New Virus - Lookout! Hallmark Postcard Virus Destroys All

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I just received notification that there is a virus that was just released that CNN and Microsoft are dubbing the most destructive internet virus of all time. It's spread by way of email and is called for now the Post Card Virus.

This is because you will receive an email with the subject line HALLMARK POSTCARD or something similar to this. If you do - do NOT open it. It will open a postcard image that will then burn your C drive up right at the sector zero. This means that your computer will be rendered useless and you will instantly lose everything.

Apparently it's sole purpose is to simple destroy. It was discovered by McAfee just recently, and because it's distributed through email, you may be inclined to open a postcard email from a friend or family member's email address - but don't do it.

More details will probably emerge soon enough about it's true power, but at the time being there is no solution. A lot of people have gotten the Google redirect virus over the past couple of years, and that was thought to be pretty bad, but the redirect virus was just a baby compared to this, and at least that is just a trojan worm where things can be done to get your computer back to a normal state.

With the post card virus? huh, sounds like you should forget about it. In the mean time, you should be waiting for it just in case. More importantly, tell everyone in your office, in your neck of the woods, in your social circle - let everyone know.

It's a much better idea to pester people about this than to have it come full circle, which with the fact that it spreads and sends itself under the guise of friendly email addresses - looks to be the case.

Looking For Astronomy Software

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Astronomy software is something that I have been looking into lately. If you can't afford a nice telescope, then you can at least explore the deepest reaches of space from your laptop, right? well, as it turns out you can! there are a number of great websites that offer free software that in most cases will run on any computer platform.

Some are better than others of course, and there are some paid for programs that aren't too bad either. The one that is probably the most well known is Stellarium, which is open source GL software that can run on Mac, Windows or Linux. It also has addons for expanding the catalogs and getting more star locations.

The only drawback is that apparently although extremely accurate, it doesn't exactly allow you to travel in space and view destinations. Recently, I found this list of astronomy software programs that covers more information, including further details about Stellarium.

However, even though I combed through a lot of websites on my own, many of the programs were only sub par that I could determine. Only a handful were actually space simulators, which in my opinion if you're going to get astronomy software then it might as well allow you to visit the planets, moons, stars, asteroids, etc.

The honest truth though is that I would probably end up using it to create some super-cheesy space travel clips for movies, just like the opening credits of Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, I was thrilled to find out that parents can go on a journey with their little ones and explore the awesome vastness of the galaxy together!

Nikola Tesla - The Genius You May Not Know About

Have you ever heard the name Nikola Tesla before? if you haven't there's no need to feel bad. Many people have never heard of the Croatian born Tesla, who was what some would say "the greatest inventor" of the modern age.

David Bowie portrayed him well in the movie The Prestige. In fact I didn't even recognize that it was Bowie until the credits started rolling - that's how admirable his performance really was.

Tesla was most notable for his famous Tesla energy coil that used high frequency energy to create electricity, developed some time around 1891. However he also had hundreds of patents for some truly mesmerizing inventions, with some going on to become the inspirations for much of the technology that we use today.

But why don't more people know him as the household name that he surely deserves if he contributed such amazing work to society? That's simple - his name was smeared like mud by companies that felt threatened by him as well as some of his peers who labeled him as "crazy".

You have to remember, that at this time, Tesla was working with some really "frightening" things. Harnessing energy was something that was really intimidating to most people. In fact, I remember reading a story about great American satirist and author James Thurber's mother (grandmother?) once, where she believed that a socket with no light bulb would cause electricity to leak into the room and do hazard to people's health. Things like this were just a common belief at this time.

So, it didn't take much work for other inventors and major corporations at this time to turn the general public against Tesla. Companies claimed that his ideas on energy were dangerous, even though we know better today, but perhaps it was this next step that really put the nail in the coffin.

Tesla was all about "free" energy. He had great plans to have his energy coils developed all over the world to provide free energy to homes every where. This meant no money for the electric companies if he wouldn't have gotten his way. So they started a marketing campaign to paint him out to look like a lunatic. Even to this day, people seem to treat him as a "strange wizard".

Side note: Here's a hilarious article that I found on 7 inventions stolen from Nikola Tesla.

You can also read about the REAL lost inventions of Tesla here.





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