“'One ring' scam alert from the BBB"

From RacineUncovered:

"The Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin is warning cell phone users about a new scam that can result in unauthorized charges appearing on their monthly wireless statement.

"It’s called the 'One Ring' scam because the scammers program computers to send thousands of calls to random cell phone numbers, ring once and then disconnect. The scammers then hope you are curious enough about the phone call that you return the call right away.

"When the cell phone owner returns the call, they are charged $19.95 for an international call fee. After that, there is a $9.00 per minute charge. It’s reported that often they will first hear music followed by advertising. So,it’s easy to see how quickly these charges can add up.

"Consumers who have been duped by these calls report that they are coming from the Caribbean Islands including Grenada, Antigua, Jamaica and the British Virgin Islands.

"If a person thinks they may have fallen for this scam, they should immediately alert their cell phone carrier and keep an eye on their cell phone bill. The earlier they document the fraud, the better their chances of having some or all of the charges removed.

"To be as safe as possible, the BBB recommends the best thing to do if your phone rings and it’s an international number you don’t recognize, don’t answer it and don’t call back."

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Read more: http://racineuncovered.org/2014/01/one-ring-scam-alert-from-the-bbb/


It just never ends.  If they're not hacking into user accounts, they're scamming people by telephone and online.

Retirement

 

It's important to remain active in retirement...

 

 

Four for Fridays

Hello everybody and welcome back! What do you know, I remembered to set my alarm clock! Seeing I'm up bright and early, at BLB's request I'm going give you EIGHT questions instead of my usual four. So fire away with your answers and enjoy!

1) What do you prefer warm, snowy days or the frigid sub-zero temperatures?

2) Do you have any magazine subscriptions?

3) Do you sleep with your closet doors open or shut?

4) Who you think is going to win the Super Bowl, Seattle Seahwaks or the Denver Broncos?

5) Can you change the oil in your car?

6) What is your Chinese astrological sign?

7) Would ever consider going skydiving?

8) What do you wish you had invented?

Enjoy your weekend!

"Hackers steal Yahoo! Mail usernames, passwords"

"SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Attackers now own an undisclosed number of Yahoo! Mail usernames and passwords, stolen from a third-party site, the Sunnyvale, Calif., Internet giant said.

"As a result, Yahoo! will now require affected users to change their passwords and use a one-time second sign-in verification to re-secure their accounts, Yahoo! Inc. Senior Vice President Jay Rossiter wrote in a blog post.

"'We regret this has happened and want to assure our users that we take the security of their data very seriously,' Rossiter said in the blog.

"He did not say when the breach occurred, other than 'recently.' He called it a 'coordinated effort' but did not say which third party was involved."

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2014/01/31/Hackers-steal-Yahoo-Mail-usernames-passwords/UPI-10511391144460/#ixzz2ry31Izc6

Uh-oh.  Now it's hitting close to home.  I'm afraid to check out how many Yahoo accounts I have.

"Porters project stopped -- Buildings to be removed to make clear development site"

From The Journal Times.com:

By Michael Burke

"RACINE — The former Porters of Racine owner will not redevelop the existing buildings into retail spaces and apartments — but instead will remove the historic buildings to make a clear development site.

"Micah Waters, who co-owned the former high-end furniture store at 301 Sixth St. and owns the property, told The Journal Times on Thursday of his family’s decision not to proceed with an estimated $6 million redevelopment there.

"The project was to have converted the 80,000-square-foot historic building into 37 market-rate apartments and enough ground-floor retail space for up to seven storefronts.

"Now, Waters said, 'The plan is for the property to be developed in another way — maybe with another developer. ... We are going to develop this property one way or another.'”

Read more: http://journaltimes.com/news/local/porters-project-stopped----buildings-to-be-removed/article_e25bf0bc-8a0e-11e3-ae0e-0019bb2963f4.html


How is it that every Joe Blow in Racine knew that this project was goiing to be a disaster, but not the high profile people involved?

As I understand it, three million taxpayer dollars have been invested in this project.  How much you want to bet that the money goes, "Poof!"
 

Open Blog - Friday

Yes, it is, it is, it is, it is.

"Set Yourself Free"

NSFW  CAUTION: Graphic Violence



Oh my.  That'll teach 'em.

"Deport Justin Bieber and revoke his green card."

An online petition: 
 
"Deport Justin Bieber and revoke his green card."

"We the people of the United States feel that we are being wrongly represented in the world of pop culture. We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive, and drug abusing, Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked. He is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nations youth. We the people would like to remove Justin Bieber from our society."

Read more and/or sign the petition:  https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/deport-justin-bieber-and-revoke-his-green-card/ST1yqHJL


Madame Zoltar hinted at this yesterday:

"Did you hear that Justin Bieber was arrested?  Like, for sure.  I don’t know why everyone keeps picking on the poor guy.  He should teach them a lesson by returning to Canada and never singing another note again.  Please."

Read more: http://www.jtirregulars.com/2014/01/dear-madame-zoltar_29.html

I wish I could sign the petition more than once.

"Coffee with a Cop" Today, 5:00 - 7:00 PM

From RacineUncovered:

"On Thursday, January 30, 2014 from 5:00pm until 7:00pm, stop out at Barnes & Noble on Hwy. 31 (S. Green Bay Rd) to have a cup of coffee with Police Officers from the Mt. Pleasant Police Department. Meet the officers that patrol your area and get to know them a little more than just the person in the squad car.

"Ask questions about the job. Ask questions about safety or just ask how the day is going. This event is designed to bring the community together to get to know each other in a relaxed setting and allow the community to learn about the police department and its officers. It also allows the officers to get to know the community on a more personal basis."

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Read more:  http://racineuncovered.org/2014/01/january-302014-coffee-with-a-cop/

Open Blog - Thursday

And P and P.

Global Warming...Where?

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my Frosted Flakes. How are you?  The deep freeze is supposed to break today, but we still have plenty of winter left for subzero atrocities.  I want to move to JTIsland now.  We should just pick out an island and invade it.  Drive out the locals.  Then we can declare ourselves a sovereign nation and apply to the USA for foreign aid.  Give us a few millions dollars and we won’t ally with the bad guys.  It all sounds so lovely.  When do we start?

I see that the documentary, Pattern or Practice, is causing a brouhaha in the city.  Good.  We need more brouhahas and hullabaloos.

The Journal Times is reporting that Mr. Ex-Mayor Becker has been released from the Sturtevant Transitional Facility. (http://journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/becker-released-from-custody/article_a36ee24e-8872-11e3-9188-001a4bcf887a.html)  Unspecified “treatments violations” triggered his arrest 12 days ago.  That’s all we know.  I mean, that’s all you know.  I, of course, know all.  Often, the best use I can make of this information is to not use it.  In any case, the experts have decided that it’s OK for Mr. Ex-Mayor to mingle with us once again.  The experts should know, right?

It’s awful to read about the propane shortage and the price gouging going on.  It’s especially so when you read stories like this: “Flatulent cows start fire at German dairy farm – police:”

“(Reuters) - Methane gas from 90 flatulent cows exploded in a German farm shed on Monday, damaging the roof and injuring one of the animals, police said.”

(http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/27/us-germany-cows-idUSBREA0Q1HY20140127)  

All that methane going to waste while we starve for propane.  Oh my.

Did you hear that Justin Bieber was arrested?  Like, for sure.  I don’t know why everyone keeps picking on the poor guy.  He should teach them a lesson by returning to Canada and never singing another note again.  Please. 

The “rock star” pope, Pope Francis, has made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.  He’s also the subject of graffiti in Rome portraying him as the “ Super Pope.”  His love of the common people is being returned many times over.  Bless you, Pope Francis.

Bless anyone who tries to make this a better world.  There are far too few who do.  Woo-woo.

Thank you, my dears, for reading my blog today.  You know that I love to have company.  You know that I love my readers.  You know that I love you.

Make money selling your methane.  Fart your way to a fortune.  Contact: madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com

Stay with the layered look for now, my dears.  There’s no reason to believe that February won’t be just as bad as January.  Or worse.  Remember, the best way to stay warm is to share body heat with someone else.  You can take it from there.  I love the Irregulars!  Jerque!

Open Blog - Wednesday

Is it spring yet?

"Folk icon Pete Seeger dies at 94"

R.I.P. Pete Seeger.

The older I get, the more of these I post.  It's depressing.

Gun Control

It has already started at Gander Mountain Sporting Goods.

When I was ready to pay for my purchases of gun powder and bullets, the cashier said, "Strip down, facing me."

Making a mental note to complain to the NRA about the gun control wackos running amok, I did just as she had instructed.

When the hysterical shrieking and alarms finally subsided, I found out that she was referring to how I should place my credit card in the card-reader.

I have been asked to shop elsewhere in the future. They need to make their instructions to us seniors a little clearer

Open Blog - Tuesday

Try to stay warm.

I Found An Online Job

Can you imagine getting paid to eat online? $9,000 a month.

Just think of the commercial endorsements and advertising from restaurant chains and food companies.

Nuts

Stilt.... You Turn Me On......

OK, so I snagged a line from an Emerson, Lake & Palmer tune and reworked the title. Thought it was clever. Anyways, remember my post about peeps on the subject of plovers? I have been avoiding digging too much into that area because explaining the difference between the many species of sandpipers we have here in Wisconsin can be a chore. However, stilts are much easier.

Wisconsin is the host for two different stilt species, the American Avocet and the Black Necked Stilt. Both are uncommon and a great sight to see, even among birding experts. The American Avocet is mainly found in the western half of North America, however they do venture into Wisconsin for brief stays during migratory seasons.

I have gotten lucky twice to see these gorgeous birds. The first time was at Samuel Myers Park on 5/4/2013 and the other in a flooded pond nearby Union Grove later in the spring.This photo below is from Myers Park.

I had gotten an e-mail report of avocets found at Myers Park and raced down there to see these lifers! Beautiful and majestic these birds are, all in their breeding plumage! Ten of them! They were just wading in the water right as I walking down the sandy ramp. They seemed to not to notice me much... I sat down on a log for more than 20 minutes takings pictures of them pruning and preening themselves, almost symmetrically,  on a warm day. I half expected to see a crowd of birders and photographers there. Lucky for me, it was just me, myself and an obnoxious Killdeer "yelling" at me. Talk about a good day! I later learned that the avocets were gone by nightfall, after just a brief stay....

The Black Necked Stilt is extremely rare in Wisconsin, except for the Horicon Marsh where they are known to breed. Why just Horicon is quite unclear, for they quite common in the western parts and the coastal regions of North America. Anyways, Tender Heart and I were fortunate to see some at Horicon on May 25, 2013. After reading reports of Black Necked Stilts possibly breeding at Horicon, this bird quickly became a "target" for us. The one in the picture below was taken on Highway 49 (Yep, THAT busy highway). I spotted it while we were creeping slowly in the car along the gravel shoulder. As I was snapping away, trying to that perfect picture, a van with Minnesota plates zoomed in front of us, scaring the bird off in the process. I did see the stilt family later on in the summer using a birding scope....

More wildlife photos and stories to come.....

"Free access to E-Edition Monday, Tuesday"

From The Journal Times.com:

"RACINE - Due to the extreme cold and windy conditions, delivery delays of The Journal Times are expected.

"Free access to the e-edition for today and tomorrow is available at http://jo-ee.journaltimes.com/eedition."

Read more:  http://journaltimes.com/news/local/free-access-to-e-edition-monday-tuesday/article_9a3e7e1e-8782-11e3-af5a-0019bb2963f4.html

Local Loyalty - The Grind Cafe

Welcome back to this week's edition of Local Loyalty. 

This week brings us to a well hidden treasure,

The Grind Cafe

7300 Washington Ave, 

nestled in the Razor Sharp complex.

Check them out!

I actually became introduced to this wonderful, cozy, cafe during my 1st LL interview, with Nick from Rely Local. I live close and didn't even know it existed. 

Their hours are M-Fri 6am-8pm

Sat. 7am-5pm

Sun.  9am-2pm.

The Grind has been in business for 3 1/2 years. The feel is warm and inviting, like home. The soups, cookies and pastries are all homemade, using any local ingredients possible. Everything is made right there, and is SO GOOD!

They have coffees, teas, lattes, smoothies, steamers, and tons more beverages, and the make panini's - even for breakfast!! I can't wait to go back and try one of those, yum!

Then there are the amazing cookies, scones, all kinds of goodies, many visits are needed to try everything.   

Steve, the owner, also does catering. 

He had a thing for CNH today, what an awesome opportunity. 

The 3 words he chose - 

1. Fresh 

(LOVE the homemade factor!)

2. Unique

3. Personal

It's so nice to go into a place that feels like an extension of home. Go check them out, and enjoy the coziness and some of their goodies!

Tell them you saw it here, and help spread the word :) 

Open Blog - Monday

Happy Monday! Be super careful out there.

Unified Closed Monday

UPDATE:  Due to the continuation of extreme cold, all Racine Unified Schools will be closed Tuesday, January 28th.  The official message from the district is:  "At this time fully anticipate that school will resume on Wednesday." 

Racine County

• 21st Century Prepatory School Closed Monday
• Catholic Central High School Burlington Closed Monday
• Concordia Lutheran School Racine Closed Monday
• Kansasville Grade School Closed Monday
• Racine Christian School Closed
• Racine Lutheran High School Closed
• Racine Unified School District Closed Monday
• Raymond School District Closed
• St. Catherine's High School Closed Monday
• St. John's Lutheran School Racine Closed Monday Also no After school Activities
• The Prairie School Closed Monday
• Trinity Lutheran School Caledonia Closed Monday
• Trinity Lutheran School Racine Closed
• Union Grove Union High School Closed Monday
• Union Grove Christian School Closed Monday
• Union Grove Elementary School Closed
• Yorkville School District Closed Monday and Tuesday
• Mount Pleasant Renaissance School Closed Monday

Ziggy

Oh my.

"Google Glitch Sent Thousands of Emails to Some Guy’s Hotmail Account"

Daniel Acker / Bloomberg News / Getty Images

"On Friday, a Gmail outage led to widespread panic and confusion across the globe. That same day, an apparently unrelated glitch also caused thousands of emails to end up in the inbox of some guy named David S. Peck. (A Hotmail user, it should be noted.)

"Here’s what happened: users who searched 'Gmail' were led to a results page with a link that said 'Email.' Clicking that link created a new email with Peck’s address – dsp559@hotmail.com —  already filled in. A tipster pointed this out to TechCrunch, who then tracked down the owner of the email address: David S. Peck of Fresno, Calif. They gave him a call to see just how badly this bizarre glitch was affecting him.

“'I’ve been getting thousands of no-subject, blank emails,' Peck told TechCrunch. '500 of them come every hour, I can’t stop them.'"

Read more: Gmail Outage: Google Glitch Sends Emails to Hotmail Account | TIME.com http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/01/26/google-glitch-sent-thousands-of-emails-to-some-guys-hotmail-account/#ixzz2rXnsooGV

I found the headline hilarious. 

Campus Tour Guides Reminded To Use Official Name For Rape Hall

RACINE, WI—Speaking with a group of campus tour guides today, the University of Wisconsin-Racine’s undergraduate residential life coordinator Richard Matta reportedly asked the assembled students to please refer to the south lawn freshman dormitory by its official name, and not as Rape Hall.

Check out the story http://www.theonion.com/articles/campus-tour-guides-reminded-to-use-official-name-f,35044/

Open Blog - Weekend

That computes.

"Founded by Geniuses, Run by Idiots"

From Milwaukee County Corruption:

"Founded by Geniuses, Run by Idiots"

http://milwaukeecountycorruption.blogspot.com/2014/01/founded-by-geniuses-run-by-idiots.html

Funny, sad, and poignant comments on our government.

Murmuration

http://www.islandsandrivers.co.uk/

That's beautiful.

Condom Our New National Symbol

From Racine Community Media:

http://racinecommunitymedia.tumblr.com/post/74396248200

Old Man Winter

Useless Information

Did you know:

On 22-Nov-63 the morning John F. Kennedy was shot it was raining in Dallas, TX.

While it was raining, the roof on the Presidential Limo was on.  Just prior to the start of their procession through Dallas the rain stopped and the roof was remove.

If the roof would have been left on, the shooter would not have been able to see him in the limo.  With it off, JFK was an open target.

Open Blog - Friday

Do the chicken dance!

"Badass Hockey Stick Recovery"

I'm not a hockey fan, but you don't have to be to appreciate this. Nicely done.

What Can I Do To Earn More Money?

I need to earn more money and I’ll take any advice I can get on the subject.  I’m 62 and have a BA in English.  I also have a number of certificates and took courses in horticulture.  My major job experience has been in auto repair and landscaping.  I’m fat and half-blind and mentally ill and have horrible gastrointestinal problems and bad kidneys and arthritic hips and no stamina.  My kidney problems have left me permanently weakened.  I’m also losing my hearing.   I also don’t work well with others.  Other than that, I’m in great shape. 

Here are some of the jobs that I’ve already considered:

Wal-Mart greeter – I’m not sure that I have the disposition for this job.  I’d guess that within an hour, I’d choke a customer.  It’s all I can do now to keep from choking one when I shop there.

Journal Times deliveryman - Forget it.  The hours are insane.  You can never take a night off.  You work outdoors in blizzards and heat waves.  I don’t have the strength.

Gleaner – You know, one of those guys driving around in a beat up pickup truck overloaded with metal junk, leaning precariously to one side.  These guys get into fights over junk and defend their territories.  I knew a guy who did this.  To do it in any volume, you need somewhere to unload and sort the junk.  I don’t have that.

eBay entrepreneur – By used stuff low, sell it high online.  I don’t think I have the disposition for this, either.  You have to scour thrift shops and rummage sales for items to sell.  I’m not good at recognizing collectibles or what is “hot.”  Left to my own devices in a secondhand store, I’ll buy a ton of junk of no interest to anyone but me.  I filled and emptied my mother’s garage with junk three times.  None of it was anything I could sell on eBay.

Pimp – What the hell.  I live in a senior housing complex.  Women outnumber men 5 to 1 here.  I should be able to round up a few working “girls” and make some bucks off of them.

What do you suggest?

Send job offers to orbscorbs@jtirregulars.com

Supernova in M82

I have been busy and not had as much time to do any astrophotography recently. Fortunately, I had some good luck and timing yesterday.

Wednesday morning, I woke up to news of a supernova in M82. Fortunately, I saw this before I went to work. I was scheduled to work with some students at Tohono O'odham Commuity College in Sells last night and thought I might get a chance to try to catch the supernova from there. The college site is nice and dark so it was worth a shot throwing my equipment in the car. Fortune also smiled with clear skies when I got out there.

I was using my Canon 60D, EF 75-300mm zoom lens and iOptron Skytracker, my usual setup. Although there are people with larger, better setups out there that will no doubt take more spectacular pics, I can at least purse the record for the person who imaged the supernova with the smallest setup!

I took some pics of M82 and the nearby galaxy M81 a few weeks ago before the supernova. Here is one of those pics. I took this one on Christmas Eve and believe I used my 250mm lens so the scale is a little different.

Okay, now here is the one from last night. The two lines point to the new little point of light that is the supernova (I did not crop the pics the same and they were taken with slightly different lenses so the scale is different). Click the images for larger versions.

Hopefully you can see the new little dot of light. It's position matches up with the position of the supernova.

This supernova is interesting for many reasons. First, M82 is undergoing a rapid burst of star formation due to a recent pass by the nearby galaxy M81 (also seen in the pic). Increased rates of star formation lead to higher rates of supernova. Second, M82 is a relatively nearby galaxy (only 12 million light years away or so) which means we can study it in greater detail than more distant supernova.

Finally, this is a type 1a supernova. Type 1a supernova form when a white dwarf star sucks matter off a nearby companion star. White dwarfs have a maximum mass about 1.4 times the mass of our Sun. If you add more matter than that, you get a huge explosion which destroys the star. This white dwarf suffered that fate leading to the supernova we are now observing.

Since type 1a supernova always happen when the mass hits 1.4 times that of our Sun, they are always about the same brightness. If you know the brightness of an object, you can figure out its distance. Type 1a supernova are very bright and can be seen in distant galaxies and are very important for astronomers to determine the distance to other galaxies. The more we can study nearby ones, the better we understand them and the better we can measure the distances to other galaxies. Therefore, astronomers are training lots of scopes on this supernova right now!

Oh, I got so excited about the pics, I should mention that we saw it visually as well. We were using a 6" Celestron Nexstar SE and could see a little bright spot in the galaxy right where the supernova is. I am always nervous showing objects like this to people as you sometimes get the disappointed "Is that it?" reaction. The students last night, however, were happy to be able to see it and I didn't have to deal with that common reaction. So I can tell you it is visible with a 6" or larger scope...wouldn't surprise me if people spot it with even smaller scopes.

This supernova looks like it was discovered before peak brightness. It will probably get brighter for another week or two before starting to fade. How much brighter is an open question and hard to predict. We don't know how long it took after the explosion for us to discover the supernova (several pre-discovery images have already turned up) and there may be intervening dust that dims the supernova. Worst case scenario, it will not get worse for a week or two. Best case scenario, it brightens another couple of magnitudes.

My sympathies to the northerners who have to brave the cold to see it...I was out in just a sweatshirt last night!

Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.

Open Blog - Thursday

Have a good one.

Bed Bugs: Pests from Hell - The Saga Continues

Guess what I found on my pillow last night?  That's right: Cimex lectularius, a.k.a., bed bug.  This is two weeks after the "final" chemical application.  I called the pest control company to report it.  They're supposed to call me back, but I guess not today.

The bed bug was small.  That makes sense.  It takes four weeks for a bed bug to fully mature.  If the exterminator missed some eggs two weeks ago, they'd be half-grown now.

Bed Bug Poop

I didn't mention in my original blog (see below) that one week after the first chemical application, Charlie found a (mature) bed bug in the bedroom.  I caught it and called the company.  The sales rep called back and said I must've caught the one last desperate bed bug in my apartment.  He called the incident "highly unusual."

He said he'd stop by the next day.  The next day he called to say he couldn't make it because of the weather, but he would be here the next day.  That day (a Friday) the company called to say that the sales rep was taking a vacation day and a technician would be sent to my place on Monday.  The final chemical application was scheduled for Wednesday.  I was a little exasperated with the runaround and said forget it, I'll show the bed bug to the tech who comes to spray on Wednesday.  That technician didn't seem too impressed with it, but he did want to know where it was found.

I knew I shouldn't blog about them.  There's been a nagging voice in the back of my head for weeks.

I never completely finished unpacking because of the bedbugs.  Management didn't want me putting items in my storage bin downstairs for fear of contaminating others' belongings.  They didn't want me taking out recyclables, only tightly sealed garbage.  They wanted me to limit my movement in the building to what was absolutely necessary.  There's a bicycle and an air compressor in my living room, amongst boxes of cassette tapes, photographs, and other junk.  Last Monday I was given the "all clear" to move my stuff.  Still, I waited . . .

What if I had followed their advice?  What if I caused an outbreak?

The exterminator at the old building told me it was safe to move, but it wasn't.  The exterminator here said the bed bugs were eradicated, but they weren't.

When the building manager first spoke to me about the pest control company, he said they had done two other bed bug exterminations in different apartments.  Then he said, "Well, they've been here three times."  I said, "Three times?"  He said, "They had to come back and re-treat one."

That's been stuck in the back of my head, too.  I'm so sick of this shit that I could vomit.

Previous blog:  http://www.jtirregulars.com/2014/01/bed-bugs-pests-from-hell.html 

Why I Didn't Get Hired !

Submitted by legal stranger:

 Job Interview: 
 
Human Resources Manager: "What is your greatest weakness?"
 
Old Man: "Honesty."
 
Human Resources Manager: "I don't think honesty is a weakness.

Old Man: "I don't really give a shit what you think." 

"Pattern Or Practice Movie Premiere 'Reactions'"

From Racine Community Media:

 

PatternOrPractice.com - http://patternorpractice.com/ 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PatternOrPractice

Previous blogs: http://www.jtirregulars.com/2014/01/pattern-or-practice-reaction.html

http://www.jtirregulars.com/2014/01/tomorrow-nightt-pattern-or-practice.html 

http://www.jtirregulars.com/2014/01/film-premiere-pattern-or-practice.html 


Update:

Papercutt Productions Announces

Film festivals that the film Pattern or Practice is currently being submitted to:

Julian Dubuque International Film Festival  Dubuque, Iowa

Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Film    Atlanta, Georgia

Vancouver International Film Festival   Vancouver, Canada

Little Rock Film Festival  Little Rock, Arkansas

Note: Sponsors have been secured for another showing at the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee date to be announced, in addition local sponsors are looking for a venue in the Racine and Kenosha area with the ability to hold up 300 people.  Smaller venues will be considered.  Contact: www.patternorpractice.com or facebook.com/patternorpractice

It's good to be back.....

...Although I never really left. Just lurked alot and posted a few comments here and there. Mind blowing how a small group of pissed off bloggers is now this legacy of excellence. Glad to be a part since day 1!

Dickert's trip to Mexico....something is missing in the JT's article.

In the discussion in the JT of Mayor Happy Hair's trip to Mexico on the No-streetlight-having-taxpayer's dime it mentions one person who went along as "a Unified High School Teacher". Not once but twice in the same story. Why name all who went on this little vacay except the teacher? Did the teacher use vacation time? Were they still getting paid by RUSD? Why the secrecy?

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my friendsicles!  How are you?  I said, how are you?  If you take off the five layers of hats, scarves, ski masks and earmuffs on your head, you might be able to hear me.  If you can, here’s the news: bundle back up.  We’re going down below zero again.  How low can we go?  Please, no record attempts.  As the winter has hardened me, I now accept temperatures in the single digits below zero as tolerable, at least for a short while.  However, I can’t tolerate teens and twenties below zero.  That belongs in arctic regions.  “Polar vortex,” indeed.  Our country is polarized enough.  Some would say too much.  So swirl your vortex down the toilet bowl.  We’ve had enough of this.

I attended the premiere of Pattern or Practice on Monday night.  The glitterati and beautiful people were everywhere.  It was a little chilly outside, but the warm crowd inside more than made up for that.  I love the Oriental Theatre.  It was the perfect venue for the showing of the documentary.  It’s a terrible shame that things have to deteriorate to the point that people feel their only recourse is to make a movie to expose the racism in city administration.  We shall overcome this, too.

Welcome back to Mr. Mayor Dickert, who recently returned from Mexico.  He should return the favor by paying for the citizens of Racine to fly to Mexico and back during winter.  I’d love to visit Cancun again.

Mr. President Obama admits that he inhaled.  He says marijuana is not good for you, but it’s not worse than alcohol.  Hurray.  The worst thing about smoking marijuana is the damage done to the lungs and cardiovascular system.  Drinking alcohol, on the other hand, attacks every organ in the body.  I’m just waiting for legalization to come to Wisconsin so that I can market my new product, Madame Zoltar’s® No-Frowny-Brownies™, made from the finest “herbs” and chocolate.  No smoke, no poison, just pure enjoyment, plus gaining 50 pounds or more.

If legalization does come, I’ll applaud it, but we must come up with a way to readily detect marijuana-impaired drivers.  I don’t want to be the victim of someone’s midnight munchies run.  Like alcohol, use it responsibly, or lose your right to drive.  We should toughen our laws on impaired driving in general, but the Wisconsin Tavern League and liquor lobby see to it that they remain lax.  Oh my.

As if we don’t already have enough to worry about, along comes the news that the Milky Way is forming “inside out:” (http://natmonitor.com/2014/01/21/dont-panic-but-the-milky-way-galaxy-formed-inside-out/) No wonder everything is screwed up on Earth.  We’re doing it backwards.

Thank you, thank you, my dear, dear friends and readers.  Thank you for stopping by to spend a little time with me.  I crave company and visitors.  I love you.

If the Milky Way is inside out, should you wear your underpants on the outside of your clothes?  Ask madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com

Take the necessary precautions in the perverse cold.  You know the drill.  Be careful.  Minor annoyances can become life-threatening situations in the arctic air.  Valetudinarian!

Open Blog - Wednesday

Enjoy your day.

"8 Common Anxiety Dreams And What They Mean"

From TheFrisky.com:

"Let's talk about anxiety dreams, shall we? They suck. But we all have them, no matter how much we have our act together in real life. Anxiety dreams happen when the stress, fear and worries of daily life infiltrate our unconscious mind. Or conversely, when there's some crap we're not ready to deal with, the anxiety will express itself through dream imagery. After an anxiety dream, we often wake up in the morning, or drenched in sweat in the middle of the night, with heart-pounding fear, feeling exhausted, like we didn't sleep at all.

"I like to think of dreams as clouds of mental, emotional and spiritual energy. And really, the only way to make the clouds go away, is to let them rain. So yeah, the only way to make anxiety dreams stop is to get to the bottom of what's causing them and deal with the issues.

"I subscribe to Carl Jung's method of dream analysis. So, basically, I think that dreams are a reflection of the individual dreamer. Meaning, if you have a specific association with spiders, like you had a beloved pet spider or something, your spider dream means something totally different than mine does. In addition, I think it's important to consider context of a dream. Meaning, it matters what's going on in your life and the world when you have the dream. Point being: dream analysis is both deeply personal and highly complex. That being said, there are some common anxiety dreams that most people have had at one point or another. Click through to see what these dreams might be trying to tell you."

See the dreams:  http://www.thefrisky.com/photos/8-common-anxiety-dreams-and-what-they-mean/

I had a recurring anxiety dream about the auto repair shop where I worked in Chicago.  I had it for years.  Details varied, but in the dreams I was super busy and unable to keep up with the customers' demands.  That dream was replaced by a recurring anxiety dream of a much more personal nature early last year.  That dream was devastating.  A few months ago, the recurring dreams stopped altogether.  Now I have occasional dreams on the same subject matter, but they're just the usual nonsense. 

"Cyclist: Driver didn't see me stuck in windshield"

Submitted by legal stranger:


"MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man who became lodged in the windshield of a car that struck him said he turned to the driver and said, 'Hello, I'm the guy you hit on the bicycle.'

"The driver did not respond, but continued on, running a stop sign and hitting another vehicle before he arrived home, the cyclist, Steven Gove, told HTR Media about the Saturday incident (http://htrne.ws/1bI58jh )"
 
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/21/cyclist-driver-didnt-see-me-stuck-in-windshield/4718857/

"Difference Between Cats And Dogs"

That about sums it up.

Stolen Target data used

Pair arrested with 96 fake cards; larger ring suspected

Associated Press

McAllen, Texas — Account infor­mation stolen during the Target securi­ty breach is now being divided up and sold off regionally, a South Texas police chief said Monday after the arrest of two Mexican citizens who authorities say arrived at the border with 96 fraud­ulent credit cards.

McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodri­guez said Mary Carmen Garcia, 27, and Daniel Guardiola Dominguez, 28, both of Monterrey, Mexico, used cards con­taining the account information of South Texas residents. Rodriguez said they were used to buy tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise at na­tional retailers in the area including Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Toys “R” Us.

“They’re obviously selling the data sets by region,” Rodriguez said.

Garcia and Guardiola were both be-ing held Monday on state fraud charg­es. It was not immediately known whether they had retained lawyers.

Rodriguez said he did not know whether they were the first arrests re­lated to the Target breach. Target did not immediately return phone and email messages left Monday, which was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a fed­eral holiday. The Minneapolis-based company said last week that it has stop­ped more than a dozen operations that sought to scam breach victims by way of email, phone calls and text messages.

McAllen police began working with the U.S. Secret Service after a number of area retailers were hit with fraudu­lent purchases Jan. 12. The Secret Ser­vice confirmed that the fraudulent ac-counts traced back to the original Tar­get data breach from late last year, Ro­driguez said. Investigators fanned out to McAllen-area merchants and reviewed “miles of video” looking for the fraudsters, he said. From that, they were able to iden­tify two people and a car with Mexican license plates.

A message left for the Secret Service on Monday was not returned.

With the help of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investiga­tors confirmed the identities of their suspects from immigration records of when they had entered Texas in the same vehicle. Police prepared arrest warrants last week and waited for them to return.

On Sunday morning, federal officials alerted police that their two suspects were at the Anzalduas International Bridge trying to re-enter the United States. They were carrying 96 fraudu­lent cards, Rodriguez said.

Investigators believe the two were involved in both the acquisition of the fraudulent account data and the pro­duction of the cards, but only part of what must have been a much broader conspiracy. Rodriguez said investiga­tors suspect Garcia and Guardiola were singling out Sundays for their shopping sprees hoping banks would not be as quick to detect the fraud.

With the amount of electronics and other merchandise purchased on Jan. 12, Rodriguez said the two would have needed an “army” to move it all.

Rodriguez also alluded to a link with Eastern Europe or Russia but did not provide additional details. He said he expected Garcia and Guardiola to even­tually face federal charges.

South Texas authorities have seen large-scale fraudulent credit card schemes before, including one in which they seized machines used to up­load information to the cards’ magnet­ic strips.

The Target breach is believed to have involved 40 million credit and debit card accounts and the personal infor­mation of 70 million customers.