Sweden's 'Loch Ness Monster'

Perhaps, no other creature ever captured the world's heart quite like the legendary Loch Ness Monster. For every sighting revealed to be a hoax, credible new evidence emerges.

The monster's legend dates back some 1500 years, but "Nessie's" star really began to ascend in the 1930s.

Home in the Highlands

Located in the Scottish Highlands, the famous Loch Ness just seems to lend itself to mystery. It's easy to see why any creature could elude discovery in the loch for centuries. While we may never know what the Loch Ness monster is (if it does, in fact, even exist), here are some details about the Scottish Highlands in which it reportedly lives:
Almost 22 square miles on its surface, Loch Ness boasts the largest volume of freshwater in Scotland.

It contains the greatest average depth of any Scotland loch, plunging as low as 754 feet.

The loch's high peat concentration provides Loch Ness with its legendary murkiness.

The Loch Ness contains more water than all of the lakes in England and Scotland combined.

The Loch Ness Monster's Physical Features

Most of us have at least a hazy notion of Nessie's legendary looks. The sightings are split between two iconic images: A serpent-like creature with several humps or a creature usually described as "a long necked plesiosaur." Here is a look at some of the attributes commonly attributed to the Loch Ness Monster:

• Body: Statistically, almost half of the sightings describe a creature with a small head, long neck and two or three humps in its back.
  
  
• Color: At least one recent witness reported the Loch Ness Monster to be "jet black" in color.
  
  
• Other features: A 1970s image purports to reveal that the Loch Ness Monster has rhomboid-shaped fins.
  
  
• Size: The monster is believed to be 25 to 40 feet in length and perhaps four feet high.

From Kelpie to "Nessie"

References to mysterious encounters in the Loch Ness area go back as far as 560 AD. According to a biographer, the missionary St. Columba encountered a fierce water creature while traveling the River Ness. Just after the beast attacked and killed a native, it turned on one of the missionary's own men.

Here is an excerpt of the account: "[T]he monster . . . suddenly rushed out, and, giving an awful roar, darted after him, with its mouth wide open." According to legend, the future saint frightened the monster away by making the sign of the cross in the air.

Other tales emerged over the ensuing centuries, including that of a nineteenth century warlock said to possess a bridle belonging to a "water kelpie" that roamed Loch Ness. Some say kelpies were invented by parents anxious to keep children away from Britain's many deep lakes and rivers. Others claim that real events prompted the urgent warnings.

1933: A Good Year for Nessie Sightings

The year 1933 vividly brought the Loch Ness Monster legend to public attention. About 43 sightings occurred in that year alone. One couple out for a drive even claims to have seen the Loch Ness monster walking across a local road with some sort of animal in its mouth!

Many attribute the surge of Nessie sightings to highway improvements along the Loch's North Shore. It's unclear which was more instrumental in increasing monster sightings: The improved view, increased tourism or Nessie becoming perturbed by all the shoreline explosions. No matter what the reason, skeptics and believers alike were asking the same question: "The Loch Ness monster: What is it?"

Several photos of Nessie exist, the most famous of which was taken in 1934 by surgeon Kenneth Wilson. The photograph reveals a creature with a long neck and upraised head. Unfortunately, Wilson's photograph was exposed as a hoax more than 50 years later.

Sonar and the Loch Ness Monster

In 1954, a Loch Ness fishing boat equipped with sonar recorded a large object traveling at about the boat's speed at a depth of almost 500 feet.

The late 1960s ushered in the modern era of sonar and related projects to Loch Ness, several of which yielded intriguing results. Among them were sonar readings that evidenced an object about twenty feet long, moving too swiftly to be a fish.

In 1970, underwater microphones picked up a series of chirpings and swishing noises scientists could not identify as any known natural phenomenon. The recordings seemed to suggest a large animal using echolocation to find prey, with the swishing indicating tail movement characteristic of large aquatic animals on the hunt.

As recently as May 2007, a video emerged that purported to show a swiftly-moving, jet-black creature about 45 feet long. The video, broadcast on BBC Scotland, is still being analyzed.

Plesiosaur Possibility

From the beginning, Nessie-lovers who believed that the creature has a long, graceful neck indicated the Loch Ness monster was an aquatic dinosaur known as the plesiosaur, which somehow escaped the fate of its fellow dinosaurs during the mass extinction 65 million years ago.

Unfortunately, basic laws of nature seem to throw cold water on the Plesiosaur theory:

• The area known as the "Loch Ness" has been determined to be only about 10,000 years old, created by the last Ice Age. That makes it impossible for plesiosaurs to have been hiding in the loch for millions of years.
  
  
• Plesiosaur experts insist the creatures didn't lift their necks "swan-like" from the water, as Nessie-spotters so often report about the Loch Ness creature.
  
  
• Scientists believe the Plesiosaur to have been a cold-blooded creature preferring warm, tropical waters. Loch Ness, therefore, would be too cold for such a creature. Most believe Nessie to be warm-blooded.

The Loch Ness Monster: What is It

To this day, the Loch Ness monster phenomenon remains neither proven nor discredited. Skeptics continue to point to the fact that no physical evidence, such as skeletal remains or tissue samples, has ever been recovered.

However, true believers insist that the sheer number of sightings, the majority of which have not been ruled to be hoaxes, prove that the Loch Ness has yet to yield all of its secrets.

Events On This Day In History...

Here is what happened on Thursday - April 30th...

It is the 120 day of the year, and there are 245 days left...

Famous People Born On This Day In History...

Events On This Day In History...

1689,	The Bhangani Battle was fought between Guru Gobind Singh Ji and the Hill Rajas. This was Guru Sahib's first battle. Pir Budhu Shah's sons and 700 of his followers fought along side Guru's forces
1837,	The Battle of Jamrodh was fought and this is where Hari Singh Nalwa accepted Shahadat.
1877,	A mysterious aroma circumambulated the Guru Granth Sahib in the Golden Temple.
1921,	SGPC registered with British Government as a Sikh body in Lahore.
1789,	George Washington inaugurated as first president of the U.S.
1798,	Department of the Navy established.
1877,	An aroma like blazing light circumambulated Guru Granth Sahib in Golden Temple and vanished instantly.
1803,	US more than doubles its size thru the Louisiana Purchase.
1808,	The first practical typewriter was finished by Italian Pellegrini Turri. He built it for a blind friend.
1857,	Founding of what would become San Jose State University.
1869,	The Hawaiian YMCA organized.
1939,	NBC makes first US demo of TV at opening of NY World's Fair.

And Don't Forget...

	Hair Dresser's Day.
	National Honesty Day.

Click to go back to the services section of History of the Sikhs

Birthdates and Deaths which occurred on your SELECTED date of April 30:

1309 Kazimierz III de Great King of Poland (1333-70)
1602 William Lilly England, astrologer/author/almanac compiler
1651 Jean-Baptiste de la Salle French priest/theorist/saint
1717 Guillaume Gommaire Kennis composer
1743 Robert Jasper van de Capellen master of Marsch/politician
1767 Jean Henri Appelius lawyer/minister of Finance
1770 David Thompson English/Canadian explorer (Columbia River)
1777 Carl Friedrich Gauss Brunswick Germany, one of the world's great mathematicians (number theory, non-Euclidean geometry, gravitation)
1790 John Cockerill English/Belgian industrialist
1792 Johann Friedrich Schwencke composer
1796 Isaäc M "Isaac A" Crémieux French lawyer/minister of Justice
1797 Andreas V Michiels Dutch military governor of West-Sumatra
1805 William Kerley Strong Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1867
1812 Kaspar Hauser German son of grand duke Karel van Bathe
1823 George JD Campbell Scottish/British Minister to Indies (1868-74/80-85)
1830 Davis Tillson Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1895
1837 Alfred Gaul composer
1846 Rosalie Amstein writer
1851 Indrið Einarsson Iceland playwright (Nyjársnóttin)
1853 Alfred von Berger writer
1858 Mary Scott Lord Dimmick Harrison 1st lady (1889-1893)
1864 Frans Netscher Dutch writer/journalist (Studies of nude model)
1870 Franz Lehar operetta composer (Naughty Marietta)
1874 Cyriel Verschaeve Belgian priest/writer
1882 Trijntje "Nine" van de Schaaf author (To the Invisible)
1883 David John de Lloyd composer
1884 Albert Israel Elkus composer
1885 Luigi Russolo composer
1886 Frank Merrik composer
1888 John Crowe Ransom American poet/critic (God Without Thunder)
1889 Acario Cotapos composer
1889 Rudolph Hermann Simonsen composer
1891 Watze Cuperus Frisian author (Swart mar leaflik)
1893 Joachim von Ribbentrop German SS führer/foreign minister
1896 Reverend Gary Davis Laurens SC, blues/folk guitarist (A Little More Faith)
1899 Jannetje Fisherman-Roosendaal author (regional novels)
1899 Lucie Mannheim Berlin, actress (East Meets West, 39 Steps)
19-- Thom Bray Camden NJ, actor (Cyril-Breaking Away)
1902 Andre-François Marescotti composer
1902 Rudolf Wittelsbach composer
1903 Günther Raphael German composer (Symphony Breve)
1905 Henrich Schläppi Switzerland, 4 man bobsled (Olympics-gold-1924)
1909 Queen Juliana of Netherlands (1948-80)
1910 Al Lewis actor (Leo-Car 54, Grandpa-Munsters)
1911 Hans Studer composer
1911 John-Baptist J Walgrave [Henricus/Humanus], Flemish, theologist
1911 Luise Rinser writer
1912 Eve Arden Mill Valley CA, actress (Connie-Our Miss Brooks)
1912 Manuel Gutierrez Mellado soldier/politician
1913 Bernard Charles Sendall deputy director general (ITA)
1913 Edith Fowke folklorist
1914 Sid Weiss bassist
1915 Johnny Galecki actor (Danny-American Dreamer)
1916 Robert Shaw Red Bluff CA, chorale conductor (Robert Shaw Chorale)
1916 Claude Shannon information theorist
1916 Dugo D Schenker Suriname/Antillian producer
1917 Bea Wain US singer/radio host (Lucky Strike Hit Parade)
1918 W Donald McNeill tennis champion (US Open-1940)
1919 Valeer [Valerius V] van Kerkhove Flemish writer/producer
1920 Duncan Hamilton driver
1920 Leen 't Hart Dutch organist/composer
1922 Anton Murray cricketer (South African batsman in 10 Tests 1951-55)
1923 Al Lewis actor (Grandpa-The Munsters)
1923 Alan Wharton cricketer (England batsman once vs New Zealand 1949, scored 7 & 13)
1923 George Byatt playwright
1924 Sheldon Harnick Chicago IL, Broadway lyricist (Fiorello, Fiddler on the Roof)
1925 Corinne Calvet Paris France, actress (Phantom of Hollywood)
1926 Cloris Leachman Des Moines IA, actress (Phyllis, Last Picture Show)
1926 Corinne Calvet France, actress (Apache Uprising)
1926 Edmund Cooper UK, sci-fi author (Seed of Light, All Fool's Day)
1927 Lars Hall Sweden, Pentathlete (Olympics-gold-1952)
1927 Johnny Horton Los Angeles CA, rocker
1929 Peter Carsten Weissenberg Bavaria, actor (Mr Super Invisible)
1930 Raoul de Keyser [Dekeyser], Flemish painter
1931 William L [Bill] Clay (Representative-Democrat-MO, 1969- )
1932 Anton Larrauri composer
1933 Willie Nelson Abbott TX, country singer (On the Road Again)
1936 Zohra Lampert actress (Doctors' Hospital, Girl With Something Extra)
1938 Gary Collins Venice CA, actor (6th Sense, Home Show)
1938 Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard Queen of Netherlands (1980- )
1938 Larry [Van Cott] Niven US, sci-fi author (5 Hugo, Neutron Star, Flash Crowd)
1939 Ellen Taafe Zwilich Miami FL, (1st woman composer Pulitzer 1982)
1939 Pieter van Vollenhoven husband of Dutch Princess Margriet
1940 Burt Young New York NY, actor (Convoy, Rocky)
1941 Johnny Farina rocker (Santo & Johnny)
1941 Wilfried Jentzsh composer
1943 Bobby Vee Fargo ND, (Devil or Angel, Night has a Thousand Eyes)
1943 Robert L Livingston (Representative-Republican-LA, 1977- )
1944 Jill Clayburgh New York NY, actress (Unmarried Woman, Semi-Tough)
1944 Richard Shoff rocker (Sandpipers)
1945 Annie Dillard American writer (An American Childhood)
1945 Michael J Smith Beaufort NC, Commander USN, astronaut (51L-Challenger disaster)
1945 Claude van de Berge [Rony MF Pauwels], Flemish writer (Graph Theory)
1945 Mike Beacon rocker (Ox)
1945 Mimi Farina rocker (Reflections in a Crystal Wind)
1946 Carl XVI Gustav King of Sweden (1973- )
1946 Donald Schollander Charlotte NC, 100 meter/400 meter freestyle swimmer (Olympics-gold-1964)
1947 Robert Scott (Representative-Democrat-VA)
1948 Perry King Alliance OH, actor (Cody-Riptide, Andy Warhol's "Bad")
1948 Wayne Kramer jazz artist (Dangerous Madness)
1951 Panuta Rosani Poland, discus (Olympics 1976) drug disqualified
1952 Tom Pesek PC programmer (creator of HAL 9000 program)
1953 Merrill Osmond Ogden UT, singer (Osmond Brothers, Donnie & Marie)
1954 Günther Tiersch German Democratic Republic, 8 man cox (Olympics-gold-1968)
1955 Dimitra Papandreau Greece, wife of Greek PM Andreas Papandreau
1956 Richard Farina folk singer (Reflections in a Crystal Wind)
1957 Duane G Carey St Paul MN, Major USAF/astronaut
1959 Kamaran Abdalla Iraq/England/Netherlands actor (Goede Tijden Selechte Tijden)
1959 Lauren Howe LPGA golfer
1961 Isiah Thomas NBA forward (Detroit Pistons, 1990 NBA playoff MVP)
1963 Steve Smith Glasgow Sco, NHL defenseman (Chicago Blackhawks)
1964 Ian Healy cricket wicket-keeper (Australian since 1988)
1964 Jeff Reboulet Dayton OH, infielder (Minnesota Twins)
1965 Adrian Pasdar Pittsfield MA, actor (C Oliver Resor-Feds, Top Gun)
1965 Daniela Costian Australian discus/shot putter (Olympics-96)
1966 Aundray Bruce defensive end (Oakland Raiders)
1966 David Meggett NFL running back (New York Giants, New England Patriots)
1966 Jeff Brown Ottawa, NHL defenseman (Hartford Whalers)
1968 Babette Van Veen Netherlands, actress (Linda-GTST, Blueberry Hill)
1968 Paulo Jr Brazilian pop bassist (Sepultura, Morbid Visions)
1968 Richard Pilon Saskatoon, NHL defenseman (New York Islanders)
1968 Roger Mar Seattle WA, rapid fire pistol (Olympics-1996)
1968 Sandra Beikoff Mackay Queensland, golfer (1990 Sunshine Coast Open)
1969 Joey Restivo Brooklyn, rocker (Linear-I Never Felt This Way, Lies)
1969 Dexter Rogers St Petersburg FL, volleyball opposite hitter (Olympics-96)
1970 Brad Layton Seymour IN, rower (Olympics-1996)
1970 Debbie D Philadelphia PA, actress (Attack of Vampire Mermaid)
1971 B J Tyler NBA guard (Toronto Raptors)
1971 Matt Martin Hamden, NHL defenseman (Toronto Maple Leafs, Olympics-US-94)
1971 Randy Bierman WLAF tackle (Scottish Claymores)
1971 Ryan Hawblitzel West Palm Beach FL, pitcher (Colorado Rockies)
1971 Ty Hallock fullback (Jacksonville Jaguars)
1972 Kendricke Bullard NFL wide receiver (New England Patriots)
1972 Mario Schaden hockey forward (Team Austria 1998)
1974 Cedric Jones defensive end (New York Giants)
1974 Chris Darkins NFL running back (Green Bay Packers-Superbowl 31)
1975 Beverley Peele model [or Apr 7]
1975 Johnny Galecki Bree Belgium, actor (American Dreamer, David-Roseanne)
1982 Kirsten Dunst actress (Interview with the Vampire)
1988 Molloko San Diego Zoo, 1st California condor chick conceived in captivity

Deaths which occurred on April 30:

0313 Gaius G V Maximus [Daia] Emperor of Rome, dies
0535 Amalaswintha queen of Ostrogoten, murdered
1030 Mohammud van Ghazna Turkish mayor (G'widen)/Islamic ruler, dies
1196 Boudouin II bishop of Utrecht (1178-96), dies
1214 Huguccio/Hugo van Pisa Italian bishop, dies
1328 Meister Johann Eckhard German theologist/mystic, dies
1630 Ercole Porta composer, dies at 44
1632 Jean de Tilly fieldmarshal, dies
1632 Sigismund III King of Poland/Sweden, dies at 65
1660 Peter Scriverius Dutch lawyer/historian, dies at 84
1671 Péter Zrinyi Hungarian banished to Croatia, beheaded at 49
1708 Simon de Vries book seller/writer (Unequal), dies
1712 Philippus van Limborch remonstrants theologist/vicar, dies at 78
1743 Pedro de Peralta y Barnuevo Peruvian playwright/poet, dies
1784 Franz K earl von Velbruck German free mason, dies
1785 Frederick Philipse 3 land owner (Bronx, Westch & Putnam), dies at 65
1792 Hans Adolf Friedrich von Eschstruth composer, dies at 36
1792 John Montague 4th Earl of Sandwich English Naval minister, dies at 73
1793 Lorenzo Fago composer, dies at 88
1795 Jean-Jacques Barthélemy French historian (Ancient Greece), dies
1800 John H Midderigh Rotterdam patriot, dies at 46
1828 Shaka the great Zulu king, killed
1829 George Washington Adams son of John Q Adams, dies on City Island New York NY
1847 Charles archduke of Austria/Governor-General (Austria-Netherlands), dies
1848 Friedrich Freiherr Gagern German/Dutch army commandant, dies at 53
1855 Henry Rowley Bishop British composer/conductor, dies at 68
1859 Sergei T Aksakov Russian writer (Bagrova-vnuka), dies at 67
1887 Friedrich Wilhelm Markull composer, dies at 71
1893 Edouard Manet French painter (Olympia), dies at 61
1893 Gyula Beliczay composer, dies at 57
1895 Gustav Freytag writer, dies at 78
1896 Antonio Cagnoni composer, dies at 68
19-- Richard Farina rocker, dies on his birthday in a motorcycle accident
1900 John Luther [Casey] Jones dies in Cannonball Express train wreck
1903 François Crépin Belgian botany, dies at 72
1912 Frantisek Kmoch composer, dies
1919 Henry Wood England cricket wicket keeper (in 4 Tests 1888-92), dies
1922 David M Chumaceiro Curaçaos poet, dies
1929 Friedrich Lienhard German publisher (Türmer), dies at 63
1931 Sammy Woods cricketer (3 Tests for Australia, 3 for England), dies
1933 Luis Sanchez Cerro President of Peru, assassinated by Hurtado de Mendoza
1934 Dr William Henry Welch pathologist who played a major role in the introduction of modern medical practice and education dies at 75
1942 Catherine Murphy Urner composer, dies at 51
1942 J van Hoddis writer, dies at 54
1943 Beatrice Potter Webb British writer (My Apprenticeship), dies at 85
1943 Etty Hillesum Dutch diarist, dies in Auschwitz
1945 Adolf Hitler German dictator (1936-45), commits suicide at 56
1945 Eva Braun mistress/wife of Hitler, commits suicide at 33
1952 Charles Radoux-Rogier composer, dies
1956 Alben W Barkley (Vice President-Democrat-1949-53), dies at 78
1957 Ludwig Schiedermair German musicologist (Beethoven), dies at 80
1959 Armand Louis Joseph Marsick composer, dies at 81
1963 Bryant Washburn actor (Nabonga, Millionaire Kid), dies at 74
1965 Helen Chandler actress (Dracula, Salute, Last Flight), dies at 56
1966 Richard Farina rocker, dies on his birthday in a motorcycle accident
1968 Frankie Lymon rocker, dies of a heroin overdose
1970 Inger Stevens actress (Katy-Farmer's Daughter), commits suicide at 35
1970 Hall Johnson composer, dies at 82
1970 Jacob Presser historian/writer (Doom, Ondergang), dies at 71
1971 Elmo Roper pollster (Roper Poll), dies at 70
1972 Gia Scala actress (Garment Jungle, I Aim at the Stars), dies at 38
1972 Ntare V king of Burundi, murdered
1973 Josie Sedgwick actress (White Moth), dies of stroke at 75
1974 Agnes Moorehead actress (Endora-Bewitched), dies from cancer at 67
1976 Edvard Fliflet Braein composer, dies at 51
1977 Clive Martin Douglas composer, dies at 73
1980 Mary McCarty actress (French Line), dies
1982 Albert Bird lecture artist, dies
1982 Herman Tholen Dutch cabaret performer (Juveniles), dies
1982 Taisen Deshimaru founder of several Zen centers in France, dies at 67
1983 George Balanchine choreographer, dies at 78
1983 Jerry Hatsuo Fujikawa actor (Uncle Matsu-Mr T & Tina), dies at 71
1983 Muddy Waters US blues singer/guitarist (Mad Love), dies at 68
1984 Arthur T "Bomber" Harris bombed Nazi-Germany, dies
1984 Muddy Waters blues singer/guitarist (Hoochie Coochie Man), dies at 68
1985 George Pravada actor (Felscher-Holocaust), dies at 66
1987 Hugh Dempster actor (Anna Karenina, Candles at Nine), dies
1988 James McCracken US tenor, dies at 61
1989 Sergio Leone Italian director (Good, Bad & Ugly), dies at 60
1991 George Sperti Sperti inventor (Preparation H), dies at 91
1991 Michael G Hagerty actor (Overboard), dies at 39
1992 Daan van Driel Dutch cartoonist/WWII resist fighter (Trouw), dies
1993 David Waymer NFLer (Saints, 49'ers, Raiders), dies at 34
1993 Eric Rowan cricketer (26 Tests for South Africa), dies
1994 David Langton dies of a heart at 81
1994 Ferdinando Scarfiotti Italian set designer (Last Emperor), dies at 53
1994 Geoffery Michael Roberts vintner, dies at 46
1994 Richard McClure Scarry US kid book illustrator/writer, dies at 74
1994 Roland Ratzenberger Austrian race car driver, dies in crash at 31
1995 Donald Edwin White ad copywriter/opera administrator, dies at 59
1995 Reinaldo de Carvalho carnival king, dies at 34
1996 David Michael Ifshin British political campaign organiser, dies at 46
1996 David Opatoshu actor (Torn Curtian, Raid on Entebbe), dies at 78
1996 Frank Henry Copplestone TV executive, dies at 71
1996 Helene Cordet entertainer/nightclub owner, dies at 78
1996 Julio Cesar Mendez Montenegro President of Guatemala (1966-70), dies

On this day...

0311 Emperor Galerius recognizes Christians legally in the Roman Empire
1006 Brightest supernova in recorded history is observed
1064 German King Henry IV gives away Utrecht county of West Friesland
1349 Jewish community at Radolszell Germany, exterminated
1396 Crusaders & earl of Nevers depart from Dijon
1492 Columbus is given royal commission to equip his fleet
1506 Philip of Bourgondy & England sign trade agreement
1527 England & France sign treaty of Westminster
1562 1st French colonists in US Jean Ribaut & Hugenots at Parris Island NC
1563 Jews are expelled from France by order of Charles VI
1598 1st theater performance in America (Spanish comedy-Rio Grande)
1616 English King Jacob I leaves Brielle/Vlissingen
1650 French rebel Henri de la Tour Turenne signs treaty with Spain
1661 Tsjeng Tsj'eng-Kung begins siege of Dutch fort Zeelandia, Formosa
1695 William Congreve's "Love for Love", premieres in London
1722 The game of Billiards is mentioned in the New England Courant
1725 Emperor Charles VI & King Philip IV of Spain sign Treaty of Vienna
1748 Ceasefire at Aken ends
1748 French troops occupy Maastricht
1763 London Journalist John Wilkes confined in the Tower
1772 John Clais patents 1st scale
1774 Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee
1789 George Washington inaugurated as 1st President of US
1790 Colonial troops occupy Bonni's marroon village
1798 Department of the Navy is established
1803 US doubles in size through the Louisiana Purchase ($15 million)
1804 Hague's Theater opens
1808 1st practical typewriter finished by Italian Pellegrini Turri
1812 (Eastern) Louisiana admitted as 18th US state
1838 Nicaragua declares independence from Central American federation
1852 Anton Rubinsteins opera "Dmitri Donskoi", premieres in St Petersburg
1857 San Jose State University forms
1859 Paul Morphy returns from 10-month chess tour of Europe, retires
1860 Navaho Indians attack Fort Defiance (Canby)
1861 President Abraham Lincoln ordered Federal Troops to evacuate Indian Territory
1862 Swift Run Gap WV skirmishes
1864 New York becomes 1st state to charge a hunting license fee
1864 Battle of Jenkins' Ferry AR; General William Read Scurry is killed
1865 General Shermans "Haines's Bluff" at Snyder's Mill VA
1869 Hawaiian YMCA organized
1871 Apaches in Arizona surrender to white & Mexican adventurers; 144 die
1885 Boston Pops Orchestra forms
1887 1st game played at Broad & Huntingdon St Park (Baker Bowl) in Philadelphia; Phillies beat Giants 19-10
1888 Hailstones kill about 250 in Moradabad district of Delhi India
1889 1st US national holiday, on centennial of Washington's inauguration
1898 Championship wrestling match at the Metropolitan turns into a brawl
1900 165 lb Robert Fitzsimmons KOs 305 lb Ed Dunkhost in a boxing match
1900 USA annexes Hawaii
1902 Debussy's opera "Pelléas et Mélissande", premieres in Paris France
1903 New York Highlanders (Yankees) 1st home game, (Hilltop Park-168th St & Broadway, Manhattan), they beat Washington Senators, 6-2
1904 Ice cream cone makes its debut
1905 1st official soccer game between Belgium-Netherlands (1-4)
1910 Cleveland Indian Addie Joss wins 2nd no-hitter beating White Sox
1911 Portugal approves woman suffrage
1918 Orange Nassau soccer team forms in Groningen
1919 Philadelphia Phillies beat Brooklyn Dodgers 9-0 in 20 innings
1921 American Professional Football Association reorganizes in Akron
1921 Pope Benedict XV encyclical "On Dante"
1922 Chicago White Sox Charles Robertson perfect games Detroit Tigers, 2-0
1927 Princess Juliana gets seat in Dutch Council of State
1928 Cherkess Autonomous Region is established in RSFSR (until 1957)
1929 Earnest Streeruwitz becomes chancellor of Austria
1934 Austria gets "Austrian facist" constitution
1935 World Congress for Women's Rights concludes in Istanbul
1937 General Douglas MacArthur marries Jean Faircloth
1938 Bradman scores 258 Australia vs Worcestershire, 293 minutes, 33 fours 1 five
1939 NBC/RCA 1st public TV demo with FDR at opening of New York World's Fair
1939 Tropicana ballet of Havana Cuba, forms
1940 Brooklyn Dodger Tex Carleton no-hits Cincinnati Reds, 3-0
1941 Spread of Judaism begins in Croatia
1942 1st submarine built on Great Lakes launched, (Peto), Manitowoc WI
1943 Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp for Jews forms
1943 Dutch strike against forced labor in Nazi Germany's war industry
1943 Noël Coward's "This Happy Breed", premieres in London
1944 New York Giant, Mel Ott scores 6 runs in 1 game drawing 5 walks for 4th time
1944 New York Giant Phil Weintraub gets 11 RBIs
1945 "Arthur Godfrey Time" begins a 27 year run on CBS radio
1945 Concentration camp München-Allag freed
1945 Lord Haw-Haw calls for crusade against the bolsheviks
1945 Red Army occupies Demmin
1945 Red Army opens attack on German Reichstag building in Berlin
1945 Russian Army frees Ravensbrück concentration camp
1945 US troops attack the Elbe
1946 Cleveland Indian Bob Feller's 2nd no-hitter beats New York Yankees, 1-0
1947 Boulder Dam renamed in honor of Herbert Hoover
1948 Organization of American States charter signed at Bogotá, Colombia
1948 "Inside USA" opens at Century Theater NYC for 339 performances
1948 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1950 Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA 144-hole Golf Weathervane
1952 Louise Suggs wins LPGA Stockton Golf Open
1952 Mr Potato Head is 1st toy advertised on television
1953 Little-Bigger League changes its name to Babe Ruth League
1954 Darius Milhauds 4th Concert for piano/orchestra premieres in Haifa
1955 Element 101, Mendelevium, announced
1955 Perez Prado's "Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White" goes #1 for 10 weeks
1955 Imperial Bank of India nationalized
1955 West German unions protest for 40-hour work week & more wages
1958 Ted Williams is 10th major league player to get 1,000 extra-base hits
1961 1st shuttle flights between Washington DC, Boston MA & New York NY begin (Eastern)
1961 Lee Harvey Oswald marries Marina Prusakova in Minsk USSR
1961 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
1961 Premier Fidel Castro of Cuba receives Lenin-Peace Prize
1961 San Francisco Giant Willie Mays hits 4 homeruns in a game
1962 NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to an altitude of 75,190 meters
1967 Baltimore Orioles' Stu Miller & Steve Barber lose 2-1 despite no-hitting Detroit Tigers
1967 Highest tower in the world finished, 537 meters (USSR)
1967 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Shreveport Kiwanis Club Golf Invitational
1967 New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver wins his 1st game
1968 3 Baltimore Oriole pitchers walk 14 New York Yankees in a 9 inning game
1969 Cincinnati Red Jim Maloney 3rd no-hitter beats Houston Astros, 10-0
1969 WEDB TV channel 40 in Berlin NH (PBS) begins broadcasting
1970 US troops invade Cambodia
1970 Chicago Cubs Billy Williams is 1st National Leaguer to play in 1,000 consecutive games
1971 25th NBA Championship Milwaukee Bucks beat Baltimore Bullets in 4 games
1972 "Arthur Godfrey Time" ends a 27 year run on radio
1972 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Alamo Ladies Golf Open
1973 Nixon announces resignation of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, et al
1973 Paul McCartney releases "Red Rose Speedway" including "My Love"
1973 Women's tennis groups end disputes over sanctioning tournaments
1974 President Richard Nixon hands over partial transcripts of Watergate tape recordings
1975 Last US helicopter leaves US embassy groundsin Vietnam, Saigon surrenders
1976 Wings release "Silly Love Songs"
1976 Muhammad Ali beats Jimmy Young in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1976 Royal Canadian Mint opens a branch in Winnipeg Manitoba
1977 "Party with Comden & Green" closes at Morosco NYC after 92 performances
1977 Billy Graham beats Bruno Sammartino in Baltimore MD, to become WWF champion
1977 Ron Cey sets record of 29 RBIs in April
1978 "Elvis The Legend Lives!" closes at Palace NYC after 101 performances
1978 Janet Coles wins LPGA Natural Light Lady Tara Golf Classic
1979 Mary Therese Friel, (New York), crowned 28th Miss USA
1980 Queen Beatrix of Netherlands, Wilhelmina Armgard, ascends to the throne
1980 Terrorists seize Iranian Embassy in London
1980 "Barnum" opens at St James Theater NYC for 854 performances
1980 Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, abdicates
1980 Ronald Harwood's "Dresser", premieres in London
1981 "Can-Can" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 5 performances
1981 16th Academy of Country Music Awards Barbara Mandrell & George Jones win
1982 Alvaro Magana chosen to succeed Jose N Duarte as President of El Salvador
1982 Atlanta Braves win record 12th straight from beginning of season
1982 Iranian offensive in Khusistan
1983 Bruins 3-Islanders 7-Wales Conference Championship-Islanders hold 2-1 lead
1984 Strong winds cause a 30 minute delay in Toronto Blue Jays game
1984 1700 skiers participate in an alpine event at Are Sweden
1985 Dale Murphy drives in record tying 28th & 29th runs of April
1985 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1985 Last edition of Brink Daily Mail/Sunday Express in South Africa
1986 Ashrita Furman peformed 8,341 somersaults over 12 miles
1986 Seattle Mariners strike out 16 times, set record of 36 in 2 consecutive games
1987 New York Islander Mike Bossy plays his final game
1987 Lou Lamoriello is named New Jersey Devils president
1988 New Jersey Devils beat Capitals 3-2 taking 7th game of Patrick Division final
1988 New York Knights 1st arena football game; beat Cobras 60-52 (10,157 in Los Angeles)
1988 New York Yankee Dave Winfield gets his 29th RBI of April-Sets American League & ties major league record
1988 World Exposition, Expo 88 opens in Brisbane Australia
1988 Baltimore Orioles win record 14th straight from beginning of season
1988 Largest banana split ever, at 4.55 miles long, is made in Selinsgrove PA
1989 Critics Siskel & Ebert film their 500th TV movie-review show
1989 US beats Costa Rica 1-0, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup
1989 Kathy Postlewait wins LPGA Sara Lee Golf Classic
1989 Pope John Paul II beatifies Victoire Rasoamanarivo of Madagascar
1990 As New York Mets pitcher David Cone argues a call at 1st base, 2 Atlanta Braves score
1990 US 66th manned space mission STS 31 (Discovery 10) returns from space
1990 Seattle Mariner's Brian Holman's perfect game broken up with 2 outs in 9th
1990 US hostage Frank Reed freed after 4 years in hands of pro-Iranians
1991 In Bangladesh a cyclone kills over 131,000 & leaves 9 million homeless
1992 208th & final episode of "The Cosby Show" on NBC-TV
1994 Soccer great Pele (53) weds psychologist Assiria Seixas Lemos (36)
1995 "Blood Brothers" closes at Music Box Theater NYC after 839 performances
1995 "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" closes at Lyceum Theater NYC after 24 performances
1995 "Rose Tattoo" opens at Circle in the Square Theater NYC for 80 performances
1995 After 120 years the last 15 A & S department stores close
1995 Val Skinner wins LPGA Sprint Golf Championship
1996 "Buried Child", opens at Atkinson Theater NYC for 77 performances
1996 Dutch/Italian Beppo-SAX launches from Cape Canaveral
1996 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Grand Rapids MI on WKLQ 94.5 FM
1997 "London Assurance", opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 72 performances
1997 42 million watch "Ellen" admit she is gay
1997 Atlanta Braves win record 19 games in April
1997 Big Ben stops at 12:11 PM for 54 minutes
1997 President Bill Clinton's daughter Chelsea chooses to attend Stanford College
1997 Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov wounded in assassination attempt
1997 Tino Martinez hits record 34 RBIs in April

Holidays

Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Louisiana : Admission Day (1813)
Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Surinam : Queen Juliana's Birthday
Switzerland : May Day Eve/Maitag Vorabend
Alabama, Florida, Mississippi : Confederate Memorial Day (1868) - - - - - ( Monday )
US-Utah : Arbor Day-Plant a tree (1872) - - - - - ( Friday )

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : St Pius V, pope
Wicca : Walpurgis Night or Bealtaine, sabbat
Roman Catholic, Lutheran : Commemoration of St Catherine of Siena, virgin/doctor
Roman Catholic : Memorial of St Pius V, pope (1566-72) (optional)
Jewish : Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) (Nisan 27, 5752 AM)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Religious History
418 Roman Emperor Honorius (who ruled 395-423) issued a decree denouncing Pelagianism, which taught that humanity can take the initial and fundamental steps toward salvation by its own efforts, apart from divine grace.
1841 Birth of Orville J. Nave, the U.S. Armed Services chaplain who compiled the "Nave's Topical Bible" -- still in print!
1867 Death of Ithamar Conkey, 52, a popular 19th century English bass vocalist. He also composed the hymn-tune RATHBUN to which we sing today, "In the Cross of Christ I Glory."
1904 Birth of John T. Benson, Jr, religious composer and former president of Heartwarming Music in Nashville. His best-known sacred composition was the hymn, "Love Lifted Me."
1944 English scholar J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in a letter: 'Evil labors with vast powers and perpetual success -- in vain: preparing always only the soil for unexpected good to sprout in. So it is in general, and so it is in our own lives.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Additional information supplied by the author. Contact via E-mail: William D. Blake. (pilgrimwb@aol.com)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thought for the day :
" To get ahead and stay ahead, use your head. "

Welcome to the Shire of Christmas Island

Christmas Island is an Australian Non-self Governing External Territory, located in the Indian Ocean on the rim of South East Asia, 360km south of Java and 2600 km North West of Perth.

The coastline of 73km comprises mostly sheer rocky cliffs 10 to 20 metres high with a few small coral and rubble beaches. The Island has a typical tropical equatorial climate with wet and dry seasons. Official temperatures range from a minimum of 22 degrees to a maximum of 28 degrees. Average humidity is between 80 – 90%.

The population of the Island is approximately 1,200 with a mix of Chinese, Malay and Europeans. The principle languages are Mandarin, Bahasa Malay and English. Other Chinese dialects are also spoken.

The Island is considered to have high conservation value due to the number of endemic bird, crab and plant species. Approximately 63% of the Island’s 135 square kilometres is gazetted National Park. Christmas Island’s economy is currently based on phosphate mining and tourism with a focus of its unique natural resources both on land and sea.

The Shire of Christmas Island has been operating since 1 July 1992. It was created as a result of the law reform process whereby the Commonwealth decided to apply the laws of Western Australia as Territory laws. The Christmas Island Services Corporation, a Commonwealth organisation, became the local government on this date. The Shire provides standard local government type services as well as acts as agent for the Commonwealth in the provision of some services.

As Christmas Island is a multi-lingual community, the Shire will be providing, over time, translations of information on this website in Chinese and Bahasa Malay.

We hope you find this web site useful and informative.

All Shire documents are stored in Adobe® Acrobat® PDF format. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed, please download it free from the Adobe website : http://www.adobe.com/downloads/

Click here for Malay Home Version

good morning - welcome notes

Inside technology of Hovercraft

The hovercraft was invented by Christopher Cockerell, an English electronic engineer in the 1950s. The first full-sized hovercraft, the SRN1 was not built and ready for testing until May 28, 1959.

Because of friction between the boat and the water, boats could not be made to travel faster without using powerful jet engines which use a lot of fuel, so Christopher Cockerel thought of something to reduce the friction. To reduce any kind of friction, you need a lubricant. Cockerel thought air might be the answer. After attempting many experiments he came up with an solution. A curtain of air right around the hull of the boat in the form of an annular, or ring-shaped, jet was the answer to friction.

The hovercraft has improved in strength over the years and many other developments have also taken place. They include:

The Hoverbed: which is a light fabric bed supported on a rigid frame, which is used in the treatment of severe burn cases: it allows the injuries to dry up rapidly and heal much more quickly.

The hover-transporter: it is a heavy-load transporter working on the hovercraft is used for moving bulky loads

The hoverkiln: this device was used for a time in the manufacture of delicate china, which ‘floated’ through the kiln on a cushion of air.

The hovermower: Lawnmowers which ride over the grass on a cushion of air are proving of great value on banks and eneven ground as well as stretches of level turf.

Life would be quite different without the invention of the hovercraft. By using the hovercraft, people could travel to places quicker by sea and also the ability to transport heavy loads by sea quicker is also a great advantage to us. Many hovercrafts travel across the English Channel and they have reduced the journey time to 35 minutes, from 90 minutes on a ferry. Many people still believe that the hovercraft is a perfect military tool as it is the only true amphibious vehicle that can travel at the same speed over land and ocean.

Hovercraft

A hovercraft is a vehicle supported on a cushion of air supplied by a powered fan mounted on the craft.

The hovercraft was invented by Christopher Cockerell in 1956. The theory behind one of the most successful inventions of the 20th century, the Hovercraft, was originally tested in 1955 using an empty KiteKat cat food tin inside a coffee tin, an industrial air blower and a pair of kitchen scales. Sir Christopher Cockerell developed the first practical hovercraft designs, these led to the first hovercraft to be produced commercially, the SRN1.

Christopher Cockerell's idea was to build a vehicle that would move over the water's surface, floating on a layer of air. This would reduce friction between the water and vehicle. To test his hypothesis, he put one a smaller can inside a larger can and used a hairdryer to blow air into them. The downward thrust produced was greater when one can was inside the other rather than air just being blown into one can.

Christopher Cockerell - Biography (information provided by NASA)
Christopher Sydney Cockerell was born in 1910. He worked for the Radio Research Company until 1935 and then for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company from 1935 until 1951. During the war years, Christopher Cockerell worked with an elite team at Marconi to develop radar, a development which Churchill believed had a significant effect on the outcome of the Second World War, and Cockerell believed to be one of his greatest achievements. While at Marconi, Christopher Cockerell patented 36 of his ideas. Christopher Cockerell was knighted for his achievement in 1969.

Hovercraft History & Hovercraft Museum
By Chris Potter - An on-line encyclopedia describing the history of Hovercraft from their early beginnings to today's successful commercial operations.
Christopher Cockerell, Hovercraft Inventor
Christopher Cockerell, Biography
Sir Christopher Cockerell, Creator of the Hovercraft, Dies at 88

Universal Hovercraft
Build your own hovercraft, order hovercraft hulls and parts, hovercraft faq, how they work and drive.
Build Your Own Model Hovercraft
Project materials cost about twenty dollars U.S.
Online Model Hovercraft Plans
Plans for building a model hovercraft, faqs, rudders, engines, hulls, and more.
How to Make a Flying Saucer Spacecraft (hovercraft)
How Hoverboards Will Work - Hovercrafts

Related Innovations
Airplanes

What is a computer virus?

Computer viruses are small software programs that are designed to spread from one computer to another and to interfere with computer operation.
A virus might corrupt or delete data on your computer, use your e-mail program to spread itself to other computers, or even erase everything on your hard disk.
Viruses are most easily spread by attachments in e-mail messages or instant messaging messages. That is why it is essential that you never open e-mail attachments unless you know who it's from and you are expecting it.
Viruses can be disguised as attachments of funny images, greeting cards, or audio and video files.
Viruses also spread through downloads on the Internet. They can be hidden in illicit software or other files or programs you might download.
To help avoid viruses, it's essential that you keep your computer current with the latest updates and antivirus tools, stay informed about recent threats, and that you follow a few basic rules when you surf the Internet, download files, and open attachments.
Once a virus is on your computer, its type or the method it used to get there is not as important as removing it and preventing further infection.

Computer viruses: description, prevention, and recovery

What is a computer virus?
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');

A computer virus is a small software program that spreads from one computer to another computer and that interferes with computer operation. A computer virus may corrupt or delete data on a computer, use an e-mail program to spread the virus to other computers, or even delete everything on the hard disk. Computer viruses are most easily spread by attachments in e-mail messages or by instant messaging messages. Therefore, you must never open an e-mail attachment unless you know who sent the message or unless you are expecting the e-mail attachment. Computer viruses can be disguised as attachments of funny images, greeting cards, or audio and video files. Computer viruses also spread by using downloads on the Internet. Computer viruses can be hidden in pirated software or in other files or programs that you may download.

Symptoms of a computer virus
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');

If you suspect or confirm that your computer is infected with a computer virus, obtain the current antivirus software. The following are some primary indicators that a computer may be infected:
The computer runs slower than usual.
The computer stops responding, or it locks up frequently.
The computer crashes, and then it restarts every few minutes.
The computer restarts on its own. Additionally, the computer does not run as usual.
Applications on the computer do not work correctly.
Disks or disk drives are inaccessible.
You cannot print items correctly.
You see unusual error messages.
You see distorted menus and dialog boxes.
There is a double extension on an attachment that you recently opened, such as a .jpg, .vbs, .gif, or .exe. extension.
An antivirus program is disabled for no reason. Additionally, the antivirus program cannot be restarted.
An antivirus program cannot be installed on the computer, or the antivirus program will not run.
New icons appear on the desktop that you did not put there, or the icons are not associated with any recently installed programs.
Strange sounds or music plays from the speakers unexpectedly.
A program disappears from the computer even though you did not intentionally remove the program.Note These are common signs of infection. However, these signs may also be caused by hardware or software problems that have nothing to do with a computer virus. Unless you run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool, and then you install industry-standard, up-to-date antivirus software on your computer, you cannot be certain whether a computer is infected with a computer virus or not.

Symptoms of worms and trojan horse viruses in e-mail messages
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');

When a computer virus infects e-mail messages or infects other files on a computer, you may notice the following symptoms:
The infected file may make copies of itself. This behavior may use up all the free space on the hard disk.
A copy of the infected file may be sent to all the addresses in an e-mail address list.
The computer virus may reformat the hard disk. This behavior will delete files and programs.
The computer virus may install hidden programs, such as pirated software. This pirated software may then be distributed and sold from the computer.
The computer virus may reduce security. This could enable intruders to remotely access the computer or the network.
You receive an e-mail message that has a strange attachment. When you open the attachment, dialog boxes appear, or a sudden degradation in system performance occurs.
Someone tells you that they have recently received e-mail messages from you that contained attached files that you did not send. The files that are attached to the e-mail messages have extensions such as .exe, .bat, .scr, and .vbs extensions.

Symptoms that may be the result of ordinary Windows functions
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');

A computer virus infection may cause the following problems:
Windows does not start even though you have not made any system changes or even though you have not installed or removed any programs.
There is frequent modem activity. If you have an external modem, you may notice the lights blinking frequently when the modem is not being used. You may be unknowingly supplying pirated software.
Windows does not start because certain important system files are missing. Additionally, you receive an error message that lists the missing files.
The computer sometimes starts as expected. However, at other times, the computer stops responding before the desktop icons and the taskbar appear.
The computer runs very slowly. Additionally, the computer takes longer than expected to start.
You receive out-of-memory error messages even though the computer has sufficient RAM.
New programs are installed incorrectly.
Windows spontaneously restarts unexpectedly.
Programs that used to run stop responding frequently. Even if you remove and reinstall the programs, the issue continues to occur.
A disk utility such as Scandisk reports multiple serious disk errors.
A partition disappears.
The computer always stops responding when you try to use Microsoft Office products.
You cannot start Windows Task Manager.
Antivirus software indicates that a computer virus is present.Note These problems may also occur because of ordinary Windows functions or problems in Windows that are not caused by a computer virus.

How to remove a computer virus
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');

Even for an expert, removing a computer virus can be a difficult task without the help of computer virus removal tools. Some computer viruses and other unwanted software, such as spyware, even reinstall themselves after the viruses have been detected and removed. Fortunately, by updating the computer and by using antivirus tools, you can help permanently remove unwanted software. To remove a computer virus, follow these steps:
Install the latest updates from Microsoft Update on the computer.
Update the antivirus software on the computer. Then, perform a thorough scan of the computer by using the antivirus software.
Download, install, and then run the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool to remove existing viruses on the computer. To download the Malicious Software Removal Tool, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx) For more information about how to remove a computer virus, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/remove.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/remove.mspx)

How to protect your computer against viruses
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');

To protect your computer against viruses, follow these steps:
On the computer, turn on the firewall.
Keep the computer operating system up-to-date.
Use updated antivirus software on the computer.
Use updated antispyware software on the computer.For more information about how to protect a computer against viruses, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/default.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/default.mspx)

How to obtain computer virus and security-related support
loadTOCNode(2, 'moreinformation');

For United States and Canada
loadTOCNode(3, 'moreinformation');

The computer safety team is available for computer virus and for other security-related support 24 hours a day in the United States and in Canada. To obtain computer virus and security-related support, follow these steps:
Before you contact a support engineer, make sure that you run updated antivirus software and updated spyware removal software on the infected computer. For more information about how to obtain a free computer safety scan, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm?s_cid=sah (http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm?s_cid=sah) For more information about antispyware software, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/spyware/as.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/spyware/as.mspx)
Call 1-866-PCSAFETY or call 1-866-727-2338 to contact security support.
For locations outside North America
loadTOCNode(3, 'moreinformation');

To obtain computer virus and security-related support for locations outside North America, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx?rdpath=4 (http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx?rdpath=4)

APPLIES TO
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 64-Bit Datacenter Edition
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition
Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0
Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Outlook 2000 Standard Edition
Microsoft Outlook 2002 Standard Edition
Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0

Computer virus

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the owner. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, adware, and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can only spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet, or carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.[1][2]
The term "computer virus" is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware, and other malicious and unwanted software), including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with computer worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself to other computers without needing to be transferred as part of a host, and a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but has a hidden agenda. Worms and Trojans, like viruses, may cause harm to either a computer system's hosted data, functional performance, or networking throughput, when they are executed. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious.
Most personal computers are now connected to the Internet and to local area networks, facilitating the spread of malicious code. Today's viruses may also take advantage of network services such as the World Wide Web, e-mail, Instant Messaging, and file sharing systems to spread.
History
The Creeper virus was first detected on ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet in the early 1970s.[3] Creeper was an experimental self-replicating program written by Bob Thomas at BBN in 1971.[4] Creeper used the ARPANET to infect DEC PDP-10 computers running the TENEX operating system. Creeper gained access via the ARPANET and copied itself to the remote system where the message, "I'm the creeper, catch me if you can!" was displayed. The Reaper program was created to delete Creeper.[5]
A program called "Rother J" was the first computer virus to appear "in the wild" — that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created.[citation needed] Written in 1981 by Richard Skrenta, it attached itself to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system and spread via floppy disk.[6] This virus was created as a practical joke when Richard Skrenta was still in high school. It was injected in a game on a floppy disk. On its 50th use the Elk Cloner virus would be activated, infecting the computer and displaying a short poem beginning "Elk Cloner: The program with a personality."
The first PC virus in the wild was a boot sector virus dubbed (c)Brain[7], created in 1986 by the Farooq Alvi Brothers, operating out of Lahore, Pakistan. The brothers reportedly created the virus to deter pirated copies of software they had written[citation needed]. However, analysts have claimed that the Ashar virus, a variant of Brain, possibly predated it based on code within the virus.[original research?]
Before computer networks became widespread, most viruses spread on removable media, particularly floppy disks. In the early days of the personal computer, many users regularly exchanged information and programs on floppies. Some viruses spread by infecting programs stored on these disks, while others installed themselves into the disk boot sector, ensuring that they would be run when the user booted the computer from the disk, usually inadvertently. PCs of the era would attempt to boot first from a floppy if one had been left in the drive. Until floppy disks fell out of use, this was the most successful infection strategy and boot sector viruses were the most common in the wild for many years.[8]
Traditional computer viruses emerged in the 1980s, driven by the spread of personal computers and the resultant increase in BBS, modem use, and software sharing. Bulletin board-driven software sharing contributed directly to the spread of Trojan horse programs, and viruses were written to infect popularly traded software. Shareware and bootleg software were equally common vectors for viruses on BBS's.[citation needed] Within the "pirate scene" of hobbyists trading illicit copies of retail software, traders in a hurry to obtain the latest applications were easy targets for viruses.[original research?]
Macro viruses have become common since the mid-1990s. Most of these viruses are written in the scripting languages for Microsoft programs such as Word and Excel and spread throughout Microsoft Office by infecting documents and spreadsheets. Since Word and Excel were also available for Mac OS, most could also spread to Macintosh computers. Although most of these viruses did not have the ability to send infected e-mail, those viruses which did took advantage of the Microsoft Outlook COM interface.[citation needed]
Some old versions of Microsoft Word allow macros to replicate themselves with additional blank lines. If two macro viruses simultaneously infect a document, the combination of the two, if also self-replicating, can appear as a "mating" of the two and would likely be detected as a virus unique from the "parents."[9]
A virus may also send a web address link as an instant message to all the contacts on an infected machine. If the recipient, thinking the link is from a friend (a trusted source) follows the link to the website, the virus hosted at the site may be able to infect this new computer and continue propagating.
Cross-site scripting viruses emerged recently, and were academically demonstrated in 2005.[10] Since 2005 there have been multiple instances of the cross-site scripting viruses in the wild, exploiting websites such as MySpace and Yahoo.
Infection strategies
In order to replicate itself, a virus must be permitted to execute code and write to memory. For this reason, many viruses attach themselves to executable files that may be part of legitimate programs. If a user attempts to launch an infected program, the virus' code may be executed simultaneously. Viruses can be divided into two types based on their behavior when they are executed. Nonresident viruses immediately search for other hosts that can be infected, infect those targets, and finally transfer control to the application program they infected. Resident viruses do not search for hosts when they are started. Instead, a resident virus loads itself into memory on execution and transfers control to the host program. The virus stays active in the background and infects new hosts when those files are accessed by other programs or the operating system itself.

Nonresident viruses
Nonresident viruses can be thought of as consisting of a finder module and a replication module. The finder module is responsible for finding new files to infect. For each new executable file the finder module encounters, it calls the replication module to infect that file.[11]

Resident viruses
Resident viruses contain a replication module that is similar to the one that is employed by nonresident viruses. This module, however, is not called by a finder module. The virus loads the replication module into memory when it is executed instead and ensures that this module is executed each time the operating system is called to perform a certain operation. the replication module can be called, for example, each time the operating system executes a file. In this case the virus infects every suitable program that is executed on the computer.
Resident viruses are sometimes subdivided into a category of fast infectors and a category of slow infectors. Fast infectors are designed to infect as many files as possible. A fast infector, for instance, can infect every potential host file that is accessed. This poses a special problem when using anti-virus software, since a virus scanner will access every potential host file on a computer when it performs a system-wide scan. If the virus scanner fails to notice that such a virus is present in memory the virus can "piggy-back" on the virus scanner and in this way infect all files that are scanned. Fast infectors rely on their fast infection rate to spread. The disadvantage of this method is that infecting many files may make detection more likely, because the virus may slow down a computer or perform many suspicious actions that can be noticed by anti-virus software. Slow infectors, on the other hand, are designed to infect hosts infrequently. Some slow infectors, for instance, only infect files when they are copied. Slow infectors are designed to avoid detection by limiting their actions: they are less likely to slow down a computer noticeably and will, at most, infrequently trigger anti-virus software that detects suspicious behavior by programs. The slow infector approach, however, does not seem very successful.

Vectors and hosts
Viruses have targeted various types of transmission media or hosts. This list is not exhaustive:
Binary executable files (such as COM files and EXE files in MS-DOS, Portable Executable files in Microsoft Windows, and ELF files in Linux)
Volume Boot Records of floppy disks and hard disk partitions
The master boot record (MBR) of a hard disk
General-purpose script files (such as batch files in MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows, VBScript files, and shell script files on Unix-like platforms).
Application-specific script files (such as Telix-scripts)
Documents that can contain macros (such as Microsoft Word documents, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, AmiPro documents, and Microsoft Access database files)
Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities in web applications
Arbitrary computer files. An exploitable buffer overflow, format string, race condition or other exploitable bug in a program which reads the file could be used to trigger the execution of code hidden within it. Most bugs of this type can be made more difficult to exploit in computer architectures with protection features such as an execute disable bit and/or address space layout randomization.
PDFs, like HTML, may link to malicious code.[citation needed]PDFs can also be infected with malicious code.
In operating systems that use file extensions to determine program associations (such as Microsoft Windows), the extensions may be hidden from the user by default. This makes it possible to create a file that is of a different type than it appears to the user. For example, an executable may be created named "picture.png.exe", in which the user sees only "picture.png" and therefore assumes that this file is an image and most likely is safe.
An additional method is to generate the virus code from parts of existing operating system files by using the CRC16/CRC32 data. The initial code can be quite small (tens of bytes) and unpack a fairly large virus. This is analogous to a biological "prion" in the way it works but is vulnerable to signature based detection.

This attack has not yet been seen "in the wild".

Methods to avoid detectionIn order to avoid detection by users, some viruses employ different kinds of deception. Some old viruses, especially on the MS-DOS platform, make sure that the "last modified" date of a host file stays the same when the file is infected by the virus. This approach does not fool anti-virus software, however, especially those which maintain and date Cyclic redundancy checks on file changes.
Some viruses can infect files without increasing their sizes or damaging the files. They accomplish this by overwriting unused areas of executable files. These are called cavity viruses. For example the CIH virus, or Chernobyl Virus, infects Portable Executable files. Because those files have many empty gaps, the virus, which was 1 KB in length, did not add to the size of the file.
Some viruses try to avoid detection by killing the tasks associated with antivirus software before it can detect them.
As computers and operating systems grow larger and more complex, old hiding techniques need to be updated or replaced. Defending a computer against viruses may demand that a file system migrate towards detailed and explicit permission for every kind of file access.

Avoiding bait files and other undesirable hosts
A virus needs to infect hosts in order to spread further. In some cases, it might be a bad idea to infect a host program. For example, many anti-virus programs perform an integrity check of their own code. Infecting such programs will therefore increase the likelihood that the virus is detected. For this reason, some viruses are programmed not to infect programs that are known to be part of anti-virus software. Another type of host that viruses sometimes avoid is bait files. Bait files (or goat files) are files that are specially created by anti-virus software, or by anti-virus professionals themselves, to be infected by a virus. These files can be created for various reasons, all of which are related to the detection of the virus:
Anti-virus professionals can use bait files to take a sample of a virus (i.e. a copy of a program file that is infected by the virus). It is more practical to store and exchange a small, infected bait file, than to exchange a large application program that has been infected by the virus.
Anti-virus professionals can use bait files to study the behavior of a virus and evaluate detection methods. This is especially useful when the virus is polymorphic. In this case, the virus can be made to infect a large number of bait files. The infected files can be used to test whether a virus scanner detects all versions of the virus.
Some anti-virus software employs bait files that are accessed regularly. When these files are modified, the anti-virus software warns the user that a virus is probably active on the system.
Since bait files are used to detect the virus, or to make detection possible, a virus can benefit from not infecting them. Viruses typically do this by avoiding suspicious programs, such as small program files or programs that contain certain patterns of 'garbage instructions'.
A related strategy to make baiting difficult is sparse infection. Sometimes, sparse infectors do not infect a host file that would be a suitable candidate for infection in other circumstances. For example, a virus can decide on a random basis whether to infect a file or not, or a virus can only infect host files on particular days of the week.

Stealth
Some viruses try to trick anti-virus software by intercepting its requests to the operating system. A virus can hide itself by intercepting the anti-virus software’s request to read the file and passing the request to the virus, instead of the OS. The virus can then return an uninfected version of the file to the anti-virus software, so that it seems that the file is "clean". Modern anti-virus software employs various techniques to counter stealth mechanisms of viruses. The only completely reliable method to avoid stealth is to boot from a medium that is known to be clean.

Self-modification
Most modern antivirus programs try to find virus-patterns inside ordinary programs by scanning them for so-called virus signatures. A signature is a characteristic byte-pattern that is part of a certain virus or family of viruses. If a virus scanner finds such a pattern in a file, it notifies the user that the file is infected. The user can then delete, or (in some cases) "clean" or "heal" the infected file. Some viruses employ techniques that make detection by means of signatures difficult but probably not impossible. These viruses modify their code on each infection. That is, each infected file contains a different variant of the virus.

Encryption with a variable key
A more advanced method is the use of simple encryption to encipher the virus. In this case, the virus consists of a small decrypting module and an encrypted copy of the virus code. If the virus is encrypted with a different key for each infected file, the only part of the virus that remains constant is the decrypting module, which would (for example) be appended to the end. In this case, a virus scanner cannot directly detect the virus using signatures, but it can still detect the decrypting module, which still makes indirect detection of the virus possible. Since these would be symmetric keys, stored on the infected host, it is in fact entirely possible to decrypt the final virus, but that probably isn't required, since self-modifying code is such a rarity that it may be reason for virus scanners to at least flag the file as suspicious.
An old, but compact, encryption involves XORing each byte in a virus with a constant, so that the exclusive-or operation had only to be repeated for decryption. It is suspicious code that modifies itself, so the code to do the encryption/decryption may be part of the signature in many virus definitions.

Polymorphic code
Polymorphic code was the first technique that posed a serious threat to virus scanners. Just like regular encrypted viruses, a polymorphic virus infects files with an encrypted copy of itself, which is decoded by a decryption module. In the case of polymorphic viruses, however, this decryption module is also modified on each infection. A well-written polymorphic virus therefore has no parts which remain identical between infections, making it very difficult to detect directly using signatures. Anti-virus software can detect it by decrypting the viruses using an emulator, or by statistical pattern analysis of the encrypted virus body. To enable polymorphic code, the virus has to have a polymorphic engine (also called mutating engine or mutation engine) somewhere in its encrypted body. See Polymorphic code for technical detail on how such engines operate.[12]
Some viruses employ polymorphic code in a way that constrains the mutation rate of the virus significantly. For example, a virus can be programmed to mutate only slightly over time, or it can be programmed to refrain from mutating when it infects a file on a computer that already contains copies of the virus. The advantage of using such slow polymorphic code is that it makes it more difficult for anti-virus professionals to obtain representative samples of the virus, because bait files that are infected in one run will typically contain identical or similar samples of the virus. This will make it more likely that the detection by the virus scanner will be unreliable, and that some instances of the virus may be able to avoid detection.

Metamorphic code
To avoid being detected by emulation, some viruses rewrite themselves completely each time they are to infect new executables. Viruses that use this technique are said to be metamorphic. To enable metamorphism, a metamorphic engine is needed. A metamorphic virus is usually very large and complex. For example, W32/Simile consisted of over 14000 lines of Assembly language code, 90% of which is part of the metamorphic engine.[13][14]

Vulnerability and countermeasures
The vulnerability of operating systems to viruses
Just as genetic diversity in a population decreases the chance of a single disease wiping out a population, the diversity of software systems on a network similarly limits the destructive potential of viruses.
This became a particular concern in the 1990s, when Microsoft gained market dominance in desktop operating systems and office suites. The users of Microsoft software (especially networking software such as Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer) are especially vulnerable to the spread of viruses. Microsoft software is targeted by virus writers due to their desktop dominance, and is often criticized for including many errors and holes for virus writers to exploit. Integrated and non-integrated Microsoft applications (such as Microsoft Office) and applications with scripting languages with access to the file system (for example Visual Basic Script (VBS), and applications with networking features) are also particularly vulnerable.
Although Windows is by far the most popular operating system for virus writers, some viruses also exist on other platforms. Any operating system that allows third-party programs to run can theoretically run viruses. Some operating systems are less secure than others. Unix-based OS's (and NTFS-aware applications on Windows NT based platforms) only allow their users to run executables within their own protected memory space.
An Internet based research revealed that there were cases when people willingly pressed a particular button to download a virus. Security analyst Didier Stevens ran a half year advertising campaign on Google AdWords which said "Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!". The result was 409 clicks.[15][16]
As of 2006[update], there are relatively few security exploits[17] targeting Mac OS X (with a Unix-based file system and kernel). The number of viruses for the older Apple operating systems, known as Mac OS Classic, varies greatly from source to source, with Apple stating that there are only four known viruses, and independent sources stating there are as many as 63 viruses. Virus vulnerability between Macs and Windows is a chief selling point, one that Apple uses in their Get a Mac advertising.[18]
Windows and Unix have similar scripting abilities, but while Unix natively blocks normal users from having access to make changes to the operating system environment, older copies of Windows such as Windows 95 and 98 do not. In 1997, when a virus for Linux was released – known as "Bliss" – leading antivirus vendors issued warnings that Unix-like systems could fall prey to viruses just like Windows.[19] The Bliss virus may be considered characteristic of viruses – as opposed to worms – on Unix systems. Bliss requires that the user run it explicitly (so it is a trojan), and it can only infect programs that the user has the access to modify. Unlike Windows users, most Unix users do not log in as an administrator user except to install or configure software; as a result, even if a user ran the virus, it could not harm their operating system. The Bliss virus never became widespread, and remains chiefly a research curiosity. Its creator later posted the source code to Usenet, allowing researchers to see how it worked.[20]

The role of software development
Because software is often designed with security features to prevent unauthorized use of system resources, many viruses must exploit software bugs in a system or application to spread. Software development strategies that produce large numbers of bugs will generally also produce potential exploits.

Anti-virus software and other preventive measures
Many users install anti-virus software that can detect and eliminate known viruses after the computer downloads or runs the executable. There are two common methods that an anti-virus software application uses to detect viruses. The first, and by far the most common method of virus detection is using a list of virus signature definitions. This works by examining the content of the computer's memory (its RAM, and boot sectors) and the files stored on fixed or removable drives (hard drives, floppy drives), and comparing those files against a database of known virus "signatures". The disadvantage of this detection method is that users are only protected from viruses that pre-date their last virus definition update. The second method is to use a heuristic algorithm to find viruses based on common behaviors. This method has the ability to detect viruses that anti-virus security firms have yet to create a signature for.
Some anti-virus programs are able to scan opened files in addition to sent and received e-mails 'on the fly' in a similar manner. This practice is known as "on-access scanning." Anti-virus software does not change the underlying capability of host software to transmit viruses. Users must update their software regularly to patch security holes. Anti-virus software also needs to be regularly updated in order to prevent the latest threats.
One may also minimise the damage done by viruses by making regular backups of data (and the Operating Systems) on different media, that are either kept unconnected to the system (most of the time), read-only or not accessible for other reasons, such as using different file systems. This way, if data is lost through a virus, one can start again using the backup (which should preferably be recent).
If a backup session on optical media like CD and DVD is closed, it becomes read-only and can no longer be affected by a virus (so long as a virus or infected file was not copied onto the CD/DVD). Likewise, an operating system on a bootable CD can be used to start the computer if the installed operating systems become unusable. Backups on removable media must be carefully inspected before restoration. The Gammima virus, for example, propagates via removable flash drives.[21][22]
Another method is to use different operating systems on different file systems. A virus is not likely to affect both. Data backups can also be put on different file systems. For example, Linux requires specific software to write to NTFS partitions, so if one does not install such software and uses a separate installation of MS Windows to make the backups on an NTFS partition, the backup should remain safe from any Linux viruses (unless they are written to specifically provide this capability). Likewise, MS Windows can not read file systems like ext3, so if one normally uses MS Windows, the backups can be made on an ext3 partition using a Linux installation.

Recovery methods
Once a computer has been compromised by a virus, it is usually unsafe to continue using the same computer without completely reinstalling the operating system. However, there are a number of recovery options that exist after a computer has a virus. These actions depend on severity of the type of virus.

Virus removal
One possibility on Windows Me, Windows XP and Windows Vista is a tool known as System Restore, which restores the registry and critical system files to a previous checkpoint. Often a virus will cause a system to hang, and a subsequent hard reboot will render a system restore point from the same day corrupt. Restore points from previous days should work provided the virus is not designed to corrupt the restore files or also exists in previous restore points.[23] Some viruses, however, disable system restore and other important tools such as Task Manager and Command Prompt. An example of a virus that does this is CiaDoor.
Administrators have the option to disable such tools from limited users for various reasons (for example, to reduce potential damage from and the spread of viruses). The virus modifies the registry to do the same, except, when the Administrator is controlling the computer, it blocks all users from accessing the tools. When an infected tool activates it gives the message "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator.", even if the user trying to open the program is the administrator.[citation needed]
Users running a Microsoft operating system can access Microsoft's website to run a free scan, provided they have their 20-digit registration number.

Operating system reinstallation
Reinstalling the operating system is another approach to virus removal. It involves simply reformatting the OS partition and installing the OS from its original media, or imaging the partition with a clean backup image (Taken with Ghost or Acronis for example).
This method has the benefits of being simple to do, being faster than running multiple antivirus scans, and is guaranteed to remove any malware. Downsides include having to reinstall all other software, reconfiguring, restoring user preferences. User data can be backed up by booting off of a Live CD or putting the hard drive into another computer and booting from the other computer's operating system (though care must be taken not to transfer the virus to the new computer).

References

^ http://www.bartleby.com/61/97/C0539700.html
^ http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~aviva/compsec/virus/whatis.html
^ "Virus list". http://www.viruslist.com/en/viruses/encyclopedia?chapter=153310937. Retrieved on 2008-02-07.
^ Thomas Chen, Jean-Marc Robert (2004). "The Evolution of Viruses and Worms". http://vx.netlux.org/lib/atc01.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-16.
^ See page 86 of Computer Security Basics by Deborah Russell and G. T. Gangemi. O'Reilly, 1991. ISBN 0937175714
^ Anick Jesdanun. "Prank starts 25 years of security woes". http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070831/ap_on_hi_te/computer_virus_anniversary;_ylt=A9G_R3Ga1NhGH0QBIwZk24cA. "The anniversary of a nuisance". http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/03/computer.virus.ap/.
^ Boot sector virus repair
^ Dr. Solomon's Virus Encyclopedia, 1995, ISBN 1897661002, Abstract at http://vx.netlux.org/lib/aas10.html
^ Vesselin Bontchev. "Macro Virus Identification Problems". FRISK Software International. http://www.people.frisk-software.com/~bontchev/papers/macidpro.html.
^ Wade Alcorn. "The Cross-site Scripting Virus". http://www.bindshell.net/papers/xssv/.
^ http://www.pcsecurityalert.com/pcsecurityalert-articles/what-is-a-computer-virus.htm
^ http://www.virusbtn.com/resources/glossary/polymorphic_virus.xml
^ Perriot, Fredrick; Peter Ferrie and Peter Szor (May 2002). "Striking Similarities" (PDF). http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/reference/simile.pdf. Retrieved on September 9, 2007.
^ http://www.virusbtn.com/resources/glossary/metamorphic_virus.xml
^ Need a computer virus?- download now
^ http://blog.didierstevens.com/2007/05/07/is-your-pc-virus-free-get-it-infected-here/
^ "Malware Evolution: Mac OS X Vulnerabilities 2005-2006". Kaspersky Lab. 2006-07-24. http://www.viruslist.com/en/analysis?pubid=191968025. Retrieved on August 19, 2006.
^ Apple - Get a Mac
^ McAfee. "McAfee discovers first Linux virus". news article. http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/bliss/mcafee_press.html.
^ Axel Boldt. "Bliss, a Linux "virus"". news article. http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/bliss/.
^ "Symantec Security Summary — W32.Gammima.AG." http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2007-082706-1742-99
^ "Yahoo Tech: Viruses! In! Space!" http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/103826
^ "Symantec Security Summary — W32.Gammima.AG and removal details." http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2007-082706-1742-99&tabid=3