Identity theft with a twist

It sounds like something out of a nightmare: "Girl finds dead mother hawking cure-all on Facebook." Helen Breimer died 9 months ago of cancer and her Facebook account was hacked to promote a "miracle cure-all" colon cleanser. The account has since been shut down but this is just one example of many of how commonplace identity theft is becoming.

The main point that I got out of this article was that this was just one case of many. Nothing particularly different or important happened in this case but it makes for a good story.

On the contrary dear readers, something important did happen. Shelby Breimer found her deceased mother's profile active and touting the importance of this "miracle" drug. The company, Teloxys Technologies Ltd, has yet to apologize and did not remove the content on its own and Facebook hasn't returned any of Shelby's calls.

The biggest question, for me anyway, would be how to seek justice. A person's privacy has been violated here and no one seems to be willing to do anything about it. How well does this reflect on Facebook and why do none of the news stories seem to have picked up on this?

Sustainable cooking - an oxymoron?

The Brighter Planet has just launched a contest à la Julie-Julia Project to "Master the Art of Sustainable Cooking." I'm both intrigued and skeptical.

It's a great contest idea both for raising awareness of carbon footprint reduction/conservation and for challenging people to think more about what they eat. I'm pleased to see that they've launched the contest right at the beginning of the fall season when food is still plentiful from farmer's markets and relatively easy to get locally. The types of foods that are readily available are also low-effort foods (you don't have to do too much to prepare them).

What I'm really wondering is if people would be willing to stick with the challenge during the winter months when local food isn't as easy to get and when people are craving higher fat foods that require more preparation and more ingredients.

All right, I'll bite. For the month of October, I'm going to try to follow all of the tips listed in the contest, paying particular attention to getting foods from local sources.

Wish me luck.