Looking Much Better

The Subaru Outback is completely green again! A big thank you has to go to Dan who managed to wedge this in between other jobs and keep the price low. He did an outstanding job matching the faded finish when painting the replacement hood and fender. It was nine months since the deer collision when it was finished.

We also got the long MIA spoiler replaced. The original vanished one day without a trace a couple of years ago, so it is strange to see the glow of the brake light filling the rear window again. I originally meant to take pictures while the car was still clean, but that did not work out and the car quickly dirtied in the dusty area we live in.

Waiting to take pictures did pay off in that I can show the repair A-1 Glass out of La Crosse did. Unfortunately, I did not take a before shot. There was a dollar coin sized fracture that looked like someone had shot the windshield. A gravel truck from all the road work going on around here kicked a piece of gravel right in front of the rearview mirror while my father was driving. He didn’t know it was damaged until I asked him about it, since the mirror hid it from inside.

I am very impressed with how it filled and it sounds like we were lucky that way.

Now to get mechanical work needed on the old warhorse underway.

The Watcher in the Woods (1980) Review

One of Disney’s biggest failures, this spooky thriller was aimed at teenagers and was supposed to herald a new era at the venerable movie studio. All the ingredients were there: a popular novel to adapt, the director of the Witch Mountain movies, a starlet coming off a huge hit, and Bette Davis to add gravitas. Ultimately, it failed to jell due to an uneven match of old Disney style and gothic horror. UPDATED October 2012 with new screen captures and massively rewritten text.

In 1980, Disney released an adaptation of Florence Randall’s popular teen novel, The Watcher in the Woods.  This movie was supposed their first PG film, but bad screenings led to protracted reshoots and eventually recuts of the ending. As a result, it came out in a limited release April of 1980, after the Autumn 1979 debut of The Black Hole. Even then, the studio decided to recut it.  While not a great movie, it has some redeeming points to it, mainly found in the alternate endings on the DVD releases.

I vaguely recall seeing the movie in the old Spring Grove Theater and being very disappointed in it.  In fact, this may have been the film that taught me to distrust movie adaptations of novels.  Having been weaned on old Hammer horror movies, there was nothing there to scare me.  However, viewing it as an adult, I can see plenty to creep out and scare kids (or sheltered adults) throughout the movie.  The director, John Hough, also directed one of my favorite scary movies, The Legend of Hell House, and I have to wonder what the movie would have been like made by another studio than Disney.

October 2012 General Conference Semi-Live Blog Final Edition

Time to see things through, though I am very sure this format does not work for me or the material covered. But that is what experiments are for, to find out if a theory works or does not. The General Conference has been good even if my blogging it has not.

Video streaming can be found here. I forgot that on the last post! If I only had a brain…

Sunday Afternoon Session

Robert D. Hales kicked things off with a talk about what it means to be a Christian and then explained what the doctrines of the Church are. It was a direct address to those who do not believe we are Christians. He gave the example of Peter and John leaving their nets to follow Christ to point out what we should be doing. Conversion can only come through the Savior and we are made new in Christ.

Again the story of Jesus speaking to Peter on the shore was repeated, but this time emphasizing “Feed my sheep.” Since topics are not assigned to speakers and left to inspiration from the Spirit, any time a specific part of a scripture is addressed more than once in a conference, I pay attention.

October 2012 General Conference Semi-Live Blog #2

After the fiasco last afternoon and evening, I am attempting things again. A brief nap of fifteen minutes turned into hours yesterday, so I missed all but the last talk of the afternoon session. A birthday party for the daughters of a friend meant I could not make it to the priesthood session too. Maybe I should have chosen next April’s general conference for this experiment.

So here goes again on a chilly, but sunny Sabbath morning.

Sunday Morning Session

President Henry B. Eyring opened with a quote from Joseph Smith wondering where God was while he was suffering in jail. Our feelings of separation from God will fade if we are more obedient and childlike. He explained that Jesus Christ always watches over us, even if we do not see Him or open ourselves to Him. There is a need to listen for direction from the Holy Ghost and try not to let our personal desires cloud our judgment. “The Lord’s delays often seem long…” A challenge was made to go to someone you have wronged and apologize, or did I mishear that?

Trying to type and listen does not work too well, I am finding.

2012 October General Conference Semi-Live Blog

It is hard to believe six months have gone by since the April General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but they have. I will be putting up comments on the talks as they are given, or more likely right after them. It is an experiment and I’ll see how I do at it! Warning, it will be scattershot rather than organized thoughts.

The video stream can be found here.

Saturday Morning Session

President Thomas S. Monson just announced a lowering of age restrictions on full time missionaries. Now 18 year old young men and high school (or equivalent) degree holders from all countries will be allowed to serve. The age for young women serving has been lowered from 21 to 19. This is fairly big news. Also announce were two new temples, one in Tucson, AZ and the other in Akiba, Peru.

---

Quentin L. Cook began his talk with a reminiscence about being a missionary in the field the last time the age was lowered, from 20 to 19. Elder Holland was the first 19 year old in his mission! The bulk of his talk was about repentance and has made an emphasis on how men are accountable for how they treat their wives, children, and others. The culture you were raised in does not excuse or permit abuse.

And Now It Is Time for a Phone Scam

What an interesting day I am having. After just finishing the most recent post on blog referral spam, I answered my father’s phone line. At first there was no sound, then the sound of a ring in, so the call was placed from an autodialer. On the other end was a clearly VOIP using man with a thick Indian accent, who acted like he was taking a survey at first. Often hard to understand, he implied he was with Microsoft and that there was “something bad” that had been downloaded to the computer there.

I was suspicious from the moment the call began, but became utterly incredulous at this point. Instantly, I was in hunter mode stalking prey – yes it was that exact feeling. When he said that he needed to take control of the computer, I knew I had found a scammer. I said that he would not be doing that and that I was a very experienced user with multiple firewalls and virus scanners. True, if you count the multiple computers we have, but I could not keep the glee out of my voice.

If he had half a brain, he would have disconnected at this point. Fortunately for my entertainment purposes, he did not. I pressed him repeatedly for his name and phone number. Instead, he gave a web address for onlinepc . com and eventually a phone number of 1-646-502-6605. Clearly flustered, he repeated the number angrily when I asked for the name again and only gave one after another request, Lazer is what it sounded like. Then I said goodbye and hung up on him.

Well, the website is documented as being a scam at Microsoft and the States are not the only ones getting these cold calls. I found this thread about the calls received in Australia. Looking up the phone number turned up a more recent series of calls with many recipients being on the national Do Not Call list like my father (and me). The phone number originates in New York, but with VOIP hacking making it easy to falsify phone numbers it could have been made from anywhere.

If anyone calls you and uses this routine on you, DO NOT COOPERATE WITH HIM! It is all a con job to access your PC for whatever nefarious purpose.

UPDATED October 5, 2012

Great news! The ring behind this scam has been busted in an international effort by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and Australia. India may get involved as well, since most of the criminals called from there. It looks like Microsoft got directly involved and that is why things happened.

2012 Presidential Debate #1

Not much to say after watching the whole thing, other than that was the most one sided drubbing I have ever witnessed in a debate or forum at any political level. Romney utterly destroyed Obama who was reduced to a rambling, stuttering, and dissembling mess. It reminds me of the Hulk vs. Loki, it was that extreme.

Now I understand why the White House was downplaying expectations. Wow.

UPDATED: Had to correct the mistyped title, I was actually getting hits from other people fumble fingering searches – so at least I’m not alone!