What are these emails?

By Glenn

Ever since I got my first email account in 2009, I have received literally hundreds of emails: some personal, some professional and some just plain weird.  Two of the weirdest ones came in the past week.  One went to my spam filter and one went to my inbox but they both caused hours of anguish, trying to understand what they mean and what denomination of Satanism I should join.

Email 1: Modern American Currency

At first glance, you might think "oh just another racist email about Obama!"  But upon thoughtful reflection, you remember that in Obama's America calling something/someone racist is worse than actual racism.  So if it's not racist, what is it?  I was not BCC'ed on this email - it was sent directly to me and only me.

I visited braunclear.info for more information and found nothing but a pure white (of course) screen staring back at me.  So I did a whois search on this website.

Domain ID:D46349063-LRMS
Domain Name:BRAUNCLEAR.INFO
Created On:07-May-2012 10:53:20 UTC
Last Updated On:07-May-2012 10:59:38 UTC
Expiration Date:07-May-2013 10:53:20 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com LLC (R171-LRMS)
Registrant ID:CR112160542
Registrant Name:Ionel Adrian
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street1:Bd. Berzei, ap3-A
Registrant City:Alexandria
Registrant State/Province:Alexandria
Registrant Postal Code:013796
Registrant Country:RO
Registrant Phone:+7.36512789

Created earlier this month using GoDaddy, this "Ionel Adrian" character sounds like a mysterious villain from the old Amazing Fantasy comic series I recently sold for three dollars at a garage sale.  He lives in Alexandria, Romania and has a phone number, just like you or me.  I cannot find his actual house on Google Maps, but below is a view of his town including a train stop he takes every morning to his job in a nondescript office building.  Keep up the good work Ionel, and I hope the 72 other domains you own also feature jokes based on US Presidents.  Looking forward to some Zachary Taylor jokes sent personally to me in the very near future.


View Larger Map

Email 2: OUR DEMOCRACY MURDERED

If you watch the video (and I don't recommend it) you will find out that these young people have created a website MurderSolved.Net to encourage us all to solve the outstanding murders in our community.  They are focusing on the death of the middle class and they use the passage of the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act as the cause.  It's hard to take issue with any story that paints this legislation as the villain.  It allowed banking, securities and insurance companies to merge, which in turn led to the financial crisis/collapse/awakening of 2007-2008.  Very perceptive, Dr Wignall's two sociology classes at Mohave Community College - Lake Havasu City, AZ Campus!  If only your video didn't look like a Zeitgeist-style Illuminati hit piece.

Now the question - why did Shannon Giles (the female featured in the video) email me?  Did she know I majored in Sociology?  Did she rightly assume I would appreciate a community college video highlighting the repeal of Glass-Steagall? Does she think I am a murderer?  I want to know these answers!  And I want to know why the youtube account of this so-called "Dr. Wignall" decided to mass reply to everyone who commented on the video?

Ultimately none of these questions can be answered, but thank you for your support - can you think of any cool ways to pass this article on to others?