How to mine data from the Internet for free

[Geek]

A few years ago I did something utterly stupid. I listened to someone's advice. Now, I don't want to sound too cynical, but really, half or more of what people tell you is, shall we say, unconsidered. They don't stop and think that they are actually telling you something that will affect what you do next, what decision you make, how you adjust your plans, or what money you spend. So random shit comes flying out of their mouth and you do it and later feel stupid.

I'm reminded of an incident some years ago. Some guy was looking for a job and was hiring. He told me we had a mutual friend, whom I'll call "Bob." (His real name was Jake.) So I went to "Bob" and asked him if he knew this guy, if he would be good to hire, and so on. "Bob" went on and on for a few minutes about how well he knew this guy, how great he was, how he'd be great to work with, bla bla bla. So I hired him.

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