slimster.net

I have had a number of instances where I create a post only to have it scraped and pre-dated by another blog aggregator. In some instances the scraped post ranks higher than my original post.

Hopefully the Wordpress update will fix that issue. In the meantime, I want to get this auto broker site crawled as I’m doing a little bartering with this guy and I need Google take note of the site without image text. And this is a good test to follow the path of scraper bot because this particular site has zero inbound links or link associations. So, here ya go, scraping software, let’s see if I can track your steps…

I’m not sure how the national news plays it, but Georgia has been suffering from a severe drought for several months. We have also been under a water ban for some time and it is evident from the dry landscape. Personally, I would rather not water my lawn in the first place, so I haven’t had to change my behavior much. My water bills have increased from around $30 to upwards of $50 a month. But that’s not a big price to pay, in my opinion.

However, this month my water bill was $754.00! Say what!? How could this be? I checked and rechecked the water bill and I noticed that this month’s bill was an “estimate”. An estimate based on what, exactly? And why an estimation? I looked further.

There was a small note on my bill that said that the meter could not be read because it was “covered with landscape”. If I’m going to suffer a 1500% increase in my water bill because of a landscape malfunction, I had better fix this problem quickly.

The image below shows the state of my water meter and the “landscape” problem. A dusting of pine needles? Give me a break, Dekalb County! Get out of the truck, lift the metal plate, and read the freakin’ meter. Being lazy and/or incompetent is no excuse to gouge customers.

The best degree from the greatest institution in the world means very little in the face of experience. Just because someone can conduct a train, doesn’t mean they can pilot a plane.

My dad is one of the smartest people I have ever met and he doesn’t have a degree of any kind. But he listens. (He is also a natural math genius, but that’s a different story.) Like many successful people, he learns by doing and he has done plenty. Two of the smartest programmers I have ever met do not have college degrees. Yet somehow, the basics escape so many who have the advanced Pedigree.

If you don’t succeed the first time, try and try again. But for heaven’s sake TRY A DIFFERENT APPROACH!

I don’t normally care about Kid Rock or what he does with his life. But when one of my friends is out hanging with the rockster while his is in town to perform at the Tabernacle – now that perks my interest. When I hear that people were taken to jail, wow-wee!

After hearing the story, it appears that Kid Rock ended up in jail essentially because he is Kid Rock (well, that and the violence). And it’s not like he acted like Ray Lewis, he was really just trying to eat in peace. While Bob (Kid Rock) and his entourage were munching out at the Waffle House they were, of course, recognized. But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Conversations were nice and acquaintances were catching up when a drunk, out of control rap wannabe started barking profanities at a woman who had been talking with the Kid. After many rounds of this degrading name calling, and requests for Waffle House management to call the cops, the drunk was eventually escorted outside.

That’s when things got crazy. The drunk man didn’t leave. Instead, he pulled down his pants, gestured, yelled, ranted and carried on just outside the window where Kid Rock was trying to eat, a mere 1/2″ inch away on the other side of a glass window. The drunk man ultimately punched the window and shattered it, further ruining everyone’s already disrupted meal. No one likes shattered glass with their scrambled eggs. It was this event, this attack, that gave rise to the altercation.

How should one respond to this level of violence in light of non-existent Waffle House security? In lieu of any timely intervention by the authorities, apparently an ass-whipping was warranted, and justified (ok, maybe not justified, but certainly earned).

It is a shame that the ATL proved to be a crappy experience for Kid Rock. Even worse, it is insane that no cops would come arrest a drunken maniac in a timely fashion. But they would show up and chase down Kid Rock’s giant tour bus once the violence was over.

Waffle House will probably make tons of money selling their security video. The drunken man will likely be forgotten. But Kid Rock and his group will end up with mug shot memories of Atlanta, all because a madman decided to attack them.