Good evening, 919 Gang.
JAMES GRIMALDI writes:
Spotted in our front yard
Papilio glaucus, the eastern tiger swallowtail, is a species of butterfly native to eastern North America. It is one of the most familiar butterflies in the eastern United States
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REBER: We start the month on a high note by wishing Gordon Murray a Happy Birthday on July 1.
Good evening, 919 Gang. One of the small joys about this time each year is reading the U-T’s list of the exotic foods at the Del Mar fair. The huge pile of French fries caught my eye. It was smothered by all kinds of other foods. I know they are delicious because I’ve never heard of them. My enthusiasm waned a bit when Mary read the prices for these items. I just can’t see myself paying $28 for French fries,
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LESLIE WOLF BRANSCOMB writes:
I'm sure we all have a million stories about attempted scams (and we get the toll road ones all the time), but we had a couple of new ones happen to our family recently that I think our 919 Gang might want to know about.
First, my 28-year-old daughter received a letter from NYU, where she applied for college 10 years ago, but was not accepted. They informed her of a data breach and let her know that all of her personal information (name, SSN, date of birth, address, etc.) had been stolen. She was distraught, but what can we do about it now other than to keep an eye out for identity theft. The payment for the application fee would have come from my bank account, not hers, so I assume her finances are safe for now. But I'm just ticked that this huge university apparently is keeping all the personal info of all their applicants -- whether or not they were even accepted -- for at least a decade. It just never occurred to me that all the colleges that we helped both our kids apply to (six or seven each) would keep their personal info in perpetuity. A quick Google search tells me that 85,000 prospective students applied to NYU last year alone, so the number impacted by this breach must be staggering.
The second one was clever, but a little more surprising. My husband happened to be on his computer late on a Friday night when he received an email from Amazon helpfully letting him know that his order of a $200 e-gift card had successfully been delivered to (person whose name we'd never heard of - and it's their vague email address, not a full name). He called me and our oldest daughter into the room, because, like many seniors, we rely on our kids to be more tech-savvy than we are. While we were puzzling over this, a second one popped up, also $200, to a different email address. He tried emailing both those people, but of course the emails didn't go through because it was a scam. He called our bank, which has a 24-hour line to report fraud, and they immediately cancelled his credit card. So that was fun, because he couldn't go to the bank to get a new card until Monday.
. New card in hiand, he went through the arduous process of changing his credit card number on every account that now sucks out money automatically, from Amazon to Hulu to car insurance, and so forth. Then it happened again. Two $200 Amazon gift cards granted to strangers within minutes of each other, also late on a weekend night. This time he called Amazon (and amazingly got a person on the phone), and they figured out that it wasn't that someone had his credit card number ... it was that his Amazon account had been hacked. The solution, besides changing his Amazon password, is that he now no longer saves his credit card info to his Amazon account and has to type it in each and every time he makes a purchase. Buyers beware!
TOM GABLE writes:
Hannah Hui Wong wrote about toll roads, Apple purchases, IRS debts, DMV, and other text and email alerts about money owed. These are all part of a major increase in phishing scams using phone numbers and emails acquired from hacked databases to defraud and steal money. Beware of any requests to click through to confirm financial transactions, input credit card numbers or personal information, or pay via Zelle, or buy gift cards and transfer them. Here is one reference from Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/technology/toll-scam-text/
On the toll roads and penalties, my firm worked for the toll road agency in Orange County for several years. I checked with them. "Beware of a text message phishing scam saying you owe toll road fees and penalty charges.” Here is the background. https://bit.ly/4gKFzm1
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REBER: We wrap up the month by wishing Mitch Weinstock a Happy Birthday on June 30,
Good evening, 919 Gang.
CARL LARSEN writes:
Job well done. Entrepreneurship may save American journalism. Here’s why:
Chris Jennewein writes (on Facebook):
When I founded Times of San Diego 11 years ago, my goal was to create a trusted and sustainable source of local news. That’s why I am thrilled that Times of San Diego was acquired last year by NEWSWELL at Arizona State University, an innovative nonprofit with outstanding resources dedicated to transforming local news.
The acquisition is already bearing fruit with a big increase in staff, more news sources and added content from seven San Diego community newspapers under the Times of San Diego banner.
Now, after 55 years, it's time for me to step back from daily journalism. We’ll hire a new Editor & General Manager who can take Times of San Diego to the next level. I'll continue part-time as Senior Editor, focusing on community outreach and philanthropic partnerships to ensure Times of San Diego reaches its full potential.
Please send great candidates our way!
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CARL LARSEN writes:
In the world of journalism, an interview with a newsmaker that no one else in the media has snared is called a “get.”
Normally, other reporters then scramble to pick up the story.
So, here we are in San Diego two days after Second Lady Usha Vance first appeared on You Tube with her first lengthy interview, and not a word about it can I find in local media. Other media outlets jumped on the story.
Interviewed by Meghan McCain, daughter of the late senator, this discussion carries more than passing interest to San Diegans, many of whom know Usha and her parents. She talks about her childhood in Rancho Penasquitos and her mother’s work at Scripps Institution and staying in touch with friends here from her childhood.
Much of the interview is devoted to her days at Yale, parenting, living in a two religion family (Hindu and Catholic), being a vegetarian and suddenly living in a bubble. She had five minutes to adjust to the news that her husband would be on the ticket. And she has embarked on a literacy campaign.
Those looking for a political spin on this will be hard-pressed, although the possibility of a former San Diegan becoming First Lady is briefly raised.
But it’s certainly a piece of interest to many in San Diego and especially the large Indian community here.
https://youtu.be/JwpR0yUWgvY?si=ORElFaVlt6zTxFYQ
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CARL LARSEN writes:
The national CBS Evening News ventured to Reber country of Ramona last night with this story that bears watching.
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REBER: Two members reported they did not receive the 919 Gang report I filed Thursday for Friday. Did anyone else have a problem?
Remember, you can always find the nightly report (thousands of them) on https://919gang.blogspot.com/