May 1 Reboot - TADA!!

This is the results of my May 1st Reboot.

As you can see, as per usual, I did nothing special to adhere to whatever standards the design snobs have come up with this year... Just a pretty new page to look at. Hopefully things are organised in a bit more readable fashion now.

That snot green design just had to go.

I've got a lot of work to do today to get ready for start of business tomorrow... servers to move, bills to collect... I'll probably talk to you all again on Tuesday.

/rizzn

I see bot-people.

I have been sleeping a lot these last few days and waking up at odd hours. It's 3AM, and I just got a friend request on MySpace from Ashley, a buxom brunette from CALIFORNIA, Maryland. Her profile had her AIM address on it, so I decided to hit her up in chat and see what what was up.

Rizzn: hey you, ashley!
BEZZYBABEE : hey whats up, whos this?:)
Rizzn: This is Rizzn. you friended me a few minutes ago
BEZZYBABEE : OH u got my friend thing on myspace lol..
Rizzn: Pretty much. Have we met before? I mean you're a hot chick and all, and I usually like to give time to the ladees, but I don't recognize you.
BEZZYBABEE : listen hun..I'm just about to start my webcam show with sasha...its easier for me to chat ya in my chat room if u wanna log in? can u cum watch and chat me there?
Rizzn: The complexities of AIM too much for you?
BEZZYBABEE : you can be one of my VIP guests if you promise not to tell anyone u have VIP status? do u promise?...:-$
Rizzn: Sure.
Rizzn: If by promise not to tell you mean post this chat log on my blog.
Rizzn: I've got a thing.. I can only watch lesbians and chat with them if I can brag about it to all my friends.
BEZZYBABEE : well since its the law that u gotta be 18 (nudity involved), u gotta login with a credit card to prove u are 18! Once you login, just tell me your username and I'll make it a VIP memberhsip (like I do for my friends). ONLY if you promise not to mention in the chatroom that you have VIP.. I can get in trouble *******.com/homepages/nadiapink
Rizzn: I don't have a credit card. They are part of the Illuminati's plan to bring about Armageddon.
Rizzn: The mark of the beast and all.
BEZZYBABEE : please don't mention i am upgrading you once you are in my chatroom ok?:-$
Rizzn: Well, I don't want to help the anti-Christ by using a credit card, but I do want to watch you get it on with Sasha.
Rizzn: I don't see pictures of Sasha on this page - if you could show me pictures of her it would help me decide.
BEZZYBABEE : OH SHIT.. k I'm late to start my show, I gotta get off aim..Ill see ya inside my chatroom babe.. You can use your aim name to sign in so i know it's you.. remember SHHHH about u being one of my VIP's..
Rizzn: Sure thang bot babe. I'll keep it on the DL

I'm weird. I think chatting with bots is fun.

/rizzn

DMCA Update

I usually am at odds with John Dvorak, because instead of writing about how Intel Sucks and Macs Rule, the bloggers at his site see fit to make political commentary that is usually against my own.

Today, though he calls our attention to something interesting:

Wiretapping, impounding records, asset forfeiture? Arresting grandmothers and people without computers for downloading a couple of songs ain’t nothing compared to what’s coming.

Congress readies broad new digital copyright bill

For the last few years, a coalition of technology companies, academics and computer programmers has been trying to persuade Congress to scale back the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Now Congress is preparing to do precisely the opposite. A proposed copyright law seen by CNET News.com would expand the DMCA’s restrictions on software that can bypass copy protections and grant federal police more wiretapping and enforcement powers.

The draft legislation, created by the Bush administration and backed by Rep. Lamar Smith, already enjoys the support of large copyright holders such as the Recording Industry Association of America. Smith, a Texas Republican, is the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees intellectual-property law.

But one of the more controversial sections may be the changes to the DMCA. Under current law, Section 1201 of the law generally prohibits distributing or trafficking in any software or hardware that can be used to bypass copy-protection devices. (That section already has been used against a Princeton computer science professor, Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov and a toner cartridge remanufacturer.)

Smith’s measure would expand those civil and criminal restrictions. Instead of merely targeting distribution, the new language says nobody may “make, import, export, obtain control of, or possess” such anticircumvention tools if they may be redistributed to someone else.

Criminal asset forfeiture will be done following the rules established by federal drug laws.

[via Dvorak Uncensored]

Fantastico! I can't wait!

Truly Bizarre Day, so far...

I woke up to my neighbor in my bedroom asking me for help with a car she borrowed from her neighbor (I've got to remember to lock my door at night). Somehow she had driven it all the way over to the complex, but it died three feet before it got into the parking spot - it was a standard, and the battery had died preventing it from restarting.

She was drunk from the night before (this around 10AM), so when I jumpstarted her car, I moved it around to her side of the building and stood there chatting with her for a bit. The last thing I remember was saying something like, "Well, I'm going to head up to my place to get a start on the day. Come on over when you wake up."

I remember starting to feel a bit woozy, and then the next thing I remember is coming to in the parking lot - apparently I had passed out there talking to her, and by her measure, out for a minute or two. Clearly, I'm not quite done with the bug as I had thought I was yesterday.

Given all this, take the following little updates with a grain of salt... I've got an enormous headache, my hand is all cut up, and it's the best I can do.

May 1st Reboot
Apparently, every May 1st now, it is customary for everyone with a website to redesign their pages and design to celebrate and bring attention to HTML standards. I completed a web design last night, and it will go up May 1st, but mostly I'm just happy about the fact that this means I'll be getting residual income from my clients every year in May.

I don't have any links on this, Darrell is my source on this. Ask him about it.

An Amusing Chat Conversation from this morning:
A buddy of mine (who shall remain nameless) has gone through a particularly bad breakup. This is a conversation I had with him on MySpace this morning.

XjX said:
What does this mean????

Wednesday Horoscope
You and your heart are going to sit down for a little heart-to-heart. Well, okay, maybe it's more accurate to call it a mind-to-heart. Or mind-and-body-to-heart. Whatever. You're going to ask your heart a few hard questions and then, if your heart wants to ask you some hard questions, it gets to. Then you have to answer (fair is fair!), and, ideally, by the end of the conversation you two will come to a whole new understanding.

Saint Rizzn said:
I think, without all the newage-speak, it means you are going to determine what it is you want with regards to your love life as well as what your mental goals are.

XjX said:
Well that is utter gay sauce because I have no love life and my heart has fallen out of my chest onto the stove caught on fire, then rolled down the hallway where the dog has chewed on it excessively and buried it in the backyard under a pile of it's dog shit where it will lay for 100 years which later grows into a retarded looking blood bush that hisses at you when you walk by.

Saint Rizzn said:
Well there's your answer; go into the backyard - the secrets to life await you!

XjX said:
You are so confusing.

Well, it was amusing to me. But then I hit my head this morning - what's your excuse?

Boycott Citgo?
The following was forwarded to me by James today, and verified by Smokehouse. Those of you on the list have already seen it, but for the rest of my Rizznites, here it is.

Venezuela Dictator Vows To Bring Down U.S. Government
Venezuela government is sole owner of Citgo gasoline company

Venezuela Dictator Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S.
government.

Chavez, president of Venezuela, told a TV audience (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10704025/): "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century."

The guest on his television program, beamed across Venezuela, was Cindy Sheehan, the antiwar activist. Chavez recently had as his guest Harry Belafonte, who called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world."

Chavez is pushing a socialist revolution and has a close alliance with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Regardless of your feelings about the war in Iraq or other highly publicized issues with our government, the REAL issue here is that we have a socialist dictator vowing to bring down the government of the U.S. And he is using OUR money to achieve his goal!

The Venezuela government, run by dictator Chavez, is sole owner of Citgo (http://www.citgo.com/AboutCITGO.jsp) gas co.

Sales of products at Citgo stations send money back to Chavez to help him in his vow to bring down our government.

Take Action.

Please decide that you will not be shopping at a Citgo station. Why should U.S. citizens who love freedom be financing a dictator who has vowed to take down our government?

Very important. Please forward this to your friends and family. Most aren't aware that Citgo is owned by the Venezuelan government.

Symmetry
Also, as a side note, rizzn.com has 1,111 posts on it now. Yay for symmetry.

/rizzn

Better - I think...

My head hurts a bit, and my equilibrium is a tad bit off. Other than that, I think I'm better. My fever's gone and my throat no longer hurts.

I slept all night and all day, getting up every 6 hours to drink some orange juice. I have no idea what this was, but it was miserable while I had it.

I've got a fever ... and the only prescription ... is more ibprofin

I'm coming down with something right now. Not sure what, but I've got what feels like sinus drainage and a fever.

This blows. I'm so tired, but I can't fall asleep. Talk to ya folks later.

/rizzn

Large Set of Small Updates

Quite an interesting day it's been. I've been saving these blog posts to put into a long newspost for about a week or so. Good stuff in here. As for me, I'm keeping busy, and business is finally picking up again after a weeklong slump. Expect a project progress report later this week.

f o u r [ ] 2 n i t e
For those of you in the East Texas area thie evening, FourSquare behind IHOP. It's the secret way to meet cool Tyler people. Starts at 9PM.


Suge Knight declares bankruptcy
Death Row Records label head Suge Knight has filed for bankruptcy, after he refused to pay US$107 million in an ownership dispute of his record company. Knight had lost a lawsuit filed by Lydia Harris last year. Harris had claimed that Knight had swindled her out of her 50 percent stake in Death Row Records.

Harris had alleged that Knight concocted a scheme to "destroy her ability to lay claim to her rightful share of the ownership and profits" of the label. The presiding judge had awarded the massive sum to Harris after discovering that Knight and his attorneys had not provided certain financial data.

Nanowires to Power Your Implants
Researchers at Georgia Tech have come up with a new way to power medical implants, using the motion of the body to generate electricity. By implanting fibers called nanowires, which are just 20-40 billionths of a meter in diameter, the researchers believe they can produce enough energy to drive implantable devices or even smart apparel. The zinc-oxide nanowires are piezoelectric, like the quartz crystals in a wristwatch, so the more you bend 'em, the more energy they produce.

Adnan Khashoggi Sued by SEC
Our good buddy Adnan is in the news again. Boy we love those Krazy Khashoggi's over here at Rizzn.Com. For those of you who don't know, Adnan's brother Essam was involved in the FlyDLUX ordeal back in 2003. Khashoggi is best known as an arms broker in the Iran- Contra scandal of the mid-1980s, when he served as middleman for illegal sales of weapons to Iran. He was often described then as one of the world's richest men.

In 1993, El-Batrawi founded GenesisIntermedia as a telemarketing and infomercial company. In 1999, the company's 100 sales agents made more than 1 million calls a month selling courses such as ``Secrets of Stock Investing'' and ``Ted Thomas' Personal Fortune Real Estate Investment Program'' with price tags of as much as $5,000.

Saudi financier Adnan Khashoggi and former GenesisIntermedia Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ramy El- Batrawi were sued by U.S. regulators over claims they orchestrated a $130 million stock loan and manipulation scheme. Khashoggi, 70, and El-Batrawi, 44, loaned 15 million GenesisIntermedia shares to Deutsche Bank Securities Ltd. while artificially inflating the stock price by engaging in large numbers of buys and sells, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles. They failed to repay the loans to intermediary brokers when the scheme collapsed, the SEC said.

Attorneys for El-Batrawi and Khashoggi couldn't be immediately located to comment. SEC attorney Kara Brockmeyer said the agency hadn't determined yet who their attorneys are. El-Batrawi has no listed telephone number in Los Angeles, and Khashoggi's place of residence isn't known, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit is the third the SEC has brought related to the GenesisIntermedia fraud. In 2004, Kenneth D'Angelo, who helped facilitate the stock loans settled with the SEC after pleading guilty to securities and wire fraud. A lawsuit against Smith in Los Angeles is still pending.

The case is SEC v. Ramy El-Batrawi et al, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 06-2247.

peace or something like that
My good buddy Rob is still out in Africa bringing good will to all mankind. He writes the following on his blog (of interest to those of you following his series on the Lords Resistance Army).

I just found out that the lord’s resistance army that was causing so much trouble in the place I was working last year has recently met with representatives of the Government of Southern sudan and that they have come to some sort of agreement to cease hostilities and work towards a peaceful solution. The details are a bit sketchy at the moment.

i am a little jealous. apparantly the peace talks took place very close to maridi and the officials that came, stayed in the compound that I was living in while i was there. Would have been interesting to get a chance to sit and talk with a few of those guys that came through.

so hopefully the official news will come out very soon and we will get to find out what the agreements were.

That's the word for the moment, folks. Be good.

/rizzn

Who is illegal immigration hurting?

I really want to know. I've heard a million reasons as why the arguments for legalizing immigrants are flawed, and I've heard a lot of noise about how illegal immigration is actually good for the economy. To be honest, I've never had a strong opinion on this topic, and the reason being is that illegal immigration, at least in the USA, has never affected me.

I live in Texas, so let me re-iterate - illegal immigration has never affected me.

I've never lost a job to an illegal immigrant. No illegal immigrant ever hurt me, nor has one ever threatened to hurt me.

I mean, seriously, why get all worked up over this? Granted, I think we need to monitor who's coming over the border to make sure there's no terrorist sneaking into the super-secret tunnel under the fence they're building or one swimming in the Pecos. Other than that, the more goofballs we have in America, the better, right?

I know this isn't the most eloquent argument on the subject ever (nor is it a shining example of me making a point very well), but seriously... I think this is a sentiment of a large part of America, and because of peer pressure or the news telling you otherwise, you're just not saying it.

Well hell, man, I'm saying it. Who's it gonna hurt?

/rizzn

Meta-Post: The Nature of this Blog (and all the rest of the blogs)

My father recieved a phone call from one of my ex-girlfriends today. It seems that the one girl who I dated and eventually did not become at least cordial with is upset that I'm still hosting pictures of her. For better or for worse, I was forced to explain to my father why it is I'm hosting slightly pornographic pictures on my website. It's a timely issue for me and several friends I know, so I figured that instead of writing her and futilely urging her to stop contacting my friends and relations to avoid a restraining order, I'd post about it. Clearly she reads the blog still, anyways, so it'll amount to nearly the same thing.

Incidentally, I wonder if there's something in the water or the air of South Florida right now that is causing everyone who has ever crossed paths with me to cross swords with me right now. First Jason Friedman writing me a message defending his theft of monies from AACS, and now harassing phone calls from sore ex-girlfriends. One wonders. I mean, I truly haven't thought of these people since I had contact with them, save for the occasional amusing anecdote about them in social situations.

The reason I keep all those pictures of her in there still is that they are a record of my life, in a way. They are pictures that were given to me freely, or that I took myself in some cases, and they represent different eras in my past. I keep them there for the same reason I keep a lot of my old diary posts in the archives. Certainly if I were to run for political office, they would become an issue, but I like to think that I'm the sum total of my experience, amongst other things. Experience shapes who we are and the decisions we make, as long as we acknowlege it and understand the lessons of the repercussions of our actions.

Take for instance the example of King Solomon, from the Bible. When he was a youngster, we're told that God asked him what it was he wanted most in the world, and all he had to do was name it, and it would be granted to him. Of course, we know he chose wisdom. God was pleased with this, and told him that because he chose wisdom over riches, love of women or power that not only would he be granted wisdom, but all of these things.

Throughout the Proverbs, and the Songs of Solomon we get a first person perspective from the remainder of his life. He was given every opportunity to debauch, debase, and otherwise wallow in the pleasures of the world and learn what rewards it held when experienced to the extreme. He concluded, towards his twilight, that "There is nothing new under the sun," and that obedience to God and following his will for life was the most rewarding course of action - and that was the crux of the wisdom he was granted.

My point is his wisdom was hard earned. I remember being told when I was youngster myself that I was wise beyond my years. I don't know how much of that is true, or if it was even in the same context as the type of wisdom Solomon earned, but I know at this point in my life that what little wisdom I do have has been truely hard-earned wisdom! I have been blessed with a life of opportunity and variety, and I have done things that I at this point am not particularly proud of, but I leave them up here, too. How hypocritical would it be of me to edit out the parts of my life I'm not proud of while I criticise the shady parts of peoples lives both in the public sector or the private sector?

When you get down to it, that's what I do on a number of levels - I'm a journalist at heart, and a lot of what I do is expose the not-so-niceness of public figures as well as the not-so-public figures who have crossed paths with me in the past. Between that, technical information articles which I find interesting, and entries of my own personal experience, that pretty much makes up the entirety of this blog since inception.

I leave these records of my experiences up for my own edification purposes, true, but when I'm asked about my experiences and if I wish I had done things differently, I tell people no I don't. Each experience in this crazy and adventurous life I've led has shown me different ways that I can go down ultimately unrewarding pathways, and as a result I've done my best to avoid these pursuits as best as I can. Sure, I have scars from some of these experiences, and occasionally these old wounds act up now and then, but they serve as reminders of what not to do, and what I should be doing.

I don't begrudge my ex-girlfriend for being upset that I keep the pictures up (although, I do wonder why she persists in making an ordeal of it, since many of them are found on her own MySpace page). I don't begrudge her that because I know she has a great many issues of her own to work through, and apparently she hasn't come to terms with the issues she was dealing with when we were together.

While it's not really on the same topic, nor do I see what I have posted as being particularly damaging to her reputation, my mind drew a parallel from blogging to an old NRA slogan. The saying goes something like, "an armed society is a polite society." The logic being that in a situation where everyone in a society or nation can be or is likely to be carrying a weapon, people tend to be a lot more polite to one another. In this day and age, the pen is way mightier than any sword or gun - my posts about a great number of people are usually the first thing to pop up in Google when you look up their names.

It logically follows from examples like this that maybe its a better idea for individuals within our society to be nicer to one another and not pull jerk moves on one another because while our legal system and such may not be set up for punishing the wicked anymore, the word of mouth and free flow of information certainly allows for the damaging of people's reputations a whole lot easier. Of course, the most common recourse of people who have been damaged in this way is to sue the offending blogger/internet poster for libel and slander - I've been threatened with it many a time. My first response (other than to correct them on the proper usages of the words libel and slander) is that it isn't libel or slander when the statements are true. When you actually did the things that are being talked about (or consented to the pictures being taken and freely given to people who aren't you), you cannot restrict other people's free speech by civil suit or otherwise (at least not in this country, at least not yet).

At any rate, that's my two cents on the topic. Laura, if you're reading this, I hope you feel satisfied that I spent the time to think this through (although please don't misunderstand this as an indication I want to start dialoguing with you). Dad, when you read this I know you'll probably not agree with all my takes and conclusions on everything, but it's truely how I feel at the moment. Everyone else - I hope I haven't completely bored you to death with this ego-stroking tripe I call a blog entry.

/rizzn

Early Start - for once!

Wow, this is interesting. I haven't seen this side of 7:20 AM ... intentionally, anyways, in years! For the first time in a long while, I'm actually waiting for the world to wake up to me. I think it's one of the signs of the apocalypse, folks, so grab your hardhats and your bibles.

I'm not sure what caused me to wake up so early this morning. I was having this very intricate and odd dream about shadowing a group of three jewelry store robbers. I'd go into their reasons for doing it (because it was very clear to me in the dream), but it was a particularly convoluted story and now that I'm starting to type it up it's sounding very ridiculous, but I was winning in a fight against this guy who was coming at me with hammers. Yeah, hammers. I woke up abruptly for some reason around 6:30, and couldn't go back to sleep.

Rather than question it I'm going to take advantage of it.

Lots of good things going on recently. A nice fat contract closed yesterday, and none too soon... my bank account was looking a little meager since I haven't really had a paying gig since the 5Tribe thing. Most of you know exactly where I'm at in the business stuff, but for those of you that don't, I'll give you the Cliff's notes version:

• The handheld project is on hiatus. There are a number of reasons for this, one is that Microsoft came out with a project which was based on almost the same type of hardware and the same purpose as our handheld for a similar price point. The other reason is that the needs of 5Tribe changed, and my services were no longer required to complete their handheld project. They have since put me on a retainer to take care of any web development and programming projects they may recieve.
• The political campaign is coming along nicely as well. I hope to officially launch the site today, although if you're very clever, you may be able to find it without my help. We've gotten the directors lined up for the 527 group (Friends of T. Evan Fisher), and we've got our first few donations coming in. I think we've planned out what will be a very surprising campaign (at least to our opponents!).
  
• The venue is coming along nicely. Matt and Joel and their father own a piece of property out in Lindale that upon survey was perfectly suited to house a rock venue much like what Jeff and I used to do back in highschool. We expect to open in May some time. Details to ensue.
• The ModPodder project is still underway. I still can't say too much about it, but Adam is going to poo his pants.
• A companion project to ModPodder is in the talks right now. We've got the greenlight, but we're still in the planning phase.
• CurTruck is still being worked on.

As for regular eating money, I've been subcontracting small tech jobs. If you do website design or back end programming, I've got a bunch of work sitting on my desk at the moment - send me your qualifications and I'll put you on the list of people to subcontract. If you have a technical project that you need to accomplish, let me know too!

That's all for now. My nose to the grindstone.

/rizzn

55 Words for Monday Morning

It is a new week, and he wakes up surprisingly refreshed. The weekend was busy (as usual) but productive. Fairly certain he's not quite ready to start again, but given that it's either get started or give up, he looks over the day's schedule, he breathes in deeply and murmurs, "What's next?"

So it begins.

Morning Correspondence

Last night Darrell told me about Snubster.com, which I had actually heard about from GeekBrief.tv last week, but hadn't had the chance to check out. We were dilly-dallying around on the computer at the time, so I decided to check it out. I tried to think of a few people who were truly "dead to me" so I could play with the interface, then I put a couple people on notice just for the fun of it. One of the people who I listed as "dead to me" apparently felt the need to say something about it. Below is his response, which I found in my inbox this morning:

From: Jason Friedman [mailto:jason@friedmanassociates.org]
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 11:11 AM
To: mark@5tribe.com
Subject: RE: Snubster.com

Mark,

This is Jason Friedman. I woke up this morning, had my coffee, walked out to my backyard, and stuck my feet in my pool. I then went into my house - the one that I own.(That's right I am not squatting I OWN the house, closed on it a 2 weeks ago) and sat in front of my computer and proceeded to check my E-mails. I received an E-mail from Snubster.com "People that are dead to me" I found yet another Slanderous and Libel comment. Remember, Mark I sued Leo and Ricky and won. I never embezzled money. As for the money you claim you are owed? You are not owed a penny. In fact you owe me at Least $7,000.00 for your little bandwidth stunt with AIT domains.

Please move on with your life, I read your post and I am glad you are doing well. In fact everyone that has disassociated themselves from Leo and Ricky has done extremely well, me included. I am a big believer in Karma.

What goes around comes around. When I took off from AACS they went right down the tubes. When I won my suit I went down to their little hole in the wall office to repossess my property and found out how well they were doing.

I am sorry that you feel the way you do with regards to the whole incident. Unfortunately No one took the time to review ALL of the information in its entirety Bits and pieces were left out, important pieces that my attorneys had access to. Leo shot first and asked question later. I am glad he did, if it weren't for that I would not be in such a great position today.

Anyway, in closing please stop posting Lies about me on the web, I am asking nicely this time.

Warm Regards,

Jason
Below is my response to Jason:
Jason,

First of all, methinks you have a poor understanding of the words "dead to me." Dead to me typically means you are no longer considered alive to me (me being a personal pronoun indicating the person speaking) - so theoretically right now I'm corresponding with the wall, and not an actual living person. The irony of me writing a letter, regardless, is not lost on me however. I know that I might as well be writing this letter to an actual dead person, since you're so self deluded to think that you did nothing wrong and I might as well be talking to a someone who is actually dead.

Second of all, do you really think I give you much of a second thought all of these many months later? I found the joking "anti-social networking site" snubster.com last night, and thought "Hey, who are some of the people who have jacked me for lots of dough over my life? They should be "dead to me" ... and then I put you on the list."

Thirdly, I will say whatever I want, whenever I want. Many people have tried and failed to stop me for spreading the word of their misdeeds on the internet before. I am nigh-invincible when it comes to that. You know that. You've many times in the past help me spread the noise of peoples' mis-deeds on my website before, back before you had started jacking me for my time and money.

As for my bandwidth incident, if you'll recall, it was shortly thereafter that I did invest exactly $5000 into the business myself. I don't accurately remember at the moment if this was before or after we caught you with your hand in the cookie jar or not, so you may not be privy to this information.

Interestingly enough, I haven't disassociated myself from Ricky and Leo, and we are all three doing quite well. What was unfortunate was that AACS didn't ever quite recover from your debacles in business management.

Disassociating from you was too little, too late. And lest you get a big head about how good you think you are, the only reason you won your lawsuits were because our lawyers were inept and forgot to go to court. In the end, wasn't everything you won from AACS coming down to a picture you felt was worth $5000 (or was it $15,000 - I can never remember what your deluded fantasy demanded it's worth was).

I have taken the time to 'review the entire incident in it's entirety,' as you so eloquently put it. I went over bank records and billing statements ranging back two or three years. I saw the pattern of selfish greed you had established, and I know who the real culprits in the company's downfall were. Don't think you've pulled the wool over anyone's eyes. You have not.

Know that any time I feel like posting about this stuff on my blog, I will. Know that the only time I feel like posting about this stuff on my blog is generally when you contact me. Know that there's nothing you can do to stop this. Know that I still receive traffic patterns close to 1000 unique visitors per day. Know that I don't believe this is vengeance or justice, but catharsis. Vengence is mine, sayeth the Lord. Catharsis is mine, sayeth the Mark.

I'm glad to know you have finally stopped squatting on your house and made it legal for you to live there. I'd hate for squatting to be the thing you finally get brought down for. It's rather anti-climactic, like Al Capone being brought down for Tax Evasion.

Lastly, I would like to make clear to you, the people I am BCCing this letter to, and the people reading my blog when I cross-post this correspondence there that you did not "take off from AACS," you were forced out because you embezzled funds.

Cordially,

Mark Hopkins

Internet Begging

Tugu1090 on Skype initiated the following conversation with me today:

[5:28:01 PM] afrifa samuel says: hi
[5:28:04 PM] afrifa samuel says: how areyou?
[5:28:59 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: I'm pretty decent... you?
[5:29:34 PM] afrifa samuel says: okay
[5:29:42 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: good to hear
[5:30:32 PM] afrifa samuel says: okay?may i ask you something
[5:31:33 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: go right ahead
[5:32:27 PM] afrifa samuel says: i beg iwant you to send me a mobilephone
[5:33:05 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: How do you mean?
[5:34:23 PM] afrifa samuel says: im mean that i want u to help me
[5:34:55 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: Okay. Well, I don't have a spare mobile phone to send at the moment. Were you wanting me to buy one for you?
[5:36:04 PM] afrifa samuel says: if you like it
[5:36:44 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: I don't mean to be rude, or anything like that, but why exactly would I buy a mobile phone for a complete stranger on the other side of the world?
[5:38:16 PM] afrifa samuel says: pls ibeg you
[5:39:12 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: I'm sorry, you'll have to do better than that. Mobile phones are not cheap. I have to at least have a very good reason.
[5:39:33 PM] afrifa samuel says: pls tell me
[5:40:03 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: Tell you what?
[5:40:19 PM] afrifa samuel says: pls send me anything you like
[5:41:47 PM] Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins says: I'm sorry, I'm going to have to decline. Have a nice day.

I've never talked to this person before.

I just find it odd and disturbing that there is literal panhandling occuring on the net now.

/rizzn