Will Be Posting Soon!

Due to illness and family issues, I haven’t had the time to write.  I will be creating a new post very soon!!!

Nuclear Power – Is It Really Worth It?

While the world strives to find sources of clean energy, spent fuel rods from the world’s nuclear power plants continue to build up in enormous quantities. Nuclear power plants have the ability to produce large quantities of electricity from a small amount of fuel, but on the other hand, the fuel that is used to create the nuclear fission reactions to heat water creating the steam that is used to generate electricity is very radioactive which poses many serious, possibly catastrophic risks.

The most common fuel used in nuclear power plants is Uranium 235 and Plutonium 239. Spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants are stored, since there is pretty much nothing else to do with them because they are so dangerous. Studies suggest that these spent fuel rods can remain radioactive anywhere from 10,000 to 1,000,000 years. Currently the United States has approximately 71,000 metric tons of radioactive spent fuel rods; the largest inventory of spent fuel rods in the world, and the largest concentration of radioactivity on the planet.

We reap the benefits of easily obtained energy by means of nuclear power, but hold our own fate in our hands by storing the dangerous waste that there is no way to get rid of. Do the governments of the world simply hold on to the hope that we will “someday” come up with the technology to deal with the problem later? It would seem that this is the case, because new nuclear power plants pop up all the time. The United States has more than 100 nuclear power plants, each producing waste that just piles up endlessly.

Another danger that needs to be considered is terrorism. What would have happened if the terrorists that flew the planes into the World Trade Centers in New York or the Pentagon targeted the largest spent fuel pool in the United States? The truth is that nobody knows what would happen in that case. This is a scary scenario especially when you consider that the spent fuel pools across the United States are generally holding up to four times as much spent fuel than they are designed to store.

The United States Holds The Largest Concentration Of Radioactive Spent Fuel Rods On The Planet.

So, the question remains. “Nuclear Power – Is it really worth it?” Clearly, the dangers of the spent fuel are very long-lasting, and can essentially poison the Earth to where nothing could survive. Some may criticize that statement, but eventually, the amount of spent fuel around the world will build up so much that we will be forced to make a decision regarding energy, and where or how to get it.

The views of nuclear power vary greatly, and my post isn’t even posing the discussion of plant safety, but the spent fuel that is a product of these plants. Even if every nuclear power plant in the world never had a chance of meltdown, the fuel will be here long after the nuclear plants are gone.

Clean energy is something that we have to push for, but not at the expense of our planet. Wind Farms, Solar Power, and Hydro Electric are just a few substitutes, but without the desire to push for an alternative it will never come to be. The United States should lead the way to finding an alternative clean energy and share it with the world. If scientists, engineers, and like-minded individuals all work together to come up with something new there will be a cleaner future for us all.

More Troubles for Baltimore Police

It seems that there is a serious problem within the Baltimore Police Departments. Do some officers think that they are above the law because they have a badge and a gun, or is it a coincidence that there has been so many police officers being arrested lately?

January 2010 – Lieutenant James Cifala, age 47, of Edgewater, Maryland was arrested and charged with federal child pornography crimes. He was arrested at the Anne Arundel County Police Department by FBI agents, and was a 27 year veteran of the department. This is just one of the many officers that have been busted since the beginning of last year.

April 2010 – A Baltimore Police officer was arrested after pulling a gun on the employees at the Corinthian Lounge and Restaurant on Windsor Mill Road, in Baltimore.

August 2010 – An unnamed Baltimore County officer is arrested after losing his gun during a fight at Carlos O’Charlie’s Sports Bar on Eastern Avenue. The officer got into an argument with a man who was his girlfriend’s former boyfriend, and both went outside to duke it out. During the fight, the officer’s gun fell out of his holster and an unknown bystander took the gun and ran.

September 2010 – Officer Everett Walker, 29, a 6-year veteran, was arrested after a bar fight in the parking lot of Club Reality in Southwest Baltimore. It’s funny that his boss, Major Anthony Brown, of the Baltimore Police Department witnessed the arrest! Officer Walker was already suspended without pay stemming from his arrest last year during an alcohol-induced altercation in a police parking lot.

November 2010 – Officer Juan Carter, 36, who was already suspended from the Prince George’s County Police Department for re-selling guns that he seized from criminals, was arrested again for stashing a 10-inch bayonet in his SUV. Officer Carter was charged with carrying a concealed dangerous weapon. First this guy was selling the guns that he took from criminals to anyone who had the cash, which put the guns back on the street, then he gets busted for the concealed weapon.  He’s a real upstanding citizen!

February 2011 – 17 Baltimore Police officers were arrested in an extortion scheme that generated thousands of dollars. The owners of Majestic Auto Repair Shot in Rosedale, Hernan Alexis Moreno Mejia, 30, and his brother Edwin Javier Mejia, 27, were paying the 17 police officers $300 for each vehicle that they had towed to their shop instead of taking the vehicles to the shops that were contracted by the police department.  The Criminal Complaint Affidavit is 42 pages long and gives the details of the elaborate scheme set up by Majestic Auto Repair and the 17 Baltimore Police officers.  Here is the Criminal Complaint  in PDF format for all to see!  Read it and weep as the officers in this case did.  All the officers listed below have been awarded the “Bill’s Piece of the Web Officer Of Shame” award!

The officers arrested were: Eddy Arias, 39, Eric Ivan Ayala Olivera, 35, Rodney Cintron, 31, Jhonn S. Corona, 32, Michael Lee Cross, 28, Jerry Edward Diggs Jr., 24, Rafael Concepcion Feliciano Jr., 30, Jaime Luis Lugo Rivera, 35, Kelvin Quade Manrich, 41, Luis Nunez, 33, Samuel Ocasio, 35, David Reeping, 41, Jermaine Rice, 28, Leonel Rodriguez Torres, 31, Marcos Fernando Urena, 33, Osvaldo Valentine, 38, and Henry Yambo, age 28. 

March 2011 – Baltimore Police Detective Kevin Rowland, 44, is charged with sexual abuse of a minor, a fourth degree sexual offense, and second degree assault. Detective Rowland is a 10-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, and he is currently suspended with pay. Wow, he abuses a child and still gets a paycheck.

March 2011 – The most recent cop busted is the Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police Union President himself! Officer Cole Weston is accused of assaulting a Sedan driver in Parkville. The driver, Hosseim Taranpisheh, reported that Weston punched him in the ear, then pulled his gun on him late Wednesday night threatening to shoot him. Sean Manigault left the sedan to go into his house to retrieve money to pay the driver when his neighbor, Officer Weston, came out and started yelling at the two of them calling them drug dealers. When police arrived, it was apparent that Officer Weston was under the influence of alcohol, and out of control. The case is being investigated by the State’s Attorney’s Office, and charges have been filed by the sedan driver.  As the FOP President, he should know better!  Cole Weston’s actions show that he is more a criminal than a police officer, and he should be treated as such.  It looks like the Baltimore County FOP will be looking for a new president, so send them your nominations today, before they select one for themselves!

UPDATE: March 31, 2011

The Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office charged Cole Weston on Tuesday March 29, 2011 with second-degree assault and reckless endangerment stemming from the attack on Hosseim Taranpisheh, the driver of the cab described above.  It is obvious that Mr. Weston shouldn’t be in a position to do any more damage to the Baltimore Police Department or the Fraternal Order of Police union.  The police union should make him their mascot instead of their president, as long as he doesn’t have a gun!

UPDATE: March 31, 2011

It just keeps getting better! A Baltimore Police Commander becomes a Major Pain in the ass for the police department and the mayor! Just days after publishing this entry, the same Baltimore Police Major that witnessed Officer Everett Walker being arrested this past September, now finds himself in hot water! Major Anthony Brown has had his police powers as a Baltimore Police Commander suspended while the department looks into an incident where Maj. Brown gave a friend a gun owned by Brown to keep at a restaurant. The gun in question has since been stolen from the restaurant in Fells Point, leaving Maj. Brown in deep doo doo. Maj. Brown is in charge of the Baltimore Police Special Operations Unit, which includes SWAT and the department’s fleet of helicopters. No charges have been filed as of yet, but if this is how our police commanders are setting example for officers under them, he needs to be relieved of his command permanently. Perhaps, there is another job for him that doesn’t involve even handling a gun, uh, let me see. . .Ah, “crossing guard!”

UPDATE: April 3, 2011

I didn’t mean for this post to be an ongoing log, but it seems that cops just keep getting into trouble!  At approximately 2am on April 3, 2011, Baltimore Police arrested Officer Casey Lechter, 23, of the Harford County Police Department.  Officer Lechter was charged with assault on a police officer, failure to obey a lawful order, and resisting arrest after he punched a female police officer in the head as she tried to handcuff his friend Kary Williams.  Officer Lechter has only been a police officer since August, and was still in his probationary period so it isn’t difficult to speculate on whether he will remain a cop or not.  From new cops to commanders, they are all getting their taste of criminal lifestyle, and I hope that other police officers take notice that they are NOT ABOVE THE LAW.

There have been a large number of police getting into some serious trouble lately! These are most of the cases that made the spotlight, so you know right off bat that there more cases that didn’t make the news, and that there are a lot more bad apples in the bunch. Not all of the police officers charged with crimes are highlighted in this post, but the ones that were quoted the most frequently in the news are above.  As I stated in my previous post about the Baltimore County Flasher Cop, there are a lot of great cops out there too! It just happens to be that all the cops above make the entire Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore County Police Department look bad.

I think that something has to be done either in the recruiting of new police officers or in training to keep the public safe from those potentially dangerous criminals with badges. I know a few Baltimore County Police Officers personally, and I would trust them with my life any day of the week! The problem is that when you hear of so many “bad” cops out there, it really casts a bad light on the “good” cops that are honest and work hard every day to keep the public safe. One thing to keep in mind is that there are many, many more good cops than bad, so please treat them with the respect that they have earned, because being a cop is one of the most dangerous jobs out there!

 

My Accident – Then and Now

Election Day 2004 will never be forgotten, as it is burned into the memories of all my family and friends, and is what haunts many nightmares. It was a Presidential Election, so I felt more compelled to vote than ever, since George W. Bush handled the September 11 terrorist attacks in a way that demonstrated to the world that the United States would bomb the hell out of anyone who threatened our security.

I left work early that fateful day to cast my vote for George Bush. Leaving the polls with a friend to meet up with other coworkers at a bar would be the biggest mistake of my life, and would have lifelong consequences. Why am I blogging about this now? I received so many questions about my accident, and a lot of them were from my readers of my blogs. I’ve mentioned being ran over (literally) by a semi in a few blog posts, and made references to the accident a few times that seemed to spark a bit of interest. I also wanted to extend gratitude to the doctors that saved my life that night.

After a few hours of drinking and keeping track of the election counts, I decided to walk home; alone. Most of the details are being recalled from what I was told and what I have read in the police report and the several hundred pages of medical records that I obtained for the legal pursuit of the negligent driver of that Werner Enterprises semi. Some of the details gradually made their way to the surface of my memory, but like a slide show of incoherent photos.

While crossing Shipway, which is a residential street next to a shopping center, I must have tripped and fell down. I remember hearing a loud sound of grinding gears or something and a bright light just before impact. As I rolled under the semi I didn’t feel any pain or anything, but I knew that I was in trouble. The next thing I remember was hearing someone yelling at the driver of the semi, who just stopped a half a block up the street, letting him know that he had ran someone over. The driver fled, and was never caught, but that’s where the legal part of this whole thing gets crazy.

The incident took just seconds, but the ramifications would take many years. The impact of the truck broke my neck with fractures starting at C2 (commonly known as the ‘hangman’s vertebrae) and ending at C4. The worst injuries were both shoulders and most of my ribs being broken, the bottom two vertebrae (L4 and L5) in my lumbar spine were fractured, and I received a Traumatic Brain Injury when my head hit the bumper of the truck.

I really have to thank the first responders (police and fire/rescue) for their quick response, and the doctors from Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and Johns Hopkins Hospital for saving my life. Since I was paralyzed on the left side of my body, the neck surgeries were first. Doctors Ira Garonzik and Jean-Paul Wolinski, pictured below, performed both anterior and posterior fusions of my cervical spine from C2 to T1, which stabilized my spine and gave feeling back to the left side of my body. Any type of surgery to the cervical spine, especially if C2 is involved is a really touchy task, and I’m glad It was Drs. Garonzik and Wolinski that was on call that night, because they are two of the best in the field of neurosurgery.

Dr. Ira Garonzik (left) was Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, and Dr. Jean-Paul Wolinski was Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. John Wilckens, (pictured below) who is yet another “top doc” performed the scapular fixation on my left shoulder that saved me from a lot of pain and suffering! Dr. Wilckens is an Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Johns Hopkins, and is currently the Team Physician of the Naval Academy’s Athletic Programs in Annapolis, MD, and the Orthopedic Surgeon for the Baltimore Orioles.

Dr. John Wilckens is Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and is Team Physician to the US Naval Academy Athletic Program and Orthopedic Surgeon for the Baltimore Orioles.

Witnesses reported that I was run over by a Werner Enterprises truck, and one just happened to be parked a couple of blocks away. Detectives notified Werner of the incident, and quickly got a response from the company stating that one of their trucks that may have been involved in the accident. As police investigators followed up on the information, Werner Enterprises claimed they brought the truck in for inspection and found no evidence of damage, and police investigators never got to see the referenced truck. Did Werner repair the truck and hide crucial evidence? To make matters worse, the main witness that identified the Werner Enterprises truck was found dead of an apparent drug overdose, which paved the way for Werner Enterprises lawyers to have the case dismissed. Could the GPS records help prove the location of the Werner truck? Well, the system that Werner uses could in fact pinpoint the location within a half of a block, but the system could be turned off by the driver whenever he or she decides to do so. Upon examination, the GPS records had no trucks in the area; not even the truck that was found parked a couple of blocks away!

Well, the whole experience has been a blessing in disguise anyway. Although I am disabled, and very limited in lifting, bending over, and range of motion for my neck and shoulder, I have been able to fall back on my experience in graphic design, photography, and printing to start working for myself. Pro-PhotoShots is in its third year, and is expanding to include state of the art printing services. My son’s mother always compliments me that I do pretty good work for a guy that had a traumatic brain injury, and my customers have had nothing but good things to say, so things can only get better from here!

 

Supermoon

Last night’s full moon was a spectacular sight, and admired by skywatchers around the world as it lit the night sky. The largest and brightest full moon in 18 years, dubbed “Supermoon” because it is at its closest point as it orbits the Earth. Just at 221,565 miles from Earth, the Supermoon appeared to be 14% larger and 30% brighter than the typical full moon observed by us on Earth.

©2008-2011 William E. Sipe

Throughout history, the Supermoon has spawned fears of natural disasters, paranormal phenomenon, and the legends that Hollywood brought into mainstream America. Although none of the above are based on fact, the fears of doom date back more than a thousand years. It was once believed that if one stared at the full moon long enough it would cause a person to go crazy, and this is where the word “lunatic” comes from – “Luna” being the Latin word for moon.

“Super Perigee Moon” as it is actually called will not seem to be this close to the Earth again until 2029, so I hope you got to at least see it!

Hit Web Design: Trouble in Paradise–Federal Tax Lien = Closed for Business!

In August 2008, Pro-PhotoShots hired Heritage Web Solutions to build and host the website that is now being hosted by Fibernet. Eight months later, www.Pro-PhotoShots.com actually went online, and as of May 2010 Heritage Web Solutions has taken $3408.00 of our money for overcharged poor quality upgrades that would have been less than half the cost at virtually any other web design company.

On March 8, 2011, Co-Owner of Heritage Internet Solutions Mark E. Strong announced that he was no longer going to do business and decided to shut down. This is his story to save face actually. Pro-PhotoShots has learned that it wasn’t Mark Strong’s decision at all. In fact, Heritage Internet Technologies (aka Hit Web Design, aka Heritage Web Design, aka Heritage Web Solutions; the list of DBA names goes on and on) decided back in 2006 not to pay any federal taxes! Shame on those idiots for being so stupid, everyone knows that the government will catch up to you eventually. The truth of the matter is that the Federal Government shut down Heritage Internet Technologies on March 8, 2011 under a federal tax lien. Pro-PhotoShots has obtained a copy of this federal tax lien from an undisclosed source, and linked below for download for all to see. So, Mark Strong, read it and come back and tell us the truth. Why did you screw so many people? Heritage Internet Technologies currently is $8,077,387.52 behind in their federal taxes. Here is the Federal Tax Lien.

In May 2010, Pro-PhotoShots paid Hit Web Design $480 for a 2-year hosting plan that included 6 months free. Not only did I lose my hosting, design time, and everything else that I had wrapped up in my online business presence, I got totally screwed just like all of Hit Internet Technologies customers.

Unbeknownst to the customers of this lame tax evading company, half of Hit Web Design customers that paid for hosting, were actually hosted secretly by Fibernet, as Hit Web Design was a reseller of Fibernet hosting.  When Hit Web Design was shut down, the majority of customers they were actually hosting themselves were all left with nothing but their domain names with no websites.  I happened to be one of the “lucky” ones that was secretly being hosted by Fibernet, so I haven’t lost my website yet.  When I was tipped off about Hit Web Design, I made a call to Fibernet to find out how long they would honor the hosting plan that I had paid Hit Web Design for, but they didn’t have any information that I didn’t already have.  Fibernet was working in overdrive to keep up with the 1000+ websites that were dumped into their laps the day before!    Hit Web Design hasn’t contacted any of their customers before or after they were shut down to let them know anything!  So much for the great customer service that was promised to everyone when the contracts were signed!

As I researched a little more, I found some interesting facts. The Utah Better Business Bureau had the following complaints:

The BBB processed 972 complaints in the past 36 months. Of the total of 972 complaints closed in the past 36 months, 584 were just in the past 12 months alone. The breakdown is as follows:

839 were Resolved, 23 were Unresolved, 11 were Administratively Closed, 91 could not be pursued, 8 were given no response at all from HIT; totally ignored.

Hit Internet Technologies Address is:  1460 Moon River Drive, Provo, UT 84604

Other names that this company went by (DBA) are Heritage Web Design, The Heritage Group, LLC, Zipper Web, Heritage Web Solutions, Yellow Page Partners, Chamber Partners, and Hit Web Design.

Heritage Web Solutions changed their name to Hit Web Design to try to get away from all the negative complaints online and from the BBB. An effort to change their horrible image by creating new names when the truth pours out never helped hide their record of ripping people off.

Take a look at the federal tax lien, and you will agree that the owners of this company all need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and thrown in prison.

Take a look at the Federal Tax Lien HERE in PDF format.

UPDATE:  March 12, 2011

It seems Hit Web Design is starting a new scam!  They have already changed their name to ISO Webworks.  The company ISO Webworks is registered to Kevin Morrill, the former CTO of Hit Web Design.  If any of the former employees of Hit Web Design that happened to be one of the many that didn’t receive their paychecks for the past month read this, contact ISO Webworks and jump on their butts!  Please fee free to call them, their Phone number is (866) 598-4347, but they will deny that they are just a clone of HIT, and the same people that ran HIT now runs ISO Webworks.  Just look at their website ISO Webworks it looks exactly the same as the Hit Web Design website all the way down to the portfolio.

Need more evidence? Here it is: A former designer for Hit Web Design calls ISO Webworks posing as a potential customer. After a brief discussion about a future website and mentioning the price quoted, he is transferred to Tanner Wolsey, who is a former VP of Hit Web Design! BUSTED!!! So, you have two former VPs of HIT working together (Kevin Morrill and Tanner Wolsey) running the same scam. Watch this video HERE and see for yourself. These sneaky bast^rds are at it again, and need to be locked up for scamming thousands of people. I hope they get their own “screw” when they get to prison.

Please feel free to share your story with us, so we can help to spread the truth about Hit Web Design, Heritage Internet Technologies, and ISO Webworks.  Sharing your experience in dealing with HIT will also let readers who’ve been ripped off that they’re not alone, and don’t hold back.  At this point, voicing the truth is the best that most of us can do.

Be WARNED, Hit Web Design, Heritage Web Solutions, Heritage Internet Technologies, The Heritage Group, LLC, Zipper Web, Heritage Web Design, Yellow Page Partners, Chamber Partners are now ISO Webworks.  They are all the same company, but hide under different names so as to keep the scam going.

NOTE:  If you were a Hit Web Design customer, and recently paid them for any product or service and did not get what you paid for, I would recommend that you call your credit card company and file a “chargeback.”  It would be perfectly legal and expected, and that is one of the reasons for chargebacks.  You would get your money back from the credit card company promptly and without question or ramification.

UPDATE:  March 27, 2011

The creator of the YouTube video mentioned above with Tanner Wolsey taking a call placed to ISO Webworks has made a new video showing that ISO Webworks is now screening their calls.  It is pretty compelling and you should check it out HERE is the link.

Morning Joe

Are there any coffee lovers out there? Here at the Sipe house, we love our morning coffee, and that will probably never change, unless for some reason coffee beans become a thing of the past! I know what you’re thinking… Blogging about coffee, hmm, must not have anything else to blog about huh? Not quite! Coffee is and has been treasured, coveted drink around the world for a thousand years, and the selections available are as numerous today as there are flavors of bubble gum.

For the past several years I’ve been getting our coffee from Gevalia Kaffe, where I belong to a couple of their gourmet coffee clubs. Gevalia currently offers four different coffee clubs to choose from, and if that’s not good enough, they also offer gourmet teas from around the world. Coffee fit for a king, right? Well, actually, yes. In fact, Gevalia Kaffe still serves as coffee purveyor to the Royal Court of Sweden, and has held that position for the past 150 years!

When I joined Gevalia’s Seasonal Flavors coffee club a while back, I wanted to experiment with a few new flavors. The German Chocolate Cake was our favorite, and makes a terrific cappuccino! The Seasonal Flavors club offers a new flavor for each of the four seasons: Winter – German Chocolate Cake, Spring – Pecan Torte, Summer – Raspberry Danish, and Fall – Pumpkin Spice.

When my mother visits, she knows that she will have a great cup of coffee or cappuccino and my son Jaden will run around the house like a crazy person!!! 

Gevalia coffees come in 8oz. packages ranging from $6.65 to $9.95 per pack, and arrive on a schedule you set up, whether it is every four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, etc. Gevalia offers more than 40 different flavors of their exceptional coffees and teas, so I’m sure that there is one that you will love more than the rest! If you are interested in the best coffee in the world, and would like to try a risk-free trial membership that you can simply cancel at any time just click here: http://gevalia.popularmedia.net/click/share/021bd5be3675a855af5fce3b8ee3dd40 and you will receive a free coffee maker with your introductory shipment just for giving them a try!  Make sure you tell them that Bill sent you!