Could there be an new Led Zep Album in the making?

Looks like Jimmy Page, JPJ and Jason Bonham (Bonzo's son) are recording, or at least jamming, no sighn of Robert Plant yet but he is touring elsewhere at the minute so fingers crossed. What a treat if they do, new material, and who knows, maybe they would tour. Never thought I would get to take my kids to a Led Zep concert. Fingers crossed
I will keep you posted with the news.

http://www.nme.com/news/led-zeppelin/39271

How secure is your computer

Over time here, people have commented on how secure or not secure there internet connection is. Here is a really good site to go to to find out how vulnerable you are on the net. It is not foolproof, but it can give you a ballpark idea as to what an outside person can see if they are testing you for weaknesses, with a mind to stick there nose into your PC.

The company that runs this is pretty reputable and has been aroud for quite a while now. The site is the Gibson Research Corporation, and you are looking for the link to Shields Up.
I have used it many times and have heard no bad reports over the time I have been aware of it.
Here is the link, give it a go if you have concerns about your firewalls ability to hide you from prying fingers.

The main page, for GRC, there is a link there to Shields up if you want in that way...
https://www.grc.com/default.htm

Link to Shields up, click proceed button, and tab through the tests...
https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Hope this is usefull.

200 Killer wasps

Here is an advertisement on Aussie TV, if you live here you will have seen it before, but for those overseas, you might get a giggle out of it.
I still laugh at it.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=npnZvTLMR1w

120,000 Year old Bacteria found alive in Greenland Ice

A team of Penn State scientists has discovered a new ultra-small species of bacteria that has survived for more than 120,000 years within the ice of a Greenland glacier at a depth of nearly two miles. The microorganism's ability to persist in this low-temperature, high-pressure, reduced-oxygen and nutrient-poor habitat makes it particularly useful for studying how life, in general, can survive in a variety of extreme environments on Earth and possibly elsewhere in the solar system.

http://live.psu.edu/story/31052

Wow, a living time capsule!

How easy one mistake can effect your life!

A few months ago my second teenager (15) had an...aberration in his normally sound judgment. He was riding his bike around his old school with a few kids he normally doesn't hang out with, anyway things got stupid and he and 2 other kids started throwing stones and between them they broke a few windows. They left the scene and split up. Well as my son had at the time a fairly distinctive hair style he was easily identified and we had a phone call from the police. They had apprehended him near the school. After a very intimidating hour in the interrogation room and many tears a very subdued boy walked out of the police station. Fortunately he had enough sense to own up, and be completely cooperative with the police, this i think went in his favor. Unfortunately though they tried to blame him for half the crimes in our little town. They did the good cop bad cop routine on him, i thought this only happened on TV, but no. At first I didn't mind as I thought the scare would do him good. But as it turned out, the bad cop really was the bad cop. He really did think he did all this other stuff. Fortunately much of what they accused him of happened when he was over 100km away down the beach. This we were easily able to verify for the police. But the bad cop still insisted he did the other stuff as well. We spoke to him and there was no evidence at all to put him anywhere near any of the crimes. This cop however just didn't like him and was determined to throw the book at him. Anyway they eventually sent him on his way with a warning under the understanding that if any other evidence was forthcoming that put him at the other places he would be charged. they said he just used his get out of jail free card.

But here is the thing. I know all parents don't want to see bad in there kids. But, I know he was not involved in anything else, the windows were a one off. We went over all he was accused of and was able to account for his whereabouts in my memory and my wifes. So it truly was a one off.

This had a profound effect on him. As a normally very sensible boy, he realized how it could have all ended up differently. He in an apprentice builder and his boss is an ex cop. He knows he would surely have lost his job had it gone bad. The bad cop is friends with his now ex girlfriends family. The cop told them what happened, the family then made him unwelcome and his girlfriend dumped him.
So much for privacy. He was devastated and took a long time to get over her.

And here is the bit that pissed us off. My wife recently went to the school to pick up my youngest son (10). The principle called her aside and asked her to request my son to keep away from the school. She said he had been seen trying to kick in one of the school doors by a cleaner, she said he was identified as the boy who broke the windows previously. Now this blew us away as he learned so much of a lesson previously my wife said that it was virtually impossible. She explained to the principle that my son was so effected by his last experience. So terrified by this cop trying to pin on him things that he did not do, that he had asked us to keep a diary of his moments when not at home so that if the cop came back he could account for where he was. None the less my wife said we will question him about it. When he got home from work he instantly got teary, not because of guilt, but because of fear, its happening again mum isn't it he said. Anyway we talked about it and tried to work out where he was that night. We forgot to fill in his diary. Then I realized where he was. He was with me, two of his brothers, and my older sister visiting my mum in hospital who had just had a heart attack and heart failure. I clearly remembered the night, he was home from after work, looking on eBay for a new motorbike, then we went straight to the hospital and got home about 9:30 pm. I was able to verify this with sister, and one of the nurses at the hospital.
I rang the principle and told her, fortunately she accepted that and did not want to take the matter any further (with him) But then she said, what about the cost of the broken windows from months ago. We said OK fair enough, we were never asked to pay for them, but we will, but what about the other kids that were there, they should also share the cost. the principle said "what other kids".
She didn't know there were other kids involved.
When my son spoke to police for the windows, he has made a full admission of what he did, as well as telling (on our advice) the police the names of the two other kids that were involved that actually started the whole thing and broke most of the windows.
But surprise surprise, not only were the kids never interviewed, the principle was only informed of my sons involvement.
Why you ask, because both the other kids parents are quite wealthy, have a prominant name in the town, and one of the kids mothers works at the school. The school was never informed about them, only my son. And funily enough, these two boys have been in lots of other trouble as well. My sons first and last offence.

Well I made sure I told the principle the names of the kids, and suggested that she should probably talk to those kids and there parents. It was then that the principle told us that the cleaner had not actually identified my son by name, only that it was the kid who broke the windows. Had the police told the principle all the facts, it might not have gone this far.

Now my son is to frightened to go out, if he sees a cop he instantly gets paranoid, thinking they are going to get him. He wont go far from home and always is mindful of having an alibi in case "they come back for him". The poor kid is petrified.

In the end his only crime was one broken window on one occasion. First and last offense, other than a warning for not wearing his helmet, he has never had any trouble with the police.

His crime was nothing in the big picture, I know that. But how many kids, how many people have copped a raw deal because of similar situations to this.

All because of one bad cop.