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Sunday, 22 July 2001
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No entry.
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Monday, 23 July 2001
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Apparently spammers and scammers are now cruising eBay, looking for people who bid on software, and offering to sell them illegal copies offline. This morning I had three separate illegitimate offers in my inbox. I sent each one this annoyed message:
You DO understand, of course, that you and the other thieves who emailed me are stealing copyrighted software, and selling illegal copies of copyrighted material. As such, you are liable to prosecution under existing copyright laws. It is ILLEGAL to sell COPIES of software the way that you are doing it. Your greed is going to get you in serious trouble, fool.
Then I sent eBay support this message, with some excerpts from the offending emails:
I received three unsolicited emails this morning, all offering to sell me illegal copies of software that I had looked at in your auction listings. These emails all clearly violated the eBay User Agreement section 6.2a, b, c, and d, which deal with attempting to sell illegal copies of copyrighted material, in this case software. They also violated your expressed policy regarding Potentially Infringing Items. The email addresses involved were:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
I here include excerpts from the emails:
FROM "[email protected]"--
To member: pm00re
From member: budgetsoftware
Hello,
Are you looking for any of these? :
MS Office XP Pro
MS Office 2000 Premium
Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Windows NT 4.0 Server
Windows ME
Windows 2000 Professional
Windows 98 Second Edition
Windows 98 PLUS!
much more........
FULL version , & Registerable , comes with serial numbers.
:::: NOTHING OVER $40.00 ::::
Go here for more info and to order -
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This email was sent by an eBay member via eBay's email forwarding system. If you reply to the email, your response will go directly to the member and not through eBay.
eBay does not tolerate spam (i.e., unsolicited commercial email) and is taking steps to protect members from this abuse.
***********
FROM "[email protected]"
To member: pm00re
From member: softeware
Why pay hundreds or even thousands for software when you can get most software from me for very cheap. I mean very cheap! This software is the very best on the market at what it does! I have the following full versions of software. These are not upgrades but the full versions. These do not come with manuals and can not be registered. Registration means nothing anyway. Registration is just a way of software companies keeping up with who is buying their software and free on the phone tech support. All software does not have to be registered to get software updates and online help. Save yourself money and get it from me. Due to the nature of this offer you are thinking I am going to get ripped off! Trust me I will come thru because I want you coming back to get more so ripping people off would be stupid for me. I take payments thru Pay Pal and shipping is free! The more you buy the cheaper it gets! You know the retail prices so only my prices are listed!
FROM MICROSOFT
Office XP Professional with Front Page Sell 65.00
Windows 2000 Pro Sell 50.00
Windows Me Sell 40.00
Windows 98 SE Sell 40.00
Visual Studio 6.0 Sell 60.00
SQL Server 2000 Sell 60.00
If you would like to have something that is not listed let me know and I will try to get it for you! Please do not turn me in for SPAM, all I am trying to do is save you money!
--------------------
This email was sent by an eBay member via eBay's email forwarding system. If you reply to the email, your response will go directly to the member and not through eBay.
eBay does not tolerate spam (i.e., unsolicited commercial email) and is taking steps to protect members from this abuse.
*********
FROM: "[email protected]"
To member: pm00re
From member: briganceesq
Hello. I have Adobe PageMaker 6.5 (FULL VERSION) for Windows on CD-R for $60. I will pay for the UPS shipping. If you are interested, I would love to hear from
you. Please read the P.S. if you are interested in other Adobe and Macromedia titles.
Gavin T. Elliott
[email protected]
P.S. In addition, I have the following titles available for similar prices. If you buy more than one, I will give you a discount. Also, give me a list of the programs you would like and I will give you a package price. I have the following full versions of Adobe and Macromedia titles for Windows:
Adobe Acrobat 5
Adobe Photoshop 6
Adobe Framemaker 5.5
Adobe GoLive 5
Adobe Illustrator 9
Adobe InDesign 1.5
Adobe PageMaker 6.5
Adobe Premiere 6
--------------------
This email was sent by an eBay member via eBay's email forwarding system. If you reply to the email, your response will go directly to the member and not through eBay.
eBay does not tolerate spam (i.e., unsolicited commercial email) and is taking steps to protect members from this abuse.
*************
I don't know what you can do about these criminals who are wasting my time and spamming me, but I refer the matter to you because these all came specifically as a result of my attempt to buy a product on eBay. I have bought many things on eBay before, and hope to continue. But if I keep getting spammed by criminals because of browsing your auctions, I will certainly find other ways to buy products. Anything you could do towards putting these jokers out of business would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
Peter Moore
username: pm00re
I don't suppose it will actually help, but at least I feel better. And oh BTW... please feel free to email these budding entrepreneurs, and politely express to them your opinion of their business practices. I know it helped my attitude this morning.
Oh, and on my handy-dandy Spam-a-Day desk calendar, today's Spam® recipe is for Spam Stroganoff. Here for your delectation is the recipe:
1 (12-oz.) can SPAM®, cut in 2" x 1/2" strips
1 (10-oz.) can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 (4-oz.) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 tsp. black pepper
cooked egg noodles
In large skillet, saute SPAM® and onion in butter until onion is tender. Stir in soup, mushrooms, and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Heat thoroughly but do not boil. Serve over noodles.
Hungry yet? Me, too! And tomorrow's recipe is for California SPAMburger® Hamburgers. Could life get any better?
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Tuesday, 24 July 2001
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The intrepid techno-investigators at MSN have apparently located an actual, living Sir Cam virus in the wild, and brought back a photo so we'll know what to look for. It seems that the dreaded internet virus actually looks rather like a chubby, translucent blue beetle. Now we can update our antivirus software appropriately. Symantec rates Sir Cam at four out of five on the virulence scale.
Reassuringly, a blurb on MSN's front page informs us that Amazon has The Prayer of Jabez on sale for 40% off. Have you heard of this book? I've had various people tell me or ask me about it over the last month or so. Personally, I have no doubt that author Bruce H. Wilkinson is a fine Christian, and wrote the book to share a blessing that he had received from the Lord while studying the Bible. I have no personal knowledge of him, but we should generally give people the benefit of the doubt. But his book is being misused. Here's what Amazon reviewer Cindy Crosby has to say:
Even well-versed Biblical scholars might be perplexed if asked about Jabez, a little-known man listed in 1 Chronicles, chapter 4. Yet his simple petition is the cornerstone of The Prayer of Jabez and has become a call to live a more "blessed life" for countless readers.
The prayer is a simple one: "And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, 'Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.' So God granted him what he requested."
In an era where many Christians shy away from anything that smacks of "name it and claim it," author Bruce Wilkinson alleviates misgivings by putting the prayer into perspective. Wilkinson, founder and president of Walk Thru the Bible Ministries and a popular speaker for Promise Keepers, writes in a persuasive, conversational style that will woo even the most cynical reader. He has used the Jabez prayer for more than 30 years, and testifies enthusiastically to the changes it has wrought in his own life. Wilkinson challenges readers to recite the Jabez prayer every morning and keep a record of the changes that occur. The power, he emphasizes, is not in the prayer itself, but "rather, the power is in what you believe will happen as a result of the prayer, and the action you take." Wilkinson makes a convincing case.
OK, here's the thing — there's a major problem whenever people get the idea that anything called "The [Fill-in-the-blank] Prayer" is some kind of magic bullet that will change their lives. No matter how sincere an author's intentions, almost all of the people who are drawn to this are people who are more than usually susceptible to the lure of the latest shortcut to success. How many million books are sold every year with titles like "Ten Days To A Slimmer, Healthier You" or "Financial Security in Six Easy Steps" or whatever? Look at the Self-Help and Inspirational sections of any bookstore. People want a magic bullet, and they want it right now. And if it only costs $9.95, so much the better.
We all have a natural desire to believe that our lives are almost OK — that one simple adjustment is all we need to begin experiencing the nirvana we all crave. People buy books like this with an unspoken feeling of "I knew it was something simple, if only I could ever discover what it was!" Then they read the book, try the prayer or the diet or the financial advice, and for a little while they feel like they've finally found The Missing Ingredient for their lives. And then, over time, they find that the magic bullet didn't actually fix their lives. Oh well... at least there's never a shortage of new magic bullets. Just watch some daytime television to see what to look for in the bookstore or the drugstore, and begin the cycle again.
Case in point: a friend of mine in Atlanta just told me about a woman he knows there, who with her husband got all excited about the Prayer of Jabez. They began praying it every day together, and soon some wonderful things happened in their lives. They had financial success, and bought some condos as an investment, and things were looking mighty rosy for them. But over time, things began to deteriorate. The condos didn't sell, and their financial bonanza withered. Now that couple is in a bind. So does their situation have anything to do with the Prayer of Jabez? Did God bless them when they began praying it, and then change His mind? Or was their initial bonanza just coincidence, and the prayer just so much hot air? Is God some kind of Force that we can learn to manipulate by chanting the correct phrases? Is He a vending machine, who will dispense the blessing we want whenever we put in the correct prayers?
If any man ever knew how to pray, it was Jesus. What did he say about prayer? In the book of Matthew (chapter 6, verses 5-8 NIV) we read what He told His disciples just before He gave them the "example" prayer that most people call "the Lord's Prayer." He said:
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Pray secretly. Don't make a big deal about it, hoping other people will think we're "spiritual." Don't just repeat the same prayer over and over, the way people do who don't know God at all. Don't think we can get God to listen to us by simply wearing Him down with a torrent of words. God already knows what we need. We don't need to bring Him up to date, or present a persuasive argument. No magic bullet, no vain repetition, no arm-twisting. No "Prayer of [Fill-in-the-blank]." Prayer is not about a formal relationship between a customer and a vendor, or even an employee and a boss. It's about an intimate relationship between a child and a Father. Prayer is ABOUT the relationship, not the immediate request. Isn't that the kind of relationship you have with God? It's the one He wants you to have.
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Wednesday, 25 July 2001
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No entry.
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Thursday, 26 July 2001
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No entry.
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Friday, 27 July 2001
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No entry.
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Saturday, 28 July 2001
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No entry.