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Recent NewsScope columns at NeptuneCafe:
January 4, 2010 - advise on new year's resolutions, a check into Iran's horoscope, and hero Jasper Schuringer
Jan 11, 2010 - Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Timothy Geithner, and Casey Johnson's death
January 18, 2010 - Haiti's earthquake, the eclipse hits the U.S. chart, and Google fights censorship in China.
January 25, 2010 - the Supreme Court's decision, Feb's Top Five Astro-events, and Heidi Montag's surgery
February 1, 2010 - Toyota's troubles, J.D. Salinger and Howard Zinn, and Hollywood legend Jean Simmons
February 8, 2010 - the market outlook for 2010, China's 3:00 pm horoscope and Charlie Sheen.
Feb 15, 2010 - Michelle Obama's Cause, Greece's financial crisis, and Ellen DeGeneris's Q rating
Feb 22, 2010 - the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, March's Top Five, and Olympic snowboarder Chris Klug
March 1, 2010 - Chile's 8.8 earthquake, the Bloom Box, and Alice in Wonderland star Mia Wasikowska
March 8, 2010 - Best Actor Jeff Bridges, Mars turns direct and anger, plus the European Union's horoscope
March 15, 2010 - New York's wounded politicians, Greater Israel, and Betty White's Comeback at 88.
March 22, 2010 - Pluto's role in financial reform, Pope Benedict's troubles, and Sandra Bullock's marriage.
March 29, 2010 - Obama's improved standing, April's Astro-Events, and DWTS leader Nicole Scherzinger
April 5, 2010 - the influence of the June 26 Lunar Eclipse on Hamid Karzai and Pope Benedict, plus the iPad
April 12, 2010 - Poland's lost elite and the Katyn massacre, the Vatican, and DWTS star Erin Andrews
April 19, 2010 - the Grand Cross of 2010, hedge fund manager John Paulson, and Larry King's eighth divorce
April 26, 2010 - Thailand's red Shirts, May's Top Five astro-events, and Iron Man 2 starlet Scarlett Johansson
May 3, 2010 - BP's horoscope, the astrology of corporate disasters, and Earth Day's Gaylord Nelson
May 10, 2010 - Anwar al-Awlaki the #1 terrorist threat, market meltdown, and Dr. Phil's mustache
May 17, 2010 - Elena Kagan's Pallas, PM David Cameron, and teen sensation Justin Bieber
May 24, 2010 - North Korea's transition, June's top five astro-events, and the Kevin Costner solution
May 31, 2010 - Big Oil's horoscope, hedge fund investor David Tepper, and the maniacal Dennis Hopper
June 7, 2010 - Israel's progressed Venus , Al and Tipper Gore's divorce, and activist O'rianka Kilcher
June 14, 2010 - BP's chart and the Solar Eclipse, CEO Tony Haward, and Jacques Cousteau's 100th birthday
June 21, 2010 - Obama's energy plan, Mexico's drug war, and Miley Cyrus's new album Can't Be Tamed
June 28, 2010 - Generals McChrystal and Douglas MacArthur, July's top five, and Al Gore's masseuse
Bernadette Brady
on progressions
"The progression will seem to manifest first as a feeling or need and then as an action"
"Progressions are the way the cosmos manifests through us, as compared to a transit, which manifests on us."
"Progressions are a richer source of information than transits. They tap into the realm of the inner, personal world, showing both day-to-day motivations as well as unshakable life statements or desires."
Demetra George
on asteroids
"Astrologers need the asteroids because the tradi-tional planets simply do not and cannot fully explain the issues which are emerging - simply because they are new."
"Before the use of asteroids, the only significators of the feminine in the traditional chart interpretation were the Moon and Venus. The socially acceptable roles for women were the Moon as mother and Venus as mate."
"Ceres, Pallas, June and Vesta represent the new voices of the dormant feminine, recently activated and now demanding power, recognition, justice, and equality in our society."
Richard Tarnas
on the cosmos
Astrology is not concretely predictive, but archetypally predictive."
"The modern dismissal of astrology reflects the virtually universal conviction that the cosmos is disenchanted."
"The universe is a fundamentally and irreducibly interconnected whole, informed by creative intelligence and pervaded by patterns of meaning and order that extend through every level, and that are expressed through a constant correspondence between astronomical events and human events."
Nicholas Campion
on national horoscopes
"Experiment with the charts. Make predictions. And yes, prediction remains a perfectly valid exercise: one successful prediction reveals more about the nature of the universe than a hundred retrospective studies."
" Just as the individual is contained within the collective, so natal astrology can be seen as contained within mundane astrology."
"The modern nation state is largely a creation of the French revolution and is becoming increasingly irrelevant as capitalism becomes global."
Michael O'Reilly
on geopolitics
"Astrology as a worldview shows us that everything is connected, that the individual is an interdependent part of the whole. "
"When Scorpio is rising, the U.S. has four planets in the eighth house, underscoring the national focus on acculating wealth and corporate influence."
"The biggest celebrities have natal planets closely connected to national planets. Their character may personify a specific planet or group of planets, so that they become a national icon or archetype."
"The natal chart is like a seed and progressions are the unfolding in time of that into the plant it is to become. Transits, are like a daily weather report. In political astrology, these three factors have to be taken into account!"
Reader Feedback... "Thanks for the fantastic job you do on Newscope...I especially enjoyed the coverage of Sedna and the inclusion of the music.Your work is accesible yet always introduces the lyrical and mythic...Thanks for a great weekly offering, Michael. May it keep flowing!"
" I think Sarah Palin is a Gemini rising. I've rectified her chart to about 11am, give or take. It puts Capricorn on the 9th, which supports her religious affiliation. And of course it puts her Sun in the 10th, which thrusts her into the public eye."
Comments, questions, suggestions? Let us know what you think. Email wolfstar@neptunecafe.com
2009 NewsScope columns are located in the
July 5, 2010 - the astrology of austerity vs stimulus, the July 11 Solar Eclipse, and Chelsea Clinton's wedding
July 12, 2010 - Arizona's immigration law, the Gemini Rising U.S. horoscope, and LeBron James' Neptune
July 19, 2010 - Vatican's dissonant equation, more on the Gemini Rising U.S. horoscope, and Mel Gibson
July 26, 2010 - North Korea threatens attack, August's top five astro-events, plus Christopher Nolan, Inception
August 2, 2010 - WikiLeaks document dump, Charles Rangle's Mars, and Jennifer Lopez on American Idol
August 9, 2010 - Obama's stars, same-sex marriage in the Age of Aquarius, and Grace Kelly, fashion icon.
Aug. 16, 2010 - Pakistan's flooding, Linda McMahon's Pallas, HP CEO Mark Hurd and Jodie Fisher
August 30, 2010 - the Beck-Palin phenomenon, Sept.'s top five astro-events, plus a mature Matt Dillon.
Sept. 6, 2010 -Israel's horoscope and peace talks, David Koch's Tea Party, and Bristol Palin on DWTS
Sept. 13, 2010 - the Uranus-Pluto square, Haumea the Hawaiian Goddess, and Jamie Oliver's food revolution
Sept. 20, 2010 - Sarah Palin's rectified birth time, Sedna the Sea Goddess, and Mike Brown's horoscope
Sept. 27, 2010 - Christine O'Donnel's Pallas-Pluto, October's Top Five, Venus on Demi Moore's Neptune
Interests: openness, making things that help people connect and share what's important to them, revolutions, information flow, minimalism
- from Mark Zuckerman's
NewsScope for October 4, 2010
by Michael Wolfstar
Stuxnet and the Advent of Cyberwarfare
Last week mainstream media began reporting about a sophisticated computer worm that attacks industrial infrastructures. Experts suspect that the super-cyberweapon, dubbed Stuxnet, was designed by an unknown national spy agency specifically targeting Iranian nuclear plants, although the virus has now spread across the Internet. Stuxnet is capable of overriding control of facilities that use Siemens' software, facilities which then self-destruct. Iran's nuclear plants rely on Siemens software.
Decoders have identified Stuxnet's time stamp - its birth date - as February 3, 2009*.
Mark Zuckerberg, The Youngest Billionaire
Oscar buzz and rave reviews accompanied last week's premiere of The Social Network, the dramatic story of Mark Zuckerberg's creation of Facebook. Critics agree that the script is less of a biopic than a portrayal of the networking-savvy generation. The real Mark Zuckerberg was unhappy with his characterization in the film, and has repeatedly commented in public appearances that it's fiction.
* For background information and date sources,
Mark Zuckerberg (May 14, 1984; White Plains, NY; time unknown) was born with his Sun and Venus in determined Taurus opposite his Mars, Moon, and Saturn in intense Scorpio. The Sun's closest aspect is the opposition to Mars, which gives him plenty of energy and drive, while the Moon-Saturn conjunction in Scorpio is emotionally guarded.
A reasonable guess is that Zuckerberg has Aquarius Rising, since no other placement in his chart is found in the sign associated with social networking. A 2:04 am birth time places revolutionary Uranus, his chart ruler, near the Midheaven. He launched Facebook on February 4, 2004 when his progressed Sun opposed Uranus and as his
progressed Midheaven was conjunct Neptune in the eleventh house of friends.
Zuckerberg's Venus in Taurus forms a socially awkward opposition to Saturn, but is enhanced by a close trine to Jupiter in the status-oriented sign of Capricorn. A 2:04 am birth time places Venus in the second house of money. Venus here made him wealthy when he created a social network about friends and their status (via Jupiter in the eleventh house). Currently, cinematic Neptune is transiting his Aquarius Ascendant as The Social Network debuts in theaters around the world. Neptune here creates the illusion of character, but conceals the real person.
Special Update
My apologies for this redacted edition of NewsScope.
The source for the Stuxnet data, Jonathan Last of the Weekly Standard, was off by one year. Checking the original source indicates that the time stamp was February 3, 2010, not February 3, 2009. See page 11 of this security report.
Unfortunately, the time stamp information was central to this week's column on Stuxnet, most of which is now removed. More later on this complex worm...
In the mean time, have a look below at some notes and sources on this first cyberwar weapon.
Michael
Although the first version of the worm was written in June 2009, it's unclear if that version was used in a real-world attack. Schouwenberg believes the first attack could have been as early as July 2009. The first confirmed attack that Symantec knows about dates from January 2010, said Vincent Weafer, Symantec's vice president of security technology and response.
The threat has been under continued development as the authors added additional components, encryption and exploits.
The Stuxnet worm includes a kill date (a date after which it will self destruct). That kill date is June 24, 2012. Astrologically and astronomically, June 24, 2012 is the date that Pluto in Capricorn squares off against Uranus in Aries. Referred to astrologically as the grand cross, it is allegedly the kickoff for a 3 year period of revolutionary changes that eventually lead to a single world government (aka World War III). Or as other toothsayers allege, it's also the kick off for the beginning of the end of the world as we know it in December 2012, based on Mayan Calendar interpretations.
“It’s the most complex piece of malware we’ve seen in the last five years or more,” says Nicolas Falliere, a code analyst at security firm Symantec. “It’s the first known time that malware is not targeting credit card [data], is not trying to steal personal user data, but is attacking real-world processing systems. That’s why it’s unique and is not over-hyped.”
Although it’s not known what system was targeted, once on the targeted system, the worm was designed to install additional malware, possibly with the purpose of destroying the system and creating real-world explosions in the facility where it ran.
The worm was publicly exposed after VirusBlokAda, an obscure Belarusian security company, found it on computers belonging to a customer in Iran — the country where the majority of the infections occurred. Initial analysis suggested the worm was designed only to steal intellectual property — perhaps by competitors wishing to copy manufacturing operations or products.
But researchers who have spent the last three months reverse-engineering the code and running it in simulated environments now say that it’s designed for sabotage, and that its level of sophistication suggests that a well-resourced nation-state is behind the attack.
