Method to Their Grammar

Email scams.  We've all heard the warnings.

If it's a notice about "your account" and has a link in it, don't click on it.  It will lead you to a website that will steal your information or put a virus on your computer or give you dandruff or something.

Supposedly, if you look at these sites closely, you will find something wrong with them somewhere, though they try to be thorough so they can trick you, if they are after account information, into providing just that.

Then, there is the Nigeria scam.

Why Nigeria, and why with the bad spelling and grammar and obviously too-good-to-be-true offer?

Well, it seems that to fool most people into voluntarily parting with information, you have to be thorough and  at least look like the real thing on first glance.  The scammers who build a look alike site to Visa or some other reputable company are casting a wide net, trying to get as many people as possible to give them access to use for identity theft.  The more they get, the better.


The Nigeria scammers are doing the opposite.


By making it so very obvious that they are just out to trick you, their message actually does the weeding out for them.  Only the most gullible answer, thus assuring they spend less time having to figure out if you are a good mark.  It makes their job easier, and the few people who answer and pass the rest of their vetting process can be quickly wrangled out of huge amounts of money.  They were never after large numbers, it makes their job harder, not easier.


So the next time you delete one of those without a thought besides, "Yeah, right!" rest assured, you just proved you are smart enough not to be the intended target anyway.

Speaking of grammar, too, did you know that grammar can save your life?

Let's eat Grandma!

Let's eat, Grandma!

Happy Friday, all.



Today is

Cheyenne Frontier Days -- Frontier Park, Cheyenne, WY, US (through the 29th, annually since 1897, the world's largest outdoor rodeo)

Cleat Dancing Day -- don't ask me who started this, i don't want to know what kind of mind came up with trying to tap dance in cleats

Dia del Amigo -- Argentina; Uruguay

Fortune Cookie Day

Georgia Mountain Fair -- Hiawassee, GA, US (an authentic Pioneer Village with demonstrations, arts and crafts fairs, family fun; through the 29th)

Great Wellsville Balloon Rally -- Wellsville, NY, US (balloons galore, plus food, music, and fireworks; through the 22nd)

Independence Day -- Colombia(1810)

International Chess Day -- "Of Chess it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life, not Chess" ~ William Ewart Napier

Liberation Day -- Guam

Lieksa Brass Week -- Lieksa, Finland (the world's finest brass music in various styles by international class musicians; through the 29th)

Lindenfest -- Geisenheimer, Rhineland, Germany (through the 10th, a wine festival in the shade of a 600 year old linden tree)

Moon Day -- one small step...

National Hot Dog Day

National Ice Cream Soda Day

National Lollipop Day

Northwestern State University Folk Festival and the Louisiana State Fiddle Championship -- Prather Coliseum, NSU, Natchitoches, LA, US (through the tomorrow, only traditional Louisiana folk art and music are featured)

Peace and Freedom Day -- North Cyprus

Perun's Day -- Slavic Pagan Calendar (celebration of Perun, great god of thunder)

Sherwood Robin Hood Festival -- Sherwood, OR, US (through tomorrow; a Renaissance festival, includes an archery contest)

Special Olympics Day -- anniversary of the first Special Olympics in 1968

St. Elijah the Prophet's Day (Patron of Carmelites; Romanian Air Force; against drought, earthquakes) related observance;
     Festival at the Monastery of Profitis Ilias -- Santorini, Greece (Prophet Elijas' festival)

Saint Margaret of Antioch's Day (Patron of childbirth, dying peple, escape from devils, exiles, expectant mothers, falsely accused people, martyrs, nurses, peasants, people in exile, women, women in labor; for safe childbirth; against kidney disease, loss of mother's milk by nursing mothers, sterility; Lowestoft, Suffolk, England; Montefiascone, Italy; Queens College Cambridge; Rixtel, Netherlands; Sannat, Gozo, Malta)

St. Uncumber's Day (Patron of difficult marriages; against men's lust; Las Tablas, Panama)

Synoikia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate; a celebration of the unification of all Attica, held in Athens)

Thgir-yaw-Dnuor Day -- Fairy Calendar

Ugly Truck Day -- must be a guy thing, they know where every scratch and dent came from, after all!

Vigil for Peace, Justice, and Respect for the Human Rights of all in Columbia -- a movement open to all who seek peace

Yarmouth Clam Festival -- Yarmouth, ME, US (annual 3 day celebration of the gifts of the sea that are clams with 120,000 of your closest friends)


Birthdays Today

Gisele Bundchen, 1980
Chris Cornell, 1964
Billy Mays, 1958
Carlos Santana, 1947
Kim Carnes, 1946
Diana Rigg, 1938
Natalie Wood, 1938
Chuck Daly, 1933
Sir Edmund Hillary, 1919
Alberto Santos-Dumont, 1873
Gregor Mendel, 1822
Francesco Petrarch, 1304
Alexander the Great, BCE 356


Today in History

Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount; the Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots during the Siege of Jerusalem, 70
The Riot Act takes effect in Great Britain, 1712
French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan, 1738
Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain, 1810
British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada, 1871
Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford, North Dakota, 1881
Ford Motor Company ships its first car, 1903
Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson becomes the first woman to preside over the US House of Representatives, 1921
In London, 500,000 march against anti-Semitism, while in Nuremburg, Germany, 200 Jewish merchants are arrested and paraded through the streets, 1933
The Organization for European Economic Cooperation admits Spain, 1959
Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government, 1960
The Special Olympics is founded, 1968
Apollo 11 successfully lands on the Moon 3:39 a.m. GMT 21st July, 1969
India expels three reporters from The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and Newsweek because they refused to sign a pledge to abide by government censorship, 1975
The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars, 1976
Hank Aaron hits his 755th home run, the final home run of his career, 1976
In Zimbabwe, Parliament opens its new session and seats opposition members for the first time in a decade, 2000