First Identity Theft, now an Internet Hoax. Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed. My Amarillo chum sent along this clarification. If you snooze, you lose. Welcome to the Blogoshere. I know now how Dan Rather felt. If this is (fair & balanced) mortification, so be it.
[x TruthOrFiction.com]
Mars is Going to Be the Closest to Earth Then Ever Before in Recorded History-Truth! But It Was in 2003!
Summary of the eRumor
The eRumor says that Mars is going to be close to the earth in July and August, the closest in recorded history, maybe the closest in more than 60,000 years, and will be the brightest object in the sky apart from the moon.
The Truth
This story is true, but it was an event that took place in 2003.
For some reason, the story started circulating again in 2005 as though it was going to happen then.
A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:
MARS SPECTACULAR!
The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.
Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.
The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification
Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and
reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.
By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history.
So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.
Share this with your children and grandchildren.
NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN.
Copyright ©2005 TruthOrFiction.com All rights reserved
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
(Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves: Hoax Victim!
Here Come De Judge
Molly Ivins tells the truth. If you can't stand the truth — to paraphrase the Jack Nicholson character (Col. Nathan R. Jessep) in "A Few Good Men" — stay out of this blog. Texas isn't any better than most 3rd World countries. "Seek the truth," said the Greatest Teacher of all, "and it shall make you free." If this is (fair & balanced) veridicality, so be it.
Explain Texas' justice system? Here it goes
by Molly Ivins
The U.S. Supreme Court rules yet again that another Texas case was wrongfully decided — this time because 19 of 20 blacks had been knocked off the jury pool — and I'm asked to explain what's wrong with criminal justice in Texas, in 750 words. Sure, no problem.
I don't like to be cynical, but one can get a little tired after a long time watching justice meted out in this state. The story doesn't change much, and nothing seems to get better. But for what it's worth, here's what's at the bottom of it.
(1) Racism. In 1998, James Byrd Jr. was dragged to death behind a pickup truck for being black in Jasper. Two of the three men responsible got the death penalty. This was not first time in Texas a white man was given the death penalty for killing a black man. It was the second.
(2) More racism. In 1999, about one-fifth of the adult black citizens of Tulia, population 5,000, were arrested and accused of cocaine dealing on the uncorroborated testimony of a bent narc and notorious liar. No one even stopped to ask how a town that size could support 46 cocaine dealers until a reporter from the Texas Observer showed up.
(3) We elect our prosecutors. There are 254 counties in Texas, nearly every one with its own elected district attorney. The way to get elected is to be "Tuff on Crime." The way to lose is to be "Soft on Crime." In the big cities — Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, among the 10 largest in the nation — we get the usual plead-out mill: perp's public defender advises him to cop to reduced charges, anything to avoid a trial.
But in the small towns and rural areas where heavy crime is rare, a D.A. has to whup on whoever gets caught. Sometime in the '80s, a guy in Lubbock stole 12 frozen turkeys. They were recovered, still frozen. Not only no damage, but no defrost. The guy bought 75 years, which works out to 6.3 years per bird. Don't steal a turkey in Lubbock.
(4) We elect our judges. Only way to get elected is to be Tuff on Crime. Only way to lose is to be Soft on Crime. In the Case of the Sleeping Lawyer, a guy on death row appealed on grounds his lawyer had slept through his trial, thus providing him with less than adequate counsel. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that even though the lawyer slept through much of the trial, he didn't sleep during the important parts, so the conviction stood.
(5) An appeal process that isn't worth squat. If you're in, you can't get out. If you draw the death penalty in Texas, you effectively have 30 days to present new evidence. After that, you're toast. Doesn't matter if someone else confesses on Day 31. Doesn't even matter if you could provide DNA evidence proving it wasn't you. (The Legislature is still trying to fix that one.) Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are of the opinion that actual innocence is not necessarily a bar to execution (Herrera vs. Collins). It took a near-miracle to get the Tulia drug defendants out.
(6) Gutless politicians. Texas runs one of the largest prison system on Earth. Texas executed the retarded, the insane and people who were children when they committed their crimes, until the Supreme Court stopped that only three months ago. Texas executes foreigners without notifying their home countries. Every poll shows Texans do not want to execute people in these categories. Politicians are afraid to stop it for fear someone will say they're Soft on Crime.
You've met Labrador retrievers brighter than some of the people we execute. We had a guy on the row who thought he was going to die because he couldn't read. He spent hours on his bunk trying to memorize the ABCs. Never could do it. We execute people easily as crazy as the one in Florida who spent years crawling around on all fours, barking, under the impression that he was a black dog in the seventh circle of hell. But I'm sure they understand right from wrong, and know why they're being punished. Arf.
(7) A bent system. For years, Texas used an expert witness most people called "Dr. Death." Never saw a perp he couldn't guarantee would be a mortal menace for the rest of his days. Only one solution: Kill him. Just one little hitch: In many of those cases, Dr. Death never examined the accused, never talked to the accused, never got near the accused. He was reprimanded twice in the 1980s by the American Psychiatric Association, then expelled from the group in 1995 because his evidence was found unethical and untrustworthy.
In another case, the Supremes threw out the death sentence because the psychologist said the perp was a danger on account of being Latino. Then there was the Houston police lab, so unbelievably sorry, sloppy and just plain maliciously wrong that the courts had to throw out a bunch of those cases too.
But please don't get the idea that just because a few of these errors were caught on long-shot appeals, justice actually works here. We know about so many more miscarriages it would make you vomit, and can't even guess at how many we don't know about.
I'm at 932 words, and I haven't even gotten to the 5th Circuit, the parole board, why you can spend months in jail without ever seeing a lawyer . . .
Molly Ivins (W's favorite columnist along with Maureen Dowd.) is based in Austin. She wrote this column for the Los Angeles Times.
Copyright © 2005 Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P. All rights reserved.
Ouch! Identity Theft Hurts!
Last week, a rude awakening intruded on my idyllic life here in Geezerville. I handed my Visa card to a local business and was told that the card was rejected and that I was to call my Visa bank. When I called, I was told that my account had been shut down due to suspicious activity. I asked for particulars and the Visa rep told me that my address had been changed to "305 3rd Avenue — Radford, VA 24141." I have never been to Radford, VA in my life. Not only that, but the fraudulent "Neil Sapper" charged an item for $1300+ from a vendor unknown to me. Now, I am dancing with Visa for the details of the fraud; the report is in the mail (supposedly). I have placed a Fraud Alert in my credit files maintained by TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. See Jane Grieg's advice below. I have contacted detectives in both the Georgetown, TX and Radford, VA police departments. Visa shut down the vulnerable account and issued a new card for the changed account. The mystery is how in hell did some creep get my Visa card number? I shred everything containing my Visa account number. I did order something over the phone from Bag'n Baggage and I gave my Visa number to the sales rep on the other end. That transaction took place just before this little dance began in early June. Hmmmm. What if the Bag'n Baggage sales rep lives in Radford, VA? If this is (fair & balanced) paranoia, so be it.
[x Austin Fishwrap]
Here's a report: Get your credit history in one location
by Jane Greig
Dear readers, Texans can finally benefit from the recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies to provide consumers with a free credit report copy (upon request) every 12 months. The three nationwide reporting companies (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) have set up one central location to order. Visit annualcreditreport.com, call (877) 322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
Copyright © 2005 The Austin American-Statesman
Mark Your August Calendars
One of my chums in Amarillo sent an alert about an amazing nightly sight that awaits us in August 2005. I first thought about Mars when I read Edgar Rice Burroughs' series of John Carter novels. John Carter was a Virginia gentleman who somehow was transported through space to Mars. On Mars, Carter encounters a complex civilization that was echoed later in John Clavell's novel, Shogun. Both John Carter and John Blackthorne were strangers in a strange place. Later, I read Robert Heinlein's Mars novels and Arthur C. Clarke's The Sands of Mars. If this is (fair & balanced) fantasy, so be it.
[x John Walker's e-mail to this blogger]
The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.
The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.
By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.
Share this with your children and grandchildren. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN
Copyright © 2005 John Walker