Archive for Miscellany
I Mustafa Been Crazy
Posted by: | CommentsThe so called “Arab spring” had many of us glued to our cable news, like teenagers awaiting their next text message. The world marveled at the youth lead social media revolutions. Tunisia then Egypt then Syria then, whoops…Libya and Yemen.
Of course, not every micro-revolution went without a hitch. Libya got quite messy and it was only a matter of time before consequences could be felt here in America, even DuPont. As fast as a French led NATO airstrike, the third world spammers got to work. Battle weary, I was ready and waiting at my firewall.
The first salvo was delivered a couple weeks ago.
Date: Mon, 23 May 2011 23:59:19 +0300 [05/23/2011 01:59:19 PM PDT]
From: MUSTAFA GHERIANI [mustafagheriani@libya.gov.lbc]
To: Undisclosed Recipients
Reply-To: mustafagheriani@w.cn
Subject: REQUEST FOR URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL ASSISTANCE?
I am Mustafa Gheriani a security officer to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
I have interest investing in your country. I am seeking for any short term income generating investment.. I am willing to invest eight (8) Millions Dollars in 2years and also wishing to relocate abroad, I am relying on your assistance in achieving my desire. Please email,The demand is urgent.
Please if you are interested, contact me immediately!
Yours Sincerely
Mustafa Gheriani
Interested? Damn straight I am interested, partner. I jumped at the chance at this opportunity.
(notice that the “from” email domain appears to be in Libya while the expanded header reveals that the message is actually going to China. The .cn Domain Registry is part of The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) and was founded in 1997.)
Date: Mon, 23 May 2011 15:56:47 -0700 [05/23/2011 03:56:47 PM PDT]
From: admin
To: mustafagheriani@w.cn
Subject: Re: REQUEST FOR URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL ASSISTANCE?
How can we help?
By “we” I meant the whole DuPont community. Think of what $8 million could buy. Certainly that could carry us for at least 10 more years of debate and studies on where to build a skate park (or, skate spot if you prefer). I was awash with civic mindedness.
Two days later I got a reply to my Samaritan-esque offer.
Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 18:26:27 +0000 [05/25/2011 11:26:27 AM PDT]
From: Mustafa Gheriani
To: admin@realdupont.com
Subject: Thanks
Dear Sir/Madam
I am in receipt of your sent mail which is well noted by me, a lot of thanks for your concern in this transaction, please I am very sorry for invading your privacy. Like I said before, due to this issue on my hands now, it became necessary for me to seek your assistance, I appreciate the fact that you are ready to assist me in executing this project, and also to help me in investing my money in your country. You should not have anything to worry about. I will do everything legally required to ensure that the project goes smoothly.
But however having resolved to entrust this transaction into your hands, I want to remind you that, it needs your commitment and diligent follow up. If you work seriously, the entire transaction should be over in a couple of days.And I like us to continue this transaction via this e-mail account.
You should note that this project is highly capital intensive. This is why I have to be very careful. I need your total devotion and trust to see this through. Also I am very confident that we will be able to establish the necessary trust that we need to execute this project.
I will make arrangement on how the funds will be moved in your name as the beneficiary where you may be needed to sign paper for the release of the funds directly; this is the best way I recommend for this transaction
Before I commence, I will need you to send me a copy of any form your identification (Driver’s license or International passport) . I want to be sure that I am transacting with the correct person. As soon as I get these from you, I will commence the paper work. I hope you will understand why I need all these. The money in question is big and I want to ensure that I know you well before I proceed to give you all the details to commence the project.
Thanks for your corporation.
Mustafa Gheriani
Hmmmm. Good ole Mustafa took a page right out of my playbook by asking for a photo for identification. Driver’s license or passport? I got both.
My passport photo thankfully changed a couple years ago. It was a hindrance and I was glad to be rid of it. I made the foolish mistake of being photographed with a “look” that I found impractical to keep for ten years, yet I posed at Kinko’s for my headshot anyway. As a result of this photo I was subjected to extra scrutiny and scorn for the duration of my passport term. On a trip from London to Amsterdam, I was pulled from line where I and my luggage was thoroughly searched by any reasonable standard pre-9/11. Again, this search took place entering Amsterdam. I guess they didn’t believe I was going to visit Anne Frank’s house.
I nearly freed myself for the burdensome photo at Heathrow Airport a couple years later. I was returning from Detroit to London. Somehow, I had lost the passport from the control point to my luggage carousel. I looked in vain for about 20 minutes but had to catch a train home. Great, I thought. I am living abroad and now I have no passport. I called the U.S. Embassy and was instructed to come and get a new passport issued. By then, I had gotten a haircut and shaved to a goatee. I went to the nearest shop by my office that took passport photos (it happened to be in Stratford-upon-Avon) and finally got a photo I could live with…or so I thought.
New photos in hand, I took the afternoon off and returned to Mayfair in London, to the U.S. Embassy. I walked in and told the desk clerk that I had been instructed to get a new passport issued since I lost mine at the British Airways luggage carousel in Terminal Four. “Hold on” he said, “Sometimes they will be turned into lost and found.” He thumbed through a card file no bigger than you might keep clipped coupons and within five seconds gleefully said, “Here you go. A member of the flight staff turned it in. Saved you some trouble.”
Did it?
I got the passport for business travel, mind you. I traveled throughout Europe and part of the Muslim world on those credentials. When I readied for my first trip to China while at Intel, I was asked to provide my passport to an administrator who would send it to obtain the proper visa. Well, evidently, the photo was too titillating for her to keep to herself and my passport was passed around a conference room at a General Manager’s staff meeting. Snickers and giggles aside, the Chinese passport control agents were none too thrilled with it either. The checker would look at the photo, look at me, and look at the photo again, all without saying a word. Finally, he would stare at me blankly and stamp it, waving me through.
I digress.
There was no way in hell that I was going to send a copy of my passport to someone trying to flee Libya, even if it is make believe. No. He will get a driver’s license photo, which in this country is nearly as good as a birth certificate.
I sent him this reply with this photo:
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 10:18:31 -0700 [05/26/2011 10:18:31 AM PDT]
From: admin
To: Mustafa Gheriani
Subject: Re: Thanks
Here is the photo you requested. It is valid to buy liquor in all 50 states and is issued in the same state where President Obama has a birth certificate, thus ensuring its authenticity.
What is next?
I am so confused. Is he in Libya? Is he in China? You would think with all of the pirated copies of SuperBad my ruse would be exposed, but evidently it was not.
Date: Fri, 27 May 2011 00:18:31 +0000 [05/26/2011 05:18:31 PM PDT]
From: Mustafa Gheriani
To: admin@realdupont.com
Subject: My arrangement
Dear friend,
Thank you for your message and your information I received today,. I read your massages today because too many bombing yesterday and no satellite internet network were working except today. Communication came back. Please let me know what agreement and send me the agreement to me now. so I agreed with it.
I have no time again. So I can make preparation for moving it out of my country on Sunday. The company take this money to Egypt and they move it to France or Spain, you know American government refuse money from Libya to everywhere .You tell me if I can send it to France or Spain and you meet with the people there and in Europe tell the people to make arrangement to move from there to your country, I am moving this funds with the highest contact through a special diplomatic channel I can have now, we can not do anything now in Libya this is the only means to move this funds, I might lost the funds if I keep wasting time, this is all I have now, there is too much problem in my country right now. I was introduced to by a diplomat who works in Tripoli on how I can move funds through diplomats.
I will update with the arrangement, as I have start making plans today. This fund will be package and cast in safe deposit box register as consignment vault arrangement this is the safest means via a diplomatic means to avoid inspection, you will only demand for the claim of the trunk box. I will send you the unlocked pin code to unlocked the consignment after the clearance, you are going to received the money in cash, this was the only save and direct means to get the funds to you ,this is a every confidential and save means. I am begging that this is my life; I put my future and hope on this deposit as i want to invest this funds.
Regards
Mustafa Gheriani.
I like the salutation Dear Friend. Sure, it is someone who probably wants to scam me out of my bank information, but we can at least remain civil. Plus, I, too, am taking a liking to Mustafa. Friends do not seem out of the realm of possibility. Imagine if I started my three minutes before speaking to council about an issue by prefacing it with Dear Friend(s), I might be able to get them to like me too.
Should I ask for Mustafa’s photo? Naw, that scared my last scammer friend away.
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 20:41:10 -0700 [05/26/2011 08:41:10 PM PDT]
From: admin
To: Mustafa Gheriani
Subject: Re: My arrangement
I understand and will await further direction.
Regards,
Dang. I always seem to do something that scares them away. All I want is a friend where I can love them and squeeze them and call them George. Well, if he thinks that I am going to just sit around my email account waiting for him to feel like writing me back then he has another thing coming.
Date: Mon, 30 May 2011 10:29:47 -0700 [05/30/2011 10:29:47 AM PDT]
From: admin
To: Mustafa Gheriani
Subject: Re: My arrangement
Mustafa,
I have not heard from you regarding this matter. I hope you are in good health.
Regards,
I couldn’t stay mad. Besides, maybe there were network problems with all the mayhem and chaos and airstrikes.
Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 16:33:18 +0000 [05/31/2011 09:33:18 AM PDT]
From: Mustafa Gheriani
To: admin@realdupont.com
Subject: Final arrangement
Dear Friend,
Thanks for all your effort and patience to assist in this transaction, it is not been an easy job since it was difficult to move the funds out through a bank transfer as restriction and embargo has been placed by the international community I need to move this funds by all mean or else I will lost the funds here there way things are going, remember that most of our money here is not also kept in the bank because of the past government policy which will come to an end soon because the outside world no longer support this government.
I have been to move these funds through the help of diplomatic channel to their own security and Vault Company in Europe, I will get the full contact by tomorrow so that you can contact the firm and ask them to deliver the funds to through the same means, but I know them have office in Malaysia, if you want to travel to Europe or Malaysia or you instruct they to move it directly to you in your country, if possible let me know which of this procedures to get this funds to you if best to your interest.
Please, read the mail carefully and understand, if any question you can ask me.
Thanks very much for all your support.
Mustafa Gheriani.
Thankfully, he was ok. I guess pretending to be building a huge banking transaction and not have it sound like an internet ponzi scheme is hard work. Well, I work too, pal.
To be honest, I could hardly make heads or tails of what was really expected of me. Vaults and diplomats and embargoes. It all sounds important just as it sounds like complete gibberish. I think this guy has seen one too many episodes of the Beverly Hillbillies. Rubes like this can’t exist.
By now, my heart isn’t in it and I am growing bored with this scam that plays like a Beckett play. Maybe Godot never arrives and neither does my money.
Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 22:03:06 -0700 [05/31/2011 10:03:06 PM PDT]
From: admin
To: Mustafa Gheriani
Subject: Re: Final arrangement
Based on geography, Malaysia via Hong Kong is better for my travel. However, I can also travel to Europe but will require more connecting flights. My preference is to travel Asia on Asian airline since American carriers have stringent security.
I will await your next instruction.
Allah Akbar!
So that is where it stands and I suspect that I have heard the last of Mustafa. Perhaps he was maimed in an airstrike or perhaps he bought a bootleg couple of Superbad. Either case would be equally sad, if it was true.
Remember: It isn’t a lie if you believe it.
Lamenting the Loss of an Institution: Home Town Clipper Folds
Posted by: | CommentsLate last week rumors began to circulate, and later they were confirmed, that the Home Town Clipper would cease publication with the June issue. While I am sure that this is a surprise to many, it should not be. The cost of producing anything in print continues to increase while Americans have shifted the way they get their information to electronic media.
The competition for advertisers is fierce in the newspaper marketplace, especially among the major newspapers, smaller market papers can sometimes find a niche and remain self sufficient and vital. It is hard to say whether this was the case with the Home Town Clipper, but from the beginning we all should have known that this wasn’t publisher Rick Beaver’s primary business. The humble beginning of the Clipper was that of advertising Home Town Services and the associated carpet cleaning business. The handout; later, newsletter; later, pamphlet; later, newspaper was born into a community hungery for information. Beaver rode the wave.
The Clipper plugged the hole by providing news about DuPont’s growth, politics, community members’ activities and accomplishments, businesses, and military families. In a way, we are back to where we were at the beginning of Northwest Landing.
It is sad to see the Clipper leave us but understandable considering Rick Beaver’s last sentence of this send off letter, “[D]ue to personal reasons and health issues in my family, it’s time to say good bye. Thank you!” I know from experience that if your heart or head isn’t into it, then it is time to walk away.
DuPont is left to pick of the pieces of how they will carry on and get their information. A large tract of land still needs to be developed and a major decision is expected soon on the proposed mine expansion. There are more residents than ever who will be searching to find out what is happening when, where, or even why. A feeling of dread crept over me when I heard the news of the last issue. This web site, the Clipper, and any other collection of sources of information were created because of the fact that the City of DuPont is notoriously crappy about getting information out to its citizens. They still cling to the methods used in the Village (now, Historic Village) of expecting the couple hundred people to come to meetings and find out for themselves or tell their neighbors.
That is great expect for the fact that DuPont is no longer a village with less than a dozen streets and all houses are a couple hundred feet from City Hall, at its farthest. Since that model was established DuPont was the fastest growing community in Pierce County and now the housing construction is nearly complete, maxing out our population at about 8,000 soon to be ill informed residents. While it isn’t the City of DuPont’s responsibility to publish a newspaper, they should provide information to the citizens. To that end, they have all but surrendered. There is a crappy Friday Letter that regurgitates the City Administrator’s junk mail pile, and is there even a LISTSERV anymore? We have a reader board with the capacity of Twitter but only with weekly, manual updates. You get the point, whatever sources the city is employing it doesn’t really provide much insight to matters of city business.
The City of DuPont’s foray into electronic media is best summarized by it outdated and largely useless web page. That same lack of attention to detail is evident in the city’s Facebook page and Twitter account.
I am also sure there are a few at City Hall, and a couple council people come to mind, who are probably dancing on the streets (Kincaid, McNeil?) over the news that their activities will no longer be memorialized in newsprint. They are the shiny happy people who choose to arrange deck chairs rather than confront the iceberg just off of starboard. Or, those poor souls who felt that the Home Town Clipper wouldn’t give the city a fair break. Yes, I said they felt that the Clipper would not give them a fair break. Perhaps, due to their audacity, to reprint council meeting summaries or report on proposed tax levies, or other crimes and misdemeanors.
We will also lack a news source of achievement of locals who received scholarships, traveled the world for humanitarian missions, or who may have even captured a trophy for their work golf league. (Ahem.) Not to mention profiles of potential candidates for mayor and council. Yes, dancing in the streets.
Gone is the ability for local business to advertise to the community they serve. This isn’t just the bricks and mortar buildings in town, but the handymen, painters, babysitters, and other home businesses, much like Home Town Services. If you don’t think those little ads you see matter, I am here to tell you otherwise. After a feature article in the Clipper, and then later some advertising, my readership increased considerably. More than I could have mustered on my own without considerable cost. Small newspapers are a community service.
Just when you may think that I will accept the challenge of picking up some of the slack from the departed Home Town press, I won’t. Like Rick Beaver, it isn’t my primary mission and my heart isn’t in to it. I do not care about military life, nature walks, 12 and under sports, or Zumba classes; nor will I pretend that I do. Besides, clipping out an article about those returning from deployment or little Johnny’s first home run just doesn’t carry the same cultural weight when printing it from a web site. The times, they are a changing.
Good bye, Home Town Clipper. You will be missed, unfortunately in ways we will yet to know.
Tammy and Krystlyn Are Here, Sort of
Posted by: | CommentsAbout a month ago I reported the departure of Great Clips from the space between Starbucks and Domino’s Pizza. Now it appears that the space will once again host a salon, but whether it is as family-centric remains to be seen.
What is in a name? The last tenant was perhaps hyperbolic in declaring Great Clips, but the replacement’s name is vexing. The sign on the door declares “Christine Dior Hair Salon.” Was it meant to be cheeky or a bit of trickery? Perhaps it will be like a knock off purse or bottle of Eau de Toilette as advertised on the internet. At least it didn’t say Saloon, though some would welcome that to town as well.
I guess we will have to wait to see what we have once the wrapping comes down.
RealDuPont TV Presents…Day 2
Posted by: | CommentsRealDuPont TV Presents…Day 1
Posted by: | CommentsI was surfing YouTube the other day, getting my fill of British comedy, when I happened upon a show similar to E!’s Talk Soup. There are many similar shows airing in the UK as there is here and certainly no shortage of reality TV. They have Wife Swap, Big Brother, and other familiar titles appearing nightly. What you might not expect to see broadcast here is the “docutainment” of Muslim Driving School.
The more I watched the more riveted I became in the quest for these women to obtain a driver’s license. When I lived in England passing the driver’s test was a long, drawn out ordeal. It was rare that people passed on their first try. It is not like obtaining a license in the US where having a pulse and enough money to pay the fee are all that is required. In England, you are judged on such matters as what gear you had the car in as you entered a roundabout.
Here is installment one of three of Muslim Driving School.
Feliz Cinco de Mayo
Posted by: | CommentsFeliz Cinco de Mayo.
El banco de la comunidad en DuPont Washington celebra el cinco de mayo diario.
Estas vacaciones, como el día de San Patricio, ha sido usurpado y parece más importante y más célebre en Estados Unidos que su nación de origen.
Muy similar a víspera de Todos los Santos, el quinto de mayo es un bonaza de marketing para fabricantes de cerveza y compañías de tentempiés. Los salas de fiestas, las barras, y los restaurantes todo ve el valor a promover una vacaciones que las personas mexicanas que sí mismos consideran son secundarios.
¿En cuanto al cajero automático en la Comunidad Primero? Bien, acaba de esperar que unos pocos segundos y la pantalla salpicarán atrás a su inglés más familiar.
¡Viva RealDuPont!
Gracias a Google Translate para la conversión de prueba Inglés al Español.
Great Clips Cut and Run
Posted by: | Comments
Great Clips moved out of DuPont on Saturday, April 30th after normal business hours. Great Clips is the latest business to fail in DuPont since the central business district was created. A sign was posted on the door directing former patrons to Lacey.
There is no word on when the vacant space will be occupied by another nail salon. If you would like to wager a guess please send the day, month, and year to the community development director.
Et tu, Billy Jack?
Posted by: | CommentsCould it be that folk hero of early 1970s cinema, Billy Jack, has come to town to help with the re-negotiation of the 1994 Agreement? If so, he may need to know that he left his hat in the parking lot of America’s Credit Union.
Imagine if we had this sort of righteous indignation in town, willing to put his right foot upside the head of those in charge. It could change the course of the conversations about yellow curb parking, cracking sidewalks, the sign code, and of course, punching a hole in the Vashon aquifer in order to harvest gravel.
Back to reality, we simply don’t settle things in this fashion any more. It would be compromise and working toward consensus. Everyone would have to feel good about the outcome and no foot prints would be left on anyone’s cheek. There would be no bad theme song to inspire us nor would there be a sequel. Nope, what we see is what we get.
If Billy Jack were to come to DuPont Washington today he would be seeking to side with the guys in the ice cream shop or city park in the name of salmon recovery.
Andy Estep Speaks Rhetorically to DuPont City Council
Posted by: | CommentsAfter the Council debate over the city funding “donation” (in exchange for levy support) of the Steilacoom High School reader board, citizen comments was next on the agenda. Andy Estep spoke briefly regarding 1994 Settlement Agreement revision.
Bear in mind that Mr. Estep just sat through the spirited and somewhat passionate discussion regarding child safety, lunatics roaming the streets of Lakewood, and adherence to the DuPont Strategic Plan. It was a plea to talk about real city business, if only for a few minutes.
We have been hearing for months about the MOU and the proposed revision to the 1994 Settlement Agreement and council is being asked a rather simple question regarding their vote on the proposal. Will they consider citizen input, as you would assume, since they are elected representatives of the people of DuPont. Of course, there may be a minority of council members who mistakenly believe that they were elected to govern based on their wisdom and what they consider is best for the city of DuPont. The former method would require canvassing a wide cross-section of citizens for their opinions and concerns; while the latter would require a vote based on their own will; perhaps from prayer, an Ouija board, or several gin and tonics.
Only they know how to breathe from within a vacuum.
The mayor promised that the legislative process that will be used by council will be posted on the city web site, but to date there is nothing as described by her request online. However, since no agreement has been presented to the city, we will just have to wait.
However, I will offer this space to council so that they may solicit their input on the matter. Interested council members can submit to me their written opinions, illustrative materials, and interpretation of the revised agreement. The pay off would be the direct feedback of the five people who still read this site.
Happy Easter 2011
Posted by: | CommentsDuring the course of maintaining this website I happen upon a myriad of photos. I originally had no photos in the very beginning of RealDuPont but soon realized that adding a picture here and there added visual relief to sometimes long and rambling streams of consciousness. Later, I learned that a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, and editorially speaking, they help drive home a point. That point can be enhanced through images that provoke thought or highlight absurdity.
Not all photos fit all situations, however. Some are close, but too abstract. Some are too straightforward and obvious. However, some are just too interesting or compelling to leave online. Often, I find myself collecting images for future use. More often than not, that day never comes. They tend to sit in folders on my hard drive collecting binary dust. Even those images shelved and seemingly forgotten are one of thousands of images available at anytime online.
For instance, if I am writing about sidewalks cracking I may have thirty images from which to choose that I have downloaded for illustration purposes. None may be used or some may be used. It depends where the writing goes and whether or not it can fit the story being told.
In the case of Easter, I have found several that I have saved over the years. All of them acquired months and months ago, squirreled away for use when appropriate. I usually forget about them and they sit idle. Well, not today. Today is the appropriate day for use (mostly). So enjoy your Easter holiday from RealDuPont.
