$25,589.000 coming soon!

I am pleased to announce that I have recently received an offer via e-mail to transfer $25,589,000 directly into my bank account. I'm rich!

I have no idea why I, among the millions and millions of e-mail users, was singled out for such lavish treatment, but I assure you, I will not be selfish - once I have the money, I plan to share it, generously spending it on highly visible luxury automobiles and enormous yachts so everyone can see my wealth and enjoy it.

Lest you doubt the veracity of this deal, allow me to quote verbatim from the e-mail in question:

"Dear Sir: I am most unfortunate to thinking you may not suspect me as real for we do not now know or been introduced, but allow me to say I am Song Lou. I work for Heng Suck Banq, Ltd, and have the proposition for you of transferring $25.589 million USD directly to your bank account which will be of mutual benefit to you once we have established cordial cooperation and modality. Please GET BACK TO ME ASAP....Song Lou"

Here's how I know this is legitimate: (a) the dollar amount is very specific. I'd be suspicious of a rounded off figure; (b) he works for a Suck Bank. I'm a customer of a Service Sucks Bank, which is probably a subsidiary; and (c) he needs me to GET BACK TO him ASAP - legitimate business people are always in a big hurry. I responded to his e-mail the day I got it:

Dear Mr. Lou: So delightfully I am partaking of your recent e-mail! I would most cooperatively accept your transfer of $25.589 million because that's exactly how much I need! With much insomnia I beg for your response....W. Bruce Cameron

He wrote right back!

"Dear W: My associates are speaking most excitedly on this matter. We are requiring only of some informational proceedings for rapid facilitation of transfer. Please to forward bank account name, number, routing, and phone for reaching....Song Lou"

Great! I decided I just needed a little bit more informational proceeding myself and I'd be good to go.

Dear Song: Most unctuous and florid greetings upon your eyebrows. My concerning is for how the transfer is working. Would you please snorkel your immediate describings of the next notes in the opera? Yours in lasagna....W.

"Dear W: Some puzzlement has befuddled us during your last communications. However, we are confident with you as our partner in business for $25.589 million and can lay the goodness of an additional $10 million USD. However URGENT for response with banking informational details preceedingly requested. Yours truly....Song Lou"

Dear Song Sung Lou: Blessings upon you and your puppies. I have spoken with high regard to all my appliances of your keen business skills and shavings. Though much of my lust is bestirred by the $10 million, I am requisite of a total of $50 million and am inquiring of any possibility you and your associates may emerge from their medications with this additional transfer. Also, through the subscriptions of their loins my parents have blessed me with a sister through all perplexity, and she, too, would be willing for a limited time only to accept a $50-million transfer.

"Dear W.: Though our history suggests you can be trusted with our worthiness, many among us are suspect of you unseriously misdirecting our associations. Please be aware of our availability to the $50 million only if you can be convincing of your honesty! We have no wasting time! Yes, your sister please also bank information with 24 hours for transferring or we will be withdrawn to other matters. Yours truly....Song"

Dear Song: All of my follicles are emerging from the dark winter of their trousers and turning their taste buds to your luscious wrists! Most joyously do I face the soup of your embalming of my sister. My beamings are upon all of the Suck companies, with wishes for continued integrity at every turn of the pipe. Yours most impeded....Bruce

They never wrote back, but I'm sure the transfer is coming soon!

-- 8 Simple Rules, Bruce Cameron, MidWeek, December 5, 2012

buy a blu-ray player instead?

With all the attention on streaming media players such as Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast, you might not realize that Blu-ray players are a great option for streaming. We recently tested 19 new Blu-ray players and found a number of models that would be a smart way to get your fix from Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and more. So here are five reasons to buy a Blu-ray player instead of a streaming media device:

1. They offer streaming options galore. Many of the latest Blu-ray players offer the same video services as dedicated streaming devices. Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, Amazon Instant Video, CinemaNow, YouTube, and a slew of others are pretty common. You’ll also find many models with apps for Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr as well as music services such as Pandora and Rhapsody. A growing number of players have built-in Web browsers, too, along with access to the manufacturer’s app store.
2. They're versatile and easy to use. Early Blu-ray players were a little kludgy when it came to streaming, but they’ve improved a lot in the past year or two. In general, our testers found the players easy to use, with friendly, modern interfaces that might remind you of a tablet or smart phone’s. The boxes themselves are slim and attractive—a bit bigger than a media player, but they can replace your DVD or CD player, so you’ll save space that way. Some models can support a wireless keyboard or mouse, making it easier to search for titles and enter URLs. You can also get an app that enables you to use your mobile device as a remote to control the player.
3. They offer great connectivity options. Most new Blu-ray players have built-in Wi-Fi, so you don’t have to run a wire to your router or modem to access the Internet. (However, we recommend a wired Ethernet connection, if possible, for the best, most stable streaming experience.) DLNA-equipped players can stream music, video, and photos from a compatible computer, smart phone, or tablet on the same network to your TV. And those with screen mirroring let you watch the content from your mobile device on a big-screen TV.
4. Blu-ray discs have the best HD picture quality and sound you can get at home. The 1080p video on Blu-discs is superior to what you get from streaming, which can vary based on the available bandwidth of your broadband connection. It’s the best high-def picture you can watch on your TV. You also have the option of higher-resolution lossless audio, such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master. Another plus: When you watch a disc there’s no buffering, as there is with Internet-based video. Any videophile worth his or her salt (and I work with several of them) opts for a Blu-ray disc over streaming for the best viewing experience. Also, many new Blu-ray players can play 3D discs, and a growing number can upconvert 1080p content to 4K for display on an Ultra HD, a plus if it does a better job than the TV.
5. You'll get the most bang for the buck. You can buy a very good Blu-ray player with streaming capabilities for less than $100, about the same price as many of the top streaming media players. Expect to pay a bit more—$150 or so—for a model with a Web browser and 4K upscaling.

facebook messenger

Facebook is planning to motivate people to download and use its standalone Facebook Messenger app by removing messaging capabilities from the standard Facebook mobile app.

Currently, users can chat through the Messages tab located on the bottom toolbar in the main Facebook app, but that tab will soon redirect users to download the Messenger app instead. When installed, a message received in the Facebook app will switch the user over to Messenger to chat, as it does now when a user has both the Facebook and Facebook Messenger apps installed.

***

Guess I gotta download another app.  Didn't even know they had a separate app

-- via facebook

Apple and IBM to work together

Flashback 30 years and no one would have seen this coming: After decades as competitors, Apple and IBM announced a deal to work together to create simple-to-use business apps, and sell iPhones and iPads to IBM's corporate customers.

Enemies during the early personal-computer wars, Apple Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. said they will cooperate in the mobile era, striking an agreement to create simple-to-use business apps and sell iPhones and iPads to Big Blue's corporate customers.

The deal underscores Apple's push to expand the reach of the iPhone and iPad into the business world—beyond their traditional base among consumers. IBM, meanwhile, is hoping Apple's simplicity and popularity will help stem eight consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue declines, as it moves more of its business software onto the mobile devices used by employees.

A partnership between the two companies would have been unthinkable 30 years ago when Apple famously attacked IBM in an iconic commercial titled "1984," painting IBM as a big-brother-like figure protecting the status quo while Apple's Macintosh provided a pathway to freedom.

But both companies have evolved since those days. While Apple still produces Mac computers, its main products are mobile devices. IBM sold its personal-computer business to Lenovo Group in 2005, repositioning the company as a software and computer-services provider.

"In '84, we were competitors. In 2014, I don't think you can find two more complementary companies," said Mr. Cook, who worked at IBM for more than a decade before joining Apple, in a joint interview with Ms. Rometty. "This is a really landmark deal."

Australia repeals carbon tax

SYDNEY (AP) - Australia's government repealed a much-maligned carbon tax on the nation's worst greenhouse gas polluters on Thursday, ending years of contention over a measure that became political poison for the lawmakers who imposed it.

The Senate voted 39 to 32 to axe the 24.15 Australian dollar ($22.60) tax per metric ton of carbon dioxide that was introduced by the center-left Labor government in July 2012. Conservative lawmakers burst into applause as the final tally was announced.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's conservative coalition government rose to power last year on the promise of getting rid of the tax, assuring voters that removing it would reduce household electricity bills. He plans to replace the measure with a taxpayer-financed AU$2.55 billion fund to pay industry incentives to use cleaner energy.

"Today, the tax that you voted to get rid of is finally gone: a useless, destructive tax which damaged jobs, which hurt families' cost of living and which didn't actually help the environment," Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

Australia is one of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters per capita, largely because of its heavy reliance on the nation's vast reserves of cheap coal for electricity.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten lashed out at Abbott after the vote, dubbing him an "environmental vandal."

"Today, Tony Abbott has made Australia the first country in the world to reverse action on climate change," Shorten told reporters. "History will judge Tony Abbott very harshly for refusing to believe in genuine action on climate change. Tony Abbott is sleepwalking Australia to an environmental and economic disaster."

The carbon tax, charged to about 350 of Australia's biggest carbon polluters, was controversial from the start. Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard had initially vowed not to introduce a tax on carbon emissions. But after her Labor party was elected in 2010, she needed the support of the minor Greens party to form a government — and the Greens wanted a carbon tax. Gillard agreed, infuriating a public that viewed the measure's imposition as a broken promise.

Labor's popularity plummeted, particularly when consumers saw their power bills soar. In reality, the tax accounted for a relatively small portion of that increase, but many blamed it for the hike nonetheless.

Desperate to improve its standing with the public, Labor replaced Gillard with previous Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who promised to get rid of the tax and transition it earlier than planned to a cap-and-trade scheme, which would have significantly lowered the per-ton carbon price.

But it proved too little, too late. Abbott's party swept to power in last year's elections by vowing to get rid of the tax for good.

The prime minister said families will be AU$550 a year better off now that the tax is gone.

Big businesses and industry groups across Australia rallied behind the tax's abolition, including the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which dubbed the levy a dead weight on the economy.

"It really did impact on the competitiveness of many Australian businesses and of course it put up the price of power," the group's CEO Kate Carnell said. "So it's a good step forward for competitiveness and also for employment in Australia."

In a fiery speech ahead of Thursday's vote, Sen. Christine Milne, leader of the Greens, called it an "appalling day for Australia."

"A vote for the abolition of the clean energy package is a vote for failure," she said. "If this parliament votes to abandon the clean energy package, you are voting against the best interests of the nation."

Environmental groups called the tax's repeal an international embarrassment.

"It's a very sad day because it was working, this carbon price," said Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O'Shanassy. "Our government has failed Australians and they need to go and look their kids and their grandkids in the eye and tell them why — why — they are unwinding laws that will protect people in this country from climate change."

Two Dots

Here's a simple game that's fun to play on the ipad.

But actually I wound up installing (and playing) an even simpler game called Match the Dots by IceMochi.