SCAM Alert - Letter form Inter'l Lottery Board

I got a letter from this so called Inter'l Lottery Board S.L Avd.Juan Real 25 C.P 28002 Madrid Spain Tel.: 0034652047351 saying that I won US $1,028,825,00 as the winer of the Euro Millions. It claims that my agent bought the ticket ($2 ticket) for me and I need to pay my agent 6% for buying the ticket. They even sent me fake copies of the ticket. They ask for my bank account number to pay me the money. Wow, sounds like I won the lottery. BUT ... Wait a minute - but I bought no tickets.

No, I didn't ask any agent to buy me any tickets either. I don't even know anyone in Spain. Sounded like a fraud to begin with so I did some research and found that other people who posted on various forums got similar letters.

Beware folks - it seems like there are many lottery scams going on in Spain. Don't get fooled by this one. Contact and inform your local police if you do get this mail.

Think this is too much money and you can't loose out on it? Think again.

http://www.crime-research.org/news/05.07.2004/469/comments/?p=0

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Cleaning Service Professionals versus Computer Software Engineers

Friday 9/16/2005


Computer Software Engineer




Lets assume that the average salary of a Computer Software Engineer with 3 years of experience is $100,000.

Pre-tax salary per week = 100,000/52 = $1,923

Lets assume that an average software engineer only works 40 hours a week.
Pre-tax salary per hour = 1,923/40 = $48

So an average Software Engineer makes $48 per hour pre-tax. Lets jump ships and look at a Cleaning Service Professional.

Cleaning Service Professionals
Cleaning professionals usually charge based on the size of the home ranging from $50/hr for a small condo/flat all the way up to $150/hr for a huge 5 bedroom house.

Another point to note about cleaning professionals is that they take payments in cash. Their only expense more than a software engineer is gas.

As I've made myself pretty clear, software engineers making $100,000 or less can make more money by opening a cleaning service. A point to note is that students graduating from college with a Computer Science degree are paid the most among all majors at entry level jobs.

Write code in C,C++, Java, etc. and feel like you've achieved a big thing or make more money cleaning homes without spending $60k in college for four years.

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Dan Rather

(Backdated)March 9, 2005

Dan Rather signed off as the CBS News anchor tonight. I just realized that it will be difficult to see this celebrity in about 10 years since nobody will be airing 're-runs' of the network news on the various television networks as they do for sitcoms.

Dan Rather seemed to be a polarizing figure, but I always thought of him as the best reporter. He did his job, and if more reporters did their job like him, perhaps the state of the world would be very different. He brought a sense of accountability to his subjects, which seemingly nobody does these days. In a way it is good that this whole controversy about the National Guard Service took place. Maybe somewhere, someplace, another person discovers what a magnificent reporter Dan Rather is, and will be inspired to be like him in the jounalism profession.

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Thinking oil prices? Think California. "Oh wait, Katrina"

California has the highest oil prices in all of US throughout the year. However, hurricane Katrina brought disaster and oil prices were touching $4 in almost all parts of the country. Guess what though? California had the cheapest oil prices at this time and people were very happy about it. Amazing how things work sometimes.

Are you thinking house prices now? Think Bay Area California. In Oct 2005, an average 2-bedroom condo costs over $450k. I've read enough articles about the fact that the california housing market is in a bubble right now. But a lot of people have made huge amounts of money from this bubble already and a lot are still making it. It is not easy (if not impossible) for a newbie to come settle in Bay Area California. And guess what, folks evacuating from Katrina hit areas are being brought to San Jose. I guess its good for them if they're going to be given free housing, but I doubt it! How much can these folks claim from the insurance companies - probably none since natural disaster insurance costs quite a lot. Those who flee before Katrina hit may have had insurance but the ones suffering are the poor. Its a horrifying disaster.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit the American Red Cross website at http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html and make your gift to "Hurricane 2005 Relief”

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Antiwar Protest by Cindy Sheehan

There is tons of news on the anti-war protest by Cindy Sheehan. I don't agree with Bush's policies, neither do I agree with Cindy's. Yes, troops need to be withdrawn from a foreign country once our work is done there. First, we had no work. US is not World Police. However, what's done is done. Now, troops need to be called back home and Iraq needs to given its territory to fight its own battles. However, this should happen over a period of 3 months time and not as a split call because of protestors. Maybe Cindy is suggesting that this could be a timely operation but media makes it sound like she wants to withdraw them in a heartbeat.

I'd like to mention that this story is making history for our future generations. I acknowledge and sympathize with Cindy myself and plead her to make the media understand that you are not suggesting immediate withdrawal but withdrawal over a set period of time i.e. we need a date. December 2005? March 2006. Obviously, it cannot be past March 2006 since US has its own problems to deal with before acting as World Wide Police Service.

This is just my two cents. Top off today with growing oil prices and unexpectedly high inflation. We need a lottery system where everyone wins.

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