The "Robocallers, Spoofers, & Scammers: Part II" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading my emails and found one from a longtime friend telling me to check out a website he had linked to his email.  I clicked on the link and my life changed instantly.  The site was a pornographic site!  After about 10 seconds of photo after photo flashing at me I closed the link and trashed it.  But, the damage had been done.  I had viewed the site, even if just for a few seconds.  Two days later I got the email that turned my world upside down.  Started with my email address and my password for my laptop computer.  Then the letter began with telling me they were aware of my password as well as everyone of my contacts from Messenger, FaceBook, and email accounts.  They had set up software on the adult streaming website I had clicked on and visited a few days before and had a short video of me viewing the site.  They also told me that they had control of my desktop and obtained a video of me in front of the computer.  Told me I had good taste in videos.  I now had two possibilities they stated.  First, I could ignore the email in which case they would send the recorded video they had made to all my contacts.  Second, I could give them $545.  They would describe it as a donation and destroy the video and I would never hear back from them.  I was to make a payment through Bitcoin (if I don't know this site, I could search 'how to buy bitcoin' in Google).  The address I was to send it to was included.  They followed with...if I am planning on going to law enforcement the email could not be traced.  If I don't send money they will send the video to ever one of my contacts.  I am not supposed to reply to this email or they also will send the video to my contacts.  Wow!  I was frozen in time!  They most certainly didn't have a video of me doing anything since I had just viewed the site for less than half a minute and had closed it.  But, if they were that good that they had made a video of me, they most certainly could photoshop whatever they wanted and they had a view of my face, so they said.  I called my wife who was visiting with our daughter in another state and she realized I was very upset.  We talked and decided I should call the friend who allegedly sent me the link in the first place.  Naturally, he had no idea what I was talking about.  He did tell me it was a scam and don't send any money.  At that point I decided to call the police.  Wasn't long before a policeman was sitting next to me in my kitchen.  He assured me it was a scam.  But, could I be sure?  I was so upset I couldn't eat or sleep.  Then another email came, since I had not sent the money.  Since I hadn't sent them the bitcoins, they had now upped the price to $968.  Everyone, including the Apple computer company rep I called, said it was a scam.  Even saw an announcer on my home TV station talk about the scam, but I wasn't sure.  Then my boss at my part-time framing and matting job passed along a few websites he had investigated to help assure me it was a scam.  One site had the title above their story: Porn Blackmail Scam Rattles Mac Users: What You Need to Know.  I read it and there was a sample letter that they may have sent to people.  Sure enough, the letter I had received was almost word for word what I was reading.  But.... what if...  Well, it has been almost a month and nothing has happened.  Was it a scam?  I sure hope so.  I am now eating and sleeping better, but after this had happened to me, I can see why some people may consider suicide, since they may have too much to lose even if it hadn't been true.  My suggestion to you, if it would ever happen to you... find plenty of help through your family and friends and they will help you weather the storm and return to a normal life.  And... don't dare to ever click on or visit a pornographic site if you are not prepared for something like this to happen.  I know, there is no law saying you can't look at these sites, but hackers and scammers are everywhere on the web and they are watching you.  And, it can scare the crap out of you.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "Robocallers, Spoofers, & Scammers: Part I" Story

It was an ordinary day.  "Phone's ringing," my wife yells to me as she washes the dishes.  "I know!  Nobody important!" I yell back to her.  I knew instantly, since our TV service has this neat feature that when the phone rings, it displays the number and the name of the person calling on the top right of the TV screen.  And, at least one in five of those calls is a call from someone we don't know or a robocaller.  I thought robocalls were always something that others got, but not so anymore.  In 2018 in the United States, about 26.3 billion robocalls were placed to cellphones and landlines which is approximately seven calls per month per person.  Seems like some days we get that many robocalls that day.  The number of robocalls in the U.S. increased an estimated 41.3% from the year before.  

Do you answer these calls?  Why?

There are about 1,500 robocalls placed every second in the U.S.  Do you answer every call that you get?  Seems like some people do just that.  I was reading about a young woman who had worked at a bookstore.  Somehow robocallers had stolen the bookstores phone number and were placing thousands of robocalls using that number.  People receiving the calls thought it was coming from a bookstore, but didn't answer it.  Instead, some returned the call and began yelling at the young woman, demanding to tell them why she called them.  So, if you receive a call from some location that you don't know, do you return the call?  Why?  Don't you know it's a robocall?  Telemarketers and telemarketing scams have been with us since the phone was invented in 1876.  In the century that followed, telemarketing became a thriving industry.  But, now people are becoming sick of all those calls interrupting their meals, TV watching, family gatherings and just plain quiet time.  I was one of those who got tired of all the calls trying to sell me something so I called the national Do Not Call Registry and added my number.  If someone called me that I didn't want to, I could report them and they could possibly face a fine.  Seems 50 million of us did the same thing. But, today robocallers don't seem to care if you report them.  And, if they use spoofing (disguising and stealing real phone numbers within local area codes) no one can report the number.  So, anyone in the world can make anonymous calls to you.  And, the software they use to make the calls is extremely cheap, and doesn't cost a cent if the caller doesn't answer the call.  One of the most famous scams done by robocallers is the IRS scam.  A robocaller will place a call using the phone number of an IRS agent and tell the person who answers that they owe past taxes and if they don't pay immediately, a warrant will be issued for their arrest.  And...people fall for it each and every day. Last year people sent over $53 million to robocallers.  And that amount is from people who reported the scam.  Some, too embarrassed to make the call to the IRS after realizing they were scammed, lost much more.  For Carol and myself, the TV screen really helps to sort out the calls we don't want to take.  I should also tell you that our home phones have a screen that displays the number and name as do our cellphones.  Perhaps you too have that service.  But, many must disregard that or don't check the screen before answering.  But, I found there is much more to scamming than receiving unwanted phone calls.  Tomorrow I will tell you the story of my experience that caused me considerable stress and worry.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "Dare I Write This Story?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Snow had already covered our back deck making it impossible for the birds and squirrels to find needed feed.  Inside I was getting antsy for something to do other than go out and shovel the mess, so I opened the top of our antique desk we have in our dining room and began to explore the many items we have placed in it over our married lifetime together.  One item popped up that I had remembered from my childhood.  

My old children's book with my favorite fairy tales.

The children's book titled "A PATCH-WORK QUILT of FAVORITE TALES", with its tattered edges, drew my attention.  The book held a copyright of MCMXXXIII (1933) by M. A. Donohue & Co. and was printed in the United States of America.  The initial paragraph began with "A patchwork quilt of favorite tales is dedicated to every boy and girl.  As I read the opening paragraph I was shocked.  It began with: This little book, like the story-tellers of old, brings you tales of the adventures of children and of our four-footed friends, in the garden barnyard and forest.  It tells the story of lovable Peter Rabbit and his thrilling experiences in the garden with Mr. McGregor; of Little Black Sambo and his incident with the tigers who nearly took his new clothes; Whoa!  Wait, what did I just read?  My mom and dad, as well as my grandmother, read this to me and my brother many times based on the condition of the cover of the book.  

Explanation of the book.  Click to enlarge.

I opened the book to page 17 and there was a drawing of a small black child holding an umbrella with Little Black Sambo spelled out on the bottom right of the page.  The entire eight page illustrated story featured Little Black Sambo in his pretty clothes with a beautiful green umbrella as he visited the forest where four tigers took his clothes and umbrella from him.  They were jealous of each other and grabbed each others tails and chased each other around a tree.  They turned into a pool of butter which Sambo took home so his mother could make pancakes for his family.  His mother, father and he all had yellow pancakes, the color of the tigers.  Little Black Sambo ate a hundred and sixty-nine, because he was so hungry.  I do remember listening to this fairy tale many times long ago, along with all the other stories in the book.  Did my parents know that the book was extremely racist?  I'm not sure and can never ask them now.  

The beginning of the book.

I do know that my dad had several African American friends and took me to play baseball at the other end of town where I was one of four or five white children on the team.  He would go through the black neighborhood before each game picking up my team members in our big station wagon.  My coach, one of dad's friends, was black.  Mom and dad never talked about the difference of color and therefore I though it to be normal.  When I began to coach, I went back to the same neighborhood to recruit players for the team.  To this day I too have African American friends who I see all the time.  But I, like you, have heard, and perhaps experienced, the many problems in our society today related to race.  But, opening up my old book today really opened my eyes, for you see after I "Googled" the fairy tale to find how much my book might be worth and read all the comments about it, I was amazed.  

The beginning of the eight pages of Little Black Sambo.

The children's book was written and illustrated by Scottish author Helen Bannerman in 1899.  The book was an immediate success in England and was published in the United States the following year.  It's success led to many imitations of it which used vulgar pictures and words which were symbolic of black-white relations.  The book's popularity coincided with the crystallization of Jim Crow laws.  Blacks were denied basic human rights, discriminated against in the labor force, barred from many public schools and libraries, harassed at voting booths and subjected to physical violence.  Then along comes this fairy tale called Little Black Sambo.  Did Helen Bannerman really mean this book to be racist?  I guess we will never know.  I'm sure my parents didn't think that when they bought me the book of fairy tales.  The book itself didn't cause riots, but it did enter America during a period of strained and harsh race relations.  Therefore, I guess it was another insult in the daily lives of African Americans.  I continued to read more about the fairy tale and found the anti-Little Black Sambo movement started in the 1930s and continued until the 1970s.  Black educators and civil rights leaders tried to get the book banned from public libraries and elementary schools.  In the 1940s and 50s the book was dropped from many lists of "Recommended Books."  By the 1960s the book was seen as a remnant of a racist past.  Then in the mid-1990s the book came back once again into the spotlight with both whites and black rereading the original book.  Was it entertaining?   Both agreed it was, but there was still little agreement as to whether it was racist.  I certainly don't want to cause another debate with my children's book, so it will once again go back in the desk where I found it.  I will not discard it since it is, and will forever be, a piece of American history, be it good or bad.  It was never read to my children or my grandchildren and will remain that way.  Last thing I want is to cause pain and suffering for anyone.  After I am gone, someone will once again find the book and decide for themselves what to do with it.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Discovering Lost Stuff: Part II - Childhood Stuff" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Having the best time looking at all the neat stuff that I found in the antique desk we bought after we moved into our beach house over 20 years ago.  Much of the "stuff" was college items I needed for my courses.  But, some of the items I found date back to my childhood and are perhaps older than many of you reading this story.  Books printed in the 1930s and a few items that belonged to my dad were part of the find in the old desk.  See if you can remember some of the items that I discovered after I opened the top of the desk to see where I might have placed a scrapbook I wanted to visit once again.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The desk where I discovered much of what I have posted today.  Click on images to enlarge.

This was my father's book which I still use today to say grace before we eat.  There is a prayer for every day of the year as well as table prayers for special days such as Christmas and Easter.  At times I will ask others to read the blessing and they are happy to have the chance to read from dad's book.

These are childhood plates that were in the desk.  The bottom two and top right one were plates our children used when they were young while the one on the top left was a ceramic dish I used as a child.  That dish is over 70 years old and to me is priceless.

This is a very small stamp holder.  Not sure where I got it, but it holds some old stamps from all over the world.  Still in great shape.

This is a small cardboard case that holds writing paper as well as rubber seashell stamps to stamp on a letter.  Haven't used it for years, but may just have to keep it out and write a few letters.

The book on the left was given to me by my mom and dad.  Tells, as it says on the cover, the story of Jesus.  Fully illustrated and was used all the time to teach me different lessons about Jesus.  The book on the right belonged to my dad.  It was stamped inside March 11th, 1928.  My dad was 8 years-old at the time he was given the book.  It looks as if his Sunday School Teacher gave it to him "For bringing in the new scholars to Sunday School."  It too tells the story of Jesus as told by his earthly father.

The nameplate in my book.

The nameplate inside my father's book.

One of favorite childhood books, Black Beauty. 

Nameplate inside that book.

This was also one of my favorite books.  It was printed in 1938.  Tomorrow I will post a story about one of the most controversial stories within this book; Little Black Sambo.  I have included two pages of the story to show you what I was read as a young boy.  To this day I don't believe my mom and dad were racists, but didn't realize the ramifications of this story being in a children's book and spreading the racist attitude it may have spread.

The title page in the book.

Some of the pages have been torn from my book.  This is the beginning of the fairy tale "The tale of Peter Rabbit."

This is the beginning of the fairy tale "Little Black Sambo."

The "Discovering Lost Stuff: Part I - College Stuff" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking for my drafting equipment I used while a student at Millersville State Teachers College in Millersville, Pennsylvania.  The college was founded in 1855 with the ideals that teacher preparation and classical learning are essential elements of public education and enlightened citizenship.  Now, you know I just found that online, right!  But, I entered the college with the hopes of becoming a teacher.  And, I was a teacher for 33 years.  I majored in Industrial Arts and took classes in woodworking, metalworking, graphic arts, photography, leather, drafting, electricity and electronics, ceramics, plastics, textiles, architectural drawing and two levels of design courses.  In order to take the courses I needed to purchase a variety of instruments and materials.  After college I found quite a few of the items I no longer needed and either sold them or put them away.  Now that's where I am with this story.  Where did I put them?  I'm sure you have items from your youth that you might have placed somewhere in your house or apartment and have forgotten about them over time.  I have also, but today I happened upon some of them and had the best time looking at them and even trying to use a few of them once again.  I naturally had to take photos of everything and that is what I will share with you.  Hope you enjoy my brief descriptions of the items as much as I enjoyed looking at them once again.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

This desk which my wife and I bought after we moved into our current home was the holder of many, many items which I had forgotten about over the past 20 or so years.  It was fantastic discovering the items all over again.

I purchased this miniature Webster's Dictionary to be used in all my classes.  A classmate told me he used the one he had purchased all the time, so I bought one too.  It came in very handy, since at the time there were no computers, cell phones or electronic devices to use to do the same thing for which I used this little item.   

The dictionary was used quite often as can be seen by this photo.  Carried it in my left-hand pants pocket.  Same pocket that I now use to carry my cell phone.

This was one of my calligraphy sets that I purchased when I took Graphic Arts I and II.  Had a variety of tips that I used when needed for calligraphy.  

Here you can see the many pen tips that were in the set.  

This was another calligraphy set that my parents thought I may like.  A mahogany desktop set that included the ink bottle and calligraphy pen.  It was very nice and I did use it quite often.

For my design classes I at times needed watercolor paints.  This set gave me just about every color I needed.  Was actually a children's set, but served me well.

What other color could I need?

This was my drafting set which I kept in a long, narrow wooden box I made in Wood I my first semester at Millersville.  Click on the photo to see the variety of items I had.  Top left features a pencil sharpening board and a device to draw large circles.  The wooden box holds a variety of items while the case on the bottom right holds a draftsman's compass. Many of these mechanical tools I haven't had the need to use since I took the courses at Millersville.

The "Swimming In History" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about one of Lancaster County's swimming pools that existed years ago, but has vanished just as most of the others have in the past.  Back in the early 18th century, Hans Brubaker built a log mill along the Little Conestoga Creek on part of a 150 acre farm to the west of the city of Lancaster.  Hans eventually sold the property, mill and all, to Johannes Stoneman.  The property once again changed ownership years later and when the Steiner family, Johannes and Barbara, bought the property, they constructed a new mill.  A date stone reading 1767 confirms that fact.  The Steiners owned and lived at Abbeyville Mansion, about a quarter-mile east from the mill on Columbia Ave.  

The Mammoth Skyrocket rollercoaster at Maple Grove.

Then in 1826 the mill changed ownership once again when J.S. Graybill bought the property.  But change of ownership didn't stop at that point, since J.S. Kauffman purchased the mill in 1860.  The mill and property was associated with D. Miller's Jefferson Tavern in 1864 and then operated by Samuel Binkley in 1875.  

Trolley to Maple Grove.

Fifteen years later the property was operated as West End park by Aaron H. Summy.  Mr. Summy planted quite a few silver maple trees near the mill and the property took on the name of Maple Grove.  In 1912 Mr. Ralph W. Coho bought the "Maple Grove" property and converted it into an amusement park complete with an airplane ride and a gigantic roller-coaster known as the "Mammoth Skyrocket".  He also built the world's largest swimming pool which allegedly held 2 million gallons of water taken from the nearby Little Conestoga Creek.  He eventually reduced the size of he pool to 1.5 million gallons which now made it Pennsylvania's largest.  

A popular ride at Maple Grove amusement park.

Amusements were added to the pool such as a water wheel, which allowed swimmers to belly-flop on the wheel, and ride it into the water.  There were also four tops that swimmers could stand on and use wheels attached to them to spin the tops.  The building that originally contained the mill was used for pool chemicals and park supplies.  

Maple Grove Park Swimming Pool, Lancaster's largest.

It was at this point that I came on the scene in the mid-1940s.  I can still remember my mother taking me swimming at Maple Grove.  It was sometime in the mid-1970s, after I had departed the swimming scene, that a young black boy came swimming at Maple Grove with his white friend and his friend's mother.  Evidently it was the first time a black child came to Maple Grove to swim.  

Another view of the pool.

When he entered the pool, parents gathered their white children from the pool and left the pool.  After that it began to happen at other pools in the county.  But, that's another story for another day!  Sometime in the 1950s Mr. Coho sold just the amusement park, but eventually ended up selling the pool, mill and land in 1978 to Christ and Elaine Hampilos.  

Another view of the pool.  Check out the bathing suits.

Nine years later, the pool and 7 acre complex by this time, was sold to Lanecor Associates who closed the pool in 1987 and developed the Stone Mill Plaza Shopping Center.  Then in 1993 the pool, mill and surrounding land were signed over to Lancaster County in settlement of unpaid real estate taxes incurred by Lanecor.  In 2001 Ecklin Development Corp. bought the mill from the county for $1.00.  

Some of the pool "toys".

Mr. Robert Ecklin developed plans to renovate the mill to lease offices and retail shops.  But, on Thanks- giving morning of 2005 a blaze broke out in the mill.  It was fought by about 50 firefighters from a dozen companies.  

The Thanksgiving fire at the old mill.

The next day investigators determined that a homeless man using the mill as a shelter was suspected of starting the fire.  The building has since been refur- bished, but appears to be used for nothing but offices at the time.  The glory days of Maple Grove as I remember them are long gone, as are other amusement parks in Lancaster County.  But, the memories that were created over the lifetime of Maple Grove will live on in the minds of those who frequented the place at one time.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The results after the fire.

What the mill along the creek looks like today.

The "Checking Out My New Pinterest Account!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking my Pinterest site to see what might have been added in the past couple of months.  Seems it has grown quite a bit since I last posted anything to it.  What was once my board with maybe a dozen categories such as Black and White Favs, Autos, The Classics, Faces of the World and World of Globes now has many new categories such as Exercise, Food, Jewelry, Hand Painted Stones and Desserts.  And it is now known as Larry & Carol Woods.  Hey, no big deal since I don't spend much time on it anymore.  But, my site has quite a few really neat pins to it; many of which have been added by Carol.  So, my recent visit had me picking out 20 of my favorites from the many categories.  Thought I would share them with you and if you too like them, you may want to visit "our" Pinterest account and take a look.  Click photographs to enlarge them while viewing.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

This is a photo I took years ago in Barbados.  It is on the Pinterest page called "My Favs".

I love the colors and the softness of the photo.  Did you see the flowers in the water droplets?

All the children of the world!

So simple, but must have been impossible to locate and photograph.

Unbelievable photograph!

Age makes us look wise.  So many age lines...so wise!

If you have never tried to photograph hummingbirds, you have no idea how hard it must have been to take this photograph.

Cute!

I love many of my own photos.  This is another from Pinel Island in the Caribbean.

Not sure if they actually caught the scene in the eye as a reflection...or did it in photoshop.

Carol and I have a cat with feet exactly like these.  Remarkable coloring.

Lines make this photo...

...just as the black and white image on the door makes this one. 

I have always loved maps and globes and this really drew my attention.

Can there really be a place that looks like this.  I would love to go there!

Brought back memories of my childhood when we would look for the allusive praying mantis.

Another surreal scene.  Must have been shot with a Polarizing filter on the lens.

I hope you are able to enlarge this to check out the immense detail in the feathers.

Another one of my photographs taken in Barbados of a late afternoon fisherwoman.

Truly majestic!!