April 30, 2007

Colorado's Crazy Weather:
April has always been a date for transition in Colorado. This is the month where we really leave winter behind. You're likely to see summer like temperatures, followed by snow storms, freezing, hail, thunderstorms and more.

On the 23rd and 24th of April, the weather in these parts started acting up. It all started on the 23rd of April as simple rain showers. Towards the evening of the 23rd, we were treated to some pretty flashy thunderstorms. The temps were in the high 70's and the conditions were just right for some gutter washers. An afternoon thunderstorm lit up the sky, blasted the suburbs with some heavy duty thunder and lightning, and dumped a considerable amount of rain in a short period of time. We even had some tornados move through the area. At work, they shuttled people around a bit. As the bad weather moved closer to the base, they moved people out of the modular buildings, and stopped people from working outside. None of that lasted very long...

The rain continued on and off throughout the night. As the temperatures dropped on the 24th, the weather started to change yet again. So much for the spring like conditions. With continuing rain and drizzle, we went for low 70's (Fahrenheit), to near freezing in a little under three hours. As the low pressure front continued to move in, the weather started getting worse. What had been rain began to transition. From rain to sleet, mixed with a little hail, and then to wet sloppy snow. By the time I left work at 1700, I was driving through a snow storm.

While the South Eastern end Aurora got some heavy duty snow, Denver and Western Aurora got rain and freezing rain. Out by our house, we saw approximately ten inches of the fluffy white stuff. Not all of the snow stuck, but I'd estimate that we ended up with about eight inches on the ground. Overnight, the temps dipped down below freezing, but not by much. Thankfully, we didn't have any 'killing frost'. By morning (on the 25th of April, 2007) we had six inches of snow on the ground. Here's some photographic evidence, for all of you doubting Toms.

In the morning (25 April, 2007), I cranked up the snow blower. As I cleared the driveway and sidewalks, I could feel the temperature rising. The snow didn't stick around long. Like I said, April is definitely a transition month. By the 25th, the temperatures were back up to 70 degrees, and the snow was melting fast. Very Fast! By the 26th, the temperatures got back up to 70 again. By the morning of the 27th, all the snow was gone. Over the next couple of days, the temperatures consistently reached the upper 70s. By the 29th, we had temperatures above 80 degrees! Wow — That's some crazy weather. So much for gradual change.

Handy Man:
It'll take a while, but eventually I'll become a handy man. Owning a new home brings all kinds of new responsibilities to the first time home owner, and I'm no exception. This Sunday (22 April '07) our sprinkler system gave me quite a challenge.

It's spring, and it's time to start watering the lawn. The wife wondered whether we should hire someone to get our sprinkler system back up and running for the year. "Of course not, I can handle it" was my glib reply. I had no idea that a sprinkler system could be so complicated (The mechanical aptitude score on my ASVAB test was pretty low). Unlike last year, I was actually able to figure it out all by myself. One of my neighbors tried to help, but his help wasn't particularly helpful. He recommended I open some valves that needed to be closed, but he did help to stop some leaks. Kim (my wife), on the other hand - Did help considerably. I hadn't realized that I was running the sprinklers in a 'manual bleed' mode. This was causing a undesirable pressure drop when I was testing the different zones.

In order to get the thing up and running I had to turn four levers — all in the correct position, close three valves — making sure they're open or closed in the right combination, and operate the highly complex sprinkler controls — how the hell do you program zone 'A' to start running at 6am on Monday? I still haven't got the zones programmed correctly, but I think I'll be able to figure it out - eventually...

Music collection:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. I'm still converting cassettes, and this month finds me nearing the end of this project. In January of 2007, I began a digitization project. I've been converting my old cassette collection into mp3 format. The project is going well, and I've finished the majority of the cassettes. All that remains now are LP conversions. This listing constitutes another batch of conversions. I'm bringing the 80's back to life on my Mac!

These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of April. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been starting to rediscover my appreciation for music. I really picked it up again in September of 2005. Since then I've been slowly adding, revising and updating my music collection. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email.

Fighting Spam:
Too good to be true. Back in November of 2006, I signed up for a new email service. A free 'Challenge Response' email address, where spammers have to pay money in order to send me email! I could actually make money off spammers - Imagine that! By publicly disclosing the associated email address (as of 21 Dec 2006), I was fairly certain that the email address would get scraped by spambots — and it did. By the end of April, 2007, I was receiving an average of 90 messages a month. As I indicated back in November of 2006...

Well, guess what? Too good to be true. That's the end result of this adventure. While I was under the impression that spammers couldn't use this email address without paying, the truth of the matter is - Spammers were able to send me their messages without paying anything. Boxbe collected all the spew sent my way, dumped it into a "Here's the crap you received" bin, and then sent me an email indicating that I had received email. I kept going back to this garbage heap on a regular basis, sifting through it, hoping I'd find a legitimate email. Hoping I might even find that a spammer would pay to have his messages white listed.

I was deluded. Boxbe didn't reject unpaid senders, they simply collected all the spew, while asking me to 'check it out' - 'see if you wanna keep any of it'. The challenge response messages sent to the spammers never reached the spammers. Those messages were likely sent to the 'From', 'Reply-To' or 'Return-Path' address listed on the spam. As I'm keenly aware, that address is usually (99.99999999% of the time) forged. In some cases, the address is that of an innocent victim. Someone that the spammer has targeted for reprisals (like they've done to me/a Joe-Job), or it might be the email address of someone who's computer has been compromised by a spammer. In either case. The advertisers/spammers never saw the challenge response message. If they did, do you think that they would actually pay to send me email? I don't think so!.

So - As of today, I am officially requesting that my boxbe.com address/account be deleted. I won't be using it anymore. It's a pipe dream, spammers (or legitimate advertisers) aren't going to pay to send me email, and the challenge response messages are only making this problem worse. So much for that idea. As a result of this recent development, I took the opportunity to update my Feedback page; removing the boxbe.com address and cleaning up some bloated code.

If you ever need any help figuring out a problem involving unsolicited email, or help hunting down a spammer, don't hesitate to ask for my help. I'm willing and eager to help. Just drop me an email. I'd put the email address here, but this email message is also posted online, where spammers could scrape the email off the web page. Damn those spammers!
<https://www.robsworld.org/index2.html#fightingspam>

April 26, 2007

Music collection:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. I'm still converting cassettes, and this month finds me nearing the end of this project. In January of 2007, I began a digitization project. I've been converting my old cassette collection into mp3 format. The project is going well, and I've finished the majority of the cassettes. All that remains now are a couple of stragglers, some compilations, soundtracks and LP conversions. This listing constitutes another batch of conversions. I'm bringing the 80's back to life on my Mac!

These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of April. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been starting to rediscover my appreciation for music. I really picked it up again in September of 2005. Since then I've been slowly adding, revising and updating my music collection. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email.

Movie reviews:
Just in case you didn't know, I write movie reviews. You can find my reviews here at "Rob's World!" <https://www.robsworld.org/reviews.html>. Each month I watch more than 30 movies. Throughout the month, I update these reviews, and I've slowly been working on a reviews index as well. <https://www.robsworld.org/reviewsindex.html>. Well, my movie reviews have recently moved to a new level. During the month of March, I received some free movies in the mail. Promotional copies of movies from Palm Pictures. A few months back (in December of 2006), I signed on to become an official screener/reviewer for Palm Pictures. I'm not getting paid for the reviews (yes I'm receiving free movies), and the only promise they required me to make was one of 'Honest, no-holds barred reviews'. After I finished viewing and reviewing the first five movies, I went to IMDB to post my reviews...

<rant>So, in posting my reviews at IMDB, I noticed that the IMDB 'user review guidelines' have a very ugly clause. Any reviews you post at IMDB, become the property of IMDB (this was posted in April of 2007 - guidelines may have changed since then). By posting reviews there, I had to surrender copyright ownership. That's not nice. They could have written the terms of service to grant them limited use of the review. Instead they wrote it so that they own the review. Oh, yeah. I checked NetFlix - Same policy. Any reviews submitted become property of the NetFlix (Note: This article/blog posting was originally posted in April of 2007. The Netflix policy changed in appx 2018. They eliminated the User Reviews in 'Mid 2018'). What's the matter with these people? I want to own the words that I write. I guess I won't be submitting any more IMDB reviews, I might submit some NetFlix reviews though. Why? They limit the number of words I can use, and as a result, the reviews I post at NetFlix tend to be shorter than the reviews I post at Rob's World!</rant>

If you want some good reviews, check out my reviews. One last movie note. I just added another movie to my must 'buy' list. An independent movie called Primer. Here's what I had to say about it back in 2006:

Stop stealing my bandwidth:
While reading through some access logs (records of people who linked to Rob's World!) I discovered a couple of bandwidth thieves. You may be asking.. "What?" Well, let me explain.

<rant>There are a couple of people out there, who are stealing my bandwidth. They run a blog/webpage, and they have pictures in their blog/webpage. The images aren't really on their web page though, and that's where the problem starts. The images are actually at my web site. They have created direct links to the image on my web site. So, every time someone loads/views that persons web site, they're using bandwidth from my service provider in order to display the image at my site. They have a direct link to the image. They haven't copied the image, and uploaded it to their web page. The result of this activity is skewed web page statistics, and a decrease in the bandwidth available to Rob's World! visitors (that's you!)</rant>

I run a web site, I pay my web host to make my web site available for viewing by internet visitors. My web host has an internet connection that is capable of accommodating a certain number of viewers at a time. This is generally referred to as 'bandwidth'. The web host is capable of serving up a limited amount of 'bandwidth'. When someone is viewing my web site (by typing https://www.robsworld.org into their browser), a small amount of that bandwidth is used up. When lots of people are viewing my web site, more of the bandwidth is used up. At some point, my web host may run out of bandwidth. When this happens additional visitors are unable to view my web site. They receive an error message saying that the web site is 'unreachable' (or something similar).

If you/someone create a direct link to an image on my web site (instead of saving the image, and serving it up from your web server/service), and post that direct link on your web site, you are using the bandwidth from my web host to serve up the image. Visitors to your web site are viewing my image using my bandwidth instead of a copy of the image using your bandwidth. When they access/view your web page (which contains the direct link to my image), it shows up in my logs as access to my web site. If a lot of people do this, my web host will have a reduced ability to serve visitors to my web site. They're viewing your website, but you're using my bandwidth to display the image. That's bad. I don't like it, and most web host administrators will ask you to stop. If you fail to stop, you might make someone angry.

The storm that wasn't:
Over the last couple of days (12 - 13 April 2007), the news has been hyping an upcoming storm. The claims became rather spectacular. Predictions called for 2-3 feet of snow in our area. Thankfully, the predicted storm (which actually swept across the middle of these states) didn't come far enough north to affect us. A high pressure front in our area kept the storm from moving into Colorado proper. The storm was fierce though. It generated some really nasty tornadoes, created flooding in many states, thunderstorms, ice and a few deaths. I'm glad we didn't have to deal with it.

TriCare Rules:
This month (April 2007), Kim had to switch employers. In our line of work (defense contractors), it's bound to happen every now and then. The company she worked for (Ciber), had a contract to provide services to the government. When that contract expired, the government opened the bidding up, and they selected a new contractor to provide the services. Unfortunately, the company that had the contract, isn't always able to accommodate the displaced employees, and they have to look for a new job. Fortunately, the company which just picked up the contract, often opts to hire the displaced workers. They do this for several reasons: (1) They want to maintain some continuity in the execution of the contract. (2) They don't have enough of their own employees to fill the vacancies. (3) They don't have to train new employees.

So kim hired on with the new contractor (Raytheon), and she's back at work without missing a single paycheck/day of work. Now we get to the heart of the matter...

<rave>As a result of changing employers, Kim had to re-enroll in her employee benefits. For medical coverage, she was offered a few options. The average cost of HMO coverage plans ran $8,000.00 per year - for the two of us. That seems rather high to me. We opted to stick with my medical plan. I guess we're some of the lucky ones. As a result of my military retirement (I spent 20 years on active duty with the USAF), we have access to government subsidized medical care (includes vision and prescription drugs, but not dental). The cost for the two of us (TriCare Prime) was $460.00 through TriCare-West (Note: The primary contract holder under TriCare-West occassionally changes; at the time this blog post was written (in Apr, 2007). the TriCare West program was being managed by United Health Care). An entire years worth of medical benefits (full benefits), for $460.00. I don't know about your medical plan, but that's a pretty inexpensive benefit. Tricare rules!</rave>

Computer Virus?
I own a Mac (Non-Intel chip (as of Apr, 2007), and no Windows OS), and due to a couple of reasons, it's highly resistant to viruses, trojans, worms and spyware, and that's the way I like it. As a result, I don't see many viruses, and I often wonder whether my Norton AntiVirus is working. FYI: Norton didn't flag these attachments as harmful. Is that a problem? Perhaps it knows that I run Mac OS X, and this particular worm can't infect my machine? In either case, it should still warn me of the threat. That way I wouldn't forward this thing to someone who is vulnerable.

Over the course of two days (18 and 19 April) I received six copies of the same worm via email. Apparently (after a bit of online research), this particular worm has been very effective at infecting cell phones (the type that can receive email). Here's the text from one of the email messages:

Do not reply to this message

Dear Customer;

Our robot has fixed an abnormal activity from your IP address on sending e-mails.
Probably it is connected with the last epidemic of a worm which does not have patches at the moment.
We recommend you to install a firewall module and it will stop e-mail sending. Otherwise your account will be blocked until you do not eliminate
malfunction.

Customer support center robot

Attached to the email was a zipped copy of the Warazov or W32.Stration.DB@mm. Guess what? W32.Stration.DB@mm is a mass-mailing worm. The executable attached to the email is not the worm. It's a program which initiates a download of the actual malware. This variant is a Trojan downloader which brings in malicious files into the compromised computer by contacting various websites via HTTP. Coming with its own SMTP engine, it harvests email addresses from the victim's address book and sends its copy to all those user ids. It's disguised/presented as a legitimate Windows patch so some people are fooled into thinking it's legit. Oh yeah, most importantly; it "Only affects PCs" (Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP). Boy am I glad I own a Mac!

(Most of the links below are no longer (as of Apr, 2020) working (most of the internet is a living/changing place), so I removed (most) the hyperlinks)
Macs are safer than Windows - questioning the numbers: http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2005/08/macs_are_safer_than_windows_qu.html
Study recommends Mac OS X as safest OS: http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/02/1722237
Comments regarding Apple's vulnerability advertisement: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2006/5/1/3805
Why Macs are inherently safer: http://aroundcny.com/Technofile/texts/mac020304.html
Origins of the Mac OS X Operating System: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Software_Distribution

Completely blank email:
Back in 2005, I added a new page to my web site. It's was a somewhat technical article about completely blank emails that I've been receiving since at least 2004. Recently (Apr 2007), I received a slew of queries about blank email messages. I received five emails from three different people in one day! (19 Apr 2007). I answered a broad range of questions regarding the origins of these 'completely blank email' messages. I even provided one person with some detailed instructions on how to analyze the email header data of an email message. If you're one of the people receiving these unusual emails, you might want to check out my web page. Perhaps it'll shed some light on this strange occurrence. As a result of this correspondence, I updated two of my web pages.
<https://www.robsworld.org/blankemail.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/whybother.html>

Comcast outages - are they related?
After posting the two entries above (Computer virus? and Completely blank email), I got to wondering whether they were related in anyway to some outages I experienced. On the 18th and 19th of April, 2007. I experienced a couple of internet outages. Each outage occurred while I was online - who knows whether there were other outages while I was away from the computer? Both of the outages lasted approximately 30 minutes, and they were marked by an inability to contact domain name servers. I wonder if there was some sort of denial of service attack going on? I wonder if the outages were related to these other two issues? I don't like the fact that neither one of them was planned (according to the Comcast technicians), and neither one of them was noted on the Comcast outage page. I don't like it one bit...

Mac OS 10.4.9 security update:
Another security update released by Apple. This time the update addresses security concerns in the AFP Client, AirPort, CarbonCore, fetchmail, Installer, and a whole bunch of other software components. Apple's software update makes it easy to find out about, and implement these security updates. If you own a Mac, you can rest assured that any potential security concerns will be addressed in a timely and thorough manner. You can read more about the update at Apple's website. Keeping my Mac safe from malicious hackers and such.
<https://www.apple.com/macos/security/>

New words?
I must be a geek. Who else would care about new words? Well they aren't really new, but they're new to some. What? O.k. allow me to digress for a moment. So, I was watching a Japanese movie the other day (the Twilight Samurai), and they threw around a bunch of terms you don't hear every day. Here are some of the words they used.

* Simmered Burdock - Burdock (aka Gobo) is a root. I'm pretty sure I've had it before, and I'm getting hungry just thinking about the firm texture and light soy seasoning.
* High Dudgeon - I seldom get so worked up that I enter a state of high dudgeon. But then again - I don't work on the set of a Soap Opera.
* Butterbur buds - This herb (aka fukinoto, fuki) often finds it's way into miso soup. According to some studies, it's a free radical absorber.
* Azaleas - A very colorful flowering tree that grows in Japan and America. I wish I had some in my yard.
* Dispositions - I don't think many people would enjoy the handing out of dispositions. In the movie they handed down some dispositions, and the results (in some cases) were Seppuku (hari-kari). Not a very pleasant disposition.

These are just a few of the interesting words mentioned during the movie. It's amazing how much you can learn when watching foreign films. Some of my friends are adverse to the notion, but I embrace it. I know I'm likely to be surprised, and pleased to find that I often learn a great deal by broadening my cultural exposure.

Death to spammers!
Beginning on the 20th of April, 2007, a spammer launched a spew campaign with my email address in the spams From:/Reply-To: address fields. As a result of his forgery, I received numerous blow-back messages (aka Auto-response, Auto-reply, Bounce messages). These server (and user) generated messages (from Hotmail.com) were sent to me in response to spam sent to Hotmail users. I made a half-hearted attempt to warn the Hotmail system administrators off of auto-responders, but I doubt that they'll listen. Hopefully, there won't be any measurable effects on my domain or its standing. I haven't been black listed yet, not that I know of anyway. Oh how I hate spammers!

D&D update:
We played D&D on the 21st of April, 2007, and the updates are in. This session saw a lot of updates. The party made it to a monastery that they've been trying to reach for the last three sessions. In addition to the character happenings, we also had a full house as far as players go. As a result, I was able to take a new group picture, and make all the updates that go along with the recent changes in our group of players.

The party has begun a new adventure. In search of Tanar's father. So far, the party has discovered two very large gates in the side of the mountain. They believe that their quest takes them into this cursed mountain during a period of celestial confluence. While they search for a way into the mountain, they've witnessed some strange sights, met unlikely allies, and fought some terrible monsters. This session saw our party reach the 'Monastery of the Hallowed Doctrine'. A sanctuary for those who fight taint. After a brief battle, they entered the monastery, met it's occupants, and took a short break to receive healing and some much needed reset. After some conversation with the residents of the monastery, the party hooked up with another traveler, and prepared for the heart of their battle - On to Firestorm Peak! What lies in store around the next corner? Stay tuned for danger, stay tuned for mystery, stay tuned for adventure! As a result of this recent meeting, I've updated the following pages:

Our next gaming date is 05 May, 2007, and I'm sure that there will be lots of thrills and excitement in the months to come. Hopefully everyone will make our next meeting. The next big challenge lays inside Firestorm Peak. Be sure to follow our adventurers as they look for Tanar's father, and seek out the source of taint in the Nether Mountains.

April 17, 2007

Music collection:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. I'm still busy converting cassettes, and this month finds me progressing nicely. In January of 2007, I began a digitization project. I've been converting my old cassette collection into mp3 format. The project is going well, and I've finished the majority of all the cassettes. All that remains now are a couple of stragglers, some compilations, soundtracks and LP conversions. This listing constitutes another batch of conversions. I'm bringing the 80's back to life on my Mac!

(Note regarding links to music references: The 'discogs' (Discographies database) seems to be the most definitive database for music/recordings out there. From this point forward (as of 5 Apr, 2020), I will try to match the music in my collection to records in the discogs database). These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of April. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been starting to rediscover my appreciation for music. I really picked it up again in September of 2005. Since then I've been slowly adding, revising and updating my music collection. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email.

D&D update:
We played D&D on the 7th of April, 2007, but I haven't posted a journal entry yet. This session saw a lot of changes in our player line up. Two players didn't show up for the meeting, and follow-up confirmed my suspicions. Both have decided to pull out of the game. We added a new player last session (Lee), and we lost two players (Stephen and Jon) after this latest session. That puts the player count at six. I'm not planning to add anyone new at the moment, but I might bring the count back up to seven players in the future. We'll see how things go with the current group of players.

During this meeting (on the 7th of April, 2007), the party continued their quest to help Tanar locate his father. Missing for the past twenty years, Tanar's father, Nigel, has gone gone in search of some magical gateway. So far, the party has reached the town of 'Longbridge'. They helped the local lawman track down some rapists, and they witnessed some rather unusual animal activity. They found a hunter willing to lead them to a mountain trail. The trail led up into the mountains. Eventually they came upon two very large gates in the side of the mountain. While they searched for a way into the mountain, they've witnessed some strange sights, met unlikely allies, and fought some terrible monsters. Preparing to enter the mountain, the party sought out protective magic and information. Just recently, they made their way through a charnel bog in order to reach a monastery of the 'Hallowed Doctrine'. The journey wasn't without it's dangers, and the party actually lost one of their members during a battle in the charnel bog. These mountains seem to spawn strange beasts and cause madness in the those living in it's shadow.

As a result of combat with some twisted undead creature, the party's Barbarian was slain. As a result of this recent meeting, I've updated the following pages:

Our next gaming date is 21 April, 2007, and I'm sure that there will be lots of thrills and excitement in the months to come. Hopefully everyone will make our next meeting. I'd like to take a new photo of our group.

Air Free Tires:
See my earlier rant, for background/additional information. My air free tires arrived on the 6th of April, and I finally got around to installing them last night. The tool they sent me worked, but it didn't work very well. I thought I'd either injure myself, or damage the bike while installing the air free tires. The tires are made out of hundreds of thousands of microscopic air cells trapped in a matrix of incredibly tough polyurethane. They don't fit perfectly, and I haven't had a chance to really test them out yet, but I'm looking forward to the no-worry experience of riding my bike without the fear of flats! Stay tuned for an update after a sufficient test period.

Public Safety Policy:
<rant>I subscribe to email updates from Arapahoe county. Public service and safety bulletins. Important information, tips, safety notices, etc. The information is very useful and informative for residents of Aurora and Arapahoe county. Lately (beginning on the 29th of March), I noticed that the county was including a restrictive statement on the email bulletins that they were sending:

If these messages contain safety, security and information bulletins intended for release to the general public, why do they carry a confidentiality statement? It certainly seems contrary to the intent of the message.

If I want to notify others of the information contained in these messages, I am now prohibited from doing so by the confidentiality statement below. "If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute, or copy this e-mail"

This irresponsible action could result in legal action against someone who is trying to further advise the public in regards to a safety issue indicated/publicized by your offices. Worse yet, the restrictions they're imposing with this 'confidentiality statement', could actually result in further endangerment of the public by prohibiting the re-distribution of the information contained in the messages.

Press agencies, security firms, safety groups, and private individuals find this information valuable, timely and important. By attaching this 'confidentiality statement' to their message, they legally restrict further distribution of these 'advisories', thereby creating a situation where they are working counter to their intended purpose. They are trying to 'get the word out', aren't they?

This information is virtually useless if I have to 'Keep it to myself'. </rant>

Anyway, I sent them an email. Expressing my concern/consternation at their apparent mistake. You know what? It worked. While they didn't respond to my email, their messages no longer contain that crazy statement. It was probably the result of a poorly considered, and poorly implement 'Every message must contain' policy. This is what happens when we let the lawyers make all the decisions. They may have been trying to protect themselves from possible legal action, but they didn't stop to consider the impact on the public with the restrictions imposed by their policy.

April 13, 2007

Music collection:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. I'm still busy converting cassettes, and this month finds me progressing nicely. In January of 2007, I began a digitization project. I've been converting my old cassette collection into mp3 format. The project is going well, and I'm up to the letter "W" at this point. This listing constitutes a small chunk of conversions. I'm bringing the 80's back to life on my Mac!

iTunes purchases and Newsgroup downloads:
* The Cinematics - A Strange Education: (single) An iTunes download. A single from the album of the same name. Very good British Alt-Rock release. While I origianlly downloaded this single from the iTunes music store, I eventually went ahead and purchased the entire album (at that time (when I purchased the album) it came with an extra track. Of course the discogs database entry only records 13 tracks (doesn't included the bonus track: 'Box'.
* The Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground: (10 songs) The third album released by this band. A bit subdued, compared to their earlier releases.
* The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat: (6 songs) One of the best albums released by this influential/important 60's/70's rock band. Lou Reed and John Cale.

eMusic downloads:
* Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha: (12 +1 songs) 12 songs plus one eMusic exclusive track completes my collection for this album. Discovered at 3hive.com. Here's some really good folk pop melodies and lyrics. I wished emusic had some of his work... Wish granted! Unfortunately (as of 5 Apr, 2020), this album is no longer available via eMusic, and the Apple Music version doesn't include the bonus track.
* The Atari Star - Prayer + Pretend: (8 songs) This completes my collection for this album. Discovered by listening to an IndieFeed podcast. Post-punk pop with spunk. Unfortunately (as of 5 Apr, 2020), this album is no longer available via eMusic, and the Apple Music version doesn't include the bonus track: Night Striped Assassins (Mike Perkins Remix).
* The Flesh Eaters - No Questions Asked: (16 songs) Completing the 24 track album of a band I recently rediscovered. While the lyrics are poetic, and the vocals delivered in a quirky catchy style, it's the uncompromisingly raw instrumentals that are the star here. Unfortunately (as of 5 Apr, 2020), this album is no longer available via eMusic.
* Stan Ridgeway - The Big Heat: (16 songs) Continuation of Wall of Voodoo sound under Stan Ridgeway solo. Distinct instrumentals, great ballad like lyrics and Ridgeway's vocals. Unfortunately (as of 5 Apr, 2020), this album is no longer available via eMusic.
* The Dils - Class War: (12 songs) Forerunners to a band called Rank & File. This punk band changed it's sound considerably when they made the transition. Unfortunately (as of 5 Apr, 2020), this album is no longer available via eMusic.
* Buzzcocks - Buzzcocks: (12 songs) Back on stage in 2003, it's hard to imagine that this band has been around since the 70's! With collaboration from Howard Devoto, Pete Shelly and Steve Diggle prove that you can't keep a good band down. Unfortunately (as of 5 Apr, 2020), this album is no longer available via eMusic.
* Modern English - After the Snow: (14 songs) A truly shining moment in this bands repertoire. Magnificent effort by a short lived gem of the 80's. Unfortunately (as of 5 Apr, 2020), this album is no longer available via eMusic. The version I downloaded (from eMusic) had 14 tracks.

(Note regarding links to music references: The 'discogs' (Discographies database) seems to be the most definitive database for music/recordings out there. From this point forward (as of 5 Apr, 2020), I will try to match the music in my collection to records in the discogs database). These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of April. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been starting to rediscover my appreciation for music. I really picked it up again in September of 2005. Since then I've been slowly adding, revising and updating my music collection. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email.

Weird Weather:
Colorado springtime. Wildly varying temperatures, from thunderstorms to snowstorms in the span of a week. On the 9th and 10th of April, we had temperatures up into the 70s, with thunderstorms that ushered in some blossoming plants, but that didn't last long. By the 12th of April the temperatures moved back down into the 20's overnight, we ended up with snow during the day, and warnings of up to 8 inches of snow by morning. Weather comes in several different flavors, when you live next to the Rockies. It looks like we're in for a wild ride this month.

Donate!
I guess you can't please all of the people all of the time. Or, I should say, I guess you can't please one particular person. A few years back, I put up a PayPal page under the vain hope that someone might actually donate money to "Rob's World!" Someone actually did, but that's a different story. Today's story is a rant.

<rant>Recently someone visited my PayPal page. Ostensibly, they were thinking of donating some money! In either case, they couldn't figure out how to log into PayPal in order to verify my PayPal status. That resulted in a rather cryptic email - "I'm trying to log in. I realize there may be some kind of problem. I don't even know who I'm talking to." Not certain what was going on, I responded - "Trying to log in where? I'm Robert Vaessen (author/owner of "Rob's World!" - https://www.robsworld.org). Who are you?" The response was a bit daunting - "this was supposed to have connection with paypal. i'll now have to inform that you are an imposter." At this point I kind of figured out what was going on. This person was trying to verify my PayPal status, but they needed to log in to do so. That's just the way it is. You can't verify a PayPal users status without logging in. Since they couldn't log in, they concluded that I was an Imposter!</rant>

As a result of this unusual exchange, I've updated my PayPal page. I added a bit of an explanation for those who don't have PayPal, and/or can't figure out what they're doing. I hope my status with PayPal isn't damaged by any deranged donators.

Movies:
I purchased three movies during the month of April (purchased from DeepDiscount.com). So what are the new movies? One foreign film and two American movies. Below is a short synopsis of the movies I bought. If you'd like a full review, see my movies page.

Foreign movie: Ringu: This is the original version of the movie based on the novel (of the same name) by Kôji Suzuki. The beginning of the movie is very suspenseful, and the ending is shocking. American movies: Idiocracy: A preposterous spoof on corporate American and the dumbing down of our culture. Very funny stuff from Mike Judge. Wolf: Here's a classic horror theme (werewolf) turned current by setting it in today's competitive business world. With these new purchases, I updated the main movies page, my 'must buy' list, the listing of my movie collection, the reviews page, and an alphabetical index (see the ' angry critic' entry above) that I'm working on.

Air Free Tires:
<rant>See my earlier rant, for background/additional information. So here's an online vendor that's already screwed things up once. Now they're at it again. The solid rubber tires that I ordered finally arrived on the 6th of April. Unfortunately, the order was screwed up. When I ordered the tires, I also ordered a 'Free' installation tool. The installation tool normally costs $14.95, but I opted for the 'Rental' option. They were supposed to send my a postage paid return package along with the installation tool. Did they? No! Just the tool. So, I'd already paid for postage to return the tool, but they didn't send it. Did they think I forgot about the pre-paid return package? How do they think I'm going to return the installation tool?

Don't order your tires from Airfreetires.com, they're not honest in their dealings, and they're fairly incompetent. They're not the sort of company you should put your trust in. If it's at all possible, always buy your products directly from the manufacturer (nu-teck). I should have learned from the problems with StoreYourMedia.com. Stay away from them as well.</rant>

<rave>After Airfreetires.com forgot to ship me the pre-paid return package, I emailed them back explaining that they'd messed up again. This time they got it right. Their very brief reply? "I'm sorry we made a mistake, you are under no obligation to return the tool. Please feel free to keep it." That's the only thing that kept me from reporting them to the BBB. Some small measure of redemption marks the end of this business relationship.</rave>

Update: As of 5 Apr, 2020. Guess what? All three of the companies listed in this blog posting ('Air Free Tires') seem to be out of business. None of the websites listed actually work, and one (nu-tek) even says that they discontinued all operations in 2011.

April 8, 2007

Music collection:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. I'm still busy converting cassettes, and this month finds me progressing nicely. In January of 2007, I began a digitization project. I've been converting my old cassette collection into mp3 format. The project is going well, and I'm up to the letter "T" at this point. This listing constitutes a small chunk of conversions. I'm bringing the 80's back to life on my Mac!

April 4, 2007

Software favorites:
One of my favorite pieces of software recently released an update. GraphicConverter moves ever forward. One more steps towards perfection. Another product that's always getting better.

GraphicConverter released a new beta version (5.9.6b1), in the past few days. GraphicConverter is an image converter and editor. A fantastic piece of shareware that is well worth the price ($30.00). I use it to convert image formats into web standard formats, to create and edit image maps and other graphics. I've been singing GC's praises for many years now, and I'm not sure I would do without it. The best part about GC is it's author. Thorsten Lemke is completely committed to his customer base. Constantly and Continuously responding to customer recommendations and bug reports. GC is a dynamic, evolving, application. Always on the cutting edge, an absolute must in any web developers tool box. At a fraction of PhotoShop's cost, this photo editor puts a huge wrench in your toolbox.
<https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/image-editing-slideshow-browser-batch-conversion-metadata-and-more-on-your-mac/>

Air Free Tires:
<rant>Sometimes it's difficult to find a reputable, reliable and honest vendor online. Here's the story of one company that isn't making me very happy. First a little background. Back in July of 2006, I purchased a bicycle. Although I purchased the bike somewhat late in the year, I rode it often. I rode the bicycle off the beaten path quite often, and the result was numerous flat tires. In the short span of four months, I managed to replace four inner tubes. Replacing the inner tubes isn't all that difficult, but it is inconvenient and somewhat time consuming. I'd rather spend my time riding the bike.

After thinking about it for some time, I did a little research. As it turns out, there are some rather nice solid tires available for bicycles. Not quite the same as those sold in the past. These new tires feel much more like standard inner tubes, they're relatively inexpensive, they last longer - far longer than inner tubes, and they never go flat. I decided to buy a set for my bicycle, and I did a bit of searching to find a suitable vendor.

Unfortunately, I chose the wrong one. When I placed my order, they immediately charged my credit card. Despite the fact that they didn't provide me with a shipping date. So, I waited, and waited. Eventually (after a week), I contacted them regarding a shipping date. Rather than providing me with a shipping date, or indicating that they didn't know, they put me off with a vague response. When I replied that their response was inadequate, I got a 'why don't you ask the manufacturer yourself' answer.

When a vendor starts off by dodging your questions, and deferring you to some other company, you start to get the feeling that something fishy is up. I called the manufacturer directly, and they indicated that they'd been on vacation for the last ten days. Yes, the vendor knew that. In reviewing their responses, it's evident that they knew about this vacation. They should have told me that the shipment would be delayed when I placed the order. They shouldn't have charged my credit card until the product shipped.

I'm still waiting for my bicycle tires (they should arrive within two weeks), but now I know the truth. Don't order your tires from Airfreetires.com, they're not honest in their dealings. Or, they're simply incompetent. In either case, they're not the sort of company you should put your trust in.

If it's at all possible, always buy your products directly from the manufacturer. I should have learned from the problems with StoreYourMedia.com. Stay away from them as well.</rant>

Update: As of 5 Apr, 2020. Guess what? All three of the companies listed in this blog posting (('Air Free Tires'), Nu-Teck and StoreYourMedia) seem to be out of business. None of the websites listed actually work, and one (nu-tek) even says that they discontinued all operations in 2011.

Someone sold my email address?
<rant>Because I own my own domain name(s), and I've got a great web hosting service, I'm able to create specialized email addresses. I use these specialized email addresses for specific purposes. One of the ways I use them is when dealing with online vendors. Back in October of 2005, I ordered some vitamins from "Puritan's Pride". I thought they were a fairly reputable online presence, and over the next two years, I placed two order from them. I actually found a retail outlet that was cheaper, so I only ordered from Puritan's a couple of times. When I placed my first order with Puritan's, I created a unique email address. The email address was specific to my business with them.

Well, flash forward to April of 2007. I have begun to receive spam at the email address that I created for use with Puritan's orders. Since I only used this email address for correspondence with Puritan's Pride (I've never made it public in any form), I can only conclude one of the following truths:

A. They sold/leased/gave my email address away to a spammer.
B. They (or one of their employees) are the spammer.
C. Their computers have been compromised, and my customer data stolen.

Regardless which of these are true, I no longer wish to do any business with them. If my information has been stolen, I now have to worry about false charges appearing on my credit card(s). I've reported the spam, and emailed Puritan's to convey my displeasure. I requested that they remove me from any mailing lists, and delete my customer information.

Damn spammers!</rant>

A great web host:
<rave>I have to give credit to my web (and email) host. My web host is an outfit named: Internet Marketing Services. The company is run by a friend of mine. Someone I met back in Maryland. I've been a customer since May of 2002, and I have to admit that he's been good for me. He's provided every service I've asked for, and he's even provided services I didn't even know I wanted. Recently he switched his mail service from sendmail to qmail. As a result, I now have much greater control over my email domains. I can create forwards, mailing lists and autoresponders using a web based service. It's just one example of how Dale has been responsive and forward in serving my needs. Dale's services aren't as flashy or advanced as some, but the customer service and friendly attitude more than make up for all that flashy techno-bable. Thanks for a great service Dale.</rave>

Update: As of 5 Apr, 2020. Dale Marshall shut down his business (Internet Marketing Services) a long time ago. I've since changed web hosting companies a couple of times. Thankfully I've only needed to change hosting companies twice since then.

Music collection:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. I'm still busy converting cassettes, and this month finds me progressing nicely. In January of 2007, I began a digitization project. I've been converting my old cassette collection into mp3 format. The project is going well, and I'm up to the letter "S" at this point. This listing constitutes a small chunk of conversions. I'm bringing the 80's back to life on my Mac!