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9 June 2005

PayPal - Protect Yourself from Fraudulent Emails

PayPal - Protect Yourself from Fraudulent Emails

10 ways to recognize fake (spoof) emails

1. Generic greetings. Many spoof emails begin with a general greeting, such as: "Dear PayPal member." If you do not see your first and last name, be suspicious and do not click on any links or button.
2. A fake sender's address. A spoof email may include a forged email address in the "From" field. This field is easily altered.
3. A false sense of urgency. Many spoof emails try to deceive you with the threat that your account is in jeopardy if you don't update it ASAP. They may also state that an unauthorized transaction has recently occurred on your account, or claim PayPal is updating its accounts and needs information fast.
4. Fake links. Always check where a link is going before you click. Move your mouse over it and look at the URL in your browser or email status bar. A fraudulent link is dangerous. If you click on one, it could:
* Direct you to a spoof website that tries to collect your personal data.
* Install spyware on your system. Spyware is an application that can enable a hacker to monitor your actions and steal any passwords or credit card numbers you type online.
* Cause you to download a virus that could disable your computer.
5. Emails that appear to be websites. Some emails will look like a website in order to get you to enter personal information. PayPal never asks for personal information in an email.
6. Deceptive URLs. Only enter your PayPal password on PayPal pages. These begin with https://www.paypal.com/
* If you see an @ sign in the middle of a URL, there's a good chance this is a spoof. Legitimate companies use a domain name (e.g. https://www.company.com).
* Even if a URL contains the word "PayPal," it may not be a PayPal site. Examples of deceptive URLs include: www.paypalsecure.com, www.paypa1.com, www.secure-paypal.com, and www.paypalnet.com.
* Always log in to PayPal by opening a new web browser and typing in the following: https://www.paypal.com/
* Never log in to PayPal from a link in an email
7. Misspellings and bad grammar. Spoof emails often contain misspellings, incorrect grammar, missing words, and gaps in logic. Mistakes also help fraudsters avoid spam filters.
8. Unsafe sites. The term "https" should always precede any website address where you enter personal information. The "s" stands for secure. If you don't see "https," you're not in a secure web session, and you should not enter data.
9. Pop-up boxes. PayPal will never use a pop-up box in an email as pop-ups are not secure.
10. Attachments. Like fake links, attachments are frequently used in spoof emails and are dangerous. Never click on an attachment. It could cause you to download spyware or a virus. PayPal will never email you an attachment or a software update to install on your computer.

8 June 2005

City Journal Spring 2005 | What’s Holding Black Kids Back? by Kay S. Hymowitz

City Journal Spring 2005 | What’s Holding Black Kids Back? by Kay S. Hymowitz:

"Forty years after the War on Poverty began, about 30 percent of black children are still living in poverty. Those children face an even chance of dropping out of high school and, according to economist Thomas Hertz, a 42 percent chance of staying in the lowest income decile—far greater than the 17 percent of whites born at the bottom who stay there. After endless attempts at school reform and a gazillion dollars’ worth of what policymakers call “interventions,” just about everyone realizes—without minimizing the awfulness of ghetto schools—that the problem begins at home and begins early. Yet the assumption among black leaders and poverty experts has long been that you can’t expect uneducated, highly stressed parents, often themselves poorly reared, to do all that much about it. Cosby is saying that they can."

Are Meetings Collaborative? - Collaboration Loop

Are Meetings Collaborative? - Collaboration Loop:

"In researching 'effective meetings' and 'why are meetings necessary', it was found that most thinking reinforced the HR approach. The majority of reports I read suggested ways to 'run more effective meetings', but they didn't address why you need meetings, when you need meetings and what purpose a meeting has in support of the work environment and/or the work process. In no place did I find an argument for defining the need for meetings to support the process, nor did I find a logical idea connecting effective collaboration as an alternative to information sharing at a meeting."

Harvard’s Diversity Grovel

Heather Mac Donald.
Harvard’s Diversity Grovel
In earmarking $50 million for “diversity,” President Summers is throwing away more than money. | 3 June 2005

Every such “diversity” initiative immediately faces two major obstacles. First, its purpose is to recommend the identical set of actions that the institution, whether academic or corporate, has already been doing. Every college in the country has been frantically pursing “diversity” in hiring and admissions for decades. The task force itself commends the diversity policies of 17 rival colleges—the mere tip of the iceberg—without drawing the obvious conclusion.

The second obstacle follows from the first: there is nothing more that can be done. If untapped pools of highly qualified female and minority candidates existed out there, schools would have snapped them up long ago—if not your college, then its dozens of competitors, just as desperate to placate the quota gods. (The one course of action that might, in the case of black and Hispanic faculty recruitment, bear long-term results is the one that elite college personnel are least likely to choose: intensive mentoring of young students and the jettisoning of all “progressive” pedagogy in the schools.)

Tech Coast

Tech Coast:

"Why on earth would anyone need three blogs, let alone one? (It's important to remember that many people, if they know about blogs at all, still see bloggers as suffering from a peculiar blend of folly, arrogance, and narcissism.) I think the logic comes down to this: blogs are inherently personal, and we inhabit more than one persona as we move through our days. To the extent that blogging is becoming an important mode of self-expression and social interaction, therefore, we need a separate blog for each of our personae."

7 June 2005

Edsger Dijkstra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edsger Dijkstra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Quotes: Edsger Dijkstra

* 'The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.'

* 'Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.'

[edit]

"

Planning for Freedom - Mises Institute

Planning for Freedom - Mises Institute:

"The term “planning” is mostly used as a synonym for socialism, communism, and authoritarian and totalitarian economic management. Sometimes only the German pattern of socialism—Zwangswirtschaft—is called planning, while the term socialism proper is reserved for the Russian pattern of outright socialization and bureaucratic operation of all plants, shops, and farms."

Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774–2004 - Mises Institute

Ten Recurring Economic Fallacies, 1774–2004 - Mises Institute:

"As an American historian who knows something of economic law, having learned from the Austrians, I became intrigued with how the United States had remained prosperous, its economy still so dynamic and productive, given the serious and recurring economic fallacies to which our top leaders (political, corporate, academic) have subscribed and from which they cannot seem to free themselves—and alas, keep passing down to the younger generation.

Let’s consider ten.

"

Welcome to Idealist.org - Where the Nonprofit World Meets

Welcome to Idealist.org - Where the Nonprofit World Meets

A Mapuche community in southern Argentina has received the first radio license ever granted to an indigenous group in the country. The station�part of a fledgling volunteer-run, indigenous community radio network�was set up with the help of Italian and Argentine NGOs, and seeks to reach not only the Mapuche community, but the Argentine public at large.

Podcasters Tune into Apple

Podcasters Tune into Apple

Podcasting is a relatively new phenomenon, where people create short audio programs and make them available for downloading on an iPod or other digital music device. Podcast programs are usually topic based, say, about cooking or sports. Others are downloadable versions of traditional ("terrestrial") radio programs. A growing community of podcast directories has emerged, giving people an easy way to find various programs.

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