Archive for February, 2005
Jesus stole my money
The 419 scammers are gettin’ religion.
“Friends, the lord sayeth for you to give me your hearts, your souls, and your wallets! Praise the Lord!”
<419 Scam Email>
Calvary greetings
From: orphanstore@zipmail.com.br
To: XXXXX
Date: Today 03:39:55Dearest in Christ,
Calvary greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.I am Deacon Richard Potter a member of Redeem Ministry, basically a prayer and deliverance ministry.
During a Prayer and fasting session in my Minstry, I asked our Lord Jesus Christ to give me the oppotunity to redeem my life
and purify what remains of my wealth.God deliverly revealed to me to Invest in His Kingdom through you and your Ministry/organisation and also give to the needies,orphanages,widows,and charites.
You should immediately contact me via my email address: orphanstore@sify.com so that i can go ahead to send you/your organisation funds according to he will of God so that you can distribute to the needys and hence further the works of the lord.
Requiem for the good doctor
Hunter S. Thompson died yesterday. The life he so cherished was vanquished, by his own hand. Hunter took a shotgun to his head and thus ended his life.
I’ve been sitting here at the keyboard for half an hour trying to come up with something that could befit a journalistic titan, such as Doctor Gonzo. He changed writing and journalism with his caustic style and abrasive whit. He redefined the way journalists would cover the story. For Hunter, covering a story, meant being covered in the story. We live in such a different age now. We are taught by the media that you can’t have heros anymore. Hero’s get consumed by greed, and advertisements, and eventually we are given a new hero to worship. Hunter, was….is my hero. When I read ‘The Sun Also Rises’ by Earnest Hemingway made me want to write. But when I read ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ at the ripe age of 18, it made me realize something quite different, I realized I could write.
I’m so stupid I’m going to sue you
How does this man get up in the morning?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/16/penis_enlargement_suit
It goes like this:
1. Man gets SPAM advertising bigger penis.
2. Man removes brain, forgets location of said brain.
3. Man purchases penis enlargement pills.
4. Man wonders why small penis is still small.
5. Man, still without brain, sues spammer.I’d like to say, only in America, but idiocy this good is universal.
Burn in Hell: Tecmo Inc.
Everyone’s second favorite reformed hacker named Kevin writes about Temco Inc. for Security Focus:
In a nutshell, Temco is taking a page out of the RIAA battle plan of alienating users against your product. In this case though, Temco is not going after users who have pirated copies of their games, but users who legitimately bought their game.
See, the users who bought copies of various Temco games, would post hacks on ninjahacker.net. Now, these hacks won’t allow you to have a free game, but just to skin or add new functionality to an existing game.
Now, I hear what you are saying. Geoffrey, users like this are one of the reasons Doom exploded in popularity. You’re right. But Geoffrey, shouldn’t a company nurture communities like this? Give them free stuff, access to source code, publicity??
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
Some people say blogs (like this one) are choking the real internet with their flurry of posts. Conversely, blogs are blamed for also rotting away and dieing a slow death. Indeed, when you lose the urge to write, bloggers tend to let their creation die a slow death online.
But one thing for sure, blogs are starting to become an a bothersome issue for another reason entirely. Employee’s, are starting to lift up the secret curtain and show the world the real life behind the brand. Companies spend millions on advertisings and ‘branding’ excercises, only to have it slip away because of an errant post from a low-level worker. Sometimes these posts are funny, sometimes they are biting, but regardless the public is seeing a side of the company no marketing chief ever intended.
Some good examples of this are the Delta Airlines Stewardess who had a blog talking about her life at 35,000 feet. She did well to disguise her identity, but slipped once and was found out by her employer. Or the developer who lost her job because she mentioned the site which she re-designed was previosly ‘pokey’. The most absurb though, is the contractor who got canned simply because he took a picture of a pallet-load of Mac’s being delivered to the Microsoft campus.
