Talk about whatever news has caught your attention.

As someone with sensitive teeth, this one caught mine.

Japan Tooth Patch Could End Decay

“Scientists in Japan have created a microscopically thin film that can coat individual teeth to prevent decay or to make them appear whiter, the chief researcher said.

The “tooth patch” is a hard-wearing and ultra-flexible material made from hydroxyapatite, the main mineral in tooth enamel, that could also mean an end to sensitive teeth.

“This is the world’s first flexible apatite sheet, which we hope to use to protect teeth or repair damaged enamel,” said Shigeki Hontsu, professor at Kinki University’s Faculty of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology in western Japan.”

And this one did as well.

From the Washington Post

“QE3: What is quantitative easing? And will it help the economy?”

“Answer that might make sense: Normally, when there’s a recession or the economy is limping along, the Federal Reserve will reduce short-term interest rates in order to spur more lending and spending. But right now, the Fed has cut interest rates as far as they can go and the economy is still struggling. This is known as the “zero bound.” The Fed can’t go any lower.

So, instead, the central bank can try quantitative easing. Since the Federal Reserve can just create dollars out of thin air, it can buy up assets like long-term Treasuries or mortgage-backed securities from commercial banks and other institutions. This pumps money into the U.S. economy and reduces long-term interest rates further. When long-term interest rates go down, investors have more incentive to spend their money now. In theory.”

Read more here

But if the first 2 didn’t work, why would the 3rd?

OK, yesterday MakeItMan asked a question,

“How come I keep getting a message that says; “Internet Explorer blocked this website from displaying content with security certificate errors”?”

Since I had insomnia I did some digging to try and get to the bottom of it. As best I can understand it, and I am not an expert, the warning is for your protection. It’s telling you it blocked content that may be from a questionable source or of a questionable nature. It’s not necessarily that it is such content, only that it could be. Doing this, blocks anything with outdated security certificates, or none at all, or with source code issues so you’re safe. This is of particular concern when doing financial transactions from sites with this warning for obvious reasons. Thankfully, there’s no need to do transactions here. If you want to send me money, it’ll have to be by mail. 🙂

I’m kidding of course, but again, we’re not doing those type of transactions. With a public forum like this, anything like a link, photo, or video can trigger this warning if their certificate at the source is out of date. Hitting F12 can show you what it blocked, but not always why. Some of the links posted by myself and others seem to be the cause, as the source sites may or may not have issues. It’s not that it does, but it could. That’s why I’d noticed the warning on other sites I visit as well. Also, on some sites, it’s the ads that cause it in some cases. Ads aren’t a problem here, thankfully. I don’t much like them.

Here are some links to give you more info. The new IE version is the one that does this. Firefox and Chrome block it without the notification popping up. According to McAfee and WordPress, we’re safe and you shouldn’t have any concerns. Just be aware that links and whatnot that take you elsewhere could have issues, but again, this blocks the questionable content for your safety and for your protection. And a warning doesn’t always mean there is a problem, just that there could be. I promise you all I will do everything possible to keep you folks and myself safe and secure. Anyone with more expertise in this area can chime in with a comment as well. But I did notice that when using “http” you will notice the warning is gone, when you use “https” the more secure type, with the lock picture in the address bar, the warning appears and content is blocked. Check out the links for more info.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2005/04/20/410240.aspx

“What can we do today?

“I hope you will join me in calling on operators of insecure HTTPS sites to correct these mistakes.

In the short term, you may be able to work around these security holes:

• If available, a “Login securely” link might lead to get to an HTTPS login form you can use instead of the form on a HTTP page.  Or try visiting the https:// version of the site directly.
• If prompted to download mixed content, always choose “No”.”

See also,

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/06/23/internet-explorer-9-security-part-4-protecting-consumers-from-malicious-mixed-content.aspx

This is the Daily News thread. Talk about whatever is news to you.

I’d like to think this is for some noble reason. I’d like to, but I don’t. To me it seems to be a “this is an embarrassment, so we don’t want to talk about it anymore” kinda thing. Am I just being too cynical?

From http://www.foreignpolicy.com/

“The State Department told reporters Friday afternoon that it won’t answer any more questions about the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans until the investigation into the incident is complete.

“I’m going to frustrate all of you, infinitely, by telling you that now that we have an open FBI investigation on the death of these four Americans, we are not going to be in a position to talk at all about what the U.S. government may or may not be learning about how any of this happened –not who they were, not how it happened, not what happened to Ambassador Stevens, not any of it — until the Justice Department is ready to talk about the investigation that’s its got,” State Department spokeswoman Victorian Nuland told reporters late Friday afternoon.

“So I’m going to send to the FBI for those kinds of questions and they’re probably not going to talk to you about it,” she said.

All aspects of the attack, including what led up to it, its causes, the identity of the perpetrators, and the circumstances surrounding the death of Amb. Chris Stevens and the other three Americans,are off limits for reporters.”

Read more here