Best Freeware Region-Free DVD Program: VLC or VideoLAN Player

After doing a bit of searching on the web, and recognizing a few programs, I discovered a few things. One was this article in, of all online publications, Popular Mechanics which discussed a few free programs that deal with the region-specific demands of computers.

Because as everyone has noted, you can only change the region on your computer a max of 5 times and then you're locked for good. While most articles tell you that you can't change that, even if you re-load Windows, you actually can. But it would require that you erase your hard-drive and then completely reinstall everything. I know. I've done it.

So this seemed a more promising route: simply download a program that overrides your DVD player program's demand that you commit to a region. The one recommended in the article was called Remote Selector and it has a rather bare bones approach to how to use the program.

That did not work for me. I have Power DVD's Dell-specific program called "Media Direct" and that wasn't compatible with this program.

The other program the article recommended for MAC users is actually GREAT with Windows users, as well. This is the VideoLAN VLC Player.

In brief, it's awesome!!

You download it. It's an independent player. No interface necessary. Nothing fancy. Just literally a player that recognizes all regions. And it's a shareware, I downloaded the one from Madison University in Wisconsin, and it works an absolute treat. Did I mention the free part? Legally? Because it's shareware. No paying $59.95 or whatever for Div-X or some such thing.

But the absolute best part? All those programs like Div-X and the like require that you actually copy the dvd onto your hard drive and then you can play the movie. What if you don't have enough space? I mean, I do because I just bought a new computer, but honestly. I don't want that cluttering up my computer. And for all those people who say, "Yes, but it uses more energy that way, to run the movie off the dvd itself," I say pshaw. I want to play something immediately, not copy it over to my hard drive first.

VLC is, in short, GREAT!

Texas Rep. Betty Brown: She Didnt Insult "Asians"--She Insulted CHINESE-Americans

Here is the text, cited from Thinkprogress, below.

The problem with her subsequent apology is that it is directed at Asian Amnericans, when her racist comment was directed at CHINESE AMERICANS IN PARTICULAR.

This is an important distinction. Because the discourse of racism directed specifically Chinese either born here in the U.S. or foreign born becomes erased, elided, invisible, by the discourse of "Asian Americans" and the supposed collective group that forms.

Sorry, but Asian Americans are not a discrete group. But Asians encompasses South Asia (such as India), Southeast Asian (Thailand, Vietnam, for example) and East Asia (China, Japan and Korea). So "Asians" is not a cohesive group.

Imagine how insulted Northern Europeans would be to be confused with someone from, say, Italy, and you'll understand.

Who says racism is latent in America?

"“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown said.

Brown later told [Organization of Chinese Americans representative Ramey] Ko: 'Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?'

Pomegranates: How to Peel Them Easily

There are all sorts of juices out there to make consuming pomegranates easily. Unfortunately, they are all pretty dismal and strange.

Why not eat the real thing? Of course, some stores like Trader Joe's sell small tubs of the seeds so you can eat them without peeling because it seems so daunting.

No more. This is what to do. Break open the fruit and then peel it in a bowl of water. Voila. The inner vein will float to the top, and the seeds will sink to the bottom. They separate themselves for you in the water.

So enjoy the real thing without fear! And without paying $3.99 for a small tub of seeds.

Vista Patch for HP Duplex Printing

There are some issues with the duplex printing function with several HP printers and a person named Bob Headrick who has authored several patches to solve them. His email is Bobh@proaxis.com and wow, did it fix the problem immediately!

His instructions are a little technical, but if you email him, he'll give you the patch and attach instructions. If they still confuse, essentially, you just have to use the patch he gives you and put it into the folder ending in:

drivers\w32x86\3

Then you have to delete all the files ending in ".bud" because, as he says, they will regenerate with new ones using the patch.

Great!

It worked like a charm, so email him and get rolling.

Nigerian Scam: Paypal Notification

This really looks authentic. Click on the image and a clear screen will come up. Problem is, the return email isn't from Paypal.

Nigerian Paypal Scam

Just to reiterate:

hsbcgold@gmail.com professes to be an "agent" of Paypal.com

First of all, Paypal doesn't use gmail email addresses--they use their own domain name.

Another gmail account, serviceonlinefund@mail2consultant.com, professes to be the "customer service" rep of Paypal.

Another, Jerry Springer, aka Anita Morgan at Springerfuture011@gmail.com, professes to be the buyer.

The address?

Let me again reiterate:

NAME: OWOLABI KAZEEM
ADDRESS: NO 11 ADEOLUYOYE STR OFF IMALEFALAFIA ROAD
CITY; IBADAN
STATE: OYO
COUNTRY: NIGERIA
ZIP CODE: 23402

How can it be that the buyer is different from the recipient, who is again different from the original buyer?

Nigerian Scam Buying Items Using Fake Paypal

There are a lot of posts on this problem, so I don't profess to be the last word on it. Indeed, this is just another post on the burgeoning problem. In fact, there is a website devoted to the past addresses and fake names used by past Nigeria-based scams.

But this one deserves a little spotlight.

It began with an ad I posted in the L.A. Craigslist, as well as on Blujay, for some 18k Tiffany Fringe Earrings. I put the ad in because, like many other people, I need the money.

And that's when it began. So I wanted to prove that I had bought the earrings myself and because, like most normal people, I threw away the receipt, I put up an image of my bank account statement. It said I could prove that I bought them myself. Which I did. All $514.19 of it. Sheesh. What was I thinking?

At any rate, I was, and am, asking for a little over $100 less than I paid for them. $400 to be specific. And I got a response within a few hours.

It sounded too good to be true. Sound familiar? What is that adage they say about "If it sounds to good to be true, it is?" Well, as much as we would like to think that we are special, individually, there is a reason that is an adage. Because it is true.

So the buyer was named "Jerry Springer": beware of that name, right? Again, sounds unreal, so it probably is. The email address, and all subsequent ones, are gmail addresses: Springerfuture011@gmail.com.

This is the content of a series of emails over the past two days, from April 1 (so appropriate) through April 3:


IS THIS ITEM STIL FOR SALE GET BACK TO ME ASAP...........

4/0/09 12:18 pm: I am very glad to hear back from you,but i will just like to know if the item is really in good condition?cos i wanna get this for my partner who is on a company project inspector in abroad, and i will not be able to come and pick it up from your place,Because am out of state for a Business trip,so i will be glad if you can help me to handle the shipping and i prefer to paying you $100 for the shipping cost via USPS EXPRESS MAIL INTERNATIONAL EMS AND YOU CAN GET THIS FROM YOUR POST OFFICE THERE....so get back to me with all details to proceed the payment and the total price including the shipping fee as well.....and i will like to pay you via paypal email account...ok.....so do get back to me now with your paypal email personal account for instant payment..ok....

Thanks.

4/1/09 11:57: YES..IT GREAT TO HAVE YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT EMAIL ID...I WILL MAKE THE PAYMENT INTO YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT NOW AND I WILL GET BACK TO YOU AS SOON AS AM THROUGH WITH TRANSACTION PAYMENT.
THANKS

And finally in response to a deadline I set of a payment by 8 am PST where I said, and did, cancel my Paypal bill, this is what I received, at 12:59 pm, 4/2/09, no less:

thanks for the propmt mail,i am very busy here and right now i just transfer the money into your account..i am sure that paypal will have get back to you through your paypal email address that you use to have the account with them ..and i have add the shipping fees with the money i sent to your account so as soon as you got the notify mail from paypal i want you to kndly get the package ship to this address ..

NAME: OWOLABI KAZEEM
ADDRESS: NO 11 ADEOLUYOYE STR OFF IMALEFALAFIA ROAD
CITY; IBADAN
STATE: OYO
COUNTRY: NIGERIA
ZIP CODE: 23402

and i want this to be ship through express mail international and you can get this done in your post office there and you get back to me with the tracking number so i can forward this to paypal for final verification ...hope to hear from you back soonest ..

After my husband checked our real paypal account, and saw that there was no deposit, I decided to check the email account associated with the Paypal account.

Four emails were in my box, from, supposedly, Paypal, though the return address was different:

serviceonlinefund@mail2consultant.com, "Hank Bonds" at --can you believe it??

And now we are getting emails from hsbcgold@gmail.com that says

It is important we know the status of the item bought otherwise, legal action may be taken against you since you have not replied to the confirmation of payment made to your account by our client(Anita Morgan) via PayPal.We request for the Tracking Number to prove postage of the item in less than 24hours and we will fund the money into your account or face the consequences of LEGAL ACTION.

We believed you entered into bidding agreement by requesting money through Pay Pal , and by non response to the payment confirmation made to your account you have violate Pay Pal agreement. However the buyer has already contacted us in other to make report about your non response. We are ensuring to make PayPal a safer place, therefore we need to set confidence on our users.

Therefore, if your Money is credit into your Account before the shipment of the item, that means the item will not be shipped to the Buyer. From IC3 we give you 24hours (1days) to ship the package to the Delivery Address given to you by your buyer, and also send the Shipment Tracking Number immediately to us to verify the shipment.Immediately we confirm the shipping.You will receive a confirmation e-mail that your account has been credited.

NOTE:
Failure to respond to this means your Name and Address will be forward to the law enforcement Agency in your Country which may result to an Arrest, because you are practicing Scam, And your Account with PayPal will be BLOCKED, In order to free yourself from this'' Ship the package within 24hours and send the Shipment Tracking to PayPal for them to Verify. If you have any comment on this issue do not hesitate to contact us via our customer care email. Although we check our e-mail frequently, we do not consider it to be an alternative to telephonic contact in emergency situations.Feel free to contact us directly to this mail (serviceonlinefund@mail2consultant.com)
New York Field Office
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Can you believe this?

Shocking.