Palm-Mensa

Palm Beach County Mensa Newsletter
July, 2004

Notes from the Underground - Barry Karas
Notes
Member Stats
The Tenth Story - Elissa Rudolph

Notes from the Underground
by Barry Karas

CENSORED... I received a solicitation in today's mail for a personal computer censorship device. (Censorship is one of my "hot buttons.") The stated idea is to restrict access to specified Internet sites if a PC is used for business. This treats people like children. It also allows an employer to take the easy way out and not to discipline individual employees.

PHISHING... No, I spelled it correctly. Phishing is where computer users are tricked into revealing their personal, financial or confidential information, such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, etc. The requests are usually disguised as email messages from trusted sources - such as banks or respected online retailers - that direct the recipient to a fake Web sites that resemble genuine sites. These bogus site request users to complete forms as part of legitimate-seeming processes, for example, to update or confirm records, or maintain accounts. Alternatively, these fake sites are sometimes malicious sites in disguise, through which the attacker can then use other exploits to install backdoors or gain access to the victims' computer data, for instance. The solution? Use common sense and don't complete forms just because they are computer forms.

ANTI-VIRUS... It's no secret that I spend a lot of time on my computer. Recently, there has been a lot of press about viruses and worms attacking personal computers.

This year, there are a lot of bad thingies out there and they are infecting PCs in new and improved ways. While the primary transmission method is still e-mail, some of the recent bad thingies (like the Sasser B virus) just need an online connection to infect PCs. I think it is very important to have an anti-virus software program (like Norton Anti Virus) running all of the time you are online.

Notes

Prudy Taylor Board has had her latest novel published. "Murder a la Carte" is now in bookstores. One critic wrote, "This book is a non-stop fun ride through mayhem, delectable menu items and delightfully quirky romance neatly mixed together in a deliciously malicious treat." Makes my mouth water.... Go, Prudy!

Member Stats

Palm Beach County Mensa had 297 members at the end of April; now we're up to 308. These new or renewing members are: Donna Bognar, Port St. Lucie; Sherry Rosen Brown, Lake Worth; Richard D'Elia, West Palm Beach; Norris Domanque, Jr., Jupiter; Emily Elkin, Hobe Sound; Michael Kaiser, Stuart; Theresa Morgan, Boynton Beach; John Murray, Boca Raton; Shawn Nigam, Palm City; Bruce Packtor, Boca Raton; and William Whalen, Port St. Lucie. Welcome or welcome back. Come out to an event and meet us!

The Tenth Story - July 2004
By Elissa Rudolph

Congratulations to Doug Paul, Webmaster, Central Florida Mensa, for the site's nomination in the 2004 Publications Recognition Program (PRP). Hope you take (took) home an award at the AG! We won't know the outcomes of this program until July 2 at the Awards Luncheon at the Paris hotel in Lost Wages, I mean, Las Vegas!! By the time you read this Doug will either be a nominee who must be or a very happy winner.

Go to http://wg06.us.mensa.org to see the bare bones of the Web pages for the 2006 World Gathering in Orlando. Offer suggestions, make comments-we like constructive criticism too, but not as much as creative ideas. Check back frequently because items will change. There will be additions constantly, and I see a slow build of excitement for this event. It's not just an AG, not just a WG, and it's not just a "diamond" anniversary of our organization. Perhaps it is an opportunity for Mensa to help bring about global unity. Sounds like a lofty goal, but why not take the opportunity to see if Mensa's original raison d'etre can work now, 60 years later, when technology has provided avenues of communication non-existent in 1946. This Web site will be linked to elists where we can discuss all this. The theme I'd like to see running through all the programming is, roughly: "Visualizing a Global Commnity."

Did I see you in Las Vegas?

To Ponder...

Television has brought murder back into the home-where it belongs. Who said it? Contact Elissa with answers.

Elissa Rudolph
RVC10@us.mensa.org
5054 Lakefront Blvd., Apt. D
Delray Beach, FL 33484
561-496-0124

Note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and DO NOT reflect opinions of Palm Beach County Mensa, its officers, or of American Mensa, Ltd., which holds NO opinions.

Palm-Mensa

Palm Beach County Mensa Newsletter July, 2004

Contents

Notes from the Underground by Barry Karas