Sgt. Eric Yonenson

Sometimes I check the junk folders of my various email addresses to see which new schemes the scammers have come up with. Today I came across this one;


Dear Friend, I am sending you this confidential
email after reading through your profile to make a passionate
appeal to you for assistance.

[classic request for assistance in moving money around]

I am Sgt. Eric Yonenson, I am an
American soldier with Swiss background, serving in the
military with the army 3rd infantry division. I am seeking your
kind assistance to move the sum of ($ 2 million u.s. dollars), this is no stolen
money, and there are no danger involved.

As a soldier I have no right to travel out of the camp until the peace has
restored in Iraq and I can not continue to face such pains
lost of lives and property hence I want to move this fund
through you for investment to enable me resign from this service.

Source of money: Some money in various currencies was
discovered in barrels at a farmhouse near one of Saddam"s
old palaces in Tikrit-Iraq during a rescue operation, and it was
agreed by staff Sgt Kenneth buff and I that some part of this
money be Shared among both of us before informing any body
about it since both of us saw the money first. This was quite an
illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No compensation can make
up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell hole. Of
which my brother in-law was killed by a road side bomb.

[classic request for information, insuring the recipient of the email
that he or she will be rewarded when the transaction has been completed]

Please treat this with strict confidentiality.
Yours faithfully, Sgt. Eric Yonenson


I've never been particularly positive towards the military, in any country. I don't thinking going to war to create peace is ever going to truly work, it only creates more pain, death and hatred.

I do, however, believe that most soldiers do want to help, that they do what they can, in the only way they know how to. Not all are good people, and even those who are can make mistakes, just like the rest of us.


- But something like this is spammers sinking lower than I've seen before. I shouldn't be surprised, and I'm not - they send emails pretending to be doctors and presidents and aid workers who just want a little extra on the side. Actually, I would say pretending to be an aid worker stealing from the people they're trying to help is worse...

Is there any wonder people don't trust each other anymore?

There ARE more Bergens!

From Obama with Love

Reggie Love is Barack Obama's personal aide. He follows him everywhere, is apparently very smart, very cool, and able to handle pretty much anything.

Man.. I wish I had someone like that following me around - that guy is pure yum!

I miss the kitten...

Ain't she adorable?
(a little spoiled too but don't tell her I said that!)

Nickelback - All The Right Reasons

I have loved you all along
And I miss you
Been far away for far too long
I keep dreaming you'll be with me
And you'll never go
Stop breathing if
I don't see you anymore


I've been meaning to say something about this CD for a long time. I bought it because I remembered their sound from a CD my brother once had, I think it was called Wired Up II... he lent it to me, I never gave it back, then years later I reminded him of it and he said I could keep it.

It just sounds... familiar in a way I can't explain. I listened to it a lot this autumn, sitting in the study room at Akamwesi. A few of the lines just sort of... meant more, there and then, than they could in any other setting or situation.


If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
We'd see the day when nobody died

And as we lie beneth the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be


I'd quote all the songs.. but the post would just get too long.
I've only got one CD by Nickelback but there something about their music, their sound, their lyrics, that just... gets me.

Barack Hussein Obama, 44th President of the United States of America

After eight years of war, hatred, scare-tactics and fear, finally, someone has dared to stand up and ask people to hope. To believe. In a future, in people, in a better world. We create the world we live in, we only have the one, and too often the good in the world, and the people in it, is clouded over by hatred and fear.

Following one of the greatest campaigns, and one of the most resented presidents in history, Barack Obama was elected two and a half months ago. It truly is an historic event. A lot of people have very high expectations, all I can do is hope they know that one person cannot change the world. But he, or she, can inspire people to change. We've created the world we live in today, and now we need to create the world we wish to live in. The world we hope for.

Perhaps one reason why the world is, and has been, so involved, so excited about the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States, is that we see him as one of us. At the same time, many Americans' view is that he's not really one of them. I think we see, not only the hope and the inspiration, but a man who sees the world as one and a whole, and not just how it can be exploited.


He cannot change the world. But he can change views, opinions; people.
And as people, we create our world.

I've only been back a week...

...and I'm already sick and tired of going into the kitchen, turning the oven on, only to realize there's smoke coming out whenever someone has used it (and especially after one flat mate has made moussaka which, surprise, surprise, he did today).

We've done all that before, set off the alarm. That means having the alarm howling, in the entire building, for 45 minutes, and sending 157 people out in the cold. Then spending the rest of the evening answering questions from fire fighters and police.

Sometimes I hate living with students...

Sleepless nights equal more colds in U.S. study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who sleep less than seven hours a night are three times as likely to catch a cold as their more well-rested friends and neighbours, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

The study supports the theory that sleep is important to immune function, said Sheldon Cohen and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

People who slept longer and more soundly resisted infection better, they reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

"Although sleep's relationship with the immune system is well-documented, this is the first evidence that even relatively minor sleep disturbances can influence the body's reaction to cold viruses," Cohen said in a statement.

Cohen's team tested 153 healthy volunteers, locking them in a hotel for five days after infecting them with a cold virus.

They had been interviewed daily for the previous two weeks to get details on their sleep patterns. They were tested for cold symptoms after the five-day lockup and had blood tests for antibodies to the virus.

The men and women who reported fewer than seven hours of sleep on average were 2.94 times more likely to develop sneezing, sore throat and other cold symptoms than those who reported getting eight or more hours of sleep each night.

Volunteers who spent less than 92 percent of their time in bed asleep were 5 1/2 times more likely to become ill than better sleepers, they found.

Sleep disturbance may affect immune system signalling chemicals called cytokines or histamines, the researchers said.

Maggie Fox, Will Dunham
Reuters

So that's why I so rarely get sick!

Feeling Blue

Yesterday I had a conversation on chat with a guy I don't know.
It went like this;

blblue: hi
apples: hey
apples: how's life?
blblue: good and you
blblue: i have a little bit of a cold so being lazy today
apples: going good here. almost a snow storm outside so haven't been out all day :)
apples: where ya from?
blblue: usa
blblue: u
apples: norway
blblue: ah cool
blblue: how old are you?
apples: 24
blblue: 27male here
blblue: are u norwegian by blood?
apples: I'm... norwegian in pretty much any way someone can be norwegian
blblue: well i know there are muslims in norway and they are not norwegian
apples: there are christians in pakistan, does that mean they're not pakistani?
blblue: im talking about blood
blblue: you fuckin moron
blblue: i dont care about religon
blblue: religon is for the weak anyway
apples: yeah... I'm gonna pass on this conversation
blblue: Real Scancinavians are Nordic
apples: lighten up and have a nice evening
blblue: not muds
blblue: later loser
blblue: u piece of trash
blblue: lol
blblue: get a brain and learn that it morning here in usa
blblue: u dumbfuck


You meet the weirdest people out there...

Polls

Results from the poll prior to (and after since I didn't get it off sooner) the election of a new American president.

I noticed that before the election, most votes came for Obama, whereas after he had been elected, most people voted None. I wonder why...