Dumb Crooks

Did these two guys really think they could get away with this? If in fact they did try to extort...Innocent until proven guilty.

LOS ANGELES - Two New York teenagers were in police custody Wednesday facing illegal computer access and attempted extortion charges after they allegedly threatened to shake down the popular Web site MySpace.com unless its operators paid them $150,000, prosecutors said.

Shaun Harrison, 18, and Saverio Mondelli, 19, of Suffolk County, N.Y. allegedly hacked into the social networking site and stole personal information from MySpace users. After MySpace booted them from the site, the pair threatened to distribute a foolproof method for stealing information unless MySpace paid them $150,000, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

Mondelli and Harrison were arrested Friday when they traveled to Los Angeles to allegedly collect the payoff. Instead, they were taken into custody by undercover officers from the multi-agency electronic crimes task force who posed as MySpace employees. Each was charged with two felony counts of illegal computer access and one count of sending a threatening letter for extortion and attempted extortion. They face more than four years in prison if convicted of all charges, prosecutors said. Mondelli and Harrison entered not guilty pleas at their arraignment Tuesday. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge set bail at $35,000 and set a preliminary hearing for June 5.

MySpace.com, owned by News Corp., allows users to post photos, blogs and journals and create networks of friends.

Ugh

ABC's Original Movie, Stephen King's Desperation, was a bust. I really can't think of anything good to say about it. In a way, it was entertaining, but it really didn't live up to all the hype, nor did it meet my high expectations. Another disappointing adaptation of a good book.

Red Light Cameras

With many cities adopting high-tech cameras to catch red light violators, the city I live in has also approved the measure. But many of this city's citizens (or red light violators) are up in arms about these new cameras and the way they are supposed to operate. I'm all for these cameras. I have never seen so many cars running red lights than in this city in my entire driving life. It really upsets me to see these jerks endangering the lives of other drivers. I hope these cameras will curb the number of cars going through red lights and deter these idiots before they kill or seriously injure someone. Kudos to the city.

Alligator Follow Up

Game wardens on Monday recovered a dead alligator from Lake Lewisville. NBC 5 reported that the reptile was sighted during the weekend in the Sunset Cove area of the lake. It was not immediately known what caused the animal's death.

Sounds suspicious to me.

Car Seat

I had to reconfigure Baby's car seat to a forward facing mode and it was a pain. You almost need to be a rocket scientist to follow the directions. But the mission was accomplished and Baby likes the new way she gets to ride in the car.

Pool

Baby is healthy again. Back to her rambunctious self. It's been really hot here lately so we bought her a little pool to cool off in. She loves to play with water so being in the pool is like fun time overload for her. She really gets upset when it's time to get out. There would be a nice little photo accompanying this entry but for some reason I can't upload a picture from my phone to Blogger. Stupid Cingular.

Alligator Alert

It's against the law to feed alligators in Texas. I had no idea.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- We are under an alligator alert, as game wardens are worried after several sightings around North Texas lakes -- the latest on the north side of Lake Lewisville. Home video shows a gator patrolling, and neighbors say he is in a cove every day now for the past week. While the reptile seems to stay in the water, residents are still concerned. "Relocate them to another lake where there's not as many families and kids. This is a neighborhood and there's a lot of kids swimming in there," Lake Lewisville resident Rita Greenslade said. The Texas Park and Wildlife Department usually leaves alligators alone unless they become aggressive. Game wardens are warning people not to feed the reptiles because it is dangerous and against the law. While alligators have injured 17 people in Texas in the past 15 years, game wardens say they are not normally aggressive.

I'm Beat

Baby has been sick the past few days with a stomach virus. She is getting better day by day but she seems to fuss more in the middle of the night. So, when it's two in the morning and Baby is crying and doesn't want Mom to comfort her, I get to jump in and hold her until she feels better and falls asleep. I walk around and sing and hum to Baby and when I think she's dozing off and I try to sit down with her, she starts crying again. As soon as I stand back up and walk around she stops crying. I can't set her down or sit down with her unless she is totally asleep. Go figure. But I'm just glad that she is getting better.

Hurry Up and Wait

Had to visit the hospital emergency room late last night with Baby. We arrived at 12:05 AM and left at 3:15 AM. The interview with the nurse upon arrival, then the attending physician checking Baby, then the injection of medication, and finally checking out, all took about 2o minutes. The rest of the time was spent waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Oh, and getting sleepy, too. Baby has a viral intestinal infection and seems to be doing fine now. We have to go see her pediatrician this afternoon as a follow-up, though. I only got about 1 hour of sleep last night so I'm buzzing right now on lots of caffeine, but I know I'll start to crash in a couple of hours. I don't think I'll be coming back to work today. ;-)

Dark Water

I just saw the Japanese original version (titled Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara) of the movie on cable and was much more impressed by it than the American remake. The original version was a little creepier and I thought the characters were more emotive and believable. Directed by Hideo Nakata, who also brought us Ringu, I think he did a much better job at bringing out the story and the underlying fear and terror than the American version. Watch it with the lights out.

When in Florida...

Don't cool off by dipping your feet in the river.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- They think they've got the right alligator -- the one that attacked and killed a woman who was out jogging in Florida this week. Wildlife officers on Saturday captured a 9 feet 6 inches long alligator under a bridge where the woman, Yovy Suarez Jimenez, was last seen. A spokeswoman for the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said two human arms were found inside the alligator's belly. Authorities still aren't sure how the attack took place. Witnesses had reported seeing a woman dangling her feet over the water's edge Tuesday, but no one saw an attack.

So True

Avoid Extreme G-Forces After a Big Breakfast

So Grammy winning Kelly Clarkson got to take a ride with the Navy's Blue Angels. I would love to have the opportunity to fly in a F/A-18 Hornet. That would be so cool. Way back when I was a kid, the Blue Angels were in town and I had an opportunity to take a flight but I ended up with the flu or something that weekend. I have never seen the Blue Angels in person but if I could get to Fort Worth, Texas this weekend I would make it a priority to see them. I have seen the Air Force's Thunderbirds in action and they put on an outstanding show, but I have always liked the Navy team better. I guess I'll just have to wait for them to come to my area of the world. Anyway, after Kelly's flight, she was proudly waving her air sickness bag in the air as she was disembarking. Still, I envy her for that opportunity.

I'm Done

With watching American Idol. Sure, everybody has their own tastes in music and singing but I thought Katharine would be the one to leave last night and not Chris. She was off key during both songs and even forgot some lyrics to one. She has a voice but she flubbed both of her performances. That's why my vote didn't go to her. Well, I'm guessing recording companies are definitely interested in Chris and he will have a rocking CD out soon. Which I bet will do better on the charts than this season's winner.

A Night At The Opera

Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Any way the wind blows

Even after almost 31 years, Bohemian Rhapsody by Freddie Mercury and Queen still rocks.

31 years? Boy, I feel oooold.

Posting Problems

Stupid Blogger. Stupid servers. Stupid MS IE 6.

Grilling

I was grilling hamburgers and hot dogs this evening. Everything was fine until I tried to be a showman and flipped a burger off the grill. Damn. But being the perfectionist that I am, I tried again and Shazam! I flipped another off the grill. Damn. My wife put a stop to that even though we had plenty to go around. I'm going to have to keep working on that when no one else is around.

Larson Come Back

I miss seeing new panels of the whacky humor of The Far Side comics.

Camel Spider

The local news had a story about a family discovering a camel spider in their home last night. Ugh! I had no idea that these things can be found in this area. Although they don't get as big as the ones in the Iraqi desert, those can get as big as a dinner plate, ours only grow to about the size of an adult's hand. But they still run fast, can jump, and they make a whistling sound. Although they are not poisonous or dangerous to humans, I still would not want to find one hiding in my closet. Or worse yet, one of them jumping and whistling or chasing me out of my closet!

Desperation : The Movie

Mark your calendars for Tuesday May 23. That's the day when ABC will broadcast the movie Desperation, based upon the Stephen King book. Apparently it started filming in 2004 and completed post production in 2005 but ABC held it for airing during the sweeps. I think the cast is pretty outstanding and I can already picture Ron Perlman as Sheriff Collie Entragian. Steven Weber who also stars in this movie was also in The Shining mini-series as Jack Torrance. Hey, it's even got the kid from E.T. and Annabeth Gish from "The X-Files". The movie was originally planned as a mini-series but ABC decided to make it a one night movie event. I hope they did justice to it because the book was pretty creepy and I have high hopes. But I've got 19 more days to wait it out.

Caught Red-Handed

EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- Border authorities inspecting a car crossing into the United States from Mexico uncovered an ordinary, but banned food item hiding in a strange place. Customs and Border Protection officers and agriculture agents searching a man's car Sunday found 2 pounds of raw pork sausage. The meat was wrapped in foil inside two disposable baby diapers. Bringing in pork is prohibited because the meat can harbor hog cholera. The 27-year-old Colorado man had told the Zaragoza Bridge inspectors he had no fruits, meat or plants to declare. Inspectors also found seven stalks of raw sugar cane, which is banned because it can carry a pest in its peel. Authorities seized the items and the man was fined $250, officials said.

Protests

I am all for immigration reform. I don't necessarily agree with all the points Congress is considering but it's a start. What bothers me is seeing some of these immigration protestors, both for and against, on the television and hearing some of their views. To me, some were right on the button and others were so far out in left field that it seemed they were uninformed or did not really understand the facts. Some comments even had the undertone of racism. And I guess that's what really bothers me in the end.

Tofu

I bought a case of tofu today. I make a soup using bonito and soy sauce and add cubed tofu and chopped green onions. Sometimes I'll add spinach or sliced mushrooms to the soup to make it more interesting. I buy the tofu at a little Japanese grocery store because they sell it for less than Walmart. Plus they have a lot of stuff that I like there that you can't find at other stores.

I saw a program last week on one of the Discovery channels that showed how tofu was made. I had no idea. Here's a FAQ on tofu that may or may not interest you.