CON PROMISES SLICK INHERITANCE

LONDON (Reuters) - A pharmacy in Scotland is suffering from a bad case of mistaken identity after it was used as the front for a Nigerian sting con.

Unsuspecting victims from around the world are descending on the chemists shop in Thurso, Caithness, believing it to be a bank they were duped into paying thousands of pounds.

How can there possibly be people with thousands of disposable dollars who are so stupid they can fall for this highly publicized con? It's OOOOOOLLLLLLLDDDDDDD! It's documented up the freaking wazzoo. It's been on every news channel, every news magazine, in every paper. Hell, they joked about it on Malcolm in the Middle this week!

Each was told they would inherit an oil company in return for an upfront fee to be paid into an account at the Continental Trust Bank -- but the bank does not exist and the address given was that of Sutherland's the chemists.

Even if nobody had ever warned anybody about it, how many synapses have to fire before you realize that this is bogus? You will inherit an oil company if you pay an upfront fee? What? And where is this bridge you're selling me?

Arlen Hughes, from Wyoming in the United States, was told he would inherit $41 million (23 million pounds) if he paid $57,000 up front.

"I received a call from a fella in Nigeria saying that I had inherited an oil company," he told Today. "They were very professional."

"I found a registered number in Scotland and so the researches I had found led me to believe they were on the uppity up."

Sure, Arlen. Blinded by greed and posessed of startling stupidity. But they had a registered number! Um...yeah. So based on the fact that they had a phone he gave them $57,000. Jackass moron asshat.

Please, please, please, do not waste even a single penny of taxpayer money on this crap. Let the greedy morons pay and keep paying for their stupidity. Consider them a suplement on foreign aid to Africa just like the Lottery is a special tax on people who are bad at math.

Posted by: Jim at 07:47 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Virginia Arrests Man for Spam Email Under New Law

DULLES, Va. (Reuters) - Virginia authorities said on Thursday they had arrested and charged a North Carolina man for sending "spam" e-mail in the first use of a new state law that could bring penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

20 Years? Wow!

At least he'll be very popular with his huge penis, unlimited supply of viagra and hordes of barely legal girls.

(Inspired by Art Marion)

Posted by: Jim at 06:39 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Bruce Simpson is an engineer and a tinkerer, as well as the editor of The Aardvark Daily, New Zealands longest-running daily tech-news and commentary website. He also loves doing things that are viewed as impossible. Stuff like building a $5000 cruise missile.

The DIY Cruise Missile project was going splendidly. Thousands of people followed the progress of the missile on Bruce's Interesting Projects site. (Incidentally, that's the site to check out if you want to build your own rocket powered gokart or jet engine.) Bruce was getting his parts off of the internet and had even licensed an American company to manufacture his X-Jet engine.

Now the New Zealand Government has aparently squashed the project. They've bankrupted Bruce and nixed the engine deal to the US. This is despite receiving government permission to export the same technology to Iran and Iran sure does want it.

So why did the Inland Revenue Department kill his jet engine tech sale and bankrupt him? Bruce claims that the NZ government was responding to pressure from the American government over his cruise missile project. "The New Zealand government at first said I had done nothing illegal. But then a US official was quoted as saying it was 'extremely unhelpful'."

All is not lost though as Bruce has seemingly proved his original point "that by using off-the-shelf technology in a suburban garage a terrorist can create a weapon against which there is no effective defence."

(Tuned on to this by Dopple-G)

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If you are as pissed off about this as I am you should let Dennis know about it. I did:

I'm about as openminded as a person can get without being indecisive. I try to give time and thought to every position before forming a decisive opinion on it. With this attitude I just watched the new animated 2004 election piece at http://www.kucinich.us/dk.html.

It is abhorrent. It is an absolute travesty of decency and respect. The only message it gives is that Dennis Kucinich is driven by hatred irrespective of the issues at hand. I can forgive many things in a candidate but hatred is not one of them. Hatred is unpredictable and unstable. It will always be a reason to vote against a candidate, never a reason to vote for one.

I'm unfamiliar with the legality behind this propaganda piece but I sincerely hope that the families of each and every one of the fallen that you used in this abomination seek and find recompense against your reprehensible use of their names, images and lives.

Posted by: Jim at 10:11 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Keep the Sex R-Rated, N.Y.U. Tells Film Students

In October, a film student at New York University pitched an idea for her video-making class: a four-minute portrayal of the contrast between unbridled human lust and banal everyday behavior.

Sounds like a fair project to me. Washing dishes and bumping uglies. Wouldn't do well on the porn circuit but this is an "art" project so go for it. more...

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Things are looking up for the Cowboys.

Watch the clip and see if you can tell what is very, very wrong for a broadcast channel to have in a news report. If you don't see it, check in the extended entry for a hint.

(Still more from Dopple-G. Is that guy great, or what?) more...

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122 years after shootout, attorney to gather information for a pardon

Wasn't there something about "speedy" on the books somewhere?

THE GOVERNORÂ’S office said RobinsÂ’ primary task will be to gather and assess evidence during a renewed investigation into the circumstances of Billy the KidÂ’s violent life and death, to determine whether the Kid (a.k.a. William H. Bonney, Henry McCarty or Kid Antrim) merits a pardon.

A pardon? The guy's been dead for 122 years. What's the point?

Even though all sides in the Billy the Kid brouhaha say theyÂ’re using pro bono services rather than public funds, critics have wondered why public officials are spending such time and attention on a 122-year-old case.

Hey, I just said that!

Looking beyond the question of frontier justice, those officials usually point out that the Old West legends — and the tourists attracted by such legends — are big business for New Mexico. And they say that makes looking for the truth worth the trouble.

Ah! Tourism dollars. That explains it. In that case, look for Billy to get his pardon as it will change him from a romanticized outlaw into a wrongfully slain romantic hero and that's worth more money.

(Hat tip to Lovely Wife)

Posted by: Jim at 09:14 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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