Author: Pearl L

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Super-awesome plugin: SpamLookup!

one of the reasons my blog has been feeling “not-mine” lately is because i’ve been getting so much comment spam. over the weekend, i found a spiffy movable type plugin called SpamLookup that’s been doing a marvelous job filtering out the crap so far.

I plug because I love.

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I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Comcast customer…

Some woman got a hold of my checking account number and paid off a bunch of her bills, including some hefty cable bills, with my money. One of the charges was in the form of a check; the other two were payments directly from my checking account. I’ve called my bank to get the process of reversing those charges started, and I’ve notified every company she paid that she was using fraudulent information. From those calls I made to those utility companies, I’ve figured out her name and where she lives.

Now I’m wondering if I should press charges. It’s a fairly substantial sum of money (at least to me, because I’m poor).

i’m still just freaked out that someone could, just with my bank account and routing information, access my money so easily without any need for any additional verification, like ssn, mother’s maiden name, anything. the check resulted from one of those automated pay-by-phone things, and i guess those services don’t even ask a person to punch in the account number twice to make sure they’re not pulling from the wrong account. what kind of bullshit is that?? and i don’t even know how the comcast stuff went through… it was going out as an authorized direct bill, like my mutual funds and crap, and i had to sign some papers to allow that to happen…

so… lesson learned: don’t let your husband lose your personal check on BART. >:O

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shorties

too much to say, too much to say! hurricane katrina occupied most of my thoughts over labor day weekend. so much appalling and upsetting news, and too little time to post about it all.

on hurricane katrina:

CNN.com – The big disconnect on New Orleans – Sep 2, 2005 I wish I took screenshots of the sites I visited so I would be able to contrast them with what Bush and co. are saying next week.

Front Pages from Tuesday, August 30, 2005 Thank goodness for newseum.org. Contrast these headlines with those “we dodged a bullet” comments FEMA folks keep repeating.

KRT Wire | 09/03/2005 | Head of FEMA has an unlikely background (reg req’d) This is an administration that puts politics over the public good, and the hiring of Mike Brown illustrates this sad truth.

www.AndrewSullivan.com – Daily Dish – Four words: Fire Michael Brown Now The anger over Brown’s incompetence cuts across political lines.

Trenches – Journal – War on the Poor in New Orleans 2: The Attempt to Declare Martial Law Some insight into what might have happened behind the scenes in NOLA.

and some fun stuff:
stereogum: Death Cab Cover “Hungry Like The Wolf” Go 826 projects!

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music update

been totally behind, but here’s a few things i’ve been listening to lately:

singles:
bloc party – so here we are
devendra banhart – will is my friend
daft punk – digital love
air – kelly watch the stars

albums:
ben folds – songs for silverman
groove – ost
ryan adams – gold
radiohead – kid a

on deck:
flipper’s guitar – best of flipper’s guitar
decemberists – picaresque
rufus wainwright – want two

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tired and tired

work is busy. deadline is in two weeks. omg omg omg. i think we can do it, but it’s a helluva lot of work. 0_o

i’ve been having a lot of fun with my phone lately. I got a siemens s66 a couple of weeks ago. i love my phone. it has a 1.3 megapixel camera that works fairly well (especially when there’s a lot of natural light), a really beautiful screen, a good speakerphone, bluetooth and good pc sync capabilities. i’ve loaded it up with hello kitty wallpaper and an ebook reader, so i’m pretty stoked. yay, new toy.

jer and i will be celebrating our first anniversary this weekend! wow, a year’s flown by quick! ^_^

okay, time to pass out. bleh.