NEWNESS

2020 has begun, for me, with a variety of new stuff. Even as I prepared this post there came a new word to add to my vocabulary. I had to look up this word from the quote on the right: Evanescent definition: vanishing, fading, fleeting. Also new for me this New Year: a new(ish) computer with new operating system, as mentioned in earlier posts. Another newcomer will be a new washing machine, delivered next week. We were reliably (I trust) told that the issue which caused our washer to stop in mid cycle, a few days ago, is not repairable - the major mechanical part involved in the breakdown of our 15-year old machine is no longer manufactured by Maytag. So, off we had to go to the Maytag store to order the 2020 version of our old washer.

What else is new for me, this New Year? A new piece of knitting - a shawl knitted in 'V' shape, up one side and down the other in some pretty but slightly awkward yarn called Homespun, I chose a colour called Tourmaline (a rich dark blue-green) . The photo comes from the online free pattern.






Also, on the knitting front, I forced myself to finish the disliked work of joining together multiple 8" squares I'd knitted during the weeks before Christmas, while playing with a bunch of colours, mixing and matching. It's not big enough for a blanket but will provide a warm throwover for the knees, or a colourful piece to "pop" - somewhere in the bedroom when Okie weather returns once again to sweaty heat.

Astrologically, there's something new too. Pluto and Saturn, planets which I believe have been bugging me for the past 2 years health-wise, moving to-and-fro opposite my ascendant and close to natal Mercury, are at last moving forward. They will soon be out of range (I hope!) It has been uncanny and at times unnerving to note how health-related stuff coincided with the movement of these two planets. Pluto and Saturn have, from time immemorial, been known to have a few unpleasantnesses to dole out when transiting close to personal planets in the natal chart. My own experiences include diagnosis of breast cancer leading to lumpectomy, mastectomy, excision mastectomy, radiation. For the metastatic bone cancer in femur and hip: local procedures and radiation; not to mention a variety of medications - not particularly nasty in themselves, but with nasty side-effects such as joint pain, nausea, hair thinning (not all lost - yet!) Lymphatic colitis emerged in the midst of all this, and led to colonoscopy and various remedies. It does often turn out that the unpleasantness experienced when these planets visit was a necessary development - something which needed to happen in order for the native to move on. Hmmm! It's a great pity that the effects of those two planets' transits are not more... erm.... evanescent!

Stumbling Around Windows 10

After running like a well-oiled machine on Windows 7 operating system for years, this blogger is currently stumbling around Windows 10 grabbing onto anything vaguely familiar to steady herself.

We had an "interesting" time yesterday afternoon getting the re-furbished Dell ready for action. My husband helped a lot, but we both had problems, based not on the actual operating system but in finding all the necessary passwords, the product key etc. These were required for just about every move we tried to make. I have my collection of passwords scribbled in a notebook - higgledy-piggledy-wise so that anyone looking would find it hard to discover any particular password. It turned out that I'd made it too difficult for myself in most cases, for seldom used passwords!

The product key for the version of Windows 10 installed on my re-furbished Dell caused a bit of cursing. I eventually found it after pulling out the big box. The magic number had been partially covered up, possibly intentionally to avoid theft. I didn't realise it was partially covered, so much swearing ensued when I was constantly berated, by messages from Microsoft, for not buying a proper version of Windows, and I should get me to the store and flippin' buy a proper one! I eventually realised I'd have to scratch some colour off a part of the product key to find the full 25 digit key. Phew!!

I'm now able to access and send e-mail, access and post on my blog. I've installed a couple of programs needed for dealing with photographs and other images, and am about to install my new version for Win 10 astrology software - very basic, it just enables me to produce natal charts without the maths involved.

Oh flippin' heck! The washing machine has just broken down in mid-cycle, with some horrendous noises when trying to spin the load. I'll have to do some squeezing, then drape a few items around the bathroom and garage until they are just damp enough for the drying machine. TSK!

Below, I was experimenting with the library of images from my old computer, masterfully transferred by Himself. Yes! It works! A few wise words never go amiss.

I shall go stumble around some more now.

Butt Sensitive - Computerisation Gone Mad?

Instead of scribbling a post for today, I spent yesterday afternoon being passed from one "agent" to another at the Chevrolet "Customer Assistance" department. (Quotation marks used advisedly!)

We have a Chevrolet Impala of last year's vintage, with which we've been very happy, except for one recent detraction. When we bought the car, up in Nebraska last year, I found the passenger seat very comfortable - much more so than our 2015 Impala which we swapped-in as part of the deal. Recently, though, I've had a bit of lower back trouble from the passenger seat and have needed a seat cushion to assist. However, I noticed that when using a seat cushion the passenger seat airbag sign began showing as "off" - i.e. deactivated.

The car's manual, I later discovered, tells that one cannot use any kind of cover or cushion on the front passenger seat because it deactivates the air bag. We made enquiries of our local dealership when having the car serviced a few weeks ago. Husband was told that there's nothing to be done about it - that "they're all like this now". So, unless my car seat feels my real, flesh and blood, backside upon it, it ain't going to save me with an airbag, should we meet with disaster!

Computerisation gone mad, I guess!

I do not believe that I'm the only one with this problem. There has to be a remedy.

So, I decided that this isn't right, found a Customer Service phone number for Chevrolet, for some expert assistance. A couple or so hours later I was no wiser, but considerably more frustrated. Apparently they have opened "a business case" to be passed on to some person higher on the scale of knowledge about these things. None of the 4 or 5 folks I was passed around amongst had any idea that this problem is actually "a thing". It surely is!

The person supposedly "higher on the knowledge scale" called me back sometime after 6 PM (central time), and assured me she will try to find a solution, but cannot promise anything. She said that she had never come across this particular complaint before. I suggested that perhaps nobody else with an iffy back has noticed what happens when using a seat cushion. I am surely not the only person with an iffy back riding in the front passenger seat of a 2017 Impala, in these United states.

TSK! We await further information...or frustration.

Internet -"it gradually turns out to be alright really." ( Did it?)

Douglas Adams:
1) Everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;

2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;

3) anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.”

There are still a few of us around who are able to recall life before computers, and therefore before the internet. Heck, I can even remember life before television! Mass communication, in those days, came via newspapers and radio, and to a lesser extent via film and newsreels at the cinema.

This 1969 video, with prediction of the internet's arrival on our scenes and screens has proved to be near enough spot-on. Apart from one chuckle-worthy quote from the clip:

"What the wife selects on her console, will be paid for by the husband at his counterpart console."

It seems that back in 1969, in the USA, little wifeys were still, erm... beholden to their lords & masters.

What wasn't foreseen, at least in this video: spam, porn sites, viruses, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other varieties of social networking springing up even as I type.
From http://kottke.org/10/03/the-internet-in-1969

I remember the very first mention of computers reaching my ears - in 1966/7. I'd been working for a few months for a local Devonshire (England) 'bus company in their accounts office. One of the senior employees had been sent on a training course, on his return he regaled us with tales of the binary system leaving our brains limp and imaginations reeling. All we had to work with in those days were very basic mechanical adding machines, one step up from the abacus. Having, out of necessity, trained my non-mathematical brain to add long columns of figures in hotel ledgers, I often opted to "do it in my head" rather than tackle the awkward adder. None of us, back then, could have envisaged the amazing developments we've seen during ensuing decades - the good, the bad and the ugly of it all.

There's always a downside. Over roughly the same time span: from TV sets becoming commonplace, followed by computer development, to the present, corporate power has risen in tandem. Now multinational corporations own media, at least they do in the USA and have tentacles worldwide. TV has become a major arm of the corporations' mass brain-washing system. Oh, they'd been doing it before TV, but the opening up of mass communication made it so much easier!

It has been said that mass communication has been the most powerful invention of man, however, nuclear bombs and weaponry really hold that title. What would be more powerful, though, 20 million dead people or 20 million people doing whatever you tell them?

For ordinary souls such as I, and any who do not wish to divest ourselves completely of access to television, computer and internet, all we can do is remain aware of the potential weaponry in our living rooms. We can try to limit corporations' access to our own grey matter by choosing carefully what to read, watch and listen to. We must never forget possible sub-text and remember to keep in mind always this question: who is "paying the piper"?

Thursday's Stray Thought

Once I was a computer.

Not only me - millions of others too. We all were computers! Those of us who worked mainly in office environments were creating card indexes; indexing writers' texts; keeping ledgers, and adding up very long columns of figures therein - mentally; adding together the prices of multiple purchases - mentally; filing; keeping records of bookings and appointments in apple pie order; checking spelling using a dictionary; punching cards (I didn't ever do that)...and so on. Other work environments had their own list of essential duties to be carried out by flesh and blood computers. Most of those tasks are now managed by our techno-counterparts, at the press of a few keys. We humans still press the keys though - for now!

Vintage Everyday website has a good set of vintage photographs of office workers in the 1920s - they were computers too, of course. 

When It's Time To Say RIP to PCs , Will the Next New thing Be Techlepathy?

Below is an extract from a 2004 article by George Dvorsky, originally on a website called "Better Humans", still available at 21st Century Radio :Evolving Towards Telepathy. The full article is well worth reading. I admit that it does smack a bit of science fiction, but might something similar be waiting in the wings for us? Astrologers and others have spoken about an evolutionary step for mankind being imminent. It didn't seem to occur in December 2012 as some hopefuls had suspected. Such evolution would be incredibly slow, so that at first nothing would be apparent to us, but the seed could be there, no longer dormant, but ever so gradually beginning to germinate.

I thought about the article mentioned (extract follows) when I read a piece at Salon last week : Yes, the PC is Dead. What's Next? I don't think the PC is dead or even on its death-bed yet. It might be feeling its age, but then, aren't we all? In time, though, something will almost certainly supersede computerised communications generally, just as motor vehicles superseded the horse and carriage.

Back to George Dvorsky's article and.....what could (maybe) be next, when PCs (and Macs) do actually become totally defunct.

" (Chuck)Jorgensen and his team (@ NASA’s Ames Research Center) developed a system that captures and converts nerve signals in the vocal chords into computerized speech. It is hoped that the technology will help those who have lost the ability to speak, as well as improve interface communications for people working in spacesuits and noisy environments.

The work is similar in principle to how cochlear implants work. These implants capture acoustic information for the hearing impaired. In Jorgensen’s experiment the neural signals that tell the vocal chords how to move are intercepted and rerouted. Cochlear implants do it the other way round, by converting acoustic information into neural signals that the brain can process. Both methods capitalize on the fact that neural signals provide a link to the analog environment in which we live.As I thought further about this similarity it occurred to me that the technology required to create a technologically endowed form of telepathy is all but upon us. By combining Jorgensen's device and a cochlear implant with a radio transmitter and a fancy neural data conversion device, we could create a form of communication that bypasses the acoustic realm altogether.

I decided to contact Jorgensen and other researchers about the prospect of such "techlepathy." While I have always entertained the idea that we'll eventually develop telepathy-enabling technologies, the optimistic responses I received from these researchers startled me nonetheless. And as I suspected, the technologies and scientific insight required for such an achievement are rapidly coming into focus—an exciting prospect to be sure.

The dream of mind-to-mind communication and the desire to transcend one's own consciousness is as old as language itself. You could make a strong case that there's a near pathological craving for it, a tendency that manifests through the widespread belief in paranormal telepathy.

ESP aside, it seems that this craving will soon be satisfied. Several advances in communications technology and neuroscience are giving pause about the possibility of endowing us with techlepathy. As we continue to ride the wave of the communications revolution, and as the public demand for more sophisticated communications tools continues, it seems a veritable certainty that we are destined to become a species capable of mind-to-mind communication.

This prospect is as profound as it is exciting. Such a change to the species would signify a prominent development in the evolution of humanity—a change that would irrevocably alter the nature of virtually all human relations and interactions. "

Arty Farty Friday 15 March

15 March 44 BC : Julius Caesar was murdered on the Ides of March.
Typogravure of a 19th century painting by Karl von Piloty:

Julius Caesar, the "dictator for life" of the Roman Empire, murdered by his own senators at a meeting in a hall next to Pompey's Theatre. The conspiracy against Caesar encompassed as many as sixty noblemen, including Caesar's own protege, Marcus Brutus. Caesar was scheduled to leave Rome to fight in a war on March 18 and had appointed loyal members of his army to rule the Empire in his absence. The Republican senators, already chafing at having to abide by Caesar's decrees, were particularly angry about the prospect of taking orders from Caesar's underlings. Cassius Longinus started the plot against the dictator, quickly getting his brother-in-law Marcus Brutus to join.

Caesar should have been well aware that many of the senators hated him, but he dismissed his security force not long before his assassination. Reportedly, Caesar was handed a warning note as he entered the senate meeting that day but did not read it. After he entered the hall, Caesar was surrounded by senators holding daggers. Servilius Casca struck the first blow, hitting Caesar in the neck and drawing blood. The other senators all joined in, stabbing him repeatedly about the head. Marcus Brutus wounded Caesar in the groin and Caesar is said to have remarked in Greek, "You, too, my child?

From This Day in History.






Nearer to our own time:

Janet Leach was born 15 March 1918 in Grand Saline, Texas, USA died 12 September 1997. She was a studio potter working in later life at St Ives, Cornwall in England. In 1956 she married Bernard Leach, a famous British studio potter. Janet was a potter in her own right before meeting Bernard and her independent spirit ensured that her work was quite different from much of her husband's in style. She never felt the need to pay reverence to her husband's work, was sometimes even critical of it. In return her own work was not always valued within the St Ives Studio, much of it remained hidden. David, Bernard Leach's son from one of his previous marriages, stated before his father's death: "Janet must be the one person who has worked closely with him for a number of years without being visibly influenced. She is so strong in herself that she has maintained more independence than anyone else who has been as close to that dangerous fire, my father!"

See more about Janet Leach HERE and HERE








Aldo Giorgini, artist and scientist, pioneer in computer graphics, was born in Voghera, Italy on 15 March 1934. He was one of the first computer artists to combine software writing with early printing technologies, leaving an aesthetic legacy in the field of the digital arts. He died in 1994.








Ruth Bader Ginsburg United States Supreme Court Justice was born on
15 March 1933, in Brooklyn, New York. Simmie Knox, under commission of the United States Supreme Court painted this portrait of her. She is the second female justice (after Sandra Day O'Connor) and the first Jewish female justice. She is generally viewed as belonging to the liberal wing of the Court. Before becoming a judge, Ginsburg spent a considerable portion of her legal career as an advocate for the advancement of women's rights as a constitutional principle. (Wikipedia)






Finally - another link to the date, and - stretching things a bit to achieve arty-fartyness - a famous ceiling painting by Caravaggio (the only ceiling painting by him).

The date:

Every 248 years Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for about 20 years. The period January 23, 1979 to March 15, 1999 was the last time Pluto's very eccentric orbit carried it inside the orbit of Neptune. During that time, Neptune became the outermost planet in the solar system.

For 35 interesting facts about Pluto, see Random Facts, HERE



The painting:

The fresco, features Jupiter, Pluto and Neptune as allegorical representations of alchemy. The artist used his own body and facial features as model for the figures. Jupiter stands for sulphur and air, Neptune for mercury and water, and Pluto for salt and earth. The fresco was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte for the ceiling of a small second-floor alchemy lab of his hunting lodge in 1597.

On his eagle, Jupiter swoops down towards Neptune and Pluto, who are standing at the opposite edge of the ceiling, as if he were making the sky light up with a crystal ball. Any interpretation of the gathering of the gods, seen, unusually, from below, must shift between mythology (the gods, identified by the animal associated with each: an eagle for Jupiter, a sea stallion for Neptune and the three-headed dog Cerberus for Pluto); astrology (zodiac signs can be seen on the globe), and alchemy.

Hat tip to Guia Bargigli at THIS BLOG for clear representations, information and interpretation of the painting.

Once Upon a Time on the Internet....

Feeling generally disgruntled with Google, Microsoft et al and the ways the computer experience has changed since first I owned a home computer, I began reminiscing.

October 2001 it was when I first dipped my toes into the internet pool. I'd used a computer at work for several years, but we were not linked to the internet, that was to be new and exciting territory. Because I was short of space at home I bought a rather avant garde all-in-one computer, made in London by a small independent outfit. It has taken more than 10 years for the big boys to start selling something similar. My computer worked fine most of the time, but as it was experimental it needed some fine tuning, had to be shipped back to the manufacturer for repair twice over a period of 3 years. Windows ME (millennium edition) was the operating system I used then, it was not well-thought of by most would-be experts who swore by Win98. ME worked for me.

Initially I got myself caught in the AOL net - AOL was a big deal back then, and was probably introduced to me as part of the Windows package. For a while it seemed to me that AOL was the internet. There were newsrooms, chat rooms, message boards, and other seminal social networking bits and pieces. I became an accepted member of a small discussion and writing group who produced some amusing narratives, parodies, games and pieces of prose. That was fun! Gradually I found my way around the net, discovered Google, Wikipedia, and Amazon, along with a few astrology websites and message boards.

I did eventually break loose from the AOL enclave and found my way around what in those days seemed more like a village or small town. It now seems like a teaming, screaming over-populated metropolis, so I choose to remain inside fairly narrow confines - in real life too. It's a jungle out there in both the real and virtual world, the natives can be restless and ruthless, also often idiotic, and not in a good way.... off their trolleys, out there circling Jupiter!

Too much of a good thing?

I suppose the net's huge international metropolis is the same as any real life metropolis: people tend to stay within their own neighbourhoods and communities much of the time, venturing out only on special occasions for a particular purpose. So, in fact, the net is only as wide and as deep as one's desired reach. Even though I was not around at the very beginning, seeing it grow so rapidly has been a wee bit disconcerting. Main big-name players back then were friendly, seemed akin to good next door neighbour types, always helpful, always ready for fun, always there when needed. Those same big names have now become overbearing, dictatorial, loud and demanding.

Such is life!

If television's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up.
― Dorothy Gambrell, Cat and Girl Volume I

The internet is just a world passing notes around a classroom.
― Jon Stewart
(I'd relate that description, more precisely, to Facebook.)


Distracted from distraction by distraction
― T.S. Eliot
Yep!

Attention is the limited resource on the internet - not disk capacity, processor speed or bandwidth.
― Mills Davis
Definitely!

Weapons of Mass Communication

Communication is Geminian. Jupiter (representing expansion) in Gemini would best represent mass communication astrologically. Jupiter takes around 12 years from one transit of zodiac sign Gemini to the next. As it happens, there's a Jupiter in Gemini transit coming up this year, starting mid-June.

Mass communications ramble coming up:

There are still a few of us around who are able to recall life before computers, and therefore before the internet. Heck - I can even remember life before television! Mass communication, in those days, came via newspapers and radio, and to a lesser extent via film and newsreels at the cinema.

First time I saw a TV working was for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. Jupiter, appropriately enough, was in Gemini at that time! A few neighbours, my parents, grandparents and I piled into the home of a local business woman who had the only set in the village where my grandparents lived.

I remember when the very first mention of computers reached my delicate ears. It was around 1966/7, a little later than the 1965 Jupiter in Gemini transit. I'd been working for a few months for a local Devonshire (England) 'bus company in the accounts office. One of the senior employees had been sent on a training course, on his return he regaled us with tales of the binary system leaving our brains limp and imaginations reeling. All we had to work with in those days were very basic mechanical adding machines - one step up from the abacus; similar to but less sophisticated than that illustrated. Having, out of necessity, trained my non-mathematical brain to add long columns of figures in hotel ledgers, I often opted to "do it in my head" rather than tackle the awkward adder.

None of us could have possibly envisaged the amazing developments we've seen during ensuing decades and Jupiter in Gemini transits. Online banking, shopping, social networking, smartphones, ipads..... spam, porn sites, viruses, malware, trojans, Facebook, Twitter - the good, the bad and the ugly of it all. I am well aware that my own life turned in a very unexpected direction, all due to the internet, for it was through the net that husband and I met.

There's a downside to these developments and changes though - there's always a downside. Over roughly the same time span: from TV sets becoming commonplace, followed rapidly by computer development - up to the present, corporate power has risen in tandem. Now multinational corporations own media, at least they do in the USA and have tentacles worldwide. TV has become a major arm of the coprorations' mass brain-washing system. Oh, they'd been doing it before TV, but the opening up of mass communication made it so much easier!

I recently saw a remark in a thread of comments pointing out that mass communication has been the most powerful invention of man. The commenter was contradicted by another who proposed that nuclear bombs and weapons really take the "most powerful invention" title. The first commenter responded with: "What is more powerful...20 million dead people or 20 million people doing whatever you tell them?"

The solution? For ordinary souls such as I, and passing readers who do not wish to divest ourselves completely of access to television, computer and internet, all we can do is remain aware of the potential weaponry in our living rooms. We can try to limit corporations' access to our own grey matter by choosing carefully what to read, watch and listen to. We must never forget possible sub-text and remember to keep in mind always this question: who is "paying the piper"?

Mercury Retrograde Delivers.....again!

Mercury Retrograde caught me in its web once again. I say once again because on its last retro spin in December 2010 it caught me in a very similar fashion....with a nasty trojan infestation on my desktop computer. Different trojan this time, but same frustration. (Click on Mercury Retrograde in the Label Cloud to read about the last episode).

The infester this time was a little blighter known as XP AntiVirus 2011. There are several alternative titles for this trojan, depending on operating system etc. All start by trying to scare the computer user into clicking on pop-ups notifying that the computer is badly infected and in a dangerous state then pressing them to buy their software to repair the damage....all fake of course. An array of different notices pop up all over the place, programs are shut down, broswer cannot be used, nor can any software normally used for detecting malware. If I logged off, then on again the fake notices filled the screen in rapid succession.

This happened late on Sunday afternoon. We hauled out the laptop to search for solutions. After 2 hours and several attempts to clear the problem I gave it up, assuming I'd have to shell out another $90 for an online remote techie to rescue me again. However, couldn't sleep that night so got up and read every piece of advice I could find, and every forum relating to this trojan. It appears there has been a spate of infestations recently and even the best virus software has been unable to stop the nasties in many cases.

Solutions range from some rather complex tinkering in the registry - highly dangerous for a klutz like me, or paying an afore-mentioned online techie. The only other alternative apart from trecking to the town's only computer shop and leaving the machine there for who knows how long, or throwing the machine into the garbage, was trying to download some anti-spyware software, using the infected computer in safe mode. I decided to try that - nothing ventured etc.

All went well, surprisingly, as long as I ignored and X'd off the ubiquitous scary notices threatening everything but he apocalypse, these popped up even in safe mode. I installed the software, ran a scan and it found about 7 trojan thingies, along with the usual batch of cookies. Then the fun started.

Before I could remove the malware items I had to pay the piper - Spyware Doctor $29.99. I managed to access Paypal from safe mode and had almost finished the transaction when a spate of the flippin' fake notices blocked out the screen. Couldn't tell if payment had gone through or not. Checked my Paypal account and emails via the laptop - it seemed as though payment had gone through. But where was my licence key? Not in the email receipt. Waited for a further email but none came.

Another long search to find out how to get my $29.99 key! Had to do it via the laptop and PC Tools (Daddy of Spyware Doctor)Help website, then write the yards long key down on paper.

Where to put it though - couldn't find a place, and some tabs wouldn't open. I suspected the malware was blocking me again.

Back to PC Tools and an online support chat screen. Ten minutes of explaining, and a simple remedy had me deleting the nasties and geting out of safe mode at last.

I ran my Malwarebytes software after updating it, and found 4 more nasties. Then I noticed that my Microsoft automatic updates were turned off. Went to remedy that but found I was unable to do so.

Ran yet another full scan using the new Spyware Doctor. No joy.

More research but nothing was suggested that I dared to try. Realising that at least one tentacle of the infestation remained I was afriad it might - as my husband put it "phone home" and bring down all hell on my computer again - so back to the $90 online tech. Sigh. At least now he could access my desktop, which would have been impossible earlier in the day, before my own efforts.

He repaired the infection in an hour or so, and left me with a long-running de-frag tool in full flight, another couple of hours later and things were left as normal as they'll ever be on my Delly.

Next Mercury Retrograde will find me as far away from the computer as I can manage!

In case it might help anyone else who surfs the net a lot, and as a reminder for me, some hints to help avoid thees kinds of nasties. Found it online - somewhere.

When you encounter one of these fake virus pop-ups while browsing, immediately do the following:

-Do not touch any browser window to close it or browse further.
-Immediately press Ctrl-Alt-Del and bring up Task Manager and forcibly end all instances of iexplore.exe, if using Internet Explorer, or the executable for your browser for any other web browser.
--or--
-Go to Start/Shut Down and restart the PC without touching any browser windows.
-If you used task manager to close browser instances, reboot the machine.
-Then go to Control Panel/Internet Options and delete all temporary Internet Files and cookies. If you are using an alternate web browser, open the browser settings to do the same - delete the local cached files and cookies.
-Perform a full scan.

The above steps should prevent the infection from taking hold.

THE WEEK THAT WAS ~ Julian Assange ~ Neptune ~ Mercury Retrograde

Writings and comment on Wikileaks and Julian Assange has filled cyberspace and other public spaces this week with the most words written on a single topic since the BP oil spill.

My (very personal) view of the situation varies from most others I've read. I have a strong feeling that all is not straightforward. There's "something else", some secret motivation ? I don't know. But I can't raise the same level of enthusiasm and support for him this time around. Gut-feeling.

Something about the latest release of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables, embarrassing to those in power, but not in the same league as previous whistle-blowing efforts, doesn't strike the same note for me, and I get to wondering.

It's not that I don't have great respect for the courage of Julian Assange and what he had done before the latest scenario. In fact I wrote about earlier Wikileaks "exposures" in a post headed Wikileaks, Pluto & Galactic Center. At that stage Assange's birth data was a mystery, it is now available.

A similar Neptunian fog surrounds Assange as that surrounding President Obama. There's a lot of Neptunian fog around in general just now in the USA. Neptune connects to mystery, illusion and delusion - mental fog. Assange is supposed to be trying to clear foggy areas, but in the process causes the mists to swirl dangerously.

Assange's natal chart ought to provide some clarity on his true personality. The rape charges he faces only add to the fog; they have been, more than likely, "trumped up".

Numerous astrologers have already published interpretations of Assange's natal chart. It does not behove me to argue with what any of them have written. Instead I'll offer links to several pieces I've come across so far, and let any passing reader who has missed these make up their own mind on the matter.

Some articles by astrologers interpreting the natal chart of Julian Assange:

ERIC FRANCIS.....(also Mr Francis's responses to skeptics in this respect at Boing Boing)

MARY PLUMB at Mountain Astrologer ....And a second one relating to the birth time


DARK STAR ASTROLOGY

LYNN HAYES at Belief Net

ASTROPOST

ROBERT PHOENIX

TARA GREENE

Below is the natal chart of Julian Assange constructed from data available. His date and place or birth are said to have been taken from official documents, so ought to be reliable. Even so, I retain a wee bit of doubt, he being in the business he's in! The birth time is the most open to question, but as it's the only one available I've included it below.

My single comment here is to note that (if birth time is near correct) foggy Neptune lay in Sagittarius in the first house of self as he came into the world. Neptune was within a few degrees of Jupiter (the publication and exaggeration planet and ruler of Sagittarius), though in the adjacent sign, Scorpio. For me this is the most significant factor in the chart.

Believe nothing you read and only half of what you see in matters relating to Mr. Assange.

IN OTHER NEWS

Mercury Retrograde - or its shadow - are under investigation, Chez Twilight, for causing chaos on this blogger's computer.

The current Mercury Retrograde period proper started yesterday, 10 December (ends 30th) but the so-called shadow period, when some astrologers consider effects can often be recognised, ran from 22 November (ends 18 Jan. 2011).

I've had a recurring computer problem with viruses and/or trojans (mbr rootkit and alureon) from late November until yesterday. On 1 December, after all my own efforts to eradicate the infections from my system had failed I enlisted the help of an on-line technician who could access my computer remotely. He did what seemed like a good job, it took almost 2 hours (costing $90!) - with a 7-day warranty.

Yesterday, 10 December, the problem returned. I contacted my remote techie who very kindly classed that day as being the last of my warranty period, and went through the whole long rigmarole of catching and killing the virus again at no further charge. He advised me to change my anti-virus software, recommended ESET NOD32, which I have now acquired.

What I probably need, though, is a way to eradicate Mercury Retrograde!

My Week That Was

For me, that was one of those funny ol' weeks. They come along every now and then. There should be some indication in the transits to my natal chart to account for it but the only vague connection I can see is my natal Neptune being "embraced" by transiting Saturn and Venus, one on each side, like a good cop/bad cop scenario. Transiting Uranus (my Sun's ruler) was/is opposing Venus from Pisces. None of that seems to translate clearly into my funny ol' week though.

In the very early hours of Monday morning I had to leap out of bed and dash to the loo vomiting (the rest came later)- a side effect of the anti-biotics the doctor had prescribed for my sinus infection and headache the previous week. I rang the doc's office after 9 o'clock, told the receptionist of the problem, asked should I stop the tablets or finish the 10-day course. She took details of my pharmacy etc. and said she'd get back to me asap. She didn't. I felt too bad to chase and chide. Tuesday, still no call from the doc's office by late morning. My husband, who had to go out on another errand, decided to call in personally and remind them. They'd call me, they said. Eventually someone did and said the doctor advised not to continue the tablets, and wanted me to have a blood test; no reason given. "Can you come right now, we close at 2pm". I went. The nurse said, "We'll let you know if there's anything abnormal". Wednesday - nothing from the doc's office, Thursday likewise. Friday likewise. I'd been kind of expecting them to tell me there was a new prescription faxed to my pharmacy. Nothing.


At the same time as the above was happening - or rather stagnating, there was the issue of my sick computer which had been deposited at the computer shop the previous Friday. I got a call from a tech on Monday who told me that one problem is a defective fan, but he wasn't sure a replacement would be available from Dell. He would make enquiries and let me know. It took me less than 5 minutes to check on-line that there seems to be a fan available on the Dell parts site for that model. I had still not heard further from the tech by Friday 3pm, when the shop closes for the weekend.

I had been feeling generally disgruntled, so to cheer myself I started looking at possibilities for a replacement computer at the Dell Refurbished Outlet site. I noticed one, not refurbished but categorised as "Scratch and Dent" (outer case blemished but not affecting performance - bit like myself!) at a very reasonable price. After hemming and hawing for hours I ordered it, it seems exactly what I need. That was Tuesday late afternoon, by noon on Thursday the new computer had been delivered! Amazing! And I had still not heard from the the computer tech, or the doctor's office.

As I said, it's been a funny ol' week, filled with discomfort and inefficiency on the one hand, and incredible service and efficiency on the other. I suppose that the doctor is angling for another visit and the attendant $$$, before he'll prescribe an alternative anti-bio; and we can't get the new computer on-line and onto our home network without the help of a tech....and the circle goes round and around!





So our President Obama has been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. I was happy to hear the news, but my pleasure soon turned to dismay as I read some of the articles and comments which quickly followed the announcement. What is wrong with so many Americans (on both sides of the political divide, by the way) that they cannot feel happy that their President, and by association their country, has been thus honored? What right have they to question a sincere decision made by a group of people in Europe? I see such objections, criticisms and rude comments as extreme bad manners. But then, the internet is highlighting so much that is wrong here nowadays.

I did read a few nice comments, however. The quote from "Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway" by Susan Jeffers below is taken from a comment at the BBC's website and comes from someone in the UK. I've taken the liberty of copying it here:

At 5:28pm on 09 Oct 2009, ukwales wrote:

"People are unreasonable,illogical and self-centred:
Love them anyway!

If you do good,people will accuse you of selfish motives:
Do good anyway!

If you`re successful,you will win false friends and true enemies:
Succeed anyway!

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow:
Do good any way!

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable:
Be honest and frank any way!

The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds:
Think big anyway!

People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs:
Fight for some under dogs anyway!

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight:
Build anyway!

People need help but may attack if you help them:
Help them anyway!

Give the world the best you`ve got and you will get kicked in the teeth:
Give the world the best you`ve got anyway!"

Don`t stop Mr Obama.

HEAR HEAR!!

San Base: Art in the 21st Century

Where is left for art to go in the 21st century? Hasn't it been just about everywhere it could possibly venture? It has evolved from cave paintings to beautifully crafted portraits and landscapes, to imaginative impressionist scenes, abstract canvases, surreal impressions of reality, fantasy...where else could it possibly go?

Digital.

San Base, a Russian-born artist who now lives in Canada, has developed a way to combine artistic talent with computer skills to produce pieces of ever moving artwork using a technique known as known as dynamic painting. I take the liberty of copying a simple explanation of this from here:

"Dynamic Painting is a form of digital generative art that is truly the original creation of the artist - a new kind of art -created by human, and developed endlessly by a computer. It is based on an original idea described in a precise mathematical way that governs the shape, color and dimension of the generated image, converting brush strokes into algorithms. The algorithms of a dynamic painting represent the DNA of the picture, mutating to generate a series of distinct images that follow the style and concept of the original painting."

Examples of San Base's mobile works are available on-line, at San Base's site. One example is on the Main Page here, and another in the "Demo" section. YouTube has a selection of samples - one is embedded at the end of this post, though I fear the size of the screen may be too small to display the work properly.

I can imagine his artwork hanging in a VIP lounge at an airport, for example. Visuals are never repeated exactly, each moment is unique - for ever - rather as in a natal chart!

"Sometimes the images are glamorous, sometimes they seem psychedelic. At times, they may even seem to momentarily fall asleep, but only to regenerate their power, and strike once again with a new mesmerizing recombination -- luring the viewer into a parallel, Nirvana-like universe of art... It's like you keep watching for a comet to streak across the sky but, in this case, a possibility of discovering a new wonderful event on your screen is immeasurably higher."

"San Base was born in 1956 in Russia of the former USSR. As a little boy, San displayed remarkable skills in arts and science. At the age of 12, on his own initiative San began studies at an Fine Arts School. All the same time, he indulged in his other passion – mathematics. After completing the high school programme, San had a difficult choice before him. If he continues his studies in Arts, he’d be a subject to military conscription. To avoid the conscription he joined a post-secondary institution with a profile in applied science, specifically Cybernetics ......."

I was curious to see San Base's natal chart. His date of birth is 1 December 1956, born in Russia, but I can find no detail of exactly where. In order to get some idea of planetary placements I set up a chart for Moscow on his birth date.

Skills needed to produce such complicated art works must include a strong placing of Saturn for the mathematical component, Uranus for the inventiveness of it all, and Neptune for creativity and imagination, also, of course, Venus for the very necessary artistic talent.



Guided by a chart for Moscow on 1 December 1956 , which will show planets in signs, though not house positions, ascendant sign or exact Moon position:

Ha! Sun and Saturn are conjunct in Sagittarius - the strong Saturn placing, close to sun (self). Mercury 10 degrees beyond Sun, also in Sagittarius, and Moon in either late Scorpio or early Sagittarius depending on whether birth was before or after 5pm.

Uranus, planet of invention and the avant garde is at 6 Leo, in harmonious trine with the Sun/Saturn conjunction - here is drive enough to invent something new based on mathematical formulae.

Neptune and Venus, creativity, imagination and art are conjunct within 6 degrees in Scorpio, semi-sextile the conjunction of Sun/Saturn, a mildly harmonious but definite link. Here's where the artistic talent meets the mathematical skills.

Mars in late Pisces opposes Jupiter (his Sun's ruler) in late Virgo: this aspect indicates someone who looks for challenges, may on occasion go too far in seeking to be competitive - but it's a dynamic aspect to find in the chart of a person pioneering something new.

So yes, his natal chart does describe San Base's unique blend of talent: the old art of using pencil and paint creatively, in tandem with mathematics and new technology of the digital age.