every bone in my body hurts. I am too old to move stuff up and down stairs. I can handle one level moving around; not up stairs. uh uh. no way jose.

Microsoft’s Own Machines Vulnerable To ‘Sapphire’ Worm
Company Didn’t Use Own Security Patches

POSTED: 10:09 a.m. EST January 28, 2003

The computer worm that infected computer servers running Microsoft software hit the software giant’s own machines because the company failed to install its patches on its own computers.

A spokesman said the viruslike worm, known as “Slammer” or “Sapphire,” slowed some Microsoft computers but caused no major problems.

Security experts said it shows that Microsoft’s approach to fixing software is inherently flawed.

But spokesman Rick Miller says it only demonstrates that Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing campaign is just beginning.

The computer attack slowed computers across the world over the weekend, and knocked some ATMs offline for a time.

Meanwhile, experts said that whatever damage was done seems to be over now. Security experts were looking closely at the start of business Monday to see if machines that had been idle over the weekend might help spread the worm further when they were fired up first thing Monday morning.

The new attacks were nowhere near as intense as those on Saturday. Analysts were still trying to determine how the worm did so much damage.

Meanwhile, investigators were running into a dead end when it comes to tracing the origin of the problem.

At first, it was thought that the worm originated in Hong Kong. A U.S. Internet executive said disruptions first appeared in Hong Kong before spreading to other Pacific Rim nations, then into the United States and Europe.

But another computer expert said that while the worm could have been timed for release in the Pacific, that doesn’t mean it was launched from Hong Kong.

In fact, a government-funded computer expert team in Hong Kong said that while it’s investigating the source of the worm, it would be hard to pin down the exact origin of the computer attack.

http://www.thekcrachannel.com/technology/1940013/detail.html

Saturday, January 25, 2003 Posted: 5:31 PM EST (2231 GMT)

Guests at The Islander resort in Islamorada, Florida, peer over the fence around the hotel’s pool to catch a glimpse of the pygmy sperm whale.

ISLAMORADA, Florida (AP) — A rescued pygmy sperm whale was recovering Friday in a resort hotel’s heated saltwater pool, being treated for dehydration and wounds possibly inflicted by a harpoon.

The 11-foot (3.3-meter), 1,200-pound (540-kilogram) pygmy sperm whale, nicknamed Kokomo, was found stranded on a Florida Keys sandbar earlier in the week and taken to protected waters behind the U.S. Coast Guard station on Islamorada, near Key Largo.

Concerned about the cold, caretakers from the Marine Mammal Conservancy later moved him to The Islander Resort, which turned its heated saltwater swimming pool over to the whale’s care.

Medical examinations showed Kokomo was suffering from anemia, severe dehydration and a suspicious wound just behind its blowhole, said Rick Trout, director of the Conservancy, a Key Largo-based organization which coordinates marine mammal rescues in the Florida Keys.

“We’re not sure if it’s a harpoon or a gaff, but for sure someone tried to spear it,” he said. “This could have happened (anywhere) in the Caribbean.”

While Kokomo is checked in, the saltwater pool is closed to guests, but a freshwater pool is still available.

“The guests are happy we are trying to help the whale,” said Robin Schlaudecker, the resort’s general manager. “Some have even volunteered to assist the conservancy staff with his treatment.”

The whale, monitored constantly, was being given supplemental drinks and distilled water to combat its dehydration, Maalox to settle its stomach and antibiotics to fight pneumonia and infection.

Trout predicted the whale would need at least three weeks of treatment before consideration could be given for its release, assuming it recovers.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/01/25/offbeat.whale.pool.ap/index.html

i am now officially crosseyed

today is a day of updates. Don’t have mssql- well I do =but not installed; but I’ve spent the evening updating linux boxes. One more to go.