Musings of a Twisted Mind

Court: Police need warrant to read text messages

2009-06-09T18:22:29Z

An appeals court ruled yesterday that Pennsylvania’s wiretapping law applies to text messages, throwing out evidence police had obtained by sending fake messages over a suspect’s phone.

The three-judge Superior Court panel ruled that police needed a warrant under the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act when reading phone messages from a suspect who did not realize his replies were being read by investigators trying to draw him in.

This is a ridiculous ruling. The owner of the cell phone was now working with the investigators. That should make a warrant unnecessary. It doesn’t matter he was now going to jail. That is the equivalent of having a suspect talk another into a trap.

New Super Mario Brothers for Wii

2009-06-05T17:44:08Z

Nice to see a new side scrolling Mario game. They have been sorely missed since the move to the 3d world of Super Mario 64.It was a nice surprise to see this online. I wonder if Sega will ever make a Sonic game like this again. At least the Mario 3ds were fun while Sonic did not in my opinion translate well to 3d.

Print your receipts at the pump

2009-06-05T14:18:23Z

Received this email from a friend…

Cheating at the gas pumps (PRINT OUT YOUR RECEIPTS!!!)

This email was sent to me by a friend whose cousin is the Lewiston fire captain..

This is true. It happened to them three weeks ago somewhere in Lewiston on our way to Augusta . The pump should have totaled @ $38.00 (and change). When the receipt was printed, and she checked it was $ 47.00 (and change).

She got mad, went inside the store, asked for a calculator and let them do the math. They refunded her.. she told them that if they cheat, they had better make it right. Normally, her husband would skip printing the receipt.. Not her

We saw on the news the other night that this is happening everywhere.

Brian pumped exactly one gallon of gas. The price did not match the cost of one gallon. It was higher. He went inside and complained, got a refund.

There is also a number on each pump that you can call and complain..

On March 24, 2009, I stopped at a gas station in Lewiston .. My truck’s gas gauge was on 1/4 of a tank. I use the mid-grade, which was priced at 2.21
per gallon. When my tank is at this point, it takes somewhere around 14 gallons to fill it up.

When the pump showed 14 gallons had been pumped, I began to slow it down. Then, t o my surprise, it went to 15, then 16. I even looked under my truck to see if it was being spilled. It was not.

Then it showed 17 gallons on the pump. It stopped at 18 gallons. This was very strange to me, since my truck has only an 18 gallon tank. I went on my way a little confused, then on the evening news I heard a report that 1 out of 4 gas stations had calibrated their pumps to show more gas had been pumped than a person actually got.

Here is how to check a pump to see if you are getting the right amount:

Whichever grade you are using, put EXACTLY 10 GALLONS in your tank, then look at the dollar amount. If the dollar amount is not EXACTLY 10 times the price of the fuel you have chosen, then the pumps are rigged.

In my case, as I said, the mid-grade was $2.21 9/10 per gallon; my dollar amount for 10 gallons should have been $22.19. I wish I had checked the pump. It doesn’t matter where you pump gas, please check the 10 gallon price. If you do find a station that is cheating, contact the state Ag Department, and direct your comments to the Commissioner, the info is on the gas pumps.

Please don’t delete this until you have sent it to all people in your address book. We need to put a stop to this outrageous cheating of customers. The gas companies are making enough profits at honest rates.

Liberty U Seeks IRS Probe of Church-State Watchdog

2009-06-04T22:10:32Z

Christian legal group Liberty Counsel filed the complaint to the IRS on behalf of Liberty University this week after AU asked the government agency to review the tax-exempt status of the Lynchburg, Va.-based school.

“As a tax-exempt institution, Liberty is barred from intervening in elections or showing preference for one political party over another,” AU executive director Barry W. Lynn wrote in a letter to the IRS last week.

According to Lynn’s organization, the school’s “banning” of the student-run College Democrats last month was “evidence of partisanship at the tax-exempt school and constituted an in-kind contribution to Republican candidates.”

Link

GM, Chrysler defend slashing dealerships

2009-06-03T18:59:08Z

that there are too many dealers and the networks date from the 1940s and 1950s when motorists lived farther apart and Detroit automakers led the world in sales.

“These are tough times for everyone in the GM family. And, as part of the GM family, our dealers are also being asked to bear some of the sacrifice in order to build a stronger, more viable GM.”

“there’s not enough business for the number of dealers Chrysler has today, given that we have less than two-thirds of our former sales volume,”

“Poor performing dealers cost us customers. It’s true that dealers are our customers, but it works both ways. If they don’t sell cars, we don’t either.”

I’m honestly trying to figure out how poor performing dealers are costing them customers. If someone doesn’t like one Chevrolet dealer and goes to the enxt one, GM is still getting that person’s money.

And considering the manufacturers get paid by the dealers and the dealers get paid by customers I’m having difficulty seeing how less dealers is good for either GM or Chrysler.

The ones being hurt are the dealers who paid the franchise fee and now are told to hit the road and the customers who won’t be able to use one dealer against another to get the best price. But in the end, the remaining dealers will be the ones helped since they are most likely going to pay GM and Chrysler the same amount they pay now.

So how exactly is this helping the manufactuers. The only ones that look good are the dealers that will be left. They make more profit…

But it seems to me a dealership ought to be the ones deciding if they will remain in business.

Link

10,000 bees land on plane

2009-06-03T02:09:04Z

10,000 bees landed on the left wing of a flight school aircraft and stayed there. The owner of the airplane had to call a bee remover to move them to hives where they’ll produce honey.

There is speculation the queen landed on the plane and the bees landed and surrounded her to protect her

Link

Inspirational Email: Magnolias

2009-06-02T22:21:57Z

I received this via email today…

MAGNOLIAS………..By Edna Ellison

I spent the week before my daughter’s June wedding running last-minute trips to the caterer, florist, tuxedo shop, and the church about forty miles away.

As happy as I was that Patsy was marrying a good Christian young man, I felt laden with responsibilities as I watched my budget dwindle . . So many details, so many bills, and so little time. My son Jack was away at college, but he said he would be there to walk his younger sister down the aisle, taking the place of his dad who had died a few years before. He teased Patsy, saying he’d wanted to give her away since she was about three years old!

To save money, I gathered blossoms from several friends who had large magnolia trees. Their luscious, creamy-white blooms and slick green leaves would make beautiful arrangements against the rich dark wood inside the church.

After the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, we banked the podium area and choir loft with magnolias. As we left just before midnight , I felt tired but satisfied this would be the best wedding any bride had ever had! The music, the ceremony, the reception - and especially the flowers - would be remembered for years.

The big day arrived - the busiest day of my life - and while her bridesmaids helped Patsy to dress, her fiancé Tim walked with me to the sanctuary to do a final check. When we opened the door and felt a rush of hot air, I almost fainted; and then I saw them - all the beautiful white flowers were black. Funeral black. An electrical storm during the night had knocked out the air conditioning system, and on that hot summer day, the flowers had wilted and died.

I panicked, knowing I didn’t have time to drive back to our hometown, gather more flowers, and return in time for the wedding.

Tim turned to me. ‘Edna, can you get more flowers? I’ll throw away these dead ones and put fresh flowers in these arrangements.’

I mumbled, ‘Sure,’ as he be-bopped down the hall to put on his cuff links.

Al one in the large sanctuary, I looked up at the dark wooden beams in the arched ceiling. ‘Lord, I prayed, ‘please help me. I don’t know anyone in this town. Help me find someone willing to give me flowers - in a hurry!’ I scurried out praying for four things: the blessing of white magnolias, courage to find them in an unfamiliar yard, safety from any dog that may bite my leg, and a nice person who would not get out a shotgun when I asked to cut his tree to shreds.

As I left the church, I saw magnolia trees in the distance. I approached a house…No dog in sight. I knocked on the door and an older man answered. So far so good. No shotgun. When I stated my plea the man beamed, ‘I’d be happy to!’

He climbed a stepladder and cut large boughs and handed them down to me. Minutes later, as I lifted the last armload into my car trunk, I said, ‘Sir, you’ve made the mother of a bride happy today.’

‘No, Ma’am,’ he said. ‘You don’t understand what’s happening here.’

‘What?’ I asked.

‘You see, my wife of sixty-seven years died on Monday. On Tuesday I received friends at the funeral home, and on Wednesday . . . He paused. I saw tears welling up in his eyes.. ‘On Wednesday I buried her.’ He looked away. ‘On Thursday most of my out-of-town relatives went back home, and on Friday - yesterday - my children left.’

I nodded.

‘This morning,’ he continued, ‘I was sitting in my den crying out loud. I miss her so much. For the last sixteen years, as her health got worse, she needed me. But now n obody needs me. This morning I cried, ‘Who needs an eighty-six-year-old wore-out man? Nobody!’ I began to cry louder. ‘Nobody needs me!’ About that time, you knocked, and said, ‘Sir, I need you.’

I stood with my mouth open.

He asked, ‘Are you an angel? The way the light shone around your head into my dark living room…’

I assured him I was no angel.

He smiled. ‘Do you know what I was thinking when I handed you those magnolias?’

‘No.’

‘I decided I’m needed. My flowers are needed. Why, I might have a flower ministry! I could give them to everyone! Some caskets at the funeral home have no flowers. People need flowers at times like that and I have lots of them. They’re all over the backyard! I can give them to
hospitals, churches - all sorts of places. You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to serve the Lord until the day He calls me home!’

I drove back to the church, filled with wonder. On Patsy’s wedding day, if anyone had asked me to encourage someone who was hurting, I would have said, ‘Forget it! It’s my only daughter’s wedding, for goodness’ sake! There is no way I can minister to anyone today.’

But God found a way - Through dead flowers.

‘Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.’

If you have missed knowing me, you have missed nothing.. If you have missed some of my emails, you may have missed a laugh.. But, if you have missed knowing my LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, you have missed everything in the world.

May God’s blessings be upon you.

THIS IS SO TRUE, BEING NEEDED IS SO UPLIFTING TO EACH OF US.

This story is far too beautiful not to send along its way to others …

Happiness is…..knowing He loves you…no matter what

Paul Dini And Masters of the Universe

2009-06-02T20:40:44Z

He-Man and Orko

I bought the first season (vol 1 and vol 2) from Amazon marketplace the other day and was surprised to see Paul Dini’s name in the credits. I never realized that he was one of the writers.

I am also surprised to find out that J Michael Straczynski also wrote He-Man when I started looking online. Considering how much I did not like his run on Amazing Spider-man.

I found an old interview with Paul Dini where he expresses his displeasure at Filmation for their upper management.

Dolts, fools, idiots, drunks, child molesters, grave robbers, and lousy writers. Also cheap, cheap, cheap! I’ve got stories (about them) but they would get me sued. Besides, why should I give them to you for free when I can write a tell-all and make big bucks?

Doctor Who’s new Companion

2009-06-01T21:07:19Z

BBC has revealed the new companion for next season when Matthew Smith takes over for David Tennent

The new companion is Karan Gillian

Oh and here’s a youtub video of Matthew Smith talking about his new role:

Ted Dekker’s Circle Books

2009-06-01T00:31:15Z

If anyone hasn’t read Black, Red, and White by Ted Dekker, you should rush out and buy them and read them. These are excellent books. In them Thomas Hunter is alive in our present day. But when he sleeps he is on another world. A world set far in the future but in a Medieval setting. Something has happened in the time between that caused this. He tries to find out by searching for the cause in the future world. While in the present fights against a terrorist threatening to wipe out humanity with a new virus.

This is a great Trilogy and there is more book set in this setting. The Lost Books and the Paradise Books. You can see the books over to the right in the I recommend box from Amazon.