Google fights Gmail hackers

Yesterday I received a strange email sent to a neighborhood list by a neighbor. The subject was “Modesty Marquita” (which sounds like a stripper name, actually) and all that was in the body of the message was a URL to a webserver in Brazil. I searched the web for any references to either of these items and didn’t turn up anything unusual, so I wrote it off.

This evening made me change my mind, however. Another friend (Let’s call her Anne) sent out four similar emails. Same M.O.: a random person’s name in the subject line and a web URL in the body. That’s when I figured out something is not right in Gmail land.

The kicker was this message below (I’ve changed account data). This message was sent from one Gmail account to another one: in other words it never left Google’s network:
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Big telcos go after municipal broadband in N.C. again

It looks like the big telcos are trying once again to block municipal broadband projects in North Carolina. Legislation is expected to be introduced in the N.C. Senate’s Revenue Laws committee next week that will seek a moratorium on municipal broadband projects, allegedly because it will “harm state tax revenue.”

Please contact the folks below and let them know this bill is harmful to North Carolina:
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McDonald’s tricky Facebook campaign

A friend just visited a McDonald’s page on Facebook which subsequently spammed all of her Facebook friends without her knowledge, she says. The message sent to her friends said this:

Jill became a fan of Official FREE McDonald’s Day! Free Big Macs on us all day! on Facebook and suggested you become a fan too.

This is just another reminder of the “information leaks” present in Facebook and other social networking sites. Never post anything that you wouldn’t want to disclose to the world.

Cheap thoughts: performance reports

Daydreaming at a meeting last night, I realized that companies have it all wrong when they periodically gauge the performance of their employees. What they should be doing is asking their employees about the performance of the company. The shop-floor worker has a keen insight into what works and what doesn’t work, and her thoughts might not necessarily filter up to management. How can a process be improved? What causes slowdowns? What should the company be doing that it’s not? How can you as an employee be more successful?

Employees are valuable parts of the team and crucial to the company’s success. A smart business will do all it can to make that employee successful.

A reminder of last month

I couldn’t find my keys this morning, which delayed me long enough to be the first on the scene of a one-car wreck on the NC540 ramp to Davis Drive. The driver rolled his car but seemed ok, with a possible mild concussion. He was driving a black Honda station wagon.

There’s a message here somewhere.

Cheap thoughts: sickness registry

One of my coworkers is out today, ill with what he thinks is a stomach virus. It made me think that an online registry may be useful in cases like this where one is too sick to work but not sick enough to deal with the hassle of seeing a doctor. An online registry may be able to show how a virus like this one spreads.

Golf with your friends

Friday afternoon, my department at $WORK played hooky and hit the links at Hedingham for 18 holes of golf. The course was extremely soggy from Thursday night’s rain but we couldn’t use it as an excuse. What we lacked in talent we made up in wisecracks. It was a lot of fun.

It had been probably a dozen years or more since I picked up golf clubs. I forgot how much fun it (and challenging) it can be.

Perfect weather for a fun weekend

We had perfect weather for a weekend full of fun. Storms rumbled through late Thursday night that washed the insane amounts of pollen away, leaving the weekend with crystal-clear air.

Watching Great Blue Herons at Crabtree Creek.

We followed up yesterday’s great day with more fun stuff today. Once again, the house windows were open to let in nature and we ate a somewhat-chilly-but-fun pancake breakfast on our screened porch. Then in the late morning we finally got motivated to do some bike riding on the greenways. We started at Atlantic Avenue and rode to Lassiter Mill Falls again, taking some time to practice skimming stones on the water.
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