In this youtube, two West African scam artists are duped into re-creating Monty Python's famous "Dead Parrot" sketch. The men sent a "419" email to a scam-baiter (someone who tries to humiliate and waste the time of rip-off artists) who told them he was in a position to give large cash grants to promising film-makers, and advised them that the application process required applicants to submit their own Dead Parrot Sketch. — Read the rest

If you received an email with the subject line "NIGERIA PARTNER," from "Mr. John Richard presidentialdirection@yahoo.com" and it opened with "This email may come as a suprise to you but I am very glad to make your acquaintance" you'd probably assume it was a 419 scam and hit the delete key in a second. — Read the rest

BBC article about a Nigerian scammer who was tricked into painting his chest with a red "9" on it. Link (Thanks, Stresspuppy!)

A guy who works in an Irish cybercafe writes about busting a 419 (AKA Nigerian Fraud) scammer. Best part: After the police arrive and have the scammer step away from the booth, the scammer tells the cops that "his wallet and ID are in the booth, so he walks in, rips a USB memory stick from the side of his laptop, tries to swallow it and makes a run for it." — Read the rest

A Dutch court has sentenced six Nigerian-letter scammers to 1-4.5 years in prison.

One Swiss professor – presumably he wrote his doctorate on complete stupidity – gave the gang $482,000 on the promise of a $9 million return. Among the "expenses" he shelled out was a sum for chemicals needed to "clean" the illicit cash.

An elderly Czech man who was robbed by a Nigerian 419 scammer has shot the Nigerian Consul to the Czech Republic.

Link

Discuss

(Thanks, Zed!)

A new addition to the parodical genre of 419 ("Nigerian Money Laundry Scam") letters from members of the Shrub establishment, following up on Cheney's letter.

I am the widow of the late President George W. Bush of the United States of America.

What if Dick Chaney was a 419 scammer?

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am Mr Dick Cheney a special adviser on Petroleum and economic matters to the Head of State of The United States of America. Because of my strategic position in the former Government, and also being a close confidant of the Head of State, I was able to acquire personally, the Sum of $25,000,000,000.00USD (twenty-five billion United States Dollars) presently lodged in some offshore sham bank owned by his brother Neil.

A new video by The Lincoln Project explains Donald Trump's extreme "Project 2025" in a one-minute nutshell (see below).

"They say Project 2025 will change your life," a narrator begins. "For once, they're telling the truth."

The video then runs through some of the planned action items of the Project — a "roadmap for total control" — that includes controlling "your life, your body, every one of your freedoms, what you can read and say and where you can travel." — Read the rest

The chronically angry Donald Trump bashed a key witness to his Jan. 6 election interference case — Mike Pence — reposting a meme that calls out the former vice president — along with President Biden and Nancy Pelosi — as his enemy. — Read the rest

Eric W. Sanderson is a landscape ecologist, and Vice President for Urban Conservation Strategy at the New York Botanical Garden, who has embarked on a project to digitally recreate all of New York City as it existed in 1609, the year Henry Hudson sailed into New York harbor. — Read the rest

Donald Trump's been having a tough time in the courtroom these past couple of weeks — the flatulence, the narcolepsy, the repulsive body odor. Now the tangerine-tinted tyrant has something else to worry about: a leaker Pecker.

David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, is testifying in the hush money trial against his former pal. — Read the rest

When GOP leaders tried pushing more Ukraine aid through the House, Moscow's loudest MAGA mouthpiece, Marjorie Taylor Greene, tossed an extremely suspect word salad demanding Kyiv roll over for Putin's oppressive ethnic policies before getting a cent.

As Politico reported, MTG's noxious amendment said: "No funding shall be made available to Ukraine unless restrictions on ethnic minorities', including Hungarians in Transcarpathia, right to use their native languages in schools are lifted." — Read the rest

Turning lemons into lemonade is all well and good, but how about transforming bat poop into antibiotics? Via The Inquirer, we read today that the National Research Council of the Philippines has uncovered smelly gold in a cave in the Philippines — guano that contains the bacteria  Streptomyces spp. — Read the rest

Republicans in Nevada are following the national trend of using voter suppression as their minority outreach program.

The Nevada GOP minority outreach centers, once touted as a long-term commitment by the state's Republican leadership to attract and foster support in underrepresented communities, have been closed. — Read the rest

I can't stop watching these adorable lizards making pies. I recently found the social media account "Chef Lenny the Lizard and Sons," which features soothing videos of bearded dragons creating (and eating) all kinds of culinary delights. Sadly, the original "Chef Lenny" died in early 2023 from kidney failure, but have no fear, Lewis, Betty, and their other reptilian friends are still here to delight you. — Read the rest

This weekend, a giant spectacle of (mostly) tiny creations will saunter their way onto stages around New Orleans. Puppets built on backpacks, puppets that fold up and fit into shoeboxes, red puppets, blue puppets, tiny little finger puppets, shadow puppets, three-person puppets, everything puppet possible will be on display for the public April 4-8th. — Read the rest

Look at this dial that controls the temperature of an ice cream freezer Gracie's Ice Cream, in Somerville, Massachusetts.. If you want to make the freezer colder, do you rotate the dial clock wise or counter-clockwise

From Core 77:

[W]hat terrible, terrible design, as evinced by the confusion in the comments.

There's no place like the Kansas senate, Toto.

This wave of draconian age verification requirements for websites that feature adult content have been steadily spreading across the US, a particularly nasty strain of some unspeakable STD. But rather than unexplainable bumps way down you-know-where, the symptoms here include completely draconian, invasive, and in this case, downright offensive legislation that reflects the most regressive opinions and policies of extremely conservative government. — Read the rest

Why do I have wired security cameras? Because Amazon sells WiFi jammers. I'm fine with that, but the Federal Communications Commission is not.

In a rare statement publicly confirming the probe, FCC spokesperson Will Wiquist said the FCC has "several ongoing investigations into retailers, including Amazon, for potential violations of Commission rules related to the marketing and sale of equipment without proper FCC authorization."