Posts from — May 2008

I was busy today and my last task was taking the Honda in for an oil change and first year servicing. With just over 2K on it, I’ve washed it a few times and filled it with gas every 6-8 weeks, but no messing around under the hood.

The car has had a mysterious film on it since it was new that makes it look water spotted, even the glass. I asked the service rep what it was and how do you get rid of it. The next thing I knew, there was a service department SWAT team of three managers claiming that they would never have allowed the car to leave the dealership like that, essentially saying I was lying about the situation, and the problem was tree sap or irrigation water. I told them it was kept in a car port, it wasn’t struck by sprinklers, and it had been like that since it was bought.

Given that the vehicle had one of their fake license plates on the front, and their decal on the back, I was more than slightly annoyed when they tried to claim I didn’t buy the car there.

The good news is that I didn’t kill anyone, and I didn’t blow up the building.

I’m getting better about such things.

From the Associated Press: Feds Net 38 In Global Phishing Busts

(AP) Thirty-eight people were charged Monday with stealing names, Social Security numbers, credit card data and other personal information from unsuspecting Internet users as part of a global crime ring.

The Romanian-based phishing scams sought to rip off thousands of consumers and hundreds of financial institutions, according to indictments unsealed in Los Angeles and New Haven, Conn.

The two related cases marked the latest example of what the Justice Department describes as a growing worldwide threat posed by organized crime.

They should be filleted, dipped in corn meal batter, and deep fried – hush puppies, cole slaw, and french fries optional.

The BBC notes that Burma to mourn cyclone’s victims

Burma’s junta has declared three days of official mourning for the victims of Cyclone Nargis, 17 days after the storm struck, state television has announced.

The move came as Burma’s closest ally, China, began three days of mourning for its own disaster, the Sichuan quake.

Analysts say Burma’s move may indicate it now recognises the scale of the disaster it initially downplayed, and could be more open to outside help.

Earlier, Burma agreed at an emergency summit in Singapore to accept more aid.

[Read more →]

This isn’t good: Venezuela says U.S. plane breached airspace

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. regrets any “accidental infringement” of Venezuelan airspace by a U.S. plane over the weekend, the State Department said Monday, but a Venezuelan official called the breach intentional.

The pilot “recognized his error and contacted a Venezuela tower to acknowledge that,” said Tom Casey, spokesman for the U.S. State Department.

“This is simply an issue where an error was made and acknowledged at the time,” Casey said.

However, at a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela, Defense Minister Gustavo Rangel Briceno said Venezuela believes that the U.S. military intentionally breached the country’s airspace, adding that the U.S. ambassador will be summoned to the Foreign Ministry to explain the incident.

[Read more →]

If you have any interest in gardening one of the premier events is the Chelsea Flower Show which opens tomorrow in Britain. The BBC has a photo slide show from the preview.

In addition to displays of new varieties, the show features entire gardens constructed for the event with corporate sponsors, many not in the gardening business. The show gardens span the range of things you might do in your backyard, to extremely “unique concepts” that would probably annoy the neighbors and bring down the wrath of the local code enforcement board.

Andante does a nice compare and contrast on the reaction of the Hedgemony to hurricane Katrina, and the reaction of the Chinese government to the earthquake.

How about the Hedgemony and the Burmese junta?

I wrote about the USS Bataan, which wasn’t allowed to help New Orleans.

The BBC writes about the same class of vessel, the USS Essex, barred from Burma

The US amphibious assault ship, USS Essex, is moored off the coast of Burma, prohibited by the military government from swinging into action to help cyclone victims. The BBC’s Nick Bryant reports from aboard the ship.
…

[Read more →]

BBC reports that China declares national mourning

China has announced three days of mourning for the tens of thousands of victims of Monday’s earthquake.

It will begin with a three-minute silence at 1428 (0628 GMT), exactly a week after the quake struck the south-western Sichuan province.

The Olympic torch relay will also be suspended for three days.

The number of confirmed deaths has now risen to 32,477, but officials say the final toll may reach 50,000. More than 220,000 people have been injured.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has expressed gratitude for the international help with relief efforts following the magnitude 7.9 quake.

[Read more →]

First it was a lake burning and now a swamp, as CNN reports Florida Everglades fire scorches 33,000 acres

(CNN) — Almost 33,000 acres of the Everglades National Park were burning Sunday, fire officials said, the latest in a series of wildfires that have scorched parts of Florida in May.

The smoke cast a haze over parts of South Florida, including Miami, prompting a dense smoke advisory from the National Weather Service.

The fire, which threatened private property as well as an endangered bird, started Friday, the Southern Area InterAgency Management Blue Team said.

[Read more →]

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

Jay Ackroyd has been posting at Eschaton lately and he has a strong post in his Teaching Moments. He correctly identifies the opportunity of the kerfuffle¹ over Reverend Dr. Wright, and he has apparently read the relevant books [Ghost Wars by Steve Coll and Blowback by Chalmers Johnson] but then he loses the thread by saying:

“If, when the klieg lights came up, he had translated those ideas from the language of an inner city pulpit into secular foreign policy speak he could possibly have influenced the public dialogue.”

Dr. Wright is a pastor, professor, and author. He preaches, teaches and writes about Black Liberation Theology. That is his area of expertise and he stays within its confines. He was attacked for something he said in the pulpit, a phrase taken out of context, and he responded to the attack at every venue offered.

[Read more →]

It’s comforting to know they have learned to phish in the “old country”.

“From” says <paypal @ securesuite·net>, but the header text says orange·fr.

“Subject: Votre compte PayPal est bloqué !”

Were I to “Cliquez” I would end up in a subdirectory of the Vevey Motor Club in Switzerland [motoclubvevey·ch], not at PayPal.

Vevey has had some interesting visitors, including JP Morgan and FM Dostoevski, who may have inspired this.

Words have meanings, but some words have intent. The intent is the key to deciding whether a word is derogatory. While some will attempt to hide their intent by claiming, “It was a joke”, the fact that the individual thought that there might be humor in the use of the word is adequate to assume a bad intent.

Jesse Wendel deals with Obama’s remark, “Hold On One Second, Sweetie”. While he deals with the choice of a word and the non-apology, people in comments attempt to paper over the entire thing.

The question should be: what was the intent?

[Read more →]

When Mustang Bobby does his Friday morning blogaround [that Rook steals] it is a convenient listing of high points from the blogs of the Liberal Coalition.

When Elayne does her version of a blogaround it is an itinerary of an extended and eclectic tour of blogtopia™.

The USGS map shows 74 earthquakes in the area including the original 7.9 event with 4 in the last 24 hours on the earthquake list. After tapering off a bit the magnitude jumped back up to a 5.6 yesterday.

The latest BBC report on the disaster: Quake effort resumes after panic

Rescue efforts are resuming in Beichuan in China, after the entire city was evacuated amid fears that it could be engulfed by a river bursting its banks.
…

Beichuan is close to the epicentre of Monday’s devastating quake, in which it is feared about 50,000 people died.

On Saturday the number of confirmed deaths rose to 28,881. The Chinese authorities say that about five million people have been made homeless by the disaster.

[Read more →]