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Happy Spamiversary!
Shippy writes "Ten years ago today, a pair of Arizona attorneys launched a homemade marketing software program that forever changed the Internet. It was the birth of spam. They did this by whipping up a Perl script that flooded message boards advertising their legal services." Update: 04/14 05:26 GMT by S : That'd be ten years ago, not twenty.
And i've never been so full. *opens spam container*
Twenty years ago? Where the hell have I been for the last ten years?
April 12, 1994
math is so hard
Do tell me when these two gentlemen have passed. It is at that moment, that momentous and glorious occassion to come, that I will celebrate and send praise on high.
that we should blame perl for all our spam?
Karma: Negative (Mostly affected by dorm trolling)
Isn't it great that we can "celebrate" the start of such a huge annoyance? I think I can truthfully say i liked SPAM better when it was a processed meat product.
-This sig has been discontinued after a sudden realization.
Anyone surprised by the fact that it was a pair of LAWYERS that started this? Guess ambulance chasing wasn't bringing in enough money.
:-))
(J/K, There are some lovable lawyers, like the EFF and FSF ones
EvilCON - Made Famous by
PERL has always existed.
PERL is mother.
PERL is father.
Humans where deamed advanced enought in 1987 for PERL to be shown to them.
PERL is everything (Including the secret behind happy fun ball).
Well, maybe 20 years in base 5? I guess we could say Bush's IQ is 300 in base 4?
Repeal the DMCA!
So where is the festival to be?
That can't be right. My resume says I have 20 years of Perl experience.
A pair of Arizona attorneys sent the spam 10 years ago each, for a total of 20 years ago.
A pair of Arizona attorneys sent the spam 10 years ago each, for a total of 20 years ago.
Ah so it's not new math, it's RIAA math...
Well, you know what they say about lawyers...
It's only 99% of them that give the 1% a bad name.
- Neil Wehneman
My legal education, in nifty podcast format
by getting a bigger penis...
That's nothing. A recruiter in 98 called me once to see if I can provide reference for a friend with 10 years of windows 98 experience.
Destroy the origional vampire and the rest will vanish!!
...a crowbar, a flame thrower, and a time machine...I don't ask for much...I don't mind doing the work. In fact, it would be a pleasure.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
You know, it kind of makes an odd sort of sense that lawyers were the first spammers. Aren't they the first to ruin most fun things?
EVERYDAY IS CATURDAY
Strangely, I haven't got a job yet. I guess managers just don't like know-it-alls....
Stop the Slashdot effect! Don't read the articles!
"Twenty years ago today, a pair of Arizona
Wow what a great idea - has anyone tried it since?
Heh heh, kidding of course - Well, thinking that its only 10 years old - and hated more than a lot of diseases, hopefully there will be a cure soon enough.
Probably because of the fact that you said you were fluent in Klingon.
YOU'RE WINNER !
Another lame blog
They're spammers AND lawyers?
If there's ANY justice to be found in the universe, there's *gotta* be a special 8th circle of Hell that is reserved exclusively for these people. Let me guess, they work a weekend job as a telemarketer too?
typo? it's written in word form... "...Twenty years ago today..." it's hard to beleive that w, t, and y were accidentally pressed in such convenient order. Me, i'll take the pair of 10s explaination.
Now we know the truth. A pair of Arizona Lawyers invented Perl in 1984, 3 years prior to Larry Wall's claim.
So, did Larry steal Perl or did he come up with the idea independently?
But I'll be honest: This is my eBay auction:
Canter and Siegel's formal response to the complaint I filed with the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility
I've held this for ten years with the hope it would be valuable someday.
They did it so that they could sue people for doing it later on.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
"Spamalot!"
"Spamalot!"
"Spamalot!"
"it's only an email.."
"SHhhhh"
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
SCO IP Lottery 2004 May Be The Last One!
THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED.
The SCO IP Lottery is a completely legal program giving away a certain annual allotment of SCO IPs to persons born in certain countries. The lottery program was scheduled to continue on a permanent basis. However, recently, Senator Alan J Simpson
introduced a bill into the U. S. Congress which could end any future lotteries.
THE 2004 LOTTERY IS SCHEDULED TO TAKE PLACE SOON, BUT IT MAY BE THE VERY LAST ONE.
PERSONS BORN IN MOST COUNTRIES QUALIFY, MANY FOR FIRST TIME.
The only countries NOT qualifying are: Mexico; India; P.R. China; Taiwan, Philippines, North Korea, Canada, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland), Jamaica, Domican Republic, El Salvador and Vietnam.
Lottery registration will take place soon. 55,000 SCO IPs will be
given to those who register correctly. NO JOB IS REQUIRED.
THERE IS A STRICT JUNE DEADLINE. THE TIME TO START IS NOW!!
For FREE information via Email, send request to cslaw@indirect.com
Canter & Siegel, Immigration Attorneys 3333 E Camelback Road, Ste 250, Phoenix AZ 85018 USA cslaw@indirect.com telephone (602)661-3911 Fax (602) 451-7617
Somewhere out there is a planet for you.
I don't want a pickle; I just want a Motor-Cycle! A four foot cop arrived with a five foot gun!
No UL/FOAF
Someone called in the late 90s, looking for someone with ten years of Linux experience. The response? "Well, the only person I know who can even come close to that is Linus Torvalds." "Great! Can you tell me how to contact him?"
Then again, I remember headhunters looking for people with five years of experience with Access in 92, 93, 94. Access came out in November 1992 (and only cost $99).
I have an idea.
I'm going to put an inverse auction on eBay. We'll start with $500. Everyone's bid will be deducted from that value. The winning bid will go visit Ralsky's house and cut about three feet out of his hi-speed feed.
Actually, the way lawyers bill, the story should say "240 years ago."
I think the whole ten year spam anniversary thing is made up by people that didn't get Internet access until after Windows 95 came out.
wow, you do math as well as the authors
Hmmm, I used to do similar stunts on AOL (just because we hated AOL so much). We would get on the Star Trek chat rooms and start spamming.
Me: "Captain, the engines are going to blow! They're full of SPAM!"
Bob: "Oh god they're back!"
Mary: "I'm outa here."
Joe: "Groan..."
Me: "Where no SPAM has gone before!"
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
Oh, wait. I know this one! I'm driving the train!
Bill Bryson covered this nicely.... It's in his latest book, 'A Short History of Nearly Everything'.
That's not as much of a coincidence as it seems, because, now that you mention it, I'm related to Bill Bryson.
You see, his great-great-great-great-great....
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
I'm My Own Grandpa
( Lonzo & Oscar )
Now many, many years ago, when I was twenty-three,
I was married to a widow who was pretty as could be.
This widow had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her, and soon they, too, were wed.
This made my dad my son-in-law and changed my very life,
My daughter was my mother, cause she was my father's wife.
To complicate the matter, even though it brought me joy,
I soon became the father of a bouncing baby boy.
My little baby then became a brother-in-law to Dad,
And so became my uncle, though it made me very sad.
For if he was my uncle, then that also made him brother
Of the widow's grown-up daughter, who, of course, was my stepmother.
Father's wife then had a son who kept him on the run,
And he became my grandchild, for he was my daughter's son.
My wife is now my mother's mother, and it makes me blue,
Because, although she is my wife, she's my grandmother, too.
Now if my wife is my grandmother, then I'm her grandchild,
And everytime I think of it, it nearly drives me wild,
For now I have become the strangest case you ever saw
As husband of my grandmother, I am my own grandpa!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?