I’ve got just one place I go for all my weather information: The National Weather Service.
This is such a good source for weather information in the U.S. that some have tried to limit the services they provide to the public.
Writings
Awhile back, I sold and purchased a few items via eBay and PayPal. OK, a long while back — before they merged, in fact. So I’ve had accounts on both systems for a long time which I have rarely used since their creation. To the point where I had almost forgotten I had them, really.
Recently I received a payment to my PayPal account from a random user. WTF? Before I could take any action, I also started getting direct e-mail messages from the buyer and seller accusing me of being a criminal. I didn’t want to deal with this, and I didn’t want to become a victim of fraud myself, so I dusted off my PayPal login to make everything right.
But PayPal wouldn’t let me make it right. Because the buyer had filed a claim against me I was unable to refund their money. Again, WTF? I tried to cancel my account. Again, because of the unresolved dispute, I was unable to do that. Huh? Thank You PayPal.
Unable to make it right myself, I decided to let the dispute run its course so I could then cancel the account. Wrong choice. I started to get additional payments from other buyers. Fortunately, I kept on top of the new payments and was able to cancel them immediately.
The seller had apparently given my e-mail address in several of their eBay auctions, so the buyers were unintentionally sending me their money. This could have been an honest mistake on the seller’s part, as our e-mail addresses are very close in spelling. With my refunds, I was able to include a note. I stated that the buyers should contact the seller immediately because of the incorrect e-mail address. That seemed to put an end to the harassing e-mail messages accusing me of criminal activity.
I was not thrilled about the prospect of checking this account multiple times a day until the dispute was resolved so I could cancel any new transactions, hoping I did not receive any more disputes in the interim. My only recourse was to call PayPal directly and request they make it right. That should be easy, right?
I called PayPal support and got through to a live person by hitting zero through the menus because none of the options really fit my situation. After explaining the details of my predicament, I was told that I would have to wait for the dispute to end before I could log back in to the Web site to cancel my account. I put my foot down. I demanded that the account be canceled immediately and that all money be returned immediately. I explained that I wanted to avoid the very likely situation where I continued to receive payments and disputes to the point that I would never be able to cancel the account myself. That’s why I was calling, so I wanted resolution now.
After being placed on hold for about 2-3 minutes, I was then told that the account had a $10 positive balance and it would take up to 180 days for me to receive my check. I advised them I did not care about the $10, just please cancel my account and make sure I receive no more payments. I explained that I did not want to log in to this account again. I wanted it canceled, disabled and defunct NOW. I was told this would be done within the next hour.
The very next day, yet another rogue payment showed up on my PayPal account. Yeah, they did not cancel my account after the phone call despite my explicit request and their assurance that this would happen. It was still in the same state as it was prior to my calling, except that the dispute had been resolved. That, at least, allowed me to log in, cancel the last rogue payment, then start the cancellation process. Oh yes, there was a process.
Since I still had that $10 positive balance, and I did not have payment information on file (thank goodness, lest the account get compromised), I had to give them a valid CC number or bank account in order to close the account. I understand they wanted to make sure to identify me as the owner of the account, but for $10? There should have been an option to disable the account and forfeit the balance, but there wasn’t.
To make sure I minimized my risk, I used my credit card’s online account number generator to generate a one-time account number to give PayPal so I could cancel my account. I put a dollar limit on that account number of $10, and an expiration of 2 months. I was then, finally, able to cancel my account. Whew.
The moral of this little tale? If you have any accounts on systems which take or make payments and you have let those accounts languish, stop reading this entry now and go cancel them. I mean it. I’ll wait for you to get back. Do it right now.
There, are you done? Good. Unless you plan on actively using these services, it is a good idea to not sign up for them in the first place. I thought, at the time, I was going to become a small-time eBay seller. I had various electronic items I was going to sell and I did sell a few things at first. After a time, however, I found it was more trouble than it was worth for me. My only mistake was keeping these accounts around “just in case” I needed them in the future.
Coda: a couple of days after canceling my PayPal account, I received an e-mail stating that someone was trying to send me a payment. It stated I should sign up for a PayPal account so I could receive it. No Thank You PayPal. I’ll pass.
The Astronomy Picture Of the Day Web site literally digs into the vast archives of astronomy-related imagery and selects one photo to present every day. In addition to providing awesome desktop backgrounds, there is a small paragraph with each photo explaining exactly what you are seeing and providing links which let you dig deeper into the concepts behind the photo.
While I don’t select every day’s photo to add to my background collection, I do take the time to read the descriptions of every photo presented. I keep up to date by using their RSS feed.
I started out listening to Slacker Astronomy, an excellent podcast which gives an entertaining presentation of some of the latest news and events in astronomy. When one of the main characters, Dr. Pamela Gay moved on, however, I had a tough decision to make with my limited podcast listening time.
I ended up subscribing to Astronomy Cast because it mixes in the fundamental concepts of astronomy with some of the latest developments and still maintains a light attitude that makes it an enjoyable listen.
Astronomy Cast is a good place to start if you are new to the topic. Over time, as I learn more from Astronomy Cast, I may “graduate” back to Slacker Astronomy for more up to the minute news.
Then again, maybe I should drop one of my other podcasts so I can listen to both of these. . .
P.S. The most recent (as of this writing) episode of Astronomy Cast The Moon: Part 2 was full of information about the exploration of our nearest celestial neighbor. My favorite link was to the recent Selene mission conducted by JAXA, the Japanese space program. They have a lot of high-definition photos which make great desktop backgrounds for your computer!
A topic of conversation at the VUG after-meeting was “good local places to
eat.” Here’s my short list of favorites:
- J. Benjamin’s
- Cactus Bob’s
- Pagliai’s Pizza (NOTE: this map shows several locations. Their Web site, however, shows only Johnston and Grinell)
- Crave Italian American
Tired programmer Coding late into the night The core dump follows
Even when I get a back log of podcasts and have to decide which ones to delete, every episode of this podcast stays in the queue.
Dan and Fab have a solid format wherein they cover new releases of Open Source software (mostly Linux distros), recent tech news headlines (including Microwatch), in depth Linux distro reviews and listener feedback (with Dan’s hilarious attempts at various accents from around the world).
Dan and Fab have a great rapport which makes every episode a fun listen that is also full of good content. If you want to keep on top of what’s going on with Linux and Open Source software, download a couple of episodes and give Linux Outlaws a try.
Use Quicktime player’s A/V controls to set the playback speed to 2x. Just pay attention, because it goes fast!
Over this past weekend, Lori and I took this trip and stopped over in Sparta, WI for one night and Gays Mills, WI for two nights, then back home.
In Sparta, WI, we stayed at the wonderful Franklin Victorian Bed and Breakfast. We’ve stayed there before, but we tried a new room this time — the Franklin Suite. We had an excellent stay and recommend this B&B to anyone.
In Gays Mills (actually, half way between there and Soldier’s Grove), we stayed at The Inn at Lonesome Hollow. This was quite the find, and I hesitate to mention it here for fear that it will become too busy 😉
Lonesome Hollow is tucked back in a small valley of its own, and really gives you the feel of being secluded. I wish we had stayed longer so we could hike and explore around more of the acreage.
While we were in the Gays Mills area, we visited several apple orchards. Most of them were very commercial and easy to find, so they don’t warrant mention here. If you want to go off the beaten path to an orchard with more of a family farm appeal, check out Turkey Ridge Organic Orchard. Here is a write-up with some info about the orchard. Here is a map of the location. We didn’t buy a lot, but the apples were delicious, the cider tasty and the people working there were very friendly.
My only regret is that we didn’t take gobs of photos. I’ve gotten out of the habit of taking photos and need to re-acquire this important skill for trips like this.
Here are a few more maps:
- The route we took to visit orchards on Friday. This starts at the Franklin Victorian in Sparta, WI and ends at the Inn at Lonesome Hollow in Soldiers Grove, WI.
- The scenic road trip we took Saturday. The next two routes are more detailed maps of the two side trips we took around Ontario, WI.
- Route we took Saturday through Wildcat State Park.
- Route we took Saturday through the Amish area just West of Ontario, WI.
At the Central Iowa Linux User’s Group meeting this Wednesday (10/15), the theme is “Linux Gaming.” I intend to demo the Linux Gamers Live DVD on an older AMD 2 GHz box I have.
The problem with that? I need a better video card, more RAM and to download the bootable iso! The on-board SIS video sucks for gaming, the system has only 512 MB of RAM installed, and I deleted my copy of the iso file a couple of weeks ago, thinking I wouldn’t need it. . .
I managed to purchase an ATI Radeon X1550 this afternoon, so that’s one thing off the list. I’m downloading the 3+ GB iso image as I type this. The only thing left is the RAM. I went to two local computer shops today and neither had the RAM I need (either PC2100, PC2700 or PC3200). I’ve got one more local shop to check tomorrow.
Wish me luck.