Grippe porcine, Swine Flu and other lies

Has an illness ever created so much talk as this Swine Flu / Grippe Porcine? I’ve just been reading an article sent to me by a friend about a certain Jane Burgemeister who it appears has brought an action against just about every world leader, Barack Obama and several bankers accusing them of wanting to kill 5 billion people ! See other blogs on WordPress about that. OK I know that politicians are not always perfect, but I think 5 billion is a bit much (perhaps 1 billion would be more reasonable) “just” to solve the world’s population problem. Of course their involvement extends to genetically modifying a normal flu etc etc. No problem if people have the time for it, but conspiracy theories and general paranoia are pretty goods stuff when you need some publicity or you just like being out there.

The one about the US government having fabricated 911 is pretty good noise too. I dont know about you, but I’m getting pretty bored with theories and counter theories. Even my neighbour is planning to stock huge quantities of pasta if swine flu hits, wondering about about many absentees there will be at work and even questioning whether the kids will be going back to school.

What is it about the human race that makes it get into such a panic, widely advancing information and counter information ? Even when the “authorities” publish scientific stuff, there is always someone there to say that we’re just being manipulated. We cant even rely on God anymore, since he’s become a downtrodden value. So perhaps the only thing left is individual observation of real facts. How many people do you know who have died of swine flu? Keep counting ! And who is to say that its swine flu as opposed to any other flu? And why is a flu getting so much of people’s energy when its just a bad flu that goes away after a few days? We get flu every year and they are always different. Perhaps it just the thought of being all to similar to the pig …. ?

Alerte Générale Caisse d’Epargne

La Caisse d’Epargne fait l’objet, depuis hier soir, d’une attaque sur internet .
Elle se présente sous la forme d’un e-mail expédié à nos clients, leur expliquant que pour des raisons techniques ils doivent changer leur mot de passe.
Un lien les dirige ensuite vers un faux site Caisse d’Epargne, qui ressemble à s’y méprendre au vrai, sur lequel les pirates peuvent récupérer le mot de passe et avoir ainsi accès aux comptes des clients.
Ce message a été envoyé en masse et l’ensemble des Caisses d’Epargne est touché.

En cas de piratage sur votre compte voici la procédure à suivre :
1/ Supprimer tout message par e-mail émanant de la Caisse d’Epargne.
2/ N’accédez à vos comptes que via l’adresse www.caisse-epargne.fr et en aucun cas via un lien.
3/ Se connecter sur notre site Caisse d’Epargne et changer leur mot de passe le plus rapidement possible.

Merci d’avance pour la diffusion de cette information au plus grand nombre.

Attention à un spoof mail prétendant être de la part de Gaz de France

J’ai reçu ce matin ce mail de la part de Dolce Vita Gaz de France

“Bonjour, A partir du 7 juin 2009, votre identifiant au Compte en Ligne DolceVita change et devient votre adresse e-mail. Votre mot de passe reste inchangé. Vérifiez dès maintenant que votre adresse e-mail est à jour en cliquant sur le bouton ci-dessous : Pour toute information complémentaire, je vous invite à me contacter par e-mail depuis le site www.dolcevita.gazdefrance.fr “

Or ce matin le lien ne renvoyait pas sur http://www.dolcevita.gazdefrance.fr mais sur gdfsuez.cab05.net. Étrange !!! Cette entrée dans le blog était prévu ce matin, quand je me demandais si cette l’adresse était une adresse de phishing. Suite à mon signalment de cette question à l’équipe du site internet gdf, le problème est résolu et le mail, même inchangé renvoyé malgré tout sur dolcevita.gazdefrance.fr

MJL Video makes progress on hardware configuration

We’ve had a great response from publicity so far but one or two troubles with hardware which have meant that our response to the demand has not been as we would have liked. In particular a couple of purchases of 8mm projectors that proved to be faulty. One Bolex M8 that blew the fuses and a Canon that was jumpy.

Unfortunately the original Eumig P8 we were using also packed up but we’re delighted to announce that we’re back in business using Magnon DLS combined 8 and Super 8. The projector is working fine and has enabled us to get on top of outstaning orders. With two projectors on stand by we have sufficient redundancy to ensure capacity.

In summary, that means we’re up to spead on all the most common formats. This means that we’re operational on 8mm, Super 8, Hi8, VHS and VHS-C. In terms of hardware, investment has paid off. We have new equipment on all the lines and sufficient capacity to treat the order volumes that we need.

MJL Video is therefore delighted to announce its continuing business …

Update several blogs at once

Do you know about this service; Ping.fm which allows you to update several blogs at once? Its quite simple and supports over 30 different social network sites … check it out.

Facebook limiting the expansion of its blogging platform

If Networked Blogs is the blog platform for Facebook then its certainly taking a while to upgrade its servers. The external blog feed is still limited to those with a certain number of fans (7) and you can only post 3 external posts a week.

I doubt that is going to satisfy many and certainly doesnt help the platform in attracting new bloggers. But hey, here’s hoping it can only get better!

Read this article on Facebook

HP dont make it easy to buy a server

If you’re looking for an entry level server from Hp and like me run a small business, dont go to HP direct, but look for an online distributor like Inmac.

After trying the experience on the HP site, all of the entry level Proliant servers are unavailable for purchase online. No worry thinks I, I’ll call HP, only to find that the sales person was very quick to direct me back to the website to find a distributor.

Still playing the game, I go for it, only to find that there are no distributors in my area in the category small business. So going up a cat to medium sized business, while giving me a reasonable choice of companies gave me no-one able to sell me a server without selling me a project.

So back to square one … so one has to wonder where the small business server channel is for HP. The only one I could find was Inmac, which seems fine, but why does HP insist on directing people down cul-de-sacs? Wasting customers time is not a brilliant way to build brand awareness.

My complaint to HP remains unanswered …

YouTube selects online orchestra

Video sharing website YouTube has announced the players in the symphony orchestra it recruited online.
Two UK-based winners will join musicians from 30 countries to participate in a three-day classical music summit in New York City.

Prison threat for Pirate Bay four

BBC Technology News – Prosecutors in the trial against the four men who run the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay have called for a one-year prison sentence to be imposed. Frederik Neij, Carl Lundstom, Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Warg are accused of promoting copyright infringement.

The money-making schemes of social networking sites

BBC Technology News 27/02/09 – … The profits should be rolling in: Twitter, which has been catapulted into the public-eye thanks to Stephen Fry and Barack Obama, is currently surviving on multi-million dollar handouts. And Facebook, the global force in social networking, has yet to harness its huge user base to bring in any significant revenue. Many believe answer may lie in advertising.

Unlike traditional mediums, which were built on the mantra of getting as many eyes on a product as possible, social networking instead allows for targeted ads aimed at ages, interests, hobbies and so on.