Yet Another Web Site

…or not.

A projected trajectory shows the asteroid, Apophis (named for the Egyptian god of death and darkness), will come very close to our planet in 2029, and have a chance of hitting Earth on its next pass in 2036.

…

Apollo 9 astronaut Russell L. Schweickart, an advocate of organizing to prepare for such threats, said new data put the odds of a strike at 1 in 38,000. That’s still enough, he said, to take the situation seriously.

Is there good news in this asteroid doomsday scenario? Yes and no. “Apophis, if it hits, will not contribute to global warning,” Tyson predicted. “It’ll just wipe out the entire West Coast of North America.”

In honor of this site getting over 20,000 comment spam attempts…

Since January 16, 2006, over 21,000 attempts to post comment spam to this site have been logged. That’s 1,000 spam comments since July 23, 2006.

(from the here we go again dept.)

Another one of these got past the spam filters…

Subject: Re..TRUST
From: shliochamber <barr_lawoffice @yahoo.co.uk>

ANDREW SHLIO ASSOCIATE & SOLICITOR
9TH FLOOR WISMA D
993 JALAN AMPAN 3737
KULALA LUMPUR
MALAYSIA

Dear Partner,

Not so fast, buddy

l am Andrew shlio,

Hi Andrew, did you know, on modern computers, l (lower case L) and I (uppwercase i) are different characters?

 an attorney at law.A deceased client of mine,who here

Andrew, as an attorney, I’m sure you’re aware it’s customary to put spaces after commas and periods.

 in after shall be referred to as my client, died as the result of a heart-related condition on the 11 November 2001. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the Gulf Air Flight Crashes in Persian Gulf Near Bahrain Aired August 23, 2000 - 2:50 p.m. ET as reported on:http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0008/23/bn.08.html

How sad, your client actually died of a broken heart. Boo hoo hoo.

I have contacted you to assist in distributing the money left behind by my client before it is confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this deposit valued at $19 million dollars is lodged. This bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, or the account will be confiscated.

Next of kin? It just gets sadder, your client is a long lost relative of mine.

My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as the next-of-kin and beneficiary of my named client, since you have the same last name, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you.

Oh, I see, your client merely has the same last name as I do. Funny, you at no time mention our common last name in your correspondence..

 Then we can share the amount on a mutually agreed-upon percentage.

OK — me 100%, you 0% — how about it?

All
legal
documents to back up your claim as my client’s next-of-kin will be provided.All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through.

So you want my honest cooperation in an obviously dishonest business venture with a complete stranger, <sarcasm> where do I sign up? </sarcasm>

This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from many breach of the law.

Gee, thanks, Andrew.

If this business proposition offends your moral values,do accept my apology.

No, I don’t accept your apology.

I must use this opportunity to implore you to exercise the utmost indulgence to keep this matter extraordinary confidential,

And I must use this opportunity to implore you to please drop dead.

 whatever
your
decision, while I await your prompt response.Please contact me at once to
indicate your interest.EMAIL:shliolawandpartner@yahoo.co.uk EMAIL:shliofirmandpartner@kittymail.com

Best regards,
Andrew shlio

This communication,links contained herein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient and may contain information that is confidential or legally protected. please treat Urgently

<sarcasm> Oh, I will… </sarcasm>

Andrew, why would an attorney from KULALA LUMPUR send an email from Germany? Also wouldn’t an attorney from Kuala Lumpur actually know how to spell Kuala Lumpur?

See also:

• I’m Rich!!!
• Here we go again…
• AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION
• I may already be a winner!

…on Titan!

MySpace returns after power outage

The popular social-networking site, which recently topped Yahoo Mail as the most-visited Web site in the United States, was disabled entirely as of 6:40 p.m. Pacific time Sunday.

The home page was replaced by a placeholder with a message from MySpace founder Tom Anderson, who said that the site was dealing with a power outage in its data center. He cited the time as 6:40 p.m. Pacific and estimated that MySpace would “hopefully” be back up within the hour. “Wanna place a bet?” Anderson quipped in the note.

As of about 6 a.m. Pacific on Monday, the site was back up.

I find these social networking sites rather useless and MySpace is probably the worst one of the bunch. For the record, I do actually have a MySpace page, which is useless and redundant, but it is at least readable.

(from the depressing milestone dept.)

Since January 16, 2006, over 20,000 attempts to post comment spam to this site have been logged. That’s 1,000 spam comments since July 18, 2006 and 10,000 since April 20, 2006. That’s more than 15 times the number of legitimate comments posted to this web site since June, 2001.

(via What’s new by Bob Park - Friday, July 21, 2006)

1. STEM CELLS: PRESIDENT BUSH CHOOSES SUPERSTITION OVER SCIENCE.

On Wednesday, Mr. Bush vetoed the “Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.” The first veto of his presidency was exercised to protect surplus embryonic stem cells in fertility clinics from research, thus preserving their “dignity” so they can be put out with the garbage. He did so on the grounds that using them in research would be “murder.” This is based on the ancient belief in a “vital life force,” or “soul,” which is said by some Christians to be assigned at conception. The first sign of differentiation in embryonic cells occurs in about 8 weeks. Jews, however, say that infants don’t get a soul until they draw their first breath. They cite Genesis: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” On the other hand, superstition may not be the best guide. Why not turn to science?

Why not?

(printed by fortune in one of my terminal windows today)

The Magician of the Ivory Tower brought his latest invention for the master programmer to examine. The magician wheeled a large black box into the master’s office while the master waited in silence.

“This is an integrated, distributed, general-purpose workstation,” began the magician, “ergonomically designed with a proprietary operating system, sixth generation languages, and multiple state of the art user interfaces. It took my assistants several hundred man years to construct. Is it not amazing?”

The master raised his eyebrows slightly. “It is indeed amazing,” he said.

“Corporate Headquarters has commanded,” continued the magician, “that everyone use this workstation as a platform for new programs. Do you agree to this?”

“Certainly,” replied the master, “I will have it transported to the data center immediately!” And the magician returned to his tower, well pleased.

Several days later, a novice wandered into the office of the master programmer and said, “I cannot find the listing for my new program. Do you know where it might be?”

“Yes,” replied the master, “the listings are stacked on the platform in the data center.”
— Geoffrey James, “The Tao of Programming”

Hello, GORRY-O!! I'm a GENIUS from HARVARD!!