Josh Byers

What Love Looks Like

My eyes were not dry after watching this.  Hat tip to Josh Griffin

If I Only Had the Time

I came across a video today that combines two things I really like – A Capella and Star Wars.  Strange, I know but work with me here.  If I could sit in front of a computer all day and just play this would be exactly the kind of stuff that I might produce – but alas real work has to be done.  So enjoy.

Its actually better if you click through the link and listen to the high-quality version.

My Yearbook Photos

I stumbled onto a great site today and spent way too much time there.  Check out Yearbook Yourself for a good laugh.  I think 1976 is my favorite…

I graduated in 1997 and my senior picture does not look very far off…  Long live the wave!

You make me so hungry

Just wanted to share a great deal with you all that I found.  At restaurant.com you can buy $25 dollar gift certificates for just $2 right now.  Use the code eighty at check out for 80% off your purchase.  I looked up some of the restaurants you can use it at near us and there are several.  Okoboji grill, The firken and Fox, Fireside Grill in Altoona, Cheddars and many more.

If you need some Christmas gifts, now would be the time.  Do it quick though.  The sale ends tomorrow!

BJU to Start “ThySpace”

Just got this from Josh Griffin’s blog…

In order to fully appreciate this post follow the instructions below.

1. Read the title of post
2. Follow link below
3. Laugh really hard
4. Wonder to yourself “is it really true?”
5. Laugh at yourself for wondering
6. Stop laughing and wonder again…

Click to read really funny news-release

The Greatest Invention Ever…No Really

I just found possibly one of the most useful things in my lifetime. No, not a really fast electric car, or even a Feline Stay-Fresh Drinking Fountain…(which is sold out by the way due to its immense popularity) No dear brothers and sisters I’m talking about the Procrastinator’s Clock.

What? Me? A Procrastinator? Those who know me best would say I am, though I like to say I manage my tasks to be done when they need to be not when they could be… Anyway this particular clock courtesy of David Seah runs 15 minutes fast. Not impressed are you? You can do that with a normal clock? Ahhh, but does your clock speed up and slow down unpredictably? Didn’t think so. The slogan for this fine product is really great: “This clock runs fast up to 15 minutes…or does it?

You never know if you’re 15 minutes ahead or if you’re right on time – so you can’t cheat.

This needs to be a function put into all alarm clocks. Why hasn’t someone thought of this before? Millions of dollars are waiting to be made.

Well, I need to end this post – I’m late for work…

Future Blackmail in the Making

Since shifting my business model to be more focused on my name rather than that of my company I google my name every so often to see where I am in the rankings. It’s also a good excuse to do a vanity search…

For the past couple of years the top entries on almost every search engine were related to a soldier by the same name who had died in Iraq. This was quite eerie when it first happened because the soldier also happens to be from Colorado. Since I switched to Wordpress I have noticed my ranking climb higher and higher and now I am the number one ranking on Google, Yahoo, and others.

While doing this I thought I would see where Mia and Mickie ranked. They were number one as well which wasn’t a huge surprise because those names are less common than Josh. What was surprising was the text that went along with Mia’s entry.

So when she’s 15 and being belligerent I can pull out this picture and let her know that at one point the biggest search engine in the world had a conversation about her underwear as it’s number one ranking…

In case you didn’t read it, google is referencing a post I made a bit ago about how on a trip Mickie and Mia switched suitcases and ended up with each others clothes. You can read about it here.

Fortunately these things are volatile and should change soon.

Phishing with Dynamite Part 2

If you click on the get verified link in the fake PayPal email you will be redirected to an Internet site that looks like the PayPal homepage. If you have gotten this far and still haven’t realized your being scammed there are even more blatant signals that something is not on the level.

When the page loads it does something a little funny. It resizes it self. This is very simple for even a novice web developer to do. But why resize the page? When the page was resized it loaded itself into a special browser that was designed not to show you the web address of the page. But if you look in the upper corner of the page you will see this:

Notice that the original url is some weird number. That is a huge red flag. If the url doesn’t start with what you think it should it is possibly a scam.

Next you’ll notice that if no matter what link you click on the page it takes you to the same page. The page it takes you to is a familiar one that you see quite often if you use PayPal.

And then from that page you are redirected to the page where it asks for your credit card and pin number information.

Know that these sites will never ask you for your credit card number unless you are in the process of creating an account or if you are buying something. Also a site will never ask you for your pin number along with your credit card.

Hopefully you can recognize some of the signs the next time a phisherman is out trying to hook you.

Phishing With Dynamite

I received an email today from someone who appeared to be PayPal. I periodically receive emails from PayPal and other financial institutions that I have dealings with. Most of them are either trying to get you to sign up for a new service they are offering or else they are just reminding you that you signed up for a free beach towel once and now they want to send you “convenience” checks… Below is the email I got today.

This particular email was not striking in the fact that it looked very professional and legit. It was really no different than the rest of the PayPal emails I have received except for a section that was highlighted in red.

Hmmm. Now automatically my radar went up. Anytime you get an email that promises drastic action on some sort of financial account if you don’t do something very quickly is most likely fraud. For somebody that has not had experience with this it could be very hard to spot. The people who sent this email were very clever. Notice the section that deals with privacy and how to protect yourself against fraud.

If you were really trying to scam someone would you put in a section about how not to get scammed? You would if you were trying to look legit. In any normal email newsletter you would be able to click on the links for the different articles and then read what they had to say. Not this one. The only link you can click on is one to “get verified.” Big red flag. Then to further confuse you they place the logos of reputable companies in their very nicely formatted email.

And lastly at the bottom of the email they put PayPal’s actual privacy policy and some terms of service. Subconsciously you think who would go to the trouble to fake that? But they do.

Be extremely careful when you are solicited for any information.
I’ll show you what happens when you try and “get verified” in the next post.

I need to work on my “spitting”

I just came across this article and had to share it with all peeps in the hizzle…

I from time to time have been known to bust a rhyme…okay not really but I do like to make drum noises with my mouth (otherwise known as “vocal percussion” or “beat boxing”). So I have a little spot dedicated in my heart to free stylin’ rap. I like to think I’m cool and break out with a little rhyme every now and then, but I always need to rehearse it for awhile before I try and get spontaneous on anyone.

So, this morning I found this article in the inbox in my rss reader.

“How to Survive a Freestyle Rap Battle” Wow! Does it get any better than that? You can click on the link for the full details but let me give you the basics.

1. Listen to great freestylers
2. Practice, practice, practice (there is no substitute for this-ever)
3. Start writing rhymes (that would be lines and words that sound alike, here is an example…Jesusa loves me, this I knowa, for thee-ah Bible tells me-a so-ah…) That last example works best if said with a little caribbean flava.
4. Once you can “spit on the spot” (spitting is a another term for freestyling), try and “spit” about more specific things. (hmmmm, sometimes when I am on a bridge or a tall building I try and spit on a spot.)
5. Jump in and battle someone
6. Here is my favorite tip…and I am not making this up…okay ready? Make sure your first battle is against someone you dislike – it will make it easier for you to throw in denegrating metaphors (a key staple in any rap battle), personal disses, and punch lines (a combination of the two.) Here is an example. “Yo, you be trippen on yo wal-mart drawers, and you eat garbage from a can cause you so poor. Word.” My CD will be out in the late fall…watch for it.
7. And last, don’t worry if you lose your first few battles. Again practice is the key.

If you do read the article I would like to direct your attention to the warning near the bottom of the page. “Spitting, as refered to in the article does not refer to “saliva expulsion” but rather a poetic combination of wordage.

I would invite all you to try out your mad skills and throw out some mad spits here on the comments. Keep it clean yo. I’m out.