Roger O Green

A matter of good timing

The bike and the bus

On October 12, things worked out for me splendidly. It was a matter of good timing.

I had four or five suits or at least the jackets when I retired from work in June 2019. My wife, I know, was evaluating whether I needed all of them since I scarcely wore them all, maybe thrice a year.

Early in October, I went into the closet to discover I had only two jackets. One was a little small. the other, unfortunately, had moth holes. And I needed something to wear to the Literary Legends gala.

This might have meant going to a store to buy a new suit, but by then, it was the Tuesday before the Saturday event. Tuesdays in October meant Bible Guys at 9 a.m. and then introducing the speaker for the FFAPL Book Talk from noon until 1:30.

By the time I ate lunch, emptied and refilled the dishwasher, and took a shower, it was close to 3 pm. I wanted to get home before my daughter did, around 4:45 after a yearbook meeting.

The journey begins

3:17 Leave the house, go to the shed, get the bike, ride it to the CVS 3 blocks away. Pick up a package from Amazon that was delivered there. It’s curious that another box from Amazon, with much the same item, was delivered to my house on the same day.

Rode my bike back one block to West Lawrence and Western to be in a position to catch either the #114 going down Madison Avenue or the #10, heading down Western. As it turned out, both arrived on time, at 3:35 and I took the latter to Lark St, rode the bike to the tuxedo place a couple of blocks away.

Got measured for the suit, which I would pick up on Friday via bus. Ride the bike three blocks to Washington and Henry Johnson, where I just catch the #10 bus that got me to a block from my house.

I park my bike in the shed and I was in the house at 4:21, in plenty of time to beat my daughter home. Except for the fact that she came home early, c. 4 because she wasn’t feeling well. But it was the effort that counted.

Lamphered LLC by Amazon scam

I got this email recently:

Thank You For Your Recent Purchase With Lamphered LLC by Amazon.

Your account has been set for Auto Debit from your saved billing on the account in the next 24 hours.
The items will be shipped in 48 hours and you will receive a confirmation email once they are shipped.
You will receive another email with the Tracking Number.

If you want to cancel/modify your order, get in touch with us before it gets delivered @ 1 (877) 312-5085/1 (888) 364-02818
Please find your order information below:
Order Number: BH-OKM98KL
Order Date: 26-October-2021
Order Name: Sony Bravia MK-A56 G8 56 inch Full LED Ultra HD Television
Delivery Mode: Express Free
Amount: USD 2278.81
Paid via Amazon Credit : USD 1376
Balance to be paid on Shipping : USD 902.81
Mode By: Billing on account
Payment Mode: Auto Debit

Immediately I knew this was a scam. No, I didn’t buy a TV for two grand. And I don’t have an Amazon credit card.

I noticed straight on when I tried to cut and paste the phone numbers that there were additional digits. The above numbers were actually 12(877)231285085562/85215(888)936430281879564867

AWS

I found this article, suggesting that “Lamphered LLC” wanted you to reply to scam you out of your actual Amazon password. And this YouTube video is the source of the visual.

Amazon itself writes, broadly about the issue: “If you receive an email claiming to be from Amazon that seems suspicious, it may be a phishing email. A phishing email appears to be from a reputable source, but in reality, it is sent from an outside party attempting to access your personal information by getting you to open an attachment containing malware or click on a link that redirects to a potentially dangerous website.

“Some phishing emails may even contain a link to a website that looks like Amazon.com, but is not a legitimate site. The website may ask for your Amazon username and password or try to install unwanted software on your computer. If you receive a message like this, you should delete it without opening any attachments or clicking any links.

“If you wish to report a suspicious email claiming to be from Amazon that you believe is a forgery, you may submit a report. You may also forward phishing emails and other suspected forgeries directly to stop-spoofing@amazon.com.”

Reply

So I did:

Thank you for writing to Amazon.com to bring this to our attention.

Your message has been forwarded to our security department, and we will investigate the situation. Please note that you may not receive a personal response.

In all likelihood, the message you received was not sent to you by Amazon.com. We strongly advise that you not send any information about yourself back to this individual (especially your credit card number or any personal information).

If you have already submitted any personal information to this person via e-mail or on a potentially fraudulent web site, you may wish to contact Customer Service for assistance. To send an e-mail to Customer Service, please visit https://www.amazon.com/contact-us

In the future, if you are ever uncertain of the validity of an e-mail, even from us, don’t click on any supplied links–instead, type our web site address “https://www.amazon.com” directly into your browser and follow the regular links to Your Account. Many unscrupulous spoofers mislead consumers by displaying one URL while taking the visitor to another.

By typing in a well-known address you can avoid this trick.

Also, please be assured that Amazon.com is not in the business of selling customer information. Many spammers and spoofers use programs that randomly generate e-mail addresses, in the hope that some percentage of these randomly-generated addresses will actually exist.

If you are trying to contact us about something other than a spoofed e-mail message, please contact Customer Service for assistance. To send an e-mail to Customer Service, please visit https://www.amazon.com/contact-us/

If you encounter any other uses of the Amazon.com name that you think may be fraudulent, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Thank you again for taking the time to notify us of this situation.

Time to research for the blog

Soundtrack playing in my head

Yet another Ask Roger Anything query in honor of 16.5 years of me blogging:

How do find the time to do the research for your blog?

Naturally, there are multiple answers to the question.

1) When blogging is going well, it feels as though it takes no time at all, (And when it’s not – when I miss more than two days in a row of writing, e.g. – it takes forever, just to write.)

2) I know stuff. Of course, I have to look up some things, and I have a number of reference books in the office. But it helps tremendously that I know by heart, for instance, all the presidents of the United States by years in office. Thus, when I know the date of Event A, I know it took place in the administration of President Z. It helps me, contextually.

Tunes

Or music. I remember, at least roughly, when much of popular music from about 1955 to about 1990 came out, and some before and after that range. MANY songs evoke place and time.

I bought the Beatles’ Yesterday and Today at the Rexall for $2.99, though I have no idea now where the Rexall was anymore. But I got Sgt. Pepper for $3.67 at W.T. Grant’s in the Binghamton Plaza. Carole King’s Tapestry and Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones I brought on the same day.

One of my oldest friends told me in high school that she hated At the Zoo (Simon and Garfunkel) and Strawberry Fields Forever (Beatles), which shocked me, but I noted not to play them when she was around. A college friend loathed Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick by Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

Music memory is emotional. A lot more songs make me weepy than was true in the past, for whatever reasons. Some are people of my past longer around. “Some are dead and some are living.”

3) I am a librarian. As such, I know where to find stuff online. Census material and other governmental sources. Association: when I was working, they were treasure troves of information.

Darby Penney (1952-2021)

Lost Cases, Recovered Lives:

Darby Penney was someone I’ve known for over 30 years. I have no idea where or when I met her. Inevitably, it involved some social justice activity. And if Darby was expending energy on it, it was almost certainly worth pursuing. The action would involve “empowerment, inclusion, rights, and other topics,” as this 2007 bio describes.

She was mentioned, only in passing, once in this blog. It involved the abandoned suitcases of the people who had resided at the Willard Asylum in Ovid, NY in Seneca County.

I wrote, “I remember a large article in Metroland about the New York State Museum’s 2004 exhibit ‘Lost Cases, Recovered Lives: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic’, curated by Darby Penney and Peter Stastny.” She was extremely excited about that project.

Importantly, Darby was a librarian, and she used her many skills in the most amazing manner. She was SO impressive.

Sometimes, I get behind in reading the daily newspaper. So it wasn’t until October 30 when I read the lengthy obituary in the October 21 newspaper, referring to her October 11 death. I was gobsmacked.

You should read the obit, as it is amazing as she was. Primarily, she was “a long-time activist in the movement to protect the human rights of people with psychiatric disabilities.”

Three score and eight

I was in shock because I figured that Darby would be one of those insistent people in her 70s and 80s and maybe 90s causing what the late John Lewis called “good trouble.” But she was 68, my age.

The last time I talked with her was in the first months of the pandemic, in the spring or summer of 2020. I called Darby on the telephone to check how she was doing. She was still grieving the death of her husband of 30 years, Kenneth Denberg.

That said, she still had a gritty optimism about making a difference. But she was no Pollyanna. She indeed had a “fiery outspoken nature.” Yet, she could be very funny, occasionally poking gently at my expense. You can do that with your friends.

So I didn’t even know she was sick. I’m sorry for my sake more than hers. For I’m sure she had a coterie of folks caring for her. And I’m unsurprised that she was cremated because she wouldn’t have wanted a frilly casket. I hope to attend the memorial service when it takes place.

October rambling: Mental Misfires

tarot cards

Halloween not Xmas

Why Is Pentagon Spending Rising When “We Can’t Afford” Everything Else?

What to Make of the Pandora Papers?

Naming Climate Villains As the World Burns and Indigenous People With Disabilities Are on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis

Jan. 6 Protest Organizers Say They Participated in ‘Dozens’ of Planning Meetings With Members of Congress and White House Staff; and Trump’s Cryptic Comment From 2017 May Have Foreshadowed His Coup Attempt; and [SATIRE] Trump to Skip 2024 Campaign and Go Straight to Claiming He Won

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Taiwan and Misinformation; related to the latter

Don’t believe corporate America’s labor shortage. This is an unofficial general strike.

Did Texas Legislators Read the “Founding” Documents? and Reading While Texan

What did Thomas Jefferson Buy in October 1803?

North Carolina lieutenant governor calls transgender movement ‘demonic’

Christian Academies: Training the Next Generation of Rightwing White Nationalists? and ‘Great replacement’ belief correlates with Christian nationalist views

What Conservatives Tell Themselves About Critical Race Theory

It’s a camera shutter. It’s not a detonator

Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist.

What We Lose When We Lose Local News

How a newspaper’s collapse makes people feel: less connected, more alone.

Bez, the final frontier

DNA testing privacy resource

Diet soda may prompt food cravings, especially in women and people with obesity

MMP 25: New Zealand’s proportional representation officially became the way New Zealand was governed.

Hank Green: A Tool With No Blood On It

But wait! There’s more!

Kelly has even MORE links!

Loopy or Stringy: What would Einstein Say?

The nearly forgotten mystical artist who still foretells fates – Pamela Colman Smith might be history’s greatest victim of copyright injustice

The first major city in the United States passes a dark-sky ordinance

A lovely Shari Lewis story

Betty Lynn, the actress best known for her portrayal of Thelma Lou, Barney Fife’s sweetheart on The Andy Griffith Show, has died

Book review: Why We Swim

The Mental Misfires of Matt Amodio

Meet the Two Women Who Give Prescription Drugs Their Generic Names

Bell peppers are mangoes

Now I Know: A Great Example of Quiche Thinking and The Non-Profit That Gives Drivers Sticker Shock and The Accidental Pet Feeding Hero of 2016 and The Toddler Truce and The Great Tattoo Cover Up

When you have “tall ZOOM energy” and show up to the office for the first time, it can get awkward.

Winnie-the-Pooh BEFORE Winnie the Pooh

MUSIC

The Bard by Jean Sibelius

Coverville 1375: The Paul Simon Cover Story III and 1376: The Snoop Dogg Cover Story

Lazy Sunday Afternoon – MonaLisa Twins

Farewell, Paddy Moloney and Late Night with The Chieftains and Earl Scruggs

A Song For You – Donny Hathaway

Celtic Rock – Donovan

Paul McCartney: on writing Eleanor Rigby and Band On The Run BBC Documentary