Blog for One

So here I am minding my own business when an email arives with the following content:

—- start email —-

******Posting Alert******

Someone has just begun the process of sharing opinions and experiences about you via our website.

This email message is not spam.

This email message was sent to you as a direct result of the actions of a user at our website. If this email message was delivered to your spam or bulk email folder please notify your ISP or spam filtering company regarding this mistake on their part.

To view postings about you click here:

http://8.shyex.net/exec/1.php?a=search&b=5&c=our%40mailaddress
If you prefer not to be informed if a user posts about you at our website in the future please add your email address to our Do Not Email List here:

http://3.shyex.org/exec/1.php?a=donotemail&b=our%40mailaddress

Sincerely,

SYEC Support
— end email—

Like a complete moron, I click the link and get taken to the secure site (!).

Apparently, someone knows me professionally within the past year, and they are willing to share information about me anonymously, but all the have is my email address. At this point, I start to smell a scam. The odour intensifies as I learn on the shareyourexperiences.com web site that the only way to contact the person with this info is through the shareyourexperiences.com anonymous remailing service, and, this is not free.

So once again, google to the rescue. Googling “shareyourexperiences” produces a wealth of hits, mostly folks who have either been taken in and ripped off, or people who debunk the site as a “word-of-mouth.org” variant.

It’s really interesting just how alluring the ‘hook’ can seem. Particularly since the site is emblazoned with all kinds of logos from Verisign and other Internet Service Suppliers making it look legit.

If anyone else gets taken in, here’s the domain info:

Domain name: shareyourexperiences.com

Registrant:
JOHN TORREY (399PU) JOHN.TORREY@SBCGLOBAL.NET
SHAREYOUREXPERIENCES.COM
2711 CENTERVILLE ROAD, SUITE 120
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 19808
United States
Phone: +1 (516)2148365

Administrative Contact:
JOHN TORREY (399PU) JOHN.TORREY@SBCGLOBAL.NET
SHAREYOUREXPERIENCES.COM
2711 CENTERVILLE ROAD, SUITE 120
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 19808
United States
Phone: +1 (516)2148365

Technical Contact:
JOHN TORREY (399PU) JOHN.TORREY@SBCGLOBAL.NET
SHAREYOUREXPERIENCES.COM
2711 CENTERVILLE ROAD, SUITE 120
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 19808
United States
Phone: +1 (516)2148365

Billing Contact:
JOHN TORREY (399PU) JOHN.TORREY@SBCGLOBAL.NET
SHAREYOUREXPERIENCES.COM
2711 CENTERVILLE ROAD, SUITE 120
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 19808
United States
Phone: +1 (516)2148365

Record last updated on 2004-04-10 00:00:00
Record created on 2004-02-24 00:00:00
Record expires on 2005-02-24 00:00:00

Saw this movie on the weekend. What some folks will do to make a point is incredible.

(click image to visit Morgan Spurlock’s blog)

..spent up north, about an hour or so out of Montreal in Morin Heights, actually Wentworth-Nord, a neighboring municipality with beautiful countryside dotted with lakes of various sizes, some teeny, wee little lakelets really.

I spent the day canoeing on several lakes, some of which involved rather inventive portaging. (“Why no, officer, we weren’t trespassing, our canoe slipped off the truck.”)

Well armed with mega-deet (the blackflies are out in huge numbers) and a spiffy rental canoe, I headed out with my friend John to explore the lakes.

Mother Nature was in her full glory today, beautiful bright sun, a gentle breeze, and nobody else out on the water. The hours passed unnoticed.

I had forgotten how quiet it gets out in the country, the dull roar of the city was far behind, replaced by the sound of paddles gently slicing into into the wind-rippled lake.

I am starting to really enjoy paddling. Next time, I’ll try a kayak.

From http://www.cyberbee.net/column/stinging/cicadakiller.shtml

Fig. 1. A cicada killer wasp trying to carry home a cicada that has been paralyzed.
Photo by Zachary Huang

So far so good.

I’m averaging about 8 to 10 kilometers a day. About 20 minutes each way. Long enough to get some cardio, short enough to not be an ordeal.

I guess this makes it official – I’m an aging hippie.

Or not.