Millionaire Dentist Dines on Student's Lost Credit Card & Other Crazy Men Stories

This is a good example of how a few men think nothing of hoarding all the wealth while stealing from the less fortunate. Michigan Dentist Richard Ludwig, 54 hadn't a care in the world for the individual who lost their credit card he used to buy $40.64 worth of pizza with. The lost card happened to belong to a community college student who dropped it at a shopping center where the dentist was visiting Florida for his son's baseball game.

After the college student learned someone had used his credit card to make a purchase at a restaurant, he called the police who then confronted Ludwig as he waited for two large pizzas with extra olives.  One would think someone who fell on hard times might be tempted to do such a thing, but that wasn't the case with Ludwig.  According to police, Ludwig told deputies that he is "absolutely not" having financial difficulties while bragging of his net worth being $3 to 4 million dollars.

Richard Ludwig has since been charged with credit-card theft and forgery charges, let's see his attorney get him out of this one.   Like I posted earlier in Tripping Up the Guilt Trippers,  it's always the real criminals who have no feelings of guilt over their acts or attitudes while it's primarily the good people who always feel guilt over much to do about nothing.  Imagine the guilt trip Mr. Ludwig could possibly lay on the poor student, something along the lines of "you owe me this free pizza because my taxes pay for your  low cost community college education."  For more info see Millionaire Dentist Richard Ludwig Buys $40 in Pizza on Student's Lost Credit Card - AOL News.

Real News is Beginning to Sound Like The Onion With Yet Another Crazy Man Story

In my blogging I try to avoid high profile news featured on CNN or MSNBC as much as possible but couldn't resist yet another crazy man story on CNN's home page yesterday. The video's hilarious so I'll briefly summarize and leave the rest to the clip.  A young man named Timothy James Chape broke into a house in Portland, Oregon then called the police afraid the homeowner had a gun who had discovered him in her house.

Hilarious video about a young man who called the police when the home owner arrived, fearing she had a gun.

Intruder calls 911, Afraid Homeowner May Have Gun - CNN.com

The Onion's Latest Hilarious Video

To rap things up for today's post, I thought I'd post a The Onion video since the previous "real news" stories all kind of sound like what The Onion would cover anyway.  Once in a great while The Onion puts out a hit video and this is one of them.

Small Town Throws Pride Parade For Only Gay Resident

Alex Jones Screws Himself With Charlie Sheen

I always take a hard look at men who use all kinds of homophobic rhetoric with the public because they're likely having man love issues.  For those who don't know who Alex Jones is, he's the biggest alternative media radio broadcaster ever, a documentary film maker of the conspiracy theorist genre, who also has several high traffic web sites such as www.InfoWars.com.

Lately Alex Jones has me wondering about if he has a secret thing for men with his latest support of Charlie Sheen. See Charlie Sheen's Bizarre Rooftop Antics After Axe - The Sun.  I won't go into detail, but I've been listening to Jones since 2008 trying to figure out this complex fellow.  At first I thought Alex Jones was 100% for real but lately I've come to understand there's some kind of split personality going on that he's probably unaware of.  In other words, I suspect Jones has man love issues and that he's in love with Charlie Sheen.

When he should have been distancing himself, Jones chose to ignore Sheen's obvious drug addiction, agreeing with his delusional thinking that he was clean.  Yet it is as clear as day to anyone that Charlie Sheen is a drug addict going crazy.  It's one thing to support a friend during hard times, but it's quite another to misrepresent to millions of people about another's true state of being such as Jones recently did on The View. 

Charlie Sheen's latest Sheen's Corner's "Violent Torpedo's of Truth" Uploads - The man is clearly a drug addict going through serious withdrawal symptoms that's making him behave insanely.

Alex Jones on The View Defends Charlie Sheen - Men overlook one another's problems and behaviors while women tend to punish and abandon one another severely over the slightest things.

My theory that Alex Jones is a closet bisexual explains the endless paranoia and uncontrollable rage issues he has as well as his insecurity with authority figures.  It's easy to determine Jones enjoys the company of men more than women from the way he conducts his program that's nearly entirely male based. Very few female callers ever call in as well.  Many of Jones' fans made misogynist comments on his site against the women on The View that were revolting and hateful.

On the one hand Jones attacks men on his program for being effeminate, while on the other he plays David Bowie songs.  Many other contradictions lead me to believe Jones isn't being honest with himself over his man love issues. For instance, on his radio program the other day he told his new love, former fallen baseball star Lenny Dykstra, "Where have you been all of my life?"  Another one of Jones man love interests appears to be Mark Dice (right) of whom he's about to be the sole distributor for his new book Big Brother The Orwellian Nightmare Come True.  All of these aforementioned men Jones strongly supports are either wife rejects in divorces who had domestic disputes whose lives completely fell apart, or those like Mark Dice who don't appear to have interest in women. 

Former fallen baseball star Lenny Dykstra talks about his delusional beliefs over Charlie Sheen on the Alex Jones Show. 

This example of Alex Jones having an apparent blind love for Charlie Sheen is what happens when people aren't being honest with themselves that they end up screwing themselves one way or another.

Ice Musician Tunes Into Earth's Coolest Vibes

Contrary to what a few like global warmest Al Gore would have us believe, many credible scientists are saying the planet's headed for an ice age set to peak in 2030.  From the inevitable growing chill comes the world's first ice age musician, Terje Isungest, whose tuned into the coolest vibes of the planet like no other.  Terje plays drums, chimes, horns, harps and trumpets, all carved from ice obtained from nature.  CNN reports:

The Norwegian-born musician has been playing ice instruments for over 10 years and is the founder of Norway's annual Ice Music Festival in Geilo. His love of ice music began in his 20s when he was invited to play at a concert inside a frozen waterfall.

"As a composer I decided to work with the nature surrounding me and I tried out ice instruments for the first time," said Isungset. - Chilling Out With the World's Only Ice Musician - CNN.com

What's amazing is how the instruments are carved out from ice only to melt.  According to Terje, the most extraordinary of instruments was his 2,500 year old ice horn carved from a glacier in Norway. The instrument lasted 50 performances, pretty good for a typical ice instrument.

"We normally make an ice horn out of a large cube. We cut it with a saw and then with a knife," Isungset told CNN. "The shape of (the horn) is not so important, except for the mouth piece because the mouth piece creates a specific sound. But, as you can imagine, when you play an ice horn it melts. So the tuning and the mouth piece will change all the time. This makes it even harder to perform." - Chilling Out . . .CNN

This January 14, 2009 CNN clip warns of the Coming Ice Age and speaks of the absence of sunspot activity as just another example.

So in essence what this all means is that man made global warming is a fraud perpetrated by greedy businessmen such as Al Gore who want to profit from their money making schemes to tax the world population over carbon dioxide emissions. The sun did cause the earth to warm back in the 1990's along with other planets in the solar system but that cycle ended.  Gore's data was clearly skewed and exposed as such by Russian hackers last year. See Hacker Scandal Sends Ripples Through Climate-Science Community - Deutsche Welle - 2009

According to many scientists, man made global warming is a complete fraud, just ask ice musician Terje whose in tune with the coolest vibes of the earth. 

CNN Segment Warns of the Coming Ice Age - CNN

Dog Rises From Dead to Thousands of Adoption Offers

In a tear jerker story for dog lovers everywhere, a former doomed little 3 month puppy has come back from the dead after having survived two euthanasia attempts.  Wall-e, a cute little black and white pooch, was found sitting on top a pile of dog carcasses having even survived a 30 degree night and a missed dumpster pick-up after a vet had declared him dead.

Here's Wall-e's profile on Petfinder.com:

Where to begin with this miracle - pup. .... On Friday 2/18 him and about 5 of his siblings where left in front of Animal Control- due to over crowding and their scrawny appearance they were euthanized that night. ... Wall-e was euthanized twice- once in the arm and then in the heart.... he was believed dead and disposed of in the dumpster "with the rest"..... On Saturday morning (2/19) the animal control officer found him very much alive and hungry...... a young girl gave him the name of Wall-e based on the animated movie since Wall-e was also a survivor/ last of his kind and then came back :) Wall-e has been checked over by a vet, he has alot of hookworms and is being treated for that. He has had his first puppy dhpp and bordetella vaccines and a dose of sentinel for fleas and parasites. If you are interested in fostering or adopting Wall-e please call Amanda at 817-266-1901.

Thousands of people as far as Canada are now trying to adopt the pup. 

Puppy Survives Being Put Down, Declared Dead and Thrown in Dumpster - MailOnline.com

Those Who Couldn't Wait To Win the Lotto - Part 5

I thought I'd post a few of the latest embezzlers in a continuation of my Those Who Couldn't Wait to Win the Lotto multi-part series. For some reason Fraud Talk Blog where I obtain this information seems to have a pattern of blond female embezzlers.  This is all so shocking, these were once professional career women who just lost it.  As fits the pattern, guys are also posted below who stole larger amounts of cash.


New York Woman Sentenced For Embezzling $350K From Medical Practice

Kathleen L. Heller, 54, formerly of West Seneca, New York, was sentenced to one to three years in prison for embezzling more than $350,000 from Western New York Pediatrics where she had served as chief financial officer. According to authorities, Heller misappropriated a total of $355,262 from the practice by manipulating payroll accounts and making unauthorized credit card charges for her own benefit. She is also alleged to have misappropriated $33,524 from the New York State Tax Department. According to reports, Heller fled in 2005 after suspicions arose and was captured as a fugitive in Florida in June 2009. Heller blamed her actions on an addiction to pain killers. At her sentencing, Heller is apologized and is quoted as saying that she was "very, very sorry with my whole heart and soul" for her actions.

Read the story  here.

Iowa Woman Charged With Embezzling Nearly $175K From Dental Practice

Michelle Lynne Allen, 38, of Marshalltown, Iowa, has been charged with embezzling $173,552 from the Plaza Family Dental Practice where she had been employed as office manager. Specifically, Allen has been charged with one count of ongoing criminal conduct, two counts of first degree theft, three counts of forgery and one count of identity theft. According to authorities, Allen wrote Practice checks and transferred funds to herself or her benefit, among other methods of embezzlement, over a period of about 4 years, from 2006 until 2010.

Read the story here.

Former Finance Director of Red Cross in New York Charged With Embezzling $275K

Deborah A. Leggio, 47, currently of Tracy, California and formerly of Long Island, New York, has been arrested and charged with grand larceny in connection with her alleged embezzlement of $274,301 from the Suffolk County chapter of the American Red Cross in Long Island, New York where she had served as finance director. According to prosecutors, Leggio used a Red Cross debit card, issued in her name, to make numerous unauthorized cash withdrawals over a period of more than four years between August 2005 and November 2009.

Read the story here.

2 Former Finance Officers of California Company Sentenced In $1.5 Million Embezzlement  


Eric Wayne Helgemo, 50, of Vista, California and Maria Lorena Vega Yarrish, 40, of Buena Park, California, CFO and Controller, respectively of Pacific Polymers Inc., were sentenced yesterday for their role in an embezzlement conspiracy that bilked the company out of more than $1.5 million. Helgemo (left) was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Yarrish (right) was sentenced to 8 years in prison. They were each also ordered to pay a fine of $3 million. According to authorities, the pair issued more than 800 fraudulent paychecks to themselves over a period of about 5 years, from 2003 until 2008. Specifically, Helgemo received 593 fraudulent payments for more than $1.1 million and Yarrish received 229 fraudulent payments for more than $340,000. The embezzlement was discovered after the company was sold and Helgemo and Yarrish were let go and an audit of the company's books was conducted. Cor Claus, Pacific Polymers former owner, claimed that the company suffered a loss of as much as $7.5 million as a result of Helgemo's and Yarrish's thefts. The pair were originally charged last October with numerous counts of computer access and fraud.

Read the story here, here and here.

Read the original Orange County DA's announcement here.

2 Accused In Kickback Scheme That Bilked Missouri Company Out Of $1 Million

Jason Paul Mitchell, 34, of Jackson, Missouri and Rajiv M. Toprani, 30, of Clarksville, Tennessee, have been accused of conspiring to bilk nearly $1 million from The DeWitt Company of Sikeston, Missouri. According to authorities, Mitchell (left), who was employed as purchasing manager at DeWitt, colluded with Toprani (right), owner of KT America, a DeWitt supplier, who agreed to make kickback payments in exchange for exclusivity. The scheme reportedly spanned about 7 years from 2003 until 2010 where Mitchell and another employee netted some $950,000. The unnamed employee is believed to be DeWitt former CFO, Richard Potter, who has not been criminally charged at this time. Potter reportedly admitted to doctoring company financials to make the kickbacks appear legitimate.

Read the story here

For more info visit Fraud Talk Blog 

eBook Sales Makes Millionaires of Self-Published Authors

The days of dusty old books on shelves seem to be gradually coming to an end as bookstores all over America close their doors while Borders and others file for bankruptcy.  If San Francisco's any indicator, book stores are a thing of the past.  As resident of 16 years I've noted most all the major and even smaller book stores in San Francisco have closed or are in the process of closing.  The reason for the closures is clear.  While many people now prefer to purchase books on Amazon, many others are switching over to the Kindle, Nook and other eBook devices to download books and magazines. In fact, the eBook industry now consists of 20% of all book sales and is steadily growing.

This new eBook industry is allowing writers an easier avenue to self-publish and sell their eBooks to a mass audience making book authors very happy and even rich.  New talent is being unleashed unrestricted by the questionable restraints of snobby publishing houses.  It's clear that new technology has paved the way for a writing and reading revolution now taking place.

Take Amanda Hocking for example, a woman who was living paycheck to paycheck.  Amanda had tried to get her book published and things were starting to look bleak until she decided a new way of doing things:

Amanda Hocking had been rejected by publishers all over New York and decided to self-publish on the eBooks platform alone.  In 10 months, Hocking has since sold 900,000 eBooks enabling her to quit her day job to become a full-time writer.  Hocking is now a millionaire.  - Self-Published Author Amanda Hocking Makes Millions from eBook Sales - HuffPost.com

eBook author Amanda Hocking Shares Her Story to Independence and Wealth

Prior to the eBook revolution, writers didn't have much of a chance of making much money because publishers got a huge cut and production costs were high.  Today much of the expense has been removed enabling writers to become millionaires if their work's considered worthy by a mass audience.

So dust off those old writing books in your attic, put on your thinking cap and see what you can come up with to become the next eBooks millionaire.  Even if you don't become a millionaire you may be able to make supplemental income.

Self-Published Author Amanda Hocking Makes Millions from eBook Sales - HuffPost.com

Googling People To Death Isn't Cool

I'll never forget that historic day back in 2001  when the high powered law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop LLP asked me what Google was. "What's Google?" asked someone from human resources at a meeting.  The lady had asked because I brought up the firm's first Google search case after I discovered one of my coworkers who shared my desk was featured on a psychotherapy site The Company Therapist.

Back in those days it was very strange and shocking to find such strange info on a coworker on the Internet.  Alan had given me a hard time in the office since we shared desks having even complained to top gun Mary Cranston about how he was allegedly being discriminated against.  I thought his behavior was eccentric so I Googled him to find a web site had documented someone in San Francisco with his name.  I figured someone had fictionalized the stories but some of the elements of truth remained about a narcissistic personality I had encountered in the office.

To make a long story short, back in the old days there was no procedural protocol on how to deal with such information on Google so I thought nothing of reporting the coworker search to my supervisor.  The supervisor didn't appreciate the information at all and it's easy to see why with all the legal issues it presented. It's interesting to note what happened years later when a coworker Googled me in 2008 at Chapman & Cutler LLP.   By then things had changed significantly to where Google information was accepted as part of an employee's image,  quite unfairly I might add.  The Google junk had so affected the other employees' behavior towards me that I quit my $64K a year 35 hour per week job. That's what Google did to my life in 2008 and it hasn't stopped since.

So last night I had yet another experience with some obnoxious man Googling my name for no just cause or reason.  He just saw my name on a professional forum and decided to Google it.  Voila!  He wrote back to the others on the thread to Google my name and they responded with "interesting reading" and posted a URL to a particular page.  When I protested, they all laughed at me on the forum saying "give me a break" as if they had every right to do this kind of thing.

Let's face it, this  Googling behavior is getting out of hand.  I did nothing whatsoever to cause my name to be Googled.  People don't respect each other's privacy any longer and it seems everyone's fair game.  I'm not saying I'm a Googling angel, but I don't go around Googling strangers for no valid reason.  It used to be someone asked for your phone number, today they hold you hostage over what they find on Google or write about you for not giving your number to them.

In another example, two weeks ago I was trying to sell a DVD burner copier tower on Craigslist only for the guy to Google me and write "ha ha ha ha ha" in an email after I wouldn't sell it to him.  It freaked me out.  Why this obnoxious behavior?  I tried to sell it to him for cheap but he expected me to wait 7 days without a down payment?  Then he harassed me when it didn't work out?  After I got his email, I left a voice mail:

"I wasn't quite sure why you felt it necessary to Google me or send me that rude email, that it's probably some symptom perhaps of your mother not breast feeding you at a young age or whatever, but I didn't do anything wrong to you.  Move on and let it go."

Google Gang Bangers 

I've never partaken in this kind of behavior to gang up on weak or vulnerable people as these people have towards myself, at least not since junior high school.  I can't imagine what it would be like to behave this way ganging up on on someone. I had the misfortune of a couple of crazy men latching onto me a few years ago I sued.  It seems to be entertainment for many people to witness my torment.  Take for instance Susan Fischer of www.OrCoastNotary.com in  Lincoln City Oregon. Here was one of Susan's comments to my complaint of being ganged up on a professional notary forum today:

(chortle) "[h]arassment?" "[give you a try?]" heh heh heh 

- Susan Fischer, Mobile Notary & Signing Agent

Susan's profile on the site claims she's "mature".  Anyone who writes a stranger whose clearly annoyed "heh heh heh" has some kind of lack of maturity in my humble opinion.  What did I do to her? Absolutely nothing.  It seems that certain people personalize things that clearly aren't directed towards them. Why try to fan the flames when the issue isn't directed at you personally?  Why join the fray? My message had clearly been directed towards one trouble maker I couldn't email because they were anonymous.

Thou Shalt Not Google Recklessly

I counter this Googling craze and violation of privacy by only Googling whenever it is absolutely relevant or necessary.  Did someone rip me off?  If yes, I'll Google them.  What did that person do to cause something bad to happen to me?  Yes, I'll Google them.  But just pulling strangers' names off of a forum and Googling them for no reason, then discussing them on a forum, that's bad manners looking for trouble. 

The forum thread was coincidentally about how some nice person hoped Signing Agents could find supplemental income during the coming hard times for the industry.  Maybe these guys can get a job at Google googling to their little heart's content because they clearly have too much time on their hands.

Today my personal morals prohibit me from Googling someone for no just cause.  Somebody needs to write a Google Book of Karma perhaps for those who abuse the medium.  There's something wrong about strangers Googling people without their permission for no just cause. My life's not public, I'm a private citizen. I reveal what I want to reveal and no one has a right to broadcast every painful detail of any tragedy or someone's lies all over the Internet as if they're the National Enquirer and I'm a multi-million dollar celebrity.

Dusty The Klepto Cat's On The Loose!

I'm chillin today with a fun story about a kleptomaniac cat in San Mateo, California.  Animal Planet installed a hidden camera for its program Must Love Cats revealing the feline's nightly catches of neighbors' items.  It's a pretty amazing story you don't read about every day.

It seems kleptomaniacs aren't limited to the human species as this amazing cat burglar video demonstrates.

"Dusty has a long history of scouting the neighborhood for loot. Over the course of the last three years his owners claim that he has stolen more than 600 items.

As the sun sets in San Mateo, the question becomes, which house will Dusty hit tonight? It is the purr-fect night for a heist." - ABCNews.com

Kleptomaniac Feline Gives New Meaning to 'Cat' Burglar - ABCNews.com

AeroGarden Taking America By Storm - Year Round Indoor Fresh Herbs & Veggies

A few years ago I learned about a new way of growing plants with only water and nutrients called hydroponic gardening. I even asked if our building in San Francisco would possibly open up a hydroponic garden for tenants on the roof.  Unfortunately, as in most buildings, we're not allowed to put out planters on the fire escape because it's in violation of the city safety codes.  As with most requests of such unique tenant ideas, including a satellite dish to enable cheaper cable television, solar panels, etc., apparently the roof garden idea never took root to initiate any action.

A few days ago I came upon information about the AeroGarden by Aerogrow.  I read through the rave reviews and decided to purchase a couple of them to create an indoor vegetable garden.  As was my initial concern, the wattage used by the AeroGarden is similar to that of an average wattage light bulb and the lights are automatically controlled by the machine so as not to waste electricity.  Aerogrow claims it costs under $3.00 a month in electricity to use its AeroGarden system.  Since tomatoes in San Francisco most always run $3.99 per pound, and the cherry tomatoes even more at Trader Joes, it's well worth it. I love tomatoes and basil. Basil is even more expensive and tends to go to waste in a few days of sitting in the refrigerator. I also know I'll eat healthier foods if I have fresh lettuce on hand to make salads. 

I decided I needed an AeroGarden because I can grow my own cherry tomatoes, various lettuce, basil and herbs that would provide and endless amount of healthy easily accessible food at my fingertips.  If I want flowers, I can grow roses and lavender to infuse in honey that is one of the projects I plan of small promotional jars for my notary public business.

Because you can't combine growing some of the types of vegetables like the salad with the herbs or the flowers with the herbs, and tomatoes require a special system, I actually purchased two AeroGardens. Now I don't have to worry about insecticides, genetically modified and other dangers associated with crops.  I won't be using tap water, only purified water, to ensure my plants aren't polluted with chemicals.

This AeroGarden owner explains how many feel about their indoor garden that brings them endless happiness, freedom and satisfaction.

Now I know when there's a food shortage of vegetables I won't have to worry as long as I have seeds on hand and the electricity and water available to grow the plants.  People in the dead of winter can now have their own lovely fragrant garden anywhere in the world.  


I would have loved to have been a distributor for the AeroGarden but I'm afraid AeroGrow isn't using network marketing to sell their product.  As soon as I have my first crop in a few weeks I may also put up a video sharing my experience.  

www.AeroGrow.com for more information.

Funny Pet Missing Signs

I'll start out by writing that yesterday was extremely stressful.  The day began innocently enough with birds chirping, the sun crystal clear and the sky as blue as can be only to quickly degenerate into all kinds of unusual chaos. 

Today I needed something to lighten up my mood so here goes.

LOL, medicated dog missing. Link

What breed of cat is this?  Link

 

 Likes to sing "The Andy Griffith Show" - What?  Link

 This sign was posted on Seattle's "Tangletown" neighborhood. Reminds me of when I had a pet crawdad from Lake Tahoe that didn't last long in the tupperware home.  Link 

As I've continually stated in this blog, a majority of married men feel this way about their wives and probably visa versa.

 

This poor emu probably ran away because of the geeky name and haircut its owner gave it. Link

Unhappy chicken?   Link

 LOL, probably taken for someone's fly leg eyelashes I posted a few days ago. Link