A Useful Purpose for Spam!

The likelihood of a spammer knowing my friends name and mine is pretty unlikely so I took a chance and opened the piece of junk mail. I was surprised to find that the website is a cross between the theory of 6 degrees of separation and social networking.

Apparently my friend had set up an account with this company, and listed me by my maiden name as a contact. When I went to the website, I was unable to find out any information at first about my friend or send her a message. I was surprised that I had to join but decided against it at the thought of paying the $24 annual fee. Then another option popped up. If I referred 24 people to their site I could join for free!

This was my chance to Spam all the spammers that send me email daily! I combed through my daily barrage of email and found email addresses that appeared to be from individuals, not companies and started filling in the blanks on the form. In short order I had all 24 slots free and my one year membership paid for.

I also have a warm fuzzy feeling that those spammers will start getting an inbox of junk mail themselves!

As for the Names Database, I did find it interesting although I think Classmates.com is probably a better networking site to make connections from your past both schools as well as former employers.

If you are trying to locate someone, ZabaSearch.com can be very informative. You may find more information about yourself than you would want made public!

Another site that is very informative for those snoopy folk, is Zillow.com. This site allows you to peek at your neighbors home values and tax assessments. It also allows you to view a home via satellite from a fairly low level. I was surprised that I could easily make out my Jeep Cherokee that was parked in my driveway in the photo of my home!

Google maps also offer a view of your streets from satellite imagery, but they appear to be a bit further up. Google is in the process of making a street view of every street, starting with the big cities, but as technology progresses, I'm sure even our personal homes in small subdivisions will be available to view. They are doing this by sending specially equipped vans around streets taking film that will be matched to address searches. I hope my shades are drawn the day they come by my home!