Hope you're enjoying the short holiday work weeks...and spending time

with friends and family. We're doing much the same - and going

through our photo albums from 2007 to pick our favorite photos from

the months gone by. You'll find the first of our series of 2007

retrospective slideshows in the galleries.

http://justFRED.ca/cmine/

The main event on most calendars, of course, is Monday - New Year's

Eve - and among the many options is the party at Musiplex,

Fredericton's newest entertainment location. Details in our calendar

of events:

http://justfred.ca/justfred.forums/calendar.php

So enjoy the weekend - and another short week - then get ready to dig

into the rest of winter. The good news, of course, is that the days

are getting longer.

Cheers,

George

justFRED.ca

Another update: Add happycards2008.com to the list...

And if you're wondering who provides domain name registration to this gang, the answer is RU Centre, based in Moscow.

http://www.nic.ru/about/en/contact_office.html

They're a licensed registrar sanctioned by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. This is the international body that is supposed to police Internet domain names...but in practice is more like the fox running the hen house. ICANN is run by the companies who register domain names. The more domain names they register, the more money they make. If that means allowing fraudulent registrations by the millions, so be it. As long as the cheque clears, it's good for business.

Sure it means 90 per cent of the world's email is junk, millions of personal computers have been turned into zombies controlled by criminals, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary Internet users have been the victims of various online crimes.

But you know what they say about eggs and omelets: you can't make one without breaking the other.

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

Update: The Storm gang have switched to a New Year's postcard scam to trick users into infecting their own computers. The web site being touted now is called uhavepostcard.com

Details about this 'holiday' caper can be found http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=16&articleId=9054119&intsrc=hm_topic">here.

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Original post:

If you receive an enticing email message from a stranger in the next few days - exhorting you to visit merrychristmasdude.com - don't. If you do, you'll likely be very sorry you did.

It's from a criminal gang - known as the Storm gang - that specializes in spreading malicious computer software (malware) with cutesy holiday come-ons. The malware infects your computer - and can be used to steal your personal information and add your computer to a criminally controlled network of computers.

Cheers,

George

justFRED.ca

Much as we enjoy working on justFRED, it's family time...so we've put

together some simple treats for the next few days -games, some

Christmas videos, slideshow retrospectives of the year gone by, and

similar goodies - to give you something to see and to give us some

much needed time off.

You'll find most everything you need in the galleries:

http://justFRED.ca/cmine/

And if you'd like to hear our entire collection (so far) of local

music, drop over to justFRED Radio @ http://radio.justFRED.ca/

But before we go, all of us here at justFRED want to wish you the

very best for the holidays - may they be safe and happy.

Enjoy your time with friends and family.

Merry Christmas...

Cheers,

George

justFRED.ca

We'll soon be off to spend some much needed family time...but we've

been hard at work preparing some new - and not so new - material for

you to enjoy during Christmas week, including seasonal concerts, more

games, and a retrospecitve of some of the best of 2007.

The Galleries

The Korean Community holiday celebration, more signs of Christmas,

how Creative Photo Express puts photos on mugs, and much more.

http://justFRED.ca/cmine/

The Calendars

Christmas Break is officially underway, ski season is upon us.

The main events next week, of course, are Christmas Eve on Monday

followed by Christmas Day and, for those of you who can handle yet

another crowd, next week's Boxing Day sales...

http://justfred.ca/justfred.forums/calendar.php

justFRED Radio

We've taken the audio from some of our season concert videos - and

we're adding the first set to our radio playlist today.

http://radio.justFRED.ca/

justFRED Contest

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions. We'll be contacting the

winners privately by email.

justFRED Sponsors

As we come to the end of our first full year of justFRED, we want to

say thank you to all of our loyal visitors and to the small, but

growing number of sponsors who've helped us bring you this community

web site.

Thank you, and have a safe and Merry Christmas.

Cheers,

George

justFRED.ca

Winter solstice - the shortest day of the year in the northern

hemisphere - is on Saturday. But that's no reason to be gloomy: light

a fire, trim a tree, raise a glass of cheer. Because the darkest day

arrives on the edge of the biggest holiday week of the year.

The Galleries

You'll notice the wintry look and feel as we travel around town

taking photos. But we're also starting to produce some seasonal

treats that we recorded earlier. Today, for instance, you'll find the

FHS Jazz Band's rendition of Let it Snow. We have lots more to come,

including some retrospectives of 2007.

http://justFRED.ca/cmine/

The Calendar

Free public skating in three indoor locations, and plenty of

opportunity to share with others by wrapping gifts, donating to the

needy...and much more.

Wednesday:

http://justfred.ca/justfred.forums/calendar.php?do=getinfo&day=2007-12-19&c=1

Thursday:

http://justfred.ca/justfred.forums/calendar.php?do=getinfo&day=2007-12-20&c=1

justFRED's Book & Music Contest

We've had a few entries in the forums, and another couple of emails,

answering the question: If I was in charge of justFRED, I would...

http://justfred.ca/justfred.forums/showthread.php?p=778#post778

We really do value your suggestions. Winners will be announced

tomorrow.

justFRED Radio

We've picked up several more local musical contributions and will

start uploading them as soon as we get a minute. Meantime, we're

slowly but surely adding everything we have to the playlist.

http://radio.justFRED.ca/

Enjoy the preparations for the week-long Christmas holiday. Because

next week, the days finally start getting a little bit longer.

Cheers,

George

justFRED.ca

I don't remember asking for a White December...we have enough pictures

of snow already.

The Galleries

Weather photos, brave souls around town and at the market despite the

weather, and some indoor fare including the Christmas recital by

Artemis Dance Studio.

http://justFRED.ca/cmine/

The Calendar

Skating and curling, Symphony New Brunswick's Christmas concert

(Tuesday) and a lot more...not to mention getting ready for the

holiday week to come.

http://www.justfred.ca/justfred.forums/calendar.php

justFRED Stuff

We served up justFRED page 7,000,000 last week - and we want to say

thank you to our members. So let's have...

A Book & Music Contest

It's simple: send us a suggestion about how to make justFRED better

for 2008, and you could win a great stocking stuffer:

http://blogs.justfred.ca/justfred/2007/12/17/contest-57-books-music/

justFRED Radio

Local musician John Thurber's Christmas album has been added to the

playlist.

justFRED Holiday schedule

The Daily Fred will be taking a break over the holidays. As you know,

we're on a 3-day a week schedule right now.

We're also preparing some photo retrospectives of 2007 and we have

quite a lot of Christmas concert videos that are in the edit suite

and will be posted during the next two weeks.

Meantime, drive carefully. The roads are slippery and more of the

white stuff is expected.

Cheers,

George

justFRED.ca

We have a bunch of new books - thanks to Goose Lane Editions - and some CD's - courtesy of various local artists - that would make great stocking stuffers.

So here's the deal: Tell us what you'd do to make justFRED better for 2008. You can post your suggestions http://www.justfred.ca/justfred.forums/showthread.php?t=148">here in our forums.

We'll put the entries in our Electric Hat and start announcing prize winners on Wednesday.

Cheers,

George

justFRED.ca

Frederictonian Jillian Hudgins has won an international award for her research on Moon rocks: the Geological Society of America's 2007 Eugene M.Shoemaker Impact Cratering Award

She is a PhD student in geology at the University of New Brunswick. Jillian has been investigating lunar rocks collected on the moon's surface by Apollo astronauts as well as those that have fallen to earth as meteorites.

Her research has revealed that some of the rocks are over four billion years old!

We thought the summer and early fall were busy with concerts...but

music city is bursting at the seams as the year comes to an end.

The Galleries

You'd almost think we've been collecting concerts. Well, sort of. The

latest is the FHS Christmas Concert on Thursday night. Plus a whole

lot more.

http://justFRED.ca/cmine/

The Calendar

The LaPointes are at the Playhouse and there are concerts all weekend

long.

http://justfred.ca/justfred.forums/calendar.php

justFRED Radio

Blues and alternate rock week. We'll turn to classical during the

weekend, followed by local Christmas music all next week.

http://radio.justFRED.ca/

Have a safe and enjoyable weekend. And when you see us out with our

cameras, don't forget to Say Cheese!

Cheers

George

justFRED.ca

All you had to do was enter - anything at all. And justFRED member cfraser was the first...and wins the book, courtesy of Goose Lane Editions.

Cheers,
George

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

To 'celebrate' the first snow day of the 2007-2008 school season, we're giving away a copy of 'La Sagouine' by Antonine Maillet (translated by Wayne Grady) published by Goose Lane Editions.

We'll keep the contest open all day and announce the winner on Wednesday morning.

You can enter to win http://justfred.ca/contests.php">here.

Cheers,

George