Where Is This Spammer?
This was the start of a spam e-mail, I received.
We wish to inform you that the diplomatic agent conveying the consignment box valued the sum of $2.5 Million United States Dollars misplaced your address and he is currently stranded at JFK QUEEN AIRPORT NEW YORK USA now. We required you reconfirm the following information below so that he can deliver your consignment box to you today Because his flight ticket is about to expire.
If you fall for this one, you deserve to be fleeced. Especially as it finishes with.
NOTE : The Diplomatic agent does not know that the content of the consignment box is $2.5 Millions United States Dollars and on no circumstances should you let him know the content. The consignments was moved from here as family treasures, so never allow him to open the box.and the package was registered here by Collins Emma since three moths ago and travel out of this country.
Obviously, as it mentions moths, it is a rather old message. His punctuation isn’t that good either.
WordPress Has Gone Bonkers
What have WordPress done with their new version?
Two days ago, everything was working fine. In the last couple of years since the death of my wife and son, I have put nearly 4,000 posts into this blog. I have uploaded 3,500 images and a few videos and I have had virtually no issues at all.
Nearly, all of these posts have been on the same Compaq 6720s running Vista and Internet Explorer 8, that I have used since I bought it about four years ago. The few that weren’t posted in that way, have been posted in various Internet cafes on my travels.
As to the computer, it is a totally normal machine, with little added software, except mainly stuff that I’ve written myself.
So what has gone wrong?
Creating a Post
To create a post, I can get the Add New Post fine enough, but unless I switch from Visual mode to HTML mode and back again, I can’t type in anything meaningful.
Jumbled Tool Bars
The tool bars at the top of the window where I’m typing this, have got totally jumbled. The order at the moment is bold, ordered list, centre, italic, blockquote, spell check and so on. I said at the moment, as if you move the cursor over them, they all change. I did a video of it here. I would put a link on the word here, but I have no working link icon!
Editing Posts
I always edit in Visual mode, as I like to see what I’m getting. But to get that, I need to switch from Visual mode to HTML mode and back again.
Uploading Images
I can upload images to the media library, but that is all. I can’t put them into posts though, as after clicking insert Post, I just get a window showing Add Image with a X close button. If I close it to continue, the image disappears, although it is still in the Media Library.
If I use my Windows Iconia tablet computer running IE8, I can move the picture from the Media Library to the post, but that computer is only a toy with a small screen. I’ve also had a stroke and my hands aren’t good and find operating it difficult.
Inserting Links
I can’t do this in Visual mode, but I can in HTML mode. but as I said I prefer to work in Visual mode.
So what have I done to try to clear the problems.
I have put a few posts in the forums, and I have done some of what has been suggested like clear the cache and cookies. Others have been arrogant enough to suggest that I change browser. But then I can’t do that as I’ve written software that uses IE and I won’t be able to demonstrate that anymore.
I should say that no other software or web site is causing me any grief, but it does strike me that I might have caught some weird virus, athough scans run clear.
It’s all very puzzling.
I’ve just added this on another machine.
WordPress Going Bonkers
Look at this video of trying to edit a post on WordPress.
Every time, I move the cursor from icon to icon, the icon changes.
Is that a feature or a benefit?
If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It!
I have used WordPress for many years and their latest upgrade is so full of bugs, you could show it in the insect house at the London Zoo.
It has meant that I can’t upload any pictures to the blog and creating a new post is a real study of perseverance.
If you edit a post, the post or the toolbars don’t appear unless you switch to HTML mode and then back to Visual. These toolbars can’t seem to get their icons right and if you move the cursor over them, the function changes.
Links can’t be setup in Visual mode, but you can do them in HTML mode.
When they coined the name software, it could have been made for this version of WordPress. It’s not just soft, but very very soft!
It’s all total crap to what it was.
Zopa in the Sunday Times
Zopa is featured in an article in the Sunday Times today called “Become a Lender and Earn 15 %”.
Two statements about Zopa stand-out.
Zopa has provided £160m-worth of unsecured loans to consumers since it was launched in 2005 and accounts for more than 2% of such new lending.
If that is true, then they have become a significant player in the personal lending market. I checked with Zopa and they told me that it’s between one and two percent and sometimes up to the higher limit.
And.
Zopa said its default rate is 0.9% against an average 5% to 7% for high street banks.
I would go along with that as my default rate has not been at all high. In fact it’s significantly less than 0.9%.
Banks and Trusteer
There was an article in The Times last Saturday talking about how some banks ask you to load software called Trusteer on your computer to protect yourself.
I won’t! And if my bank insists I do, there are plenty more other banks out there.
Just having the software on your machine, is an indication, that you may have secure data there.
All of my secure work is done on a machine, which is unattached to my network and nothing is written down, that would be any use to a criminal. That is unless he could find where my passwords are stored in my safe deposit box with C’s jewellery. And that is ten miles from where I live!
I’m not saying that I know more about security than banks, but I mistrust deals like this, especially, where keylogging is involved. The banks should follow Zopa’s lead and create an unbreakable and totally secure login, that is impossible for a criminal to use, as unless he is a mind reader, he won’t know answers to the questions they ask.
Masterseek Business Directory
I’ve had 52 e-mails from a group of spammers called the Masterseek Business Directory in the last 24 hours. They want me to pay $149, so that my web sites go in their business directory. There is an unsubscribe link, but I suspect that using it will just verify that the e-mail address was correct.
There is some more about this group of idiots here. He uses the well known advice concerning barge poles.
I have deleted them all.
The Daily Express Annoys Their Jewish and Muslim Readers
According to the BBC this morning, the Express is giving away a voucher for a free gammon steak today.
I would link to the Express, but as when you access that website, it opens another window selling the viewer something he or she doesn’t want, I won’t. I wonder how many others hate that practice with as much venom as I do?
I did find the details on the excellent Money Saving Expert website. Here is what you get.
Just spotted the add in todays paper
Weekday paper is 45p, Saturday 70p, Sunday £1
Get from Budgens & Londis
Saturday – Gammon Steaks
Monday – Crumpets
Tuesday – Natural Yoghurt
Wednesday – Pack of Wagon Wheels
Thursday – Ocean Spray Cranberry & Blueberry Drink
Friday – Quaker Porridge Oats
What a wonderfully balanced diet! Especially for a coeliac like me. Cranberries are also banned if you’re on Warfarin.
They didn’t mention that you could tear the newspaper into squares and use it for toilet paper.
Student Finance Agreement
I’ve just recieved an e-mail with the above heading and this message.
Dear Student,
Student Finance Application Year 2011/12-Information RequiredTo assess your application, your student finance agreement needs to be signed and returned back to us . This can be done through “MY ACCOUNT” session of your online account .
Failure to sign and return this to us would mean your next student loan payment and maintenance grant will be delayed.
Thanks for your co-operation.SIGN ON HERE
Yours sincerely,
Student Loan Finance England.
As it points to a web site in the United States with no contact address, it’s a scam. It also came to one of my trap e-mails, which seem to be passed around by spammers.
Keith Madeley MBE
I have received spam from someone claiming to be this guy and a company called HoneyPot mail. As my reputable spam filter marked his message as junk mail, I binned it. I suggest you do the same.
He might be a genuine person or he could just be a very bad e-mail marketeer. After all, I couldn’t find an unsubscribe on the e-mail, which is against the ICO rules.
The Anonymous Widower 