I’ve Been Very Lucky
I’ve just won not one but three prizes in this lottery, that I didn’t even enter. That must be some sort of record.
EURO-PW LOTTERY v7.0,
http://www.europw.com
POSTBUS 636-5930 AM
TERNEUZEN, HOLLAND.RE:OFFICIAL PRIZE AWARD NOTICE.
DEAR WINNER,
THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU HAVE WON A PRIZE MONEY OF ONE MILLION EURO (1,000,000)FOR THIS MONTH (NOVEMBER 2009)EURO-PW LOTTERY ONLINE PROMOTION.
ALL PARTICIPANTS FOR THIS ONLINE VERSION WERE SELECTED RANDOMLY FROM THE WORLD WIDE WEB, THROUGH AN ELECTRONIC BALLOTING SYSTEM (E.B.S.)AND EXTRACTED FROM OVER 100M SECURED WEBSITES WORLDWIDE.
ONLY FIVE WINNERS EMERGE EVERY MONTH THROUGH ELECTRONIC BALLOTING SYSTEM (E.B.S.),AND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WAS SELECTED AND ATTACHED TO THE WINNING NUMBER BELOW WE CONGRATULATE YOU FOR BEING ONE OF THE EURO-PW v7.0 WINNER.
PLEASE CONTACT OUR APPROVED AGENT FOR YOUR REGION WITH YOUR WINNING NUMBER AND YOUR FILLED CLAIMS VERIFICATION FORM BELOW.
WINNING NUMBER: EPWL/11/17/18/25/08
EURO-PW LOTTERY v7.0.
CLAIMS VERIFICATION FORM.
FULL NAMES .
ADDRESS .
NATIONALITY .
COUNTRY .
TEL/FAX .
AGE/SEX .
MARITAL STATUS .
OCCUPATION .PAYMENT OPTION
1. COURIER DELIVERY OF CERTIFIED WINNING CHEQUE (…..) 2. TRANSFER OF PRIZE MONEY VIA ONLINE BANK TRANSFER (…..)TICK AN OPTION WHICH SUITS YOU BEST FOR THE REMITTANCE OF YOUR PRIZE MONEY TO YOU.
CONGRATULATIONS FROM ALL MEMBERS OF STAFF OF EURO-PW LOTTERY.
NINA T. FRIJTERS (Mrs.)
DIRECTOR; CLAIMS DEPARTMENT.
TEL/FAX: +31 (0) 84 740 8620
E-MAIL: europwdesk2@hotmail.comFROM: Venancio Massingue (Mrs.)
NOTE: ALL CORRESPONDENCES SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO europwdesk2@hotmail.com
In fact my luck is so astounding as I have won three out of the five prizes on offer. How many millions to one is that?
Sadly, it’s fraud. If you reply the obnly winner with be that crook, Venancio Massingue.
Hamleys Forget to Renew Domain Name
It can happen to anybody, but it happened to Hamleys.
Perhaps they should use a domain name company, like Low Cost Names, who are very persistent, when you don’t register a name. I’ve dropped a few in my time and know how they behave. It may be annoying, but you do what you need to.
The Daily Express Web Site
I first heard that the Higher Eco-Tax story was in the Daily Express.
It is not my favourite rag, so I don’t look at it very often, if at all. But I did go to the web site to find out about the story. You’ll note that I actually link to the Press Association. The reason is that you can’t enter the Daily Express web site without getting an extra copy of your browser with an advert.
So I won’t be visiting it in future.
Other web sites that I hardly use because of this practice include IMDB and Friends Reunited.
There are alternatives which I use instead.
How to Show Football on Television – 2
It seems that the farce of showing the Ukraine-England match on television has had an effect.
The FA, who don’t really have a reputation for being media savvy have decided to show the England-Macedonia Under-21 International on Friday on the web.
Here’s their press release.
The FA has announced exciting details of the first England game to ever be screened live and for free exclusively on TheFA.com.
On Friday 9 October, The England v Macedonia 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifier at Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena will be streamed live on TheFA.com (kick-off 7.45pm BST).
The FA took the landmark decision to air the game for free on TheFA.com after UK broadcasters confirmed they were unable to schedule the match during peak-time.
Commenting on the move, Ian Watmore, Chief Executive Officer of The FA said: “This is the best way to ensure as many fans as possible around the country get the chance to see England’s young stars in action for free.”
Fans logging on to watch the game can look forward to seeing some great young players in action. Stuart Pearce has assembled an impressive squad including Theo Walcott – returning to the England Under-21s set-up fresh from scoring in Arsenal’s 6-2 defeat of Manchester City at the weekend.
Watching the game is simple. Just visit TheFA.com at 7.45pm on Friday night, click on the link to the game and enjoy all of the action free of charge.
Note the words “free of charge”.
The FA have certainly got this one right. To be fair they had nothing to do with the other farce.
How to Show Football on Television
Or rather how not to! This article in The Independent outlines the mess and problems caused by making Ukraine-England Internet only on a Pay-per-View site.
But like the earlier fiasco with ITV-Digital and the Championship and the failure of Setanta, it probably illustrates that there is a price viewers will pay and a price they will not. And those broadcasters that pay too much will end up going bust.
I have Sky and watch quite a bit of sport on their channels, like cricket, tennis and of course football. In general it is good value and it sustained me through some of the darker times since my wife died.
I have also subscribed to ESPN to take the extra Premier League matches. Whether I will continue to take the extra coverage for ever, is open to debate, as I have no interest in American Mickey Mouse sports, like basketball, baseball and American football.
But to return to the Ukraine-England match, that will only be shown over the Internet. I have watched some football in this way, through the Sky web site. The quality wasn’t that good and I suspect that here in deepest Suffolk, I would only get a very bad picture.
But in a few years time, this will be the way that many of us will not only watch football, but much of our television. But it will need much faster broadband and a proper device to put the pictures on a large screen.
I won’t be in England this weekend, but if I was, I’d be listening on BBC Radio Five. When it was pointed out to a pub landlord that it was being broadcast this way, he hadn’t realised it. But at least it might get a few punters in his pub! Especially, if he had wi-fi for a few laptops!
WordPress Statistics
My WordPress statistics haven’t seemed to add up for a week or so.
For instance, today, someone left a pingback on this blog and the counter didn’t move. The number of searches that brought people to the blog also equals the number of views and this can’t be right as pages that don’t relate to these searches are in the top pages.
Also a few days ago, I had thirty hits from someone searching for “Lotus Elan Yellow” and none of the pages about the Elan was in the top pages.
Am I paranoid or is there something wrong?
Loan Fraud
I assume that these two e-mails I received this morning are up to no good.
This one is from Homesteel Loan Management.
This is HOMESTEEEL LOAN MANAGEMENT, a private loan lender.We provide funding for companies and individuals that need funding. We work domestic as well as international companies. Our funding sources specialize in creative solutions to meet your needs for expansion, growth etc.
Our company do grant loans to individuals and companies as the loan grant varies from $5 thousand to $5 million Dollars with an interest rate of just 2.5 %.Borrower’s Information Needed
Full Names:…………………………………………
Country:……………………………………………
Phone Number:……………………………………..
Loan Amount Needed:…………………………….
Loan Term Duration:……………………………….Contact us today with the above information at honorablekalebcole1@gmail.com,mrkalebcole@sifymail.com
Company Name:HOMESTEEEL LOAN MANAGEMENT.
Registration Number: EA-ASL/941OYI/02/LN-UK
Telephone: +44-701-112-8005
Fax: +44 91-791-52-20Regards,
HOMESTEEEL LOAN MANAGEMENT
homesteelmanagement@gmail.com
And this one is from Eagle Loan Management.
This is Eagle Loan Management, a private loan lender.We provide funding for companies and individuals that need funding. We work domestic as well as international companies. Our funding sources specialize in creative solutions to meet your needs for expansion, growth etc.
Our company do grant loans to individuals and companies as the loan grant varies from $5 thousand to $5 million Dollars with an interest rate of just 2.5%.Borrower’s Information Needed
Full Names:…………………………………………
Country:……………………………………………
Phone Number:……………………………………..
Loan Amount Needed:…………………………….
Loan Term Duration:……………………………….Contact us today with the above information at eagleinvestment@sifymail.com
Company Name:EAGLE LOAN MANAGEMENT.
Registration Number: EA-ASL/941OYI/02/LN-UK
Telephone: +44-701-112-8005
Fax: +44 91-791-52-20Regards,
EAGLE LOAN MANAGEMENT
eagleloan.2009@gmail.com
Note that the registration, telephone and fax numbers are all the same.
Obviously, both of these e-mails are the same fraud. I suspect, that you will pay a lot of up-front fees and never see any money.
There is also the possibility that just phoning the numbers will be very expensive. In fact it is a good idea never to phone any UK number beginning with 7, unless you know who it belongs to! Many are mobiles, but some of them are linked to very expensive personal numbers.
Don’t whatever you do have anything to do with these crooks!
What the Internet Has Become
I don’t use Yahoo much except as a host for the various groups that I moderate.
However this morning, I looked at their search engine as a friend had got problems with Google.
This is their top ten searches :-
- East Enders
- Heather Mills
- Champions League
- Britney Spears
- Rihanna
- Natalie Imburglia
- Ronnie Wood
- Amy Winehouse
- Coldplay
- Katie Price
So the economy, global warming and unemployment are all fixed then!
Electronic Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement
I’m getting a lot of this lately. What happens is that articles on this blog, get copied and put into other peoples’ web sites without attribution or a link. Wikipedia explains the difference between plagiarism and copyright infringement as.
Plagiarism is not copyright infringement. While both terms may apply to a particular act, they are different transgressions. Copyright infringement is a violation of the rights of a copyright holder, when material protected by copyright is used without consent. On the other hand, plagiarism is concerned with the unearned increment to the plagiarizing author’s reputation that is achieved through false claims of authorship.
But whatever it is I don’t like it and some of my readers have been moved to comment on my post on Cornflour. Why that one was copied, I haven’t a clue?
So how can we stop it, mitigate the effect of the copying or even benefit from it?
In the first place, if your post is good English, (or French, Spanish, Mandarin or anything else for that matter), with lots of recognisable phrases, you will be a bit more likely find them. I suspect that if I type “Electronic Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement” into Google in a few weeks, I’ll find a few copies of this article.
I have started putting a link into each post that links to the rest of my blog. The reason is that they generally don’t remove the links, so if any reader finds it interesting, they might link back to the rest of your site.
But whatever you do, don’t complain to the perpetrators. They’ll only wind you up and do it more often.
As I said in one of my comments, there are much more important things in life, than trying to stop this minor irritation.
Illegal Uploading
The government makes a lot of fuss about the illegal downloading of films, television programs and music. But I suspect more of us are affected by illegal uploading, or the various spam messages we get all the time.
Here’s one I got this morning.
From:Lady Sylvia Ströher
23-16 street, Berlin,Germany.
I am Lady Sylvia Ströher suffering from cancerous ailment.
I am married to Lord Stroher,a German shipping tycoon notable for his great wealth,influential extended family,and charitable activities all his life before his death.Our life together as man and wife lasted for three decades without child.My husband died after a protracted illness in August 22,2007.My husband and I made a vow to uplift the down-trodden and the less-privileged individuals as he had passion for persons who can not help themselves due to physical disability or financial predicament.I can adduce this to the fact that he needed a Child from this relationship,which never came.
When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of 20.000.000.00 (Twenty Million Great Britain Pounds Sterling) which were derived from his vast estates and investment in capital market with his bank in United Kingdom and named me as the beneficiary of this trust fund.
Presently,this money is still with the Bank.
Recently, my Doctor told me that I have limited days to live due to the cancerous problems I am suffering from.Though what bothers me most is the stroke that I have in addition to the cancer.
With this hard reality that has befallen my family,and me I have decided to donate this fund to you and want you to use this gift which comes from my husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows, widowers,orphans,destitute, the down- trodden, physically challenged children,barren-women and persons who prove to be genuinely handicapped financially.
It is often said that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because Ido not have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are bourgeois and very wealthy persons and I do not want my husband’s hard earned money to be misused or invested into ill perceived ventures.I do not want a situation where this money will be used in a worldly manner, hence the reason for taking this bold decision.I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going.I do not need any telephone communication in this regard due to my deteriorating health and because of the presence of my husbands relatives around me as i am currently bed ridden in the Family house here in 23-16 street, Berlin,Germany.
and do not receive any visitors unless approved by Huwer Stroher who is the immediate younger brother to my late husband.I do not want them to know about this development in order to safeguard this bequest.I will also authorise my Private Attorney in the UK whom i communicate with via emails all the time,to issue a Letter of Authority that will empower you as the new beneficiary of this fund, he would also endorse my WILL where i will name you as the beneficiary of the 20.000.000.Million GBP.You can contact my personal Lawyer through his email address only on this email below please:
Barrister Jones Shealy
Email: shealyjon@gmail.com
Tell him that I have WILLED the said sum to you and the reason for doing this is best known to me.My happiness is that I lived a life worthy of emulation. Please always be kindhearted all through your life.Please assure me that you will act just as I have stated herein.
Your’s Sincerely
Lady Sylvia Ströher
We all know that it’s a scam and you shouldn’t reply to it. But some people must do as these people wouldn’t keep sending the junk.
But what are the authorities doing about it. At best little and most probably nothing.
But as a programmer, who likes to think he knows the Internet better than his hand, there must be simple solution.
For instance, the technology is such that if we all forwarded this junk to a special e-mail address, then the various e-mails could be analysed and if say a hundred copies were found, then any e-mail addresses used would be immediately shut down. A lot of this could be automated and if done on a world-wide basis, it would make it much more difficult for these swindlers to operate.
Or we could use a guerrilla approach.
You register an anonymous e-mail address at something like Hotmail, GMail or Yahoo and then send the embedded e-mail addresses in the fraud a nice large picture file of say a puppy, kitten or something else pleasant as an attachment. If enough of us did that, then these fraudsters would quickly get overloaded and hopefully the innocent wouldn’t get sucked in. They would obviously target your anonymous address, but when it gets unusable, you just abandon it.
After all these anonymous e-mail address companies, are one of the reasons we get so much junk. If they did a few more checks when an account was opened, the fraudsters perhaps would be deterred.
The Anonymous Widower 