Carpe Diem

This entry was originally going to wait until tomorrow morning. Today being Sunday night, even though now it's no fewer than 25 minutes past midnight so should technically be referred to as "Monday". But fuck that shit, it's Sunday!


Okay back to business. Spam. We're all aware of it. We all receive it from time to time. We all scream its name in a high pitched voice to replicate that infamous Monty Python sketch. And I'm pretty sure we all fucking hate it.

Over the last 24 hours I have received the same stupid chain letter in my inbox from roughly 4 different people. The thing is some chain letters are so obviously stupid that people just forward them along. But it's ones like the one I got today (4 times) that really piss me off.

I'm sure you're all aware of it. It reads:

"Hi,
This is Tara and John, the directors of MSN,

Sorry for the interruption but MSN is closing down. This is because too many inconsiderate people are taking up all the name (e.g. Making up lots of different accounts for just one person, etc.), we only have 578 names left. If you would like to close your account, DO NOT SEND THIS MESSAGE ON. If you would like to keep your
Account, then SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST. This is no
joke, we will be shutting down the servers.
Send it on, thanks.

P.S.
WHO EVER DOES NOT SEND THIS MESSAGE, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE CLOSED AND IT WILL COST YOU 10.00 A MONTH TO USE. SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST. NOW YOU
KNOW WHAT TO DO. PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD THIS or REPLAY. COPY THE WHOLE EMAIL.
GO BACK TO YOUR INBOX AND CLICK ON NEW. AND PASTE
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION."

What really annoys me about this email is that the reason I have received it is because some people actually seem to believe it, or at least half-believe, enough to forward it on anyway. There are a number of things wrong with this email:

1) If MSN really was going to close down I am pretty sure that Microsoft, one of the richest corporations in the known universe would have the resources to personally let all of their users know. Why send an email out to a few select people and get them to circulate it amongst themselves. It's madness!
2) If Microsoft really were to personally email you they would not start the email with "Hi".
3) If "Tara" and "John" really are the top brass at MSN and were gracious enough to email us they would not refer to themselves as merely "Tara and John"
4) If one of the richest corporations in the known universe can't cope with duplicate accounts and lacking number of domain names then who the fuck can?!

I'll leave it there because the list could go on forever. But I'm sure you get the point.


The only other thing I want to mention is the fact that Lily Allen has apparently covered Britney Spear's new single "Womanizer".

Jesus Christ, if it's anything like Lily's last cover (Oh My God, of Kaiser Chiefs fame) then we'll be smashing our heads against our ipods as her dreary, tone-deaf screeches emit from our headphones.