FYI: Phishing related to BOA
Check the picture below. It is a screen shot of an email I got couple of days ago. If you have a Bank of America (BOA) account, this might look familiar. Notice the email address of the sender, it’s a Phishing email. I nearly fell for it, especially when it looks exactly as BOA email (banners and logo). When I clicked on the link “Please Upgrade Your Information”, it threw me off as it asked for my BOA on-line ID, password, DOB, address, SSN, etc. If you get an email like this or any email asking about any information (related to BOA) first verify that at abuse@bankofamerica.com
4 comments July 2, 2009
Did you know this?
We all are aware of current situation in Iran. I am in no position to confirm if voting was rigged or not, but public uprising there seems definitely genuine. The United States of America is paying a very close attention to the situation in Iran, and has been the headline for a week now in American cable news. Iran holds key to Middle East peace process, safety of American soldiers in neighboring Iraq, nuclear proliferation issues etc; so the interest on Iran is immense.
Couple of days ago I was watching PBS news on Iran, like on most of other cable news the talks were centered around how the use of social networking (Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, etc) has kept the momentum of protest in Iran, despite the governments clamp down on the conventional media and communication systems. Iran has applied Internet filter to stop these social networking sites, but the work around using the third party application makes harder for government to filter everything.
So the host of news asked an expert guest if a country can shut down the whole Internet system. The guest replied that it would involve a big political ramification to completely shut down the Internet system, ultimately giving an impression to the world that the election was rigged. So it’s unlikely that Iran would do that now, but it’s been done twice in past elsewhere. To quote that expert guest, one was in Myanmar and the other was in Nepal 
4 comments June 19, 2009
Loss of a category
There was a time when I absolutely loved drinking, no matter if it was a social drink or simply drinking to get drunk (big time). I never used to shy away from any possible opportunity to drink, and on few occasions established some notorious reputations too 
But times changed now, without even knowing about it, I ain’t the same drinker that I used to be. I had to sit around with some of my old pals to finally realize that. Now I am more of a social drinker, who if tries to push beyond that suffers a great deal the next day
I know it’s all good considering possible health as well as monetary benefits from my less enthusiastic drinking. However, my blog is in loss because of that. I have a blog category called “I love to drink” where I post all the creative ideas that I acquire during my drinking sagas. I doubt if I will have any more updates to that category. But I am optimistic that any substitutes (if any) to my drinking habits can also produce equally interesting and inspiring accounts for me to share 
5 comments June 8, 2009
Another picture
आजकाल लेख्ने केही भएन कि तस्विर टांसेर टार्ने गरेको छु । आज पनि तेही नै गर्दै छु । तलको तस्विर मैले मेरो एउटा साथीको Point and Shoot क्यामरा बाट बल्टिमोर Inner Harbor मा खिचेको हुँ ।
अरु सहयात्री ब्लगहरुमा पसे पनि कमेन्ट त्यति गर्न पाइएको छैन । केही चित्त-नबुझ्दो हो त तुरुन्तै लेखी हाल्थें 
Baltimore Inner Harbor
2 comments June 1, 2009
Getting by
I was out in a road trip late last week and early this week. I have lot to catch up with my work and other chores after returning. Hence, I haven’t been able to write new post or follow fellow bloggers lately.
So just to announce that I still exist in the blogosphere I have decided to get away with a picture
Following is a picture of a Methodist Church I took in Macon, Georgia. There were scores of people below, so I just framed the picture above them.
5 comments May 13, 2009
अझै केही बिग्रेको छैन
संविधान सभाको चुनाव मुलत संविधान बनाउन जनताको प्रतिनिधि छनोटका लागि थियो, सरकार बनएर “अग्रगामी छल्याङ” मार्नको लागि थिएन । त्यसैले हे नेपालको राष्ट्रपती, अब सरकार बनाउन नागरिक समाजलाई देउ ।
अन्तरिम संविधान भनेको संक्रमनकालिन हुन्छ, त्यसैले पूर्ण संविधानको को निर्माण तिर बल पुराउन जरुरी छ । फेरी कुनै राजनैतिक पार्टिले नै सरकार बनाउने हो भने संविधान निर्माणमा भन्दा पनि राजनैतिक भर्ती मा नै बल दिन सुरु गर्छन् । सरकारको कुर्सी खै किन हो बांदरको हातको निलो नरिबल जस्तो भएको छ । बहिर जति सुकै खोके पनि सरकारमा गए पछी जुन जोगी आए पनि कान चिरेको जस्तो भएको छ ।
एक चोटि संविधान बने पछी हुने आम चुनावमा जनताले आफ्नो विवेकको सहि प्रयोग गर्नु पर्छ । सबै उमेद्बार उस्तै जोकरहरु मात्र छन भने स्वतन्त्र उमेद्बारको रुपमा कसैलाई उठाउन तर्फ लाग्नु पर्छ, जनताले नै मिहेनत नगरे सम्म यि जोकरहरु बाट आश गर्नु ब्यर्थ हो भनेर शायद सबैले अब बुझिसकेको हुनु पर्छ । कुनै राजनैतिक पार्टीको झन्डा बोक्नु पहिले नेपालको झन्डा बोक्नु जरुरी छ ।
जय नेपाल ।
6 comments May 4, 2009
Social Safety Nets
My previous post was not about detest to taxation, it was more on the inept pricing of DVD rentals in that particular public library. I believe that proper functioning of a society requires certain social safety nets, for that you need taxation. But don’t get me wrong, I am strongly against ‘taxation of people to death’ by their government. Taxation definitely is required, but getting an appropriate and effective taxation scheme is more of a challenge.
Today morning, while driving to work, my car spun off the ramp and the engine shut off after hitting the curb. My car was facing straight to incoming ‘office time’ traffic, eager to get off the ramp. There was a high probability that some vehicle would definitely crash into mine on the ramp (while hurrying to get to their work). I dialed 911 and a State Trooper got their in two minutes to slow down the incoming traffic from the ramp. A County Police Car got their in five minutes, giving way to the State Trooper. The County Police stayed there till the towing company towed my car away.
If there was no taxation then there won’t be anything called Police, or any other social safety nets. I doubt anyone would have stopped their vehicle in safe (visible) place and help slow down the incoming traffic. So as long as my tax money is spent wisely, I don’t mind contributing. And if you expect similar help (god forbid if something like that happen), then it would be foolish to decry taxation.
Thank god, I and my car got away without any major incident. God is great.
3 comments April 21, 2009
Perks of living in a big city?
There are definitely some perks of living close to a big city: like proximity to bigger airports, happening places, lot more friends, lot more visitors and places for you to visit, better infrastructures, etc. But there might be some downsides, even if it’s negligible in comparison to the benefits you reap. I discovered one of them yesterday.
I am a big fan of public library, in fact I love anything that’s public: public transport, public TV, public radio, etc. When I was in Lafayette, I used to borrow a lot from the public library; books, CD’s, and mostly DVD’s. They all were free, you could keep DVD’s for a week, and after that it was $1 fine per day.
Yesterday I went to Baltimore County Public Library to borrow couple of DVD’s. The rate was $2.30 for a DVD (you can keep it for 2 days), after that there was a fine of $2.30 per day. I was surprised with the cost, especially when I pay four times the state tax that I used to pay in Louisiana. What baffled me more was who would want to get DVD’s from this library when you can get newer releases in the Redbox for $1.06 (rate of a DVD per day)? Also, when the older movies nowadays are readily available on the web.
Picture source: http://tylermuth.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/redbox.jpg
6 comments April 9, 2009
Cherry Blossom
My first ever Cherry Blossom in Washington, DC. Instead of rambling about it, I decided to let the pictures talk for themselves, check out some of the pictures I took of the area.
These plants were imported from Japan and have a certain window for the bloom. If you don’t catch it, then you will have to wait till next year. Click on this link for general information on Cherry Blossom festival in DC.
Cherry Blossom
4 comments April 6, 2009
The 3R’s
I always felt that unless you can link environment to the economy, no one will bother about the environment. It’s obvious; unlike chronic effects of health, environmental effects normally take time to appear, so environment is not people’s priority. However if there are economic incentives, then the story is different.
Hybrids normally cost higher than the normal cars, but if the government provides the subsidy to overcome that cost difference most will definitely choose the hybrids. Installation of solars is expensive, but if there is an economic incentive who wouldn’t want to have energy surplus at their homes. Using chemical fertilizers can have quick economic returns, but subsidy and encouragement to organic manures and crop rotation would definitely have more benefits in the longer run. (more…)
3 comments March 27, 2009
