Samara and the Magical Butterfly

Once upon a time in Quezon City, there lived a cheerful little girl named Samara. She loved exploring her garden, filled with colorful flowers and playful birds. One sunny afternoon, while Samara was playing, she noticed a beautiful butterfly with shimmering wings.

“Hello, little butterfly!” Samara greeted. To her surprise, the butterfly spoke back, “Hello, Samara! I am Bella, the magical butterfly. Would you like to go on an adventure?”

Samara’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Yes, please!” she exclaimed.

Bella fluttered her wings, and in an instant, Samara found herself in a magical forest. The trees were tall and glowing with soft lights, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of flowers.

“Welcome to the Enchanted Forest,” Bella said. “Here, anything is possible!”

As they walked through the forest, they met a friendly squirrel named Squeaky. “Hello, Samara! Would you like to help me find my acorns?” Squeaky asked.

“Of course!” Samara replied. Together, they searched high and low, finding acorns hidden in the most unexpected places. Samara climbed trees, peeked under bushes, and even found one inside a hollow log.

After finding all the acorns, Squeaky thanked Samara and gave her a shiny acorn as a token of friendship. “This acorn will always remind you of our adventure,” Squeaky said.

As the sun began to set, Bella fluttered her wings again, and Samara found herself back in her garden. She held the shiny acorn tightly and smiled, knowing she had made new friends and had a magical adventure.

“Thank you, Bella,” Samara said. “I will never forget this day.”

“Remember, Samara,” Bella replied, “magic is everywhere, as long as you believe.”

With that, Bella flew away, leaving Samara with a heart full of joy and a mind full of wonderful memories.

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New better Internet – 200Mbps symetrical bandwidth

The earlier days of the Internet here in Adelaide, we had quite good internet. Starting with SENET we progressed quickly from 14,4kbps to 28.8kbps, then 56kbps. We where paying $1/hour which was common among many. It was also true local with Camtech, Internode, Edge, Boldweb, Kern and a few more.

When we moved into our house in Banksia Park, we moved to Internode’s ADSL but that was not to good as we where a long way from the exchange meaning at best we had 1.5mbps but normally closer to 900kbps which was still faster than 56kbps.

It was about 2 years and we connected to Telstra’s cable internet which gave us 10Mbps. One thing to note, it was symetrical, ie 10 down and 10 up. After about a year we dropped the Internode ADSL connection as Telstra was quite reliable at the time.

Anyway not long before NBN, Telstra increased the speed of the cable where we would regulary get 120Mbps down and 55Mbps up. Once NBN took over our cable went down to 100/40 with Telstra. Then Telstra really mucked up, they quitly changed the upload in thier T’s and C’s to what we see today and they introduced the 700/40 as the fastest available. 100 down is more than enough for what we do.

When they changed that in a sly way, we dropped them after being customer for 20+ years and went to Internode with thier 100/36 (advertised as 40). Internode where an Adelaide based company which is what drove me to use them. But now they have closed up in Adelaide so no more loyalty from me. Time to find something new.

So started looking at NBN Enterprise Ethernet 100/100 offering which is $400/month for 36 months with no setup. In my hunt I stumbled on Telair who are selling Telstra Business Fibre. They had a special offer if you sign up, you get 200Mbps/200Mbps for the price of 100Mbps/100Mbps. which is $382/month. Not much to think about! Sold! So looking forward to the speed boost, especially the upload. It’s also dedicated fibre to me, it’s not shared with anyone else. AND we’re no longer using NBN. This is a great leap forward.

Posted in Computers and networking, The bad, The good, Web hosting | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on New better Internet – 200Mbps symetrical bandwidth

DIY 737 Simulator MCP Panel PCB

The MCP panel is the first panel I’m having a go at building. It’s the panel in the 737 that controls the autopilot. It sits between the two pilots.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on DIY 737 Simulator MCP Panel PCB

New Sewage System – What I’ve learnt today 8 July 2020

On the 29th June 2020 David Spiers MP, Minister for Environment and Water wrote to me (and I’m sure you too) that he directed SA Water to transfer all properties that are currently connected to the Community Wastewater Management System onto SA Water’s mains sewage system.

In this letter he states “Importantly, you will not be required to pay for the cost associated with fixing this long-standing issue, and critical work will get underway within 12 months.”

On Tuesday 7th July 2020 Tea Tree Gully Council held a Special Meeting of Council. The agenda for this is available on the Councils website (Agenda of Special Meeting of Council – 7 July 2020). The part of specific interest regarding Sewage and the CWMS is Item 7.2 page 53 and 54, the section headed Upgrade and Renewal of CWMS Infrastructure. This part is reporting on specifically the Jasper Catchment which includes properties along Elizabeth St, Steventon Drive, Coulls Road, Tay Court and Visma Crt in Banksia Park.

I include a copy/paste of that part of the document here (as the whole document is quite big.

Upgrade and Renewal of CWMS Infrastructure

There were a number of defective assets that could not be effectively rehabilitated due to site and engineering constraints. These assets are located within the Jasper Catchment and are along Elizabeth Street, Steventon Drive, Coulls Road and Tay Court in Banksia Park. New sewer alignments will be required to replace the existing defective CWMS assets. Refer to Figure 7 shows the proposed new alignment that would be constructed to sewer standard.

The following are the key considerations relating to the upgrade of the CWMS infrastructure along Elizabeth Street, Steventon Drive, Coulls Road and Tay Court, Banksia Park.

  1. The CWMS assets are defective and there is a significant risk that the asset may fail if timely intervention does not occur.
  2. The CWMS assets on Steventon Drive and Elizabeth Street are trunk mains and provide CWMS services to approximately 450 customers located upstream. A critical failure of the infrastructure would lead to costly emergency work and significant service disruptions for the affected customers. In addition to the 450 customer upstream, there are another 94 customers with connection points to these assets.
  3. The presence of a watercourse that runs between Coulls Road and Steventon Road make it an environmentally sensitive receptor and subject to the EPA Water Quality Policy 2015.
  4. This is a significant design and highly complex due to existing underground services, presence of ground water, system hydraulic issues, existing established dwellings and site constraints. It is estimated that the detailed design and SA Water approval for this work would take 15 months.
  5. The detailed design will be the upgrade of the CWMS main to sewer standards. It is not necessary for approximately 50% of the properties to convert their internal sanitary drainage to sewer standards because the location of their connection points would remain in the same location. However, modification of sanitary drainage will be required to connect the remaining 50% of properties to the new proposed sewer main.
  6. The capital cost estimate to upgrade the sewer main only is estimated to be $2.9 million. This includes the cost estimate for the detailed design component, which is between $60,000 to $90,000. All capitalised expenditure will be considered in the CWMS divestment prudential report that will be presented to Council for consideration.
  7. 3 of the 4 roads (excluding Elizabeth Street) are due for road upgrades in the near future with these works currently on hold pending the upgrade of the CWMS system in this area.

It is suggested that Council should exercise due diligence and undertake the design and planning necessary to undertake the necessary upgrade work.

Figure 7. Proposed new alignment to upgrade CWMS infrastructure along Coulls Road, Steventon Road, Elizabeth Street and Tay Court, Banksia Park

My thoughts and fears with this.

My house is on Coulls Road with the current CWMS running to the back of the block by the creek (the Steventon Drive side of Coulls Rd). It can’t continue to run to the back by the creek as it’s “subject to the EPA Water Quality Policy 2015” (item 3 in the report).

For those that live near me know the reason is the land slopes down to the back.

What this report is proposing is to re do the pipes so it goes to the front of the property to a new pipe in Coulls Road. This will be an enormous task on almost all the properties in Coulls Rd. For a start, sewerage wont flow up hill so the pipes are going to need to be very deep, lower than what your lowest point is today. Then where to they run the pipes? For me the shortest path is through the carport and up the driveway so lifting all the paving at the back of the house, digging up the concrete through the carport and up the driveway.

I’m sure the government will pay for the digging up and the plumbing, but what about rebuilding afterwards. If it is just a garden bed with some plants, I can live with re-doing that myself, but what about the cost of laying pavers, concreting etc?

UPDATE 9 Jul: Thanks to Cameron on the Facebook chat, the hint on horizontal boring. It looks like this may be a real option for the laying of the pipes although the vertical alignment (needs to slope down on it’s way to the street) is more difficult it looks like it’s possible. For those interested in more on this, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directional_boring

Granted this is a Council report, not SA Water yet, but I can’t see any reason it’s going to be done differently considering the research gone into this report already.

Letter from David Speirs MP

This is the letter (with my address clouded for some privacy). I’m sure you would have received this too.

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Facebook friend scammer

How scammers use facebook to scam – an example

Received a friend request from a friend which I thought may have accidentally deleted the friend link or started a new account, we where already friends. Didn’t really think much more of it though.

A couple days later got a message from him via facebook which was unusual as we’d never spoken on that medium before. The message was

Hello buddy how are you doing

Doing good, how about you?

I’m good how’s your family ?? And I guess you haven’t heard about the good news

By this point I knew I had a scammer. The part the scammer didn’t know, I knew my friend personally, we’d worked together for a while. You get to know manerisms. But I wanted to find out more so I responded

All good. No I haven’t heard

Haven’t you heard about the Federal government grant??

No

Are you for real ??

This is a specific place to assist and support people in starting their own businesses, buying a house, etc. they also support they retired, disabled, young, old, workers and semi workers etc I got $150,000 delivered to me from them after paying for me delivery fee

Wow. What’s it called?

Have you heard about Attorney General chip ?

what is that? How do I get the grant?

I wanted to get on with the fun and get to how much it was going to cost me and how to pay it etc. What accounts are they using. What email addresses and any other good info I can get. The scammer replied:

He’s the Attorney who helped me get my grant delivered to me within 48 hours after paying my delivery fee. Would you like to apply so that I forward he’s email address to you to contact him

Why not

Chipblanchard589@gmail.com. Are you going to send him an email now ?

Haha a gmail address for the Attorney General? I better come across a little suspicious.

I thought you said it was the Attorney General. How come it’s a gmail account instead of a .gov.au email?

Yes that’s he’s private email address. Did you read my message Beth well? Once you send a mail to her private email he will add your details to their database So always get back to me so that I can put you through

I am emailing him now. or is it her? which is it?

Ok him Just get back to me so that I can put you through always

So off I went to set up an email account for Sgt Hans Schultz. I like using him because he played the gullible character so well in Hogans Heroes 🙂 I sent:

Hi, Al gave me you email address and sayed you can help get the $150,000 government grant really quickly.

Then I jumped back to facebook and sent

I just sent him email

Has he responded?

No. Can you tell him to hurry up? Why has he not responded yet?

Nothing like putting a bit of pressure on the scammers even though it had been less than a minute since sending the email 🙂 I got a response from Chip via email

Okay i think he was one of our grant beneficiary too, do you want to apply?And were you informed that you are to pay for the delivery fee only and nothing else

Yes I would

Great. Done with the facebook scammer so report the profile as a fake. FB will have plenty to read as evidence in the chat message too to verify it’s a fake and should close the account fairly quick. Chip responded via email:

You have to be honest with me so that i can help you to get your grant and you will have to fill some information so that we can proceed. Reply back to me with the information below so as to verify and approved your grant.

Full Name: Address: State: City: Zipcode: Sex: Text number: DOB: Mother’s maiden name:  Occupation: Personal email: Monthly income.

Get back to me now with the information request from you, so that we can proceed.

Classic scammers Phishing email. Great, I had the first part, now go for the financial info. So responded as the character Sgt Hans Schultz.

Hans Schultz, PO Box 70385, SA, St Agnes, 5097, M, 041637xxxx, 19Feb1959, Meyer, Retired army sergeant, hs1877291@gmail.com, $12529.85

The phone number I used is a real number. It’s one of my electronics dev boards so I can see what other stuff this leads me to 🙂

Okay you have to hold on for 5 minutes because your information will be save on our database now so  that we did not deliver the grant to the wrong person..

Well make it quick. I don’t have all day to do this.  

We have verify your information’s and it shows that you are qualify to receive the grant,We congratulate you for being among the grant winner of the year. Now you are to choose the amount you wish to claim from us .. And you will pay for the delivery fees… your order as soon as possible.You are to choose below amount you want to claim.

You pay $1500 and get $100,000.00, You pay $2000 and get $150,000.00, You pay $3000 and get $250,000.00, You pay $4000 and get $400,000.00

Choose the exact amount you want now so that we can proceed for the next step.  Chosen amount has been approved and it will be forwarded to the delivery department for delivery, so let me know if you are ready to pay for the fee

I jump back to facebook to see what fee I get told there:

How much was the fee to get the grant?

I paid $2000 to get that $150,000 equivalent to 2,921.86 Australian Dollar. You don’t really have to tell. Just let me know there is anything you don’t understand so I can put you through. Congrats in advance Its so good to be secretive about things like this till you get delivered to that’s how i did mine until I got delivered to

I always pushed for cheaper – ie don’t pay what they ask so sent an email back to Chip with:

I will pay $1,000 via PayPal for the $100,000.00 grant. Send me you paypal address and make it quick.

You will pay $1500 to that $100,000. Thanks 

What is your paypal address?   Why does this take so long to arrange?

Haha it had only been a couple minutes 🙂

Please wait while i check our available cashier for pick up 

Here is our available cashier ready for pick up. You need to make a cash deposit or a wire transfer 

Account Number : 815053199; Account name : Rosanna Bub; Account type : checking; Bank name:  Chase Bank;  Routing number : 021000021; Swift Code : CHASUS33; Bank Address : 615 Grand Blvd, Deer Park, New York 11729

Great. Got bank details they are using.

ATTENTION CHASE BANK: The above details are exactly what I was provided. I tried to call your fraud dept a couple of times and was told that you only talk to the account holder. The only method of contact you have is phone. If the account holder is innocent, you better act to protect her. If she is part of the scam, then you better hand over the info to local authorities. Either way – your on the hook and this info will stay so it can be found in search engines to protect others.

Now lets see what else we can trip Chip up with

What is your position in the government?

I’m a lawyer/Attorney. Get back to me with the payment receipt. I hope to hear from you soon with the payment details. Thank you

Between messages I’d already used google to find who Chip is and found he’s using the name and image of a School Principal in Tennessee.

I’m confused. You say your the lawyer yet you have the picture of a teacher at a school.  Who is Rosanna Bub?  And you must be stupid, I told you to send me your paypal address. Please hurry up and do that so I can send you the money.

Please you’re not insult or make violence. Otherwise you’ll be disqualified. I have my picture on my email and Rosanna Bud is a cashier presently available for pick up.

Haha got a reaction 🙂

That’s why I insult because you insult me!

Here is the PayPal information: Mtexas55@yahoo.com. Get back to me with the payment details as soon as possible 

My day is finished now. Will attend to this in the morning. You where to slow.  Please make sure everything is ready tomorrow to make this payment quick and smooth.

Anyway, I thought I’d add some more the the facebook scammer as his account was still active (it had only been 30 mins).

Did you unfriend me ? Why ?? I guess you get approved

That Chip person is stupid I tell him to send paypal address

You need to be patient when you’re doing things like this

The part that is strange is Chip Blanchard is a teacher at a school in Tennessee. He is not the attorney general.

He’s a lawyer. And such a honest man. I guess he must have once been a teacher or something but Chip is a honest man.

No he isn’t. He says he is, but the profile on gmail he is using is a teacher at Rossville Christian Academy in Tennessee

Chip is presently a lawyer and Attorney I got cash delivered within just 48hours. Trust me Chip is honest He could be once a teacher. And I don’t think that should bother you He’s presently a lawyer/Attorney who helped me get my grant. You can get your grant within 48 hours after paying your delivery. Dhl will deliver to you

So he then sent me a picture which he downloaded from https://qz.com/545994/the-design-behind-a-bag-for-transporting-million-dollars-in-cash-undetected/ . It was a big bag which showed packs of $100 bills. I love how you can use Google to find anything you want on the Internet including images. I responded with

Hey how come you said $150,000 but the picture you show is $1,000,000? https://qz.com/545994/the-design-behind-a-bag-for-transporting-million-dollars-in-cash-undetected/

What ?

The picture you sent. the picture of your cash?

That’s how they deliver

The picture is from the James Bond movie Spectre

They deliver with cash

To transport $1 million undetected

Anyway it did spur on Chip as well. I had a couple more emails from him to which I sent him the link where they got the name and image for the gmail account from. No further response from him either.

Scammers email address: chipblanchard589@gmail.com

The gmail profile name of the scammer: Chip Blanchard. (NOTE: This is someone else’s identity)

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Scam SMS from legitimate Qantas SMS number

Just received a scam message from what appeared to be Qantas (as the same number had legitimate boarding messages from previous flights). The message read:

, you’ve won our mystery box this week – please use the link to schedule the delivery. http://www.b7.ai/s/2xl0lc/4uf BBL.

Using a tool that sniffs these sorts of links to see if they are harmful before actually clicking on them results in a number of re-directions and finally a page that asks you to do a survey first which requires entering your details.

WARNING: If it’s really Qantas, they already know who you are. Why do they need any of your details again for the survey? DONT PARTICIPATE!

Anyway here is the log of where it goes along with the contents of the file it finally downloads.

log showing what it does

--2018-11-07 11:56:53--  http://www.b7.ai/s/2xl0lc/4uf
Resolving www.b7.ai (www.b7.ai)... 109.207.77.88
Connecting to www.b7.ai (www.b7.ai)|109.207.77.88|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: http://go.batophor.com/ts3089-sms-qantas-au-5 [following]
--2018-11-07 11:56:54--  http://go.batophor.com/ts3089-sms-qantas-au-5
Resolving go.batophor.com (go.batophor.com)... 198.13.62.193
Connecting to go.batophor.com (go.batophor.com)|198.13.62.193|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: http://go.batophor.com/ts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au [following]
--2018-11-07 11:56:54--  http://go.batophor.com/ts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au
Connecting to go.batophor.com (go.batophor.com)|198.13.62.193|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: https://x.newsmouse.club/go/f65a8fd5-383d-47dc-8ed0-59450453dbb5?cpv=&clickid=1541554015.53-153741405-24909&camp=XX684&keyword=ts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au&category=&systarget=ts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au&sid=153741405&cid=&geo=AU&source=HT-EC [following]
--2018-11-07 11:56:55--  https://x.newsmouse.club/go/f65a8fd5-383d-47dc-8ed0-59450453dbb5?cpv=&clickid=1541554015.53-153741405-24909&camp=XX684&keyword=ts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au&category=&systarget=ts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au&sid=153741405&cid=&geo=AU&source=HT-EC
Resolving x.newsmouse.club (x.newsmouse.club)... 104.27.166.1, 104.27.167.1, 2606:4700:30::681b:a601, ...
Connecting to x.newsmouse.club (x.newsmouse.club)|104.27.166.1|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
Location: https://talongo.com/go/run-gojs.php?url=https://talongo.com/in-v8-au-bem-go.php&tracker=x.newsmouse.club&keyword=ts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au&region=&carrier=%7Bcarrier%7D&model=%7Bmodel%7D&brand=%7Bbrand%7D&camp=XX684&cc=au&wid=genx01-au&sound=silent&xid=eyJ0aW1lc3RhbXAiOiIxNTQxNTU0MDE3IiwiaGFzaCI6IjdlMzVmY2IzM2NkNDVkMDY1OTMyZGViMTBhOTEzN2NjMjE5ZmU1NmQifQ%3D%3D&bemobdata=c%3Df65a8fd5-383d-47dc-8ed0-59450453dbb5..f%3D14fde457-a775-4548-b5e1-bd449e0afc95..a%3D0..b%3D0..e%3D1541554015.53-153741405-24909..c1%3DXX684..c2%3Dts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au..c4%3Dts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au..c5%3D153741405..c7%3DAU..c8%3DHT-EC..c10%3Dx.newsmouse.club [following]
--2018-11-07 11:56:57--  https://talongo.com/go/run-gojs.php?url=https://talongo.com/in-v8-au-bem-go.php&tracker=x.newsmouse.club&keyword=ts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au&region=&carrier=%7Bcarrier%7D&model=%7Bmodel%7D&brand=%7Bbrand%7D&camp=XX684&cc=au&wid=genx01-au&sound=silent&xid=eyJ0aW1lc3RhbXAiOiIxNTQxNTU0MDE3IiwiaGFzaCI6IjdlMzVmY2IzM2NkNDVkMDY1OTMyZGViMTBhOTEzN2NjMjE5ZmU1NmQifQ%3D%3D&bemobdata=c%3Df65a8fd5-383d-47dc-8ed0-59450453dbb5..f%3D14fde457-a775-4548-b5e1-bd449e0afc95..a%3D0..b%3D0..e%3D1541554015.53-153741405-24909..c1%3DXX684..c2%3Dts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au..c4%3Dts3089-sms-qantas-revs-au..c5%3D153741405..c7%3DAU..c8%3DHT-EC..c10%3Dx.newsmouse.club
Resolving talongo.com (talongo.com)... 104.24.119.246, 104.24.118.246, 2606:4700:30::6818:76f6, ...
Connecting to talongo.com (talongo.com)|104.24.119.246|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [text/html]
Saving to: ‘4uf’

4uf                     [ <=>                ]   1.13K  --.-KB/s    in 0s     

2018-11-07 11:56:58 (3.94 MB/s) - ‘4uf’ saved [1154]

Contents of the file ‘4uf’:

<head>
<script type='text/javascript'>
function forward(){
window.location.replace('https://talongo.com/in-v8-au-bem-go.php?eps=8mgsTi6ekAuQ70TL7yZEd7dc6BxvuGCISTUX9vp0%2BqX2PSdhDuk4koSXd%2FHX4h9luAH%2BvvaKHmwAE1Je2%2BxWrB4ors1vKP%2F95MZhdgsQDvbSFG66C8%2BQgi27V76YW9qZbrcRJHgb1ywOhR1A2xU%2F5%2FxzYIni7EqFJ7eW0Pbe22TEpCPCIysOhDz8d3u4dUpDIQpCJ%2FSJX%2FmKCQJJ0lbyhgzix%2FpHXzYcRlwx9AaWOmAX1hv1XRYRoce5288Kh9kfjY5THMCexvncqYNGiABXNcrPEPvJtivFrhm956MBGwMQro%2B905SGjRkNfmR42QfnoTVp9SrqHQUm2%2BLnMR9llKivTAVbyVMdi9QLBw18fHrK5IRSRKDsyftDZWCVuCypqxbtTL0lmB3XEquKarGGU28qW%2F36boQu7T2EJg0XEJ9EsG%2FwCqJ2t0GPPljsuv4RFDIqVsiNvrHSZ08m9DWUg4oH4n2%2FTTVcteEXd0BgZkyB3S06Y%2FoIzrEj6CG4%2FhwZkWX7nNoTtZjTSjyqHQx2uSoW6fyzD8g2%2BGWqLJRxRhBVC2qRtPfy8NoCd2LhxwG6%2B2W6PTaPsqJxmWGMsCGfv5%2BowXbez9f%2Bca4f4q6tbNhb2nNvJltUmC%2FFGeaf1JcLPJGT0T12c1dkMYoyAISIxBo%2FFj0NRcqA6o9r0mZEFsPUPTurWW7bYyCtvuuvGzJZN2YEq2fO7IhmMmgITNdz%2FARKd16N3puAGmUXLCWSnb%2BWdESTpcdd6h0eBz6ARPBcH3m9QYYfOZVoyBiXwVQQtOzxCtxVmD1igyChXOR2SU%2B3IybUx0sU6UYdcl7ONYBKgRGUeBJTEPKwuJYSKqrOQM3S%2FVBFgs%2F6CEyRNCDBojM9olfSjn6dYqlNfMYGHSBd');
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload='setTimeout(forward, 0);'>
</body>

Qantas logo

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Penalties for MP’s and Senators who are disqualified from sitting in Parliament

It’s time for a change to the law that sets penalties for MP’s and Senators who are disqualified from sitting in Parliament.

Just the 45th Parliament (2016 to present)

  • Justin Keay (Labor) – Citizenship[i]
  • Josh Wilson (Labor) – Citizenship[ii]
  • Susan Lamb (Labor) – Citizenship[iii]
  • Rebekah Sharkie (Centre Alliance) – Citizenship[iv]
  • David Feeney (Labor) – Citizenship[v]
  • John Alexander (Liberal) – Citizenship[vi]
  • Barnaby Joyce (National) – Citizenship[vii]
  • And now the possibility of Peter Dutton (Liberal) – Constitution section 44 (v) direct or indirect pecuniary interest[viii]

This is unacceptable for Australian Politics.

Some history.

What the constitution says

The constitution provided penalties for MP’s and Senators that are disqualified. The constitution says in section 46. Penalty for sitting when disqualified

Until the Parliament otherwise provides, any person declared by this Constitution to be incapable of sitting as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives shall, for every day on which he so sits, be liable to pay the sum of one hundred pounds to any person who sues for it in any court of competent jurisdiction.[ix]

One hundred pounds is $200.

When I read that I thought wow! I’m going to the Magistrates court tomorrow and sue all the MP’s and Senators. I’ll take my wife, my son, my daughter, my neighbours and anyone else that wants to do the same. We can all get some money.

The government creates a law

Not quite. It says “Until the Parliament otherwise provides” so I went on a google hunt and found that a law known as Common Informers (Parliamentary Disqualifications) Act 1975 and was assented and commenced on 23 Apr 1975[x].

Ironically, 1975 is known for the Australian constitutional crisis or the Dismissal. The prime minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party was dismissed by the Governor-General Sir John Kerr. The dismissal occurred on 11 November 1975[xi].  It was a labor government that made sure to dumb down the law for future labor ministers as we have seen in this parliament.

What changed

  • $200/day instead of £100/day which is the same amount as it was in 1901
  • Maximum on one year’s sittings from the date of filing the law suit
  • Only one penalty order, i.e. we can’t all go to the court and do it, only one will get money
  • The only court is the High Court of Australia.

I’ve pasted the wording below for you to read.

Compare past to now

Lets do some comparisons between the past and now. Maybe we see why so many disqualified politicians in this last parliament so it can be fixed.

In 1901 a politician earnt $800 (£400) per year[xii]. The penalty was $200 (£100) per day[xiii]. So, 4 sitting days meant they lose the whole year salary.

In 1975 a politician earnt $20,720 per year[xiv]. The penalty was also $200/day[xv]. So, 100 sitting days meant they lose the whole year salary.

In 2017 a politician earnt $203,020 per year[xvi]. The penalty was still $200/day[xvii]. So, 1,015 sitting days and they lose a whole year salary which doesn’t happen as the most sitting days in the history of Australian politics was the house of representatives in 1904 with 122 sitting days[xviii].

What is wrong

It’s not to important for politicians to do the right thing. The penalty is a joke. In 2017 there where 56 Senate sitting days[xix]. If the Senator sat all the days, the maximum penalty would be $11,200 or 5.5% of annual base salary. The cost of lawyers to find out if they do have an issue might be $10,000. No wonder the attitude I’ll suck it and see and earn a nice wage in the mean time enough to set myself up for retirement. Don’t forget they still get the pension for the rest of their lives too.

$203,020 per year is the base for any Australian federal politician in 2017[xx]. It goes much higher when they take on additional roles. For example, a cabinet minister ($350,210) or the prime minister ($527,854)[xxi]

What should change to fix what is wrong

What I think should happen is the law is changed so for every day of sitting as a disqualified person the penalty is one quarter of their base salary for that year up to a maximum of the last 12 months of sitting.

Instead of a penalty dollar amount that doesn’t change, it’s tied to their salary so increases/decreases with it and represents the seriousness of the failure as it did when the constitution was first written.

My words for the proposed new law

Penalty for sitting when disqualified

(1)  Any person who, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, has sat as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives while he or she was a person declared by the Constitution to be incapable of so sitting shall be liable to pay to the Australian Government a sum equal to the total of:

(a)  One quarter (twenty five percent) of the parliamentary allowance as determined in accordance with the Remuneration and Allowances Act 1990 is in effect on the days of sitting in respect of his or her having so sat on or before the day on which the originating process in the suit is served on him or her; and

(b)  One quarter (twenty five percent) of the parliamentary allowance as determined in accordance with the Remuneration and Allowances Act 1990 and is in effect on the days of sitting for every day, subsequent to that day, on which he or she is proved have so sat.

(2)  A penalty under this section shall only relate to any sitting of a person as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives for the last 12 months that the person sat.

(3)  The High Court shall refuse to make an order under this Act that would, in the opinion of the Court, cause the person against whom it was made to be penalized more than once in respect of any period or day of sitting as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives.

4  Suits not to be brought under section 46 of the Constitution

On and after the date of commencement of this Act, a person is not liable to pay any sum under section 46 of the Constitution and no suit shall be instituted, continued, heard or determined in pursuance of that section.

5  Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction is conferred on the High Court in all proceedings under this Act and no other court has jurisdiction with regard to this act.

Government says they are on our side

The best thing the current government can do for Australia is put the penalties back in place for politicians. For me it would indicate we have a government that is putting action where their mouth is. They say they are “On your side”, lets see.

Wording of the current law

The Common Informers (Parliamentary Disqualifications) Act 1975 states[xxii]:

Penalty for sitting when disqualified

             (1)  Any person who, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, has sat as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives while he or she was a person declared by the Constitution to be incapable of so sitting shall be liable to pay to any person who sues for it in the High Court a sum equal to the total of:

                     (a)  $200 in respect of his or her having so sat on or before the day on which the originating process in the suit is served on him or her; and

                     (b)  $200 for every day, subsequent to that day, on which he or she is proved in the suit to have so sat.

             (2)  A suit under this section shall not relate to any sitting of a person as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives at a time earlier than 12 months before the day on which the suit is instituted.

             (3)  The High Court shall refuse to make an order in a suit under this Act that would, in the opinion of the Court, cause the person against whom it was made to be penalized more than once in respect of any period or day of sitting as a senator or as a member of the House of Representatives.

4  Suits not to be brought under section 46 of the Constitution

                   On and after the date of commencement of this Act, a person is not liable to pay any sum under section 46 of the Constitution and no suit shall be instituted, continued, heard or determined in pursuance of that section.

5  Jurisdiction

                   Original jurisdiction is conferred on the High Court in suits under this Act and no other court has jurisdiction in such a suit.

References

[i] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-09/tas-seat-of-braddon-set-for-by-election/9742950

[ii] https://www.google.com.au/search?q=josh+wilson+citizenship&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXnsHFm4PdAhXKE4gKHRDwC0sQ1QIIiQEoAg&biw=884&bih=742

[iii] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-15/alp-susan-lamb-renounces-dual-citzenship/9762664

[iv] https://www.sbs.com.au/news/independent-mp-rebekha-sharkie-resigns-from-parliament-over-dual-citizenship

[v] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-01/david-feeney-to-resign-from-parliament-over-dual-citizenship/9382470

[vi] https://www.google.com.au/search?q=john+alexander+citizenship&oq=John+Alexander+citi&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l3.10273j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[vii] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-27/citizenship-decision-handed-down-by-high-court/9061302

[viii] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-27/citizenship-decision-handed-down-by-high-court/9061302

[ix] https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/~/link.aspx?_id=074367F0015D42C2B005207F5642376A&_z=z#chapter-01_part-04_44

[x] https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2008C00320

[xi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional_crisis

[xii] https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1314/ParlBaseSalary#_Toc366736957

[xiii] https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/~/link.aspx?_id=074367F0015D42C2B005207F5642376A&_z=z#chapter-01_part-04_44

[xiv] https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1314/ParlBaseSalary

[xv] https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2008C00320

[xvi] https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/federal-mps-to-get-pay-rises-and-tax-cuts-in-july-1-bonanza-20170622-gwwk6m.html

[xvii] https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2008C00320

[xviii] https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Statistics/Senate_StatsNet/General/sittingdaysyear

[xix] https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Statistics/Senate_StatsNet/General/sittingdaysyear

[xx] https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/federal-mps-to-get-pay-rises-and-tax-cuts-in-july-1-bonanza-20170622-gwwk6m.html

[xxi] https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/federal-mps-to-get-pay-rises-and-tax-cuts-in-july-1-bonanza-20170622-gwwk6m.html

[xxii] https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2008C00320

[xxiii] https://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/Australian_Electoral_History/Cost_of_Election_1901_Present.htm

Posted in News, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Penalties for MP’s and Senators who are disqualified from sitting in Parliament

Extortion emails from Microsoft’s outlook.com mail service

Extortion email

Extortion email from a criminal scumbag

A new scam, this time extortion attempts that are originating from Microsoft’s outlook.com mail system.

[Update 25Aug2018] These emails seem to have slowed/stopped. Either scammers have given up (doubt it) or Microsoft has put in some intelligence into their system to prevent them. Well done Microsoft!

These attempts are addressed to email addresses that have had an online account password discovered previously by other hackers and include the password in the subject line of the email. The email is written in English and uses good English unlike many other scam and extortion emails.

If you receive an email like the below, it’s an attempt to extort money from you. The Extortionist doesn’t have anything so don’t pay. Instead report it by using the instructions at https://support.office.com/en-us/article/deal-with-abuse-phishing-or-spoofing-in-outlook-com-0d882ea5-eedc-4bed-aebc-079ffa1105a3 which I have copied here for your convenience:

Reporting abuse

  • If you’re being threatened, call your local law enforcement.

  • To report harassment, impersonation, child exploitation, child pornography, or other illegal activities received via an Outlook.com account, forward the offending email as an attachment to abuse@outlook.com. Include any relevant info, such as the number of times you’ve received messages from the account and the relationship, if any, between you and the sender.

    Note: To learn how to add a message as an attachment, see Attach an email to another email.

  • To report abuse received from a non-Outlook.com account, go to https://www.abuse.net to identify the correct abuse reporting address.

I encourage you to report it as above because this lets Microsoft know they need to act, not just blocking accounts as a reactive activity but block the email from going out in a pro-active action and forwarding all relevant information to law enforcement. Lets all help catch these criminals.  Don’t forget to attach the offending email, not just forward and you don’t need the mail server logs to do it.

Below are the last three email’s I received including the mail server log and email headers but I have obscured my email address and the password (from oldest to newest):

  • The first from Annette Moroianu <tsvswelchheubertud@outlook.com>
  • Second from Hipolito Payton <hthzcolbyramseypc@outlook.com>
  • The third from Lonnie Killip <ernesttgdpender@outlook.com>

Example 1 from Annette Moroianu <tsvswelchheubertud@outlook.com>

Mail server log

Jul 15 02:50:37 <my-server-ip> postfix/smtpd[25996]: connect from mail-pu1apc01hn0245.outbound.protection.outlook.com[104.47.126.245]

Jul 15 02:50:38 <my-server-ip> postfix/smtpd[25996]: AA692210DA07: client=mail-pu1apc01hn0245.outbound.protection.outlook.com[104.47.126.245]

Jul 15 02:50:39 <my-server-ip> postfix/cleanup[26004]: AA692210DA07: message-id=<TYAPR04MB2463293DDA285CABBBEA73B1C35F0@TYAPR04MB2463.apcprd04.prod.outlook.com>

Jul 15 02:50:39 <my-server-ip> postfix/qmgr[1913]: AA692210DA07: from=<tsvswelchheubertud@outlook.com>, size=12462, nrcpt=2 (queue active)

Jul 15 02:50:39 <my-server-ip> postfix/pipe[26006]: AA692210DA07: to=<me>@<my-domain>, orig_to=<me>@<my-domain>, relay=dovecot, delay=0.94, delays=0.91/0.02/0/0.01, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (delivered via dovecot service)

Jul 15 02:50:39 <my-server-ip> postfix/smtpd[25996]: disconnect from mail-pu1apc01hn0245.outbound.protection.outlook.com[104.47.126.245]

Email header

Return-Path: <tsvswelchheubertud@outlook.com>
Delivered-To: <me>@<my-domain>
Received: from APC01-PU1-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com (mail-pu1apc01hn0245.outbound.protection.outlook.com [104.47.126.245])
by <my-mailserver> (Postfix) with ESMTPS id AA692210DA07
for <me>@<my-domain>; Sun, 15 Jul 2018 02:50:38 +0930 (ACST)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=outlook.com;
s=selector1;
h=From:Date:Subject:Message-ID:Content-Type:MIME-Version:X-MS-Exchange-SenderADCheck;
bh=YvztMgxFGW3yxa7YcHOxCj/lTNMcUrSHy4SaQ1D1jMk=;
b=k+iQVvviDgDCu9+g0k06z9uWOsbyacTVZP8Fu/JZnF4nK1zO2ijv5onwWLYCv62MpMsMqCc9/8w1V2uZBS+HoqgSkfGzo0RH5DOfLY6LUZdZTbTCyaYNrLRymA+M2DwU3moX+MYBm5s8jVhXcgT5IpYA+oCsxzDAPA6v7VRSQkOposQzVdX5CNB+3M42yxOJZvsZmW8slxEMX1aZ3v5yZldbYLaIb4mY2kxdz+l+45vCh3xhyEqaer1Cz5ZmC2uBbpJTtCZ+JAt+D1hHaP52hptaFm0tgqAjl8Zx1CkBw4ruBwXNOgDU/inx4h8Y8oIFf00O6hm5otBvjcV0wZiRcg==
Received: from SG2APC01FT024.eop-APC01.prod.protection.outlook.com
(10.152.250.60) by SG2APC01HT071.eop-APC01.prod.protection.outlook.com
(10.152.251.211) with Microsoft SMTP Server (version=TLS1_2,
cipher=TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384_P384) id 15.20.952.17; Sat, 14
Jul 2018 17:20:31 +0000
Received: from TYAPR04MB2463.apcprd04.prod.outlook.com (10.152.250.60) by
SG2APC01FT024.mail.protection.outlook.com (10.152.250.185) with Microsoft
SMTP Server (version=TLS1_2,
cipher=TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256_P256) id 15.20.930.16 via
Frontend Transport; Sat, 14 Jul 2018 17:20:31 +0000
Received: from TYAPR04MB2463.apcprd04.prod.outlook.com
([fe80::9464:f9c0:413c:f322]) by TYAPR04MB2463.apcprd04.prod.outlook.com
([fe80::9464:f9c0:413c:f322%13]) with mapi id 15.20.0952.017; Sat, 14 Jul
2018 17:20:31 +0000
From: Annette Moroianu <tsvswelchheubertud@outlook.com>
To: “<me>@<my-domain>” <me>@<my-domain>
Subject: <me> – <old password>
Thread-Topic: <me> – <old password>
Thread-Index: AQHUG5b364BXpfZWiUS0sQEVUYzL3g==
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2018 17:20:31 +0000
Message-ID: <TYAPR04MB2463293DDA285CABBBEA73B1C35F0@TYAPR04MB2463.apcprd04.prod.outlook.com>
Accept-Language: en-US
Content-Language: en-US
X-MS-Has-Attach:
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator:
x-incomingtopheadermarker: OriginalChecksum:9C77261EFB3BB47C24E06D0583EB8A2487BA0BABE2348D97DD8AF72F6119B4EE;UpperCasedChecksum:121C450B6A2940FBE217B23160AC6936C2B1EF859F91E76C5ED36311DE42FFBE;SizeAsReceived:6819;Count:43
x-tmn: [NFIPpuw5gMiYrJ/eCCk1qEvCwsvYt7EO]
x-ms-publictraffictype: Email
x-microsoft-exchange-diagnostics: 1;SG2APC01HT071;7:1+GuoNuCW6C3cgLIouc383PxTbEaFcIPaRJ6Z6CdGXIR4a03LNqDRWQwYLFUXBqMA0tfudDft5Bh/zxkUyq+b20dib6EvUZZY18zETVQ0SV/shTweWwYLfja66KmceY7Sjad+/yNnbAvfZDejMheKX5lUIso48n9pHY9hxVIxtducNlQduaCeqaVRRMwcyMXfYziVlNHV0FKfWfUjK92NCTcf4yCB9P835O6XjCZDBgpHgIUgvmDPb3d6vtTAkgu
x-incomingheadercount: 43
x-eopattributedmessage: 0
x-microsoft-antispam: UriScan:;BCL:0;PCL:0;RULEID:(7020095)(201702061078)(5061506573)(5061507331)(1603103135)(2017031320274)(2017031324274)(2017031323274)(2017031322404)(1603101448)(1601125500)(1701031045);SRVR:SG2APC01HT071;
x-ms-traffictypediagnostic: SG2APC01HT071:
x-exchange-antispam-report-cfa-test: BCL:0;PCL:0;RULEID:(82015058);SRVR:SG2APC01HT071;BCL:0;PCL:0;RULEID:;SRVR:SG2APC01HT071;
x-forefront-prvs: 07334CBCCD
x-forefront-antispam-report: SFV:SPM;SFS:(7070007)(979002)(189003)(199004)(8936002)(2900100001)(551544002)(68736007)(1730700003)(81156014)(8676002)(74316002)(25786009)(7696005)(55016002)(54896002)(97736004)(256004)(14444005)(20460500001)(19627235002)(86362001)(6916009)(6436002)(5640700003)(82202002)(486006)(10156002)(56003)(476003)(5660300001)(33656002)(87572001)(106356001)(426003)(2351001)(6346003)(102836004)(2501003)(5250100002)(26005)(14454004)(53906005)(99286004)(105586002)(104016004)(173224004)(332134003)(98824002)(42522002)(42262002)(969003)(989001)(999001)(1009001)(1019001);DIR:OUT;SFP:1501;SCL:5;SRVR:SG2APC01HT071;H:TYAPR04MB2463.apcprd04.prod.outlook.com;FPR:;SPF:None;PTR:InfoNoRecords;MX:1;A:1;LANG:;
received-spf: None (protection.outlook.com: outlook.com does not designate
permitted sender hosts)
authentication-results: spf=none (sender IP is )
smtp.mailfrom=tsvswelchheubertud@outlook.com;
x-microsoft-antispam-message-info: jcftIUeEX5KMGbUPpmWIUygVxrNDEqi0wRwyVTEoYM6/8U4MEGXMzdMf4J8sg+0s23hv4d0fWN4gZjC+ZWcgnbhKvS7KJGwykge6b+8kmLY3W7BNxeJO5Og0gv/bgv++yCGvnApoaPSDWOtkyuIWf7Gz/IWy+RSZHvORLZfbw/aAW8NbqkgHe6LdSJfszvBSWaDWMnSVTD4C2NfsSRcwOGusA2j9EvydZV0tnPR4OSQ=
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary=”_000_TYAPR04MB2463293DDA285CABBBEA73B1C35F0TYAPR04MB2463apcp_”
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-OriginatorOrg: outlook.com
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-RMS-PersistedConsumerOrg: 54485d23-c432-40fe-8436-6091d627118c
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-Network-Message-Id: 85e62cc3-6fa1-4687-6b6e-08d5e9ae19e6
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-rms-persistedconsumerorg: 54485d23-c432-40fe-8436-6091d627118c
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-originalarrivaltime: 14 Jul 2018 17:20:31.0280
(UTC)
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-fromentityheader: Internet
X-MS-Exchange-CrossTenant-id: 84df9e7f-e9f6-40af-b435-aaaaaaaaaaaa
X-MS-Exchange-Transport-CrossTenantHeadersStamped: SG2APC01HT071

Email body

I’m going to cut to the chase. I do know <old password> is your password. Most importantly, I know about your secret and I have evidence of it. You do not know me and no one employed me to investigate you.

It is just your bad luck that I came across your misdemeanor. The truth is, I actually setup a malware on the adult videos (porn material) and you visited this website to experience fun (you know what I mean). When you were watching video clips, your web browser began functioning as a Rdp (Remote control desktop) having a keylogger which gave me accessibility to your screen as well as cam. Right after that, my software obtained your complete contacts from your facebook, as well as email.

I then put in more time than I should’ve exploring into your life and created a two screen video. First part displays the video you were viewing and second part shows the video of your webcam (its you doing inappropriate things).

Honestly, I am ready to forget about you and allow you to continue with your daily life. And my goal is to provide you two options which will achieve that. The two option is either to ignore this letter, or just pay me $ 1900. Let us examine above 2 options in details.

Option 1 is to ignore this message. Let us see what will happen if you select this option. I will definately send your video to all of your contacts including close relatives, co-workers, and many others. It will not help you avoid the humiliation your household will have to face when friends and family learn your sordid videos from me.

Other Option is to pay me $ 1900. We’ll call this my “privacy charges”. Now let me tell you what happens if you choose this path. Your secret remains your secret. I will destroy the recording immediately. You continue on with your lifetime as though nothing like this ever occurred.

Now you must be thinking, “I should call the cops”. Without a doubt, I have covered my steps to ensure this e mail cannot be tracked back to me plus it will not stay away from the evidence from destroying your health. I am not looking to dig a hole in your pocket. I just want to get paid for my efforts I put into investigating you. Let’s assume you decide to generate pretty much everything disappear and pay me the confidentiality fee. You will make the payment through Bitcoins (if you don’t know how, search “how to buy bitcoins” on search engine)

Required Amount: $ 1900
Receiving Bitcoin Address: 1N9M8prUzY1qKcn3SpxqDzLiK7PGEfVs6V
(It is cASe sensitive, so copy and paste it)

Tell nobody what will you be using the Bitcoins for or they may not sell it to you. The method to obtain bitcoin may take a day or two so do not delay.
I’ve a specific pixel within this email, and at this moment I know that you have read through this e mail. You now have 48 hours in order to make the payment. If I don’t get the BitCoins, I will send out your video recording to your contacts including friends and family, co-workers, and so on. You better come up with an excuse for friends and family before they find out. Nonetheless, if I receive the payment, I’ll erase the video immediately. It’s a non negotiable one time offer, so please do not waste my time and yours. The clock is ticking.

Example 2 from Hipolito Payton <hthzcolbyramseypc@outlook.com>

Mail server log

Jul 18 14:15:11 <my-server-ip> postfix/smtpd[25649]: B21782017D4B: client=mail-am5eur02hn0236.outbound.protection.outlook.com[104.47.4.236]

Jul 18 14:15:12 <my-server-ip> postfix/cleanup[25655]: B21782017D4B: message-id=<VI1PR04MB48322BFE83EB2E3A073A813FAB530@VI1PR04MB4832.eurprd04.prod.outlook.com>

Jul 18 14:15:12 <my-server-ip> postfix/qmgr[1913]: B21782017D4B: from=<hthzcolbyramseypc@outlook.com>, size=12288, nrcpt=2 (queue active)

Jul 18 14:15:12 <my-server-ip> postfix/pipe[25656]: B21782017D4B: to=<me>@<my-domain>, orig_to=<me>@<my-domain>, relay=dovecot, delay=1.1, delays=1.1/0.01/0/0.01, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (delivered via dovecot service)

Jul 18 14:15:12 <my-server-ip> postfix/smtpd[25649]: disconnect from mail-am5eur02hn0236.outbound.protection.outlook.com[104.47.4.236]

Email header

Return-Path: <hthzcolbyramseypc@outlook.com>
Delivered-To: <me>@<my-domain>
Received: from EUR02-AM5-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com (mail-am5eur02hn0236.outbound.protection.outlook.com [104.47.4.236])
by <my-mailserver> (Postfix) with ESMTPS id B21782017D4B
for <me>@<my-domain>; Wed, 18 Jul 2018 14:15:11 +0930 (ACST)
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=outlook.com;
s=selector1;
h=From:Date:Subject:Message-ID:Content-Type:MIME-Version:X-MS-Exchange-SenderADCheck;
bh=AIPs8rP4MKGzLGqpAo3E32u2sY39Dke1Y5RJ7rLKnb4=;
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From: Hipolito Payton <hthzcolbyramseypc@outlook.com>
To: “<me>@<my-domain>” <me>@<my-domain>
Subject: RE: <me> – <old password>
Thread-Topic: <me> – <old password>
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Email message

Let’s get straight to the point. I’m aware <old password> is your pass word. Most importantly, I know your secret and I’ve evidence of it. You don’t know me personally and nobody employed me to check out you.

It is just your hard luck that I came across your blunder. Actually, I actually placed a malware on the adult videos (pornography) and you visited this web site to have fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching videos, your web browser began working as a Rdp (Remote control desktop) with a key logger which gave me access to your screen as well as cam. Just after that, my software gathered all your contacts from fb, as well as e-mail.

After that I put in more time than I should’ve looking into your life and created a two view video. 1st part displays the recording you were viewing and 2nd part shows the recording of your web camera (its you doing nasty things).

Frankly, I am ready to forget details about you and let you get on with your life. And I am about to give you 2 options that may achieve that. The above choices either to ignore this letter, or simply pay me $3200. Let us investigate above 2 options in more details.

Option One is to ignore this e-mail. Let us see what is going to happen if you pick this option. I definitely will send your video recording to all of your contacts including members of your family, coworkers, and so on. It doesn’t protect you from the humiliation you and your family will need to feel when friends and family find out your sordid details from me.

Other Option is to pay me $3200. We will name this my “privacy tip”. I will explain what happens if you choose this choice. Your secret remains your secret. I’ll destroy the recording immediately. You go on with your life that nothing like this ever happened.

At this point you must be thinking, “I should call the cops”. Without a doubt, I’ve covered my steps in order that this e-mail can’t be traced back to me plus it won’t stop the evidence from destroying your daily life. I’m not looking to dig a hole in your pocket. I just want to get compensated for time I place into investigating you. Let’s hope you have chosen to create all of this disappear and pay me the confidentiality fee. You will make the payment via Bitcoin (if you do not know how, type “how to buy bitcoins” on google search)

Amount to be paid: $3200
Bitcoin Address to Send to: 1F8dxmQMskgBowr6AW33P3biLfvopLTmYf
(It’s cASe sensitive, so you should copy and paste it carefully)

Expalin no-one what will you be using the bitcoin for or they may not provide it to you. The method to acquire bitcoins may take a few days so do not delay.
I have a specific pixel within this e-mail, and right now I know that you have read this email message. You have 2 days to make the payment. If I don’t receive the Bitcoins, I will definitely send your video recording to your contacts including friends and family, coworkers, and many others. You better come up with an excuse for friends and family before they find out. Nevertheless, if I do get paid, I will erase the proof immediately. It’s a non-negotiable offer, so don’t ruin my personal time & yours. Your time has started.

Example 3 from Lonnie Killip <ernesttgdpender@outlook.com>

Mail server log

Jul 20 05:58:15 <my-server-ip> postfix/smtpd[6114]: connect from mail-oln040092253041.outbound.protection.outlook.com[40.92.253.41]

Jul 20 05:58:16 <my-server-ip> postfix/smtpd[6114]: 02A962017D4B: client=mail-oln040092253041.outbound.protection.outlook.com[40.92.253.41]

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([fe80::d055:4d90:6f46:34d5%4]) with mapi id 15.20.0973.018; Thu, 19 Jul 2018
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From: Lonnie Killip <ernesttgdpender@outlook.com>
To: “<me>@<my-domain>” <me>@<my-domain>
Subject: <me> – <old password>
Thread-Topic: <me> – <old password>
Thread-Index: AQHUH58CO4tIvvWliUC+BwtlOuFZPw==
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2018 20:28:12 +0000
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Email message

Let’s get straight to the point. I’m aware <old password> is your password. More importantly, I know your secret and I’ve evidence of it. You don’t know me and no one employed me to investigate you.

It’s just your hard luck that I stumbled across your bad deeds. Well, I actually installed a malware on the adult video clips (porn) and you visited this website to have fun (you know what I mean). When you were watching video clips, your internet browser began operating as a Rdp (Remote desktop) that has a keylogger which provided me with access to your screen as well as webcam. Right after that, my software program obtained every one of your contacts from your messenger, facebook, and e-mail.

After that I gave in much more time than I should’ve looking into your life and created a two screen video. First part shows the recording you had been watching and second part displays the view from your webcam (its you doing inappropriate things).

Frankly, I want to forget details about you and let you continue with your daily life. And my goal is to present you 2 options which will make it happen. Those two choices are to either ignore this letter, or perhaps pay me $ 3900. Let’s explore above two options in details.

First Option is to ignore this e-mail. You should know what will happen if you select this option. I will send out your video to your entire contacts including relatives, colleagues, and so on. It will not save you from the humiliation your self will need to face when relatives and buddies learn your unpleasant videos from me.

Option 2 is to make the payment of $ 3900. We will name it my “privacy fee”. I will explain what happens if you choose this choice. Your secret will remain your secret. I’ll erase the video immediately. You go on with your routine life like none of this ever happened.

Now you may be thinking, “I will go to the cops”. Let me tell you, I’ve covered my steps to ensure that this email can’t be tracked back to me and yes it will not steer clear of the evidence from destroying your daily life. I’m not trying to dig a hole in your pocket. I am just looking to get paid for time I put in investigating you. Let’s assume you have decided to produce this all go away and pay me the confidentiality fee. You’ll make the payment via Bitcoins (if you don’t know how, search “how to buy bitcoins” in search engine)

Transfer Amount: $ 3900
Bitcoin Address to Send to: 1B4ox92miD4EJbL6CmJLkGFKnJYhs8vi8
(It’s cASe sensitive, so copy and paste it)

Share with no one what will you be utilising the Bitcoins for or they may not sell it to you. The process to obtain bitcoins can take a few days so do not put it off.
I have a special pixel within this email, and at this moment I know that you have read this mail. You now have 24 hours in order to make the payment. If I do not receive the BitCoin, I will send your video to all of your contacts including friends and family, colleagues, and so on. You better come up with an excuse for friends and family before they find out. Nonetheless, if I do get paid, I’ll destroy the video and all other proofs immediately. It’s a non-negotiable offer, so don’t waste my personal time and yours. Your time has started.

Outlook.com response to my reports so far

After reporting the above, I’ve received from outlook.com the following automated response. I’m curious how long I’ll be receiving the extortion attempts for.

You recently reported a message as junk or abuse. We wanted to thank you and let you know that your report has been received.

If you need anything else, please visit the Microsoft Community at http://answers.microsoft.com/

Sincerely,

Outlook.com Team

Microsoft

One Microsoft Way. Redmond, WA 98052, USA.

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Facebook advertising and why I don’t see your post if you have paid to promote it.

We’re in the middle of a state election here in my state of South Australia. I am someone that wants to know what the different parties are saying so I tag their Facebook pages as ‘see first’ which makes Facebook show me anything they may post on my news feed at the top. As long as they post without paying Facebook money to promote the post I will see it. Here is why.

I got annoyed with YouTube quite some time ago where they started to force me to download ad content when watching video’s along with other sites that insisted I watch video content ad’s. The solution to that was install an ad blocker on my browser.

An ad blocker reads and modifies data as it comes into the browser and removes any code that displays ad’s (your promoted post). It simply does not appear on my news feed. It’s a tool that is great. Everyone I know runs it because they are as annoyed as I am with the intense level of advertising on the internet. There is a way for facebook and other sites to get through these ad blockers by subscribing to a set of standards that put limits on how much advertising is shown.

Why does Facebook show that the ad’s are getting through? Well they don’t really know. All they can know is they have sent the data. They could, like more and more media companies add code that senses if the ad’s are being shown otherwise display a message that tells the user to disable adblock before they show the content. That only works for a short time as the ad-block developers (or people with programming skills like me) sense that and block the code that checks.

Some stat’s on how prevalent this is comes from a report by PageFair https://pagefair.com/blog/2017/adblockreport/. I’ll be upfront, I don’t know if this report is accurate but my experience of the people I know and talk to all use adblock and if they don’t, ask me to help set it up for them. The key statistics I took from the report are (remember we’re now Feb 2018):

  • 11% of the global internet population is blocking ads on the internet in Dec 2016
  • 615M devices are blocking ads in Dec 2016
  • 30% global growth YOY in adblock usage Dec 2015 to Dec 2016

The other challenge with Facebook is a normal post is shown on a few news feeds. It’s only spread if people react to it in some way, for example it may show on 20 news feeds. When a person clicks like (or one of the other interactions) or makes comment or shares, it is sent to another 5 news feeds. Note I don’t know the actual numbers, just know that’s how it works. So when you promote, that initial number is increased so your starting point is much higher, but it’s blocked by adblock.

Most adblock software will allow ads through if they meet specific criteria (https://acceptableads.com/en/) which it appears some are accepting but many are not so they spend money developing systems to sense if adblock is blocking their ads and refuse to show the page unless the user disables the ads. Some just ask the user which is not as bad. For large social media their success depends on popularity. With 74% of American’s saying they leave sites with adblock walls which I think is highly probable as most I talk to do the same would be disaster for the popularity of the social media site like facebook. The other way is to change and fit within what users have determined is acceptable level of advertising and register with the adblock companies. Adblock puts control back in the users hands where it should be.

Now in the interim the only way I can think of how to get the most out of social media advertising is to use a combination of paid and unpaid. If something is important, make sure you repeat the post with slight change in text, one you pay for the other you don’t.

This for me is an interesting area of the Internet, the battle between large corporate and the end user. We’re seeing the end user has significant control when it comes to advertising and it’s growing rapidly. I can just imagine the frustration that is inside the large web content companies on this topic as they know it’s going to impact on them. I think some of the larger companies that advertise with these content providers are catching on to the issue but many smaller ones are not aware they may be paying for something that is not being delivered.

 

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Creating a basic Android user interface

In this exercise we’re going to create a simple application that uses the following controls:

  • Button
  • Text field
  • Checkbox
  • Radio button
  • Spinner

The spinner will select between two languages, English and Tagalog and update the user interface in real time.

When the button is pressed it will display a message in the selected language.

The screens will look like:

Android UI excersise - English

Android UI excersise – Tagalog

Android UI excersise - Tagalog

Android UI excersise – English

Below the send button will appear the message that has been sent when the Send button is pressed.

First, create the following project in Android Studio and configure as per below:

Application name: Task Performance
Company domain: Your domain name
Project location: Path to your own folder

Set the minimum SDK to API 8: Android 2.2 (Froyo)

Create a blank activity with the following settings:

Activity name: TaskPerfActivity
Layout name: activity_task_perf

You can now update the relevant files in the project with the following and make sure you update the Tagalog translations in manifests\AndroidManifest.xml file.

The code:

The first file is the AndroidManifest.xml file. This one remains fairly standard as created.

manifests\AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="edu.sti.taskperformance">
    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
        <activity android:name=".TaskPerfActivity">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>
</manifest>

Next we create the layout. You can do this in two ways, one using the visual editor and dropping the controls where you want them or copy/paste the following into the activity_ask_perf.xml file. If you do choose the first option, you will need to make sure you name the controls as per the file here so the rest of the application will work.

res\layout\activity_ask_perf.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    tools:context="edu.sti.taskperformance.TaskPerfActivity"
    android:id="@+id/ljhkjh">

    <Spinner
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/spinner"
        android:prompt="@string/spinner_title"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true" />
    <CheckBox
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Beautiful"
        android:id="@+id/cbxMagandaAko"
        android:layout_below="@+id/txtEmail"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
        android:checked="false" />

    <CheckBox
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Ugly"
        android:id="@+id/cbxPangitAko"
        android:checked="false"
        android:layout_below="@+id/cbxMagandaAko"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Send"
        android:id="@+id/btnSend"
        android:layout_marginTop="48dp"
        android:layout_below="@+id/cbxMagandaAko"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
        android:layout_alignRight="@+id/spinner"
        android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/spinner"
        android:onClick="onSendButtonClicked" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
        android:text="First Name"
        android:id="@+id/lblFirstName"
        android:layout_below="@+id/spinner"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
        android:text="Last Name"
        android:id="@+id/lblLastName"
        android:layout_below="@+id/lblFirstName"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp" />

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
        android:text="Email"
        android:id="@+id/lblEmail"
        android:layout_below="@+id/lblLastName"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_alignParentStart="true"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp" />

    <EditText
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:inputType="textPersonName"
        android:ems="10"
        android:id="@+id/txtFirstName"
        android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/lblFirstName"
        android:layout_alignRight="@+id/spinner"
        android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/spinner" />

    <EditText
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:inputType="textPersonName"
        android:ems="10"
        android:id="@+id/txtLastName"
        android:layout_above="@+id/lblEmail"
        android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/txtFirstName"
        android:layout_alignStart="@+id/txtFirstName" />

    <EditText
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:inputType="textEmailAddress"
        android:ems="10"
        android:id="@+id/txtEmail"
        android:layout_below="@+id/lblLastName"
        android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/txtLastName"
        android:layout_alignStart="@+id/txtLastName" />

    <RadioGroup
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignTop="@+id/cbxMagandaAko"
        android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/cbxPangitAko"
        android:layout_gravity="right"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
        android:layout_alignParentEnd="true"
        android:id="@+id/radioGroup">
        <RadioButton
            android:layout_width="136dp"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="Girl"
            android:id="@+id/radGirl"
            android:onClick="onRadioButtonClicked" />
        <RadioButton
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="Boy"
            android:id="@+id/radBoy"
            android:layout_below="@+id/radGirl"
            android:layout_alignRight="@+id/radGirl"
            android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/radGirl"
            android:onClick="onRadioButtonClicked" />
    </RadioGroup>

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
        android:text=""
        android:id="@+id/txtResult"
        android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="15dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="15dp"
        android:layout_below="@+id/btnSend" />
</RelativeLayout>

manifests\AndroidManifest.xml

Now the fun begins. We create the code that actually makes things work. First step is to make sure all the imports are included. I’d probably suggest copying that section from the listing below first.

You will notice that the class is not quite the same as the default class that Android Studio created for you. This one extends Activity and it implements OnItemSelectedListener. This is part of the Spinner control.

package edu.sti.taskperformance;

import android.os.Bundle;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.lang.String;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.CheckBox;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.RadioButton;
import android.widget.Spinner;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;
import android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemSelectedListener;

public class TaskPerfActivity extends Activity implements OnItemSelectedListener {

    private String boyGirl = "";
    private String language = "English";
    private String result = "";
    private String isBeautiful = "";
    private String isUgly = "";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_task_perf);

        // Spinner element
        Spinner spinner = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.spinner);

        // Spinner click listener
       // spinner.setOnItemSelectedListener(this);
        spinner.setOnItemSelectedListener(this);

        // Spinner Drop down elements
        List categories = new ArrayList();
        categories.add("English");
        categories.add("Tagalog");

        // Creating adapter for spinner
        ArrayAdapter dataAdapter = new ArrayAdapter(this, android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, categories);

        // Drop down layout style - list view with radio button
        dataAdapter.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);

        // attaching data adapter to spinner
        spinner.setAdapter(dataAdapter);
    }
    @Override
    public void onItemSelected(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
        // On selecting a spinner item
        String item = parent.getItemAtPosition(position).toString();
        // first create references to the controls we want to change based on language selection
        CheckBox cbxMagandaAko = (CheckBox)findViewById(R.id.cbxMagandaAko);
        CheckBox cbxPangitAko = (CheckBox)findViewById(R.id.cbxPangitAko);
        RadioButton radBoy = (RadioButton)findViewById(R.id.radBoy);
        RadioButton radGirl = (RadioButton)findViewById(R.id.radGirl);
        Button btnSend = (Button)findViewById(R.id.btnSend);
        TextView lblFirstName = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.lblFirstName);
        TextView lblLastName = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.lblLastName);
        TextView lblEmail = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.lblEmail);
        // Now we check to see if English selected and set labels to English
        if (item == "English") {
            cbxMagandaAko.setText("Beautiful");
            cbxPangitAko.setText("Ugly");
            radBoy.setText("Boy");
            radGirl.setText("Girl");
            btnSend.setText("SEND");
            lblFirstName.setText("First Name");
            lblLastName.setText("Last Name");
            lblEmail.setText("Email");
            language = "English";
        }
        else // if not English, must be Tagalog
        {
            cbxMagandaAko.setText("Magando ako");
            cbxPangitAko.setText("Pangit ako");
            radBoy.setText("Batang lalaki");
            radGirl.setText("batang babae");
            btnSend.setText("MAGPADALA");
            lblFirstName.setText("Pangalan");
            lblLastName.setText("Huling pangalan");
            lblEmail.setText("Email");
            language = "Tagalog";
        }

        // Showing selected spinner item
        {
            Toast.makeText(parent.getContext(), "Selected: " + item, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        }
    }
    public void onNothingSelected(AdapterView<?> arg0) {
        // Auto-generated method stub
    }

    public void onRadioButtonClicked(View view) {
        // Is the button now checked?
        boolean checked = ((RadioButton) view).isChecked();

        // Check which radio button was clicked
        switch(view.getId()) {
            case R.id.radBoy:
                if (checked)
                    boyGirl = "boy";
                    break;
            case R.id.radGirl:
                if (checked)
                    boyGirl = "girl";
                    break;
        }
    }

    public void onSendButtonClicked(View view) {
        // This will create the text to display at bottom of screen when the send button is clicked

        // first need to create references to the controls so you can access the data
        EditText txtFirstName = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.txtFirstName);
        EditText txtLastName = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.txtLastName);
        EditText txtEmail = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.txtEmail);
        CheckBox cbxMagandaAko = (CheckBox)findViewById(R.id.cbxMagandaAko);
        CheckBox cbxPangitAko = (CheckBox)findViewById(R.id.cbxPangitAko);

        // See what check boxes are checked and set the variables


        // now check what language is being used
        if (language == "English") {
            // get the value from the check box and update variables
            if (cbxMagandaAko.isChecked())
                isBeautiful = "is beautiful";
            else
                isBeautiful = "is not beautiful";
            if (cbxPangitAko.isChecked())
                isUgly = "is ugly";
            else
                isUgly = "is not ugly";
            // create the string to display
            result = "Sent message to " + txtEmail.getText() + " that " + txtFirstName.getText();
            result = result + " " + txtLastName.getText() + " is a ";
            result = result + boyGirl + " and " + isBeautiful + " and " + isUgly;
        }
        else // the language is not English so must be Tagalog
        {
            // TODO You should check the strings (green text) to make sure they are correct Tagalog
            // get the value from the check box and update variables
            if (cbxMagandaAko.isChecked())
                isBeautiful = "ay maganda";
            else
                isBeautiful = "hindi maganda";
            if (cbxPangitAko.isChecked())
                isUgly = "ay pangit";
            else
                isUgly = "hindi pangit";
            // create the string to display
            result = "Ipinadala mensahe sa " + txtEmail.getText() + " na " + txtFirstName.getText();
            result = result + " " + txtLastName.getText() + " ay isang ";
            result = result + boyGirl + " at " + isBeautiful + " at " + isUgly;
        }
        // create reference for the text field at bottom used to display result
        TextView txtResult = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.txtResult);
        // display the string at bottom part of the screen
        txtResult.setText(result.toString());
    }
}

res\values\strings.xml

<resources>
    <string name="app_name">Task Performance</string>
    <string name="action_settings">Settings</string>
    <string name="spinner_title">Settings</string>
</resources>

 

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