Eric the Red

A number of my friends have been applying for jobs they find on Craigslist. After they email their resume, they get an email asking for a credit report and get a link to a site that sells one for some kind of small fee.

Potential employers can and will run your credit at their expense if they have a legitimate reason for it.

This could either be an ID theft scam OR a scam to sell credit reports.

You can avoid falling victim to such a scam with a few simple things. First, try running a google search for the company. Also look through the phone book for the company. Finally, look up your states department of assessments and taxation online. This will likely have some “business entity information” search function where you can enter the business name, and the state will show you some public information – such as name, address, property and owners. You can use this to look up potential businesses and avoid getting scammed.

The following was sent to me. I have no idea who wrote it, but think its good to share with the rest of you:

Warning, new twitter feeds are most likely government members trying to spread misinformation, ignore them! Also, there is a handful of good twitter feeds, but please do not publicize their usernames, they are in enough danger as it is and they don’t need more publiclity. Those in the know will c/p their entries. Major timeline overhaul, including what has unfolded in the last few hours.

They were the ones who first started the crackdown after the election, but it wasn’t enough. While they are violent and repressive, they are still Persian and attacking fellow citizens. A beating is one thing, mass killings another.
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I think the major studios will be buying their new movies from Sundance this year, and I’m really looking forward to the idea. I’m pretty sick of the films where its the same story ideas with the same crummy Tom Cruise/Mel Gibson/etc actors. This is how the Clerks phenom got its start

Merry Christmas All!

Since today is Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a bit about eating [CNN]. Enjoy!

Here is a great insensitive stocking stuffer: the Mohammed Bobblehead.

The BobbleMo, which was developed by an ex Marine, is priced at $22.99 + s/h. I bought 2, you should buy yours today!

If you are about to move to College Park for the academic year, I encourage you to check out Rethink College Park. The authors wish to see College Park transform from the dilapidated mess it presently is into a more vibrant college town.

So check them out and get involved. College Park will only improve as far as we, its residents, wish it to.

Being out of school feels pretty good: no more homework, no more exams, no more stupid projects.

On the other hand, I’ve found myself bored with little to do on my weekends and off hours. I’ve been scouting some gyms to join, and picking up some movies I’ve been looking for.

I bought “V for Vendetta” and am waiting on the release of “Over the Hedge“.

I have let my blogging slip over the last couple of months, but that is more of a lack of meaningful material to write about.

On the plus side, Ward Churchill is getting sacked for academic misconduct. Personally, I wish he’d been sacked by SMS.

The art community has a new pillar to add to the likes of Mapplethorpe and Kiki Smith [Warning: pages may contain material that is not safe for work]:

One performance piece detailed on the Web site involves her donning a bikini fashioned out of meat, a statement on objectification of women.

In another performance, she paints her buttocks and then makes impressions of her backside on large sheets of paper to cover a wall with the images.

The funny thing is, shes a schoolteacher. Well, a teacher of mine always said that art ranges from the beautiful to the grotesque…..

So its been a long while, hasn’t it? Exams suck…..

I wanted to share a couple of interesting pieces of campus news. First off, the state legislature is consideration to freeze tuition at the University of Maryland. While students widely support this bill, university administrators would prefer to make maryland a more expensive, and therefore better, state university. I wonder if the university will make up for such a freeze by jacking up “mandatory fees”.

Students who live in certain residential facilities are starting to have a rat problem. Apparently, its too tough to operate a trash compactor.

Maryland is going to the NIT (keep monty python comments to yourselves!), so no championships for our “great” basektball team.

Students still show concern over the liberal bias of their professors. As usual, the discussion is mixed. I’ve covered this topic in a earlier post. There is some commentary from Peter Kirstein.

Finally, if you seek treatment for a mental illness (such as depression), your university may label you as a threat and show you the door. IANAL, but I don’t think this is legal under the ADA. GW is in for a royal reaming in court over this one.

I am taking next week off for a much-needed vacation. I may photo-blog from the road.