In an earlier post I dealt with spammers coaxing users to release their Outlook contact lists to them. After checking with Blogdex, I found that Kriselda Jarnsaxa of Different Strings had also discussed them on October 25.

...this is a clever trick. Since most people don't read the end-user license agreement (EULA) for software that they install, people who get this software will most likely install it without realizing that they're giving permission to Permissioned Media to send out mails to people in their Outlook address book and install whatever other software they may want to in the future.

Technically, this isn't a worm or a virus - it's advertising software designed to monitor user behaviour and deliver targeted ads using the information gathered while monitoring...

Apple "It" Girl Breaks Silence
By Leander Kahney
November 22, 2002

Ellen Feiss talks to a college newspaper about her surprising fame after being featured in an Apple ad. Among the revelations: She was on drugs, the infamous advert was a lucky accident and Hollywood is keen to make her a star.

Well, here's something I really hadn't care to know about but in the end is mightily entertaining. Turns out that the unbelievably popular Ellen Feiss, Apple Switcher, owes her fame to those who believe she made the ad high on pot. But that's not true, according to the mystery girl herself on the only interview she's granted so far, though she admits she "was on drugs! I was on Benedryl, my allergy medication... That's why my eyes were all red, because I have seasonal allergies. But no one believes me."

Ellen's fame has been going strong for some months now (which in fame terms these days is, like, forever). Of course, she has been mentioned previously by other Salon webloggers; take these two for instance:

[The L. A. Times says] that Ellen Feiss is the new Apple "It Girl," thanks to her "slightly slurred speech and reddish eyes" that along with her slacker image have catapaulted her into the rarified atmosphere currently inhabited by Dell's Stephen.
— The Raven

Let's face it, it's just more fun to own a Mac, not to mention cooler. You guys have Bill Gates, we have Steve Jobs. You have the Dell dude, we have Ellen Feiss.
— The Agora

With the constant comparisons to Dell Dude Steven, how does la diva Feiss feel about him?

...That guy's a doofus. I get a lot of "What if you guys had kids?" And I'm like, "What if we had kids?" Why would you ask that? What a weird question. They'd probably be blond.

Dude, you're going to Hell!

Thanks go to Rob who led me on a trail to find out the original author of that George/Condi joke. It is playwright James Sherman of Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater. The Washington Times published (and correctly attributed) the joke back on November 22, 2002, and included Sherman's comments on how he came up with the sketch.

Now would be the time to discuss the laziness that removed Mr. Sherman's byline. When I originally received that joke, it came without any attribution. I did try to find the original author with a newsgroup search, but when I found it there was no mention of Mr. Sherman. I should have used Google's news search, but that wouldn't have helped either: The sources searched by Google use the spelling "Yassir" for the name of Yasser Arafat (the spelling I used). So I documented my searches and left it at that. [Update: I checked back with my post and the spelling I did use was "Yassir," not "Yasser." I must have been huffing the markers too hard.]

Still, stripping someone else's work from their name is wrong. Not "drive-by shooting"-wrong, or even "beat small kids for their milk money"-wrong, but wrong anyhow. As Scott Rosenberg has pointed, it's too common a practice that displays a lack of civility.

...simple courtesy suggests that you tip your hat to the creator of something that charms you enough to want to share it with your friends. The same technology that makes it so easy to forward funny tidbits makes it just as easy to preserve their credits.

Therefore, I'll update my original post and give Mr. Sherman his due. Again, thank you, Rob.