Mad Skater

Posted by Rick on in Observances 0 Comment

Mad Skater

Yesterday, wandering around downtown, I decided to take some pictures of the Skate Park under the Burnside Bridge. It’s supposedly a world class skate park and one of the best around. I was primarily interested in the graffiti as the quality seems to be a couple of notches above the norm around the rest of the city.

After taking several pictures, this gentlemen comes by and says “Two things, you can’t stand there, and you can’t take pictures with out permission.” I stepped back off the actual park itself, even though I was only two feet away from some other people and continued to line up my picture.

He then yelled at me again “You can’t take a picture without permission!” I replied, “Thank you, I know the laws!”

To which his reply was “I don’t care about the laws! I’ll break that camera in your face!”

At which point I accidentally snapped this picture (seriously, the trigger button slipped!) and then began walking away.

After going through the photos I found this such a compelling picture. He’s threatening, but no one else around seemed to care much. So, on the off chance that I do end up with my camera broken in my face, this is the guy that did it.

Digital Protection Malware virus

Posted by Rick on in Microsoft, Technology How To's, virus 0 Comment

Digital Protection Malware virus

There is a new major malware virus going around right now. This one is “Digital Protection” and infects computers after the user gets one of those pop-ups that says “You have a virus!”

The odd thing about this one is that it’s also taking over the Windows Updater program, so it can’t be used to download new security patches and fixes from Microsoft.

It’s also loading itself multiple times into the Windows registry. Below are step by step instructions on how to remove it. http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Removal-instructions-Digital-Protection-t274218.html

This is a nasty removal process so if you’re not familiar with editing the Windows registry, I highly suggest you take this somewhere professional.

New scam: Surveyspro Customer Service Evaluator

Posted by Rick on in Scams 41 Comments

New scam: Surveyspro Customer Service Evaluator

This one took me a few minutes to identify. There is little information about it on the net let, but the pieces didn’t quite jive right.

First odd thing was an envelope mailed to me. The return address said:

P.O. BOX 300 STATION M
TORONTO ON M6S 4X2

No company information or anything. Upon opening it is a check for $2,408.18 drawn upon the Greensboro Postal Credit Union in North Carolina.

Included is a letter “explaining” how it all works. Essentially they want a mystery shopper to shop various locations. This sounds fairly legit, although I do not recall signing up for any mystery shopper things. The key tip off to me was the part where it says to send a Western Union payment to a fake relative.

The second key tip off is the “pay” for doing this – $200! This is far more then most mystery shopping jobs usually pay.

The phone number for the “Assigned Training Coordinator” 650-993-1549 shows up as a San Francisco number. Who is for the website listed: esurveyspro.com shows a Romanian address.

Registrant:
Outside Software Inc.
Bd Iuliu Maniu, Nr 7
Corp U, Etaj 5, Birou H
Bucharest, 061072 Romania

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: ESURVEYSPRO.COM
Created on: 15-Apr-06
Expires on: 15-Apr-19
Last Updated on: 28-Jan-10
Administrative Contact: Badea, Florentin florentin@outsidesoftware.ro
Outside Software Inc.
Bd Iuliu Maniu, Nr 7
Corp U, Etaj 5, Birou H
Bucharest, 061072
Romania
+40.213192553 Fax —

Technical Contact:
Badea, Florentin florentin@outsidesoftware.ro
Outside Software Inc.
Bd Iuliu Maniu, Nr 7
Corp U, Etaj 5, Birou H
Bucharest, 061072
Romania +40.213192553 Fax —

Domain servers in listed order: NS1.ESURVEYSPRO.COM NS2.ESURVEYSPRO.COM

Registrant:
Outside Software Inc.
Bd Iuliu Maniu, Nr 7
Corp U, Etaj 5, Birou H
Bucharest, 061072
Romania

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: ESURVEYSPRO.COM
Created on: 15-Apr-06
Expires on: 15-Apr-19
Last Updated on: 28-Jan-10

Administrative Contact:
Badea, Florentin florentin@outsidesoftware.ro
Outside Software Inc.
Bd Iuliu Maniu, Nr 7
Corp U, Etaj 5, Birou H
Bucharest, 061072
Romania
+40.213192553 Fax —

Technical Contact:
Badea, Florentin florentin@outsidesoftware.ro
Outside Software Inc.
Bd Iuliu Maniu, Nr 7
Corp U, Etaj 5, Birou H
Bucharest, 061072
Romania
+40.213192553 Fax —

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.ESURVEYSPRO.COM
NS2.ESURVEYSPRO.COM

As a final piece of the puzzle Greensboro Postal Credit Union says (in big red letters):

SCAM ALERT!!
IF YOU RECEIVE A GREENSBORO POSTAL CREDIT UNION CASHIER’S CHECK- – DO NOT CASH THIS CHECK. It Is Counterfeit. If you received this check by US Mail, contact the USPS Postal Inspection Service immediately.


Steak Fingers

Posted by Rick on in food, Misc 0 Comment

Steak Fingers

Take “finger” sized (or more accurately bite sized) pieces of steak. Tenderize the heck out of them. Dip them in a salt/pepper based batter and deep fry. Totally bad for you but tasty.

It seems that as a kid I ate them all the time, at least I remember seeing them often. But I’ve literally eaten these twice in the past twenty years. Once was about 1999 or so, visiting Union Oregon and a little diner called Gravy Dave’s. Passing through last weekend, they were so busy that I couldn’t afford the delay in my travels so I missed out on seeing if they even still had them.

But on the way back, I accidently found some in Wells, Nevada at the 4 Way Casino and Cafe. It was one of two (non-fast food/C-store junk food) places open. Being chosen as my place of dining was merely happenstance as it was based on it’s relative distance to the road I wished to travel, and the fact that it was not attached to one of the two brothels in town.

Fortunately (or perhaps more unfortunately for my poor non-beef eating wife) recipes, including the purported original version, are on line! The nice thing about this is that they can be prepared and frozen for quick dinners down the road.

So I see a future full of breaded, deep friend steaks!