Spam, why doesn't anyone retaliate?

Clearly we have all been victims of spam. And the only organization that I know that took the war against spam was lycos, by providing a tool (a screen saver) to attack the web sites of the spam senders. Thus rendering them useless. Strangely, there was a public out cry against Lycos saying what Lycos was doing is unethical. huh?????? and the billions of viagra and penis enlargement advertisements we get in our mail is ethical? WTF is wrong with people?

So here is one place I get spam from. Their URL keeps changing but the web site is the same. I will see if their IP number changes or is static. So lets start recording this. I will put a space in the URL so no one clicks it as a link.

museumjangmarque.info IP: 216.52.184.240
overnightincrement.com IP: 211.144.147.142

Equifax and Free Credit Reports

We have all heard about identity theft and various other crimes that can occur as a result of someone getting your financial information. Three organizations, TransUnion, Experion, and Equifax are the main credit reporting agencies. What this means is that they have information on you. Everything about you is with them. Anything you can do it? Well thats another discussion. What this also means is that they are the most likely source from which thieves will steal your information. And that too is another discussion.

To make sure that your credit is OK and that these three agencies have correct information on you and that strangers are not inquiring about your credit and that no one else is opening accounts (bank, credit card etc) in your name, you should check your credit reports. These three agencies have made billions of dollars selling your information to absolutely anyone who pays for it (including scam artists), and now they make even more by making you pay to see your own information.

However, now you are elligible to get one copy of your credit report from each agency once a year for free. Just go to www.annualcreditreport.com and request it.

So as a part of getting my free reports from each of the three agencies, I am sent to Experion's web site. These bastards (Experion) would make Saddam Hussain's efforts to steal money from his people seem tame. They give you the ability to print you credit report but none to save it. I thought I would be able to see my report as a PDF but noooooo!!!! But I am smart. I can save the HTML using my browser. Hehehehehe, the fuckers at Experion are smarter. They even went to the extent to disable all menus on IE so that you cannot save the contents. Why? They give you the option to view the credit report anytime you want if you sign up for their service. Which means $$$$. I have nothing against them making money. But I know this much, I am going to sue their ass if a hacker steals my information from their systems.

In fact I wonder why hackers don't do the ethical hack of stealing and releasing all private information about Experion Employees and large share holders. Now wouldn't that be a joy.

Anyway, if you need to save the Experion credit report on your drive (which you should), just select the entire content of the web page by right clicking, select all, then Copy and then paste into Word or any other editor. Then save to your disk.

The police....

The other night my friends and I are at a bar and one of the guys has a bit too much to drink. I actually had nothing to drink that night (weird but true). As we are leaving, my friend who had a lot to drink decided that he will sleep in his car rather than drive. A very wise decision. We walked him to his car and he promptly fell asleep.

The next day I called to check on him. Apparently 2 maybe 3 hours after we left, the cops see his car as the only one in the parking lot and come by to check. On seeing him asleep in the car they wake him up to ask how he is doing. He said he was ok, just a little drunk so decided to sleep in his car. The cops pointed out that his engine was running, to which he replied yes, because it was very hot and he had the AC on. Since the car was running they told him he was technically in violation of laws, i.e., driving intoxicated. huh??????

The cops asked him to step out of the car, did a breath test, determined he was above the legal limit. They then told him he could not go back into the car as he was under the influence. They nearly gave him a ticket, which makes absolutely no sense to me. So now people get penalized for doing the right thing? Does anyone train these cops in "common sense"?

They then go on to tell him that he cannot go back to his car and that he must take a taxi home. To which he replied that he had no cash to pay the taxi, but that his office was 2 blocks down the street and that he would go there and sleep. The cops responded with a "no you cannot do that". So they tell him where he can find an ATM (which was two blocks in the other direction...), then tell him that he must walk there, not run, as they were watching ... LOL ... this has to be a joke right? So he goes to the ATM, gets money, comes back to his car only to notice that the cops are gone. Of course he gets back into his car and goes off to sleep.

Between looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and cops who have nothing better to do I am convinced that my taxes are a colossal waste. Can we file for a refund based on the government's inability to do anythng right?