Domain Registry of America, Diabetics Avoid Insulin to Lose Weight

- I really really want to talk about the whole Kobe Bryant/Lakers situation, especially with the news that there is amateur footage of Kobe ripping the Lakers and Andrew Bynum.

(Tangent: What is it with famous people and "amateur videos?" And when are we going to find amateur footage of a political figure doing something stupid?)

(Tangent #2: Not that I'd care for it, but where's the amateur footage of Paris Hilton crying in prison?)

Alas, I will try to avoid the subject today (you're welcome, non-sports fans).

- So I finally beat Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars yesterday. It only took me two months to do it :P.

(And it's not because I suck at the game, even though I do. I installed it about two months ago, played it for a couple hours, and didn't get around to it again until only recently.)

I have no idea what's next on my gaming queue. Hell, I don't even know if there is a queue to begin with.

- A few days ago, I got a letter from the Domain Registry of America--I refuse to link to their site; you'll see why soon enough. It was a courtesy "Domain Name Expiration Notice."

(My domain name expires in November 2008. Close enough, I suppose.)

Check out the first paragraph of the notice:

As a courtesy to domain name holderse, we are sending you this notification of the domain name registration that is due to expire in the next few months. When you switch today to the Domain Registry of America, you can take advantage of our best savings. Your registration for: ungsunghero.com will expire on November 01, 2007. Act today!

Now, all three domains I own were registered via namecheap.com with WHOISGuard protection (basically, it anonymizes the WHOIS information, keeping it away from potential spammers and/or scammers). So how the heck did DRoA get my mailing address? Well, I had initially registered ungsunghero.com via Microsoft's Office Live Basics Beta, and transferred it to namecheap a month or so later. During that time, DRoA must have harvested my information.

Here's the great thing about this DRoA letter: they want $30 to transfer and renew my domain with them!!! Compare that to namecheap's $8.88/yr domain name registration/renewal, and I have to wonder what these guys are smoking. However, if I transfer my domain and renew for five years, it's only $95!

I'd call these guys an outright scam, but I wouldn't want this to happen to me (click on the "cease-or-desist" link found in that blog entry.) I'll let the Google results for "Domain Registry of America scam" speak for themselves.

Here's an FTC article about the DRoA.

One aside: while reading up about this company via a Google search, I stumbled upon the WHOIS information for techtv.com (now G4tv.com). Please tell me that techtv.com got their domain registration for free in exchange for advertising DRoA on their programming!

- Some Type I diabetic women have avoided taking their insulin shots (seriously endangering their health) in order to lose weight. The process, known as "diabulimia"--named so because the mass exodus of glucose in the blood resembles what happens to someone with bulimia--may cause many of the same problems as uncontrolled diabetes: organ failure, loss of limbs, a coma, etc.. The most chilling statement:

One expert who has studied the phenomenon estimates that 450,000 Type 1 diabetic women in the United States -- one-third of the total -- have skipped or shortchanged their insulin to lose weight and are risking a coma and an early death.

Wow...scary stuff. It's sad that these women would rather look good than care about their long-term well being.

That's it for now. Happy blogging!