Why I'm Now Moderating Comments

I've been getting a bunch of sexual spam comments lately.  When someone posts a comment I can see the comment three different ways:

1.  I see the comment itself.  (This doesn't work well for comments on old posts.)

2. I get an email telling me there's a comment, who it's from, and what it says.

3. There's a blogger page where I can see all the comments.

So I've been spending five or ten minutes a day removing these sexual comments.  They're just inappropriate for this blog.  They usually aren't up too long, certainly not over 24 hours at the most.  But taking them down quickly doesn't seem to deter the spammers.  

So I figure with the comments moderated (they don't go up until I say they can) I'm hoping that they give up and find other prey.  I changed the setting Monday and there were some yesterday and four more waiting for moderation.  

This post is for readers who comment now and then.  You won't see your comment until I get around to checking. (I don't get emails for comments now - I have to check on the blog.)  I hope after a week or two the spammers who have pushed me to take this action will have given up.  Then I'll turn off moderation of comments.  

Thanks for your patience.  

Some Impeachment Cleansing - Old Post On Confucius And Thomas Jefferson

Serendipity plays a big role intros blog.  I got an email from someone who claims to be an English teacher praising an old post of mine and linking to her blog.  It has the normal SEO (Search Engine Optimization) fingerprints, but I did look at the link to my blog in the email.  I didn't see any naturally connections to her theme, but the page did include this four year old post about a movie on Confucius and also Thomas Jefferson useful for Trump induced brain damage. 

Think of this as an attempt to reset our national political/moral thermostat to normal and away from the crazy settings the Trump administration has reset it to.  Or think of it as a lozenge for the political sore throat Trump has given us all.  

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Something For Alaska And US Majority Leaders To Think About

 This comes from the movie Confucius. (孔子 (Kong Zi) Director: Mei Hu).

Confucius consents to an audience with the royal consort of Wei against the wishes of his disciples.  She has a reputation as a beautiful woman with a sketchy past and she clearly is intent on seducing the great scholar.

She starts off by asking about the Book of Odes, and the love poetry in it.

Screen shot from Confucius. (孔子 (Kong Zi) Director: Mei Hu)

He politely rejects her request to become his student and to meet again.  She then asks about his theories of government. 

Screen shots from Confucius. (孔子 (Kong Zi) Director: Mei Hu)

Screen shots from Confucius. (孔子 (Kong Zi) Director: Mei Hu)

Screen shots from Confucius. (孔子 (Kong Zi) Director: Mei Hu)

While there is much about Confucian teaching that is problematic today - particularly his rigid hierarchical power structure and his low regard for women - there is also much of use to our political leaders today.

I'd note that Thomas Jefferson, one of the inspirations of the Tea Party,  was something of a China scholar.  From a scholarly paper "Thomas Jefferson's Incorporating Positive Elements From Chinese Civilization" by Dave Wan. 
(Note that the poem Jefferson clips out in the passage below, is the one referred to by the Royal Consort of Wei in the film - "The Book of Odes."  The poem is a tribute to the Prince of Wei - several hundred years prior to Confucius.)

"Founding Inspiration from the Confucius’ Classics

       In the nineteenth century intellectuals in the United States often enjoyed creating personal scrapbooks, in which they would cut out their “favorite newspaper articles and poems” and past “them onto the backs of old letters to create a sort of personal literary anthology.”  None of us will feel surprised to know that Thomas Jefferson, “an Enlightenment intellectual,” created a scrapbook in his own way. Some time from 1801-1809 Jefferson included in the section of his scrapbook titled Poems of the Nations an ancient Chinese poem from The Book of Odes. His love of the poem provides us with a window through which we can look into his efforts to learn from Chinese culture. What he wanted to learn from the poem?

       Below is Jefferson’s clipping of the poem:

                                           A Very Ancient Chinese Ode
Translated by John Collegins seq
Quoted in the To Hio of Confuciues
(….from a manuscript presented in the Bodlein Library )

SEE! how the silvery river glides,
And leaves' the fields bespangled sides !
Hear how the whispering breeze proceeds!
Harmonious through the verdant reeds!
Observe our prince thus lovely shine!
In him the meek-ey'd virtues join!
Just as a patient carver will, Hard ivory model by his skill,
So his example has impress'd Benevolence in every b[re]ast;
Nice hands to the rich gems, behold,
Impart the gloss of burnish'd gold:
Thus he, in manners, goodly great,
Refines the people of his state. True lenity,
how heavenly fair !
We see it while it threatens,—spare!
What beauties in its open face!
In its deportment—what a grace!
Observe our prince thus lovely shine!
In him the meek-ey'd virtues join!
His mern'ry of eternal prime,
Like truth, defies the power of time!

       The poem pays tribute to Prince Wei from the State of Wei, who was loved, respected and remembered by the people of his state. Confucius (551-479 BC) highly praised Prince Wei, described in the poem, when he quoted this poem in his famous book, The Great Learning, to provide a standard to inspire other princes and leaders of various states to follow. Confucius said,

In the Book of Ode, ‘Ah! The former kings are not forgotten’ Future princes deem worthy what they deemed worthy, and love what they loved. The common people delighted in what they delighted them, and are benefited by their beneficial arrangements. It is on this account that the former kings, after they have quitted the world, are not forgotten."

Important themes that we should remember from Confucius is his emphasis on ethics, on education, on harmony and treating people with respect and taking care of the poor and less fortunate. 

Just something to think about on a cloudy Saturday.


____________________________
I don't particularly recommend this film as a film.  But as an easy (and visually beautiful) overview of the life of Confucius it will do.   It tends to give us a series of vignettes of his life,  with very little character development.   The two actors in these screenshots are (from Wikipedia):

• Chow Yun-fat as Confucius or Kong Qui, also known by the honorary title Zhong Ni.
• Zhou Xun as Nanzi, the royal consort of Wei.

Zhou Xun was in Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002) a film very much worth seeing.  She was also in Cloud Atlas.  

Recruiting Vampires

When I was in college a good friend from high school married a total jerk.  I was studying in Germany that year and I think I restrained myself from sending a card that just said, "Don't."  She was divorced not too long after the wedding.  At our 20th or 25th  high school reunion I asked her if anything could have stopped her.  She said her father was abusing her at home and it was the only way she could see to get out of the house.

So desperate people do desperate things.  They answer recruiting ads from ISIS.  They join the army.  They join Christian cults.  They take drugs.

If your family believes every word in the bible is true and all the people you socialize with believe the same and you go to a Christian school that teaches the earth is 6000 years old, and you are presented material like this 'proof' of the biblical age of the earth, well, it's easy to believe.  It's not any harder to believe than immaculate conception and that Christ arose from the dead.

The dangers of vaccination if packaged right can also cause people to keep their kids from being vaccinated.

Ignorance and desperation together make people susceptible to any propaganda - like the pizza parlor based human trafficking ring,  or that climate change is a hoax, or that world will end when Christ returns to earth, though some Christians debate whether there will be a 'rapture.'

So while I was amused at first to see comments on this blog recruiting people to become vampires, I got got concerned, but also curious.  Most of these comments go to a post called, The Vampire History of Alaska.  I mark them spam as soon as I get them.  They tend to look like this one which came from someone in Accra, Ghana:

"Good Day,
Do You Want To Be A Vampire?
Been A Vampire Will Make You
• Make Stronger.
• Think Faster.
• World Famous
• Will Never Experience Suffering Anymore In Your Life.
• Can Never Be Oppressed By Anyone
• Above All You Will Live Very Long on Earth And Be Protected All Through Your Life.
For More Info About Been A Vampire & If You Interested On Been A Vampire Kindly Contact This Email
Contact Me: realvampire.......@xxxxxx.xxx" 

Here's the info stat counter offers me for each person who comes to the site.  This is the detailed page for the vampire comment above.

Many of them look more like this:

Gina has left a new comment on your post "Vampire History of Alaska - Why You Should Vote Ye...":
DO YOU WANT TO BE A VAMPIRE OR YOU WANT POWERS AND PROTECTION COME AND BE AMONG THE VAMPIRES KINGDOM TODAY AND YOU GET WHAT EVER YOU DESIRE CONTACT LORD GUMBALA AT ( . . . vampire . . . @x x x x x  )
Welcome to ( Gumbala Vampire Kingdom). Do you want to be a vampire,still in human,having talented brain turning to a vampire in a good posture in ten minutes to a human again, with out delaying in a good human posture. A world of vampire where life get easier,we have made so many persons vampires and have turned them rich,you will assured long life and prosperity,you shall be made to be very sensitive to mental alertness,stronger and also very fast,you will not be restricted to walking at night only even at the very middle of broad day light you will be made to walk, this is an opportunity to have the human vampire virus to perform in a good posture.if you are interested contact us on . . .vampire. . .@gmail.com 

I was tempted to email and ask about how many people respond to these comments, but I have lots of other things to do and I'd rather not get targeted by vampire recruiters.

Fortunately, The Bloggess did contact a vampire recruiter in 2017 and did a great job of engaging the recruiter.  You can read all that here. 

Emails Bloggers Get

Here's a bit of behind the scenes blog stuff.

"Hi Steve,
I came across your site while looking for resources for our next blog and I knew I had to reach out immediately, kudos on a fantastic blog. My name is Vincent, and I'm reaching out on behalf a leading construction industry supplier who operates in the same marketplace as Travis Perkins.
This month, we're looking to secure sponsorship placements with five prominent blogs and your site jumped straight to the top of our list. Would you also be willing to accept link placements on pre-existing content on your site?
Please let me know if this is something you're interested in discussing further.
Kind regards,
Vincent"

I get stuff like this now and again.  Despite the personal touches and "five prominent blogs" I know these go out to hundreds or thousands of blogs.  This one at least takes the step of finding out and using my name.

The fact that I don't have  ads - perhaps that is attractive to someone that just wants links.  Notice there is no offer of payment, but they do offer to put links to my site.

Rest assured, readers, my only interest in stuff like this is as a reporter.  I'm always curious about who does this, what they expect to get, whether they get what they expect, and the mechanics of how they identify blogs to contact.

Should I get an offer for something that I think would be of interest to my readers, I would make it very clear to the readers why it was posted, where it came from, and what, if anything, I was offered in exchange.

Here's another one from this week:

"Good Morning,
I have been sober for 2 years and I am passionate about sharing my story, as a mom in recovery, through writing and reaching out to other websites looking to do the same. I have become super passionate about spreading awareness on addiction by collaborating with new organizations/blog publications, sharing my experience, strength, and hope. I also have an archive of informative/interactive guides and resources that would educate and interest your audience.
I would love the opportunity to contribute to your site with a personal story or any topic relating to addiction/recovery. If possible I'd like to post your link on my site as well. Feel free to message me with any questions, I look forward to hearing from you!
Have a great day!
Tricia Moceo"

You'll note that this is a completely generic email.  She hasn't even taken the time to get my name.  Nevertheless, I did google her and found a few posts.

One phrase struck me:  "I’d indulge in books."  Wow, I never thought of reading as indulging.  I guess there are some genres where reading could be seen as indulging.  I emailed her on Dec. 14 to ask her to explain what she meant.  And she did.  Quickly.

"Thanks for taking the time to read over some of my work. I didn't particularly intend to convey a negative connotation with that statement. The context was more of an example of the progression and how my addictive nature was present long before I ever picked up a drink or drug. For as long as I can remember, oblivion was my solution. To escape reality, I would read book after book. I got lost in the plot, completely disassociating from the world I was living in. Furthermore, the same desired effect that I got from reading and escaping... I also got from drugs and alcohol."

And yet another - this one has sent me three messages now:

12/18/2018 11:18PM 

Hi Steve,
I reached out last week but haven't heard back so I wanted to try one last time. Is there an opportunity to sponsor a post on your site?
Please see my initial email below.
Best wishes,
Vincent 

On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 8:20 AM, Vincent Greene <xxxxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Steve,
I reached out last week but haven't heard back. I wanted to see if there was an opportunity to sponsor a post on your site.
Please see my initial email below.
Best wishes,
Vincent 

On Fri, Dec 7, 2018 at 8:22 AM, Vincent Greene <xxxxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
I came across your site while looking for resources for our next blog and I knew I had to reach out immediately, kudos on a fantastic blog. My name is Vincent, and I'm reaching out on behalf a leading construction industry supplier who operates in the same marketplace as Travis Perkins.
This month, we're looking to secure sponsorship placements with five prominent blogs and your site jumped straight to the top of our list. Would you also be willing to accept link placements on pre-existing content on your site?
Please let me know if this is something you're interested in discussing further.
Kind regards,
Vincent

Don't want emails from us anymore? Reply to this email with the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.

And then there are helpful emails, like this one:

Hello,
I was reading your page and found a broken link referring to the 'Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt' Supreme Court's decision.
Your Page: http://whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2016/06/
Dead link title: 'click here'
Dead link: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/15-274_p8k0.pdf
image.png
It looks like the document no longer exists, and after browsing for a while, I was able to find the same document in PDF format here:
Working link: http://templatelab.com/whole-womans-health-v-hellerstedt/
Maybe you could update the link on your page to help other users.
Have a great day,
Anna

I quickly made the updates.  

Canada's New Anti-Spam Law and Supreme Court First Nations Land Claims Decision

Driving back to Alaska means seeing the world through Canadian eyes for several days.  A couple of big stories include a Supreme Court decision in favor of First Nations land rights that seems to have major consequences.  From the CBC:

The Supreme Court decision on Thursday granting the land claim of a B.C. First Nation is not only a game-changer for many aboriginal communities across the country, but also for the government and the resource industries.

• First Nations 'ecstatic' over historic Supreme Court ruling
• Visit CBC Aboriginal

The unanimous ruling granted the Tsilhqot’in First Nation title to a 1,700-square-kilometre area of traditional land outside its reserve, marking the end of a decades-long battle.
But it also clarified major issues such as how to prove aboriginal title and when consent is required from aboriginal groups, which will affect negotiations on major projects such as the Northern Gateway pipeline.

And Tuesday, which also happens to be Canada Day, a Canadian anti-spam law takes effect.  From the government's anti-spam legislation website:

When the new law is in force, it will generally prohibit the:

• sending of commercial electronic messages without the recipient's consent (permission), including messages to email addresses and social networking accounts, and text messages sent to a cell phone;
• alteration of transmission data in an electronic message which results in the message being delivered to a different destination without express consent;
• installation of computer programs without the express consent of the owner of the computer system or its agent, such as an authorized employee;
• use of false or misleading representations online in the promotion of products or services;
• collection of personal information through accessing a computer system in violation of federal law (e.g. the Criminal Code of Canada); and
• collection of electronic addresses by the use of computer programs or the use of such addresses, without permission (address harvesting).

Michael Geist at the Toronto Star looks at three issues people have with the new law, and points out that some of their issues suggest they may not be in compliance with a previous anti-spam law.

We're in the Skeena Bakery in New Hazelton.  We watched loons and swallows and redwing blackbirds at Tyhee Lake this morning early.  [Pictures up now here.] On up the Cassiar Highway when we leave here.

"Welcome to the World of Miracles and Wonders" and Other Spam Comments

There's a lot of spam comments you don't see. They are caught by the Blogspot spam filter. And then there are those that get through, but I move into the spam box as soon as I see them. A while back I decided to save some and share them with you. Spam comments have gotten more sophisticated and, generally, the English has improved.

Mostly they tell me how nice, superb, amazing, or whatever the site is.

Then they want you to check out their site.  Sometimes, but not often, this is really just someone trying to get more hits on their personal site.  Usually it's from an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) company trying to get more hits for a commercial client.

I think my favorite among these is "I have an excited synthetic eye with regard to detail. . ."

Then there was the series of comments that give a first hand account of how good this particular Indian escort service was for him.  I even got some of these from China!  Imagine, India is outsourcing to China.  Bizarre.

Enjoy.  These come from Blogspot's list of my spam comments.  They cut out any links in the text, but they leave links in the id.  But I've removed them.  The links still there are to the posts on my blog that they were posted to.  

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Who's Calling From 1 800 816 3521?

Today I got a call from  1 800 816 3521 and chose not to answer.  They left no number.  So I googled.

The site that had something that looked the most authentic was everycall.us.  It had this chart and then comments below.

Doesn't tell a lot, but it's consistent with the comments I saw from people posting about calls from this number on other websites.  Most comments seem to be around October and early November 2012 - the last presidential election.  Others say they've gotten calls from non-profits.   They don't seem to leave a message.  Some report they ask for someone by name, but then hang up.  Others say they are pushing a particular client or ballot measure or a charity. 

The everycall site offers a device to block such calls from your home phone.  I have no idea who they are or how legit they are.  They have a Kickstarter campaign at the moment with a picture of a little white box that says:

"Plug into your home phone and those pesky telemarketing and robocalls just stop. The 1st crowd sourced spam blocker for the home."

 Kickstarter does screen the people that use them, so there was at least one level of scrutiny.  they have raised - as of today - $5,361 out of a target of $100,000.  There a Bellvue, Washington company, so they are in the heart of Techland, USA. 

There's a small industry popping up on the net to help people find out who is generating the annoying calls that come from 800 numbers. Here are a couple of the websites where people leave comments about 1 800 816 3521:

• Who Calls Me?
• 800 Notes

I've previously posted about 1 800 695 6950.  There I was able to find out it was a collection agency.  I also posted a link there  to the Do Not Call registry.  But that doesn't work for political calls.  And I'm not sure I want to block political calls.  I have to think through the free speech implications more.  But there is a website where people are trying to block political calls at home with a registry.  It says on there:

Join the National Political Do Not Contact Registry a non-partisan grass-roots movement to take control back by asking our elected representatives to stop calling us at home.

 Yeah, I can see them setting up the registry, but I can't imagine too many legislators limiting their right to call you at home. 

Blogger Blocks Spam Comments!

When people leave a comment on a post, I get an email notice with the comment.  Yesterday and today I got such emails.  The comments were spam and I was going to delete them, but they weren't posted.  "Did Blogger block them?" I wondered.

Today I checked Blogger settings and there's a new comment category and there's a Spam tab.  And that's where those two messages ended up.  This is a real improvement.

I'm sure there will be some legitimate comments that end up in the spam basket, but we'll be able to let them be posted.  But will I know from the email that it wasn't posted if it isn't spam and I don't go to the post to see the comments there?  I'm not sure.


Here's what blogger says when click the link "more about Blogger's spam filter."

Spam Inbox

Blogger now filters comments that are likely spam comments to a Spam Inbox, much like the spam folder in your email. When someone leaves a comment on your blog, it will be reviewed against our spam detector, and comments that are identified as possible spam will be sent to your blog’s Spam Inbox, found at Comments | Spam.
You can help improve our ability to automatically detect spam comments by checking your Spam Inbox and deleting spam comments and marking real comments that may have been flagged as spam as Not Spam.
We are always seeking feedback on how to improve this feature, so please share your feedback with us by clicking on the Report Spam Filtering Issues.
If you have questions about what constitutes spam on Blogger, please review our Content Policies.

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Google Search Hits and Misses July and August 2009

I started doing these search posts some time ago because I occasionally people used interesting search terms. Then I started paying attention to how well people were directed by Google. So last time round I created the little target images and after all that work I figure I'll keep using them.

From my small sample, it seems that the worst 'hits' are those where google finds all the right words, but they are in different posts, so in fact the searcher really doesn't get to something she was looking for. When you are searching you can tell this if the terms you are looking for are separated by . . . It seems to mean they're on the same blog, but in different posts. There are some examples below. Usually people want the words together. But if Google is going to keep doing this, the least they could do is retrieve all the posts they found words from.

It is nice to know that some people find exactly what they were looking for - some information that I've gathered together, particularly if no one else has it. What's really, really frustrating is when I have exactly what they are looking for, but Google sends them to something else. So here's a sampling of the last two months.

Bulls-eye

Thai word for elephant - Bingo. No, that's not the Thai word for elephant, but it's in the post this person got to about the Thai elephant conservation center. Both in English letters and Thai.


can you leave the senate to become a governor - This went to a post about Senator Murkowski running for the Governorship of Alaska.

what are mimes saying - Since they generally aren't saying anything (audible) this is an interesting question from someone from New Zealand. And, remarkably, he got to a post about mime Bill Bowers who did a performance piece where he talked about being a mime. So this looks like a pretty good fit.


lol in thai - another one right in the center of the target. It got to my post entitled, "lol in Thai." I'm sure there are a few people wondering what lol means in English. (Laughing Out Loud.) The Thai version is much better.

puffins murres in sealife center alaska - This one got to a post with pictures from the sealife center which has a picture of a puffin, of a murre, and even one with both a puffin and a murre.

how much does a director at conocophilips get paid - This query came from a Board of Trade and Industry server in London and got to a chart of top Conoco Philips salaries.

these were one of the most common sights in thailand buffalo replace by tracter - This person probably got exactly what he was looking for. A post about how Thai water buffalo had been replaced by tractors, with pictures of water buffaloes 40 years ago.

Close

meteor shower tonight what time singapore - Well, I had a post on meteor shower tonight and I had other posts that mentioned Singapore. But nothing that combined them. Also had people looking for the same thing in Malaysia.

obama amputates the invisible hand - hmmmm. My post didn't blame Obama, it was just Who cut off that invisible hand? I think my post didn't say what they wanted to hear. Good.

who left u.s. senate to become governor? I had the NPR’s political junkie show on Talk of the Nation in the background and they have a trivia question each week. That week’s question was about Kay Baily Hutchinson quitting the US Senate to run for governor of Texas against the sitting Republican governor. The question was "who was the last US Senator to quit to run for governor against an incumbent of the same party?" Well, my post on Frank Murkowski leaving the Senate to run for Governor didn’t quite answer that question for them. But when I looked to see where the query came from, it was from National Public Radio in Washington DC.

holier-than-thou types - Sometimes I find out that something happened or someone, somewhere said something because I get a rash of searches for the same term. On August 31 I got about ten from various parts of the country for this term, including one from the Naval Command Control & Ocean Surveillance Center in Virginia Beach. I'm not sure why they were all looking for this - I checked the Google search and found nothing that I could connect with this - so I'm not sure if they got exactly what they were looking for, but they did get to a post called Some Context on Holier Than Thou Types.


A Real Stretch

famous people born during solar eclipse - (from New Delhi) I don't think the post on famous people born in 1908 mentioned anyone born during a solar eclipse.


italy visitor center - This was an image search. I get a fair number of people searching images, but I don't usually get to see what search term they used. But I do get to see what picture they got. This person got to Singapore archive pages that has a zillion pictures from Singapore including one post with a picture of the Singapore Visitors Center. This was at least six or seven pages into the search so I guess when the person didn't find what he was looking for on Italy he was willing to look at Singapore. It is a cool picture.

dehydrated spice pills - as it turns out the post on dehydrated beer also contains the words "spice" and "pill."

beer out of cottonwood buds - got to my buds, which included a picture of cottonwood buds, but no beer.

bad feng shui 6 years gap in family ox and sheep - What was this one about? It came from the Philippines. What Do I Know? was #1 out of 868 google hits - my post on the difference between oxen and cows (this is the year of the ox) had every search term except '6' and 'family.'

Supreme Court adjustable microphone - This got to a post on a Karen hill tribe celebration to open a fire break in Northern Thailand. This post highlights the many things they made with bamboo, including an adjustable microphone stand. And then they got the word 'court' from a totally different post about the L.A. County Courthouse. This came up number 4 out of almost 3,000 hits. Note those three dots . . . that separate the different posts.

What Do I know?: Fire Break Ceremony Chiang Dao 3 - Bamboo
It's a fully adjustable microphone stand. There's a smaller piece of bamboo ... Lakers Celebration Traffic on Way to Court · Downtown LA and the County ...
www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/.../fire-break-ceremony-chiang-dao-3-bamboo.html - Cached - Similar -

things for german people to do in idaho - Why not? This was from someone in Denver, who, maybe had German guests coming. The post this got to probably saved him a lot of trouble, it's the one that said that Idaho doesn't exist. It did mention Germany in the post and had stuff on philosophy too.



You Missed This One Google


Hindus in Anchorage - This got to a post called Anchorage as an Abusive Family which has the word Hindus in it. But there is also a post about the Hindu temple in Anchorage which would seem much more on point. This is the kind I mentioned above that are so frustrating.

how to grow tamarind seeds and photo - Another example of getting the searcher to the wrong post. They got to a post on tamarind trees with pictures, but I had a more recent one titled "Growing Tamarind Seeds" with a photo. I'm not sure I gave a lot of advice on how to grow tamarind seeds, but I can tell you from sad experience that once they're up, it helps to keep watering. I've got two now that I'm hoping will come back. I’ve added an update and link to the newer post. But too late for this visitor.

Facts about 1500 - This got to the post about my 1500th sitemeter hit. I'm sure that wasn't what the searcher was looking for. But it did stir me to do a new 'contest' to reward the 123,456th visitor.

black&wait sex - Probably not Google's fault. The searcher needs to spell better. My guess is they were looking for 'black and white.' Here's where a human is better than a machine. Here's the Google blurb the person found:

What Do I know?: Robert Lapage's The Blue Dragon in Berkeley
12 Jun 2009 ... We didn't have the stage simply go black and wait as actors moved ... Hunger - and three other movies · Sex in the Sun - Shameless Blog ...

These are totally different posts, so there was no black&wait sex anywhere in my blog.


repetitive beat ordinance - Not sure what they were looking for, but they got to a post that really had nothing to do with it, except it had the word ordinance. Here's what they found on Google.

What Do I know?: Anti-Sanctuary Ordinance Buried Indefinitely
As for my husband's anti-crime ordinance, what don't you understand? ... Personal insults, rambling tirades,repetitive comments will be blocked. ...
www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/.../anti-sanctuary-ordinance-buried.html - Cached - Similar -


xray tech murders doctor east los angeles,ca - This was a Yahoo search, not Google. They got this blurb:

yahoo search What Do I know?
Ed Feo Partner, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, LLP, Los Angeles CA ... The xray tech said he couldn't interpret for me, but it was pretty clear the ...
whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/?widgetType=BlogArchive&widgetId=BlogA... - 219k - Cached

The words "Los Angeles," and "xray tech" are on my blog, but not together on the pages they linked to.


what does the number 85 mean in a person's life - They got to a post about a sign at the Moose's Tooth. Searching the page there was no 85 at all. A few of the other words showed up in the right column of the blog, but not in the post. This looks like an absolute and total miss. I looked at the Google Search this person got and couldn’t even find What Do I Know? in the search results. So maybe it was a one time mistake on their part.




Does Google Have a Sense of Humor?


Not this time around. They even accused What Do I Know? of being a spam blog and threatened to shut it down. Is it because there's a recent post that talks about spam? Or as one commenter suggested, someone marked this blog as spam?

Spam Blog?

I got the following email today:

Hello, Your blog at: http://whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/ has been identified as a potential spam blog. To correct this, please request a review by filling out the form at http://www.blogger.com/unlock-blog.g?lockedBlogID=30897652 Your blog will be deleted in 20 days if it isn't reviewed, and your readers will see a warning page during this time. After we receive your request, we'll review your blog and unlock it within two business days. Once we have reviewed and determined your blog is not spam, the blog will be unlocked and the message in your Blogger dashboard will no longer be displayed. If this blog doesn't belong to you, you don't have to do anything, and any other blogs you may have won't be affected. We find spam by using an automated classifier. Automatic spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and occasionally a blog like yours is flagged incorrectly. We sincerely apologize for this error. By using this kind of system, however, we can dedicate more storage, bandwidth, and engineering resources to bloggers like you instead of to spammers. For more information, please see Blogger Help: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42577 Thank you for your understanding and for your help with our spam-fighting efforts. Sincerely, The Blogger Team P.S. Just one more reminder: Unless you request a review, your blog will be deleted in 20 days. Click this link to request the review: http://www.blogger.com/unlock-blog.g?lockedBlogID=30897652

[The above copied as an html table and on my computer the right side is cut off. But I think you can get the gist without have to read every word so I don't think it is worth the time to fix it.]

Of course I was suspicious that this was just a phishing scam. In fact, a google bot had been by twice today looking up phishing scam on my blog. But I figured I could follow the link and see where it took me. If it was phishing, it was far more sophisticated and grammatically correct than most I get.

That led me to this page:

It looked to be a real blogger site, it didn't ask for any information, it already had my email, so I've sent it in.

So, if I disappear, this is why. Hopefully their systems work and I won't disappear. But I do now have to put in word verification to post on my own blog.