When Bots Attack

I live along the Fall Line which is where the shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean was 65 million years ago. It is a 20 mile wide band that cuts between North and South Georgia. It gets it's name because of the number of waterfalls created by the rapid drop in elevation from the crystalline granitic soils and rocks of North Georgia to the sandy coastal plains of South Georgia.

It is also called the gnat line. Gnats live in the sandy soils of South Georgia.

Flint River out of it's banks on the bluff side

Gnats are really pesky.

I had a student one time that the normally reserved assistant principal who was a deacon at his church called a gnat. A student who broke his leg by pulling on a soda machine which is like a big refrigerator down on himself when he began high school. He was shaking it vigorously in hopes of getting a free soda.

I knew a woman who looked at times like she slept and rolled in horse manure. She had a crazy looking net over her head one day. I thought what a tacky hat.  I bought several to use in the summer. I hate gnats.

I do try to keep myself looking presentable. In all fairness, this woman worked all day in her horse barn. Which comes to mind, why is it when you look like an unmade bed in public, you will run into the preacher and most anyone you want to be presentable in front of? The fact that I get quite dirty working in my gardens baffled this woman. She hated planting flowers.

The internet is a fascinating place with gnats called bots. I will suddenly get 517 hits. The hits originate in Russia. I understand it is not uncommon for the hits to have originated in the United States or Western Europe with a Russian address.

I googled what the purpose of a bot was. Essentially they look for a weakness in your website so they can hack it. I wonder if the bots can pull a soda machine down on themselves.

Bots and gnats ubiquitous and unbidden are real pests. I have a brother that keeps a complicated list of robocall phone numbers and reports them regularly. He can wear your ear off talking about it. As his sister, I have told him that he needs a more productive hobby and to can it.

I filled out some information to check mortgage rates. When they asked for my social security number, I stopped cold. Since then, I get an enormous amount of spam. It eases up and then comes in roars. I no longer report them to spam@uce.gov.

I had thought of collecting the return email address. They are so clever, the initial email address is mine. What I thought was to collect the email addresses and forward future spam emails to them. Literally commit email address suicide. Then I thought about my blunt lecture to my brother. So I delete.

Meanwhile, bot owners, there is a soda machine with your name on it.