
Saturday, December 19, 2009
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A suspected gas leak at an Australian farm,

A suspected gas leak at an Australian farm, which led to 15 firemen in two fire engines to rush to the scene, turned out to be the work of a flatulent pig.The farmer in Axedale, a town in Victoria in the south-east of the country, called the emergency services after believing he had smelled gas.But when the fire crews arrived, they found the real culprit – a 260lb sow the family's children kept as a pet.Fire captain Peter Harkins said: "When we got there, as we drove up the driveway, there was this huge sow, about a 120-odd kilo (265-pound) sow, and it was very obvious where the gas was coming from.“We could not only smell it, but we heard it and it was quite funny."He added: "She got very excited when two trucks and 15 firies turned up and she squealed and farted and squealed and farted."I haven't heard too many pigs fart but I would describe it as very full-on."However, despite the false alarm, Mr Harkins said the farmer had done the right thing by calling 000 (the Australian equivalent of 999). He told The Melbourne Herald Sun: "It's all bottled gas up here and a leaking cylinder could pose a major fire risk."It was because we took it so seriously that 15 volunteers still managed to attend the call out at 10.30 on Tuesday night.
The CDP Water Disclosure,

The world's top golfer Tiger Woods,

The launch of Wikipedia,

Friday, December 18, 2009
Rainbow and Black Sabbath,

Rock legend Ronnie James Dio has been diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer, according to a statement posted on his official site by his wife Wendy Dio.It was announced last week that the singer, who’s fronted classic hard rock bands, Rainbow and Black Sabbath, as well as his solo band Dio, had canceled his European tour after he was hospitalized.According to the singer’s wife, who is also his longtime manager, Dio will be starting treatment immediately at the Mayo Clinic.See below for the official statement regarding Dio’s health.
Very early this morning, we posted the Black Friday DVD & TV deals over at Amazon today, which includes “lightning” deals all day today (meaning, drastically reduced prices for a limited time only selling out very quickly, so jump on these sales while you can.There’s also lightning deals on Video Games, which include Assassin’s Creed for Xbox 360 and Fallout 3 for Xbox 360 and PS3. Check the page for upcoming deals and times for when they’ll be available.Some all-day sales in video games include Video Game Gold Box deal of the day, a Sony PlayStation 3, a 120 GB “Black Friday Bundle” with Infamous and Killzone 2 (Includes a $10 Amazon.com Promotional Credit on Black Friday) for only $299.99. Also, today ONLY, if you buy a Nintendo Wii along with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, you’ll get Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games for free. See full details HERE.Here are some more video games sales happening today only (all qualify for $10 off if you pay with a Discover Card)For PS3 Gold Box deal, order the PS3 120 GB Bundle with Infamous and Killzone 2 and get $10 off a future purchase at Amazon.com, which will be credited to your account within two business days after product ships. Promotion only valid for orders placed between 12:01 AM and 11:59 PM, Pacific time, November 27, 2009 and is limit to one per household. Also, if you’ll get $10 off when you pay with your Discover Card.
Very early this morning, we posted the Black Friday DVD & TV deals over at Amazon today, which includes “lightning” deals all day today (meaning, drastically reduced prices for a limited time only selling out very quickly, so jump on these sales while you can.There’s also lightning deals on Video Games, which include Assassin’s Creed for Xbox 360 and Fallout 3 for Xbox 360 and PS3. Check the page for upcoming deals and times for when they’ll be available.Some all-day sales in video games include Video Game Gold Box deal of the day, a Sony PlayStation 3, a 120 GB “Black Friday Bundle” with Infamous and Killzone 2 (Includes a $10 Amazon.com Promotional Credit on Black Friday) for only $299.99. Also, today ONLY, if you buy a Nintendo Wii along with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, you’ll get Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games for free. See full details HERE.Here are some more video games sales happening today only (all qualify for $10 off if you pay with a Discover Card)For PS3 Gold Box deal, order the PS3 120 GB Bundle with Infamous and Killzone 2 and get $10 off a future purchase at Amazon.com, which will be credited to your account within two business days after product ships. Promotion only valid for orders placed between 12:01 AM and 11:59 PM, Pacific time, November 27, 2009 and is limit to one per household. Also, if you’ll get $10 off when you pay with your Discover Card.
The Palm Islands in the Persian Gulf,

The news that the sovereign wealth fund of Dubai requested a postponement of billions of dollars of debt this week could pose a big problem for U.S. banks.The state-run investment company, Dubai World, owes about $60 billion. It rang up much of that in a building boom that included the world's tallest skyscraper and the Palm Islands in the Persian Gulf, settlements shaped like palm trees.According to CMA DataVision, which tracks credit markets, there's a 35.82% probability that Dubai will default on that debt.New York-based Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) has the most exposure to default risk at Dubai World, which a J.P. Morgan (JPM, Fortune 500) equity research note estimated at $1.9 billion. Citigroup declined to comment.While other major banks in the United States are believed to have little direct exposure, the ripple effect could be more crippling, according to Richard Bove, a bank analyst with Rochdale Securities.There could be huge indirect exposure," he said. "One has to assume that U.S. banks will be hurt."J.P. Morgan declined to comment, while Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) were unavailable for immediate comment. Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) said a Dubai World default "would have have no material impact on its earnings."Bove said the underlying problem is that there is a lot of uncertainty floating around. For example, there's little information available about counterparty derivatives, guarantees that transfer default risk from lenders to other financial institutions. And it's unknown how much of Dubai World's debt guarantee is held by U.S. banks.And while UK banks, such as Standard Chartered, HSBC (HBC), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Barclays (BCS) are much more exposed to Dubai World, with a total of more than $30 billion in default risk according to J.P. Morgan's note, U.S. banks have extensive dealings with UK institutions. Those include trading and guaranteeing debt, which could translate into losses for U.S. banks.There's also U.S. banks' interactions with their German counterparts. Dubai has loaned a lot of money to Eastern European nations, as has Germany. Any losses from defaults there could expose U.S. banks to some risk.Finally, there's the impact of already reeling commercial real estate markets worldwide."Dubai may have to unload some very prestigious properties at distressed prices, and this will drive the price of all commercial real estate lower," said Bove. "That would clearly be a problem for American banks."Bove also posited that the problems at Dubai World could add weight to the growing sentiment that is already strong in the U.S. Congress about beefing up regulation."Congress is demanding that anyone connected to the U.S. financial system has to be regulated," he said.Rattling bank stocksBank stocks are particularly vulnerable to a market turndown triggered by the Dubai crisis, said Peter Sorrentino, senior portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors. He said the run-up this year has led to an overvalued stock market."We had been looking for something to trigger a correction," he said. "This could be that catalyst."It would add to a market already made volatile, especially with the approach of the end of the tax season for mutual funds, which has put a lot of money in motion. The impact could fall heaviest on the financial sector.Sorrentino added that the risk of default will put a damper on all commercial credit markets. Institutions may have to set aside more reserve funds to cover default risk, leaving less cash to lend out, and, in general, take a more cautious underwriting approach.
The latest in the Data Breach Investigations Report series

The latest in the Data Breach Investigations Report series by Verizon Business security experts provides enterprises with an unprecedented look at the 15 most common security attacks and how they typically unfold.In the "2009 Supplemental Data Breach Investigations Report: An Anatomy of a Data Breach," Verizon Business security experts tap the company's detailed investigative records to identify, rank and profile the most common attacks. For each type of attack, the report provides real-world scenarios, the warning signs, how the attack is orchestrated, how attackers got in, what information they took, what assets the attackers targeted, what industries are commonly affected, and what countermeasures are effective. In total, the report details nearly 150 ways to detect and combat security threats.This latest installment in Verizon's data breach study series is based on the "2009 Verizon Business Data Breach Investigations Report," issued in April. That landmark study analyzed more than 90 forensic investigations involving 285 million compromised records.This supplemental report seeks to address the thousands of inquiries we've received from companies around the world wanting a more detailed explanation of attacks, as well as requests for additional recommendations for deterring, preventing and detecting breaches," said Dr. Peter Tippett, vice president of technology and innovation, Verizon Business. "This follow-up analysis is aimed at helping organizations better safeguard their organizations by understanding the anatomy of a data breach and how cybercriminals workThe 2009 Verizon Business Supplemental Data Breach Report identified and ranked by frequency the following top 15 types of attacks:1. Keylogging and spyware: Malware specifically designed to covertlycollect, monitor and log the actions of a system user.2. Backdoor or command/control: Tools that provide remote access to orcontrol of infected systems, or both, and are designed to run covertly.3. SQL injection: An attack technique used to exploit how Web pagescommunicate with back-end databases.4. Abuse of system access/privileges: Deliberate and malicious abuse ofresources, access or privileges granted to an individual by anorganization.5. Unauthorized access via default credentials: Instances in which anattacker gains access to a system or device protected by standard preset(widely known) user names and passwords.6. Violation of acceptable use and other policies: Accidental or purposefuldisregard of acceptable use policies.7. Unauthorized access via weak or misconfigured access control lists When ACLs are weak or misconfigured, attackers can accessresources and perform actions not intended by the victim.Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world's most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions. We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees - enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment. Many of the world's largest businesses and governments - including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions - rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more URMINIRM55.BLOGSPOT.COM.VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.
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The new wombat for Miva Merchant 5.5 is now in Beta Testing
A new partnership with AccurateTax has been created in order to aid store owners with tax calculations.
The exciting new features included in the Wombat and the AccurateTax partnership are designed to help online merchants that utilize Miva Merchant Web Hosting take their business to the next level by increasing functionality and saving time and hassle.
Anyone with a fully up to date Miva Merchant 5.5 store can test the new Wombat beta and make suggestions to the Miva team on how to better these new components. Since the Wombat is only in the beta stages, Miva does recommend that you initially install and test the Wombat on a developmental copy of your store to make sure everything runs and functions properly. You can simply install the Wombat from the Streaming Update menu in your global settings.
Key features included in the Wombat beta are:
Order Management with Advanced Credit Card Features
Label Printing For UPS, USPS (Fed Ex will be included in the final version)
Address Line 2 for Billing, Shipping and Databases
Order Status and History Fields
Remember that the features included in this Wombat will be available as a streaming update with the production release (after the beta and developmental process). You do not have to be involved in the beta testing and pre-development stages in order to enjoy the new features – you simply need to wait until the wombat is released as an official update to your store.
In addition to the Wombat beta release, there is some more exciting news in the Miva Host world! As a result of the often complicated and confusing sales tax rules that face online merchants, Miva Merchant has joined forces with AccurateTax – a leading provider of sales tax software. The goal of this partnership is to make tax computations within the shopping cart. This tax plug-in ensures that stores are calculating the correct taxes for the right state(s) and are up to date with the ever-changing rules and laws concerning the calculation of sales tax. Furthermore, online storeowners need not worry that this module will slow down their sites because most of the work is completed on AccurateTax’s servers.
For more details and instructions regarding the Wombat and AccurateTax, please visit the Miva Merchant forums.
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