Grandmothers & Kings: a Conversation with an Inept Scammer

Today I was contacted by one of a steady stream of dating site impostors. Their basic pattern is to establish a match, send a Yahoo! address for mail and instant messenger contact, and then start the whole spiel with the deception. I had already decided to begin playing along with something deliberately confusing but this Tega Otunba proved particularly unskilled at pulling off any scam. Having already reported the address to Yahoo! as spam, I have no inhibition to further expose it to the address harvesting of other spammers:

(Document hosted at jonlester.com)

Pages I was accessing in the course of this conversation include "Discourse and its disclosures: Yoruba women and the sanctity of abuse," from the Questia journal and "I'm not most girls...," a blog by a very nice young woman named Vicki.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 7:21 PM

  Can you believe these people?

If recent statements by the leadership of the International Olympic Committee are any indicator of the IOC's vision and goals, then maybe it's time to question how they define peace and harmony.

Brutality in Tibet is no reason to boycott the 2008 games, according to IOC President Jacques Rogge:

"We believe that the boycott doesn't solve anything," Rogge told reporters on this Caribbean island. "On the contrary, it is penalizing innocent athletes and it is stopping the organization from something that definitely is worthwhile organizing."

So the "spirit" of the games is more important than the political repression, censorship and very bad pollution that could all hurt athletes and anyone else in the area.

Do they envision a world order maintained by force and total control of information and thought?  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 2:05 PM

  Spitzer

New York Governor Mark Spitzer, who made a name for himself as a high-profile attorney general before his election to office, now finds himself in a heap of trouble. Word is he's being given 48 hours to resign before impeachment proceedings begin.

There are some who won't be sorry to see him go.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 6:08 PM

  Favorite Oscar Night Quote

My favorite quote of the night, from comments ahead of the Academy Awards ceremony, comes from yachtsman Brian Delamer:

Hollywood gave up on America. I’m glad to see America finally give up on Hollywood.

  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 8:50 PM

  An Attempted McCain Bimbo Eruption Breaks

The New York Times is unloading on McCain's ethical integrity, specifically in regards to a possible extramarital affair.

It may pass over and it may prove to be an untrue allegation but it's something we shouldn't be surprised to see the left put forth.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 8:37 PM

  Castro Retires

Fidel Castro has announced his retirement.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 3:05 AM

  Bhutto Killed by Laser Beams?

The leadership vacuum in the wake of Benazir Bhutto's recent assassination may be more profound than previously believed. The Pakistan People's Party has issued its own medical report which asserts that Ms. Bhutto was killed by laser beams.

I am not making this up.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 11:56 PM

  Counterintuitive Song of the Year

Regular viewers of CNBC in the past year may have noticed frequent use of the word "counterintuitive" as that's how stocks and other trends played out this year. It's been true also of the sports world. This has been a year with few safe assumptions. Likewise, my choice for song of the year may seem counter to readers' expectations:

  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 10:19 PM

  Bhutto

By now everyone knows that Benazir Bhutto was murdered today in Pakistan.

I've always held Bhutto in high esteem for her courage and her capability. She took great risks to serve in the past and to return and campaign again for a better nation. She will be remembered as one of the great female leaders of our time, against whom most American and European women in office pale in comparison.

Parade magazine was scheduled to publish a Bhutto interview in early January and has chosen to publish it online today.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 8:35 PM

  "Lestercast" Shoutcast Radio

I have begun streaming audio through a Shoutcast server, audible with Winamp. These will be sporadic at first but more frequent and continuous in the coming days.

In the first test streams and in tonight's (Friday), I am looping the entire album, "X-mas," the first by my old band, Radio:Tahiti (which will get its own MySpace page soon), originally released 23 December 1992 and remastered with bonus tracks in 2005. In the near future I'll throw in more back catalog from R:T as well as Distaster, Broom Room Annex and other original things I've done over the years. This will also be a way to promote the new Distaster music I'll have out in a matter of days.

I thought the exact link for every cast would be different but I was able to tune right in to tonight's with the one I did as a test last night. If this is true for machines outside of my own wifi network, which I think it ought to be, then you can click here. Otherwise, you can search for keyword "lestercast" at Shoutcast or, better yet, if you're using Internet Explorer and have the Winamp toolbar installed, you can type "lestercast" into the search line and select "Shoutcast Radio" for your search engine.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 8:34 PM

  Rep. Jo Ann Davis Passes

I don't know if this is a record year for members of Congress passing but it certainly seems like it. This time it's Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-VA), who continued to actively serve even as she struggled with breast cancer. Lesterblog extends condolences and best wishes to her family, friends and constituents.

BTW, this is a repost because I was unable to delete a lengthy and racist crackpot comment that was completely unrelated to the post. Comment moderation has now been enabled.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 8:41 PM

  Site Meter Removed

I've been slow to learn about this. Apparently news of Site Meter sending spyware cookies is real, so I am now removing it from all of my blogs. I never want to facilitate any kind of malware problems for my visitors.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 10:12 PM

  Reconsidering My Endorsements

Currently, this is an "I'm with Fred" site but, thanks to Little Green Footballs, via Hot Air and Huffington Post, Lesterblog meets the current political turmoil with new introspection:



  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 11:44 PM

  Repent No More

Supposedly, the club, Repent, in Athens will change hands after this week. Last night was my last weekly karaoke hosting event. I'll share what I posted in the MySpace bulletin:

Circumstances well beyond my influence have dictated that the Athens bar we know as Repent will change hands very soon. Tuesday 11 September turned out to be the last of my weekly karaoke there, for Saturday 15 September will supposedly be the venue's last night as the Repent incarnation.

I have enjoyed my karaoke hosting very much this summer. I hate to see such a friendly place vacate so abruptly but I greatly appreciate the time I had there. The people who made the scene what it was will mostly remain in town, of course, so the kindred will enjoy many more happy times in the future, however they transpire.

Meanwhile, I am a free agent for karaoke hosting, available for parties, weddings and any other special events deemed worthy of my services. I will be happy to receive notes of interest here at my band account.

Again, I thank everyone who contributed to this brief but very enjoyable chapter of my townie life. I look forward to making new memories with you all.

Jon

  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 6:47 AM

  "Osama" speaks

I don't usually post assertions that I can't substantiate but I feel very skeptical about this new video supposedly released by Osama bin Laden. I'll quote my own comment at the ABC blogs page:

Osama has an adult son who married Zawahiri's daughter a few years ago. I suspect the son's voice is close enough to Osama's to pass voice analysis and that his is probably the one we've heard in recent years. Indeed, have we ever had a good voice sample to compare new recordings with? I can't substantiate that beyond a suspicion but it's interesting that as time goes by, the media-savvy al-Qaeda's recordings have grown progressively worse in quality.

I'll be glad to see any useful comments or contributions regarding this latest media event.

UPDATE:

I guess it really is him, although he doesn't seem to be all there from his appearance and his chosen words. James Robbins at NRO has further commentary.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 11:56 PM