Do the Nigerians Know That the Spanish Are Working Their Side of the Scam Street?

The nerve of those Spaniards!!! Let them get their own country to scam!! the Americans are ours!!!! Back off buzzards!!! Haven't you seen the lovely interview that ABC news did about us?

My friend Kat (yes, the Kat of the"Wings" post) has sent me a disturbing email relating that she was the possible target of a scam!!! But wait....NOT NIGERIANS. Spaniards. From Barcelona. Specifically a section called Viladecans. Before i get started, please read Kat's email to me...

Hi Annette,
I checked my school email and have received yet another scam money laundering scheme. This one really annoyed me. so I went to the isp and found it was in a section of Barcelona called Viladecans. Now, I've always been fond of Barcelona, considering Gaudi and all. So I became a bit peeved. I became more peeved when I realized the language the web sit was written in was Catalan. ( Don't give a mindless challenge) So I doped it out and found out that Viladecans was a section of Barcelona. Well Barcelona has a mayor right? So I forwarded him my letter voicing my concerns when I couldn't find a contact email for the web site. For good measure I also sent it to Interpol.
K

Gentlemen:

I received this email from some "scam artist" at a website originating from viladecans.net. I do not read Catalan so I couldn't really read their web site. My Spanish is also a bit rusty. Google could not translate it. I hope you could forward this letter to let them know that a scam artist is attempting to commit fraud through the use of a viladecans web site. I don't think the people of viladecans want to be in the same group as the Nigerians. I hope that this email can find its way into the correct hands so that it will stop.

kathleen m

That Kat. nothing gets by her, boy. A mind like steal trap..You scammers better not mess with her. She'll sic the WORLD police on your ass.

I found this gentleman's solution to quite creative and certainly stopped the pesky correspondence problem. --> Hilarious Nigerian Scammer Story

Martin Lee -->He bit into some Nigerian spam - to fight it

419eater--> Thought it would be useful to video the scammers

In my search for creative ways to turn the tables on the scammers, I arrived at this site:

Scam-o-Rama . This is some funny stuff....I can't wait to get another scam letter so I can try some of these out...

And apparentlyits not just done through letters, but through dating sites as well.

US/Nigeria dating chat service

Now about those Spanish scammers.....

St. Patricks Day--Post Mortem

We started celebrating the day before and into the wee hours the day of. I am up and ready to go to work after I post this...some (who shall remain nameless) came in prreeetttyyy late.....I won't mention any names, but he is the principal dancer in this charming vignette.....

Don't send a lame St. Patrick's Day eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Your College Dollars Hard At Work.....

You know how it is...at least I do...you take on another job, increase your use of coupons, eat out less and generally tone down your usually raucous lifestyle so that sonny- boy (or in my case sonny girl) can get a quality education and transition socially into the adult world and become a well adjusted productive and contributing member of society.

Silly me, I thought wooden spoons were for administering well deserved spankings to the men in my life......

(I found this video at The (Mis)Adventures of a Single City Chick's blog. You should check her out!!!

Spitzer Spritzers...Poetic Justice for Martha?

My friend Kat informed me that THIS was the guy that was instrumental in sending Martha away...so I think it is entirely appropriate that ............

Martha Stewart will be buying "Spitzer Spritzers" for friends this evening

at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach. She's down here, staying with friends. A friend from New York called her to give her the news, and it was reported in Jose Lambiet's column in the Palm Beach Post that she was ecstatic. From what I gather he went after her with great gusto and saw to it she did the time... You can read Jose's column right here.

Palm Beach Post-March 12, 2008:
If there’s one person who reveled in the news that New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was in a world of hurt this week, it was domestic diva Martha Stewart.
Forget the housewife’s manners.
Several sources on both sides of Lake Worth are telling me Stewart was on The Island when she received a phone call from an unidentified employee in New York who told her Monday afternoon that Spitzer had been linked to an international prostitution ring.
He resigned today, but Stewart went out to celebrate in an unusual fashion Monday afternoon.
“She was gleeful,” says one well-placed source. “Few people had seen her this animated in a while.
“She said she’d celebrate at The Breakers with a round of ‘Spitzer spritzers.’”
Page 2.1 looked online for the ingredients of the drink, and asked Stewart spokeswoman Katherine Nash, but it must be something the ultimate homemaker isn’t printing in her magazines. There would be no comment.
Why would Stewart enjoy someone else’s misery?
Well, back in the early 2000s, New York’s young and ambitious State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was making a name for himself in rooting out corporate corruption on Wall Street.
Meanwhile, Stewart was selling a large number of shares in the biopharmaceutical company ImClone shortly before the stock tanked. Stewart, now 66, saved about $45,000 — but got on regulators’ radar screens.
Spitzer almost single-handedly made it fashionable to go after big-deal CEOs as he fought a well-publicized turf battle with federal prosecutors in nailing the biggest fish.
Stewart fell in the federal net and served five months on insider trading-related charges four years ago — but it was Spitzer who kicked up the hornet’s nest that eventually had her bunk with hardened criminals.
Before she received her happy call, Stewart was spotted shopping on Antique Row, downtown West Palm Beach.
“I took her around,” said family friend and Antique Row store owner Judy Barron. “She never said anything about Spitzer to me. We spent a couple of hours going from store to store.”
Word is that Stewart got the call at the Palm Beach home of Lisbeth Barron, a Bear Stearns big and Judy’s sister. When reached at her $11 million home, Lisbeth declined comment.
One thing is sure, though: Seems that Stewart is more down to earth.
“She’s been here before and wasn’t the nicest person,” said Jeffrey Rafael, of Jeffrey-Marie Inc. on Antique Row. “She’s definitely humbled.”
Permalink

Something's Not Kosha In Boca --Part 2

Hundreds seeking housing money overwhelm Boca Authority
(Palm Beach Post, March 13, 2008)

Okay heres the scenario--> The Boca Raton Housing Authority has Section 8 Vouchers to distribute. It advertises this wondrous event and advises that it will begin to distribute APPLICATIONS for vouchers at 9AM on Wednesday . (Keep in mind that at various locations in Palm Beach County, Section 8 (low income housing) is being torn down and families displaced without any replacement housing being constructed for those same low income families to move into).
People arrive from all over the place , some having driven very long distances (avg. price of gas =$3.37 for Regular Unleaded), some with their children. They are arriving before midnight, planning on camping out so that they can get an APPLICATION for a Section 8 voucher, which will put them on a list-if found eligible-that may have a 2 year waiting period. Before 2 AM the crowd is such that the nice people from the Housing Authority leave the comfort of their homes to come and give out 500 applications to the crowd, hoping it would keep the natives from getting too restless.
People in the know have informed me that their were only approx. 600 vouchers available, and that they did not have that many more APPLICATIONS printed to distribute.

Here's where I have a disconnect--> Knowing how bad the economy is-and I speak from a low middle income standpoint, why in God's name would you not print a couple of thousand APPLICATIONS to give to people who may be in dire straits and who have traveled long distances and waited many hours for the opportunity of APPLYING for a voucher , which if they are found eligible will only benefit them in about 2 years?
Was it because...GASP...GULP....because the delicate sensitivities of the Boca citizens may have been offended to have a mass gathering of black folk in one spot? Perhaps offended was not the right word. Perhaps leery, and scared might be more in line with the truth.
I don't blame these people for feeling murderous and for becoming defiant and challenging law enforcement. The City of Boca Raton did not plan this well. You give out 2, 000 applications, people are aware that there are only 600 vouchers available, they may NOT be found eligible, but its the chance you take. But for the City to be clueless about the kind of turn out they would have and then to resort to Police over-enforcement tactics is unconscionable. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Want to hear the real kicker? The people that were arrested, like this lady Angelica Rivera will now not be eligible because she was arrested. To see the slide show related to this posting, click here--> Botched Boca Block Party

A Sign of the Times?

or creating bigger monsters than we already have by desensitizing youngsters to the value of a dollar and the ease of credit card use?

Look at what is replacing academic -related counting and budgeting skills. The items I have bolded are of particular interest.

• Game has been updated with modernized tokens, higher property values, favorite landmarks and credit cards replacing cash
• Game board comes with title deed cards, chance and community chest cards, 6 debit cards, 2 dice, 6 tokens, 32 houses, 12 hotels and instructions
• Now you can collect rent, buy properties and pay fines - with the touch of a button
• All it takes is a card swipe for money to change hands
• For ages 8 yrs. and up
• For 2-6 People

Call me a killjoy, and I know some people will read this post and think Im an absolute nutcase, but Im going to equate this to violent video games involving weapons and racist slants. I dont think that kids especially elementary and some middle school need to vicariously purchase things with a play debit/credit card machine that distances them from the actual activity of the counting, sorting and arithmetic involved to play this game as it was designed.

Kids are already detached from what it actually takes to earn money, deposit it in an account and then access it to buy things you want-after you have paid for the things you NEED. Here is another bullet Im going to have to dodge. Parents, who are already stretched to the limit at work may overcompensate for their absence in their kids lives by purchasing things for them out of a feeling of guilt--with----The swipe of a credit card!!!!!!

My own kids have said to me, after hearing "No, I have no money to buy that".--"Just use your card!!!!!"---and not understanding the connection of the card being tied to a balance in the bank!!

Let the shooting begin......

Wings? What the F**k For?....

My friend Kat sent me this in an email, and as I'm feeling like I could tap dance all over a mans nether regions in stillettos this morning, i thought I would take the burst of creativity out on here....But first, let me draw your attention to the packaging of this oh-so-useful product with wings...

Why does that pad look like its making loop-de-loops and coming in for a landing? Landing where?

PS-->I do NOT wear underwear, so what the hell would I attach the darn wings too?

okay, perhaps i have been too hasty-If I attach them strategically directly to skin....then when I yank them off, i could have a always pretty bikini line...--hhhmm...well, If P&G steals my idea, Im gonna be pissed.......

This is an actual letter from an Austin woman sent to Proctor and Gamble regarding their feminine products. She really gets rolling after the first paragraph. It's PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best webmail-award-winning letter.

Dear Mr. Thatcher,

I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants.

Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from the curse'? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my time of the month is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call 'an inbred hillbilly with knife skills.' Isn't the human body amazing?

As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers monthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jenifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy!

The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants... Which brings me to the reason for my letter. Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: 'Have a Happy Period.'

Are you f*&^%$# kidding me? What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.

For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like 'Put down the Hammer' or 'Vehicular Manslaughter is Wrong', or are you just picking on us?

Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullshit. And that's a promise I will keep. Always.

With a little Help From My Friends.....

Joe must be cleaning out his hard drive our something, because its been like old home week these few days in my email and his blog..... This picture on his blog and the quaint explanation of who they are is just a small modest interpretation of the havoc these two caused for me when I was the "teacher" on this adolescent wing.I cant complain, I was in the thick of it, sometimes instigated it and always laughing along with the kids (the other staff however, thought we had snuck in the PATIENTS door and needed residential treatment ourself.....and we were all skinnier, broker, and perhaps happier at times...
Gerald-->"Hey Joe, can I borrow $20? and your car? and your shoes? I'll be back in 10 minutes, promise." Remember...might , mighty rattlers ssssssss.....

"Too gone for too long", I guess.....

Think I may have been away too long? Apparently Joe and David think so....