ION, I find it hard to believe Toyota's marketing department is so stupid, but....

Toyota marketing stalks and terrorizes woman, claims she consented by doing an online personality test

Toyota marketing created some kind of ill-conceived alternate reality game whose premise was that you were being stalked by an unhinged criminal who sent you threatening emails saying that he was coming to your house, backstopped by things like MySpace profiles and even angry bills from hotels he trashed on the way, having given your name as the payment contact. A woman didn't realize that these were a marketing prank and thought she was being stalked, got scared, lived her life in fear, and then sued.

Toyota's defense? The woman had taken some online survey in which the fine print gave them permission to send her "marketing and other communications."

Details at the link....

Yes, our parents really need to stop making us worry.

I was talking to my mom a few days ago, and she mentioned in passing a fall she had last month. I stopped her in mid-sentence and said, "WHAT FALL?!?!?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you? I just tripped over some stuff in the garage and scraped up my knee some and bruised my side. I told your sister about it, and she remembered the time your grandma [her mom] fell off a stepstool in her late 70s. I said that people have to get more careful when they hit their 70s, and your sister gave me a very meaningful 'a-hem,' then it occurred to me that I just turned 70 a few weeks ago. Guess I have to be more careful, don't I?"

Yes, Mom, you do.

Oy vey. One of my mother's parrots died a couple of days ago and it's as if it's been the trigger for her to go into full Joan of Arc mode. I've had a few conversations of the "how much more must I be forced to endure?" variety over the last couple of days.

My sister has had it worse because her Joanie conversations have been peppered with variations on the theme of "everyone leaves me" with "I'm old, how can I be expected to endure so many hours on a plane and she's doing this just to be spiteful."

So there you have it. I am now officially, The Bad Daughter.

"I'm old, how can I be expected to endure so many hours on a plane

Suggest she go by balloon chair instead.

(No, I *am* a bad daughter, so everything I suggest is going to be in that vein.)

"So, is there a financial angle?"

Uh, I don't see anything wrong with this question being asked by the prof. of a college business class. If it were an ethics class, that would be weird.

"So, is there a financial angle?"

Uh, I don't see anything wrong with this question being asked by the prof. of a college business class. If it were an ethics class, that would be weird.

Yeah, especially because it's not out of the realm of possibility that someone would pull something like this for just that reason.

What I find infuriating is that we (the general we) feed into it. See: The Today Show and GMA having the family on this morning. If publicity was what they wanted, they certainly got it. My feeling is, it's over, the kid was never in danger, story over, why are we still talking about it?

Just in case you need your mind blown....

If We Live in a Multiverse, How Many Are There?

Answer: "at least 10^10^10^7"

I think it's tacky to ask about a financial angle when the kid could be dead somewhere. Once we know he's fine, then ask away.

And I'm still thinking about it because I spent several hours being upset yesterday. I suspect we were all played, and it makes me angry, but I still have this shadow of feeling left over from yesterday.

eta: Does that sound snippy? Didn't mean to.

I saw the financial angle question as an attempt to get the class back to talking about class stuff instead of news of the day.

And I'm still thinking about it because I spent several hours being upset yesterday. I suspect we were all played, and it makes me angry, but I still have this shadow of feeling left over from yesterday.

I think I'm jaded. And for me, as soon as it turned out the kid had been hiding the whole time, any concern I felt just evaporated. But ... see above re: jaded.

What I find infuriating is that we (the general we) feed into it. See: The Today Show and GMA having the family on this morning. If publicity was what they wanted, they certainly got it. My feeling is, it's over, the kid was never in danger, story over, why are we still talking about it?

On Morning Joe they were discussing the family being on several shows this morning and on Larry King last night and how they weren't going to feed that publicity monster. One of their guests rightly pointed out that they just had done that once again. If they were serious then don't mention it at all. They were embarrassed, but still continued reporting the story, although not interviewing the family.