Estelle Getty's Emmy Auctioned Off On eBay

TV Academy Angry

Variety reports the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences wants Estelle Getty’s 1987 Emmy for supporting comedy actress for her work in "The Golden Girls" removed from sale on eBay.

The statuette is being offered by a seller of fine art, with an initial asking price of $15,000. As of Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 22, 2009, there were no bids.

THE WEEK WITHOUT A MONDAY 9/11

A 9/11 retrospective, written on 9/17/01

9/10-16/2001
8 Blocks from Ground Zero
Barbara Fultz Martinez

People start things on Monday, set them going, especially in New York City in September when everyone is revving back into high gear. But Monday, September 10, 2001, is a lost day on the New York calendar.

Again and again, this week you heard, "on Monday, ... the first plane... the second plane... on Monday, the first tower... the second tower... on Monday...the Pentagon...on Monday... 4 planes hijacked...on Monday...8 planes...on Monday..." Only it was Tuesday, the first day of this week, and the first day of tomorrow. People kept saying "on Monday..."



We live 8 blocks from where the World Trade Center was. I always said "6 blocks"... when you live near something that big it seems very close. I had to count the blocks on the map on Sunday to be certain how many it really was. It was our back yard, over by the river, next to the parks and the Financial Center marina and Battery Park City, actually 3-4 blocks from our 4 schools and our Little League / Soccer League ball park.

Tuesday, I was in my office in Long Island (the other side of Queens); Lionel was at the loft. We phoned back and forth many times. My nephews phoned and sent emails. I sent emails; he sent emails. We never lost touch. TV never stopped transmitting; radios never went silent. Subways never stopped entirely; they just lost their southern stops in Manhattan. Metro North and LIRR worked outbound till evening, then inbound came back. The LIRR started up inbound service to Penn Station at 5:00 pm.



Power went out at 39 Worth in the afternoon when 7 WTC fell. Our ATT local and long distance service at home never failed.

But without power, no answering machine.

Tuesday I got to our nephew, Stephen's uptown apartment on West 56 Street by 6:30. No delays; no crowds at Penn Station. Subway north, no crowd, no delay. Rush hour. Empty somber streets. People had already moved themselves
out.

Lionel fielded phone calls all afternoon at the loft, then hiked to 14th Street, with clothes and toothbrushes and a stock of face masks, and took the A train; he arrived about 9:30, shoulders sagging, somber. Stephen brought us a pizza. We didn't talk much. When I couldn't understand words spoken on TV anymore I fell into a daze. Steve didn't want to watch TV. Lionel stared at it.

We slept at Steve's Wednesday and Thursday and went to work every day, like most New Yorkers who didn't have offices downtown but, like everybody, we didn't concentrate very well and kept wandering off to watch or listen to the news.

The hand shape formed by the spines from the top of one of the towers resting on Church Street is burned into my memory like a memorial sculpture.

All week, people kept saying we must not do to "them" what we did to the Japanese Americans in WWII. Then, "They"... at war against "them" whoever, wherever "they" are. On Sunday they said "the people on the front lines are diplomats & spies."

We felt better when Rudy Giuliani came on TV; he made us feel like "us" in NY City; he did it magnificently simply and well. He was real in helping us express and surround our losses, our uniformed police and firemen and all those missing thousands who used to work every day in the Twin Towers, and, potentially, all those who poured in to help.

The NYC Office of Emergency Management was awesome in deploying the
rescue effort. It was not chaotic even if it was hectic and heroic in
proportions. I had never imagined what my city had prepared for.

Wednesday and Thursday the list grew of other buildings our neighborhood may lose, "stable" for the moment because they won't fall on the rescue workers but likely slated to be pulled out of the skyline too... the other WTC buildings, one a temporary morgue when it fell, the Millennium Hotel, the Marriott Hotel, and at least one of the big pinkish buildings with the sky-reflecting windows at the World Financial Center, several little buildings, Dave's Cookies.... You still cannot separate fact and rumor.

It felt very personal: Our neighborhood's powerful, wonderful, flashy back yard over by the marina was irrevocably destroyed, a gaping smile in the waterfront skyline. In the words of a neighbor: "every time you turned the corner it was always there. You always looked up. You wanted to see what the weather would be." The towers were our weathervane. You could tell by how high or close the fog or mist or clouds clung whether things would dissipate or last for hours.

We do live here, even if we couldn't say anything because what are buildings compared to thousands of lives? We were embarrassed to mourn architecture in the face of so much human tragedy, to mourn our neighborhood.

With the collapse of 7 WTC on Tuesday and damage to Verizon, email transmissions from my office failed but I didn't know till the next day. Local ISPs like AIM's i-2000 lost routes through main regional servers, and access priority went to the feds, FEMA, CIA, FBI, National Guard anyway. The Cable & Wireless phone service from AIM got me regional NYC and Brooklyn numbers; but no incoming and no outgoing long distance. All was out all week. We didn't have to go back to the loft every night.

My friend around the corner had electricity and phones and my keys; she fed Mozart and Homer every morning. But we did go back through the perimeter every night, hoping the power might come back.

On Wednesday, Worth Street was off limits because the Millennium was falling, had fallen, might fall. The guard at Houston said, "See how far you can get." We got home. No power on Wednesday. The Con Ed worker around the corner said candlelight and wine might not be all bad.

Walking back up 6th Avenue to 14th Street for the subway, all the way from Canal to West Houston on the edge of the Village we passed two and sometimes three lanes of equipment, lined up bumper to tail pipe, huge earth movers, bulldozers, debris trucks, twice our height. Over a half mile, the news said. They couldn't go in till it was more stable. We got back uptown about 9:45 pm. I think they really started going in on Saturday.

Thursday before the President's Friday visit, all access points on Canal were assigned East/West, North/South grids. Our checkpoint at 6th Avenue was manned by at least 15 police guards. They let you in block by block; wrote your name down, examined your bags; wrote down who your escort was, and sent you to your house with an armed guard. Ours was a slightly sheepish young Police Academy recruit. The police commander at the site told one upset man he had no choice: "My jurisdiction ends here. You're going into a federal war zone."

There were dusty white dead car hulks here and there along the 4 block route to Worth Street, lying where they had been temporarily deposited, left aside waiting for the "gross" cartage, presumably of no interest to the medical examiner or the FBI and other forensic experts examining debris at Fresh Kills landfill over in Staten Island.

We came home Friday to stay, power or no power. Many of our best restaurants fed anyone and everyone. Neighbors told us that Capsuto Freres, was feeding residents as well as police and firemen. We ate there on Friday and Saturday. It was an enormous relief to sit down with other Tribecans, our neighbors. We went to the Community Meetings at 10 on Saturday morning and 4 Sunday afternoon "outside the zone" in the basketball court at 6th and Canal.

On Saturday a marching band (come from Louisiana to cheer New York up I read later) moving along Canal Street drowned out the Community Board members and elected officials that were trying to help figure out the who/where/whens of schools, of restored power, or phones, or email, or even just access for those below Chambers who were evacuated and had not been let back in at all. I typed up phone numbers after the meeting and posted them at 3 restaurants since so many people couldn't dial out or log on to anything.

Power came back on Friday at 11:30 pm as we sat slumped in front of a kerosene lamp and 10 candles watching Homer (the younger cat) trying to burn his whiskers. Mozart sat upright all week with a question on his face. Saturday we cleaned out the refrigerator and Sunday we vacuumed up the dust and washed the floors.

A big question for residents is how toxic has the waste been? We saw at least 3 "washing stations" where they hosed down cars and workers; one with a truck labeled "Lead & Asbestos Service". The community board promises an "independent" measurement by next week.



I was excited to have electricity so I could send some email. But every time I logged on to AOL: "If you want Mets Tickets or more information on Ticketron events in the metropolitan area, call 212-955-5000." All over we all got the same message for every downtown phone that didn't work.

Our neighbors in the building began to turn up. Lionel had set up phone contacts with a couple of them on Tuesday. We all seemed sort of surprised at how glad we were to see each other, and how good it felt that we were all okay. From the school yard some of our kids saw it fall down, and they saw people jumping.

It is strange to have your neighborhood occupied, to see Humvees ("Hummers" to me but Lionel says that's not accurate) all over the place, to see national guard and police everywhere. To see crews come on duty, all strong, and then go off weary to the bone and the soul. To have rescue tents and stations all over.

We met state troopers from Syracuse and firemen from Flint, Michigan; we saw one overwhelmed policeman dissolve in sobs. We heard someone in the street telling someone else, in a broad midwest drawl which I can imitate, where Renssalear, Indiana, is, "near Chicago."

But mostly we just kept out of the way. They didn't need more
volunteers; and we residents were not part of their emergency (fortunately).

We stared in shock late on Saturday night when we realized that what we saw at the end of Greenwich Street in front of the 7 WTC rubble was the 15-story WTC antenna, square in the middle of the street, standing straight up. It was gone on Sunday.


As we walked around over the weekend we saw mounds and mounds of bottled water
and packs of water bottles, especially by the rescue tents but all
over. Workers were giving us water. There were other places where food
was just dropped and abandoned because generosity had outpaced need.

By the Borough of Manhattan Community College side steps we found a mound of huge bags of dog food for the canine workers. On Sunday Franklin street was lined with boxes of new T-shirts for anyone who needed them, rescue or local. The Tribeca Tribune editor was wearing one since he hadn't any more clean clothes..

Saturday was prep day for getting the Stock Market open and Wall Street running. Little trucks were at every corner for Con-Ed, Nextel, Verizon, Sprint etc etc; big trucks rolled by with huge wheels of cable. They were re-knitting communications and laying extra lines on the ground.

Lots of buildings already had emergency and back up generators. I counted 22 "rented" portable hitch trailer generators lining Leonard Street on Sunday night between Broadway and Church, waiting for some business' power to fail on Monday, waiting for a call for help.

All week newspapers were in short demand "below the perimeter" ... Mary's Stationery is a little narrow store front on Hudson with a beat up couch, a fine espresso counter, and lots of magazines; it's an adult "hangout." Mary has a British accent and is about 4' x 5'. Sunday, Jason said the papers would be in in 10 minutes. 20 minutes later when I came back he was frantically on the cell phone: "Tell her to come back; I sent 4 customers after her, on bikes!"

Two minutes later a Con Ed truck pulled up, opened the back doors and there were at least fifty bundles of the Sunday Times. The customers unloaded and Mary showed up, beaming, 5 minutes later. I heard later that all week she had been paying someone "up north" maybe $1 a copy to deliver any copies of the daily papers they could get.

It was beautiful on Sunday. September in New York City is the best, when "you can see forever" under a brilliant clear blue sky. The winds usually blow from north to south and the air is crystal. If you look north, you can almost believe nothing has changed. But then you see the Empire State Building.

The black smoke over 7 WTC was turning white Sunday night and thinning out. You could see a ghostly outline of the altered skyline. We'll get used to it; but there will come days now and then when we will forget and be jolted into sorrow when we round the corner.

The national guard was directing traffic at Worth and Church Streets on
Sunday night. Traffic was all "official."

Tomorrow is Monday. The Stock Exchange will be open.



All rights reserved
Barbara Fultz Martinez

Photographs copyright Lionel Martinez

World Wide Top 10 Spammers 2009

This TOP 10 chart of ROKSO-listed spammers is based on those Spamhaus views as the highest threat, the worst of the career spammers causing the most damage on the Internet currently. Spamhaus flags these as a priority for Law Enforcement Agencies.


1 Canadian Pharmacy United States
A long time running pharmacy spam operation. Uses botnet spam techniques to send tens-of-millions of spams per day. Probably uses many affiliates all over the world to spam but is probably based in Eastern Europe and hosts sites on botnets and on Chines

2 Leo Kuvayev / BadCow Russian Federation
Russian/American spammer. Does "OEM CD" pirated software spam, copy-cat pharmaceuticals, porn spam, porn payment collection, etc. Spams using virus-created botnets and seems to be involved in virus distribution. Partnered with Vlad - aka "Mr. Green"

3 HerbalKing India
Massive affilitiate spam program for snakeoil Body Part Enhancement scams. Also does replica luxury goods, pharma and porn. Spams via botnets, bulletproof hosting offshore and even sometimes uses fast flux hosting.

4 Vincent Chan / yoric.net Hong Kong
Vincent Chan and his Chinese partners have been sending spam for years. They mainly do pharmacy, and are able to send out huge amounts daily. The use a vast amount of compromised machines, for sending, hosting and proxy hijacking.

5 Alex Blood / Alexander Mosh / AlekseyB / Alex Polyakov Ukraine
So many Alex & Alexey spamming! Alex Blood tied to Pilot Holding & bbasafehosting.com long ago, then Alex Polyakov posted he owned them. Massive botnet and child-porn spam ring, also pharma, mortgage, and more. May work with Kuvayev and Yambo.

6 Nikhil Kumar Pragji / Dark-Mailer Australia
Through the Dark-Mailer Windows based proxy-botnet based spamware, this spammer is responsible for and behind a large portion of the world's illegally send spam.
Queensland

7 Peter Severa / Peter Levashov Russian Federation
A spamming partner of Alan Ralsky and other spam gangs.

8 Yambo Financials Ukraine
Huge spamhaus tied into distribution and billing for child, animal, and incest-porn, pirated software, and pharmaceuticals. Run their own merchant services (credit-card "collection" sites) set up as a fake "bank."

9 Ruslan Ibragimov / send-safe.com Russian Federation
Stealth spamware creator. One of the larger criminal spamming operations around. Runs a CGI mailer on machines in Russia and uses hijacked open proxies and virus infected PCs to flood the world with spam.

10 Rove Digital Estonia
Botnets, malware, spam, pharming, DDoS. Inhoster, Cernel, Esthost, Atrivo. What else needs to be said?

Find Out More About Spam:
http://www.spamhaus.org/

Typical Spammer Weekly Income:
http://www.programmerfish.com/how-much-do-spammer-make/

Spam Sent 40 million
Click through ratio 0.12%
Total Click-throughs 48,000
Click-through-to-sales ratio 1/200
Total sales 240
Total sales revenue $37,440.00
Spammer Commission rate 50% (Gah!)
Total spammer income $18,720.00
-------------------------------------------------------------
Weekly costs
Bulletproof hosting $230
4 days of botnet access $6800
Email addresses $4000
Total Costs $11,030
Net Profit $7690

Or about $350,000 per year

The Speed of Michael Jackson’s Death in the News

Thursday 6/25 I was working in an independent television studio.

I was making broadcast masters for a show we regularly video record. There is a certain amount of free time while the masters are being duplicated, so I logged into my twitter account. After a few moments I began reading random tweets and saw one that said "McMahon, Fawcett and now Michael Jackson.

This was first I became aware that anything had happened to Michael Jackson. A quick glance at Google News had many stories about Michael Jackson being hospitalized for a heart attack. The time was 5:18 pm EDT.

We in the studio were discussing the possible causes for Jackson’s heart attack when I refreshed the Google page and noticed that the TMZ had announced that Michael Jackson had died. The time at this point was 5:22 pm EDT.

For the next few minutes as far as google was concerned only TMZ reported on Jackson's death.

Then websites like Newsday, and a San Antonio newspaper site reported on his death. Moments later the Washington Post was joined the death reports and there now a good chance that this was a true story.

A quick click to the Washington Post’s website was met with an system error. It seemed they were knocked out by a surge in traffic. The time now was 6:02 pm EDT.

At this point we fell back on traditional media and turned on the television. Neither CNN, MSNBC, nor Fox had reported on Michael Jackson's death. They were still carrying stories about the heart attack were still waiting for further news.

It was almost a half hour later the major media announced his death.


More Internet News Impact Stories:

Michael Jackson Dies -TMZ
http://www.tmz.com/2009/06/25/

How Michael Jackson’s death made search engines go crazy
http://www.examiner.com/x-10080-DC-EGovernment-Examiner

Michael Jackson’s death reported in near real time
http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/06/25/

TV misses out as gossip website TMZ reports Michael Jackson's death first
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jackson-media

Really Green -- Elephant Dung Paper

WASHINGTON, Mar 27 (OneWorld.net) - Karl Wald's "waste paper" is getting some serious attention. His business, "Mr. Ellie Pooh," sells recycled paper and other products handcrafted primarily out of elephant dung by Sri Lankan artisans.

Wald's venture was voted "Green Business of the Year" by other social entrepreneurs gathered at Green America's Green Business Conference in San Francisco last year. Mr. Ellie Pooh's paper products are 100-percent recycled and made of 75-percent elephant dung and 25-percent post-consumer paper. "There are no toxic chemicals used in our paper-making process," says Wald, adding: "Mr. Ellie Pooh's papers are handmade, acid-free, and as organic as it gets."

For more info:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/20090327/wl_oneworld/world3613051238172527
http://www.mrelliepooh.com/

http://store.mrelliepooh.com/index.html

Man wearing "I ♥ My Marriage" t-shirt busted for domestic battery

Actual Police Photo

MARCH 16--A Florida man wearing an "I ♥ My Marriage" t-shirt was arrested last night for allegedly choking his wife during an argument in their Tampa-area home.

Bradley Gellert, a 32-year-old financial consultant, was busted by Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office deputies and booked into jail on a felony domestic battery by strangulation charge.

To see more "busted with t-shirts" photos go to:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0316093marriage1.html

Cows Automatically Point To The North

Cows automatically point to the north because they have their own in-built compasses aligning them with the Earth's magnetic field, scientists have discovered.

Dr Sabine Begall and colleagues from the University of Duisburg-Essen have discovered that cows tend to point north.

The researchers studied deer in the Czech Republic and looked at thousands of images of cattle on Google Earth. The animals tended to face north when eating or resting.

"We conclude that the magnetic field is the only common and most likely factor responsible for the observed alignment," the scientists wrote in an article.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Who is The Apple PC Man? Its John Hodgeman!

One of Many Apple Ads http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GWYaviIzCU&NR=1

John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American author and humorist.

In addition to his published written work, such as The Areas of My Expertise, he is best known for his personification of a PC in Apple's "Get a Mac" advertising campaign and his correspondent work on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

While he plays the role of a PC in the campaign, Hodgman is actually a Mac user: "I bought the very first Mac, or convinced my father to buy it, in 1984."

Who is John Hodgeman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUEHUTM8uRc

John Hodgman - Pangea Day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyQvjE3pgQg&feature=related

Moleman Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj7PTxeUHYE

Planes Circle Isle After Controller Overslept

Two airplanes due to land on the Greek island of Lesbos had to circle above the Aegean sea for more than half an hour because an air traffic controller overslept, police said Monday.

An Olympic Airlines aircraft, arriving from the Greek capital Athens, and a Slovakian Airlines plane made several failed attempts to contact control tower personnel.

"They were calling the tower to get directions, but no one would answer," a police official, who declined to be named, told Reuters. "The woman later said she overslept."

The airport's secondary control service assisted the pilots to land after they had circled for 40 minutes. Police said the controller, who was not named, would be suspended for a few days.

Jesus in the Drywall

Jesus in the drywall may sound like the title of a country song but two subcontractors in Gulf Shores say that's what seems to have appeared inside a house they are working on.

Inside what will be the kitchen of a new house in Gulf Shores, Omar Craddock was just getting to work.

"We were in here doing some work. I happened to be looking around and I seen something going on that I normally wouldn't see."

An image, in the drywall. "We were working and my brother-in-law Omar said 'Hey come look at this'," says John Gissendanner. "When I first seen it," says Omar, "the first thing to come to my mind was Jesus."



Whatever it is or looks like, one thing is certain according to Gissendanner, "For drywall finishing this was a pretty exciting day."

For the full story go to:
http://www.wkrg.com/local/article/jesus_in_the_drywall/18208/

Here are other possibilities to compare the image to:

Karl Marx

Edgar Allen Poe

Thanks to gregorio aka visible0

Israeli Rabbi Says Giraffe Meat, Milk Are Kosher

An Israeli rabbi has declared giraffe meat and milk to be kosher, although his pronouncement is unlikely to have observant Jews clamoring to consume the exotic products, a daily reported on Friday.

"The giraffe has all the signs of a ritually pure animal, and the milk forms curds, which strengthened that view," the mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot quoted Rabbi Shlomo Mahfoud as saying.

The rabbi based his ruling on a recent finding by researchers from Bar Ilan University who took a milk sample while treating a giraffe at Ramat Gan safari park near Tel Aviv.

Giraffe meat is also considered ritually pure because the animal has a cloven hoof and chews the cud.

Also giraffe milk forms curds as required under Jewish religious law

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080606104856.tys32p6h&show_article=1

Thanks to Visable-0

The new five dollar bill.........

Soon to be a fact and not a joke

Chat & Text Messaging Abbreviations

Here is a list of the common chat abbreviations used in e-mail, online chatting, online discussion forum postings, instant messaging, and in text messaging (SMS), especially between cell phone users.

AAMOF As A Matter Of Fact
AND Any Day Now
AFAIK As Far As I Know
AFK Away From the Keyboard
AISI As I See It
ASAP As Soon As Possible ASL Age, sex, location
ATSL Along The Same Line
AWGTHTGTTA Are We Going To Have To Go Through This Again?
AWHFY Are We Having Fun Yet?
AWTTW A Word To The Wise
AYOR At Your Own Risk

B4N Bye For Now
BAC Bad As*ed Chick
BAK Back At Keyboard
BBFN Bye Bye For Now
BBIAB Be Back In A Bit
BBIAF Be Back In A Few
BBL Be Back Later
BBR Burnt Beyond Repair
BC Because
BCNU Be seein’ you
BEG Big Evil Grin
BF Boy Friend
BFN Bye For Now
BFD Big Frackin Deal
BIF Before I Forget
BION Believe it or not
BOBFOC Body Off Baywatch, Face Off Crimewatch
BOHICA Bend Over, Here It Comes Again
BOT Back On Topic
BRB Be Right Back
BTAIM Be That As It May
BTHOM Beats The Hell Outta Me
BTOBD Be There Or Be Dead
BTW By The Way
BWL Bursting With Laughter
BYKT But You Knew That
BYOB Bring Your Own Bottle

C&G Chuckle and Grin
CID Crying In Disgrace
CMIIW Correct Me If I’m Wrong
CU See You
CU2 See You, Too
CUL See you later
CUL8R See You Later
CWYL Chat With You Later
CYA See Ya or Cover Your Ass

DIIK Damned If I Know.
DIKU? Do I Know You?
DILLIGAD Do I Look Like I Give A Darnn?.
DLTBBB Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite
DIY Do It Yourself
DK Don’t Know
DTRT Do The Right Thing

EG Evil Grin
EOL End of Life
ESAD Eat Sh** And Die

F2F Face To Face
FCFS First Come, First Served
FISH First In, Still Here
FITB Fill In The Blank
FOAD F*** off and die
FOAF Friend Of A Friend
FS For Sale
FTASB Faster Than A Speeding Bullet
F2F Face to Face
FTF Face To Face
FTL Faster Than Light
FUBAR Fouled Up Beyond All Repair
FUBB Fouled Up Beyond Belief.
FUD Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
FURTB Full Up Ready To Burst
FWIW For What It’s Worth
FYA For Your Amusement
FYI For Your Information

G Grin, or Giggle
G2G Got to Go
GA Go Ahead
GAL Get A Life
GD&R Grinning, Ducking and Running
GF Girl Friend.
GFN Gone For Now.
GIWIST Gee, I Wish I’d Said That
GJ Good Job
GLGH Good Luck and Good Hunting
GMTA Great Minds Think Alike
GOWI Get On With It
GR&D Grinning, Running and Ducking
GTFO
Get The Frack Out or Off
GTG Got To Go
GTSY Great To See You

H&K Hugs and Kisses
H4UHot For You
HAK Hugs And Kisses
HAGD Have A Great Day
HAK Hugs And Kisses
HAND Have A Nice Day
HHIS Hanging Head In Shame
HHOJ Ha Ha Only Joking
HHOK Ha Ha Only Kidding
HHTYAY Happy Holidays to You and Yours
HNY Happy New Year
HOAS Hang On A Second
HOYEW Hanging On Your Every Word
HSIK How Should I Know
HT Hi There
HBASTD Hitting Bottom And Starting To Dig
HTH Hope That Helps!

IAC In Any Case
IAE In Any Event
IANAL I Am Not A Lawyer (but) A disclaimer which is usually followed by
a legal opinion
IAW In Accordance With
IBTD I Beg To Differ
IC I See
IDK I Don't Know
IIWM If It Were Me
IJWTK I Just Want To Know
IJWTS I Just Want To Say
IKWUM I Know What You Mean
IMA I Might Add
IME In My Experience
IMHO In My Humble Opinion
IMNSHO In My Not So Humble Opinion
IMO In My Opinion
IMPOV In My Point Of View
INPO In No Particular Order
IOW In Other Words
IRL In Real Life
ISS I’m So Sure
ISSYGTI I’m So Sure You Get The Idea!
ISWYM I See What You Mean
ITFA In The Final Analysis
ITSFWI If The Shoe Fits Wear It.
IWALU I Will Always Love You
IWBNI It Would Be Nice If
IWTAAQ I Want To Ask A Question
IYFEG Insert Your Favorite Ethnic Group
IYSS If You Say So
IYSWIM If You See What I Mean

JAM Just A Minute
JAS Just A Second
JFI Just For Information
JIC Just In Case
JMO Just My Opinion
JTLYK Just To Let You Know

K Okay
KISS Keep It Simple, Stupid
KIT Keep In Touch
KMA Kiss My A**
KWIM Know What I Mean?
KYFC Keep Your Fingers Crossed

L Laugh
L8R Later
LABATYD or LAB&TYD Life's A B**ch And Then You Die
LJBF Let’s Just Be Friends
LLTA Lots and Lots of Thunderous Applause
LMAO Laughing My A** Off
LMHO Laughing My Head Off
LMS Let Me See
LOLV Lot's Of Love
LOL Laughing Out Loud
LSHMBH Laughing So Hard My Belly Hurts.
LTHTT Laughing Too Hard To Type
LTNS Long Time No See
LTNT Long Time, No Type
LTS Laughing to Self
LY Love You
LYMY Love You Miss You

MEGO My Eyes Glaze Over
MLA Multiple Letter Acronym
MOF Matter Of Fact
MOSS Member Of Same Sex
MOTAS Member Of The Appropriate Sex
MOTD Message of the day
MOTOS Member Of The Opposite Sex
MOTSS Member Of The Same Sex
MTFBWY May The Force Be With You
MYOB Mind Your Own Business

NAC Not A Clue
NAVY Never Again Voluneer Yourself.
NBD No Big Deal
NFW No Friggin' Way!
NHOH Never Heard Of Him/Her
NIH Not Invented Here
NIMBY Not In My Back Yard
NINO Nothing In, Nothing Out or No Input, No Output
NITL Not In This Lifetime
NM Never Mind
NOYB None Of Your Business
NP No Problem
NQA No Questions Asked
NTIM Not That It Matters
NTW Not To Worry
NTYMI Now That You Mention It

OATUS On A Totally Unrelated Subject
OAUS On An Unrelated Subject
OB Obligatory
OBO Or Best Offer
OBTW Oh, By The Way
OIC Oh, I See
OMG Oh My God
OMFG Oh My Fracking God
ONNA Oh No, Not Again
ONNTA Oh No, Not This Again
OO Over and Out (end of communication)
OOTC Obligatory On-Topic Comment
OTF On the Floor (laughing)
OTFL On the Floor Laughing
OTL Out To Lunch
OTOH On The Other Hand
OTOOH On The Other Other Hand
OTT Over The Top
OTTH On The Third Hand
OTTOMH Off The Top Of My Head

PABG Packing a Big Gun
PCMCIA People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms
PD Public Domain
PDS Please Don't Shout.
PITA Pain In The A**
PMBI Pardon My Butting In
PMF Pardon My French or Pure Freaking Magic.
PMFBI Pardon Me For Butting In
PMFJI Pardon Me For Jumping In
PMIGBOM Put Mind In Gear, Before Opening Mouth
PMJI Pardon My Jumping In
PNCAH Please, No Cursing Allowed Here
POC Piece Of Crap
POS Parent Over Shoulder
POS Piece of S**t
POSSLQ Person Of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters
PPL People
PTMM Please Tell Me More

R U THERE? Are you there?
RAEBNC Read And Enjoyed, But No Comment
RE Hello again or In Regard To
RHIP Rank Has Its Privileges
RL Real Life
RLCO Real Life Conference
ROFL Rolling On Floor Laughing
ROFLAS Rolling On Floor Laughing And Screaming
ROFLMAO Roll On Floor Laughing My A** Off
ROTF Rolling On The Floor
ROTFL Rolling On The Floor Laughing
ROTFLMAOTID Rolling On The Floor Laughing My A** Off Till I Die
ROTFLOL Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud
ROTFLOLAPMP Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud And Peeing My Pants
ROTFLTIC Rolling On The Floor Laughing Till I Cry
RRQ Return Receipt Request
RSN Real Soon Now
RSVP Respondez S'il Vous Plait - please reply
RTBM Read The Bloody Manual
RTFAQ Read The Frequently Asked Questions
RTFF Read The Freaking FAQ
RTFM Read The F------ Manual
RTM Read The Manual
RTWFQ Read The Whole Friggin' Question
RYFM Read Your Friendly Manual
RYS Read Your Screen

S Smile
SAPFU Surpassing All Previous Foul Ups
SCNR Sorry, Could Not Resist
SEC Wait a second
SFLA Stupid Four Letter Acronym
SICS Sitting In Chair Snickering
SLM See Last Mail
SMOP Small Matter of Programming
SNAFU Situation Normal: All Fouled Up
SO Significant Other
SOL SH** Out Of Luck
SOS Same Old Stuff or Help!
SOW Speaking Of Which
SSDD Same Stuff Different Day
STN Spend The Night
SUFID Screwing Up Face In Disgust
SUL Snooze You Loose
SWAK Sealed With A Kiss
SWIM See What I Mean?

TAFN That’s All For Now
TAKS That's a knee slapper
TANJ There Ain’t No Justice
TANSTAAFL There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
TARFU Things Are Really Fouled Up
TBYB Try Before You Buy
TDM Too Darn Many
TFS Three Finger Salute (Ctl-Alt-Del).
TFTHAOT Thanks For The Help Ahead Of Time
TFTT Thanks For The Thought
TGAL Think Globally, Act Locally
THX Thanks
TIA Thanks In Advance
TIC Tongue In Cheek
TINWIS That Is Not What I Said
TNSTAAFL There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
TNTL Trying Not To Laugh
TNX Thanks
TNXE6 Thanks A Million
TOBAL There Oughta Be A Law.
TOBG This Oughta Be Good.
TOY Thinking Of You.
TPTB The Powers That Be
TRDMC Tears Running Down My Cheeks.
TSR Totally Stupid Rules.
TTBOMK To The Best Of My Knowledge
TTFN Ta Ta For Now
TTYL Talk To You Later
TTYT Talk To You Tomorrow.
TYCLO Turn Your CAPS LOCK Off
TYVM Thank You Very Much

UOK Are You OK?
UOM You Owe Me
UOMBT You Owe Me Big Time
UR Your, You're (You Are)

WAEF When All Else Fails
WB Welcome Back
WDYMBT What Do You Mean By That?.
WDYT What Do You Think?
WE Whatever
WIBAMU Well, I'll Be A Monkey's Uncle
WIBNI Wouldn’t It Be Nice If
WMMOWS Wash My Mouth Out With Soap
WNOHGB Where No One Has Gone Before
WOA Work Of Art
WOTAM Waste Of Time And Money
WRT With Regard To, or With Respect To
WT Without Thinking
WTB Want To Buy
WTF What The F***?
WTG Way To Go!
WTGP Want To Go Private?
WTH What the hell?
WTTM Without Thinking Too Much.
WUM Watch Your Mouth
WWJD What Would Jesus Do?
WWYD What Would You Do?
WYGISWYPF What You Get Is What You Pay For
WYM Watch Your Mouth

XOXOXO Kisses and hugs

YABA Yet Another Bloody Acronym
YAOTM Yet Another Off-Topic Message
YAUN Yet Another Unix Nerd
YGLT You're Gonna Love This
YGTI You Get The Idea?
YGWYPF You Get What You Pay For
YIU Yes, I Understand
YIWGP Yes, I Will Go Private
YKYARW You Know You're A Redneck When
YMMV Your Mileage May Vary (or your experience could be different)

Thanks to Carol S

Fake Crack Sold To Nursing Home Residents - Man Arrested

I used to think there was an upper age limit for some drugs, apparently not.

A 22-year-old was arrested on Thursday after phony crack cocaine was sold to residents at a Jacksonville nursing home.

Police arrested Hillmon Arnold outside the Golden Retreat Shelter Care Center at Moncrief Road and Golfair Boulevard, according to his arrest report.

Police interviews showed that a man was selling small pieces of bread that looked like crack cocaine in Tylenol pill bottles to the clients at the center for $5, the report said.

The center was targeted because residents receive their checks the 10th of the month and he needed money to support his own drug habit, the report said.

Thanks to Visible0

Bulgarian Idol - Ken Lee

Bulgarian Idol

American Idol has mutated and now is seen in one form or another around the world. And so it is not surprising that there is a show in Bulgaria.

And here is an example of Bulgarian Idol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RgL2MKfWTo


With the world wide connectiveness of the internet, witnessed by the fact that you may have already watched the video clip, here is the Bulgarian follow-up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wwyeuaP_mI&feature=related

Where Have All the Girl Scout Cookies Gone? Check eBay

Billions of dollars in commerce have moved online, but the Girl Scouts of the USA still strongly discourages its scouts -- or their parents -- from selling cookies on the internet.

Auctioning cookies on eBay is not what the organization's leadership has in mind for Girl Scouts, who are supposed to learn social skills and confidence from the experience. "Everyone thinks about the cookies and the money," said Michele Riggio, a spokeswoman for the organization. "But cookies are an activity first and foremost."

Meanwhile, a number of web-savvy merchants have picked up the slack online during this cookie season. A quick search on eBay returns at least a hundred listings for Girl Scout cookies.

Some sellers claim that they're selling on behalf of their kids.

In any event, eBay merchants are addressing a huge market: the Girl Scouts of the USA sell about 200 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies every year, generating about $700 million in revenue.

And although resales are a violation of the organization's policy, the Girl Scouts has not contacted eBay or sellers about pulling down the listings.

Hani Durzy, an eBay spokesman, said: "As far as eBay is concerned, these cookies are private property. We are not going to ban people from reselling them." He added that employees in eBay's corporate offices in San Jose, Calif., were "up to their ears in cookies."

Full Story:
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/03/ebay-sellers-pi.html

http://home.search.ebay.com/girl-scout-cookies_Cookies-Biscotti_

Thanks to Visible 0

Burglar Finds Corpse And Calls

A Berlin burglar's break-in took an unexpected turn when he stumbled upon a corpse and felt compelled to call the police.

"He called to say he'd just broken into a flat and found a dead body," a spokeswoman for Berlin police said.

"He gave the address of the place and then hung up."

Officers discovered the 64-year-old resident of the flat dead in his bedroom.

The man had passed away about two weeks ago and authorities are not treating the death as suspicious.

The burglar has not been heard of since.

Local media said he fled the apartment empty-handed, but police could not confirm this

Facebook Users In Decline

Figures from Nielsen Online in the United Kingdom show a 5% drop in the number of Facebook users between December and January, with a similar fall for social networking websites MySpace and Bebo.

It's the first time in 17 months that Facebook has recorded a drop, and figures in Australia show a similar pattern.

Users fell 5% to 8.5 million in January from 8.9 million in December, according to data from Nielsen Online.

This was the first drop in user numbers since July 2006 when Nielsen began compiling data on the site.

Nic Howell, deputy editor of industry magazine New Media Age, said the site was no longer as popular among its core audience of young people.

". . . when major corporations start profiles on Facebook, its brand is devalued, driving its core user base into the arms of newer and more credible alternatives," he said.

"Facebook was never going to be able to carry on growing the way it has, and a lot of people - especially those who've been using it heavily - are now starting to get Facebook fatigue," said Nielsen Online analyst Alex Burmaster.


Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7257073.stm

Responses:
http://current.com/items/88848879

Britney's Father Snatches Her Notorious Pink Wig.

Britney Spears' father has confiscated her notorious pink wig in an apparent bid to straighten up her act.

Jamie Spears was seen confiscating the singer's hairpiece, which is synonymous with the singer's wild image and partying, at the weekend in LA.

This seems to be an attempt to get Britney to straighten up her act.

The bobbed wig has come to signal the onset of a depressive episode, with her ousted manager Sam Lutfi revealing last month: "When the pink wig comes on, it's getting bad."

Despite her family's best efforts, it seems her time in hospital has done little to change her chaotic lifestyle - or her dress sense.

For More Pictures and Full Story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/

6 Worst Travel Agents Of 2007

According to the Department of Transportation's Air Travel Consumer Report the top 6 most complained about travel agents for 2007 are:

5. (tie) Priceline.com & Cheapoair.com
4. CheapTickets.com
3. Expedia.com
2. Travelocity.com
1. Orbitz.com

Most of Orbitz's complaints dealt with problems ticketing and boarding... and of course, refunds.

The complaints listed here represent only those formally lodged with the Dept. of Transportation.

For more fun information:
http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/index.htm