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Spring begins this month and as you "March" forward, take this great online information with you. It starts with a warning about phishing scams related to Whitney Houston; sadly, these scams occur after many celebrity news events. You'll find a fun contrast in our featured videos--one's high tech, the other low tech. Also in this issue, we explain what happens to a Facebook user's account after death, tell you how to tweet a photo, and share five websites to put some spring in your step.
We think you'll find the information contained in this newsletter to be a valuable tool for enhancing your Internet experience. As always, we appreciate your feedback and suggestions. Please send your thoughts, comments or questions to newsletter@greenmountainaccess.net.
- The Green
Mountain Access Team
Aaron, Adam, Amanda, Eric, Kris,
Phil, Richard, Seth, Scott, and Tom
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Join the fun Play the WCVT March Mania Challenge for Your Chance to Win Prizes
 This free contest invites you to pick the winners of the NCAA Men’s Basketball championship tournament games and then see how your picks measure up against other basketball fans in our community. All participants have the chance to win some great prizes – no basketball experience necessary!
To register to play, visit http://www.wcvt.com/marchmania. We will send you an email once brackets become available for selection. Once you have made your picks, the fun begins! We’ll keep you updated how your basketball knowledge (or luck) measures up against others’ in our community. Be sure to sign up by March 16! Prizes include the following:
- Grand Prize: Kindle Fire
- Second Prize: Apple iPod Shuffle
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Third Prize: Richmond Market - $40 Gift Certificate
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Fourth Prize: The Warren Store - $30 Gift Certificate
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Fifth Prize: The Paisley Hippo Sandwich Shop - $25 Gift Certificate
Beware Of Online Scams
We sometimes hear from our customers asking whether certain websites are legitimate or giving us a heads up to a recent scam e-mail. This is a new one that we haven’t seen before. A customer received a phone call from "Online PC Care" scam. Here are the specifics as detailed in the Microsoft Knowledge base at
Question:
“What information could "online pc care" an India cold call extract from my computer? They said they were Microsoft, I allowed them remotely into my computer, to fix a so called problem. I did not allow them to finish and disconnected when I contacted MSN to verify this procedure. I am receiving numerous threat calls from this person from India.”
You can see responses to the question in the following forum:
click this link.
Win a Nice Vermont Gift Basket Featuring Olivia's Croutons and Other Local Products
 Each month, we raffle off a prize from a local business, so be sure to enter your name every month for your chance to win. Congratulations to Bob Davis, last month’s winner of a $100 gift card to Dakin Farm. This month, we have another great prize – a Vermont Gift Basket featuring a supply of Croutons, courtesy of Olivia’s Croutons, and other Vermont goodies. Visit www.oliviascroutons.com and learn more about this great company located in New Haven and how they’ve grown through the years. The drawing will take place on March 16. To be entered into the raffle, simply click this link and leave your name and contact information.
WCVT in the Community
We are hard at work preparing for several upcoming community events.
WCVT to Hold Blood Drive on March 20th
 Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom will hold a Red Cross blood drive from 12:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at our main business office located on Route 100 in Waitsfield (across from Waitsfield Elementary School). For more information, please call 496-3391 or contact the Red Cross at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or online at www.redcrossblood.org.
Mad River Valley Community Easter Egg Hunt, March 31
On Saturday, March 31, we will hold our annual Mad River Valley Community Easter Egg Hunt. The egg hunt will start promptly at 10:00 am. Refreshments will be available beginning at 9:30 a.m. The event will be held at the Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom business office located on Route 100. The egg hunt is open to children of all ages and is free of charge. For more information, please contact Lorraine Keener at 496-3391 or via e-mail at lkeener@wcvt.com.
If you have a community service project in the making and are looking for help please don’t hesitate to contact Alan Jones, at 496-8328 or via e-mail ajones@wcvt.com to see if we can lend a hand.
And The Winner Of One Free Month Of High-Speed Internet Service Is
Congratulations Guthrie Smith for being this month’s winner of one-free month of high-speed Internet service. Guthrie’s name was chosen at random from customers who completed our monthly Green Mountain Access technical support surveys.
Each month, one name is selected at random from customers who completed our online technical support or new user surveys. Survey requests are sent out via e-mail to customers after calling technical support, or establishing new service. So be sure to fill out those surveys!
Two to View — A Couple Of Amazing Videos You Don't Want To Miss
A Day Made of Glass
click here for video
 Corning gives us a peek into the remarkable future of glass technology. A family accesses news, messages, videos, and more--all by touching next-generation glass panels located throughout their home on the bathroom mirror, refrigerator, kitchen counter, and stovetop.
Chain Reaction of Ordinary Objects
click here for video
Look ma, no hands! This video is called "The Page Turner" because a carefully arranged sequence of movements by a series of items, from coffee cup to tape roll, causes the newspaper page to turn without being touched by human hands. You have to see it to believe it.
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Scam Warning Whitney Houston's Death Triggers Scams
Hoping to make a quick buck, online crooks wasted no time capitalizing on the death of Whitney Houston. The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to beware of new scams that exploit the public's fascination with the singer. Twitter and Facebook have been bombarded with responses to Houston's death, creating a perfect target for cybercriminals to access personal information from unknowing victims.
One popular Twitter scam disguises itself under "RIP Whitney Houston." Clicking on the link in the rigged Twitter post takes people to a blog dedicated to Houston's career, but the blog automatically redirects them to a webpage offering different Whitney Houston wallpapers. Downloading wallpaper then triggers yet another offer to download Whitney Houston ringtones. No matter what you do, the devious webpage eventually takes you to a survey site that asks for private information such as your cell phone number.
On Facebook, a wall post with the subject "I cried watching this video. RIP Whitney Houston" is followed by a link to what promises to be a YouTube video. It is, in actuality, a link that leads to several other websites until you reach a similar survey site.
To protect yourself from Whitney Houston phishing scams--and other ones tied to news events that are sure to come--follow these simple rules:
- Don't click on the links. A mouse click on a link can be an easy trace for the cybercriminal to track down the private information stored in your system.
- Never download anything that looks suspicious even if it comes from a friend on Facebook or Twitter. This will help keep your personal information safe.
- Make sure your antivirus software is frequently updated and scan your system accordingly.
In short, remain vigilant whenever you're online and use basic commonsense.
Short Tutorial Uploading and Sharing Images on Twitter
A picture is worth a thousand words, which makes tweeting photos such a great idea. Fortunately, it's easy to upload and share images using your Twitter account. Just follow the steps and tips below.
1. Go to your homepage on http://twitter.com .
2. When you click inside the Tweet box on your homepage or on the New Tweet button, you will see two small icons in the lower left corner -- one for adding your location (a compass) and one for uploading an image (a camera). Click on the camera icon.
3. It will prompt you to locate the image you want to upload on your computer.
4. After you attach the image to your Tweet, your Tweet box will contain the thumbnail in the lower left corner and the camera icon highlighted in blue.
5. If you selected the wrong image or no longer wish to share that image, click the "x" control in the thumbnail or next to the filename to delete the current image.
6. Enter any text you'd like and click on the Tweet button.
7. Once you've successfully tweeted, click on the Tweet to view the image in the display pane.
Tips:
- You're welcome to upload any image that is 3MB or smaller.
- Twitter will scale the image for you to fit into the display pane on the right side of your Twitter.com timeline.
- Twitter accepts gif, .jpeg, and .png files.
This Month's FAQ What Happens to a Facebook User's Account After Death?
Question: For many of us, the messages and photos posted on Facebook are like a scrapbook of our lives. What happens to a Facebook user’s account after death?
Answer: That’s a great question. There’s increasing discussion these days about social media as it relates to end-of-life issues. Here’s what it says on Facebook:
"It is our policy to memorialize all deceased users' accounts on the site. When an account is memorialized, only confirmed friends can see the profile (timeline) or locate it in Search. The profile (timeline) will also no longer appear in the Suggestions section of the Home page. Friends and family can leave posts in remembrance.
In order to protect the privacy of the deceased user, we cannot provide login information for the account to anyone. However, once an account has been memorialized, it is completely secure and cannot be accessed or altered by anyone.
Verified immediate family members may request the removal of a loved one’s account from the site. To actually delete a profile page, however, a family member or executor must submit proof of their relationship with the deceased before getting further instructions."
Some people refer to memorializing a profile as a Facebook funeral. It allows people to save and share their memories of the deceased.
On a related topic, there’s now a Facebook app called http://ifidie.net/ if I die. It gives people the opportunity to create a video or text message to be played after their demise, as verified by at least three trustees the person selects from his or her Facebook list. |
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4th Annual Vermont Chili Festival March 10th - Middlebury
Named one of the Top 10 Winter Events for the past three years by The Vermont Chamber of Commerce, this event includes activities for all ages and award-winning chili, located all on the streets of historic downtown Middlebury! The downtown will be overflowing with chili from restaurants and caterers from around the state. The fun starts at 1:30PM, so come enjoy the Chili Contest, taking place on the closed-off streets of downtown Middlebury, recently added beverage tent, face painting, street performers, live music and more! An estimated three-thousand people attended last year’s festival, with even more expected to turn out this year –
Don’t miss it!
Tickets are $3 for adults and $2 for kids. For more information, visit http://www.bettermiddleburypartnership.org.
Pond Skimming - March 24 Bolton Valley
Skiers and riders assemble on the slope right in front of the Base Lodge to try their luck at crossing the man-made pond--fueled only by gravity, technique, and the desire to stay dry. The mountain's most popular spring event, Pond Skimming is always the biggest party of the season. This year's event will have a "Superheros and Comics" theme, so put on your Batman or Garfield costume and come try to skim our pond. The entry fee is just $5 per skimmer. Everyone must also have a lift ticket or season pass to enter. Skimmers may only use skis or boards to attempt to skim the pond, sorry no sleds, jack jumpers or anything else that is not a pair of skis or snowboard. For more information and a complete schedule, visit http://www.boltonvalley.com/things-to-do/events-calendar/pond-skimming-75
Eleventh Annual Maple Open House Weekend Tenth March 24 - 25
The Open House Weekend is a celebration of the maple syrup season and an opportunity for the public to visit one or more “sugarhouses” throughout the state to learn about Vermont’s first agricultural crop of the year. Activities during this free event may vary at each sugarhouse. You will have the opportunity to watch maple syrup being made (weather permitting) and to sample pure Vermont maple syrup and other maple products.
Vermont is the largest U.S. producer of maple syrup. There are approximately 2000 maple producers in Vermont. Information about all of the participating maple syrup producers including which of the three days they will be open and directions to their sugarhouses can be found by visiting http://vermontmaple.org/open-house-weekend.php.
Annual Rite of Spring Pond Skimming March 31 - Sugarbush
The oldest continually running pond skimming event in the country! Limited to the first 100 competitors!! Registration: 9-11 AM at the Gate House Lodge. Admission: $20. For more information, visit www.sugarbush.com. |
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See Yourself in Vintage Style
http://yearbookyourself.com
How would you look in the hairstyles and clothing from past decades? It's fun to find out on this site, which lets you take your photo and place it in vintage yearbook shots from the '50s, '60s, '70s and beyond. Just picture it--you with Farrah hair, or a groovy headband, or Buddy Holly glasses. Create hysterical portraits and then share them on Facebook.
Can't Recall What's Recalled?
http://saferproducts.gov
It seems like every time you turn around, there's another product recall in the news. By visiting this site, you can easily search for recalls by product category including dishwashers, appliances, space heaters, children's products, and toys. You can also file a report on an unsafe product that you've discovered.
Best Recipes, Best Chefs
http://cookeatshare.com
They have to be three of the best verbs around--cook, eat, and share. Billed as the world's largest kitchen, cookeatshare.com is boiling over with culinary content. Find the world's highest rated recipes, share recipes with family and friends, connect with the world's best chefs and subscribe to their recipes, and organize and manage your own recipes.
Grow Your Garden Knowledge
http://www.garden.org
March is a great month to plan your spring planting. At this National Gardening Association site, you can dig up all kinds of fresh ideas for your landscape. It features expert advice on flowers, food gardens, lawns and ground covers, trees and shrubs, and much more. You'll also find helpful tools like how-to videos, a pest control library, and plant care guides. |
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