Spooky spam of the day

“Be aware, paketresa.”

At least, it was spooky until I looked up “paketresa” and found that it means “package tour” in Swedish. So the message really should be read as a cheery “Hey–lookie! Package tours!” except it’s more fun to think of it as a warning to someone named Paketresa who’s dark of hair and mysterious and never talks about their past.

Which just goes to show that if one digs too deeply on the internet, the mystery tends to go away.

Also goes to show that you shouldn’t name your child some random word you found during an online search, no matter how nicely it rolls off the tongue. Because I could see someone naming their kid “Paketresa.” Or maybe their fish.

Morning, all. Just waiting for the coffee to kick in. Then it’s off to the vet with the King guy for his shot. Then grocery shopping. Then work indoors, because it’s a cool, cloudy day and outdoors isn’t much fun.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

The Vexing Mental Tug-of-War Called Morality

An interesting article about the possible roles that logic and instinct play in moral decision-making.

You arrive at the hill early, eager to cheer the cyclists racing past. the sun is bright, the people on both sides of the road are in high spirits, and speculation about the race passes through the crowd in waves. A hot dog vendor has positioned his cart up the hill, and the aroma of simmering meat wafts by, summoning your best memories of summer. Suddenly shouts erupt. The racers are approaching. You lean forward and see a blur of colors at the summit. Then you notice something wrong. The hot dog vendor has stepped away to make change, and someone has jostled his cart off its moorings. It is rolling downhill toward the road, gathering speed, and poised to kill dozens of cyclists unless someone shoves the cart across the road—but that would kill three spectators instead. What should one do?

Read and find out what some people thought….

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

My tweets

• Sat, 08:24: Spooky spam of the day http://j.mp/r0EZjS
• Sat, 09:49: An interesting article about the possible roles that logic and instinct play in moral decision-making. You arrive at … http://j.mp/qnOeEX

As opposed to the type of spam I usually get

“Hi will i illustration many of the information and facts from that post if I create a connecting flight burdening you to definitely your website?”

It’s the sort of gibberish you get when you cycle a translation several times through Babelfish.

Or it could be alien communication. That’s always a possibility.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Joys of home ownership

I am now the proud owner of a two-stage snow thrower. It will be delivered on Friday. It didn’t cost as much as I feared. Small comfort, but I guess I’ll take it.

Fall flowers are out. I bought some gorgeous plectranthus baskets , which I hope to transfer indoors when the weather cools. Lovely shades of purple.

The day turned out not so bad. It’s sunny now, and warmer than expected. I might give some shrubs a winter trim, and try to stop thinking about the fact that Kuro may need new tires by year’s end.

It never stops.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Confessions of a prosocial psychopath

This is really interesting. It’s 15 minutes long, but it’s worth listening to.

If you learned something like this about yourself, how do you think you’d react?

About This Video

Neuroscientist James Fallon is a self-styled “hobbit scientist.” The rules are simple: Don’t talk to the press and don’t go out of your area of expertise. But when a fascinating new brain scanner enters the lab, Fallon can’t resist. He ends up breaking both rules, and learns a lot more about himself than he bargained for. WSF teams up with what The Wall Street Journal calls “New York’s hottest and hippest literary ticket,” The Moth, for an innovative series of unpredictable storytelling.

Okay, I’ll stop with the spam posts eventually

–but this one is special.

I especially like your last paragraph – and I did start a blog – two in fact – just a few months ago! I always write letters to my children at Christmas – sometimes more often, but at least once a year. They know their letters will be in their stockings! Probably wouldn’t do anything you said not to – just a little bit inhibited! But that’s just me. Congratulations on being freshly pressed!

The aliens have landed. If you hear a knock on your door tonight, or see bright lights over your house, stay inside and check all the locks and if little Barry decides to ignore your warnings and escape through the doggy door, let him go.

Where’s Michael Rennie when you need him?

signed,

Freshly Pressed

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.