Ok, so I get the numbers, and I understand that it only takes about one hit per billion emails sent to make it worthwhile to send spam. I don’t like it, but I get it. Personally, I’d like to at least opt out of the lists that don’t make any sense for me to be on (I will never buy Office XP for $79.99, nor do I need another University Diploma, and I am pretty sure that the Gap has enough secret shoppers already), although I guess that’s wishful thinking.
I also understand using crafty subject lines such as “Fw: this is something you had to see” when sent to me by someone with a slightly unusual name, like Gretchen Tinsley. I also thought “Thanks for being a good friend” from Morton Ruiz was clever enough to take a look at (read: I was duped). But recently I’ve received numerous emails with subject lines such as “Re: my VALLtvUM” or “Re: before the be11 news”.
In fact, the VALLtvUM email body started like this:
A M B B / E N
V A L L / U M
C / A L L / S
V / A G G R A
X ^ N N A X
M E R / D D / A
S O M M ^
P R R O Z ^ C
L E V V / T R A
And then had a link to http://www.ruewunsuereion.com, and despite knowing it was going to be bad, I figured I had to take a look. Turns out it’s a site offering tons of the above drugs (although spelled correctly, for the most part) at discount prices. By the way, A M B B / E N is killer for long-haul flights.
You know, it’s one thing to trick me into opening porn, or maybe buying crappy software or a fake university diploma. Furthermore, I can understand looking for and purchasing discount drugs on the Internet (remember, I said I can understand, that doesn’t mean I plan to do it). But here’s what I don’t get:
Who on Earth would even consider buying medication from someone who can’t spell it right? This stuff can kill you, man!
Maybe it’s time to head to Walgreens to buy B3n^dryl or ad/1L, and while you are there, don’t forget to pick up some extra 5c0pe and |
It’s mid-May, and I’ve flown roughly 75,000 miles this year, on track to hit 100K by late June. This is a lot by my standards, more than I’ve flown in any other given year (other than once). Virtually every trip I seek out a few little tricks to make my travel a little easier. I found my favorite neckrest at SFO in the “oh crap I forgot to buy someone a gift so I’ll pick up a cool San Francisco t-shirt” store (located near the useful 
SeatGuru has seat maps for most of the airplanes (and each of their various configurations), chock full of advice on a seat-by-seat basis. A sample “map” is on the right. In a nutshell, green means good, yellow means beware, and red means don’t sit under any circumstances. Their seat maps also include lavatories, galleys, AC power ports, and even the windows. The best part is the seat-by-seat guide, which has some very practical information. Here’s an example:
I was born in Montreal, Canada, back in 1973, and have fond, although faint, memories of watching the