Thursday, January 13, 2011

W32/Moonlight.: Virus Bulan

Meski tergolong jenis virus lama, worm satu ini tetap eksis berkat munculnya berbagai varian. Tidak ingin terkena cahayanya yang membahayakan? Hati-hati dan pasang AVI.

"Moonlight", begitu program jahat berjenis worm ini menamai dirinya. Worm lokal ini sebenarnya sudah ada sejak jamannya W32/Brontok atau W32/Rontokbro, tetapi masih tetap eksis sampai sekarang. Ini karena variannya yang terus bermunculan hingga sekarang, bahkan masih banyak laporan dari pengguna AVI yang komputernya terinfeksi oleh worm ini.

Karakteristik

W32/Moonlight dibuat menggunakan compiler andalan vxer (sebutan bagi pembuat program jahat) lokal yakni VB6 (Visual Basic 6) dan dimampatkan menggunakan program PE packer FSG. Ukuran aslinya sebesar 324 KB, lalu setelah dimampatkan menjadi 144 KB. Identitasnya sendiri menggunakan icon folder Windows XP standar.

Cara Virus ini berjalan

Ketika pertama kali berjalan, W32/Moonlight.L akan membuat file “systear.dll” pada direktori system, contoh: “C:\WINDOWS\system32\systear.dll”. File ini merupakan file inisialisasi agar worm dapat mengenali dirinya dan sebagai penanda posisi di mana worm telah disebarkan. Setelah itu, Moonlight membuat file penunjang berbentuk dynamic link library (DLL) “moonlight.dll” pada direktori Windows (contoh: “C:\WINDOWS\moonlight.dll”) dan mengekstraksi file musik berformat MIDI “onceinabluemoon.mid” ke direktori Windows. Setelah itu, worm ini membuat direktori dengan nama acak pada subdirektori Windows dan System dengan format “C:\WINDOWS\[acak]”. Maksud “[acak]” disini berisi nama acak misalnya:
“C:\WINDOWS\FLR1S4G”
“C:\WINDOWS\system32\LDF6I7R”

Penggunaan nama acak tersebut kemungkinan dimaksudkan untuk mempersulit proses investigasi dan pembersihan.
Kemudian worm akan menggandakan dirinya pada tempat-tempat berikut:
* C:\WINDOWS\[acak]\service.exe
* C:\WINDOWS\[acak]\smss.exe
* C:\WINDOWS\[acak]\system.exe
* C:\WINDOWS\[acak]\winlogon.exe
* C:\WINDOWS\lsass.exe
* C:\WINDOWS\system32\[acak]\[acak].cmd
* C:\WINDOWS\[acak].exe
* C:\WINDOWS\system32\[acak].exe
* C:\WINDOWS\[acak]\[acak].com

W32/Moonlight.L sengaja menggandakan dirinya dengan nama-nama mirip servis bawaan Windows seperti “smss.exe”, “service.exe” dengan maksud agar prosesnya tidak mudah dihentikan menggunakan Task manager bawaan Windows. Perlu diketahui, Task manager akan menolak menghentikan proses dengan nama meliputi: “service.exe”, “smss.exe”,”system.exe”,”winlogon.exe”, dan “lsass.exe”.

Karena worm dibuat menggunakan VB6, dan karena setiap aplikasi VB6 membutuhkan runtime yang bernama “msvbvm60.dll”, worm ini melakukan strategi cerdik agar file runtime tersebut tidak dihapus atau terhapus (yang membuat worm tidak bisa berjalan). Caranya, dengan membuat backup file runtime tersebut ke “C:\WINDOWS\system\msvbvm60.dll”.
Hal lain yang dilakukan Moontime adalah membuat file bernama “MooNlight.txt” pada direktori Windows (contoh: “C:\Windows\MooNlight.txt”). File ini berisi pesan dari pembuatnya yang mengaku bernama nick “Lunalight” alias “Moonlight”:


Penyebaran

Cara penyebaran W32/Moonlight.L sangat mirip dengan worm legendaris W32/Brontok alias W32/Rontokbro, yaitu dengan menggandakan dirinya ke setiap direktori dengan nama sama dengan direktori induknya.

Tips dan Trik memilih VGA


VGA adalah komponen yang berfungsi untuk menerjemahkan bahasa sistem kedalam bahasa gambar, kemudian informasi tersebut ditampilkan oleh monitor. Tentunya, semakin besar kapasitas dan kecepatan VGA akan menghasilkan tampilan yang berkualitas pada layar monitor.


Tips memilih VGA : pilihlah vga yang sudah terpercaya seperti ATI atau NVIDIA yang mempunyai resolusi tinggi. Selain itu , pastikan ukuran resolusi Vga sesuai dengan ukuran resolusi monitor. Umumnya, resolusi monitor saat ini adalah 1.024 x 768 pixel.

Pilihlah Vga yang memiliki nilai refresh rate 75 Hz atau 75 kedip perdetik. Refresh rate adalah kecepatan kedip rata rata komputer semakin tinggi nilai refresh rate VGA tampilan monitor semakin bagus. Sesuaikan model VGA dengan modul yang tersedia pada motherboard sebaiknya gunakan model AGP seperti AGP 2X, 4X dan 16x.

Pastikan Vga memiliki port DVI, fasilitas S-Video input dan output. Apabila anda seorang gamers pastikan membeli Vga yang dapat di overclock. Pastiak Vga mendukung teknologi API seperti Open GL yang dapat mengupdate driver vga terbaru melalui internet dan juga Directx dilengkapi direct3d untuk mengolah grafik, direct sound untuk mengolah suara dan direct play untuk mengolah jaringan.

Cara Mudah Atasi Mual

Rasa pusing atau mual sering muncul pada pagi hari pada sebagian orang. Gejala tersebut dikenal juga dengan morning sick. Meskipun hanya berlangsung saat pagi hari gejala ini cukup mengganggu karena bisa membuat mood berantakan dan menghilangkan selera makan pagi.


Jika tidak sarapan pagi tentu akan berefek negatif pada stamina dan aktivitas Anda. Jangan biarkan morning sick atau rasa mual terus mengganggu aktivitas Anda. Segera atasi dengan melakukan hal-hal berikut.
- Makan sedikit tapi sering. Pilihlah makanan rendah lemak dan banyak serat.
- Minum air putih dan jus. Hindari mengonsumsi alkohol atau kopi karena bisa memicu produksi asam lambung dan membuat mual.
- Untuk cemilan pilih biskuit cracker, yang tidak terlalu manis atau asin. Cracker sayuran bisa menjadi pilihan tepat.
- Istirahat cukup. Kelelahan bisa memicu gejala pusing dan mual pada pagi hari. Jadi, usahakan untuk istirahat cukup
- Konsumsi vitamin B6 dan B12. Rasa pusing dan mual bisa dipicu karena kekurangan vitamin B. Konsumsilah secara teratur dua vitamin B tersebut.
- Hirup udara segar. Setelah bangun pagi, jangan langsung mandi. Menikmati udara segar dan hangatnya sinar matahari pagi bisa mengurangi rasa pusing dan mual Anda.

Cara Meningkatkan Mood di Pagi Hari

Pernahkan anda menyadari bahwa apa yang terjadi di pagi hari akan menentukan apa yang akan terjadi di sepanjang hari tersebut. Ketika segala sesuatu berjalan dengan lancar, anda akan cenderung merasa lebih tenang dan bersedia untuk menghadapi apapun yang akan terjadi pada hari itu. Bagaimana cara membangkitkan mood anda pada pagi hari dan kemudian akan membawa perubahan untuk 16 jam ke depan?

Kami telah berbicara dengan para ahli dan menyimpulkan 10 cara yang dapat membangkitkan mood anda sama seperti cerahnya mentari pagi yang baru terbit. Cobalah terapkan beberapa (atau semua!) cara ini untuk lebih bahagia dan lebih sehat.
1. Carilah satu kegiatan yang “memanjakan diri sendiri”
Ketika anda bangun, luangkan 30 detik bagi diri anda berpikir paling tidak satu kegiatan menyenangkan untuk anda lakukan pada hari itu.....dan lakukanlah. Ketika Alice Domar,PhD, seorang psikolog dan salah satu penulis Live a Little !Breaking the Rules Won't Break Your Health (Hiduplah! Melanggar peraturan tidak akan mengorbankan kesehatan anda), berada di Los Angeles untuk tur promosi buku pada suatu musim semi, dia bangun jauh lebih awal dari biasanya, daripada kesal karena kurang tidur, dia menyadari dia dapat melakukan suatu yang menyenangkan, yaitu berbelanja buah-buahan segar di supermarket terdekat, dimana hal tersebut merupakan hal yang mustahil untuk dilakukan kalau berada di rumahnya di Boston. Kegiatan belanja yang tak direncanakan tersebut, akhirnya membangkitkan mood dia pada hari itu.
2. Makan makanan bergizi seimbang.
Awali pagi hari anda dengan mengkonsumsi berbagai campuran nutrisi dari karbodidrat kompleks dan protein yang dapat mengenyangkan perut anda hingga saat makan siang tiba, seperti oatmeal (sejenis makanan dari gandum) atau roti panggang dengan selai kacang (termasuk taburan sedikit kayu manis, yang dapat membangkitkan mood dan konsentrasi). Penelitian yang lain menemukan bahwa jumlah kafein dalam takaran sedang (200 mg, atau jumlah yang sama dengan 2 gelas kopi) dapat membangkitkan mood dan ketajaman mental, nikmatilah segelas kopi atau teh hitam dalam menu sarapan anda.
3. Hiruplah udara segar
Keluarlah untuk melakukan beberapa gerakan fisik yang “ramah lingkungan” -- aktifitas fisik yang biasa dilakukan di luar ruangan -- bahkan jika anda hanya memiliki waktu beberapa menit saja. Para peneliti menemukan bahwa orang yang melakukan aktifitas olahraga, termasuk diantaranya berjalan dan berkebun, dapat membangkitkan mood dan kepercayaan diri yang lebih tinggi meski hanya dilakukan beberapa menit. Penelitian tersebut juga menemukan bawah olahraga dekat air dapat memperkuat efek dari olahraga yang kita lakukan, jadi jika anda tinggal dekat danau, sungai atau air terjun, itu adalah sesuatu yang baik.
4. Dengarkan suara alam
Dapatkan keuntungan dari suasana luar ruangan, meski jika anda tidak dapat keluar, cobalah gantikan dengan cara mendengar kaset atau CD yang berisi suara-suara alam. Dalam penelitian baru-baru ini, ditemukan bahwa para sukarelawan sembuh dari kondisi stress mereke lebih cepat ketika mereka mendengarkan suara alam kombinasi dari air yang mengalir dan suara-suara burung berkicau. Bukalah jendela anda di pagi hari, dan dengarlah suara alam. Atau anda dapat juga menggantikan suara alarm anda dengan suara-suara alam sehingga anda dapat bangun dengan kondisi lebih baik.
5. Fokuskan pada suasana hati yang baik.
Begitu anda bangun, Robyn Mckay, PhD, seorang psikolog yang tinggal di kota Tempe, Arizona AS, dan juga merupakan pendiri program latihan Smart Girl-Modern Goddess (sebuah Produk Podcast), merekomendasikan untuk menarik nafas yang dalam sebanyak 5 kali dan buatlah keputusan untuk membuat suasana hati baik pada hari itu. “Bayangkan, meski anda sedang frustrasi ataupun kaget, anda harus selalu ingat untuk menarik nafas yang dalam dan bertindak dengan bijaksana sesuai dengan keadaan anda,” katanya. Dr. McKay juga menganjurkan anda harus sering menarik 5 kali nafas yang dalam sepanjang hari, dan terus ingatkan diri anda sendiri agar membuat keputusan yang dapat membuat suasana hati anda jadi lebih baik.
6. Minum Coklat Hangat
Sebuah studi baru-baru ini menemukan bahwa minum minuman yang mengandung coklat dapat memperbaiki mood dan tingkat konsentrasi dari peserta penelitian --- bahkan pada saat mereka harus menyelesaikan soal matematika yang sulit. Jadi cobalah untuk menikmati coklat hangat yang rendah lemak atau susu skim dan coklat hitam. Protein dan karbohidrat di dalam susu akan membantu anda menjaga kadar gula darah anda agar tetap stabil sampai makan siang, dimana juga akan menjaga suasana hati anda tetap baik.
7. Cari waktu untuk menilai diri anda sendiri.
Jangan langsung turun dari tempat tidur ketika anda baru bangun. Luangkan setidaknya 5 menit untuk memberi perhatian pada tubuh anda dan rasakan apakah anda merasa tubuh anda sedikit kaku, kemudian cobalah untuk merentangkan tubuh anda dan ambillah nafas yang dalam, saran Lynn Louise Wonders, seorang psikoterapis dan guru yoga di Marietta, Georgia AS. Dia mengingatkan, “Sebelum bersiap-siap untuk menyelesaikan ribuan tugas anda pada hari ini, akan sangat baik untuk meluangkan waktu 5 menit untuk membangkitkan mood, mempersiapkan tubuh dan nafas anda. Anda akan merasa anda akan lebih siap untuk menghadapi semua urusan anda yang sedang menanti anda di hari itu.”
8. Bayangkan hal yang negatif.
Anda mungkin pernah mendengar bahwa bersyukur adalah sebuah cara pembangkit mood yang baik, tetapi ada sebuah cara lain untuk mendapatkan hasil yang sama. Coba bayangkan hal positif dalam hidup anda -- seperti bagaimana anda mendapatkan kerja impian anda, bertemu dengan pasangan ideal anda -- dan kemudian bayangkan bagaimana keadaan hidupmu jika itu tidak kamu punyai sekarang. Pastinya Anda akan merasa bersyukur. Meskipun cara ini kadang kala akan memberikan efek yang berlawanan, akan tetapi sebenarnya dapat membangkitkan mood dari salah satu peserta penelitian lebih baik dibandingkan dengan hanya membayangkan efek positif saja.
9. Menghirup aroma mint
Para peneliti menemukan bahwa menghirup sesuatu yang beraroma mint dapat membangkitkan mood dan juga melawan rasa lelah. Cobalah untuk menaruh sebotol minyak beraroma peppermint dan sekantong teh pepperimint di sebelah tempat tidur anda, sehingga anda dapat menghirup aroma positif tersebut di saat anda bangun. Cara lain yang dapat membawakan suasana hati tenang bagi anda adalah mengunyah permen karet, cara ini dapat membangkitkan mood, konsentrasi dari salah satu peserta penelitian. Kunyahlah sebuah permen karet rasa peppermint setelah sarapan pagi.
10. Tersenyumlah
Ada satu hal yang dapat anda lakukan dimana saja anda mau: tersenyum. “ Ingatlah!”, kata dr. Mckay, “ tersenyum adalah sebuah cara yang sederhana untuk mengubah mood anda -- dan juga mengubah mood dari orang-orang disekitar anda.” Jadi tebarkan mood baik anda dengan memberikan senyuman sesering mungkin, di pagi hari ataupun sepanjang hari anda.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

How to Paint a Room

Painting Eqipment
Image Source: http://buildipedia.com

Even though we'd love to spend our whole summer break holidays nerding away here at Passy World, there are also some domestic jobs that need attending to.

One of these involves beautifying Passy World by doing some indoor painting. Since we have spent a bit of time on YouTube doing a crash course in Painting, we thought we'd share the results with you right here.

Unfortunately we didn't find any amazing computer technology that simplifies the tasks of painting, So for redoing our room, it looks like it's all brushes and rollers.

No doubt for large scale Industrial jobs there are amazing paint Robots, and all sorts of computerised wizardy, but here at Passy World, the ipod music in the ears will be the only advanced technology we will be using.

YouTube How to Paint Videos

The "SHCS" have an excellent channel on YouTube of more than 30 videos on how to paint, and these are high quality productions.
Access these videos using this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSHCS

The "ExpertRealEstateTips" channel on YouTube is also very good, and has some videos that we have featured later in this post.

So after an exhaustive search of the web, here is Passy World's Free six step "Painting 101" course, for anyone who's never handled a paint brush.

Step 1 - Getting all the Equipment Together

This is not exhaustive, and might be incomplete, but this is what we think we will need for our paint job.

Equipment List: Paint, small buckets or ice cream containers for holding paint, Ladder, an Edger Tool, Mini Roller, Big Flat thin brush, Angled brush with thin tip, Large Roller, Paint Pan, Roller extension handle, Drop Sheets, Old Newspapers, Box Cutter, Blue Masking Tape, Caulking Gun, Caulking Filler, Filler knife trowel, Sandpaper, Sugar Soap Wall Wash, Overalls, and a Peaked cap to keep paint off hair and face, ipod or radio, latex disposable gloves, old towels, sponges, and rags for mopping up, water bucket.

Just remember that it is very important to be extremely careful when bringing all of this brand new equipment home from the shops:

Sorry Picture Not Found
Image Source: http://media.ebaumsworld.com

Possibly some very slow careful driving back from the paint store will be the order of the day.

Sorry Picture Not Found
Image Source: http://thelostjacket.com

Step 2 - Preparation

How To Prep For Painting



First of all we are going to need to fill up all those gaps with a Caulking Gun.

How to Cut the tip off a Tube off a Caulk Filler.



How to do the Caulking & Bridging of Large Gaps.



The next job will be taping up all of the parts we don't want to paint.

Here is a video on How to Apply Masking Tape to Skirting Boards.




Step 3 - Cutting In Brush Painting

Basically we need to go around all the edges first, which is called "cutting in", and then we get to do the rolling.

First of all, How to Cut In on Walls.



Here is a bit more about Cutting in Wall Areas.



We also need to know "How to Paint the Corners of Rooms", as part of the cutting in work.




Step 4 - Painting with the Roller

Once we have done all the fiddly cutting in, we are ready to do the rolling.

How to Use a Roller - Basics



The "SHCS" guys reckon that walls should be painted in long vertical strokes progressing along the wall. This is probably great on big walls, but for smaller areas like kitchens, perhaps the horizontal, then finishing off vertical method might be better.

Here is a great video on putting it all together to paint a whole room.



The guy who made the previous video has a great series of videos on YouTube under the "ExpertRealEstateTips" channel. As he emphasises in his videos, it is paramount to do a clean tidy job. Taping old newspapers over all windows and cupboards is a must.

Sorry Picture Not Found
Image Source: http://farm3.static.flickr.com

Step 5 - Painting Doors

How to Paint a Paneled Door - there is a definite method for painting those fancy paneled doors that most people have in their houses these days. We found a great pair of videos on YouTube on how to do this the correct way.

Here is the first video - "Part 1 - The Panels".



Now for the second video: "Part 2 - The outsides flat sections".




Step 6 - Getting Help

Our final tip is that no matter how much they plead with you, NEVER let the kids help with the painting, or get anywhere near any of the equipment!

Sorry Picture Not Found
Image Source: http://www.mediabistro.com

So there won't be any blog posts for a while, because Big Passy will be doing a lot of Van Goughing around the house the next few days. Needless to say he'd much rather be out painting the town, than painting the house.

Enjoy,
Big Passy Wasabi

Friday, January 7, 2011

Flash Talking Animals



Make sure you have your speakers on, and click the round circles to see and hear the marvelous animals.

Here at Passy World, we recently saw a very popular free app on the IPad, where infants can tap a thumbnail clipart of an animal, and then the screen can go full size, showing a photo of the animal and making the sound the animal makes. We decided we would make a similar game in Adobe Flash using Actionscript 3.0 .

We built the project up gradually in steps, using videos from YouTube to find out the technical bits we needed to include in our project. Step by Step building and testing is always a great approach to creating new apps, and we thoroughly recommend this methodology.

First we needed a project where we can click a thumbnail and then have the picture go full size. We found the following YouTube project that fitted this requirement.



So our first stage of building the project was to make some small 70x70 pixel button images with animal names written on them like Cat, Dog, Pig, Cow, Bird, etc, as well as find some good pictures of these animals on Google Images. The pictures can be resized in Flash, however for file size optimisation we resized them first using Photoshop to around 450x450 Pixels.

We got some nice button template backgrounds off the web, and then used Fireworks to make our buttons. It is important to make the button edges smooth by making the background transparent, and then painting around the button edge (use soft rounded brush) in the same hex color as the Flash background is.

We made our Flash project 540x360 pixels, so that it would easily fit on our blog page, and made a heading and changed the background color.

Next we followed the YouTube video and got our project going to that we could click a button, and have the image of that animal displayed on the stage.

Note that we found in CS3 we do not have the "chain link" resize option in properties, and so had to use the Flash resize tool (3rd down on tools side bar).

However, we later realized that CS3 has this same function when you have the size padlock undone in the properties.

It is also important to remember on the pictures layer in Flash to label the frame in the properties as pic1, pic2, pic3, etc.

This completed Step 1 of our Project. We tested it and our buttons and pitures worked well.


Step 2 of the Project

The next task was to get some MP3 animal sounds from the web. We found the following great websites with free sounds. If they fail to downlaod, then just use right click "Save Target As" on the download icon for each one.

http://www.freesound.org
(have to join up using an email address, but it's totally free) and http://www.freeinfosociety.com .

We used Roxio Media Creator to edit and convert WAV and FLAC sounds into MP3's where required. (Flash works best with MP3s).

The mp3 sound files do NOT go into the Flash Library. Instead, they have to be stored in the same location as the Flash SWF file. This can be a folder on the PC for testing, and later on at our website on the Internet.

There is a PDF document later in this blog post which has the Actionscript Code for importing in the sounds, and making them play when buttons are pressed.

Here is our Step 2 Flash Project that contains Fireworks buttons in it, and our animal sounds.




Step 3 of the Project

The third and final step that could be done to this project would be to make our buttons a bit fancier. However to do this, we found that we needed to replace the buttons we made in Fireworks, with some Flash buttons, so that we could introduce lighter colored rollover states and so on.

Here is a Video that shows how to make these type of Flash buttons. Click on the 360p bottom right hand controller and watch it in HD as Full Screen.



However, we found that we could edit our Fireworks buttons in our existing project. All we have to do is double click the "btn1" object in the Library, and this will take us into button editing mode, just like in the YouTube movie.

We copy into the "Over" state frame, and then we click on the button, and in the Properties, change the color box to be "brightness" and set the slider up to 30%. This will make a lighter color button as our rollover button.

However, because we colored in around our round buttons in blue, our buttons now become squares when moused over and don't look so good. We therefore decided to abandon the Fireworks buttons.

So we really need to modify our project, and remake the buttons in Flash. (Font used in Flash was a simple Century Gothic size 22).

The approach was to remake the buttons in Frame 1 of the buttons layer, get them working, and then F6 Insert keyframe copy them into frames 2 and 3.

Now that we had new Flash buttons, we went in as per the YouTube Video and made them go darker when moused over, by clicking on the rectangle**, and changing it to a darker blue, like the guy did in the video. Note that we can click the button on the stage, or in the library to get into edit mode on it.

**We found we had to click off the button and then back onto it while in the button editor to get to the rectangle. Note that we made our "rectangles" so rounded that they became circles, we did this by setting the roundness to 34, back when we drew them.

This third version of the Project is the one that is actually at the start of this blog post.

Here is a PDF document showing the Actionscript Code:



If you would like to have your own full size copy of this PDF, then simply click the save disk icon button on the PDF viewer, and you should be able to save it to your own hard disk.

Alternatively, you can view or save the full size PDF by clicking the link below:



If you would like to download a zip file of the final version of our project, then click here.
Choose the save option in your web browser, and save this to your hard drive.

http://www.passyworld.com/AS3Animals/Animals.rar

Winrar is a free download that can then be used to extract the .FLA flash project file. Get "Winrar" for free at http://www.cnet.com/topic-software/winrar.html

So that's enough Doctor Doolittle-ing with the talking animals for now.

Enjoy,
Big Passy Wasabi

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Parental Friday Funny

guys with bottles
Image Source: http://cdn.yusrablog.com

This Friday Funny goes out to all the parents who are spending quality time with their kids over the Christmas holidays.

The title of this first video says it all.



Here is another video along the same lines. But really can you blame the parents for just wanting to play with their kids?



Being a dad has certainly changed over the years, and here's proof of that.

Fathers Then & Now

Fathers of 1900 didn't have it nearly as good as fathers of today; but they did have a few advantages:

In 1900, fathers prayed their children would learn English.
- Today, fathers pray their children will speak English.

In 1900, a father's horsepower meant his horses.
- Today, it's the size of his minivan.

In 1900, if a father put a roof over his family's head, he was a success.
- Today, it takes a roof, deck, pool, and 4-car garage. And that's just the vacation home.

In 1900, a father waited for the doctor to tell him when the baby arrived.
- Today, a father must wear a smock, know how to breathe, and make sure film is in the video camera.

In 1900, fathers passed on clothing to their sons.
- Today, kids wouldn't touch Dad's clothes if they were sliding naked down an icicle.

In 1900, fathers could count on children to join the family business.
- Today, fathers pray their kids will soon come home from college long enough to teach them how to work the computer and set the VCR.

In 1900, fathers pined for old country Romania, Italy, or Russia.
- Today, fathers pine for old country Hank Williams.

In 1900, a father smoked a pipe.
- If he tries that today, he gets sent outside after a lecture on lip cancer.

In 1900, fathers shook their children gently and whispered, "Wake up, it's time for school."
- Today, kids shake their fathers violently at 4 a.m., shouting: "Wake up, it's time for basketball practice."

In 1900, a father came home from work to find his wife and children at the supper table.
- Today, a father comes home to a note: "Jimmy's at baseball, Cindy's at gymnastics, I'm at adult-Ed, Pizza in fridge."

In 1900, fathers and sons would have heart-to-heart conversations while fishing in a stream.
- Today, fathers pluck the headphones off their sons' ears and shout, "WHEN YOU HAVE A MINUTE.."

In 1900, a father gave a pencil box for Christmas, and the kid was all smiles.
- Today, a father spends $800 at Toys 'R' Us, and the kid screams: "I wanted X-Box 360!"

In 1900, if a father had breakfast in bed, it was eggs and bacon and ham and potatoes.
- Today, it's Special K, soy milk, dry toast and a lecture on cholesterol.

In 1900, a Father's Day gift would be a hand tool.
- Today, he'll get a new iphone app.

In 1900, a happy meal was when Father shared funny stories around the table.
- Today, a happy meal is what Dad buys at McDonald's.

In 1900, a father was involved if he spanked the kid now and then.
- Today, a father's involved only if he coaches Little League and organizes Boy Scouts and car pools.

In 1900, when fathers entered the room, children often rose to attention.
- Today, kids glance up and grunt, "Dad, get out of the way of the television."

In 1900, fathers threatened their daughters suiters with shotguns if the girl came home late.
- Today, fathers break the ice by saying, "So...how long have you had those face piercings and full body tattoos?"

In 1900, fathers were never truly appreciated.
- In 2011, fathers are never truly appreciated.

Jokes Source: http://www.ahajokes.com

Today we may have all the mod cons, but there is still a lot of Bad Parenting going on out there.

picture description
Image Source: http://media.ebaumsworld.com

Here are a couple of wonderful crusaders of all things good, showing us exactly how we can help re-educate all of those bad parents.



But when all else fails putting up with the kids on holidays; desperate times call for desperate measures.

kids in pets transport
Image Source: http://images.paraorkut.com

We need to trust our evolutionary instincts, and remember it's all about the whole family thing.

apes with kid
Image Source: http://images.paraorkut.com

In this difficult day and age, it's up to the parents to take control and teach their kids all the right things.

Things My Mother Taught Me
  • My Mother taught me LOGIC..."If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can't go to the store with me."
  • My Mother taught me MEDICINE..."If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they're going to freeze that way."

  • My Mother taught me TO THINK AHEAD..."If you don't pass your spelling test, you'll never get a good job!"

  • My Mother taught me ESP..."Put your sweater on; don't you think that I know when you're cold?"

  • My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE..."What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you...Don't talk back to me!"

  • My Mother taught me HUMOR..."When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."

  • My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT..."If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up.

  • My mother taught me about GENETICS..."You are just like your father!"

  • My mother taught me about my ROOTS..."Do you think you were born in a barn?"

  • My mother taught me about the WISDOM of AGE..."When you get to be my age, you will understand."

  • My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION..."Just wait until your father gets home."

  • My mother taught me about RECEIVING...You are going to get it when we get home.

  • and my all time favorite thing - JUSTICE..."One day you will have kids, and I hope they turn out just like YOU..then you'll see what it's like."
Jokes Source: http://www.ahajokes.com

Here is an excellent summary diagram of how this whole passing on of all things valuable occurs within the modern close-knit family unit.

picture description
Image Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com

But it's not all nasty unhapiness, and there are still plenty of fun times to be had for the modern family.

For example, parents just love to dance and so do their kids.
Because Dancing is fun... right?




Let's hope you all get to enjoy some quality family time this weekend.

Enjoy,
Big Passy Wasabi