Monthly Archives: August 2012

What will life be like in the year 2000?

Posted on by The Old Wolf

A wonderful series of French postcards (no, not that kind, you deviants) from 1898 depict what life would be like 102 years in the future. Some of them are straight out of Jules Verne (particularly their notions of aerodynamics… what’s holding some of those things up in the air is beyond me) but others hit surprisingly close to the mark, allowing for the fact that everything is cast in terms of 1898 technology. Here are some selected images – click each one for full-size.

A torpedo plane

Motorcycle policemen

Schooling

A house on the road

On the hunt for microbes. The image on the right is a electron micrograph of the T4 bacteriophage virus, which for all the world looks like a Lunar Excursion Module.

We’re not quite to the stage of computerised  tailors, but we’re getting close. I’m still waiting for replicators.

Remote-control farming. The image on the right shows what could be a very reasonable control panel with large LED display for directing the operation of GPS-controlled combines, planters, and whatnot – and this at a time when only a few farms had electricity.

Modern farmer in his GPS-controlled tractor. The technology is there – making something like this practical should not take more than a decade if people were to put some development effort into it.

Electric train concept on the left, Maglev train demo in China on the right.

Heating with Radium. While the concept is novel, the use of radium in industry was fraught with tragedy; obviously direct radioactivity is not a practical heat source.

Motorized skates. On the right, spnKiX – see the KickStarter campaign here.

Electricity for entertainment. The comfortable domestic scene at left, listening to the 21st-century Gazette on a wax recorder, pales in comparison to today’s hypnogourds. And there’s still nothing on worth watching. Except “Fringe.”

An astronomer viewing the heavens from the comfort of his desk. The Hubble space telescope surpassed all imaginings.

I insert this one because despite the imagined advances in technology, a commensurate advance in social awareness didn’t seem part of the program. The natives look like they were drawn by Jean de Brunhoff (if you’ve ever read “Le voyage de Babar.”

We have a problem with perspective as well as aerodynamics here. The cab on the right is about to take its wing off and crash in flames. Apparently, putting wings on something will allow you to be able to counteract the force of gravity. Also, I chuckled when I noticed that the cab driver still sits outside the passenger compartment, as cabriolet drivers did in the 19th century.

Caption on the left: “An Airbus”. Compare this with the massive Airbus beluga on the right.

Advance Sentinel in a helicopter; modern helicopter drone.

As silly as the Roomba seems, especially when you watch a cat riding one around, it shows that what the mind can concieve, the mind can achieve.

So the question now arises, what will life be like in 2102? We don’t know what we don’t know, and many of the advances we’ve seen in our own lifetimes could not have even been dreamed of in 1898. If we can keep from blowing ourselves up or melting ourselves down, the next century promises to be terribly exciting in terms of technology, given the exponential rate of increase. But if a descendant of mine 100 years from now sits at his or her thought-directed device and inscribes a 3-D blog entry in a bio-electronic storage medium that they are still waiting for that flying car, I’m going to be pissed.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Ten Reasons Why You Should Never Accept a Diamond Ring from Anyone…

Posted on by The Old Wolf

… even If They Really Want to Give You One

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1. You’ve Been Psychologically Conditioned To Want a Diamond

The diamond engagement ring is a 63-year-old invention of N.W.Ayer advertising agency. The De Beers diamond cartel contracted N.W.Ayer to create a demand for what are, essentially, useless hunks of rock.

2. Diamonds are Priced Well Above Their Value

The De Beers cartel has systematically held diamond prices at levels far greater than their abundance would generate under anything even remotely resembling perfect competition. All diamonds not already under its control are bought by the cartel, and then the De Beers cartel carefully managed world diamond supply in order to keep prices steadily high.

3. Diamonds Have No Resale or Investment Value

Any diamond that you buy or receive will indeed be yours forever: De Beers’ advertising deliberately brain-washed women not to sell; the steady price is a tool to prevent speculation in diamonds; and no dealer will buy a diamond from you. You can only sell it at a diamond purchasing center or a pawn shop where you will receive a tiny fraction of its original “value.”

4. Diamond Miners are Disproportionately Exposed to HIV/AIDS

Many diamond mining camps enforce all-male, no-family rules. Men contract HIV/AIDS from camp sex-workers, while women married to miners have no access to employment, no income outside of their husbands and no bargaining power for negotiating safe sex, and thus are at extremely high risk of contracting HIV.

5. Open-Pit Diamond Mines Pose Environmental Threats

Diamond mines are open pits where salts, heavy minerals, organisms, oil, and chemicals from mining equipment freely leach into ground-water, endangering people in nearby mining camps and villages, as well as downstream plants and animals.

6. Diamond Mine-Owners Violate Indigenous People’s Rights

Diamond mines in Australia, Canada, India and many countries in Africa are situated on lands traditionally associated with indigenous peoples. Many of these communities have been displaced, while others remain, often at great cost to their health, livelihoods and traditional cultures.

7. Slave Laborers Cut and Polish Diamonds

More than one-half of the world’s diamonds are processed in India where many of the cutters and polishers are bonded child laborers. Bonded children work to pay off the debts of their relatives, often unsuccessfully. When they reach adulthood their debt is passed on to their younger siblings or to their own children.

8. Conflict Diamonds Fund Civil Wars in Africa

There is no reliable way to insure that your diamond was not mined or stolen by government or rebel military forces in order to finance civil conflict. Conflict diamonds are traded either for guns or for cash to pay and feed soldiers.

9. Diamond Wars are Fought Using Child Warriors

Many diamond producing governments and rebel forces use children as soldiers, laborers in military camps, and sex slaves. Child soldiers are given drugs to overcome their fear and reluctance to participate in atrocities.

10. Small Arms Trade is Intimately Related to Diamond Smuggling

Illicit diamonds inflame the clandestine trade of small arms. There are 500 billion small arms in the world today which are used to kill 500,000 people annually, the vast majority of whom are non-combatants.

In addition, here is an article from Atlantic’s February 1982 issue that deal with the core issues – and since then, things have only gotten worse.

“The diamond invention is far more than a monopoly for fixing diamond prices; it is a mechanism for converting tiny crystals of carbon into universally recognized tokens of wealth, power, and romance. To achieve this goal, De Beers had to control demand as well as supply. Both women and men had to be made to perceive diamonds not as marketable precious stones but as an inseparable part of courtship and married life.” (February 1982 ATLANTIC MAGAZINE)

Because of the steep markup on diamonds, individuals who buy retail and in effect sell wholesale often suffer enormous losses. For example, Brod estimates that a half-carat diamond ring, which might cost $2,000 at a retail jewelry store, could be sold for only $600 at Empire [Diamonds Corporation]. (ibid.)

I’m truly grateful that the goodwoman of my house doesn’t like diamonds, but trends to less conventional tastes – this is what she begged for as a wedding band:

Many thanks to Paul Taylor of Wapsi Square for the link to this article.

The Old Wolf has Spoken

(Cross-posted from Livejournal)

Ah! Comic books!

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Came across this over at Frog Blog,

A young boy reading comics outside a store in Nebraska in 1948.

and was immediately put in mind of this old Peanuts™ strip:

Notice the presence of “Nancy” in both cartoon and photograph.

The titles are interesting to contemplate; Archie is just about the only one that still exists. If I had been smart enough to save my comics collection, I could have put all my kids through college.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

It’s hot, and getting hotter.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

I’ve never taken a locked-in-concrete stance on the issue of climate change because, simply, I don’t understand all the variables. That said, my gut tells me that the amounts of greenhouse gases we have produced since the beginning of the industrial revolution have got to be taking a toll on our global ecology.

Then along comes an article in The Register, claiming that based on a recent study, temperatures are going down rather than up. So I put the question out into the ether, where I happen to have friends and associates who are far wiser about such matters than I, including career professionals in the field. The responses I got back were enlightening, and I summarize them here.

The chart below comes from the Register’s article.

  1.  The first thing to notice is that the cooling trend line in the above chart is deceptive, and that statistics can be made to say anything you want them to. If you were to begin it at the “Little Ice Age,” it would be trending decidedly upward, with a sharp spike noticeable around the beginning of the 20th century.
  2. The data recorded in Esper’s study (again, see the article linked to above) are of interest, and will doubtless be put through the scientific wringer to see how they add to our overall knowledge of the climate and its behavior. Using a single data set, to draw definitive conclusions about long-term trends is not sound science, however, and Esper’s team does not do so. In this case, either the author of this article misunderstood the paper, or – given the Register’s reputation as a bully pulpit for climate-change skeptics – used the data to support its own pre-conceived conclusions.
  3. Esper’s data focuses exclusively on northern Scandinavia, rather than multiple lines of numbers taken globally. An accurate picture of what is happening planetwide would have to be extrapolated from sources such as ice cores, sediments, tree rings and other empirical data gathered at different time points in varying locations throughout both hemispheres. One such chart attempts to pull together a number of different analyses into a single graphic:

Source and key here.

4.   Well-understood orbital mechanics have satisfactorily explained previous warming periods throughout history.
5.   The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, which took place about 55 million years ago, saw the temperature of the world rise 6 °C over a period of 20,000 years, resulting in numerous extinctions but also the rise of other modern mammalian orders. While the cause is not yet clear, it appears that a massive outgassing of carbon from the oceans followed by uncontrolled warming created a planet-wide hothouse that took 150,000 years to cool off. Compare this with the Medieval Warm period, a blip on the grid by comparison, which affected only Europe and the North Atlantic; during the same time other parts of the globe were suffering wet spells or severe drought.

My own experience is that it’s hot, and getting hotter. The past six months have broken numerous local, nationwide and historical heat records since recordkeeping began. If the current trend continues, my grandchildren may experience a world that could be 4.3 °F to 11.5 °F hotter than it is today, and such a heat differential will lead to an increase of the kinds of drought and severe storms we have been seeing in the past year. I have lived in the same area in the west for over 40 years. Over time, our temperatures have risen and our precipitation, particularly in the winter, has decreased. This does not bode well for the future, where our desert state depends on scarce water resources for survival; it’s not the kind of world I want to bequeath to my posterity.

The Battle over Climate Change

A recent article in PopSci lays the battle lines out fairly clearly, and it’s not pretty. When solving a crime, detectives still look at the old standbys of motive, method and opportunity. In the battle over climate change, it helps to ask the single question “Who benefits?” In other words, follow the money. While one could make a case for scientists stirring up public outrage with an eye toward prestige and grant money, or politicians using global warming as a vote-getting strategy, it seems far less an incentive than the prospect of billions in profit lost by industries and corporations which will be impacted by increased restrictions on the amount of carbon they are allowed to pump into our atmosphere.

There are places in the world where people are killed for the price of a meal; small wonder that the amounts of money and power that are at stake result in a firestorm of scientific legerdemain, character assassination and even intimidation and death threats directed at honest scientists who are pursuing nothing but scientific conclusions based on empirical data.

When I distil the admixture of data down to its undiluted essence, I can’t escape the conclusion that we are fouling our nest with exponentially-increasing speed, and those who say it ain’t so have a vested interest in keeping climate change off the table. The good news is that despite adversity (eppure si muove!) scientists have a tendency to keep doing science, and the more time goes on, the clearer the picture will become. In the end (if the science is sound) the only skeptics will be meeting in the room across the hall from the flat earth society.

The Old Wolf has Spoken.

“If we had any, they’d be on aisle three.”

Posted on by The Old Wolf

“The Golden Rule for Hardware Dealers: Never let an item in your stock approach the danger level.”

Ah, those were the days. Nowadays you walk into Wal-Mart, or Target, or K-Mart, or Home Depot – and it seems that empty hooks and blank spaces on shelves are the rule rather than the exception.

Challenge No. 1 is to find someone to help you. I’ve walked the length and breadth of these stores and there have been days when not a single associate was to be found. Either they have a 6th sense that lets them know when a customer is in the vicinity so they can hide, or the companies have cut their staff to bare bones – probably a combination of both.

Now that you’ve actually cut one out of the herd, you ask for what you need.

“I’m looking for a stud sensor.”

“What’s that?”

“You know, a device to help you find the studs in your wall so you know where to put nails.”

“If we had any, they’d be on Aisle 3.”

“Yeah, I was on aisle 3 and I couldn’t find what I need.”

“*sigh* – come with me.”

“Here.”

“Well, that’s the kind with a magnet for locating nails. I want the kind that uses proximity sensing.”

“They don’t make those.”

*I show him my old one, which has gone to its reward* “Like this. I need a new one.”

*shrug*

“Who does your ordering?”

“Chicago.”

“We’re in Salt Lake. How could Chicago possibly know what people in Salt Lake need?”

*shrug*

———

Now, compare that with the experience you might have had in a hardware store in the 50’s.

“I’m looking for a left-handed spud wrench.”

“Come with me. We have three kinds. This one has teeth, this one is smooth, and this one is our nicest model – it’s made of solid brass and plays the Star Spangled Banner.”

“Nice. Actually, I was hoping for one that played Liebestraum.”

“I can have one here for you tomorrow. Anything else I can help you with?”

———

The world has changed, and sadly not for the better. Economies of scale, big box stores that pack it deep (all from China, of course) and sell it cheap, means that the customer’s experience is the last thing that counts for anything. Moving product and reducing costs is king. Even if you’re able to get hold of a store manager and ask some probing questions – like “why are you out of all five kinds of lock washers? Doesn’t anyone pay attention to inventory levels?” you will probably get a look that will make you wonder if you put your toupee on backwards this morning. They don’t know, and they don’t care.

Of course, I’m dreaming of a world that’s gone forever. My kids probably think that the way things are today is the way they’ve always been, since they don’t have an experience of anything else. But the disconnect between what I remember (stores that actually went out of their way to get customers in and keep them happy, and took pride in their business) – and what one finds as the standard operating procedure today (“If we don’t have it, that’s tough – buy something else or get out”) is so great that it makes daily errands a real challenge.

Naturally, there are exceptions. I’ve been in some lovely boutique stores and smaller mom-n-pop outfits that still care, but Curiosity is likely to find water on Barsoom faster than you can locate one. If you do find one, spread the word – they would appreciate the recommendations.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

 

 

Belo Monte dam project challenged.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

“Amazonian chief and indian tribe spokesman Raoni cried when he learned that Brazilian president Dilma approved the construction of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte even after tens of thousands of letters and emails and signed petitions with 600,000 signatures were addressed to her – these were ignored.”1

Now, however, it appears that the opposing voices have had an impact – at least for the moment. A Brazilian federal appeals court halted construction efforts until indigenous groups have been appropriately consulted. The ruling states that the Brazilian Congress rushed the project through without required due diligence on the social and environmental impact.

Whether the public outcry will be sufficient to halt the project for good remains to be seen, because there is a huge amout of money and power on the line for a lot of people, but the victory should be savored nonetheless – and knowing that there are people out there who care may bring a small measure of comfort to Raoni and his people.

More information on the ruling from The Guardian.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

1Irondance

Electronics for Dummies

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Or, “Oh for simpler days.”

When I was 8, I had a big brother for a very brief time. He was 14, and awesome in the 1950’s “Homer Price” sort of way. He built his own ham radio equipment, had all the soldering tools and an oscilloscope, and had a cool slingshot, and did really neat things at Hallowe’en, and I worshiped him. I regret sincerely that that particular domestic situation didn’t last.

But it was thinking about radios that got me going.

This image appeared over at Teresa Burritt’s Frog Blog, and I got all misty. I remember looking at all of brother’s electronic bits and pieces, and was fascinated by the pretty stripes on the resistors – at 8, I would not have been able to grasp the concepts of resistance, nor appreciate the mnemonic power of  “Bad Boys Rape Our Good Girls But Violet Gives Willingly”. Then a career got in the way, and then technology exploded by several orders of magnitude, and now I’d be about as useful repairing a circuit board as an Australopithecus with a Rolls-Royce jet engine.

But there’s something about going back to basics.

When my son was 12 or thereabouts, a “build your own radio” project happened. I don’t’ recall if he asked me, or I did it just to show him how it was done, or it was some scout thing or other – but a radio got built out of some junk, and it worked.

This was pretty much the design. A toilet paper roll, some copper wire, a headset, a germanium diode, and some assorted junk from around the house, and we were able to listen to KSL and some other local AM stations. I don’t even know if ours had a condenser on it, and I couldn’t tell you why it would be needed or not – I’m still that ignorant.

Life is full of choices, and every choice has prices and benefits. There are so many things on my bucket list, I don’t know if I’ll ever get to all of them. But understanding enough about electronics to be able to do repair work on my little Conn Theaterette organ is one of them.

This one’s not mine, but it looks just the same. All component parts, tubes, you name it. With the spec sheets and my trusty voltmeter, I should be able to keep the thing in top running condition… if I only understood the basics. Which I don’t. Not having studied my Agrippa. Hey, Macarena! Wait, there goes the ADD thing again…

But the point is, I could still learn. Nowadays, circuit boards and electronic parts are so cheap to manufacture that nobody bothers to repair things any more – you just throw it away, and buy a new one. But the principles on which they are built are no different. This voltage in, that voltage out – watts, ohms, condensers, capacitors – they’re all still there, just tiny. And, there are things out there to help.

While things like this are still to be had on eBay,

I think a kit like this would be a good place to start,

along with something like this:

And the parts are out there. With audiophiles becoming more and more numerous, the manufacture of vintage tubes has experienced a resurgence. Folks like me may never be able to tell the difference, but there are people who swear by component sound over microcircuitry, just like some folks will never give up their vinyl.

So hope is not lost. I’ve got too much on my plate now to think about it, but this blog entry will be a good reminder for me when things calm down a little.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

 

Working a Craigslist Scammer (and his friends)

Posted on by The Old Wolf

If you use Craigslist or other similar bulletin boards to sell goods locally, you need to be acutely aware that there is a whole raft of bottom-feeders out there (usually overseas) who use these vehicles to separate innocent victims from their hard-earned cash. I will occasionally engage these drones, a) to waste their time and money, and b) to see if I can gather any information that might be useful to the authorities.

Executive summary of this post:

  • CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY — AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
  • Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
  • Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
  • More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

Never accept payment by check. Never send money by Western Union. Deal locally only!

Note: Today, 12/18/2013, I received a comment on this post from someone named Devil (very appropriate choice). While I’ve spammed the original, I’ll show it here (redacted a bit for decency) to give you an idea of the mentality of these bottom-dwelling scum-eaters.

SHUT THE **** UP OLD WOLF!!!! **** u.. ***hole. Find yourself another job and allow the fools pay the price..#HATER

Hit you where it hurts, didn’t I, Devil? “Allow the fools to pay the price?” That’s exactly why I post things like this. These criminal drones have no ethics, no morals, no sense of human decency. They steal from their victims and hold them in contempt for their gullibility at the same time. While it’s true that most of the people who fall for these Nigerian 419 advance-fee scams are victims of their own greed, there are many who are in financial distress and who are taken in by the cruel and insensitive lies fed to them by the Lads from Lagos. No, Devil, I’ll continue to do all I can to thwart you and your scamming friends. If I can keep even one person from being taken in by your criminal antics, all the effort will have been worth it.

Be careful out there.

Here’s how the scam works. Take note of this if you’re not aware of it, and let anyone know who might be interested. Education is the best weapon we have to make these scams unprofitable.

1) Here’s an ad I had on Craigslist.

It’s real. Notice the part in color, it’s important – there will be a test later.

Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550 (location redacted)

Date: 2012-08-13, 12:55PM MDT
Reply to: your anonymous craigslist address will appear here

This is a piece to refinish, it’s had a long life and needs restorative work, but would be gorgeous with some TLC.

A similar item recently sold on eBay for $750.00.

Principals only. Cash only sale. No checks, money orders, shipping agents, Western Union money transfers, or anything else a Nigerian scammer may be using this week.

2) Invariably, the first few emails I get simply say, “Still available? -Sent from my iPhone”

3) I respond, and let the writer know that the item is still available.

4) Here comes an email from my buyer:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk
From: Lewis Duke <lewisduke900@gmail.com>
To: (Name Redacted)
Hello,
I really appreciate your response and consider this item sold.Am very
okay with the price and condition as stated in your advert I promise
to give addition $50 if you remove the advert from Craigslist
completely,so I will be rest assured am in hand of this item.
I will pay you as soon as possible with USPS MONEY ORDER OR CERTIFIED
CHECK,so I will be sending the payment to you via FedEx or USPS
courier company and it will be delivered to you.So you need to
provide me the information to facilitate the mailing of the payment as
thus:
Full name on the check…………………………………

Physical address to post the check………………………

City, State and Zip Code……………………………….

Home & Cell Phone to contact you…………………………

NOTE:I would forward all your details to my secretary to make the
payment out to you quickly and the payment will be shipped to your
address via FedEx next day air service or via USPS and i will take
care of the shipment of the item.As soon as you notifies the clearance
of my check,I will inform my shipper to come down to your address and
pick my item.
Thanks and I hope to hear from you as soon as possible.

Regards. Lewis

Notice the guy has totally ignored my warning, posted clearly on the ad, that I only deal locally, in cash, and all the rest. He has offered to send me a check, and wants his “shipper” to pick up the item. They never even read the adverts – somehow they have a scraping system that notifies them of recent posts.

5) I respond thusly:

Dear Mr. Duke,
Name for the check: Wolfington X. Analemma
Address: (Redacted)
Cell Phone: (Redacted)
Just one thing – I won’t be removing the Craigslist ad until the transaction is complete, I have been dealing with Craigslist for a long time, and I have had bad experiences with buyers who did not buy after asking me to take the ad down. I hope you’ll understand.
-W

6) A couple of days go by, and I get this email:

Hello dear seller,
am very sorry for the delayed or inconvenence i might caused
in sending your payment, i lost my cousin on Sunday in a vital
accident, hope my apology is granted,
i have send out the payment to your address,also i will email you the
tracking number asap and the instruction to follow

N:B, please do get back to me you got my message

7) I let him know I will wait for the check

I have received your message, please accept my condolences on the loss of your cousin.
I will watch for the payment.
-W

Of course, he has not lost his cousin or anyone else.

8) Today, I get this in the mail via USPS priority mail:

I loved getting a piece of mail with this name on it.

Inside is a check:

The check looks real. It comes with the stub information and everything, and is obviously printed on a stock check form, but the check is as bogus as a $9.00 bill.

Note that the package was supposedly mailed from San Francisco, but the tracking number indicates that it was actually dropped off in Torrance. Note also that it cost someone $5.15 to mail this.

9) Now I get the following two emails:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk
From: Lewis Duke <lewisduke900@gmail.com>
To: (Name redacted)
Your Tracking Information
Status: DELIVERED
Last Scan: August 15, 2012 11:43 am Delivered
Delivery Date: Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Delivery Time: 11:43 AM
Delivery Location: (redacted)
Carrier: US Postal Service

US Postal Service Tracking Number: (Redacted)

Subject: PAYMENT DELIVERED TODAY, FOLLOW INSTRUCTION BELOW $ GET BACK TO ME ASAP
From: Lewis Duke <lewisduke900@gmail.com>

To: (Name Redacted)
Hello,
Thanks for your endurance for the payment of the item sold, the
payment will delivered to you via USPS with tracking number I had
to spent $10 to the payment with USPS….priority overnight so that
you can quickly receive the payment.
Get the check cash deduct the money for your item sold, plus the $50 i
promised for keeping the item hold ,then the rest fund will be send
via money gram to the shipper, who will come down to your house for
the pick up.
HERE IS THE SHIPPER INFORMATION VIA MONEY GRAM TRANSFER::
Name: William Alvarado
Address: 802 S Virginia Dare Trl
City: Kill Devil Hills
State: NC.
Zip code: 27041
Note: You have to deduct the Money gram charges from the money you
are sending to the shipper and make the money available in a minutes
after you have send it and then get back to me with the
money gram transfer details below as it is appears on the money gram
Receipts
1….Sender’s Name and Address
2…. REFERENCE NUMBER, 8 DIGIT
3….Total Amount Sent After the Money Gram Charges
What’s your schedule regarding pick up as i have some other
properties to be moved alongside the item.

Regards

10) Here’s the rub:
  • The check is bogus
  • Anyone who sends money to one of these scammers will lose all of it, without recourse
  • Cashing a bogus check is grounds for prosecution, and victims have been arrested for attempting to pass fraudulent documents

So, I send the following email back to “Lewis”.

Hello, Lewis.

Yes, I have the check in hand. It’s lovely. I’ve always wanted a souvenir.
So, you read the advert for the item very carefully, and you were satisfied? Perhaps you didn’t read the part at the end where it says, very plainly:

Principals only. Cash only sale. No checks, money orders, shipping agents, Western Union money transfers, or anything else a Nigerian scammer may be using this week.

The fact that you ignored this, combined with your lousy English, was a solid guarantee that you are a criminal, a liar, a thief and a moron. I will keep your worthless check in my “Fraud Prevention” file.
Onioburu, dem no born you reach. Mugu no chop my dollar, chop only black powder from Olumba Olumba Obu, straight to you, not for me. U no fit comot face, just skip along.
I’m glad I wasted your time and money.

No love,
Martins Tanjul

Thus far, no response. Sometimes these scammers get their knickers in a twist and respond with a whole raft full of Nigerian insults, but usually there is no answer to my “game over” message.

Update: Wait, there’s more! Despite my sending Lewis the above email, I get this the next day:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550
From: Lewis Duke <lewisduke900@gmail.com>

To: (redacted)
Hello,

why did you keep silence since you received the payment

from USPS, you are to deduct your money out the money received
if i did not read from you today, i will report to the authority.

HERE IS THE SHIPPER INFORMATION VIA MONEY GRAM TRANSFER::

Name: William Alvarado
Address: 802 S Virginia Dare Trl
City: Kill Devil Hills
State: NC.
Zip code: 27041.
am looking forward to read from you the money gram transfer detail

and the best time for the pick up

I again send him the same letter as above, with some additional “up yours” information. After that, no further response.

As a followup, I notified the following companies and agencies so they would be aware that their name was being used for fraudulent purposes:

  • Liquid Realty Partners
  • Hamilton Health Center, Inc.
  • Fulton Bank

I also contacted

  • The Torrance, California, Police Deparment
  • The Kill Devil Hills, NC Police Department
  • http://www.ic3.gov

Now, how this waste of human cytoplasm has something mailed in Torrance, CA and gets funds picked up in North Carolina is a mystery to me. All I know is he won’t get a red cent out of this transaction, which has cost him time and money.

Summary

On the top of every Craigslist response is the following text:

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY — AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
And that’s solid advice. Yet despite this, people continue to fall for scams like this, or others – including apartment rentals, relationship scams, “grandson in trouble,” and lost pets.
Follow the advice. If you use Craigslist, always deal locally, and face to face. Never send money via Western Union to anyone for anything, unless you initiate the transaction and you know your recipient.
Be careful – it’s crazy out there.
The Old Wolf has spoken.

Update 8-20-2012

Absolutely gobsmacked at the number of scammers that have landed on my Craigslist page for this same item. I’m not sure what sort of network they have, but something out there is being passed around. Whee! More fun for me.

So here’s the next one. After the usual “Is this item still for sale?” (that seems to be the standard opener for all of these bottom-feeders),  I get:

From: “Menia Dykes” <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>
To: (redacted)
Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk
Hello! thanks for getting back to me let’s do like this, actually now
I’m not in town for now, I came to visit my family so i wont be able
to meet with you to see the item but am ok with the price as seen on
the advert. I don’t mind to give you $50 to withdraw the advert for
you to see how serious i am in the transaction, i will contact my
secretary to issuing a Check out to you and when you received the
check I will make arrangement for pick up. So get back to me with
below details to be on the
check asap.
Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Postal Code:
Phone Number:
And as soon as this is provided, the payment will be overnight to you
and i will let you know when its mailed out. I need you to be honest
with the sale as I am a God fearing person.Note you don’t need to
worry about shipping the items for me as soon as you have the check
and have the check cash my shipper will come over for pick up
Thanks

God Bless

Wolfington X. Analemma responds with an address, and get a similar response back:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk
From: Menia Dykes <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>
To: (redacted)
Hello I appreciate your quick response sorry for late respond and am
happy you are selling to me. I got your details and have forward it to my
secretary, payment has been issued out to you and sent to you via
USPS POSTAL SERVICE, I will email you with the tracking number for
confirmation as soon as am provided with it. I will also like to let
you know that shipping company funds was included with your payment
due to i might not be around once the payment arrive to you because
am going to ALABAMA for my honeymoon Once the payment arrive you will
go ahead and have the check cash then you deduct the money for your
item with additional $100 for your Gas and running around then you have
the rest of the money send to my shipper via western union and money
gram then i will contact shipper to get ready to come over for pick up
immediately. LET ME KNOW IF I CAN trust you in this transaction.
Note you are not responsible for shipping as soon as you have the check
and have it cashed my shipper will be coming over for pick up Hope to
hear back from you soon.

Thanks for your understanding

Aside from the noise about a honeymoon, it looks very similar. These people must either copy from or share with each other – the scam is almost identical in nature. I respond:

Thank you for the message, I will keep an eye out for the payment. I look forward to completing this transaction.
-W

Next communication from the scammer:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk
From: Menia Dykes <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>
To: (redacted)
Hello how are you doing i just want to let you know that the payment
had been issued and sent to you via USPS courier service which is
going to arrive to you latest on on friday 3PM once you receive
it let me know so that all the arrangement for pick up can be getting
done immediately i will soon get back to you with the shipper
information and USPS tracking number so you can be able to check

the status of delivery till then stay blessed.

I respond,

Thank you for this notification.
-W

The Scammer has sent me a check.

Notice that her name has now changed from Menia Dykes to Menia Elliott (with an extra “L”). It is almost guaranteed that she does not work at Sultana High School, but it is interesting to note that this package was indeed dropped off in Hesperia, CA according to the USPS tracking number.

I like the “Pay with Valid ID” bit. “Daniel J. Saxt on P.C” and Suntrust Bank have been notified that their identities are being stolen for this scam. So here are a couple more emails from the scammer, first the instructions on how to send her the “overage”.

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550
From: Menia Ellliott <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>
To: (redacted)
Hello how are you doing today i had a confirmed from USPS that the
payment had been delivered to you Here is the tracking number for
you to check the status of the delivery {redacted} As i told
you before that i might not be around when the check arrive due to am
going to ALABAMA for my honeymoon Here is what you need to do. Just
go straight to your bank and cashed the check instantly or you can deposit
it into your bank account it will only take 24hrs for the check to be verify
and the money will be available in your account and as soon as you have
the cash go ahead and deduct your money for the item with additional $50
for your Gas and running around then have the rest of the money send to
mover via western union money transfer so that shipper can be coming
over for pick up immediately. Herae is the shipper information to send the
rest of the money to via western union or money gram transafer.
NAME: Lara Sepanosian
ADDRESS : 4827 Romulus dr
CITY: Glendal
STATE: CA
ZIP CODE: 91205
Shipper have ready to come to your location anytime from now She informed me
that the only thing holding her up is the shipping funds. so immediately you
have the money send to shipper i will require the following information on the
western union transfer receipt such as……..
1: Sender’s name and address used in sending the money
2: The MTCN number which is the 10 digits number on the western union receipt
3: Actual amount sent.after western union charging
4: date and time you want shipper to come over for pick up
Note. email me your map quest for shipper to locate to place with the best
time you want the shipper to come over for the pick up today cos i do
still have some other items at another location with shipper need to pick up for
me that is why you need to send all the rest of the money to my shipper for
shipper to proceed on is work immediately **Please note that youwill be paying
whatever the western union charges to send the money from the excess fund
before sending the rest to shipper thanks for your understanding hope to hear
back from you soon.

God bless you

Interestingly enough, there is a Lara Sepanosian in Glendale, CA – but Western Union doesn’t require ID for pickup, as far as I know – all you have to do is provide a name and a control number to pick up funds. Later the same day I get this – she’s really anxious to get her money, isn’t she?

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550
From: Menia Ellliott <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>

To: (redacted)
Hello how are you doing what is going on? i was wondering why you keep
silent since the payment had been delivered to you i will like you to
get back to me with the western union details that you use to send the
rest of the money to my shipper for me to contact shipper to get ready
for pick up immediately i will also like you to email me your map
quest for shipper to locate you with the best date and time that you
want shipper to come over for pick up. Hope to hear back from you
soon..
Your Tracking Information

Status: DELIVERED

Last Scan: August 17, 2012 11:52 am Delivered
Delivery Date: Friday, August 17, 2012
Delivery Time: 11:52 AM
Delivery Location: (redacted)
Carrier: US Postal Service
US Postal Service Tracking Number: (redacted)

Notice the “keep silent” is very similar to the “keep silence” used by Lewis Dukes in the first scam above. An American would say “I’m wondering why I have not heard from you” or something similar. As it happens, it’s the weekend, so I respond:

Menia, the parcel is probably in my mailbox, which is a long way away. I usually pick up my mail in the evening. When I see if the payment is there, I will get back to you.
-W

and later that evening,

OK, I have the check in hand. Tomorrow is Saturday, banks are closed until Monday so I won’t be able to cash the check until then. When the bank has cashed the check I will send you the rest of the information you asked for.
-W

The scammer writes back:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550
From: Menia Ellliott <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>

To: (redacted)
Thanks for the updating i will contact shipper to wait till monday
then as soon as you have the check cash on monday go ahead and deduct
$550 for your item then deduct additional $100 for your gas and
running around making $650 Then have the rest of the money send to
shipper via western union and get back to me with the western union
details for me to contact shipper to get ready for pick up immediately

Hope to hear back from you soon

Today is Monday, but I’m not going to respond at all until I get her frantic “Where is my money” email. In a previous post, I tweak a scammer who is obviously in Africa, and get him to go to Western Union five times in an attempt to collect money. I could do that again, but I really don’t have the time. I’m just interested in collecting enough information from these people to see if I can identify a pattern in where they are working.

More as it becomes available. For what it’s worth, I now have several other scammers promising to send me money:

  1. “Tim” or “Ben Carson” (ben.carson103@gmail.com)
  2. Natasha William (natasha.william9211@gmail.com)
  3. Kristal Beauchamp (michael.frank03@gmail.com)
  4. And just today, “Chloe Burton” (chloeburton61@gmail.com) has inquired about three of my items for sale. It will be interesting to see how that one turns out.

Update: 8-23-2012

Here’s Menia’s “Where is my money” letter:

Subject: Re: Solid Hardwood Antique Secretary’s Desk – $550
From: Menia Ellliott <pherrysmith02@gmail.com>

To: (Redacted)
Hello how are you doing i was wondering why you keep silent since
monday you promise to get back to me i have been awaiting for the
western union details that you use to send the rest of the money to my
shipper for me to contact shipper to get ready for pick up immediately

Hope to hear back from you soon

And here’s what I wrote her back:
Menia,I took the check to my bank and they looked at the name on it:
DANIEL J. SAXT ON P.C
They are telling me a certified check should never have typographical errors on it, and they think this check might be faked. Can you explain this?
I don’t want to proceed until I know these funds are valid.
Please get back to me at once because I have several other people interested in my item.
-W

I’ll be curious to see if I get a response on this one, or if the scammer will assume he’s been outed and just fade away. As of 8/29, “Menia” has not responded – but it looks like he actually got lucky with someone else, which is a shame.

Also:

Another scammer takes the bait. I’ll not report the entire email exchange, but here’s the essential marrow:

This one was posted from Memphis, TN.

The Priority envelope supposedly came from John Sharon at the University of Memphis:

and the Western Union transfer is supposed to go to:

Rachel Fowler
8382 brooks road
Memphis TN 38116
According to Google Maps, Rachel lives in the middle of a container storage lot, but oh well – I guess the economy is not all that great for scammers. Seriously, though – every piece of data these drones use is falsified, but I noticed one very interesting thing about this check:
The signature above is from the check from “Krystal Beauchamp,” (Memphis, TN); the one on the bottom from the check sent me by “Menia Elliott (Glendal,e CA). Identical. Are we dealing with a ring of connected people here? Do they swap information and files among themselves?
Impossible to tell. I only wish that the FBI would consider investigating these drones and getting them off the streets – I’m willing to bet they’re taking a lot of people for a lot of money, and very little of it ends up in a centralized database anywhere.
Update 8/29/2012
Another one bites the dust:
The printing on this one is abominable – I’m not sure who would think this is a valid check. Sent by scammer “Ben Carson,” package mailed from Los Angeles, with a supposed “shipper” at
Samara Olivo
804 Hampton Drive.
Sacramento, CA 94203
This address is just totally bogus.
According to FedEx, I should have another one coming tomorrow from “Natasha William.”

The Old Wolf keeps on speaking.

On the internet, urban legends never die

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Stumbling around this morning waiting for a student to show up online (he never did), I came across this:

Now, I had never heard this – but my stepdaughter happens to be insane about hippos, so I thought this might make a cute shirt for her. A bit of searching, however, raised a problem: despite countless hits and re-posts and re-blogs, and entries in things like Yahoo Answers (otherwise known as the blind leading the blind, but don’t get me started), it seems that it’s just not true.

It turns out that hippos produce a natural sunscreen. From Wikipedia: “Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as “blood sweat,” but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine.”

Like all mammals, hippos produce white milk; when the milk mixes with these skin secretions, it may acquire a pink color cast. At ASPCA kids, one of the answer-writers produced this with regard to the question:

“You’re right about hippos oozing an awesome red-pink liquid to keep away bugs and germs and avoid sunburn, Finley! But pink milk? Sounds too crazy to be true. But you’re also right that many websites claim hippo babies are drinking pink milk.

I’m sorry to say that I don’t know any hippos personally, so to answer your question I had to turn to the experts—specifically, Dr. Rebecca Lewison, an ecologist and hippo conservationist at San Diego State University. According to Dr. Lewison, the pink milk thing is totally false! She thinks people are confusing hippos’ pink secretion with their milk. I guess you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet—except when at ASPCA Kids, of course.”

I’ll take the word of the experts on this one. Hippo milk is white.

The Old Wolf has spoken.