This seems like it could be fear-mongering (but then, I guess, it would be fear-of-fear-mongering mongering), but the BBC reports in Brazil, criminal gangs frequently phone victims with fake abduction claims about their loved ones and trick them into handing over cash.:

The virtual kidnappers, if you could call them that, try to panic the person they call - often a mother or a father - into going to a bank and paying out a ransom before there is time to actually check if their relative is missing.

In most cases no-one has actually been abducted.

Time and fear and the aggressive manner of the caller are the key elements of this type of crime.

At least you don't have to worry about the alternative resolution proposed by Indian communities: everyone and his uncle (in some cases, literally) searching for someone for you. Keep up the struggle, bro!

well, Leo, not if you're going to spell my name wrong! ;)


nah, if worse comes to worse, maybe I'll fulfill that other expectation people have of me... to live alone in the woods forever! hahahaha!



what exactly would that support group be though? the "my mother thinks I should date more" group? I don't think so... haha!

The IT Crowd S02E01

Well Allison, we have that back up plan of ours right? hehehehe


*whimper*

Alison I can sympathize. I guess we should form a support group or something.

I'm cold, tired, incredibly itchy, and my big toe is numb!

oh, AND it looks like I got in a fight... 'cause my lip is swollen, and so's one of my eyelids. I LOVE mosquitoes... they're everywhere, and there's nothing I can do about them...

it always makes me wonder why I'm still willing to go outside after a day like today. effing bugs. on the plus side, I should return to edmonton in time for the weekend, for once! yay! time to do laundry!


oh, and Albert... my whole "why aren't you married yet" rant thing isn't new, it's just more and more prevalent every time one of my friends marries... I think I started getting that at about, um... 18. (not necessarily marriage, but that I SHOULD be more actively dating...)

Okay, so a whole bunch of really cool stuff spilling over from one link (I'd say it's the internet at its best, but it's really just a couple of brothers, so draw your own conclusions.)

First, the starting point, the Accio Deathly Hallows song:

Stelmach spokesman Tom Olsen:

The reason the dramatic plunge is "believable," according to Olsen, is that "hundreds of thousands of new Albertans don't know the history of Progressive Conservative governments in this province and are spending their time assessing what they see." (Edmonton Sun)

... as opposed to the regular Albertans who spend no time assessing what they see.