This article is a copy of one formally at this web address.  This is currently down and is repeated here in its entirety as a public service!  It’s suspected of being hacked, as described here on LazyManAndMoney.  This page will be removed if all is okay. (scheduled to release at midnight Friday 27/08/2010)

Mona Vie Name in your URL!

Mona Vie: Don’t use our name in your URL, unless you’re Wikipedia (and we’re doing the editing), By the author of Expert Fraud Investigation and Essentials of Corporate Fraud , Tracy Coenen

“No, MonaVie doesn’t endorse or approve me writing about them. In fact, they’ll probably get mad that I’m mentioning them. I don’t like MonaVie“.- Tracy Coenen

Earlier this week I wrote about the MonaVie lawyers going after bloggers who do unflattering critiques of the company. Their premise was silly: You can’t use our name in a URL. Here’s exactly what they said in their threatening letter to blogger “Lazy Man”:

“As a network marketing company MonaVie does not permit its name to be used in any URL or email address and the company must take necessary action to protect its intellectual property. It is not permitted for a third party vendor to use the MonaVie trade name in any form.”

So no use of their name in a URL, and no user of their name in any form? Gotcha.

Except it’s not so cut and dried. Lots of references to MonaVie in the titles of articles makes it so that their name is in the URL:

• How I Did It: Dallin A. Larsen of MonaVie – http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090901/how-i-did-it-dallin-a-larsen-of-monavie.html
• MonaVie Ranks No. 1 in Utah Business Fast 50 Awards – http://www.marketwatch.com/story/monavie-ranks-no-1-in-utah-business-fast-50-awards-2009-09-01
• Pro bike: Tinker Juarez’s Monavie-Cannondale Scalpel Team – http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/pro-bike-tinker-juarezs-monavie-cannondale-scalpel-team-22730
• Monavie thinks people don’t have a right to criticize it – http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/09/01/monavie-thinks-people-dont-have-a-right-to-criticize-it/Mona Vie – Company Profile on LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/companies/mona-vie
• Facebook | MonaVie – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bakersfield-CA/Mona-Vie/140576343241
• MonaVieMonaVie on Twitter – http://twitter.com/monaviemonavie

But the best example of a URL that includes “Mona Vie” and would therefore violate the bogus legal threats of the company comes from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MonaVie

It gets better, though. Not only does Wikipedia use the MonaVie name in a URL (horrors!)… people at MonaVie headquarters actually participate in editing the article about Mona Vie!!! A lot!!!

Here’s the link showing edits done by 65.44.117.2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/65.44.117.2. You can see lots of edits to the MonaVie article.

And here’s the proof that the IP address doing these edits is owned by MonaVie:

http://centralops.net/co/DomainDossier.aspx?addr=65.44.117.2&dom_whois=true&dom_dns=true&traceroute=true&net_whois=true&svc_scan=true

For now, let’s ignore the fact that Wikipedia rules prohibit a company or its employees from editing articles about the company. That’s a conflict of interest (they obviously have an interest in slanting article material in a positive direction).

But I don’t care so much about that, however. What I care about is the fact that use of the MonaVie name in a URL seems to only be frowned upon when the URL is for an article with negative information and opinions. Have the lawyers gone after Inc.com for using their name in the URL? Or MarketWatch? Or Facebook?

Here’s the best part about the edits of the Mona Vie page on Wikipedia, though… This edit removed the company’s Income Disclosure Statement from the article. Interesting, isn’t it? Especially since the link is to a page on the official MonaVie website. How could they object to that? Easy. The MonaVie Income Disclosure Statement, if looked at carefully enough, is a damning piece of information. It proves that almost no one is making any money from the “wonderful opportunity” that Mona Vie is offering. Here’s an explanation of the statement, which clearly shows that 99% of MonaVie distributors are making $3.75 a week. What an opportunity.

So what is it, Mona Vie lawyers? Can we use your name in a URL or not? Or do your made up restrictions only apply to negative opinions?

This article was taken from the ” the Fraud Files blog” at www.sequenceinc.com

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VBA for Fix Phone Numbers

I got a new phone and when synchronised with Microsoft Outlook, the phone numbers don’t dial out properly because of spaces & STD bracketing.  It’s an LG – the previous Nokia was great, as was it’s synchronising software!

Solution

I used VBA in a workaround via Microsoft Excel!  (If you don’t have Excel, this won’t work…).  It will convert phone numbers like (+44) 1234 456789 to 0044123456789.  It also removes “-” entries and ones with multiple spaces as a number, like “   ” which are invisible but muck stuff up!  [but see later addendum for later code additions, code is here: FixPhoneNumbers - SP]

First Step

Export the “Contacts” folder from Outlook as an Excel spreadsheet to your hard drive.  Give it a sensible name!

Second Step

Open the Excel file and then press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor (VBE).  We’re gonna write code now!

Third Step

Insert a new code module.  You can give it a name if you like.  I didn’t and just left it as it was.

Fourth Step

Copy this VBA code into the module in the VBE. (That’s a screenshot of my code above!)

Option Explicit

Public Sub FixPhoneNumbers()
Dim rg As Range
Dim r As Integer
Dim c As Integer
Dim wks As Worksheet
Dim s As String

Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Set wks = ThisWorkbook.ActiveSheet
r = wks.Cells(1, 1).CurrentRegion.Rows.Count
c = wks.Cells(1, 1).CurrentRegion.Columns.Count

With wks
     .Columns("AD:AT").NumberFormat = "@"

 For c = 30 To 46 Step 1 'all phone fields
      For r = 2 To .Cells(1, 1).CurrentRegion.Rows.Count
      Set rg = .Cells(r, c)
           s = rg.Value
           s = Replace(s, "(", "")
           s = Replace(s, " ", "")
           s = Replace(s, ")", "")
           s = Replace(s, "+44", "0044")
           s = Replace(s, "+", "00")
           s = Replace(s, "-", "")
      If Len(s) < 7 And Len(s) > 0 Then s = "01278" & s 'assume local phone #
          rg.Value = s
      Next r
 Next c
End With

Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Set rg = Nothing
Set wks = Nothing

End Sub

The key is the lines with the Replace function.  Additional lines can be easily added if more gotchas are spotted in your own numbers.

If you don’t need a line to run, remark (Rem) it out by putting an apostrophe at the line beginning, like this one here… ‘

Fifth Step

From the Debug menu in the VBE, compile the code.  This ensures that no typos etc have got in.

Save the file.

Sixth Step

Now run the procedure called “FixPhoneNumbers”.  The simplest way to do this is to make sure the screen cursor is somewhere within the code you’ve copied in – and then hit F5 on the keyboard.

If this is confusing, go to the main Excel screen, hit Alt + F8 and run the macro, which unsurprisingly is called “FixPhoneNumbers”!!

Seventh Step

Save the file again if the changes look alright.

If they’re not, then close the file without saving, then re-open, and adjust the VBA code to suit your columns, which will be the most likely thing you’ll need to adjust.

Then do all the above again, from the Fifth Step onwards.

Eighth Step

Import the file back into Outlook.

Overwrite old contacts with the new ones.

There should be no need to map fields etc because we haven’t mucked about with them!

Caveats

• The code is designed to work with a standard output dump from Outlook.  If you’ve added or removed fields from the contacts part of Outlook, the export will be different and you’ll need to check which columns contain phone numbers.  Modify the VBA code to suit.  In total, there were 92 columns in the export from Outlook, so if you don’t have this number then you’ll probably need a quick code modification. (That’s why I checked the count at the beginning of the code with the CurrentRegion bit so that I could get the dataset size.  In the end, I only needed a row count, but I’ve left the code in so that you can step through the code using F8 to check yours out.  Clear?  Don’t worry. )
• Some entries I had were local phone numbers.  My code is 01278 so this is added and will need changing to suit your own local STD code if you’ve entered phone numbers without the exchange.
• I check that the UK international code is correct.  Change the 44 to your own as appropriate.
• There’s no error checking in the code.  But it should work – it did for me!

ADDENDUM: New Code Version!

This code is smoother and has more features than previously, although I still don’t error check.

It’s advantages are:

1. It checks all columns and looks for the words “Phone” or “Fax” in the data headings.  In this way, any logical Outlook customisations are taken care of!
2. It prompts the user for their local STD and National codes, placing these in the correct place.

Next Steps:

1. I’ll turn the code into an xla add-in with a one-click button.
2. I’ll make the whole thing work directly on the Outlook contacts from within Outlook.  I’ve used the Outlook object model before, just not very often!  So watch this space as current Outlook addins are pricey and a bit of a kludge from what I’ve read…

The New (Improved) Code Version

Download plain text version: FixPhoneNumbers

Option Explicit

Public Sub FixPhoneNumbers()
Dim rg As Range
Dim r As Integer
Dim c As Integer
Dim wks As Worksheet
Dim s As String
Dim LocalCode As Variant
Dim NationalCode  As Variant

Application.ScreenUpdating = False

LocalCode = InputBox("Do You want Full Code for Local Numbers?" _
                     , "Enter local STD/City dialling code" _
                     , "01278")
NationalCode = InputBox("Do You want cleaned up National Code? e.g. 44=UK" _
                      & vbCrLf _
                      & "+44 goes to 0044" _
                     , "Enter National code" _
                     , "44")

Set wks = ThisWorkbook.ActiveSheet

With wks
       .Range(.Cells(1, 1), .Cells(1, 1).End(xlToRight)).Font.Bold = True

          For c = 1 To .Cells(1, 1).CurrentRegion.Columns.Count Step 1 'all columns
              s = LCase(.Cells(1, c).Value)       's picks up column heading
                                                  'lower case to match search string later
                                                  'as text compare doesn't work
                'now find phone/fax fields and if found, fix numbers
     If (InStr(s, "phone") + InStr(s, "fax")) > 0 Then
            .Columns(c).NumberFormat = "@"      'make text format for tel nos
                                                'allows leading zeroes!

                     For r = 2 To .Cells(1, 1).CurrentRegion.Rows.Count
                         Set rg = .Cells(r, c)
                         s = rg.Value            're-use s
                         s = Replace(s, "(", "")
                         s = Replace(s, " ", "")
                         s = Replace(s, ")", "")
                             If Len(NationalCode) > 0 Then 'not empty string
                                  s = Replace(s, "+" & NationalCode, "00" & NationalCode)
                             End If
                         s = Replace(s, "+", "00")
                         s = Replace(s, "-", "")
                             If Len(s) < 7 And Len(s) > 0 Then s = LocalCode & s
                              rg.Value = s
                     Next r

     Else
        'nowt
     End If
       Next c
End With

Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Set rg = Nothing
Set wks = Nothing

End Sub

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Typical 419 that I usually see:

Nothing unusual in that, you say – the Nigerian 419 scam has been going on for years!  It even has it’s own scambusters (see references later) and the actual advanced fee fraud is usually just called a 419 scam because that’s it’s number in the Nigerian criminal code, apparently.

Anyway, I’ve not seen this particular version, and so I provide a full copy of all the spelling, syntax and language mistakes for your information and enjoyment.

From: Mrs. Marisa Smith <email hidden; JavaScript is required>

Subject: Pls Reply

Attention: Sir,

I am Mrs. Marisa Smith the Chief Protocol of Independent Corrupt Practises Commission (ICPC) in alliance with economic community of West African states (ECOWAS) with head Office here in Nigeria. We have been working towards the eradication of fraudsters and scam Artists in Western part of Africa With the help of United States Government and the United Nations.

We have been able to track down so many of this scam artist in various parts of west African countries which includes (NIGERIA, REPUBLIC OF BENIN, TOGO, GHANA CAMEROUN AND SENEGAL) and they are all in our custody here in Lagos Nigeria. We have been able to recover so much money from these scam artists. The United Nation Anti-crime commission and the United State Government have ordered the money recovered from the Scammers to be shared among 100 Lucky people around the globe.

This email is been directed to you because your email address was found in one of the scam Artists file and computer hard disk in our custody here in Nigeria. You are therefore being compensated with $2.5 Million Dollars. We have also arrested all those who claim that they are barristers, bank officials, Lottery Agents who has money for transfer or want you to be the next of kin of such funds which do not exist.

Since your name appeared among the lucky beneficiaries who will receive a compensation of $2.5 Million, we have arranged your payment through our swift card payment centre. The swift card ATM has been specially prepared to enable you withdraw your money in any ATM machine in any part of the world, but the maximum is Five Thousand Dollars Only per day.

For proper execution of this project i decide to handle payment myself. Provide the information bellow to enable him prepare your ATM Master Debit Card including your Pin to access it.

1)YOUR FULL NAME.

2)YOUR RECEIVING ADDRESS.

3)YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER.

4)YOUR PROFESSION.

5)YOUR ID/AGE

Best Regard,

Mrs. Marisa Smith

Further Reading

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_fraud
• http://www.scambuster419.co.uk/
• http://www.snopes.com/fraud/advancefee/nigeria.asp
• http://www.419eater.com/

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I this article in “Windows Secrets” by Woody Leonhard, Eliminate Flash-spawned ‘zombie’ cookies, he describes how they are generated as un-deletable cookies by Flash applications, which compromises user privacy, in the sense that they do stuff to your hard disc and network without your permission!

So What I Did

….was download and install the recommended Firefox add-on (Better Privacy) from here, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6623/

LSOs from Google being stored

I then deleted all of the hundreds of LSOs from my hard-drive!

Then I fired up Firefox.

I then clicked on a Google bookmark, went to GMail and then got prompted by the Better Privacy tool that THREE LSOs had been dumped on my hard drive!  (see screenshot).

And I always thought Google web pages used ordinary cookies…?  After all, where’s the Flash on a simple Google page?

After all, the actual technical name for this poop dust is a Flash-spawned ‘zombie’ cookie! This is live tracking of LSOs in the tool, and it seriously slowed down the PC, so I’ve turned it off now.

What it Means

I think it’s time to look seriously at the problem, specifically things that Steve Jobs from Apple has being saying with regard to Adobe and their Flash application, Google and Microsoft.

In the past I’ve taken all his speeches with a pinch of salt because it always sounded like corporate jealousy and back-biting (his company being just as protectionist and restrictive as all the rest), but now it looks like he has a point.
The trouble is that the cat is already out of the bag and it looks like LSOs are being used as a lingering storage solution far removed from their Flash origins.

But what can I do?  After all,  I like using Google stuff!

What can YOU do?

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Crawling Chaos Waqqaz Sounds Review

…and following on from the previous post, here’s a recently provided scan from Holly of a (now defunct) Sounds magazine (four star!) review of the vinyl LP, Waqqaz, by Crawling Chaos, back in June 1986, when I was in France.

Quoting Dave Henderson;

THE CRAWLING CHAOS ‘Waqqaz’ (Foetus Products F4) ****

AND CHAOS came back again.  Former Factory workers ex-eccentrics from the wild North East, The Crawling Chaos are still alive, being driven barmy by the ineptitude of their drum machine and turning in classic songs.

It’s a bumpy unpredictable road between the simple worlds of Der Plan, Throbbing Gristle, the Dr Who theme and the primal Factory sound, but all and sundry were fed into the Chaos cut price computer.  The result coughs and splutters with a truly odd musical catarrh.

Of course, in this case, the worst possible thing for me, is being on the same page as a Genesis review…

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Smash Hits Review of Sex Machine by Red Starr

Smash Hits on Sex Machine release

I’ve just found a website that scans all Smash Hits magazines and puts them online in their entirety!

Digging through, I found this review notice of the original release of Sex Machine back in 1980…

Red Starr (sic) states:

…is Crawling Chaos, whose “Sex Machine” is quite the fastest single I’ve heard in a while.  A close cousin is Fad Gadget with it’s ear for sharp lyrics, this hurtles along at breakneck pace with the main keyboard/synthesiser wraparound sound giving way to an excellent biting guitar break.  It’s also quite melodic despite the speed and is altogether recommended.

The highlight for me of all this, of course, is appearing on the same page as Wire….

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I’m back from a foreign holiday followed immediately by a Buddhist course during which I’ve had absolutely no internet access…

It was lovely!

The freedom, peace and heat.  Lovely.

Thanks for everyone’s input in my absence.  I’ve now got a stack of comments to moderate and will very soon be back in action!

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Spec wearers ‘fail to wear sunnies’
Over half of spectacle wearing Brits do not wear prescription sunglasses.

52% of people surveyed confessed to not wearing prescription sunglasses – despite 60% suffering with sore, itchy eyes, headaches, poor vision and pain behind the eye when in the sun.

Perhaps this reflects a lack of knowledge about the importance of eye health in the sun.

Eyes could be damaged by not wearing correct eye-wear.

Lack of eye protection is very concerning. Over – exposure to ultraviolet light without proper eye protections can lead to long-term eye health problems, ultraviolet light can badly damage eye sight – for the rest of your life’

This is also one of the major causes of Age Related Macular Degeneration. Be careful – take care and heed the warnings.

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The last thing we need is more scummy scammers and following on from Google’s legal action against Pacific Webworks (PWW) one would naively have thought that the “business” folk would be more circumspect.  (See previous article and comments, http://strangelyperfect.tv/5146/more-on-google-profits-and-pacific-webworks/ )

At the beginning of June, it appeared that the Google case against PWW had fallen flat and that PWW had gotten away with it.  This certainly appears so from yesterday’s press announcement by the odious PWW management, such as here.  It says,

SALT LAKE CITY, Jun 28, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Pacific WebWorks, Inc.  today announced that a Stipulated Final Judgment and Order for Permanent Injunction was entered in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah in the Google, Inc. vs. Pacific WebWorks, Inc. matter.

CEO Ken Bell commented, “We are very pleased to have this behind us. We have devoted a great deal of time and energy to resolving this situation and are anxious to return to the business of growing our company responsibly and profitably through our new marketing program. We appreciate our shareholders’ patience and understanding as we deal with the many details involved in the development and marketing of our products to small business users.”

Quite Bad

This looks quite bad until you realise that the PWW share price and dealing volumes have both fallen!

So what does the market know about the “settlement” that we don’t, eh?

Bloosky.com and The lawyer

PWW and Bloosky, were both named by Google, and Bloosky were (and still are) represented by Blair Jackson, who is a lawyer and on the company payroll of Bloosky in various positions.  (See at the bottom of here).

On checking out Mr Jackson, he’s part of:

CHRISTIANSEN & JACKSON, P.C.
10421 S. Jordan Gateway, Suite 600
South Jordan, Utah 84095
Telephone 801.576.2662
Facsimile 801.415.9340
Attorneys for Defendant Bloosky Interactive, LLC

You can see this on some delaying action in the Google case by Jackson for Bloosky, documents here and here.  But it gets better…   In this document, you’ll see that Bloosky are suing someone called Daniel L. Balsam for not adhering to an earlier agreement not to disclose what was said… or something. (I’ve yet to check this through!  But it looks a bit like pot-kettle-black to me…)

Whatever.

socialtoolkit.com

Yes. Whatever.  A bit more fishing on Jackson took me to the website(s) of one Vernon Howard.

He was scammed by socialtoolkit.com, in  exactly the same way as thousands of others were by Google Treasure Chest – promoted, run, designed and financed by Pacific Webworks.  It’s a scammers paradise with copious bad-web references and complaints.   The “business” says on it’s website,

Each day, more and more individuals, small business owners and Fortune 500 companies across the globe are realizing the value of SocialToolKit.com and choosing to increase their Social Networking efficiency, productivity and profits.   (Note to self:  “I must increase my Social Networking efficiency” – SP)

Here’s Vernon’s extremely well written story:

• http://www.elementgeek.com/2010/03/25/socialtoolkit-com-is-a-scam/
• http://www.socialtoolkitscammed.me/christiansen-jackson-pc-attorneys-at-law/

It’s an incredibly detailed tale, complete with copious screenshots, of his dealings with the various parties involved.  And he’s no shrinking violet.  He’s taking the buggers on!

There’s only one trouble.

He’s using Blair Jackson of Christiansen & Jackson, PC – Attorneys at Law, to take on socialtoolkit.com !!

How is this Weird?

Weird?  It’s positively scary!

Because if you read Vernon Howard’s account, you’ll see that he was billed by  YourProfitGateway.com

YourProfitGateway.com, when you check it’s (now freely accessible) WHOIS, unsurprisingly redirects to http://www.visualwebtools.com/site/

visualwebtools.com

If you’ve been following this, you’ll know from a while back that Visual WebTools is owned and run by…….. (trumpet fanfare)

Pacific WebWorks!

Latest News from The Visual WebTools Camp

Pacific WebWorks Updates Marketing Efforts

Thursday June 24, 2010 11:52:01 EDT SALT LAKE CITY, Jun 24, 2010

Last Thursday, this is what the odious CEO Ken Bell of PWW said about his company, their marketing and their product, Visual WebTools.

Pacific WebWorks, Inc., www.pacificwebworks.com, (OTCBB:PWEB) announced today that the company continues to perfect their new marketing program which offers prospective customers the opportunity to receive a tutorial on the product and interact with the company during the buying process.

CEO Ken Bell stated,

“Visual WebTools continues to be one of the premier online software products for small businesses in the marketplace. We expect our new, more interactive marketing approach to result in a more informed buyer who will be better equipped to employ our technologies into their online business. As a result, we expect future revenues to be more stable. We anticipate revenues to accelerate during the second half of the year with continued profitability.”

Bell continued,

“During the first six months of 2010 (i.e. since Google sued them – SP)  the company has focused on stabilizing profitability, servicing current customers and developing our new multi-tiered marketing program. We expect new customer acquisition in the future to be derived largely from our new direct contact marketing program. With our strong balance sheet, a current ratio in excess of 10x, tangible book value of nearly double our current market capitalization and strong historical earnings, we are positioned to continue to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace.”

What are Google Doing?

The emphasis above, is mine.  From it, you can clearly see that Bell claims that his company is responsible for all the things that lead up to the nefarious practices that then lead to people being scammed.

So is the Google thing over with yet?  Why haven’t the Salt Lake Tribune said anything about it yet?

I still think there’s more to come out with this.  Remember the falling share price of PWW?  The markets know, you know.

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(This posting originally released on 16 Dec 2007.  Reposted and edited because of the subject’s death.)

Claire and Tereska

This is a BBC News article on the women of the French Resistance who worked with De Gaulle in London and then went to Paris with him for the Liberation.

Tereska and Claire visit de Gaulle's headquarters in London

Claire is one of our local SGI Buddhist group and she has told me many stories of those times. Recently she was musing on what she would have done and what would have happened to her if they she’d been asked to join SOE (like some were) and be dropped in France (because of her good French etc).

She also mentioned about a sniper’s bullet aimed at De Gaulle that just missed him (and her) while he walked down the Champs Elysée but hit a young man from their London party who had had a premonition that he’d die if he went back to France with them.

I must ask her if it’d be okay to write more of this down for her (and us). She’s eighty odd, you know.

Claire Chicoteau

Postscript Added 28/6/2010

Claire died this week, peacefully, with her family around her, in France.  Bravo for her big, big,  life.  Too late to ask any more questions….

Information on her wartime exploits can be found here:

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7142424.stm
• http://genrehistoire.revues.org/index373.html#bodyftn29
• http://jcdurbant.wordpress.com/2006/03/27/comme-des-barbares-attention-une-face-cachee-peut-en-cacher-une-autre-d-day-for-french-revisionists/

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“My eyes?”

“What can you see?”
“Little – not good for me!”

I have my memory to rely on
That helps – can you?

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We need to be even better at working together with like-minded organisations. Eye health has an absolute right to be centre stage.

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L.A. Dink

I just love the design, so I’ve ordered a few more before the budget!  They are by Shiroi Neko.

“L.A. DINK” is what I like but I may try some others….

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The other day, I posted about Northern Ireland and the US, comparing and contrasting the loss of life.  I ended by saying,

Why is America like this?

Why do they put up with such shit?

Well now, in some  news that in all probability no-one in the U.K. will know about at all, part of Philadelphia has had enough of the shit and been declared a State of Emergency by the mayor.  It’s a part of the big city called Chester where 11 people have been shot this month alone!  (Chester is about as big as Bridgwater here in the UK to put it in context). The full story is here and here’s the news report.

Quoting directly from the article,

Chester, Pa. – June 19, 2010 (WPVI) — In response to the ongoing deadly violence, the city of Chester is declaring a State of Emergency.

At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Mayor Wendell Butler declared he had enough and it is time to take action.

“We need law enforcement to step up, to vigorously go after any violator; our number one priority is to get guns off the street then drugs and try to make our neighborhoods as safe as we possibly can,” Butler said.

The State of Emergency took effect 9:00 p.m. Saturday.

From 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. each day in the five areas of the city, no person without a legitimate reason is allowed in any public street or place, no assembling of three or more people is allowed without a permit, and all vacation and personal days by members of the Chester Police Department have been cancelled immediately.

The State of Emergency is set to last five days.

Mayor Butler says he is going to City Council to ask for an extra 30 days.

Even in this tough economic time, he says money is no object.

“I’m not worried about money, if I have to break the bank, I’ll break the bank,” Butler said, “The residents and visitors to my town are just vitally important to me, you can’t put a dollar amount on that.”

The State of Emergency is being issued following another homicide that took place overnight.

One commenter on the story says,

WHY are the 5 sections of the city declared an State of Emergency, what about the areas in buck men villages: meadow lane, keystone road, pine lane, clover lane, 900 to the 1200 blocks, and highland ave. this is a war zone for violent’s and killings. I saw a man dead on a side walk with his brains all over. Does this sound normal to live like this? No but this is how people in buck men village live. If you pull up to your home and sit in car for a few minutes to say goodbye to your friend, you have guns put to your w…

..before he hit the 500 word limit.

But you get the gist of how bad it is, and how lucky we are in the UK not to have to put up with such continuous absolute shite in our lives.

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WordPress Upgraded

Following the internal  prompts, I’ve now upgraded all my WordPress installations to version 3.

Only one site didn’t want to ‘take’ using the upgrade button so I had to do it the old FTP upload method.  For all of them, after checking wp-config.php I’ve discovered that a whole new raft of security passwords have been implemented.  These needed generating and pasting into each wp-config file.

These are handily available here, https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ and refreshing the page generates a new set of codes to paste into each website (we don’t want the same one now, do we? !!)  This is a sample output:

define('AUTH_KEY',         '{p5hDGT(#P8<h^*7)a_[83Z{bg3BW8zx,+DF-^b[j#=B5s]LDa3 Oj`_Z;s}$j)&');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY',  '? rNH,,8|v+{+tT1)#PQ@~_04}gSq1G/,||QbCIz-6le0JF})_mAOjj7}j!rkX*%');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY',    'bJy+b}XgZhz&?DBJPCtjiC)S3w+y&9WIeR-LU{$O/Pm$g_z*]I|4D7ciK94IrEr0');
define('NONCE_KEY',        '8KK7=E~83:g:r,obk R98{JOm6juB^b,Q/$2Q?~&#]gidTxJD;}JB;|?ydn(:iR$');
define('AUTH_SALT',        'VpR<E<`%od|hG/m%6@5%_cHTf+#esj^R8*$pQ}I?&6,w!I`Jxrz?=BQA$j|(C95)');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'e=k{+sqg@/4e-~fRV:@jH9lHqfy^M7HvVkp=MeRc)uQOT e#$K2)!8G7urN[STm>');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT',   'vx<n#NJqb&M?xT2@yg; -DWQ)pDy#137z3ga#q4$odysCbnRlnp_N,c_seMZ9pP|');
define('NONCE_SALT',       '1+uBKH,=0tEP$p)0Cfdr*tQ|<|l1dN@tHtZo->GeQIj*]Xt9Moc XuJG7`>?.~dG');

Things to Do

If you checked out the video you’ll have seen a heap of new things.

The big things for me are,

• the custom menu structure
• the easy potential for one WordPress installation to manage all my sites – millions as they say!

The advantage of the latter is a much simpler upgrade path for WordPress – i.e. one instead of many, with all that that entails.

So things to do are;

• Make a multi-website WordPress system
• Redo all themes as the current crop do not support the custom menu structure

…er…  that’s it for now.

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