Just in Case You Wondered

Is it soda or pop?

WARNING: That Email is Not from the FDIC

This charming missive appeared in my in-box this morning. It is, of course, a fraud designed to grab your bank account information so the thieves can loot you at leisure.

To whom it may concern;

In cooperation with the Department Of Homeland Security, Federal, State and Local Governments your account has been denied insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation due to suspected violations of the Patriot Act. [verbiage snipped]

Failure to use IDVerify below will cause all insurance for your account to be terminated and all records of your account history will be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington D.C. for analysis and verification. Failure to provide proper identity may also result in a visit from Local, State or Federal Government or Homeland Security Officials.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Etc.

Don't click that link, and don't give them any information. If you've already done it, call your bank immediately.

Still Not King

Antony Wayne Chessor
July 17, 1962-January 24, 2003

Priorities

$250 million for job training programs for the unemployed
$1.5 billion for marriage training for heterosexuals

So the Bush Junior government is six times more interested in teaching straight people how to get along in holy wedlock than in helping displaced workers, many of whom lost their jobs through Bush's economic policies and/or corporate greed.

Stay out of our bedrooms, Mr. President. The morals that are in trouble are in America's boardrooms.

Maybe You Could Move There

A blogger in Massachusetts reports:

A friend writes, "On January 10, during the day, the coldest temperature that Spirit found on Mars was -15 Celsius. That's 5 F. It's actually colder here than it is on Mars."

I know all my friends and family back east are huddled around the fire, hoping to survive. But even though we're having warm weather out here, I've had strep all year. I spent the first four days of 2004 flat on my back. From the fifth until yesterday I was doing OK--at least making it to work, even if I was losing my voice. Yesterday it hit again. Hard.

There is no point in having nice weather if you're too sick to enjoy it.

Why, Yes, I Am Nasty

At this moment, it is 60 degrees in Silicon Valley and 6 degrees below 0 in Binghamton. Six below zero. Six below zero. And people here were complaining because it's cloudy.

The Cultural Hegemony of Eastern Standard Time

You know how they count down to the New Year out here in the Pacific Time Zone? They rerun the New York City Times Square countdown. I swear its true. We don't even get our own celebration. We get a hand-me-down from New York.

This is adding insult to the injury of all that snow-covered Christmas imagery, which definitely does not reflect the reality of late December in Silicon Valley. Some people decorate their yards with plastic snowmen. Some even have plastic snow capping their fences and strewn in artistic faux drifts. Just painful, especially given the blooming roses next door.

But that's OK. Come February, when you're huddled inside your car, inching through a sleet storm, I'll be looking at orchards coming into blossom.

Happy New Year, friends and family. May your year be filled with love, health, joy, and prosperity.