Clever Spam

Sometimes it takes nothing but pure cynicism and an eye for grammatical errors to tell what is Spam. Especially when craigslist replies mean someone might be contacting me for a job…

from H & F FABRICS <patricksnell2008@live.com>
reply-to patricksnell2008@live.com,
[...]

I have been directed to bring to you the offer of work online from Home/Temporarily and get paid weekly. We are glad to offer you for a job position at our company, H & F FABRICS. We need someone to work for the company as a Representative/Book keeper in the USA/CANADA. This is in view of our not having an office presently in the USA/CANADA. You don’t need to have an Office and this certainly wont disturb any form of work you have going at the moment. Our integrated yarn and fabric manufacturing operations use state-of-the-art textile equipment from the world’s leading suppliers. Order processing, production monitoring and process flow are seamlessly integrated through a company-wide computer network.

* The average monthly income is about 1500.00 USD.

Your tasks are:

1. Receive payment from Customers

2. Cash Payment at your Bank

3. Deduct 10% which will be your percentage/pay on Payment processed

4. Forward balance after deduction of percentage/pay to any of the

offices Payment is to be forwarded either by Money Gramm or Western Union Money Transfer) or any Local Money transfers take barely hours, so it will give us a possibility to get customer’s payment almost immediately. For example you’ve got 3000.00 USD, you take your income: $300.00 USD Send to us: 2700.00 USD,First month you will have 5-10 transactions on 3000.00-4000.00 USD so you may calculate your income.For example 10 transactions on 3500.00 USD gives you $6300.00 USD Plus your basic monthly salary is 1500.00 USD Total: 3000.00 USD per month After establishing a close co-operation with us you’ll be able to operate with larger orders and you’ll be able to earn more.Our payments will be issued out in your name and you can have them cashed in your bank or other Cashing Services.Deduct your weekly salary and forward the balance to the company via western union money transfer or money gramme money transfer .We understand it is an unusual and incredible job position. This job takes only 3-7 hours per week. You’ll have a lot of free time doing another job, you’ll get good income and regular job.But this job is very challenging and you should understand it. We are looking only for the worker who satisfies our requirements and will be an earnest assistant. We are glad to offer this job position to you. If you feel that you are a serious and earnest worker and you want to work for H & F FABRICS, kindly email us and let us know about what your intrest is.

Kindly send all reply to patricksnell2008@live.com

Best Regards

Patrick snell

Also, Patrick Snell is CNN correspondent, not the head of a fictitious scamming clothing producer. Also, see the ScamAlert posting. While the warning is a little hysterical, it is right–if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Inspirational Quote:

But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn’t anger me.-Mark Twain Letter to Mrs. F. G. Whitmore, 2/7/1907

Overheating labtop mini-hack

ok, so I know it’s because Amelia (my Macbook Pro)’s fan is not so effective right now. And I will take her to an Apple Store when I get home to CA. However, until then, I didn’t like how her screen froze and her fan whirred and she got hotter and hotter. I was scared for my Amelia. So I thought. And thought. And it was 6am and I needed to finished my course registration so I stopped thinking, and I got my medical icepack out of the freezer, put it on my bed, put a tarry cloth on top of it and put Amelia–battery squarely on the icepack–on top.

At that point she was nearly uncomfortable to touch she was so hot, but as I was adding and moving classes I could feel her body cooling dramatically. And now she is good!

Inspirational Quote:

“The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions.” - Mike Krzyzewski

A Cool Way to Prep for Finals

One of my friends recently blogged about limiting his “infoporn” intake which I thought was an interesting idea. I have limited my access to novels before (during the crunch weeks of college admissions) but never thought to limit my “trashy news” input. Here is his interesting post called Going on an Information Diet.

Inspirational Quote:

If someone wants a sheep, then that means that he exists.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Ok, this looks pretty hilarious. Somehow these two goofballs (ok, they’re actually intense actors but they usually play goofballs) have managed to take some of the most contentious issues of today–Guantanamo bay, racial profiling, racism, police and governmental bias, airport security, citizen’s rights, and include them in a real way in a movie about two college students going to Amsterdam to get high.
However the only pickle in the pudding came when I tried to view an alternate trailer–because the first one was hilarious and I wanted more free funnies. When I clicked on it I got the following message:

You little pervert, are you over 17?

The MPAA has concluded that this film contains some adult content (theme, language, violence, nudity, sex and drug use are among the contents considered). In order to show you these materials, we must verify that you are aged 17 years or older.

To ensure verification, please provide information as it is listed on your current Driver’s License or State-issued ID.

First Name:
Last Name:
Date of Birth:
Zip Code:

By clicking the “submit” button, I agree that I am at least 17 years of age, I authorize you to confirm my age by checking the accuracy of the information I have submitted against the government-issued identification, and I agree to the Terms of Use government this website.

To the information
First: “Heck”
Last: “No”
DOB: “121280″
Zipcode: “94303″

I received the message “Sorry, we can not verify your age/identity at this time…”

Now, back when Congress was trying to legislate morality with the Children’s Defense Act, the Children’s Internet Protection Act and the Child Online Protection Act. From Reno v ACLU (1997) we get this quote:

“Commercial pornographic sites that charge their users for access have assigned them passwords as a method of age verification. The record does not contain any evidence concerning the reliability of these technologies. Even if passwords are effective for commercial purveyors of indecent material, the District Court found that an adult password requirement would impose significant burdens on noncommercial sites, both because they would discourage users from accessing their sites and because the cost of creating and [*857] maintaining such screening systems would be “beyond their reach.” (Page 15)

So the Supreme Court of the United States has already said age verification is not a viable form of CYA for purveyors of censored material. I believe this technology may still “impose significant burdens on noncommercial sites” but Harold and Kumar has money to spend. I believe because this is censorship imposed by the MPAA, it is unamerican but not illegal. However the greater issue for met is the statement “I authorize you to confirm my age by checking the accuracy of the information I have submitted against the government-issued identification” because that means a third party, for-profit business with no legal mandate my personally identifying information–apparently a form of my US ID.

My information is verified by Integrity Services who say they get their information:

“Using publicly available data that is digitized, indexed, formatted, and enhanced with other commercial data sources, Integrity uses the Aristotle COSMOS™ global database to power its age and id verification solutions. We provide full coverage for the United States and coverage for 157 nations abroad.” (FAQ: What are your data sources?)

There is a database with the first, last, birthday and current zipcode availible which is easily accessible to some random company? Because here’s the thing: I live a lot of places. My name has changed in the past few years. How often is this information updated? What right have they to keep my information? Maybe this is all naive, but I am so not ok having people like this knowing where I am, when I was born etc–talk about identity theft.

So let’s review.

1. Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay looks hilarious and politically stimulating.
2. Someone on their publicity team has decided to let the MPAA determine who visits parts of their sites.
3. The MPAA is forcing the implementation of a technology specifically mentioned by the Supreme Court as unreasonably restrictive (though since the case is over a decade old, maybe they figure the spirit is as outdated as the technology mentioned–bad news for the US legal system).
4. A for-profit company has a database of the personal identifying information of all US citizens and citizens of 157 other countries in a database so that our age can be verified so we can watch a movie with cussing and nudity.

Riiiiiight.

Inspirational Quote:

“Nothing will work unless you do.” - Maya Angelou

Lazarus Long on Specialization

This post is based on my Inspirational Quote from my critique of the MPAA:

a human being should be able to
change a diaper, (* peninsula school, red cross baby sitters course)
plan an invasion, (* last november, thanksgiving trip to washington dc)
butcher a hog, (! yet)
conn a ship, (* peninsula school, our cabin at loon lake with an 18 foot lazer)
design a building, (! yet)
write a sonnet, (* harker 10th grade, english class. I also wrote a poem based on “the passionate shepard” to his love” called the “pomeranian to his love”)
balance accounts, (* carnegie mellon university, I use quicken to manage my spending and income)
build a wall, (* peninsula school, I built forts and dams)
set a bone, (* peninsula school, red cross training for disasters)
comfort the dying, (! yet for humans, several birds and mice)
take orders, (* pacific martial arts, finally I learned to do this in my karate classes)
give orders, (*harker wrestling team,
cooperate, (* peninsula school, the whole time we were taught to respect each other and work in teams)
act alone, (* peninsula school, we were also taught to act individually and for causes we thought were right)
solve equations, (* harker school, AP Calc and such)
analyze new problems, (* peninsula school, we fundraised for camping trips and dealt with problems as they came up)
pitch manure, (* peninsula school, dog manure as part of my chores)
program a computer, (*! harker school, I can program on a computer however I think mr heinlein was talking about something more elementary like building an os which I need more work on my computer skills to do)
cook a tasty meal, (* harker wrestling team, when you’re losing weight you need to cook your own good food to control the contents)
fight efficiently, (* pacific martial arts && harker wrestling, we know about self-defense)
die gallantly. (! yet, I am pretty sure I cannot practice this)

Specialization is for insects.

– Robert A. Heinlein

My ability to fill out this list has a lot to do with my amazing middle school, Peninsula School in Menlo Park. Being a generalist is part of being a Humanities Major, but it is also part of how Peninsula taught me to live happily. I enjoy almost all of the skills I have gained (pitching manure isn’t much fun) and I look forward to learning how to do all of them (except the last one :-D).

Inspirational Quote:

Passionate Pomeranian to his love

Come live with me, and be my bitch,
Away from me you’ll never switch
Through the dog days and the rain
You will never cause me pain

Together we will lounge sheepskin mats
And I’ll spend the hours chasing cats
You’ll sit under the shade of parisol
While gazing upon me, your manly furball

I’ll give you collars of roses and love
Spikes and leather, soft as gloves
And combs of ivory, to twirl your hair
Which will soon adorn my manly lair

I will make you a sleeping pad
With embroidery, never plaid
Feed you food fit for a poodle!
Not a Man’s left over noodles

I’ll feed you fresh veal,
Which will never congeel
Like that stuff your master gives you
And in this way you I’ll woo

Your leash will be a silken rope
Shiny so you’ll not mope
With a steel core, so it’ll not fray,
You’ll be mine me ‘till your death day

We will frolic through the park
And at the pesky squirrels we’ll bark
Though your fleas will make me twitch
Come live with me, and be my bitch

By Jessica Dickinson Goodman for Mr Hufnagl’s class, Harker, 2005

icanhascheezburger branches out to political/graph humor

When will Lolcats/Lolpolitics/Lolgraphs stop being funny? Because they still are. Here is the website that started/organized it all: ICanHasCheezburger:

see more crazy cat pics

Now for political wonks, there is a political humor version (which don’t imbed the same way as the other sites apparently):

More political pictures

There is a lot of sexist issues here (both Ann Coulter and Hilary Clinton are made fun of for being too masculine. *sigh*. But you know what? That’s a pretty accurate description of how both women are portrayed in some circles. Punditkitchen definitely has a liberal bent, but they make fun of all the candidates equally.

And for math/stats geeks, there is a graph version:

I love how a lot of these graphs are about music. I have to include a second one:

This is a graphical representation of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab”.

Have fun!

Inspirational Quote:

In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.

Douglas Adams

MPAA doing well, still complaining about piracy

You know those threats from the FBI you watch every time you watch a movie (and which can’t be skipped)? The ones that completely ignore fair use–by definition an “unauthorized use of copyrighted material”. Well, in addition to those the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is constantly complaining about piracy to everyone from Congress to Comcast (see below). Here’s their front page today:

I like Lucky and Flo, the anti-piracy dogs.

With the exception of two ratings topics, everything on the front page is about piracy. From the way they’re carrying on, you would think that they are loosing money by the aircraft-carrier load. Not so. This year they posted record earnings (again):

The domestic box office continued to grow in 2007, reaching $9.63 billion after a 5.4% gain.

Domestic theater admissions held steady at 1.4 billion tickets in 2007.

In 2007, the average price of a movie ticket in the U.S. rose to $6.88, a 5% increase over 2006

So, not so much with the poverty and woe. And if you click on the link entitled “MPAA’s Dan Glickman Comments on Comcast and BitTorrent Agreement on Network Management” (which I wish I had not clicked on since it was a sneak-attack-pdf-download) you will find that they are doing something with Comcast and BitTorrent to combat piracy.

For non-total tech-policy wonks, this oblique press release refers to the packet-forging which the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s been tracking since September. Basically Comcast decided it could pick and choose which applications, protocols and forms of encryption it would transfer–without telling its customers. They have since backed off–which makes the MPAA’s continued pride over their “agreement” sound just as out of date as their business model.

All in all, let’s hope for collective licensing and pay for those weekly NetFlix.

Inspirational Quote:

“A human being should be able to
change a diaper,
plan an invasion,
butcher a hog,
conn a ship,
design a building,
write a sonnet,
balance accounts,
build a wall,
set a bone,
comfort the dying,
take orders,
give orders,
cooperate,
act alone,
solve equations,
analyze new problems,
pitch manure,
program a computer,
cook a tasty meal,
fight efficiently,
die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects.”
– Robert A. Heinlein

Favorite bits of my job applications

Ok, so I’ve been working on a lot of job applications. And you know what? Most of them are the same. I treasure the few which ask fun questions. Here are two of my favorite responses to job application questions. The first was for TechQuest’s last question on what experience had prepared me for a TechQuest internship:

In Middle School I was the only girl who did a full contact sport. While the other girls played Soccer or Gymnastics, I was learning Shito-Ryu Karate Do. This difference between me and my obvious peer group forced me to seek out other kids who were “different”. The experience of consciously choosing my peer group and learning how to build and maintain relationships with men and women from different backgrounds prepared me for many of the interests I have today.

I like the thresholds of things (where technology becomes law, where security becomes technical, where emerging technology defines public policy).

Because I learned at a young age the power of combining diverse people for a common goal, I find myself creating technical solutions for non-technical problems because non-obvious pairings come easy for me.

But my favorite question by far was from Kepler’s bookstore: “Please list the five most personally influential books or authors that you have read. Briefly, tell us why.”

Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Sunshine’s voice is so clear and unique and her story is at once Beauty and the Beast and a vision I have never seen before. Sunshine’s life is made up of stories, baking and community and when magic forces its way into her life she must draw on all of those resources and ones she had hidden inside herself. She is a great rolemodel.

Baking Illustrated by Editors of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine
This is the chemist’s guide to baking—the authors explain why they make each of their ingredient and preparation choices, which is good for me because I always want to know the why of recipes.

24 Italian Art Songs and Arias
This book gives me and millions of other aspiring opera singers immediate common ground. The pieces are timeless and this book’s place in opera pedagogy is monumental.

The Economist
This magazine has fed, if not inspired, my love of politics. The breadth of its topics and the clarity of its reporting are important to me, but most of all I treasure the funny, angry and sardonic tones of its reporters.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X As Told to Alex Haley
Malcolm X’s voice and values are the power of this book for me. How he believed in argument as a way of finding the truth; how he fought for his truths; how he changed his life after prison, his expulsion by Elijah Muhammad, his trip to Mecca.

Wish me job hunting luck!

Inspirational Quote:

“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” Aldous Huxley (not the person who wrote the Autobiography of Malcolm X)

Google Mars?

Yesterday Google and Virgin Group announced Virgle, a joint venture to create a permanent human settlement on Mars. In my head this word is pronounced vehr-jill, like the Roman poet whose Aeneas spent rather a long time making homes in unsuitable places before he settled in Italy. Perhaps Mars is humanity’s Italy, but it may end up being our Thrace or our Carthage–merely distractions on the way to our end goal.

….April Fools!…..

Ok, I was duped by this for about 10 minutes, until I realized what day it was.

Inspirational Quote:

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none. - Thomas Carlyle

Google Maps and David Rumsey collection–The Bay Area, then and now

This is an image I composed and then captured using my MacBook Pro’s screenshot capabilities. See what’s the same and what’s different. The map on the right is the Official map of the State of California. by Eddy, William M. from 1854 from the awesome David Rumsey collection. The left is the current Google Map of Silicon Valley/San Francisco Bay Area.

It’s fascinating how all of the counties’ names are the same and that Antioch, San Jose and Livermores Ranch were there–but no Oakland or Fremont. Also see how the coast above the Golden Gate bridge (in San Rafael) has been reshaped in the past 150ish years. Here’s the link for the David Rumsey collection section with more old maps of the San Francisco Bay Area (some going back to 1797). Here’s another look from 1953 (left is closeup, right is file page):

Inspirational Quote:

“The David Rumsey Collection was started nearly 20 years ago, and focuses primarily on cartography of the Americas from the 18th and 19th centuries, but also has maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The collection includes atlases, globes, school geographies, books, maritime charts, and a variety of separate maps, including pocket, wall, children’s and manuscript.”