A couple of weeks ago I responded to an ad on craigslist San Francisco for an apartment in the Diamond Heights area. The apartment seemed under priced, but not so under priced that I was immediately wary. The apartment was in a complex, and lots of apartment complexes post ads with pictures of their model units which are nothing like the unit you actually get, so the fabulous pictures didn’t really set off too many alarm bells either.

For weeks I didn’t get a response so I figured the apartment was rented and forgot about it.

Today I get a short, not well written email from a scammer (lisamajutyynj@aol.com) claiming that the apartment owner is in London and I need to send them the money to get the keys. I especially liked the fact that they never mentioned how much money they wanted; clearly they are not very good at being con men. Sigh. I’ve reported this to craigslist and told the scammer to get lost.

A search for the email address lead to a blog post:
http://www.rantlust.com/skat/2007/09/19/internet-fraud/

So clearly this is a whole lucrative branch of craiglist fraud that is going on. The saddest part is that they seem to be stealing the identities of the suckers they have scammed and selling that info which new scammers then use to scam new people. Ah, the circle of life.

Be safe out there and hold onto your money.

One of my favorite authors is Terry Pratchett. I find his books to be wonderfully funny and entertaining; light reading to be sure but always with a chewy intellectual center.  If you haven’t read Wee Free Men well…really you are just missing out.  Go out right now and get the new illustrated version, especially if you have a youngster around the house. I am so happy that he was just recently knighted.  Why Elton John got to go first I’ll never understand, but still many congratulations to Sir Terry.

Sir Pratchett suffers from a version of early-onset Alzheimer’s and in addition to continuing to write books he has spoken out strongly about the need for more research.  As someone who has watched a family member suffer through dementia, I am so glad he is speaking out so loudly.

Here’s an article about his condition that he wrote for a British newspaper:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1070673/Terry-Pratchett-Im-slipping-away-bit-time–I-watch-happen.html

My much more athletic spouse-to-be completed the San Francisco marathon this weekend with a quite respectable time of 3:44:15. I know that has nothing to do with animation or art, but I’m just so massively impressed I felt the need to share. Yay Martin!