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1月20日 Booing the Former President on Inauguration Day Shows Very Poor Taste!There are things that people do that are in poor taste. Some things that come to mind is scavenging at the dump (yeah, I saw this guy do that one time), yelling at the waitress for onions on your burger, or leaving the lavatory without property sanitizing your hands. If you do any of those things you are likely guilty of poor taste. Now, I don't really like Bush nor do I like Obama but I do show proper respect to both of these individuals. Being a Republican without a party I tend to starkly disagree with much of President Obama's platform. I understand that many people have a lot of pent up emotion and anger toward the decisions the previous administration has made. Personally I have much of it toward both former President Bush and President Obama, but there is absolutely no way I would ever boo either of them at the inaugural ceremony! Apparently many of those in attendance choose to boo anytime President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney where shown on the screen. Having recently undergone back surgery, Vice President Cheney was in a wheel chair for heavens sakes! I have personally never been to an inauguration, but I should think that the kind of patriotic atmosphere that exists would prohibit such disgustingly undignified acts. To those who choose to boo, you have none of my respect! I place you below the people who use profane language, below people who put gum under restaurant tables, below people who throw lit cigarettes out the window, and even below people spit on the ground while indoors. You people have no sense of taste and could never earn respect from anyone who does. 1月28日 Tribute to Gordon Bitner Hinckley - Prophet of GodWither you are part of the Mormon faith or not there is a good chance that you know the name Gordon B. Hinckley. His passing is sad for many of us. He has been the prophet for 13 years and has been in the first presidency since 1981. For many who are younger or new converts he was the only prophet they have known. His wisdom, character, humor, courage, and capacity to express love toward all were some of his trademark attributes. He has been known as the face of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for seven decades.
I remember when President Hinckley became the prophet. I remember the feeling that "ahh, we have a 'dream team' and we're going to see the Church move faster than it has before". I also remember at that Stake Conference we were asked to sustain him as our new prophet. I got an overwhelming feeling that I knew he was supposed to be the prophet and that I needed to follow his council.
I have always felt a special bond with President Hinckley. We both served our missions in England; both with about as much success. It was very uplifting for me to know that even he got discouraged while serving and wondered if his time there was well spent. I spent two years teaching people the gospel of Jesus Christ day-in and day-out. Eleven hours a day 6 and 1/2 days a week I searched for people looking for truth and light. I taught hundreds but I baptized a single person on my mission. I know that you can not measure the success of a mission by baptisms -- I do not know how to measure such a thing; But I do know that it was worth the time I spent and hearing of his experiences gives me even more confidence that my service was valuable.
I know that I am not alone in thinking that his combine contributions to the Church and to humanity in general were very, very great!
We prayed for him daily and we were blessed that he could stay with us as long as he did. He is our beloved prophet. And while I will miss him deeply this is an exciting time as we get to sustain a new prophet. While it is not easy to feel right now that same confirming spirit I felt when President Hinckley became the Prophet will again testify to us that a new prophet is hear to lead us in this next era of faith.
President Hinckley, we love you! God be with you 'til we meet again.
--Nathan Zaugg 8月13日 Fraud!I can't live without the Internet. Here at work, where the Internet goes down frequently, every moment without it is like denying your body oxygen! All work here comes to a halt when the Internet goes down! The funny thing is that it affects you wither you needed it to do your task or not, it's become a mental thing.
In other ways the Internet sucks! SPAM, Phishing, porn, viruses & worms, sexual predators, terrorism, etc. It's just not a safe place and there is no way to make it safe for everyone. The under-prepared will suffer and have a very poor experience on the Internet. Well, today I found another way we can be screwed on the Internet.
You see, I am trying to sell my 2005 Suzuki Forenza because we only want one car payment and the Suzuki is not that car. I listed it on Autotrader.com and KSL Cars. I got a text message (how did they know I listed a cell phone number?) indicating that they were interested in the vehicle. I emailed information, pictures, and anything else you can think of! He replied back that he was going to buy the car for a client (was he some kind of dealer?) and that it was going to cost like $7,000 to have the car shipped up to Canada (wait, I thought he was from New York). He indicated that a cashiers check was on the way, in the meantime I did not take it off Autotrader.com, don't do that until you have a sale! He sent me an email instructing me that someone would be by to pickup the car and the balance. Almost 3 weeks later I get the check via FedEx overnight mail. I took it to the bank and told them to process this transaction with the up-most care so they put a 9 business day hold on the check. No problemmo! He made me wait 2 weeks just for payment!
Anyway, he smelled like a rat from the beginning and when I got an email asking me to send the balance via Western Union I knew it was Fraud! I contacted the local FBI, looking to catch this guy in the act, but they didn't seem all that interested. They claim that there is no way to catch them and they didn't even try. They said that I should add it to the http://www.ic3.gov database for statistical reasons but that at least I didn't fall victim. Well duh! Even if my credit union didn't put a hold on the funds (which I think is a fabulous idea), I know (and so should you) that a check is not a "permanent" or "final" source of funds. They can be reversed and they can bounce. Western Union *IS* a one-way funds transfer and once you have sent money via WU, there is no way to get those funds back!
So the scam works like this:
1) They look for motivated sellers (for cars or probably almost anything else)
2) They offer to buy it
3) They send you a forged cashiers check for much more than the value of the item (in this case almost double)
4) They make some excuse (in this case shipping cost of the vehicle) to have you send some of the money back to them or to a 3rd party. (They need to pay the 3rd party themselves!)
5) You send the money
6) They may be brazen enough to pick up the car and the title!
7) The check bounces or is in some other way reversed and you are out all of the money you tried to transfer
I also did a GEOIP lookup on the IP address and discovered this guy was sending email from Saudi Arabia! Also, he used words that a person from that area uses that are uncommon like "Kindly". The email was carelessly typed with spaces missing between words and chars missing in words. Also, no one in America (unless sending an email to your Bishop and probably not even then) signs a mail with "God Bless".
Unfortunately, this is a very common scam! The FBI agent that I spoke with indicated that they have seen a very dramatic rise in this particular scam since November 2006. They are specifically targeting people who are trying to sell their car on-line because the excuse of "shipping fees" is a good one to send you a check for more then you are asking. Just remember, checks are *not* a guaranteed form of payment! Cash is almost the only guaranteed form (watch for counterfeits)! :)
Nathan Zaugg
P.S. - Does anyone want to buy my 2005 Suzuki Forenza w/ 31k miles; 100k transferable warranty; only asking $8.5k
9月7日 Tribute to Steve ErwinThis Monday Steve Erwin (the great Crocodile Hunter) was killed by a stingray. These animals are not normally very dangerous or even very aggressive. I mentioned that it was very ironic that he was killed by something that is usually very harmless. After mentioning this to my friend Phil he said that as sadistic as it sounds, it would have been funnier if he was killed by skin cancer or a heart attack. Thinking that was funny I told that to my friend Bret who in turn said it would be even funnier if he was killed by something like a raccoon or a squirrel. I thought that was quite funny (and not too far from what actually happened).
What do you think?
--NZ 2月8日 Theory as Fact"In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms." - Stephen Jay Gould 7月13日 Blog....what the heck do we all need blogs for?My question to all is why does everyone in the world need a blog? Few, if any, people have opinions that are worth listening to. Why would I want to spend all day reading people opinions who have nothing intellegent to say (for the most part, I'm generalizing of course).
--NZ |
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