[OT] Real life is always stranger than fiction

[Jon 'maddog' Hall]

This morning I had a call from the Arizona State Police.  They were
calling about a person who had a fraud perpetrated against them through
an email hosting site, and they wanted to find out who owned the site so
they could find out who had registered at the site, etc.

The email hosting site had the name "Linux" in it, so they naturally
called me, due to my connection with Linux International.  The Detective
was quick to say that they did not think that Linux International was
involved, but the detective was looking for help.

So I went to "whois" and looked up the name and address of the person
who had registered the email portal and found out that they were in Hong
Kong.

/* Here is where it gets spooky */

As I read off the address, I realized there was a typo in the street
address.  It read:

        Admin Street1:XXth Floor, B2B Centre #36 Con
        Admin Street2:naught Road West

and I realized there was a TYPO in the address.  I have been to Hong
Kong several times, and there is no "naught Road West", but there is a
"Connaught Road West".  I have even been on that Road.  So without even
looking it up, I gave the Detective the right address.

Now if in 1959 you had told a little kid in the third grade of
Lutherville Elementary School in Lutherville, Maryland, USA that from
his desk in Amherst, New Hampshire he would be able to tell a police
detective in Sonoma, Arizona the proper address of a building in Hong
Kong because he had been there TWICE, that kid would never have believed
you.

So the next time your kids tell you "I will never go there", or "I will
never need that information", or "Why should I learn this", you can
bring up this little story.

You never know what you will need to know in the future, and the world
is truly "flat".

Warmest regards,

maddog