Our popular friend, Ms Melissa Johnson, has turned up yet again. (We first met Mel at “My home wealth system” scam.)

So you know the drill when it comes to these things.

We stumble across an obviously dubious get rich quick scheme and need to decide – is it legit or a scam?

So far we have profiled the following little rippers:

• Home Income Cash System (Verdict: Scam)
• My Home Wealth System (Verdict: Scam)
• Automated Home Profits (Verdict: Scam)

New mum, cute baby (and we know from previous scams that she’s appeared in a great many locations, not just Melbourne…. but I digress).

So let’s take a look at the Online Career Package.

(By the way, here is a screenshot of the website just in case it gets taken down as has happened to some of the others that have preceded it.)

The Internet is abuzz with people wanting to know: Is Online Career Package Legit Or A Scam?

I’m calling the Online Career Package a SCAM for these reasons:

1. Melissa Johnson is too cute by half. We’ve met her (and Kelly Richards) before. Same scam, different title.

2. Read the fine print (it’s here on the home page). “Photos used in this advertisement are not of the actual testimonial individuals and personal earnings claims of any type are strictly against our policy. Any results shown should be considered exceptional, as results will vary according to each individual’s own effort and commitment.”

In other words, the testimonials are FAKE by their own admission, let alone any financial results that the testimonials claim. Furthermore, if you hand over your credit card then find out that actually there is NO money to be made, don’t claim them. There in the fine print they told you that it was exceptional (in other words, uncommon) to make money from this scheme.

3. The website displays the logos of major Internet brands. This is always a giveaway especially when there is NO DISCLOSURE of those brands association or relationship with a money-making scheme.

In fact, you can be 99% certain that there is NO relationship other than the website has used their logos without written permission to confer an authority that the website doesn’t legitimately have in its own right.
 

 
And you gotta love the fine print. Bless their cotton socks if they are good enough to tell you that they don’t own the logos. “All trademarks, logos, and service marks (collectively the “Trademarks”) displayed, are registered and/or unregistered Trademarks of their respective owners.”

4. After a hunt around, I’m still at a loss to uncover the terms and conditions of the offer, so that is a BIG red flag.

If you’re smart, you’ll Google these schemes BEFORE you hand over any of your hard-earned cash. If you don’t google it, I guess you’ll learn the hard way.

Bookmark It

I’m watched with some interest as the Occupy movement has sprung up in Australia. They have taken over Melbourne (until they were unceremoniously given the boot) and Martin Place in Sydney too.

Of course, in a democratic country like Australia you are entitled to protest, but what’s not exactly clear is what they want to achieve from protesting.

In interviews, Australian Occupy spokespeople say they aren’t protesting. So are they just camping then?

And they say that they represent the 99%, but almost universally they are students and the unemployed (who are not the 99%, sorry to rain on parades by stating the bleeding obvious).

My logic comprehends the American movement where banks have screwed the little guys to the wall only to get bailed out by the Government.

But that situation didn’t happen in Australia, so is Australia just going out in sympathy with our American friends?

So you see, the confusion reigns down-under.

Nevertheless, the photos are impressive.

And my personal favourite…

Bookmark It

The Washington Post reckons its figured out who are the finnciers that rule the world.

None of the big Aussie banks made the cut (sorry, folks, down-under we’re just not influential enough).

According to the WP, the top three are:

1. Barclay’s (Great Britain)

2. The Capital Group Companies (U.S.)

3. Fidelity Investments (U.S.)

You can check out the list at Washington Post

Bookmark It

I read a great comment written by a guy from Melbourne who said:

“For those above who question the fawning (about Steve Jobs death), please consider the following. And to put some perspective, I have deep roots in the IT industry over 20 years, do not like Apple as a company, their products nor their marketing and manufacturing policies.

However, I am saddened by the death of Steve Jobs. Not because of the products or company he created, but because of what he helped lead the IT industry to accomplish.

• Jobs and Wozniak put affordable computers on people’s desks (Apple II & Macintosh).
• Jobs and Gates brought accessible operating systems to the masses (Windows and MacOS).
• Jobs and Xerox came up with small desktop printers (LaserWriter).
• Jobs company NeXT provided the computers so that Berners-Lee could invent the world wide web (Internet as we now know it).
• Jobs pioneered plug ‘n play so that peripherals “just work”.
• Jobs brought the music and communications industries into the 21st century through devices and software for the masses which made things easy for you (iTunes and iOS).

So next time you wonder why Jobs is hailed as an IT genius and an IT God, take a good look at your desktop computer, laptop, handheld device, tablet, music library, mobile phone, the internet and remember……. without Jobs, none of that would’ve happened.”

There is also a wonderful tribute at Wired.

And his address to Stanford University graduates is a must-see.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs.

Visionary. Change Agent. Product Genius. Sadly Missed.

(This post created on my MacBook Pro.)

Bookmark It

Our friends in the North of America really truly deeply love adding “ville” to the end of place names.

So I thought it might be a bit of fun to draw up a list of 80 “ville” places that you can visit by clicking on the links.

There will be many fine examples of “villes” that I’ve missed, so feel free to drop me a line and I’ll add to the list. (And no, I didn’t include OBAMAVILLE, Colorado Springs because it didn’t turn up in Google Maps, even though its name is kinda catchy.)

01. AMITYVILLE, New York, USA
02. ASHEVILLE, North Carolina, USA
03. BELLEVILLE, Ontario, Canada (or the ones in New Jersey or Illinois)
04. BENNETTSVILLE, New York (or the ones in North Carolina or South Carolina)
05. BENTONVILLE, Arkansas
06. BLAINVILLE, Quebec, Canada
07. BONEVILLE, Georgia, USA
08. BOROMVILLE, Alabama, USA
09. BROCKVILLE, Ontario, Canada (and there is another in Otago, New Zealand)
10. BROOMVILLE, Ireland
11. BUTTZVILLE, New Jersey, USA
12. CASTROVILLE, Texas (or the other one in California)
13. CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia (oops, nearly forgot Indiana)
14. CLARKSVILLE, Tennessee and, of course, Indiana, Ohio,  Maryland and  Arkansas, USA
15. CLUTTSVILLE, Alabama, USA
16. COOLVILLE, Ohio, USA
17. DANVILLE, California, USA
18. DICKEYVILLE, Wisconsin, USA
19. DOGVILLE, Massachusetts, USA
20. DRUMMONDVILLE, Quebec, Canada
21. EVANSVILLE in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Minnesota, USA
22. FACEVILLE, in Georgia, USA
23. FARMVILLE in Virginia and North Carolina, USA
24. FAYETTEVILLE in North Carolina,  Arkansas or Georgia, USA
25. FEARSVILLE in Kentucky, USA
26. FLOWERSVILLE in Florida, USA
27. FOOTVILLE in Wisconsin or Ohio
28. FOWLERVILLE, Michigan, USA
29. GAINESVILLE is in Florida, Virginia and Georgia
30. GAYVILLE, South Dakota and New York USA
31. GAYSVILLE, Vermont, USA
32. GEORGIAVILLE, Alabama, USA
33. GRAYSVILLE in Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana or Pennsylvania, USA
34. GREENVILLE in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina or Ohio
35. GRUBVILLE, Missouri, USA
36. HOOKERSVILLE, West Virginia, USA
37. HICKSVILLE in New York, Ohio or Virginia, USA
38. HOMERVILLE, Georgia, USA
39. HUMANSVILLE, Missouri, USA
40. HUNTSVILLE in Alabama, Arkansas, Texas or Missouri, USA
41. IDIOTVILLE, Oregon, USA
42. JACKSONVILLE in either North Carolina, Florida, Oregon or Arkansas, USA
43. KAYSVILLE, Utah, USA
44. KLOTZVILLE, Louisiana, USA
45. KNOXVILLE in any one of Tennessee, Iowa, Illinois or Arkansas, USA
46. LEADVILLE, Colorado, USA
47. LEMONVILLE in Ontario, Canada or Texas, USA
48. LEGIONVILLE, Minnesota, USA
49. LOONEYVILLE, West Virginia, USA
50. LOUISVILLE in Quebec (Canada) or in the USA, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Colorado and Tennessee
51. LOUISEVILLE in Quebec, Canada
52. LYNXVILLE, Wisconsin, USA
53. MAXVILLE, Ontario (Canada) or Oregon, Wisconsin and Missouri (USA)
54. MEANSVILLE, Georgia, USA
55. MECHANICSVILLE in either Virginia and Maryland, USA
56. NAPERVILLE, Illinois, USA
57. NASHVILLE in Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois and Arkansas
58. NEEDVILLE, Texas, USA
59. NICEVILLE, Florida, USA
60. NUTTSVILLE, Virginia, USA
61. OHIOVILLE, PPennsylvania, USA
62. ORANGEVILLE in Ohio  Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois or Ontario, Canada.
63. ORDERVILLE, Utah, USA
64. PARKVILLE, Melbourne, Australia
65. PARKSVILLE in British Columbia (Canada), New York, Kentucky and South Carolina, USA
66. PLEASANTVILLE, Nova Scotia (Canada) and New York, New Jersey, Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania, USA
67. RESCUEVILLE, Alabama, USA
68. RIDDLEVILLE, Georgia USA
69. RITZVILLE, Washington, USA
70. SCAGGSVILLE, Maryland, USA
71. SCHWENKSVILLE, Pennsylvania, USA
72. SNELLVILLE, Georgia, USA
73. SNIPESVILLE, Georgia, USA
74. STEELVILLE, Missouri, USA
75. TATTLERSVILLE, Alabama, USA
76. TITUSVILLE, USA in Florida and Pennsylvania
77. VICTORIAVILLE in Quebec, Canada
78. WHISKERVILLE, Arkansas, USA
79. WOLFVILLE Nova Scotia, Canada
80. ZUNKERVILLE, TEXAS, USA 

Like this post? Check out 7 Extremely Unfortunate Domain Names.

Bookmark It

Google says it plays fair, but that doesn’t stop the company from finding itself in head-to-head confrontations with regulators concerned with its market dominance and the potential for abuse of market power.

As much as I love Google, I’ve also been critical of it. My nervousness at where Google was going really hit its stride when it ventured into its Google Books adventure; and this had two fundamental consequences that I found extremely worrying.

The first was that it stripped copyright from authors which led to a number of objections from governments and publishers globally, and a forced backdown by Google.

And the second was it had a detrimental effect on book retailers everywhere. The brand that stood to lose the most however was Amazon, an online favourite of mine.

I interpreted Google’s move into book scanning and publishing venture as a head-to-head attack on Amazon’s core business. Not content with its domination of online search, Google’s desire was to dominate the entire Internet.

At the time, I wrote article called “How Much Power Is Too Much Power?“. It’s a question a growing number of commentators are beginning to ask – and millions of global Internet users should think about.

So Google Books threatened Amazon, but its just the tip of the iceberg.

• Android is launched to attack Apple.
• Google Chrome is attacking Microsoft IE (Okay, Microsoft has Bing in response.)
• Google Places is an attack on Yelp (so Yelp has instigated antitrust investigations against Google).
• Google today officially launched Google+ because it wants to beat Facebook. Huh? Where does this end?

It may well be a consequence of the algorithm, however, Google already censures what it thinks you need to know about. Nowhere was this more pronounced than when the “Climategate” emails were leaked and published.

Head to Google at the time and you’d find some 300,000 Climategate results. Over at Bing, there were more than 5 million.

There is room on the Internet for many brands. Google does not need to own everything and we should be suspicious of any company that seeks to push all other competitors out of the way. Google should encourage alternate online brands to flourish in the consumers heart. It’s good for the Internet.

The more that Google intrudes into its non-core areas, the more it will be seen to be discontented with being the world’s biggest search engine, and only content with the world’s biggest everything.

The more it seems that it is after world-domination, the more interest it will attract from regulators, antitrust investigators and commentators that grow suspicious of its motives.

Bookmark It

Aliens may destroy humanity to protect other civilisations, say scientists. (Ed: Calling all gullibles who actually believe this…)

Rising greenhouse emissions may tip off aliens that we are a rapidly expanding threat, warns a report for Nasa.

It may not rank as the most compelling reason to curb greenhouse gases, but reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim.

Watching from afar, extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth’s atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilisation growing out of control – and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat, the researchers explain.

This highly speculative scenario is one of several described by scientists at Nasa and Pennsylvania State University that, while considered unlikely, they say could play out were humans and alien life to make contact at some point in the future.

Read more at The Guardian (if you can without cringing).

Bookmark It

Nice coverage at the Katherine Times – or check out party central at Just Grounds.

Bookmark It

Take part in the 6 Degrees of Separation Experiment at http://smallworld.sandbox.yahoo.com/.

As the world became more technologically advanced, humans could communicate better and travel farther, effectively causing our world to “shrink.” Soon, Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy mused in 1929, the world would get so small that every person on average would be approximately six steps from every other person on Earth.

Have we made it there yet?

Mathematicians, sociologists, and physicists have long struggled over that question, and now Yahoo and Facebook have joined together to find out. They are testing the “six degrees of separation” theory by asking Facebook’s 750 million users, each of whom have an average of 130 friends, to select one Facebook friend to be the “target person.” A message will then be sent from friend to friend — in what they hope is less than six friends — until they get to the target person.

They’re calling it the Small World Experiment and anyone with a Facebook account can participate.

The study’s findings will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and research scientists are calling it “a milestone” because this research could not have been done even 15 years ago.

Learn more at the Washington Post.

Bookmark It

STEP 1: Ooh, I just discovered some pesky spam.

(Sigh, I dunno why anyone bothers to spam my blog. Perhaps, they have got way too much time on their hands?)

STEP 2: The anticipation builds.

I slowly but surely, deliberately move my blinking cursor towards the “empty spam” button. I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

STEP 3: I deliver the sharp left mouse click I famous for and it’s all over. Just like that.

The spam is dead ‘n’ buried. Gone without so much as a whimper.

Spammers take note: you spam my blog at your peril.

Bookmark It