I have attached the original .psd in case anyone wants to make their own. I hope you like it. Cheers

Click here to Download Google Style Business Card PSD File

I know these scams have been around every since someone dreamed up the internet, but getting them through Gmail… unheard of. Google needs to use their acres of server farms and infinately fast processers to cut this problem in the bud and let us unsuspecting people not be fooled (or at least bothered) by this plague.

The latest scam I recieved was Email Lottery Scam called “Microsoft Official Winning”. Here is a transcript of the email:

The Microsoft Mega Jackpot Lottery, United Kingdom wishes to inform you that the results of our Monthly Bonanza Lottery International Program held in Great Britain is out. Your e-mail account have been picked as a certified winner of a lump sum pay out of £1,550,952.00.(One Million Five Hundred And Fifty Thousand Nine Hundred And Fifty Two Pounds Sterling) credited to MICRO (LOTTERY) CHIP NO:9465206. The winning ticket was selected from a Data Base of Internet E-mail Users,from which your Address came out as the winning coupon in this category “A” ballot lottery. You are therefore required to contact our Claims Department with your:

You are to contact the Claims Consultant with the details below:

Contact Person: Mr. Nicholas Caldwell.

E-mail : m.corporationclaimsdesk2011@xnmsn.com

THE BENEFICIARY/OWNER OF THE WINNING E-MAIL SHOULD COMPLETE OUR CLAIMS FORM.

FILL THE INFORMATION BELOW:

Name:
Age
Sex:
Marital Status:
Tel/Fax:
Address:
Occupation:
Dr. (Mrs) Elizabeth Andre

Below is a screenshot of the email (click to enlarge):

I shouldnt have to tell you to immediately mark this email as spam. You WILL NOT recieve the millions they promise and you will be out of pocket a couple hundred (even thousands) of dollars. There is NO lottery and NO prize.

I always dismissed the idea of going to japan as one for dreamers and thrill seekers. Indeed, if I got the chance I’d be on the first plane out, not looking back, not caring what happens to my life after I leave it. But that never happens right? We live in our own little corner of the world and rarely venture out into the unknown. Not because you don’t want to but because of circumstances beyond your control.

Well I always dived into that dream and set goals that I never commit to such as trying to go to Japan within a set time period. But alas, it was not meant to be. Maybe what I need is a sign to get up and just go for it, but what would that sign look like? Well picture this, if you found a memento from the country you love from afar in your own corner of the world, not having ever seen nor heard Japanese there what would you think?

Well while I was walking on my way home one evening this week, I saw a strange circular object with a hole in the middle. Shiny and small, I picked up and examined it, it looked strange and had oriental engravings on it that I wrongly guessed to be Chinese. Well I brushed it off and carried it home to ask my friend Google what it was. Lo and behold after a few quick searches I discovered it to be a 50 yen coin. Of all the places! Of all the people to find a Japanese 50 Yen coin, I found it, me, the Japan enthusiast who needed a sign to go to Japan. It wasn’t the value of the piece because it couldn’t be worth more that USD 60¢, it was more the significance of the coin, the strange coincidence that brought me to it in a country that it has no place in being.

So I now keep this coin as a reminder of my private wish to visit The land of the Rising Sun.

Lets give some stats on the its worldwide popularity.

1. The 2006 World Cup Finals drew 716 Million Viewers, while the whole tournament attracted 30+ billion non-unique viewers. To put that into perspective, the Beijing Olympics attracted a mere 4.7 Billion Viewers while the Superbowl attracted 95 Million viewers.
2. FIFA has 208 member associations, which is 16 more than the United Nations and three more than the International Olympic Committee, though five fewer than the International Association of Athletics Federations.
3. United States has more official soccer players than any other nation in the world – almost 18 million. Of these, 78 percent are under the age of 18. In the 1990s, soccer was recognized as the fastest-growing college and high school sport in the US.
4. Football is the richest sport in the world with one team valuing 1.87 Billion (Manchester United)
5. Football has the largest fan following in the world.

But what makes the sport so popular? Football in its simplicity only requires two teams and a small round ball. So both rich and developing countries can play this sport with great ease as expensive equipment and specific playing grounds are not required. The rules are also very easy to learn; don’t use your arms (all other body parts are allowed), stay within the outer lines, and kick the ball into the  opposing teams net. The hardest rule to learn is the offside rule, but even this can be understood after only a single game. It is these few requirements that make the game of soccer so exhilarating and fun to watch. Football requires both speed and great skill, players spend thousands of hours perfecting their art. The ability to have full control over a small ball is highly sought after, being able to kick at high speeds and with great accuracy can make a huge impact in any players sporting life. Every year Football becomes more popular than the year before, no other sport has been able to make this assessment. To sum up Football into two words; Passion and Simplicity.

PS. I know most people have a problem understanding the Offside Rule in Football and is probably the only rule in football that’s a bit complicated to understand. Please watch the video below to review the Offside Rule in Football.

There will be a point where user stats will reach a plateau and begin to level off where the rate of new users and users who absconded will be more or less equal. But at what point will that be? how many users will will a social network have to absorb before they become totally saturated; barring no other influence such as internal combustion (myspace).

At 400 Million users Facebook is still growing leaps and bounds poking their head into markets where social networks have never ventured before, winning the hearts and minds of first time social networkers and email checkers. Twitter at 75 Million users, is growing at a pace rival to that of the 2006 worldwide housing bubble and will indeed pass the 100 Million mark in the very near future.But what is the upper echelon mark to beat. What mark will dwarf any set before it. I put that mark at 1 Billion worldwide users. One Billion you say? You might think thats a staggering number but lets look at the stats.

According to the stats approximately one third of the worlds population is currently plugged in, thats about 2 billion people (give or take a few million).  A further breakdown shows half that number is currently in one or more social networks. Now imagine if the number of online users double within the next 5 years, where do you think that number will be. Doesnt seem like one billion is that far off huh? As internet speed increase as well as accessibility, users will become more drawn to each other to create more digital social connections.

Graph of current user stats for the top 5 social networks worldwide, We see that One Billion is not that far off.

European research and consulting firm InSites Consulting has released a detailed report based on a global study of 2,800 internet users. The full report provides fascinating insights into social networking preferences and behaviors around the world see below:

View larger Slideshow

Now that we know that in the end they are all dead the main question is were they all dead from the beginning in the plane crash  or did they eventually live out their lives as they should. I strongly believe that they all died at different times, some during the shows time line and others in some distant future. Whoever you saw die in the show they without a doubt died then and there. For example Locke died when Benjamin killed him in the motel room.

The island is an island, a mass of land in a body of water. The others lived there, the Dharma Initiative came to do their experiments and the plane crashed. Some people died immediately others survived and went on the do the show for 6 seasons.

But the plane crash made the island special for the survivors and a choice few other people (others including Ben and Desmond). The experiences and the bonds formed on the island made it an anchor for them, a central memory of the people that made the biggest impact in their lives. The story follows Jack, A spinal surgeon with many personal demons who went to Australia to brings his fathers body back home. On the way back a series of events caused his plane to crash on the island. a first glance the island seems like any other island, but the island has its own demons as well. A smoke monster, a guardian, time traveling properties, the others, a past civilization (The Darmha Initiative) and a mysterious statue. All this happened, all this was real in the world of lost,right up to Jack closing his eyes in the end was Jacks actual reality. When time went sideways THAT was Jacks ever after, his afterlife so to speak.

Upon dying Jacks life flashed in a new direction where the plane didn’t crash, he went home to a different, better reality where he married Juliet and had a kid, I guess its the life he thought he wanted. Eventually as the other survivors died they all the met Jack in his afterlife to make him remember and show him his way home.

So how do we know they didn’t die at the same time? Lets look at a few choice deaths:

Juliet: She died during the detonation of the hydrogen bomb. Not by the bomb itself but by falling into that very deep hole.

Locke: He died when Benjamin strangled him to death

Sayid: In a heroic feat, he saved the others by running off into a separate compartment as the bomb the other Locke planted exploded

Jin & Sun: They died together on the submarine after the explosion

Charlie: He died at the looking glass station

Now you might be wondering what happened to the others. Well they all went on to live their lives:

Claire, Richard Alpert, Sawyer, Kate, Frank & Miles: They all were on that plane that took off in the last episode. I would assume they all made it back home and lived their lives as they should. They probably all lived to a ripe old age had children and grandchildren.

Hugo & Ben: They probably lived for centuries protecting the island and Hugo probably chose a new successor before he died.

The final scene in the church when Jack realized that he was dead, those people are the ones that meant something to Jack. They chose to be there to help him ‘crossover’. Ben was outside because he was not ready yet, he still had his own personal demons that he was not ready to let go. But where did Millie, Penny and the other secondary cast come in? They are constants to the other main survivors, Millie to Hugo and Penny to Desmond.

So why do they seem to all arrive at the same time and the same age? This is how Jack remembered them, remember the only memory he has of them is what he knew from the island and from the oceanic 6 time back to the real world. And I would assume that time and space has no value in the afterlife. One meeting could have taken 25 years and to Jack it seemed like only minutes.

In the end they all got their happy ending, wrongs were righted, love that was lost was found again and they were all back together again. As for other mysteries such as the light and whats the purpose of the Island, I think some things are not meant to be explained and its for us to just accept that things happened without a reason, miracles do happen, and if it had an explanation then it wouldn’t be a miracle now would it?

She reached up to the top shelf to grab a pack of those elusive butter pecan cookies that melted on her tongue giving her that unforgettable feeling of accomplishment. mid reach, she paused to stare at the object that had given her so much joy for the past 3 years. given to her by her husband on their wedding day, her wedding ring, a simple platinum diamond studded heirloom had made her happy beyond measure, as unlike most couples, she had found the man of her dreams. the rest of the checkout seemed to pass in a flash as she was still reminiscing on the lovely days and the warm erotic nights with her perfect guy. Just the mere thought of her husband inside her caused her supple nipples to protrude through her tight wool sweater.

She dropped her groceries into the trunk and proceeded to get into the car. One turn of the ignition and she was out of the parking lot and unto the quiet neighborhood street. For some reason she had the feeling that someone was watching her, a cold chill passed through her body as she looked up into her rear view mirror to see if her car was the only one on the road. Her view was blocked by a masked figure in the backseat, the sudden appearance of this ‘man’ caused her to swerve wildly into the wrong lane. As he reached around her neck and grabbed firmly he muttered to her to keep driving.

Heart racing, fingertips now numb and a foreign hand now around her neck she tried to oblige and continued driving on the right side of the road. “Where are you taking me” Nicole demanded in a child’s voice. Silence met her as she continued to drive fearful of stopping or signaling some passing vehicle. “Turn here” the gruff voice said a few miles down the road. As Nicole turned the car she realized she was going to the old Kendal farm. No one lived their as the owners had gone bankrupt from the drought the previous year. Heart now racing faster she began to fear what he was going to do with her. “stop right here and give me the keys” the now deadly voice whispered to her. she pulled the now infinitely heavy key from the ignition and handed it over to her captor.

Pulling her out of the car he looked up and down the young wife’s body. grabbing at her button-down sweater he began pulling at it watching as each button gave way to reveal a lace red bra. the trembling of her body from the ordeal she was experiencing sent the captor over the edge as he put his hand on her leg and began to slide it up further and further to her warm center.

Nicole now on the verge of a nervous breakdown, watched helplessly as he ripped her Victoria secret underwear from her body. His now tumescent member was rubbing against her leg and his hand was massaging her clean shaved pussy. What was this feeling she was having. The familiarity in his touch was causing her to become wet in anticipation of what he was about to give her. Slowly her fright was giving way to absolute thrill as she watched him unbutton his pants.

Quickly he pulled her skirt above her waist to look at what was awaiting him…a throbbing wet pussy looking like the a bar of dark chocolate… moist and tempting. He grabbed her legs and pulled them up and around his waist “don’t fight it” he whispered in her ear. At this point Nicole was far from fighting, helping his dick to find her pussy as she was ready to take all that he had. He entered her temple and he could hear a gasp of pleasure as she held him closer to his body. With each stroke Nicole held on tighter to this strangers body moving her hips to take in more of what he was giving her.

He turned her around and bent her over the trunk of the car and entered her from behind. the moist, wet pussy greeted him with open arms as he started his rhythm looking at the expression of joy on her face as she pressed her cheek against the car trunk. Nicole felt something building up inside her, she was ready to give her last scream. she pulled the strangers hips closer to hers and she bucked and riled, feeling absolutely content with her mind blowing orgasm. Reaching his peak the stranger gave her one last thrust as he exploded inside her, collapsing on her back in total exhaustion.

She turned around to greet her assailant face to face. she reached for the mask and pulled it off, she smiled and kissed him passionately on the lips and embraced him longingly. She said in a tone of finality “Nice one honey, next time ill be the one in the backseat”

• Share an inside joke on the fly with friends in specific groups eg. twitter and facebook lists. No need to contact group members individually.
• Share user sensitive data with your team
• Share X-Rated pictures and articles with that special someone
• Get that message out with additional private info embedded in a password locked link
• Embed confidential data in a forum or social site and hold the world at ransom. When the time is write, give them directions to the link and password.

Many people might not find this concept practical or useful but its good to know that if the need arises you can use the feature.

How to use the feature:

1. Insert url that you wish to shorten eg. http://shonari.net
2. Enter any desired password (optional): eg.  ‘boo’
3. Enter a clue if you want to have your desired target guessing away : eg. ‘ghostly sound’
4. Hit shorten and your url will be ready for use.

Here is the finished product, give it a try with the details above: http://trick.ly/30d

Try it yourself: http://www.trick.ly/

In my humble opinion adding an additional feature will make this service even more useful. Combining it with a quick note option with optional password will make sending secret notes back and forth a breeze. If you had that feature back at school, the teacher couldn’t send you to detention for that less than savory note to your best friend in class. A simple text note could be created directly from the site with optional password and clue, the trick.ly url is generated and now you have a safe and easy way to deliver a note over public sources.

Also password enabled links should be date sensitive ie the link will expire in  time specified by its creator. See where I’m going…a note with a self destruct timer. Sweet!