If you’re a web developer, or any kind of digital entrepeneur, the new Web Site Idea Generator can help you brainstorm your new business.
A.L.I.C.E. must be one of the smartest chat-bots around:
Human: what is google?
ALICE: it is a search engine.
Human: do you like it?
ALICE: Google seems okay to me.
Human: what better search engines are there?
ALICE: Perhaps there is no better.
Human: OK, but what about yahoo?
ALICE: Huh. I will think about it and get back to you. OK.
A PHP/ MySQL implementation of AIML (the language behind ALICE) is Program E, available at Sourceforge. This would make a nice Web Service (or, you can try screen-scraping it if the ToS allows).
Here’s a guide on “how to find MP3’s with Google.” Some example queries:
Cory Doctorow weighs in for the Google Toolbar 3 AutoLinking feature. [Via Battelle.]
I got to confess: I sometimes read spam mail. It’s in those dark moments when your soul seeks understanding of the patterns evolving around you, and reaches out to the unknown. The following is what I read today, and I find the unknown reached out to me as well – in a very pulp crime novel kind of way. And while no one of the present would care to read it – or did read it already in one of its multiple incarnations which make their way through the dark matter of web space in continuous motion – a future generation might find these words somewhere in the Google Cache, when everything else is lost, and they may find deeper meaning, too. On a side-note, I suppose spam mail is in the public domain, and I will freely copy someone else’s writing here. Without further ado I will now present to you Qin Wang, a family man, a happy man, but let him speak for himself. There’s death and crime and the big world of banking involved, and there’s mention of United States Dollars and unethical methodology. Some might call it a conspiracy, but Qin Wang would probably call it... business.
“Qin Wang
Lloyds TSB Pacific Limited
Hong Kong Branch
Fax: +852-301-03269
Thank you for giving me your time. Please be patient and read my email to you.
I am a staff of Lloyds TSB Group attached in private Banking Services. I am
contacting you concerning a customer and, an investment placed under our banks
management 3 years ago, I contacted you independently of our investigation and
no one is informed of this communication and I would like to intimate you with
certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you.
In 2000, the subject matter; ref: bb/tsb/bank/73 came to our bank to engage in
business discussions with our Private Banking Services Department. He informed
us that he had a financial portfolio of 8.35 million United States Dollars,
which he wished to have us turn over on his behalf. I was the officer assigned
to his case; I made numerous suggestions in line with my duties as the de-facto
chief operations officer of the Private Banking Services Department, especially
given the volume of funds he wished to put into our bank. We met on numerous
occasions prior to any investments being placed. I encouraged him to consider
various growth funds with prime ratings. The favoured route in my advice to
customers is to start by assessing data on 600 traditional stocks and bond
managers and alternative investments. Based on my advice, we spun the money
around various opportunities and made attractive margins for our first months
of operation, the accrued profit and interest stood at this point at over 10
million United States Dollars, this margin was not the full potential of the
fund but he desired low risk guaranteed returns on investments.
In mid 2001, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an
urgent investment requiring cash payments in Europe. He directed that I
liquidate the funds and had it deposited with a firm in Europe. I informed him
that our bank would have to make special arrangements to have this done and in
order not to circumvent due process, the bank would have to make a 9.5 %
deduction from the funds to cater for banking and statutory charges. He
complained about the charges but later came around when I explained to him the
complexities of the task he was asking of us. Cash movement across borders has
become especially strict since the incidents of 9/11.
I contacted my affiliate in Europe and had the funds available in main land
Europe. I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his precise
instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited in a security
consultancy firm, the firm is a specialist private firm that accepts deposits
from high net worth individuals and blue chip corporations that handle valuable
products or undertake transactions that need immediate access to cash. This
small and highly private organization is familiar especially to the highly
placed and well-connected organizations. In line with instructions, the money
was deposited. He told me he wanted the money there in anticipation of his
arrival from Norway later that week. This was the last communication we had,
this transpired around 25th February 2002. In June last year, we got a call
from the security firm informing us of the inactivity of that particular
portfolio. This was an astounding position as far as I was concerned, given the
fact that I managed the private banking sector I was the only one who knew
about the deposit, and I could not understand why he had not come forward to
claim his deposit. I made futile efforts to locate him I immediately passed the
task of locating him to the internal investigations department of our bank.
Four days later, information started to trickle in, that he was apparently
dead.
A person who suited his description was declared dead of a heart attack in
Cannes, South of France. We were soon enough able to identify the body and
cause of death was confirmed. The bank immediately launched an investigation
into possible surviving next of kin to alert about the situation and also to
come forward to claim his estate. If you are familiar with private banking
affairs, those who patronize our services usually prefer anonymity, but also
some levels of detachment from conventional processes. In his bio-data form, he
listed no next of kin. In the field of private banking, opening an account with
us means no one will know of its existence, accounts are rarely held under a
name; depositors use numbers and codes to make the accounts anonymous. This
bank also gives the choice to depositors of having their mail sent to them or
held at the bank itself, ensuring that there are no traces of the account and
as I said, rarely do they nominate next of kin. Private banking clients apart
from not nominating next of kin also usually in most cases leave wills in our
care, in this case; he died in testate.
What I wish to relate to you will smack of unethical practice but I want you to
understand something. It is only an outsider to the banking world who finds the
internal politics of the banking world aberrational. The world of private
banking especially is fraught with huge rewards for those who occupy certain
offices and oversee certain portfolios. You should have begun by now to put
together the general direction of what I propose. There is US$ 8,370,000.00
deposited, I alone have the deposit details and they will release the deposit
to no one unless I instruct them to do so. I alone know of the existence of
this deposit for as far as the finance firm, the transaction with our deceased
customer concluded when I sent the funds to the firm, all outstanding
interactions in relation to the file are just customer services and due
process. The finance firm has no single idea of what’s the history or nature of
the deposit. They are simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to
any party that comes forward. This is the situation. This bank has spent great
amounts of money trying to track this man’s family; they have investigated for
months and have found no family. The investigation has come to an end. My
proposal; you share similar details to the late fellow; I am prepared to place
you in a position to instruct the finance firm to release the deposit to you as
the closest surviving relation. Upon receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to
share the money with you in half and no more. That is: I will simply nominate
you as the next of kin and have them release the deposit to you. We share the
proceeds 50/50.
I would have gone ahead to ask the funds be released to me, but that would have
drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the deposit. But on
the other hand, you with a similar name as the original depositor would easily
pass as the beneficiary with the rights to claim. I assure you that I could
have the deposit released to you in a few days. I will simply inform our bank
of the final closing of the file relating to the customer. I will then
officially communicate with the finance company and instruct them to release
the deposit to you. With these two things: all is done. The alternative would
be for us to have the firm direct the funds to another bank with you as account
holder. This way there will be no need for you to think of receiving the money
from the firm. We can fine-tune this based on our interactions. I am aware of
the consequences of this proposal. I ask that if you find no interest in this
project that you should discard this mail. I ask that you do not be vindictive
or destructive. If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this message and
forget I ever contacted you. Do not destroy my career because you do not
approve of my proposal. You may not know this but people like myself who have
made tidy sums out of comparable situations run the whole private banking
sector. I am not a criminal and what I do; I do not find against good
conscience, this may be hard for you to understand, but the dynamics of my
industry dictates that I make this move. Such opportunities only come ones’ way
once in a lifetime. I cannot let this chance pass me by I hope you understand
because for once I found myself in total control and face to face with my
destiny. These chances won’t pass me by. I ask that you do not destroy my
chance, if you will not work with me let me know and let me move on with my
life but do not destroy me. I am a family man and this is an opportunity to
provide them with new opportunities. There is a reward for this project and it
is a task well worth undertaking. I have evaluated the risks and the only risk
I have here is from you refusing to work with me and alerting my bank. I am the
only one who knows of this situation, good fortune has blessed you with a name
that has planted you into the center of relevance in my life. Let’s share the
blessing.
If you find yourself able to work with me, contact me through this email account
ddddddddd@netscape.net. If you give me positive signals, I will initiate this
process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform you that should you contact me
via official channels; I will deny knowing you and about this project. I
repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my official phone lines nor do
I want you contacting me through my official email account. Contact me only
through this email address. I do not want any direct link between you and me.
My official lines are not secure lines as they are periodically monitored to
assess our level of customer care in line with our Total Quality Management
Policy.
Please observe this instruction religiously. Please, again, note I am a family
man; I happily married with two kids. I send you this mail not without a
measure of fear as to what the consequences might be, but I know within me that
nothing ventured is nothing gained and that success and riches never come easy
or on a platter of gold. This is the one truth I have learned from my private
banking clients. Do not betray my confidence. If we can be of one accord, we
should plan a meeting, soon.
I await your response.
Sincerely,
Qin Wang”
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