I got some spam this evening. It contained one ad image, hyperlinked to a web site that's apparently paying a spammer to push some traffic its way. I never saw the image, because I use an e-mail client whose interface looks like it may be older than me, and it doesn't do images. The body text of the message read as follows:

princess janus region wiseacre annulled buck carboxy methylene ahoy lackluster sanatorium psyche farthest linkage qatar desert poverty ringside monarchic anything frailty

cromwellian watts swirl copperas coda doubleheader ak pasteboard complacent erlenmeyer

brussels upholstery swain gallantry volition bucolic agent camber mesa there stark happy parakeet champlain agriculture cornelius africa swap degassing aspersion boeotia plagioclase punky epicure promptitude balled prestidigitate

flexure kit heat nebula payoff barfly slugging donnybrook scutum digress panicked sultan urbanite galena porcine erasmus irreversible backgammon combustible bremsstrahlung byzantine luftwaffe

gyrate calhoun discreet schooner absent bursty coachwork telescopic shrunken messiah theology eastbound johnston

pembroke buzzer fluoresce abash cecropia urging staten anselm defecate absolve unimodal handbag simplectic aau abrupt grant buffoon comparative dictate kaddish pacemake crestview copra

lindstrom recipient repression age sperm teddy nehru fortitude defendant assessor alabama fireboat harden psyche conjectural inoffensive parenthood centrist implementor prison bottle crosshatch deign empress brunch digit dominick appreciate clam belove signify vasectomy infect pianissimo aviatrix

My assumption is that the Evil Spammers do this to defeat Bayesian spam filters (like the filtering built into Mozilla), and perhaps other kinds, too. If you throw random parts of the dictionary at the filter each time you spam, then your spam always looks like something entirely new, entirely unique, because it is chock full of words that the filter has never seen before. To a Bayesian filter, something entirely new is not spam. So, the spam gets through. Bastards.

Of course, we're stuck with spam, in part because our Republican government just passed a federal spam law that is (a) weaker than what some states have already passed, and (b) invalidates those stronger state laws (like the one we recently passed in California) — see section 8(b)(2). Remember, kids, Republicans only dig states rights when it suits them.

But wait. Here's the important thing. What phrases jump out at you? For me, "telescopic shrunken messiah" leaps off the screen.