An acquaintance of mine is trying sell her car, and she got an inquiry via e-mail yesterday. She replied to the potential buyer, and here is the response that she received:

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Hello,
Thanks,i am still intrested okay with the price.This is how i will want us to seal the transaction cos i dont want any delay at all.So all i am going to do is to contact my associate in the Uk to issue you a certified cashiers check of $20,000 which will be for both the shipping and your own money $10,900 So all i will want you to do when you recieve the check, is to deduct your own money and send the remaining shipping funds through VIA WESTERN UNION to my international shipping agent ,once he recieves the balance will come over to your location the very next day for pick up, now the money wired to the shipper is his fees for his services, transportation to your location and back to me, also for all charges that may arise along this transaction cos i will want it to be delivered to me safe and sound without problems, i shall send you my shipper address as soon as i contact him,i will also want you to take $10 for runing around. So if this terms are okay by you i will need your contact address and phone number so that i can forward to my associate who will be issueing you the check.I look forward to your reply.
Thanks and GOD Bless.
Mr John williams.

N/B the shipping funds will be wired to my international agent that will come for the pickup he will be the one to arrange the shipping of the from to Car where i am living.now that we have an agreement I will like you to remove the advert you placed on the website so that you will recieve no more offers.the cheque will be sent to you via fedex. I will give you a call as soon as you reply.info required to send cheque:
NAME FULL …..
FULL ADDRESS……..
CITY…………
STATE………
COUNTRY…..
ZIPCODE……..
Phone number Office / cell

OK, this sets alarm bells off — but I can’t explain why. It has all the hallmarks of a scam - foreign buyer, unusual dollar amount ($20K), reference to “my associate,” odd shipping instructions, and such. This is for a 2002 Mustang that my friend wants to sell for $10,900. Have any of you ever seen this specific type of scam before?

The Missus enjoys fashion and beauty shows, and is watching “Project Runway” right now. I noticed that many of the male contestants seem quite female, and vice-versa. But I digress. The “celebrity judge” is Kate Spade, who according to The Missus is the Absolute Lord God Queen of Purses. I learned that Kate Spade is the sister-in-law of David Spade (who has a star on the H’wood sidewalk thing, didja know?). I’ll admit that some of the purses are cute in a whimsical way, but beyond that, I am absolutely baffled by an obsession such as this. I mean, she LOVES Kate Spade purses. Me, she loves. The purses, she LOVES. Even more than shoes. Than SHOES, people! That’s serious. She told me that I’m lucky that she’s addicted to purses, rather than cocaine.

Guess what I’m reading right now…? Yep - the first book in the last trilogy, “The Runes Of The Earth.” It was released back in 2004, but I simply forgot to pick it up…but browsing through a local bookstore the other day, I found it in the “bargain bin.” I’m nearly halfway through it, and it is as expected. So far, so good, and quite comforting due to the familiarity with several characters. But as always with Donaldson, it is a bit long on details.

If you - like me and Sam - are a fan of The Green Hornet, then you might enjoy perusing some of this very cool stuff that you can purchase. Sure, The Green Hornet and Kato didn’t wear tights or sport capes:

Unlike many of the super heroes that came after him, The Green Hornet was a plainly dressed man. He wore a hat popular during the times and a coat. The only thing he wore that would even be remotely considered odd was his mask. But as crime fighters went, he was a dull one to look at. Kato too wore a mask and was dressed like a chauffeur. The two certainly didn’t win any awards for original fashion.

But that is part of the appeal, I’d wager: they were just *cool* in their spiffy clothes and simple masks. Hmmm…maybe I’ll be The Green Hornet for Halloween this year!

Do you know who Dominique Francon is? Do you mentally “hiss” when you hear the names James Taggart or Cuffy Meigs? Would you like to travel on the John Galt Line? Wish that all pirates were named Ragnar? Dream of a car made of Rearden Metal? Then check out John Galt Gifts…it’s got some good stuff that will warm the cockles of any warm-blooded capitalist!

You will never find me whining about the price of gas, nor will you ever hear me bashing the oil companies or gas stations. As a famous economist* once said, “Prices go up, prices go down.” Filling up the gas tank in my Explorer is just a routine part of day-to-day living that I absorb. Coffee prices have gone up a bit lately, too, but you don’t see me complaining about that, either. And really, how can you take someone seriously who is complaining about paying $3.00 for a gallon of gas, when that same person likely purchased a Mocha-Latte-Grande-Skim-Frothy Thingie at the local beanery for $4.25? Still, having said all that, it’s still pretty cool to be living in one of the “green” counties listed on the Gas Prices Map (which I first saw over at GeeGuy’s place). (more…)

*These are outfits for ornamental geese … not live geese or humans.*

Yes, I’ve blogged about clothing for animals in the past, but I think that this Goose Clothing site really has it all. You can buy goose clothing for March or for August. You can buy clothes for the professional goose, or for the sporting goose. And of course seasonal clothing is always a safe bet. There’s also a grab-bag of sorts, for those times when your goose just wants to get a little funky. There’s even a damn red-hatter section (please don’t tell the V-Man, lest he go mad). And if your goose needs something to cover her balding head, take a look at the wigs.

People, I can’t make this stuff up. Believe me. If I could, it would be ME running an online goose-clothing website.

Sure, most people know Geico from the sometimes whimsical, sometimes annoying TV commercials. Remember the “Tiny House” ad? That was pretty clever; I did indeed “fall” for it the first time I saw it. My favorite from the current batch is the “free pie & chips” clip. But have you ever noticed the radio ads? Recently there was one that featured two motorcycle riders: one was a tough biker, and the other was a yuppie. Cute, sure, whatever. But yesterday I heard a new one: the voice asked if we (the listeners) had spent any time surfing or updating our blogs. And it turns out that the Gecko has made a half-hearted attempt at creating a blog. Anyone else heard the radio ad yet?

The CarFax, that is. You remember that I purchased “Smokey,” my now-beloved 1999 Ford Explorer Sport, early last week. Prior to purchase, as I was researching vehicles, I signed up for a 30-day subscription to CarFax.com, which allowed me to run background checks on VIN numbers (yeah, “VIN numbers” is redundant, get over it). The service provides all available information on sales, accidents, ownership, mileage, etc. The report on Smokey came back clean, which is certainly not a guarantee, but it did give me a bit more peace of mind. Definitely worth the $25 fee. But now that I’ve got Smokey, I certainly don’t need to research any more cars — but maybe you do. Shoot me an e-mail with a VIN, and I’ll run the report and e-mail it to you. Hurry, though - my subscription only lasts for another two weeks.

Tell me - is this the creepiest looking Pinocchio you’ve ever seen? It was on the cover of a cut-rate DVD version at the local grocery store. (more…)

Spocko left a comment on my entry about the movie “Snakes On A Plane” and seemed to think that I was some sort of “viral messenger” for the movie, and that my blog entry and purchase of a SoaP t-shirt were somehow part of a larger campaign to promote the movie. In fact, there is no such campaign that I am aware of. I read a few entries on MetaFilter and Digg and a few other sites several months ago about the movie, and my first reaction was that it was some sort of gag based on the Saturday Night Live sketch. Lo and behold, it turns out to be a real movie (presumably). My interest in it is based on the following: the sketch on SNL was bizarre to the point of being humorous; the concept of snakes on a plane stretched into a movie-length story is oddly intriguing; anything with Sam Jackson gets my attention; and the t-shirt that I bought has such cute, simple graphics that I thought it would be fun to wear. (more…)

“Wow…now I have a third child…you will be called…Explorer-Face!” I know exactly how Homer felt when he uttered words similar to those. I’d like to introduce you to… (more…)