March 2011 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Real meteorite hunter now on the list
by Patrick Wiggins 23 Mar '11

23 Mar '11

Those of us that have made half hearted attempts to find meteorites might be interested to know that a local (SLC) outfit that conducts real, organized searches has singed on to Utah-Astronomy. Hopefully they'll help us find a Mars meteorite that will make us all rich. :) patrick

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] OT: Happy Birthday Captain Kirk
by sjseebergp＠webtv.net 23 Mar '11

23 Mar '11

Darin TRUE. Elizabeth Taylor passed away early this morning. Jan

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Japan Earthquake Discussion
by Rodger C. Fry 23 Mar '11

23 Mar '11

This is mildly off topic but does talk about crustal tides and earthquake predictions. I don't know much about this guy but what he is saying may provide for an interesting discussion. Time will Tell. Follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQXDt4VdS0E Rodger Fry

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OT: Happy Birthday Captain Kirk
by Chuck Hards 22 Mar '11

22 Mar '11

William Shatner is 80 years old.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Jeopardy
by Canopus56 22 Mar '11

22 Mar '11

Yesterday's APOD also concerned our club's favorite Pacific Ocean observing island, Maui, and its volcanic crater. On Friday, will the Jeopardy question writers exclude ``heavenly bodies'' as a category? - Clear Skies, Kurt http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2011/03/haleakala-crater-from-kalahaku-overlook.h…

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Article from PLoS One on Light Pollution
by Jay Eads 22 Mar '11

22 Mar '11

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0017307 An article that describes the impact of light pollution when clouds are present on animals and other ecological factors, while also determining the impact on overall light pollution. Nothing really new here, but another study is a good thing and for a National Park it may lead to justifying why increasing light pollution near the National Park could endanger some sensitive species and perhaps stop the light pollution from coming in. Then again who am I kidding. I fear light pollution in Utah will only continue to worsen over time. -- Jay Eads

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Atlantic Immune to Tsunamis?
by Gary Vardon 21 Mar '11

21 Mar '11

The Atlantic Ocean is spreading at the midoceanic rift Sincerely, Gary Vardon The book DO It Right will help you understand vital ideas leading to your greater success. GO to PublishAmerica.com Consulting For Profit is also available. Learn how to make money as a consultant.

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Tuesday's SLAS meet
by Joe Bauman 21 Mar '11

21 Mar '11

Hi friends, If you missed last night's fascinating meeting, or if you'd like to review what was said, here's my take! http://www.deseretnews.com/blog/47/10011639/Nightly-news-astronomy-Examinin… Thanks, Joe

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] bad emails
by sfisher01＠comcast.net 21 Mar '11

21 Mar '11

Ladies and Gentlemen: I'm not sure you understand. Dale, your computer may not have been hacked in any way. IF someone you know had your address on their list and they got hacked then your e-mail address is part of this problem that is going on. My MSN account was closed long before this started. It had nothing to do with MY computer being hacked. Keep your guard up, good spam and virus software, change your password regularly and don't open e-mail if you don't know who it is and never if there is no subject. I have received "no subject" from several people and have simply dropped them an e-mail asking if they sent it. Several had not some had and just forgot to put in subject matter. And for what it is worth, it is my belief that Bill Gates did NOT design his software to be spied on and hacked. If anyone did it, it was George W ;) Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Rankin" <David(a)rankinstudio.com> To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 10:53:55 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] bad emails Dale, Try to download AVG free antivirus (its probably a trojan doing the emails) and when that is done - change the password to your email account. http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-free-antivirus Should fix it. David On 3/20/11 10:18 AM, Dale Wilson wrote: > Sorry, I got hacked. I may be having to change email addresses. Apologies for > the strange emails. > > Dale > > > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php > Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com > > _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Computer virus question
by Canopus56 21 Mar '11

21 Mar '11

Macs are far from being virus free, and with Ipads taking over the laptop market, my prediction is that it is only a matter of time before it becomes marginally profitable for malicious crackers to switch their focus to the Snow Leopard OS. Furthermore, in modern cracking strategies, it is the web browser and Java apps that are the focus attacks and not the operating system flavor. So saying ``I use a Mac'' with ``Firefox'' or ''Chrome'' is not much of a protection distinction. For email reading, my main anti-virus technique is not to initially read your email offline. Use your webbrowser and your ISP's web email facility to read and preview your emails. Like your hard drive email program, most ISP web browser email readers also have spam and maleware filters. Just make sure that they are turned on. If you see an email that ISPs virus and spam filters did not catch, just delete it before it gets to your hard drive. When reading your email through your ISP's web email application, run your browser in ``sandbox'' mode if possible - meaning no web application gets to write anything on your hard drive. Once you have previewed and deleted all unwanted for suspicious emails, then use your traditional POP3 email connection to download your emails to your local harddrive email application. In Internet Explorer 8 and above, protected mode is enabled through the Windows Defender and turning on ``Real Time Security Protection.'' That will let you enable the option in MS IE to launch in protected mode. You can also enable it directly under MS IE - Internet Options - Security. There is a radio button labeled ``Enable Protected Mode''. In Firefox under Windows, protected mode appears not to supported. Under Firefox Options | Security, set permissions to require the browser to notify you if any application (an add-on) trys to install on your local drive. Protected mode has its problems and is a hassle to use. Most modern websites are dependent on dropping cookies and information on your harddrive, so many site may not display. Toggling protected mode on and off is not dynamic, as discussed below. Another option that has less security is to use ``Private mode'' in either MS IE or Firefox. That shields your email id and history as your read your emails over an internet email app. Check your settings to make sure that you asked for permission before any application or add-on is installed. The advantage of private mode is that it can be dynamically toggled on and off in MS IS and Firefox with a simple menu button. Why there is not a simple button in both labeled ``sandbox'' is beyond me. As a general anti-virus technique, get in the habit of always clearing your browser's history and cookies. I do mine at least one every other day. Cookies are how Yahoo and Google and other commercial providers track you. It is also how id thieves can profile the types of sites that you visit, e.g. - did you check your bank account online in the last week. By grabbing your cookies, a malicious profiler can associate your email account name with with your bank's name. I clear my cookies after every commercial internet transaction, e.g. - buying something, checking an account balance, etc. Under the menu bars for both Firefox and MS IE, there is an option to ``Clear History'' and ``Clear Everything.'' Clear everything - always. As a general anti-virus technique, if I am surfing sites that I ordinarily trust, e.g. NASA, Google, Yahoo, the UofU, etc., I do not worry about security. But, if I am going to do some general research that involves visiting many types of web sites, including individual generated webpages, I launch MS IE and throw it into Protected Mode or atleast Private Mode. In MS IE, it's a hassle to toggle Protect Mode off and on. You have to turn protected mode on, restart ME IE. When you done, then your have to go through the same thing again. It is time consuming, but makes it easier for me to sleep at night. Hope that helps. Clear Skies - Kurt

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