Maybe I watch too many shows like Lost and Prison Break, but I spent an inordinate amount of time staring at this e-mail message:
From: "paternity" <eqdjupiub@pacvideo.com>
To: [Redacted]
Subject: Fable Chapters Generated
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:56:06 -0000
30486714715576421 308260505074 52631266500576 230558 43405371205 01723078257013
50254283058053411 85383665330180 7167348858551560 53211174 53572773278625 880121134281836
28663 88042 46015 5115 2386 5830228286 62460 62852 0762 3184
00672 21686 42644 8505 6075 8006 7573 17356 01577 5032 8433
36348 60721 24218 1361086415527022 6514 1075 88685 83037 25435001232280
72557 85031 02566 62222151326458 548101 02380 57462 25077 584667722524138
74541 86354 07307 676067466554 008366260246300 03620 77347 7626 2248
73052 75236 81207 5353 8561 1077456626518137 74751 23287 5363 823
43086 57032 66480 5206 87375 03564 8702 81657 11862 22517 8717 3672
68464 63268746757754 4267 7153 22366 0428 35316 37851833474114 876454520400323
41674 327150362810 8075 0712 11201 5035 62658 240062788176 64877677117072
(Sorry about the formatting. Here’s a plain text version.)
Unlike most of the spam I get, this doesn’t seem to be offering me a mortgage, a knockoff Rolex, or penis-enlargement drugs. Tora.ob is not a web site, as .ob is not a valid top-level domain. Pacvideo.com sells video equipment, although the sender address is almost certainly forged.
Is someone sending me a coded message? Did I unknowingly sign up to play an ARG? Is there something to the numbers, or in that evocative subject line? Sometimes spam is spam, and sometimes it’s a digital Rorschach blot, allowing us to read any number of meanings into an object that we know is meaningless.
And besides, it’s cheaper entertainment than a PS3, that’s for sure.
(It turns out that TORA.OB is a penny stock. How disappointing.)