Smoke-Free :)

I'm selling my nintendo DS, if anyone is interested

I've decided to get rid of my Nintendo DS console... Here are the details (pictures are available on my Flickr account):

Price: $200 (Non-negociable)
Payment: I will only accept CASH, PayPal. I cannot accept a personal check, nor a direct credit card.

For sale, Original Grey/Silver DS (this is NOT a DS Lite or a DSI), purchased within 1 week of launch date. In great condition (light use, see photos), and comes with the following games:

Nintendo DS Games:

• Metroid Prime: First Hunt (DEMO, not full game!)
• WarioWare: Touched (Minigames)
  
• Mario Kart DS (Racing)
  
• Lunar DS (RPG)

Nintendo Game Boy Advance (GBA) Games:

• Yu-Gi-Oh: Worldwide Edition (Card Trading Game)
  
• Legend of Zelda: Link To The Past - Four Swords (Adventure/RPG)
• Metroid: Fusion (Side-Scroll shooting game)

Also included in package:

• ALL original boxes, manuals and extra material (except wrappings)
• DS Charger
• Small Carying case (not shown in picture, forgot to snap it), enough for the DS and a few games.

What is NOT included in this package (e.g. what's wrong with it): I have lost both stylus for the DS, was using retracted pens most of the time to play with it, or the small plastic thingy on the security strap. This portable console is also not modded in any way (though it can be, being the original version), physically or otherwise.

Reason for sale: I am not using this game console enough and, having bought a Wii, will probably use it even less now.

LISFM (Linus Is Not For Me)

Once again, I gave Linux a chance...

[Previously on Linux Woes:

I've tried a few times to install Linux on my system - from the old RedHat 5, to Debian, Mandrake and Ubuntu, and every time there was something that just wouldn't work or was too complexe to function easily. I remember trying to run Karaoke on my linux box, only to find that there was no CDG software that worked with a GUI, and that my dual screen setup just couldn't frakin' work properly. Each time, I reinstalled Windows within a few days. Today, nothing changed a bit]

Once again, I used a livecd from a very popular distribution (Linux Mint, based on Ubuntu with some extra - nice - tools). I tried it out, was happy about the first glance at the system, and installed it (after, of course, backing up all important data to a secondary drive).

One small issues popped up during installation itself, the automatic partitioner wouldn't detect I had 20gigs free at the start of my drive and insisted on either wiping out my 150gb drive (with 100gb of data on it!) or resizing the end of my secondary partition and installing in that 10gb - leaving the 20gb free completely untouched. I manually partionned, no biggy. It was only the start.

One thing to understand is, I believe I am part of what I call the Linux "Middle Class". Linux applies very well to computer illiterates (the "Low Class"), because the interface is now very simple, installing software is automated and effective, and files downloaded (other than Windows software) generally opens up without a hitch. That was the case for me, Linux Mint opened divx files, mp3s, word documents and such very easily.

The "High Class" are the linux geeks which are comfortable with every aspect of their system, from the Kernel to the conf files, from the Terminal command line to Compiz. Linux is also awesome for them because, on the contrary of Windows, they can customize every single thing in their computer, modify the code to their need if they are so inclined, and have the choice between all the distros and x interfaces - even building it from scratch if they know how.

The "Middle Class" on the other hand, which I'm part of, can very easily install Linux on their computers from a LiveCD or installation CD. They know how to customize their system up to a certain extent, have specific software they need and want and can generally install it - even if it means installing extra compilers and libs... But only as long as there are proper instructions and solutions on google to the errors that pop up when it fails. MCs do not like to edit dozens and hunderds of lines of codes to make things work, but they are fine with using a single line of code from a website to install something once.

So, some more specific examples of what I, as an MC, had issues with. First and foremost, as with every other try with Linux I've had, graphics are always a huge hurdle. Granted, Mint was great when I installed it at first. Everything up to Compiz worked fine, the 3D cube desktop and the fancy effects were snappy and beautiful. But Mint insisted on annoying me with the fact that there was a custom drive (ATI) for my video card, and that I could activate it with a single click of a button - which I did. However, each time I did that I would logoff and my monitor would go "Out of Range". The only way to fix it was to boot in recovery mode, and have linux "attempt to fix my graphics", which it did by installing the default graphics server and disabling ALL of the compiz effects which I like so much. And of course, there was no way I'd boot into terminal to edit the xorg.conf or whatever, just to manually specify my screen's maximum resolution and refresh rate. I did resolve this finally, by activating VNC (Remote Desktop), connecting from my work laptop and manually re-ajusting the resolution to something more acceptable and supported by my screen.

I wanted to install TED (Torrent Episode Downloader) on Linux also, because my computer's main purpose is to accept my remote connections for stuff I don't want to be on my home computer (mostly tv shows, movies, music, etc). The problem is that TED is a java application and even though it "supports" linux, starting it requires - each time - a 50-character command in terminal with about 5 different --options and the typing of the file name. Most of the TED interface is written for Windows anyway, with things like "start in system tray".

The last drop was, as usual, because I wanted to do something a bit more special that the masses, but didn't want to learn a new programming language just to make it happen - I wanted a system-wide equalizer on my computer, because my speaker subwoofer doesn't have Bass control and I need to lower it when playing music. I hate having to use specific software to play my music because even the default media player (totem) doesn't offer these functions. My sound card's Windows drivers give me an equalizer that applies to the whole system, and some audio equalizers are available in Windows if your sound card doesn't support it... But Linux? Forget about it. You need to activate a custom sound server (PulseAudio), edit conf files, download and install plugins, and the best of all is that the most common tutorial for this (called, PulseAudio Fixes & System-Wide Equalizer Support in Ubuntu"), while it shows you how to install the requirements (it's a whole page of commands!) doesn't even tell you how to use the equalizer. And it's no wonder - in order to change the settings, you have to manually edit a conf file with lines on how to modify each of the sound frequencies, save the file, and then restart the sound server.

Yes, you read correctly. There's no GUI, and no real-time ajustments. You change a text file with a bunch of numbers in it, save it, and then restart the sound server through the command line. This assumes that you understand how sound frequencies work, that you know the exact structure the text file needs (thankfully, someone was helpful enough to tell me, he's the only one http://amot.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/pulseaudio-upgrade-woes-and-a-solution/ ), and that you don't need to ever change it again.

So, the conclusion of all of this?
LISFM. Linux Is Not For Me.

Tutorial: Multilingual mojoPortal website

mojoPortal is a free ASP.Net portal with multiple database support, and is extremely user-friendly and fast (comparatively to other ASP.Net portals).

Since I've run into a few speed bumps while installing and configuring mojoPortal for use in a multilingual environment, I've decided to share my experience and what I have done to make it work with the help of multiple, complicated searches on google and the mojoPortal website. This tutorial will help you create a multilingual site that is linked together (users will be the same across all languages), but where the content is separate.

First of all, I'm assuming that you've already got mojoPortal running on your server and that it is fully functional. I'll also assume that you have already configured a main site, selected a skin, etc. Those basics are easy to figure out, and if you haven't - RTFM is your answer.

I'm using the 2.2.9.2 SQLite release of mojoPortal, but I'm assuming that this guide should be valid for at least a few releases before and after this particular one - if it isn't, please advise me and I'll make appropriate changes.

Step 1: Create a Child site

1. Logon to your site and go into the Administration, then Site Settings
2. Next to your site title, click on the drop-down and select "New Site"
3. The page loads again with a new site configuration, enter your new site name and click Save at the bottom.

Step 2: Make the site related

1. Using a file manager (from your hosting or using FTP), open the Web.config file in a text editor.
2. Change the following line
   <add key="UseRelatedSiteMode" value="false">
   to the following:
   <add key="UseRelatedSiteMode" value="true">
3. Save the file (but don't close it) and go to step 3

Step 3: Force localization (language)

1. Still in Web.config, locate the following line:
   <add key="UseCultureOverride" value="false">
   Change it to:
   <add key="UseCultureOverride" value="true">
2. Under this line add the following:
   <add key="site1culture" value="en-US">
   <add key="site2culture" value="fr-CA">
3. Modify "en-US" and "fr-CA" to the languages you want.
   
4. Save, but don't close yet, Web.config
   

Step 4: Create a sub-folder for your language(s)

1. Because websites are more easily accessible using something like http://mywebsite.com/fr/ instead of something like "siteid=2", we need to first tell Web.config to support this.
2. Locate this line:
   <add key="UseFoldersInsteadOfHostnamesForMultipleSites" value="false">
   And change it to:
   <add key="UseFoldersInsteadOfHostnamesForMultipleSites" value="true">
3. Create a folder under your /www (or /wwwroot/) folder, and create a text file named "Default.aspx" under this folder (just an empty file, no content)
4. Save and close (finally!) Web.config
   

Step 5: Add your content - tips and tricks

• This setup completely separate the content between languages, so you will have to re-create all your pages, content, layout, etc. It can take a while to get used to the replication, but it's the best way technically and organizational-wise.
• This guide doesn't cover (yet?) how to create language links on the top, or how (if) it's possible to link directly to the same page in another language. I will be working on that next. One hurdle in doing this is that even if you detect what page you're on right now, that page name will most likely not be the same in different languages (unless you manually set the page names, which is a possibility).
  

References:

• http://www.mojoportal.com/localization.aspx
• http://www.mojoportal.com/muliplesites.aspx
  
• http://www.mojoportal.com/multiplesitesbasedonfoldernames.aspx
• http://www.mojoportal.com/Forums/Thread.aspx?pageid=5&mid=34&ItemID=8&thread=1055

Selling the car and living without it.

This post was also made on the CalendarBudget forums (CalendarBudget is an online google-like calendar that lets you enter all your expenses and incomes into a nice graphical interface that will visually help you plan for your budget and future! Don't forget to enter that you were refered by eslachance@gmail.com please!)

If, like me, you have a car that you are not using to go to work (I take the Train and subway in the morning) but rather only take it for groceries and family visits and such, then I might have an idea for you.

My car is a Ford Focus 2002, and because I had a bad credit when I rented it (16.25% interest on 4 years!) and I'm a "new" driver, my total costs just for the car and insurance is $330.00. Add to that the gas (around $80 a month) and various/varying maintenance costs, I guesstimate my total monthly cost of this car is just about $500.

That is, obviously, a lot of money to be throwing away on something I only use on the weekends, and I've been looking to sell the car at a price just high enough to cover the rest of the car loan and be done with it. But what would we now use for groceries and trips?

Quite simply, rental services like Budget and Enterprise offer vehicles that can cost around $50 for a 24-hour period with unlimited mileage. Enough for larger groceries, shopping, visiting parents, etc. Even with the cost of filling up the gas tank, a lot of money is to be saved. On alternate weekends, either smaller groceries or having things delivered (at what, $5?) makes this a very good way of saving money.

If you live in an area that does offer "proper" public transit systems that can take you to work in less than an hour (train is even better, just sit down, read a book or watch a movie on a DVD player or laptop... that's the life!) then this is definitely something to consider to be cutting costs!

Forcing the "minorities" - why?

I've been throwing around some thoughts in my head lately about how people view racism and minorities in the world, and I finally found some example that I could base myself on and stem from to give a better picture of my thoughts (it doesn't always come out right).

The basis of the thought is that Racism isn't about giving priorities TO the minorities anymore than it is about denying it to them. If you want to indicate to the people around you that you're against racism, you don't need to go out of your way to show it - all you need to do, in essence, is to just ignore the skin color, language (to a certain extent) and religion of others around you, and that's enough.

Things that really bother me is when it seems that we, as a society, are obligated to force minorities into our groups in order to be socially acceptable. A blatant example is reality shows and talent shows (canadian idol for example), who always seem to have what I call the minority "tokens". Each year, you'll notice that there is at least one "token black" and most likely one "token asian" that will be selected by the jury to be part of the "winners". I'm not saying that these people don't have talents because that would be a lie. What I'm saying is that if we were to completely ignore the fact that these individuals are black or asian to start with, maybe they wouldn't have been part of the selection and someone else would have been. Or maybe there would be 3 or 4 black individuals in the selection for all we know - but it's almost always only 1, no more, no less. That has got to be by design.

Another example is when the management of any company "notices" that the visible minorities are underrepresented when compared to the national average in their organisation. Management generally calls these "shortfalls", as if they had failed to meet their quotas of "token minorities" and something has to be done about it to become socially accepted. Again this isn't saying that we should not have black people as employees, far from that. The thing is, it just shouldn't be counted at all, one way or another. If anyone, regardless of their origins, qualifies for any position then by all means give them that position. If they don't qualify, then they just don't. If your management feels the need to sort their candidates by "normal" and "visible minorities" because they absolutely want to hire at least one of each of the minorities to get their tokens... That becomes a social problem just as much as sorting them to get rid of them.

The problem doesn't only apply to visible minorities either - this can be said as much vehemently about women in social groups and workplaces, where large companies get criticized for the lack of women in mid and higher management groups. Yes, some of them are all about the big boys not wanting any women in their ranks, but that's only a minority of them. It is my opinion that in most of these cases, it's just because the women in those companies just don't have the necessary qualifications (though they would most likely deny it).

I hope this post eventually shocks someone enough for them to reconsider using affirmative action and racial quotas in their hiring (or acceptance) policies, because that was my goal.

Not that anyone reads this, anyway.

Ways of producing electricity

If you're a physicist, I suggest you turn back right now. I'm not, and I don't have much more knowledge than the masses about thermodynamics and physics in general, so this won't sound very interesting to you. As always I'm using my blog as a random thought generator and I decided that after my little post about new technologies, I'd continue in that general area and talk about ways of generating electricity (or "energy").

Up to very recently, I had always thought that there were really only 2 ways of creating electricity: Turning a dynamo, and solar power. You might start to say "wait, there's nuclear, wind power, hydroelectricity"... But all of those - all that are in use today outside laboratories at least, are all just the same: you use some sort of naturally-occurring force to turn a turbine which gives you electricity - it's all about kinetic energy (except solar, obviously).

I remember when I was younger, I thought that nuclear energy was harvested by turning the actual radiation directly into energy through some method I didn't understand. When I learned that it consisted of creating heat, boiling water, and using the steam to turn a turbine, I was crushed and realized how stupidly primitive our energy creation methods really are - imagine, using the awesome power of nuclear reaction - radioactive waste and all - just to heat up water! Later, I kept hoping that someone, somewhere would come up with the real solution, of harvesting the actual reaction into energy directly.

Today, it seems that my earlier thoughts and later hopes are finally turning into reality. This is precisely what prompted this post. So I will outline here the truly different methods I have found of generating electricity.

Kinetic/Electromagnetic
This is all about spinning a "dynamo" to convert mechanical energy (generally rotation) into electricity by use of magnets (this is where I say "I told you so". The specifics are too complex for me to me). This encompasses more than you think. Hydroelectricity uses water pressure to spin its turbines, wind power does the same with, well, wind. Nuclear energy is used to boil water into steam which, again, turns a turbine. Some fossil-fuel power plants do the same (boil water) while others burn the fuel in generators like your car engine. Even hydrogen fuel cells are the same, burning hydrogen and oxygen and producing water (cleaner, but still the same). Finally, bioreactors use energy stores in biomass (human and animal waste, plants) to create methanol that, you guessed it, is burned to turn an electrical motor.

Solar Energy
This is the first energy alternative to "turning a rod" that has been in use in larger scale. Solar power relies on the sun's radiation to "excite" electrons in the panels which become energy (again, layman's terms). Solar power is free, renewable, but not very efficient (around 10% efficiency, they say, though 10% of what I have no idea) and very dependent on weather conditions.

Thermal Energy
The first time I ever heard about this was when visiting a home depot, as odd as that might sound. I was watching a display for a slow combustion wood stove and on top of it was a small piece of metal with a fan attached to it, with two wires going from the fan motor to metal parts underneath - with no other electronics visible. A clerk told me that it "simply" used the heat from the stove to turn the fan, needing no battery or other energy source... It didn't sink in at the time (took several day of sub-conscious though to realize) that this was another source of electricity. A bit of research shows me that it's called (obviously) thermoelectricity and is created through thermogenerators. Oddly enough, this seems to be only slightly less effective than solar power (5-10%) and I'm surprised we don't hear about it very often. After seeing that fan on the stove I started to imagine all sorts of uses for it, from the heat generated by house roofs to something bigger - using earth's own magma heat to produce massive energy. It looks like we're not there yet, though I hope research is coming along that will soon give us something viable.

Radioisotope thermoelectric generator
Ah, finally, the shining moment of this post. A relatively recent New Scientist article (march 2008) says that it's now possible to use nanomaterials to turn radioactivity directly into electricity. Though according to them (and wikipedia) this has been used in the past, mostly for space probes and satellites. This is my dream come true. As far as I can understand it, you basically place radioactive material inside a capsule of nanomaterial, plug in the wires, and bingo, you have a battery that will last just as long as the radiation does!

Do you know of any other meants of electrical generation i've missed? Please comment on it!

People who mix religion with technology...

I know I just posted (actually I wrote that other post yesterday and just re-edited it before posting today) but I just had to point this out specifically. Googling "future technologies" gave me this as a second result (I think):

http://www.futuretg.com/

These guys call themselves the "Future Technology Company" or "Future Technology Group", whatever however they want to put it. Take a look at the link - that page is full of religious references like "The First Sacred Ray: The God Will" and "Discover the secret of the seven vowels"... But they mix that in with "How Google uses electronic books" and "Download GWBasic for Windows" and say how their company is behind "ProveIT" which helped clear the Y2K bug!

I mean, for frak's sake, if you're going to sound like you're providing information about technology and software, and you're religion, do you really think posting things like "You see, this Universe, as well as all of Creation ..." and "You all long to live in a world of Love and Light .." will give you any credibility?

Do it on your own time, start a religious-loving-freak blog with tips on how to connect to non-existing and fictional gods, but keep it off your goddamned (ooh, pun) techno-oriented website!

I mean, come ON!

Technologies that make me weep for joy!

I thought about doing a little post about a few "new" technologies that make me weep for joy when I think about how they can impact our lives, and hoping they will be available to us in the next 5-10 years. Actually, some are already in existence but either aren't marketed or still in "beta".

Nokia Morph
This first one is all about nanotechnology and according to some googling, some of those nanotechs are a reality - it's just putting them together that would be the challenge. Solar recharging, shape morphing, particle analyzing and such, some are already in the works and other are out there!

Wiimote Coolness
Johnny Lee has awesome concepts about how to use a simple Wiimote and some IR LEDs. Cheap whiteboards, multitouch in-the-air interaction, and most interestingly - headtracking. Add on to that some 3D polarized glasses and you get something akin to true holographic technology - and it's available today (if only companies with money actually caught on to that power....)!

The Perfect Car:
Another thing I've been dreaming about is creating the perfect electric car. It might not be much to say, but current actual technologies are way farther than what we might be told by the mainstream (see this post). In that spirit, I've collected some nice cool things to put in an electric car so that it would be accessible and just so cool everyone would want one.

1. Batteries: A company in Texas, EEStor (wikipedia), is currently developing some awesome batteries that would be used by Zenn Motors for a new line of vehicles, but we hope will soon be available for others to use. 4-6 minutes charge time for 400km range at a top speed of 130kmh? Anyday now!
2. Suspension: This one has had a prototype for years but comes from an unusual source: Bose (yes, the speaker maker) has created the Bose Active Suspension (aka Electromagnetic suspension). The link being that electromagnets are used both in speakers and their system, but whatever. The videos say it all, it's the coolest suspension ever, and requires less power than air conditioning. Not too shabby!
3. Regenerative breaking: Everytime you break, your battery can recharge, giving you even more range as well as discarding the use of break pads. Yes, that means it's less expensive in the long run. Wikipedia Article.
4. InWheel Electric Motors: Having one engine for all 2 or 4 wheels is so passé in my book. Give me individual power for each wheel (with integrated regenerative breaking in most concepts) and you've got a winner.
5. That's it for ground-breaking technologies, but add to that things like climate zones, ajustable seats, cruise control, DVD player in the back and other comforts... and you'll start seeing what I would love to build. If I were anything like an entrepreneur, I would definately try to get these technologies together myself into "the best electric car ever", but I don't have that type of charisma :P

Cyborg Suit:
Japanese guys have an active imagination, but when they pull something from that imagination and put it in real life, they can be a force to be reckoned with - especially if they can lift 10 times their weight! It's interesting to note that the name of the suit is "HAL" (they didn't tack on the "2000" thankfully) and the company making it is Cyberdyne (yes, they had Terminator in Japan).

The Dishmaker:
You still have to wash them, but... How about having all your dishes created when you need them, and no longer needing to stack dozens of plates, bowls, semi-bowls and all variations in your cupboard? The dishmaker creates all of that using memory-shape acrylic, so you can create your dish, use it, clean it, and then restore it to its flat shape to store within the device. Future prototypes will probably be faster, smaller, and be able to make other useful things like glasses.

That's all for now. I may have more later on as I google around this stuff.

Beware of fraud attempts on Craigslist (apartments, items)

I don't post that often, but I tend to think that my posts hold some interest. This time it holds the form of a warning. Because I have been recently looking for an apartment for rent, I became an unsuspecting potential victim of a scam.

The scam takes the form of an ad on Craigslist, an apartment that you just wouldn't pass out if you had the chance:

$550 / 2br - SPACIOUS 2 BEDROOM APARTMENT FOR RENT (MONTREAL)

Reply to: danieldura73@yahoo.com [?]
Date: 2009-01-21, 5:56PM EST

spacious living room with chracteristic beams & solid wood floor
2 double sized bedrooms
2 Baths
walk in wardrobe
fully equipped
kitchen with built in gas cooker, oven, fridge/freezer, dishwasher, marble surface and practical cupboard space
luxury bathroom with bathtub and seaparate shower
washing machine/dryer combi
presented with solid wooden flooring throughout
inside a recognized city monument
wireless internet connection.

* cats are OK - purrr
* dogs are OK - wooof
* Location: MONTREAL
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1002216171

I replied to this ad asking for information, and got the following reply:

My name is Daniel Dura own the 2 bedroom and 2 Baths home and its located @ 1809 Ontario Street East, Montreal H2K1T5, Quebec , Canada. and also want you to know that it was due to my transfer that makes me my wife and Son to leave the house and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a responsible person that can take very good care of it as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean at the time and the person that will rent it to take it as if it were its own. So for now, We are here in west Africa, our new house and put all my worries off concerning the maintenance of the apartment for, since i am not residing there for now.I left behind some Facilities and electonics which include the rent, and a DVD player, air conditioning, alarm system. The kitchen is fully equipped with all necessary cooking utensils, arefrigerator-freezer, four-hob and oven, microwave, dishwasher and washing machine, My Computer Connected with Internet Acess Also the keys to the House are right here with me, and the lease document. Which i can send to you after all necessary agreement has be accepted. Also i will like you to know that the rent charges is not really the issue ,but your absolute maintenance of my apartment is most important thing so will want you to get back to me with the Application form below


RENT APPLICATION FORM

1)Your Full Name
2)Your Full Address & Phone Number
3)How old are you?
4)Are you married?
5)How many people will be living in the house?
6)Do you have a pet?
7)Do you have a car?
8)Occupation?
9)When do you want to move in
10)How long do you want to stay in my apartment
11)Pictures of all the Occupant that will stay in my apartment


One Mr Richard Thomas called me about the apartment,I told him that I can't give him the apartment because he loves smoking,drinking and dont want him to get drunked and damaged my property one day so If you are still interested, Note that the rent is going to be $550 Per month No extra fees.I will like you to give me a call on this effect to know how serious you are.below is my phone number

002348035722842 OR +2348035722842

I personally will actually come visiting you sometimes during the year as my new tenant.

Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you. Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the keys of the house to you. below is some pictures of the apartment and The address of the house is 1809 Ontario Street East, Montreal H2K1T5, Quebec , Canada.

Thanks
Daniel Dura

I replied to the email with proper information (thinking more and more that this was pretty suspicious), and got a call (yes, a phone call, which is pretty rare in fraud cases) and spoke to the scammer for a few minutes. He indicated that my application was accepted and that he would forward me "his secretary information" so that I could send the first and last month payment, after which he would send me keys and such to visit the apartment... Yes, it was stupid of me to send any information, but I really wanted to know if this was too good to be true. Here's the information he sent me:

Hello,

Thanks very much for your reply, i can see your willingness in this rent how is work? i want you to know that money is not the problem, i will be given you the apartment in good faith.also i want you to know that the apartment is a very good and quite place to stay for you and i want you to take good care of the apartment it is very close to public transportation, grocery store and school. i want you to know that know extra bill because the $550 per month include with all utilities like Gas, Hydro, Electricity, Water and Internet and it's fully funished but you can come with your own furniture if you like as i have a storage in the apartment.I will be here in west africa for 5 years So I Have just forward all your information to my Secretary. and we both agree to take you as my new tenant because you have answered to the rent application perfectly that you are well qualified to rent the apartment. so i congratulate you for that and i am so happy that i and my wife have found a new Tenant for the Apartment. But i want you to know we spend alot on this property so we want you to stand on your word and take good care of the apartment when you MoveIn. the apartment is pleasant neighbourhood. so we want you to know that we are not giving out this apartment because of money but we just want a God Fearing Tenant that will be taking Good care of the apartment and tidy it up. Here are the contents of the document i will be sending to your presence address.

1) Entrance and the Rooms Keys
2) Papers/Permanent house form (Containing Your Refrence Details)
3) The House Document File.
4) Payment Receipt.
5)Contract Lease agreement to be sign.
6) Full Address and Description of House.

So you will need to make the first deposit payment of $550 to my Secretary information below as soon as possible and i can confirm your payment and issue the receipt so the key of the apartment can be shipout to you as soon as possible today . and your payment will start counting the date you will be moving In. So i want you to know that you will need to look for any Western Union Store around you and send the first month deposit payment to my Secretary here below is the information's to wire the money.

Receiver name: DAN LUCKER
Receiver's address: 65 Atunrase Ave
City: Surulere
State: Lagos State
Zipcode: 23401
Country: Nigeria
Text Question : Good
Answer : Better
Amount Sending: $550

So i want you to get back to me with the weestern union confirmation as soon as you send the payment. i will be waiting to hear from you with the western union information on the receipt below:

Full Sender's Name:
Sender's address:
MTCN #:
Text Question & Text Answer:

I will be waiting to read from you soonest. i appreciate your promise once again.

As a last blow I pointed this gentleman (or fracker, whatever you want to call "it") to a website with "scam" in the URL and his phone number on it... I asked him either to provide legal proof he was the owner of the location or else prepare to have his information forwarded to the proper authorities... To which he replied:

Hello,

Thanks for your response, I want you to know that i can't scan the document of my apartment for you. i am also afraid here too just trying to secure my self too. but i will like to know if i can email you with a canadian account information so you can transfer the payment.

Thanks

Daniel

Evidently, it was only after all of this that I finally found all the information to put in his face, a series of other sites pointing to his obvious guilt (other posts, warnings, blog posts and such). Information that, if I had seen earlier, would have prevented me from even sending my address to this arsehole.

In any case, the word is out that this is happening here, in Montreal, and we could all be victims. Don't let your guard down!