Bertha

Damn Scammers

Geek Wannabe Comments Off

Dec 122009

The CraigsList job boards are inundated with scammers these days. It gets very frustrating for those of us trying to find work, as we wade through the bogus ads looking for the legit job offers.

When I first started looking for work (a year ago!), they were fairly easy to spot. Vague, unspecific ads promising suspiciously high salaries for applicants with no job experience. Overly-enthusiastic ads exhorting you to apply for their great career opportunity.

The marks must be wising up, because these days the scammers are putting a little more effort into making their ads look real:

Looks pretty legit, right? I thought so, anyway, so I sent over a resumé. I soon got a reply from “Jerry” asking me to send my phone number so we could schedule an interview. There were a couple of cautionary flags:

the From: address was a .info domain
“Jerry” claimed I was the most qualified out of 23 applicants (even though I have no experience in this field)

They made me wary but they weren’t show-stoppers, so I sent over my phone number.

An hour or so later I got another reply—same From: address, but this time it was signed “Richard:”

“One more thing and I am sorry I didn’t mention this in the first email but I just got off the phone with my manager and she said that before we go any further and schedule an interview you must complete a credit check.
I recommend getting one at:
http://[scammer site deleted].info
I looked it up and its free to check your credit there. I personally don’t understand why you have to get this done but she said that he needs to know your financial state and wants to make sure you are a wise spender or something like that.
Well get back to me as soon as possible with that and I will give you a call.
Thanks for your understanding,
Richard”

Yeah. I’ll get right on that.

Question for Fellow SF Readers

Geek Wannabe Comments Off

Dec 112009

Alpha Geek posted this to a mailing list recently; so far no one’s been able to answer it.

I’ve never read the stories he’s describing, but now I want to. Maybe someone who follows my blog knows the answer.

I’ve been trying to remember the author or character name of a golden age SF short story series. The main character is an inventor, but can only invent while drunk, and then does not remember what he’s done after he sobers up. He winds up with a mystery, like what the machine does or who the dead body is, and events proceed as a detective story–only the main character is both the detective (when sober) and usually the prime suspect (when drunk).

In one of the stories, he escapes from the bad guys by using his reputation as an inventor to convince them he’s produced a ray gun from tin foil and bits of string. In another, one of his machines excavates a huge hole in his yard, for reasons I can’t remember.

Any idea what I’m talking about?

Things I’ve Learned from Friends: Why I Don’t Like Pie

General Comments Off

Dec 102009

Today is my friend Jade‘s birthday. Happy birthday, Jade!

So here’s something I’ve learned about myself from my friend Jade, that she probably doesn’t even know she taught me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ wavy flashback lines ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was driving her son Dynamo home from school one afternoon, and we were chatting about various topics of interest. Somehow the subject of pie entered the conversation.

“I really don’t care for pie,” I remarked.

From the back seat came his astonished, “I don’t either!”

I could understand his I-thought-I-was-the-only-one reaction. We pie-haters are definitely a minority. Like Dynamo, I often felt I must be the only person in the world who didn’t like pie. It must have been a relief for him to learn there were others out there, living relatively normal lives despite their dislike of pie.

Later I mentioned our discussion of pie to Jade, who chuckled. “It’s because he doesn’t like cooked fruit. He doesn’t like applesauce, either.”

Ding! The light bulb went off in my head—I don’t like cooked fruit. I’ve never been a big fan of applesauce. I don’t like cobblers. Somehow I never put it together.

So there’s something my friend taught me about myself, without even knowing it. Aren’t friends great?

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