Inspirational.
James Veitch has spent years doing the tireless, thankless work of replying to spam emailers so you don’t have to. He returns to TED to tell the tale of yet another spam email adventure, this time with a vital lesson attached: How to annoy your way off any spammer’s mailing list.
TEDArchive presents previously unpublished talks from TED conferences.
We were looking through some TED talks the other day and came upon a series of talks and then videos by James Veitch, a London based comedian. Vetch loves to play with email spammers and the results are hilarious.
Suspicious emails: unclaimed insurance bonds, diamond-encrusted safe deposit boxes, close friends marooned in a foreign country. They pop up in our inboxes, and standard procedure is to delete on sight. But what happens when you reply? Follow along as writer and comedian James Veitch narrates a hilarious, months-long exchange with a spammer who offered to cut him in on a hot deal.
Following up on yesterday’s post, here are somethings you didn’t know about Spaceballs:
(This is a repost from last year. Sadly, if anything, we see this being more and more true.)
On this day 15 years ago, (Editors’ Note: Now 16 years) the United States was attacked by a group of radical Islamists who hijacked multiple commercial airliners. The terrorists successfully crashed two planes into New York’s World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, bringing them down in a spectacular image that most anyone alive will forget. At roughly the same time, another hijacked plane was crashing into the Pentagon just outside of Washington, DC. The final hijacked plane was brought down by passengers in an open field in southwest Pennsylvania before it could hit its intended target of another building in Washington D.C.
As we always have done, Americans rose from the ashes of the fallen towers, the damaged Pentagon and the wreckage of planes to rebuild and strengthen our resolve against those who would seek to harm us and our freedoms. If nothing else, we do this for the memory of the over 3,000 people who were killed on that day.
Today, across the country, there will be speeches in remembrance of 9/11. There will be moments of silence. There will be calls for unity and peace hers in the US and around the world.
There will be people who will say we will always remember 9/11.
Sadly, the call to remember 9/11 won’t be realized – at least not for long.
We could be wrong, but we have history on our side.
It seems that generations always have defining moments within them – moments that leave an indelible mark on the conscience and psyche of those living at the time. While those living at the time seek to pass down the importance of that moment and when it occurred to succeeding generations, as time passes the memory fades and doesn’t seem to be important to younger generations.
Want proof?
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Spaceballs is one of those films that you just wonder about the minds of the writers as in “what were they thinking?” and “who comes up with this stuff?”
Produced by Mel Brooks, it is still a very funny movie.
UPDATE: We wrote this this other day before Irma’s massive shift to the west side of Florida.
Now we want Irma to go west. Far west stay away from us. Go out into the Gulf of Mexico and die.
As we write this, there is a slight movement to the east of Irma.
Every mile matters.
While we have lived in Florida for many years and many on our staff were born and raised here, Irma has us all wiggin’ out a bit.
Anyways, if you need to evacuate, get out. If you are hunkering down and riding the storm out, be safe.
Chris Servier and a facsimile of the love of his life.
We were going to write about Hurricane Irma but this is too good to pass up.
A man who claims to have married his computer in New Mexico has sued the state of Alabama for refusing to recognize the marriage, according to court records.
This is only the latest in a long string of such lawsuits filed by Chris Sevier, who describes his sexual orientation as “machinist.” Sevier has filed similar lawsuits in Texas and Utah and filed a suit in Colorado seeking to force a baker to make a wedding cake for him and his computer “bride,” according to multiple news reports.
Sevier filed a federal lawsuit in Alabama’s Northern District on Aug. 31 alleging his rights, along with the rights of individuals his complaint identifies as “an ex-gay” and “an ex-transgender,” were violated by Gov. Kay Ivey, Attorney General Steve Marshall and Blount County Probate Judge Chris Green.
In the filing, Sevier claimed he “married an object in New Mexico with female like features” and asked Green to either recognize the union or issue him a new marriage license. “Defendant Green issues marriage licenses to individuals who self-identify as homosexual, but he refuses to issue marriage licenses to zoophiles, machinists, and polygamists license on a basis that can only be described as procedurally arbitrary,” the complaint states.
And we wonder why the courts are so backed up.
While [Blount County Probate Judge Chris] Green’s office began issuing same-sex marriage licenses after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, state law does not grant him the authority to issue polygamist licenses or marriage licenses for people seeking to wed an “inanimate object,” he said.
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Like many people in Florida, we are keeping a close eye on hurricane Irma.
We have been amazed at the early preparations people have taken in the approaching of this storm. Not many people are waiting and seeing where it is heading. They are preparing for the worst and praying for the best.
In the stores we have visited, lines are long, but we have encountered very little hostility or rudeness. The staffs for the most part look frazzled, but they are keeping smiles on their faces too.
Probably our posts will be short for the next few days. If we get knocked of the air, you’ll see a bunch of videos daily.
That’s our plans.
If you are in the path of Irma, we hope and pray that you remain safe.
