*headdesk* *headdesk* *headdesk*

Good God why on earth....

[Oregon's Janella Spears] fell victim to the "Nigerian scam," which is familiar to almost anyone who has ever had an e-mail account.
[...]
When Spears began to doubt the scam, she got letters from the President of Nigeria, FBI Director Mueller, and President Bush. Terrorists could get the money if she did not help, Bush’s letter said. Spears continued to send funds. All the letters were fake, of course.

She wiped out her husband’s retirement account, mortgaged the house and took a lien out on the family car. Both were already paid for. — KATU

How the what the who? I know everyone wants something for nothing, but oy oy oy.

I do note they started by asking for $100. I guess I could kind of see taking a risk on $100, when it's supposed to be to help get an inheritance from a long-lost grandfather.

And each successive payment would up the ante and make her feel more committed. But still....

For more than two years, Spears sent tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Everyone she knew, including law enforcement officials, her family and bank officials, told her to stop, that it was all a scam. She persisted.

Spears said she kept sending money because the scammers kept telling her that the next payment would be the last one, that the big money was inbound. Spears said she became obsessed with getting paid. — KATU

See also: Sunk Cost Fallacy: Once you've paid, you feel that walking away would be "wasting" the money.

Thing is, though, if you can't get the money back? You can't get the money back. The money is gone regardless.

making chicken soup

skydancer checked in from Orycon. I mentioned that I'd made chicken soup with minced garlic and garlic powder and hot sauce and cilantro and jw1776 sang out, "And a partridge in a pear tree".

After hanging up I tried, "4 chopped carrots, 3 chopped potatoes, 2 cloves of garlic..." and got stuck on the first item. Then jw1776 sang, "Five cups of broth..."

Below is what I eventually settled on:

On the 1st step of soup-making we added to the pot: a touch of freshly cracked pepper
On the 2nd step of soup-making we added to the pot: 2 chopped shallots and a touch of freshly cracked pepper...

Tell you what, let's just skip to the 12-step version:

( Read more... )

I tried to make the 12-step version a plausible recipe, but no, the recipe has not been tested. But it's reminding me that Donna Andrews' latest Meg Langslow mystery has Meg running a holiday parade that's Twelve Days of Christmas themed :)