Archive for January, 2007

Wacky Spammers

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007

Spammers try all kinds of tricks to get their messages past filters. Some of the subject lines they come up with are just plain comical; like today I came across one entitled “Man in hot pants struts in boots, cheers city”, complements of the “I. Koehler – News Service”. Where the hey does that come from?

With that, I thought I ought to start keeping track of some of the doozies that come across the line. Oh, here’s another: “Neuwirth gets to ‘wiggle again'”, this time courtesy of one G. Nguyen of the super info potential News Service. Seems there is a slew of such messages coming in today, all touting some hot investment that is ready to hit the big time, the stock of which I simply must buy.

Not.

3000 Faces

Saturday, January 6th, 2007

3000 Faces – New York Times

Not sure how long this will be online, but it’s a great graphic showing stats on the casualties in the Iraq war, from March 16, 2003 to the present. Among the more interesting tidbits is the percentage of Air Force personnel lost in combat (1%). Good proof of what I’ve known for a long time; if you are going to volunteer for military service, the Air Force is the place to be.

Also of interest is the breakdown of casualties by race; 74% are caucasian, and 10% are black. Compare that to the breakdown of enlisted personnel by race, according to the DOD; 64% white, 20% black, 10% hispanic, and 6% other. Quite a disparity. Makes one wonder what could account for that.