VISA

Got a call this morning at 6:30. It was about my VISA card. A kind gentleman from India wanted to warn me that someone was making charges to my card. So thoughtful. I wish I had his phone number so I could show him how thankful I was and call him at 6:30 AM his time.

Scams

Not all scam criminals are stupid, contrary to what some law enforcement and newscasters tell us. Take for example telephone scam artists. Some have put a lot of thought into this and over the years have become quite successful. They have a good idea who will fall into their trap, the naïve and elderly. 
I received a phone call yesterday at 6:20 AM. A woman said she was from VISA and was calling to check on two charges to my card. If I wanted to question these charges, press two. I did. A man with an Indian accent answered the phone. I was hardly surprised. Yes, he could help me. All I had to do was give him my credit card number. I laughed and hung up the phone.

Brass Monkey Weather

The temperature here this morning is -11C/12F. The windchill makes it feel like -19C/3F. Not any weather, I will be walking around in. I'm glad I went to mass yesterday evening.

Every morning, my habit is to read the newspaper. There are usually not many articles I don't already know about. Newspapers are usually a few days behind my computer. So I need the paper to keep me informed of local matters. Thursday was the exception, where I found a large number of articles, to fill the empty grey spots between ones ears.

On the front page, the first item really shocked me. "Web surfers have eye on shoplifters." What it turns out to be is, convenience stores in the area have webcams to keep an eye on shoplifters, but the web surfers are in England. It seems a company in England charges subscribers $15. a month to join. They can have four feeds open on their screen, for different stores in Halifax. If they see a thief stealing, they press a button, the store owner gets a phone call and voila. The store owner pays $190. a month for this service and they figure it's worth it. The surfers get cash prizes.

Scarey eh? I know England is camera crazy and this is taking it to a new level. Shades of 1984. So watch where you pee next time, someone may be watching. When I worked at the airport, my job was watching the cameras. For practice, I would watch a car leave the highway and I could track the passangers all the way through the process till they boarded the aircraft.

Another article involved a woman and her new husband stuck in his country because he can't get a visa. Seen this played out many times. Dumb blond is usually at least twenty years older. I don't think I have to explain farther.

As far as I am concerned, people who go to Mexico are naive. That's a dangerous place. In the last two days, there have been two  instances of a Canadian getting raped and another shot. After something happens, you go crying to the government. The government didn't tell you to go to Mexico.