Dangers of Driving Home

When I was driving home for Thanksgiving Break all I could think, or worry, about was how many bad drivers I was going to encounter on the way home. I feel nearly half the driving population has absolutely no idea what they are doing behind the wheel of a very dangerous automobile. Every time I have driven from Dallas to Houston or Houston to Dallas I have come really close to getting into a serious accident because other drivers either have road rage or are paying absolutely no attention to what they are doing while they are going at speeds of 65+. One time a man was chatting away on his phone and did not realize he was coming into my lane until I was forced to swerve into the shoulder. Another time a man realized he was in the wrong lane so he swerved into my lane forcing me to slam on my brakes to avoid him hitting me. (We were also on an overpass that was probably at least 100 feet above the ground so had I not been paying attention that could have been a very scary accident.) I encounter so many negligent drivers; women fixing their make up, a mother literally turned around yelling at her kids, and a man rocking out to music with his eyes closed half the time. I one time saw a website called Top 10 Worst Women Drivers, and although it is really funny, it is really scary to think people managed to get themselves in such a situation while behind the wheel:

http://www.boredstop.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=80&Itemid=1

I think that the government should be more strict on giving out licenses because the risk of driving is so high currently because people just do not think about the consequences of their idiotic acts behind the wheel. Another way dangerous driving situations could be prevented was if the police were willing to stop paying so much attention to people who do not fully stop at stop signs and be more active on highways where they major accidents occur. As much as I hate cops while I am driving home because they force me to drive slower and arrive later, people need to be penalized for driving like maniacs or blatantly ignoring the road ahead of them. 

Email Scams: PLEEEAASSEE REEAADD!

I checked my email yesterday afternoon and saw that my mom sent me another chain mail message. Most of the time I do not even bother to open the emails but the title of this message seemed more desperate than normal. The title PLLLLEEEAAASSSSEEE REEEAAADDD! IT WAS ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA WEDNESDAY naturally sparked my attention so I decided I would actually read this one. I was not surprised to read another idiotic scam that people actually believe. This particular email said that Bill Gates was conducting a survey and he wanted this email to reach as many recipients as possible. According to the email, sending the email to one person would make you $245, the second person would make you another $243, the third person would make you $241 and so on. And it was no surprise to read the typical story saying that “I did not think this would work either but I gave it a shot and two weeks later I received a check for $24,800.”

Emails like this always make me laugh because I find it hard to believe that so many people are gullible enough to believe they will actually receive money for forwarding an email. I will admit that in middle school I received an email with a similar message so I decided to test my luck. As you can imagine, I was throughly disappointed when I never received my sum of money for doing the company a favor of sending out a mass email. Seriously, for all the work I put into finding email recipients I honestly thought I deserved something! But thinking realistically, will Bill gates actually be willing to spend millions upon millions to have people send around a message in which the context of the message only says “please forward this to as many people as you can.” I think not! Yes he is wealthy, but even the most wealthy men are not willing to spend millions to conduct a survey that could easily be advertised for a lot less money. 

I decided to google email scams online and it took me to a link on the FBI website. I was completely unaware of the mass numbers and variety of emails that people receive and actually believe are legitimate. Some of the emails download viruses to your computer, while others make you computer more susceptible to hacking. I even read about an email scam going around that claims a family member will be kidnapped if a desired ransom is not paid.  The scams often use names and telephone numbers of governmental officials to make the letters seem more believable. The emails usually contain a link that will cause a virus so the authors can find personal information that is stored on your computer. Next time you receive a  seemingly friendly or even threatening email be very cautions to open it because it could lead to many negative effects. To read more about different viruses go to http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm