Bulgarians Skimming ATMs in Bali

Bulgarians sure are getting a name for themselves here for their banking practices and right here in Sanur four were just arrested for skimming from ATMS. Here's an article on that.  There were two Bulgarians arrested for skilmming in May and five in February. They were looking for a sixth back then. It's common to read about other East Europeans getting busted here for that sort of crime and sometimes others. Russians sometimes too. I've been skimmed or phished twice and now only use an ATM at a bank with a guard - as advised by an article in the Sanur Weekly. 

Bananas

Bought some bananas at a store nearby here in Sanur. They were billed as pisang susu, milk bananas. Those are ususally small and sweet. These were medium size and fully yellow. But when I tried one I had to put it in the compost. It wasn't near ripe. I've run into that before with some bananas here. You've got to feel them too. They last really well. The ones that last the least long are the large yellow ones like in America. They're also our least favorite of the eating type. I say eating type because a lot of bananas are best for cooking. I've gone to the banana stall in the market and the whole long table will be full of different types and the guy will tell me there's nothing today. I learned from him about our favorite type which they call green bananas. That means they don't turn yellow. They turn black. 

AI, all of us, and me

Stephen Hawking warned about the potential dangers of Artificial Intelligence. There's been a lot of discussion about whether it's a potential boon to us or a looming threat. The Terminator movies showed one imagined nightmare scenario wherein it took the advanced AI, once hooked up, immediately becomes self-aware, decides that humans are a security threat and must be eliminated. That idea was introduced in 1984. In 1970, Colusses, the Forbin Project had a similar theme but in it the computer just took total control of the world to insure peace. It was unstoppable but didn't want to control people other than keep them safe.

Kardino brings the wood

Kardino is an old carpenter who does work for us sometimes here in Sanur. The guest toilet room doorway frame wouldn't hold the bottom hinge anymore. He looked at it and said it was termites. It was made from pretty hard camphor but the termites here will get to that after a while. Wood had to be replaced all the way around. He said our home was built in 67. I wondered if this was the first time it had to be replaced. He rides a bicycle so I said that Nyoman could drive him there and get it with his bemo (like a VW bus with open side). He said he could get it easy with his bike. I asked if he could get me a hammer there. He said he'd have to go over to another store a ways from there. I said that's too far, I'll get it later. He replied that he rode his bike 15 kilometers to get here from home so that was nothing. Next morning he showed up  with the wood and hammer.

Rainbowettes

I was talking to Katrinka about mindboggling problems dealing with Amazon KDP which,  along with Ingram Books, distributes Cuke Press books. She listened politely and then said, "Look, there's a rainbow on the stove top. A tiny multicolored sliver of light was shining on the glass top to the stove that's back up against the wall under the vent. She pointed out another on the stainless steele top to a rolling rack where various items are stored under the window. She found two more. A nice accent to the morning.

The woman who saw first the Greenhouse Effect

Eunice Foote

NASA dealing with Asteroid Threat

Dealing with the threat of asteroids  - This is one of three items listed in the old Cuke Species Threats section. The other two being nuclear war and climate change. There are others like a sunstorm but not sure what we can do about that. Asteroid threat is the one that's easiest for us to deal with with proper and thorough observation of space which we've yet to do, and planning on how to deal with an asteroid, or comet, with an orbit that is on a possible collisiu course with earth - and all objects in speace, I've learned, have a discernable orbit. Species Threats/ Asteroid.