Coming from a modest background, the boy wanted to live lavishly with a fine haircut and brand-name clothes, and he found he could achieve that by committing fraud from names and credit card information purchased on international hacking forums.

“His knowledge of the codes and payment gateways is as good as that of a professional hacker,” said a senior crime branch official who has been interrogating this teenager picked up from Mulund in Mumbai, involved in an online payment scam on eBay. Three other persons who were arrested in Ahmedabad for their involvement in the scam are in police custody.

Now, when I was a kid, I learned that education was the road to making money. If I was a good student and got through college, I could get a good job, live comfortably, maybe achieve something good for the world. There’s a problem when college is seen as a “useless” alternative for this. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great if students take the initiative and learn how to teach themselves new skills — but not when it comes to using their knowledge for fraud and theft.

Image via Wikipedia

So it is quite an exciting Fathers Day weekend here at the Shimel house.  On Friday my oldest son Landon, 8, had braces put on his top teeth. I know that 8 is early for braces, but evidently today they do this as a "Phase 1", so that hopefully he won't need them as long later on.  Seeing my little boy come out of the room with braces was quite a sight.  Unlike the trauma that kids had about braces when I was younger, he thought it was awesome.  The picture to the left are not his braces.  Landon's are black and gold, Steeler braces. In 6 weeks they will change them to Yankee blue and white.  Braces have certainly come a long way since I was a kid.  But my son Landon has come a long way too.  Looking at him with his braces and talking to the office staff I realized that the little, fuzzy red headed baby we brought home from the hospital almost 9 years ago now has grown into quite a boy. Where is the little toddler that I would toss a sponge ball to underhand and tell him to use two hands to catch? Could this kid with the catchers mitt catching everything I throw at him and firing it back to me be that baby? 

Saturday is a day filled with both boys. I am taking Landon and Bradley to breakfast and than off to Baseball City to practice our hitting and pitching. Then Bradley has a birthday party he is invited to and Landon and I will go swimming.

Sunday Landon has a travel baseball team game at 10am.  Landon was selected for the team because of the great season he had in Little League and is now in tournaments for the next few weeks. Than we are all going to visit my Uncle and Aunt for Fathers Day at the house near the water with a pool.

I could not think of a better way to spend my Fathers Day weekend. My mother-in-law always used to say that she was the richest woman in the world because of the treasure that were her children.  When I was younger I laughed but would have taken the cash.  As I have grown older and have had a chance to watch my boys grow up and have come to understand what it truly is to be a Father, I know that she was right.  There is nothing like the love of a child and watching, helping and sharing in their adventure that is life.

To all of you celebrating Fathers Day this year whether as a Dad with your own kids or with your own Dad, congratulations and savor every minute of it. Happy Fathers Day!