IEEE Consultants' Network of Long Island

Absurdities - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Try to imagine a merger between two shipping companies, FedEx (formerly Federal Express) and UPS (United Parcel Service).  There could be a  problem that the combined company might start being called "FedUp" which just wouldn't have that desired panache.

I  telephoned a local pharmacy to ask a question. I had to make my way through a multi-level voice mail system where it was "Press 1" or "Press 2" or ....  and so forth. After I got to the point where hopefully a real live person would eventually take my call, I heard a recorded voice say "To stop the on-hold music while you're waiting, press the star key."

There was a cartoon in a 1950s era edition of  Popular Electronics showing a frustrated customer with a frustrated electronics parts store sales clerk and a mountain of vacuum tube boxes piled up on the counter between them. Customer, paraphrased: "No, no, no! I told you. I need six 12AU6, twelve 6BA6, seven 6AU6, six 12BE6, six 12AT7, seven 12AT6 and one 0A2."

A recently received telemarketing phone call voice mail:

".... (a long pause)......Sorry. You did not reveal yourself to be human. Good...bye..  (beep)"

I passed by a pharmacy the other day where there was a window display as on the left below, but which I read as on the right below:

Bogosity - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

When the Saturday morning radio broadcast Car Talk was on the air, brothers Ray and Tom would occasionally use the term "bogosity" as a quantifiable measurement of some sort regarding, to be totally blunt, fraud.

Consider now this small sample of incoming e-mails I've received:

Note the provocative subject lines on some of these messages. There are "Payment Declined", "prices increase Friday", "Final warning" and more, all of which are intended to alarm, intimidate and control an intended victim into doing heaven only knows what.

Are all of these messages bogus??  I can't prove that for sure, but what is for sure is that I did not and will not respond to any of them.

I suggest that you who have read this follow my example.

Double Dealing Dialing - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

I got two simultaneous phone calls the other day, one on my landline house number and the other on my cell phone number. I let them both ring and in neither case was any voice message recorded.

Clearly, this was the work of a single scam caller who dialed both of my phone numbers at the same time which is scammer behavior taken to a new level. Also it is somewhat disquieting to know that the responsible bipedal vermin have my two phone numbers in association with each other.

Megapack Fire - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

The image below is extracted from a screenshot taken at the following URL: 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/tesla-megapack-battery-ignites-at-substation-after-less-than-6-months/ar-AA125GX9?cvid=dff828397b2143d09b70cf90c9933627

I find the following lines of text which are taken from  that same URL to be very scary:

"As of 10 p.m. local time yesterday, roughly 20 hours after the fire was reported, Monterey County said the fire was fully controlled, but said it may continue to emit smoke for several days. 

Per CNBC, firefighters on the scene allowed the battery to burn out, as is standard practice for lithium-ion fires. Firefighters planned to remain on scene overnight to ensure the system didn't re-ignite." 

The bold face type is my highlighting of what seems to be an alarming admission that such fires cannot be extinguished. This implies to me that every EV you see in your area is a wheeled firebomb waiting to erupt in your driveway or garage or during any outing.

Further to the point, please see:

https://licn.typepad.com/my_weblog/2022/07/lithium-ion-fire-traps-john-dunn-consultant-ambertec-pe-pc.html

Now stare at the picture above and decide how comfortable you are with the widely asserted public assurances that lithium-ion battery powered technology is safe.

Midsommer Musings - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

There is a long running BBC program which we get to see here in the USA called "Midsommer Murders". Each episode revolves around a murder being committed in this fictional town of Midsommer which, because of the expertise of the star character, recently DCI John Barnaby and formerly DCI Tom Barnaby, the perpetrator is always identified just in the nick of time and is dramatically arrested. Detective Barnaby solves every case every time, just the way Perry Mason used to win every case every time in that old TV show.

Okay. I can accept that. As the cliché goes: "Buy the premise, buy the flick." However, I am bothered by two technical observations in the Midsommer programs.

Whenever someone needs to access information thru a computer, the computer screen is shown displaying an image which first appears in a very small postage stamp size and then expands very quickly to fill up the display screen. No user interface with which I am familiar presents anything in that manner.

My other issue is that no computer in Midsommer ever experiences any latency. Whatever is called for by the user is always presented immediately. There are NO delays, ever. This is very much at odds with my personal experiences in the real world.

On the other hand, John Nettles and Neil Dudgeon starring as the two DCI Barnabys have always been entertaining to watch so, credit where credit is due.

Impersonating LinkedIn - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

I have a LinkedIn group called Analog Developments. Now and then, I get a message from someone  asking to join my network which is great!

Along with that request, I receive an e-mail which is apparently intended to alert me to that request, but I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER open that e-mail.

The following will explain why I won't do that:

When a legitimate request is sent, the LinkedIn page displays a red-circled number at the "My Network" function which shows that a communication via LinkedIn has been sent. When I look ONLY at the LinkedIn presentation, the name of the sender is revealed, the message itself appears and I approve the addition of that person.

However, sometimes FAKE requests come in as in the following:

Here, the LinkedIn page does not show any red-circled number. This tells me that the e-mail sender is masquerading as a LinkedIn participant in hopes that I will open the e-mail and be induced to click on a malware-depositing link.

All of the above ALSO applies to the "Messaging" function. If I get a message-announcing e-mail and I don't see the red-circled number over there, I ignore and delete that e-mail too. (Bye-bye.)

WinZip Trouble, Part 2 - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

To recap, I recently sought to resubscribe to WinZip services for three computers, two desktops and one laptop. I was not able to achieve that goal. Please see: 

WinZip Trouble

Communications with WinZip staff included supplying the following image several times over:

Since the above took place, there were further e-mail exchanges about the problems:

In the course of the above, I received a new message with links for downloading new installation files. I actually got a WinZip Malware Protector downloaded and registered on my laptop which uses Windows 10, but then as I was first running it, the following nonsense came up:

On top of the registered and operating Malware Protector, a window popped up to the effect that I still needed to do a Malware Protector registration. I closed this "Register Now" notice and it has not since come back.

I also got the System Utilities Suite downloaded onto the laptop so I turned next to my desktop computers, both of which use Windows Vista and this happened:

I had "confirmed" with WinZip staff by telephone that their System Utilities Suite would be compatible with Windows Vista, but it turned out to NOT be the truth, not with the 32-bit Vista on one computer nor with the 64-bit Vista on the other computer.

I got around this issue as follows:

I used the downloaded System Utilities Suite installation tool from a year ago (Notice the huge difference in file size.) to do both desktop reinstallations and when I registered them with the new security keys, everything seemed to work.

I know that my desktop installations are now bastardized, but at least they're working (I hope).

It is my opinion that the dozens of back and forth e-mails and the multiple weeks which were expended came about because WinZip staff handled matters improperly.

If you are a client of that company or considering becoming a client of that company, the forgoing experiences ought to serve as a cautionary tale.  

Vanity Plates, Part 4 - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

Still more folks expressing their personal philosophies in eight letters or less:

Scam Caller Alert - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

This call came in along with the recorded message below.

As recorded in a woman's voice:

Of course, nothing ever got "delivered".

This kind of scam call has made the news a number of times in recent days. If one were to call back this "Michael Decker", one may expect to be told of a nominal fee to be paid for the "gift tax registration" and then there would be no prize, no cash, no car, nothing but one's own lighter wallet.

Fuji Seoul Fire - John Dunn, Consultant, Ambertec, P.E., P.C.

There was a fire at a local restaurant back in July. Please see this URL:

https://www.liherald.com/stories/fire-in-merrick-destroys-restaurant-damages-nearby-storefronts,142636

From that URL and with two photographs I took in early September, please see this:

I've never seen the likes of this before, especially anything like these two signs.

Apart from a third sign to the effect that the premises are unsafe for entry, these two signs, still posted more than a month after the event, the "Embargoed" notice and the "Open Investigation" notice, make me think there is a suspicion of arson.

That is a very uncomfortable thought. I will be watching very closely for news updates on this matter.