Oh, dear. That darned unicorn in the Bible page is getting me preached at again. LOL!

Do note that the page has this disclaimer at the top:

Due to the nature of some of the email I receive regarding this particular page, I thought I'd update the page a little to include the following information. I am not an expert on Biblical history or ancient languages, nor do I claim to be. I don't read Latin, nor do I read Hebrew (although my husband reads some Koine Greek).

What I am is someone who has been looking into a particular anomaly of translation found in one English translation of the Bible, the Authorised Version (known commonly as the King James Version), because it intrigues me.

I cannot and do not necessarily think that all of the tidbits of information I've been able to gather are necessarily authoritative. In fact, I'm just collecting tidbits of information, and readers should take it as such. This is not a scholarly treatise. It's an offbeat hobby that I've been pursuing off and on for many years and which I felt like sharing because at least a few other people might find it interesting.

Naturally, the writer of the preachy, poorly written email either didn't read or didn't understand that....

I'm not going to post the whole email because it's mostly a lot of blah blah blah from someone who obviously has NO CLUE what I'm writing about, but it starts out thusly:

its funny to me the nievety of some people who are so quick to beleive in animals that have no real significance in any matter of life

Never said that I actually believe in unicorns, but nevermind. Some people never let what someone has ACTUALLY written get in the way of what they want to berate you for.

And by the way, my dear "anonymous" AOL user.... If you want people to take what you write seriously, you might try this little thing called "spelling" and "paragraph breaks". I also wonder why you send emails with no return address. What's wrong, afraid I might argue with you? Or did you just think it was more fun to do a "drive by"?

For some reason, people like to argue with me about the contents of my unicorn site. Personally, I think people take this stuff way too seriously. Here's an email I got today:

You said ‘There's not one bit of archaeological or historical evidence to suggest that there ever were or are now any actual living thing, which truly resembles the legendary unicorn.' but on wikipedia there is an article about the giant unicorn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Unic orn). Personally I believe wikipedia. Where your site has great graphics etc. I haven't heard of it and none of my friends have either where they have heard of wikipedia. I suggest that you should check on more well-known sites before publisisng your site.

Well, yanno, my site's been on the net since 1994. Wikipedia hasn't. Which doesn't mean Wikipedia isn't a great site (I use it all the time!), but I couldn't have consulted Wikipedia when I wrote that page, now, could I?

I also say on my site that there were and are one-horned beasts that I believe contributed to the unicorn legend (probably I don't say it in those words, but that's the context). I mention narwhals and one-horned rhinos. The article on Wikipedia states:

The Giant Unicorn (Elasmotherium sibiricum) was a giant rhinoceros

Well, when have I ever said there aren't or weren't rhinos for heaven's sake? What I've said is that the classic Western unicorn, the staglike, equine-based animal, didn't exist. I certainly never said "No one horned creature has ever existed".

And finally, I can't figure out why people take stuff on a personal homepage so damned seriously. For heaven's sake, the site is just a bit of fun, an extension of my own interest in unicorns. It's not a bloody thesis, nor do I claim any particular expertise in archaeology. I'm just a unicorn fancier with a website. Sheesh.

I just wonder what on earth it is about some people that they feel the need to actually take the time to write to someone about something like this. If she'd just sent me the article, I would have thought that was cool and thanked her (I did, in fact, the article is cool), but I can do without the lecture from people who think Wikipedia has existed since the beginning of time and that a rhino is the same thing as a classical unicorn.

For what it's worth, I added that link to the Wikipedia article in the paragraph where I mention one-horned rhinos that may have given rise to some unicorn legends (a paragraph that has been on the site for 11+ years).

[EDIT] Several days after I replied to this person, and I still haven't gotten a response. Funny, that...

First of all, I"m about 99% sure this is a scam. The IP address from which it was sent is in Ontario, the email address they gave is on yahoo.co.uk and they claim to have a store in Texas. Uh-huh.

It was sent through the Priscilla's Pen site, which has only some personal inspirational materials that I wrote and wanted to share. There is nothing for sale there at all. I certainly don't sell Bibles (and even if I did, I wouldn't sell KJV Bibles, becuse it's just not my favorite translation and while it's nice and poetic and traditional, it's not really my cup of tea as far as Bible translations go).

ANYway. Here's the message:

Dear Sir/Madam,
I'm Mrs Larry From
Houston,Texas.I will Like to Order Some
kjb Bible From your Store To Our Store
In Houston.
But,before We proceed We will like
to know if you do Handle Shipment to
Texas and also If you Accept Credit
Card Account As a Mode of Payment...
Kindly Get Back to Us Now with Details
Thanks
Regards
Mrs Larry.
We await for your Response Now....

Now you tell me what they're up to. They want me to process a credit card for them. Riiiiight. And even if I had Bibles to sell, I wouldn't sell them to random strangers on the net who have a Canadian IP address, a British email address, and claim to have a store in Texas! I just wonder how stupid these people actually are. And I hope that there aren't any honest people who are stupid enough to fall for it.

Morons. If you're gonna try to scam someone, at least pick your targets correctly. You shouldn't try to scam a woman who is 1) exceptionally cynical 2) isn't selling what you think you want to buy 3) has been on the net since 1993 and has seen it all and 4) owns the server and can block your IP address.

First, please take a few minutes and go and visit my unicorns site. It's not too terribly big, won't take you long to check it out. Just take note of the information there and the various links. Okay? I'll wait.

Done? Okay. Now. Read this email:

hi do you have any infoon if unicorns
where proven to be real or if they were
just a myth and info on what history
and the bible say about unicorns? if
you could give me some web sites that
would be great!

Note that the unicorn site DOES have links, including a link to an entire essay on the unicorn in the King James version of the Bible, and a whole page of links to external sites, AND that I say right on the main page what my opinion is of the physical reality of unicorns.

I get mail like this periodically. I just wonder what they think... Do they believe I've got a vault of top secret evidence for or against the physical reality of unicorns and that if they just email me, I'll share the docutments with them? Do they not know how to follow a link? Do they not know how to READ?!

I'm just wondering...

Been a long time since I posted any Moron Mail™. I have gotten annoying and weird mail, but none of it really qualified (in my mind) for posting. Today, I got one. It's not annoying, just really bewildering...

This came through the mailform for a webring for women webloggers that I manage.

Please, how can I purchase the

copy of Parker Bowles ring. can

you give me info. I live in US

I have no idea why I would receive this. I mean, I kinda vaguely get "ring" but what on earth does it have to do with blogging or webrings? And how on earth did they end up at the homepage for a webring and think that I would, in any way, have any knowledge of such a thing? I can't remember even blogging about Prince Charles' engagement actually (I don't think I did; I don't actually care particularly, although I will take this opportunity to say I think it was nice of them to change their wedding date so that Charles and Tony Blair could attend the Pope's funeral).

This is almost as good as the one I got looking for cherry print bikinis (they apparently couldn't tell the difference between Shoshanna Lonstein and shoshanna.org).

I always wonder how on earth people end up sending emails to any old mailform they happen to find....

Somebody threatened to sue me today. Well, he said he wouldn't, but that he could, which of course isn't actually true. He claimed that my referring to him in a semi-private forum as a dipshit was slander (or libel).

Well, guess what? It's not. First of all, I didn't use his real name because I don't even know it. Secondly, calling someone a dipshit is opinion, and that's not something you can sue someone over. I'm free to hold any opinions I want of anyone I want. It's only slander/libel when and if a statement is "injurious to a person's good name or reputation" and since I didn't use his name, it can't apply. There are other legal technicalities, as well, such as you have to have presented as fact something untrue such as saying they committed a crime (and it's not a crime to be a dipshit), and you have to be in a position to present the statements with some weight (such as being a newspaper or similar source).

So, hey, he's welcome to have his laywer contact me. I still think he's a dipshit.

And, yes, I fell off the wagon of avoiding unnecessary pissing matches, I'm sorry to say. Every time that happens, I end up regretting it. Not necessarily that I regret my opinion (in fact, his lawsuit nonsense just reinforced it for me, as he's just demonstrated that he really doesn't have a clue what he's talking about), but I do regret having entered into the fray of a pointless argument.

Ah, well. I'll just get back on the wagon and try to avoid that sort of thing. I'm always happier when I do.

WHY is it that people think that sending an email to someone who has a web page they don't agree with is going to do ANY good whatsoever? Like I'm going to read their babbling (after they've called me a nut, mind you) and go, "Oh, wow! You're so right! How STUPID was I to have an opinion that was contrary to yours?"

I dunno. I can't figure it out. I mean, I see web pages every single day that have stuff in them that I could argue with, but you know what? I don't. I don't sit down and write a long, rambling email to the person to "show them the error of their ways" or whatever it is that people are trying to do. I figure opinions are like arseholes, and everyone's got one, so what's it to me?

The most amazing thing to me is that the web page this particular person took exception to has a HUGE disclaimer at the top, stating that it's ONLY my personal opinion, food for thought, etc. It's not a dissertation, it's not a piece of journalism, it's MY OPINION, based on MY research and as applied to MY life. Other people are free to do whatever they wish, and my web page that so brazenly states my opinion that flies contrary to theirs won't affect their life at all. My holding counter opinions and daring to express them shouldn't negatively affect anyone's life.

Then again, perhaps the answer here is that some people just have no life....

I have an essay online. It's basically a "reflection" or something of that sort. It's spiritual in nature, and it's most definitely (and I should think, obviously) metaphorical.

The essay uses a diamond ring as the basis for the greater reflection, which is: flaws don't make something less beautiful. (The essay is here if you want to read it.)

Every now and then, though, some idiot decides that I need a lecture on diamonds and jeweler's standards and who knows what else having to do with the trade of diamonds and jewelry.

I just always wonder what on earth these people think I'm writing about?! It's a METAPHOR! Hello?!

Anyway, I got one of those "let me teach you a thing or two about diamonds" emails today. They didn't include an email address (it figures, doesn't it?) or I would have most assuredly replied to them and informed them that taking everything literally can be a dangerous thing to do, especially on a website clearly dedicated to things spiritual and intangible.

Honestly, I just have to wonder where these people come from and WHY they feel like I would give a damn about their lofty knowledge when I was mostly being metaphorical... Obviously, I understand some things that the palinfully literally minded just can't grasp.

Such as, "Don't send emails to random people on the web if you don't understand what the website is about".

Dunno what the unsolicited attachments were. Didn't save them to find out. Some people just aren't smart enough to figure out that not everyone reads their mail with an HTML and JavaScript enabled email program. Those attachments never got near my hard drive at all, let alone ran or played or whatever.

That address is now being filtered. It used to go to my inbox, but now it's going through Spamcop, which will make reporting the mail that much easier.

I've also banned a few IP addresses. Looking into banning IP addresses in Postfix, which is what we run on our server for mail (but I suspect the Spamcop will do the trick).

Since I didn't bother to investigate any of the attachments, I don't know if it's a particularly persistent spammer (I actually have encountered spammers of various sorts who send attachements for some reason) or if someone's got a vendetta (and no life whatsoever).

The thing is, either way I can keep them from pestering me. I own the whole server. I have complete control over my email addresses and I'm way, WAY more net savvy than the average person.

Gee, it's been a long time since I had a net.stalker.

Okay, who the hell sends 2.2Mb unsolicited attachments via email? What's up with THAT?

I got one today. No clue what it is. I read my mail (as I'm mentioned many times) in a Unix shell so it's not like the thing could run or anything. If I'd really wanted to know what it was, I would have had to save it to a directory on the server and either view it with a web browser (which I sometimes do with things I actually want to look at) or save it to the server and download it to my computer via FTP. Since I don't know and don't care what it is, I did neither.

The thing is that the address it came to is not one which commonly receives spam in it. It is one, however, that may be known to certain obnoxious persons who were recently pissed off when I responded to their rude and nasty email in kind. I hate to think that the person(s) in question truly have nothing better to do than sit around trying to think of ways to annoy me via email (heaven knows, I got some harassment from them and some of their snotty friends; I eventually had to resort to IP banning).

Then again, it could just be a spammer who managed to get the address (dunno how they'd do it, but I can think of a couple of ways that might be possible).

I hate spammers. And I hate 2.2Mb unsolicited attachments.

Today I got rather rudely insulted via email. An apology for an error on my part is NOT ENOUGH, I'll have you know. Oh, no. I deserved a tongue lashing with a big dose of gult trip because I screwed up one of the ten thousand other things I did in the past week (well, okay, I screwed up more than that, but only one affected this person, so obviously that's the only one that counts).

I'm not going to post the actual email. Suffice it to say the writer was very rude and taking things way, WAY too seriously. Some people just need to get over themselves and get a better fix on their own importance in the overall scheme of things. Oh, and learning how to accept an apology and/or realize that human beings do make the occasional mistake, and that it's usually better to try to fix the problem than to act like the world is coming to an end and throw a verbal temper tantrum. That sort of behavior doesn't earn you any respect or get you any kind of solution.

It just pisses people off.

Tell me. What about THIS is ambiguous:

PLEASE NOTE: This is a mailform. Sending information through this form merely sends an email to the ring manager(s), and nothing else. Please use this form to submit potential member websites for the ring manager(s) to visit. There is absolutely no point in sending nonsense or empty messages through this form. If you need to contact the ring manager(s), you may do so, but sending a blank or garbage message just wastes everyone's time, including yours. Thanks.

I put that on the mailform (which is on a webring site, obviously) to try to stem the flow of blank and garbage messages that were sent through the form. Seriously, I was getting about ten garbage messages to every legitimate site submission! So I put that on there hoping that the idiots would be able to figure out that sending their email address to me was pointless.

Has it worked? Somewhat. The ratio has gone down to about three to one now. Part of the problem is the subject matter of the webring (certain subjects appeal to a wider range of people, and therefore to more STUPID people, since a certain percentage of people are stupid). Part of the problem is that some people are so stupid that a clearly worded message telling them to use the form ONLY to submit their website or to communicate with the ring manager(s) doesn't work.

I just wonder, what do they think I'm going to do? Write them a nice little note in reply to their blank message? "Hi, thanks for sending me an annoying blank message!" or do they think they'll get a prize or something? (Be the lucky tenth person to send me a garbage email and I'll send you a genie in a lamp!) What on earth do they think they'lll accomplish? And WHY would someone send their email address to random persons on the net, anyway?

I dunno. I've never understood how stupid people think (probably a good thing, now that I come to look at it).

What is it about mailforms that seem to draw morons like magnets? Or is it just me? (Me who draws morons, not me who IS a moron. No comments from the peanut gallery, either. Ahem.)

Checked my mail and have no fewer than FIVE copies of totally and utterly stupid and empty mail, all from the same IP address, but it's not just "an honest mistake" where they kept clicking and clicking. Oh, no. The first two are from "JULIE" and the next one is from "FRED" and the next two are from "Eric" (apparently the idiot figured out how to unlock his capslock key by that point).

And the content of the messages? Just nonsense. The first two have an email address put in (probably not a valid one, but it's there), the other three have just a screen name (Can you please picture me sneering and rolling my eyes at this, please?). None of them have a URL.

This is a mailform for an invitation-only webring, folks. The mailform is on the bottom of the page, which explains in details what the ring is and what the form is for. To any person who can read even a little English and who has an IQ in the "normal" range, it's crystal clear what the purpose of the site and the form are. I know this because I don't generally get a lot of junk through that particular form, which usually means that people are actually reading the page and understanding it (and I do get regular mail through it, and the site gets adequate traffic, two more factors that tell me that the page is understandable and clear).

Well, in any event, JULIE FRED Eric has had their IP address banned from that domain and this one (just because I'm feeling bitchy).

Sometimes I just wonder how stupid people actually are. And when I see examples of this sort of moronic behavior, I just feel so dismayed. And annoyed. I don't like stupid people... although I do sometimes get a smirk out of their email.

Remote host: [deleted, but it's in Queensland, Australia]
site:
International Couples

title:
find a us husband

url:

name:
freewjoe

email:
freewjoe@yahoo.com.cn.

regarding:
I need some help with the HTML

desc:
I want to find an us husband through it

-------------------------------------------------
I deleted the International Couples Webring ages ago. I thought I had also deleted the website for it, but I guess I didn't. I certainly deleted all my links to it and I deleted the folder on my own hard drive.

Anyway, the mailform had a note telling people I was not running a dating service and to please not email me asking me to arrange meetings or whatever (can't recall the exact wording and I've deleted it now).

Well, it looks like a couple of smartarses happened upon the page and decided to be, well, smartarses. Hah. Hah. I'm so terribly amused by this.

In fact, I'm so amused I've banned your IP address, so that even if you sent this email hoping to see my reply here, you won't be able to (unless you've got multiple IP addresses, in which case I suggest you keep your annoying email to yourself).

As I've noted, to be listed here, the mail has to be both annoying and stupid. I think this qualifies.

Got this via the mailform for this domain. Please note that while I've left the idiot's name there (hey, it's spam, I don't feel guilty), I've removed their URL because I don't want to give them any traffic at all. Comments by me are in brackets.

---

My name is Ian Holloway. I have visited your site and I feel that we can help each other increase our search engine ranking by linking to each other. The more traffic for you..the more traffic for me. Why not?

[Because you're a spamming moron and I don't do business with slime like you?]

We run a site called [online dating service] which amongst other things has a directory of personals, dating and singles related web sites. As your site is targeted at this market then it should be in our directory.

[In what POSSIBLE way could you have gotten that I run a dating site? I'm very happily married and have been for years. Even if I weren't married I wouldn't be on a dating site. This is a PERSONAL domain, not a PERSONALS domain, you idiot. So much for your lie that you "visited my site" because if you had, you'd have a friggin clue. ]

To add your site simply go to [url deleted] and complete the form. Once you have submitted the form you will be shown a selection of banners or text links you can use to link back to us.

[Oh, goody.]

We will review all submissions within 48 hours and providing you have added a link back to us, your site could be in our directory and taking advantage of some of the 1500-2500 visitors we get every day within a couple of days. We look forward to hearing from you.

[You're going to be waiting for a long time. Not only have I posted your stupid email to my Moron Mail™ collection, I've blocked your IP address. I've half a mind to publish it so other people can block your IP address, as well, you spamming idiot.]

Ian Holloway
Admin Manager

[Bonni Elizabeth Hall, person with a personal domain that has absolutely zero to do with you or your sleazy business.]

I got this email through the mailform for the blogs by women ring once already. At that time, I just deleted it without comment.

My guess is that he, like many stupid people, thought that by using that mailform they'd be sending their message to all 1000+ members of the webring. Wrong, ya moron! It only goes to me (and to Sara, when she's not on hiatus from the net as she is currently).

Anyway, I wouldn't have even commented on it except that this idiot keeps sending these things. I had to ban his IP address, and if he comes back with another one, I'll ban that one, too.

I'm actually tempted to post the entire message, telephone number, email address and all, but I won't do that, partly because it's not a very nice thing to do (although he's posted it all over the place, certainly) and because I don't want to give him any more "positive" publicity than necessary. I will say that his IP address is European (Amsterdam, to be precise), his email address is Russian, and the phone number is in Myanmar, of all places (that used to be Burma, in case you were unaware of that, and no, I wasn't until Andrew told me this fact).

And what does this charming "doctor" have to say?

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

I am happy to inform you that I
have found the technology of
curing infertility
at any age. I have tested it and
it demonstrated excellent results.
I am to help
you if you invite me to your
country or come to Moscow. I
guarantee that I will
help everybody who will contact me
and you will be able to have a
baby.
I am looking forward to your
response.

With respect

Dr. [name withheld for reasons of propriety]

I did a web search for the person's name, and found that he thinks he's some sort of expert in "human cloning" and an expert in "nano technology", and he likes to post to infertility forums and boards (and presumably, to spam people's mailforms).

My personal thought here is that this is some sort of scam that will manage to extort a lot of money from a woman desperate to have a child, but maybe this guy really thinks he is an expert in cloning and nano technology, who knows.

Anyway, if you get an email like this or see one posted to a board anywhere, just do a little Google search for the guy's name and you'll see for yourself.

In the meantime, he won't be spamming me any more, and totally beside the point, I don't have a problem with infertility (rather the opposite, actually).

You know, the longer I'm on the net (and we're going on ten years now), the more I'm absolutely convinced that spammers are STUPID.

Well, it's been a while since I got flamed from a random stranger. This time, though, it wasn't even for something I wrote. No, he objected to how I "convieniently" left out "facts" regarding the two incidents I have linked right below this entry.

Basically, all I did was quote the first paragraph of each article and make that paragraph link to the news article. I made no commentary. I didn't pontificate, I didn't offer my own view (don't have one, really, just thought the articles were worth reading), I didn't make any pithy remarks or snide comments. No sarcasm was uttered. I just provided links, nothing more, nothing less.

Apparently, I'm obligated to either 1) write "click HERE to read the whole article" (which I won't do because it's lame and stupid) or 2) quote the entire article in my weblog (which I won't do because it's copyright violation).

So, yeah, people, go ahead and flame me for "convieniently" linking to Reuters and Associated Press articles that I think are worth reading.

Oh, and I put the guy's email address in my filter blacklist, plus I banned his IP address. If he persists, I'll block his entire Class C.

The thing I find so terribly ironic here is that when I finally do get flamed from a random stranger it wasn't for my own outspokenness or critical view of certain world events, oh no. When I got flamed it was for what someone else wrote!

I was just thinking the other day that it had been a long time since I got any Moron Mail™. I guess I spoke too soon, because today in my inbox was a not terribly polite message from someone who could tell that I wasn't a Christian but then decided that maybe I was and if so, I had to explain a particular passage of the Bible to him for some reason or other. He offered to convert me, and he apparently took exception to the triquetra symbol on The Trinity Pages (which state VERY CLEARLY that they are non-religious and have nothing to do with the orthodox concept of a triune deity, but he probably didn't bother to read that). He awaits my reply.

He's going to be awaiting for a long time.

The thing that annoys me is this whole concept that you can or even should convert random people whose websites you encounter on the net. What's that all about? The man obviously knows nothing about me except that I use an ancient symbol as a graphical device on a website about recovery from trauma, and that I don't believe that the King James version of the Bible is the One and True Official Word of God™ and the final word in English translations of the Bible (I've got more than a dozen English translations of the Bible, thank you very much).

Based on this, he's offering to either argue with me about some passage of the Bible which is of no interest to me at all (I don't argue about the whole triune deity thing because I have found that it's an utterly fruitless argument that gets absolutely nowhere), and if I can't "provide proof" to him of something or other regarding that passage, he's happy to convert me to his way of thinking/believing.

I wish I could think of something pithy and amusing to say here, but I'm afraid I can't. I haven't been sleeping well and I'm having a very disorganized day so far. About the last thing on my mind is justifying my choice of design motif to some total stranger who wants to challenge me to some sort of prooftext duel or convert me.

I just wonder why people think this sort of random quasi-evangelism is going to do any good whatsoever. I can tell you all it does is tick me off.

I got an email with no return address (naturally) that called me clueless and was also TYPED IN ALL CAPS. It was taking exception to a post I made in an online community some time last year or so (can't remember when I posted it).

To my anonymous flamer: First of all, next time leave your email address and I'll be happy to reply to you personally. I do have your IP address, and I know your ISP and where it's located, so you're not really "anonymous", you know. I'm not going to post the name of your ISP, but I have it, and it's in Pennsylvania.

Secondly, DMOZ most certainly IS staffed by volunteers who do not get paid for their work or the time they put in. It IS an "open source" index, just as Mozilla is an open source software project.

Perhaps you should investigate your claims slightly before sending random flames to people you don't even know. Talk about clueless.

Not sure if this qualifies as "Moron" mail, exactly. I think it may be more like "Confused" mail.

This was sent via the mailform on the Unicorns site. Here it is in its entirety (well, they also included an email address, but I'm not going to publish that):

help me

Uhmm... Yeah.

Here's the email message in it's entirety:

we can I get the bikini with the cherrys

The weirdist thing is that it was sent through the mailform at Shoshanna, which is a collection of Christian writings and links (and no bikinis of any sort).

UPDATE: I shared this with Andrew and he pointed out that Shoshanna Lonstein is a swimsuit designer and she's at shoshanna.com, so that probably explains the bikini reference. But how they ended up at my domain (which has a definite theme of calla lilies) thinking it was the same as Shoshanna Lonstein's site is pretty much anybody's guess.

Just what I needed. Verbal abuse from a Bible-thumping illiterate somewhere in the backwoods of Arkansas (according to the trace on his IP address).

I got this today in relation (I assume) to my essay on researching a specific mistranslation that occurs in one particular version of the Bible. It's the "Why is the Unicorn in the King James" essay. It's just a bit of fun, really. A hobby.

Here's the email, from Billy the Slack-Jawed Yokel:

So you are telling people that as a man
a human being quote unquote that you
know that the bible is not true and you
cant even read hebrew,yet you can
translate that the bible is a poetic
click.Well Ive got news for you news
flash the bible is true,god does exhist
and if you dont believe that,you are
going straight to hell on a one way
ticket,ill pray for youre ignorance but
until you change that stupidity you
believe in and stop believing in man
and fery tails and pray to god you
still have a one way ticket.O and by
the way unicorns did exhist and the
bible is living proof,altho you will
never grasp that cause you still
apperantly believe in only what you can
see. I hope you change for youre
sake.Good day.

Nice, isn't it? I'm going to hell, apparently, because I believe that ONE particular word in ONE version of the Bible (out of the hundreds of them worldwide in different languages) has a peculiar and interesting translation. No, I don't believe that the King James Bible fell from heaven in 1611. I believe it was translated by human beings and that in this case, they mistranslated the word "re'em" to be "unicorn".

I never said the Bible wasn't true. I certainly have never said that I don't believe in God. I DID say that the King James was translated by humans. In fact, if you're interested, you can read for yourself what the translators of the King James had to say about their work, and it was not, "This work is perfect and without flaw." Rather the contrary.

Well, Billy, I'm glad to hear you'll be praying for MY ignorance and stupidity. I will admit it's never occurred to me to pray for anyone's stupidity, at least until now. I think I'll be praying that you learn to control yourself and stop sending curses and flames to people who write things you don't understand.

And so that you won't risk getting more upset by things you don't understand, I think I'll just ban your IP address from visiting that domain. After all, I wouldn't want you to get your undies in an even more rigteous bunch.

I also find it amusing that this idiot thinks I only believe what I can see. How much further from the truth can one assumption be, I wonder? I rarely speak of my spirituality in a public forum, but I am, in fact, very much a believer in an awful lot of things that are wholly intangible. I've experienced and seen things that most people would think are either holy visions or utter madness (and possibly a little of both). I've been places, spiritually speaking, that most people don't know exist, and where I never wanted to go. I've been through a trial by fire that nearly destroyed me, and through it all, the only thing I HAD to keep me going was faith in things intangible and promises that most people would have thought I was crazy to trust. But I did believe, and I did trust, and I came through that hell a different and much better person.

Apparently, I need to go back through it, though, because even after all of that, I still don't believe the King James Bible is any more perfect than any other translation... Ah, well. Thankfully, Billy is praying for my ignorance and stupidity, so maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and suddenly realize the error of my ways and fall on my face in praise of the unicorn or something...

I got an email just now that was sent to an address at Shoshanna, our Christian ministry site. In fact, it was sent to the address for the webring there (which is about Christianity and recovery, a very specialized ring). I think that's the only place where an actual email address appears (the rest are mailforms, I think; I'm too lazy to go check right now).

Anyway, the email had no content whatsover and two attachments, one of which appeared to be a .wav file and the other of which was a graphic file. The subject line was something to do with PDF files and Adobe Acrobat.

Needless to say, I didn't investigate further. I've no bloody clue what it was. I don't actually care. It was probably some sort of "evagespam", which is my name for random acts of evangelism (why they send these to a Christian site, I don't know; isn't that preaching to the choir?!).

Well, whatever it was, it prompted three reactions. The first was that I muttered about people being idiots and I deleted it. The second was that I set that address to get filtered through Spamcop automatically. The third was that I posted about it here.

I just wonder... why? Why do people send empty emails with odd attachments to total strangers? What's the thrill in that? Was there some sort of virus or trojan involved? Why to THAT address?

Bah. It's all far too "twilight zone" for me. I prefer sensible emails with actual, you know, CONTENT and attempts at COMMUNCIATION, but then, I'm weird.