Within 24 hours of “verifying” a new PayPay account with my bank debit card, I had the following attempted purchases:

SCI*SEPHORA.COM -$1.00
WAL-MART -$40.00
BUYPAYMENTS.COM 866840 -$1.00
SCI*SEPHORA.COM -$1.00
WAL-MART -$1,035.40

I am an international traveler, never let my card out of my sight and am very protective of my banking information when shopping.  It would appear that there is either a weak link in the PayPay data storage system or PayPay is itself a completely fraudulent service.  I would like to think that this was a singular incident of data loss or a security breach, but since PayPay has not responded to my email, I can only assume that they are not interested in helping me further understand this situation.

Luckily, I have a great bank in Washington Mutual and these “charges” don’t present me with any real problems, but I encourage anyone considering using PayPay as a way to avoid the customer-unfriendly rip-off that is PayPal to stay away… far far far away.

UPDATE:  There is also a charge for MC-SAMS INTERNET 888-746-7726 (Sam’s Club) -$40.00

FURTHER UPDATE:  BuyPayments.com appears to be the credit card processor for PayPay.  Or not.  Noone seems to want to respond with information.  Here’s the scam. Whoever got my debit card info from wherever they got it purchased a Sam’s Club Online Membership for $40 and a computer for $1035.  They also tried to purchase something from Sephora.  Both Sam’s and Sephora contacted me to verify the purchases before they were processed for shipment.  All charges were cancelled and this thief didn’t get his merchandise.   I would imagine enough slips through the system, though, for people like this to make a lot of money.

So, if you are fortunate enough to be a Mac user, what do you do with these things? Well, you can use Chmox to read them, but should you prefer to export the ebook to PDF, Chmox will only do it page by page.. yay.  I found references to a program called Chimp from SpheraSoft, but both the company and the software are no longer.   All of the shareware download sites like VersionTracker no longer have it, but after some Googling, I dug it up on a Russian mirror of SoftPedia.

So download Chimp.dmg and print to your heart’s content.

Yes..We..Can… Barack Obama inspires me and gives me hope for positive change and leadership. will.i.am’s video tribute captures this hope.

I’ve made a Barack Obama “Yes, We Can” facebook application that showcases the video and some helpful links. Click on through and add it to your facebook profile and then share it with all of your friends.

“We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.“  That may go down as one of the greatest quotes in the history of modern politics.

You can also view the full video of Obama’s New Hampshire primary speech.

Here’s the transcript:

I want to congratulate Senator Clinton on a hard-fought victory here in New Hampshire.

A few weeks ago, no one imagined that we’d have accomplished what we did here tonight. For most of this campaign, we were far behind, and we always knew our climb would be steep. But in record numbers, you came out and spoke up for change. And with your voices and your votes, you made it clear that at this moment – in this election – there is something happening in America.

There is something happening when men and women in Des Moines and Davenport; in Lebanon and Concord come out in the snows of January to wait in lines that stretch block after block because they believe in what this country can be.

There is something happening when Americans who are young in age and in spirit – who have never before participated in politics – turn out in numbers we’ve never seen because they know in their hearts that this time must be different.

There is something happening when people vote not just for the party they belong to but the hopes they hold in common – that whether we are rich or poor; black or white; Latino or Asian; whether we hail from Iowa or New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, we are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction. That is what’s happening in America right now. Change is what’s happening in America.

You can be the new majority who can lead this nation out of a long political darkness – Democrats, Independents and Republicans who are tired of the division and distraction that has clouded Washington; who know that we can disagree without being disagreeable; who understand that if we mobilize our voices to challenge the money and influence that’s stood in our way and challenge ourselves to reach for something better, there’s no problem we can’t solve – no destiny we cannot fulfill.

Our new American majority can end the outrage of unaffordable, unavailable health care in our time. We can bring doctors and patients; workers and businesses, Democrats and Republicans together; and we can tell the drug and insurance industry that while they’ll get a seat at the table, they don’t get to buy every chair. Not this time. Not now. Our new majority can end the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of the working Americans who deserve it.

We can stop sending our children to schools with corridors of shame and start putting them on a pathway to success. We can stop talking about how great teachers are and start rewarding them for their greatness. We can do this with our new majority.

We can harness the ingenuity of farmers and scientists; citizens and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil and save our planet from a point of no return. And when I am President, we will end this war in Iraq and bring our troops home; we will finish the job against al Qaeda in Afghanistan; we will care for our veterans; we will restore our moral standing in the world; and we will never use 9/11 as a way to scare up votes, because it is not a tactic to win an election, it is a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century: terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.

All of the candidates in this race share these goals. All have good ideas. And all are patriots who serve this country honorably.

But the reason our campaign has always been different is because it’s not just about what I will do as President, it’s also about what you, the people who love this country, can do to change it.

That’s why tonight belongs to you.

It belongs to the organizers and the volunteers and the staff who believed in our improbable journey and rallied so many others to join.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change. We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come.

We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we’ve been told that we’re not ready, or that we shouldn’t try, or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can.

And so tomorrow, as we take this campaign South and West; as we learn that the struggles of the textile worker in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas; that the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America’s story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea – Yes. We. Can.

Wal-Mart Watch has created a parody site specifically against this particular promotion. Below is the parody video trailer from waldemartwatch.com :

(the preceding message has been brought to you by Monty Python’s The Holy Grail, Spamalot and The Knights Who Until Recently Said Ni)

If you are seeing things like Actualités, read on brave shared hoster…

Your database should be set as UTF-8 (the WordPress install doesn’t specify a UTF-8 collation for the tables and fields and DreamHost uses the MySQL default of latin1_swedish_ci) for its character set and connection encoding. WordPress is set to use UTF-8 on the WordPress > Options > Reading page. Unfortunately, there is a problem with DreamHost’s setup. The MySQL client that is running on DreamHost’s servers has been set (or left at ) latin-1 encoding. This means that what you type into WordPress goes from UTF-8 text, to latin-1 text as it goes through the MySQL client and then into a UTF-8 database. This can cause a whole host of problems, especially for the Ajax components of WordPress 2.1 since the Ajax connector uses UTF-8 even if your blog is set to latin-1.

For all old content, you will need to convert it into the correct UTF-8 encoding, but for all new content, you can prevent this problem by forcing the MySQL client to use UTF-8 character encoding. Open the file wp-include/wp-db.php in your WordPress directory. Locate the following line:

$this->dbh = @mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpassword);

On the next line paste this text:

$this->query("SET NAMES UTF8");

This instructs the MySQL client to use UTF-8 for data going to and from the database. Everything should now be working correctly as your UTF-8 posts go through a UTF-8 MySQL client into a UTF-8 database. It would be nice if DreamHost offered a control panel option to somehow manage the character encoding of new databases and the MySQL client.

Querying the database with “SET NAMES UTF8″ immediately after opening your DB connection is also useful if you are developing your own PHP applications on DreamHost servers or using one-click installed software like phpBB, Gallery, Joomla/Mambo, MediaWiki or activeCollab.

We’ll need to rethink a few things…
We’ll need to rethink copyright
We’ll need to rethink authorship
We’ll need to rethink identity
We’ll need to rethink ethics
We’ll need to rethink aesthetics
We’ll need to rethink rhetorics
We’ll need to rethink governance
We’ll need to rethink privacy
We’ll need to rethink commerce
We’ll need to rethink love
We’ll need to rethink family
We’ll need to rethink ourselves.

Kudos to Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. You may also download the complete transcript or windows media version.

If you are one of the enlightened now surfing in Firefox and, even better, on a Mac (or three), you are no doubt receiving the “Blog advanced editor can’t run on your current browser/OS. Hit ‘OK’ to change to plain text blog editor.” Without dealing with the fact that this sentence sounds like it was written by one of AOL’s outsourced customer service reps, I simply say “NO.” Tragic that a billion dollar company can’t be bothered to develop cross-platform/browser software (or simply integrate the open source FCKeditor or TinyMCE editors), but it is easy enough to fix. A great tool for Firefox is the User Agent Switcher. This tells websites that you are using, say, “Internet Explorer 6 (Windows XP)” instead of your beloved Firefox 2 on a Mac. Once installed and selected, Myspace now presents me with their “advanced editor” that appears to work just fine in Firefox Mac. Maybe it’s a conspiracy. Maybe they (*gasp*) don’t like Macs. In any case, happy advanced MySpace blogging.

btw, if you don’t use meebo yet, you should check it out.  It lets you use all of your AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger,  Google Talk, Jabber and ICQ instant message accounts all in one web interface from anywhere.  I travel a lot and people geographically prefer one provider over another and I don’t want 4 apps open just to see who is on.

UPDATE:  I have a new application on Facebook to support the Barack Obama Campaign.

Tags: Barack Obama, Obama, Politics, Democrats

How about you? What are your noxious people struggles?

Becoming a Non-Toxic Person
by Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant, M.P.H

If you read the warning label on the back of any toxic substance, it probably looks something like this: “WARNING: Hazardous to humans. Avoid contact with skin or eyes. Do not take internally. Combustible. Do not use or store near heat, sparks, flames or other source of ignition. Avoid inhalation. Keep out of reach of children and animals.” Just as chemicals can be toxic, so can people. And although toxic people don’t come with warning labels, if they did, the labels might say: “CAUTION: May poison personal and professional relationships. Physical and mental illness may occur with great frequency. Keep out of reach of children, animals, and anyone wanting to experience joy in life.”

None of us wants to think of ourselves as toxic, and chances are, for the most part you are not. But there are certain times of our lives that all of us start to exhibit more noxious tendencies. If you’ve noticed any of the following signs, you may need to detoxify your life:

Signs of Being a Toxic Person

• You look for and expect the worst in people (and often find it);
• You get into arguments all the time;
• You pick fights over things that don’t really matter to you;
• When you get stressed, you tend to blow up at whoever is closest at hand;
• You never give anyone the benefit of the doubt;
• Your coworkers, family members, and friends (if you have any left) are afraid to speak up around you; and
• If you were to put a bumpersticker on your car, it would probably be one of the following:
  • Sit down, shut up, and hold on!
  • Yes, I do own the road!
  • People like you are the reason people like me need medication!
  • Your kid may be an honor student, but you’re still an idiot!

If you recognize yourself in the list of symptoms above – even if only in one or two of them – there are some things you can do to become a less toxic person:

1. Do not take internally. Toxic people tend to internalize everything and take it personally. Many believe that everyone and everything has been put on earth to make their lives more difficult. The truth is, most people are so busy focusing on their own lives, the chances they’re thinking about you are slim. Just as you always have good excuses for your bad behavior, so does everyone else – for example, the woman who accidentally swerved into your lane on the freeway almost certainly didn’t do it to annoy you. It’s just as likely she just got back from the eye doctor and her pupils were still dilated or a bee flew up her blouse. Remember, the only one out to get you is you.

2. In case of a spill, leave the area and do not return for an hour. This is great advice for toxic chemicals and toxic people. If you feel the need to let aggression spill over onto whomever’s closest, leave and don’t come back for at least an hour. Better yet, make it two. Often, even the most toxic people can blow off some steam simply by removing themselves from a situation. If you can’t actually get away, consider putting up some yellow “Caution” tape around your room to warn everyone else to stay away until you feel less volatile.

3. Induce vomiting. Purging your own internal poisons can help you reduce your toxicity to yourself and others. Too often toxic people let stressors build up and when they blow, they really blow. Anything you can do to help yourself feel less resentful and antagonistic that isn’t in itself harmful (such as drinking or screaming at someone) can be an effective stress management approach. The list is endless: biofeedback, deep-breathing, dancing, exercise, gardening, hobbies, laughter, lunch with friends, music, painting, pet therapy, play, visualization, yoga, etc. It is important that you regularly purge your poisons so they don’t build up, so make sure to practice some form of stress management that works for you every day.

4. Apply sparingly. Like with any dangerous chemical, a little bit of hostility and anger goes a long way. And the truth is, the more you spread around, the angrier and more hostile you’ll become. Here’s a good test to see if you’ve been too toxic recently: Does it seem as if everyone around you is infuriated and exasperated? If so, look in the mirror because the common denominator in your work and private life is you. I once saw a billboard that read: “My anger says nothing about you and everything about me.”

A good way to know when to use your anger and when to find another approach is to create a scale, rating the types of things that that you believe are truly worth getting upset about and staying upset about and those that are not. After all, you wouldn’t spray your whole yard with pesticide to get rid of one dandelion, right? Make the same choices in your life.

5. Keep away from heat. Just as you shouldn’t use toxic chemicals where they could catch fire, neither should you put yourself in situations that inflame your toxic tendencies. Whether it is an individual who pushes all the wrong buttons or circumstances that really get your dander up, try to avoid the heat, at least when you’re feeling most likely to erupt.

6. In case of contamination flush with water. It may sound simplistic, but water is a great way to reduce your toxicity. Take a bubble bath or a nice hot shower. Sit in a hot tub. Go for a swim. Stand under a waterfall. Let the water wash over you and remove any impurities before you step back into your problems.

7. Find alternatives that are less hazardous to your health. If you discovered a chemical you’d been using around your garden was poisonous, you’d probably try to find a different way to approach the problem. Most toxic people never contemplate their choices before blowing up at others. Here are some ideas: Read books and articles on how to nurture positive emotions, keep a diary to express your emotions and release a little steam every day, give yourself a ten minute rule before jumping into an argument, and ask people what they’re thinking instead of assuming they’re thinking something negative.

8. Learn to live with the weeds. Another strategy in the yard is just to let some weeds grow. After all, what’s a weed but a flower you didn’t plant? You can do the same in life – learn to accept that no one is perfect (including you) and that if you waste all your time trying to root out every weed, you’ll soon find yourself exhausted and cross with the world. A good example of a “weed” you could try to learn to accept: Let’s say you have a friend who you know in your heart is supportive and loving, yet he has recently done something that irked you. Is it worth your energy to make a big deal out of one slip-up in an otherwise good relationship, or is it better to save your energy to fight the bigger battles that really require your attention?

9. Keep out of reach of children and animals. The worst part about being a toxic person is that you not only poison your life and health, but you poison everyone around you, which can be especially harmful to your children and animals (who pick up on negativity without understanding what you’re saying.) If you feel extremely toxic, take a time out away from those who are most easily hurt.

10. Call a physician if irritation persists. If you recognize signs of toxicity in yourself and nothing you do on your own seems to help, it may be time for professional assistance. A therapist, an anger management class, or support group may be just what you need to get you started on the road to reducing the poisons that are destroying your life.

Taking a few steps toward becoming a less toxic person will improve your health and make everyone around you less miserable. And, because we all create the life we live, you will find yours will have less anger and rage and more peace and joy. Even if there are a few dandelions growing here and there!

Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant, M.P.H. (master of public health/mistress of public humor) is a humor and stress management expert who has been helping people lighten up for the past fifteen years. You can listen to her on http://www.kopt.com on Saturdays at 9 a.m. Pacific Time and find her website at http://www.accidentalcomic.com

In case you are getting calls from the wonderful people at NCO Financial Systems. You should read some messages people have posted about this company. Apart from having to pay $1.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), there are also many many claims of state and federal violations of legislation like the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

The company purchases old debt from people like your cellphone provider, hospitals and the government for pennies on the dollar and then tries to collect it. You may have even already paid the bill, like I had, but that is really a minor irrelevant point. The reality is, much if not most of this debt is so old noone has any obligation to repay any of it, least of all not to NCO. Many people have been harassed for debt belonging to neighbors, relatives, old residents of the same address, and co-workers. Don’t pay NCO a penny.

If you receive letters or phone calls from NCO or phone numbers like
800-709-8625 or 888-804-3488 or 877-803-8009 or 800-541-2742 or 888-688-7929 or 800-445-4918 or 866-569-8956 or 800-218-1175 or 800-448-9576 or 800-684-8429 or 866-429-3592 or 800-976-8307 or 877-871-6484 or 800-735-6588 or 800-220-1942 or 877-778-1799 or 800-227-4000 or 800-807-7809 or 866-626-9112 or 866-425-8131 or 800-967-4100 or 877-252-4534 or 877-202-9074 or 888-691-8955 or 888-259-3021 or 800-437-7403 or
800-383-4761 or 866-360-9791 you should read this page about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. If NCO does anything wrong with you, you could be entitled to $1000 per infraction and they may have to pay your lawyer and possibly even your debt.

To halt their “contact”, send NCO a certified, return-receipt cease and desist letter (they throw away all faxes and non-certified letters). A sample letter might read (though, you must seek real legal advice, which I’m not):

This is to advise you that pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (”FDCPA”) 15 USC 1692c(c), you are hereby notified to immediately terminate any contact with me, or any members of my family or household, regarding any matter concerning the collection of a debt you allege is owed to your company or to your principal/customer/client. This notice shall include, but is not limited to written correspondence, as well as telephonic communication. This letter also verifies that I live at the address above, therefore, any further locator attempts would be a violation of the FDCPA.

Their address is:
NCO Financial Systems, Inc.
507 Prudential Rd
Horsham, PA 19044-2308

Is NCO calling you? Do you have a new NCO phone number or information? Please leave a comment and share it with the rest of us. Thanks!

NCO may or may not report your debt dispute with them on your credit report. It is important to make sure that if NCO puts anything on your credit report, all of the information is accurate, such as date of debt, last activity on account and the correct amount. That information is not always placed on all three major reports and your valid creditors usually only check one of these sources, so make sure you check all three (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian) for correct information. You should also check your credit score at these agencies to see the impact of your debt history on your credit-worthiness. Click for a FREE 3-in-1 Credit Report.

If NCO does not leave you alone, Lexington Law is an affordable legal tool to get them to stop calling and writing you.  They are also very effective at deleting the negative information off of your credit reports.

Oh, and Miss Hill, thanks for calling ;)

Important! File a complaint with the Pennsylvania Attorney General - easy online form (NCO is a PA company and PA is investigating NCO)

P.S. The Pennsylvania Attorney General recently finished a big case against them, though the complaints continue.

Before people erroneously get the impression this issue is limited to Apple, there are a few points to consider:

You don’t own the songs on CD or the movies on DVD that you purchase from anywhere. You are purchasing the physical plastic disc and the Limited Right to listen to or watch but NOT reproduce what is recorded on it. In some cases, you are granted the right to make a single, personal, non-commercial backup/archival copy.

You’ve never been able to freely copy your vinyl, 8 tracks, cassettes or CDs for any purpose. The issue is that with digital products, publishers have more technical ability to make you obey the law.

This is also true of any books, photographs or paintings you buy. You are purchasing the paper they are printed on or the canvas and paint, but you are not purchasing the rights to reproduce them in any form beyond limited non-commercial Fair Use.

[tag]Microsoft[/tag] [tag]WMA[/tag] is another popular audio format. However, WMA files do not play on all (most) devices either and you have limited ability and rights on duplicating or burning copies of these songs.

[tag]Real[/tag] Networks (the Real Audio people) also made a big public stink about their songs not playing on iPods. Interestingly enough, though, is that if a manufacturer doesn’t pay Real Networks a [tag]licensing[/tag] fee, your songs from Real won’t play on that device. [tag]Creative[/tag]’s music players, for instance, cannot play Real’s songs. Real has similar, but slightly more restrictive, backup/burning limitations than Apple.

[tag]Napster[/tag] offers a flat monthly fee service for all the music you want to download. Miss a payment or cancel your account and all of your music will stop working. Want to put those songs on your portable player? Most don’t support them, but you’d have to pay Napster $5 per month for the privilege. If you want to burn a song to a CD, you’ll have to pay Napster 99 cents more.

I think a lot of the [tag]DRM[/tag] ([tag]Digital Rights Management[/tag]) issues are counter-productive. They have been statistically shown to not influence the behaviour of people who will copy music and not pay for it. Research has also shown that people who download or copy music are much more likely to purchase that music legally than any other music user. Simply put, downloaders buy more legal music than you do (generally, a lot more). None of this changes the fact that companies like Apple are legally following the rules our lawmakers created. If you want to complain about Apple’s DRM (or any music label or movie studio), the real target should be our country’s outdated and outmoded [tag]Intellectual Property[/tag] laws of [tag]copyright[/tag], trademark and patent.

[tag]Internet providers[/tag] like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut [tag]Network Neutrality[/tag], the Internet’s First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon.com doesn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer. This is the equivalent of a [tag]protection racket[/tag] of money paid so that [tag]organized crime[/tag] leaves your business alone.

Politicians don’t think we are paying attention to this issue. Many of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the verge of selling out to people like AT&T’s CEO, who openly says, “The internet can’t be free.”

How will you be affected?

• [tag]Nonprofits[/tag]–A charity’s website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can’t pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service.
• [tag]Google[/tag] users–Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer. 
• Innovators with the "next big idea"–[tag]Startups[/tag] and [tag]entrepreneurs[/tag] will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.
• [tag]Ipod[/tag] listeners–A company like Comcast could slow access to [tag]iTunes[/tag], steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned. 
• Online purchasers–Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices–distorting your choice as a consumer.
• Small businesses and tele-commuters–When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won’t be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.
• Parents and retirees–Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.
• [tag]Bloggers[/tag]–Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips–silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.
• Advocacy groups like MoveOn–Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly.

The free and open [tag]Internet[/tag] is under seige–can you sign this petition letting your member of [tag]Congress[/tag] know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Act Now to Save The Internet

[tags]Racketeering[/tags]

Are you planning on visiting Montpellier? Do you live or work in Montpellier? If so, leave me a comment or email me at ethan [at] ethannonsequitur [dot] com. I would love to see some [tag]social networking[/tag] and [tag]business networking[/tag] and for us all to share our French Experience™.

Most believers I’ve met who came to faith through great loss and even greater brokenness are usually so consumed by [tag]Grace[/tag] that there is not much room left inside for Condemnation. If we are truly focusing on God’s calls to “Love our neighbor as ourself” and “Love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength” I believe there would be scant time left for moral posturing. I wonder what would happen if the world saw the Church actively loving the broken, the weak and the different instead of aggressively distancing itself. This kind of [tag]separatism[/tag] isn’t about [tag]morality[/tag] or holiness, it is about [tag]fear[/tag] and insecurity and [tag]doubt[/tag]. After all, if you’re looking for the true spirit of God and [tag]Christianity[/tag] do you look to Mother Teresa or to Jerry Falwell?

So Ruth, after you finish suing Georgia Tech and push the Church even farther out of reach of those in need, I hope that your happy little club is proud of you. I’m fairly sure God won’t be. The God of Scripture and history and my life wlll undoubtedly be just one more bit heartbroken.
[tags]Intolerance[/tags]

During his first year in the White House, [tag]President Bush[/tag] wrote in the margins of a report on the Rwandan genocide, “Not on my watch.”

Since the beginning of the conflict in [tag]Darfur[/tag], an estimated 400,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million people have been displaced. Send President Bush a [tag]Save Darfur[/tag] postcard and remind him of his earlier sentiments to act now to stop the [tag]genocide in Darfur[/tag].

On a not completely unrelated note, I also keep copies of Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues with me. For the greater part of his adult life, Franklin carried a notebook with him and recorded his daily progress in keeping his 13 virtues. At first this may sound tedious, but I have been focusing great effort of late on Earl Nightingale’s famous quote of “You become what you think about.” and Napoleon Hill’s “If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.” Ben’s list is:

Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Right now, two U.S. Senators are reaching across political divides and asking the Senate to add $566 million to fund critical AIDS, TB and malaria programs running around the world. Senators Rick Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania, and Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, have proposed an amendment to ensure America continues funding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Call 1-800-786-2663 TODAY and help make AIDS, TB and malaria history.

The Global Fund saves lives. Please call the two Senators from your state TODAY and ask them to support the Santorum-Durbin Amendment for global AIDS funding.

Call 1-800-786-2663 to be connected directly to your Senators and ask them to support the Santorum-Durbin Amendment.

Remember, AIDS kills 8,500 people every day, TB kills 5,000 and malaria kills over 3,000 in Africa alone– every day. Together, we can help fight back against these killer diseases.

Thank you,

The ONE Team

P.S. Click here to learn more about how to talk to your Senators and the important work of the Global Fund.

Google Mars

If you know the name of a particular landmark, there’s the ubiquitous search box to help you along. I tried searching for Taco Bell and the post office, but, alas, nothing came up. Maybe in version 2.

and almost everything is completely free…

The key is in the perfection of its user interface and deceptively constrained feature list. It doesn’t have 4076 buttons, options and gantt charts that you’ll never use. It just has exactly what you need to collaborate beautifully.

C’est brilliant, �a…

Ahh, Ben. The kind of Christian that reminds us of the power of faith in one man and steadies my hope in the promise of the Church. Men like Bonhoeffer, Chesterton, Rich Mullins, Pastor Marc Wolff… and Ben.

After the smirk faded ever so slightly, I read Ben’s post and remembered why I love him so. After laying out some background on the scandalous title (well, ok, it’s not scandalous to me), he ends with a thoughtful list of affirmations on true evangelicalism. It’s worth a read. (or 20)

I feel much better now =)

Also of interest, their message uses 4 separate email addresses and pulls content from 6 different websites. The main domain registration for boyles.com has privatized registration information at Network Solutions, but if you check the other sites in the spam, you will find some other (ineffective) contact information. Someone doesn’t want to be easily tracked down. They conveniently don’t include a phone number in their CAN-SPAM required contact information in the email footer. Though not required, most responsible emailers include a phone number as a sign of good will and integrity. Their sales/order number was also unhelpful.

Here’s a list of the websites that their ‘newsletter’ is advertising or pulling content from:
boyles.com
hendricksfg.com
hendricksfurnituregroup.com
boylesfurniture.com
boylesfurniture.net
classicmoving.net

The sites are hosted by Peak 10 Data Center Solutions, which has not responded to any spam complaints with any action so far. Other networks involved are twtelecom.net and att.net. IP Address of 66.129.72.6 resolves to E-dreamz Inc in Charlotte, NC. If you are also receiving spam from Boyles and would like to let everyone know, here are the appropriate email addresses and websites:
Peak 10’s form: Peak 10 Acceptable Use Violation
E-dreamz: info@edreamz.com
Federal Trade Commission: spam@uce.gov
North Carolina Attorney General: agjus@mail.jus.state.nc.us
Peak 10 Hosting: abuse@peak10.com
TW Telecom: abuse@twtelecom.net
ATT: abuse@att.net
Network Solutions: reportspam@networksolutionsemail.com

Their Network Solutions DNS Contact Information:
kh7959uq2en@networksolutionsprivateregistration.com
mrichards@boyles.com

Since they are a member of the BBBOnline program, you can also file a Boyles [tag]Email Spam[/tag] Complaint at the BBB.

Update: As you’ll see from the comment below, the Director of their Internet Department, Mark Richards, has finally contacted me regarding my unsubscribe complaints. If you have need to contact them, his email is mrichards@boyles.com and his phone number is 828.345.5255.

I liked the conversion of some of the transition songs to dialogue and the more detailed scene developments over the minimalist stage sets. The cast is strong, even if not everyone is my favourite from the various stage productions I’ve seen. Some of the songs lose a bit of emotional connection, but lyrically, I believe the visuals that Chris Columbus chose really reinforce the overall concept of RENT. The scenes of Roger singing in the New Mexico desert hills were a bit too Sound of Music for me, but the treatment of Angel’s death with the disappearing Life Support members on through to his hospital progression deeply moved me.

Like the stage show, I will see it again and again and will eagerly await the DVD.

There’s only us, there’s only this. Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way, no day but today. I can’t control my destiny. I trust my soul. My only goal is just to be. There’s only now, there’s only here. Give in to love, or live in fear. No other path, no other way. No day but today.

Thank you Jonathan Larson for your gift to us.