Postscript: Not my details you don’t

Last year I had a run in with some fraudsters on a phishing expedition, cold calling to find out my banking details.

Today, another staff member received an email reporting to be from Westpac asking her to log onto Online banking and fill out her details as there was a problem with her account.  The email address  looked genuine enough, bci@westpac.com, but when you clicked on the link with the email it sent you to a very professional looking Westpac site, the address was the following:

http://thebusinesspsychology.com/wp/index.html

And though the site had all the usual logos and even linked itself to the acutal Westpac site, the elements of the sites didn’t sit properly, like the had slipped.  On closer inspection, as well as noting the sites address (above) there was no lock for the site denoting that behind the scene security was in place.

Another elaborate hoax that my fellow staff member would have fallen for if she hadn’t just used her account and knew all was well.  When she checked with the bank (with a phone number from her address book) they confirmed her opinion and informed her they knew the email address and had it on their fraud list.

So, things to learn: 

1.  Never assume a cold-call or cold-email from your bank is legit, always question it in person, preferably using a phone number from your banks correspondence or card

2.  Always check for the security lock at the bottom right of your internet browser screen (in IE)

3.  Check what address your being linked to, in the above case it was pretty obvious, but maybe next time it won’t be.

4. If in doubt, delete, delete, delete.

 

United Nation

Just as unions once again claim an increase to Australia’s  minimum wage and I find myself engrosed in the early battles for unionism in Thomas Keneally’s The People’s Trains there are other not so promising sounds from across the Tasman.

The Reserve Bank Governor of New Zealand, Mr Bollard has made it very clear that his countries workers can not expect to earn as much as they could in Australia and should be happy with the crumbs.

It was attitudes such as expressed by the questionably intelligent Mr Bollard that lead to the Unionist movement  here in Australia; events that are so clearly painted in The People’s Train.  Bosses, politicians, reporters, bankers, lawyers and judges all holding the opinion that it is not in the public’s benefit that people take an interest in how their workplaces are run and how they are expected to live.  That somehow an individual worker has any real power when facing his employer over wages and conditions.  That what is really important in this world is not people but industry and money.

The People’s trains is a true story set 100 years ago.  The attitude of workers gleaning the crumbs was expressed only recently.  Nice to know things don’t change.

Wintery Irony

As Europe and America deal with a cold winter,  and we all get use to stories like the three day new years eve party in England and snow in Florida, a surprising story is coming out of Canada, at the home of this year’s Winter Olympics.

Vancouver, Canada is having mild weather, so mild fact their losing their snow cover to the extent that they are having it shipped in by truck and even helicoper.

Organisers are blaming global warming but has more to do with El Nino and a local effect the residence call the pineapple express, but this is not the first time that massive efforts have had to be made to keep the Winter Olympics from sinking into the spring melt.

The most dramatic effort to keep the Winter Olympics going were made in 1964 for the Innsbruck Winter Olympics where the army was actually called out to carve up chunks of a glacier to build competition events.

It just shows how far we will go to make something work, and how quickly we are to pass the blame.

Morte de Revolution

One of our regulars came in On Christmas Eve which is to be expected.  He’s one of those character you can set your watch to.  11am and possibly 4pm everyday in he trots with a wave and a grumble about this or that thing.

  When we told him that he would have to start packing up as we were leaving at 1pm  he told us that that was okay as he was just leaving for a conference.

One of the staff members who just can’t help herself asked him,
“What sort of conference is on Christmas Eve?”
“Planning the revolution.  It’s on at Redfern.”  He replied and continued his one sided rant about some great men and how they had stood for elelction (and failed to gain a seat I may add).
As he was leaving I said to the  others,
“If he’s the leader of the next revelotion, can I volunteer to be the first up against the wall?”

Librarians’ Challenge…EXTREME!

Not quite.

What sort of challenge to do you give a librarian? Obstacle chase over shelving?  Timed reference enquiries?  How about a reading challenge?

ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association) have challenged Librarians from all over Australia to read outside their comfort zone for 2010.  Twelve books over twelve months that you wouldn’t normally pick up or even look twice at.

It’s all in the cause of good reader’s advising skills.  Both ALIA and NSW state library are on a drive this year to build up the skills of public library staff to better handle the dreaded question:

Can you recommend something good to read?

So I thought I would join in, but with a tricky twist.  As I’m studying this year and won’t have time for any personal reading at all, I thought I’d listen to them instead on my way to work.  I love talking books and would recommend them to  everyone, especially on long distance car rides.  The 1hour in the car each day will just have to do for this challenge.

I’ll try and expand my reading to things I wouldn’t normally bother with.  I think I may even try a Mills and Boon style romance!

So here’s my list of titles:

January:          Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

February:       The People’s Train by Tom Keneally

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

 

Hello? Can you read this?

The Australian Federal Labor Government want to do what few other countries except, China, Vietnam and Iran have thought necessary to do; censor the Internet feed into the country.

The Federal government would say it’s to protect children from and to get rid of  “…material that is deemed “objectionable” or “unsuitable for minors”…” which sounds fine until you realise that Google and other search engines already block child pornography in their searches.  Google is even doing more than that by blocking items that go against our local laws like this example for aboriginal and ecyclopedia noted by Marketing Pilgrim.  You’ll see the following statement at the bottom of first search screen:

In response to a legal request submitted to Google, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read more about the request at ChillingEffects.org.

It makes me wonder what sort of things the Government wants us censored from.  In China, any searches on the Tiananmen Square massacre would come back with no results.  Are there any Tiananmen Square’s that the government would rather we not be bothered with?  The list that I’ve seen of items the Government wants banned seems to not be the sort that would bring down civilisation as we know it.  As we are a democracy, I find that thought very concerning. 

 “He [Jullian Assange] said secret censorship systems were “invariably corrupted”, pointing to the Thailand censorship list, which was originally billed as a mechanism to prevent child pornography but contained more than 1200 sites classified as criticising the royal family.”

 And this is the main issue with censorship.  Once you start the process of deciding what I can’t know, can’t write or think about, where does it end?

“It is not the function of Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.”

-  Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), U.S. Judge

So  Government, you have this issue wrong.  Leave the Internet alone.  No one who is using it honestly and innocently is going to find anything  that they shouldn’t.  The only offensive thing I’ve found on the Internet is this topic of censorship.

Looking for more information check out the Great Australian Internet Blackout.  Sites supporting anti-censorship will be going black in th cause.

200th POST!!

Campbelltown milestone

I like milestones.

There’s an old one not far from my home that tells how far Liverpool is from a point in Sydney.  Physically and metaphorically, they tell you how far you’ve come.  You can stand and look back and see what you’ve achieved.

Of course, milestone also show you how far you’ve yet to go.  With a blog, that’s not so much of a concern.  This is a journey as long as life, to quote Monkey, and the milestones just remind me that I’m still moving.

And that’s probably all you can ask: of life and of blogs.

A story…a story…

I am a reader and have been since I realised that the black squiggles on a page can send me to lives and places other than the here and now.  It fasinates me what makes a great story and why is one persons page turner is another persons pulp.

‘Why we read what we read?’ is the central  question of a Readers’ Advisory Service.  Directing people towards new authors or stories that they would enjoy by the application of reference interviewing skills.

Based on the ideas of Nancy Pearl, this post talks about the four ‘doorways’ they people prefer when they read books.  A person may say like like mysteries, but is it really the character of the detective (or criminal) they love to follow, the language the author uses to describe his world, the setting of the city, country town or is it the twists and turns of plot that keep them turning the pages.

My preference has always been for character driven stories, but I never thought much about the other three until reading the article.  So my preference are as  follows:

Character

Language and Story

Setting

Language and Story are about neck and neck, but I do feel the need to share a good turn of phrase where a good story will have me in page turning silence. 

What does your reading preference look like?

Year of the tiny tiger

Coming from the highly multicultural community of Fairfield I try to claim a share of the fun and excitement that is the Luna New Year celebrations. 

But my celebrations take a very small form, a nod to the celebrations that others make an effort for.  Thus I am pleased that artist Chen Forng-shean has created a very small tiger to celebrate the Year of the tiger.

That this also tickles my fancy for all things small (I myself lovingly painting tiny people for a hobby).  Think of this as my tiny nod for 2010.

So, happy and prosperous year of the tiger!

Six word memoir

Inspired by a binary date (11.01.10, see here for enlightenment) and the excellent post by Kate Ward I wish to share my six word memoir:

She looked, thought, wrote

then laughed.

 

Imagine seeing that on a headstone 40 years from now.