Monday, January 30, 2006

Update your Account information For your Bank

This one got past the spam filters and wound up in my inbox. It had all the pretty pictures of the bank of america , some guy typing on a lap top, the whole nine yards.


Security Update Notification

Because of unusual number of invalid login attempts on you account, we had to believe that, their might be some security problem on you account.


We'll start by mentioning that I don't have an account with the bank of america, just to get things rolling.

So we have decided to put an extra verification process to ensure your identity and your account security.

Please click on continue to the verification process and ensure your account security. It is all about your security.

Thank you.
Continue To Online Banking


When you pass your mouse over the link , a nice tool tip pops up saying "www.bankofamerica.com".
When you tearapart the html and examine where that link really goes .. it's not heading for that. It's going to www.lucrablog.com/... some big long thing

lucra = money , by the way , so it's probably some paid log site. Heck, why don't I just pull that up ?

Bummer. It's all in french. But it's definately NOT bank of america and I suppose that is enough.

This is a con job. Not just spam, but out right criminal activity of the sort known as Phishing. You can bet anyone answering this message is going to find their bank accounts cleaned out and their credit cards maxed out the next day.

Well...I needed something to blog about today anyways.

My advice to all who receive such emails and you think it might be valid (ie: you might actually have an account at the place specified) is simply to phone them. don't mess around with online forms. Phone them.

-----------------------
WHOIS information for lucrablog.net:

[whois.namesecure.com]
Registrant:
AGATE Ben
Nouveau Net Inc.
187, Sainte-Catherine Ouest
Montréal, Québec H2X3X5
CA

(hmmm... that doesn't look like an american address...)

Monday, January 23, 2006

Sadness Is

Sadness is when you finally realize it's not going to work out between you and your wife.

Sadness is when you sit down with your wife to have an honest talk with her about problems, and thats what starts the fighting. Now I know I am alone, If you can't talk with your wife bout things, you can't really talk to anyone , can you.

Sadness is watching her go off to work , and start packing a few minutes after she's gone.

Sadness is her phoning you from work , you knowing it's the last phone call you will take from her , and its going to be an angry hateful spiteful one. You dare not let her know you're leaving because she'll rush home from work and make what is already a trial a nightmare.

Sadness is knowing it's time to just walk away, and not say anything.

Monday, January 16, 2006

French Waste Time Hounding Converts


Officials Concerned About Muslim Converts


Ok then. How many converts we got ?


Pawlak is one of about 50,000 French, and tens of thousands of others across Europe and North America, who have converted to the Muslim faith. Like most converts, he is a mainstream Muslim


Ok then. How many of these freshly minted muslims are doing dastardly deeds ?


At least three Muslim converts in France have been convicted in recent years on terror-related charges, the most recent Lionel Dumont, given a 30-year prison term last month. He was co-leader of a gang of violent hoodlums in the northern city of Roubaix that provided Ahmed Ressam, the so-called millennium bomber, with his start in terrorism. Dumont later fought for the Muslim cause in Bosnia


Ok. 3 / 50 000 ...

hmmmm.... 0.006% of all french muslim converts become terrorists within a few years of converting ...
Duhh ! Ok ... I can see why we should be panicking ! Oh yeah ! Definately something I'm gonna lose sleep over !

American Arrogance


CNN 'very disappointed' at being banned from Iran



"There are reports today, Monday, that Iran has banned us from the country. CNN is very disappointed that this action has been taken," Nigel Pritchard, a spokesman for the company, said in a statement from Atlanta, where CNN is based.

"Due to an error in translation, CNN incorrectly quoted Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his Saturday speech as saying that Iran has the right to build nuclear weapons," the statement said.

"In fact, President Ahmadinejad said that Iran has the right to nuclear energy


Heck no prob. I'd banish you from my nation too (if I ran one) if you misquoted me as saying "I should have nukes and fire them off at anyone I like" too !

We all know the Iranians are trying to build nuclear weapons , it's a delicate situation. Yahoo's like you messing up the waters like this only make it worse. Much worse. It's probably for the best that you take a powder from the scene if this the kind of reporters you employ in Iran.

Save the real "we have nukes" report for the Iranian Prez to make , don't make it for him, he's an idiot and will do it eventually.

And fire that reporter. He or she is obviously highly incompetant and in need of a career change.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Church of Absolute BS

Scientologist Director Slams Psychiatry

Wow, Scientology, I totally forgot how much I hate those quacks !

Ok , here's the deal.
These honest , hard working people go out and learn a few things , put their name on it , no one elses, and say "this is what I think." They're called Scientists, and what they beleive they call science.

Some religious air heads with no brains and fewer scruples happen to notice that these hard working scientists are getting results. So they'll just steal their title of Scientist , modifying to Scientologist, and make up a religion called the Church of Scientology and thus ride on the coat tails of these scientists.

Oh yes... the scientists they're immitating ? They totally disagree with everything those scientists every said or did. And they're ticked the hard work is paying off and somehow it's all the scientists fault that the scientists have to steal their titles to get their air head religious views even looked at.

ok..now we can begin.


WASHINGTON - When Joseph Feshbach, a Scientologist, joined QuadraMed Corp.'s board in 2001 he didn't think the health-care information technology company would ever involve itself with the "pseudo-science" of psychiatry.


Wow..immagine that... a scientologist annoyed that a scientist is actually practicing ... science .. no less .... impressive ....


So when the company decided to market its pharmacy software to psychiatric hospitals, Feshbach quit.

It's the Super Terrorist !

Man Sentenced to Life in Bush Attack


The grenade that Arutyunian threw during the huge rally attended by Bush and President Mikhail Saakashvili landed about 100 feet from the stage where they were standing behind a bulletproof barrier and did not explode. No one was hurt.


So... you got close to President Bush and you threw a grenade at him ! And ... you're aim is crap , you didn't come within 100 feet of him. And the grenade you threw was a dud , it didn't go off.

Truely ... I am simply ... terrified ... of this kind of person. Really.

LMFAO !!!!


TBILISI, Georgia - A court Wednesday convicted a man of trying to assassinate
President Bush and the leader of Georgia by throwing a grenade at them during a rally in May 2005, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

CSIS

Years ago , I took a stroll down the wrong road and got lost , and I wound up at CSIS , the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service. Called for a cab using their phone and went home.

It always amused me that when you look on a bus map for Ottawa , it's not called CSIS. It's called CENSORED . I'd always found that amusing. They don't want their location on the map our make believe spies, do thay ? Could they have picked a worse cover than a CENSORED ??? I really gotta wonder about these people some times.

Remember. They're really at CENSORED Just look on the bus map , it's right there.

The Iranian Nuclear Mess

Tehran removes seals at nuclear plants, resumes research

It reads , while slightly to the right there is this beautiful full color ariel photo of the Natanz Nuclear Complex in Iran , with every building in beautiful color just perfect for use as a guide to high flying american bombers...

If I was the Iranian Intelligence minister I'd be wetting myself at this point. Because if that plant starts producing any kind of nuclear material that material is going to get splattered all over Iran and no where else.

Oh yeah.
Blah blah , says Iranian President. Peaceful use only. By the way we hate jews and other infidels , blah blah blah ....

This is going to make for a very messy middle east.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Bill Gates : Money Talks !


Microsoft Shuts Down Blog in China



BEIJING, China (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. has shut down the Internet journal of a Chinese blogger that discussed politically sensitive issues, including a recent strike at a Beijing newspaper.

MONEY TALKS !


Microsoft's Web log-hosting service shut down the blog at the Chinese government's request,

And it talks loud , and it talks long ...


Microsoft's Web log-hosting service shut down the blog at the Chinese government's request,


And it can walk !

And so here he'll stay ,
The Gates Way ...

Forever in China !


The blog, written under the pen name An Ti by Zhao Jing, who works for the Beijing bureau of The New York Times as a research assistant, touched on sensitive topics such as China's relations with Taiwan. Last week, he used the blog to crusade on behalf of a Beijing newspaper.

Reporters at the Beijing News, a daily known for its aggressive reporting, staged an informal one-day strike after their chief editor was removed from his post. The editor's removal and the strike attracted comments on Chinese online bulletin boards, which censors then erased.


Dead Beats Die !
They got no cash , but china Does
So to heck with him !


Microsoft's Web log service bars use of terms such as "democracy" and "human rights."

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Movie Review : Phantom of The Opera - Andrew Lloyd Webber

The Phantom of The Opera
A Joel Shumacher film



Expectations

Webber's Phantom is a Rock Opera. I'm pretty much expecting what amounts to a 90 min rock video with minimal special effects and acting, but the music had better be awesome , because that's what I'm paying for.

What I got
141 minutes, not 90

Pretty much 95% of the movie was someone singing. Good quality sound. Dolby 5.1 I'd heard the songs before , they were the ones you find on the cd's , it was nice to see people acting along to them.

Sets / Acting

It's not someone sticking a camera in front of a stage and having the actors do Phantom of the Opera one more time before it stops running in toronto. They actually build real sets and it looks like a movie. If you get over the part where everyone is singing ALL the time, it actually looks quite real. I hadn't expected that, so I put it up a notch above the expected 90 min rock video

Actiing is difficult to judge , no one acts , they all just stand around and sing. They all sing real good. The phantom has a better stage presence than anyone else, so I suppose he's the best actor around, even though he's the villian.

Special Effects

No special effects are particularily noticable. What is noticable is simply that "everything works". You're back stage of an 18th century opera house, all the levers and ropes and curtains and everything work properly.

There was one scene where the phantom was poling a boat along an underground river (singing a song of course) and candels on some kind of chandeliers rose up out of the water. And the candles actually lit themselves as they cleared the water. Amusing, but the only obvious special effect in the whole movie.



The story

who cares ? I just bought it because I liked the tunes.
Some kind of love triangle between the disfigured Phantom (dont' get your hopes up , by 18th century standards he may be considered a monster but by 21st century standards it just leaves you going "they can fix that now you know, cheap too..") a pretty young girl , and a non disfigured man who is a mediocre singer and uglier than the phantom if you ask me , though he's played up as the handsome prince.
The two men fight. The Evil Monster Phantom loses. The pretty girl runs off with the ugly prince. The rest is mere detail and a lot of really nice rock music.
Except that you can see the 18th centuray morality showing through, and the phantom doesn't really come off as evil by modern standards. Or maybe we're just way too understanding about such things.

Conclusion
it's a 90 min rock video , and then some. If thats what you're looking for , you won't be disapointed.

Cafe Internet

Cafe Internet
288 Bank Street,
Ottawa, ON
K2P 1X6

Well..thats what it's called on yellowpages.ca. When you get there the sign on the door says "micro" something or other increadably forgetful. It's one door in from the corner of bank and sommerset.

Went there with a friend. Sat down. What did I see ?
Cute software to measure your online time.

Could I go to blogspot and post anything ? No , increadably slow... blogspot loads only after a painful long time, and attempts to actually log in fail after 30 min (didn't actually fail, I just ran out of time waiting)

Could I read the funnies ? No. To be honest, I was going through my.yahoo.com and clicking on the comic links there. Nothing came up.

Speed test shows 190 kbps, which by the way only technically qualifies as broadband. Dial up is 56 kbps , for comparison.

Tried to install firefox from getfirefox.com , it let me download it (wasting 10 min of my time) and then refused to install the program, I didn't have security rights. Well , I can't really blame them for not letting me install random software. I can blame them for wasting my time on it.

I could check my yahoo mail.
That was about all I could do.
4$ / hour to find out thats all it's good for.

There are no online games of any kind installed.

Oh , the security software that tells your time is up works real good. Booted me out most efficiently.

Guest Blogger : George

Ok , I have a friend who'd like to let his opinions on certain matters known , so I'm going to turn over this entry to George, the Guest Blogger

George ? You're On.
---------------------------------------------------
In a world without need of Fences and Doors, who needs Gates and Windows??
-George

Thursday, January 05, 2006

My life sucks

It's cold out.
Its winter.
I feel down , and blue
I know that that is because I'm taking my meds properly and not cheating on them.
I felt good the other day , but discovered that it was because I'd forgotten to take my mid day meds.

I have to watch my breathing because I have a pulmonary embolsim and if I start panting too much it's gone berserk.

I have to check my fingers every day to make sure they don't tingle, because it means I've been on certain anti biotics too long and I should stop immeidately before the nerve damage (tingling) becomes permanent)

I have a nurse that comes every day to change the packing in my wound, caused by teh surgical removal of a large abcess. It hurts like heck and this has been going on for more than a month.

I'm on 6MP and Prednezone , both immuno suppresants that slow down my healing , so my belly doesn't keep on spitting out more abcesses and forceing me to have more operations.

Yesterday the nurse spotted a new abcess in my belly , despite the medication to prevent such things.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother.

Remote Controlled Answering Machine

Yesterday , Dalton McGuinty himself phoned me up with a recorded message and tried to leave a message on my answering machine. It started with him explaining how he and his family spent the new year preparing for the coming election ( of which he is a candidate)

This is the part where I discover that if you press "talk" on the phone ... it picks up and stops recording. If you press talk again ... it hangs up on him (or in this case , his recording).

I suppose I should now go on about how spam has now reached epic proportions and we now have computers phoning us up to leave messages on our answering machinge , but ... click click ... golden silence ...

I thought it was hysterically funny , actually.

Racist Musings

I play a lot on world of war craft, an online game with a lot of other players.

A lot of them are pretty quick to bring racisim to the table. After a year or so of playing with what essentially amounts to a long stream of random strangers I've come to the following conclusion.

People are too quick to generalize.

Once you get into the habit of saying somone is bad because of their race, it's too easy to add another race to the list , and another , and another. Even "fantasy" races that don't actually exist in the real world come under fire (there's a lot racisim against gnomes or elves for example).

I think maybe racism is bad because it cannot be controlled. Once you go down that road , you can't limit it to just one target , it takes on a life of it's own and very quickly becomes a "we hate everyone" kind of deal.

and of course, if racism is shown to work , your "racial enemeies" will adopt it as well , and there will be a bunch of people who hate you as well. No matter who you are.

Not a pretty picture.

Testing

This is just a test to see if this blog is actually working , or if that "out of disk space" error I was getting is a permanent thing and I should walk away and abandon this.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Top Ten Ways I use the Web

There's a lot of top ten lists coming out lately , no doubt a david letterman thing. And It occured to me, yah know... the web has me doing things now that I never did before.

So , what are the top 10 ways the web has touched me ?

1.. My MP3 player. I take it everywhere. I listen to it all the time. Ummm.. guess where the songs come from ? Yes, they're legal ! Sheesh !


2.. email. Don't get a lot, but I do use it. Never did before.

3.. buying software. I have bought at least 2 pieces of software , online , for my PDA . A chess program and a basic interperter.

4.. cheap cell phone. Instead of hunting around for cards for this phone and hoping they're in stock (the reason my last cell phone died is I could never find cards for it) I go to a web site and "fill her up" pay as you go style. No hunting for cards required, and no mysterious deductions if I'm feeling poor this month.

5.. Blogging. I never even heard of blogging 5 years ago. Now I blog. Hmmm...

6 .. Online gaming. I am a world of Warcraft fanatic. Ok, I tried a few other games, they sucked, and I went back. guess maybe I'm an online game fanatic and WoW is the only one who did it right. Whatever. I pretty much plan to be playing an online game of some kind or another for the rest of my life.

7.. catch the news on cnn. Never watch tv , but I'm well informed. cbc as well. Occasionally a blog article results from this if somethign annoys me.

8.. online calender. What days I work and what times I start vary , so this has to be kept track of. Used to use the pda for that, now I use my.yahoo.com 's calander and do it online, typing in the stuff at work and being able to view it from anywhere (like home)

9.. Streaming music. Sometimes I get tired of the canned mp3 music , my ISP provider has streaming music that I can listen to.

10.. frequent Bill Gates Rants. Can you believe that guy ? What does he think he's trying to do ? Purchase the Entire Internet ? Gawd I hate him ! And that Internet Explorer ! Biggest virus and parasite trap in the world !

9..