Jerry’s Blog–Because Wit Happens

   On my various email accounts, I get about 100 “spam” emails per day.  I’ve been on the Internet for about 20 years, visited lots of forums and blogs, purchased lots of books and other items, and…spam is just a fact of life.  My wonderful software SpamBayes takes care of 98% of it.

  One of my early entries on this blog was on the occasion of my first “blog spam”.  There are automated programs (bots) out there that log onto blogs and try to leave innocuous messages–usually about, guess what, pharmaceuticals and viagra and online gambling. 

Since then I have had about 50,000 spam attempts, but I have software to take care of that also.  I only have to manually delete a handful per day.  But lately there has been an onslaught.  The last 24 hours: over 1500 spam attempts.  (I only had to deal with half a dozen or so).

  So if you ever see a spammer, punch him/her for me.

  Little known fact: The original spammers were, of all things, lawyers.  So perhaps this is just my cross to bear…

[Update: They got one!]

  “SHANGHAI — When a friend whispered several stock tips to Yan Caigen last year, the investor snapped up 30,000 shares in one of them, a cement company. The reason: the stock’s auspicious ticker code, 600881, which contains a double-eight.

  “I believe good codes will bring good luck,” says Mr. Yan, who parks himself most days in front of a trading screen at a Shanghai brokerage, Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co. Indeed, shares in Jilin Yatai (Group) Co., the cement company he bought, promptly tripled, earning him about $50,000. Mr. Yan gives credit for the performance to the two “8s” in the stock’s numeric ticker symbol, which he considers a lucky combination.

  “Part superstition and part self-fulfilling prophecy, numerology is a basic trading strategy in China. The philosophy reflects the widespread belief in Chinese society that numbers contain clues to good fortune….” [Rest of article]