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  Oh Nigeria! Knocked out of the World Cup, and still churning out the spam-scam e-mails. Here's one I just got:
  

  
  Hello  ,

  
  I work with Oaks Court Chambers - United Kingdom. I got your contacts through the Office of Public Sector Information and Information Commissioner's Office.

   

  There Is a possibility that you may be related to My late client, whom this Chambers owes a legal obligation. You may or may not be related to my client and If so, I will still workout the modalities of transferring heredity of his fund still under my custody at the finance house in Europe to you as Beneficiary

  
  Could I indeed be in for a windfall? By viewing the headers 'inside' the e-mail, we gain an insight to the apparent route the e-mail has taken from sender to lucky recipient. Headers show details such as:
  

  
  Received: from oaklawfirm@lawyer.com
      by imo-da03.mx.aol.com  (mail_out_v42.9.) id 3.c2d.7dc33f6f (55731);
      Wed, 7 Jul 2010 11:46:11 -0400 (EDT)
  Received: from smtprly-de03.mx.aol.com (smtprly-de03.mx.aol.com

  By tracing back the 'received from' IP addresses we can find the origin. However, there's a good online tool that simplifies the process. http://whatismyipaddress.com/trace-email will let you paste headers, and returns the geographic origin of the e-mail, thus:
  
  
  Source:
  
  The source IP address is 83.229.101.69.
  
  Geo-Location Information
  Country Nigeria

  

  ~1 month on
  Steve's Dominica blog
• 

  Permutations from the so called 'Group of Life' So this is what it comes down to:
  
  

  England win, USA win: Both qualify, and biggest winning margin finishes top.

  England win, USA draw: England 1st, Slovenia 2nd.

  England win, USA lose: England 1st, Slovenia or Algeria 2nd.

  England draw, USA win: Slovenia and USA qualify.

  England draw, USA draw: USA likely to qualify with Slovenia, having scored more goals than England, unless...

  England draw 2-2, USA draw 0-0: means drawing lots.

  England draw, USA lose: Slovenia 1st, Algeria 2nd.

  England lose, USA win: Slovenia 1st, USA 2nd.

  England lose, USA draw: Slovenia 1st, USA 2nd.

  England lose, USA lose: Slovenia 1st, Algeria 2nd.

  

  2 months on
  Steve's Dominica blog
• 

  When volcanic ash settles Feb 11 dome collapse,
  photo Montserrat Volcano Observatory

  

  Western Europe's current problem with volcanic ash echoes a recent Caribbean experience - the February dome collapse of the Montserrat volcano, which spewed ash over the eastern Caribbean islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe and even over to Barbados, cancelling flights, and dusting everything with ash.

  

  4 months on
  Steve's Dominica blog
• 

  'it really me' I recently received what was obviously a 'Nigerian scam' type email; sadly it was a version of the scam which comes from a legitimate but hacked email address ('I was robbed in London, please wire me lots of funds to get home'), and because I've seen it before, I called the person to alert them that the scam was using their email address. So imagine my surprise when the person started an IM chat session with me...
  
  
  xyz: hi
  xyz: i send you an email did you get it
  delphis_ltd: yes!
  xyz: it really me
  xyz: will you help me and send the money now
  xyz: or you dont have up to that amount
  delphis_ltd: of course
  delphis_ltd: please, can you send it again right now?
  xyz: what the email or the name and address to send the money to
  delphis_ltd: the email
  xyz: let me tell you hear
  xyz: am in United Kingdom now
  xyz: but i need some amount to pay for my hotel bill and ticket fees back home
  delphis_ltd: i know. i need the email again
  xyz: when i get to uk i get rob there so i loss my credit card and all my money
  delphis_ltd: to confirm your IP address
  delphis_ltd: so i can send the police to you
  delphis_ltd: but dont worry
  delphis_ltd: i got your IP from the first e-mail. and the others you've sent
  delphis_ltd: so i can trace you nicely
  xyz: for what
  delphis_ltd: fraud
  delphis_ltd: how's Denmark? (note: the IP of the email traced back to Denmark)
  xyz: wat did you mean by fraud
  delphis_ltd: ;)
  delphis_ltd: i spoke to mr xyz on the phone yesterday
  delphis_ltd: but keep talking, please
  delphis_ltd: because i'm tracing you
  delphis_ltd: hello?
  
  
  I must confess the 'it really me' nearly had me convinced. Just another good reason to change your email account password on a regular basis, and make sure the password recovery options are as strong as your password.

  

  6 months on
  Steve's Dominica blog
• 

  Almost Shakespearean
  "Be not to use a product to damage but cause correctly, burn, do not belong to column of guaranteeing to keep in good repair." Forsooth.

  

  8 months on
  Steve's Dominica blog
• 

  My blog tag cloud

  
  

  
  The above is an image of my tag cloud of words used in my blog, courtesy of a nice site Wordle.net.

  

  11 months on
  Steve's Dominica blog
• 

  In The Gardens I realised what Dominica's Botanical Gardens is missing: water. Considering we so often have too much, our Gardens has no water feature, unlike St. Vincent's Botanical Gardens, which to me is one of the highlights.

  

  

  11 months on
  Steve's Dominica blog
• 

  20 years ago today: Hurricane Hugo

  

  My first experience of a major hurricane was 20 years ago this week: Hurricane Hugo, a massive Category 4 storm which passed over Dominica on the night of 16-17th September 1989. I'd been in Dominica just two and a half years, and lived at that time in a front-row seat to witness a  passing tropical storm: within spitting distance of the sea.
  
  My light-hearted account of that weekend of rum, pool and water can be found here. But a far more descriptive account of the power of that storm from the unique perspective of the hurricane hunter is here,

  

  11 months on
  Steve's Dominica blog
• 

  Pyroclastic flow in Tyres Ghaut, Monserrat

  
  Pyroclastic flow in Tyres Ghaut
  Originally uploaded by Montserrat Volcano Observatory

  An awesome photo from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, taken in December 2008. Though there's a suggestion that the volcano may be quieting down, this photo is a stark reminder of how active it was recently. See more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvo/

  

  11 months on
  Steve's Dominica blog
• 

  Step it up I was watching, as I do once in a while,  'How It's Made'. This episode detailed the complex process involved in manufacturing an escalator. Which made me wonder about Dominica's only escalator - the one at Astaphans supermarket. I don't think I ever saw it operating, and if it did it was only for a very short while. As such, it needs to be added to the list of Innovations That Never Made a Mark On Dominica. Right next to traffic lights and water fountains.
  
  Next week's featured white elephant: Dominica's lost elevators.

  

  ~1 year on
  Steve's Dominica blog
• 

  Surf's up!

  
  Surf's up!
  Originally uploaded by Steve_Mc

  There's something slightly bizarre to be flying nonchalantly towards a major hurricane. Of course it's almost 350 miles over the horizon, but still, I'm no hurricane hunter, and the plane was heading home to Dominica - and in the direction of Hurricane Bill.
  
  On the ground though there is hard evidence of the proximity of a Category Four storm. I'm not talking about the now standard panic-driven exodus of Ross University students at the airport (god help us if there's ever a real natural disaster here, they'll be the first to flee; Médecins Sans Testicles).
  
  No, real evidence of the massive storm to the north-east was right there as soon as you touched down at Melville Hall - the pounding surf all along the east coast of Dominica. Lots of surf, and coast roads awash with debris. Welcome to the hurricane season!

  

  ~1 year on
  Steve's Dominica blog