Monday, February 11, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Get Paid to Watch Porn? SRSLY?
I'll admit that I've watched some porn. Usually, I'll do this when I'm bored and can't find anything else to watch or do at the time. There are a lot of free porn sites on the Internet, so I don't - and won't - have to pay for any of it. After all, why should I pay for something that I can get for free?
But, my visits to porn sites are few and far between, since porn doesn't really interest me and I can usually find something more entertaining, like watching grass grow or paint dry. Even when I watch online porn, I'll skip-around the video, trying to find the good parts or I'll watch a couple of minutes of it and look for something else. If the video doesn't keep my attention for three minutes, I'll move-on.
I doubt if the people who run the porn business make any money off of guys like me.
Anyway, while clearing-out my Spam folder, I found this email:
Being rather amused at this, I decided to have a look at the site. When I went there, my anti-virus program gave me a security warning, but I pressed-ahead and found the site. It's pretty well-made, for a porn site.
I found the page which describes how it supposedly pays you to watch porn:
This site is affiliated with ReviewDollars.com and that site is registered in Cyprus, so an American who signs-up for this is completely at the mercy of people who may or may not be acting honestly. They don't give you a postal address, telephone or fax number to contact them with, only an email address. The registered owner is a company called Alacre Trading Ltd, which also owns iballers.com, which is a dating site.
Personally, I wouldn't trust these people.
Besides, since when does the porn industry need reviewers for their videos? There are already extant websites that do this sort of thing. Even if porn review sites didn't post a review for them, they could easily get feedback for their videos much easier than paying some guys to watch them:
But, my visits to porn sites are few and far between, since porn doesn't really interest me and I can usually find something more entertaining, like watching grass grow or paint dry. Even when I watch online porn, I'll skip-around the video, trying to find the good parts or I'll watch a couple of minutes of it and look for something else. If the video doesn't keep my attention for three minutes, I'll move-on.
I doubt if the people who run the porn business make any money off of guys like me.
Anyway, while clearing-out my Spam folder, I found this email:
From: Paid To WatchSo, I could actually make money watching porn, like a professional reviewer? Wow!Subject: GET PAID TO WATCH PORN, START NOW!
Watch Porn for Cash, NO BS!
Easy, Fast Sign-up
Unlimited earning potential
http://paid2watchxxx.com Click OR Copy And paste Site Into Your Browser to start making MONEY NOW!
Being rather amused at this, I decided to have a look at the site. When I went there, my anti-virus program gave me a security warning, but I pressed-ahead and found the site. It's pretty well-made, for a porn site.
I found the page which describes how it supposedly pays you to watch porn:
- You sign-up for an account and verify your age with a valid credit card
- You purchase videos to review at 99 cents each;
- You watch the video, write a review and send it in;
- Once they approve your review, they credit you $1.50;
- Once you get $10 or more in credit, you can cashout
This looks like a scam on so many levels.
First, the email address it was sent for is Paid2Watch7318E-Card-DeliveryServer6.com@yahoo.com which is the first red flag. Why nothing from a paid2watchxxx.com account?
Second, the website is registered in Romania, not the United States and the website is written in American English, not the Romanian language. Why is that? Porn is legal here, so there wouldn't be any problems starting a real pay-to-review site here, unless this whole thing is a scam where the people behind it all intend to charge all kinds of shit to your credit card and not pay you a fucking thing for any review you send in. Being in a foreign country puts them outside the jurisdiction of American law enforcement, so you'd have no legal recourse in the event of nonpayment.
Third, there's no guarantee that you'll get paid in a timely manner. Remember that you've already given them 99 cents and it'll be up to them to decide whether or not to approve your review. If they don't, they may tell you to rewrite it and I can safely assume that most "reviewers" will get tired of doing rewrites and editing their submissions. I suspect that most of them will give-up and go watch the next video or just quit entirely. In the end, it's money coming in for paid2watchxxx with the real possibility that they won't have to send much of it out. Add to that they fact that they've still got your credit card information.
My favorite part of the email was where it said "Unlimited earning potential".Yeah, like you could make thousands of dollars doing this. Reality check: you'd have to submit 20 reviews and have them all approved before you make your first ten dollars in commission! If the vids are on the short side - say, ten minutes each - that's 200 minutes (almost 3 1/2 hours) of videos you'd have to watch, plus the time you'd have to spend writing the review, waiting for it to be approved and maybe having to do a few rewrites afterwards. If the videos are on the long side, that's even more time. You'd have to "work" the better part of a whole day's time to make ten fucking dollars!
Third, there's no guarantee that you'll get paid in a timely manner. Remember that you've already given them 99 cents and it'll be up to them to decide whether or not to approve your review. If they don't, they may tell you to rewrite it and I can safely assume that most "reviewers" will get tired of doing rewrites and editing their submissions. I suspect that most of them will give-up and go watch the next video or just quit entirely. In the end, it's money coming in for paid2watchxxx with the real possibility that they won't have to send much of it out. Add to that they fact that they've still got your credit card information.
My favorite part of the email was where it said "Unlimited earning potential".Yeah, like you could make thousands of dollars doing this. Reality check: you'd have to submit 20 reviews and have them all approved before you make your first ten dollars in commission! If the vids are on the short side - say, ten minutes each - that's 200 minutes (almost 3 1/2 hours) of videos you'd have to watch, plus the time you'd have to spend writing the review, waiting for it to be approved and maybe having to do a few rewrites afterwards. If the videos are on the long side, that's even more time. You'd have to "work" the better part of a whole day's time to make ten fucking dollars!
This site is affiliated with ReviewDollars.com and that site is registered in Cyprus, so an American who signs-up for this is completely at the mercy of people who may or may not be acting honestly. They don't give you a postal address, telephone or fax number to contact them with, only an email address. The registered owner is a company called Alacre Trading Ltd, which also owns iballers.com, which is a dating site.
Personally, I wouldn't trust these people.
Besides, since when does the porn industry need reviewers for their videos? There are already extant websites that do this sort of thing. Even if porn review sites didn't post a review for them, they could easily get feedback for their videos much easier than paying some guys to watch them:
- find a free porn site that allows uploads and sign-up for an account;
- upload ten minute samples of your videos with information included at the beginning and/or the end where people can purchase the complete video;
- check back to see how viewers have rated the video clips and read the comments;
Bear in mind that a lot of guys are just like me and don't want to pay for porn when they can watch it for free, so this is not a guaranteed thing.
In a larger sense, there is so much porn available out there that a porn company really has to stand out to be noticed in the first place. The vast majority of porn I've seen in my life couldn't even remotely be considered to be of the same quality as even the most low-budget shit coming out of Hollywood. The acting is usually terrible, the orgasms are faked, the music comes out of a can and the scenery is usually just a room with a bed or somebody's back yard. Porn companies spend as little as they possibly can to make their stuff and sell it with as high a profit margin as the market can bear. There are so many fly-by-night porn operations out there that even the biggest porn producers have to compete in a vigorous market. They're not going to invest money in something so stupid as a review site. They've never needed one in the past, so why bother?
This one looks like a scam and a pretty pathetic one, too.
Duane Browning
This one looks like a scam and a pretty pathetic one, too.
Duane Browning
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Reporting Graffiti in Hawaii
One of the biggest problems in fighting graffiti in Honolulu is figuring-out who to call. Sure, you could call the police, but it's not their job to clean it up and their involvement may amount to nothing more than filling-out a report. Typically, the police want to be called if someone sees vandals actually defacing a surface, so they can come over and make an arrest.
The difficulty is compounded by the fact that their is no single number to call to make a report. As you can see from the table below, the location of the graffiti makes a difference in who you are supposed to call. The City and the State assume no responsibility for graffiti placed on each other's property and neither one notifies the other is someone mistakenly reports to one body when it actually belong to the other. Meaning: if you report graffiti to the Mayor's office and they find-out it's on State property, they won't pass the word to the State. You'd have to do that, assuming you knew who to call in the first place. I'm not even sure if the Honolulu Police Department would notify the Hawaii State Sheriffs if they were in that situation.
In other words, nobody is talking to anybody else. So, it's up to the people to find-out who to call.
This has not been an easy task. When I called the State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), they had no idea of who I should call to report graffiti on State property. I had to keep looking around until I found the correct department.
So, the table below contain all the phone numbers that I was able to gather. Some of them may be out-of-date, but it's my best effort. I'm willing to accept any help that may be offered.
It would be a good idea if the City and the State dealt with graffiti the same way they deal with potholes: have one number to call and whoever answers the phone would relay it to whoever's job it is to clean it up.
Duane Browning
In other words, nobody is talking to anybody else. So, it's up to the people to find-out who to call.
This has not been an easy task. When I called the State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), they had no idea of who I should call to report graffiti on State property. I had to keep looking around until I found the correct department.
So, the table below contain all the phone numbers that I was able to gather. Some of them may be out-of-date, but it's my best effort. I'm willing to accept any help that may be offered.
It would be a good idea if the City and the State dealt with graffiti the same way they deal with potholes: have one number to call and whoever answers the phone would relay it to whoever's job it is to clean it up.
Duane Browning
GRAFFITI CLEAN-UP ASSISTANCE
Honolulu Police Department Graffiti Hotline: 808-723-3475
Graffiti hot-line [recording] (Mayor's Office): 808-296-9473
Bus shelters (TheBus): 808-848-4500
Drainage canals (Dept of Facilities Maintenance): 808-484-7600
Hawaiian Electric boxes and meters: 808- 548-7311 or email ecustomer@heco.com
Parks (Dept. of Parks and Recreation): 808-768-3001
Sidewalks and streets (Dept. of Facilities Maintenance): 808-484-7600
State highway facilities (Dept. of Transportation): 808-837-8047
State Property (State Central Services Division): 808- 831-6734
Traffic signs and signal boxes (Dept. of Facilities Maintenance): 808-484-7644
Water department facilities (Board of Water Supply): 808-748-5000
Eng Wang, Still Scamming
People are reporting that they've received text messages that say they've won something from Best Buy. Naturally, these are all lies and some of them are perpetrated by our old friend, Eng Wang.
Here are some of the domains Eng Wang owns:
Duane Browning
Here are some of the domains Eng Wang owns:
- bestbuy2013.net
- bestbuycardcode.net
- bestbuycodeverify.net
- bestbuypromocode.biz
- codewinners.net
- winningcode.net
They all share the same WHOIS information:
RSP: KalyHostURL: http://www.kalyhost.com/
created-date: 2012-11-24 03:35:01updated-date: 2012-12-03 00:30:04registration-expiration-date: 2013-11-24 03:35:02
owner-organization: owner-name: Eng Wangowner-street: 4954 Wei Shenowner-city: Hong Kongowner-state: owner-zip: 5495839owner-country: CNowner-phone: +86.852485354842owner-fax: owner-email: engwang100@yahoo.com
admin-organization: admin-name: Eng Wangadmin-street: 4954 Wei Shenadmin-city: Hong Kongadmin-state: admin-zip: 5495839admin-country: CNadmin-phone: +86.852485354842admin-fax: admin-email: engwang100@yahoo.com
tech-organization: tech-name: Eng Wangtech-street: 4954 Wei Shentech-city: Hong Kongtech-state: tech-zip: 5495839tech-country: CNtech-phone: +86.852485354842tech-fax: tech-email: engwang100@yahoo.com
billing-organization: billing-name: Eng Wangbilling-street: 4954 Wei Shenbilling-city: Hong Kongbilling-state: billing-zip: 5495839billing-country: CNbilling-phone: +86.852485354842billing-fax: billing-email: engwang100@yahoo.com
nameserver: ns1.xta.net 69.64.54.41nameserver: ns2.xta.net 50.97.137.60
Duane Browning
Monday, January 28, 2013
BestBuyGold.net Textspammer
People have reported receiving spam via text on their cellphones which tells them that they won a gift card and directing them to visit bestbuygold.net.
Going to the site, I was redirected to http://111.123.180.9/bb// which looks like every other scam site posing as one offering you a Best Buy gift card. Nothing special about it."Thanks for your recent entry into out contest! You were victorious. Please enter 8747 at www.BestBuyGold.net to claim"
I decided to try a WHOIS search and discovered this:
DOMAIN: BESTBUYGOLD.NETFrom what I have seen, the email address jameslouisx2013@gmail.com is associated with no other websites. The site is registered through Kalyhost, so I will be reporting this site to them as soon as I am done writing this blog. The server belongs to Softlayer and they will be getting an email from me soon.
RSP: KalyHost
URL: http://www.kalyhost.com/
created-date: 2013-01-28 16:10:10
updated-date: 2013-01-28 16:21:44
registration-expiration-date: 2014-01-28 16:10:10
owner-organization:
owner-name: James Louis
owner-street: 4948 West Easy Brook Lane
owner-city: Portland
owner-state:
owner-zip: 44839
owner-country: US
owner-phone: +1.4938839920
owner-fax:
owner-email: jameslouisx2013@gmail.com
admin-organization:
admin-name: James Louis
admin-street: 4948 West Easy Brook Lane
admin-city: Portland
admin-state:
admin-zip: 44839
admin-country: US
admin-phone: +1.4938839920
admin-fax:
admin-email: jameslouisx2013@gmail.com
tech-organization:
tech-name: James Louis
tech-street: 4948 West Easy Brook Lane
tech-city: Portland
tech-state:
tech-zip: 44839
tech-country: US
tech-phone: +1.4938839920
tech-fax:
tech-email: jameslouisx2013@gmail.com
billing-organization:
billing-name: James Louis
billing-street: 4948 West Easy Brook Lane
billing-city: Portland
billing-state:
billing-zip: 44839
billing-country: US
billing-phone: +1.4938839920
billing-fax:
billing-email: jameslouisx2013@gmail.com
nameserver: ns1.xta.net 69.64.54.41
nameserver: ns2.xta.net 50.97.137.60
The site BestBuyGold.net is simply a redirect to http://111.123.180.9/bb// and I discovered this site is registered in China. Of course, this is no surprise, since every Best Buy scam site I have blogged about comes from there.
Other websites that serve as a redirect include:
- BestBuySurprise.biz
- bestbuysurprise.com
- bestbuysurprise.mobi
- bestbuygiveaways.mobi
Websites that are no longer online include
- bestbuysurprise.net
- bestbuycashcards.net
- bestbuypromotion.net
Another link maing the rounds is bestbuybonus.net but that site is apparently down. However, the spammers haven't gotten the message and continue to textspam people.
If you enter any four-digit number in the box, it again redirects you to another site. This one is freegiftcardworld, an anonymously-registered site with its domain IP out of the Netherlands, but with servers located in the USA and the United Kingdom.
Duane Browning
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Geo-centrism Debunked
Despite centuries of scientific progress, there are still people out there who believe that the Earth is the literal center of the Universe and that everything orbits our planet.
Never mind that they have no scientific basis on which to base these claims and no explanation regarding how this is supposed to work, aside from "God did it.", they persist in their ignorance in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Here are three (so far) videos posted on YouTube which give thorough explanations as to why Geo-centrism is scientifically and mathematically impossible.
If you run into someone who actually believes that the Earth is the center of the Universe and everything rotates around it, please forward these videos to them. Depending on how deluded they are, it may or may not change their minds.
Duane Browning
Never mind that they have no scientific basis on which to base these claims and no explanation regarding how this is supposed to work, aside from "God did it.", they persist in their ignorance in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Here are three (so far) videos posted on YouTube which give thorough explanations as to why Geo-centrism is scientifically and mathematically impossible.
Duane Browning
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