Good morning on this first Friday of the new year.  Again warmer than normal--by a lot.  They were saying that an ungodly number of record high temps were set yesterday.   And the weather people expect that to continue for the next week.  I am not a great fan of cold weather but I do like my weather to be seasonal and it hasn't been for a long while.  This erratic weather with unseasonal temps is not good for the plants--as the freeze in Florida shows.  Expect higher prices for orange juice--again.

I have read more and more of my favorite bloggers saying that their accounts (e-mail, blog, or other) have been hacked of late, Nicola.  It is totally annoying even though I did get things back to normal quickly.  We do have cell phones--only.  A few years ago we decided to eliminate the land line.  It seemed to us that the only ones who called us on the land lines were telemarketers and wrong numbers.  We preferred having cells as a safety measure while driving around.  I can sympathize with your problem because I used to live in an area where cell reception was spotty and unreliable.

Continuing on the theme of hacking, Red Tape posted a warning about a very scary new virus that can allow a hacker to steal your banking log-in info, use it in fraudulent transactions, and hide the fact from you when you check your account--as the experts have recommended.  And expert quoted at the end of the article recommends that one simply avoid getting the virus into one's system in the first place.  My question--HOW??

Let's see what I can do today.  We have both been fighting through colds so we spend much of the day sleeping or vegetating.  We only do what we absolutely have to as we get the energy--which isn't all that often right now.  They had a story on the news last night and this morning which claimed that driving with a cold is the equivalent to driving drunk.  Yeah, but how do you get around that.  You can choose to not drink when you know you have to drive but you can't choose not to get a cold.  Call in sick??  Yeah, try that with some of the bosses I have known!!

Karoli posted this at Crooks & Liars this morning.  I think anyone who goes into politics these days have had to have their common sense surgically removed, along with their hearts and consciences if they are Repthuglican.  The attack on compulsory education I could dismiss as an aberration if I hadn't read some months ago of an effort by some Repthuglican to directly rescind such laws in Missouri.  It is ironic that on the one hand we are told that for this country to be competitive globally we have to have an educated work force and on the other we see these efforts to kill primary and secondary education as a public enterprise.  As to the move to require any legislation to be justified with a specific article of the Magna Carta--obviously those boy haven't read the document thoroughly or considered the wisdom of tying modern laws into an 800-year-old straight jacket.  Although it is very much related to the Christianist view of putting all of us into a 2000-year-old straight jacket that has been modified many times in the intervening time and which most of them haven't read (or understood) thoroughly.

Well, I think I need a nap.  Take care and see you next time.