Just in case anyone was wondering. I've been a bit pre-occupied by getting rid of viruses or spyware off of various peoples computers lately - there seems to be a bit of a plague going on. If anyone needs help or tips on the matter, feel free to drop me a line.

I've also been playing Civilization IV a lot again. It keeps me occupied lol.

I've also done a few new pics recently as you will see below and above (downloadable from my Caedes.net gallery).

BBFN

I've not blogged for a while. The weird thing is that I've got so much to blog about that I don't really know where to start. The best place to start is probably with a more serious subject - another warning about internet use and viruses.

The reason being that I've recently had to clear my sister-in-laws computer of viruses/adware/malware of various sorts and a few weeks ago my sons school friends family computer was also riddled and needed cleaning. The reason for having to do this is purely down to a lack of computer knowledge again.

My sister-in-laws problem, however, wasn't so much down to a lack of knowledge but more a lack of adequate protection. She is with Virgin Broadband, who supply their own virus and spyware/adware protection along with a firewall, called 'PCguard'.

She has been quite happily using their software to scan for viruses and spyware, for the past few months, without any obvious problems. However, she recently started getting pop-ups telling her she had a virus and that she needed to download another FREE virus program to remove the virus. Of course, when I looked into it, she would have had to pay a fee to use this virus program called 'XP Anti Virus 2008'. This is also the same problem that my sons friends family had. Obviously, it was quite clear that in both cases they had picked up a 'trojan' adware bug as they were both getting these constant warnings about having viruses. The warning were such a pain that they couldn't do anything on the internet because of the constant pop-ups.

In both cases I scanned their computers with Avast! Antivirus, Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware which are all completely free programs. In both cases I also found about 200-400 signs of infections. In my sister-in-laws case it was rather interesting that Virgin's PCguard software hadn't picked up a single thing. Something for all you Virgin users to think about?!?

Then, today, I get a forwarded email from one of my friends here on MSN Spaces, warning about an email containing a virus that would be headed 'Hallmark Cards - collect your e-card', or something along those lines. The warning email then had a link to check out the info on the virus and supposedly confirming that this was a real and a MAJOR threat. Being the sceptic that I am, I decided to look-up the virus warning on Google... and surprise, surprise... it was a HOAX warning. However, the link in the email took you to the 'informative' website where you would get a virus (which, it turns out, was the same virus that my sis-in-law had)!

So, after all that I have a simple message...

Trust Nothing (if it sounds too good to be true it probably is)
Trust No-one (an email that has come from your friend/family may be sent via a Virus/Spyware infection - if it doesn't seem 'normal' delete it)
Google It - Google is your friend and you can find the truth about hoax emails and viruses easily with it

A couple of new pics

First one is a standard landscape created with Terragen. The second is a bit different... it's one of those 3D 'Magic Eye' things that you have to stare at until you go cross-eyed! Obviously, both are downloadable from caedes.net (link in right column). If you can see the 3D one, let me know!

"The 2012 London Olympics is going to be different", that is what they're saying. They could be right!

If modern Britain is anything to go by, there will have to be a lot of changes to the traditional Olympic methodology.
As you can see from MY artistic impression - things could be VERY different. With the rising price of gas and 'carbon footprint' being a major issue along with other 'Green' issues, I think we'll end up with a huge ENERGY SAVING OLYMPIC BULB instead of an Olympic Flame!

Then there's the Health & Safety issues. The Javelin will probably have a huge rubber sucker on the end and will have to be thrown onto a non-slip plastic surface. Possible trip hazards will rule out the Hurdles completely. The High Jump competitors and Pole Vaulters will have to wear a safety harnesses. The Discus will be replaced by a soft frisbee. The Shot put and Hammer Throwing will probably be banned. And there is no way that any runners will be able to wear spiked shoes! Then there's Weight Lifting - anything over 25Kg is a two-man job. In fact, I don't think there's many events that wouldn't be screwed-up if Health & Safety have their way.

Oh... then there's the 'politically correct' brigade. They'll be saying that the events aren't allowed to be competitive just in case someone's feelings are hurt by losing. At least that way every competitor will probably get a gold medal, so Team GB will be quite happy with the prospective medal haul... LOL.

It's taken me a long time to get round to saying this... but I'm back in Southend having lost my job. The company I was working for, A1 Fasteners in Eastleigh, 'released' me at the end of my 3 month trial period. Their reason - I was lacking the knowledge and skills they required for the future of the company!?! So, having worked in the same industry for 17 or 18 years that was a bit of a surprise. But, the real reason they 'let me go' isn't something they'd willingly discuss with any of their customers. The real reason was in fact, that I'd put getting goods to a customer on time first - before making a profit. I'd actually made a loss on the order! Yes, to prevent a customer losing a contract, I was losing the company £80.

When the higher powers were discussing it with me and why I'd done it, I never mentioned all the orders that I had made a profit on. Not even the order for £2100 that I made about £700 profit on! I didn't even mention the hours and hours of work I'd saved them on labels for Knorr-Bremse kits. They were actually photocopying A4 cad drawings on to A4 sized sticky labels by the 100's, then cutting out a small box of info from the middle of the page to stick on the kit packages. Whereas I just edited them with Paintshop Pro, imported them into Illustrator and converted them into PDF files that could be printed directly on a roll of labels. No waste paper and no time spent cutting them out, it took me about 5 minutes to create each label and they were printed at about a label/second. And once the label was created as a PDF all they have to do is print them off - as many as they want in next to no-time

As it happened, I was already thinking about looking for another job as I was sick to death of having to 'mis-inform' customers about why they hadn't received their deliveries. But I was hoping to last long enough to get relocated to the area and then start looking.

If you happen to be an A1 Fasteners, Croma Industrial or Gluelines customer and you are reading this, then good luck. You might want to ask them why most of the old A1 Fasteners staff left? Or why some staff are working a 55 hour week? Or why you never get what you want when you want it?
Remember - there are plenty of other fasteners companies in the area!

The Olympics

I've got to say, the opening ceremony to the Olympics was absolutely amazing. The sport side of it I find totally boring but hey, at least the football season has begun LOL. When we host the Olympics in 2012, we are going to have to come up with a hell of a show to beat the Chinese - and somehow I just don't see it happening, do you? In fact, it'll be bloody amazing if we even get everything ready on time when you think about how late Wembley Stadium was.

Other Stuff

Firstly, a BIG thank you to Carl & Karen for putting me up and putting up with me for 3 months.
Secondly, a BIG hello to everyone who has joined the Canute Facebook group and to those likely to be attending the Canute Reunion at the Firehouse Pub, also to the old rockers in Recluse who look likely to be doing the gig there.
Lastly... I'LL BE BACK!

This is the second weekend in a row that I've come back to Southend to see the wife and kids. Last weekend wasn't particularly eventful - just a nice quiet weekend with a 2 1/2 hour drive there and back to Southampton.

But this weekend has been quite interesting. Firstly, I didn't realise until Friday that it was Southend Airshow. So I expected to be able to get some good photos or video of the various planes flying over the seafront. It's generally quite good because the view from our balcony allows us to see most of the action without having to struggle through the massive crowds. Needn't have worried too much this year though, Sunday ended after about 5 displays due to low cloud. Though we did get to see the Red Arrows first. Worse still, today being bank holiday Monday, we had typical bank holiday weather which left the skies empty of everything but rain.

Nevermind', I said to the wife, 'Peppa Pig is at the Victoria shopping centre and the kids will love that!'. So off we went, did a bit of shopping then decided to hang about and see if we could see Peppa Pig. Sure enough, after about fifteen minutes of waiting, I spotted Peppa Pig and George upstairs, or at least, 2 people wearing Peppa and George suits!
Both myself and another dad, watching these people wearing great big pig outfits and heading towards the escalators, were hoping that they would end up tumbling down the escalators, nut the spoilsports decided to use the lift instead.

Anyhow, it wasn't long before these big pigs were surrounded by a hoard of young excited kids, ours included. I took some photos and the wife, armed with her new mobile phone, took photos and video clips. Our kids excitedly wandered back and forth between Peppa and George. When the wife started videoing it on her phone, I didn't realise she was doing it and better still, we didn't realise what she would capture. My son certainly didn't realise what was going to be caught on video and neither did Peppa Pig.

As the above headline suggests, yes... Peppa Pig HIT my son! He grabbed hold of this giant Peppa Pigs nose and pulled it downward and received a smack around the head! I was gob-smacked. I saw it but the wife, still videoing on her phone didn't notice. When I told her she burst out laughing in disbelief! So here it is, the moment my son was assaulted by a childrens TV character....

(watch carefully, Peppa is behind George and he is the boy in the red and blue t-shirt)