https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/26263
It seems like every time this email gets brought up it is quickly hidden or dismissed. Am I the only one that thinks this is highly unusual or relevant? I own a business handling personal property liquidations and can say for certain that it would not be possible to sell a beanie babie for $20 each...
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bolus ago
there are several beanie babies which are worth hundreds to collectors, and a handful worth thousands. if his collection has a few 'rare' beanie babies, it wouldn't be a stretch to expect the collection to be worth several grand. he's just looking to sell the whole thing at once, instead of just making money by parting it out.
if this email were the only weird email in the whole group, i would completely discount it.
as it sits, it's still suspicious, and it may be code for something, but we can't ignore the fact that it's not unheard of.
NotAnIdiot ago
It's not his collection though. He put a random picture from the internet in the email. He literally just searched beanie baby collection on google and put the first image result in the email.
https://humorinamerica.wordpress.com/
bolus ago
ok - i did a quick count, and there are about 480 bbs in that pic.
so either he had 480 of something else, and this matched up, so he used it, or he just needed 9600 and found a way to get there mathematically using this pseudo-random picture he found.
the stupid, most simple answer is that he really did have 480 bbs to get rid of, and the stupid most devious answer is that he needed $9600 to support something nefarious...and further, he needed someone to understand what he was really asking for.
if he needed someone to understand then either everyone he sent it to also knew the code (unlikely since we never see it anywhere else) or he had pre-discussed it with someone, and was just throwing up a smoke screen.
in any case, it's still just a ridiculous email...have we looked into the guy and what he was doing around the time he sent it?
NotAnIdiot ago
But again, this isn't his collection. Which begs the question: if you have the collection, why not just take a picture of that?
I believe there is ample talk on voat of steganography in the emails.
bolus ago
well, yes, that's what i mean - if i have 480 of something to sell, in a nefarious way, in a hurry (assuming he's rushed), how easy is it to just find a picture of roughly 480 things worth maybe 20 bucks each?
It could be just a coincidence that they guy found a collection of things which could conceivably be worth $9600 AND was about the right number, and did it quickly, but that doesn't feel right...too many variables.
so i go back to the core, i think he either had (one illicit thing) he was selling for ($9600), and he was trying to do it quickly, or just didn't have time to take a picture of his embarrassingly large collection of bbs.
in either case, it's still strange. now i've seen two other theories - either a baby or xtc pills. if he's in a hurry to unload either, it's not because of his parents, it's because of heat. generating an email because of heat just seems extra stupid.
dunno, and that's all i can come up with. dunno.
NotAnIdiot ago
He's either selling something illegal or sending a coded message in the image file. I bet it's the first one though.
In terms of the possibilities you brought up I'd say a baby is more likely IMO.
bolus ago
sorry for the slow walk-through. there are days where the logistics of what that conclusion implies just seems overwhelming, and i can't seem to shake the cognitive dissonance.
where is this guy in terms of importance? has anyone actually worked that out?