There are solutions, but they're not legislation - as a poster in Germany pointed out (quite insightfully, might I add), US legislation has no effect if the spammer is doing it in a foreign country (I believe the current spam rush I'm getting is from South America, mostly Brazil).
As far as I can tell for the solution, if the ISP's don't want to cooperate with what is "acceptable", the only real solution is Internet Death Penalty - that is, failing to recognize spam friendly ISP's at the router level and accordingly dropping their packets to/dev/null.
Oddly enough, some of the spam I get still has endorsements for Senate Bill 302 (you know, "it's legal because it has an out"). What's not clear to me however is why they do this, but as far as I can tell it's because they don't understand the process of making laws (and that accordingly bills aren't valid until that point), or if it's because they do and they are severely underestimating the average spammee's intelligence.
But that I recall, this bill was more or less forgotten on the Senate floor.
Slightly off topic as it were, but I've noticed that a lot of people seem to think that Excel works very nicely as a database. In some cases this might be true, but the bigger you get the more problems you have, and I just can't seem to convince those of a less-than-technical mind (read: management) otherwise.
OK, this one's interesting. A few years ago, @home did not support Linux. SO imagine some tech's surprise when he got to this Linux-only family I know.
WHat this guy did was spend 30 minutes while the patriarch of said family explained to him 1) why you can't install Windows software on a Linux system and 2) that he could set up the system himself if teh tech would just give him the appropriate information. Finally the tech conceded.
Moral of the story: if you can bullshit your way out of it, you don't *have* to install the tracker software.
The city of Chicago took a pre-emptive strike and installed giant bug zappers in strategic locations throughout the central city and outlying areas where the El and Metra trains ran, in hopes of snaring rollerblading butterflies and butterfly decals before they were otherwise settled into the area. It is rumored that Los Angeles is doing this on their inter-city Red, Blue and Green rail lines as well, and Orange County Transportation Authority is installing mobile bug zappers on their busses for the next few weeks.
(disclaimer for legal reasons: this story is utter bull$#|+.)
Actually, on this last bit, this is the one realm where the customer is not always right. Remember that Sturgeon's law also applies to your lusers. If "it just went crazy", even if the problem can be attributed to luser error, as far as they are concerned it is your fault, and you must fix it - but it's up to you to explain to the user why he should not pour water on the keyboard (or something similarly stupid) again.
But then again, don't go assuming your lusers are all id10ts.
Just my $.02.
Nothing new here, but good point. Many ISP's do this for DSL services when you leave the realms of the PPPoE style DSL. Speakeasy, for instance, provides home users with static IP packages ranging from $60-100 per month depending on bandwidth "needs" and other bells whistles and gongs you may get.
(I know, but I enquoted it because most home users don't need the OC3 sized bit-pipe run into their homes. But wouldn't it be nice? =) )
First off, this bit from the article:...the cable industry, which sells Internet access to most Americans...
Are his numbers flawed? Granted that America Online, being the largest provider of ersatz access to the general public, is in bed with Time Warner, a major media (cable included) provider, but am I wrong in thinking that the cable industry does not offer the largest amount of net access? (Especially that many users are still using dialup, for the fact that they just can't afford broadband.)
In all reality, the site given sounds like a tabloid. If I want drek that predicts the death of the 'net, I know where to find it.
Point noted, you're probably one of the more intelligent users out there in this case. But, if I may misquote Shakespeare, one snowflake doesn't mean it's winter.
Ultimately, the elected politicians need votes. They're just starting to realize that these types of laws may just not be the way to get 'em.
Well, that's a maybe. I think that the best test of this sort of thing will be coming up in the election. The ZDnet article alluded to the fact that he's up for election again next month, so if you're in that electoral district, remember that.
Those who want to know more about handling spam on the technical level and some very good insight on the topic of spam can go to Randy Cassingham's Spam Primer, which at the end includes not only the standard FTC an SEC addresses, but also a place to send the Nigerian 419 scam now, which I'm pleased about.
It is the government trying Microsoft for antitrust violations. Why is the government proposing a bill that would basically require them to use Microsoft?
First and foremost, don't forget a keyboard condom (you know, those plastic things designed to fit the contours of a keyboard) so that, if you spill your coffee/water/whatever on the keyboard, it doesn't affect the circuitry. Since we're on the keyboard, I'd also recommend a raised base - remember, that condom is going to slough the spills out elsewhere, and the spill will expand underneath the keyboard if it's on a flat surface, so do the right thing and have it go into like a catch pan or somesuch. If you have the extra money, have it drain to the plumbing or a floor sink (see below).
Also, if you can hack this, set up a palm organizer or similar to act as a wireless remote. Sort of a rich-man's X10. (Even better, get an X10 array in your kitchen.) Don't ask me how this would be done, but having this handy would be optimal, especially if you're going to wire your kitchen to be controlled from the computer. (Perhaps future technology or a few hacks could explain how to control your stove's variable controls from your palm.)
And last, a low-tech idea - if you have the money, get a floor sink/drain. (See also the drip pan for the keyboard above.) An ideal assembly would have it recessed obscurely behind the cabinets, and accessible if you have to clean it - if the wife doesn't want a computer visible in the kitchen, she won't want something like this visible, as this is typically an industrial application. (I'd recommend directly underneath your kitchen sink - this way, the sink can be configured to drain into the floor sink. It's not unlike a typical restaurant or retail setup, so if you've ever worked for (say) McDonald's you probably know how this is done.) The rationale is simple: if you spill, rather than spending 20 minutes mopping it up with a sponge, all you have to do is spend a couple of minutes mopping it into the floor sink. Just make sure you pour water in it once every week to keep the odor down, or let the main sink/dishwasher/etc. just drain to it, but most importantly, keep it clean lest it backs up all over your new kitchen floor. (You can get commercial drain cleaners for this last bit, but you're looking at using a spoonful of drain cleaner once per week to keep it clear.)
Not really. Like I said in a previous post, attempting to take down the internet by DDOSing root DNS is kind of like trying to chop down a sequoia tree with a piece of fried chicken. It won't actually do anything but make a mess around the tree (which, btw, will recover from the relatively trivial amount of damage), it's the wrong tool for the job to begin with, and the person doing this if found would probably just be thrown in jail for little more than being a blithering idiot.
Like many, I didn't notice: Speakeasy's DNS servers weren't involved.
Besides, isn't DDOSing root DNS to take out the entire 'net a little like trying to chop down a sequoia with a piece of fried chicken to get lumber?
So Hollyweird, the leading offset press for movies and music, and Micro$oft, to whom I've never paid a dime, don't feel they can trust me because inherent in my Linux based computer is my ability to work a warez server? Whatever happened to the days of normal commerce, where if something new and innovative came in and beat the snot out of the original people (in this case, what Linux (sorry, RMS, GNU/Linux) seems to slowly be doing to Microsoft), the original people adapted?
And what of Microsoft? Remember, I don't use their operating system at home - and to reiterate, I've never paid them for anything, so why should I bow to their dictates, especially since I don't use their product?
I thought that was how the free market was supposed to work, but I guess the market ain't so free now.
You forget an important thing however: if a net.equivalent of the ADA is passed on the United States federal level, how is it expected that websites the world over are to follow this? We are looking at the so-called World Wide Web, key words "world wide" - and US laws don't apply to any country beyond ours.
This is why we have the W3C, so we can establish what standards there are. We don't need laws, we just need to agree what is considered standard and not use the rest. IE5-only restrictions, for instance, are non-standard, which alienates those who are using Linux, don't want IE, or are otherwise restricted to text only (console users, blind, etc.), and you can't legislate out stupidity, so what is a law going to do?
Didn't Gyration Inc develop something like this about 5 or 6 years ago?
Moving? Ask the US Postal Service!
on
Moving Strategies?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
No, seriously. You go to this site, and they have all sorts of stuff, especially right here. Granted most of what they have to offer is particular to the USA, but a lot of it seems to work for the whole world.
They also provide a list of packing howto's on their website.
Assuming you're a US resident, if you don't mind bombarding yourself with mail on your first day and you have a postage meter handy, you can also move using the US Postal Service by mailing your stuff to yourself. A ludicrous idea, and probably expensive too, but remember this: you are moving it for the price of postage (WARNING: PDF), and they bring it to your door. If you have the $12.95, they will also pick it up - hell, you can even bring it to the back dock if you don't have the meter. Expect to spend a fair chunk of change to get things from point A to point B., but it's probably still less than a mover, and if you're feeling a little lucky this is very much the way to go. If anything, though, this is a good way to get certain things out of the way for the time being, but do be sure that you're there to receive them, especially if you're in an apartment. (Ask the local office how long it takes to get there.)
(A word of advice, please make sure your small appliances are well-padded and empty before you ship them. I shipped a few of my wife's things from Massachusets to California when she moved from Springfield, and while most of it survived, we unfortunately lost the laser disc player. (Our fault, we didn't dismount the LD that was in it.))
Please note, however, that due to the USPS' weight limitations (70 lbs), I'm pretty sure they will not let you ship a pre-packed hippopotamus through them.
Good to see that he's doing something that will have a side effect on hopefully improving the secular market. That Mr. Helms is doing this is unprecedented, IMHO.
But as was pointed out in another thread, Mr. Helms' term is up in January, and he is not seeking re-election. I can only pray that this bill continues past Mr. Helms' career, as most bills tend to die once their proponent leaves office - and that's assuming they're lucky to survive the proponent being a lame duck in the first place.
He certainly has a bad reputation (probably deserved), but he's not McCarthy - hopefully he'll be remembered more for this.
I just basically called him a schlemiel after telling him that it's the first I've heard of him and hopefully the last. Don't know if he replied, but does it matter at this point?
Slashdot Mirror
As far as I can tell for the solution, if the ISP's don't want to cooperate with what is "acceptable", the only real solution is Internet Death Penalty - that is, failing to recognize spam friendly ISP's at the router level and accordingly dropping their packets to /dev/null.
But that I recall, this bill was more or less forgotten on the Senate floor.
Slightly off topic as it were, but I've noticed that a lot of people seem to think that Excel works very nicely as a database. In some cases this might be true, but the bigger you get the more problems you have, and I just can't seem to convince those of a less-than-technical mind (read: management) otherwise.
WHat this guy did was spend 30 minutes while the patriarch of said family explained to him 1) why you can't install Windows software on a Linux system and 2) that he could set up the system himself if teh tech would just give him the appropriate information. Finally the tech conceded.
Moral of the story: if you can bullshit your way out of it, you don't *have* to install the tracker software.
Instead, have your script in email or another text format, and sync that with waveforms like the other respondent to this message suggested.
(disclaimer for legal reasons: this story is utter bull$#|+.)
But then again, don't go assuming your lusers are all id10ts. Just my $.02.
60 degrees and a sign that forbids people from entering the room.
(I know, but I enquoted it because most home users don't need the OC3 sized bit-pipe run into their homes. But wouldn't it be nice? =) )
Are his numbers flawed? Granted that America Online, being the largest provider of ersatz access to the general public, is in bed with Time Warner, a major media (cable included) provider, but am I wrong in thinking that the cable industry does not offer the largest amount of net access? (Especially that many users are still using dialup, for the fact that they just can't afford broadband.)
In all reality, the site given sounds like a tabloid. If I want drek that predicts the death of the 'net, I know where to find it.
But I mention this because according to the blurb, one of the features of this coffee maker was an "on switch".
Finally, Porsche allows me to power my coffee maker on, but how the hell am I to turn it off?!
Point noted, you're probably one of the more intelligent users out there in this case. But, if I may misquote Shakespeare, one snowflake doesn't mean it's winter.
Well, that's a maybe. I think that the best test of this sort of thing will be coming up in the election. The ZDnet article alluded to the fact that he's up for election again next month, so if you're in that electoral district, remember that.
(Fine, I'm plugging, but it's a good site.)
It is the government trying Microsoft for antitrust violations. Why is the government proposing a bill that would basically require them to use Microsoft?
Also, if you can hack this, set up a palm organizer or similar to act as a wireless remote. Sort of a rich-man's X10. (Even better, get an X10 array in your kitchen.) Don't ask me how this would be done, but having this handy would be optimal, especially if you're going to wire your kitchen to be controlled from the computer. (Perhaps future technology or a few hacks could explain how to control your stove's variable controls from your palm.)
And last, a low-tech idea - if you have the money, get a floor sink/drain. (See also the drip pan for the keyboard above.) An ideal assembly would have it recessed obscurely behind the cabinets, and accessible if you have to clean it - if the wife doesn't want a computer visible in the kitchen, she won't want something like this visible, as this is typically an industrial application. (I'd recommend directly underneath your kitchen sink - this way, the sink can be configured to drain into the floor sink. It's not unlike a typical restaurant or retail setup, so if you've ever worked for (say) McDonald's you probably know how this is done.) The rationale is simple: if you spill, rather than spending 20 minutes mopping it up with a sponge, all you have to do is spend a couple of minutes mopping it into the floor sink. Just make sure you pour water in it once every week to keep the odor down, or let the main sink/dishwasher/etc. just drain to it, but most importantly, keep it clean lest it backs up all over your new kitchen floor. (You can get commercial drain cleaners for this last bit, but you're looking at using a spoonful of drain cleaner once per week to keep it clear.)
Not really. Like I said in a previous post, attempting to take down the internet by DDOSing root DNS is kind of like trying to chop down a sequoia tree with a piece of fried chicken. It won't actually do anything but make a mess around the tree (which, btw, will recover from the relatively trivial amount of damage), it's the wrong tool for the job to begin with, and the person doing this if found would probably just be thrown in jail for little more than being a blithering idiot.
Like many, I didn't notice: Speakeasy's DNS servers weren't involved. Besides, isn't DDOSing root DNS to take out the entire 'net a little like trying to chop down a sequoia with a piece of fried chicken to get lumber?
And what of Microsoft? Remember, I don't use their operating system at home - and to reiterate, I've never paid them for anything, so why should I bow to their dictates, especially since I don't use their product?
I thought that was how the free market was supposed to work, but I guess the market ain't so free now.
This is why we have the W3C, so we can establish what standards there are. We don't need laws, we just need to agree what is considered standard and not use the rest. IE5-only restrictions, for instance, are non-standard, which alienates those who are using Linux, don't want IE, or are otherwise restricted to text only (console users, blind, etc.), and you can't legislate out stupidity, so what is a law going to do?
Didn't Gyration Inc develop something like this about 5 or 6 years ago?
They also provide a list of packing howto's on their website.
Assuming you're a US resident, if you don't mind bombarding yourself with mail on your first day and you have a postage meter handy, you can also move using the US Postal Service by mailing your stuff to yourself. A ludicrous idea, and probably expensive too, but remember this: you are moving it for the price of postage (WARNING: PDF), and they bring it to your door. If you have the $12.95, they will also pick it up - hell, you can even bring it to the back dock if you don't have the meter. Expect to spend a fair chunk of change to get things from point A to point B., but it's probably still less than a mover, and if you're feeling a little lucky this is very much the way to go. If anything, though, this is a good way to get certain things out of the way for the time being, but do be sure that you're there to receive them, especially if you're in an apartment. (Ask the local office how long it takes to get there.)
(A word of advice, please make sure your small appliances are well-padded and empty before you ship them. I shipped a few of my wife's things from Massachusets to California when she moved from Springfield, and while most of it survived, we unfortunately lost the laser disc player. (Our fault, we didn't dismount the LD that was in it.))
Please note, however, that due to the USPS' weight limitations (70 lbs), I'm pretty sure they will not let you ship a pre-packed hippopotamus through them.
Now if she profits $50M per year and keeps it for herself...well, God's dealing with that little bit right now, I'm sure.
But as was pointed out in another thread, Mr. Helms' term is up in January, and he is not seeking re-election. I can only pray that this bill continues past Mr. Helms' career, as most bills tend to die once their proponent leaves office - and that's assuming they're lucky to survive the proponent being a lame duck in the first place.
He certainly has a bad reputation (probably deserved), but he's not McCarthy - hopefully he'll be remembered more for this.
I just basically called him a schlemiel after telling him that it's the first I've heard of him and hopefully the last. Don't know if he replied, but does it matter at this point?