Threat Neutralized

Thank Jebus they're finally cracking down on the terrible terrible threat of snow globes. We can all sleep safer tonight knowing that a snowglobe will not be used to hijack and crash an airplane over our fair cities.

Threat Neutralized

Blasphemes Exclusive Special Report: TMI

In a moment of clarity (I ran out of booze) I have compiled this special report about a website called Spokeo. Spokeo is an online phone book that has YOUR personal info: a picture of you, your house, your credit score, your profession, age, how many people live your house. In my case, it wasn't too interesting - but if some hot babe were trying to stalk me - she would have found where I dock the boat. Worse, an ex-girlfriend collection agent or someone who doesn't like the goofy crap I write on this here blog could have come knocking on ole' Cappy's door.

If you would like to remove yourself, find the Privacy button on the very bottom right. Copy and paste the url from their own site. Then go to your email as it instructs, and click the link to complete removing yourself and family from its pages. I suggest you also take off your computer illiterate family members, such as your grandmother and elderly aunt - but it will only "allow" you to take off a few at a time in one day, which pissed me off to no end. Even with additional email addresses. Until I can hit it again, I know that my Aunt Tilly is still vulnerable.

Yes, I know all this information about all of us is floating out there. Yes, I open myself up on a semi-regular basis. Yes, I have a Twitter account -- even though I think I only have about 2 spam-bots following me -- but it's the idea that all that info is being brought together in one neat little package. And that's the free side! I can imagine what kind of juicy bits there are for the paying customer?!

Look, maybe it's harmless? But maybe, just maybe, a few folks out there still value their privacy and don't want this information in a neat little package?

So what is it?

Spokeo is people search service that specifically uses social networking sites for details about people. One of Spokeo‘s target audiences is HR Recruiters, who can use Spokeo to get details about job candidates that they may have a hard time getting through a traditional online search. One of the site’s slogans is “Explore Beyond the Resume”. As if the drug test wasn't enough for these people?

Oh, and if you think you’re safe from Spokeo, think twice. It allows people to do in-depth web searches across more than 40 sites, including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, Linkedin, Picasa, LiveJournal, Friendster, hi5, bebo, YouTube, Photobucket, Amazon, xanga and many more. And you thought the Facebook 'like' button was intrusive?

Again, this should be a wake up call, not just that potential and current employers can have complete access to your personal information - but also complete strangers -- and worse, creepy ex-High School kids. Try to remember this as you put any of your personal or inappropriate information online.

I, however, shall carry on.

Safety In Today's Modern World

Safety Advice With Today's Technology-interesting.

Food for thought, some safety advice for all loyal Blasphemes readers. Seems like common sense, but it's always good to stay alert.

GPS

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.

When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.

The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.

MOBILE PHONES

I never thought of this.......
This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet... etc...was stolen.

20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking about our PIN number and I've replied a little while ago.'

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral of the lesson:
Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list.

Avoid using name like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Booty Call, Mom, etc....

And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.

Also:
When you're being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them.

If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and friends' who text you.

Officer Frank Czajka
Skokie Police Department

Yellow Light, Bright Light, Ticket!

Have you been busted by a camera at an intersection lately? Did you think that yellow was pretty short? Well, me too and so has the National Motorists Association. They've got a list of 6 cities that have been caught shortening their yellow light times for evil, evil profit.

Never mind that short yellow lights tends to INCREASE the number of violations and accidents in an intersection, which is what the red light cameras were predicated on. That crazy notion of increasing "safety". They're not increasing safety, they're filling their coffers. Why do I hate America so much? Nah, man, I hate the damned hypocritical power mad people we keep electing.

Here's the six cities that were caught:

1) Chattanooga, Tennessee
2) Dallas, Texas
3) Springfield, Missouri
4) Lubbock, Texas
5) Nashville, Tennessee
6) Union City, California

Note, these are only the ones who have been caught. The NMA assumes they're all guilty.

Follow through to the full story of each of the six. They are very interesting. For instance Union City was caught trapping motorists with a yellow signal time 1.3 seconds below the minimum established by state law. As a result, the city was forced to refund more than $1 million in red light camera fines. That's pretty nuts right there.

The part that the article leaves out is that in most circumstances thee cameras are operated by a third party company. They send the tickets out themselves and give a kickback percentage to the city (something less than 50%!). So, there's an active campaign to ignore the tickets when you get them in the mail, since they're not issued by the government and instead by a private company, so they hold no legal status.