The Titles of Predictableness

Outpost Gallifrey have revealed the titles of the 10-part serialised novels of Doctor Who for publication in 2009.

As with any good/bad Doctor Who story, the titles are all of the form The of .

I always think this to be a very good/bad idea as the genius/stupidity of these titles immediately become memorable.

Many of the greatest/worst Doctor Who stories are in this format: The Hand of Fear, Caves of Androzani, Carnival of Monsters, The Power of Kroll, Revelation of the Daleks.

Getting the main point of a story into its title is often something that makes the adventure much more enthralling/boring too.

Anyway, the 10 book titles are:

1. The Dust of Ages (Justin Richards)
2. The Graves of Mordane (Colin Brake)
3. The Colour of Darkness (Richard Dungworth)
4. The Depths of Despair (Justin Richards)
5. The Vampire of Paris (Steve Cole)
6. The Game of Death (Trevor Baxendale)
7. The Planet of Oblivion (Justin Richards)
8. The Picture of Emptiness (Jacqueline Raynor)
9. The Art of War (Mike Tucker)
10. The End of Time (Justin Richards)

And another thing, despite my grumblings, I will probably still buy these and read them!

Myst Online: Restoration Experiment

Myst Online looks set to make a comeback.

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Uploaded by Klarren

Episode 12: I cannot wait another week!!!

A truly fantastic episode. I can see why some don't like it but I thoroughly enjoyed it!

True, there was some below-quality CGI and the worlds breaking through in the Medusa Cascade would have been so much better had the TARDIS not looked like it was a piece of cardboard on a stick.

Still, despite its flaws (which were few) I think this has got to be one of the best episodes ever and definitely gets my vote for 'best cliffhanger ever.'

"Doctor Who & The Pirates (Episode 2)" is now my second favourite cliffhanger!

I was disappointed not to see Mickey & Jackie. I'm still rooting for Pete to turn up too. If that happens, all we'd need is an appearance from the Ninth Doctor to complete the set.

What about Jenny? Something or someone's really got to prevent that regeneration...

Shame the Dalek didn't get too long to brag about what he'd done - "OK, you've all been trying for donkeys years and I finally went and exterminated the git! Yippee-ky-aye!! I exterminated the Doc-" BOOM!

Firefox 3

Oh, by the way, I downloaded Firefox 3.

It's the best web browser I've used yet.

A Virus Warning

People of the world, please be aware of the following virus warning:

There are new types of virus around today that have been around for years already. It's called a meme or more accurately, a repeated meme.

It's a virus that travels by computer - from one computer to another, passed on each time by a panic-stricken user just trying to do a good thing by passing a warning email they've received onto their friends and family.

The problem is that these emails are almost always a hoax and the viruses are not real.

So, what's all this about a meme then?

A meme is an idea. It 'infects' the user when they read the email and they then pass the meme onto their friends and family thereby 'infecting' them. The virus that doesn't exist never infects the computer but the idea that there may be a virus simply causes paranoia & unnecessary internet traffic.

So what's sparked off my rant today?

I received the following email:

BIG virus coming


I checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus!

I checked snopes.com, this morning, and it is for real!!

Get this E-mail message sent around to your contacts ASAP.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!

You should be alert during the next several weeks. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD,' regardless of who sent it to you.

It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc (C drive) of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason why you need to send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called' POSTCARD,' even though sent to you by a friend, do not open it.! This includes all cards, too. Shut down your computer immediately.

This is the worst virus announced by CNN. It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.

This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where your vital information is kept.

COPY THIS E-MAIL, AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS.

REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US.

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus

Confusion is further caused by the fact that Snopes refer to a virus that is real and people tend to mistake this particular warning for a warning about the real virus.

My reply?

Take a look at the following web page:
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/postcard-virus-hoax.shtml

Does it look familiar?

Email virus warnings are almost always a hoax, even when they claim to not be. This one in particular is quite nasty because it references a supposed 'Postcard' virus that doesn't exist. However, there is a real virus that poses as a postcard but it doesn't come through email. You'd need to visit a website and download the postcard before you could get it.

This is what causes confusion: making hoax virus warnings that suggest they are real when they are not.

My suggestions about any type of virus warning is to check out its validity on the internet. Hoax Slayer is a very reliable site for this but the main anti-virus companies (Symantec/Norton, McAfee, PANDA, AVG, etc.) also keep records on their sites about hoax emails.

The easiest way to check is by searching. I fired up Google and searched for "postcard virus burn drive" and got the link I've quoted at the top of the page. Amongst the search results were the links:

Hoax Slayer: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/postcard-virus-hoax.shtml
Symantec/Norton: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2006-022115-0852-99&tabid=2

This particular virus warning seems quite similar to the Olympic Torch hoax from Summer 2006.
Truth or Fiction: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/i/invitation.htm

People, let's do each other a favour and investigate the virus warnings we receive. Let's not just blindly click the forward button in our email programs. Let's use our intelligence to beat the hoaxes!

Firefox 3 Download Record

Here's a chance to participate in a download record.

The folks at Mozilla are trying to set a world record for the biggest number of downloads on one day when Firefox 3 is released.


Do check it out.

Happy Birthday Mozilla!

I've been using the Mozilla Suite since version 0.8 and have since moved on to Firefox and Thunderbird. Two excellent pieces of software!

Congratulations to all those involved and well done!

How's Your Speeling?

Your Spelling is Perfect

You got 10/10 correct.

Your spelling is excellent.
You also have a great memory and eye for detail.

How's Your Spelling?

Knight Rider (February 2008)

Although I still don't yet like the choice of car (it may grow on me) this is beginning to look good. But, when will it reach the UK?