I once went to an military exhibition in Germany to present a computer graphics card on a booth run by the company I was working for. It was before the days of the EU, and I had to get the card signed through each international border on the way on a "Carnet" - what a hassle. So I was pretty d**n proud of the product I was presenting after all that hassle, even if the majority of visitors to the show had no interest what so ever in any computer products.

Two stands over was the salesman who specialised in injured mannequins. It seems that army surgeons need to practise patching up wounded soldiers before a battle, so this guy would sell them an anatomically correct dummy with (say) a broken arm and shrapnel wounds to the chest. And this was his life. I had the - pleasure - of staying in the same hotel and spent one evening in the bar listening to his tales of gruesome models and his life selling them.

I don't know where that guy is now. He doesn't know where I am. He certainly doesn't write to me regularly to offer to sell me his latest line in realistically-bleeding plastic squaddies, and I don't write to him to come on a Python course. So why do so many people I've never met keep writing to me offering me cheap software, Steaks, impotence and weight cures, and the rest? I know there are a lot of very earnest people out there but - really - spam has gotten beyond a nuisance!

Perhaps this post is "old hat". Spam's been around a while and we filter out, literally, thousands of unwanted emails a day. But it's breathtaking just how fast this little "Horse's Mouth" corner of our website picked up its first "comment spam". It took less that 2 weeks, and a post I made concerning driving licenses was followed up (for some reason ...) with a message about finding adult friends.

Comments / discussions here are VERY welcome. No promise of free speech, but as a moderator I err on the side of leaving thing alone and listening to related views - sharing the richness of diversity. Alas, I have flicked a switch that means that people's first comments, at least, come to me for approval before they appear. Sad, but modern times, I guess.

(written 2004-08-19 12:05:15)

 

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Skills and responsibilities
Falling out over the silliest things
two plus two equals seven
Not two the same
interesting products and subjects
Wanted - more hours in the day
Differing tastes
Python training
90 to 10 or 80 to 20 rule
London - Most expensive city??
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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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