Avag Co Bepsig: These coins are Evil!

Posted on by The Old Wolf

http://theoldwolf.com/Fraud/index.htmlNote: Before you read the article below, please read the following disclaimer, made necessary by some of the comments this post has generated.

These coins are not evil. They are cheap bits of plastic from some manufacturer in China. They have no special qualities, no magic powers. There is no witch named “Avagnanian Coishousness of Bepsigosity” – that’s just nonsense from a writer of satire. He might as well have used “A Vague Consciousness of BepsiCola.” There are no witches in this world. A lot of people who want to be one, and pretend they are, but dark magic and fortune telling and bad luck and the evil eye are all products of people’s imaginations.

Well, let me backpedal a bit.

Somehow, I managed to come into possession of one of these little plastic gems:

Avag.jp

I’m certain it came to me from one of the fraud letters that my mother used to receive when she was alive (and continues to receive years after her death).

At any rate, here it is. Being a linguist by profession, I was curious about the inscription – whether it was sheer garbage or was based on anything real. I found a lovely description, completely tongue-in-cheek, at The Captain’s Blog:

This is a warning for aspiring pirates intent on purchasing a bag full of plastic novelty coins. Be aware that the brand of plastic coins bearing the legend “AVAG CO BEPSIG” are enchanted. That’s right, enchanted….

At our very first PiratePalooza I made the mistake of buying just such a bag of Avag Co Bepsig coins and made a fair show of giving them out whenever possible. Yet, when I returned to port I found that I still had a good many of the coins in me purse. Over the course of the year I continued to find more of the coins. Some in my bed, some in the settee, some in the stern of my autocarriage. Every time I found an Avag Co Bepsig coin I returned it to me leather coinpurse, full in the knowledge that I had them collected, each and every one.

And still I continued to find more, in places I thought I’d looked before. It’s fairly ridiculous how these things seem to breed in captivity, easily outstripping the population of coat hangers rutting in me washroom.

Without a doubt, my collection of these bewitched plastic coins outnumbers my original purchase and I am now consigned to the fact that some day in the future my ship will be awash in these devilish discs of dementia, certain to sink ‘neath their accursed weight and artificial shininess. For now I can only serve as example to those of you lucky enough yet to avoid these shiny promises from the heart of Avagnanian Coishousness of Bepsigosity, for that it what it turns out the name means.

Avagnanian Coishousness be a person… a Bane Witch of terrible antiquity and uncertain designs upon humanity, Cap’n Drew in particular. And even though I now know the source of me curse don’t expect me to take it all noble-like. No, no.

Know this, me hearties: I’ll take no pity upon any of you, so watch your backs. I’ll be certain to try slipping one of me famous cursed coins into your open pockets, purses, pouches and gaping glimpses of cleavage.

You’ve been warned.

Of course, this is all in fun. But the world is so full of a number of things, I suppose we should all be yanking our hair out in frustration if we knew the depth and breadth of human gullibility. Over at Ripoff Report, I found this letter from a dear soul who was so glad she was warned about the evil enchantment that lay on these coins, received in one of these fraudulent “prayer letter” scams:

You have sent me prayer letters. The one I recently opened on Oct. 16, 2011 although you sent it in May 2011. I just came across it . Although the letter was right on in what I was specifically praying for..you placed 2 coins in the letter to put one in my house that fiances will increase in my house & the other to place in my purse for financial increase. Once i did this & went to bed all night I could not sleep God woke me & told me to google the words on the coins they say “Avag Co Bepsig” I googled these words & discovered they are a WITCH”S name. You see I am a born again believer in Christ Jesus He Is My Lord & Savior..He Promises To Not Let His Children Walk In Darkness…I was at my dad’s house who is a Pastor & has won many to Christ. I was going to put one coin in his house but The Holy Spirit kept telling me NO!!! You see I am EXPOSING YOU !!! THis witch turned a man’s coins to plastic…if you people are really of Christ Jesus why would’nt God show you about these coins before you started sending them out??? God Promises Not To Let THose Who Truly Love Him Walk In Darkness…He EXPOSED you to me!!!

Now, in the interest of full disclosure I need to point out that I have a spiritual walk of my own, but I’ve always done my best to temper my faith with reason.[1] Not doing so leads to madness, or to the kind of attitude one sees above, where “if you read it in the Bible, or if you see it on the Internet, it has to be true.” In the end, it’s scary to think the kinds of world views upon which ordinary people, legislators, and national leaders can base their behavior.

In a recorded interview which once existed on YouTube, Richard Dawkins fielded a question from a Muslim who asked whether atheists could judge right from wrong in the absence of an absolute morality. Professor Dawkins proceeded to shred the question simply by making reference to things like the beating of women and punishment for apostasy, and summed up his analysis by saying that if these kinds of things are what absolute morality brings, he’d rather live without it; instead, he favors a morality that is developed and tested and tried and revised by the strength of reason and humanity. I’m put in mind of the four-way test of the Rotarians, used as a guide for business and personal relationships:

Of the things we think, say or do

  1. Is it the TRUTH?
  2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
  3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
  4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

There’s a lot of wiggle-room in the first one, because among humans “truth” is hard to ferret out, except within the realm of pure science; but the last three ask the same question in different ways, to wit, “will it raise the human condition?”

Whatever we believe, we cannot afford to go through life not asking this question. Religion and humanism have as their ultimate goal to make their practitioners better people. If you’re still a jerk, it’s not working.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

[1] Now don’t jump down my throat about inconsistencies here… one of these days I’ll get my thoughts together in a more comprehensive essay about why I believe what I do, although a brief summary might be extrapolated from this entry. After that, feel free to shred my Weltanschauung if it brings you joy, but I’m pretty certain that the exercise will be entirely academic.

It might have been like this

Posted on by The Old Wolf

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In 1925, one Mr. Corbett imagined that 1950 might have looked like this. Heaven knows, the technology to do these things certainly existed in the 50’s… but why it didn’t go this way is anyone’s guess, although I assume that the massive diversion of resources into World War II may have played a part.

It’s always interesting to look at similar views of what the future should look like. Some are more accurate than others.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

The World’s Smallest Apartments

Posted on by The Old Wolf

In Tokyo, where the average price of an apartment is $260,000, space is at a premium.

nakagin_capsule_tower_02

Kisho Kurokawa, who was one of the leading members of an influential architectural movement in the 1960s called Metabolism, designed and built  the Nakagin Capsule Tower to address some of these space concerns.

Each capsule measures 2.3 m (7.5 ft) × 3.8 m (12 ft) × 2.1 m (6.9 ft) and functions as a small living or office space.

The building was the world’s first example of capsule architecture built for actual use. The building was still in use as of 2010, but has fallen into disrepair. As of October 2012, around thirty of the 140 capsules remained in use as apartments, while others were used for storage or office space, or simply abandoned and allowed to deteriorate.

Today, the building faces the threat of demolition to make way for a conventional apartment complex.

noritaka-minami-nakagin-capsule-tower-1972-photography-6

“The original target demographic were bachelor salarymen (white-collar workers). The compact apartments included a wall of appliances and cabinets built into one side, including a kitchen stove, a refrigerator, a television set, and a reel-to-reel tape deck. A bathroom unit, about the size of an aircraft lavatory, is set into an opposite corner. A large circular window over a bed dominates the far end of the room.” (Wikipedia)

You can see more pictures of the capsule dwellings at Miiniim.

Obviously such arrangements would not be suitable for everyone, but people have different needs and philosophies; many people in the US are exploring the options of living in small apartments or tiny houses in order to make ends meet. Some of these small living arrangements are convenient and attractive. I wouldn’t mind downsizing, but I have no idea where I’d put all my books…

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Post 1000: An Open Letter to Congress and the White House

Posted on by The Old Wolf

This is my 1000th post on this blog since I began writing 18 months ago. I wish I had a happier topic to write about, but today is day 3 of an inexcusable, unconscionable, and cruel shutdown of our “government.” Notice those scare quotes there… they were placed for a reason.

We do not have a government. What we have is this:

three_way_tantrum

Babies.

Babies in a miserable, wretched sandbox fight.

Babies crying about not getting their way. Throwing sand, pulling hair, crying, taking their ball and going home… babies who are charged with the stewardship of trillions of dollars, not a single one of which belongs to them. They are fighting amongst themselves for only one reason – to shore up their support for the next election. And in the meantime, thousands of workers have been furloughed, parks are closed, visitors are being turned away, revenue is being lost, women and children in desperate need are unable to get supplemental food, critical space projects[1] are coming close to missing deadlines imposed not by some mid-level government functionary but by physicsbitches, our debt rating with the world is being flushed down the toilet, along with seven jillionteen other detrimental consequences, and still they sit there, crying, beating their breasts about dogma and ideology, and not giving a rat’s south-40 that almost all of America, regardless of political persuasion, is saying,

Stop it!

stop-just-stop

As a body, you are not governing. You’re not doing the job you were elected to do.  Although a few of you see the folly and are doing your best to make things happen, but the numbers just aren’t there in the face of all the partisan, ideological obstructionism that pervades both houses of Congress and the presidency, and we, the people, are sick to death of it. As for me, I want to slap every one of you until you come to your senses.

We need jobs. We need education. We need healthcare for every citizen of this country, regardless of their ability to pay. We need to work on reducing poverty, crime, alienation, disenfranchisement, and a host of other social ills – and you arrogant, selfish, short-sighted, privileged buffoons sit there and allow the mechanism that our founding fathers put in place to address those problems to shut down.

garbage

This is where I’m at. I’m disgusted with all of you. I would like to see a total sweep. But in very truth, things are reaching a tipping point.

You, the “leaders” of our country who are leading us nowhere but into deprivation and destruction, are fast approaching a time when voting you out of office will not be enough; rather, you are courting insurrection among the people whom you are charged to govern, and if it comes to that, it will be upon your own heads. America is champing at the bit for a chance to clean the inward vessel.

Take heed. Get off your privileged butts and get the government back to work. Hundreds of millions of people, of whom 15% live in poverty and a much vaster percentage can feel economic terror snapping at their heels on a daily basis, depend on you to do your jobs. Now stop throwing sand, and do them.

The Old Wolf has spoken.[2]

[1] The next time you wonder about what good comes from space exploration and research, have a look at your GPS-enabled phone.
[2] And I’m quite pleased that I was able to express my feelings without sinking to the level of vulgar profanity that I feel is warranted by this debacle.

Patterns

Posted on by The Old Wolf

A virtual friend of mine enjoys doing daily “Caffeine Doodles” – you can see a lot of these over at his website, Mind4Sale.com.

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His daily efforts came to mind when I found a series of photos out there on some random Iranian blog – these are very pleasing, so I share them with you without comment.

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Windows

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Containers

 

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Pencils

zqhHm

Awnings

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Boats

The Old Wolf has spoken.

A World of Villages

Posted on by The Old Wolf

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“Dusk”: Iran – Photo by Mohammadreza Momeni. Found at 500px.

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This appears to be another view of the village above.

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A view of Palangan village in Kurdistan province, about 660 km (412 miles) southwest of Tehran, on May 11, 2011. Iranian Shi’ite and Sunni Kurds live in harmony with each other in Palangan, although Sunni is the religion of the majority of the people. (Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl) Found at The Atlantic (that article is worth a look).

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Masouleh Village in Alborz mountains, Gilan Province (Northern Iran). Found at reddit.

 

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Mountain village in Tibet

People live in amazing ways and in amazing places. To those of us accustomed to our own comfortable dwellings, it may seem mind-boggling. To them it’s just another Wednesday.

The title of this post was taken from this book, written by a man with whom I attended elementary school back in the Pleistocene era. A review from Library Journal:

The commonly heard phrase that a writer has “put a lot of himself into the book” is especially apt for describing Schwartz’s six-year journey through Africa and Asia. In that time Schwartz managed to get into the most obscure places imaginable and amazingly get out alive and intact. During much of his odyssey he had little or no money, so he slept on sand, floors, or in parking lots and ate whatever portion of the lo cal fare the natives whose languages he seldom understood tossed his way. The most wonderful thing about the book is the innocence Schwartz preserves despite the dangers. However the locals react to him, Schwartz makes the best of it and continues with his careful observations. He has written a really memorable book about them and himself. Laurence Hull, Stanly Cty. P.L., Albemarle, N.C.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

“European Trade Register” – Avoid this Scam

Posted on by The Old Wolf

UPDATE: The Dutch police are aware of these scammers. See this post for a letter from the Dutch police secretariat, a way to report correspondence, and their advice (send no money, do nothing).

Business owners beware – the “European Trade Register” scam is still operating. Why these bottom-feeders have not been shut down by the relevant (i.e. Dutch) authorities is beyond me.

Here’s the email I received today (identical to one I got about 4 years ago):

To: My Business
From: “Marta Low” <info@plumzz.com>
Subject: Business Registration Update 2014

Ladies and Gentlemen.

In order to have your company inserted in the registry of World Businesses
for 2013/2014 edition, please print, complete and submit the attached
form (PDF file) to the following address:

European Trade Register
P.O. BOX 3079
3502 GB, Utrecht
The Netherlands

email: register@etr2013.net
fax: +31 20 524-8107

Updating is free of charge!

Pay attention to that “Updating is free of charge” up there – notice it’s repeated in bold on the PDF application form they send you.

form

What they’re counting on is that many people won’t read that itty-bitty fine print down there, which says (emphasis is mine)

The signing of this document represents the acceptance of the following conditions and the conditions stated in “the terms and conditions for insertion” on web page: http://www.european-traderegister.com.
The signing is legally binding and gives you the right of an insertion in the online database of the european trade register which can be accessed via the internet, and a cd rom with european businesses is granted, all in accordance with the contract conditions stated in “the terms and conditions for insertion” on web page: http://www.european-traderegister.com. The validation time of the contract is three years and starts on the eighth day after signing the contract. The insertion is granted after signing and receiving this document by the service provider. I hereby order a subscription with service provider eu business services ltd “european trade register”. I will have an insertion into its database for three years. The price per year is euro 990. The subscription will be automatically extended every year for another year, unless specific written notice is received by the service provider or the subscriber two months before the expiration of the subscription. Your data will be recorded. The place of jurisdiction in any dispute arising is the service provider’s address. The agreement between the service provider and the subscriber is governed by the conditions stated in “the terms and conditions for insertion” on web page: http://www.european-traderegister.com

So, if you thought you were getting a free entry in a European business database, which is what they want you to think, you will be surprised when you’re invoiced for €990 and have legally obligated yourself to pay it. And, if you’re not careful, your entry will be automatically updated every year (at the reasonable rate of €990) unless you notify them in writing.

If you happen to fall for this, these things will happen:

  1. The company will ignore any attempts to contact them
  2. If you simply refuse to pay, you will begin to get aggressive and threatening communications from a “global debt collection company,” Waldberg & Hirsch. That firm does not exist – it’s just the same drones trying to frighten you into paying. They will demand payment in full for the agreed-to three years, but will settle for one year’s payment if you’re foolish enough to send it.

The solution:

  1. Just ignore them. They can’t sue you, because they are running a scam, they know it, and they don’t want to attract legal attention to themselves. Never pay these gong-farmers a cent; ultimately they’ll go away.
  2. Throw away any solicitations you receive from
Column A
Europe
European
World
Global		 Column B
Company
Trade
Business		 Column C
Directory
Register
Registry
List

Again, I’m not sure why the Dutch authorities have not come down on these scum-suckers like 16 tons of Gouda – hopefully at some point they will be shut down.

In the meantime, be careful out there.

The Old Wolf has spoken.