Are We There Yet? Week 23

Last week, my email was about chance encounters and not ignoring things happening around you.  While I am an optimistic person who looks for the good in all encounters, I also need to be careful to avoid those trying to take advantage of my better instincts.  Earlier this year, I found this message in my junk mail.  (As an aside, someone should write a book about the messages we all receive in our junk mail.  Very entertaining.)

Dear Beneficiary,

I am Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury under the 

U.S.Department of the Treasury. You can get more details about me here; 

http://www.treasury.gov/about/Pages/Secretary.aspx At the recently 

concluded meeting with the World Bank and the United Nations, an 

agreement was reached between both parties for us to settle all 

outstanding payments accrued to individuals/corporations with respect to 

local and overseas contract payment, debt re-scheduling and outstanding 

compensation payment. Fortunately, you have been selected alongside a few other beneficiaries to receive your own payment of $8,500,000 (Eight Million, Five Hundred 

Thousand United States Dollars only).

We have been notified that you are yet to receive your fund valued at 

$8.5million. This your long awaited funds will now be transferred to 

your nominated bank account.   You are advised to kindly reply to this   

email with the below details enclosed to help us process your payment;

Now, I know this guy has access to a ton of cash but this is not one of the chance encounters that I want to pursue.  While this offer is obviously fake, there are a lot of more sophisticated offers and information on the internet seeking to get our personal information or influence the way that we think.  Stay optimistic but remain vigilant.

This week’s selections are below:

VIDEO

Narcos 

Chronicles the rise of the cocaine trade in Colombia and the gripping real-life stories of drug kingpins of the late '80s. Also detailed are the actions taken by law enforcement as they battle in the war on drugs, targeting notorious and powerful figures that include drug lord Pablo Escobar. As efforts are made to control cocaine, one of the world's most valuable commodities, the many entities involved -- legal, political, police, military and civilian -- find themselves in conflict.

BOOKS

Agency by William Gibson
 The follow-up to 2014’s The Peripheral time-travels between a version of our world in which Hillary Clinton beat Trump and Brexit never happened, and a futuristic London. Conspiracies and counterfactuals proliferate in a typically dazzling speculation on tech, power and the world’s shadowy forces from the sci-fi visionary.