November 30, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving:
Despite the fact that I had to work on Thanksgiving (Thanks for the holiday pay Northrop!), Kim and I had a good Thanksgiving. First, I feasted on the scrumptious vitals served up at work. The 'Industrial Partners' got together and paid to have some thanksgiving goodies cooked up, and then they teamed up with the military commanders to serve us shift workers. We may have to work on a holiday, but at least they treat us with some goodies. After work, I went home, plopped down on the couch for a few. After a couple hours of relaxin', I got my second wind. Kim prepared a scrumptious meal from Honey Baked ham. We work hard so others can cook for us!. It'll take some time to finish all the food, but we sure had a good day. If you're an American or Canadian, we hope you had a good Thanksgiving too.

Developments in the war on spam:
November was a big month for developments on the Anti-Spam campaign. Spammers continue to vex me, you, and everyone I know. If you know someone who doesn't get spam, it's because they get no email. During this month, there's been quite a few developments to talk about. Here's the latest batch of news, in no particular order:

My first run-in with this sort of header forgery dates back to 2002. Like then, this instance is an attack on my domain. Based on the number of bounce/auto-reply messages that I've received, it's fairly evident that this spammer hasn't sent many messages. While I only received one 'bounce' message, the odds are very good that the spammer sent many more messages where my email address was included as the From: address. The spammer is pretending to be me. Intentionally targeting me/my domain. The blow-back from his spam run is damaging to my domain and name. I can only hope that no-one will assume that I actually am the spammer. That's what the spammer is hoping for. He/She is hoping that my ISP(s) or email provider(s) will make the same mistake.

Russian Spam Returns:
Not long ago, I wrote about my attempts to reduce my spam intake. Well, it was a good idea, while it lasted. Unfortunately. The Russian spam is back. Many of the spammers have figured out a way to bypass the filtering scheme implemented by my email service provider. I can think of one sure fire way to block nearly 90% of all spam. I don't know why ISPs/email service providers aren't implementing it. Simply reject email at the SMTP (receipt) phase. If the server requesting delivery is a 'Open-Relay' reject the email. That's a pretty easy check, doesn't take much time, and it's nearly guaranteed to stop most spam dead in it's tracks. Unfortunately, it takes a bit of effort to implement, and that means the ISPs would have to stop what they're doing (fighting spam) in order to implement an effect spam blocking technique. They can't be bothered to take the time out to do this because they're too busy (fighting spam). If they had the time, they'd do it, but you know how it is - They're busy.

MicroSoft Newsletters - Not!
Spammers think we're stupid. They think that you and I are dense, dull, dummies, dimwits. They think that we're idiots. I for one know about every newsletter that I sign up for. I know I didn't sign up to receive 'Penis Enlargement' offers, or and 'Russian Real-Estate' newsletters. When email arrives telling me that I 'signed up' through MicroSoft to receive this garbage, I know better - and so do you. Have you seen this statement lately?

About this mailing:
You are receiving this e-mail because you subscribed to MSN Featured Offers. Microsoft respects your privacy. If you do not wish to receive this MSN Featured Offers e-mail, please click the "Unsubscribe" link below. This will not unsubscribe you from e-mail communications from third-party advertisers that may appear in MSN Feature Offers. This shall not constitute an offer by MSN. MSN shall not be responsible or liable for the advertisers' content nor any of the goods or service advertised. Prices and item availability subject to change without notice.

©2008 Microsoft | Unsubscribe | More Newsletters | Privacy

Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052

I'll bet you have. If you receive email, you've likely received spam messages containing this 'subscription statement'. Oh yeah, like MicroSoft is intentionally sending me email about 'Improve your Peeniz' or 'MedHelp 515768'. They're not. When you see this disclaimer you can bet it's spam. Unless of course you're the one person actually receiving the actual MSN featured offers email. Whatever you do, don't load the images (that you can't see automatically), and don't 'Unsubscribe' from the 'newsletter'. It's a scam, it's spam, it's not MicroSoft, and you'd have to be one dim bulb to not know that this is spam.

Delivery Status Notification (Failure):
Another attempt by the spammers. Another trick to try and get you to read their crap. So we all know what a bounce message is. These DNS (Delivery Notification Status) messages show up when we make a mistake addressing our friends, or they appear when someone's ISP is having problems. We check these messages, because we're concerned about the email we sent. We want to make sure that our aunt Jane gets that recipe. That mom receives our latest batch of photos. That Amazon gets that inquiry regarding our order. Yup, spammers are now pretending to be bounce messages. I've been seeing more and more of these messages of late. The subject cries out 'Open this email', but the content is a thinly veiled attempt to get you clicking. Don't do it. Loading the images, or clicking on a link in spam is a bad idea. If you load the images, then they know for sure that the email address they bought is valid. Now they've got your number. If you click on a link (and you've got a Windows machine), you could be in for some really serious trouble. Some web pages are so cleverly crafted that simply visiting the page can expose your computer to a host of infectious trojans. Yup, there are holes in the MicroSoft OS that allow spammers to take over your computer just by viewing a web page. If you're running Windows, you should be very careful. Keep your OS up to date, keep your virus software up to date, and don't take those unnecessary chances.

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>
<https://www.robsworld.org/forgery.html>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpamCop>

Killed another cold with Zicam!
<rave>On the 24th of Nov, I started to come down with a cold. As soon as I got the chance, I used my favorite cold remedy. Dabbing Zicam gel inside my nose usually results in the elimination of any cold symptoms, and I don't get a cold. Or did I have a cold that Zicam killed? It's hard to tell when the symptoms completely disappear within a day or two. Hunh? You're probably wondering, what the heck is Zicam? Well, it's a cold remedy. I've been using it for several years now, and I'm convinced. It's kicked ass on every cold I've 'almost' had in the last five years. When I feel a cold coming on - you know, that scratchy feeling in the back of your throat - I use Zicam. The results? No cold whatsoever, or a cold that's as mild as a slight allergy. Getting a cold sucks; thank goodness for Zicam!</rave> Zicam's active ingredient is Zinc Gluconate - The zinc salt of gluconic acid. It is an ionic compound consisting of two moles of gluconate for each mole of zinc. Zicam comes in more than one form, and there are other products containing/based on Zinc Gluconate. Concerned about Zicam rumors? I'd recommend a search of Snopes.com - My favorite myth management website.
<http://www.zicam.com/>

Even More Music in November:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Where do I get all this stuff? I find a lot of free (actually free) music by visiting several of the new music web sites out there. Artists want you to hear their music - If you like it, you'll buy it. The major labels want you to pay for their product - letting you hear it for free is contrary to their business model. Well, guess what? I won't buy it unless I can listen to it first. The major labels are killing themselves with their restrictive distribution and dissemination policies. If you like new music, you can do a google search to find your favorite artists web site, a new music web site, or an archive of free music. Free music is available - Legally! Don't believe the major labels propaganda - Not all free music is illegal. You can legally download music for free. I download music from websites, newsgroups (when I already own rights to the music), and a couple of commercial sources. Here's a listing of some of the music I legally downloaded.

iTunes New Music Tuesday download:
Sometimes I purchase music from iTunes, and sometimes I take advantage of their free downloads (check it out on Tuesdays). iTunes is the King of the Hill when it comes to the bigger names, so sometimes I find that I have to pay the higher prices. Here's one of those free downloads from the iTunes store. Thanks Apple!:
* Tonny Bennett - Winter Wonderland: (single) Who can resist? Tonny Bennett is an awesome talent, backed by a big band the music is respectful, brash and full of the Christmas spirit.

These are just a few of the items I added to my music collection during the month of November. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been rediscovering 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. With these acquisitions, I've updated my online music listing. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email.
<https://www.robsworld.org/mymusic/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/music.html>

Software favorites:
There's been a few updates to my favorite applications in the last few days. Safari and Transmit were updated, and I also updated two apps that are indispensable in today's era of digital media. DVDPedia and CDPedia - by Bruji.com are used to catalog my growing media collection. These two apps produce web formatted output, so I can share my collections with others.

DVDPedia:
DVDPedia is a great little application for cataloging and displaying your movie collection, and I'm running version 4.4.0. It's list of features is impressive, and it keeps getting better with every update. The database is capable of generating statistics, you can keep track of multiple collections, you can easily add titles by typing the name of the movie or you can scan the barcode (using your iSight camera or a barcode reader) right off the movie box (it then searches the internet, and displays choices). It has customizable HTML export capabilities, a borrowed feature with address book integration, the ability to play movie in full screen mode, and many more features which make an awesome addition to your software library. I use it to generate HTML listings of my movies. Below are links to some of the pages I created using this software.
<https://www.robsworld.org/mymovies/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/iphonemoviecollection/index.html>
<http://www.bruji.com/dvdpedia/>

November 20, 2008

More Music in November:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Where do I get all this stuff? I find a lot of free (actually free) music by visiting several of the new music web sites out there. Artists want you to hear their music - If you like it, you'll buy it. The major labels want you to pay for their product - letting you hear it for free is contrary to their business model. Well, guess what? I won't buy it unless I can listen to it first. The major labels are killing themselves with their restrictive distribution and dissemination policies. If you like new music, you can do a google search to find your favorite artists web site, a new music web site, or an archive of free music. Free music is available - Legally! Don't believe the major labels propaganda - Not all free music is illegal. You can legally download music for free. I download music from websites, newsgroups (when I already own rights to the music), and a couple of commercial sources. Here's a listing of some of the music I legally downloaded.

Web site downloads:
I download music from plenty of websites (not counting commercial websites). The websites of the artists, the artists label, music festival websites, music review sites, etc, etc. Their are gobs of places where you can find free music. We're in a whole new era now. Gone are the monopolistic controls of the music industry. Music is becoming free - Free to anyone who takes the time to look for it. If you can't find free, legal, music - you're not looking very hard.
* Thigmotactic - Negativland: (2 songs) Two songs - 'Influential You' and 'Basketball Plant' off the newly released, Thigmotactic. Here's a new one for me. Never heard this band; despite their agreeable flavor/disposition. Enjoyed their ballad to Richard Nixon so much, that I had to seek out a couple more tracks. After listening to the new tracks, I decided to add their newest album to my emusic queue. Discovered by listening to an AOL streaming radio station (free music!) on my iPhone.
* Body Of Years - Mother Mother: (1 song) Here's a 3hive discovery. An alternative, folk/rock band with an energetic instrumental lineup. Once again the vocalist has a unique, crunchy, scratchy, unpolished, pre-amp type of cut. There's plenty of harmony with the backing vocalists and I really enjoyed the sound of this band. So much so, that I added their album to my emusic lineup. Found this free mp3 download at 'Download.com' of all places.
* Paint Or Pollen - Blind Pilot: (1 song) An acoustic, folk, minimalist duo with instrumentals that evoke the soul of the indie sound. Vocals that speak of sincerity and heartfelt ambition. An excellent opening act. First discovered through those free iTunes downloads. This one was made available via 3hive.com. This is the second track I downloaded from their '3 Rounds and a Sound' album. Now available on eMusic.

These are just a few of the items I added to my music collection during the month of November. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been rediscovering 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. With these acquisitions, I've updated my online music listing. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email.
<https://www.robsworld.org/mymusic/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/music.html>

D&D updates:
We played a D&D session on the 1st of Nov, and this posting represents a couple of updates from that meeting. I received two journal submissions, so I added some new journal entries and updated a few monsters entries. I also updated a description of Silverymoon - The City. Our meeting on the 1st of November was a continuation of the party's trip home. A journey which takes them away from Firestorm Peak, out of the valley, and back to Whillip. Will this journey be any less dangerous than their previous forays into the accursed mountain? Stay tuned for danger, stay tuned for mystery, stay tuned for adventure!

The campaign is rapidly approaching the end of a paragraph in the saga of our heroes. The current adventure is rapidly approaching an end, and the party is ready to lick it's wounds, rest, recuperate and train for the next adventure. In the meantime, you can keep up to date by continuing to visit "Rob's World!" for all the latest campaign info. If you're enjoying the story of our adventurers, I encourage you to write me and let us know. Perhaps you've got an idea you'd like to share, some criticism or praise. Either way, it'll be earnestly appreciated.
<https://www.robsworld.org/3ecampaign.html>

Record breaking temps in November!?
You call this November? By now I was expecting some colder temps, but lately (15-18 November) the high temps have left me wondering just what season is this. On the16th temps rose to the low 70's. On the 17th the temps got a little high, with the temperature rising to 74 degrees. On the 18th of November, we (Aurora) actually 80 degrees! (fahrenheit). That's the highest temp (for that day) in nine years. The previous record was 76 degrees. We really crushed that record - Four degrees. That's pretty significant. Global warming? or just that crazy Colorado weather? Surely it's a little of each.

I fear the Dentist:
The other day (20 Nov, 2008) I had to have three fillings replaced at the dentist's office. Bummer! I despise these visits to the dentist. I like to be in control of my life at all times, and someone else with their hands inside my mouth is a huge violation of my personal space. The dental work went o.k. but I'm always worried that the dentist is going to drill into a nerve. Oh wouldn't that be fun!? - Not! To help me relax a bit, I kept my eyes closed most of the time, and listened to a podcast with headphones on in order to drown out the sound of the drill.

So, why was I there? Well, I had to replace some old fillings. Two of the fillings date back to my first few years in the military, and the other was a composite on the front side of a bicuspid. That one wore out more quickly than the others. Unfortunately, the dentist says I'm going to need a crown on one of the molars. That tooth has some fairly significant cracks, and this filling is only weakening the tooth. When the silver amalgam expands, it's going to spread the crack further apart. This private insurance thing sucks. If my insurance would have authorized the composite instead of amalgam, I wouldn't need a crown. The composite would bind the tooth together instead of acting as an expanding plug. A composite filling would save me money in the long run, but they can't see past the present, so I end up shouldering the cost if I decide to go against their pre-approved authorization. The medical insurance industry in my country sucks! All they care about is short term profit. Quarter to quarter gains. They don't give a damn about me.

November 16, 2008

Software favorites:
This month saw a couple of updates to my software favorites. GraphicConverter moves ever forward. It's another full release for the product that's always getting better. It's another free upgrade for those who own a license. Apple released the 2nd non-beta version of Safari.

Safari 3.1 is a blazing fast leader in web standards. Safari was the first browser to pass the the Acid2 benchmark from the Web Standards Project, and now it's the first to to support a new generation of Internet video, audio, and animation standards. Safari 3.1 delivers the best possible Web 2.0 browsing experience. Supporting a full range of popular Internet plug-ins—including Flash, Shockwave, Quicktime, and now a slew of leading-edge web standard; CSS3 web fonts, CSS animation, HTML 5 media support, improved Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) support, even HTML 5 offline storage support.

With this software update, I've updated my Software Favorites page. It's primarily dedicated to web publishing for the Mac user. Not meant for the professional, It's my hope that home users and hobbyists will find it useful.
<https://www.robsworld.org/myfavs.html>

Has winter arrived?
The other day (13/14 Nov 2008), I found myself complaining about aching joints, and pain in my legs. Then, when I was at work, I happened to glance up at the monitor above the mission director's desk. This particular monitor happens to show the weather/local conditions. That's when I noticed the snow. It was snowing out, and the snow didn't stop in a couple of hours, it snowed throughout the night and into the morning. We ended up with approximately three inches. It wasn't a real heavy snow, but it sure was cold. By the time the snowfall ended, we had approximately one inch left on the ground. The snow stuck around for about a week, but it might be an indication that winter has finally arrived.

Reducing my Spam intake:
Recently, I've decided to do something about the amount of spam I'm receiving. SpamCop makes fighting spam a bit easier, and this week (3rd week of Nov 2008) I used SpamCop to further reduce that never-ending onslaught. Lately, I've noted an increase in the amount of Russian spam that I'm receiving. At times, Russian spam actually constitutes nearly 25% of the spam that I receive. Apparently, there are many Russian spammers. Either that, or the spammers think I speak Russian (I don't). In any case, SpamCop has a filtering mechanism which permits me to mark all Russian language email as spam. That's fantastic! 100% of the Russian email that I receive is spam. I have never; in my 15+ years online, ever received any Russian language email that wasn't spam. "Click". By November 13th, my Russian spam count had dropped to appx 1%. Nice! I also checked an option which considered all South Korean email to be spam. That one probably won't be as effective, but it will stop some spam, and the odds of stopping legitimate email is pretty low. I expect my November spam count to be considerably lower that previous months. Stand by for the results.

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>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpamCop>

Hooray for Me - Robert receives recognition:
Getting recognized for the work you do is easily one of the best things in life. Just saying - "You did a good job" means a lot to me - and most likely to you as well. Unfortunately, in my current job. I almost never get any recognition. During my 20 years in the military, I was often recognized for the work I did. Sometimes that recognition came in the form of a medal, ribbon or certificate of some sort (see my 'Awards/Ribbons' page). Compared to civilian life, the job satisfaction was much higher in my military career. I knew that people valued my contribution. The organization I worked for appreciated my skills, my level of effort, the quality of work I produced. My current employer/employment seems to lack that. It's not just that they don't recognize 'Me'. It's that they don't recognize any of us. We (the contractors that I work with) work long hours of shift work to support the military and our national level customers, yet we rarely receive any form of recognition. Well, recently I was lucky enough (and I consider it luck, because of it's otherwise infrequent nature) to be recognized by my company. Here's what my management had to say in the 'Award Justification' comments:

Robert has distinguished himself as a premier [redacted-bad-word(s)]. He has continually shown an unparalleled dedication to the mission and has been relied upon as 1 of 2 primary analysts/trainers. Robert's technical knowledge and willingness to share has not only provided more flexible staffing, but higher quality analysts. He has also been relied upon by the new Chief of the [redacted-bad-word(s)] Center to help with the organization and mission direction of the new work section. Additionally, his recent nomination for Industrial Partner of the Quarter reflects greatly upon himself NGMS and [redacted-bad-word(s)].

The words sure made me feel good about myself, and the work I do. The $700.00 cash award was awesome (Military members never get cash awards), but it was the fact that I received an award that really made my day. (Portions redacted to prevent those security folks from having anything to talk about. The omitted content wasn't classified, it's just stuff they consider 'sensitive'. Including it in my posting would only serve as fodder for their otherwise slow days.)

Musical acquisitions:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Where do I get all this stuff? I find a lot of free (actually free) music by visiting several of the new music web sites out there. Artists want you to hear their music - If you like it, you'll buy it. The major labels want you to pay for their product - letting you hear it for free is contrary to their business model. Well, guess what? I won't buy it unless I can listen to it first. The major labels are killing themselves with their restrictive distribution and dissemination policies. If you like new music, you can do a google search to find your favorite artists web site, a new music web site, or an archive of free music. Free music is available - Legally! Don't believe the major labels propaganda - Not all free music is illegal. You can legally download music for free. I download music from websites, newsgroups (when I already own rights to the music), and a couple of commercial sources. Here's a listing of some of the music I legally downloaded.

Web site downloads:
I download music from plenty of websites (not counting commercial websites). The websites of the artists, the artists label, music festival websites, music review sites, etc, etc. Their are gobs of places where you can find free music. We're in a whole new era now. Gone are the monopolistic controls of the music industry. Music is becoming free - Free to anyone who takes the time to look for it. If you can't find free, legal, music - you're not looking very hard.
* Richard Nixon Died Today - Negativland: (1 song) Off the newly released, Thigmotactic. Here's a new one for me. Never heard this band; despite their agreeable flavor/disposition. I found this low key ballad to Richard Nixon a charming and surprisingly good introduction to a band I'd never heard of before. Discovered by listening to an AOL streaming radio station (free music!) on my iPhone. Downloaded from the bands website.
* War Elephant - Deer Tick: (2 songs) A couple of songs off the bands latest release. This is a new band (sort of). Here are a couple of tracks off their first? studio release. I found it by listening to Indie Music pod cast. Downloaded the tracks from the band's website. The vocalists scratchy, unpolished, crooning speaks more to the lyrics and instrumentals than the commercial cashability of your typical band. With a country, folk, americana flavor, the instrumentals were well arranged moody movements designed to complement the lyrical sad-song ethics evoked by the vocalist. I liked it so much that I added the album to my emusic queue.
* O My Heart - Mother Mother: (1 song) Here's a 3hive discovery. An alternative, folk/rock band with an energetic instrumental lineup. Once again the vocalist has a unique, crunchy, scratchy, unpolished, pre-amp type of cut. There's plenty of harmony with the backing vocalists and I really enjoyed the sound of this band. So much so, that I added their album to my emusic lineup.

These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of November. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been rediscovering 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. With these acquisitions, I've updated my online music listing. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email.
<https://www.robsworld.org/mymusic/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/music.html>

Aurora - The most technologically advanced city in America:
Wow! That's quite a claim. Recently, I read about Aurora's technological edge. Aurora was recently (Nov 13, 2008) named the most technologically advanced city in America. The award was presented by the Center for Digital Government. Aurora beat out Miami, Honolulu and Tampa in the 250,000+ (population) category. Aurora has captured this award two years in a row. Here's what they had to say about Aurora's achievement.

"This year's winners reflect that even with budgetary challenges, cities are placing a high value on citizen engagement and improved services," said Cathilea Robinett, executive director for the Center for Digital Government. "Cities are incorporating newer technologies such as Webcasting, podcasts and blogs while continuing to use IT to enhance delivery options for citizens and businesses."

So what does this mean to me or you? Not much. I just thought it interesting. I've definitely got a kickin' internet connection, love my cable TV, appreciate my streaming NetFlix connection, treasure my iPhone connectivity, and soak up the WiFi as I travel about the city. Yeah, I guess we've got a good thing going on.
<http://www.govtech.com/dc/surveys/cities/89>

November 11, 2008

Neighborhood Watch:
My odd-ball schedule actually works in my favor for some things. One of those is a community support activity which I enjoy - I'm a volunteer with our local neighborhood watch. Like many of the people in my community. I own some nice things, and I want to keep it that way. Volunteering for the neighborhood watch doesn't require a lot of dedication, but it does require some attention to detail and a keen sense of your surroundings.

If you are a resident of 'Tollgate Crossing' (or one of the other communities listed above) in Aurora, Colorado, you might want to check out the new website. If you're a fan of "Rob's World!" you'll want to check out the web page, just to see what can be done with Apple's iWeb software. The web page turned out very nicely, and I hope it serves our community well. If you're a resident of Tollgate Crossing, and you're concerned about the safety and security of our community, you might want to join or mailing list to receive periodic alerts, updates and information. For additional information see the Neighborhood Watch web page.
<http://www.tollgatecrossing.org/Welcome.html>
<http://www.tollgatecrossing.org/Events.html>

Rob's Word! Keeps growing:
I started this website back in 1996, and it's grown quite a bit since then. It seems as if I'm constantly adding - but never removing - more web pages. Today, I happened to notice the count. I have more than 15,000 files stored on the webserver, and approximately 5,000 of those are html pages. It's getting a bit ridiculous. I've got pages that haven't been updated in many years. I'm still enjoying this hobby, and I don't forsee an end to it any time soon. So, I hope you're enjoying my rambling musings as well. I receive feedback frequently, and appreciate your comments, so keep 'em coming.
<https://www.robsworld.org/index.html>

Cold and crappy weather:
The other day (4/5 Nov 2008), we suffered through a bout of cold and crappy weather. Temperatures hovered near freezing, and the cloud cover was impressive. It was rainy - Spitting, starting, stopping, freezing. We ended up with some fairly icy roads, but nothing too dangerous. After work ended, I trekked through a somewhat slippery parking lot, and retrieved my scraper. This year I thought ahead. I'd stowed that scraper just a couple of days prior. It's a lot easier than trying to scrape the windshield with my badge or ID card! Crappy Weather - It sure made for good sleeping though.

Here we go again - Spammer pretends to be me:
A repeat of the dreaded 'Joe Job' by another spammer. A 'Joe Job' is an attempt by an individual to get someone's email service shut down. Someone (usually a spammer or person holding a grudge against someone) pretends to be you, sends email (spam), and hopes to get you shut down. Well, in this case it's hard to tell whether it was a concerted effort to damage my reputation or get me shut down (In trouble with my ISP). It may simply be the cost of 'doing business'. Some spammers take offense when I try to get them shut down, and I do that a lot They break the law, don't respect privacy, and use deceptive measures to conceal their true identity. Another development in the never ending battle - Death to Spammers! - If you think that this motto is extreme, you're either a spammer, or you're not receiving your fair share. Here's a synopsis on one of the more egregious spam related problems that's been annoying me lately.

Header forgery:
During the first week of November 2008 (6 Nov '08), I received another bounce message. Another misdirected spam bounce. A spammer has once again forged my email address as part of a From:, Reply-To: or Return-Path: header line. Most header data can be (and is) forged by spammers. It's very easy to do, and spammers do it routinely. They forge portions of the header in order to confuse, deceive and deflect. Unfortunately, there are still some ISPs out there that blindly trust that much of the header data is authentic. This leads to plenty of cases where an ISP will send a bounce message to an innocent victim, route spam to unwilling recipients, mis-deliver legitimate email, and all sorts of other shenanigans.

My first run-in with this sort of header forgery dates back to 2002. Like then, this instance is an attack on my domain. Based on the number of bounce/auto-reply messages that I've received, it's fairly evident that this spammer hasn't sent many messages. While I only received one 'bounce' message, the odds are very good that the spammer sent many more messages where my email address was included as the From: address. The spammer is pretending to be me. Intentionally targeting me/my domain. The blow-back from his spam run is damaging to my domain and name. I can only hope that no-one will assume that I actually am the spammer. That's what the spammer is hoping for. He/She is hoping that my ISP(s) or email provider(s) will make the same mistake.

This isn't the first - or last time I've been attacked in this way. Spammers don't like it when people get them in trouble, and lacking sufficient legal funding, the only thing I can really do is become a nuisance to them. A thorn in their side. Getting one gateway shut down here, an IP blacklisted there, a domain blocked there. By reporting theses spammers, my efforts, and those of many other spam fighters help keep spammers at bay, keep blacklists up to date, keep filters current. As a result (of fighting the spammers), I suffer their ire, these consequences and the never ending battle continues.

Back in 2002, I wrote a web page about the incident, and I've been keeping that web page up to date ever since. Just recently, I posted some more updates to that page. It contains information on email forgery, spammer tactics, and their attacks against spam fighters.

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>
<https://www.robsworld.org/forgery.html>

Saying goodbye to Stuffit Deluxe:
Over the last few months, I've been scrubbing my site and web pages. After deciding to never again purchase Stuffit Deluxe (Primarily due to their marketing practices), I've been busy getting rid of those .sit and .sitx files on my website (and elsewhere on my computer). During a recent scrub (see Nov 6 2008 entry - PBeM Files and AD&D character sheets), I discovered numerous references to a document that I'd completely forgotten about. Before I was able to password protect pdf files using OS X and Apple's Preview application, I used Stuffit to create password protected archives. I would compress the file that I wanted to protect and Stuffit Deluxe allowed me to password protect that archive. Unfortunately, a person had to have Stuffit Expander in order to view the file (in order to uncompress the archive, and enter the password). Apple's Mac OS X include's the ability to generate PDF documents from the print dialog. In addition, starting with Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger), users can now password protect the PDF files that they create. Generating password protected pdf content is as easy as selecting the 'Security' tab from a PDF print dialog. This built in Mac OS 10 feature, combined with the Mac's built in compression/decompression capabilities has virtually eliminated my need for Stuffit Deluxe. I can no longer justify the 'annual' (and sometimes more than once a year) updates to Stuffit Deluxe. Most of the time, the updates are an unnecessary redesign of the user interface elements, and the other features they add just don't seem necessary. I've outgrown it. Ok. Back to the 'scrubbing'. This document I found; it was a password protected version of our D&D house rules. I removed the .sitx compressed version from the server, then searched out all the references to it. I replaced all those references with links to the more recent version. A pdf with password protection, instead of a Stuffit archive protected by a password. I found numerous references throughout the website. Most notably in the "What's New?" blog postings. Replacing all those references took a considerable amount of time, but the native pdf creation of my Mac makes the whole user experience far easier and more convenient. I still have a version of Stuffit Deluxe (Newer versions don't disable the older version) and Stuffit Expander (it's Free). In the future (Next Computer upgrade), I plan to remove both from my computer. They take up more room and cause more problems than they're worth (In my opinion/situation).
<https://www.robsworld.org/whatsnew/wn2008/wn2008.html#oct27_2008>
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8152.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/3enewfeats.pdf>

November 6, 2008

November's eMusic acquisitions:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Where do I get all this stuff? I find a lot of free (actually free) music by visiting several of the new music web sites out there. Artists want you to hear their music - If you like it, you'll buy it. The major labels want you to pay for their product - letting you hear it for free is contrary to their business model. Well, guess what? I won't buy it unless I can listen to it first. The major labels are killing themselves with their restrictive distribution and dissemination policies. If you like new music, you can do a google search to find your favorite artists web site, a new music web site, or an archive of free music. Free music is available - Legally! Don't believe the major labels propaganda - Not all free music is illegal. You can legally download music for free. I download music from websites, newsgroups (when I already own rights to the music), and a couple of commercial sources. Here's a listing of some of the music I legally downloaded.

eMusic monthly downloads:
Every month I download 90 tracks from eMusic.com. I bought in when the price was right - $19.99 for 90 DRM free songs a month. At less than $.25 a track, that's a awesome value. iTunes eat your heart out. You can't get that deal anymore, but eMusic still offers more music for your money, and the variable bit rate recordings make for exceptionally high quality.
* Greatest Hits Redux - Cracker: (12 songs) Thanks to eMusic for introducing me to this alt-country act. I heard one of their songs on a free sampler, and it caught my attention. Here's the kind of country I like. It's not those warbly, goofy, twanging lyrics and worn out old instrumentals. It's original, fresh and captures that workers ethic like a country band should. This album is a different sort of 'best of'. Many of the tracks are re-recordings. Apparently the band wasn't happy with the versions released by the original record label.
* Everything That Happens Will Happen Today - David Byrne & Brian Eno: (11 songs) The last time these artists collaborated - 27 years ago, I was in High School, and their album - "My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts" helped form my musical tastes for all time. This album reminds me in many respects of those lyric, sonic, and spiritual foundations. An electronic gospel that soars at times, inspires, evokes deep emotional currents. It represents a dual track to music - Lyrics and Instruments. An outstanding effort which I will surely savor throughout the years.
* Sounds From The Thievery Hi-Fi - Thievery Corporation: (16 songs) This band makes abstract, instrumental, mid-tempo dance music somewhere between trip-hop and acid jazz. Excellent instrumentals fuse middle eastern samples, electronic beats, and pulsing bass drums. Dreamy lyrics and smooth vocals mix it up with nightclub, world beat, instrumentals. My second selection from this band. They have easily become a favorite.
* Drinks for the Delayed - Red Light Driver: (4+4 songs) Another MusicalFamilyTree discovery. This download constitutes four more tracks to complete my previous download from MFT. Red Light Driver is the risen result of Lunar Event's ashes. After Lunar Event disassembled (see Lunar Event above), they reformed minus one member to become Red Light Driver. Here we can here the result of that endeavor. Excellent grooving tracks with outstanding instrumentals and vocals. The drums are a bit brasher, and the pacing picked up a bit. Reminds me of many bands from the 80s - and that's a good thing.
* Brand New Year - The Bottle Rockets: (14 songs) It's rock, it's country, it's a raucous bar room brawl, it's a sonic smorgasborg. The Bottle Rockets are a celebration of roots rock with a southern boogie ethic, and I'm diggin' it. I have no idea where I first heard this band, but I'm sure that it wasn't from listening to an 'Top 40' commercial radio station!
* You Are Here - +/- {Plus/Minus}: (3 songs) Yes the bands name is "Plus sign, slash, Minus sign" that makes it a bit difficult to pronounce or write. I've been pronouncing it "Plus Minus". Two words, no punctuation. The music is an atmospheric blend of guitars and electronic instruments. The lyrics are dreamy, reminding me of the best new wave bands of the 80's. Another 3hive.com discovery. Free music = More music purchased.
* Everything's Perfect - Team Robespierre: (10 songs) Energetic, driving, rhythmic, electronic. If you need a forest fire in your iPod, hook-up Team Robespierre. There's enough energy here to drive you digi-goo-goo. Crashing instrumentals, mixing it up with multiple vocalists. It's a party, it's a riot, it's Team Robespierre! Discovered by listening to one of those free compilations offered to eMusic members.
* Liver! Lung! FR! - Frightened Rabbit: (12 songs) What the!? What's with the title? Scottish Indie Rock. These live recordings represent an earnest endeavor to capture the ethic of a heart felt performance. There's more than music going on here. I can feel the emotional impetus driving this bands effort. I discovered this rising star by listening to Indie Feed, a podcast of new musical talent.
* C'mere - Interpol: (3 songs) An EP from a favorite band. They've managed to reconstruct post-punk. Carrying it forward into the new century. Creating a new sound scape, Interpol represent a new genre, a moody, emotional, response to the commercial clutter which plagued our airwaves for most of the 90s. I can imagine this band opening for the likes of Joy-Division and the Cure. A favorite since my introduction/first download in 2005.

Web site downloads:
I download music from plenty of websites (not counting commercial websites). The websites of the artists, the artists label, music festival websites, music review sites, etc, etc. Their are gobs of places where you can find free music. We're in a whole new era now. Gone are the monopolistic controls of the music industry. Music is becoming free - Free to anyone who takes the time to look for it. If you can't find free, legal, music - you're not looking very hard.
* Hootie Tootie - The Prannies: (12 songs) Folk, country, americana, with a low key vocals. You might even think there's a British accent, but it's not. Just a bit of midwestern twang. Simple strummin' - emphasising the bass. Perfect music for a corner pub. A free offering over at Musical Family Tree.
* Splat! - The Prannies: (4 songs) Folk, country, americana, with a low key vocals. You might even think there's a British accent, but it's not. Just a bit of midwestern twang. Simple strummin' - emphasizing the bass. Perfect music for a corner pub. This band is still out there playing the circuit, working on a new album. Who knows? Maybe they'll make it big!
* Reaction - Reaction: (8 songs) It's too bad that the recording quality is so band on this offering, this band had a sound which could have gone somewhere. Self described 'Art Rock', they remind me at times of Magazine and some of the post-punk bands of the 80s. Another free offering over at Musical Family Tree.

Free eMusic sampler downloads:
Here's some more free music I downloaded recently. eMusic provides plenty of free tracks (to it's members) throughout the year, and I certainly take advantage of the free stuff:
* The Sugarhill Sessions EP - What Made Milwaukee Famous: (5 songs) A Texas band with a midwest name. An indie rock/pop band. Energetic, up-beat, with a drum beat that just won't quit. A free offering from eMusic.com.
* CMJ 2008 The Bands, The Music, The City, Vol. 2 - Various Artists: (15 songs) CMJ (College Music Journal) was one of those music magazines that emerged soon after the advent of the CD. The monthly magazine is still for sale on your news stand, and each issue includes a sampler CD. While the magazine has grown into a website (more free downloads!), it's also started an annual music festival, and this compilation is the fruit of one such gathering. eMusic gives away the sampler, and I use it to discover new bands (all genres) for my enjoyment. On this compilation, I found two five start talents - Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and Frances. I'll probably add some of these artists to my download list.

These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of November. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been rediscovering 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. With these acquisitions, I've updated my online music listing. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email.
<https://www.robsworld.org/mymusic/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/music.html>

Hot Flash!
You call this November? By now I was expecting some colder temps, but the beginning of November sure looks a lot more like summer than late autumn. On the 1st and 2nd of November, we had temps up in the mid to high 70s. 78 degrees (Fahrenheit) on the 2nd, and 76 on the 1st. Global warming? or just that crazy Colorado weather? Surely it's a little of each. The highs on the 2nd were so warm that they nearly set a new record high (for the state) for this time of year. You have to go all the way back to 1931 to find a warmer recorded day, and one degree doesn't make a lot of difference.

President Obama - A new beginning for our Nation:
<rant>Finally, the 2008 presidential election is over, and I for one am relieved.. My unfounded fear: Despite the feeling, the climate, the electric current of the electorate; I feared a repeat of those close calls in 2000 and 2004. When election fraud seemed to steal away the election. I thought for sure that we were going to see an actual coup in the making. I expected poll manipulation, election fraud, violence, and eventually a conspiracy which would hand the reigns of our nation to a hand selected successor. Someone who would do the bidding of the corporate elite, the wealthy superclass, the overlords who've ruled our nation more like a fascist state than a representative Democracy. Thankfully, all that did not come to pass. Although, one must suspect that some serious poll manipulation - or at the very least, some widespread media manipulation - was occurring. With the results tallied, and a 2 to 1 victory revealed, why did the polls continue to show the race as 'Neck and Neck'? Was the media simply trying to keep sales high (and viewers nervously tuned in) by slewing the numbers? Perhaps they had an agenda which favored a 'highly contested', 'too close to call' election?</rant>

<rant>I don't speak often, or long on the subject, and I refrain as much as possible at work, so here goes - I'm going to vent a bit about our politics. I'm really, really, really, tired of the unfounded, baseless accusations, rumors and outright lies that I hear at work. After Obama was elected by a two to one margin - Doesn't that qualify as a 'Mandate'? - I find my highly conservative coworkers (and there's a lot of them in my workplace - I'm employed by a defense contractor, and I work in a government facility) to be extremely voiceiferous in their outright condemnation of our newly elected president. As another coworker noted, this election sure is 'bringing out the racists', hypocrites, liars and loud mouthed *ssholes. 'He's going to take away all your money and redistribute it', 'Haven't you heard? He's a Muslim', 'Welcome to the Communist States of America', 'Better fasten your belt, you're in for it now buddy - Obama's gonna give it all away', 'You'll be out of a job soon', 'You know he's going to cut the military budget to zero!', etc, etc. The part that bothers me - I work with these people, and I know they're smart enough to know that they're repeating unfounded, baseless, discredited, outright lies. So what gives? What's the point here? Have the lies poisoned them to the point where they are blinded by the propaganda? Have they been struck stupid? Or, are they so spiteful and hurtful that they've decided to cross the line and intentionally repeat these lies and acrimonious accusations? Perhaps they're hoping that their words will hurt? Well they do! I'm getting so sick and tired of this trash talk that I'm starting to think that I'm working in a 'Hostile Workplace'. What symptom of sickness is this? There is clearly a segment of America (as Senator McCain has often observed) unwilling or incapable of holding their tongue. They knowingly repeat the lies, the vehement venom of divisive politics. It seems as if our society is now capable of intentional slander without consequence in it's basest form. 'He's a communist', 'He's a socialist', 'He's a terrorist!'. When will it stop? What value does truth, skepticism, and integrity hold in our society? Is this the end of reasoned dialogue? Can we communicate only in the language of shouts, slurs and slander? Here's an open request to those who seem blinded by spite and hatred. Stop and think, are you trying to hurt? Are you so damaged by the propaganda that you're willing to spread this fear and loathing at the expense of logic and reason? Are you a threat to our Democracy?</rant>

PBeM Files and AD&D character sheets:
During the last few days, I've spent considerable time updating some web pages that I haven't touched in years. Back in the late 90s (1997), I started and ran (for a very short period of time) a PBeM (Play By eMail) campaign that fell apart for a variety of reasons (All of which are far too numerous and complex to mention here). I also created and maintained a highly detailed AD&D (2nd edition of D&D) character sheet. The point is, these efforts (the PBeM campaign and AD&D character sheets) made use of many resource files. Files which were distributed to players in my campaign(s). Back then, hard drive space was limited and expensive. Email services had restrictive policies regarding the size of attachments, and transfer/internet speeds were still a bit slow. Due to all these reasons, the files were compressed. For various reasons, I chose the Stuffit standard as the method of compression.

Recently (see my Oct 27, 2008 blog entry), this proprietary compression format has fallen out of favor - for me at least. I've decided to ditch the .sit format for the ZIP open format. It wasn't always an open standard, but now it is. For that matter it's cross platform, open, and integrated into the Mac OS. O.k. I've changed all the compression formats (on many D&D related files) from the Stuffit to ZIP format.

In addition to switching over the compression formats, I also dropped the password protection which used to cloak those PBeM files. Back in the later days of TSR (Original owners of the D&D game), anyone who openly posted D&D related materials suffered the ire of TSR's legal department. In an effort to reduce my chances of a lawsuit, I used a password to protect some of our PBeM files. With a shift in the legal standing, and a better understanding of what constitutes copyright violation, I've decided to do away with the password protection.
<https://www.robsworld.org/files.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/pbemfilz.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/chrsheet.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/htmlchsht.html>