Tag Archives: internet

Hilarious Spoof

I found this on the CIAC Hoaxbusters site. It’s a hilarious spoof of the lame-o sympathy chain-mail that every internet newbie forwards.

“I am a very sick boy little boy. My mother is typing this for me, because I can’t. She is crying. (Don’t cry, Mommy!) Mommy is always sad, but she says it’s not my fault. I asked her if it was God’s fault, but she didn’t answer, and only started crying harder, so I don’t ask her that anymore.”

“The reason she is so sad is that I’m so sick. I was born without a body. It doesn’t hurt, except when I go to sleep. The doctors gave me an artificial body. My body is a burlap bag filled with leaves. The doctors said that was the best they could do on account of us havin’ no money or insurance. I would like to have a body transplant, but we need more money.”

“Mommy doesn’t work because she said employers don’t hire crying people. I said, ‘Don’t cry, Mommy,’ and she hugged my burlap body. Mommy always gives me hugs, even though she’s allergic to burlap, and it chafes her real bad. I hope you will help me.”

“You can help me if you forward this e-mail. Dr. Van Nostrem from the clinic said if you foward this e-mail then Bill Gates will team up with AOL and do a survey with NASA. Then the astronauts will collect prayers from school children all over America and take them up to space so that the angels can hear them better. Then they will go to the Pope, and he will take up a collection in church and send the money to the doctors.”

“The doctors could help me get better then. Maybe one day I will be able to play baseball. Or maybe just use my lungs and heart, when the doctors make them. The doctors said that every time you forward this letter, the astronauts can take another prayer to the angels.”

“Please help me. Mommy is so sad, and I want a body. I don’t want my leaves to rot before I turn 10. If you don’t forward this e-mail, that’s OK. Mommy says you’re a mean heartless shithead who doesn’t care about a poor little boy with only a head. She says that, if you don’t stew in the raw pit of your own guilt-ridden stomach, she hopes you die a long slow horrible death so you can burn forever in the tar pits of hell. What kind of goddamned person are you that you can’t take five fucking minutes to forward this to all your friends so that they can feel guilt and shame for the rest of their day, and then maybe help a poor, bodiless nine-year-old boy?”

“Please help me. This really sucks. I try to be happy but it’s hard. I wish I had a puppy. I wish I could hold a puppy. One time I had a puppy but he ate my leaves.”

“Thank You.”

“The boy with just a head. And a burlap sack for a body.”

Now You See It…

…Now you don’t. I agree with the creators of this software. Thomas Jefferson said it well. (Paraphrased) Those who would give up freedom for security deserve neither.

Hackers Tackle Censorship With New Tool
By Kim Zetter

Camera/Shy encrypts messages into images, intended for political dissidents but useful for any secrets.

The steganography tool, to be released on Saturday at the H2K2 hacker convention in New York City, will let users hide encrypted text within any gif image placed on a Web page. But critics say the tool can also be used by criminals and terrorists to disguise communication or plans for illegal activity.

Take That, RIAA :P

THE INTERNET DEBACLE – AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW
by Janis Ian

When I research an article, I normally send 30 or so emails to friends and acquaintances asking for opinions and anecdotes. I usually receive 10-20 in reply. But not so on this subject! I sent 36 emails requesting opinions and facts on free music downloading from the Net. I stated that I planned to adopt the viewpoint of devil’s advocate: free Internet downloads are good for the music industry and its artists.

I’ve received, to date, over 300 replies, every single one from someone legitimately “in the music business.” What’s more interesting than the emails are the phone calls. I don’t know anyone at NARAS (home of the Grammy Awards), and I know Hilary Rosen (head of rhe Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA) only vaguely. Yet within 24 hours of sending my original email, I’d received two messages from Rosen and four from NARAS requesting that I call to “discuss the article.”

Spam Sucks

Ever wanted revenge against spammers? Well, now you might be able to get it. Check
these links out.

Wpoison Sets
Trap for Spam Weasel

by James Glave

Ron Guilmette is doing his part to help win what he describes as a technological arms race with spammers. The author of the forthcoming Deadbolt spam filter has released wpoison, a simple CGI script designed to trap and clog up the bots that traverse the Net gathering email addresses.

“It became obvious that spammers were using robots to scan Web pages [for email addresses], so I thought, let’s give ’em something to chew on,” said Guilmette.

Wpoison creates dynamically generated Web pages full of convincingly lifelike – but completely bogus – email addresses that spambots will pick up and add to their hitlists. But the page also contains randomly generated links that the bot inevitably follows – links that loop right back to the same page, now re-armed with a fresh set of random fake email addresses.

Caught in an endless loop, the bots “feed on [the addresses] until they are bloated and full,” said Guilmette.

WPoison Home Page