FireFox

Look!! FireFox Users..

rt

This morning, while checking the statistics page of this site I found about 70 of you are using FireFox as your Browser. 67 are using versions less than the current 1.07. This is really important you need to download and install version 1.07 now. There is a really important security fix on version 1.07. You are leaving your computer open to attack if you don't get this done right now. It takes very little time... do it now
RT



Time to download and update the latest from FIREFOX... This is important as it is a security update. Don't delay ...do it now. Here is the link:

FIREFOX UPDATE CLICK HERE

Views of Africa @ National Geographic Magazine

Views of Africa @ National Geographic Magazine: "By David Quammen
Photographs by George Steinmetz
Armed with two small planes and infinite determination, explorer and conservationist J. Michael Fay set out to create an unprecedented record of human impact on the land.

Just north of the old caravan town of Agadez, in central Niger, stretches the Aïr Massif, a vast range of cinder gray highlands standing up from the Sahara like a coal barge afloat on an ocean of cream. The peaks and plateaus of the Aïr have been shaped over time from a complicated mixture of rock types—including magmatic ring dikes, granitic intrusions, Paleozoic sandstone, and recent flows of lava—but the overall impression they convey can be captured without geologic jargon: big mountains, arid and dark and steep. Their gulches (koris, in the local terminology) are water carved but, in dry season, brim only with sand. Old hoof trails, scratched across high ledges, suggest that once this was good habitat for Barbary sheep, Ammotragus lervia, a hardy species now extinct or endangered across most of its North African range. Maybe the habitat is still good, but the sheep seem to have been hunted out. There are no paved roads and few settlements amid these mountains. Apart from four-by-four tracks up the larger koris, the main signs of human presence are igloo-like rock piles sparsely polka-dotting the foothills. Each dot is an ancient grave. The graves are remote, inconspicuous, mostly unopened by pillagers, and best seen from a low-flying plane. That's how J. Michael Fay sees them, on a mild December morning, as an heirloom Cessna 182 carrying him and three others approaches the northeastern edge of the massif. "

Guardian Unlimited | Arts news | Art detective exposes hidden images to fuel Da Vinci Code conspiracies

Guardian Unlimited | Arts news | Art detective exposes hidden images to fuel Da Vinci Code conspiracies: "Art detective exposes hidden images to fuel Da Vinci Code conspiracies

Download the pdf of the hidden images from our digital edition

John Hooper in Rome
Tuesday September 20, 2005
The Guardian

Da Vinci's Adorationof the Magi
'A whole new world under the surface' ... Leonardo da Vinci's Adoration of the Magi


Amid the obsessive scholars and scheming prelates who inhabit Dan Brown's global blockbuster, The Da Vinci Code, there is a real person.

Maurizio Seracini works in a high-ceilinged, colourfully frescoed palazzo just across the river from the Uffizi gallery in Florence. His premises are packed with machines that look as if they belong in a hospital or laboratory.

Brown calls him an 'art diagnostician', which is not a bad description for someone who probes paintings with state-of-the-art-technology, often to advise museums, dealers and collectors on their restoration.

Article continues
The Da Vinci Code revolves around the contention that Leonardo Da Vinci's paintings are full of symbolic allusions to a secret claimed to have been preserved by successors of the defunct medieval order of Knights Templar - that Christ married Mary Magdalene and had a family whose descendants are alive today. What attracted Brown to Mr Seracini was his epic investigation into what lies below the surface of the Adoration of the Magi, a work the art detective believes was sketched by Da Vinci, but painted over by someone else."

Panel looks at Oregon Health Plan

Panel looks at Oregon Health Plan: "Panel looks at Oregon Health Plan
Care reform - A group evaluating the federal system talks to founders of the state plan
Saturday, September 24, 2005
DON COLBURN

A national citizens panel trying to jump-start health care reform at the federal level came to Oregon Friday to gather ammunition.

In a five-hour hearing, the panel got an earful about lessons growing out of Oregon's effort to reinvent its own health care system 15 years ago, which led to the Oregon Health Plan."

After a year, Mount St. Helens show still a hot ticket

After a year, Mount St. Helens show still a hot ticket: "After a year, Mount St. Helens show still a hot ticket
Eruption - The mountain continues to ooze lava into its crater since it reawakened last fall
Saturday, September 24, 2005
RICHARD L. HILL

VANCOUVER -- The elegant vapor plume rising from Mount St. Helens on Friday morning was a fitting salute on the first anniversary of the volcano's reawakening.

A year ago, an intense swarm of small earthquakes signaled renewed volcanic unrest after 18 years of quiet. Scientists realized three days later that the shallow quakes weren't like past flurries and issued a warning that Mount St. Helens, the country's most famous volcano, might be gearing up for an outburst.

They were right. After nearly three weeks of nonstop quakes and a few spectacular explosions of steam and ash, magma punched into the crater surface on Oct. 11 -- the official start of an eruption that hasn't quit."

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Albert Einstein
'I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.'"

BBC NEWS | Technology | Kids to teach elderly net skills

BBC NEWS | Technology | Kids to teach elderly net skills: "Kids to teach elderly net skills
Photo of a young child teaching an older woman to use a computer
Children are said to be best placed to give grandparents net skills
Young people are being encouraged to take on the role of internet trainer to help their grandparents get online.

Telco giant BT is marking Grandparents Day on 24 September by asking children to become 'internet rangers'.

The company believes that young people are in the best position to prevent their grandparents from becoming digitally excluded."

The 'myth' of Iraq's foreign fighters | csmonitor.com

The 'myth' of Iraq's foreign fighters | csmonitor.com: "The 'myth' of Iraq's foreign fighters
Report by US think tank says only '4 to 10' percent of insurgents are foreigners.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
The US and Iraqi governments have vastly overstated the number of foreign fighters in Iraq, and most of them don't come from Saudi Arabia, according to a new report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS). According to a piece in The Guardian, this means the US and Iraq 'feed the myth' that foreign fighters are the backbone of the insurgency. While the foreign fighters may stoke the insurgency flames, they only comprise only about 4 to 10 percent of the estimated 30,000 insurgents."

World Wide Stats

World Wide Statistics
sent in by Blaine Kalar
follow the link

Video in the News: New Orleans—A Man-Made Disaster?

Video in the News: New Orleans—A Man-Made Disaster?:

EDITORS COMMENT: This is great. Turn up the volume on your computer... Be informed.

"Video in the News: New Orleans—A Man-Made Disaster?

More than a hurricane is to blame for the disaster in New Orleans. For years man-made changes to the landscape around the Crescent City have affected how well it could withstand the wrath of a powerful storm. See how decades of efforts to curb the forces of nature are now giving the Big Easy a sinking feeling—literally."

An open letter to th

An open letter to those who are interested in the coming CERT training and being on a team here at LVH to serve our friends and neighbors. We think a web page for CERT is a good means of communicating with one another. It would be especially cool if it were interactive allowing 2 way communication between members. It would even allow for fewer organizational meetings as information could be communicated simply by a member writing what needs to be said and punching a button. Then that information would be published on that website instantly.

This is possible now and requires no training whatsoever. Blogger, the tool we use to publish our website, has made it so easy no experience or special knowledge is necessary. All that is needed that members join the web page team when an invitation is sent to them by email and that they download a new toolbar to their computers.

The invitation has you pick a user name and password and requires you accept the terms of using Blogger... That’s it. Then you download the toolbar and the use the install wizard to get it on your computer..... THE TOOL BAR...  Now here is  how ez this is...

The tool bar is loaded directly on to your Microsoft Word, word processor.

What this means is you do not have to be on line to write what you have to say.. You just write your article at your leisure and when it’s ready to publish after you have used all of Word’s features (off line) such as spell check and anything else you want ... Just click the PUBLISH BUTTON on the tool bar and your article will be published on line for all the members to see.. That’s all you need to do.  

In fact..... That is how this article was posted this morning.

I can set this up for CERT members here and/or for all Newport Cert. If you are a member or you are thinking about it and would like to give it a whirl let me know.

Enough interest and I will start building the website (a pretty simple job itself).

Saturday Breakfast

Breakfast @ the Clubhouse This Saturday

The Mazzeo, Bellingham and Hart Breakfast Crew..

Are preparing Freedom Toast (like French toast), fruit, sausage and juice for this Saturday's breakfast at the clubhouse . The breakfast is free to season pass holders and $3.50 per person for everyone else.

Sign up at the clubhouse so that the crew knows how much to buy. Breakfast is served from 8:00am to 10:00 am.

See you there.

Home Automation

Home Automation...@ LVH

ron thomas


Many have heard stories of how our home is automated and some wonder how to do it and others wonder why bother?


What many folks don't know is that the components used in the emergency red light system set your entire home up for automation with ease. They are the basic parts needed to do many things automaticaly in your home. It is only necessary to buy other inexpensive parts to plug into your wall or simply set on a counter to make automation happen. Smarts to do it are really not needed. Everything is very easily done.


We have helped with automation of Bill and Kathy Furgason's home and Jim and Bonnie Rose's home also.


I'm wondering if a series of how to articles or a class at the clubhouse would interest you folks? What is it that would help make your life easier? There are a number of simple and cheap enhancements to your home that may help with macular degeneration. Lighting for beauty as well as safety or just plain neat stuff like having your curtains open or close with the intensity of the sun.


Many posibilities exist and the degree of sophistication even goes as far as having a computer run your home. It can make it appear as if someone is home by turning the lights on or off at random or even by having your pet turn lights on or off by walking into rooms.


Any how this article is here to test the interest or lack thereof so comment away.

Wilsonville debates aid for mobile home owners

Wilsonville debates aid for mobile home owners:

Editors Comment: Keep informed.. Read the whole story by following the link...rt

Wilsonville debates aid for mobile home owners
Affordable housing - One proposal is for park owners who sell their land to relocate residents or buy their homes
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
LISA GRACE LEDNICER

WILSONVILLE -- Desperate to keep what little affordable housing it has, Wilsonville is pondering a controversial ordinance that would require owners of the city's mobile home parks to pay relocation costs or buy residents' homes outright if the parks close or are sold to developers.

The proposal comes in the wake of several mobile home park closures in the Portland area, which led to last month's passage in the Legislature of a measure that would grant a tax credit of up to $10,000 to mobile home park residents forced to move when their parks close. The measure also offered a break on capital gains taxes for owners who sell their parks to residents.

The law doesn't go far enough, say residents of Thunderbird Mobile Club, a 240-unit park just off Interstate 5 in Wilsonville. The mobile home park's owner has announced he wants to sell the park and will take offers starting at the end of the month.
Advertisement





Outraged at city officials' discussion of offering a tax break to the developer of a massive subdivision on the city's northwest side, Thunderbird residents -- most of whom are elderly and living on fixed incomes -- urged City Council members Monday night to help the city's less fortunate, as well."

Neandertals Had Long Childhoods, Tooth Study Suggests

Neandertals Had Long Childhoods, Tooth Study Suggests: "Neandertals Had Long Childhoods, Tooth Study Suggests
James Owen
for National Geographic News
September 20, 2005

Our prolonged childhoods make us Homo sapiens unique among primates. Scientists have a theory to explain this lengthy maturation process: Our brains need many years of learning and physical growth before we're equipped for the complexities of human living.

Now a new study says we weren't the only humans who took their time growing up. Analysis of Neandertal teeth suggests that the extinct species had similarly lengthy childhoods"

Video in the News: How Hurricane Katrina Was Born

Video in the News: How Hurricane Katrina Was Born: "Video in the News: How Hurricane Katrina Was Born
Editors comment:
A must see! Turn up your speaker volume. rt

How did what was perhaps the most destructive hurricane in U.S. history form? Watch and learn: Our video time line tells the tale via satellite images, graphics, and on-the-scene footage."

USATODAY.com - Expert predicts decades of increased hurricane activity

USATODAY.com - Expert predicts decades of increased hurricane activity: "Expert predicts decades of increased hurricane activity
WASHINGTON (AP) — Expect more hurricanes large and small in the next 10 to 20 years, the director of the federal National Hurricane Center said Tuesday.
Hurricane Rita toward Texas Wednesday at 3:45 a.m. A federal hurricane expert said storm severity fluctuates every few decades.
NOAA

Max Mayfield told a congressional panel that he believes the Atlantic Ocean is in a cycle of increased hurricane activity that parallels an increase that started in the 1940s and ended in the 1960s.

The ensuing lull lasted until 1995, then 'it's like somebody threw a switch,' Mayfield said. The number and power of hurricanes increased dramatically.

Under questioning by members of the Senate Commerce subcommittee on disaster prevention and prediction, he shrugged off the notion that global warming played a role, saying instead it was a natural cycle in the Atlantic Ocean that fluctuates every 25 to 40 years."

USATODAY.com - Pentagon forbids officer to testify on pre-9/11 knowledge

USATODAY.com - Pentagon forbids officer to testify on pre-9/11 knowledge: "Pentagon forbids officer to testify on pre-9/11 knowledge
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Defense forbade a military intelligence officer to testify Wednesday about a secret military unit that the officer says identified four Sept. 11 hijackers as terrorists more than a year before the attacks, according to the man's attorney.
James Smith, left, and Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer listen during a hearing on intelligence information sharing prior to the Sept. 11 attacks. Both men were ordered by the Pentagon not to testify.
By Dennis Cook, AP

In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, attorney Mark Zaid, who represents Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, said the Pentagon also refused to permit testimony there by a defense contractor that he also represents.

The Judiciary Committee was hearing testimony about the work of a classified unit code named 'Able Danger.'

Zaid, appearing on behalf of Shaffer and contractor John Smith that Able Danger, using data mining techniques, identified four of the terrorists who struck on Sept. 11, 2001 — including mastermind Mohamed Atta.

'At least one chart, and possibly more, featured a photograph of Mohamed Atta,' Zaid said.

Maj. Paul Swiergosz, a D"

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Ambrose Bierce
'The covers of this book are too far apart.'"

Web Edition - NewsGator Online

Web Edition - NewsGator Online: "Sam Levenson
'Somewhere on this globe, every ten seconds, there is a woman giving birth to a child. She must be found and stopped.'"