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Microsoft security boffins throw fresh CVEs at unpatched OS, emerge smiling Microsoft says its Windows 10 Anniversary Update squashes more exploit delivery chains than ever. The August updates brought in a series of operating system security improvements including boosts to Windows Defender and use of AppContainer, designed to raise the difficulty of having zero day exploits execute on patched systems. Redmond's security team tested its exploit mitigations against two kernel-level then zero-day exploits (CVE-2016-7255, CVE-2016-7256) used by active hacking groups that offer privilege escalation. They find, in a technical analysis designed to stress test the resilience of Windows 10, that...

Shotgun guitar played and shot by Rev. Peyton of Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band. The three string Guitgun was conceived by Rev. Peyton and custom made by our pal Bryan Fleming who is an expert custom pickup designer (He hand wound the pickup for it!).

A video of a Pakistani hairdresser lighting hair on fire as a method to straighten it went viral yesterday on social media. The video shows the hairdresser placing apparently flammable liquid on top of the customer’s head, before lighting it on fire and quickly combing his hair.

Conditions couldn't have been better Saturday for deer hunting, with frigid air keeping Friday's sleet and snow in a frozen state on the ground in Jefferson County, Miss. A New Orleans woman says all that ice is partly responsible for her killing the biggest deer of her life. Marni Demelo, 29, told ms-sportsman.com she heard the deer moving through the woods adjacent to a food plot she was hunting, and had time to prepare herself for what she hoped would be a shot at a big buck.-snip-Demelo knew the buck was one she would be proud of, but didn't realize...

Microsoft is working on a new Windows 10 feature that will automatically lock and secure a PC when the operating system detects someone has moved away from the machine. The feature is labelled as Dynamic Lock in recent test builds of Windows 10, and Windows Central reports that Microsoft refers to this as “Windows Goodbye” internally. Microsoft currently uses special Windows Hello cameras to let Windows 10 users log into a PC with just their face. Big corporations teach employees to use the winkey+L combination to lock machines when they’re idle, but this new feature will make it an automatic...

Adobe released yesterday Acrobat Reader DC 15.023.20053 that included fixes for 29 security issues. Along with the security fixes, this update package also silently installs the Adobe Acrobat extension into the user's Chrome web browser. The installation process is covert, but the next time users open their Chrome browser, they'll be notified by Chrome's security systems that a new extension has been added. The extensions name is Adobe Acrobat and is the same extension available through the Chrome Web Store. This extension allows users to save any web page they're on as a PDF file and share it or download...

Also: Edge is foiled by hyperlinks, Windows Server fails at authentication requests, and Microsoft is a $486bn company Microsoft has begun its 2017 with the release of four updates to address security holes in Windows and Office, while Adobe has posted fixes for more than three dozen vulnerabilities in Flash and Reader. Microsoft's January patch load includes: MS17-001, a fix for the Edge browser to address a flaw that would let a malicious page gain elevated access privileges when the user clicks on a link. "An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Microsoft Edge does not properly enforce cross-domain policies...

Turn your PC into a green-eyed monster Redmond has released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 15002 – one of the biggest updates to its cloudy operating system – ahead of the release of the Creators Update later this year. There's a whole host of upgrades and additions in the new build, but one that will be immediately noticeable to developers is the axing of the traditional Blue Screen of Death whenever the operating system throws its toys out of the playpen. Now it will be green. "In an effort to more easily distinguish Windows Insider reports vs the reports of...

It's not quite the clear-cut win for consumers that Microsoft is portraying, but at least it's transparent with its decision. Microsoft said Tuesday that it plans to simplify the privacy options in the upcoming Creators’ Update, though some may see one component as limiting user choice as well. Microsoft plans to revamp how privacy is managed in the upcoming Creators Update to Windows 10, both as part of the initial setup as well as the amount of data it collects in day-to-day diagnostics. That amount will actually decrease, if a user so chooses. But Microsoft has also eliminated an intermediary...

A woman has saved tens of thousands of dollars after she vowed to buy nothing for a whole year. It may sound extreme, but caught up in a consumerist society, Michelle McGagh thought it would change her relationship with money forever. The personal financial journalist became a minimalist, and stopped cluttering her house with possessions and making unnecessary purchases. Now she is about $27,000 better off for it.

Dear Cooking-Thread Friends; A very dear relative of mine has become quite ill, and I will be caring for him for the foreseeable future. I expect that things will be turned a little ‘upside-down’ here for a while, and I won’t be able to continue the weekly posting of this thread. I will resume when I am able, but in the meantime we can just continue this thread. I will check in when I can. Alternatively, if anyone would like to take up the thread in the interim, the ping list is on my profile page. My current patient is...

Victor Light Opera Company--Gems from "Follow Thru" and "Hold Everything"

The Royal Navy at Sea

Driven by terror threats and a potential Hillary Rodham Clinton administration, sales of guns in America soared to record levels in 2016, according to the FBI. Just released FBI background check numbers, which roughly equate gun sales, totalled some 27,538,673, 4 million more than in 2015 and nearly double the number in President Obama's first year.

My favorite YouTuber, Dale Calder, posted a video today about Hogmanay, which is the Scots word for the last day of the year. He showed how to make ‘Tablet’, a fudge-like treat that is traditional for this day and very easy to make. Here is a link to his video, where he also tells some New Year memories from his boyhood in Canada; and also one to Wild-Eyed Southern Celt’s recipe, which includes a link to making a whiskey-flavored tablet: http://dalecaldersblog.blogspot.com/2016/12/making-tablet-for-hogmanay-stories.htmlhttp://wildeyedsoutherncelt.com/traditional-scottish-tablet/************************************* I think it was Freeper Boatbums who posted a nice recipe for Zucchini Pie last week, and reminded me...

Because it’s not complicated enough already, Windows 10’s Start menu will support folders in a forthcoming release. The Windows 10 Redstone 2 release, also dubbed the “Creators Update”, will allow apps to be nested, much as with Windows Phone 8, and the mobile edition of Windows 10. The update is expected around April, and aggregates work since the Anniversary Update in early August. Around a dozen builds have been released via the Insider Preview program since the official announcement in October. The folders appear in an unofficial leaked build (14997) and MS Power User blog has a nice GIF of...

ABU DHABI // Camels owned by Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed, the President’s Representative, have won top prizes in the camel ‘mazayna’ beauty contest at this year’s Al Dhafra Festival. Sheikh Sultan’s camels won the Aayel category for the golden-red camel breed, originally from Oman. Camels belonging to Khamis Al Mazrouie scooped the Majahim category, the black camels of Saudi Arabia. Held in Madinat Zayed in Al Gharbia from December 13 to 29, the 10th edition of Al Dhafra Festival was organised by the Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Committee - Abu Dhabi

I do love Windows 10. For me it has made Windows into an operating system that I really enjoy using. But there are also a couple of things about how it operates that annoy both me, and power users. Essentially, Windows Updates are a pain and force users to restart at times that aren't convenient, or might automatically reboot a computer with no notice. Users, like Sergey Tkachenko from WinAero, on the Windows Insider preview program have noticed that a new option has been added to the Windows Update system that allows them to defer all updates for as long...

Rookie quarterback Carson Wentz bought each of his offensive linemen a personalized Beretta shotgun for Christmas, a twist on the time-honored tradition of a quarterback rewarding the men who keep him upright each week, ESPN reported. “This is an awesome gun. I’m excited about it,” said Allen Barbre, who, like Wentz, is an avid Hunter. “I don’t know if I’ll shoot it, though. It’s pretty nice.” The shotguns are being engraved with each player’s number on the butt of the weapon, which is believed to be a Beretta Silver Pigeon – a $2,000 model. “I like to go clay shooting...

A (Cocagne) New Brunswick trapper received an unexpected gift on Christmas Day—a rare melanistic bobcat. Studies show there has only been one other black bobcat caught in Canada. "I thought it was a house cat," said Oswald McFadden, who has run the same trapline for the last decade. "When I saw the tail I knew it wasn't a house cat. Then I looked at the ears, I knew it was definitely a bobcat." Melanism is a genetic trait that displays a black-coloured pigment and can often be found in species like squirrels and jaguars. Much like jaguars, this bobcat's spots...