I’m working on an update to the CVSD.com site, giving it a new look and more capabilities on my end. It’s not yet complete, but if you want to take a look, see www.CarmelValley92130.com. When I’m finished in a few weeks, I’ll switch over the www.CVSD.com address to the new site.

I received this information from a resident about a device that steals credit card information attached to a local gas pump. I assume the device is gone now, and I don’t have any first-hand knowledge (but I have contacted the police.) Please don’t avoid this particular station because of this warning — similar devices could be at any station, ATM or retail store. Just watch out for unusual or mis-matching card readers, and check your statements regularly for suspicious activity:

The Shell gas station on Valley Center Drive (right off the 56 and Carmel Creek Road) had a device installed on at least one of the gas pumps which steals credit card information. If you use that gas station, you should check your most recent statement and also check newer charges on-line (website information to do so is found in your credit card statement) and look for charges you did not make (they will be out of the area or even out of state). If you find charges you did not make, call the credit card 800 number immediately on your statement to dispute the charges. The credit card issuer will also need to cancel your credit card and reissue it, as the thieves use the card until they max out your available credit.

Time Magazine has a good article called, “Was the Alarm over Swine Flu Justified?”. As the World Health Organization (WHO) prepares to declare this a “pandemic”, we should remember this from the article:

…it’s important to understand that pandemic does not necessarily equal apocalypse. A pandemic occurs when a new flu virus emerges and starts spreading easily from person to person, and then from country to country… A pandemic doesn’t mean that the new virus is unusually deadly, only that it spreads easily…

So, when the WHO says, “pandemic”, they really mean the disease has spread worldwide, not that it’s been a global killer. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be on alert, but given Flu Experts are Encouraged by the Strains Mildness, perhaps we don’t need to panic just yet.

Today is the 10th anniversary of www.CVSD.com! Yes, ten years ago today (April 1, 1998), I first registered www.CVSD.com as a web site. The site was originally created to advertise the Summer Serenades Concerts, and slowly grew to contain more community information. You can actually visit the Internet Archive to see what the site looked like back in October 1998 (10/30/1998 www.CVSD.com).