Every once in awhile

I come across an artist who simply seizes my attention and will not leave it be. The last time it happened was in the 10th grade (Holy shit! That was 8 years ago!) and it was this guy, though this search will probably give you a better idea of what he's about.

Today I came across this guy via this article. Here's some more stuff in the same vein.

(Sure I could have explained it out for you, but there is a certain pleasure in finding things out yourself, and you really can't discuss art unless it's in front of you. Also, I find this digital pointing kinda fun ;)

In other news: Canadian assholes!

Before you say anything let me say that, before today, I had a 100% success rate with Canadians. Without exception, every single person I met or dealt with from the Great White North was simply swell: a few kids I knew in highschool, as well as all your funny exports: Jim Carrey, Dave Foley, Lorne Michaels, maple syrup, etc. From it's cheap perscriptions, to it's potent marijuana, to the Canadian dollar being perpetually weak against the US (making it The Country That's Always On Sale!), Canada has effected my life only in positive ways. Today, however, I dealt with a Canadian asshole who stole more than $5,000.00 from somebody's grandmother.

This woman walked into my store today, asking about Western Union money transfers to Canada. Something didn't seem right (I have no idea exactly what it was) so I asked a few questions, and with my manager's help, we discovered that she was being ripped off by a random guy in Canada. It's a depressingly common scam, that preys on the elderly and single parents, and it goes something like this:

The mark is contacted by someone claiming to be from a branch of a foreign buisiness regarding a lottery prize/settlement/court decision/etc in your favor, for a large sum (this victim was told $500,000.00). Now I realize that the majority of my reader's Bullshit Meters just buried the needle, but this is serious shit and people fall for it all the time. These guys are professional con men, extremely smooth and sound nothing but genuine and honest on the phone (as well as utterly heartless). They explain that, since the payout is in Canadian, their business can accept the prize for you, convert it to US dollars, then send it to you. The catch is, because this money would be reported as income for their business, they would be have to pay income tax on it. If you want this service, (and who wouldn't want and easy payday?) you'll need to cover the taxes, which is going to be a couple thousand dollars. It sounds good, because you send them a couple grand, they send you 500 large; you're still way ahead. Then there's the actual fee for the service, which is another grand or so, then there's the actual cost of sending it to you, and all that entails (tariffs, customs, US taxes, etc) all of which we would need to pay, and you need to reimburse us for in advance. Still, you're only need to send us about $7,000.00 and we'll have your $500,000.00 in the mail! The "fees" and "taxes" continue to add up until you stop sending them money, at which point they close up shop, never to be heard from again. If you're older and on a fixed income, wondering how you can afford to live out your golden years, and wanting to be able to leave something for your kids, this may sound like easy money, worth even a little risk if it means you can provide for your family.

We discovered that she had sent about $2,500.00 on each of the previous two days and was going to send almost 3k more today. We explained the situation to her, made the proper reports to Western Union and the home office, and I proceeded to seethe and feel pity for this old woman for the next several hours. I'm not sure what was going on in her head. I kinda think that she didn't quite grasp the truth of the situation; she seemed sad and confused. The WU operator talked to her for a minute or two and we gave her a toll-free number to contact the Canadian authorities (this kind of thing is so common, there is a seperate number, dedicated to this kind of fraud), but I don't know if she will. I tried to hint around at getting her daughter's phone number, so she could come to her mother's aid, but I was a little too diplomatic about it, and she didn't know what I was after; I didn't want to come across as saying, "I'm not convinced you can follow up on this properly; let me call your child and talk to her." I'm thinking now that I should have pressed it a little harder, gotten the number of a pastor or perhaps a friend to make sure everything goes as well as it can.

I hope she calls the number, and they catch the cruel fuckheads who did this, and she gets her money back.