PRODUCTIVITY: Don’t ask the politicians to help with spam, phishing, or anything on the inet!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

FROM A EMAIL EXCHANGE

***Begin Quote***

>I have had it with Recieving Phising Emails
>Posted by: “Cy Witherspoon”
>Mon Dec 3, 2007 12:13 pm (PST)
>Have you ever received emails from some relative that you don’t know in
>Nigeria, UK, or some other far land? Explaining that you won/
>inherited some large sum of money?

Dear dotcomeraden! Cy:

I share your frustration. But it IS always NICE to hear from long lost relatives in Area Code 419!

I reformulated some of my form letters that I use (i.e., “Job hunting help”, “why would you want to network with me”, “why would I want to network with you”, and my personal favorite “I’m dropping you from my network, you ass”) to incorporate some of the principles in many of the Nigerian spam letters. Some do a very good job of communicating their feigned concern for the reader’s benefit. Better than my honest concern for the unfortunate job seeker suddenly out of work, or the lost soul who thinks I’m a good networking contact in the “left handed paperhanging field as a right handed paper hanger”. If these folks are successful with these lame excuses for an email, then I want to learn to make my real ones better.

But what really prompted me to write this email is the following comment:

>I am not sure of the legal ramifications, but I am all for some type of
>legislation to ban these types of fraudulent emails.

Oh, please NO! Don’t ask the politicians, who think the inept is a bunch of pipes like plumbing, to “help” us. We’ll be filling out forms for each email , paying more taxes, and be forced to use only approved email vendors. And, who knows what else they will think of?

Remember politicians’ only motive is to be reelected, from whence they can (in priority order): (1) feather their own nest; (2) reward their friends; and (3) punish their enemies. Remember you ask for their help and they see a job for their brother-in-law.

We don’t need legislation. We NEED ivy, public key encryption, and some self-defense.

IVY will give us a fully authentic network; No more forging IP addresses. Public key encryption ensures authenticity of who’s on the other end of the email. And, some self-defense.

I can give you a strategy that have virtually rendered me immune — create dedicated emails. You can use GMAIL’s plus feature. Or just lots of GMAIL ids for dedicated email addresses. Or Yahoo has spamguard. Or, if you have your own domain, then you can spawn all the addresses you need.

So here’s how I have it working, when I sign up for CITIBANK, I give them a unique email address. (It might be MYID+123456 @ gmail.com, FOOTLOOSE-CITI @ yahoo.com, or CITI-123456 @ reinke.cc. It really doesn’t matter.) Any communication coming in purporting to be from CITIBANK, that doesn’t come in on the “correct” email address, is prima facie spam and I delete immediately. One email per sensitive use, and you don’t have to pay any attention to your “relatives” in 419 land.

But, please don’t ask the gooferment to help. The “cure” will be worse that then “disease”.

>dotcomeraden!

*** End Quote ***

Readers here have seen my use of dotcomeraden. So no need to repeat.

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MONEY: refinance five times over the past seven years … … into the “poor house”?

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_05/schiff113007.html

The End Of Consumer Credit As We Know It
Peter Schiff

***Begin Quote***

In an article this week that examined the troubles brewing in Citigroup’s mortgage business, the Wall Street Journal focused on Natalie Brandon, a 51 year old married woman from Granada Hills, CA, who is currently unable to make the payments on her $625,000 adjustable rate home loan from Citigroup, despite the fact that the rate will not even reset higher until June of next year. Amazingly, the Journal reported that Mrs. Brandon bought the house in 1985 for just $105,000, but had chosen to refinance five times over the past seven years, borrowing more than $500,000 and spending every single penny. While this may be an extreme example of American profligacy, it is by no means unique. Unfortunately this type of behavior typifies everything that is wrong with the modern American economy.

Had this homeowner behaved responsibly, as was typical for Americans of prior generations, her current monthly mortgage payments would likely be less than $600 and the remaining balance on her loan would be about $40,000. In eight more years she would have owned her home free and clear, and would likely be on track for early retirement. Instead, after 22 years of making mortgage payments, she is now $625,000 in debt. The article stated that she had recently tried to refinance into a 6%, forty year, fixed-rate mortgage, but it fell through. Even if she had qualified, she would have been obligated to make monthly mortgage payments of close to $4,000 until she was in her nineties.

***End Quote***

Well, they say something like experience is an expensive schoolteacher, but fools will learn from no other.

About the only think that can happen is the foreclosures and subsequent bankruptcies allow folks to start over.

What does one have to show for a life’s work … “experience”.

Seems like there will be a lot of competition for my planned “final job” as the WalMart Greeter?

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Posted by reinkefj

LINKEDIN: like the aboriginal contemplating the Coke bottle that fell from a plane

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE ABOUT “LIVELINESS”

Thanks for your insight. I’m not so sure what LinkedIn is, or isn’t.

In it’s public professions, it tries to be a “silver bullet”. Being wise old far … individuals we KNOW that the Lone Ranger took Silver and the bullets with him. I went into LinkedIn many moons ago with really no expectations. I didn’t discontinue any of my other activities, projects, processes, or methods — just squoze in LinkedIn.

Over the years, in my blog, I have wrestled with it. It more of a Yellow Pages than the Phone Book — or books. It doesn’t update my address book like Plaxo used to do very well. It doesn’t have lots of kids on it like MySpace or Facebook. It’s not Lucht style face 2 face networking. It’s not “job search” a la Monster, or “What Color Is Your Parachute”.

So, while it may be a “tool”, like the aboriginal contemplating the Coke bottle that fell from a plane, I’m left wondering what it is. :-)

Part, of figuring what it is or is not, is assessing it usability as a “networking tool”. (Some call it “not working”! Which I thought was clever. Of the measurements, that I have heard one claimed a 90% response rate and two said it was too much trouble to measure.)

Lord Kelvin said something like “If you can’t measure it, you don’t understand it”.

I also admit that on the rare occasions when I sing I am “off key” so why should this be different?

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Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTY: end will not come with parachutes dropping commies on Main Street

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

http://www.shtfblog.com/2007/11/28/wolverines/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_I4WgBfETc

***Begin Quote***

Could this ever get old?

***End Quote***

I particularly liked the one scene, not in the clip, about the soldier prying the hogleg from the dead fist under the bumper sticker “cold dead hand”.

Yes, it can get old!

And mostly because it misstates the problem. It misdirects us. An outside threat parachuting into Main Street is way way too easy. A blind man could recognize it.

(The movie only has the mayor cooperating — very ironic!)

No, I think we have remember the great American philosopher Pogo and his admonition: “We have met the enemy and they is us!”

It’s the American welfare queens — in business, the middle class, and the rich — who are the enemy. And the Quisling politicians who delude us into thinking that the gooferment can satisfy all our wants and desires if we just give them the “steering wheel”.

No, gentle reader, the end will not come with parachutes dropping commies on Main Street.

The end has come already!

It is here because gooferment education has turned us all into socialists. It won’t be foreign troops on Main Street. We saw it in NOLA during Katrina. It was our own troops, going door to door, taking guns in violation of the Second Amendment. Leaving people defenseless. But, the gooferment was “in control”. None dare oppose them. Not even WalMart could help people. Navy docs, without the right paperwork, were NOT allowed to treat people. Firefighters from around the country had to go to “sensitivity training” and directed to only hand out flyers with an 800 number. Police how ever were dropped in to “control” the population. That was the face of tyranny!

Are you prepared to shoot fellow Americans — dressed in American uniforms under the “american” flag — who violate your rights?

That’s what happened in the Revolutionary War. That’s what happened in the War of Northern Aggression. That’s what will happen in the Third American Revolution.

See it’s easy, when they wear the UN blue or speak a foreign language or have the “wrong” flag.

Some have looked to the gooferment to protect us from the big bad world out there, and in doing that have let vampires in the door. They suck our life’s blood — our energy, our self-reliance, our attention — and leave us hollow shells of our spiritual forefathers. They can no more protect us then they can allow us to be free.

My rx is always the same: end ALL the wars — foreign and domestic — terror, poverty, drug, whatever — bring the troops home; stop the dole — for people and companies; cut the gooferment back to strict constitutional size; pardon all the non-violent people in prison — restitution, not punishment; phase out “publik eddikation”; and return to honest money.

Ron Paul as President is a good start! Let’s get tough again. This is supposed to be the home of the brave

“Wolverines!”

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Posted by reinkefj

FUN: Nativity Scene

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

FROM LUDDITE’S WIFE, A QUITE RELIGIOUS WOMAN WITH A WICKED SENSE OF HUMOR

*** begin quote ***

Nativity Scene

There will be no Nativity Scene in the United State Congress this year
The Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a Nativity Scene
in the United States capital this Christmas season.

This isn’t for any religious reason, they simply have not been able to
find three wise men and a virgin in the Nation’s capitol.

There was no problem, however, finding enough asses to fill the stable.

*** end quote ***

All too true!

LOL

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Posted by reinkefj

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