Travel Bug

Exploration takes a turn.

Monday, May 30, 2005

Get this thing to stop!

So, the word on the street is (and by street, I mean Erin, my one contact to the mtv world) that the new Weezer album is about to save the face of American pop music as we have ever known it. And the new Shakira video is hot Hot HOT!
What am I doing in this country???!!!

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Cheeky Piefkas

So, here's a rough translation of the full page spread about me in the Steiermark section of Die Kleine Zeitung... a little paper with a little name.
Let's see if, together, we can find some of the problems with the story. The answer key will be up shortly, as well as a fun and exciting behind the scenes look!

"ACCOUNT OF STUDENT EMPTIED WITH E-MAIL TRICK
Unknown Perpetrator disguised himself as the "Bank" and collected account information. Unfortunately, not an isolated case; computer deception on the rise"
Daniele Marcher

The young woman is an American with an account in the USA, and therefore thought nothing of it when the "Bank" contacted her by email asking her for her account information. Confidently, she complied.
Two days later the student, who is studying in Graz, experienced a terrible surprise: Her account had been emptied--more than $1500 was missing. An unknown perpetrator had withdrawn the money from her account through an ATM in England. Everything is stated in the police report filed at the Schillerplatz police station, where the civil service trainee handed it over to the investigating officer, who is now determining the fraudulant group members.

A WHOLE NEW CASE
"We have yet to have such an individual case", said lead officer Hermann Kemetmueller. "Cash withdraws through false transfers happens relatively often, but this is the first time with a falsified ATM card." That must be the case, if the student had not given her card to anybody. The 23 year old could not be reached by the police for questioning.......

Blah blah for another three paragraphs that somehow end up talking about how old people are often the one's who are scammed. And ain't that the truth, but come on, folks... what about MY time to shine?

Okay... here's the game. There are at least FOUR things wrong with this story, can you pick them out? I bet you just can't wait to hear....

Jenna's Famous!

Just think, you could be famous, too, if only you were stupid enough to have thousands of dollars (roughly 18 Euro) stolen from your bank account while studying abroad in one of the friendliest, safest countries in the world....

Intrigued? Read on:
If you'd like to hear all about it in vague detail all you have to do is:
1) Learn German
2) Scratch the German you've learned, and learn some valuable Austrian terms/grammatic idiosyncracies
3) Spend the hour it takes to navigate the Die Kleine Zeitung website
----OR-----
Move to the Steiermark, where you can read the paper version (if you choose this last option, you will also have to go back in time, since apparantly, the city burns all issues of that day's paper once midnight strikes..)
4) Turn to page 22 of the Steiermark section and read on, aghast and enthralled at Jenna's tail of wo and despair.
5) Be willing to overlook a couple of journalistic differences between Austria and the USofA; namely, "Privacy" and "Fact"-"Checking"

If you've completed step one, I can also email you a copy of the story.