We have talked about it many times. Microsoft owns Windows and effectively all the people who use it on their computers. The size of Microsoft's power and the breath of its reach has intimidated people in the know for generations. As time has eloquently shown, Microsoft is a gentle giant and only gets tough when absolutely necessary. Flexing its muscles is what happened when Russian hackers broke into our most secure government networks. The referenced article is testimony to why Microsoft's (and others) dominance is absolutely a good thing. They activated the Death Star to eradicate the Solar Winds. I have to be honest and say I was totally awed by what I read.
https://www.geekwire.com/2020/microsoft ... se-breach/
Microsoft Absolutely Rules
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
An interesting read for sure Yogi!
However, I saw this too: "the attackers compromised a server used to build updates for the SolarWinds Orion Platform, a product used for IT infrastructure management. The attackers used this compromised build server to insert backdoor malware into the product (called Solorigate by Microsoft or SUNBURST by FireEye)."
The Orion Platform is a Microsoft based data server. Although SolarWinds runs on either NT or Linux kernels and used as a tool, it appears it was compromised mainly to hit the Microsoft base of users.
I'll see if I can discover more about this in the Linux world.
However, I saw this too: "the attackers compromised a server used to build updates for the SolarWinds Orion Platform, a product used for IT infrastructure management. The attackers used this compromised build server to insert backdoor malware into the product (called Solorigate by Microsoft or SUNBURST by FireEye)."
The Orion Platform is a Microsoft based data server. Although SolarWinds runs on either NT or Linux kernels and used as a tool, it appears it was compromised mainly to hit the Microsoft base of users.
I'll see if I can discover more about this in the Linux world.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
I'm not sure about the infrastructure they talk about in the article. It was a bit surprising in that I figured all the servers were anything but Microsoft driven. Apparently the government (and others) see a different side of Microsoft than do us peons in the field. I'd like to say Microsoft saved the day and Linux admins stood by and watched. However, since I don't know anything about how the networks are run at that level I'll withhold judgment. I am very impressed nonetheless at the speed and thoroughness which Microsoft employed to shut down the bad guys. I didn't know it was possible to steal domain ownership, but I guess if you have the right lawyers you can do anything.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
I did a little checking. It seems almost all of the government's computers used on desktops have Windows, even though the mainframes they have run Unix, Linux, and other commercial computer services like IBM, Sun, Spark, etc.
Almost nothing was said on any of the Linux boards about the hacks, which I thought was surprising.
There was one comment that said something about Microsoft closing up some more holes they put into their software used by the government, but that was about it. No mention of Solorigate at all.
I did find a comment where RedHat recently took down an entire hacking organization in much the same way Microsoft handled the problem they found. So it appears even RedHat had a few back doors installed by 3rd party malware, hi hi.
I am glad to hear that Microsoft jumped on the problem and solved it post haste!
Almost nothing was said on any of the Linux boards about the hacks, which I thought was surprising.
There was one comment that said something about Microsoft closing up some more holes they put into their software used by the government, but that was about it. No mention of Solorigate at all.
I did find a comment where RedHat recently took down an entire hacking organization in much the same way Microsoft handled the problem they found. So it appears even RedHat had a few back doors installed by 3rd party malware, hi hi.
I am glad to hear that Microsoft jumped on the problem and solved it post haste!
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
When I was doing server maintenance I would get bulletins about vulnerabilities all the time. We had a few HP systems that had a dozen citations every week. The IMB servers were less of a problem, but still an amazing number of holes in the OS exists there too. Not all the vulnerabilities were dangerous and we only patched a few of the worst ones. They whole system had to be shut down most of the time and that affected production, which is why we let a lot of things slide by.
Apparently Microsoft found the malware that triggers the attack vector, but that's only part of the problem. Once the payload is installed, login credentials and encryption codes are needed to launch any executable. The fear is that the bad guys have those codes too. Normally that wouldn't be too biog of a problem, but some of the nuclear defense systems were hacked. That's an act of war if you ask me, and they do know from whence the attack came.
Apparently Microsoft found the malware that triggers the attack vector, but that's only part of the problem. Once the payload is installed, login credentials and encryption codes are needed to launch any executable. The fear is that the bad guys have those codes too. Normally that wouldn't be too biog of a problem, but some of the nuclear defense systems were hacked. That's an act of war if you ask me, and they do know from whence the attack came.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
Seems to me like almost all of the hackers that manage to get into supposedly high security places, do so through an add-on program somebody installed. Often these are tool type of programs to make working on things easier.
I downloaded a tool I used on Windows machines nearly every day. I saved a copy of that tool for my wife to use, because I knew it was clean and tight. If you looked on-line for that tool, all you can find are files using that same name, and every one of them are nothing but malware or viruses. The only safe place to get a copy was from the original programmer, and he made himself scarce after the hackers started putting out the malware using his program name.
I shared my clean copy with several friends back in the early XP days and not a one of them ever had a problem. But anyone who got it on-line as a download usually got hacked, a virus, or inundated with malware and ads.
I don't subscribe to that website anymore where we were notified of Linux programs that were compromised.
Mainly because if a program is not in a trusted repository, I just don't download them.
There are a couple of exceptions, but there too, I only get them from the original source, never from anywhere else.
I don't blame Microsoft for jumping in feet first to attack a problem that would put them in a bad light.
And due to the serious nature of the problem, they probably put their entire staff on repairing it, and cleaning up the mess it made too.
Don't know if you remember when Windows 3.11 came out. But there was a company out there that was offering a Game Pack Download with like 20 games. It all looked innocent enough, and most of the games were fun to play. But one of those games if you played it to the end, it had a code to Format Drive C and blocked all warnings about it.
Most of the games were the kind where you could just play them over and over again. Like Solitaire or FreeCell or Spider, etc. But the three mystery games in the pack took weeks to work through the game to reach the end.
It didn't take long for word to get around not to play that particular game from the download.
One thing that really burned me up was a Bible Study program I had that could only be run in administrative mode on my Windows XP machine. Why they wrote it that way I don't know, unless some of the features of it required administrative access. I was always leery of it, but never had any problems with it. Then about a year later they came out with one that ran entirely in user space, but it was missing two or three of the features I liked about the other one.
But today, you can just go on-line and do the same things with ease.
I downloaded a tool I used on Windows machines nearly every day. I saved a copy of that tool for my wife to use, because I knew it was clean and tight. If you looked on-line for that tool, all you can find are files using that same name, and every one of them are nothing but malware or viruses. The only safe place to get a copy was from the original programmer, and he made himself scarce after the hackers started putting out the malware using his program name.
I shared my clean copy with several friends back in the early XP days and not a one of them ever had a problem. But anyone who got it on-line as a download usually got hacked, a virus, or inundated with malware and ads.
I don't subscribe to that website anymore where we were notified of Linux programs that were compromised.
Mainly because if a program is not in a trusted repository, I just don't download them.
There are a couple of exceptions, but there too, I only get them from the original source, never from anywhere else.
I don't blame Microsoft for jumping in feet first to attack a problem that would put them in a bad light.
And due to the serious nature of the problem, they probably put their entire staff on repairing it, and cleaning up the mess it made too.
Don't know if you remember when Windows 3.11 came out. But there was a company out there that was offering a Game Pack Download with like 20 games. It all looked innocent enough, and most of the games were fun to play. But one of those games if you played it to the end, it had a code to Format Drive C and blocked all warnings about it.
Most of the games were the kind where you could just play them over and over again. Like Solitaire or FreeCell or Spider, etc. But the three mystery games in the pack took weeks to work through the game to reach the end.
It didn't take long for word to get around not to play that particular game from the download.
One thing that really burned me up was a Bible Study program I had that could only be run in administrative mode on my Windows XP machine. Why they wrote it that way I don't know, unless some of the features of it required administrative access. I was always leery of it, but never had any problems with it. Then about a year later they came out with one that ran entirely in user space, but it was missing two or three of the features I liked about the other one.
But today, you can just go on-line and do the same things with ease.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
It used to be the fault of the user in 95% of the cases where computers became infected by malware. The user would inadvertently download something or go to a malicious website and become compromised. Those were the days when passwords didn't have to be strong. The emphasis changed when the hackers changed tactics, and then weak passwords were the nemesis; again, something the user had control over. Now and days it's way beyond anything the user can do. Well more than 50% of the hacks are done by people using valid credentials to get into the system. If that percentage exceeds 65% then it will be totally out of control, but for the moment security experts are one step ahead of the game. The big guns are aimed at corporations and government agencies. These folks have the money to pay the ransom, but more than that they have the data that sells for high prices on the Dark Web. It seems as if you have to go through a lot of trouble to infect your desktop these days, and mobile devices are just as fluid.
The latest attack from Russia is part of an ongoing offensive that has shut down our power grids, ransacked credit card databases, and skewered medical records of just about everybody in this country. The fear running through the veins of security folks is that apparently our defense systems have been compromised. Microsoft does have a business interest it wants to protect, but the implications of this latest attack go well beyond OS security. Aside from the oohs and ahhhs and people whining about the intrusion, have you heard of any proactive response from our government? I haven't.
The latest attack from Russia is part of an ongoing offensive that has shut down our power grids, ransacked credit card databases, and skewered medical records of just about everybody in this country. The fear running through the veins of security folks is that apparently our defense systems have been compromised. Microsoft does have a business interest it wants to protect, but the implications of this latest attack go well beyond OS security. Aside from the oohs and ahhhs and people whining about the intrusion, have you heard of any proactive response from our government? I haven't.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
They don't have to hack our personal computers anymore. Farcebook supplies them all the information about everybody they would ever need, or get from individual computers, hi hi.
The CIA does not publicize what they are doing, until after it is done and the job completed. Only then might we hear some big organization was taken down, but rarely how it was orchestrated.
In the years before digitized and scrambled messages. I used to listen in on the FBI chit chat going on, as I'm sure some media groups did also. Most of it was just boring stuff though. Never could figure out where they were or what they were doing. Not like the police who blabbed everything to each other, hi hi.
The big difference between the FBI and the Police is simple, the FBI coordinated everything, the Police rarely if at all.
Years ago, there was a lady who worked at the County Certificates center, where all the death certificates are sent in for recording. Some of those are brought in within hours of a persons death, and she would turn around and pass the name and address to a couple of funeral homes to solicit for the funeral. She only got paid like 20 bucks if they got the job. But it ended up costing her like 6 years in prison, hi hi. Since the information is public record and sent to the newspapers, I never understood why she got such a long prison sentence. Must have been something else they didn't say anything about.
The CIA does not publicize what they are doing, until after it is done and the job completed. Only then might we hear some big organization was taken down, but rarely how it was orchestrated.
In the years before digitized and scrambled messages. I used to listen in on the FBI chit chat going on, as I'm sure some media groups did also. Most of it was just boring stuff though. Never could figure out where they were or what they were doing. Not like the police who blabbed everything to each other, hi hi.
The big difference between the FBI and the Police is simple, the FBI coordinated everything, the Police rarely if at all.
Years ago, there was a lady who worked at the County Certificates center, where all the death certificates are sent in for recording. Some of those are brought in within hours of a persons death, and she would turn around and pass the name and address to a couple of funeral homes to solicit for the funeral. She only got paid like 20 bucks if they got the job. But it ended up costing her like 6 years in prison, hi hi. Since the information is public record and sent to the newspapers, I never understood why she got such a long prison sentence. Must have been something else they didn't say anything about.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
You are right about the cloak of secrecy regarding intelligence and counter-intelligence. That's not what I was referring to when I said the government remains silent. I've been using Twitter for several years now and managed to accumulate an impressive list of people who have retired from various security professions. Some of them are still actively employed and possess a wealth of knowledge about behind the scenes activity. Of course no secrets are divulged, even on Twitter, but the comments and insights floating about the security industry are some of the most interesting reads available. I'm following Chris Krebs, for example, and he has quite a lot to say about cyber security now that he has been dismissed. The lack of response I note is from the Oval Office of the White House. The secretary of state and just about every other intelligence organization has pinpointed the source of the attack as being in Russia, but our Dear Leader is saying reports are overblown and China is the culprit. That's it for a response to direct hits by foreign agents on our defense systems.
Much of the data that Facebook collects is also a matter of public record. It takes some digging to find out where those records are hiding, but anytime you go on the Internet you are exposing yourself to public scrutiny. The value of Facebook's collections is that it's organized and from a broad sample base, literally billions of users. There is no question about their right to collect such data, just as is the case with the lady you mentioned working with County Certificates. However, the actions taken with that data are regulated. Facebook sells this information for a profit and thus becomes liable for any damages as a consequence. In the case of the lady I can see something similar. She was personally profiting from something not intended to be a commodity. Zuckerburg was selling information and taking ads from the Russians at slightly more than $20 a shot. Yes it's a legitimate business, but dealing with the enemy to influence people's behaviors is more than a little suspect.
Much of the data that Facebook collects is also a matter of public record. It takes some digging to find out where those records are hiding, but anytime you go on the Internet you are exposing yourself to public scrutiny. The value of Facebook's collections is that it's organized and from a broad sample base, literally billions of users. There is no question about their right to collect such data, just as is the case with the lady you mentioned working with County Certificates. However, the actions taken with that data are regulated. Facebook sells this information for a profit and thus becomes liable for any damages as a consequence. In the case of the lady I can see something similar. She was personally profiting from something not intended to be a commodity. Zuckerburg was selling information and taking ads from the Russians at slightly more than $20 a shot. Yes it's a legitimate business, but dealing with the enemy to influence people's behaviors is more than a little suspect.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
Since I don't follow that kind of stuff, and you have been for years, I'm sure you know a heck of a lot more about what goes on that I do.
When I was trying to get birth certificates for long deceased relatives, although are public record, trying to get them can be a daunting task, even when you can prove you are a relative.
These days, not that a lot of that info has been digitized and much of it on-line, you can get some of it much easier, and usually at little or no cost. Well, subscription costs to some places is all.
When I was trying to get birth certificates for long deceased relatives, although are public record, trying to get them can be a daunting task, even when you can prove you are a relative.
These days, not that a lot of that info has been digitized and much of it on-line, you can get some of it much easier, and usually at little or no cost. Well, subscription costs to some places is all.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
Public records are a goldmine of information. Some of the stories I read in the news originate in such things as SEC filings. The net worth of president Trump, for example, was derived from reading about investment filings of his partners. The partners were required to be very explicit and spell out their exact participation in their securities transactions. Obviously the percentage and worth of the other partner is easy to determine. So, while Mr Trump keeps his cards close to his chest, there is a ton of information out there that is quite revealing. All a matter of public record.
The Freedom Of Information Act also is a valuable tool for getting information that is public but not generally circulated. Most people don't know about it or how to go about it. Of course, that only applies to government records here in America. When researching family ties across international lines the issues become complicated rapidly. Birth and death certificates were not very well maintained until modern times. I don't think there were any standards as recently as the prior century. It's marvelous that you were able to uncover all that you did.
Current Events have interested me since high school days. It's all an effort to understand what's going on in the world so that I can make plans to avoid disasters. It doesn't always work, but I feel better about being informed. The amount of information available is mind boggling. Most of it is trash and misleading too. That's why I like to get inputs from a variety of sources. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
The Freedom Of Information Act also is a valuable tool for getting information that is public but not generally circulated. Most people don't know about it or how to go about it. Of course, that only applies to government records here in America. When researching family ties across international lines the issues become complicated rapidly. Birth and death certificates were not very well maintained until modern times. I don't think there were any standards as recently as the prior century. It's marvelous that you were able to uncover all that you did.
Current Events have interested me since high school days. It's all an effort to understand what's going on in the world so that I can make plans to avoid disasters. It doesn't always work, but I feel better about being informed. The amount of information available is mind boggling. Most of it is trash and misleading too. That's why I like to get inputs from a variety of sources. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
I may have told you this before, about when I was searching my great-great grandparents legal certificates.
Back in the old days, they had a clerk who filled out the documents using very ornate script language.
A number of years later when a new file clerk took over, he found many lead letters he could not distinguish what they were for sure. And when they packed up the records to move to a new location, and he had to file them all back again, he filed almost all of the fancy script letter D under the letter T. So when they were later typed up they all had a T as the lead letter. So, to find my great-great grandparents marriage license, and later birth licenses for kids, they showed his name starting with the letter T in the official records.
Fast forward a few decades and they scanned the original documents, and filed them digitally under the letter T once again. In that fancy script the do look like the letter T. If there is a capital D in the document, obvious it is a D, it too looks like the fancy script T.
This is just one of the things that made it so hard to find documents on them.
Plus the fact the country was part-time under German Rule an part-time under French Rule.
If it were not for the many church records that became available, I would have never figured this out.
But once I did, and requested for the certificates using a letter T as the lead letter of our name, there they were, or at least some of them anyhow.
Heck, just looking at our own census records can drive one bonkers.
One decade all the kids are listed by the name the family calls them.
The next decade they use their given birth names.
The decade after that they are back to using the nicknames they were called.
Those who are way in the service or at college or boarding school at the time of the census are listed with everyone living in that camp or dormitory, or in some cases a reformatory, or prison, hi hi.
How can somebody be 8 years old, and ten years later they are 21? I find this a lot in the census records.
What kills me is how everyone worries so much about Trumps financial records when they don't care diddly squat about how poly-TICK-ians become multi-millionaires on a government salary.
Trump is the only president I know of who's net worth went down considerably during their presidencies.
Back in the old days, they had a clerk who filled out the documents using very ornate script language.
A number of years later when a new file clerk took over, he found many lead letters he could not distinguish what they were for sure. And when they packed up the records to move to a new location, and he had to file them all back again, he filed almost all of the fancy script letter D under the letter T. So when they were later typed up they all had a T as the lead letter. So, to find my great-great grandparents marriage license, and later birth licenses for kids, they showed his name starting with the letter T in the official records.
Fast forward a few decades and they scanned the original documents, and filed them digitally under the letter T once again. In that fancy script the do look like the letter T. If there is a capital D in the document, obvious it is a D, it too looks like the fancy script T.
This is just one of the things that made it so hard to find documents on them.
Plus the fact the country was part-time under German Rule an part-time under French Rule.
If it were not for the many church records that became available, I would have never figured this out.
But once I did, and requested for the certificates using a letter T as the lead letter of our name, there they were, or at least some of them anyhow.
Heck, just looking at our own census records can drive one bonkers.
One decade all the kids are listed by the name the family calls them.
The next decade they use their given birth names.
The decade after that they are back to using the nicknames they were called.
Those who are way in the service or at college or boarding school at the time of the census are listed with everyone living in that camp or dormitory, or in some cases a reformatory, or prison, hi hi.
How can somebody be 8 years old, and ten years later they are 21? I find this a lot in the census records.
What kills me is how everyone worries so much about Trumps financial records when they don't care diddly squat about how poly-TICK-ians become multi-millionaires on a government salary.
Trump is the only president I know of who's net worth went down considerably during their presidencies.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
That filing error due to scripting is the kind of thing that makes me not want to try and track down family records. During my career as an astrologer birth certificates were the critical document in order to construct a proper horoscope chart. I discovered that there is an enormous amount of error in many birth records, particularly those older than 50 years. The time of birth is critical, but it seems that nobody agrees on what time it is in a given location. Timezones changed but then there was something called war time while WW II was going on. It's daylight savings time but may not have been recorded on the certificate as such. Then there is the doctor who filled out the certificate a week after the birth. He rounded it off to the nearest hour, if he was able to estimate the time at all. Certain states were at one time split as far as time zones; I believe Indiana was one of them. You had to know exactly where the birth occurred and hope it was recorded in the proper zone. And, of course, there are those people without certificates. The birth might have been noted in the family Bible, and even the date therein was an approximation. My wife's sister-in-law doesn't know her exact date of birth for that reason. I'm certain you must have run into some of those kind of discrepancies in your own research.
Donald Trump is the president and not just any ol' run of the mill poly-TICK-ian. There are things such as an emoluments clause to which he as president must adhere and those other guys don't have to. Indeed Trump is held up to a higher standard than most of his underlings. He arguably is the most powerful person on earth and not immune from oversight.
Donald Trump is the president and not just any ol' run of the mill poly-TICK-ian. There are things such as an emoluments clause to which he as president must adhere and those other guys don't have to. Indeed Trump is held up to a higher standard than most of his underlings. He arguably is the most powerful person on earth and not immune from oversight.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
My mom had a whale of a time getting a copy of her birth certificate, because the records courthouse burned down.
Fortunately her mom was still alive, and her sisters still had their copies.
Even so, it took a lot of paperwork before she got an official delayed birth certificate back on record.
Once you get back past 1752 determining the birth date and adjusting it to the current calendar year could be a daunting task. In the Julian calendar March 25th was the beginning of a new year. And with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, January 1 started the new year. Plus they knocked like 11 days out of the calendar to do this switch.
So anytime I hit a person who's birth is between 1750 and 1753, I have to do even more research to figure out when they were really born. So if someone was born from January to March, the actual birth year date is one less than you think.
Trump was a business man, not a politician. And this is why the poly-TICK-ians hate him so much. He is not part of their elite SWAMP RAT club.
On one point I agree. A U.S. President has more powers than the President of an Organization or Company, of which he was most familiar. He also views most things as a businessman, and not as a politician would.
Fortunately her mom was still alive, and her sisters still had their copies.
Even so, it took a lot of paperwork before she got an official delayed birth certificate back on record.
Once you get back past 1752 determining the birth date and adjusting it to the current calendar year could be a daunting task. In the Julian calendar March 25th was the beginning of a new year. And with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, January 1 started the new year. Plus they knocked like 11 days out of the calendar to do this switch.
So anytime I hit a person who's birth is between 1750 and 1753, I have to do even more research to figure out when they were really born. So if someone was born from January to March, the actual birth year date is one less than you think.
Trump was a business man, not a politician. And this is why the poly-TICK-ians hate him so much. He is not part of their elite SWAMP RAT club.
On one point I agree. A U.S. President has more powers than the President of an Organization or Company, of which he was most familiar. He also views most things as a businessman, and not as a politician would.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
Time is an interesting study. For us terrestrial creatures time has its roots in the position of the earth in its orbit. The problem that had to be faced when they changed the calendar was that the earth's position in space was based on the "fixed" position of the stars. It turns out the stars are not fixed in their positions at all. Thus errors in the calendar accumulated over time. Now and days the position of the earth in it's orbit can be determined by means other than lining up stars. They got it down to a fraction of a second, which is why we have a "leap second" to account for the instabilities of the earth. But, those old time record keepers didn't have atomic clocks or space telescopes to help them out. Add to that the error prone nature of humans themselves and it becomes amazing that the time of events in historic epochs could be determined at all. Once again you have a feather in your cap for being able to make sense of it all; as far as your family tree goes at least.
Last edited by yogi on 24 Dec 2020, 18:57, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
When my grandpa on my mom's side was younger, he used the moon to determine when to plant his crops.
He didn't know diddly about astronomy, but ask him anything about the moon and how it relates to the seasons and weather and he could tell you. He's also the one who taught me how to make corrections to the Old Farmers Almanac to keep it accurate throughout the year.
We've studied the skies long enough now that with our fancy computers, we can pinpoint the exact dates of anything all throughout history now. The trouble is matching the events based on the info given, which as you pointed out was often in error to start with.
He didn't know diddly about astronomy, but ask him anything about the moon and how it relates to the seasons and weather and he could tell you. He's also the one who taught me how to make corrections to the Old Farmers Almanac to keep it accurate throughout the year.
We've studied the skies long enough now that with our fancy computers, we can pinpoint the exact dates of anything all throughout history now. The trouble is matching the events based on the info given, which as you pointed out was often in error to start with.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
Yes indeed the position of the celestial lights were the basis for agriculture many eons ago. Quite a bit of astrology lore in fact deals with farming and breeding animals. The sex of animals can be predetermined by choosing an auspicious time for the two critters to mate, for example. The idea has been tried to pre-determine the sex of humans as well. Some swear that it works as it should but it's definitely not a reliable way to go about planning a family. Copulation and fertilization may be many hours apart, and it could go a couple days. Those little swimmers aren't very fast. LOL About the only weather I note with some regularity is precipitation occurring within a day, or two, or three ahead of a full moon. LIkewise the weather on the day of the solstice and equinox points set the trend for the next three months. Hopefully that is true because on the day of winter solstice this year it was 60F and sunny. I'm expecting a snowless winter this year (but not holding my breath).
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
I quit using the Old Farmers Almanac several years ago. I had a collection that started in like 1966 and had every annual issue up through 1998, and after I lost all the oldest ones in the flood, and I didn't really like their new style of book, nor the higher prices. I just quit buying them.
WE have SNOW, it snowed yesterday so we have a WHITE CHRISTMAS, albeit at only 19 degrees here today.
I didn't move south for this stuff, hi hi.
Debi was at work, and I had to go pick her up! I didn't have any problems, but there sure were a lot of those front-wheel-drive cars off in the ditches, hi hi.
I had to go around two of them who were stuck on our hills here.
WE have SNOW, it snowed yesterday so we have a WHITE CHRISTMAS, albeit at only 19 degrees here today.
I didn't move south for this stuff, hi hi.
Debi was at work, and I had to go pick her up! I didn't have any problems, but there sure were a lot of those front-wheel-drive cars off in the ditches, hi hi.
I had to go around two of them who were stuck on our hills here.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
When I was trying to decide where I want to live my golden years the weather was a consideration. I wanted out of the harsh winters of Chicago but didn't think I'd like the hot and humid lifestyle of southern Florida either. Too many snow birds there not to mention hurricanes. My initial thinking was Kentucky in that it was located in the right geographical position. But, to be honest, Mitch McConnell was just too much for my liberal leaning mentality. Tennessee came up in several conversations. The argument there was the low taxes, but you have enlightened me about that. I ended up in a place I never planned on being nor did I expect it to be so ... comfortable. They get snow and other winter weather here, but it's short lived and nothing as severe as up north. A couple winters ago 10" of snow did fall upon O'Fallon, but it was gone in a couple weeks. Chicago snow falls in late November or early December and you don't see the grass again until the end of February at the earliest. We've had snow for Easter a few times up there. So, I'm very pleased with the weather here. We have all that we had up north but nowhere near as extreme.
I know how you feel about front wheel drive, but I'm here to tell you that I've never been tossed off the road due to the snow or ice while driving one. It might be a false sense of security on my part, but I've never felt out of control in my front wheel drive cars. One exception to that was the Acura I once owned. It was a very light weight manual transmission vehicle and there were two or three instances when making a sharp left turn the car would fish tail. That's unheard of in FWD cars, but this Acura could be depended on to do it. I tried duplicating it with other cars but couldn't. I can only attribute the problem to the light weight of the entire vehicle.
I know how you feel about front wheel drive, but I'm here to tell you that I've never been tossed off the road due to the snow or ice while driving one. It might be a false sense of security on my part, but I've never felt out of control in my front wheel drive cars. One exception to that was the Acura I once owned. It was a very light weight manual transmission vehicle and there were two or three instances when making a sharp left turn the car would fish tail. That's unheard of in FWD cars, but this Acura could be depended on to do it. I tried duplicating it with other cars but couldn't. I can only attribute the problem to the light weight of the entire vehicle.
Re: Microsoft Absolutely Rules
Well, most of St.Louis and surrounding counties have excellent snow plowing and road treating equipment.
We have none of that down here, so when it snows, it stays until it melts. Rarely do they put down a brine liquid. They didn't this time at all!
I know I told you this story before. I had a Cadillac ElDorado that my brother picked up for me, it was supposed to be rear wheel drive, but when it came in, he didn't check and it was a front wheel drive jobbie.
In any case: I was taking my step-daughter to school shortly after she was learning to drive, and I decided to show her just how dangerous these front wheel drive cars are.
I was in the normal bumper to bumper rush hour traffic at 7:30 am and the road was covered with snow and ice.
I saw an area coming up on the road that I know is always blessed with a thick layer of ice.
Just as I reached that area, I hit the gas to break the friction grip with the road, then turned the steering wheel to the left to the stop, back to the right to the stop, back to the left to the stop, back to the right to the stop, then back to center and let the tires regain their traction.
The car never changed direction and continued going forward, the steering wheel had no affect whatsoever on the direction the car was traveling. To the best of my knowledge, she never bought a front wheel drive car after experiencing that. But then too we lost touch several years ago now.
And I told you about the hill leading out of my subdivision in Creve Coeur. Tempo Drive onto Olive Blvd.
Many cars would get stuck on that hill, but that's it, they would just be stuck.
But those in front wheel drive cars, when they got stuck, the front of the car would swing around so they were now facing downhill, and there wasn't much they could do about it. They had no steering or braking when that happens.
And this is the same thing I saw down here with all the cars off in ditches. A little too much gas and they lose their friction grip with the road with the steering and braking wheels, and there they go.
Front wheel drive cars are why I quit driving OTR when I did. Way too many close calls my last 6 months of driving because of them. All the other drivers wanted me to keep going, at least for 200k more miles, because of the 35k dollar reward. I figured I would probably have a serious accident before I hit that 200k and lose the reward anyhow.
I had 1.8 million accident free miles driving OTR, and the reward was for 2 million accident free miles.
I have to take Debi back to work today, because her car was left at work when I picked her up.
I will probably have to pick her up late tonight when she gets off at 8:30 pm because the roads here are still ice.
We have none of that down here, so when it snows, it stays until it melts. Rarely do they put down a brine liquid. They didn't this time at all!
I know I told you this story before. I had a Cadillac ElDorado that my brother picked up for me, it was supposed to be rear wheel drive, but when it came in, he didn't check and it was a front wheel drive jobbie.
In any case: I was taking my step-daughter to school shortly after she was learning to drive, and I decided to show her just how dangerous these front wheel drive cars are.
I was in the normal bumper to bumper rush hour traffic at 7:30 am and the road was covered with snow and ice.
I saw an area coming up on the road that I know is always blessed with a thick layer of ice.
Just as I reached that area, I hit the gas to break the friction grip with the road, then turned the steering wheel to the left to the stop, back to the right to the stop, back to the left to the stop, back to the right to the stop, then back to center and let the tires regain their traction.
The car never changed direction and continued going forward, the steering wheel had no affect whatsoever on the direction the car was traveling. To the best of my knowledge, she never bought a front wheel drive car after experiencing that. But then too we lost touch several years ago now.
And I told you about the hill leading out of my subdivision in Creve Coeur. Tempo Drive onto Olive Blvd.
Many cars would get stuck on that hill, but that's it, they would just be stuck.
But those in front wheel drive cars, when they got stuck, the front of the car would swing around so they were now facing downhill, and there wasn't much they could do about it. They had no steering or braking when that happens.
And this is the same thing I saw down here with all the cars off in ditches. A little too much gas and they lose their friction grip with the road with the steering and braking wheels, and there they go.
Front wheel drive cars are why I quit driving OTR when I did. Way too many close calls my last 6 months of driving because of them. All the other drivers wanted me to keep going, at least for 200k more miles, because of the 35k dollar reward. I figured I would probably have a serious accident before I hit that 200k and lose the reward anyhow.
I had 1.8 million accident free miles driving OTR, and the reward was for 2 million accident free miles.
I have to take Debi back to work today, because her car was left at work when I picked her up.
I will probably have to pick her up late tonight when she gets off at 8:30 pm because the roads here are still ice.