While walking an established path through the Palos Forest Preserve, Lovely and I came across a strange little shrine. Out in the middle of a deeply wooded forest was this stump covered with bits and pieces of stuff, and flowers. Why, we asked each other? Who did this? I snapped a few pictures for reference.
Today, I did some searching on Google and came up with a number of sites but none came close to explaining what a woodland shrine is. I was curious about the origins of these mysterious little spaces. The best I could deduce is that they are based on the fairies of deep woods England. Most of the websites and videos that came up are based on video games like Minecraft. Some were personal web sites of artsy people who make and sell stuff made from bone, stone, and fairy like material found in the woods.
I suppose there must be people all around the world who believe in beings of human form that possess magical powers. One such fairy exists in and around the Palos Forest Preserve walking path. Looking deeply into the web for some explanation I finally came across a Wikipedia page on fairies. The basis is mystical in nature. There are many different forms of fairies depending upon who is defining. Some people consider that fairies are fallen angels, demons, spirits of the dead, pagan deities, hidden people, and the list goes on. There are references to fairies in literature going back centuries. Even Shakespeare used them as characters In his Midsummer Night’s Dream. Fairy’s can be anything we want them to be and over the years men have used fairies in any number of capacities.
I would like to know what each piece on this sacred altar symbolizes in this shrine. They were collected, saved and transported to this site to be placed on the perfect altar to commemorate, or to worship. Which is it? Did they build this in the day, or at night? There is a candle stub in the center of it all indicating a connection to a spirit, perhaps a loved one who is lost, or has crossed over into the world of angels and fairies. Without personal contact with the fairy herself it will be impossible to know. In the mean time one can imagine, and guess.
After writing a post eight days ago about the many scams I have encountered I was scammed again yesterday. This time the scam involves two really big companies. The scammer uses a loophole in Google Voice to steal identity. To get into the Google Voice program it needs your phone number and a control number. I don’t use Google Voice, but I have become aware of it through my Lions Club. Our Secretary uses that App for our club contact number.
Exactly My Experience
The second company involved is Facebook. I am a Facebook user. I became hooked on their Marketplace feature. It is a valuable tool for selling, or buying stuff. It is easy to use and they provide many groups that are online to spread the word about any item I want to sell. I’m still in a downsize mode so I am still getting rid of things which I have little or no use for. Currently, I have sixteen items for sale. This week I listed a number of things that I have been tripping over for months and need to eliminate. These items are still useful, just not to me.
One item is a pile of left over composite flooring. I recently finished a floor for which I ordered ten percent more material than was necessary in case I had a problem. It is enough to finish a small room. I was lucky that I didn’t make a lot of mistakes so I had boards left over. They were not in the original packaging so I couldn’t return them to the supplier, and I choose to find a buyer. I hit the finish button on Marketplace and within a minute I get a reply that someone was interested. This kind of response is not unusual, but it doesn’t happen for every item. I responded to the inquiry that the boards were still available. A lady named Sasha replied “Ok cell number please.” Still not strange, I thought she wanted to call me to discuss the item. I gave her my cell number. She replied “Ok, I want to purchase it, I sent a 6 digit google voice code. If your post is real, send me the code. Then I’ll call.”
A few seconds later I got, “DId you get the code?” in large letters. I thought it was a little strange to want this in such a hurry, but I was fumbling with my phone trying to retrieve the code she sent. I finally found it, and texted the code. While I awaited the next move I searched for Google Voice to learn more about it. While at that site, I saw the word scam attached to voice. “Oh no,” I said out loud. I knew immediately that I had been taken by a scam. I read the description of the scam and it was my experience to a tee. I never heard another word from the scam buyer. She got what she wanted my phone number and a code.
Smart Seller Shuts Down Scammer
I have been reading articles on how to undo this scam, but they are over my head. It’ll take a few more reads to understand all of it.
In the mean time, I want to unload on Google and Facebook. Both companies are actively building new businesses daily. This Voice thing is such a service. With all the available phone services on the market how could they think theirs would be competitive. The reason is simple, they make it FREE. All things Google are free. It is their business model. The problem is that by making it free, they make it easy for scammers to steal from the public. Google and Facebook both have so many free apps that users like me will take advantage of them. The problem is that I am too naive to believe someone is out to steal my identity. The result is that all these free services become froth with theft and become a huge problem for the one being stolen from. Is it my fault that I didn’t know that the Google Voice app existed and is vulnerable? Is it my fault for using Facebook Marketplace in good faith and leaving myself open to thieves? I guess the answer is yes it is my fault, but I also believe that this problem is bigger than me. Thousands of unsuspecting souls are using these apps not suspecting for a second that Facebook, or Google doesn’t give a rats ass about the people who kidnap their processes to use illegally. I’m sure that these two companies are so large that we are just collateral damage. I’m sure that I am asking too much of them to fix these security issues. They are much to preoccupied by their First Amendment violations and affecting the outcomes of elections to want to fix mediocre scams like the one above.
As a final word, I can only advise you to be especially careful when dealing with people on the internet. It is my experience that too many of them are into picking your pocket and/or using your name to do things you can’t even imagine much less do. Never, never, never, never send your code for anything to anyone even if you don’t know what they are talking about.
While scrolling thru Facebook I came across a piece titled “How to Wash a Cat.” I read it and liked it. In fact I laughed out loud when I did. Lovely’s grandson now lives with us, and part of the deal was to allow his cat to come with him. When I read this piece I immediately copied it for him. I thought he might like it too. Here are a few of the reactions to the piece:
“My cat is clean it never needs to be washed”
“How cruel.”
“Is this a joke?”
I was wrong. This incident has taught me that cat owners take their cats very seriously. I showed the piece to Lovely and got a similar reaction. In both cases they took the post literally, and found no humor in it.
I like the cat whose name is Katusha. Her breed has distinctive yellow eyes with vertically elliptic pupils and jet black fur. Her tail has a distinctive curve when she walks about. Even though I like her I also appreciate a good joke. Here is what I am talking about, maybe you can help me understand the matter.
“Oh, and what might that be?” Then she handed me a cute little jewelry box clad in white open to reveal a pendant meant to hang around the neck. There chain was gone, but the lacey looking silver pendant of an antique design with a cluster of emerald green stones moved around loosely among three loose stones. It was apparent that the three stones belonged in the center of the metal frame. I had immediately suspected I would have to reset the stones using tweezers and a eye loop. “Just glue them back in,” she said.
“I can do that,” I replied. That is when my new found career as an amateur jeweler came into being.
In my job I regularly used a microscope to look for product defects. Using a scope is not foreign to me and moving things around under the scope with tweezers is something I have developed dexterity to do. The real question is could I make a living doing jewelry repair?
Most every night I have to watch a movie. Last night I got into a film from India titled Laal SIngh Chaddha. It is a remake of Forrest Gump, and it is very well done. No one will ever duplicate the role played so well by Tom Hanks, but actor Aamir Khan did an amazing job playing the part of Forrest.
The film makers made no secret that this was a remake of a famous movie. The man who wrote the original screenplay actually contributed to this remake. Of course they didn’t duplicate Bubba Gump’s Shrimp boat, but they substituted with an under wear factory that did just as well. They didn’t have Lieutenant Dan either, but his character was substituted by an enemy soldier who Laal saved along with his compadres who fought with him.
I thoroughly enjoyed this film because it was a good story with new characters along with old familiar scenes like the feather floating through the air at the beginning and end. This story is just familiar enough to be like the original, but also different enough to give it it”s own character. The film is over 2.5 hours long, but I found myself wanting to see more of the story just like I did with the original.
