Yearly Archives: 2015

Another INTERPOL Threat

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Another scam from Benin.

NEVER RESPOND TO SILLY EMAILS LIKE THIS. If you are contacted out of the blue by someone who wants you to wire money by Western Union to anywhere in the world, it’s a SCAM. Delete such messages. NEVER SEND MONEY BY WESTERN UNION TO ANYONE UNKNOWN TO YOU.

No, Interpol is not after me. No, I won’t send them any money.

Subject: Urgent Attention,
From: INTERPOL POLICE <interpolgeneralofpoliceforce@gmail.com>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
FBI OFFICE Washington, DC

INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 190 ? member countries. Our role is to enable police around the world to work together to make the world a safer place. Our high-tech infrastructure of technical and operational support helps meet the growing challenges of fighting crime in the 21st century.

Urgent Attention,

We have this morning discovered that you have been making foreign legal transactions with Western Unions, Money Grams, Diplomatic Agents and Banks with West African Countries (Benin, Nigeria, Ghana etc.). We went further with the investigations we found out that you don’t have Money Laundering Clearance Certificate, which is a major Federal Offence. You have violated the World Federal Law, which constituted against smuggling of large amount of money and trafficking of drug e.t.c., without having Money Laundering Clearance Certificate before you commenced the transaction. You want to receive such huge amount of money from UPS DHL FEDEX WESTERN UNION AND MONEY GRAM HEAD Quater Benin Republic which is a foreign Delivery. Meanwhile we have stopped the Delivery, not only the ATM CARD was stopped but the total Transaction of the sum of ($10.2million dollars )

Furthermore, be advised that according to the World Wide Law Enforcement Agency together with the FBI rules and regulations, you are to obtain the document from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Benin Republic which is the origin of the fund in question. Also Note that you are to take care of the documentation to be issued to you right away, because due to the content of the document and how importance and secured the document is, you are to take care of the document by sending them the sum of $90.00 US Dollars only to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Benin Republic for issuing of the document right away and your payment will be release to you. That is the only way the Economic and Financial Crime Commission Benin Republic will issue you the document, because they are going to issue you the Authentic and Original copy of the documents.

Note that your rights are limited; anything you SAY or DO will be used as evidence against you in the court of Law. You have the full rights to remain silent and obey the Law. Don’t think we don’t know you or your address. We will get you arrested if you fail to provide the document or pay for it to be obtained from Benin Republic. The Arrest Warrant can only be withdrawn once the document is obtained. There are three charges against you, which are:

1. Smuggling of a huge amount of money into your country without Money Laundering Clearance Certificate is a violation to Federal Law. 2. Smuggling of a huge amount of money into your country without a proper documentation is a violation 2003 Federal Constitution, otherwise, called illegal transaction. 3. it’s a Conspiracy, a Criminal Attempt and Disobedience to the Federal Law, which will eventually lead you to 5-year imprisonment.

You Should Send The Money Direct To The Country Of Origin Of The Fund In Question:

Country: Benin Republic
State/City: Cotonou
Text Q.: info
Answer: Yes
Amount;;;;;;$90
Receiver Name: FELIS IKE
Sender name: and MTCN is needed;

Once, you make the payment, attach and send to us the copy of the payment slip for verification before sending it to the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) Benin Republic.

WARNING: Failure to pay for this documentation is a confirmation that you wanted to smuggle the funds into the country which is a federal offense and a gross violation of the Patriot Act and legal action will be taken immediately by arresting and detaining you and if found guilty, you will be jailed As terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering is a serious problem in our community today. The UNITED STATE INTERPOL world’s largest international police organization will not stop at any length in tracing you down and prosecuting any criminal who indulge in this criminal act.

Sign:General Shawn A. Bray, head of the Central Investigation Bureau UNITED STATE INTERPOL world’s largest international police organization

FBI WEB SITE http://www.fbi.gov/
interpol site http://www.justice.gov/
Supreme Court of United State

Still haven’t figured out what’s up over in Africa; I haven’t gotten a single scam letter from Nigeria in a dog’s age – all of these drones claim to be operating out of Benin, just next door. Whatever the case, it’s still the same scammers running the same tired old scam.

Be careful out there, and protect your loved ones.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

The case against lead

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Lead-Poisoning

“Mad as a hatter,” went the expression. Alice’s tea party featured “The Mad Hatter,” whose felting work involved prolonged exposure to mercury vapors, resulting in tremors, pathological shyness and irritability.

We still hear a lot about asbestos – it remains on the radar of most Americans, simply because there’s still a lot of it out there in old buildings, and many times a large abatement project will pop up on the news.

We hear less about lead and lead poisoning, however, since lead-based paint was banned in the US in 1978; before that, many children developed signs of lead poisoning, particularly inner-city kids who would ingest paint flakes that had lead added. Lead was completely eliminated from automotive fuels by 1996.

But it appears that lead is still a serious threat; effects of past exposure may include an increase in crime rates, and current exposure through shooting ranges threatens to continue the negative consequences.

Gathered here are a number of articles which should be read and considered, particularly by anyone who works around ammunition; sportspeople, shooters, law-enforcement officers, reloaders, and the like. It is up to the individual to make their own assessments, but from where I sit, it would not be unreasonable to lay at least partial blame for the seeming descent of our society into madness and uncivility on the pervasiveness of lead in our environment.

Read and judge.

Portrait_of_Clair_Cameron_Patterson

Clair Cameron Patterson. From the Wikipedia article:

Patterson had first encountered lead contamination in the late 1940s as a graduate student at the University of Chicago. His work on this led to a total re-evaluation of the growth in industrial lead concentrations in the atmosphere and the human body, and his subsequent campaigning was seminal in the banning of tetraethyllead ingasoline, and lead solder in food cans.

Patterson met significant opposition for his views, particularly from people such as Robert A. Kehoe, the principal advocate for the use of tetraethyllead as an anti-knock agent in gasoline. In contrast to the “Precautionary Principle” which assumes that there is potential risk to a substance unless proven otherwise, Kehoe claimed that “in the absence of clear evidence of risk there is no risk of significance.” This later came to be called the Kehoe Paradigm, and is essentially the same cognitive dissonance used by tobacco executives in their fight to convince the world that their product was not harmful.

Bryson-Robert-Kehoe-226x300

Robert A. Kehoe

At The Nation, an article entitled “The Secret History of Lead.”

At The Atlantic, a treatise on how the lead industry convinced the public and the media that parents were to blame rather than the toxic substance that they were profiting from:

The lead industry even claimed that the problem was not with the paint but with the “uneducable Negro and Puerto Rican” parents who “failed” to stop children from placing their fingers and toys in their mouths.

Recently, a four-part investigative series at the Seattle Times: “Lead poisoning is a major threat at America’s shooting ranges, perpetuated by owners who’ve repeatedly violated laws even after workers have fallen painfully ill.”

And lastly, an essay at Mother Jones linking gasoline lead to a rise in violent crime. This article does its best to be balanced and rational rather than sensationalistic, and deserves to be considered.

20150412_214643

One pound of lead. The CDC has set the standard elevated blood lead level for adults to be 10 µg/dl of the whole blood. This means that one pound of lead is sufficient to elevate lead levels of 8,247,134 adults. This stuff is rutting toxic.

There are a lot of unanswered questions, and a lot more research would need to be done over time to gain further insight into these ideas. But one thing is clear – people who work at or around shooting ranges need to be extra, extra careful and consider possible ramifications of their exposure to lead.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

The Punt Gun – otherwise known as “dynamite fishing for waterfowl”

Posted on by The Old Wolf

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Matthew Quigley would probably have messed his pants had he been able to see this. Such a contraption seems to put his Sharp’s Buffalo Gun to shame, although it was designed for an entirely different purpose.

These guns were so large and their recoil so powerful that they were generally affixed to small hunting watercraft (punts); the force of the discharge would often drive the punt backwards a considerable distance.

gunboat

Use of a gun of this nature makes the small craft look like a duck-hunting battleship. While the idea is to be able to kill large numbers of waterfowl at once for commercial hunting enterprises, one wonders if a weapon of this nature would not be more likely to atomize its target!

The Wikipedia article indicates that the use of punt guns in large fleets led to depletion of wild game, and that in the early 20th century market hunting was outlawed, making the use of these weapons either illegal or impractical.

The title of this post refers to blast fishing, almost always illegal because it’s unsportsmanlike, dangerous to the environment, and dangerous for those who attempt it.

The above idiots were lucky that they didn’t lose hands, arms, or heads.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

RTFM, and never trust the dealer.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

2007-toyota-prius-5dr-hb-natl-angular-front-exterior-view_100271619_s
Eight years.

Eight years of frustration could have been avoided had I simply taken the trouble to read my 2007 Prius’ Owner’s Manual when I bought the thing.

Now, I love my Prius. I hope it lasts forever because she’s been really good to me. But it has a few annoying quirks, and one of my biggest complaints was that with the smart key system, you touch the driver’s side door and the driver’s side door unlocks – but only that one. (Touching the other doors would unlock all of them, but I wouldn’t generally do that when using the car alone.)

I’d get in, go to work, and then try to get in the back door or the hatchback to get a briefcase or something, and the door was still locked. A first world problem to be sure, but when it’s raining out, it was a major pain to have to get back in the front door, press the “unlock button,” and then be able to open the other doors. Finally my patience had worn thin enough that I decided to see if it could be fixed.

I called the dealership where I bought the car (now 60 miles away), and asked them if this feature could be programmed. The first lady I spoke to said, “Sure, just bring it in.” Wonderful! Then my cynicism meter redlined, and I called a Toyota dealership closer to me. “No,” they said, “no, that function cannot be changed.”

BS Meter

Dang. Whom to trust? I called the first dealership back again, and explained what the other had said. I didn’t want to drive all the way up there only to be told, “Oh, we were wrong.” I got a plate of waffles this time: “Well, we need to have you come up and have the technician hook up his computer and see if your vehicle allows for that function before we’ll know for sure. The diagnostic charge will be $ABunchOfMoney, and if he can change the function, it will be $ALotMore.” Thank you, I appreciate your time. Click.

Good thing I didn’t drive all the way up based on the first “Sure, we can do that.” Now what to do? Once again I put it on the back burner.

About a month later, I decided to do some more searching on the internet, and  I finally discovered this video. Fully half of it is advertising, and the remainder is almost unwatchable, but props to whomever made it because it led me to a solution. The first thing I noticed was that the kid in the video had pulled out the Owner’s Manual. At that point I stopped watching the Cloverfield-style camera work, and went to drag out my own.

Really? You mean, the answer might just be in the Owner’s Manual?

The 2007 Prius has a slightly different manual than the 2008 shown in the video, but sure enough, after a bit of searching I found something in the “Smart Entry and Start System” section; I had to hunt around because the index in the manual was probably written by a drunken lemur pay attention Toyota.

manual

So it turns out that if I held down the “lock” and “panic” button together for about 5 seconds, the car makes a bunch of beeps and the unlocking pattern rotates to the next option in the cycle. Done. Free. Heaven knows how much Dealer A would have charged me, or if they would have even been able to figure it out themselves.

I’ve learned a couple of lessons here.

Lesson 1: If I ever buy a new car, I’ll be sure to Read The Freaking Manual cover-to-cover and take notes. Yesterday as I was happily telling my wife about my triumph, she noted with her usual dry wit that I might even discover other wonderful things if I were to do so with this one. Make it so.

rtfm

Lesson 2: Never trust a car dealership to tell you the absolute truth. Some will outright lie to you, and others just won’t know. Dealer 1 told me that they could fix my problem just to get me in the shop, without even really knowing if the issue was fixable or not. Dealer 2 was ignorant. In the interest of fairness, folks who work in such places are just people; car models change every year, each car has a myriad of different features, and it would be hard for even a top service technician to keep abreast of all of them. Moreover, after 8 years there’s a high probability that the folks working there have only been on the job for a few years and don’t know as much about “older models.” That said, there is a certain expectation of competence when one reaches out to a dealership, so I was left with some residual disappointment that nobody bothered to give me accurate information.

But I’m pleased. A small burr has been removed from under my saddle, and the relief is palpable.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

An especially convincing Phishing scam

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Here’s the email that came to me yesterday:

Image1

  1. Notice that it appears to come from “Paypal.com,”  However, the original sender was 23.249.163.109 (if even that’s not spoofed) which is in Buffalo, NY rather than PayPal’s headquarters which is in California.
  2. Second, the message is an image rather than text. That’s a red flag right there. The images link back to:

These are definitely nothing linked to PayPal. So we know even without any further examination that we are dealing with a phishing scam.

The image itself, if you click on it, will lead you to a long URL which actually contains the email address that their phishing email was sent to. If you click on these links, they know who you are.

http://redirect.paypal.com.0.session&#8230;..=MyEmailAddress@comcast.net

Image2

So notice that when you get to the phishing website, they already have your email address. This is what makes the scam more credible – they’re not asking for your PayPal ID, because they are counting on the fact that you use your same email address as your PayPal address, and they already have that.

If you foolishly enter your password, the first thing you’ll see is this bit of misdirection:

Image3

But that’s just a clever bit of misdirection. So you try again, and this is what you get next:

Image4

Which soon passes to:

Image5

And off to the races we go.

REMEMBER: Banks or PayPal or other financial institutions will NEVER ask you to verify information like this via email. All such requests are SCAMS.

When I check out websites like this (don’t try this at home – you could also be picking up a lot of malware if you’re not properly protected), I usually enter really insulting phrases for names, cities, and so forth. It’s a small thing, but it’s really the only way I can get under the skins of these criminals.

Image6

That billing address is nothing I would ever want to repeat in polite company – but notice that the scammers are trying to make their victim think they already have a credit card on file, and you’re just supposed to verify it.

Image7

So again I give them some bogus information that could never be used as a real card or be used to hurt anyone else.

Image8

The last screen will redirect the victim, once they have handed over their sensitive information to thieves, to the real PayPal website. Notice however – nothing else on the page works. All the other links are non-existent.

This scam is well-contrived enough that I fear any number of people will be taken in.

The most important thing to remember is that, as I said before, PayPal will NEVER ask you to give up sensitive financial information like this through an email message.

Be careful out there, and protect your loved ones.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

From INTERPOL? No, I don’t think so.

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Another scam email from Benin. These boys are busy.

Subject: FROM THE DESK OF MR. MICHAEL DEEN International Police Interpol USA

From: INTERPOL POLICE <interpolgeneralofpoliceforce@gmail.com>

To: undisclosed-recipients:;

FROM THE DESK OF MR. MICHAEL DEEN

International Police Interpol USA

Urgent Attn:

OFFICIAL NOTICE: this is to notify you that Series of meetings have been held over the past (1) Week now with the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization United State of America, which ended 2 days ago. It is obvious that you have not received your fund which is now in the amount of $11,000,000.00 USD (Eleven Million United States Dollars) as a compensation award to you, due to past corrupt Governmental Officials who almost held your fund to themselves for their Selfish reasons and some individuals who have taken advantage of your fund all in an attempt to swindle your fund which has led to unnecessary delay in the receipt and so many losses from your end.

The National Central Bureau of Interpol enhanced by the United Nations and Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI USA/ IMF International Police Interpol USA, have successfully finalize to boost the exercise of clearing all foreign debts owed to you who have been found not to have received their Compensation Awards. Now, how would you like to receive your payment? Because we have two Method of payment which is by Check or by ATM card?

ATM Card: We will be issuing you a custom pin based ATM card which you will use to withdraw up to $5000.00 USD (Five Thousand Dollars) Per day from any ATM Machine that has the Master Card Logo on it and the card have to be renewed in 3 years time which is 2017. Also with the ATM card you will be able to transfer your funds to your Local Bank Account. Even if you do not have a Bank Account, the ATM card comes with a Handbook or Manual to Enlighten you about how to use it.

Check: A cashier check will be issued in your name and you will deposit it in your Bank for it to be Cleared within three Working Days. your payment would be sent to you via any of your Preferred Option above and would be Mailed to you Via UPS, because we have Signed a contract with UPS which Should expire (29TH) of March. 2015, You will only need to Pay $41.00 Honestly, I have confirmed that this is the Devil Work after all the Effort you made and thing are becoming so more Difficult well, I must confess that you have tried so much because it is not easy I know how much you have send in other to get this done please, do some thing over this to avoid Had I know because, the United State of America Government USA, will come into this Matter very soon and your Compensation Funds will be Transfer into the United State of America Government Account.

Take note that you will have to Stop Communication with every Other person if you have been in contact with any. Also remember that all you will ever have to spend is $41 Dollars nothing more! Nothing less! And we Guarantee the receipt of your fund to be successfully delivered to you within the next 48hrs after confirmation receipt of UPS fee of $41 Dollars). Note: Everything has been taken care of, including Taxes, Custom Paper and Clearance Duty. So, all you will ever need to pay is $41 Dollars.

secondly, you should know that Argument or delay can not do any thing or solve this problem if you can not find solution to solve this matter by trying your possible best for the final conclusion of this Transaction and send only $41.00 Right Away it means that i have no Other Option than to make down my Report. Note that you have been advice to urgently proceed to the Western Union or Money Gram and send the only required fee of $41 Dollars to our Branch payment Receiver Agent EMMA OBADI, COTONOU /BENIN, and get back to us with the MTCN.

RECEIVERS NAME: EMMA OBADI
COUNTRY/CITY: COTONOU / BENIN
AMOUNT TO SEND $41.00 DOLLARS ONLY.
TEXT QUESTION: IN GOD
ANSWER: WE ALWAYS TRUST
M.T.C#……..

Kindly get back to us as well with the MTCN and also be advice to reconfirm your full Delivery Address to avoid any Wrong Delivery of package. Apply Your Claims Promptly: For immediate release of your fund valued at $11,000,000.00 USD (Eleven Million United States Dollars) to you, you should contact our correspondent.

Your Full Name:________________________________
Your House Address:_________________________
Home/Cell/Phone Number:___________________
Choose ONE Preferable Payment Method (Visa ATM Card OR Cashier Check):_____________

Your package will be sent to you within 2 working Days upon confirmation receipt of UPS fee of $41.00 Dollars. We are so sure of everything and we are giving you a 100% Money back Guarantee if you do not Receive payment/package within the next 48hrs after you have made the payment for Shipping.

Thanks and God Bless You

Regards

MICHAEL DEEN
Chief Investigation Unit Department
International Police Interpol USA

  • You can safely ignore any email addressed to “undisclosed recipients.” It’s not to you. It’s a mass-mailing
  • INTERPOL will never contact you from Benin. There’s ample evidence that people from Nigeria and Benin have been collaborating with these scams for over a decade.
  • NEVER send money to strangers anywhere, in Africa or the US or anywhere else, via Western Union, MoneyGram, or Green Dot Money Pak Card. Ever. Just don’t.

Be careful out there and protect your loved ones.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

What do languages *sound like*?

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Having occupied myself with languages for most of my life, both professionally and by avocation, I’ve had the chance to learn a handful, encounter many, and speak with people about them all over the world.

Every now and then a discussion crops up about this or that language being attractive, another language being harsh and unattractive. Dutch and German particularly tend often to fall on the cacophonous side.

I think German in particular gets a bad rap for sounding rough and bellicose because of the actions and people it was associated with during the last century. I’m convinced that the relative sound of a language is entirely dependent on what we’re used to. You want harsh? Listen to a Poujadiste screaming at a tax collector. There are sounds in Arabic that make German sound positively musical. As for German, have a listen to Mozart’s “Ruhe Sanft” aria, and you’ll hear true beauty.

On the other hand, even as early as the 1500’s Emperor Charles V may have codified the sound of certain languages (I say “may have,” because the only source is secondary – Girolamo Fabrizi d’Acquapendente’s 1601 “De Locutione”):

Latin:
Unde solebat, ut audio, Carolus V Imperator dicere, Germanorum linguam esse militarem: Hispanorum amatoriam: Italorum oratoriam: Gallorum nobilem. Alius vero, qui Germanus erat, retulit, eundem Carolum Quintum dicere aliquando solitum esse; Si loqui cum Deo oporteret, se Hispanice locuturum, quod lingua Hispanorum gravitatem maiestatemque prae se ferat; si cum amicis, Italice, quod Italorum dialectus familiaris sit; si cui blandiendum esset, Gallice, quod illorum lingua nihil blandius; si cui minandum aut asperius loquendum, Germanice, quod tota eorum lingua minax, aspera sit ac vehemens.

English:
“When Emperor Charles V used to say, as I hear, that the language of the Germans was military; that of the Spaniards pertained to love; that of the Italians was oratorical; that of the French was noble. Indeed another, who was German, related that the same Charles V sometimes used to say: if it was necessary to talk with God, that he would talk in Spanish, which language suggests itself for the graveness and majesty of the Spaniards; if with friends, in Italian, for the dialect of the Italians was one of familiarity; if to caress someone, in French, for no language is tenderer than theirs; if to threaten someone or to speak harshly to them, in German, for their entire language is threatening, rough and vehement.”

These sources distilled themselves over time into the shorter, but misattributed quote, “I speak Spanish to God, Italian to Women, French to Men, and German to my Horse.”

It must be remembered that these characterizations were being supposedly made from the point of view of a native Spanish speaker.

Is it possible that some languages sound harsh because of certain intrinsic linguistic qualities? Not only possible, it’s documented. I first heard the “Bouba/Kiki” Effect in 1978 when it was presented at a linguistics conference by Adam Makkai, although he used the 1946 variants of “Maluma” and “Takete”.

250px-Booba-Kiki.svg

When shown these two figures and asked to identify which one is “maluma” and which one is “takete” – and the words are presented in such a way as to avoid immediate association of one word with one figure – 88% of normally-developing individuals will associate the jagged shape with “takete” and the softer shape as “maluma.” (people on the autistic spectrum only 56% for some reason.) From these experiments it is evident that some linguistic sounds (typically stops, gutterals, affricates, and back vowels) are considered “harder” and others (liquids, glides, and front vowels) are considered “softer.”

Have a look at Tolkien’s linguistic creations:

Elvish:

Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
Yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!

Black speech:

Ash nazg durbatulûk,
ash nazg gimbatul
ash nazg thrakatulûk
agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

You need have no understanding of these synthetic languages whatsoever to imagine that the speakers of the first one might live in a world of softness and light.

cate-blanchett-elf-queen-006

The other? “Ashes and dust and thirst there is, and pits, pits, pits.”

250px-Gimbatulash

So there is justification for considering languages that use these kinds of sounds as being harsh and angular in feel, but when we are raised with a language, these considerations tend to become less important, or not important at all; those who do not concern themselves with literature, song, or poetry generally do not think about what their own language sounds like. And where there exist linguistic theories that the language we speak molds our world view and hence our personalities, there are no socio-linguistic absolutes: I know some really unpleasant French speakers, and some truly lovely Dutchmen.

Today I saw the question, “What does English sound like to people who don’t speak it?” The best representation I’ve seen of that is a delightful video by Adriano Celetano – “Prisencolinensinainciusol.”

The Old Wolf has spoken.