Everyone who has an email account has received spam. Most of the time I just delete them, if any actually gets through the spam filter. But recently two emails came to my inbox, sent to my email on Middle Raged Punk, and they are hilarious.

From email: mr_randyjame2008@hotmail.com
ARE YOU DEAD OR ALIVE.
¡Tengo nueva dirección de correo!
Ahora puedes escribirme a:web_atmmastercardpayment2008@yahoo.com.co

HELLO,

DID YOU ASSIGN JANET DURA TO CLAIM YOUR FUNDS OF ($15.5M) AND SHE IS CLAIMING YOU ARE DEAD.

- ATM MASTER CARD PAYMENT

First, I don’t even have a Master Card. Second, there isn’t a bank called ATM Master Card Payment that I would put that much money. Not to mention that “Master Card” wouldn’t use a Hotmail account to find out info like that. I can’t believe that anyone would fall for this kind of phishing scam.

The second email is just pure gold. Spot the irony!

From email: danegbuna@gmail.com
FROM DAN EGBUNA
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA Aso Rock villa, Asokoro

District, Abuja

CONFIDENTIAL DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY PAYMENT

ATTENTION BENEFICIARY

Based on our investigation department, we wish to warn you against some Miscreants, Hoodlums and touts who go about scamming innocent people by claiming to be who they are not and thereby tarnishing the image of this wonderful country.

I am Lt General Dan Egbuna (Rtd), National Security Adviser to the new Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. I am delighted to inform you that the contract panel, which just concluded its sitting in Abuja just released your name amongst contractors to benefit from the Diplomatic Immunity Payment. This Panel was primarily delegated to investigate manipulated contract claims, contracts and over-invoiced payment as the effect has eaten deep into the economy of our dear country.

However, we wish to bring to your notice that your contract profile is still reflecting in our central computer as unpaid contractor while auditing was going on. Your contract file was forwarded to my office by the auditors as unclaimed fund, we wish to use this medium to inform you that for the time being Federal Government of Nigeria have stopped further payment through bank to bank transfer due to contractors numerous petitions to United Nations against Nigeria on wrong payment and diversion of contract funds to different accounts.

In this regards, we are going to send your contract part payment of 20Million USD. To you via our accredited shipping company through diplomatic cash delivery down to our door step and I have secured every needed document to cover the money while the diplomat will get it delivered to you Note: The money is coming on two security proof boxes. The boxes are sealed with synthetic nylon seal and padded with machine as metallic trunk boxes.

Please you don’t have to worry for anything, as the transaction is 100% risk free. The boxes are coming with a Diplomatic agent who will accompany the boxes to your house address. All you need to do now is to send to me, your full house address and your identity such as, international passport or drivers license and your mobile phone and telephone number, The Diplomatic Agent will travel with it. He will call you immediately he arrives to your country’s airport. I hope you understand me.

As soon as the above-mentioned details are received, your payment will be made to you via diplomatic courier delivery in accordance to World Bank, United Nation and IMF recommendations. A diplomat with international travel immunity will be contracted to deliver the fund to you Kindly get back to me today also with the requested information so that we can proceed on this matter as soon as possible.

1) Your full name.
2) Phone, fax and mobile #.
3) Company name, position and address.
4) Profession, age and marital status.
5) Copy of int’l passport, drivers license, or any valid ID card via e-mail attachment.

Bear in mind that the diplomat does not know the original contents of the boxes. What l declared to them as the contents is Sensitive Photographic Film Materials for security reasons/valuable material of your personal effect. I did not disclose it as money to them please. If they call you and ask you the contents please tell them the same thing Ok. Call me on my direct phone +234-1-6637394 or email and I will let you know how far I have gone with the arrangement. I will secure the Diplomatic Immunity Clearance Certificate (D.I.C.C), which will make him pass every custom checkpoint all over the world without any hitches.

Confirm the receipt of this message and send the requirements to me immediately because your boxes are scheduled to leave as soon as we hear from you.

Best Regards,
Lt General Dan Egbuna (Rtd).
National Security Adviser to the President
Federal Republic of Nigeria

A Nigerian scam artist opens the email by warning against Nigerian scam artists! That’s pretty damn funny to me.

Anyone have some good spam emails?

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, spam, nigera

October is such a great month! It’s the start of fall and cooler weather, plus my favorite holiday of all time, Halloween! But I’ve noticed something this year. Something is different. I don’t see much about Halloween around, and I don’t like it.

For instance, usually I get a couple of jammies and Halloween shirts for Baby Grrl to wear. I’ve found a couple of each, but the selection is very small, and it seems like the stores aren’t stocking back what has been sold. Target usually has a large selection of cool stuff, and while they have the largest I’ve seen in a department store, again their stock isn’t as large as usual. I’ve had to go to a “Halloween Superstore” to look for costumes for Baby Grrl. The one exception I’ve seen so far.

But it doesn’t even stop with products. Normally this time of year is great for people like me when it comes to horror movies and programming. AMC is known for it’s Monsterfest, showing great classics and modern favorites, but even that has changed. Instead of a month of great horror movies, it’s now down to just 8 days, with the name changed to Fearfest. Other movie channels also have toned down their selections, from showing movies just one night a week, to just the week leading up to Halloween.

I’ve noticed it other places, too. I don’t see advertisements for haunted houses yet. Where is the add for the Bricktown Haunted Warehouse? It starts this weekend, and has been a OKC Halloween staple for over 20 years. The Frontier City Halloween events start this weekend also.

My tinfoil-hat starts tingling when I try to figure out why. Is it the religious right who are trying to get Halloween out of the public eye? It’s long time been a target, what with the misinformation about devils, witches, and other “evil” myths. And many of them have influence in the most unlikely of places, it’s not much of a stretch for my overactive imagination to have them influence what items are placed in a store and what adds show… Ok best take off the tin-foil hat.

I’m just really disappointed, and hope this isn’t a trend. We love Halloween so much, we got married on that day. Seriously.

Time for another cool and smart girl crush of mine. My generation knows Danica McKellar for Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, but it wasn’t her acting that made her one of my heroes. It was her excelling in mathematics and writing two books about girls and math that got her there.

She graduated from UCLA, summa cum laude, with her Bachelors of Science in Mathematics, but the awesome part is that she co-authored a math proof (PDF), which is very rare for an undergrad. I won’t even pretend I know what they’re talking about in the paper. Way over my head. But thanks to that, she has an Erdős–Bacon number of 6:

A person’s Erdős–Bacon number is the sum of one’s Erdős number—which measures the “collaborative distance” in authoring mathematical papers between that individual and Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős—and one’s Bacon number—which represents the number of links, through roles in films, by which the individual is separated from American actor Kevin Bacon. The lower the number, the closer an individual is to Erdős and Bacon.

Wow, how geeky cool is that?

Her most recent mathematics involvement is her latest book, Kiss My Math. It was written for middle-school aged girls to help show them that math isn’t going to stop them from being anything they want to be. That math isn’t just for the stereotypical nerd, and that it’s important to learn, no matter what field they want to get into. She tackles pre-algebra, offering problems to work and help understanding how they can do it. It’s a follow up to her first book, Math Doesn’t Suck, which in an introduction to middle school math in general, and shows girls that they don’t have to hide their smarts; that they need to use them. An excerpt:

Let’s get a few things straight: Acne sucks. Mean people suck. Finding out that your boyfriend kissed another girl? That would totally suck. Too much homework, broken promises, detention, divorce, insecurities: suck, suck, suck, suck, suck.

But math is actually a good thing. Here are a few reasons why: Math builds confidence, keeps you from getting ripped off, makes you better at adjusting cookie recipes, understanding sports scores, budgeting and planning parties and vacations, interpreting how good a sale really is, and spending your allowance. It makes you feel smart when you walk in a room, prepares you for better-paying jobs, and helps you to think more logically.

Most of all, working on math sharpens your brain, actually making you smarter in all areas. Intelligence is real, it’s lasting, and no one can take it away from you. Ever.

And take it from me, nothing can take the place of the confidence that comes from developing your intelligence—not beauty, or fame, or anything else “superficial.”

That’s exactly what girls need to hear. When Baby Grrl gets old enough, I will definitely keep these books in mind. I want her to know that she doesn’t have to act dumb or dumb herself down for a boy or for anyone. I remember often doing that in class when I was young, because no one liked the smart kids. I wish I could go back in time and give myself a talking to, but I’ll have to live with trying to raise Baby Grrl, knowing what I would have liked to know back when I was a kid.

Anyway, for parents of girls to math geeks, there are plenty of people who are fans of Danica. I’ll be watching to see if she releases another math book!

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, danica mckellar, math

It’s that time of year again! The last Monday in September begins the annual American Library Association’s Banned Books Week:

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2007, marks BBW’s 26th anniversary (September 29 through October 6).

BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

We often hear about someone not being happy that their precious child might happen to see something that the parent doesn’t want them to see when they go to the library. PROTECT TEH CHILDREN!!! is very often the reason given for a book being challenged or taken off the shelves. (Sally Kern is noted for wanting to decide what we can and can’t read, for instance. Those evil gays…) Thankfully though, we have some kick ass librarians who don’t like being told what people can and can’t read.

So in honor of BBW, check out the list of 2006’s most challenged books, and read one you haven’t read yet. Or at least help spread the word, and if possible check out some of the BBW events! I do have to give a big SHAME ON YOU Oklahoma City Metro Libraries though. The only library listed as having any BBW Events is the Muskogee Public Library. (However, if any fellow Okies know of a OKC or other library that does have something going on, please correct me.)

Technorati tags: banned books week, censorship, american library association, freedom to read

G4 has us addicted to the show Ninja Warrior, which I’ve talked about before, so when they started showing Unbeatable Banzuke, we had to check it out.

Now, an example of a few of the different courses people compete on are Like a Pierrot, an obstacle course where competitors ride a unicycle, and Neko de Drive, an obstacle course involving a man transporting a woman on a wheelbarrow that looks like a cat. There’s a whole big list of different contests, and with those being just two examples, you can see why we tune in.

Anyway, that’s not the focus of this post…more of background info. This is about one specific course, dubbed “Strong Mama”.

It’s designed specifically for women, with special challenges. What makes it “for women”? It starts out generic enough, like the other courses, with some obstacles to maneuver around. But then it gets…well…”the ladies” grab a shopping cart and hold onto it while it goes down a very steep hill. Then they must walk across a very narrow beam with a purse in one hand and a very heavy shopping bag in another, while water is coming down to simulate rain. Then it’s time to hop onto a bike and peddle as fast as you can, since the bike has been altered to only travel inches at a time on a conveyor belt. (That part isn’t too bad though, since most people travel by bike around town.) After that, it’s back to the generic obstacles. But the sexist stereotypes don’t stop though! For the final test, they have to climb a large tower. A layered tower. That tower is named a “wedding cake”.

Let’s let that all sink in. The contest called Strong Mama uses sexist stereotypes like pushing a shopping cart and carrying a purse and groceries, only to have the final test and winner declared after she climbs on top of a giant wedding cake. Hello, Japan? Yeah, I just wanted you to know that your show Strong Mama is NOT COOL!

(I really wanted to point you to a video of it to show how bad it looks, but my Google-fu wasn’t strong. If anyone does find one, please give a shout out in the comments.)

Guess they must have gotten some complaints though, as the very next competition changed the shopping cart and changed the purse and groceries into weights. It still looked like there was a huge wedding cake, but no one made it past the other obstacles for us to find out.

When I saw the show I was just speechless. It was so terribly sexist I couldn’t even comprehend. I’m still a bit stunned, really. Although after I finished watching it the first time I did say that why didn’t they just make the contestants wear a pregnancy suit, carry an infant, and drag a toddler along while doing the course. All while barefoot of course. Unless that’s their follow up course, for after “the ladies” win and climb atop the wedding cake, hence showing they qualify to be a “strong mama”. Ugh…

Technorati tags: strong mama, unbeatable banzuke, japanese, sexist

On a previous Full of Fun Fridays! I talked about my girl crush on Mur Lafferty and that she wrote a superhero book called Playing For Keeps. I didn’t get into the details about what her book is about, but it relates to todays post.

It tells the story of Keepsie Branson, a bar owner in the shining metropolis of Seventh City: birthplace of super powers. Keepsie and her friends live among egotistical heroes and manipulative villains, and manage to fall directly in the middle as people with powers, but who just aren’t strong enough to make a difference. Or that’s what they’ve been told. As the city begins to melt down, it’s hard to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad.

For those of you who are fans of PFK, I’ve got the perfect book series for you. George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards series.

Into a world hungry for peace, comes a spaceship ferrying chaos…

An alien bomb is detonated above the planet, shedding an indiscriminate gene virus on an Earth barely recovered from the horrors of World War ll. The result: Wild Cards. ACES blessed with superhuman powers and JOKERS cursed with bizarre physical and mental disfigurements.

This is their story.

And so began a series of shared-world anthologies that would bring the metahuman into the real world - our world. Everything up until 1946 is how we remember it. After that watershed year, many things will have changed.

In addition, there are people like the Second Wave main characters in PFK. Deuces were infected by the Wild Card virus and gained a useless or trivial ability, like the power to levitate a penny, grow body hair at will, or the ability to turn into a puddle of water.

Everyone has their favorite Ace. Hubby likes Fortunato, a pimp with telepathic and telekinetic powers, derived from his use of tantric sex, while I’m partial to The Sleeper, who wakes up with a different power after every time he falls asleep. He never knows if he’ll wake up as an Ace, Deuce, or even a Joker. Both of us have a strong fondness for The Great and Powerful Turtle, the world’s strongest telekinetic.

It’s really hard to get into more specifics on the characters without giving away plot spoilers. Wiki and the above official site are chocked full of them, so if you go wandering around, be warned.

I *love* this series, if you can’t tell. Our house has the first 15 books on our shelves, and I’m in the process of getting 16 and 17. Yeah, there are a lot of books out already! But don’t let that discourage you from giving it a try. There are new books coming out, with no need to read the first 17. Published earlier this year, Inside Straight brings a new batch of Aces and Jokers. The trade is coming out in November, just in time before the next book, Busted Flush comes out in December.

But if you’re interested in the series, definitely try to get some of the earlier books. At least look at the graphic novel that was adapted from some of the anthologies, due out in collected form next year. Or if you can’t wait, track down the 6 issues of the comic mini-series.

If you’re a fan, or if I’ve created one, definitely let me know!

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, wild cards, superhero novels

Even though I’ve been a long time user of an iPod (my first had a click wheel, with a monochrome screen), I didn’t run out and get an iPhone. Oh, I was tempted, but there were a few reasons why I didn’t. One is just the basic rule of new gadgets; you never buy first generation stuff, no matter how cool it looks. Wait for a bit, and let them iron out the kinks and add new features that were missing the first time around. Plus the price usually comes down some as a side effect.

The big, major reason was the exclusivity of the iPhone with AT&T. It’s not that I don’t like their coverage or their pricing. It’s because they are evil. “Cooperating with the Bush administration with warrantless wiretapping, building a secret room for the NSA, and conducting major privacy violations” evil.

Last month though, a seed was planted. Joel Johnson over at BoingBoing made a compromise.

When I bought my first iPhone a year ago, I made a donation to the Electronic Frontier Foundation as a sort of sin tax. An indulgence for an indulgence. An attempt to counteract giving money to a company that has colluded illegally with the U.S. government to spy on its own citizens, has plans to try to filter the entire internet for copyright violations, and has generally shown itself to be an enemy to personal liberty and privacy.

…

I’m mentioning it as a challenge to other AT&T subscribers. If you can afford it, please consider making some sort of donation to the EFF. Even a one-time donation will help bolster an organization that has a long history of fighting for our rights online against attacks from profit-addled interests. By giving companies like AT&T our money we’re funding in part a fight against ourselves; a donation to the EFF tips the odds back towards even.

I kept thinking about that. Sure it would be hypocritical of me, on the one hand bashing AT&T but also using their service. But I kept coming back to it. T-Mobile is my current cell phone provider, but that doesn’t mean I can’t avoid AT&T entirely (or that they’re any less evil). All but one person among my friends & family use AT&T. Work cell phones are AT&T. My internet at home is Cox, but just like phones can, I’m sure they use the same lines, or buy bandwidth from AT&T. So I’d still be subject to wiretapping no matter what (it’s been said that all telcos but Quest participated in warrantless wiretapping anyway, and now that FISA passed and is law, it’s not even illegal now).

The last reason I haven’t got an iPhone yet may be lifted. Storage space. I currently have a 30GB iPod video, and use about 20GB currently. There’s a rumor that a 32GB iPhone will be out soon, possibly before Xmas. I’d then be able to have just one device in my purse instead of two. Plus the OH LOOK SHINY aspect of an iPhone.

If a 32GB version does come out soon…well, I may be throwing my morals out the door. I know, very disappointing. But to counter that, I will be making a monthly donation to EFF. They still have legal cases against both the NSA and AT&T, and I want them to win. I want them to make AT&T and all the other telcos change how they do business with the government with regards to wiretapping, and to make them protect our privacy. I don’t want to give up civil liberties for the illusion of privacy. We’ve had to do that enough over the past 8+ years.

Technorati tags: eff, iphone, att

Today, back in 1787, the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution, and to celebrate, September 17th is celebrated as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. Today will “commemorate the formation and signing on September 17, 1787, of the Constitution and recognize all who, by coming of age or by naturalization, have become citizens.” Very patriotic!

This year, the ACLU is launching a campaign called “I am a Constitution Voter” to bring the issues of civil liberties, freedoms, and rights that the Constitution guarantees us to the forefront of the Presidential race.

For the past eight years, Americans have watched the Bush administration take a virtual shredder to the Constitution; they’ve flouted the rule of the land, and we have to show that we won’t stand for it. It’s time give back, time for us to stand up and fight for the Constitution. The fundamental rights of Americans need to be a front-and-center issue in this election. Not flag pins, not lipstick and not pit bulls.

If you sign up on their site as a Constitution voter, they will send you a free bumper sticker! Click the picture below to get there.

Thanks to Peace Arena for the post and info!!!!

It’s no secret that I’m vehemently against anything that goes against my or anyone else’s civil liberties. It is a huge issue for me when it comes to politics. But I think we’ve got to be careful about promoting just the Constitution. There are people who interpret it as a way to promote some of the things that the ACLU is fighting against. Just take an interview with Justice Scalia back in April. For anyone who follows Supreme Court decisions, you know his name as being the most conservative judge on the court. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a decision he’s made that I agree with. But if I were to guess, he’d probably be fine with calling himself a “Constitution Voter”. Take a look at what he believes:

At 72, Justice Scalia is still a maverick, championing a philosophy known as “orginalism,” which means interpreting the Constitution based on what it originally meant to the people who ratified it over 200 years ago.

Scalia has no patience with so-called activist judges, who create rights not in the Constitution - like a right to abortion - by interpreting the Constitution as a “living document” that adapts to changing values.

Luckily we have Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who sees the Constitution differently:

To Ginsburg, the Constitution evolves and should reflect changes in society; that going back to what was meant originally when they wrote, for instance, “We the People,” makes little sense.

“Who were ‘We the People’ in 1787? You would not be among ‘We the People.’ African Americans would not be among the people,” Ginsburg tells Stahl.

Indeed.

Now, I do agree with the ACLU, and think it’s great that they are attempting to get important issues at the front of the election. I just think we need to be careful about throwing around the term “Constitution Voter” without explaining what we’re talking about.

Technorati tags: constitution day, aclu, civil liberties

I’ve got another post brewing on the game Spore itself, but today brings you a creationist site dedicated to declaring Spore to be against God and pro-evolution:

Yesterday I found out about a new game called Spore when my son asked me to buy it for him. It looked innocent enough at first and has “E for Everyone” ESRB rating. But don’t be mislead, apparently “everyone” means everyone they want to teach evolution to.

This entire game is propaganda aimed directly at our children to teach them evolution instead of creationism, or “intelligent design”

…

I decided that Electronic Arts needs to hear from concerned people such as myself that this sort of game is not acceptable, and created this blog to find support and share information and progress with anyone who feels the same as I do.

Wait! I can hear you saying. How is that site supposed to fit in with your Full of Fun Fridays? That doesn’t sound like fun at all! My answer is to say just keep reading…

Over at Game Politics, they were suspicious about the site, and said it may be a hoax. Turns out they were right! From the most recent entry yesterday, the author starts out with a long diatribe on her religious views:

I think part of the problem that is going on here is that the bulk of you are ignorant as to the word of God. I don’t have these beliefs just because I want to, I have them because they are the beliefs that I was raised in. I understand that everyone didn’t have the chance to be taught these things, and learn about God as my family did so if I am going to have this kind of attention I should use it to help teach others about the words of God that helped to shape me into the woman I am today.

Then she begins quoting Genesis:

But the Bible teaches us that God was not done with man. For we were His creation and He then spoke to Noah in Genesis 8:21-27 after the flood.
“21. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never gonna give you up. 22. “Never gonna let you down.” 23.”Never gonna run around and desert you.” 24. “Never gonna make you cry.” 25. “Never gonna say goodbye.” 26. “Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.” 27.”Never truly believe anything you read on the Internet. There will always be cases of Poe’s Law.”

Oh. Your. God. It was all a Rickroll!!!! That was genius. And so many people fell for it (with a lot who just didn’t get the joke). Note that the Wiki has already been updated, too. I’m still laughing!

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, antispore, rickroll, poes law

I’ve talked about Fallout 3 a few times here, and each time has been a full-on geek fest. This time will include a rant. Just so you know.

Now, Australia has a very long history of banning and/or censoring controversial media, which has an impact on video games like Postal and Grand Theft Auto. Usually though, the game is edited only for the version that is released in Australia, while the rest of the world enjoys the full game as intended. Changes were required by the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification to give Fallout 3 a MA15+ rating and avoid banning entirely, and here’s what the report stated:

The game contains the option to take a variety of “chems” using a device which is connected to the character’s arm.

…

Corresponding with the list of various “chems” are small visual representation of the drugs, these include syringes, tablets, pill bottles, a crack-type pipe and blister packs. In the Board’s view these realistic visual representations of drugs and their delivery method bring the “science-fiction” drugs in line with “real-world” drugs.

One other reason cited was the use of the real-world drug name “Morphine”. Bethesda explains what they did in response:

Edge has been told by Bethesda vice president of PR and marketing Peter Hines that there will be no differences between the version that releases in Australia and the versions that will release in other territories, including Europe and the US.

Calling the idea of an Australia-specific version of the game a “misconception,” Hines told us, “We want to make sure folks understand that the Australian version of Fallout 3 is identical to both the UK and North American versions in every way, on every platform.”

He continued, “An issue was raised concerning references to real world, proscribed drugs in the game, and we subsequently removed those references and replaced them with fictional names. To avoid confusion among people in different territories, we decided to make those substitutions in all versions of the game, in all territories.”

Hines stated, “I didn’t want people continuing to assume the version in Australia was some altered version when it’s not.” Finally, he explained that, “There are no references to real world drugs in any version of Fallout 3.”

What really irks me, besides the obvious censorship, is that Bethesda is trying to spin this. I mean, from both a financial and business standpoint, I can totally understand wanting to keep just one version of the game for everyone. Less cost. But don’t say that it’s to “avoid confusion”, when gamers are already used to different versions of games depending on what country you live in. Dealing with different laws and regulations for ratings around the world has to be frustrating, but don’t decide for me that the censorship decided in a different country is what you will give me, just because it’s more convenient for you.

Technorati tags: fallout 3, censorship, australia