Daily Archives: December 9, 2021

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Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

just drive, will you?

Wow, I’m getting old.

I can’t believe it was, as another blogger reminded me this morning, 56 years ago today that the Christmas TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, premiered on CBS.

I was six years old, already a diehard fan of the Peanuts comic strip, brainchild of cartoonist Charles Schulz. Good ol’ Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy, Schroeder, Snoopy, Pig-Pen and all the rest made me laugh a lot.

So, when it was time for an animated Peanuts TV special, I was all in.

And 56 years later, I still am. There have been several more TV specials, movies and musical productions through the years, but A Charlie Brown Christmas remains the gold standard for me.

I think one big reason for that is the music. Whoever decided the Vince Guaraldi Trio was the appropriate background music for this show was absolutely brilliant. From the sentimental Christmas Time…

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DIRGE

NANMYKEL.COM

Just a quick update, because I can’t bear to do much more.  As a chaplain at a hospital in a small city in Northeast Wisconsin, I find more daily heartbreak now than even in the previous months of the pandemic, even during our peak months of November 2020-March 2021.  The numbers are at least as high on our ICU and our general COVID unit.  The difference is in the ages of the people who are dying, and of those who are closest to them.  Last month, we saw many people in their 40’s dying.  Young adults in their late teens and 20’s were their children, and seeing them try to figure out how to mourn was heart-wrenching.  We saw every reaction one could imagine, from denial to self-blame to signs of deep depression.

This new month seems to be bringing us the deaths of patients in their 30’s. …

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Thoughtful Thursdays, Stayed on Freedom’s Call page 41, “For Thee We Sing”

Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

     What songs do you think we can sing to make our history more  inclusive of all of our stories?

     I started my own walking singing tour company in the belief that song was a powerful way to help make this happen.  Some of what I learned is in my book Stayed on Freedom’s Call (last week was page 40…):

 

” … sounds like an English song coming from the building. So maybe not all Jewish services are held entirely in Hebrew after all. The sounds of a lovely organ float out as the door again opens, while you remember overhearing a Jewish friend describing the upper level of Meridian Hill Park.

     You wistfully ponder the uppermost fountain
level, which you never sat in, although you could have passed for White.   You feel glad for your Jewish friend who was able to enjoy it…

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Russian National Sentenced for Providing Crypting Service for Kelihos Botnet | OPA | Department of Justice

A Russian national was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for operating a “crypting” service used to conceal the Kelihos malware from antivirus software, which enabled hackers to systematically infect approximately hundreds of thousands of victim computers around the world with malicious software, including ransomware.

According to court documents, Oleg Koshkin, 41, was convicted by a federal jury on June 15 of one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse and one count of computer fraud and abuse.

“The defendant provided a critical service used by cybercriminals to evade one of the first lines of cybersecurity defense, antivirus software,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Cybercriminals depend on services like these to infect computers around the world with malware, including ransomware.  The Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners are committed to investigating and prosecuting anyone who criminally operates these services to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Koshkin’s unscrupulous websites provided a vital service to cyber criminals, allowing them to hide their malware from antivirus programs and use it to infect thousands of computers all over the world,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Leonard C Boyle of the District of Connecticut. “We will continue to work closely with our investigative partners to root out and prosecute individuals involved across the ransomware spectrum, wherever they try to hide.”

Source: Russian National Sentenced for Providing Crypting Service for Kelihos Botnet | OPA | Department of Justice

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Čaga pečurka – Chaga mushroom

Myrela

Čaga pečurka gradi imunitet – nešto što svi želimo u svojim životima. Čaga (tehnički, nije pečurka, već prije parazitski izraštaj) posjeduje nutrijente koji podstiču imunosistem i revitalizuje broj bijelih krvnih zrnaca tako što povećava proizvodnju limfocita, monocita, neutrofila, basofila i eozinofila, tako da tijelo može da se bori protiv uljeza kao što su toksini, virusi i bakterije, kao i kvasaca i buđi. Ova nevjerovatna divlja hrana jača crvena krvna zrnca i koštanu srž, uravnotežuje trombocite i sprječava citokinske oluje, koje su rezultat pretjerane reakcije tijela na patogen ili toksin. Ova vrsta reakcije javlja se zato što imunosistem juri da ugasi požar. Kao i kod gašenja pravog požara, to može imati svoju cijenu, citokinske oluje mogu da rezultiraju širenjem krvnih sudova (što može dovesti do izliva krvi), koprivnjačom, osipom i povišenom temperaturom. Kada imate čagu na svojoj strani, tijelo je mnogo bolje opremljeno da se izbori s patogenima i toksinima. Čaga…

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