Archives November 2013

Friday Funny – November 15, 2013

Okay, so this isn’t funny — nor is it meant to be.  Inspirational, rather, as it was to me when I first read Tolkien some (cough, cough) years ago.  Not only was he a scholar, professor, linguist, and author, but a poet as well, and skilled at all, able to open entire worlds in his readers’ imaginations with mere words.

tolkiengate

Raymond Loewy: Icon of Modern Design

GoogleLoewyTrainIf you’ve been on Google today, you’ve surely noticed the futuristic train sketch replacing the usual logo, as Google honors Raymond Loewy on his 120th birthday anniversary.

You may not be familiar with the name, but you are certainly familiar with the results of Loewy’s lifetime of work in the design field, whether you know it or not.  Each time you pass a Shell station, or visit the Post Office, or drink Coke from a bottle, you are interacting with one of Loewy’s creations.

Throughout his lifetime of work, spanning 70 years in the field of industrial design — emphasis on “design” — Loewy championed the notion that manufacturing could produce items that were beautiful as well as functional.  From cars, trains, planes, boats, and buses, to appliances, flatware, dinnerware, furniture, product logos and packaging, Loewy could “claim to have made the daily life of the 20th Century more beautiful”, as he himself once said.

Want more proof? Click on the Google logo, then click on the “Images” tab of results for a broad overview of the many items that Loewy designed.  Here’s a screenshot of just a small portion of one page:

RaymondLoewyGoogle

Loewy’s work with corporate logos alone resulted in many icons that are still in use today, including Shell, Exxon, Nabisco, and the US Post Office. Several graphic designers of my acquaintance would give their eyeteeth to have legacies as lasting! 🙂

‘Tis The Season… For Spam

It seems when the holiday season arrives every year, the usual trickle of spam email starts rising until it reaches a flood stage around Christmas.  Perhaps the spammers are playing on the “do good” feelings that come with the season, perhaps they’re just trying to earn a little extra illicit cash to buy things for their own little spammer boys and girls.  Whatever the reason, it’s always wise to be extra suspicious of any phishing-type emails you might start to receive.

Not that this one is all that tricky, but I though I’d share an email that I just received a few minutes ago, to show you an example (if a rather obvious one) of a phishing attempt.  And one that gives us web-folk a bad name, as well, as you’ll see:

Subject line:  RE:  (Wow, that’s imaginative.)

From name:  web upgrading  (Umm, who?)

From email:  web@parliament.gov.bd  (That darn parliament of ours, always spamming!)

Return path email:  webmailupgradingservice@mail.com  (In other words, could be anybody.)

Message text:

We are pleased to inform you that Our web admin Center is closing all
unused accounts because of the congestion in our mail server. To confirm
your account active, you are required to complete your details below and
send it to us. This information would be required to verify your account
to avoid being closed.

First Name: ________________________
Last Name: __________________________
E-mail Username: _____________________
E-mail Password: ____________________

>>> Warning!!!

E-mail owner that refuses to comply with this mail his or her Email ID
within 26 days of receiving this warning will lose his or her E-mail
permanently.

Thank you for your understanding.
Copyright ©web Admin 2013 All Rights

Okay, not even particularly well-thought out, and full of the usual phishing give-aways: bad grammar, bad capitalization, etc.  Just a straightforward scare tactic.  Hopefully all of our usual readers are spam-savvy enough to recognize this for what it is, but it’s a good idea to remind others (the young and the elderly, particularly) to never send personal information (of any kind!) to someone over the Internet, unless you’re absolutely sure you know where you’re sending it.  As a good rule of thumb, banks and other financial institutions NEVER ask for personal information via email.

This concludes our good samaritan post for today!