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Over the last 4 days there have been over 30 earthquakes/shakes in the Imperial Valley, including a 4.8 and several over magnitude 3.

My wife says that these are just the fault’s way of letting off some steam, but maybe this is going to be the Big One! I might be sat on some beach front property…..

In the meantime, Teri and I are off to Las Vegas on Thursday for the MINI Vacation in Vegas, over 300 MINIs this year will be in attendance. Maybe see you there?!

This week, it’s a two-fer but don’t get too excited as they both from my own fair hand. Last weekend was the NAF El Centro Air Show and I filmed a ton of stuff which I am about half way through editing. At the time of shooting the footage I was getting frustrated with the camera as the auto-focus was too slow to capture all of the action but, when the Blue Angels are approaching at 450 mph, maybe even high end cameras can’t focus on the right thing that quickly either. Anyway, a lot of it didn’t come out half bad for a $220 camera.

First up today is a combo clip of two B-1 Bombers doing three fly-bys (though oddly one of the planes did only the first pass), and then a demonstration of the aerial capabilities of the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

Second is a very short clip of the C-130 aka “Fat Albert” which is the transport plane for the Blue Angels. Most of the video was out of focus so all I have is the takeoff and landing. Impressive performance!

You can find high def versions on my youtube account or vimeo account. Look for two or three more next week.

Ok people here we go again – time to break out the green beer (well, Budweiser), colour your rivers green and wear green to work. Oh, look how Irish I am. Hey, here’s a picture of my ancestor Obama McShamus on our potato farm and one day I will return to the home land and claim my birthright (yeah, and Ahnold is going to save California from the crapper). Ooh, a little politics this year!

So enough with the fake accent, the phony family tree and the beer bragging (though I do envy anyone who can swallow Guinness, let alone do it twice). How about this year you spin your globe and celebrate somewhere different instead. I did, and I’m proud to say today is St. Mugabe day – who knew my first cousin’s pig’s great grandfather’s cat was once petted by the man himself! Hey Robbert, save me a farm!

Don’t make me have to come with this crap again next year!

Back in January I got a call from BMW Financial to verify an attempted charge to my MINI Visa card for Adipose RX. They said that they had denied the charge but wanted to check the card was in my possession. It was so they immediately canceled the card and issued a new one. I checked my Pay Pal Mastercard and found a charge for Adipose RX for $35. I called and filed a fraud complaint.

Thought nothing more about it but at the weekend I got a bottle of diet pills from Adipose and so looked at my credit cards again. What the heck, from my PayPal online transaction log:

Uploaded with plasq‘s Skitch!

Rather than call PayPal again (they have a terribly long menu system) I called the number on the statement and explained to the rep that they had charged two of my cards a total of three times without my permission and I’d like them to stop. Without skipping a beat or asking me any questions at all he said he’d cancel my account and refund my credit card for the two charges. Within a couple of minutes I received an email confirming my cancellation – how the heck did they get that, too!

If you Google Adipose RX you’ll find a ton of reports of people being signed up for shipments without their knowledge, no idea how they get hold of the financial information but clearly there is a serious fraud going on here. Anyway, I’m hoping the refund will show up soon and in the meantime I am watching my online statements closely.

Update: My credit card has been refunded the two fraudulent amounts

Coming into work this morning, listening to BBC Radio 1 on my Sirius XM Radio I heard this tune that instantly reminded me of Wipeout HD for the PS3 which I am somewhat addicted to at lunchtimes. The music track in this recording is exactly what is played during menu selection in the game. The track is by Mason and is called Exceeder but in this version Princess Superstar has added some lyrics.

Cracking techno and girls in leotards – what more do you want??

Oh, I created a tumblr: http://tendancer.tumblr.com/

Last weekend, Teri and I attended the California Mid-Winter Fair and Fiesta at the Imperial Valley Fairgrounds in Imperial, CA. It was a gloriously warm day and without the high winds that the fair always seems to attract. We checked out the exhibits and wandered around the animal barns and show rings. In previous years we’ve gone on an auction day but we were earlier this time, the animals and owners were still being judged and awarded ribbons.

I took my new camera along and shot some video. If you have 8 minutes to spare, here are the ‘highlights’:

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