Month: January 2007

My New Year Thus Far

So my vacation this year was to balmy Banff, Canada, nestled in the heart of the Rockies, for a week long stage combat workshop held by the International Order of the Sword and the Pen.

Here’s some of the things I’ve had a chance to do so far since we entered 2007:

– Learned the fundamentals of whip cracking and whip tricks.

– Rolled backwards over a table.

– Been put through a wall.

So my vacation this year was to balmy Banff, Canada, nestled in the heart of the Rockies, for a week long stage combat workshop held by the International Order of the Sword and the Pen.

Here’s some of the things I’ve had a chance to do so far since we entered 2007:

– Learned the fundamentals of whip cracking and whip tricks.

– Rolled backwards over a table.

– Been put through a wall.

– Photographed a deer from two feet away.

– Learned how to create fighting styles for cultures in fantasy literature. This course was taught by Tony Wolfe, the man behind all the fighting styles of the Lord of the Rings movies.

– Learned how to fight with found objects from Count Dooku’s stunt double.

– Learned the kata of the Cuts and Defenses of the Eight Winds. This is part of the Musashi “Two Heavens as One” school of katana. This was taught by a man who trained for years in Japan and then went on to be the fight choreographer for the Highlander TV show and Highlander: Endgame. (Yes, Justin… I can FEEL your envy. Let it flow through you…)

– Trained in the Peking Opera Staff, the Cutlass, and Case of Rapier (fighting with two swords).

And there’s still two days left. I’m seriously thinking about going back into theatre and stage combat full time after this experience.

Who falls for this crappy BofA phishing scheme?

OK, I have gotten some clever email scams in the past. I have received lots and lots of “word salad” scams recently, too, like “Parsley indigenous blogger obfuscate!”. But this, by far, is the most incompetent phishing scam I have ever received.

OK, I have gotten some clever email scams in the past. I have received lots and lots of “word salad” scams recently, too, like “Parsley indigenous blogger obfuscate!”. But this, by far, is the most incompetent phishing scam I have ever received.

Subject: Notice: Your Online Is Bloked From: “Bank Of America” Date: Tue, January 2, 2007 14:26 To: matthew@… Priority: Normal Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000

The content: this image. The site linked to: http://www.lung.org/boa.html

Note: It’s possible the above image may not show up at some point in the future because of this scam. If you arrive too late to see the image, it’s an obvious screen shot of a Bank of America web page saying “You Online Banking is Blocked”. The reason it’s so obviously a screen shot is that it’s an 8-bit GIF image, with really, really bad dithering. I mean, horrible. It looks like a screen shot of a CGA monitor or something. It’s barely readable.

I know P.T. Barnum said “There’s a sucker born every minute”, but do these absolutely inept phishing attempts actually work? On anybody? Ever?

I’m very irritated at the volume of spam wiggling its way past my filters lately. What about you?