Flap your Lips Friday
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 15th, 2011
Good morning!
Readers: Thank you for the many e-mails that I received informing me of the comments being “Off” yesterday. I rectified it as soon as I had the opportunity. Thank you for taking the time to e-mail me, and for your patience.
With respect to the recruitment of “Girlz”, I also received many e-mails asking me what is a “Girlz” and what are the requirements to be one. I have been recruiting “Girlz” for so many years now that I forget the newbies of the blog may not know who the “Girlz” are, and what “Girlz” is all about. Before I answer those questions, let me first preface by saying that I do not answer e-mails from readers who e-mail with questions regarding “Girlz” or anything else with respect to my blog. All questions should be addressed to the blog, and I will answer them on the blog.
So since Christine is asking on the blog, I will dedicate a few moments to answer her questions.
Christine: First of all, to have the opportunity to become a “Girlz”, you must be a girl, a female being. That is the only requirement. All a girl needs to do, is state that she wants to become a “Girlz”. All girls wishing to become “Girlz” are volunteers.
I issue the clarion call for “Girlz”. Becoming a “Girlz” is a function of Madaline. Madaline will decide if you become a “Girlz”.
Once a girl decides she wants to become a “Girlz”, she is taken aboard an alien ship by Madaline. At that point she immediately loses her earth body and her earth brain and consciousness is transferred into a “suit”. Her brain is then expanded (more area of her earth brain will be initialized for use). Once a girl has gone up she will never be able to return to Earth in the body she left as. She will then be trained to perform the duties that she tests most appropriately for.
Girls: Do you want an opportunity to become a “Girlz”? If so, blog me. Let it be known and you will be taken.
Onto today’s write: We all have cell phones – Here’s something we all should be aware of. Another warning from Scambusters.
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Mobile World Sparks Cell Phone Spaham Onslaught
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With more than half the world’s population now using mobile communication devices, cell phone spaham is on the rise — despite government clampdown efforts.
Mobile phone spaham, also known as m-spam, can arrive in two forms — either as an email or as a text or SMS message (which some clever person labeled spaSMS).
In most cases it’s illegal, but what’s really infuriating is that unless you have an unlimited text plan with your cell phone service provider, you end up actually paying for this garbage.
Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to significantly reduce or stop cell phone spaham, as we’ll explain later.
But first let’s take a brief look at the scale of the problem and what the law says a person can or can’t do when it comes to sending messages, whether text or email, to wireless devices.
A hint of how many cell phone spaham text messages are out there can be gleaned from recent action by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who, in February 2011, asked a court to shut down a company that was allegedly sending out an average of 85 cell phone spaham text messages a minute — 5.5 million in 40 days.
Worse, the financial services being offered purportedly didn’t exist and the person who sent them out allegedly then sold the details of anyone who replied as leads to other financial services businesses.
That’s the mass-market end of the problem. At the individual level, consumer campaigner David Morris reported in the Charlotte Sun Herald newspaper recently on how one of his readers had been alarmed to be alerted to an incoming message on her cell phone in the early hours of the morning.
But, presumably with her heart pounding, when she checked, it turned out to be just a piece of cell phone spaham.
Morris reports that research from the Pew Center shows that 72 percent of users now receive cell phone text.
It’s fair to assume that most of them receive cell phone spaham at some time or another since another survey, by anti-virus group AVG and consultants The Ponemon Institute, says that two thirds of all cell phone users now say they are worried about receiving marketing ads.
What The Law Says About Cell Phone Spaham
Like all electronic junk mail, cell phone spaham was targeted by the CAN-SPAM Act of 2005, which required marketers to seek “express prior authorization” before sending out email advertisements.
But in those days, most cell phone spaham arrived by email rather than text messages, which were in their infancy then. Today, according to Morris, we send and receive around 5 billion text messages every day, though there are no figures on how many of those are spaham.
However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which was empowered under CAN-SPAM to police the spahamming of wireless devices, has acted to block the flow.
Under FCC rules, the same “express prior authorization” applies to emails on cell phones, and you can’t send a commercial text message to anyone whose number is listed on the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry.
Even if a person is not DNC-listed, you can’t send a text message to anyone via an automated system.
There are exceptions to all of this. For instance, anyone with whom a company has “a prior business relationship” can still send you emails and text messages; so can charities and political organizations.
For more information on the FCC Rules, check out this Guide.
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=8JUKO&m=JInHBiQoQGtWfo&b=cZUjifrScL2Bae2HrS3SWw
Of course, all of this does nothing to stop the crooks that
work outside the law and continue to send out their cell phone spaham regardless. So what can you do?
7 Things You Can Do to Halt Cell Phone Spaham
Nothing is going to be 100 percent effective but you can do a number of things which will severely restrict the chance of cell phone spaham getting through to you, either via emails or text message (and, of course, telemarketing calls). Here are 10 of them:
1. Get your cell phone (and landline) number on the Do Not Call Registry.
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=8JUKO&m=JInHBiQoQGtWfo&b=exmfqLWJv2vDmobRARBCxw
We also wrote about the DNC Registry in a recent report on telemarketing harassment.
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=8JUKO&m=JInHBiQoQGtWfo&b=unYcsjhjqXwkY.fFes05VA
2. Block text messages that originate on the Internet, rather than someone else’s phone.
Most cell phone spaham comes this way because it doesn’t cost the spahammer anything to send.
Your cell phone service provider will tell you how to do this and even how to set up exceptions that allow certain Internet messages to get through to your phone.
3. Contact your cell phone service provider and ask them to block specific numbers or Internet addresses where you believe your cell phone spaham is coming from.
4. Use a spaham filter for incoming email. Set these up either directly on your cell phone or, if you use an online email provider, via their website.
Alternatively get your mobile email by syncing with your desktop computer, which presumably does have a spaham filter installed.
We’re not aware of any service that is capable of automatically filtering text messages, though, no doubt, that’ll happen one day.
5. Beware of tactics that trick you into giving permission to cell phone spaham artists.
This could be a clause in the small print of a service or program you sign up for — even on your PC if you’re also asked to give your cell phone number.
Another sneaky trick uses free or cheap downloads – ringtones are a prime example.
Once you download, you’ve established a “prior business relationship” that allows the provider to legally send cell phone spaham text messages.
6. Never, never, never (is that enough?) respond to cell phone spaham. If you do, you’ll likely get an avalanche of the stuff and your details will be passed on to other spahammers.
7. Seek further support and guidance from your phone provider.
They’re as aware of this problem as anyone. According to David Morris, in his Sun Herald article, Verizon has launched at least 20 lawsuits against alleged wireless spahammers and
telemarketers.
Above all, it’s important to take prompt action against any cell phone spaham you receive, especially text messages you have to pay for.
You should ask your service provider to waive any such charges.
You can also report cell phone spaham by filing a complaint with the FCC. For an online complaint form, see
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=8JUKO&m=JInHBiQoQGtWfo&b=FRHo4WSPgnybvFopIQ1MCA.
As with all junk mail, cell phone spaham is unlikely to disappear anytime soon but you can escape most of it – and maybe have fewer night-time scares — by following our tips.
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It’s Friday….Start flapping your lips. Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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July 15th, 2011 at 8:54 am
Main Dude:
You are so right. And the really interesting thing is the tone of the average white guy on the other blogs. Most act as if they are simply against raising the debt ceiling because it allows politicians to spend more money.
This type of subterfuge to hide their racists attitudes usually works. If not for your splendid research, the lie could continue to be used to hide the fact that raising the debt ceiling is actually a function of inflation.
Since a dollar doesn’t buy what it did a year ago the government has to occasionally raise the debt ceiling to reflect the dollars lesser buying power on the world stage.
But “masser” is not about to extend this privilege to Obama because it might aid him in dealing with the debt the republicans have saddled him with.
Kudos for your research
Robert
July 15th, 2011 at 10:03 am
Anonz has dealt another blow to Murdoch. Murdoch has been forced to fire his chief pick to run his news empire in the UK, Rebekah Brooks.
It is rumored that she was one of his key advisors that convinced him that this was the time for him to take on his long time nemesis, Anonz.
Murdoch used the acquisition of the press as a check mate to Anonz’s charisma, reputation for getting things done, and wealth to vie for who would be the most powerful person in the world.
Murdoch has never cracked the top 10 on that score, while Anonz has made the number 1 several times. Still Murdoch has had his successes most during Anonz’s adolescence or early youth.
Such as insuring who runs the government in Austria. His media power practically insures whoever he backs wins the seat of leadership. It has since his support of the Labor Party in 1972.
Anonz hadn’t quite reached the age of 5 then so it is hardly a memory to him. But the 90′s brought them head to head. At first Murdoch won easily. He put Thatcher, Blair and today’s Cameron into power.
He looked towards the Colonies to solidify his power and show the power brokers that he belonged. The trouble is while he was working to amass control of the media, Anonz was working to amass wealth beyond anyone’s before him imagination.
His wealth trippled Murdoch’s during the period of Murdoch’s media acquisitions. Murdoch was determined to prove that his gamble was the right one. Initially it seemed that he was right and he may still prove to be correct.
But while he was using his media acquisitions to gain control of the political leadership of the US as he had in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the world, Anonz was rising to become perhaps the world’s first Trillionaire.
Anonz secretly had acquired shares in all the major banking institutions and practically controlled the actions of the Fed with a consortium of old families and new multi-billionaires.
While hardly any politicians gained prominence without a nod to Murdoch, nothing moved in the world of finance without Anonz, getting a taste. It was rumored that he had a huge South American drug cartel destroyed because they refused to pay an additional 20% surcharge he levied against them because of the violence they had escalated the drug business into.
Rumors abound concerning Anonz’s dealings “back-in-the-day.” Now he has somehow flipped into this do-gooder that is infuriating the Elites that have controlled the the world’s money supply since Banking became the center of commerce decades ago.
They welcomed him into their mist, shared their secrets, and crowned him God of things money. Now his betrayal is palpable. The hatred they have for him is only barely matched by the fear he instills in them not to attempt to have him assassinated.
Murdoch thought his time had come to take him on. He wanted to humiliate him by giving Obama a loss like he arranged for Carter against Reagan.
He has bet all the marbles on making Obama a one term President. The battle is on in every quarter. If Obama will get a pair, he will set the FBI against Murdoch.
Maybe they will discover the control Murdoch has set up with the republicans to manipulate the vote count in the up coming Presidential elections. Presently Murdoch controls the companies that provide the language that counts the votes, sets up the choices for the voters, and erases all transactions after a vote is made.
Without a receipt for how a vote was cast. Changing it to the candidate of their choice is easy with no down side as it can never be traced nor can anyone be held accountable.
The republicans are chuckling because all they have to do is set up a plausible atmosphere for the public to believe that the masses would be upset enough with the present administration to switch in a massive way to the republican party. Then switching the votes would not raise an eyebrow.
Every test has shown they can get elected whomever they wish. All the close elections when to the republicans in the House and Senate. They are running rampant in the State arena.
Murdoch may yet win the day. That is if Anonz allows him to live to see it.
Mike
July 15th, 2011 at 10:10 am
Mike the republicans don’t care a hoot about this country. They just want to be in the power broker’s seat so they can reap the financial benefits.
Presently they are prepared to screw up the deal with Japan to make room for their supporters to get a taste of of the business the move will bring to the companies that get awarded the contracts.
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GUAM Weeks after high-level talks between the U.S. and Japan on the Guam military buildup, President Obama warned the Senate that delaying related construction projects would betray the trust of international allies.
“Deferring or eliminating these projects could signal that the U.S. does not stand by its allies or its agreements such as the realignment of forces from Okinawa to Guam,” Obama said in a letter, responding to a Senate Appropriations Committee vote weeks ago to cut $155 million from buildup spending plans.
The reductions would affect Marine buildup related projects, including an upgrade to North Ramp utilities at Andersen Air Force Base and new water utilities at the location of the planned Marine base at Finegayan in Dededo.
The cuts would also require incremental funding for an Air Force fuel systems maintenance hangar for the Guam Strike program.
Obama said his administration is “concerned about the reduction in funding for military construction projects” in the Senate committee and said a proposal for incremental funding of various military construction projects, including the planned Guam-based global air intelligence hub Guam Strike, “runs counter to sound budgeting principles and fiscal discipline.”
The Department of Defense aims to transfer at least 8,600 U.S. Marines and their families and support staff from Okinawa to Guam in coming years as part of a plan to redistribute 30,000 troops currently based in Japan throughout Asia Pacific under the Defense Policy Review Initiative.
The Guam buildup portion, plus associated programs such as the Air Force expansion on the island, could cost more than $23.9 billion over the next 10 years, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office. The government of Japan has agreed to finance about $6 billion of the move.
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The republicans could care less about the US image. It is the potential for profit for their benefactors that interest them.
George
July 15th, 2011 at 10:13 am
Thanks Michelle, now I know why my cell phone bill has been steadily going up. I am calling my cell phone company right after I post this.
thanks again, You’re always on top to the crooks for us.
Neslson
July 15th, 2011 at 10:18 am
Hafa adai
Just a note to those of you who live in Agat. You need to be boiling any potable water. That means any water you plant to drink, cook with and give to your pets.
Here’s the news version if you missed it.
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GWA warns Agat residents to boil drinking water
Written by Pacific Daily News
Agat residents must boil water before drinking, according to press release issued today by the Guam Waterworks Authority.
The contamination is due to Fecal Coliform (or E. coli) bacteria, which can come from human or animal waste.
Microbes in the waste can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches or other symptoms, and can pose a particular risk for people with weak immune systems, such as children and the elderly.
The bacteria was detected in distribution samples taken July 14 in the Santa Ana area of Agat.
The warning affects the Santa Ana area of Agat from the Agat Transfer Station to the residents near the Santa Ana Lower Storage Tank, also called Agat #1 Storage Tank.
GWA is telling residents to not drink any tap water before boiling it first.
The water should be brought to a boil for one minute, and then cooled before using.
Residents are also urged to use bottled water.
Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice.
The GWA release said the contamination could have happened because of a break in the the distribution system, low water pressure that could have resulted in contamination due to possible cross-connections, or a failure in the treatment process, such as chlorination or filtration.
GWA and GEPA are currently doing an investigation in the area to check for possible cross-connections with a spring in the area, the release stated.
Residents will be informed when tests show that chlorine residuals are adequate to prevent bacterial contamination.
For more information, please call GWA Laboratory at 632-9697 or Guam EPA Safe Drinking Water Division at 475-1638 during normal business hours.
General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.
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Make sure your kids are drinking from the hose pipe as they water the lawns
Peter
July 15th, 2011 at 10:25 am
Michelle, I was checking my cell phone bill when Ann called to tell me to read you blog today before I pay my cell phone bill.
That was a god send. I discovered that I have several erroneous charges on my bill. I am so mad I could spit.
Thanks for the topic
Sharon
July 15th, 2011 at 10:30 am
A QUANDARY FOR THOSE WITH HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
My brother-in-law has high blood pressure and a family history of stroke. So in addition to taking antihypertension medication, he practices an exercise program developed by his trainer.
The problem: His doctor informed him that exercise can elevate his blood pressure (and in fact he takes scheduled breaks during his workout so that his blood pressure can return to normal).
Hes walking a difficult line in doing his best to keep healthy — but Im happy to say that now a small study from University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center has shed at least some light on this tricky issue.
Before we get into the study findings, it will help to have a little background in how people with normal blood pressure respond to exercise.
Any type of exercise triggers a need for increased blood flow to the exercising muscles. Seeming to counteract that, however, is the fact that exercise also stimulates activity in the nervous system that can constrict blood vessels (vasoconstriction).
This would seem to set the stage for actually decreasing blood flow during exercise. Luckily this doesnt happen in people with normal pressure thanks to an ingenious mechanism called functional sympatholysis, which the UT study discovered for the first time. Amazingly, this system blunts vasoconstriction and keeps blood flowing as needed to the working muscles.
ABNORMAL CHANGES
The lead author of the hypertension study — which included 13 people with hypertension and 17 with normal blood pressure — was Wanpen Vongpatanasin, MD, director of the hypertension section in the cardiology division at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
She told me that all participants performed a mild form of exercise — rhythmic squeezing of a hand grip. This was sufficient to activate muscles in the arm to trigger the nervous system response, and in the group with normal blood pressure, it also triggered the functional sympatholysis mechanism that blunted vasoconstriction in the muscles.
But functional sympatholysis did not happen in people with high blood pressure. In fact, her study showed that having high blood pressure apparently impairs this protective mechanism along with its steadying influence. This is just what people like my brother-in-law dont want to hear.
An additional finding of the study was that when people who have high blood pressure exercise, it stimulates the release of a hormone called angiotensin II. This hormone causes blood vessels to constrict, which in turn causes high blood pressure in some people.
To further test the finding, for four weeks the study group with high blood pressure took a type of hypertension medication that blocks the hormone — appropriately enough its called an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB).
Then, for another four weeks, the group instead took a different type of hypertension drug called a thiazide diuretic, which does not block angiotensin.
The finding: While the ARB drug had readily restored the functional sympatholysis mechanism in spite of hypertension, the thiazide drug did not — at last, pointing to a way for people with high blood pressure to exercise with less worry!
EXERCISE GUIDELINES
Dr. Vongpatanasin says that people with high blood pressure can exercise safely by following certain guidelines.
Although we still have much to learn about this subject, she says we do know that gentle exercising, such as brisk walking, easy bicycling, yoga and the like, are safe and, indeed, regular participation in them is encouraged.
However, more intense workouts, such as heavy weight lifting, may be risky for hypertensive people. To determine if you are in the safe zone when doing more demanding workouts, Dr. Vongpatanasin advises checking your blood pressure immediately following a workout.
(Do-it-yourself cuffs for monitoring pressure are inexpensive and useful to have.) Doing this every few weeks provides enough monitoring information, but if you see pressure headed toward the range of 220/120, she says, your exercise is too intense and you need to moderate it.
And — the new strategy — if you are not taking an ARB type of drug, you might want to discuss with your doctor whether it would be an appropriate choice for someone with your medical profile.
Source(s):
Wanpen Vongpatanasin, MD, associate professor, director, hypertension section, cardiology division at University of Texas Southwestern
July 15th, 2011 at 10:37 am
I made perhaps a serious typo in my post about Murdoch vs Anonz. Then nation I was referring to was Australia not Austria. The damn spell check is terrible. That paragraph should read.
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Such as insuring who runs the government in Australia. His media power practically insures whoever he backs wins the seat of leadership. It has since his support of the Labor Party in 1972.
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However, I am sure that Murdoch wouldn’t hesitate to influence the elections in Austria if his financial interest were aroused there.
But I apologize for my not catching my error sooner. And I thank the many(michelle you have a huge following) that emailed me about by mistake.
Mike
July 16th, 2011 at 7:48 am
testing…1 2 3 : ) this blog had some issues yesterday…ZL
July 17th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
If you are looking for a bit of reality to the confusion that the conservative media is trying to fill your head with, read this article. Our country has a pattern to raise the debt ceiling, rather than get to the root of the economic issues, but the GOP refuses to allow a black man to have the same privilege as they have…quite simple.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/who-raised-the-debt-ceiling/2011/07/14/gIQA7TIvEI_graphic.html
October 10th, 2011 at 5:23 am
personalised dog collarS…
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November 21st, 2011 at 2:06 pm
hide my ip address…
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