Jeb

Everyone post lots of links and any news about breaking scandals, exploding laptops, search engines outing personal search data, posers on the Net doctoring photos, etc. Be Merciless.

August 11, 2006

Crystal Cave of the Giants

http://www.canyonsworldwide.com/crystals/index.html

August 5, 2006

Jersey scientists try to put brakes on hurricanes, by neg-nao

http://www.easternuswx.com/bb/index.php?showtopic=103111

Jersey scientists try to put brakes on hurricanes

http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../NEWS/608050330

Yeah, Right!!!

-----------------------------------

August 2, 2006

Special Reports: Crisis in the Middle East

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2006/mideast.crisis/

July 30, 2006

5 Reasons to Walk

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/rockertrai...reasons-to-walk

July 30, 2006

CEOs Should Not Go Into the Blogosphere Alone

http://www.micropersuasion.com/2006/07/ceos_should_not.html

July 29, 2006

Marketing Has Helped Make us a Nation of Fat People

http://agelessmarketing.typepad.com/ageles...ting_have_.html

"At the rate that technology is advancing, people will be implanting chips in our children to advertise directly into their brains and tell them what kind of products to buy," Hillary Clinton said at a Kaiser Family Foundation conference.

Fat_child She said the fastest growing advertising market is the 6- and under set, and that children's health is already being hurt by products like Camel's candy-flavored cigarettes and junk food sold with tips for video games - used to sell more junk food.

"People are spending billions and billions of dollars enticing children basically to be obsessed with food," she said. "These foods are almost universally unhealthy." Clinton has offered legislation to study the effects of the "advertising-saturated, media-intense" world on kids.

I am not a Hillary lover. But she is fundamentally right about the harm advertising is doing to our nation’s children and making us a nation of fat people.

Of course, legions of marketers would violently disagree with me.

Why do many in marketing have a knee-jerk reaction to claims that advertising can be harmful to children and other members of society?

Look at the issue this way.

People who own guns and hunt are anti-gun control. They defend their position by citing the Constitution and claiming that guns don’t kill people. People kill people.

People who like pot are anti-pot control, and see government desire to keep its use illegal an unwarranted reach into people’s personal lives – especially when alcohol, which causes greater harm, continues to be legal.

Companies that depend on low income employees don’t like to see the minimum wage raised, and claim that to raise it from levels set a decade ago will greatly harm the economy..

People who have a vested interest in something tend to be against any restriction on their enjoyment of that something and often invoke the general welfare as a basis for their thinking.

Indeed, it has been said that the public man is equal to his private motives, transferred to the public arena and rationalized in the name of the public welfare.

Hardly anyone wants to be grossly fat. Obesity is not simply a matter of failed character.

Obesity has many causes. Some arise from metabolic disorders. Others emanate from the brain. Some people have weaker impulse resistance than others simply as a matter of genetic inheritance. Other people by virtue of behavioral conditioning have come to depend on food the way alcoholics depend on booze (remember, many alcoholics have a genetic foundation for their addiction.) I’m not proposing that people addicted to food or alcohol bear no responsibility for their addictions, but I think marketers should ponder their own role in weakening people’s resistance to habits that promote unhealthiness.

It's a self-serving cop-out for any marketer to absolve the marketing profession of any role in the obesity pandemic. Perhaps were a marketer who absolves marketing of any responsibility for the national obesity problem a physician instead of a marketer, he or she might be more inclined to see the matter differently.

I am embarrassed by much of what goes on in my profession. We marketers should seriously contemplate the meaning of the finding in a recent poll that placed marketers just above used car salespeople in terms of trust. And why should we be highly trusted? We “target” with not a tinge of guilt children (as well as others) to sell products that are unhealthy. We renounce any claim of responsibility by saying what children consume is up to their parents.

Hillary is right.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I am no supporter of Hillary Clinton, but I have to admit she has got a point in this article. :axesmiley:

------------------------------------------

July 29, 2006

SI.com's Photo Gallery of Sports Cheaters

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedi....1.html?cnn=yes

July 28, 2006

The Biggest Internet Scam In Recent History

http://www.securitypronews.com/news/securi...entHistory.html

Are you interested in hearing about the biggest internet scam in recent history...

NO! Would you be interested if you discovered that it is possibly you that was scammed several months ago and did not even know it? In fact, if you were scammed back then you probably have had money removed from your bank account every month AND you may not even know you are losing your money. Now you are interested!

This foundation for this breech of internet security started a couple of years ago as a gift from your caring politicians and bureaucrats in the form of bank funds electronic transfer legislation. Simply stated, if you owe anyone money they (whoever) can 'electronically' withdraw it from your account without your permission if they have a contract in place.

A few weeks back a neighbor lady came to me venting her disapproval because some unknown and unnamed internet company had cleaned out her banking account. She was going to complain, bring legal suit and if she could find a real person she was going to do really mean things. It took 5 minutes and three questions to find out she was into a legal binding electronic contract she knew nothing about.

Questions 1: Did you buy and download (very key) any information from the internet. Usually a CD or something similar. Answer-YES.

Question 2: Did you knowingly enter into a binding contract with these people. Answer: ABSOLUTELY NOT!! Real answer-Yes

Question 3: Did you read all the fine print including the "Terms and Services". Answer: NO, BUT I KNOW THERE WAS NO CONTRACT OF ANY SORT. Real answer-NO I did not read the fine print. After displaying the website it took the whole of about 15-20 milliseconds to see the scam. I had to explain it three times before the dear lady could see it. Then the next question: "What can I do? I have tried to stop it." The result was she had to close out here bank account to kill the credit card.

Here is how it works. Either through email or PPC or some other way you end up on a webpage that, for example, guarantees to make you $187,594.26 in 30 minutes while working at home 10 minutes a day. Maybe this is slightly exaggerated but you get the picture. They usually have a CD that will give you all the information you need to carry off this money making project. Normally this CD would cost $99 but if you act within the next 2 hours, being the good guy you are you get it for free.

Now this is great deal. What is not to like? Wait there is one more thing. It only fair that since the CD is free that you should pay the shipping and handling. I think that is only fair don't you. Stop and read the above paragraph carefully again. What is wrong with this scenario? Where is the big red flapping flag!

DA!? This is the internet remember. The keywords are digital, electronic, and downloadable. If the information is electronically downloadable why send it by snail mail? What does this transaction yield to the creditor website? Your credit card information! Why is that a worry, the shipping cost is so small; only $7-8.

Now Question 2 comes into focus. Somewhere on the website there is a free trail offer (usually 15-30 days) that comes with a 'on line resident expert' attached. If the CD doesn't contain all the information you need the expert is on call to answer your questions. He/she might not speak English or have any relevant knowledge or experience on the subject but you get the free service for 15-30 days notwithstanding.

Here comes the neat part. Look at question 3 again. Did you read the fine print included in the terms and conditions? Of course not, no one reads that stuff. I bet you do from now on. Somewhere in the fine print it will say something like. 'You can unsubscribe from the normal service of the expert within the trial period (15-30 days) and there will be no penalty. However, if you do not unsubscribe we will take the normal amount (usually $20-40) out of your credit card account monthly." But, you say, that does not a contract make. You are absolutely correct. Except!

It is the little check box down where you enter you credit card information for the handling and shipping to get your 'free' CD that causes all the problems. "Buy checking this box you agree to all the terms and conditions" of the website - meaning the month to month withdrawal of your funds if you do not unsubscribe during the free trail period. That constitutes a legal contract under the electronic signature legislation. You have just agreed to send that company a monthly payment for services for the rest of you life or until you stop it.

Hold on, it only gets better. How many people do you know that really check their credit card statements in detail every month? Apparently not enough. A $30 withdrawal might stay hidden in your 4+ page credit card statement for months. Then when you do find it try to get it stopped. I tracked down an internet company doing this very thing; it took about three days of intense research. I sent an email to the highest officer we could find demanding to stop, stating we had no contract. I got back an email with the following answer; "Oh yes you do.' He was correct.

The moral of this story is simple. You must prevent this scam before it begins. In writing or generating legal documents of any kind, especially electronically, there is one absolute generic rule. "READ THE MAIL, UNDERSTAND THE MAIL and ANSWER THE MAIL"

In other words if you are reading and understanding every word on a website, conduct your business with confidence. If not my recommendation is "DO NOT ELECTRONCIALLY SIGN ANY THING, IT MAY CONTAIN A HIDDEN CONTRACT". Read the fine print. Make sure you know exactly what you are electronically signing. Answer ever detail with personal knowledge as to what it means; even if you have to read the terms and conditions a dozen times. Reject them if there are any questions.

Internet security is a serious matter that can only be controlled through knowledge by those people using the internet. Do not rely on a piece of software or a firewall entirely. Internet scams are perpetrated by very intelligent people that can think and work around most internet security devices.

Remember what Smokey the Bear says; "Only you can prevent internet scams!" Well, if he didn't say it he should have.

P.T. Barnum did say. "There is a sucker born every minute."

I say on the internet there are one million suckers born every minute.

-------------------

July 27, 2006

Online Blacklisting of Medical Malpractice Plaintiffs

http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives...e_blacklis.html

July 27, 2006

Protect Employees Against Identity Theft

http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/e...ntityTheft.html

July 27, 2006

Protect Employees Against Identity Theft

http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/e...ntityTheft.html

July 27, 2006

Some people never seem to learn. There's always someone that thinks they're smarter than the system. The ongoing Internet dramas are endless!! That's why this forum was started. I'll be posting links and occasionally excerpts of the latest exciting Web-based dramas. I invite you, dear reader, to chime right in, but you'll need to register first. Thanks.

Sign In

Jeb

Posts

Joined

Last visited

Content Type

Profiles

Forums

Blogs

Events

Downloads

Gallery

Posts posted by Jeb

OBSESSED with ADSENSE, I am...

EUSWX Threads

EUSWX Threads

EUSWX Threads

Processing Area

Processing Area

EUSWX Threads

EUSWX Threads

EUSWX Threads

TWV has converted to IPB!!!

EUSWX Threads

EUSWX Threads

BREAKING DEVELOPMENTS!!!!

Crystal Cave of the Giants

EUSWX Threads

Special Reports: Crisis in the Middle East

5 Reasons to Walk

CEOs Should Not Go Into the Blogosphere Alone

Marketing Has Helped Make us a Nation of Fat People

SI.com's Photo Gallery of Sports Cheaters

The Biggest Internet Scam In Recent History

Online Blacklisting of Medical Malpractice Plaintiffs

Protect Employees Against Identity Theft

Protect Employees Against Identity Theft

Welcome to yet another episode of, "As The 'Net Turns".

Browse

Activity