[My Story.] Hiatus.

I'm sorry I haven't been updating as much as I should be but, nothing's happened. Nothing. I'm assuming the attorney I eMailed is probably on holiday vacation. Wouldn't surprise me. I've noticed when something happens and I need to get in contact with someone, it's usually a Friday evening, or a holiday, when everything is closed.

I'm starting to draft an ROR for the group. Yes, this probably means a backlash from them. My goal now is to remove my family's and my son's information, at the least. If they want to go on barraging me, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with being a target if it gets the other information off.

Ugh. I can't describe the feeling I get when I double-check to see if the information is still there. I keep praying that they got bored and took it down. What is wrong with people? Can someone explain it to me. Why would someone do this? Let alone, a group. Why? That's all I want to know.

Well, we shall see. I have until June of 2006 to finalize this stuff. It's "A year after discovery" which, I found out about all this in June of 2005. So, I'm in no rush to send the ROR. Even though, the longer it stays up, the more people see it, the worse the damage. I don't want to jump into something and cause more problems if I don't have to.

My tip for the day: See that little button on your tower? Usually means "Power off." Go ahead and hit that. Then, when it's turned off, throw the tower out the window. ;)

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Posted by IdentityMIA to My Story. at 12/27/2005 05:56:00 PM

[In The News.] No safety net for personal privacy on the Net.

GO to a network named Ucloo, type in your name and click "search". You will probably find some personal information about yourself appearing on the screen.

And you only need to provide your e-mail address to get more detailed information. In this way, you may find similar information of about 90 million people, according to a claim by Ucloo.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/27/2005 05:46:00 PM

[In The News.] DeleteNow.com will give you some cyber-privacy.

Privacy is a precious commodity these days. But don't take my word for it. Just go online and type your name and the state in which you live into a search engine like Google and see what comes up. Chances are your name, address and phone number will pop up for starters. You'll also find helpful online maps that will display a bird's-eye view of your home along with driving directions on how to get there. Or click on another selection for a detailed satellite photo of your rooftop. Is that a satellite dish I'm seeing on your roof?

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/27/2005 05:45:00 PM

[In The News.] Check online anonymity.

Many associate the internet with creativity, freedom and diversity. However, these positive aspects are often weighed down by calls to regulate the internet. The pervasiveness of anonymity and secrecy in cyberspace is causing so many problems that steps need to be taken to ensure more accountability.

One need not go any further than visit the bulletin boards of internet sites to find evidence of bad language, accusations, slander and defamation committed in the name of the freedom of expression. Minimal respect for human dignity and privacy disappears when reckless "cyber terrorism" rages.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/27/2005 05:42:00 PM

[In The News.] Letterman subject of restraining order.

Personal Comment: This is why a lot of people have problems going to the law, because of the few cracks out there. Like rape victims, for example. One person fakes a rape charge just to get revenge or, whatever reason, the rest of the actual victims are going to have a hell of a time having the police believe him/her.

SANTA FE, New Mexico (AP) -- Lawyers for David Letterman want a judge to quash a restraining order granted to a Santa Fe woman who contends the CBS late-night host used code words to show he wanted to marry her and train her as his co-host.

A state judge granted a temporary restraining order to Colleen Nestler, who alleged in a request filed last Thursday that Letterman has forced her to go bankrupt and caused her "mental cruelty" and "sleep deprivation" since May 1994.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/24/2005 07:22:00 PM

[Off Topic.] The Truth About Santa.

I wasn't going to post anything about Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever else it is people celebrate (Or don't) for this time of year. But, I came across this thing and found it hilarious and had to share it.

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After much research, we present the annual aeronautical engineers report on the theory of Santa:

No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer, which only Santa has ever seen.

There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish & Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total -378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes that there's at least one good child in each.

Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with. This is due to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits/second. That is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has .001 second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house.

Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles/household, a total trip of 75.5 million miles; not counting stops to do what most of us do at lease once every 31 hours, plus eating etc. So Santa's sleigh must be moving at 650 miles/second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a pokey 27.4 miles/second. A conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles/hour.

If every one of the 91.8 million homes with good children were to put out a single chocolate chip cookie and an 8 ounce glass of 2% milk, the total calories (needless to say other vitamins and minerals) would be approximately 225 calories (100 for the cookie, give or take, and 125 for the milk, give or take). Multiplying the number of calories per house by the number of homes (225 x 91.8 x 1000000), we get the total number of calories Santa consumes that night, which is 20,655,000,000 calories. To break it down further, 1 pound is equal to 3500 calories. Dividing our total number of calories by the number of calories in a pound (20655000000 / 3500) and we get the number of pounds Santa gains, 5901428.6, which is 2950.7 tons.

The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized Lego set (2 lb.), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300lb. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see #1) can pull 10 TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with 8, or even 9, reindeer. We need 214,200. This increases the payload - not counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. This is four times the weight of the ocean-liner Queen Elizabeth.

353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles/second creates enormous air resistance. This will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as a spacecraft reentering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within .00426 of a second. Meanwhile, Santa, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250 lb. Santa, being very conservative in terms of guessing Santa's weight, would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 lb. of force. If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now.

A Merry Christmas to one and all!!

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Posted by IdentityMIA to Off Topic. at 12/24/2005 02:52:00 PM

[Off Topic.] Rent My Blog vol. 2

Time again for RMB.

Again, a wonderful list of people to choose from but I've narrowed it down to The Flights Of Icarus Goodman, an opinionated blog about the happenings in the world, politics, religion, etc. Check it out, it'll make you think at the very least. :)

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Posted by IdentityMIA to Off Topic. at 12/20/2005 03:35:00 PM

[In The News.] They're tracking you.

It looks fairly innocuous, a metal-and-plastic square with wires coiled up like an angular snail, a lot like the anti-theft tag you’d find if you pried apart a book you’d just bought at a chain store. But it’s a Radio Frequency Identification tag, RFID for short, and each one has a tiny antenna that can broadcast information about the product, or person, to which it is attached.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/18/2005 09:36:00 AM

[Correspondence] Contact with Ms. R.

Ms. R is a local attorney who practices in the following areas of law: Appellate Practice; Patents; Trademarks; Copyrights; Information and Privacy; Computer Law; Internet Law

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Hi, Ms. R.,

I'm not sure if you can help me, and I'm sorry if I'm wasting your time, but I don't know where to turn.

My information, including my addresses (Previous and current), my phone numbers, pictures of my house, my vehicle, my license plate, and my 3 year old son, are up on a vigilante group's website. Also, addresses of members of my family, including military addresses of my brother.

I'm not so much worried about my information. It's the fact that identifying information of my 3 year old son and my family's information is up.

I spoke with the FTC earlier and they informed me that this vigilante group is in violation of COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) but, since they do not prosecute individual cases, they informed me that I should get in touch with an attorney who specializes in Online-Law.

Again, I'm sorry if you're not the one I need to talk to, but I'm at my wits end. I would appreciate greatly any help or direction you could give me.

Thank you, Ms. R., and happy holidays.

~Jane Doe

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Posted by IdentityMIA to Correspondence at 12/17/2005 04:50:00 AM

[Correspondence] Run Around.

I called the FTC earlier and got a hold of a great guy. I asked if he would be able to help me with COPPA and he said he would do his best. I explained my situation and he put me on hold for a moment. When he got back, he explained he had spoken to a supervisor and that he said it is a violation of COPPA, what the group is doing, but they don't follow through with individual cases, that they take complaints against companies/groups and according to how many there are, that's what determines if they'll file or what.

Meh...

He told me I should speak to an attorney. So, I went to the County's Attorney office and got directed to call the State Bar. I grabbed the Attorney General's number, the State Bar's number, and began making calls.

The AG's office told me to contact the State Bar. I called the State Bar, the automated robot told me that if I continued on the phone a fairly large sum of money would be charged. Fantastic. So, I have to go online and use it.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to Correspondence at 12/17/2005 04:05:00 AM

[Correspondence] Ow.

Just got off the phone with the lawyer the other lawyer recommended.

One word: Ow.

Here's why. He gave me an estimate on what it would cost me to go through with this...

*Drum roll*

$6,000 - $8,000

Blah. At least he gave me some idea. He said it'd cost me a pretty penny, or I'd just have to grin and bear it.

I asked about an ROR. He said unless I was fully going through with the lawyer's fees and court costs and what not, an ROR would mean nothing, and it would probably just draw their attention back to me and escalate things, which I suspected.

Back to square one. I'll keep you updated on how things turn out. Wish me luck.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to Correspondence at 12/16/2005 09:58:00 AM

[My Story.] The story.

Okay, okay. I'm getting complaints that nobody knows what's going on so, here's a Reader's Digest version of why I am here, why this blog is here, and why I am "Jane Doe by choice, IdentityMIA by nature."

I've had stalking problems for quite some time, more than my fair share. I am a victim of 5 real life stalkers, 3 online stalkers, one of the online stalkers is actually a group.

The gist:

First real life stalker was someone I dated a few years ago. It wasn't anything serious, nor did I think the authorities needed to know. Just a few phone calls. Eventually, the person let go, moved on. That was that.

Second real life stalker was someone I had never met and just ran into at a gas station. He followed me home after I left the gas station, was always coming to my house after that and asking me out. When I denied his advances, he insisted on going postal on my front yard, destroying a couple of rose bushes, tried ripping a tree out of the ground, stuff like that. The police were contacted and he was arrested for destruction of private property. He spent a short time in jail, that was that.

An online person that I used to speak to had some mental problems and I offended him (I won't get into that story) and he threatened to come to my house (Yeah, stupid me, gave him my address a couple years previous this incident.) and rape/kill me. He lived quite far from me so I wasn't too worried. Then, he moved a few hours from me. When I found that out, I contacted the FBI and filed a report, since the threats were still continuing and it constituted interstate stalking/harassment (Hence, contacting the FBI). He then moved around a 30 minute drive from me and I started to become really scared. I spoke with his girlfriend whom I was on okay terms with (She was the reason he moved 30 minutes from me) and she said he wouldn't really do it but she would talk to him. Also, the FBI contacted him and told him to cease contact with me. That was that. This one constitutes an online/real life stalker, in my opinion.

During all this, I was in a great friendship with someone online. He's from another country and we agreed to meet, so he came over and we hung out for awhile. After he left, I broke up with him, and he began eMailing me constantly, following me in chats, signing up for new eMails because I would block known eMails, stuff like that. I do and don't consider him a stalker. I never felt threatened by him, nor did he ever threaten me. I treated it more like a "Lost puppy" case.

I moved out of state and started a new life, new job, new home. The job brought on another stalker who found out where I lived, broke into my apartment, and was caught wearing my clothes while lying in my bed. He was arrested and I never heard from him again.

Another one, I'm not sure where our paths crossed, but he urinated on the door to my apartment, claiming to the cops he was "Marking his territory." He was arrested, as well, and I moved back to my original home.

The online friend and I weren't on speaking terms for awhile. During this time, he started a group to keep a vigilante group in check. I knew nothing about this. I knew pretty much nothing about either group, other than hearing in passing the name of the vigilante group. He meant a lot to me and I valued his friendship so we started talking again a year after we broke up. This is where he told me about his group and the vigilante group. No big deal.

Last year, I met a guy. He left a note on my car with his phone number on it. So, he and I started dating. It was an up and down relationship so I ended it after a couple months. Again, I still wanted to be friends so after a week to let things cool down, I called him and he told me he had a girlfriend, so I ceased contact. He continued to call me, and his girlfriend would get mad that he called me, so she'd call me.

One day in July of this year (2005), I Googled myself. I normally did this in random intervals just to check. Every previous time I've Googled myself, I've come up with nothing so the intervals became greater and greater. But, this time, I hit something. The vigilante group posted my full name, my addresses (Previous and current), my phone numbers, pictures of my house, my car, my license plate, my son. They posted addresses of my mother, brother, and father (Previous and current), phone numbers (Previous and current). I was horrified.

I knew how the vigilante group worked, as my friend told me a lot about what his group was doing, so I was scared, moreso for my son, my family.

This is when I started Mishaps of the Internet. Because most of my stalkers were real life and obviously broke the law, they were easier to deal with. The net, on the other hand, is a bit trickier. Privacy laws are a bit trickier. And the vigilante group had a far greater reach than my real life stalkers.

The way the vigilante group works is "If you're not with us, you're against us." mentality. My friend was "Against them" so, in order to try to stop him, they attacked any obvious target around him, which was me.

I didn't hear from ex or the girlfriend for almost a year. Then, he initiated contact again, telling me he and the girlfriend broke up, he was going into rehab, etc. I took his word on it and was supportive. I started getting calls from his girlfriend again threatening me, calls from him telling me he loves me and she's psychotic.

I was tired of it so I filed Civil Stalking Injunctions against them both. They got married while I was in the process of getting the CSIs. He contested it and it was reduced to a mutual Restraining Order. Apparently, they were suppose to move out of state awhile ago, but, I saw them the other day. That was my ex's big argument in court, "We're moving so I don't see why we have the CSIs/ROs." Right...

This is my story. This is a log of my trials and triumphs.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to My Story. at 12/16/2005 05:52:00 AM

[My Story.]

There's a massive hill down a ways that I've always loved driving on. Right at the top, there's a four-way stop, then a sharp decline into a valley, and a sharp incline going back up it, through a residential. The road eventually leads you right to the mountains to another major road. It's the long way to get to where I was going but, it's scenic. I've always loved driving it but have been avoiding it because my ex lives in the immediate area of the hill.

I figured he'd be at work and I would be safe to drive it, so I took it.

The car he drives is one I adore, I've always wanted one, I'm obsessed with the model of car. I'm always pointing them out, "Oh, look at that one! Isn't that cute?"

I saw one on my drive, a blue one, one my ex drives. They're not that uncommon, especially blue ones. So, I looked in admiration, not recognizing the passengers. I saw his sticker in the back window. It was my ex.

I began to panic.

Did he see me? If he did, does he wonder why I was in the area? Is he on his way to my house? Why isn't he at work? Should I turn around and follow him to make sure he's not going to my house? Should I ignore it? Should I plow my car into his?

I wanted to so bad.

But, I kept driving to my destination. He's not worth it.

I've been in a funk all day. I don't know if it was because of that. I was excrutiatingly cheerful before this happened. I need to move *SO* bad.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to My Story. at 12/16/2005 04:27:00 AM

[In The News.] Nancy Grace Stalker Case.

Forget Scott Peterson and Michael Jackson, there's a defendant Nancy Grace dislikes even more. His name is Joseph Raymond Loegering and the cable TV star has just sued the Missouri man, claiming he has been stalking and harassing her at CNN's New York office.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/16/2005 12:20:00 AM

[In The News.] Man sentenced for ‘cyber-stalking’.

A Gladstone man was sentenced Tuesday to four months’ home detention and three years’ probation for infecting his ex-wife’s computer with spyware that allowed him to watch her online activity.

Jason Russell, 28, pleaded guilty in August, admitting that he purchased a membership in a now-defunct Internet service called Lover-Spy. The service provided spyware designed to remotely monitor a computer and track such things as instant messaging and e-mail.

The so-called cyber-stalking case was the first of its kind prosecuted in federal court in western Missouri.

“The rules of privacy still apply in cyberspace — it is illegal to use this kind of spyware to wiretap another person’s computer,” U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said in a written statement.

Source: Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/16/2005 12:18:00 AM

[Off Topic.] Be thankful it's not a Jew.

Time for a laugh.

The other day, I was speaking with my dear friend, the one I previously mentioned, on the phone. I have a slight difficulty hearing certain tones, and clearly. He said, "Be thankful it's not at you." which sent me into a hysterical laughter for a couple of hours. Yes, I laughed that long, not continuously but sporadically every time it entered my mind.

My friend had absolutely no idea why I was laughing. I couldn't control it enough to explain. After some time of me trying to stop, regain my breath, I finally mustered up, "I thought you said 'Be thankful it's not a Jew. I was like, WTF does a Jew have to do with anything?'" and continued laughing manically.

I *Still* laugh randomly when this thought enters my mind, and believe I freaked the people out at the store earlier when, out of the blue, I started chuckling quite loudly.

Thank you, B, for not hanging up on me after the first hour. :)

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Posted by IdentityMIA to Off Topic. at 12/14/2005 03:30:00 AM

[My Story.] It took me 20 minutes to think of this title.

I ran around and spoke with two lawyers, each not capable of handling my case, but I didn't know who else to talk to. One told me to contact the Attorney General, which I've already done and got brushed off. The other gave me a number for another lawyer, said he does speeches about technology and privacy online, so he'd be more suited to understand the situation. I called him earlier and left a message asking if he could call me back. We'll see what happens.

The second lawyer told me that I would most likely have to do an ROR, but wasn't 100% sure. I figured I would probably have to. I just want to avoid it as much as possible. LOL.

Everyone I've actually spoken to has no idea about the net, the group, etc. So, I don't think anyone really understands how desperate I am. One officer I spoke to brushed me off when I initially spoke with him, but called me the next day saying he checked out the group and was horrified, but other than that, he had no idea what I had to do.

I just want someone to tell me what I have to do, be it send an ROR, be it take them to civil court, whatever. I'm just tired of not knowing what I need to do, and tired of everyone not knowing what I need to do, and brushing me off as just some neurotic that's taking things too seriously. Blah...

Maybe I am taking it too seriously. But, it's not like my reaction is unwarranted and irrational. Maybe they're just not empathizing. I mean, how would you feel if some violent vigilante group posted your full name, all your addresses (Previous and current), your phone number(s), your entire family's information, pictures of your house, your car, your license plate? Someone tell me I'm insane and I'll check myself into an asylum.

Insanity: Inability to understand the nature and purpose of a punishment to which one has been sentenced.

I don't understand the purpose of my "Punishment".

Maybe I am insane...

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Posted by IdentityMIA to My Story. at 12/14/2005 01:33:00 AM

[Off Topic.] Rent My Blog.

I've rented my blog, for the first time ever. And, received a lot of offers for it. Sorry to those I denied, you all had great layouts, content, the works. But, I narrowed it down to one blog. Asdalover is a healthy mix of rambling, photos, and daily procrastination. I think we can all empathize. :) Be warned, her blog is a bit pink. LOL.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to Off Topic. at 12/11/2005 10:09:00 PM

[My Story.] Right Of Reply.

So, I'm scared. Like that's news. LOL. I'm scared that I'm going to have to write a letter, or eMail, to the group who has all my information up. I don't want to. God, I don't want to.

The group offers a right of reply to everyone they post. I know how the group functions. I know that everyone who has ever used the ROR that the group posts the ROR and does not remove the information. And, in most times, sending an ROR makes matters worse.

The last post about me was last year, I found out about all this in July of this year. I'm afraid if I ROR, then it'll bring me back into the forefront and the attacks will begin again.

I'm at the point that I don't care what they have up about me. I don't care. But, they have my entire family up, and that is what hurts me the most.

I'm definitely going to speak with an attorney before I send any ROR, or have any contact with the group. I'm trying to prepare myself in case I do have to ROR. I'm so scared.

I hate confrontations. I would rather have some lawyer tell me "Okay, here's what I'll do for you. Here's who you need to contact, they'll handle everything. All you have to do is explain the sitatuation." But, of course, that would be entirely too easy.

I hate doing this.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to My Story. at 12/11/2005 07:41:00 PM

[In The News.] A Little Sleuthing Unmasks Writer of Wikipedia Prank.

It started as a joke and ended up as a shot heard round the Internet, with the joker losing his job and Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, suffering a blow to its credibility.

A man in Nashville has admitted that, in trying to shock a colleague with a joke, he put false information into a Wikipedia entry about John Seigenthaler Sr., a former editor of The Tennessean in Nashville.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/11/2005 05:43:00 PM

[In The News.] New chips called a danger to privacy.

State lawmakers have crafted a bill that, if passed, would make New Hampshire the first state in the nation to regulate so-called "spy chips" in an effort to protect consumer privacy.

The full House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the measure, House Bill 203, in January.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/11/2005 05:42:00 PM

[Off Topic.] Sudoku.

By popular demand, my Sudoku tutorial. BE has implimented a rather...Cheap...Version of Sudoku on their site. (Funny, I just made an entry about it.) And, everyone in the SB is complaining. LOL. Great people...

Sudoku is an old game from Japan, a logic game. There is no math involved, just simple pattern recognition. Wikipedia defines Sudoku as:

Sudoku (: 数独, sūdoku), sometimes spelled Su Doku, is a placement puzzle, also known as Number Place in the United States. The aim of the puzzle is to enter a number from 1 through 9 in each cell of a grid, most frequently a 9×9 grid made up of 3×3 subgrids (called "regions"), starting with various numbers given in some cells (the "givens"). Each row, column and region must contain only one instance of each number. ...

A true Sudoku can be solved without guessing.

For demonstration purposes, I've taken a screen shot of an easy-level Sudoku from Web Sudoku

The gist: You get numbers, 1-9, and put them in the boxes. Only one number can occupy the box, no duplicates can appear in any 3x3, no duplicates in any row, no duplicates in any column.



See the 5's on the left hand side? They narrow down the options of the 5 appearing in the middle 3x3 on the left hand side.



Then, the 5 in the middle 3x3 narrows it down even more!



Where the 5 goes is marked with the red 5. Easy? Let's do another number. You'll see that I kept the 5 in that box. See the 2's on the left hand side? They narrow down the spaces for the 2 to appear in the middle left hand side 3x3. There's only one spot, so that's where we're going to stick the 2.



Now that we've gone through all the numbers using this method. (I've went through the puzzle and marked off all the numbers.) I tried not putting in all the numbers, even though I wanted to. LOL. We'll leave it at this.



You'll see the top middle 3x3 has only one box open. We can safely assume that would be a 1 in that box because it's the only number not in the 3x3, and, as the rules of Sudoku are, you can only have one of numbers in the 3x3s.



Now, see that column we put that 1 in? There's only one box without a number. We can, again, safely assume that a 6 goes in that box because, like the rules of Sudoku state, there can only be one instance of a number in a column.



If you're in question about what number should be in a box, use pencil marks. Pencil marks are little numbers, when I do Sudoku on paper, I write little numbers in the top of the box, that remind us of what the possibilities are. Sometimes, when you pencil mark all the boxes, you can see that some boxes may only have one pencil mark in them, and can safely assume that that's the number that goes in that box. The little red blobs over in the top right 3x3 are suppose to be 8's.



After switching inbetween the above mentioned methods, we eventually solve the Sudoku.



Of course, there's other methods that I haven't gotten into here. Maybe you can figure them out yourself. :)

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Posted by IdentityMIA to Off Topic. at 12/09/2005 10:28:00 PM

[In The News.] Good Question: Where Does Privacy End?

(WCCO) Actress Jennifer Aniston is suing a photographer over topless pictures snapped with a telephoto lens, claiming a violation of her privacy. That raises a good question: Where does your privacy end?

There's no easy answer, because the word "privacy" is not in the Constitution.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/09/2005 07:42:00 PM

[In The News.] The Privacy Tune-Up.

I have the oil in my car changed every six months. Though I don’t drive many miles, it seems to me that preventive maintenance is a good idea and pays for itself by avoiding trouble. You may want to consider the same approach for your privacy policy. Every once in awhile, that policy will need a tune-up.

There are many reasons for doing a review annually. Here are some.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/09/2005 07:39:00 PM

[My Story.] Thank you.

So, good news. Blogger no longer thinks I'm a spam-bot, and I have been whitelisted...Finally. :) (Thank you, Blogger people!)

I am totally obsessed and addicted with Blog Explosion. And, well, it's making me slack off on my other duties. If you've come to this blog through BE, or have seen me in the SB, or, whatever brought you here. I thank you, and welcome you.

Enough mushy stuff, right? Time to get down to business. I will be in contact with an attorney *SOON*. This means at the very latest, Monday I will have spoken with an attorney. We'll see how well I can hold up to this promise, and what happens in the process.

The attorney I have in mind is not affiliated with what I need help in, but, I'm hoping since we do have a history that he'll make a few calls for me and hook me up with one who can help.

Secondly, I'm trying to get one of my favorite news sites to give me feed to them. All the news I get comes from The Missing Amendment. A very well put together site.

Lastly, I'm juggling a lot of stuff personally outside of this. Which, again I say, I've been slacking because of BE. (Yes, I blame BE for me not doing anything other than this! ;) So, one of these days, I may have to take a hiatus away from the computer so I can organize the stuff going on in my life.

The junk in my life isn't bad, just time consuming. That's a bonus. For once, not everything in my life is slaughtering my emotional strength. Maybe I'll start getting around to it after this post, and maybe a news post. We'll see how The Missing Amendment is doing.

Aside from all that, uneventful. Well, not exactly uneventful. But, I'll save that news for another entry.

Thank you, everyone who has commented. I'm glad you enjoy the layouts. :) I hope I can help at least one person who might be in a bad spot and doesn't know where to turn for help. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to My Story. at 12/09/2005 07:07:00 PM

[In The News.] Accused Stalker Now Charged With Rape.

Police seized a computer from John Cruickshank's Lansingburgh home and a cell phone from his mother's car...tools they believe he used to terrorize at least 8 women, including a 15 year-old he's now accused of raping.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/08/2005 10:40:00 PM

[Correspondence] NDVH.

I've taken to eMailing the NDVH (National Domestic Violence Hotline) in attempts to get some kind of reply and direction on what I should do about my cyberstalkers. I've spoken with them previously on the phone about my ex. I gave them a basic run down on my situation and asked if they could possibly help, or at least direct me to someone who could help. The wonderfully understanding and supportive people of NDVH eMailed me back.

Dear Jane,

Wow. This sounds like an incredibly tough situation and place to be in.
The difficulty is that here at the National Domestic Violence Hotline we specialize in intimate partner abuse. It sounds like you need legal advice to see what kind of recourse you have in getting your information removed from the internet. You are welcome to call our hotline @ 1-800-799-7233 and we can try to find some legal help in your area. We are open 24/7 and are anonymous and confidential. Hope this helps.

~NDVH

This was the kind of response I was expecting. I knew they wouldn't be in the position to help me but, they at least directed me to get legal advice, which nobody else has even cared enough to tell me anything.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to Correspondence at 12/08/2005 10:31:00 PM

[My Story.] Coffee and Sudoku.

So, Blogger thinks I'm a bot. So my automatic posts from this blog to my main blog aren't working automatically. Go figure. I'M NOT A BOT, GUYS!

I went out for coffee at the usual place. I go in there and just get coffee, and occassional some pie, depends on my mood. But, I sit in there for a handful of hours doing Sudoku. I love Sudoku. If you've never played it, or have no idea what it is, WebSudoku has an online free version. Try it, at least. It's highly addictive. :)

One of the waitresses at the place saw me and said, "You're in early." to which I replied, "Am I? Do you want me to leave and come back in a couple hours?" LOL. I love the people there. It's nice to just get out and forget about everything for a little bit.

I tried this online game, BlogShares. It's a fantasy stock game type thing. I've read the rules a few times and I still don't understand it. I had someone message me on BlogShares, they gave me some shares in their blog, or something, I'm really not sure what happened but they gave me something. LOL. They asked for shares in my blog, or a link on my blog to theirs. I told them, I have no idea what I'm doing so could I just give you all my money/chips? I don't know if that would be "Illegal" (Game rules) or what. Hopefully they'll reply soon, and I can be done of BlogShare.

I'm a bit irked about Blogger thinking I'm a bot. I've only contacted them about my main blog. But, all the blogs I have now, the "Categories", are also considered spam bots, as well. So, I'm thinking of eMailing them and telling them to fix it! :(

Ah, well. It's not the worst that could happen. And, hopefully soon, it will be fixed. Until then, my friends, I'll just have to manually do everything. No biggie.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to My Story. at 12/07/2005 05:40:00 PM

[In The News.] Internet gossip and the illusion of anonymity.

Everyone who gets e-mail discovers it can be a peculiarly nasty medium.

For all its popularity and convenience, it's a minefield for personal relationships. Even normally easygoing people can find themselves firing off snarky e-mail remarks they'd never dream of saying face to face.

Read more at Here.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to In The News. at 12/07/2005 06:30:00 AM

[My Story.] A new beginning.

Yes, it's true. I have a new blog, kinda. Fret not, it's the same thing, and the old blog has been archived. You can still view it, though.

The fact is, Blogger does not supply categories. So, I've had to find a way around this, which I have, and now we have categories. This saves me from manually entering a lot of stuff. Also, it keeps the blog quite more organized. Go categories!

New layouts, as well. I've been procrastinating getting rid of the stupid girly floral layout I had on the archived blog, and now it's gone...Thankfully.

I had a girl in a chat approach me. I don't know why she picked me out of the crowd of people in the room, but she PMed me. She asked if I could help her, and I replied that I could try. The thing with the room is you must ask in the main room before you PM someone. Nice little rule, I think. Secondly, I let PMs in (Without asking first) when someone has a technical question about the chat, which this wasn't. This was far more serious.

The girl explained to me that her ex had taken pics of her children, not his, and put them up in his Yahoo profile, along with their ages and other identifying information. She was a lost cause and had no idea where to turn.

With my experience of my cyber-stalkers posting the pictures and name and age and what have you of my child, I knew exactly where to tell her to go. I directed her to COPPA, I directed her to several of Yahoo's contact listings and told her to eMail every one of them.

She came back into the room today, I asked her to keep me updated, and told me that the police were finally listening to her when she told them she had spoken to COPPA. That Yahoo is investigating, and has removed the profile. I'm so happy for her! :) I am so glad it worked out so excellently for her. I hope she doesn't have any more problems with this guy, 'cause he sounds like a real jerk.

Other than that, nothing much happening. I'm glad it's been slow. I've found a new friend who treats me like a human. I know that's not saying much but, it's been awhile since I've been treated as an equal, without any games, without any lies. He makes me smile just thinking about him and I'm very glad to have him in my life.

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Posted by IdentityMIA to My Story. at 12/07/2005 12:46:00 AM