The world out there? It’s a jungle, and no I don’t suppose to put that forth as some kind of ground-breaking news. Most people who have ever had some kind of human interaction don’t take long until they realize they should keep their eyes peeled; there are just too many ill-willed individuals who look forward to breathe substance into the age-old adage “A fool and his money are easily departed” . And guess what? As it turned out, the Internet has become a ever-expanding stage for all kinds of scam artists and tricksters.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I don’t mean to embed you with some kind of irrational paranoia that will make you suspicious of all your on-line acquaintances. However, I think it’s very healthy to maintain a healthy watch against bad intentioned people -particularly so when it comes to the cyberspace landscapes, I might add. Now, the problem here – I think – is that most people really don’t get enough information to effectively protect themselves.

Henceforth, I’d like to take the chance to make a call for education and recommend this website called Report Fraud, which is focused on providing articles to help you detect and handle a wide range of online frauds and schemes. Reading some of those articles will be likely to provide you with valuable insight regarding some of the latest trends in the dark arts of computer-mediated deception. Besides, you also get a chance to actually report fraud by submitting your own stories, thereby helping other people stay out of certain traps you might have happened to fall into before.

The thing I enjoyed the most about this website is that besides focusing the most obvious “popular” scams people seem to fall for the most, it also provides information about some rather unpredictable, and oftentimes amusing, attempts of fraudulence. For example, I was just reading this article about Fake Poetry Contests, and I was equally impressed by the nastiness of such exploits and the ingenuity of the author in defusing it and expressing the experience in a rather interesting and insightful article. But don’t take my word for it, just go ahead and check it out for yourself.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Do you remember what it was like to go through High School? Some people think of that as the best time of their life, while others think it’s the worse. Then, some people think of their graduation speeches as a chance to say a lot of senseless crap, and then some people take that opportunity to make something innovative and memorable. Case in point, I’m about to show with with a very special video from a peculiar kid who falls somewhere in between, while successfully captivating the crowd’s imagination. Ah… those kids nowadays.

Popularity: 1% [?]

In my opinion, there are two kinds of people who take it upon themselves to make a self-declaratory happy birthday statement such as this one here. The first is the overly depressed kind, which provides such statement as a way to draw attention and self-pity. The second is the overly confident kind, which makes a point out of letting everyone know it’s their special day, simply because they’re well worthy of all the attention in the world.    Myself, hopefully I’ll fall somewhere in between.

birthday candle

Most people seem to take their anniversaries as a chance to either congratulate themselves for their achievements, or berate themselves for their failures. Hopefully, today I’ll choose offering myself something more interesting and useful: perspective. During these past (almost 3) decades, I’ve lived through things good and bad, I’ve experienced heights and depths, and for all of that I’m thankful. My positive experiences brought me happiness, and my negative experiences brought me awareness… all in all I’ve been blessed with the gift of understanding. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 1% [?]

With the holiday season just around the corner, the time has come to start planning what you’ll offer your loved ones. Well, I’ve been reading about an innovative kind of present which might be suitable for the kind of woman that has everything… a gift certificate aimed at preserving life.

You might have heard the news on stem cell preservation, a new technique that allows using cryogenically preserved healthy cells to potentially develop treatment for several diseases that may ocur in the future. What you might not know about is that there are companies offering this service at a reasonable price. C’elle is one such company, and it provides a save and easy method of harvesting samples of menstrual blood which are then processed and stored with the purpose of getting used in future cellular therapies. Such cells can be used to treat not only the woman they’ve been collected from, but also someone sharing her blood-lines… such as a parent, children or sibling, and they can be used to treat a vast range of life-threatening diseases.
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 1% [?]

Whether we like it or not, the world becomes a softer place for all of us from the use of metaphors. I mean, can you imagine what it would be like if everyone went around with a fast-forward, tongue-in-cheek attitude, speaking their minds freely in every circumstance without making the least detour or using some colorful comparisons? Well, I’m guessing that disaster would ensue and confusion will be likely to get cast all around. So while you watch the following video, hopefully you’ll keep in mind that metaphors are actually quite useful and actually necessary as a lesser evil:

Popularity: 2% [?]