Not So Funny Money

Today's post is wrong on so many levels it's hard to decide where to begin. The first matter of concern is why would a school (of all places) suspect a 13 year old student of either counterfeiting or trying to pass a counterfeit bill? Next up is why make an issue of it at all since 82% of the kids attending that school qualified for either free lunches or reduced cost lunches. What kind of school would have absolutely no idea that a $2 was legal tender? not to mention the idea of counterfeiting $2 bills seems like an exercise in futility. Finally one of the policeman thought to take the bill to a bank where they explained that it indeed was a authentic USA $2 bill. In case any of you are wondering this particular fiasco didn't happen in Florida,this time it is Texas with egg on their face.

Chew Bones

Today's post would be funny if it wasn't on the gross side and do I need to mention one of the individuals was from Florida and caught in Ohio,the other was caught in Florida but was an illegal alien from an unknown location, so Florida strikes again!  The first occurrence happened in 2015, a 20 year old man wanted for assault with a deadly weapon was caught with a stolen Mercedes, also in his possession was a fake drivers license,three fake credit cards and a concealed weapon. He was seen on surveillance video trying to chew his fingerprints off in the back of the police car. The next young rocket scientist (24 years) had been on the run for 4 months when he was stopped in Ohio earlier this year and even though he had easily identifiable tattoos he also tried the old chew off your fingerprints trick, I have a feeling this isn't the last we will hear of these two.

Bottom Feeders

It is entirely possible that I am the only one that didn't know about the Deep Web. Admittedly I had heard a few things but not enough to cause me to look into it, that is until it came up in a book I'm reading. The facts aren't quite right in the book but since it's fiction that is to be expected. I feel naive for never thinking about there being many layers to the World Wide Web, the way it was explained in the book is thinking of a search engine as a fishing net and on the surface are spiky balls that are easy to net,below those are tennis ball which are harder to net but not impossible,further down are billiard balls which are not only heavier but also slick and nearly impossible to get into the net. In the book the Deep Web is made to seem nefarious and nearly impossible to access, but if you want to download special software it can be done. There is also a Dark Web which sounds particularly forbidding but from what I found is mainly a way of obtaining privacy in areas where it isn't offered on the regular Web,and of course most all of the bad stuff a person can imagine can be found on any of the many levels of the internet.

Gimme a Break

Yes today's post is dedicated to the Kit Kat bar but not the ones a person finds on the shelves in the US, instead we will explore some of the 200 plus flavors available in Japan. Kit Kat is one of the most popular treats in Japan maybe partly because the name translates to "surely win". They also offer flavors for every palate such as: baked potato, soy sauce, red bean sandwich,wasabi, soy bean,purple sweet potato and matcha green tea.  Then there are flavors more in tune with our western tastes like: blueberry cheesecake, cinnamon cookie, hot Japanese chili, (I have tried other candy with hot peppers and they actually compliment each other) strawberry,(a side note stated that the fruit flavored candies tasted like real fruit) golden citrus and pear. If anyone is tempted to try these treats a sampler of 15 flavors can be purchased for $68 plus shipping.

  

Chip Off the Old Block

Every time I use my chip enabled credit cards I am amazed at how long it takes in comparison to the old swipe method, wouldn't one expect it to be quicker since it is an improvement? Plus with it taking so long I wonder how many people lose focus during the wait or are in a hurry and rush off without their card. Today is the day I decided it was time to find out the answers. First off the US is significantly behind Europe in credit card security which is one of the reasons the chip cards are called EMVs (which stands for Europay Mastercard Visa) . They have been in place in Europe for years and have reduced credit card fraud,but in Europe they also use a pin number with their cards making it nearly impossible to steal the info or make unauthorized purchases which has yet to be introduced in the US and I'm guessing by the time it is introduced the fraudsters will be one step ahead. In conclusion the US is behind Europe in health care,education and credit card security and whatever else I might have missed.

Feeling Nostalgic

This one looks like Sissy who was receiving the massage. 

This morning I went to the fairgrounds for an event called Horse Fest. Lately I have been longing for horse contact and missing their smell so I thought what better place to satisfy that yearning. It was a program designed to help those with horses solve their horse related problems such as equine massage and how to train a reluctant horse to load in a trailer. I particularly enjoyed watching the equine massage gal as that was new territory for me, then I began roaming the grounds to pet the available horses (with permission of course). It was a very bittersweet experience as the horses neither smelled the way I recalled nor did their coats feel the way I remember but it was nice being around them just the same. It's funny that when I still had horses I didn't have the time or money to do them justice and now that I have the time and money I'm not sure what I would do if I did have a horse.

I petted one that looked like this named Eba

Profit Prophet

A 25 year old New York self proclaimed prophet not only offers to predict the future and heal the sick but for a mere $1,000 he will raise the dead. There are a few problems with his offers such as he makes them via robocalls and is being sued in several states for privacy issues,so if you are interested in his

offers you might have some trouble contacting him...then again maybe he will just know! At any rate if you want to send him $1,000 just send it to my address and I will be sure he gets it! 

Nada

Finally got my desktop computer back...that's the good news. The bad news is they had to take everything down to scratch to get rid of the Windows 10 glitch so I'm pulling my hair out trying to get things straightened out again. Wish me luck and continuing sanity.

Crime Cliche

I would guess that most people have heard the mafia myths surrounding cement shoes. It isn't something I gave much thought to but after a body washed ashore in Brooklyn around a month ago complete with cement overshoes detectives are trying to put together the logistics on the special footwear to get a bearing on the case. Concrete experts have been consulted and agree that the amount of time for the concrete to set up so a person would be unable to free their feet is at least 12 hours depending on temperature and other variables.  The body was identified as Petey "Crack" Martinez who was reported missing in February, however the body was not decomposed enough to have been in the water for that time period. A real life mystery!

Getting Pie-Eyed

A group of 1,186 people attending Another Fine Fest in the UK participated in a bid for the Guinness record of most people in a pie fight by flinging over 3,000 paper plates covered in shaving cream within the one minute time limit,  beating the previous record of 869 participants established in Belfast in 2015. I've always thought a pie fight would be fun but given a preference I would choose either whipped cream or an actual cream pie at least that way a person could eat part of the mess. Speaking of messes maybe a good old fashioned pie fight is what the current presidential campaign needs, at least a person could judge the candidates sense of humor that way. I think I know who would throw a fit.

Squeeze Jr.

X-Files fans may recall the character nicknamed Squeeze from the early episodes. He could fit into impossibly small areas. As  it happens a Russian prisoner, suspected of robbery put the same talent to work to escape his cell. The suspect nicknamed "snake man" fit his body through a tiny window used for food delivery to the cell, then put his clothes on and disappeared. It was all caught on their security cameras. He then put his clothes back on and fled. I'm not sure if he has been recaptured and I wonder how he got out of the complex once he escaped his cell but so far haven't had any luck with the rest of the story.

No-tel

For the ones amongst us who may be looking for a new and seemingly unique place to stay (maybe for a Father's Day gift next year) this is your lucky day! The Henna-na Hotel in Nagasaki, Japan opened about a year ago. At this point you're probably wondering what makes this hotel different, how about it is staffed with robots? A staff of robots check you in at the front desk, a robotic porter handles your bags, the cleaning staff are also robots and if you need concierge service a robot will assist you. Robots are already found in stores and restaurant in Japan, so it isn't all that unusual for the next step to be staffing a hotel with them. Personally I find it a little creepy and would miss the interaction with a human staff, but maybe I'm just old fashioned that way.

Bugging Out

Since I've been known to complain about the waste of tax dollars I feel it is only fair to give the government an atta boy when one is due.  The Department of Defense appealed to white-hat hackers to participate in a "bug bounty" in order to identify potential weaknesses in the security of the Pentagon's five public websites. An 18 year old recent high school graduate identified the most weak areas out of the 1,400 hackers who participated. 138 total faults with the sites were found. The cost of the bounty hunt was $150,000 compared to the over 1 million dollars the same results would have cost from a private firm.

Tipsy Toms

Some of you long term readers may recall a post about a non-alcoholic beer made for dogs, well now there is a non-alcoholic wine drink made for cats. I wouldn't dare give it to my Blondie as she has a sensitive stomach and since it is made with beets it would have the same ability as real wine to stain, of course most everything around here has already been stained so maybe it isn't really an issue. The wine comes in two varieties, red  "Pinot Meow" and white "Moscato". In addition to beet juice the wines also contain all natural organically grown catnip and natural preservatives and are safe for dogs as well as humans. When ingested catnip has a mellowing action rather than the hyper effects caused by the cats snorting it.
 

Bacteriophobes Rejoice!

Germaphobes, bacillophobes and all the other names (there are many) for those of you who are overly concerned with cleanliness your lives will soon be made easier. I heard a teaser on the noon news about self cleaning sheets and since I avoid the news in the evening I had to find out for myself what these sheets were all about. I assumed it was just another toxic chemical cocktail infused item which in turn would be worse for your health than the bacteria they were designed to kill, but that isn't the case. Other than the fact that they still need to be washed every 10-14 days and regular sheets should be washed once a week they are a nice item to have in your cleaning arsenal. They work by using silver fibers in  cotton fabric. The silver has a positive charge where bacteria is negative so when the bacteria is attracted to the positive ions it is zapped and killed before it can reproduce. The sheets aren't on the market quite yet but should be available by July and the price isn't bad compared to other high quality sheets, $150 for a queen set.

Charades

The idea for today's post came to me as I was driving this morning and glanced at the car next to me and in that glance I thought I saw the word charade. This caused me to do a double take as I was fairly certain there wasn't a car model named Charade (actually there was for a short time, made by Daihatsu  but it sold poorly in the US). At that point the wheels in the old brain started spinning...I thought what a perfect name for a car designed for those who think they have to always drive the latest model. The Charade would come with a changeable body so it would appear brand new every time you changed out the old body for the new. I had a watch that the rim around the face and band could be changed to several different colors when I was in high school, and no it wasn't a Swatch it was pre Swatch days. If nothing else the Charade might ruin the car leasing market since people wouldn't need to lease in order to appear to be driving a new car. Never mind, it was just a thought.

Why the Chicken Crossed the Road

At this point in time my first guess about why the chicken crossed the road would be it was suicidal over Trump's campaign, but I digress. There is an actual answer to the age old question this time, the chicken was avoiding the police. I'm not certain why the Freeport, TX police were trying to capture the chicken maybe to insure it didn't get hit in traffic? The last time the police officer saw chicken it was hiding underneath the patrol car but disappeared shortly after that. It's not clear why it was mentioned that a Church's Chicken Restaurant was nearby...did they think the chicken had escaped from there, or  that that was where it ended up?