“All Your Base” sighting #2101: on an out-of-order sign on a vending machine in one of Mercer University’s dorms. Take off every soda! For great justice!

Mercer University‘s programming team, as I’ve mentioned before, is known as the Binary Bears. By some uncanny coincidence, Brøderbund‘s ClickArt image collection contains a photo in which two teddy bears have been posed at a computer desk.

The perfect Photoshopping opportunity, you say? I agree entirely.

Sheesh. Just when you thought spammers couldn’t get any more ridiculous, they’re finding hilariously amusing and totally ugly ways to attempt to counteract spam filters.

Today, for instance, I received a spam with the wonderfully munged subject line of “brin¨g. in m·or­e – busi-ºñèss less”.

The kicker? Even with all of this spammer’s attempts to avoid being filtered, the copy of SpamAssassin running on zone38 identified it for what it was, thanks to the number of dollar signs and (un-obfuscated) spam-related phrases contained within.

A few more inexplicable search requests…

• jane eyre mp3 free movie – A very interesting use of MP3, I’d say. (Perhaps a typo for mp4? Either that, or a very clueless user…)
• were can i get Jay Leno’s headlines? – Indeed, this did lead to a link regarding Leno’s headlines. However, the spelling of the search is quite ironic considering the subject.
• I am a fontaholic – Nice to know there are other typographic addicts out there, heh.
• dowload windows xp home edition free on cd – Ignoring the typo, isn’t this somewhat of a contradiction?

As if Saturday’s spelling-related news article wasn’t enough, here’s a news item which combines stupid criminals and bad spelling. If you’re going to forge checks, at least spell the name of the bank correctly…

Obligatory spelling-related article link: Atlanta company found guilty of poor spelling at new Houston [County] courthouse. The cost of the error, of course, is hard to access assecc accecc aw, forget it…

The introvert’s anthem, the lyrics to which describe me almost perfectly: “Party of One” by John Finan. Be sure to check out John’s other songs as well; “The O.R.P.S. Confusion Blues” and “Refrigerator Science Projects” are quite amusing, and, well, it’s just good folk-rock music in general…what else can I really say?

I’ve been trying to watch my calorie intake lately– suffice it to say, my abdomen has grown to large proportions, which would be great if those proportions consisted of muscle rather than fat. In doing so, I’ve noticed an alarming trend, namely, that many of the calories my body has to deal with are derived from the sugar-laden soft drinks I so often have with my lunch, dinner, and the occasional snack.

In fact, I’d love to start drinking diet sodas to cut down on a significant number of calories. After all, it’s a logical choice for someone who wastes around 500 calories a day on beverages. Unfortunately, there’s one slight problem with that approach: I absolutely loathe the taste (or should that be aftertaste?) of NutraSweet™®© and its synthetic brethren. Doesn’t matter whether it’s Diet Coke, Diet Sprite, Diet Dr. Pepper, or whatever it may be– I can quite readily taste the artificial sweeteners within, and it’s a flavor I don’t particularly care for.

“Well, then”, you say, “why not just drink water instead?” And I do, in fact; I quite often try to substitute good old H₂O for more caloric drinks. But in some cases– especially the above-mentioned meals– water just seems too…bland…at times. And there’s always tea, of which I drink a good amount, but whose calorie content is not much better off than the canned, carbonated drinks with which I’ve a love-hate relationship.

I guess I’ll just have to exercise more, then. A lot more.

Actual spam subject line: “Hello lwallace ! NEW! Find out ANYTHING about ANYONE with your PC!”

My idea of a potential response: “Hello spammer ! Use your own product to discover that my username isn’t lwallace!”

Sigh. Will spammers ever learn?

As I’ve already mentioned, I’m an INTP personality type. Naturally, that’s something that’s rather difficult to explain to other people. But another INTP has attempted to explain the NT worldview— in a manner, of course, that will probably only be amusing to NT personality types.