Probably.

I hadn't used Google Maps in a while, so it surprised me recently when I found out that they've got pictures of pretty much any location at street level. In 3-D! You can scroll around, look up, look down, look left, look right…

What I did was plug in one address, and then another to get directions. Each step of the directions had a camera icon. Double click one of those, or one of the green dots in the map, and up pops a picture of that location. Pretty neat, and handy too.

I recently stumbled across a pretty neat site:

GetALifeMan.com

There is enough room online for the most obsessive fanatics to spread their ramblings about what they think and do. Some people take a tiny idea, or a hobby, or even an online game way too seriously, and way too far. You've probably run into a few of these types before. I know I have.

So someone made a web page that swiftly and clearly lets these people know there are better things they could be doing with their time.

I especially like the picture they used. It's perfect!

Now, instead of being blown off when we type, "Get a life, man," we can make an impact with getalifeman.com. Heck, we might even change some lives…

I thought this was interesting:

How your printer tricks you into buying ink and toner when you don't need it

The main idea is that some printers (or maybe most of them) have sensors that claim the ink is empty when there really is a lot left. Some people have found ways to fool the sensors, keep using supposedly "empty" ink cartridges, and still print a thousand more good quality pages.

It benefits the printer ink industry to have printers that jump the gun and signal for more ink too early.

Some printers can burn out if you fool them into using a near-empty cartridge, but others work fine even when ink is so low that the text being printed is barely visible.

Methods of fooling the sensor: 1) Cover the sensor in dark tape. 2) Color part of your ink cartridge with a dark marker. More info at the link above.

According to Wikipedia, Jesus was born between 7–2 BC/BCE. Wikipedia goes on to say that, "While Christmas, in honor of Jesus' birth, is celebrated on December 25, there is no indication that this was his actual birthday."

Let's say it was. Say Jesus was born on December 25th of year 7 BC/BCE. So on Christmas Day in year 0, he'd have turned 7. In year 12, he'd have turned 19. One year past the draft.

Now let's see what happens if he was born on December 25th of year 2 BC/BCE. On Christmas Day in year 0, he'd have turned 2. In year 12, he'd have turned 14. That age is just after most young males hit puberty.

So, 2012 is 2000 years after Jesus either became an adolescent, or a man.

December 21, 2012 is 4 days before Christmas, our arbitrarily chosen date.

Fictional super heroes supposedly become really super when they hit puberty.

What if 2012 marks the 2000th anniversary of Jesus waking up to his capability of performing miracles?

Did that happen when he turned 14? 19?

Or was he aware all along?

I was reading some Yahoo news today, complete with links to the New York Times, and I was surprised to see that "A new study says it's possible to boost the amount of mental ability you were born with."

I understand what they're going for, and I get their point.

BUT! The wording just sounds like you can do something in the here and now that would retroactively impact how smart you were at the moment of birth. If you could "boost the amount of mental ability you were born with" by 100%, you'd effectively double how smart you were however many years ago you were born. But that would cause ripples throughout the past 20-60 years…

Let's see if the article (from the Times) can shed some light on the matter. Surely it will be much clearer than the short Yahoo headline.

The first sentence of the article reads, "A new study has found that it may be possible to train people to be more intelligent, increasing the brainpower they had at birth."

Wow, this is serious. This is great! So long, SAT score of 200! I'm gonna change everything.

First I'll go back and double how smart I was at age 0. Then I'll live my life up to April 30, 2008, and go back and double my intelligence again! And again and again and again…

I know who I'm investing in…

From: "veforipy45606" <veforipy45606@hotmail.com>
To: 2santafe@microdsi.net
Subject: The company has real clients and income stream.
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:28:33 -0400

We have not said much in the last few weeks. We have not seen anything
of intrest. This one looks like it will be strong and steady mover.
With the new company Leadership and up and comming contracts. We feel
comforatble to bring QRVI to you.

Not all our picks will do as our last few with all climbing over 100%
in the first 5 days after our pick. But we do expect big things from
this Company.

Please take the time to do your research on this Company. Everything we
found looks like it will breakout anytime. The recent new is good but
we expect bigger things to come soon.

Quality Restaurant Ventures, Inc
QRVS
April 25: 3.90

Quality Restaurant Ventures, Inc., announced that its Board of
Directors has approved Tim Murray as the new President of QRVI. The
announcement follows several months of financial and operational reorganization.
The board has also given Murray, along with Peter Brown, President of
Obee's Franchise Systems, Inc., a seat on QRVI's Board of Directors.

Quality Restaurant Ventures Inc. announced today that a new co-branded
Sobik?s - Wing Way restaurant recently opened in Central Florida. This
is the first location that will serve both the Sobik?s and Wing Way
menus starting from opening day.

Quality Restaurant Ventures Inc. announced today it has now opened a
new Wing Way location in Central Florida . As with the company?s first
Wing Way restaurant, the new store is also co-branded with an existing
Sobik?s Subs location.

Quality Restaurant Ventures Inc. announced today that it is now
preparing to open four new locations of it?s recently announced
WING WAY fast-casual restaurant concept. The new Wing Ways will be
co-branded with existing Sobik?s Sub?s locations in Central Florida.

[End Email]

I know those question marks are just glitches, but they really give the second half of the email a feel of doubt, of question.

Gotta love that opening paragraph:
"…not seen anything of intrest…new company Leadership and up and comming contracts. We feel comforatble…"

With such a relaxed attitude toward spelling, I feel comforatble too!

"We have not said much in the last few weeks." Could that be true? Could the stock market spammers have taken a break in light of the craziness of our economy? Hmm…

I wonder who 2santafe@microdsi.net is? Maybe if you send an email there, it gets forwarded to tons of other accounts… If that were the case, then anyone could send out thousands of spam messages just by clicking "Send" once… And then off to jail with them!

"Please take the time to do your research on this Company." Totally cliché. "Wow, gee, if it requires research, forget that, I'll just take their word for it. Hyuh hyah, I'm brilliant!"

Check this out:

So, the first time I saw it, I thought, "Wow, what a considerate friend that other guy was, worrying about Kobe's sanity and trying to avert any potential problems." And also, "Hyperdunks???!!!"

Then I visited kb24.com (site looks incredible), where you can watch the same video in much higher quality.

I wondered if Kobe really was just messing around, or if maybe he'd told Nike he'd come up with some publicity stunt.

But watching the video again, it almost seems like a cross between an unscripted "casual" video, and a totally scripted professional one.

I think it was a super scripted professional one, crafted to look and feel casual. I've seen a couple of ads on TV that try to imitate casual videos, but reall end up looking stupid.

I think this video is awesome, no matter what motivated Kobe to make it.

I recently noticed that a comment was posted that urged me to shy away from posting "lesser" tidbits of interest, and focus on pleasing my readership.

I must not disappoint my millions of readers…

"But wait," I thought. "Could the person posting this comment consider my site worthy of such a remark?"

I had to be sure.

So I searched google for the exact contents of the comment.

203 results came up.

Unlucky me, I was sucked into thinking that my little old blog was interesting enough to be taken seriously.

The real clincher for how I know the comment was bogus is the fact that both the comment posted here and the first one I found on google point to [blah].nx.cn and seem to advertise risqué content.

Ho hum, another day of spam-motivated deceit…

About half an hour ago this comment was posted as a response to my post on Theoretical Dollars And Internet Wealth.

Name: oh minseok

Dear,

I'm a korean living in seoul.(name: Oh Minseok)
Korean special investigative team are investigating samsung
corporation.
But they do not work right.
I am suspicious to be bought off.
samsung corporation has many crimes.
And the team investigates samsung corporation.
It contains korean companies samsung,huyndai,sk CEOs' illegal issuing
stocks or bonds.
The quantity are plenty.
(Three company CEOs did(and are doing) many crimes to me.
Many koreans are knowing it.
But many koreans are bought off by illegal issuing stocks or bonds.)
The team are knowing it.
Korean special investigative team must investigate this.
But they are trying to conceal it.
I ask for asking for this criminal investigation to prosecutors in any
country.
And help the shareholders and me.

P.S)
Three companies are hacking me and trying to kill me.
And are suspicious to use my name and email illegally.
If you receive another message that I dictated above are not true,
it is not from me, but from three companies.
The things I dictated above are true.

[End Comment]

Seems a tad creepy to me… First impression: It's just like those YouTube chain letters. Second impression: Could it be real? Third impression: Why bother to comment on a post that has nothing to do with what you're talking about? It's not like you're being robbed in your own home and dial a random number in the hopes that someone will come help you because 911 doesn't work in your area and you've got nowhere else to turn…

Fourth impression: Maybe it's designed to keep people interested…

Back in February I posted my thoughts on a certain spam message and a copy of the email in question. A few days later, someone said they were interested in the opportunity! So, I made it clear I was just commenting on the situation, and not participating in it.

Early this morning, someone posted a new comment sharing their story about what happened when they responded to a similar email and went along for the ride. Here's what they wrote: