Monthly Archives: November 2011

Summit spam from Atlanta, Georgia

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Recently I got a couple of spams sent to non-existent email addresses at a domain that I host. These spams were very similar, even though they use a variety of domain names and diferent postal address.

Here are some of the domains:

  • hr-summit.net
  • cfo-summit.net
  • cmo-summit.net
  • cmosummits.org
  • cmo-summit.org
  • bizsummits.org
  • thetrainingsummit.net
  • thecorporatecounselsummit.org
  • theengineeringsummit.com
  • theproductdevsummit.org
  • thepublicrelationssummit.net

Here are spam samples:

From: “J.R. Williams” <jason@hr-summit.net>
To: “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX” <YYYYY@YYYYYYYYYYYYY>
Subject: Geoffrey, interesting speaker
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2011 09:30:32 -0400

Hi Geoffrey, hope you are well. On Oct 12 at 12 pm ET I thought you would
enjoy dialing in to hear Welch’s VP of Human Resources speaking on
“Creative Ways of Developing Individuals in Smaller Organizations.” Just
go to our site to become part of our group (takes just a minute), thanks!

Truly yours,
J.R. Williams
HR-Summit
hr-summit.net

This message is confidential and intended only for the original recipient.
If you have received this message in error, please delete it or mail us
back if you no longer wish to receive further email. If any follow-up is
needed I show your contact information as XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,
YYYYY@YYYYYYYYYYYYY ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ and you may also reach us
at 12OO Abernathy Road #1700, Atlanta Georgia 30328 or through the
contact information on our site.

Domain cfo-summit.net:

From: “Patrick Hansen” <patrick@cfo-summit.net>
To: “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX” <YYYYY@YYYYYYYYYYYYY>
Subject: Karen, interesting speaker
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:43:43 -0400

Hi Karen, hope you are well. On Nov 3 at 12 pm ET I thought you would
enjoy dialing in to hear Banner Health’s CFO speaking on “The Financial
Implications of the New Era of Healthcare.” Just go to our site to become
part of our group (takes just a minute), thanks!

Truly yours,
Patrick Hansen
CFO Summits
cfo-summit.net

This message is confidential and intended only for the original recipient.
If you have received this message in error, please delete it or mail us
back if you no longer wish to receive further email. If any follow-up is
needed I show your contact information as XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,
YYYYY@YYYYYYYYYYYYY ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ and you may also reach us at
201 17th St, Ste 1200, Atlanta GA 30363 or through the contact
information on our site.

Domain thehrsummits.org:

From: “J.R. Williams” <jason@thehrsummits.org>
To: “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX” <YYYYY@YYYYYYYYYYYYY>
Subject: Jack, interesting speaker
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:25:12 -0500

Hi Jack, hope you are well. On Dec 7th at 12 pm ET I thought you would
enjoy dialing in to hear Four Seasons Hotel’s Director of Human Resources,
speaking on “Finding the Right People for the Right Job.” Just go to our
site to become part of our group (takes just a minute), thanks!

Yours Truly,
J.R. Williams
HRSummit
thehrsummits.org

This message is confidential and intended only for the original recipient.
If you have received this message in error, please delete it or mail us
back if you no longer wish to receive further email. If any follow-up is
needed I show your contact information as XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,
YYYYY@YYYYYYYYYYYYY ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ and you may also reach us
at 201 17th St, Ste 1200, Atlanta GA 30363 or through the contact
information on our site.

Domain cmosummits.org:

From: “Matthew T. Keener” <matthew@cmosummits.org>
To: “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX” <YYYYY@YYYYYYYYYYYYY>
Subject: Leo, interesting speaker
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:55:06 -0500

Hi Leo, hope you are well. On Dec 5th at 12 pm ET I thought you would
enjoy dialing in to hear Aramark’s Associate Vice President of Marketing,
speaking on “Global Marketing.” Just go to our site to become part of our
group (takes just a minute), thanks!

Truly,
Matthew T. Keener
CMO-Summit
cmosummits.org

This message is confidential and intended only for the original recipient.
If you have received this message in error, please delete it or mail us
back if you no longer wish to receive further email. If any follow-up is
needed I show your contact information as XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX,
YYYYY@YYYYYYYYYYYYY ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ and you may also reach us
at 1200 Abernathy Rd, Atlanta Georgia 30328 or through the contact
information on our site.

Domains bizsummits.org / thetrainingsummit.net:

Reply-To: ryan@bizsummits.org
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:35:37 +0000
Subject: John, follow up
From: Ryan English <trainingsummits1@gmail.com>

Hi John,

You recently expressed an interest regarding joining our Training Summit and on behalf of our Administration and Membership; it is my pleasure to extend an invitation to participate in upcoming events and to join our organization. The Training Summit is an invitation only group that is comprised of innovative leaders and visionaries in the Training and Learning & Development field. We discuss best practices and find ways to help one another. Here are some details on upcoming meetings along with the featured speaker that month:

12/01/11 Rob Patterson, CiTi, Senior Vice President, Learning Technology and Architecture-Topic: Utilizing Share points to support a learning organization

We meet once a month via teleconference. In between these monthly calls we have an online forum where our more than 200 members network and collaborate. The membership dues are $1,250 per year, there is a 30 day evaluation period, if you do not feel like the group is advantageous to you or a fit; you can request a full refund. A list of topics and upcoming speakers can be found at www.thetrainingsummit.net. Please contact me ASAP for registration as it is filling up quickly, as well as to confirm networking information. Thank you very much for your time and consideration, if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to call me at (330)-769-7628. I look forward to working with you, have a great day!

Regards,

Ryan English
Training Summit
Direct: 330-769-7628

This message is confidential and intended only for the original recipient. If you have received this message in error, please delete it or mail us back if you no longer wish to receive further email. You may also reach us at 1200 Abernathy Rd, Atlanta Georgia 30328 or through the contact information on our site.

Here are some more spam samples published on other websites, as I’m not the only one being spammed:

This company seems to have been at it for a couple of years already. They will probably keep going as long as some companies fall for their unsolicited emails and sign up.

Radiation maps for Eastern Japan

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The Japanese government has released updated radiation maps for Eastern Japan from its helicopter survey. The maps now cover prefectures as far west as Gifu and as far north as Iwate and Akita. Previously there was map data only for Tokohoku (excluding Aomori) and the Kanto area. The PDF can be downloaded here.

The previous set of maps documented caesium contamination and background radiation levels in Fukushima, Tochigi, Miyagi, Ibaraki, Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo and Kanagawa. The latest set adds maps for Iwate, Shizuoka, Nagano, Yamanashi, Gifu and Toyama. Akita, Yamagata and Niigata have also been surveyed and are shown on the overview map.

The most heavily contaminated areas are in the eastern half of Fukushima prefecture, within about 80 km of the wrecked nuclear power stations. The southern part of Miyagi to the north and the northern part of Ibaraki to the south also took a hit.

A major radioactive plume moved south-west from Fukushima, polluting the northern half of Tochigi and the northern and western part of Gunma. A separate plume reached the southern part of Ibaraki, the north-west of Chiba and the eastern part of Tokyo.

There is also some caesium in the mountainous far west of Tokyo and Saitama that extended from Tochigi, but most of Saitama, Tokyo and Kanagawa seem relatively OK, as are Shizuoka, Yamanashi, Nagano, Gifu, Tokyama, Niigata, Yamagata and Akita. There is some fallout in a strip from southern Iwate to northern Miyagi, while central Miyagi and the rest of Iwate look clean. There is no published data for Aomori and Hokkaido yet, but based on the distance and the absence of significant pollution in Akita and adjacent parts of Iwate they will probably be fine.

The maps only give the overall picture, as there may be local hotspots in areas that are relatively clean overall, based on rainfall and wind patterns as well as soil and vegetation that can retain more or less fallout.

Update 2011-12-06:
The ministry has also published radiation maps for Aichi, Aomori, Ishikawa and Fukui prefecture.

Shimano PD-T780 SPD pedals and SH-MT42NV shoes

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On Sunday I rode to Y’s Road in Shinjuku to buy clipless pedals and bike shoes. I did not want pure racing gear, but shoes I could also walk around in when I go shopping, as I usually take the bike for that. On my first touring bike in high school I used straps, but clipless pedals are supposed to be more efficient. With either you can maintain a higher cadence (pedalling speed), which optimizes power output compared to pedalling harder at slower pedal RPMs.

I chose PD-T780 SPD pedals and a pair of SH-MT42NV which are mountain bike shoes with recessed cleats. These pedals are part of Shimano’s Deore XT range and are meant for trekking. Because of that they have both a cleat side and a flat side, so you can also ride them with ordinary shoes, plus they’re equipped with reflectors. I like being as visible as possible in traffic, especially at night.

I found clipping in and out with SPD fairly straightforward, but there are some caveats. I’ve heard the warning that when you start using clipless pedals, you will crash at least once until you get the hang of it. It happens when you forget to unclip at least one shoe before coming to a complete stop. So far I’ve done 46 km without falling over, but I’ve been careful and started off with the loosest setting for the locking mechanism. If I find myself in a situation where I may have come to a stop (for example approaching a red traffic light or turning into a street where I might have stop to for traffic or if there are a lot of pedestrians about) I twist one foot to unclip but stay on the pedal so I can easily reconnect once it’s safe to do so, but also support myself if I suddenly need to stop. The other foot can always stay locked in.

If you’re more of a racing type of person, Shimano’s SPD-SL system may be a better choice, but for me SPD works just fine.

How (not) to decontaminate Japan

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An article in Japan Times (2011-11-09, “Scrub homes, denude trees to wash cesium fears away”) provided advice on how to decontaminate areas affected by nuclear fallout, such as in Fukushima, Tochigi and northern Chiba prefecture. Most of the advice is sound, but some is downright alarming:

As for trees, it’s best to remove all their leaves because of the likelyhood they contain large amounts of cesium, Higaki [of University of Tokyo] said.
(…)
What should you do with the soil and leaves?
(…)
Leaves and weeds can be disposed of as burnable garbage, a Fukushima official said.

So let me get this right: you should collect all those leaves because they contain so much radioactive cesium (cesium 134 has a half life of 2 years and cesium 137 of 29 years). And then, when you have all that cesium in plastic garbage bags, you have it sent to the local garbage incinerator, so the carefully collected cesium gets spread over the whole neighbourhood again via the incinerator smokestack. That makes no sense at all.

Minoura iH-100-S phone holder for Nexus S

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In my blog post about my bike ride up Mt Fuji Subaru line I mentioned the Minoura iH-100-S phone holder that I use with my Google Nexus S Android smartphone, which I use for Google Maps and the iMapMyRide application to track my cycling routes.

In the local bike shop I was was considering either the Minoura or the Topeak Phone Drybag, which is designed specifically for the iPhone, but also is big enough to hold the Nexus S. It offers rain protection, while with the Minoura iH-100-S the phone is exposed.

I didn’t go for the Topeak because it looked too iPhone-specific: The transparent cover extends to the home button in the bottom centre, but my Nexus S has four buttons side by side (Back, Menu, Search, Home), which would have been obscured.

My solution for rain is simple: If it looks rainy, I’ll wrap the phone in cellophane (for kitchen use, the local leading brand in Japan is Saran Wrap), which does the job. I also keep a small transparent plastic in my backpack, for emergencies.

The Minoura works well and grips the phone firmly if used properly. Make sure the phone firmly touches all three support points: the clamps on the left and right and the corner hook. I have yet to lose it, but the fact that the two clamps at the left and right snap apart if the release lever is pulled did make me a bit nervous. I always visualized this happening unintentionally, say if the release mechanism wears out or becomes brittle with UV exposure and breaks one day.

My peace of mind solution for that is a small rubber band which I keep attached to the holder. I twist it around once to give it more tension and then wrap it around the two clamps, which keep it away from the touchscreen, but it provides enough friction and tension that even when I pull the release lever there’s no way the phone would fly away.

Auto Unlock application

Another issue with using the phone for navigation was the Android screen lock. When the screen blanks due to inactivity, I need to push the power button to turn the screen back on, which is fine, but then I also need to slide a dot across the screen to unlock the desktop. If find that too distracting, because I prefer to keep my eyes on the road as much as possible. I found an application in the Android market called “Auto Unlock”, which does away with the need for the sliding move – most of the time. The trial version can be used for 5 days for free. The paid version is $1.29.

The results with Auto Unlock were a bit uneven. The application needs to be manually restarted after the phone is powered down, a minor problem. When it’s active, sometimes I still needed the slide, other times I didn’t. I’m not sure what made the difference. It’s very helpful as long as it works.

UPDATE (2011-10-15:

After the trial edition of “Auto Unlock” expired I switched to another app called “No Lock”. I am happy to say that No Lock works more reliably, though it has one minor drawback: unlike Auto Unlock it does not use the proximity sensor to still require an unlock swipe if it’s in your pocket. If you accidentally push the power button while the mobile is in your pocket, that may unlock it already. “Pocket-dialling” of calls is a possibility. For my use with the bicycle holder that is not a problem and it’s easy to switch between “No Lock” and “Lock” mode in the app.