Idea Hotel

New Spy Novel about Chinese Espionage in United States

2009-11-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

It seems that many books are written about the Second World War and the Cold War. But few books are being written about the ongoing spy war with China. I guess it is a big taboo to write about that when we owe them so much money. But The Guys Who Spied for China is one of the few books that tells about Chinese Espionage in the United States. It’s an unconventional novel based on the author’s true experiences in tracking down these Chinese Spy networks that have been stealing American technology for years on end.

The novel is funny at times and scary at others. The writing style is terrific. It’s very personal so I got the feeling what it would be like to be living in that world. It’s the story of two guys, one an old Cold War Spook, and the other a rock n’ roll rebel type. What makes this book really unique is that most of the story is set in California, instead of Europe or Hong Kong. It’s amazing when you learn how long Chinese Espionage has been going on and how we sometimes end up looking the other way.

How to lose all your Facebook friends in 30 days or less

2009-09-14T16:05:00.001-07:00

You've heard of the book "How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less"? Well this here's a great way to lose all your Facebook friends in 30 days or less.

Use Facebook status as your personal soapbox.
That's so cool you joined that new pyramid scheme/religion/political movement. Here's a great way to get the message out: Facebook status. Tell your network about it everyday,and give them helpful links to your Pre-Paid legal personal website. Your mentors will be encouraging you to tap your natural market, and thanks to Web 2.0 technology, it's really easy to spread the world to your whole family, your coworkers, current friends, and past acquaintances you've re-connected with over the past year. Make sure to give them the pin code to that Primerca Conference Call.

Spiritual Desert (Dessert?)
It's well known that most people are lost in the spiritual wilderness, and a great way to share God's love is to broadcast inspirational passages from Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life via facebook. People are usually happy to see these messages in the midst of their work day, when the world's pressure is the heaviest. Make sure not to quote the Bible directly; just quote from hip new christian writers.

Politics as Usual
If you are trying to promote a political agenda, remember that although not everyone shares your beliefs, they are really interested in hearing yours. Try really hard to drive the point home by joining political fanpages and sharing this with everyone.

Unsnobby Coffee - Mcdonald's new coffee website

2008-09-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

So I finally decided to try McDonald's iced coffee. I got it in the drive thru, so I tried my sip while I was driving away, and I was hit with a blast of extremely sweet, extremely cold coffee. It tastes good, but like anything at McDonald's it's good for the wrong reason; the sugar. Their Oriental Salad is loaded with sugar but you don't realize it because you are eating a healthy salad. But the ice coffee tastes great!

McDonald's unleashed their new marketing blitz with the website: http://www.unsnobbycoffee.com/. Now serving expresso drinks in addition to their wonderful brewed coffee. It should be interesting to see if McDonald's can grab a share of the dwindling $3 coffee market.

Baking Better Cakes

2007-05-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

to bake a better cake, I recommend buying a cookbook written buy a professional baker. Amazon.com sells many awesome cookbooks and they are available online to be purchased while surfing the internet at work when you should be working on a spreadsheet or polishing the office's desk.

An even better way to score the absolute best cake is to purchase one from master baker Uzma Kahn from Sinful Decadence. Her cakes are masterfully decorated with a life long pursuit is chocolatiere. A Master for your taste buds. Just one bite and you are in chocolate heaven. I recommend working out the next morning.

Strand Girl Release New Online Store

2007-02-21T13:36:00.000-08:00

South Bay Band Strand Girl releases new online musical store for easy access to download their favorite songs. Strand Girl makes beach music for bonfires, romantic sundowns, morning surf sessions, volleybowl days, or just lounging on the sand with a book in your hand and an IPOD in your ear.

If Truth Be Told - Online Dating Offers Many Opportunities to Hook Up -- and to Be Rooked. Here's How to Protect Yourself.

2007-01-22T23:26:00.000-08:00

By LAUREN MORASKI

Jan. 12, 2007— Katherine Flansburg met her boyfriend through PlentyOfFish.com, a free online dating site. Several months later, they moved in together. Everything seemed to be going well until one morning when they were woken up by a loud banging on the door.

Flansburg, 26, a real estate agent in Santa Clarita, Calif., was shocked to discover that their unexpected guest was her boyfriend's wife. Moments later, a fuming Flansburg rummaged through her boyfriend's desk drawers and found recently filed paperwork for a legal marriage separation, as well as an IRS earnings statement that showed her boyfriend's salary was only one-quarter as much money as he'd told her.

"He was a piece of work," she recalled.

As long as people have been dating, there have been tales of liars, cheats and thieves. In the Internet age, with the anonymity offered by e-mail, and with people blogging about their bad experiences, it seems like there are more examples of nefarious behavior than ever.

In the pre-Internet days, if a woman wanted to find out about her beau's background, or if a man wanted to make sure his new girlfriend wasn't a gold digger, they would have to hire a private investigator, an expensive and time-consuming process. But 21st century daters have new tools that give them easy, inexpensive access to outlets through which they can run background checks on potential mates by tapping into databases and computerized records.

Digging for the Truth

Flansburg was just one of 16 million Americans who have logged on for love, according to a 2006 survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. If she had run a background check on her boyfriend before they moved in together and gotten serious, Flansburg may have found out that he was still married or that he'd lied about his earnings. More and more online daters are doing background checks, and some are discovering lies about their mate's age, education, employment and ownership.

The Los Angeles-based Corra Group, for example, used to specialize in employment background checks. But recently it launched a separate Web site for dating-related searches.

By signing up online for as little as $39, along with the name and birth date of a significant other, you can get information about a person's address history, property ownership, as well as any bankruptcy claims, civil judgments or aliases. For $20 more, the search includes criminal records, and an $89 fee gets you a nationwide federal crime search.

Co-founder Gordon Basichis, 59, has 20 years of investigatiive experience and says that requests for background checks are on the rise, especially around Valentine's Day. While about 75 percent of his clientele is female — largely professionals in their mid-30s to 50s — the Corra Group also receives nearly 25 percent of its dating-related inquiries from men. "If they met someone online, they just want to know — 'who is this person?'" Basichis says. "People want to know if someone's full of it."

Many of his calls come from single moms who want to find out if their suitor has a sexual predator history. Other times, it's as basic as verifying a person's profession. And the information rolls in quickly. The company typically turns around a background check in one day.

Pigs, Not Seals

Skipp Porteous, 62, founder of Sherlock Investigations Inc. in New York, is also seeing an increase in online dating inquiries. Background checks for daters are "snowballing," he says, because "you don't know who you're really talking to."

Porteous, who started his investigative career in Los Angeles during the 1960s, will do anything from surveillance to simple background checks. Relationship investigations now make up 20 percent of his work, and he says that at least half the time, his research uncovers people who have told lies about themselves. That number is so high because most of his clients already have an intuition that something doesn't sound right about their sweeties.

"They're suspicious to start with, and we find that their suspicions are usually correct," he says. Porteous frequently digs up lies that involve age, marital status, earnings and education. But some go even beyond that. "Guys love to say they're ex-Navy Seals," he says.

Currently, popular dating sites such as Match.com or JDate.com provide online safety tips but don't mandate background checks to post a profile. Match.com tells users: "Because privacy is of the highest importance at Match.com, we don't require background checks." But some dating services — including True.com and The Badge.org — do.

In 2003, Herb Vest, 62, founded the Dallas-based True.com, a site that encourages "safer dating" by requiring background checks on everyone. Anyone who has been convicted of a felony or sexual offense is banned from the site. "If they do come on, and we catch them, at that point we turn them into their parole board and the feds," he says.

Vest ran a finance company for nearly 20 years before deciding to start True.com. After tying the knot in 2003, he decided to launch a dating site with his wife. "We both decided that we had something remarkable and wanted other people to experience the same thing," Vest said. After learning that an estimated 30 percent of online daters were married, according to a 2002 Marketdata study, Vest decided to enforce marital checks on anyone wanting to access True.com.

But it's not always easy to screen out people who are married. "Our program uses about nine billion hits of different databases," he says, referring to the complex computerized system used to identify if a potential user has a spouse. "We're serious about this." So serious that he's encouraging all dating sites to follow suit. Vest is trying to help pass legislation that would require online dating services to either conduct criminal background checks, or prominently disclose on their Web sites that they don't.

But Basichis says that if a dating site starts requiring background checks, it can send out mixed messages. "On one hand, the site is promising you the hero or heroine of you dreams, while on other hand, they're saying, 'let's check on them first.'"

So what's a single girl or guy to do? Liz Kelly, a 41-year-old Los Angeles dating coach and author of "Smart Man Hunting," recommends that online daters first go the Google and MySpace route. People will portray their real selves on a site like MySpace, but exaggerate certain things on their dating profile.

Kelly knows this all too well. Before her current relationship, she had been on 200 dates in just four years. Many of her online matches lied about their personal traits — and about 90 percent of them lied about their height.

A Screening Method

So, how do you get the truth before it's too late? "You're meeting a virtual stranger, so you have take precaution," said Kelly, who has developed her own online strategy for some of the love-seekers she coaches. Her suggestion: Share two e-mail exchanges, one 15-minute phone call and a one-hour coffee date.

"I recommend that you don't do a background check right away," she advises. "You want to leave some room for romance." Then, she says, if there's chemistry, people can run a background check if they think something sounds off.

Sometimes these searches, however, come up flat.

Despite her past experience, Flansburg, for example, isn't completely sold on them. "I've seen background checks. They're not clear," she says, referring to the lack of information some of the searches turn up.

Flansburg's unpleasant discovery about her ex-boyfriend hasn't deterred her from scouring the Internet for love. "I've met some nice people since then." However, she only uses paid services now. She thinks that more married people log on to free online dating sites because nothing will show up on their credit cards statements.

These days, Flansburg is much more inquisitive and aware, admitting that she has even considered looking through a guy's glove compartment or at his cell phone's "recent call" list. "You have to do your own research," she says.

Basichis agrees, and urges online daters to look for red flags. "Everybody's bigger than life — until you meet them," he says.

Safety tips for Internet dating (according to dating coach Liz Kelly):

Never give out a home phone number.

Use an anonymous e-mail (don't use your entire name as your e-mail alias).

Always meet in a public place and in a neighborhood you know.

Women, in particular, should always get the man's number first and use caller ID to block (*67) for the first call.

Don't share home addresses. Always give a general area instead.

Dating Red Flags (according to Corra Group's Gordon Basichis):

Listen closely for inconsistencies in stories involving ownership, family background and living situations.

If he or she asks you to cash a check.

Watch the way the person behaves around your kids.

If the person is telling you about him or herself and can't account for a long stint of time.

If he or she doesn't have any friends or never introduces you to his friends.

If the person says he or she owns property, or a boat, for instance, and you never see it.

You heard it hear first

2006-07-01T12:09:00.000-07:00

Celebrity Caterer Uzma Khan has just announced the launch of her new blog Room for Dessert where you can find expert advice on the art desserts. This rare look inside the mind and method of a master dessert chef will have your mouth watering. Not just a recipe site, Uzma gives you the history and theory behind baking, so you can move beyond the rigid world of following recipes and create your own masterpiece. Learn to measure ingredients by look and feel, learn how and where to shop for that extra spice to make it so nice.

Heavenly Desserts - Sinfully Delicious

2006-05-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

Mom once said, "I don't trust anyone that doesn't like chocolate."

Well, thank God I can trust Sinful Decadence, an LA based specialty baker of devilishly tasty desserts. Owner Uzma Khan can bake anything you desire, as long as it's sinful. She offers a wide selection of fancy cakes, dessert bars, cookies, trifles, and her own masterpiece desserts, which fuse the best of west and east dessert traditions.

Do you see these sinful chocolate squares? I just ate about ten of them and now I'm lying on my sofa, fat and happy. check out this photos of other wonderfully sinful cakes you can order online.

desserts
baking
Los angeles catering
chocolate

Quoth the Whale 'Nevermore'

2006-01-23T22:57:00.000-08:00

Happily we heard you breech
from the banks of central
cameras out to snap your tail
taxi burning petrol

Cheering you, when hoist'd high
rubbered by learned watermen
A great fish caught to be released
far beyond londonium

Sadly, we heard the trail lost
white heart beats no more . . .
once that fed the street lamps
now feeds our flaming cores

london whale

london

poetry

New things you need to see in 2006

2006-01-08T23:18:00.000-08:00

Entering the new year with some ideas for you.

1. Here is a very cool list of 25 things never to blog about

2. Check out the new Three column Word Press blog on Corra's Daily Planet

TAGS
blog
word press

Newsvine Beta is now live

2006-01-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

Look's like Mike Davidson's Newsvine is now in a private beta stage. Looks promising so far. I'll be interested to see if the blogisphere and the traditional media embrace the new concept of comment-based news articles. One big factor is moderation; many news organizations are publicly held companies and would suffer a public relations issue if their sites were boycotted due to something like foul language, even if included in intelligently written pieces.

What do you think?

newsvine
media

GIVE THE GIFT OF FAT

2005-12-24T16:44:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the new McDonalds Gift Card?

Who the hell in their right mind would gift this card this Christmas? Hasn't anyone seen Supersize Me? Giving someone an ArchCard is like telling them, "I don't give a shit about your diet, your weight or your health problems. Just stuff your face with burgers until this cheap card expires. Then buy yourself another one."

Way to go Ronald.

weight loss
mcdonalds
christmas gifts

archcard

Original of the Species

2005-12-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

Have you seen the U2 video for Original of the Species? This must be one of their best songs in years. Download it if you haven't done so already. I'm not a big fan of the graphics, as I prefer live videos beter. I do like how U2 is constantly evolving their songs post album recording. Their extensive touring leads to inventive new riffs which seem to make it into the later singles.

u2

This helps prevent automated registrations?

2005-12-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

Can you read this?

Word verification is designed to repell the wanton advances of an automated submitter, however they also are excluding the optically challenged, such as myself. am I the only one? As an english major, I never taken such a poetic license with the english language as I've seen by the automated submission crap pictures. Why is everything so damn grainy and irregular? I firmly believe the designers are just a bunch of gamer geeks who play Fallout and Halo and want to live in a pseudo Blade Runner universe. Can you please just revert back to plain old ARIAL .. .??

DAMN.

FALLOUT
HALO
rant
word verification

What happened to CortiSlim?

2005-12-20T21:01:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles Times had this article about our favorite weight loss pill, CortiSlim:

A legal skirmish with the Federal Trade Commission has pushed the maker of CortiSlim, a purported diet pill, into federal bankruptcy court.

Last week, Brea-based Window Rock Enterprises Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana.

The company was sued in September 2004 by the Federal Trade Commission, which alleged that Window Rock falsely claimed CortiSlim spurred weight loss.

Two co-defendants, chemist Shawn Talbott and marketer Thomas Cheng, have settled with the FTC, agreeing to pay $4.5 million in cash and assets. But Window Rock still faces an FTC claim of $160 million, which represents the company's revenue from CortiSlim at the time the lawsuit was filed.

Remember CortiSlim's massive media campaign? I could barely drive home from work without hearing three commercials starting spokeman Greg Cynaumon peddling this pill like some traveling chemist town selling Elixirs to hapless farmers. Cynaumon was apparently a former negotiator for the police. Well, I wonder if he will be any help negotiating with the FTC and FDA agents beating down Window Rock's doors.

The sad thing is, what if this pill actually works? There's alot of talk out there by pill peddlars that indicates the FDA is in bed with food and drug manufacturers in america. Who knows? But government has been rife with corruption recently. look at the recent political appointments and congressman falling into disrepute due to corruption scandals, not to mention the contract signed by Halliburton . . . is a ideal of corrupt FDA and FTC so apocryphal?

CortiSlim
weight loss

Online Dating Background checks

2005-12-16T16:38:00.000-08:00

You may think you don't need to run a background check on your date but you do. The fact is most online dating companies don't run background checks on their members. How can you be sure they don't have criminal background, a lousy debt record, or even a spouse?

For the price of this week's starbucks allowance you can run a background check on your prospective mate. Check them out and make sure they are telling them the truth before you really fall in love and bring them home.

Corra Group can give you everything you need to know in a fast in-depth background check report. Most reports are returned in 24 hours. You can find more information about online dating background checks here:

Michael Savage shows victims of Tookie Williams

2005-12-14T22:17:00.000-08:00

Michael Savage, radio talk show host, is apparently the only person in the media willing to show the pictures of the Tookie William's victims. Take a look at these photographs and decide for yourself if Tookie should be granted clemency.

I find it curious that people are so ready to overlook the victims of a grisly murder and focus on children's books written with the same hand that was convicted of shooting three "budda-heads" with a shotgun. This was a hate crime; but no one is talking about it that way. Remember to research the background of any subject before lighting your vigil candle.

tookie williams

Strong Earthquake felt in upper Pakistan

2005-12-12T20:21:00.000-08:00

Aftershocks continue to strike the upper region of Pakistan:

ISLAMABAD: Strong earthquake with 6.7 magnitude was felt in wide area of upper Pakistan including entire Punjab, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Muzaffarabad, Mansehra, Balakot and Gilgit early Tuesday at 2.51 am.

Met Office said the intensity of the quake was 6.7 at Richter scale. Reports from more than two dozens cities said that scare gripped entire Punjab, Islamabad, Azad Jammu Kashmir, Mansehra, Swat Peshawar and Gilgit, Kaghan and Balakot.

These were the sever jolts after October 8, deadly earthquake. Thousands of people ran out of their houses for safety in minus degree centigrade.

Reports said jolts were also felt in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Amritsar and Occupied

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was a magnitude 6.7 and was centered in the Hindu Kush region of northeastern Afghanistan.

A magnitude-7.6 earthquake on Oct. 8 killed at least 87,000 people in northwestern Pakistan and Indian Kashmir.

A magnitude-6 quake can cause severe damage.

Posted by Nick from Corra Group Background Checks

Exodus: movement of God's People

2005-12-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

Largely unheard in the west, the earthquake agony continues:

Geo Tv writes:

Mass exodus from quake-hit areas begins
CHAM: Headmaster Safdar Ali smiles as he says none of the 110 children in his school died when this tiny village nestled in a valley high in the mountains of Azad Kashmir was pummelled by the earthquake.

But two months later, most of the children are living in tents. Nearly all are sick. Worst of all, winter is coming.

"They must all leave," Ali says as his students mill about near the river that runs beside their refugee camp. "We aren’t hungry now. We are getting supplies. But we are worried about the weeks ahead, and beyond that."

With the snows about to fall, the plight of the hundreds of thousands of villagers living in the Kashmir high country has become a key focus of relief efforts following the Oct 8 quake.

The International Red Cross says more than 200,000 people live in this valley, the Neelum, and the Jhelum next to it, and hundreds or perhaps thousands are migrating down from the mountains each day.

The terrain is rugged under the best conditions. The only way to get to Cham, a collection of hamlets scattered over steep hills and mountainsides, is by foot, mule or helicopter. When the winter weather sets in, making helicopter drops impossible, this and hundreds of other villages will be even more isolated.

The area is politically sensitive as well. Cham, 1,700 metres above sea level, is just 8 km from the Line of Control. The Pakistan Army has an outpost and rudimentary hospital in Cham, and the surrounding slopes have in the past been the scene of intense shelling from India.

For the time being, it appears that political issues have been set aside. Pakistani helicopters loaded with supplies buzz through the valleys regularly, and the Indian military has so far overlooked minor incursions into the airspace over the LoC.

Before the climate—natural and political—changes, relief workers are racing to get as much done as they can.

The Red Cross has established a base camp here and makes frequent helicopter runs from a soccer field in Muzaffarabad. Cham is about 50 km from Muzaffarabad, a 20-minute ride by helicopter.

"Now that we have this distribution centre, we are targeting the most vulnerable people, such as widows, or men who were spared but now must take care of their children alone," says Jessica Barry, a Red Cross spokeswoman.

Though the destruction was intense, many villagers don’t want to abandon their hamlets, fearing their goats and chickens will die, leaving them without a livelihood. "They are very attached to their animals and to the soil," says Sarah Baumgartner, the Red Cross’ team leader in Cham. "They are used to harsh conditions. But this winter will be extremely severe because they have lost what they have had."

Baumgartner and other aid workers stress that no one is being forced to leave. The emphasis is instead to provide materials such as tin roofing sheets so they can rebuild their shelters, or to give them clothing and ensure they have access to medical care.

A massive migration from the high areas could spell disaster for the many refugee tent villages below, stretching resources and creating overcrowded conditions that could spawn disease. How big the migration will become remains an open question.

When his own home was destroyed, Muhamad Munir descended from five villages deeper into the mountains to a relative’s house about 2 km up the river from Cham in a hamlet called Morian. For now, he says, he’s staying. "This is where we were born, this is where we live and this is where we’ll stay," he says.

School Is Target Of Investigation

2005-12-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

HARTFORD COURANT - Nov 30 - - Four years after shutting down the notorious Haddam Hills Academy for boys, two state agencies are investigating allegations of abuse and neglect at a sister school - Lake Grove at Durham.

Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal are also examining hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual fees that Lake Grove pays related companies for consulting services.

And both officials say they are concerned that the state Department of Children and Families has failed to monitor Lake Grove effectively. The department paid Lake Grove $8.6 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30 to care for 116 children with severe mental retardation and mental illness.

DCF within the past two weeks has flooded Lake Grove with behavioral-health specialists to watch the nurses and other staff members at the school closely after hearing concerns over the safety of the children.

DCF Spokesman Gary Kleeblatt declined to discuss the nature of the concerns. This "intensive program review" will last another six weeks, said Kleeblatt, but Milstein and Blumenthal are concerned the intervention may have occurred too late.

Neither official would elaborate on the nature and scope of the alleged abuse.

"We certainly hope history isn't repeating itself," Milstein said Tuesday, referring to Haddam Hills that closed in 2001 following a series of confirmed cases of child abuse.

Haddam Hills in East Haddam also was paying millions of dollars to related companies for rent and consulting work - driving up the fees that the state paid to send troubled children there.

Lake Grove at Durham paid Windwood Meadows and Oikonomos of Medford, N.Y., $4.7 million from 1998 to 2003 for personnel and management services, federal financial filings show.

Lake Grove, Windwood Meadows and Oikonomos are part of the controversial Lake Grove family of schools headquartered in Medford.

These types of "close-party relationships can indicate conflicts of interest and waste, as well as fraud," Blumenthal said Tuesday.

"We want to make sure every dime of taxpayer money goes to the care and protection of children," Blumenthal said.

Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, presided over the legislature's Select Committee on Children during the Haddam Hills debacle. He said he is concerned about the situation at Lake Grove in Durham.

"These apparent close party transactions are very troubling," Williams said Tuesday. "I hate to think we are wasting millions of dollars that could otherwise be providing services for children in need. I think this needs a full and complete investigation."

Kleeblatt said the DCF was not aware of the underlying business relationships at Lake Grove in Durham until it began a closer scrutiny of the company following the Haddam Hills disclosures. Kleeblatt said DCF is satisfied that Lake Grove is not overcharging the agency.

New York state mental health authorities shut down all of Lake Grove's New York-based treatment clinics and sober houses last year for Medicaid fraud. The inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is conducting an audit of all Lake Grove entities in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, including Lake Grove at Durham.

Albert Brayson, formerly of Simsbury, is listed in New York business records as chief executive of Oikonomos, and he is one of the leaders of Lake Grove at Durham's parent corporation.

Brayson and Oikonomos executive Anthony Grimaldi did not respond to telephone messages and an e-mail Tuesday. Michael Suchopar, executive director of Lake Grove at Durham, did not return a telephone message Tuesday.

Blumenthal and Milstein's inquiry is separate from the federal audit. Milstein said she is particularly concerned about DCF's ability to closely monitor a business like Lake Grove, which the agency relies on because it is believed to be the only residential program in the state for abused and neglected children with significant mental retardation and mental illness.

"In addition to the money aspects and the allegations of abuse, we're looking into DCF's role as licenser, overseer, and consumer of Lake Grove's services," Milstein said. "These are some of our most vulnerable children."

DCF is reviewing staff supervision of children, administration supervision of staff, the use of restraints, and reports and incidents of abuse and neglect, Kleeblatt said.

He would not elaborate on the abuse reports or on the agency's specific concerns about Lake Grove.

He said the review has already resulted in "staffing and policy changes."

DCF expects to have a full corrective action plan in place for Lake Grove within six weeks.

Lake Grove has to comply with the corrective measures or it risks losing its contract with DCF.

FULL ARTICLE @ HARTFORD COURANT

Dating Sites Crack Down on Convicts

2005-12-01T23:10:00.000-08:00

CONTRA COSTA TIMES -- Nov 28 -- Robert Wells advertised himself on an online dating service as a semiretired physician who enjoys wine tasting, "The Sopranos" and reading science fiction. But a woman surfing the Web site recognized the Walnut Creek man from another dating site she'd used a year earlier. She told the current service, Dallas-based True.com, that Wells was lying. Not only had the medical board revoked his license, according to a lawsuit, but he also was a convicted sex offender. The company sued Wells earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Texas, alleging Wells committed fraud by misrepresenting himself. "I make a promise to my members," said Herb Vest, TRUE's CEO. "If you are clever enough to get around our site securities, I'm going to prosecute." TRUE is suing Wells for at least $200,000. "If anyone who's married or has a criminal conviction thinks they can get on our site, go ahead and try me," Vest said. FULL ARTICLE @ THE KANSAS CITY STAR

so Match.com dupes members by sending female employees on "dates" in order to preserve memberships tallies. And This week, True.com prosecutes fraudulent online members. It will be interesting to see if True recovers the $200,000. It's interesting to see one dating site seizing the opportunity to promote their vetting process.

Pakistani Earthquake Charity Drive

2005-11-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

Received from a close friend who is helping out in Pakistan:

BRITISH AND PAKISTANI EYE CHARITIES APPEAL FOR DONATIONS TO HELP WITH OPERATIONS IN EARTHQUAKE ZONE

Lord Bernard Weatherill, Patron of the Graham Layton Trust (GLT), today (World Sight Day 2005) announced that the charity, in conjunction with its sister organisation in Pakistan, the Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust (LRBT), has launched an appeal to fund their facilities in the earthquake zone that are providing free treatment of eye injuries and disease and, in the longer term, to fund the construction and operation of new facilities in the region. An anonymous corporate donor in the UK has already pledged up to $120,000 to fund immediate requirements, and further offers have been received from donors in the UK, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and elsewhere.

LRBT, which operates 11 hospitals and 27 clinics in Pakistan providing free eye treatment, already has advance parties on the ground establishing clinics at three locations in the earthquake zone, two in Azad Kashmir and one at Mansehra (in the Hazara District of NWFP). These will be in tents and provide simple surgical facilities.

Patients from these clinics requiring serious surgical intervention will be transported, accompanied by a relative if appropriate, to one of LRBT's secondary hospitals, initially either at Mandra (Punjab) or Akora Khattak (NWFP). Acute and paediatric cases will be treated at LRBT’s postgraduate teaching Hospital in Lahore. The clinics will also provide other medical services within the competence of their staff.

As LRBT is already on the ground, donors will be asked if LRBT may, if it sees the need and is assured by their performance, give some of their donations to support the immediate needs of other medical organisations operating alongside LRBT’s clinics.

Lord Weatherill added that already more than 98% of money donated to GLT reaches the beneficiaries in Pakistan, and LRBT’s credibility, swift response and presence on the ground means that donations to the appeal will quickly and efficiently benefit victims of the disaster

Dr Maleeha Lodhi, the UK High Commissioner for Pakistan, commented: “LRBT already undertakes over 25% of all cataract surgery in Pakistan and its highly trained staff and support organisation are a welcome addition to the relief operations, I hope that this appeal will be generously supported.”

Donations should be sent to ‘The Earthquake Sight Appeal’, Graham Layton Trust, 12 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4RB. Cheques should be drawn in favour of ‘The Graham Layton Trust’

Enquiries to Michael Pelham, Managing Trustee:
Tel: 07785 701445 Fax: 01993 851950 Email: GLTMLP@aol.com

My Code Name was "Vicuna"

2005-08-18T23:24:00.000-07:00

On October 29, 20--, Harry sent me a clipping from the The Economist which turned out to an advertisement for a clandestine career with the Central Intelligence Agency, with the subtitle, "Possibly, the most demanding job in the world."

Nick,
GO FOR IT! As you know your uncle Harry spent a number of years in the intelligence services as a special agent. If you want advise (sp) simply give me a call . . .

My Code name was "Vicuna"

Vicuna? What the hell did that mean? According to Bonny Doon Alpacas:

Vicunas are the spirit and the life blood of the camelid families living in the high Andes. Unfortunately, due to their very valuable fleece vicunas were nearly hunted to extinction by the late l970s. Conservation efforts in Peru, Chile and Argentina have led to a phenomenal resurgence in vicuna populations. Once again, due to careful management, vicunas can be found in healthy numbers in the Andes.

Here is a picture of a Vicuna:

The Vicuna lends some insight into the operations against NK, possibly suggesting a mountainous area of operations and patrol. However, the ocean always figures prominently in Harry's long and sustained dream. Apropos, the young Vicuna is easily distracted from the rest of the herd by the sound of the waves below.

End of a Cold Warrior

2005-08-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

Harry's ashes sat in a box on my cousin's mantel for six months after his death. Finally, my cousin's husband said it was time to scatter them. Harry wanted his ashes in the Pacific, preferably under the blue waves of Trestles in San Onofre, site of his high school surf sessions before joining the Army. This feat proved to be too much for the funerary budget. Instead we hired a boat in San Pedro and scattered Harry's ashes about a league beyond the breakwater. For the first time I saw the Los Angeles lighthouse, built in 1913.

I was surprised when the sea captain lowered the ashes overboard in a special bucket draped with bright flowers. At first, I thought he'd send the bucket adrift, like a tiny funeral barge. When he pulled a tethered cord, the bucket flipped over and dumped Harry's ashes into the green water. The ashes seemed to be fine white sand from some faraway beach. We cast red carnations in the air and watched them paratroop over the watery grave. We circled twice and rang the ship's bell eight times. I couldn't help but wonder if there was something more I could have done, back when the struggle for life was still being fought. Harry reminds me of the latter day Ulysses in Tennyson's poem, restless with old age, and longing for a final mission.

We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are,
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.