My latest project: A blogged novel composed of Spam-n-Scam messages

Your input is welcome! If you have ideas for this terrible novel, let me know!

Terry Sutton was having a bad day at the Phishing Institute. His partnership scam was not going over at all well. He glanced over at his colleagues Marilou Kenya, Bethany Norris and Edith Corbett, tapping away relentlessly on their own keyboards and thought: "This is all that damned Jennifer Johnson's fault." If Johnson's "we're hiring" and "work at home position" schemes were not doing so well with the Marks, his own sloppy performance would not look NEARLY so bad. And now, this. That idiot Callisto Quinn was showing off his ability in Russian! Who even knows what Quinn was saying? He could be selling his sister online for all anyone American could tell. I mean, just look at this!

Доброго времени суток, Дамы и Господа!

Есть замечательная подборка видео:

"АФЕРЫ, МОШЕННИКИ, КРУПНЫЕ ОГРАБЛЕНИЯ"
42 фильма

Все эти фильмы о крупных ограбениях, громадных аферах,
махинациях, про ограбления крупных банков, ювелирных
магазинов, сейфов и т.д. Основанные на реальных событиях
в том числе (например, Ограбление на Бейкер-Стрит).
В коллекцию вошли самые лучшие фильмы данной тематики:
11 друзей Оушена, Афера, Ограбление по-итальянски 2003
ремейки на некоторые фильмы и документальный фильм
производства России про русских мошенников, в том числе
и про интернет мошенничества. Очень интересные сюжеты.


Стоимость этой ЧУДО-коллекции - 4111 рублей


Для заказа пришлите на aferiscda@video-shops.ru
ФИО полностью и точный адрес проживания с индексом.
Отправляется наложенным платежом по почте России.

Каждый диск в боксах, с полиграфией. Наши коллекции можно ДАРИТЬ!

Оплачивать при получении на почте России,
На всякий случай укажите, пожалуйста, Ваш телефон для связи.

Наши гарантии: Все диски проверяются на брак.
То есть отправка бракованных и пустых dvd невозможна.
С качеством все отлично. в норме.
Каждый диск в боксах с полиграфией.
прилагается информация о записи к каждому DVD.

Отправляется наложенным платежом.
Через 1-2 недели Вам придет извещение о поступлении
ценной бандероли. На извещении будет цена, адрес почты,
С этим извещением нужно прийти в это отделение почты.
там Вам найдут бандероль с коллекцией.
далее Вы оплачиваете в кассе и получаете.

Список материалов:

1. 11 друзей Оушена
2. 11 друзей Оушена 1960
3. 12 друзей Оушена
4. 13 друзей Оушена
5. 21
6. Афера 1973
7. Афера 2
8. Афера века
9. Афера Стивена Гласса
10. Афера Томаса Крауна
11. Аферист
12. Безупречный план
13. Бесшабашное ограбление
14. Большое ограбление поезда
15. Бонни и Клайд
16. Братья Ньютон
17. Бумажная луна (Гениальные аферисты)
18. Великолепная афера
19. Выпускной
20. Гудзонский ястреб
21. Дело об ограблении банка
22. Денежный поезд
23. Игры джентльменов
24. Идеальное ограбление
25. Как ограбить банк
26. Лазейка
27. Медвежатник (Ограбление) (Счет)
28. Мелкие мошенники
29. Мошенники 2010 док. Фильм
30. Наблюдатель (Обман)
31. Настоящая Маккой
32. Ограбление
33. Ограбление Бринкса
34. Ограбление на Бейкер-Стрит
35. Ограбление по-итальянски 2003
36. Отпетые мошенники 1988
37. Охота за бриллиантами
38. Поймай меня, если сможешь
39. Работа по-итальянски 1969
40. Хаос
41. Хватай деньги и беги
42. Шальные деньги

Turning next to his sole male colleague, James Hopkins -- who manages a fake UK Lottery win con-game -- Terry gasped: "Have I just got the worst scam of anyone here? How do you do it, anyway?"

"Just playing up to people's greed, old chap," replied Hopkins with a wink. He was just the kind of scoundrel who used to bilk old widows out of their inherited fortunes. "You have to offer the mark the right incentive. You might not catch many, but even one-in-a-thousand is pretty good when all is said and done."

Anne visits 10 Downing Street

"I thought I could help them sort out their silly Hung Parliament," says delighted political scribe. "Seriously. What could be so difficult, eh?" Added the unabashed Ms. Garber, who has advised Canadian government officials at every level...for decades. "I was just happy to have been asked," she confessed.

The PM extant was actually IN, as it happens.

After all the fall-out, follderol and flap of the British election a couple of days ago, matters were still not decided to anyone's satisfaction. Crowds milled about at the entrance to Downing Street, and I thought "nothing ventured, nothing gained," so I approached the guards and asked what kind of press accreditation would get us in. "Fraid not, mum," was the reply, more or less. But when the guards saw that John wouldn't come over to the gate, one of them asked me if it would "greatly annoy" my husband if they were to let me in, and I readily agreed it would. So in we went! The picture -- with the door-guard (not my New Best Friend who let me in) shows me about to use the door-knocker to announce my visit. As I left, I was surrounded by people wanting to know how I had gained access, and I simply had to say: "Oh, I'm an accredited journalist with a press card" in order to shake them off.

In closing: "Woo-hoo!"

Survey for Lovers of Vancouver, BC

I almost forgot to mention a new wrinkle on evalu8.org...we now have our first survey on the home page (right in the middle). It's kind of an experiment. The point of this survey is to find out who the really big fans of visiting Vancouver might be. Please participate! we're not really sure where this will go, but we will share the results. Go to www.evalu8.org -- home page -- to vote.

April in Paris

It's another glorious day in the City of Light, so I must be brief and get out into the street to soak up more atmosphere, n'est-ce pas?. Poor John is in the grip of a grippe and must stay in bed. We are due to join a tour of "Ghosts of Paris" this evening, so either he will be well enough to go by then, or we will have to rebook.

I have been obsessed with finding miniatures and craft shops in Paris, and have so far come up with quite a few, but anyone who knows of heretofore undiscovered ones, please let me know.

Here's a preliminary list:

Dentelles et Ribambelles
www.dentelles-et-ribambelles.com
(Montmartre)
6, Rue Trois Frères
75018 Paris, France
(+33) 01 42 54 20 72
Specializes in miniature musical instruments

Emmaflam & Miniman
http://www.emmaflam-miniman.com/
The most amazingly lifelike cakes, cookies and accoutrements. HOW do they get that convincing texture on their madeleines, for example?

EOL International Hobby
3 r Louvre 75001 PARIS
(+33) 01 43 54 01 43
fax : .01 43 54 90 58

L'ile Flottante
29 rue des deux ponts
Paris 75004
www.lileflottant.com
chocolates, miniatures -- the best in Paris, actually

Nation miniatures
(+33) 01 40 01 08 09
6 Rue Fabre d'Eglantine
75012 Paris, France

Pain d'épice
www.paindepices.fr
29, Passage Jouffroy
75009 Paris, France
(+33) 01 47 70 08 68
Specializes in dollhouse furniture, electrical items, plumbing and décor items. When you ask about miniatures, almost everyone mentions Pain d'épice.

And I recently found a few miniatures -- actually more of the scrapbooking kind -- at Le Bonheur des Dames. I will add more info when I have downloaded my photos. This place -- on rue Desmesnil under the arches of the old aquaduct -- mainly has a wonderful collection of ribbon and supplies for embroidery.

City destroys harmless trees!

Okay, one more complaint and then I'll try to move along to kudos...

Last month's tempete in Vancouver, knocked down quite a few trees, notably the one pictured here, which fell across East 12th Avenue. Fortunately, no one was hurt -- and because the tree landed on another tree across the street, even the house shown in the background was spared damage.

But -- upon inspection a couple of days later -- it turns out that the City of Vancouver took the opportunity to cut down two OTHER trees. Apparently, they used the excuse that these trees also represented a threat (even though they did not), but the real reason is that these trees have all ended up being "too close" to the street, so they have been a thorn in the side of City Engineering for ages.

It seems to me that if we have a city law in place to "protect" trees, the law should apply to ALL trees, and not just the ones that do not "insult the sensibilities" of city workers, n'est-ce pas? Especially when we lose trees in Stanley Park and wring our collective hands over the loss. Shame on the City of Vancouver! (And Gregor Robertson is supposed to be such a tree-hugger, too!)

Canada Post offence

Offering no apology when you inconvenience your customers is the same as pretending you didn't do anything wrong in the first place.

In order to expedite a letter's delivery to our recipient, we have learned that the fastest method is to drive all the way into downtown Vancouver and drop the letter right into the mailbox in front of Canada Post's main building on Georgia Street. During the winter games, we were greeted by this annoying sign affixed over the mail slot. No apology.

And to add insult to injury, the powers that be at Canada Post had the nerve to start out with "For your convenience..."

How convenient COULD it be, when the post office is closed?

I rest my case. Gr-r-r-r!

Another consumer-fueled reason to be annoyed at Loblaws

OK, so I'm in Toronto to visit and help my 93-year-old parents, and I can't say that the majority of Torontonians is any nicer than during my last visit four months ago. True, the occasional person says "Thank you" or offers a smile, but typically I figure most are just too pissed off about having to live in what I USED to call "Tee-Zero," but now that they have reinvented themselves as the "GTA" I have refer to them as "BFD." If you get my drift.

The closest supermarket to where I'm staying is known to the cognoscenti as "Blob-blaws" and that store's management has become weaker and weaker lately. This evening I decided to work in my health-motivated walk and kill two birds with one stone by picking up a few groceries. I was on a very short time-line, because I didn't want to miss too much of the hockey game.

Of the six items I wanted to buy, two were difficult to locate in the store. After being misdirected twice (by well-meaning but "new here" employees), a third spotted the manager -- David -- so I trotted up to ask him where I might find a coffee mug. He didn't even answer me, just shook his head to indicate "NO." I repeated my question in case he hadn't heard me. "No coffee cups or mugs AT ALL?" THIS time, he didn't even look up, just shook his head again. I tried again: "You don't even have any travel mugs for coffee?" Same treatment. So off I went to where I THOUGHT there should be coffee mugs -- and found them ($4.98) -- and then I remembered the other missing item. Back to David, where I asked him where I would find the horseradish mayo. "We don't have that. I've never even HEARD of it," he said in an accusing tone. I was dumbfounded: "But it's a PC brand. It's your HOUSE brand!" Back he went to the head-shaking. Fed up, I said: "Well, that's unbelievable. But just in case anyone ELSE asks you, I found the coffee mugs without your help!" And I showed it to him.

If this guy is the manager, I mean, aren't they TRYING to sell product? This is the "Forest Hill Market" branch of Loblaws, so it's hard to believe they don't have the full product lines one expects in a store on the edge of one of the wealthiest areas in Toronto! And PS, I have purchased PC horseradish mayo at this particular store on several occasions.

So, Manager David, I suggest you freshen up your resumé, as you are bound to be job-hunting soon (at least as soon as the Weston folks discover how poorly you are doing your job, and how dreadfully you are treating your customers). And PPS: I was so annoyed that I walked out without buying anything. I think I'll try Sobey's instead, even though it means getting into my car and driving there! Bah!