New Calling Scam

AOL mentioned a new calling scam.

You receive a call saying that a friend has been hurt. For more information dial "*72" and then enter a number. *72 is call forwarding so the other person then receives your calls. This give s them the ability to cram you and make tons of money.

You Know You Have Done Too Much Tomb Raider When...

You know you have done too much Tomb Raider when...
* you drive by a building and think "nice hand holds"
* you dream at night about how to maneuver around rooms
* your thumb and index finger hurts from too much shooting
* you are at Target and try to find a Y-button in order to interact with objects
* you look in the nooks and crannies of your house for healthpacks

Cramming Link

here is a link to the FTC concerning cramming: FTC Cramming

Cramming Blocks

I have now called all of our phone line carriers, local, long distance and cellular,and had third party blocks placed on every line (3 cell phones, and 4 phone lines) so we will no longer get unauthorized charges on our bills. We highly recommend this to everyone.

The other day i called the FCC and it is true that a bill was passed allowing cramming to be easy. Apparently, if any third party company can match the name on the account with the number (as shown in any directory listing - it is that easy), they can then illegally call your carrier and say that you have authorized a third party charge and your carrier, by law, MUST charge you for the charge, without question. In other words, it is completely left up to the consumer to protect themselves. You must request the third party block.

Tomb Raider Anniversary

We are currently playing the 360 version of Tomb Raider Anniversary and loving it. It is one of the best games we have ever played. We are playing it on the easiest level. The puzzles are really challenging and good. the game play design is excellent! Many checkpoints which cuts down on the tedium of repetition. Great game and you can usually purchase it used.

Cramming

Cramming used to be a practice used by college students to study for their exams. Now it is a term for a form of fraud.

"Cramming" is when third party companies slip unauthorized charges into phone bills hoping that no one will notice. Because the bills are larger, small businesses are more susceptible. In fact, we discovered that an unauthorized charge was on our bill for $16 per month. Multiply by tens of thousands and someone is making a fortune! At consumers' expense.

This is also another good reason not to have bills paid by automatic deduction from your account along with online bills. Having a paper bill in my hand allowed me to see the charge clearly.
___________________________________
12:08 PM

We looked at other charges and found another $8 of illegal charges for a total of $24 per month. Keep in mind, these are hidden in a small business phone bill of more than $150 per month. Yet, taking $24 per month and multiply it by tens of thousands. Wow.

Verizon gave us some hints as to prevent this:
* Do NOT answer the phone with your name. That gives the caller too much information.
* If the caller asks, "Is this so-and-so?" do NOT say "yes". The caller then has a possibly recorded "yes" in your voice that they can use for any purpose. instead respond with "How can I help you?"
* If you receive a call asking you about a service, do talk at length with the caller in case they are recording your voice. Say a very short phrase such as "delete my phone number."

CAIR

What is CAIR? Well, one thing we know is that it is filled with Texan followers of a salafi Imam. That Imam was kicked out of his mosque because he was recruiting young men, in his mosque, and sending them to Afghanistan in the 1990s for training and fighting. You can connect the dots on your own.

He is now in Michigan.

Born in Syria, he was forced to leave (and he can not go back ever) in 1980s. He was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood at that time ( and probably still is), and the Syrian President expelled their organization and everyone in it.

After going to Egypt for a brief period, this young man decided to go to America in search of a vulnerable born-US bride so he could gain citizenship and have naturalized children. He was not alone; many followed in his footsteps as part of a Muslim Brotherhood plan to destroy our country.

He succeeded in his efforts to find an American bride. He also memorized the Quaran and became an imam. His followers are Salafi and they are what CAIR is all about. Judge on your own.

What Is Salafi?

Salafi is a radical form of Islam; in fact, it is Wahabi - there is not difference. The difference lies in the birth place of the practioner. Wahabi , Osama Bin Laden's religion, can only be practiced by Muslims born in Saudi Arabia. When Wahabi is practiced by people born elsewhere, it is called Salafi. When people refer to "following the Salaf", they are referring to following in Bin Laden's footsteps. Wahabi and Salafi are the most readical forms of Islam and they both believe in Jihad and terrorism.

Carbon Dioxide

The EPA has apparently deemed carbon dioxide a dangerous pollutant. Hunh?

Plants MUST have CO2. Plants produce oxygen which we need and in return we give them CO2. If plants do not get CO2, then they die. If plants die, then other life forms here on Earth die.

I think someone is getting confused over carbon DIoxide and carbon MONoxide. Definitely NOT the same gas. With a CO2 rich atmosphere, the Earth will be healthy, not the reverse.

Maybe the EPA should declare not thinking as being dangerous instead.

From A Friend

From one of my FB friends: "The first testicular guard, the "Cup", was used in 1874 and the first helmet was sued in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize their brains were also important."

Warning about Michael's Stores

All of the Michael's stores have gotten new checkout terminals. At least here in the Richmond, VA area, the card key pad is not in alignment with the new customer checkout screen. This means when you go to swipe your card and enter a pin number, the customer behind you, not you, will see your name and approval code, etc. I am not sure how criminals could use this information but I do not want to find out either. No more shopping at Michael's here until they either move the keypad or turn off the screens!

Additional FB Note

As an additional note, even if you set strict privacy controls for your own account, if you post anything on a non-secure FB page, it will be advertised to the World. The settings are determined by the page. the best way to see if this is happening to you, Google your sign in name..... See what the World is reading about you.

Scoop On Facebook

Here is material copied from FB that every user should know:

"Information we collect when you interact with Facebook:

Site activity information: We keep track of some of the actions you take on Facebook such as adding connections ... creating a photo album, ... indicating you "like" a post, attending an event , ... In some cases, you are also taking an action when you provide information or content to us. For example, if you share a video, in addition to storing the actual content you uploaded, we might log the fact that you shared it.

Access device and browser information: When you access Facebook from a computer, mobile phone, or other device, we collect information from that device about your browser type, location, and IP address, as well as the pages you visit."

And then the statement goes on to give information about cookies. It is important for people to know what they are signing up for on the Internet.

Shadow At Water's Edge

"The best Nancy Drew game ever." is what we all said when the game was finished. Challenging games, good story and game play (non-linear), and terrific humor! What through all of the credits and get a surprise. Well worth the money even in this economy!

Geology

Gravity and October have discovered that the local library has a bunch of "Great Courses" from The Teaching Company. They have watched Particle Physics, started WW2 series but it was very boring, and am now completely enjoying "Geology" presented by Dr. John Renton . The geology course is 36 enthralling lectures. They will now look at the world around them with new awareness!

Additionally, October has gone through one on the Louvre, along with Renaissance Art and one on Impressionism.

Next on the list is "Chaos"!

Wow -- Blog Stats

A few months ago, we updated our blogs to Blogger's new design package. Part of the package was "blog stats". Wow! People from all over are hitting our blog! France, Germany, Australia and even China!

Law & Order LA

This week's Law and Order Los Angeles was very well done. It was about Americans who covert to Salafi/Wahabi Islam and then think they have the right to murder anyone who does not agree with their beliefs and their way of life. As the prosecutor states in his closing arguments, "fanaticism and self-righteousness". There is even discussion about how fanatic Muslim women must ask their husband's permission to do anything. Interesting to see the changes in our TV shows as parts of America wake up.

So woodchucks do chuck wood!!

So Who's at War With Whom?

Muslims often say that their religion is not at war with us. Here is what the convicted Times Square bomber terrorist said today in court:

As Shahzad entered the courtroom, he warned Americans that more attacks were to come. "Brace yourself for the war with Islam. This is the first droplet of the flood that will follow," the 30-year-old Shahzad said, according to Bloomberg news. "The past nine years, the war with Muslims has achieved nothing for the U.S. except it has awakened Muslims."

Glad that got cleared up!

Where is it?

Rain, we need rain.

This Summer's Marathon

Many a summer we have done a marathon of TV watching focused on a single show. In the past we have done "House" marathon, "24" marathons, and one summer we did a marathon of watching the TV mini-series, "The Tenth Kingdom".

This summer we are watching one of the best TV series ever made, "Battlestar Galactica" (2004 to 2009) It is a superb drama with social and religious themes. We will miss it when it ends.

Rubicon

AMC HD has a new series -- "Rubicon". Awesome. We are working on he code hidden in "they hide in plain sight" and "drive away: don't look back it's time"! We are sure to crack it!

Blogger Needs Cell Phone Numbers!!!!!!!!

Whoa. We wanted to set up a new fun blog and Blogger said they need our cell phone number! NO WAY!

Machiavellianism

We have just become aware of the disease called Machiavellianism. People have it from birth so no matter how they are raised, they will still have social problems. It is a third of what psychologist call the "dark triad" of mental illness; and it shares this triad with narcissism and psychopathy. People who have this illness look at the entire world in terms of reward and risk hence their lives are focused on duplicity. They lie and cheat not for protection of self but for heightening their own reward, and they do not care who they hurt in the process. It is a very difficult to share a life with a person inflicted with this disease and it is very hard to treat. The only hope is that the person who has it, through feedback from the people in their lives, realizes it is wrong and is willing to go through intense psychotherapy.

As Tour de France wraps up today, it was a good race to watch. Schleck vs. Contador days of thick fog, aerial shots of catles and gorgeous French countryside.

Web Crumbs

We discovered how AOL is doing what it is doing and it is called "web crumbs". This is a new web marketing technique worse than cookies, as they can not be deleted. These markers are very new and hopefully will be deemed illegal by our government. They actually use aspect of virus programming to make themselves un-deletable once on your computer. They are embedded in web sites so you will not know they are there but when activated will lead you to specific web sites.

Maybe it is because we are old but we are wondering what is happening to the world.. Everyone is chasing a dollar so hard that they are giving up all sense of morality.

AOL 9.5 Warning

Do not download the AOL 9.5. AOL programmers have used virus technology to develop desktop icons that are not deletable! This has been reported to Associated Press so hopefully people will be warned my many avenues.

Shutter Island

Shutter Island is the best movie we have seen in a long time. DiCaprio should win an Oscar along with Martin Scorsese and Robert Richardson. Must see but be prepared for greatness. At the end, we sat speechless. Could have heard a pin drop. Then at the end of the credits, we discussed the film for an hour.

Trail of the Twister

Another Nancy Drew game has been released! We hope to finish it this month. It is packed with puzzles, some of which are new and some of which are hard, even at the Junior Detective level. Who will be the person sabotaging the storm chasers' equipment? Hah - we will have to wait and see!

Warning Re: Adobe Flash Player

You might not even know that your computer has downloaded the new Adobe Flash Player but if it has, then you are allowing sites P2P access to your computer! What you need to do is go to Google and sear ch under Adobe Flash Player Settings Manager. The Adobe Flash help site should come up. Go to it and then on the left select the global privacy options. You will be shocked! The defaults allow most sites to access your computer. A box on the right will appear. Select each icon at the top of the box and choose your options. Wow -- what company arrogance!

Keep It Up!

K, we are SO happy that you are doing so well!!! Keep it up. Way to go girl!

Congratulations O

Congratulations to Gravity's nephew! Enjoy college and get the most out of it. Dance the night away!!

P.S. Enjoy your new home in Hanover too.

Cockroaches and 24

There is a new species of cockroach -- Periplaneta jackbauericus. This insect is amazing. It can be stabbed in the side and yet still keep going for hours -- leaping, jumping, fighting it way through adversity. And it can get stabbed for a second time in the same spot with only a slight decrease in activity! Truly amazing!

Pollen

This year has been the worst year since Gravity and October moved to VA for pollen. It is covering cars with a thick yellow coat. The good news is, it will be finished soon!

Go Chloe!

24 has improved since Chloe has begun to kick-sas (anagram). And the dumb blonde who is dumber than dumb has turned evil. Last season of the show so enjoy it while it lasts!

2010 Olympics

We are completely enjoying the Olympics here. Every day, we are watching downhill, short rack, snowboarding, curling, figure skating, etc. with complete enjoyment.

Curling has provided us with particular enjoyment. But a big questions has been raised: does yelling at the rocks make a difference? Thought to ponder.

WARNING for Windows Users

WARNING -- Windows has an update for Vista and XP PCs that gives you the blue screen of death over and over again. If this happens to you, do a system restore to a previous point and then turn automatic updates off.

Our Mining Road

When we first moved into this house we realized that we had an old road going through the property. Here it is in the snow today.

Our Yard Sculptures

Tuesday's Snow Moved To Wednesday

Here We Go Again...And Maybe Tuesday Too

Snow Here

24 Guess

So here is my season guess. The red haired FBI agent will change her name to "Jane Bauer". The Middle-eastern brother is going to marry the President, now that she is divorced. Jack will almost die but not quite (keep in mind that, like Kafka's "Metamorphosis", he is cockroach so he can't be killed). Chloe is end up being the new CTU head. And the Russian whose hand had an "accident" last night, will grow it back -- no, wrong show -- that's "Fringe".

Health Reform

We have written to our senators and congressman about the current health reform bill. Please write to yours. They need to hear from everyone.

Happy 2010!!

End of a decode and beginning of another one. There is also a blue moon tonight!

Muck

We have had so much rain that there are standing puddles everywhere. Even though we have many mature trees, just too much precipitation has fallen. With three dogs, we have set up a drying area by the front door with stacks of towels so the yard muck does not become house yuck! When spring comes, hopefully the yard will dry.

Enjoying The Sun

December Snow

Here in VA we do not get December snows very often but boy did we get a load this weekend. Gorgeous today as the sun is out (and we never lost electricity -- hooray).

Rain and more rain.

Both Gravity and October have lived in VA since 1980, so almost 30 years. With the exception of tropcial storms such as Isabell (where the rain comes in many inches all at once and then quickly disappears), neither of them have seen so much rain before. The last storm dumped over 1.5 inches in only a few hours. Every time it rains now, lakes form all over the acre+ of land. The dogs want it to stop - the humans want it to stop - the cats do not care but they miss the sunshine.

Happiness is a choice.