Swamped by e-mail and Ben Sira

My e-mail is out of control. I'm not asking for solutions. This is a rant, not a cry for help. I think I get 50-75 a day, and I've scrupulously unsubscribed to those which sneak in because mailing lists are sold. However, even the ones I've asked for and read, or save, send other suggestions and offers and I can't always tell from the subject line whether it's important. Then add the medical portals for the 2 of us which send all manner of "stuff" including alerts about appointments and requests to sign in remotely. There are specialists not connected to our regular physician, they send notices too. I can give many other examples--charities, church groups, clubs, condo association, credit card, groups of friends that do "reply all", spam, and so on, and on. Sometimes I miss a personal e-mail letter which I love because it gets lost in the crowd.

Recently my book club read "Sisters of Sinai" which I liked so I bought a used copy (so I could check the bibliography) because I was interested in Ben Sira (Sirach, Ecclesiasticus). The Scottish twin sisters finding a scrap of Ben Sira manuscript in Hebrew in Egypt in 1896 was one of the most important Biblical discoveries in recent time, right up there with the Dead Sea Scrolls. After checking the internet, I signed up for something called Academia which is open access for academic papers so a reader can browse and download. There are many others that aggregate publications like SSRN which I've used, and even Ohio State has one called Knowledge Bank. On my first try, I found over 124,000 papers written about Ben Sira. Now I'm getting inquiries from this service about updating to premium and have I considered reading paper xyz. I also bought a few other books through ABE, and I get not only notices about where they are in transit, but wouldn't I like to try this or that book. So you see, it's my own fault.

How to trace an e-mail address

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-trace-your-emails-back-to-the-source/

“The first thing you do when you hear that email notification is check the sender, right? It is the quickest way to figure out who the email is from, as well as the likely content.

But did you know each email comes with a lot more information than what appears in most email clients? There’s a host of information about the sender included in the email header—information you can use to trace the email back to the source.

Here’s how to trace . . .” And some very detailed instructions.

Crimes and misdemeanors, but no intent

"FBI Director James Comey announced that the FBI will not recommend charges against Hillary. Although he said that there was extreme "carelessness" in handling classified information, the lack of intent to violate the law precluded prosecution. That's a bit of a surprise given that the Department of Justice is currently prosecuting Petty Officer First Class Kristian Saucier for a similar crime where no inten...t was involved. This gives rise to suspicions, verging on certainty, that the law is different when your name is Clinton, that laws are for the "little people" and not those in charge. As Kurt Schlichter has recently warned, the sense that there's no such thing as rule of law in today's America is likely to be quite corrosive. If Hillary can do this much damage to America's fabric now, how much worse will things be with her in the White House?"

https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b.-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clintons-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system

http://www.9news.com/news/nation-now/glenn-reynolds-about-that-clintonlynch-accidental-meeting/264670390

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/fbi-recommends-no-charges-against-clinton-in-email-probe-225102

Almost too embarrassing to read

The newest batch of Hillary’s illegal e-mail stash reveals her sycophantic, bootlicking, weasel word lackeys begging for attention and favors.  Lanny Davis was Bill Clinton’s special counsel. Here’s just one example:

“He grovels for a favor in a 2010 email with the subject line “Personal.”

“[A] personal favor My dear friend Hillary: I hate to email you too much and to ask you for any favors,” Davis writes before proceeding to ask her for a favor. “I feel as if I am taking advantage of a great privilege that you allow me to send you a personal email every so often. But this is a favor that I fully understand for 100 reasons might not be appropriate or comfortable for you to say yes to.”

Davis launches into a long-winded diatribe about an article that is going to be written about his law firm and humbly requests that Clinton say nice things about him—but not before telling her she is nearly as important to him as his own wife.

“Aside from Carolyn, my four children, and my immediate family, I consider you to be the best friend and the best person I have met in my long life,” Davis writes. “You know that from the dedication and appreciation of you I have always felt and expressed to you over four decades. So that is why your comments would mean a lot to me, even if just a written statement.” “

In 2009 after the first 100 days, Davis wrote an equally abject confession about how he’d converted to Obama, after supporting Hillary in the 2008 campaign.  The man knows no shame. And she was his “best friend” in his long life.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/01/inside-the-new-hillary-clinton-emails-all-the-secretary-s-yes-men.html?

Shocking. The New York Times has been caught doing investigative reporting

Buried on A14 today.  She wasn’t telling the truth in March about her e-mails.  Boy, am I shocked.

Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters last month that the memos about Libya she received while secretary of state from Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime adviser whom the Obama administration had barred her from hiring, had been “unsolicited.”

But email records that Mrs. Clinton, according to officials briefed on the matter, apparently failed to turn over to the State Department last fall show that she repeatedly encouraged Mr. Blumenthal to “keep ’em coming,” as she said in an August 2012 reply to a memo from him, which she called “another keeper.”

All or part of 15 Libya-related emails she sent to Mr. Blumenthal were missing from the trove of 30,000 that Mrs. Clinton provided to the State Department last year, as well as from the 847 that the department in turn provided in February to the House committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The emails were reviewed by a reporter.

Hillary Clinton wasn’t very SMART

http://oig.state.gov/system/files/isp-i-15-15.pdf

OIG made seven recommendations to improve the use of record emails by Department of State employees and mission staff members.

• OIG recommended establishing a process to review record email usage across missions and bureaus, as well as issuing guidance to Department of State employees and mission staff members that specifies their record-keeping responsibilities, provides examples to guide choices among cables and record and working emails, and suggests the establishment of record email policies.
• OIG recommended convening functionally defined focus groups to identify practical examples of official records;
• canvassing through focus groups in all bureaus periodically to identify obstacles to the use of SMART for record emails and cables;
• establishing an Electronic Records Management Working Group to advise on record emails and related issues;
• making introductory and refresher courses on records management a requirement for Department of State employees.
• OIG also recommended expanding the Foreign Service Institute’s current record email training curriculum to include hands-on SMART client and classroom training
• additional material on record-keeping requirements.

More on e-mailgate—Clinton’s buddy system

“Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who heads the Judiciary Committee, had previously questioned Clinton’s use of a program that allowed some political allies to work for the government while pursuing private-sector careers.

Grassley had sought e-mails and other documents from the State Department.

But he didn’t know until last week that Clinton was exclusively using a private e-mail account that could contain relevant information about her use of the so-called “special government employee” program. Huma Abedin, a Clinton confidante and adviser who was granted the special designation, also used the private e-mail system.”

Washington Post

I know that Bill Clinton and his cronies were looking forward to getting back into power, but somehow, I can’t help but think he’s chuckling a little at this pay back.

Isn’t technology amazing?

And the protection of government employees doing the President’s bidding—that’s pretty awesome also.

Elections have consequences

A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law.

CNET has learned that Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week.

Revised bill highlights

✭ Grants warrantless access to Americans' electronic correspondence to over 22 federal agencies. Only a subpoena is required, not a search warrant signed by a judge based on probable cause.

✭ Permits state and local law enforcement to warrantlessly access Americans' correspondence stored on systems not offered "to the public," including university networks.

✭ Authorizes any law enforcement agency to access accounts without a warrant -- or subsequent court review -- if they claim "emergency" situations exist.

✭ Says providers "shall notify" law enforcement in advance of any plans to tell their customers that they've been the target of a warrant, order, or subpoena.

✭ Delays notification of customers whose accounts have been accessed from 3 days to "10 business days." This notification can be postponed by up to 360 days

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57552225-38/senate-bill-rewrite-lets-feds-read-your-e-mail-without-warrants/

Media feeding frenzy in Juneau, which isn't covering the story

I hope they are bored out of their minds. And how clever to release it on paper. Does the media do this to all former governors, or just women they love to hate? At least the birthers knew they were looking for something--a birth certificate. What are these guys looking for?

"Alaska officials on Friday released thousands of pages of emails sent and received by Sarah Palin during her first 21 months as governor, giving a fresh glimpse at the time when she rose to national prominence and became the GOP vice presidential nominee. Reporters and photographers crowded into a small to pick up the six boxes of emails — 24,199 pages and weighing 100 pounds — to begin poring over them. Some carried boxes down the stairs and others, wheeling them on dollies, scrambled to be the first ones to reach elevators." Link

The photo album

Last night I e-mailed a photographer from Wisconsin asking permission to use his photo as a reference for a painting, and he graciously responded OK (very interesting photos from all over the world). Then I decided I needed a special folder for this, because I ask and then forget where I saved them. When I changed computers about a year ago, my e-mail didn't transfer. Sooo....one thing led to another and I started moving other files--it began to take on a life of its own--like when I clean my real office. Then I came across this story, written in November 2004 for NaNoWrMo. When I write fiction, I have no middle or ending in mind, only the first sentence, so I wrote what came to mind, saved it, and didn't reopen it for five years. At this point, the inspiration is gone, but here it is.

Paula Bearfoot. I knew her the minute I saw the old photos glued to the page of the crumbling scrapbook laid out on the table at the reunion. I’d seen her photo a few times back in 1959, and the scrapbook was from the 50s--the kind with the ugly black paper. Something like a shoestring provided the flimsy binding.

How prissy the girls all looked then in black and white glossies, caught and preserved by a little Brownie Kodak. Neat, straight, pencil thin wool skirts, a short sleeve sweater with stitching on the sleeves, a white collar “dickey,” and white anklets in saddle shoes. What pride they took in their appearance. Oh, the wasted hours in front of the mirror. Leafing through the album, I realized somewhat belatedly that teen-agers weren’t fat then, they didn’t wear jeans when trying to impress guys, and they wore way too much lipstick. I looked around the room. Times had certainly changed. Fat mamas, all. Pale lips. At least no jeans.

P-B they called her. With a name like Bearfoot, she probably got a lot of questions. I mean, I would’ve asked--if I’d known her. What do you suppose she answered? Did she make up something clever or tell the truth? Did anyone ever hear the truth from PB? She was my husband's steady. Even at the reunion, he heard of yet another guy who had dated “his” girl. Even after 40 years, I felt just a little sorry for him.

No one had seen her since college. No one knew where her family had moved. Did she even finish college? Occasionally, letters were read at these every decade affairs. No one seemed to remember exactly what they said when I inquired, discreetly of course. She was a social worker. She was a lawyer. She was a secretary. She’d never married. She married three times. Her step-daughter was in the Clinton administration. Her sister had drowned in Hawaii. She lived in Maine. She lived in Arizona. The stories were told in such an off-hand, quasi-authoritative way, I just gave up.

The guy who owned the photo album looked carefully at her pictures. “I think I dated her,” he said, “or maybe her sister. June? Julie?” (371 words)

And that's all I wrote. NaNoWrMo should have been a natural for me, but it means writing on command (it's sort of a contest to write a novel in one month), and nothing will kill my inspiration like someone telling what, when, where or how to write.

Poking through the trash

Occasionally I look through spam/trash filter to see if I've missed anything. My osu address trashy writers apparently know I'm retired.

affordable meds
online pharmacy
off shore pharmacy
poker
blackjack
craps

Then my commercial e-mail address, although it has an excellent filter sends me the "extender/members" offers plus the items about work, diets and debt

flying monkey (?)
Official Barack Obama coins
low carb shakes and bars
work at home scams
debt reducer
top dollar for my unwanted gold
easy income with google
earn a college degree on line

What's in your trash?

Does Barack really send his own e-mails?

At Panera's where I buy my morning coffee there is a new desk with a computer next to the coffee and cream bar. It's for employee training, not the customers. They log-in, put on their head phones, and learn about all the latest products and procedures (nice photos). I'm sure it's a way to have all employees, particularly new ones, cover the same ground, but it also helps the long term employees catch up. We had something like this in the OSUL for training our student staff, but it was so primitive (in late 90s) I don't think my staff ever used it.

However, sitting at a computer is not too useful for senators, presidents or representatives. Better they should have to put the budget or census reports on their lap and experience the heft. In fact, government staff in general have gotten themselves in deep doo-doo sending e-mails, which causes our tax money to be used to hire battalions of lawyers on both sides to figure out what was purged, what was meant, and who sent it. Little jokes on the side when you think you're chatting with staff in on the background, sound pretty dumb when parsed by the hostile media or blogosphere.

I'm thrilled John McCain doesn't send e-mail. I'm not impressed at all that Barack Obama sent a text message (did his little pinky really press "send?") to his Gen-Next supporters to announce he's added an old guy, Joe Biden, a long time senator who with him holds down the ratings of Congress, to the ticket. Let them write long hand the way George Washington and John Adams did. If Barack writes the way he talks (multiple parenthetical and clarifying phrases per sentence), it could fill libraries of the future.

Update: Hot Air reports that this appeared in the Boston Globe and Forbes in 2000:

"McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain’s severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain’s encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He’s an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can’t raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.
After Vietnam, McCain had Ann Lawrence, a physical therapist, help him regain flexibility in his leg, which had been frozen in an extended position by a shattered knee. It was the only way he could hope to resume his career as a Navy flier, but Lawrence said the treatment, taken twice a week for six months, was excruciatingly painful.

”He endured it, he wouldn’t settle for less,” said Lawrence, who rejoiced with McCain when he passed the Navy physical. ”I have never seen such toughness and resolve.”

Another update at Hot Air points out he regularly reads his e-mail even though typing is difficult, and was chair of the Senate telecommunications committee--probably knows more than Obama. Does not having served in the military disqualify Obama from being Commander in Chief, it's asked, since sending e-mail seems to be a qualification? I'm betting they pull that ad if it's not gone already! Sort of like Joe Biden asking that guy in a wheel chair to stand up, innit?

4744 I'm no math whiz

Are these statements true? Mickey, a high school friend of my husband, sent them along. (People who e-mail my husband don't know he doesn't use the computer and that I read his e-mail first.)

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $ 16,400

The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%, but the percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter 'A'? A. One thousand

Interesting.

3726

Ask at your local library

Dear Home Editor,

I am a regular reader--my husband is an architect, I'm a retired librarian. I note that you suggest to your readers that to apply for "a chance to win great prizes," one of which is a $35 acrylic throw, they need to have internet access and an e-mail address. Then you offer the services of their local library where the staff will help them set up a free e-mail account and, presumably, teach them how to get onto your website, find the right page, the correct window, and enter all the appropriate information. Whether a person would actually go to this much trouble to get a "chance to win" a $35.00 throw, I don't know, but I do know it would cost about $100 in staff time to teach someone who knew nothing about the internet how to set up and manipulate an e-mail account.

Also, once this person is up and running on the internet, she must enter your giveaway site by noon Eastern Time. That would be 9 a.m. in California. Are libraries even open that early on the west coast? As you well know, nothing is free, not even giveaways which are part of marketing. Libraries are definitely not free, nor is information. Please be responsible in your own offers and suggest a phone number or snail mail option if people don't have, don't want, can't learn, or physically can't get to the internet. You are a print medium.

I have 10 blogs and 2 e-mail addresses, and use the internet 4-5 hours a day. My husband does not know how to turn on the computer and I don't mow the lawn. It's not for everyone.

Norma Bruce
Faculty Emeritus
Ohio State University Libraries