Possible "e-card" virus?

My e-mail inbox this morning contained two messages that claimed to be "virtual greeting cards" that I could access by clicking on a link. The links wanted to download an executable file (I declined the opportunity). The notification e-mails contained no information about who was (purportedly) sending me the card. I am, on the face of it, inclined to consider these to be random viruses (particularly since snopes.com mentions a class of viruses that use exactly this approach). But then, I'm naturally suspicious and cynical about these things. On the other hand, I have received genuine virtual greeting cards in the past -- always with the sender's name mentioned in the notification e-mail, and always linking to a web site rather than a download. So it's possible that someone out there was genuinely trying to send me a card and used a system that's superficially indistinguishable from a malware site. Just a general cautionary tale, I guess. If you want to "surprise" someone electronically, it's a kindness to present your bona fides, not only so that your message won't get summarily trashed, but so that you don't assist in lulling the unwary into thinking it's harmless to click anonymous links. And if you're among the non-suspicious and non-cynical out there (yes, Mom, this means you!), think twice before clicking a link in an anonymous "electronic greeting card".

Book review of the Kalamazoo loot

Last year I really meant do to individual reviews of my Kalamazoo book loot, including some discussion of why I buy what I buy ... and I never got around to it. Well, the first box of books arrived on my doorstep Friday, so let's see if I can get through at least a few of these (in no particular order).

( 14th c. Poll Taxes )

( An early medieval French Cartulary )

( Early English Carols )

( A Welsh edition of Theater du Mond )

( One of the Welsh translations/adaptations of Geoffrey of Monmouth )

( A classic academic study of the tale of Branwen )

( Cool Celtic archaeological goodness )

There were two other books in this shipment, but I think I want to actually read through them a bit before posting on them.

Odds and Ends

After the usual waking up at 5am coughing, I managed to sleep in a bit this morning. But despite several very nice personal invitations, I decided I wasn't up to a second SCA event after Collegium yesterday. Instead it was one of those miscellaneously productive days. I took the BIG clippers to the incipient redwood grove in the front yard which was threatening passers-by on the sidewalk and hacked it back to a more friendly level (as well as doing some long-term shaping with a thought to future Christmas trees). Then I attacked one of the rosebushes with similar savagery and can once again manoever the lawn mower underneath it. Next I did a bit of checking the car -- it did some odd over-heating on the drive back from Collegium last night when I hit the stop-and-go just south of El Cerrito. (The reason for the slow-down was closures related to the freeway overpass repairs.) It started cooling down again when I exited and got up to speed, but today I checked all the idiot-level stuff: coolant level was ok, oil was ok. So I'll just keep an eye on it. The car having been cleared for action, I did some shopping, including stopping by the going-out-of-business sale of the books on tape/cd rental place I've been patronizing. The only set they still had that looked interesting was an unabridged The Prince by Macchiavelli. Should make interesting treadmill listening. Finished off the useful activities by going through a couple more Boxes O Stuff in the living room. Mostly obsolete electronics: non-functional tape recorders, assorted cables and connectors for PCs, ink cartridges for printers I no longer own that are three years past their use-by date. A few items are functional enough to list on Freecycle: a portable CD player, a fold-up Palm keyboard (doesn't fit the Treo), some leftover RAM for the iMac.

I wish the lungs would finish clearing out. I'm tired of coughing at 5am.