Scams, or "If its too good to be true..."

So I was watching CNN today, and they started talking about that Madoff guy, as he got a cool 150 years in jail. This got me thinking about scammers, and the scams they perpetrate. And it also got me thinking about the kind of people who get taken in by this kind of thing.

For those of you who don't know, Bernie Madoff ran what was essentially a Ponzi Scheme for decades. He got caught, and his 'investors' went from millionares to broke overnight. These 'investors' were drawn in by Madoff telling them that while everyone else was averaging 3-5% return annually on their funds, he was able to get 10% returns. Really? Double the return of anyone else out there? And no one thought, "Gee, maybe there's something a wee bit fishy about this?" The only people in that mess I have sympathy for are the people who were sent to Madoff by investment agencies that thought he was gold, and didn't do their research.

But there are other, more blatant scams out there, and I have literally no sympathy for the people who fall for such crap. If you have an email account, you've likely gotten one of the following messages before:

"A rich oil sultan in Saudi Arabia wishes to transfer money to the US. I have been asked to find someone to help us facilitate this transaction..."

"Congratulations, you just won the Nigerian National Lottery! Please send us your bank information so we can deliver your winnings!"

"My husband just died, and I wish to devote his monies to improving the lives of people like you..."

There are many others, of course, but 99% of the scams out there are so blatantly obvious, you have to be a complete idiot to get taken in by them. News flash, people! There's no such thing as getting something for nothing. Practice a bit of healthy skepticism, do your research, and never give out your information!

#iranelection

If you don't know what #iranelection refers to, you've probably been living under the same rock that FEMA was under when it took them a week to realize that there were people at the Convention Center after Katrina. Its been a couple weeks now since the story really got going, so I figure it would be an opportune time to talk about my experiences, watching this story unfold.

Before the election, I didn't really pay much attention to Iran. Sure, I was on Facebook and Twiter, but I didn't follow any of the groups or people supporting the various characters. Like many Americans, I was more concerned with things that affected me close to home. It as only in the week leading up to the election that I started paying any attention at all, as CNN reported that social networking sites had played a sizeable role in the opposition candidates' campaigns. I still didn't care much about Iran, but the story of how social media was changing politics, seemingly a continuation of what happened here in the US with Obama's campaign, was interesting to me.

Then the initial results came out. For the first couple days, I'll admit that I didn't pay much attention to the protests. I viewed it as people being sore losers, honestly. The fact that there were multiple sets of observers, and seeing how the opposition leaders weren't coming forward with any evidence beyond hearsay of ballot tampering or vote rigging left me skeptical. Afterall, pre-election polls have been wrong before. Need proof, Google "Dewey defeats Truman".

I didn't start actively following the #iranelection thread on Twitter until I heard about the initial backlash against the protesters on CNN, and how Iranian Tweeters were picking up the slack in the wake of a government imposed press blackout. Out of curiousity, I checked it out.

Now at that point, there were literally thousands of tweets a minute with the #iranelection tag in them, running the gambit from government agents, to spammers, to radicals who wanted the US to invade immediately, to thousands upon thousands of people outside Iran, wishing to show support. In the middle of this virtual tsunami of information, I managed to find a few tweets by people who were on the ground in Iran, giving a real account of what was going on. It was by tweeting with these diamonds in the rough, that I was able to get the full story.

I watched as the movement changed almost overnight from a call for new, fair elections, to a call for the overthrow of the entire government. I watched the twitpics and videos coming in of protesters going against riot police with stones. I watched the outrage grow as the brutality of the crackdown intensified.

Maybe it is a comment on my having seen too many movies, read too many sci-fi and horror novels, but when I saw one such tweeter ask whether the day could get any worse, I was surprised they had to ask. There was plenty of room to go, if the regime wanted to go for absolute worst. Allow the protesters to enter the square, and trap them there, before setting up machine guns at all the entrances, and on the surrounding rooftops. And then shoot anything that moves. That would be the worst.

Then the Supreme Leader made his speech. If he was trying to get the movement to die down, he miscalculated royally. I watched as the tone of the tweets coming out of Iran changed. Beatings became shootings. Neda died. Government agents began appearing on twitter. There were warnings of trap proxies, and hackers trying to find the people who dared to speak to the outside world. And one by one, the tweets went silent out of Iran. One person I was following, @persiankiwi, gave this haunting message: "we must go - dont know when we can get internet - they take 1 of us, they will torture and get names - now we must move fast - #Iranelection". Moments later, @persiankiwi went silent. That was on the 24th, and he hasn't posted since.

My heart goes out to all the Iranians out there, those who've been wounded, those who've been taken, and those who are still out there. Keep strong, but keep your head down. Stay safe out there.

I'm an addict

I've known for a long time that I have an addictive personality. There's family history and all that, but I can see it in my own life as well. Growing up, I was basically borderline OCD. So because of that, I've made a point to keep away from the things that would seriously mess me up. I only drink socially, and I don't do drugs.

Of course, the fact that I'm borderline OCD means that it is very hard for me to do good things, too. I can never get into the habbit of exercising, which means that my weight, which was 180 in high school, when I was playing football, has gone up to 240 in the seven years since I graduated.

Part of the problem is that I'm an addict.

My addictions aren't as glamorous or accepted as alcohol or crack. Might be easier for people to accept if I were an alcoholic. No, I'm addicted to video games and networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Of course, most people just say I'm lazy, and should get out and exercise. That's because they don't understand what its like. My internet went out for a week earlier in the year, and I was twitching so bad, you wouldn't believe. No twitter, no world of warcraft? I was going to the public library just so I could keep track of my Facebook!

A normal friday night for me is to come home from work, sit down at the computer, and then spend the next few hours either Tweeting, or killing kobolds in World of Warcraft. I live at the beach, but I've actually gone on the sand only five times in the last five years.

I am an addict, but what can ya do?

Religion, or why I don't vote Republican

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against the idea of Religion, per se. Everyone has a construct of their own making that they need to make the world around them make sense. Some people have science and logic. Others need some faith in a higher power, whether it is Christianity, Wicca, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, or even people who want to be Jedi.

What I have a problem with are the "religious" people who feel the need to force their religion down everyone around them's throat. Crazy guy spouting off in a college campus's free speech area, this means you. People who walk up to me and ask me if I've been saved, this means you too. Religious nutjobs who want to make laws based on what God wants them to do, this DEFINITELY means you!

The Republican party has been held hostage for years by the religious wing of their party, people who want to turn their religious views into legislation affecting all Americans. There are two problems with that. First, you lose any kind of moral high ground when you get caught doing the SAME DAMN THINGS YOU SAY YOU'RE AGAINST! I don't have to name names. You all know who's been naughty these last few years.

Second, not everyone in the country shares your view of the world. By legislating your faith, you're inflicting your faith on them, which is NOT what any religion wants you to do. The idea of forcing someone to practice your faith is the exact opposite of what Jesus would have wanted, and if you're saying otherwise, you're a fool.

Now there are some Republican ideals I can get behind. Fiscal discipline being highest on the list. But here's the thing. You can have a debate with a fiscal conservative, and keep things civil, while still trying to change their minds. But with a social conservative, if you try to change their mind, you're questioning their faith, and you get the bitterness you see in Congress today.

Give me a Republican party without the social conservatives, and I would likely vote for them. Because there are plenty of things about the Democrats that piss me off too. But I won't vote for a party that believes in making laws based on what their interpretation of God's will

About this blog

Hey there, guys and gals. If you're reading this, you're probably wondering who is this crazy guy, and what the hell is he going to do here? Well, I'm a geek, but this isn't going to be all about gaming. I'm a student, but this isn't going to be all about my studies. I'm an anime fan, but this isn't going to be all about catgirls. I work in a restaurant, but this isn't going to be all about the people I see.

So what is this blog about? The simple answer is everything, and nothing. If I have something I feel like sharing, I'll put it up. If I see something that I think I gotta comment on, I'll put it up. If I just wanna post something funny, I'll put that up, too. And if you guys see something you want me to talk about tell me, and I'll see what I can do.

--Stuart