April 28, 2002

5:03 AM

If only I can dream.Okay, everyone listen up. I had this great idea last night -- first, I'm going to purchase a 144 ft. yacht. No, better yet, someone else will purchase the yacht for me. Then, I'm going to sail from Australia to Greece, stopping in 65 countries. Also, I will producing eight highly anticipated television shows along the way. It's going to be great! Okay, who's on board? Anyone? Hey, where's everyone going? Hello?
posted by aaronchristy (26 comments total)

I feel almost dirty posting this link since it was sent as spam to every student at The Ohio State University (50,000+ students).

However, after I started looking at this site, I couldn't tell if this guy was serious or not. I mean, c'mon, look at his crew for god's sake. That's a pretty frightening bunch handling a 144 ft. yacht.

... but, hey it's for the children, right?
posted by aaronchristy at 5:09 AM on April 28, 2002

No, you should still feel dirty.
posted by crunchland at 5:44 AM on April 28, 2002

that's one dirty crew...
posted by lotsofno at 6:42 AM on April 28, 2002

Sounds like he's taken more than a little inspiration from Jesse Martin.
posted by netsirk at 7:04 AM on April 28, 2002

Same thing happened at Iowa State a couple weeks ago... Just where does he think college students are going to come up with money to fund his trip?
posted by Rockames at 8:18 AM on April 28, 2002

And Kansas the week before that - this may be one of the biggest (and most earnest) spam operations around
posted by gleuschk at 8:28 AM on April 28, 2002

It also happened at Penn State last week. I personally couldn't care if he's serious. I'm not sending him any money. And yes, I agree, you should feel dirty.
posted by UnReality at 8:35 AM on April 28, 2002

I feel almost dirty posting this link since it was sent as spam to every student at The Ohio State University (50,000+ students).

What I wonder is, how did he manage to get everyone's email address at the university? Is OSU selling them or something, or did he just troll through the student finder thing on the top of their website & pick up names that way? I mean, I know OSU's having money problems, but I'd rather not have them resolved by having my email address sold to some schmoe.
posted by zempf at 9:23 AM on April 28, 2002

bernie koppel is available...
posted by clavdivs at 9:29 AM on April 28, 2002

What I wonder is, how did he manage to get everyone's email address at the university?

Zempf, I trashed the actual e-mail he sent, but there was some phrase in it that made it sound as if he had obtained the e-mail addresses from the online student directory.

No e-mail is safe from spammers anymore, it seems. My Eudora filters keep growing and yet spam senders always seem to stay one step ahead. Argh.
posted by aaronchristy at 9:33 AM on April 28, 2002

This was also sent to University of Chicago students. The end of his earnest plea to help him acheive his dream and send him money was something along the lines of "I found your email from the ph directory at www.uchicago.edu, this is a one-time email and you will never be contacted again."
I'm not sure *how* he accomplished this, but I sure hope this isn't a trend.
posted by bonheur at 9:35 AM on April 28, 2002

Ohio State, Iowa State, Kansas, Penn State & U of Chicago, huh. That is weird.

this whole, all dreams can come true thing, is just retarded. Obviously, some dreams will contradict others, and there's more than one person involved. I mean, Hitler had dreams too, you know...

gah. it just annoys me when people are are so egotistical - maybe everyone would like to go on a private mediterranean cruise at someone else's expense. That doesn't mean we all should be able to. For one thing it would be a pretty crowded mediterranean with all those 144 ft boats.
posted by mdn at 9:57 AM on April 28, 2002

Ahhh, any the plot thickens.

Here's a news article on Mr. Nathan Damianos vs. University of Iowa.

Interesting quote from the end of the article :

A similar mass e-mail from Damianos' company hit students at the University of Alabama. The school's spokeswoman, Cathy Andreen, agreed with Dobbins that there is no way to stop unauthorized mass e-mails.

Damianos said his organization would stop targeting universities for the campaign to sail from Australia to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece.

This article was dated 04/11, so he must have had his fingers crossed when he made that last statement.
posted by aaronchristy at 10:04 AM on April 28, 2002

Oh, and don't forget ...

Carnegie Mellon
posted by aaronchristy at 10:09 AM on April 28, 2002

Taki Michaels looks like the weak link of that crew. Anyone else thinking "Dead Calm"?
posted by centrs at 10:34 AM on April 28, 2002

And the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Interesting.
posted by Zosia Blue at 11:06 AM on April 28, 2002

and the University of Chicago
posted by wantwit at 11:36 AM on April 28, 2002

So who's pitching in for a sub to sink that thing on the way to Athens? Paypal me.
posted by skallas at 1:20 PM on April 28, 2002

If all of these things can't generate enough cash to fulfill my dream, then I am a monkey.

I vote for "Monkey."
posted by plaino at 1:48 PM on April 28, 2002

my name is mohammad, and i had a great idea last night. i am going to hijack several airliners. then, i am going to crash them into american landmarks, leading to military responses that will ultimately plunge the middle east into unrestrained war once again. and you all are going to pay for it!
posted by quonsar at 2:07 PM on April 28, 2002

I'd say "go find a job, like everyone else does, you lazy bastard !"

Yep.
posted by XiBe at 4:43 PM on April 28, 2002

Ahh, this bastard, he also sent it to every student e-mail account at Michigan State. I know because I received one. I would really like to know how he obtained these addresses....is there a reasonably easy way to do that?
posted by banished at 7:56 PM on April 28, 2002

I got this spam as well. I replied to it and asked if I could come. He said, "sure!", so if anyone else wants to go, I suggest you drop him a line.
posted by jeb at 9:14 PM on April 28, 2002

Ditto for University of Tennessee, about a month ago.
posted by tsitzlar at 11:07 PM on April 28, 2002

Gordo's the only one vibing right with me.
posted by spinifex at 11:30 PM on April 28, 2002

Anyone wanna bet that he does, somehow, in fact, actually make this dream come true? Hell, if people fall for internet scams and turn over (or otherwise lose) mucho $$$ every day of the week for ventures even more risky than this adventure, I'd bet that there's plenty of suckers out there who'd fork over $10, $50, or $100 to this guy. He'll make it, and the media will jump on it, and he'll get his 15 minutes. At least we can say we knew about it and debated it hotly on MeFi when all of this was "just a dream."
posted by davidmsc at 3:34 AM on April 29, 2002