Author: Ron Shank

Spam Karma 2-strong?

I’m not to this point yet – but soon if I can’t find an answer to how to stop Spam Karma from auto approving all comments it deems non-spam (which it is excellent at). As we all know some discussions get out of control and we need to moderate everything under the sun. Plus, I’m a control freak like that! 😉

UPDATE: I did remove Spam Karma. The primary reason was it was overriding the WP moderation settings. And there are too many people who need to moderate every comment. I’m using Akismet (comes loaded with WordPress 2.0 and 2.1) exclusively now. It’s not as good at catching spam, but at least when it makes an error, I can catch it, as opposed to Spam Karma, that was just letting stuff through (more inappropriate comments, than actual spam).

Hoax: Be very careful while shopping at the Mall

The following is a hoax. And you can smell it.

Clues: Discrimination against political group (to tap into current frustration and cloud your thinking). In this case “Baby-stealing-boarder-jumping-Mexicans”

False or weak validation. In this case, Allison Malone her husband’s cousin’s friend.

Corporate discrimination: Those evil mall people who we all know are hiding every crime that ever happens there.

Stupid police: who don’t want to assist in child abduction (how did this get passed around???)

False authority: Signed by a lawyer’s office – yeah, so it must be real.

Lack of specifics or verifying sources. No newspaper link – maybe they just don’t know yet 😉

Be careful while forwarding emails – that would be a better subject line.

Subject: Be very careful while shopping at the Mall

Dear Friends and Family,

This has happened six times in the Mall at Barnes Crossing since the holiday season has started. Allison Malone’s (my husband’s cousin) friend was one of the mothers it happened to. She did get her baby back. The mall doesn’t want to tell people about it b/c they fear it will affect their profit for the holiday season.

A couple of weeks ago a lady with two kids was shopping at JCPennys in the mall here at Tupelo. One of her sons was pretty small and he was in a stroller buckled in and the other one was older and he was walking beside her. A Mexican woman came by and told the lady how cute her little baby was…well the lady told her “Thank You” and went on her way. A couple of minutes later the Mexican woman approached the lady again telling her how cute her little baby boy was. The lady again replied with thank you. As the lady turned her back to look at a piece of clothing then the oldest son said “the lady took the baby”. The lady turned around to find that the Mexican lady had unbuckled the baby and grabbed him out of the stroller and took off with him. The lady ran after them and caught the Mexican woman as she was getting out the door with her son. The only way that she caught her was the Mexican woman had long hair and she pulled it and knocked her down.

The lady held her in her custody until the authorities arrived. The lady was shocked when the authorities asked her if she wanted to press charges. The lady replied back with “of course, this is my son you’re talking about”.

Come to find out the Mexican lady was here illegally. They are coming here to steal our kids and carry them across the border to sell on the Black Market. It’s not just Mexicans there are Caucasians and African Americans involved in this also.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON!!

Sincerely, *******

[name removed]
Paralegal for the Firm
[name removed] Law Firm
– Attorneys and Counsellors at Law –
[address removed]
Tupelo, MS 38803
[phone number removed]

Update: More on this story can now be found here: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/mexican.asp

Merry What?

Use common sense people.

When I call a business and they say “Happy Holidays” I am not offended (after all, Holiday is taken from the words Holy Day). While the odds are huge that here in America I celebrate Christmas (if only in a secular way) I can understand you don’t know on the front end of a phone call or as I walk up to the register. But— When I say at the end of the call (as just happened) “Thank you have a Merry Christmas.” Your reply should not be (as just happened), “Thank you, and .. (slight pause to catch yourself from the reflex of responding in kind) .. Happy Holidays.”

I heard the pause and the felt the awkward stumbling over Happy Holidays. So I had to ask, “Excuse me, I just said ‘Merry Christmas’ to you and you said ‘Happy Holidays’. Are you not allowed to say Merry Christmas? As you can guess, she said, “No sir, I am not. It’s a company policy.” I remained calm and tried to use logic, “But I just said it to you &#8212 so you are sure not going to offend me, ya know what I mean?” “Yes sir, but this call is recorded and… ” in other words, she’d get in trouble.

I thank her and move on to her supervisor. I then proceed to try and use logic again to explain to the supervisor that my problem was not with the operator, but with the company policy and that I WAS THE ONE WHO SAID MERRY CHRISTMAS FIRST! (All caps now because it’s crazy &#8212 I was not upset with her)

Finally I said, “Look, I understand your afraid to say Merry Christmas on the front end of the call, but at the end if I say Merry Christmas, you should respond in kind. If you say ‘Happy Kwanzaa’ to me, I’m not going to be offended &#8212 you wished me well based on your beliefs &#8212 ‘thank you and happy Kwanzaa to you.’ I don’t care if you wish me ‘Happy Festivus.’ If you wish me well, I’ll not be offended. But an intentional effort to NOT wish me a Merry Christmas when I just wished you one, DOES offend me.

Use common sense people.

And have a Merry Christmas.