A Warning...

Hello again loyal readers. I will skip right to the chase in this post as I believe that it is very important to get to the message with a minimum of bullshit.

This is a warning to all AOL Instant Messanger users living in Millersburg or Upper Paxton Township Pennsylvania.
It has recently come to my attention that the Millersburg Municipal Police Department is currently monitoring AOL IM conversations. The Police Department currently has a list of AOL IM users residing in Millersburg and Upper Paxton Twp. The list consists primarily of persons under the age of 18, but may include adults. The Millersburg Police compiled the list from parents who sent the police department their children's buddy lists.
The police originally started the monitoring to protect kids from sexual predators and other perverts on the internet at the behest of several parents who were "fed up". Apparently knowing a good thing when they saw it, the Millersburg Police Department began compiling lists of users with the help of several parents. The lists are currently used to not only monitor the conversations that the users have while within chat rooms, but also to monitor whether the person is online or not. They also use the monitoring to gather evidence of criminal activity outside of the original intentions. In other words, they are using the monitoring to gather evidence of crimes other than that of perverts soliciting minors!
Now I am no legal scholar, but I am pretty sure that this type of monitoring violates several federal wiretapping statutes and at least one federal internet privacy act. Furthermore, if the Millersburg Police Department does have a warrant to monitor the conversations that go on in an AOL IM chatroom, that warrant is being violated. What I mean is that the warrant would have been issued to gather evidence relating to sexual predators soliciting minors. By gathering evidence of other crimes, the police department is violating the scope of the original warrant and therefore conducting an illegal wiretap, if indeed they ever had a warrant in the first place!!
So, what can I do you ask. Well, you can take the following actions:

First, make sure that you do not use AOL IM. I have nothing against this messenger, and use it myself, but given the nature of the threat to you or your child, I would get rid of it.

Second, if you insist on using AOL IM, change your user name IMMEDIATELY! Get your friends and others to do so also. Then, "dope" the info you enter into your profile. In other words, enter only false info into your new profile, such as "Name: John Smith" "Age:1001" "Location: Io (a moon of Jupiter)", etc. Tell them nothing that can be remotely traced to you.

Third, learn how to use a proxy server. Instruction on the use of proxy servers along with lists of free proxies can be obtained by doing a Google search for them. Using a proxy server will make it harder (but not impossible) for the police to track your actual location (thus protecting to a degree your identity).

Fourth, I would suggest getting a secure messenger client. You want one that not only obscures your personal information, but also encrypts the messages that are sent. Once you have a secure messenger client, make copies and give it to your friends (that way you can talk to them).

Fifth, never invite someone you do not know to chat. The Mbg PD likes to use the following intro: "Hi, you don't know me but I am a friend of Joe Schmoe's" (Joe being your friend)"Joe told me that you and I might hit it off. I'd like to find out more about you and talk a bit. How about it?" Now that isn't word-for-word what they use, but you get the gist. If someone approaches you with that type of intro/come on, check with the friend named to see if your friend knows the person and did actually tell them to contact you. If your friend doesn't know them or didn't tell them to contact you, might I suggest replying with "Nice try 5-0. Now we know why you're a cop and not a brain surgeon!" While it is nice and cocky, it also let's them know that you are onto their little (illegal) game. Be sure to remember the guy's user name so that you can tell everyone about it (thus blowing that user name for the cop).

Lastly, never admit to anything online, especially to someone you don't know (or know well). Unless you've met the person face to face, you have no clue who is actually behind that user name. Off line you have been cautioned about talking to strangers, remember that when you are online also. Hell, I wouldn't even admit to being alive online!

To reiterate, if you or someone you know uses AOL Instant Messenger and lives in Millersburg or Upper Paxton Township Pennsylvania, the Millersburg Police Department is monitoring your online conversations. If you read this and know of someone living in that area, I urge you to pass along this warning. You can do so by directing them to this blog (http://lobstercigs.blogspot.com), or by emailing them this article. (To email this article, just click on the little envelope at the bottom of this post and fill in the require info).

As always, I am Chuck and this has been a public service announcement (Not to mention a good way to "stick it to the man"!!)
(Note: This post was edited on 26 Sep 05 to change the wording a bit, improve the "readability", and to fix those nasty typos.)

I Told You So...

Hello again sports fans. As the sun rises on another autumn Saturday, that means one thing...college football! Yes, from Boston to Honolulu and all points in between, people are gearing up to head to stadiums all across America to witness the pomp and spectacle that is college football. When I was at Pitt, I used to love going out to old Pitt Stadium on a crisp fall Saturday to watch us get the shit kicked out of us. Which brings me to the point of today's post, the current state of Pitt football.
Now as anyone who knows me can tell you, I am a rabid University of Pittsburgh Panthers football fan. I love watching them, especially when they are winning (no, I am not a fair weather fan, but when I was in college Pitt lost a lot more games than they won. Therefore, watching them win is both unique and a helluva lot more fun than watching them lose!) During the last couple of years, Pitt has been winning on a regular basis (which gave me a great opportunity to return some of the shit I got from Penn State fans over the years). Perhaps those winning years have spoiled me, perhaps I don't want to see a return to the bad old days of the late-80's through mid-90's, or perhaps I just don't want to take shit from the Penn State fans, but I find the current situation at Pitt unacceptable. I will explain.
So far this season, Pitt has yet to win a game. They are currently 0-2. They started the season with a tough home opener versus Notre Dame. At the time, Pitt was undoubtedly overrated with a ranking of 23rd. Notre Dame was most certainly underrated as they were not ranked at all. In a game featuring two new head coaches, Dave Wannstedt for Pitt and Charlie Weis for Notre Dame, there were a lot of unpredictables and unknowns. To make a long story short, Notre Dame outplayed Pitt, and Weis definitely outcoached Wannstedt. Notre Dame won 42-21 in a game that was effectively over by halftime. While I wasn't very happy with the outcome, I could accept this loss as, good or bad, Notre Dame always plays us tough.
The second loss I cannot accept. I cannot excuse it. Pitt was scheduled to play a rare Friday night game versus Ohio University. Ohio, not Ohio State. The game was to be played at Ohio. It started out well enough with a kickoff return for a TD by Pitt. After that, it was all down hill. Ohio, a team that has had 29 losing seasons in the last 35 years, played Pitt to a tie in regulation, then returned an interception for the winning score in overtime. The final was Ohio 16, Pitt 10.
This is the second week in a row that a Pitt team has showed up completely unprepared for their opponent. I dread next week when they go to Lincoln to play Nebraska. The problem lies not in the quality of the team or the talent present (by all measures, Pitt is loaded with most of the offense and defense returning from last year's Big East champion team). The problem lies in the fact that, for the second week in a row, Dave Wannstedt was outcoached. Wannstedt needs to learn a few things about college football. First, contrary to what they teach in the NFL, in college football, field goals DO NOT win games (or national championships). Second, this particular Pitt team is a PASSING team. I don't give a rat's ass how much you want to turn it into a running team, it is built as a passing team. The last I checked, winning coaches played to their team's strengths, not against them. And lastly, you learned how to lose at the professional level with the Bears and the Dolphins, now you are learning to lose at the collegiate level with Pitt, here's a unique suggestion, resign now, take a position with a high school team and LEARN HOW TO WIN!!! It is obvious that Wannstedt does not know how to win, nor does he know how to prepare a team.
Another guy looking like a real genius right now is Pitt AD Jeff Long. He is the one who essentially fired Walt Harris (a winning coach by the way, one who had taken Pitt to five consecutive bowl games). Boy Jeff, you really showed everbody, didn't you?!!? Gee, let's fire Harris and get Wannstedt, that'll show everyone! Well Jeff, it has only shown that you either hate Pitt, or that you are an idiot. A Harris coached team might have lost to Notre Dame, but I guarantee you they WOULDN'T have lost to Ohio!! I think it is high time to fire both Long and Wannstedt and try to get Harris back anyway possible (if it is even possible to do so). Pitt could hire back Pederson (I forget his first name), the old AD to replace Long (at least he knows what he is doing). This season is shot already, it is time to start looking toward restoring what Pitt had so that next season might be a WINNING season.
Oh, and by the way, I addressed this in a post dated 24 December 2004 entitled "A Coaching Change And A Prediction". Therefore, I can truthfully say "I told you so!"
I am Chuck and I believe that Wannstedt and Long should be fired NOW!!!!

More Random Musings...

Hello again everyone, welcome back to the blog that refuses to die.
Today's post concerns my thoughts on a variety of topics.
First, gas prices. Well, as everyone knows, gas is outrageous. In my area it is around $3.00 per gallon (+/-) for regular (87 octane). That is down from the high of roughly $3.19 per gallon. That high came 2 days after Hurricane Katrina hit the gulfcoast area. Now I understand that a goodly portion of our domestically consumed oil comes from the Gulf of Mexico, but what I cannot understand is how the price of gas can be affected so quickly. What I mean is, from the ground to your car oil takes several days/weeks to go from being raw crude oil to being refined gasoline. Therefore, I have to wonder why (if it takes even a few days to go from the rig to your local gas station) gas prices rose by roughly 50 to 60 cents only TWO DAYS after the hurricane. Even in the simplest of economic models, the time that it takes for gas prices to rise should be equal to the time that it takes to use the last of the available gulf-originated oil. What that means is if it takes a week to refine and deliver all of the gulf-originated oil, then it should take a week for gas prices to rise (prices should rise gradually as the supply gradually diminishes). The gas in the tanks at the local gas station was refined BEFORE the hurricane, therefore I have trouble seeing exactly how the hurricane caused gas (refined days or weeks before) to suddenly cost more! It isn't as if the storage costs increased. Hmmm, I think I have figured out this economic conundrum. The solution is quite simple...it is called price gouging. Now price gouging is illegal in nearly every state (if not all states), but do we see the government starting an investigation? Nope. After all, should the federal government start investigating the oil companies, the Republicans stand to lose some of their largest contributors. And right now Bush can't afford to lose contributors of any sort. I mean his approval rating has tanked, he has managed to bungle what could be the largest disaster relief effort in US history, and his policies in Iraq have led even his own party members to compare it to Vietnam! So investigating the oil companies is the last thing you will see the Bush Administration do. After all, GW is too busy trying to be a bungling, petty dictator to worry about the economic destruction of both the US and the common man! (And if he cannot grasp the ill effect that higher gas prices have on the economy of the US, then he is dumber than a bag of hammers!)

Thinking about the victims of the hurricane, I would urge all of the readers of this blog (those who have the means to do so, anyway) to contribute to the American Red Cross' disaster relief effort. You can find the Red Cross (usually) listed in your local phonebook or just do a Google search for their webpage. The last I heard (from the local news) was that they (the ARC) are looking for cash donations right now, but in the coming weeks they will be looking for blood donations. The news said that before coming to give blood you should give the Red Cross a call to schedule an appointment for giving (blood has a very limited shelf life). And whatever you do, don't count on FEMA to give these people any relief (after all, the Federal Emergency Mis-management Agency has already fumbled the ball more times than even CNN can count!)
And speaking of CNN, I think I have reached the Hurricane Katrina coverage saturation point. I've been watching the news and it seems that every other story is about the hurricane and the victims. Yes, it is bad, and yes, I pity the people who lost everything, but I think I am "hurricaned out". And I swear that the questions the reporters ask the survivors are becoming more and more ridiculous. I mean even more senseless than the "Gee, everything you know and loved is gone, and you've lost everything that you worked for your entire life...Tell our viewers, what's it like and how do you feel?" questions. I am just waiting to see a reporter ask some survivor "Gee, your property is under water, you've lost all of your material posessions, your entire family was killed, you are suicidally depressed and living in deplorable conditions. So, tell our viewers...How do you think the Saints will do this season?" I hope they keep the cameras rolling as the person being interviewed beats the reporter to death with his own microphone!! Now that's good tv!!
As always, I am Chuck and this has been my rant.