The Further Adventures of Capt. Eddie

Playing with the Scammers

July 19, 2019July 20, 2019 - by Ed Perrone - Leave a Comment

If you know me at all, you know that I like messing with the minds of scammers and spammers (well, and other people, too). If you don’t know me yet, you’ll need to check out my “Snotty Phone Meets the Telemarketers” video series (Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3). That will give you an idea of the sort of thing I like to do.

Recently, though, it’s email scammers I’ve been playing with, rather than telemarketers. Perhaps you know the ones I mean: They send you an email telling you that your accounts have been hacked, …

Random Thoughts

Three Mile Island: Some Anecdotes — and a Question — on the 40th Anniversary

March 28, 2019March 28, 2019 - by Ed Perrone - Leave a Comment

March 28th will always hold a special place in my life. It is the date of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. This year — March 28, 2019 — is the 40th anniversary of the accident.

It holds a special place for me because I was there. I was a resident of Middletown, Pennsylvania, where the plant is located, so I felt all of the emotions that you feel when you don’t know if you’re going to live or die. And I was a reporter for a local magazine, who was thereby able to get “inside access” to everything that …

Free Money with Bitcoin Faucets

February 2, 2019June 19, 2019 - by Ed Perrone - Leave a Comment

Yes, it really is true. You can get money for nothing.

Well, for almost nothing. You generally have to perform some task: click a button, view an ad, visit a website, complete a survey. Sometimes it’s an enjoyable task, like playing an online game. Often it requires just a few seconds every hour or so.

The amount of money you get is tiny — generally fractions of a cent at a time — although there are ways you can increase your take, like betting the free money that you make or referring other people to the site. And if you …

Lightning Strikes Bitcoin

January 21, 2019February 4, 2019 - by Ed Perrone - Leave a Comment

I have been following Bitcoin for a number of years now — since it was below $1,000, which is ancient history as far as Bitcoin is concerned. I haven’t “invested” in any Bitcoin, because I don’t feel as though Bitcoin is an investment at all — unless, of course, you think a lottery ticket is also an “investment.” (I do own a little Bitcoin, however, which is fodder for another post…)

But Bitcoin, to me, is an interesting medium of exchange which opens up a lot of possibilities. And the really exciting part of this is not Bitcoin at …

Quotations from Captain Eddie

September 30, 2018July 21, 2019 - by Ed Perrone - Leave a Comment

Check out some of Captain Eddie’s words of wisdom. Chairman Mao had his little red book, Captain Eddie has a blog page. Much easier and cheaper to maintain….

Fun at the Farmacia (Life in Italy)

September 20, 2018September 21, 2018 - by Ed Perrone - 6 Comments.

You may or may not know that in 2012 I had a minor heart attack, caused by a blocked coronary artery. My cardiologist cleared the artery and inserted a stent, and I’ve been in good shape ever since. But he also put me on some daily medication: three different prescription drugs, plus a baby aspirin, every day.

As we were planning our move to Italy, I had to give some consideration to making sure I had enough of this medication to get by until I could get into the Italian health care system and have a doctor here take over …

Adventures at the Anagrafe (Life in Italy)

September 12, 2018September 15, 2018 - by Ed Perrone - Leave a Comment

Voice of the Narrator (who sounds remarkably like William “Bill” Conrad): “Last time, you remember, our hero was waiting for the local police to arrive at his apartment to verify that he actually lived there. They needed to do this because he had applied for residency in his new town of La Maddalena, and this police check was part of the process.

“Just after the closing theme and the running of the closing credits for that episode, the police finally did show up, asked a few questions, filled out a form, and left. At this point, he anticipated that the …