Jeff Milner

A couple of years ago a newly acquired “friend” of my mom’s asked her if she could set up the kids (meaning my brother and me) an interview with a recruiter for Microsoft that was coming to town. We were somewhat computer literate – I had worked at the computer store, and so did Gary but she didn’t know that. It was odd to say the least. Then it got more suspicious – they were holding these so-called interviews at Humpty’s restaurant for crying out loud.

The spider senses were tingling but we were just so curious as to what was really going on that we had to go. That was my first and thankfully last encounter with Quixtar. Needless to say we didn’t sign up.

MSNBC has an interesting report about Quixtar’s shady practice which sounds exactly like that first meeting:

Greg Fredericks: “If you’re somewhat serious, all I mean by somewhat serious — if you invest maybe, say, 10 to 15 hours a week in your business. This is your own business — you could generate in the next 12 to 18 months, an extra quarter of a million.”

Tim Sandler [Dateline producer]: “I’m sorry. How much?”

Fredericks: “A quarter million.”

Sandler: “You’re making more than $250,000 — quarter of a million?”

Fredericks: “Umm hmm.”

The funny thing for us was, the guy was trying to tell us that if we had a webpage selling goods we were going to be RICH RICH RICH. They were comparing their sales to that of Amazon.Com and Ebay. We knew it was a scam so just for entertainment purposes we went to their website, not only was it not spectacular it wasn’t even working. Now Quixtar has bigger problems than an out of service webspace:

Both the FBI and the criminal division of the IRS are making separate inquiries into at least two top distributors not focused on in this [MSNBC] report.

It’s probably not too late to get signed up with Amway, or Quixtar, but if you want you could always wait for the next reincarnation of the giant pyramid sales scheme organization. Thanks for the job lead mom! j/k ;)

Pictures like this one that my dad took of me in 1997 at the Brooklyn Bridge are no longer allowed to be taken according to an over-zealous police officer in New York.

From a PBase photo gallery:

Due to security concerns you cannot legally take any photos taken ON or near a Bridge without permission. My friends and I were taking photos of the sunset near the Verrizano Bridge in January 2004 when we were asked to show our ID to the cops and told not to take photos.

…The reason we have to get permission to take photos now is because of the distruction [sic] of the World Trade Center.

A member of a Clash tribute band was arrested yesterday after a text message he sent was intercepted and traced back to his phone. Apparently he used his mobile to text the lead singer with the words to the song Tommy Gun, which the singer had forgotten. The text said “How about this for Tommy Gun? OK – SO LET’S AGREE ABOUT THE PRICE AND MAKE IT ONE JET AIRLINER AND TEN PRISONERS”. One month later he was arrested by Special Branch officers.

A writer over at The Museum of Hoaxes, is convinced that Rance is just some cartoonist/filmmaker/screenwriter named Keith Thomson. That’s right – a nobody as far as celebrity is concerned.

I guess Rance won’t be buying anyone a new Dodge Viper anytime soon, no matter how many riddles they solve, essays they write, or otherwise earn DVP’s (Dodge Viper Points).

It’s too bad. I don’t mind that Rance’s secret identity has been revealed, it’s just disappointing that he’s not any kind of celebrity at all, and that basically everything he said was a lie. I guess I am just a sucker for wild claims via the blogosphere.

On Saturday morning just before 10:30am a house located on the North-side of Lethbridge exploded.

A 68-year-old man was looking after his 11-year-old grand daughter. She was blown from the house and landed in the yard. Apparently she escaped with only minor cuts and bruises. The elderly man was discovered very soon afterwards by neighbors. He was under a pile of rubble laying on his sofa. The neighbors quickly dug him out and as from what I understand, moments after he was safe – what was left of the bungalow erupted up in flames.

Both he and the girl, though escaping serious injuries, remained in Lethbridge Regional Hospital yesterday.

The explosion is suspected to be caused by a natural gas leak in the basement.

Talk about a bad day.

After my 6:30AM meeting yesterday at the pool, I came home and wondered what I would be doing for the rest of the day. I have no shifts until Saturday so while I was considering my options, a friend of mine called me up and asked if I wanted to go to Calgary. He wanted to buy a new suit. His wife wanted him to buy a fancy new suit for a wedding they are going to this weekend.

After shopping, for a very nice and might I add expensive new suit, we drove down 17th avenue or “the red mile” on our way to lunch. We were there too early to see any celebratory breast flashing, which I guess, is becoming a tradition there. It’s like big foot, the Yeti, or Ogopogo – you hear about these sightings, but you never actually see them yourself. Except on the Internet. (NSFW duh)

On top of it all, the Flames lost last night. I heard yesterday morning that Tampa Bay defenceman Dan Boyle’s house had a bad fire causing $300,000 worth of damage. It’s really too bad, I can’t even imagine how devastating it would be if my house caught on fire. I thought that the whole team might be thrown off their game but it didn’t look like it affected them at all. They beat the Flames 4-1 last night tieing up the series with one victory each. You’ve got to hand it to them, it’s going to be a fight to the finish.

Better luck next time Flames.

Reuters has an article about the blogger and supposedly “famous actor” who goes by the moniker Rance. They claim that research indicates Rance is nothing more than a wannabe who used to work at an ad firm in Los Angeles:

Meanwhile, a Defamer reader tried to unmask Rance by researching the term “Captain Hoof,” which appears in the Web address. She came to the conclusion that he was a San Francisco man who worked at an ad agency and once ran a Web site with a similar name — possibly dedicated to an imaginary horse.

The man, who no longer works for the agency, could not be contacted for this story.

While I have no clue who Rance actually is, I do enjoy reading his blog and will continue to do so – even if he’s not as famous as he claims to be.

Update: It appears Rance is a fake.

Anna-Maria is in Toronto all this week. I’m off to play Risk with some friends but before I go, here is a little message about Canada (from Joey DeVille’s Accordion Guy):

Joey, a Filipino-born Canadian, writes a spirited editorial in response to a jackass racist blogger at enterstageright.com who asserts that the Canadians who died in the Boer War, the two World Wars, and the Korean conflict certainly didn’t intend for Toronto to be annexed by the “Third World,” and says that the non-whites of Canada are less Canadian, with “no knowledge or affection for the old Canada, in either their hearts or minds.”

Hey “Enter Stage Right”, fuddle-duddle off eh!

A parody helps change a corrections policy at The New York Times. An online critic’s query ends a career at the Chicago Tribune. Bloggers’ scrutiny is making its mark on traditional journalism.

Online Journal Review on how bloggers are influencing mainstream newspapers.