You must whip it. Whip it real good.

Many thanks to the folk at Worth1000.com.

Scam, scam and more scam!

Scam with eggs, fried scam.... uh, spam.

Really though, what's on the brain is "scam" rather than Scientifically Produced Animal Matter.

Every one of us has, at some time or another, been approached via email by a Nigerian prince / politician's wife/ Lagos cabinet member who is in "dire need of your help, dear friend!!" to shuttle several million dollars out of the country and into our personal bank account. Phew. Nothin' smells quite like a 419 scam (so named because of the Nigerian law pertaining to how it's not allowed.).

All that to say... I have highly entertained by the turn of events over the past few years that has led to people working to waste scammers' time by stringing them along to waste their time, often with hilarious results.

There are several websites dedicated to "scam baiting," as well as the satisfying practice of virtually flash-mobbing the fake bank websites scammers use and bringing them down. I realize this is something that could result in some jail time, were it being done to legal regular-joe websites, but the fact that people are getting together to crash websites used to commit crimes... it warms the old heart a bit. It's like some sort of vigilante justice, and it's poetic, in a way. Many countries do little to stop internet scams, and it's nice to know someone is paying attention, and pissed off.

Artists against 419 and Scam-o-rama are intersting sites to bumble around in for awhile. If you're feeling particularly ruthless, you can browse through the galleries on 419 Eater.
Those people are crazy pissed at scammers. They've compiled hundreds of photos they've convinced the scammers to send them in the process of pretending to be a rich little old lady who's hesitant to send money to someone she's never seen...and who inexplicably requests that the scammer be holding a sign that says something as classy as "Ben Dover" or "Phil MacCrackin." Or something much, much less classy.

As entertaining as wasting scammers' time can be, I'm not sure when it comes to the hundreds of photos of people balancing fish on their heads, holding signs that declare various potentially embarassing things, etc. Some of them are rather hilarious, but sometimes it gets to the point where it feels as though it's more about humiliating someone than stopping a potential crime. I don't know if that makes any sense. Maybe I'm overly sensitive, or being too "righteous" about it all. It's just that these people have no idea they're being humiliated. They carefully hand lettered the sign that says "Ima peta file" and put on a nice outfit, stood in front of an ugly backdrop, took their picture, and sent it to someone in a far off country.

I guess the part I need to remember is that they sent the picture, hoping they could lie well enough to convince that person to fall for their scam, sign over their nest egg, and potentially ruin their life.

Annnnd.... BAM! You thought you were safe!

Thank you Cuteoverload, thank you.

Tomorrow we will spend the evening rocking and shredding and rocking some more, as we will be packing up our Guitar Hero and taking it over to see friends who also own it, and then dueling with them in a rad fashion. Because A: we are dorks and B: it is so darn much addictive, stupid fun. For pete's sake--in order to activate your rock bonus points mid-song, you must whip the guitar heavenward in that ageless metal salute. Like so:

Disclaimer: by posting this picture, the author of this blog does not endorse or advocate Van Halen or its music. Shredding in the privacy of one's own home is much different than the above "I just rocked my way out of prison" type of look. And Van Halen makes the author want to hide under the bed and listen to Belle and Sebastian and Sufjan Stevens the rest of the day.

Jung-jung!

That would be the sound of the beginning of Law and Order, rather than, you know...Carl Jung-jung. I've been hearing more of that sound lately, as the Boy has developed a man-crush on Vincent D'Onofrio from watching Law and Order CI. The other day we were hanging out on the couch watching an episode, and realized that they were following it up with another. The boy was gleeful. When it was announced that there would be yet another episode following this one, the Boy clapped his hands like an excited fourth grader and exclaimed, "I LOVE this day!"

Har!

The crocheting is going...well, I suppose. My right hand feels like the hand of an old, old woman, though. I need some kind of special-ed big soft grip I can put on the crochet hook so I don't cramp my hand after a while. I've found a couple patterns I'm happy with too, which is nice, since I generally think of crocheting involving those lacy old lady circles. The two I like are simple, geometric, and clean as crocheting goes. None of that frou-frou "set glamour shots of your grandkids on me" doily crap.

When I have made enough of these, I plan to take over the world.
Or attach them all together to make a blanket.

Sew What?

Incidentally, I haven't yet made anything of consequence on the rocking sewing machine because of that annoying need for fabric to make things out of. I did make some quick curtains out of some...uh, other curtains, and I sewed an experimental fat little robot who turned out looking floppy and dejected.

Cheer up, fuzzbot!

Xanga-roo

I started a Xanga blog in order to comment on the paternal unit's blog. We don't see eye to eye on everything, but I'm glad he's writing and becoming involved in an (albeit small) online community.
I don't expect to be writing much over there at all, but I do like the ability to be able to easily post a currently reading/listening/watching link with a little picture. It's something I'd like Blogger to do. I'm always interested in people's recommendations. And it forces me to be interesting.

Oh No. My Head A Splode.

I have just had multiple aneurysms and head explodings while looking at this page of extreme and intense cuteness. Seriously. Prepare yourselves. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Oo! Don't forget to look at the cuteness categories--the links on the upper left side.

Oh, and happy belated Christmas and a Jolly New Year to everyone who celebrates that sort of thing, since it's my thing too. I now have a rockingly awesome sewing machine (no snickering!) and I will be making fun things and hopefully will post a picture or two.