By Dawn Kawamoto, CNET News
Complaints of Internet-related crimes soared 33 percent last year, countering two years of consecutive declines, according to a report released recently by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
The IC3 Web site received 275,284 complaints last year, up from 206,884 the previous year. The organization referred 72,940 of those complaints to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The IC3 is a partnership among the FBI, the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Referred complaints, which ranged from online auction fraud to identity theft to nondelivery of goods purchased online, cost consumers about $264.6 million last year, with the median dollar loss reaching $931 per complaint, according to the report. In 2007, the losses were less: $239.1 million.
Complaints about merchandise that was paid for but not delivered and about merchandise that was sent but never paid for were at the top of the list. Of all complaints received, 32.9 percent were related to these offenses.
Internet auction fraud accounted for 25.5 percent of the complaints, while credit-card and debit-card fraud made up 9 percent.
Even though complaints of crimes involving nondelivered goods occurred the most, that category didn't hit consumers in the pocketbook like check fraud, which carried a median loss of $3,000.
And the most common means to engage in an Internet crime was e-mail, the report noted. In 74 percent of the reported crimes, e-mail was used, followed by Web pages in nearly 29 percent of the cases.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Miss. woman gets shot in head, makes tea
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A Mississippi woman who was shot in the head not only survived but made herself tea and offered an astonished deputy something to drink, authorities said Friday.
Tammy Sexton, 47, remained hospitalized three days after being wounded by her husband, who killed himself after he shot his wife. She is expected to fully recover.
"There's no way she should be alive other than a miracle from God," said Sheriff Mike Byrd of Jackson County, Miss.
Byrd said deputies were looking for Sexton's husband, Donald Ray Sexton, earlier in the week to give him a document ordering him to stay away from his wife. Court records show he was convicted of domestic violence and put on probation April 9 for six months.
He showed up at their home in rural Jackson County in southeast Mississippi about 12:10 a.m. Tuesday and confronted his wife as a relative ran next door to call police, the sheriff said.
"She was at her bed, and he shot her right in the head," Byrd said. "Then he went out on the back porch and shot himself."
The slug from a .380-caliber handgun struck Tammy Sexton squarely in the forehead, passed through her skull and exited through the back of her head, Byrd said. A deputy arrived within minutes and was greeted by the woman.
"When the officer got there she said, 'What's going on?' She was holding a rag on her head and talking. She was conscious, but she was confused about what had happened," he said. "She had made herself some tea and offered the officer something to drink."
Tammy Sexton, 47, remained hospitalized three days after being wounded by her husband, who killed himself after he shot his wife. She is expected to fully recover.
"There's no way she should be alive other than a miracle from God," said Sheriff Mike Byrd of Jackson County, Miss.
Byrd said deputies were looking for Sexton's husband, Donald Ray Sexton, earlier in the week to give him a document ordering him to stay away from his wife. Court records show he was convicted of domestic violence and put on probation April 9 for six months.
He showed up at their home in rural Jackson County in southeast Mississippi about 12:10 a.m. Tuesday and confronted his wife as a relative ran next door to call police, the sheriff said.
"She was at her bed, and he shot her right in the head," Byrd said. "Then he went out on the back porch and shot himself."
The slug from a .380-caliber handgun struck Tammy Sexton squarely in the forehead, passed through her skull and exited through the back of her head, Byrd said. A deputy arrived within minutes and was greeted by the woman.
"When the officer got there she said, 'What's going on?' She was holding a rag on her head and talking. She was conscious, but she was confused about what had happened," he said. "She had made herself some tea and offered the officer something to drink."
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Galway experience
County Galway, in the far western part of Ireland, is in the heart of Connaught, which is one of the "Four Green Fields" often sung about in the old Traditional Irish Ballard about its four territories. The other three being Munster, Leinster, and Ulster, making up all of Ireland. Ulster is now part of the United Kingdom and called Northern Ireland.
Galway has a traditional cultural pride that is proven by its many Gaelic schools where many Irish youngsters from all over Ireland are sent to learn the Gaelic language and old traditions, including the boat making and sailing of the unique Irish sailboats with the red sails. They have competitions and races, which are sights to see out in the Galway Bay from the shores.
I think that Connemara was my first real Irish experience on my first trip to Ireland. It was the area that we explored first, and while traveling on a remote back road, we came across a friendly donkey standing in the middle of the road. When we stopped he came to our window and poked his head inside, we scrambled to find him crackers and leftover bread as we bolted outside of the car to pet him. He nuzzled against us and even gave me a kiss. What a great welcome to Ireland that was. The second experience was stopping for the first time in the pub called Keanes, which was in Maam Bridge called Joyce Country. What a welcome we had there, where we had our first Guinness and cup of hot Irish tea. We were told by the locals that the original Irish cottage used in the movie the "Quiet Man," with John Wayne and Maureen O'Sullivan, was nearby, and they were very proud of that.
Galway has a traditional cultural pride that is proven by its many Gaelic schools where many Irish youngsters from all over Ireland are sent to learn the Gaelic language and old traditions, including the boat making and sailing of the unique Irish sailboats with the red sails. They have competitions and races, which are sights to see out in the Galway Bay from the shores.
I think that Connemara was my first real Irish experience on my first trip to Ireland. It was the area that we explored first, and while traveling on a remote back road, we came across a friendly donkey standing in the middle of the road. When we stopped he came to our window and poked his head inside, we scrambled to find him crackers and leftover bread as we bolted outside of the car to pet him. He nuzzled against us and even gave me a kiss. What a great welcome to Ireland that was. The second experience was stopping for the first time in the pub called Keanes, which was in Maam Bridge called Joyce Country. What a welcome we had there, where we had our first Guinness and cup of hot Irish tea. We were told by the locals that the original Irish cottage used in the movie the "Quiet Man," with John Wayne and Maureen O'Sullivan, was nearby, and they were very proud of that.
Quick Tips:When you go to Co. Galway, especially the Connemara region, prepare to stay for at least 2 to 4 days. Granted, you will need ample time to take in the true spirit of Galway, starting with Oughterard, which is nicknamed "The Gateway of the West." Galway is right on Galway Bay and has a good population of students and residents, but it is a bit of a challenge to get into the city center after attacking a number of round-a-bouts. I found myself going around and around one in particular until I was sure I chose the correct exit.
I loved Galway, the city; it was charming for its larger size, and the shops and restaurants on Quay Street and in Erye Square were great fun to visit. It is also the home of the first and original "claddaugh ring."
But nothing can beat Connemara and its bare mountains, valleys, bogs, and streams. The coastal area is an array of changing colors, so many blues that shift back and forth as the clouds move over the mountains and the sea. Gorgeous. Bring lots of film or memory cards, because you will want to take lots of photos. I would recommend going to Spiddal, Carna, Cashel, Roundstone, Ballyconnelly, Cliften, Maam Cross, Oughterard, and Leenane. And it will take a few days to see it all properly.
Best Way To Get Around:Actually, besides renting a car, you can take the bus from Galway to places like Rossaveal and then take a ferry to the Aran Islands, and you can do it all in 1 day. It leaves Galway early, around 6:30am, and you will get back around 7:30pm or so. But it's worth every minute. Once you get out to the island, you can rent a bike or take a tour, which will bring you around the island to all the well-known sites. There are also pubs, cafes, and gift shops to visit.
Trains can be taken from the major cities like Limerick or Dublin to Galway. This can also be a fun experience.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Getting Lost With a GPS? Unfortunately, Yes
By Charles Cooper, CNET News
When the road disappeared after a hairpin turn, I knew this was definitely not going according to plan.
Then again, nothing about our evening ride back to San Francisco was turning out as expected, a source of no small irritation to my increasingly irritated wife.
Let me back up.
When it comes to finding my way, I'm no Daniel Boone, but I'm not a complete dork, either. Inside the family, there's no small difference of opinion about that claim. For the sake of matrimonial harmony, I'll leave it at that. (Though for the record: My wife's navigational prowess will hardly ever be confused with that of either Lewis or Clark.) But let's not quibble about the clear conclusion: Chez Cooper was a prime candidate for some off-the-shelf technology help.
On vacations, I've rented cars with built-in global-positioning-system units on several occasions. No complaints with the experience. So over the holidays, I decided to surprise my better half with a Garmin GPS.
That's when the fun really began.
Garmin sells a simple and reliable device. Unfortunately, it doesn't relieve you of the responsibility of using your brain. A certain somebody (no names, here) had programmed the device to calculate the route based on the shortest route. As I was about to discover, the shortest route did not come close to approximating the shortest time.
The Sunday evening traffic on Interstate 80 was particularly heavy as it coincided with the end of the Christmas-New Year's break. Many vacationers returning to San Francisco from Lake Tahoe added to the congestion as I pointed my car south upon leaving Folsom, a city about 120 miles away from San Francisco.
With everyone in the car dozing quietly, the Nuvi instructed me to exit the highway long before we were scheduled to reach the bridge entrance to the city. That seemed odd. Our plan was to first stop in Oakland to drop off a friend, who had spent the day with us.
"Hey, the Nuvi knows," I said to myself. "And I'm not going to second-guess my co-pilot."
That opinion was not fully shared by the backseat drivers in the car, who, by this time, had stirred from their slumber. Why was I getting off at the wrong exit, they wanted to know. "Do you know where you're going?"
It's not the wrong exit, I said. "It's a shortcut that the GPS calculated. Trust me."
My curt response cost me dearly after the "shortcut" turned into a 10-mile-long stop-and-go parking lot. I can't blame the Nuvi for that one. In time, the traffic let up and we were back on our way toward our destination. Before long, the sign for Oakland appeared up ahead.
But the Nuvi, still in shortcut mode, ignored the turnoff. Then so did I.
"What are you doing?" my wife asked in a tone usually reserved for those special occasions where yours truly screws up big time.
I rolled my eyes.
"Relax, the Nuvi knows what it's doing. Let's just follow the route. OK?"
Ever fantasize about having the ability to wind back the clock and retract some of the more egregiously dumb statements you've ever uttered? This was one of those times. A few minutes later the Nuvi had us rolling through pitch-black country roads that rose and fell in rhythm with the undulating terrain of Northern California.
We had no idea where we had landed, other than that it was in the wrong place. Still, the Nuvi was confidently talking up a storm. Turn left here, turn right there -- no crisis of confidence on the part of the GPS.
My wife, on the other hand, was having a royal fit. When the road narrowed to a single car's width and we were forced to navigate a series of 90-degree turns above an escarpment, she dug her nails into my arm.
"The GPS is taking us in the opposite direction," she said. "Can you understand that?"
I nodded. This time I kept my big mouth shut. The road -- and I'm being charitable by describing it as such -- meandered for miles with nary a sign of civilization. We did come across a couple of very surprised cows, who scattered without much persuasion.
The country road eventually hooked up with the Oakland hills and the rest of the journey proved uneventful, ignoring the inevitable lecture my wife delivered after we dropped off our friend at her house.
For the record, though, the Nuvi did know where it was heading. It just took its sweet time getting there.
When the road disappeared after a hairpin turn, I knew this was definitely not going according to plan.
Then again, nothing about our evening ride back to San Francisco was turning out as expected, a source of no small irritation to my increasingly irritated wife.
Let me back up.
When it comes to finding my way, I'm no Daniel Boone, but I'm not a complete dork, either. Inside the family, there's no small difference of opinion about that claim. For the sake of matrimonial harmony, I'll leave it at that. (Though for the record: My wife's navigational prowess will hardly ever be confused with that of either Lewis or Clark.) But let's not quibble about the clear conclusion: Chez Cooper was a prime candidate for some off-the-shelf technology help.
On vacations, I've rented cars with built-in global-positioning-system units on several occasions. No complaints with the experience. So over the holidays, I decided to surprise my better half with a Garmin GPS.
That's when the fun really began.
Garmin sells a simple and reliable device. Unfortunately, it doesn't relieve you of the responsibility of using your brain. A certain somebody (no names, here) had programmed the device to calculate the route based on the shortest route. As I was about to discover, the shortest route did not come close to approximating the shortest time.
The Sunday evening traffic on Interstate 80 was particularly heavy as it coincided with the end of the Christmas-New Year's break. Many vacationers returning to San Francisco from Lake Tahoe added to the congestion as I pointed my car south upon leaving Folsom, a city about 120 miles away from San Francisco.
With everyone in the car dozing quietly, the Nuvi instructed me to exit the highway long before we were scheduled to reach the bridge entrance to the city. That seemed odd. Our plan was to first stop in Oakland to drop off a friend, who had spent the day with us.
"Hey, the Nuvi knows," I said to myself. "And I'm not going to second-guess my co-pilot."
That opinion was not fully shared by the backseat drivers in the car, who, by this time, had stirred from their slumber. Why was I getting off at the wrong exit, they wanted to know. "Do you know where you're going?"
It's not the wrong exit, I said. "It's a shortcut that the GPS calculated. Trust me."
My curt response cost me dearly after the "shortcut" turned into a 10-mile-long stop-and-go parking lot. I can't blame the Nuvi for that one. In time, the traffic let up and we were back on our way toward our destination. Before long, the sign for Oakland appeared up ahead.
But the Nuvi, still in shortcut mode, ignored the turnoff. Then so did I.
"What are you doing?" my wife asked in a tone usually reserved for those special occasions where yours truly screws up big time.
I rolled my eyes.
"Relax, the Nuvi knows what it's doing. Let's just follow the route. OK?"
Ever fantasize about having the ability to wind back the clock and retract some of the more egregiously dumb statements you've ever uttered? This was one of those times. A few minutes later the Nuvi had us rolling through pitch-black country roads that rose and fell in rhythm with the undulating terrain of Northern California.
We had no idea where we had landed, other than that it was in the wrong place. Still, the Nuvi was confidently talking up a storm. Turn left here, turn right there -- no crisis of confidence on the part of the GPS.
My wife, on the other hand, was having a royal fit. When the road narrowed to a single car's width and we were forced to navigate a series of 90-degree turns above an escarpment, she dug her nails into my arm.
"The GPS is taking us in the opposite direction," she said. "Can you understand that?"
I nodded. This time I kept my big mouth shut. The road -- and I'm being charitable by describing it as such -- meandered for miles with nary a sign of civilization. We did come across a couple of very surprised cows, who scattered without much persuasion.
The country road eventually hooked up with the Oakland hills and the rest of the journey proved uneventful, ignoring the inevitable lecture my wife delivered after we dropped off our friend at her house.
For the record, though, the Nuvi did know where it was heading. It just took its sweet time getting there.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Why oh why do we celebrate St Patrick's Day?
Posted Thursday, March 22, 2007, 4:25 PM
by Lonely Planet
Fionn Davenport gets philosophical (has a rant?) in Dublin...I don't like parades, and I couldn't care less about floats or fireworks. Watching Dublin's St Patrick's Parade I couldn't help but wonder what the hell we were all doing. What is St Patrick's Day really all about? We're not celebrating an event in Irish history - nothing tidy like a day of independence or the birth or death of a founding father. We're not celebrating St Patrick himself - a Welshman who may not have existed at all. Nor are we celebrating Christianity or anything to do with religion - we do plenty of that at Easter and Christmas. So what's it all about? Irishness? What the hell is that? Are we celebrating the 'qualities' that define us as Irish? If so, What the hell are they? Friendliness, loving a laugh, the craic? Jesus Christ, I hope not. We are, after all, a nation, not a stand-up routine. Ask any of the other half-million lining the parade route; I wager you wouldn't get a consistent answer out of them. One thing struck me though: the sheer number of recently arrived immigrants at the parade, most of them totally gung ho for the whole spectacle. Maybe St Patrick's Day has most meaning for them; a way of celebrating their new home and, in some small way, aiding what must be a pretty tough assimilation. That's a pretty good reason to have a parade.
Three other Lonely Planet authors were in Ireland this St Patrick's Day...
by Lonely Planet
Fionn Davenport gets philosophical (has a rant?) in Dublin...I don't like parades, and I couldn't care less about floats or fireworks. Watching Dublin's St Patrick's Parade I couldn't help but wonder what the hell we were all doing. What is St Patrick's Day really all about? We're not celebrating an event in Irish history - nothing tidy like a day of independence or the birth or death of a founding father. We're not celebrating St Patrick himself - a Welshman who may not have existed at all. Nor are we celebrating Christianity or anything to do with religion - we do plenty of that at Easter and Christmas. So what's it all about? Irishness? What the hell is that? Are we celebrating the 'qualities' that define us as Irish? If so, What the hell are they? Friendliness, loving a laugh, the craic? Jesus Christ, I hope not. We are, after all, a nation, not a stand-up routine. Ask any of the other half-million lining the parade route; I wager you wouldn't get a consistent answer out of them. One thing struck me though: the sheer number of recently arrived immigrants at the parade, most of them totally gung ho for the whole spectacle. Maybe St Patrick's Day has most meaning for them; a way of celebrating their new home and, in some small way, aiding what must be a pretty tough assimilation. That's a pretty good reason to have a parade.
Three other Lonely Planet authors were in Ireland this St Patrick's Day...
Thursday, March 5, 2009
London I am coming
Two days ago, Joey told me that the return tickets to London was just 6 euros for each adult. It made me excited, I said: "Go! Why not!!" Then we booked the air tickets and hotel. And I applied the re-entry visa. But there is no time for me to apply a UK visa. All I can do is to hope there is still no custom at Luton airport.
God bless me!!
God bless me!!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Bad kids
Time flying! I have stayed in Dublin for almost a month. Everything is ok. People are nice here especially the elderly gentlemen. They are real gentlemen. Just one thing make me upset, that is kids.
One night, I went home after class. A boy passed me and said: fuck u yellow ground! I felt so bad. In China, I was a teacher, my students are very friendly to me. But the teenagers here:(
Another day is worse! Joey and I went home, its in Friday afternoon. When we got off from bus, some boys threw eggs to us! Fortunately, Joey is tall and strong, he scared them away. I we both short and slim, whats the result? I guess eggs everywhere on my body.
Kids should be protected, because they are weaker than adults. But they should obey some rules too. They cant do whatever they want, thats would be in a mess!
One night, I went home after class. A boy passed me and said: fuck u yellow ground! I felt so bad. In China, I was a teacher, my students are very friendly to me. But the teenagers here:(
Another day is worse! Joey and I went home, its in Friday afternoon. When we got off from bus, some boys threw eggs to us! Fortunately, Joey is tall and strong, he scared them away. I we both short and slim, whats the result? I guess eggs everywhere on my body.
Kids should be protected, because they are weaker than adults. But they should obey some rules too. They cant do whatever they want, thats would be in a mess!
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