Subject: stevep , got a few minutes?
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 02 14:55:56 India Standard Time
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2462.0000
Sender: george@[203.208.16.222]

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My new Handspring Visor Edge arrived today. See a picture here (mine looks much more metallic, however).

Overheard in email: “Couldn’t drum up the necessary action to tip a cow.”

Hey, if you really like spam, you can listen to it being read by a computer voice, on top of nice ambient music, at www.spamradio.com.

Another update from my horrific phone survey experience (Feb 17) - got an email today letting me know that “this particular interviewer has
been let go, effective immediately.”

Another scary picture: yikes!

Fast Company has posted some articles about blogging and blogs, the most relevant being this one which reviews the history and genesis of weblogs.

On Feb 17 (hey, if I was really cool I could link to the original story here but I dunno how to do that) I posted about a strange market research survey experience. Here’s the letter I received today from the ABC7 in SF, the sponsoring company or so I surmised.

Mr. Portigal-

Ellen Conlan
Marketing Research Director
KGO-TV
900 Front St.
San Francisco, CA 94111
415 954 7704
ellen.conlan@abc.com

Today’s interesting spam is not something I will share the details of, suffice to say that it is for the Kegelmaster 2000.

Folks, I don’t make this stuff up.

I got an equally strange apology from Shelley Lowery explaing that her AESOP sent the email out without her permission. Uhhh, what?

I got this strangely targeted spam today:

For FreshMeat:
Hi Steve,

Here’s an article I wrote that I think might work well in your
newsletter.

Please let me know if you decide to use it.

Shelley

Shelley Lowery
http://www.web-source.net/cgi-bin/t.cgi?l=bl1

>>>>
New Meta Tag Driving Targeted Traffic to Websites

The “Sales” classification signifies that the purpose of a web
page is to sell a product or service. This includes any web
page that plays a role in the sales process or leads to a sales
page. This classification will provide those selling a product or
service with highly targeted traffic, as the search results will
display a sales icon. This icon will immediately let the user
know that this particular page is selling a product or service.
If they’re in the market to buy, they’ll click through.

[snipped because who wants to read the rest of the thing?]

Anyway, here’s my reply. We’ll see what happens!

Thanks for your article Shelley. You obviously have taken a good look at FreshMeat, because you’ve hit right on the core of what I’m communicating to my readers.

Thanks again,
Steve Portigal

And yeah, I’m being sarcastic. FreshMeat is so completely unrelated it’s barely even funny. Check it out.

Here’s an event I won’t be attending:

A new men’s group is forming and the facilitator will be Saul Cohn, M.A. in
Sociology, who is also New Bridges participant. Come and join other Jewish
Men, 30 years of age or older, at their first meeting on Sunday Jan 13th at
6-8 p.m. in Cupertino. They will be discussing men’s issues, specifically
our relationships with other men women including our fathers, friends, sons,
and our male mentors and villians. We will be thinking about issues of male
competitiveness, dominance, and the warrior psyche in general in a relaxed
atmosphere free from the judgments of women(mothers, girlfriends, lovers).
No prior experience in men’s studies is needed only a desire to work on
yourselves, so you can make yourself and other men in the Jewish community
stronger. What better experience than the 30 years of maleness we have
lived? RSVP Saul at 408-xxx-6xx9.

Reminds me that a few weeks ago I went to a demolition sale, and saw their outbuilding, complete with faded posters on the wall from some male encouter session where they assigned themselves their various scores of “Knight” “King” “Jester” and “Goddess” - I’m really curious what particular flavor of male growth that comes from…

An important tort lesson from law school that deals with Polkaroo.

I don’t even know what to call this phenomenon: when you see a movie marquee and the titles (or portions of titles) create their own phrase?

Saw a great one the other night:

LORD
WE WERE
MONSTERS

If someone finds a website devoted to these, please email me (steve@portigal.com)

I wonder how well this works. It’s some experimental technology that creates new video footage extrapolated from existing footage. People say things they didn’t say.

I saw a sign for this product hanging from an overpass along highway 101. The name of the product is Vitabetes. Hello?

What’s next? Nutriphillis? Healthrax?

Today I was in a hip San Francisco Starbucks (in Portrero Hill or thereabouts) and someone’s cell phone rang. It played “Blister in the Sun” by the Violent Femmes as its ring tone.

I think this was my Don Henley moment, “saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac”

Stop me before I sub-reference again!

Below is a spam message I got today. But also check out this (lengthy) site about some people who decided to mess with the perpetrator of a similar scam.

Subject: Assistance proposal
To: e_c_o2002@yahoo.fr

l to want request for your help,
my father was a limited liability cocoa and gold
marchant in Libreville Gabon before his untimely
death. After his business trip to Gambia were he went
to negotiate on a cocoa and Gold business he wanted
to invest in Banjul-Gambia. A week after he came back
from Gambia , he was attacked with my mother by
unknown assassins, my mother died instantly but my
died after ten days in a private hospital on that
faithful afternoon .I did not know that my farther was
going to leave me after l lost my mother. But before
he gave the ghost, he disclosed to me that he
deposited the sum of $18,300,000,00 US Dollars
(EIGHTEEN MILLION THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) in a
security company here in Gambia. That the money was
meant for his cocoa and Gold company he wanted to
establish in Banjul though, according to my father he
deposited the money in trunk box and declared it as
vital
family belongings. He single handed me the key of the
box and the deposit certificate and instructed me to
seek for a reliable and trust worthy business partner
for my life time investment abroad. Now I have
succeeded in locating the security company here in
Gambia and also confirmed the items with most honest
and intigth.my problem now is to look get somebody who
will help me lift this money from Africa for
investment,your percentage will be discoise as l hear
from your.
your faithfully
Benson Ugo

Self-identifying/self-fulfilling prophecy

From Yahoo! News:

C-Murder Indicted For Murder

Story here.