This evening I came home to see a police car parked two houses down. A little inquiry with neighbors revealed that there had been a break-in in the house across where the police car was parked. It might have been a insider’s job, so the theory went.
Safe world we live in, no?
I watched on TV last night about the San Jose ATM skimming case. A lot of people’s money was stolen when they used their ATM cards at a San Jose Archo gas station. The ATMs there had been hacked to swipe the card info and PIN. The thieves then used a cloned card to withdraw money from bank ATMs.
I saw the TV news report and thought that was the end of it. Today I learned that a colleague lost a few hundred dollars from this scam. Luckily his bank provides a fraud prevention program, and he would be getting his money back.
This morning I landed in SFO today after a 3-week stay in Asia. Compared to previous years, a lot has happened in the world while I was away from home (and a broadband connection to blog about it).
Firstly, the Taiwan diplomatic scandal broke news while I was in Taiwan for my 8-day tour. Every local news channel covered it in detail as fresh details were uncovered each day.
Then the news stations switched focus to the Myanmar cyclone disaster. When I first skimped the coverage, I didn’t think much of it because I was still busy enjoying my Taiwan vacation. I only realized the magnitude when I got back to Singapore and followed the news in detail.
I thought my 2008 vacation had already beaten my 2004 one during which a massive tsunami hit much of Asia. Unfortunately no. The world’s attention quickly shifted to China as the 8.0 earthquake hit Sichuan (四川). For the next few days in Singapore until I took off for airport, I followed the local news coverage of the quake and watched the death toll climb. I remembered seeing pictures of kids who survived but lost their family. I also remembered the story of a teacher who shielded 4 students with his body - the students survived but the teacher did not.
Now that I am back in Bay Area, I am disappointed that tonight’s TV news report only briefly covered Myanmar cyclone and Sichan earthquake. But then this is the US media.
I know that by now the Virginia Tech massacre is not news anymore, nor am I blogging about it as such. I am blogging about it because I want to record it here.
New Zealand is a beautiful country, or so I have heard from friends and seen on film (The Lord of the Rings). While researching the country, I came across a Wikipedia link that caught my interest: Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. The title sounded like that of a espionage film, so I took a peak.
What can I say, dirty politics knows no geographical bounds. If you don’t know about this little historical event dated in 1985, I suggest you read the article too.
A friend of mine in Singapore just got into a car accident. It was indirectly caused by an inconsiderate jerk who parked his car illegally. Worse yet, that guy even shouted at my friend and told him off.
Even though this shite didn’t happen to me directly, I couldn’t help but feel the anger that my friend must have felt at the time. Is it just me, or is it that the more human interactions I inevitably have as I live my life, the more disappointed I am with human nature and where it’s heading? No wonder everyone is so angry nowadays.
I have been having a “filter” thought for a while now. It’s very extreme, but hey, I am not in a calm and peaceful place.
Watch this video and decide about Jiffy Lube yourself:
I have experienced this kind of scam before, though I have no proof of it. A few years back I used to bring my old second-hand car to Firestone Tire and Service Centers on El Camino for routine maintenance. Then one day I brought the car to another mechanic for some brake work, but the mechanic there told me that the wheel nuts were rusted in, which was very surprising because I just had tire rotations done at Firestone Tire and Service Centers a few weeks ago.
<singlish>Like that how to trust?!</singlish>
I was driving home this evening when I heard over radio about the fatal hit-and-run incident at Fremont, CA. Little did I know at the time that the driver was also suspected of injuring 13 others in San Francisco. Apparently this guy just returned from Afghanistan and was claimed by his attorney and relatives to be mental.
This turned out to be more than an unrelated tragedy.