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TVA and Knoxnews Unfamiliar with Google

One thing is certain. At some point in our life, we will die. (Unless Ray Kurzweil, Aubrey de Grey, and fellow scientists succeed at treating aging as a disease – read some debate and discussion, and, I am certain they will but it will be affordable only to the ultra wealthy) WBIR and Knoxnews reported that a man had jumped from The Bluffs near Tellico Dam and died. Accidents happen particularly when thrill seeking. This does not mean The Bluffs should be fenced off and protected by armed guards. Accidents happen. It is unfortunate and I feel badly for his family.

In the Knoxnews article, the report:

[TVA spokeswoman Nancy] Mitchell said she did not know where the man was from, “but I’m assuming (he was) fairly local,” she said. [Source, Knoxnews, ID released on jumper killed at "Bluffs"]

Knoxville is a small town. When I read about someone around my age passing away, I google them to see if I knew them. In 30 seconds of reading the Knoxnews article, I knew exactly where the deceased lived and thanks to Streetviews can tell you the style and color of his house. Yes, this could a different person with the same name but based upon the search results, I highly doubt it. The article also states "his next of kin were notified between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday" which seems contradictory to Nancy Mitchell’s statement. Poor reporting? or poor release of information by TVA?

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I’m hot for your spam

I just received this spam in email and it is so bad that I’m actually tempted to reply!

hello
My name is tessy.I saw your structuretoday and became intrested in you, I shall like to know also you more, andI want, that you have sent e-mail to my e-mail address, thus I can give you mypicture for you, that the nobility, whom I. Here – my e-mail addressI believe, that we can move from here. I wait for your mail to my e-mailaddress above. (Remeber the distance or color has no value, but
business oflove alot in a life),Please my love sends you an e-mail address to this my e-mail .kiss and love please contact me in is my mail

My reply should be something like:

hi.tessy
you are emailtoday generated me hot.for you. Please sends mypicture for your mail to my e-mailaddress above.I wishes to use my .tongue of imtaciy inyer arm puts of arousal zones, and massages you of my eyebals .kiss nd love please contact me is my mail.

What in the world do these spammers expect?

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TypeTypeType

We interrupt this regular scheduled blogging for programming. I’m dragging. I must bring coffee back into this house. I wonder how sickly those energy drinks makes one feel. Must break to juggle and get some oxygen back into my blood.

On a side note, I got the boys sent off to Boy Scout camp this morning. They are lined up for a week of horseback riding, swimming, canoeing, leather work, first aid studies, wood working and archery. They should have a blast! The at the end of the week, Tommy has freshman orientation. Now we need a miracle to happen so we can find a baby sitter for the three and six year old and the two dogs for Friday.

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Coding requires concentration

I spent half my day on the phone and half the day coding. Some of the time I spent on the phone I was also coding but that is akin to driving and reading a book at the same time–neither gets done very well and something is likely to go wrong.

On a personal note, I have finally, after nearly four decades, learned how to spell bureaucracy!

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Their typo causing grief

While I was getting ready to prepare dinner, someone drove up to my house and said, "I don’t mean to sound insensitive but I saw on the Internet that this house may be up for sale." He failed. That did sound terribly insensitive and lowly. See, the mortgage company has misplaced some of my payments. Fortunately, I always use Western Union for mortgage payments making transactions very traceable. I call department A and they say, "Oh yes, department B has make an error. I can see it here." Corrections are supposedly made and I am told to call back in 72 hours. The next day department B calls and refers me to department A and the cycle repeats. Of course, in the meantime, this has not stopped department B from bringing in lawyers and threatening foreclosurestarting foreclosure proceedings complete with setting an auction date.

I understand people go through misfortune, and other people will take advantage of that misfortune to make a buck or two, but how greedy do you have to be to approach a family during their dinner before their house is even in foreclosure? I guess tomorrow the mortgage company and I need to get this straightened out. "Lowry! We’ve got another one."

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Spam on Reality Me out of control

This weekend I plan to get a little aggressive with controlling spam on Reality Me. Most of it gets blocked but I get so much spam traffic that my Spam Karma logs regularly reach 70MB or more. If you find yourself unable to reach Reality Me, I may have been too aggressive. Just email me at juggler@gmail.com or Twitter @djuggler or Skype djuggler.

How do I plan to fight the spam? Mostly with apache. I’ll post details.

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A brief pause

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a bureaucratic pause. Tasks: a) convince a creditor that they have misapplied my payments and to back their lawyers off, b) figure out how to get Cathy’s last name updated with Social Security without having to drive to Illinois, and c) figure out what’s not happening with FASFA. Bets? 30 minutes or 6 hours on the phone?

Update: a) done until tomorrow when I have to call them again. b) Cathy got taken care of (hurrah! Super woman!) c) next.

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Bring Me A Rock

When talking about software development and software quality assurance processes, I love to talk about the "Bring me a rock!" scenario. I found these renderings of a rock rather amusing. Of course, there are no coffee grounds in the house so that could be a contributing factor in the humor.

I also enjoy talking about delivering a baby in one month by using nine women. And I love the ugly baby syndrome. But those are for later.