I received spam from the John Kerry campaign today. How do I know it's spam? Well, I'm a Republican (so I didn't sign up for it), the email was sent to an address known only to myself and Cox Communications (who's known for selling email addresses), and it was sent through a cable modem in the U.K. So I dig a little further. Hmm, the address the spam points to doesn't look quite right: http://testhost.yahoogoogle.biz/JohnKerry/contribute.html. YahooGoogle? That's not right. Let's have a look at the Whois records:

Domain Name:               YAHOOGOOGLE.BIZ
Domain ID:                 D7354044-BIZ
Sponsoring Registrar:      ENOM, INC.
Domain Status:             ok
Registrant ID:             E45EA0AD02FAFFF8
Registrant Name:           Nilesh Kothari
Registrant Organization:   Web Hosting Solution
Registrant Address1:       Tonk Phatak
Registrant City:           Jaipur
Registrant Postal Code:    302015
Registrant Country:        India
Registrant Country Code:   IN
Registrant Email:          **********@rediffmail.com
Name Server:               NS1.FASTMAILER.BIZ
Name Server:               NS2.FASTMAILER.BIZ
Created by Registrar:      ENOM, INC.
Last Updated by Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Domain Registration Date:  Tue Jul 13 07:39:16 GMT+00:00 2004
Domain Expiration Date:    Tue Jul 12 23:59:59 GMT+00:00 2005
Domain Last Updated Date:  Tue Jul 13 08:05:25 GMT+00:00 2004

Return-Path: 
Received: from Johnkerrys.com ([82.37.149.135]) by fed1rmmtai09.cox.net
          (InterMail vM.6.01.03.02.01 201-2131-111-104-103-20040709)
          with SMTP
          id <20040731170730.DFMR29863.fed1rmmtai09.cox.net@Johnkerrys.com>
          for <********@cox.net>; Sat, 31 Jul 2004 13:07:30 -0400
From: 
To: <********@cox.net>
Subject:  President John Kerry: Online Contribution and Voting. Voting Id: **********
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 12:11:36 -0500
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Message-Id: <20040731170730.DFMR29863.fed1rmmtai09.cox.net@Johnkerrys.com>

This is nothing more than a scam, possible a phishing attempt. As much as I hate to admit this, Kerry had nothing to do with this. I suspect we'll see something similar during the RNC convention next month.

Listen up you Lusers. Today is System Administrator Appreciation Day. It's the day you buy us pizza and beer and try really, really hard not to be annoying. I know its hard, but just give it a try. In exchange, we'll stop reading your email and we'll consider not reporting your REAL earnings to the IRS. Just for today though. Now go and be nice to your Sysadmin before I LART you.

I worked for Software ETC about fifteen years ago. Back then they carried a health mix of software, accessories, books and magazines. By healthy I mean we had home, business, and entertainment software for PCs, Macs, and Amigas. It was your typical mall store: slow during the week but frantic on the weekends. I was talking to a friend today about computer horror stories and remember one incident in particular. I gentleman entered the store one evening wishing to return his copy of WordPerfect for DOS. Back then WordPerfect listed for $499 but sold for $249 and software could be returned regardless of condition. I asked if he had trouble with the software; perhaps I can save this sale. Well, it turned out he didn't realize the software required a computer. Heck, he didn't even realize the the "WordPerfect Word Processor" was software. Sure, laugh now, but back then "word processors" were electronic typewriters so it was easy for a newbie to make that mistake.

My point? None. Just posting a memory.

What do you get when you mix Lawyers, a DA, a newspaper Editor, prominent business owners, a former school board member, city employees, teachers, a school counselor and a massage parlor called "The Healing Touch"? Why the funniest thing to come to West Texas since Ross Perot. Seems seven women and 67 men have been busted in neighboring Odessa as suspects in a yearlong prositution investigation.

Now, if this were any other city you'd hear outrage from City Hall, but this is Odessa, and those involved include some in the highest levels of what can laughingly be referred to as "Odessa Society". Enter the Major:

The city’s thoughts and prayers are with those suspects... It’s not our place to sit in judgment of these people.

Odessa Mayor Larry Melton

I guess it's true what they say: the only difference between a politician and a prostitute is their orientation when they're working. Thank god W's from Midland.

7/29/04 Update: One of the lawyers arrested flew a prostitute in from Dallas, put her up at the local "4 star" hotel, and set up "dates" for her. His law-firm set up the travel arrangements. Frankly, the most surprising part is that Odessa has a 4 star hotel.

What will the cool kids be packing when they head back to school in the fall? Why Dell and Gateway of course. The new hotness on campus is to drag around two laptops, that is if we're to believe the images on the two companies websites. Apparently, their webmonkeys own the same stock photography CD. You can view the Dell version or the Gateway version on their sites, but go quickly before their marketing departments react.

Most remarkable is that the IFC is build on land reclaimed from the harbour. Everything in blue is new since I left Hong Kong in 1987. Reclaimed land is nothing new for Hong Kong, but it's amazing to see such an enormous structure perched atop land that isn't old enough to vote.

Update: Two IFC, there is a smaller building in the complex, is 1,342 feet tall and has 90 floors.

In the wake of my recent experience with AT&T comes the news that AT&T is Exiting Consumer Long Distance Markets. They claim they will continue to support current customers, if you can call what they do "support".

In a statement earlier this month, the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church voted to begin a selective divestment in companies doing business in Israel.

eWeek's "Opposition grows to paperless voting" is a good 50,000 foot overview of the problems associated with Direct Recording Election (DRE), or paperless, voting machines. By forcing the country to switch to DRE machines, Congress has opened the door to un-verifiable elections without the possibility of a recount. Recounts aren't a product of the 2000 election; they've been around since the beginning. They're the only way we know for certain that the process of free elections works.

AT&T is my local and long distance carrier. They're certainly not the same company I started using nearly 15 years ago, but they're a damn sight better than Southwestern Bell. Well, maybe not any more.

I noticed a couple of months ago that AT&T had started processing checks as electronic drafts. I'd write a check and mail it in, they'd process it electronically and then destroy the check. All perfectly legal thanks to a Bank System Modernization bill signed a couple of years ago. The problem is AT&T never told its customers that they were switching to this new system, I know because I've checked my last six bills. Zip, zero, nada.

Their website usually contains a pretty good selection of billing-related questions and answers, so I went online to find an answer. No luck. I'd had pretty good luck with their email support in the past so I used their online form to ask them about the issue. Their answer? "I am unable to determine the nature of your request." The reply went on to suggest that I check out their website. Twits.

So buried on page 7 of the bill I received Saturday is this little admission: "Paying by check authorizes AT&T to send the information from your check electronically to your bank for payment." ...but their Customer Service Reps have no idea what I'm talking about. AT&T's tactic of notifying customers after the fact appears to be the new SOP. From page 4 of the same bill: "AT&T increased the rate on certain features effective 2/10/04, prior to providing you with customer notice of these increases."

As much as I hate carrying my cellphone, I have one, have had one for years. Lauren has one. Why am I wasting my time and money with AT&T? I'm getting tired of customers existing for the sake of companies.