market.
A previous extension allowed computer makers to install XP on low cost laptops and netbooks through 2010. — ioltechnology.co.za

Internet Industry Association Feasibility Study – ISP Level Content Filtering
The former Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts contracted the Internet Industry Association to undertake a feasibility study into internet service provider (ISP) level filtering.
The report is available here. (2008-Dec-23) [Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy]

Mac vs PC Transformers
Mac vs PC Transformers !!

LEGO Echo Base (Hoth)
Mark Borlase’s 5′ x 10′ Star Wars Empire Strikes Back Echo Base (Hoth). Contains 55,000 to 60,000 pieces took four years to build and cost $3,000+.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23575410@N05/

Avira AntiVir Rescue System
The Avira AntiVir Rescue System a linux-based application that allows accessing computers that cannot be booted anymore. Thus it is possible to repair a damaged system, to rescue data or to scan the system for virus infections. Just double-click on the rescue system package to burn it to a CD/DVD. You can then use this CD/DVD to boot your computer. The Avira AntiVir Rescue System is updated several times a day so that the most recent security updates are always available.
http://www.avira.com/en/support/support_downloads.html

The right to food

Recognizing the complex character of the worsening of the current global food crisis, which would threaten to violate the right to adequate food on a massive scale, the Assembly would — by the resolution on the right to food (document A/C.3/63/L.42) — reaffirm that hunger constituted an outrage and a violation of human dignity, requiring the adoption of urgent measures at the national, regional and international level, for its elimination. The text would have the Assembly consider it intolerable that more than 6 million children still died every year from hunger-related illness before their fifth birthday, and that the number of undernourished people had grown to about 923 million worldwide, at the same time that the planet could produce enough food to feed 12 billion people, or twice the world’s present population.
– THIRD COMMITTEE DRAFT RESOLUTIONS ADDRESS HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATIONS IN MYANMAR, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA, IRAN (200-Nov-21) [UN General Assembly]

Draft resolution XX on the right to food, approved on 24 November by a recorded vote of 180 in favour to 1 against ( United States), with no abstentions, would have the Assembly reaffirm that hunger constitutes an outrage and a violation of human dignity, requiring the adoption of urgent measures at the national, regional and international level, for its elimination. (Press Releases GA/SHC/3940 and GA/SHC/3941)
– GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTS 52 RESOLUTIONS, 6 DECISIONS RECOMMENDED BY THIRD COMMITTEE ON WIDE RANGE OF HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL, HUMANITARIAN ISSUES (2008-Dec-18) [UN General Assembly]

That’s right 180 in favour, 1 against.

Special Rapporteur on the right to food [Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights]
Make Poverty History [Make Poverty History]

When everyone uses e-mail, it’s going to save an awful lot of trees.

When everyone uses e-mail, it’s going to save an awful lot of trees.
(Myer Christmas window 2009)

FireFox 2.0.0.20

Mozilla released Firefox 2.0.0.20 on Dec 18, 2008

Note: This is the last planned release of Firefox 2. All users are encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3. Firefox 2.0.0.20 does not include Phishing Protection. [2]

Time to move to Firefox v3 people

Fixed in Firefox 2.0.0.20 [1]
MFSA 2008-65 Cross-domain data theft via script redirect error message (Windows)

Vulnerability ratings: 1 High
Evaluation: Update to v3 now

We strongly recommend all Firefox 2 users upgrade to this latest release. If you already have Firefox 2, you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu. … Note: Mozilla is not planning any further security & stability updates for Firefox 2, and recommends that you upgrade to Firefox 3 as soon as possible. It’s free, and your settings and bookmarks will be preserved. [4]

[1] Fixed in Firefox 2.0.0.20 [Mozilla]
[2] Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.20 Release Notes [Mozilla]
[3] You’ve been updated to the latest version of Firefox 2 [Mozilla]
[4] Firefox 2.0.0.20 now available for download (2008-Dec-18) [Mozilla]

Label The World

Label The World via zefrank

I’ve been working on a simple project where I label things with sticky notes. I wanted something that anyone could participate in (as long as they have sticky notes and a pen), and would get people out there doing something without feeling they to make elaborate plans first. Just a small way to make the world slightly more surreal and get people to look a little more closely at their surroundings.
– Label The World

Grab a pad of labels and a pen then get to work.

Label The World [Flickr]

Psst! Want to buy a submarine?

“It’s not every day you can bid for a 2,000 tonne submarine online, but that’s what it’s come down to. The HMAS Otama, the last Oberon submarine built for the Australian Navy has been sitting, rusting in Western Port Bay for six years. There were celebrations in 2002 when a small group of volunteers won the sought after tender with the help of a $500,000 grant from the Federal Government’s Federation Fund. But the money is running out and the foreshore they have tried to put it on has become or is environmentally protected.“
Wednesday, 24 November, 2008: ABC Stateline

Western Port Oberon Association Peter Spyker said selling the submarine on eBay was a serious proposition, not a publicity stunt. “We are testing the waters at this stage,” he said. “We will see what the response is.
“We need some assistance in finding a permanent site – and we are happy to receive offers.”
– Is eBay the answer for Hastings’ sub (2008-Dec-04) [Hastings Leader]

Hastings Maritime Museum – Otama
http://www.otama.com.au/

Ho ho ho! beards, hats and snow on Fickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eltham_mob/3110427062/?snow=1