Something Random

Chewy509

Wotty wot wot.
Joined
Nov 8, 2006
Messages
3,357
Location
Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia
I'm sorry, but IMHO Cars is probably one of the worst Pixar movies, if not the worst. The Incredibles is pretty good. I think Monster's Inc is probably the best one.
I actually enjoyed watching Cars? And my 3yr son loves it. I do agree though, Monster's Inc is one of the better if not best one they've done.

Having seen the trailers for Cars 2, I am a little hesitant in seeing the final movie...
 

Chewy509

Wotty wot wot.
Joined
Nov 8, 2006
Messages
3,357
Location
Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia
Had an interesting phone call today from some in the "Windows Operating System Support Service" wanting to do some maintenance on my home PC.

I played along up to the point they wanted to me to visit a website, were I informed them that I don't run Windows and wanted to know what they wanted to do, as I was sure I could do it with their direction? They asked what I was running, and told them Solaris. I was then put on "hold" (but they forgot to hit mute), heard a question being asked "what's Solaris", some yelling in reply, and the phone going dead...

Bloody scammers! Seems to happening a lot here in Brisbane recently, as it's being making all the local papers with warnings to simple hang up on them.

For those that are not aware, they has been a recent spate of people calling claiming to be working for Microsoft needing to do maintenance on your PC. They log in via Logmein (or similar service), install a trojan, log all you 'net traffic, and a few months later empty your bank account (if you do banking online) or gather enough information to commit identity fraud.
 

MaxBurn

Storage Is My Life
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Messages
3,245
Location
SC
Had an interesting phone call today from some in the "Windows Operating System Support Service" wanting to do some maintenance on my home PC.

Seriously? Anyone receiving customer service on this level that they aren't paying for needs to throw up a flag and say what the hell is going on here, simply does not happen.
 

Howell

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
Messages
4,740
Location
Chattanooga, TN
To a lot of people the computer is just an appliance and they don't remember what services they paid for. And then there are the people who bought the MS service Onelive or whatever. There is a lot to keep track of and a lot of people willing to tKe advantage of the ignorance.

Are the thieves local? Are the cops making progress?
 

Chewy509

Wotty wot wot.
Joined
Nov 8, 2006
Messages
3,357
Location
Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia
The call was to home... I knew it was a scam about 10 seconds into the call, but kept them on line for about 5 minutes.

What little information I did get has been passed on to the local police, but doubtful anything will come from it. At best, it'll be another incident to add to the rap sheet if they do get caught.

It's just unfortunate a lot of people have been conned by this scheme. :(

Most of the scammers traditionally are local to Australia, but it's becoming more frequent that they are from overseas somewhere, using VOIP to reduce costs in making the calls.
 

time

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 18, 2002
Messages
4,932
Location
Brisbane, Oz
I had a similar call a few weeks back. My recollection is that the caller sounded Indian.

The jig is up as soon as they say they're calling about your Windows system. I fumed quietly until I could get a word in; then gave them an earful about how I was on the 'do-not-call list', so how the hell did they get my number?

The guy hung up pretty fast. I would have liked to do more, but figured there was no way I could trace the call, and if it was from overseas, no point.

I've also had guys knock on the door trying to sign me up for something because of the new fiber optic rollout just completed in my neighborhood. Only trouble is, there hasn't been any rollout and none is planned. Indian in both cases, probably being taken advantage of by some local low-life. Presumably, they were after my credit card details. I called the cops the second time.
 

Bozo

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Feb 12, 2002
Messages
4,396
Location
Twilight Zone
Another method is having a computer dial telephone numbers. If you would answer, the computer logs your number as 'good' so some asshole can call you back latter. If you get one of these calls, when you pick up the phone no one will be on the other end. Supposedly, hitting the 'star' key numerous times will confuse the computer and disconnect, marking your number as 'bad'.
 

Tannin

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Messages
4,448
Location
Huon Valley, Tasmania
Website
www.redhill.net.au
I have a 100% effective method. there are two steps. You must apply both steps to get a good result.

1: make sure that your mobile phone has a flat battery. (Or just leave it at the office.)

2: get your home phone cut off.

Of course, there are side effects, such as (for example) if you want to contact me, you need to post on Storage Forum and wait one or two years till I log in. But that aside, ot works well.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
17,497
Location
USA
What happened to your home phone? Don't you have a USB charger for the cell?
 

time

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 18, 2002
Messages
4,932
Location
Brisbane, Oz
Tannin's mobile phone (courtesy Wikipedia)
220px-Telephony_1905.png
 

timwhit

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
5,278
Location
Chicago, IL
I have a 100% effective method. there are two steps. You must apply both steps to get a good result.

1: make sure that your mobile phone has a flat battery. (Or just leave it at the office.)

2: get your home phone cut off.

Of course, there are side effects, such as (for example) if you want to contact me, you need to post on Storage Forum and wait one or two years till I log in. But that aside, ot works well.

I thought you had a girlfriend, how does she contact you?
 

Tannin

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Jan 15, 2002
Messages
4,448
Location
Huon Valley, Tasmania
Website
www.redhill.net.au
I got the home phone cut off, Lunar. The bastard company that has a monopoly on copper-wire-in-ground telephones here in Oz charges $35 per month just to have the wire there even if you are not using it. You can switch to another company, but you still have to pay, and what is worse, you know that the money you pay them is money they pay to the bastard monopoly company. I got tired of paying 2.42 for all of my calls and $35.00 for bastard monopoly tax.

Seeing as I only made three calls a week on average, I got the home phone cut off. (My internet is cable - no phone line required.)

Obviously, I still have a phone at the office. And sometimes I do remember to charge my mobile. I practically never get sales calls on the mobile. Dunno why. Too expensive for the call centres VOIP systems, I guess.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
22,275
Location
I am omnipresent
One of your Aussies needs to go see Thor and tell me how awesome it is because in a complete reversal of everything that's normal and good, we don't get it for another two weeks here in the states.
 

Chewy509

Wotty wot wot.
Joined
Nov 8, 2006
Messages
3,357
Location
Gold Coast Hinterland, Australia
I would just like to wish my main PC 'Hellfire' a happy 6th birthday...
With some sadness, I must report that Hellfire has been decommissioned after serving as my primary PC for 6yr 5mths, as I have been given a new HP xw4600 Workstation as a gift. The parts will be offered for sale shortly, so if anyone is interested please PM me.

FYI, the HP xw4600 specs are: Intel C2Q-9400, Intel X38, 4GB Reg ECC DDR2 800, 2x 250GB HDD (both WDC), HP DVD-RW, nVidia Quadro FX580...

PS. Parts list is: http://www.storageforum.net/forum/showthread.php?p=139939&highlight=hellfire#post139939
 

Sol

Storage is cool
Joined
Feb 10, 2002
Messages
960
Location
Cardiff (Wales)
A Krispy Kreme recently opened in the shopping center over the road from where I live. There was a queue out of the store, out of the shopping center, and a little way around the corner.

The Welsh must really like donuts... (Although right now I can see people queuing around at least 2 streets and 3 corners to get in to whatever is going on at the venue across the road so maybe the Welsh just like queuing)
 

Will Rickards

Storage Is My Life
Joined
Jan 23, 2002
Messages
2,012
Location
Here
Website
willrickards.net
Yeah a Krispy Kreme opened near where we used to live some years back. And initially big queues for free donuts. But it didn't last there more than a couple years. It was replaced with a chik-fil-a.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
22,275
Location
I am omnipresent
With some sadness, I must report that Hellfire has been decommissioned after serving as my primary PC for 6yr 5mths, as I have been given a new HP xw4600 Workstation as a gift.


... and in that six and a half years, ddrueding and I have probably had at least 10 primary PCs between us.

Must've been a hell of an upgrade though!


Krispy Kremes are gross. Proper doughnuts should not make unwaxed cardboard turn transparent.
 

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,926
Location
USA
Yeah a Krispy Kreme opened near where we used to live some years back. And initially big queues for free donuts. But it didn't last there more than a couple years. It was replaced with a chik-fil-a.

Krispy Kreme around here came in strong and left quickly. Same thing, lines around the corner, but no dedicated repeat business to keep them alive.

I'd rather more Chic Fil A open near me. There is only one in the entire state of MA that I'm aware of.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
17,497
Location
USA
Yikes, that is scary.
I see there are none in Nevada yet. Maybe it is too wild. :)
 

Stereodude

Not really a
Joined
Jan 22, 2002
Messages
10,865
Location
Michigan
I'll be the first to say so what? Last time I checked having principles and sticking to them is not a crime.

I guess I should boycott Progressive Insurance because their owner Peter Lewis is a liberal whack job funding causes I'm opposed to.
 
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