Every so often, I'll get a spam email that just makes you go... what?

Like this one. Yeah, I know it's basically the same "you've won the lottery, give us your details" spam, but this one just threw me. I think it's because it's addressed so carefully to "Dear e-mail user". It's the personal touch:

From: [I've removed the email address]
Sent: 09 July 2009 04:05 am
Subject: Google Online Promo © 2009

Dear e-mail user,

Your e-mail has emerged as a winner of £500,000.00 GBP (Five hundred thousand British Pounds) in our on-going Google Promotion. Your Winning details are as follows: Computer Generated Profile Numbers (CGPN):7-22-71-00-66-12, Ticket number: 00869575733664, Serial numbers:/BTD/8070447706/06, Lucky numbers: 12-12-23-35-40-41(12). Contact Mr Grahams Benfield, for more details through the contact below:

Mr Grahams Benfield,
Email: [I've removed the email address]

Sincerely,

Mrs. Zhaban William.

It still genuinely astonishes me that anyone - anyone - falls for this stuff. And yet, as research, and the occasional media reports shows, they do.

I never graduated.

There. I've said it.

I went to Manchester Polytechnic from 1982 to 1985, but buggered up my degree, and failed the final year. And neither of my brothers attended university, so I've never attended a graduation ceremony.

Until today.

Everyone reading this knows (or should know) that I'm on very good terms with Laura, Phil's mum. We're still technically married, but we separated four years ago this month, and we refer to each other as the ex-, so if you catch me using the expression, that's why. Anyway, after we split up, Laura went to University, taking up the academic cudgel, and a few weeks ago, we discovered that she'd been awarded her degree: she will today be graduating as BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies.

She's worked incredibly hard for the degree and deserves the recognition.

Philip and I are incredibly proud of her achievement, and on a personal note (as the bloke who proofread so many of her assignments, and her dissertation), it's been a genuine pleasure to see her writing mature over the past few years, and to see her gain confidence in her own abilities in the field.

Mazeltov, Laura!

(I'll stick some pics up when I get them later.)

From this week's Private Eye:




Of course, the gag would work even better as Twitter, but, hey, can't have everything...