I think I’ve become the low hanging fruit of weather quotes. I was included in an article published today in the Norwich Bulletin.
Use the link above if you want to read it, though I’m attaching it to the jump should that link go stale.
Tag: Geoff Fox
Pleasing the Society
I am now a meteorologist – a full fledged meteorologist. I would be lying if I didn’t say I felt some pride when one of our anchors announces me as Meteorologist Geoff Fox.
Now I move to the next step, getting an AMS Seal.
First, an explanation of terms. AMS stands for The American Meteorological Society. The ‘seal’ is the AMS Seal of Approval for Television Weathercasting, and it’s awarded by the Board of Broadcast Meteorology. Phew – no wonder they shorten it to AMS and seal.
The AMS would like to preserve the integrity and scientific efficacy of weather forecasting. My boss wants me to present an understandable and useful forecast. Sometimes those two are at odds with each other.
In order to get the AMS Seal, I must submit three airchecks (tapes of a weather broadcast) from three consecutive days. Actually, that’s a great idea. It seems important to watch a candidate’s forecast in context. My tapes are distributed to members of the board who individually pass judgment. My understanding is, this is not an easy group to please.
A friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, just got his rejection note within the past few weeks. The comments were brutal – and I think this guy is very good.
Once your tapes go in, the board takes months to come up with its verdict. I have heard lots of grousing over this. I have no clue what takes so long, and I’m a little new in the organization to complain, but there are few things in this modern era that take six month, especially when the actually work of judging takes a few hours at most. I’m sure I’m missing some nuance which explains the timeframe… maybe not.
I started collecting my airchecks last night. I’d like to have my three before the week’s end. My plan is to have this out the door as soon as possible, but first have some folks with experience (my friend who’s just been shot down, a former member of the board, etc.) look and make sure I’m on the right track.
There is lots of talk on some weather bulletin boards concerning the relative value of having the seal. After 21 years on the air here in Connecticut, will more people be inclined to watch because of it? I don’t know. But, I’m sure I’ll enjoy seeing the ‘seal’ on the air next to my name the same way I enjoy hearing meteorologist.
I’m More Pessimistic About Hurricanes
Recently I was interviewed for an article in Business New Haven concerning hurricanes. I’ve linked to the text.
Over time I’ve become more pessimistic of what might happen in a repeat of the hurricane of ’38 scenario for Connecticut. There would be little time for warning and difficulty explaining where the damage might occur.
Even in 2005, a tragedy seems unavoidable. That’s not what I want to say, but it is a realistic expectation.
I’m glad to see, though Dr. Mel Goldstein and I were interviewed separately (I didn’t even know he had been interviewed), we are in agreement with our concern.
Unlike Katrina where good advice was ignored, I’m not sure what we could do today to help prepare us for a hurricane approaching us at 60 mph. The entire East Coast would need warning. What good would that do?
I Didn’t Know I Was This Nice
My friend Farrell’s mom, Ruth, has been interviewed again about her escape from New Orleans.
Every time she tells the story, I become a bigger hero. It’s now the “Legend of Geoff Fox.”
Seriously, this was a call anyone with info would make to the parent of a close friend. I am glad Ruth escaped New Orleans unscathed. I’m glad she listened to her family and friends, because I know in her heart she very much wanted to stay.
The story from the Valley Gazette continues at the jump.
eBay Extortion
I like eBay. I’ve bought and sold there and have a spotless feedback record. It really does scratch an itch.
Unfortunately, with a recent purchase I’ve discovered another part of eBay and it’s quite upsetting.
With Steffie going to school and packing a new cellphone, I thought it would be nice to buy a cable and software so she could move photos and ringtones on and off the phone without have to include Cingular in the equation.
There were a bunch of cable combos advertised, but I chose one reasonably close to me, in Brooklyn, NY.
I won the auction on August 23, paid for it almost immediately and that sat back and waited. When nothing came after a few days, I sent a note to the seller.
I need this before my daughter leaves for college. Has this gone out?
All the best,
Geoff Fox
The answer came back positive. Yes, he said, it was on its way. So I continued waiting.
Then, on August 30th I sent this.
Last week I asked if this item had shipped and you said yes. I have not received it. Please send me the insurance information so I may file a claim. I am in Connecticut. I could have crawled from Brooklyn by now. My daughter leaves for school in a few days and it was needed before then.
Geoff Fox
The cable finally came Tuesday, September 6. It was postmarked August 31, long after the seller said it was on its way and long after we had taken Steffie to school.
The cable and software weren’t worthless, but they were less valuable. I would have to wait until I saw Stef again to give them to her and show her how to use them.
When you buy on eBay, you have the chance to show your pleasure or displeasure, and I showed mine. I checked the mark for negative feedback and began to type. Space was limited, so I measured my words, but here’s what I left.
Said “on the way” 8/26. Actual postmark 8/31. Rcvd 9/6. Needed it 9/2.
And so it stood, until earlier today when I got a message from the seller. It was: eBay Feedback Withdrawal Request for Item 5800711527. The message read.
sorry for the delay i am sure that you dont what to have a negative feedback
In other words, if I don’t withdraw my valid complaint, he’ll soil my reputation.
On eBay, your reputation is worth a lot and I’m worried about what to do. I consider this extortion on the seller’s part.
EBay’s terms and rules take an interesting turn here.
There are many things the Investigations department doesn’t investigate, including simple misunderstandings, failure to communicate, and interpersonal disputes over which eBay has no control.
Here are some examples of what eBay doesn’t investigate:
* The other party left negative feedback on me after I left it on them.
We are afraid eBay cannot remove these comments. Per our User Agreement, we do not edit public postings.
On the other hand, he has made a premeditated threat.
I’m not sure what to do. I have reported this to eBay and am awaiting a response from them. If they can’t help, I might have to withdraw my truthful feedback, leaving other users in the lurch, because I have to guard my own online reputation.
This can’t be what eBay had in mind for feedback. It’s certainly an outcome I never expected. It is, to say the least, upsetting.
No Credit Where Credit Is Due – Southwest VISA Again
Yesterday I got a call from a woman at Chase Bank. They’re the folks who provide my one and only credit card. She was calling because my complaint to the Comptroller of the Currency hit their doorstep.
She didn’t call to offer a solution or explain what was going on. She just called to say they had gotten the complaint and would respond in 7-14 days.
This is probably a legal requirement. No extra points for customer service here.
My Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa has been the topic of many posts here, because it has been such a frustrating experience. Here’s a link to my last screed.
Like I said, I got so upset I wrote the Comptroller of the Currency, the federal agency that controls banks with “NA” at the end of their name.
So, yesterday I get their call and tonight… tonight they turn down the credit card again!
What a suspicious purchase. I was buying gas at a gas station I go to three or four times a month. I was using a Mobil Speedpass which is tied to the card.
I called the number on the back of the credit card and listened as an automated voice asked me if I recognized purchases, some going back two months, without giving me the name of the merchant… only the type of store in “credit cardese.”
Among the purchases they queried was Steffie’s Ipod. Whoa! That’s another purchase they turned down and had me call on in June. Good going. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
And, if there was a question about a June purchase, why not ask me in… June? The fact that I’ve already paid for that purchase without question never entered into their equation.
Oh, the gas station I was at – they had previously declined my card there too!
My account is perfect. My reputation is soiled.
As I walked into the gas station, the clerk addressed me by my first name and then told me they had refused the charge. Will he go home and tell people about Geoff Fox the deadbeat? I hope not, but it’s possible.
What if this would have happened in Birmingham last week?
Earlier this evening I wrote about Southwest Airlines’ policy change for frequent flier miles. I really don’t want to change my airline/credit card allegiance. I know tonight’s problem is 100% the bank and not Southwest. Still, it’s very frustrating.
My sense is, no one at the bank really cares. The sad truth is, in 2005 it’s too expensive to worry about customers on an individual basis. I’m much less of a problem when viewed in the aggregate.
One More Planet – It Could Be Xena
Considering how long telescopes have been around and the limitations imposed by our atmosphere, it boggles the mind to think there are new discoveries – lots of new discoveries, from Earth based telescopes.
PASADENA, Calif.–A planet larger than Pluto has been discovered in the outlying regions of the solar system with the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory, California Institute of Technology planetary scientist Mike Brown announced today.
The planet is a typical member of the Kuiper belt, but its sheer size in relation to the nine planets already known means that it can only be classified as a planet, Brown says. Currently about 97 astronomical units from the sun (an astronomical unit is the distance between the sun and Earth), the planet becomes the farthest-known object in the solar system, and the third brightest of the Kuiper belt objects.
“It will be visible over the next six months and is currently almost directly overhead in the early-morning eastern sky, in the constellation Cetus,” says Brown, who made the discovery with colleagues Chad Trujillo, of the Gemini Observatory, and David Rabinowitz, of Yale University, on January 8.
Yale – wow! That means some of these discoveries are being made by people who work down the block from me. I decided to drop David Rabinowitz a congratulatory note.
Before we go on – I am not shy about using email to reach out, especially when there’s more information I want. I have corresponded with Nobel Prize winners, famous scientists and journalists, producers I’ve wanted to work for… even actor/lawyer/game show host/commentator Ben Stein¹.
Hi David,
I just want you to know, every time I read about this amazing discovery, I am pleased to see there was a New Haven/Yale connection. Congratulations on your work.
When things calm down and you get a few minutes, could you tell me how this evaded detection for so long? I would have assumed there would be some gravitational component that was seen yet unaccounted for and would have led to an earlier search. Of course my knowledge of planetary physics leaves lots to be desired.
All the best,
Geoff Fox
A few hours later, there was a reply.
Hi Geoff. Thanks for the kudos.
It is amazing that this new planet, which I am still getting used to calling a planet, was not detected before. But it doesn’t have anything to do with the orbital dynamics. It is too small to have an effect on the orbits of the other planets. So it wouldn’t show up that way.
Really, the short answer is that nobody ever looked before. For the first time, we are using a large telescope and a large digital camera to search the whole northern hemisphere for distant planets. Building the camera was a major accomplishment – it was a team effort at the Yale Physics Dept and Indiana Univ. in Bloomginton IN. Called the Palomar-Quest camera, it is one of the worlds largest digital camera – 160 Megs. In combination with the special wide-field optics of the 48″” Samuel Oschin Schmidt at Palomar Observatory, we can search the whole northern hemisphere more efficiently than anybody else.
Now nobody ever though it would be very productive to search for distant planets far from the plane of the planets — the ecliptic plane. Our competitors, in fact, mostly search only within a few degrees of the ecliptic. But because we can search so much area with Palomar-Quest, we decided to search everywhere. We started at the ecliptic, believing this would be most productive. But strangely, the most intriguing discoveries have been out of the plane. We found Sedna 12 degrees below the plane, we found our new planet 14 deg below the plane. One of the new objects reported on Friday, called 2003 FY9, is the brightest (but not biggest) object in the Kuiper Belt. It is 30 degrees above the ecliptic plane.
What makes astronomy so exciting, there is so much out there left to be discovered. Building a new instruments helps. But just looking where nobody expects to find something, you can get lucky. We still have more area to search even farther from the ecliptic. So there could even be more exciting things to find.
Regards.
David Rabinowitz
Basically, the team took a succession of photos and then analyzed them for movement. From our perspective, distant stars stand still while much closer planets (or asteroids, comets and meteors) move in the sky. Look for something moving like a planet and you just might spot a planet! Or, you might just be picking out some noise in the telescope’s sensors. That’s where astronomers come in.
The picture on the left represents what you would see, looking at the Sun from this distant planet. It’s just another very bright star in a very dark sky.
To me, the “magic keys” to this discovery are both the laser guide star adaptive optics, which allows astronomers on the ground to take images as sharp as the images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the ability to have much of the grunt work of comparing images done by computer.
In any event, as more and more objects are discovered, there will be more and more controversy over what exactly is a planet? Lots of astronomers don’t think Pluto is a planet! And this new sighting, though larger than Pluto, is in some ways similar – especially its orbit.
In the meantime, the word is the discoverers are waiting for approval to call this planet, “Xena.”
¹ – After the “Deep Throat” unmasking, I wrote Ben to disagree with a commentary he had written. We went back through three or four sets of emails, airing our opposing views. I enjoyed the discussion, and was meticulous in sourcing my conclusions. Ben also seemed to enjoy the ‘fight’ and gave back without hesitation.
Though we disagreed strongly, I have a great deal of respect for him and was more than a little pleased he was willing to engage me in this manner.
Southwest Rapid Rewards VISA – Trouble Again!
We decided to replace Steffie’s purloined Ipod, so we headed to the Apple store at a mall near college. Once again, my VISA purchase was denied. This is not the first time I’m writing about my frustration with this First USA account. I got it off my chest before in August 2003 and December 2004.
Here’s part of the letter going to the VISA bank involved, First USA.
My name is Geoff Fox and I am the account holder of this Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards VISA. My account is up-to-date and has never been late. I spend what I consider a significant amount of money using this card and have a substantial credit limit.
I’m not a deadbeat, but I’m being treated like one by First USA.
Today, for the fourth or fifth time since I’ve been using this VISA, I presented it for a purchase and was turned down. I was later told it was because I was out-of-state and this was a purchase at an Apple Computer Store
New Haven Advocate Best Of
I was very pleased to hear I’d won the New Haven Advocate’s Best Of Readers’ Poll. Though I usually pick up the Advocate when I get coffee at Roberto’s, I missed the voting issue so I didn’t even have a chance to stuff the ballot box.
That this is a vote by viewers makes it all the more gratifying.
There are some interesting, nearly dubious, honors bestowed. Some categories are split so many ways that you’d better get something. And, I totally understand that the Advocate does this as an advertising booster (look in the print issue and see all the back slapping ads). It’s still nice.
Christopher Arnott, who I’ve known for years, wrote my little blurb – and now I’m blushing.
Tonight is the ‘get your award’ dinner, and I’ll be going. I’ll bring my camera.
Best Local TV Personality
Geoff Fox, WTNH Channel 8
Geoff Fox stops by the Advocate offices in the early afternoon. The energy of the 9-to-5ers in the room is starting to lag, but Fox is wide-eyed, funny, fresh, loud-voiced, glad-handed–the life of the party.
He woke up about an hour earlier. His workday’s just begun.
“Basically I live my life in Hawaiian time. I wake up at noon, and I don’t get home until midnight. I’m used to people calling me and waking me up. I liked it when I had a friend living in Singapore; he’s the only one who’d call me when I was at the right time.”
Geoff Fox has weathered that rough-and-tumble schedule for over 20 years as a weatherman, and he’s been a broadcast professional since 1969. And despite cleaning up annually as Advocate readers’ choice for Best Local TV Personality, he’s still improving his job prospects, studying meteorology for the past three years.
One thing that makes Geoff Fox so engaging in person is his quick wit, and it’s a skill he’s able to use on the air. “I get to do stand-up. I get to ad-lib. I’m the only one who works without a script.” Some of his best exchanges are with the Channel 8 directors and cameramen; he’s like a comedian who delights in cracking up the house band. “For me, it has a lot to do with growing up watching George Burns, Soupy Sales and Sandy Becker,” TV comics who loved to break the fourth wall and display the nuts and bolts of the TV set.
Offscreen, he engages with viewers via his weblog, for which he’s already penned over 1,100 entries. A self-admitted tech geek, Fox has built a few computers himself, and he has connected another of his passions–poker–to the net by playing an online game through a casino in Costa Rica, almost tripling his initial investment.
It’s a life well lived, on air at 5, 6 & 11 p.m. (plus 10 p.m. on Channel 8’s sister station, WTXX) and “on” constantly from noon until his wee-hours bedtime.
On the same page: Yale wins the Best Local Four-Year College category. Who woulda thunk it?
Blogger’s note: The writeup says I’m on WTXX, but our 10:00 PM news is on WCTX, channel 9 on most cable systems.
Still Not Done With Sprint
It’s been a few months since I’ve written about the long distance debacle I suffered at the hands of Sprint and GTC Telecom. My complaints to the FCC had fallen on deaf ears. No response.
A few weeks ago I decided to give it another try.
Months ago I had filed a complaint against Sprint over their long distance practices. Since that time I have heard nothing more. Can you tell me the status of my complaint, please?
They replied.
Good morning Mr. Fox
Your complaint was referred to Public Utilities Commission of Connecticut on 12/28/04. Connecticut handles their own slamming complaints in the State of CT. The FCC does handles slamming complaints for certain states. You can contact the PUC of Connecticut at:
1-800 382-4586
e-mail: Jeanne.gawlak@po.state.ct.us
Thank you.
No! My complaint had to do with Sprint’s actions once they found out this was a mistake, not the slamming itself, which I believe was a series of unintentional human errors.
I followed with this.
My complaint concerned the bad faith actions of Sprint after they knew I had not actually signed for their service, not the specifics of the slamming. As such, this is an FCC concern, not one for my state.
It is possible you have confused separate filings I made – the first one which was referred to my state and did concern slamming. Unfortunately, I do not have each individual letter I sent to the FCC in front of me. However, the complaint I am asking you to look at concerns Sprint’s objectionable actions was accompanied by full documentation, including copies of correspondence and bills.
I respectfully request you revisit this, since during Sprint’s actions they relied on their interpretation of FCC rules to allow them to act in bad faith.
Sincerely,
Geoff Fox
Again, they misread… or didn’t read my letter, because I got back.
Dear Consumer,
The only complaint that the Federal Communications Commission has on file from you is your slamming complaint, received December 24, 2004, assigned file number 04-S88892, which was referred to the Connecticut Department of Utility Control for processing on December 28, 2004.
If you continue to have a complaint against Sprint, other than that mentioned above, you will need to re-file it with us.
For information on what your rights are and how to file a complaint with us, visit our web site www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html.
I couldn’t believe it. Maybe I was going nuts. The concept didn’t seem so difficult for the FCC which deals with phone companies all the time. I gave it one last try.
I want to make sure we’re on the same page. Here is the letter I am referring to. Is this what you consider a slamming complaint? My complaint has nothing to do with the switching of carriers, but Sprint’s actions after they knew this error was not caused by me.
This is important, because Sprint felt your rules gave them the ability to charge me for these calls even after they knew it was not my doing. Further, when the State of Connecticut did not act quickly in responding to my complaint, your rules allowed Sprint to act as if I didn’t make a complaint at all!
Will you please read my letter and let me know.
Geoff Fox
I attached the long descriptive letter I had sent months ago (and was published here)
It wasn’t long before I got a reply.
Good Afternoon, Mr. Fox;
Your complaint listing your concerns regarding Sprint’s practices has been forwarded to me. I will be discussing them with one of our staff attorney’s to see if the Commission could take further actions in regards to these complaints to ensure that any consumer found in the same predicament is treated fairly.
I will keep you abreast of any develops or decisions that are made.
Best Regards,
(name withheld)
Consumer Mediation & Policy Specialist
Policy Division
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
Wow! Exactly what I wanted to hear.
This is no assurance that action will be taken. Sprint is big enough to make systemic change difficult at best. But maybe I will be heard. What was done to me was probably done to others as well. That’s what should perk up the FCC’s ears.
When a company tries as hard as Sprint does to isolate the public from managers and officers who are authorized to make decisions or take action, it’s worth being persistent. At least to me it is.
There will be follow-ups
Blogger’s note: Early on, this thread became a ‘category’ on the blog, meaning you can read it all in real chronological order by clicking here.
Another Nice Mention in the Day
I spoke to Rick Koster at the New London Day yesterday. He was writing a story about weathermen and comments their viewers make, and asked me to participate. I’m always scared I might say something I’ll later regret. This one came out very nicely.
I’ve attached the story to the link below
Snow Rage?
Just Blame It On The Weathermen, They’re Used To It
�There will be no school tomorrow. At least I’ll be a hero to kids.� – Geoff Fox, WTNH Channel 8 weatherman
By RICK KOSTER
Day Staff Columnist, Arts & Entertainment
Published on 3/1/2005
Something irritating this way comes.
It was Monday afternoon and the clouds were the opaque gray of a killer’s eyes. The Nor’easter was roaring up the Atlantic Coast and forecasters were describing a weather system that would utilize the Connecticut shore as a sort of tightrope between heavy rain and snow, or both.
Among area meteorologists, the mood was a cross between the excitement wrought of any storm and the anxiety that comes with predicting tough and complex systems. After all, at this point in the season, the citizenry can be a bit testy � and need someone to blame the weather on.
�It’s the nature of the game,� said Matt Scott, a meteorologist at WTNH in New Haven who called the impending Nor’easter �a complicated one.�
�This is a troublesome storm,� he said. �This is the first storm of the winter where I think we could see some power outages.�
That would certainly increase the potential for public dissatisfaction.
�Well, we’ve had a lot of snow � more than average � and when we’re a little off the mark some folks get agitated,� Scott said.
Geoff Fox, one of Scott’s meteorological colleagues at WTNH, who has worked in the area for 20 years, is more than familiar with irate weather-followers blaming the messenger. He remembered several years ago when a tourist board in Cape Cod was upset with him because members thought Fox’s long-range forecasts, which in this part of the country usually included a day of rain, were affecting business. They theorized Connecticut residents would not make the trip to the Cape if Fox suggested inclement weather.
Another time: �I was collared by a guy who owned a car wash where I used to take my car,� Fox remembered. �He didn’t like weather forecasts that could hurt his business. I tried to kid around, but he had no sense of humor and I came to believe, in his case, that he had some connections and could actually hurt me. So I get my car washed somewhere else now.�
Fox will presumably not worry about the aesthetics of his car over the next few days. He said Monday afternoon that the Nor’easter was pushing farther and farther to the east. Since snow systems have a relative warm and cold side � the cold is to the west � each turn to the east increases the likelihood that southeastern Connecticut will get more snow.
�There will be no school tomorrow,� Fox said. �At least I’ll be a hero to kids.�
Today’s technology makes it easier for viewers to convey their irritation with meteorologists.
�E-mails are easy to fire off; there are no faces or identities attached,� said Bruce DePrest, chief meteorologist at WFSB in Hartford. �The sender might even be mad at a forecast from another station, but any weatherman will do. Anything can trigger it, too � the timing of a storm, calling for snow and getting rain. … A lot of things make people mad, and sometimes they just want to be annoying because it’s easy to do.�
Michael Thomas, a meteorologist for the Connecticut Weather Center in Danbury, can perhaps understand the concept of what might be called �snow rage� even if he’d never heard the phrase. He said, �I think southeastern Connecticut is looking at five to eight inches of snow with this storm. I was already tired of (snow) last month. Now I hate it.�
Meteorologists say they take their forecasts seriously.
�People should understand that a storm like the one headed our way is my Super Bowl or my Oscars,� Fox said. �It’s really important to us to get it right. There is no upside to making an inaccurate forecast. This is where we make friends or enemies.�
Perhaps it’s possible to do both.
Last week, after several more inches of snow, Fox and his boss received �incredibly irate� e-mails from a viewer in Gales Ferry. The guy was mad because, after the station’s forecast called for snow, his caf� lost business and his son’s wrestling practice was canceled.
�I wrote back and said I didn’t cause the snow,� Fox said. �In the meantime, my boss, who never throws an e-mail away, remembered the guy’s name from an earlier communication and sent a return e-mail: �I’m really surprised to hear from you since you wrote in 2002 and said you’d never watch us again. So it’s good to have you back.’ �
Viewer Mail
I just got a note from Dave:
A new comment has been posted on your blog Geoff Fox – My Permanent Record,
on entry #1102 (ChoicePoint Gets Company).
https://www.geofffox.com/MT/mt-comments-fixed.cgi?entry_id=1102
IP Address: 4.245.152.92
Name: dave
Email Address: davec41@gmail.com
Comments:
Was Saturday the first day when you did not post a daily entry?
No, I’ve missed before, but probably not in the last year.
I started to write last night, close to midnight, but realized I was only writing because I felt obliged to fill a space. That seemed stupid, so I stopped.
Sometimes, the things most important to me at any given moment are things I just don’t want to share or can’t share. It’s important to realize, though this blog is the truth as I know it, it isn’t always the whole truth. My family and my employer demand a certain amount of discretion and restraint, which I willingly oblige.
Geoff Fox – Protector of the Internet
Just a few minutes ago I got a ‘phishing’ email. You know the ones… update your PayPal password before we shut off your account. Of course it’s just a way to ‘phish’ for your data.
DEAR me@geofffox.com
It has come to our attention that your PayPal Billing Information records are
out of date. That requires you to update the Billing Information.
Failure to update your records will result in account termination. Please update
your records within 24 hours. Once you have updated your account records, your
PayPal session will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Failure to
update will result in cancellation of service, Terms of Service (TOS) violations
or future billing problems.
Please click here to update your billing records.
http://%73%69%74%65%34%2E%61%70%6F%6C%6C%6F%68%6F%73%74%69%6E%67…
The destination address was obscured by breaking it down into its component ASCII numbers instead of using letters. It looks like junk to us, but it’s totally readable by your browser.
Normally, I just delete these, but I’m feeling good tonight and thought I’d break it down. It didn’t take more than a few seconds to find the website, made to look like PayPal, where the data would be dropped.
Normally these are overseas – most often in China or Korea. Not tonight. The address led back to apollohosting.com in Austin, Texas. They have 24/7 tech support on line!
** You are now speaking with Daniel, Technical Support. **
Daniel : Welcome to Technical Support Live Chat ! How can I help you?
Geoff Fox : Look at this url
Geoff Fox : http://site4.apollohosting.com/edwardsgalleries4.com/httpdocs/pp_pp/update.html
A few seconds pause… and then
Daniel : let me log into the server and suspend the account here,
Geoff Fox : Thanks. I thought you might want to know
Daniel : I appreciate this thanks very much
Geoff Fox : Believe me – my pleasure – good night
In the general scheme of things this was like changing deck chairs on the Titanic. Any ‘phisher’ worth his salt has numerous sites, probably paid for with stolen credit cards. At least I did my part.
Blogger’s update – I just retunred to the site a moment ago and it’s still there. Maybe I’m not so smart after all.
The Sprint Saga Finally Ends – I Think
I think my long distance problems are now solved. If you haven’t been following, you can read all the details here. Good lord, dental work is less painful!
On Friday I spoke with representatives of the Connecticut DPUC and Sprint. Though the DPUC had dropped the ball, and admitted so to me, I think Sprint’s actions are more troubling.
I have decided to follow up with a complaint to the FCC, which is detailed in a letter linked just below this entry.
Memo to Dan Abrams, MSNBC
On Slashdot, the tech/geek site I frequent, there is an abbreviation used when someone makes a comment without knowing what is being discussed. It’s ‘RTFA’ for… well, I can’t say what it’s for, except the ‘r’ is for read and the ‘a’ stands for article.
Please keep this in mind, because I have an RTFA story.
It’s late at night… I’ve been playing poker on the computer and surfing the TV. Friday night after midnight is not prime time. There’s virtually nothing on. I’m the guy who watched “The Secret Life of Air Freight” last night, so when I say nothing, I mean it.
After a while I ended up watching MSNBC and Dan Abrams. I enjoy the show if they’re discussing an interesting case and the panelists aren’t ridiculously defending indefensible points.
In this segment Abrams had a psychologist on discussing the fascination of some women to murder suspect Scott Peterson. I was about to tune away when Dan said he had Googled the subject and actually found a woman who had written a blog entry about how hot Scott Peterson was.
Hey, I’m a blogger too. So I Googled a few of the words Abrams had quoted and found the entry. Only it looks like Dan Abrams didn’t RTFA!
Dan,
After seeing your quote from the blogger who found Scott Peterson hot, I too Googled it. Unlike you, I read a little farther in the blog. Dan… that was a man, not a woman, who wrote that entry.
Geoff Fox
The moral of our story – always RTFA