00:52-6:22 PDT
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2007Aug28T.GIF

Bay Area locals: Want to come to Hill and watch? IM or call me. The view should be awesome.

The self-referential Test

Whee I got it. (Evidently that's 62nd %ile.)

BoardGameGeek is interesting. It claims Puerto Rico is the #1 rated game (8.48, n=8350); see here for a review.

What are the most fun games you've played? Criteria to start with: games played with other people IRL that are cheap, easy, fun, and at least somewhat thinky. (Well that last is a reiteration of the penultimate. :-P)

I have liked: Set, Illuminati, Chrononauts (sometimes), Go and Chess sometimes though I suck at both, renga, 20 questions sometimes, aaand.... well that's about all that comes to mind actually. And renga is more suited to text based interaction, since it is harder to do without a write-buffer and conflicts with phonological processing in conversations.

Edit: One recommendation added for <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21550”>Blokus Trigon</a>.

I am very very pleased. And relaxed. Mrrrrr.

May write more later (though probably not public ^^), but yaaay.

Hello Owner,

How are u doing? hope fine? if so, i appreciate it so much. I saw your Advert that u have a room/apt. to be sub-leased. Am interested in renting the room/apt. It suits the type of place i need for my comfort and work. I am 26 years old female and I work full time, Monday through Friday and have weekends off exept for once a month and a British. I was born and brought up in London. I lived all my life there. Am a medical practisional, a doctor to be precised but presently in West Africa (Nigeria) for a program which will be ending soon. I and the rest of my collegues will be coming to U.S.A (United State of America) for another program (HIV/AIDS seminal) which will last for 1 or 2 months. we'll be there to educate and give the people some medical diagnosis on HIV/AIDS. I will like to lease the room/apt for the period which i will be there for the program cos it prefer staying there than staying in a Motel. Below is the question you might require of me. Here is all I can
say about my self for now.


.... suuuuure you are.

One really has to wonder what their success rate is.

Is it only people who are so stupid / credulous that this *cough* level of attempt is good enough? Or would the rate go up if they were actually sophisticated (or literate...) about it?


Incidentally: a few weeks ago I responded to one of these, giving a working address and alias but all other info faked. After several emails from the person they actually did mail me a cashiers' check (by royal air mail). I'm looking at it now.

It looks indeed very official... at first glance only. From Suburban Bank & Trust... in Illinois (though they were mailing it from / claiming to live in the UK...); from one "Margaret Johnson" as remitter (though the name on the emails was "George Cole Rivaldo"); for $4700 (though the movein price I cited was $900). Numbers on the bottom: |: 051900383 |: 00490 99219368 ||*. Curiously, though the top right says [in all caps] "this document has an artificial watermark printed on the back / the front of the document has a microprint signature line / absence of these features will indicate a copy", it lacks any watermark whatsoever and has a standard, non microprint signature line. And probably printed signatures too...

I wonder if I can do anything with it other than hold it as an amusement piece. Maybe I can bait the guy into sending more, or doing it by a route that would be traceable? (E.g. would requiring UPS or FedEx leave a record of the actual identity of who sent it? Maybe I can ask for a thumbprint and copy of their gov't ID somehow? Hmm...) It's probably cashable except that there's no way to do so without leaving a record of *my* identity, and once they realize it's a fake I'd get nabbed for felony fraud.


Or this:

Hello,  I am princess anita, I went through your advert on  apartment search and I have developed a profound  interested in your room.I am 26yrs old born in  united kingdom work with a STOLT COMEX SEAWAY plc as  a marine officer.I will be in STATE soon and am  hoping to be there for my educational leave and also  looking forward to have my Master degree in a good  university around so am looking to spend almost 12  month in your state.....pls i need to no the maximum lease period available,exact  amount of payment per month? deposit fee in  bapplicable........method of payment and other  utilities to benefit from this room....pls i will need a picture if available....i will be expecting  your email as soon as possible..pls kindly reply me  your email to me.....hope to here from u soon


.... mixing up our wire fraud schemes are we, “princess”?

Friday:

Took the day off from work, with Trevor's blessings. Took care of some personal stuff - emails, reading, laundry, etc. Relaxed. Went to see Nathan in the evening; we made pizza (from scratch, prompted by a TV ad and Nathan's "cook everything from scratch" habit). Pizza was good.

There was a pretty big thunderstorm, with the water pouring down. So, we went for a walk. :-P It was about 5 miles total; we both got completely soaked and thoroughly enjoyed it. Part of our path went through a forest (off-trail, of course, and this was after dark anyway). Lightning helped to see periodically.

A few highlights: there was one grove that had two potted pot plants (one pretty healthy / well-grown, the other fairly small); I took a leaf as a souvenir but lost it at some point. Pretty close to the trail, actually, but hidden by a small field of tall ferns.

At another point, there was a river we wanted to cross. No bridge, and too deep to wade (I'd guess at least 2-3 feet at that point, with the downpour). This was after the rain had stopped, fortunately. There was a tree that had fallen across, very conveniently and pretty stably. So we crossed, mainly by crawling or butt-sliding up it; the only hard parts (which were a bit of a problem) were the occasional branches or stubs sticking out of it that required balancing or other creativity to get legs around. There was also a bit of maybe-poison ivy (but no problem avoiding it, and no rashes afterwards).

There were a few groves that had a lot of fireflies around them. Very pretty; somewhat druidic in feel to me. Relatively hard to catch, since there wasn't enough lighting to track / stalk them when they weren't lit. Nathan managed to catch one and gave it to me; it flew around inside my cupped hands for a bit, lighting up. That was quite neat.

It was quite fun, really; some interesting reactions from people in the downtown area who noticed the (closed) umbrella in my pocket. ;-) Haven't done it before, but I guess I'll have to agree with Claire now - thunderstorms *are* good weather. If you're dressed right for it. (My boots got a bit flooded on one of the stream-crossings, and I had to put them in the dryer afterwards).

Saturday, we-three (me, Claire, Nathan) went hiking in Shenandoah Park again, this time a somewhat shorter path. Pretty, some good overlooks. Brought riceballs (yummy, and again Nathan's fault) to eat, plenty of water. Only overheated a bit, yay. I don't have the stamina for more than 5 miles or so though; I think they-two are planning on taking another hike sometime of ~15 miles. *shrug*

Sunday I don't remember.

Monday we-three went to the National Mall. Saw some more cooking exhibits at the Smithosnian Insitute's Folklife Festival (hence the ice cream & pizza dough recipes), plus various other ones. Lounged on the grass. Listened to 40 minutes of the concert, then went to try to see the fireworks from my office roof. We got there just as they were starting... but grr, the building west of us blocked the view of half of them. We ended up going down to the street to see 'em from across the street from the White House, and they didn't last much longer after that. Fireworks were somewhat disappointing, but still a good day overall.

So yes. Good weekend.

Tomorrow, I think we're going to see some monuments, and maybe stay out and watch the stars. We'll see.