i
found your email somewhere and now decided to write you. let
me know if you do not mind. If you want I can send you some
pictures of me. i am a nice pretty girl. Don't reply to this
email. Email me direclty at…
~ ~
~ ~ ~
The
old expression was “garbage in, garbage out”… and it implied that
something without a brain, something mechanical, something man-made,
something designed to do only as it was told, would only be as
good as the instructions that it was given.
I’ve
always heard of it with reference to computers… and I do believe
that the thought remains true today… but I also believe I could
explore a few articles without a computer-operations-theme that
involved the concept.
Funny
thing though, because as simple as the idea is, there’s more to
it than the general idea of a crappy foundation delivering crappy
results. If we’re being honest, in general the rules of nature
favor the fools. Nothing is truly impossible… nor is anything
as safe as it may seem. Garbage does not necessarily result in
garbage.
Two
great quotes to ponder as we continue building our foundation…
“A
common mistake people make when trying to design something completely
foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.”
~ Douglas Adams
“I’m
simply saying that life… finds a way.” ~ Dr. Ian Malcolm (played
by Jeff Goldbloom in Jurassic Park)
And,
lastly on our checklist of introductory materials, take a few
moments to check out this article (link
not active). It reviews how Facebook had a situation where e-mails
were being sent to the wrong people.
I
would like you to consider that in the past year we’ve had floods
plague New England, and later Tennessee… a volcano effectively
crippled Europe… oil endangering the Gulf of Mexico (and beyond)…
and any number of earthquakes, dams breaking, and assorted disasters
of natural and manmade origins. The uniting idea in all of these
is simple… nothing is perfect, nor foolproof… life, nature, whatever
you want to call it, adapts or ignores or in some way just keeps
moving along.
About
twenty years ago, I may have been riding as the passenger
in my best friend’s car just outside of Syracuse, New York. And,
we may have been speeding. And, he might have
had a radar detector. (And, for any people reading this involved
with law enforcement, I may not have been the passenger in a speeding
car with a radar detector in Syracuse. And, I know I don’t
remember his name. (Hi Chris!))
I
asked my friend a question. Something about why the unit had multiple
settings and didn’t the police know what these things were designed
to pick up. His answer was simple. In summary… the police have
radar guns… companies make detectors to pick up what the guns
are doing… the police find out what the companies are doing and
order new guns that use something different that will not be picked
up by the detectors… companies make new detectors… lather, rinse,
repeat.
I
didn’t sit down today though to talk to you about air travel or
radar detectors… nature or Douglas Adams. Instead, my goal was
to talk to you about my computer and the excitement I’m having
with e-mails.
Yes.
E-mails. (Remember that quote way back up there before the title?)
A
few years ago it certainly seemed that everyone having anything
to do with computers promised you that they made the best pop-up
blocker in the world. And then what happened?
Without
covering everything that has taken place… some advertisers got
sneaky and began running video on web sites… others played the
radar detector game and just created an advanced pop-up, which
in turn created new blockers, which in turn created newer pop-ups,
which in turn… and, in the end, some web sites these days have
annoying features that are a royal pain in the tush.
It’s
reached the point that people don’t even care about pop-up blockers.
Not really.
And
I tell you all of that, to tell you this…
I
kind of understand why people click on e-mails from sources they
should never, ever trust.
Let’s
go back to that e-mail I showed you earlier…
i
found your email somewhere and now decided to write you. let
me know if you do not mind. If you want I can send you some
pictures of me. i am a nice pretty girl. Don't reply to this
email. Email me direclty at…
I
mean… come on… seriously? Is there really someone so dumb that
they fell for this one? “I found your email somewhere…” from a
nice, pretty girl?
Now,
let’s forget that the thing hit my junk mail as being from someone
named Irving, and yet that address she says I should use directly
was for a Bethany. We don’t need to go there. (We also don’t need
to wonder if Bethany is or isn’t a girl.) Look at the rest of
the e-mail.
There
is no link noted. Just asks for a response if I “do not mind”
hearing from her. What’s the harm in that one? Right? Just break
off a quick little conversation starter and… oops… getting carried
away by a nice, pretty girl offering me some pictures. How did
that happen?
Well…
the reality of it is simple… these sleezeballs upgraded their
radar detectors.
See…
at first it was e-mails from overseas. You remember… those ones
that came from someone in a foreign country that was a prince
and needed $1,000 from you in order to regain a fortune. The types
of things that made no sense at all and shouldn’t be trusted.
That
turned into the click here messages with links. And again… if
you don’t know, don’t open was an easy enough motto to get past
them.
Occasionally
I would find ones like that I have quoted, some girl trying to
fake a sense of familiarity by saying she already had my e-mail
address from some place and was therefore someone making contact.
Again. Right?
(Can’t
you just see two teenagers in a foreign country with a limited
grasp of English. “Oh, oh, tell him you are a girl. Wait, wait,
a pretty girl.” And then they laugh hysterically. Like two kids
that just got an elderly woman to admit her refrigerator was running.)
Now
check one that I’ve received in recent weeks…
Dear
taxpayer,
The
Federal income tax is a progressive tax, meaning that the more
you earn, the higher your tax rate. Your tax rate depends not
just upon your taxable income, but also upon your filing status
(single, married filing jointly, etc.).
You're
in a higher tax bracket because: your annual income for the
last tax year has increased.
Please
review your annual tax report immediately at: click here
Hey…
sure it should be addressed by name… and sure it stops you as
you read while creating questions… and sure we can debate whether
a single word in it makes sense. But in a shotgun approach, maybe
there is someone that got this e-mail, made more money in the
past year, and decided that this is a bit more realistic than
some girl from Europe or Asia that wants to send some pictures
after finding an e-mail address in her treasured possessions.
Hold
on though. Check this one out…
Dear
Facebook user,
Due
to Facebook policy changes, all Facebook users must submit a
new, updated account agreement, regardless of their original
account start date.
Accounts
that do not submit the updated account agreement by the deadline
will have restricted.
Please
unzip the attached file and run “agreement.exe” by double-clicking
it.
Thanks,
The
Facebook Team
Like
many people, I happen to have a couple of e-mail addresses. And,
as a general practice, the one this Facebook message arrived at
was one of the ones I wouldn’t use for signing up for a Facebook
account. But there’s something else that immediately didn’t ring
true on this one for me… see, at the time it was sent I didn’t
have a Facebook account.
But
what if I was a Facebook user at the time? There are now 500,000,000-plus
Facebook accounts. Let’s keep in mind that not all of the people
in the world are on the internet or have e-mail. Credit where
credit is due… meant as a cliché and not to truly give
a lot of credit… this one is closing in on hitting a target.
And
let’s overlook the stupid “…will have restricted…” phrase that
makes no sense when it just dead ends there. Instead… chances
are really good that if a person has an e-mail account, then they
use the internet, and they have a Facebook account. And the invitation
just says they are updating their rules and want you to agree
to them. Pretty crafty.
Another
one I supposedly got from Facebook asked me to open the attached
file to retrieve a new password for my account. It was being sent
to assist with a security issue they were taking safety measures
in combating.
Once
again… much better than trying to get me to send $1,000 off to
someone from another country that I’ve never met.
And
I’ve gotten dozens of e-mails about packages that weren’t delivered.
(Seems the recipient’s address was wrong. Of all the dumb mistakes
for me to make. Now that package is late.) I keep telling my wife
about all of these young Czechoslovakian girls that want to be
my friend.
But
as the stupid traps fall off to the side, it seems like those
that would take advantage of us are becoming better and better
at it.
So
hold on folks. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.
And if it smells like garbage, it might be wise to treat it as
such.