Satya's LJ archive 200308

Event time: 2003-08-03 12:02:00
Log time: 2003-08-03 09:02:36
Subject: Bicycles

I wish people would stop trying to run me over.

http://www.charleston.net/stories/080303/loc_03bikmain.shtml

Event time: 2003-08-05 19:52:00
Log time: 2003-08-05 16:52:10
Subject: CERN's httpd

People still use CERN's httpd? Hitting http://www.ccpl.org/ and getting a 404.

Event time: 2003-08-05 22:11:00
Log time: 2003-08-05 19:11:43

So what new verbs do we have now?

google: search the web
photoshop: edit an image, usu. to produce a humorous situation.

Event time: 2003-08-06 07:28:00
Log time: 2003-08-06 04:28:40
Subject: 1 degree of Satya

Fear. 1 degree of Satya: http://www.livejournal.com/users/mannu/2625.html

Event time: 2003-08-06 09:19:00
Log time: 2003-08-06 06:25:25
Subject: Fixed!
Mood: annoyed

So mcg is getting his truck fixed. You should get your new truck fixed, cos you don't want little baby trucks....

Event time: 2003-08-06 09:22:00
Log time: 2003-08-06 06:28:33
Subject: The biggest suck?
Mood: bitchy

DMV or XML? Which sucks more?

http://www.wfmc.org/standards/docs/xpdl.xsd

Event time: 2003-08-07 19:46:00
Log time: 2003-08-07 16:46:36
Subject: Intrusive ads

So when I'm watching TV, it's bad enough that they put commercial breaks in the program. Actually, I can understand that, they do have to make money. But then why am I paying so much for cable TV?

But this is worse: commercials at the bottom of the screen while the program is running!! It's intrusive. I've seen some that drowned out the sound on the program. And then there's the narrow credits option, where the screen shrinks along a horizontal axis.

Same thing with bouncing flashing pop-up pop-under web ads. I understand that some sites need ad revenue, but if an ad is flashy, I block the server.

Event time: 2003-08-08 13:28:00
Log time: 2003-08-08 10:31:54
Subject: Ministry of Yaaay
Mood: blah

I am now in Stevo's cabinet as the Minister of Yaaay. If you don't know what to do with this message id:
3f32e7fa$0$23589$5a62ac22@freenews.iinet.net.au

then ignore this.

Event time: 2003-08-08 13:42:00
Log time: 2003-08-08 10:45:57
Subject: #rm *

Someone recently typed:

rm foo *

instead of rm foo* on a Big Box that shall not be named (no, it wasn't on the "big file server"). The main website got blown away, but was restored from google's cache. For about 5 seconds after hitting enter, the person was sitting there and going "bring it back bring it back".

After the restore, the person left to present apologies to various people, then crawled into a hole and pulled the hole in after.

It was kinda funny, but that's because I didn't do it.

Event time: 2003-08-08 18:43:00
Log time: 2003-08-08 15:44:05
Subject: Ebay spams!

I got a suspicious email message this morning to my email address which is tagged for ebay. That means only ebay should have that address. The email message does not have a From: header. The Return-Path is anonymous@host86.ipowerweb.com and the re is a URL within which is of the form:
http://69.49.241.62/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?EmailVerification&bpuser=0&email=foo@bar.com

where foo@bar.com is an email address in the pennswoods.net domain, but not any of my addresses. The IP address in the URL does not resolve back to a domain name with the host command. I think it's very suspicious.

Oh, and: (charset: KOI8-R "Latin & Russian")

Event time: 2003-08-09 10:00:00
Log time: 2003-08-09 07:00:31
Subject: Trusted email?

Somehow, I don't like the sound of this: http://www.eprivacygroup.net/teos/

The "white paper" is at http://www.eprivacygroup.net/teos/TEOSwhitepaper1.pdf

I think jabbermail would be better.

Event time: 2003-08-09 16:04:00
Log time: 2003-08-09 13:04:39
Subject: RSS is yay

So I've been playing with RSS feeds and syndicating /. and ebportal on my personal website. Pages at ... well, find them yourself. I won't want to be be lj-dotted. (Yaright, it's not like more than 10 people read this anyway. But I don't wnat crawlers finding it. Yet.)

Expect my personal webpage to be replaced by an RSS feed-driven "my" page real soon now :-D

Event time: 2003-08-09 22:00:00
Log time: 2003-08-09 19:00:51
Subject: EPU does The Matrix

http://www.eyrie-productions.com/UF/FI/SOS/requiem.txt

Event time: 2003-08-09 23:00:00
Log time: 2003-08-09 20:01:13
Subject: Block those annoying ads.

http://www.everythingisnt.com/hosts.html Modify the hosts file to point ad domains back at your own computer.

Event time: 2003-08-11 15:56:00
Log time: 2003-08-11 12:56:09
Subject: Wow.

I've been getting offers from a certain credit card company, on the order of 3 in the last 2 weeks. So today I called them and after getting through eventually (ok, so it wasn't that bad) I said "blah blah, please stop sending". So they said sure, what's your name and address (no social! yay!) and (claimed that) they took me off their list. I won't tell the name of the company to be nice, but one might consider a group of ships.

Event time: 2003-08-11 18:09:00
Log time: 2003-08-11 15:09:42
Subject: Reading

I've found that when I'm reading a book, or a story on-screen, if I come back to the same book-page (or the screen page hasn't scrolled), my eyes automatically start where I left off. Often, I don't know this and think I've jumped ahead by a paragraph, but when I go back, it turns out I had started at the exact right place after all.

Event time: 2003-08-14 15:21:00
Log time: 2003-08-14 12:25:10
Subject: Linuxer types

Wannabe linuxers use redhat
wannabe clueful linuxers use mandrake
linuxers with clue use debian
leet european linuxers use suse
really leet linuxers use slackware
real open source types use beos
rms uses amiga (thpppt)
esr uses a mac
wankers use windows

Event time: 2003-08-15 07:12:00
Log time: 2003-08-15 04:12:40
Subject: MAPS DUL

While I hate spam and agree that ISPs need to quit hosting spammers, it sounds like I'm up the proverbial creek if I don't have much choice of ISP. It does happen.

(Similarly with the blocking of mail coming from a residential DSL/cable, or one without a reverse mapping. I don't have a reverse mapping. I don't want to transmit through my ISP's relay, because they could decide to only allow sending from a @isp_domain.com address or decide to start charging, or other stupider moves. And I don't have an open port 25, I don't have an open relay, I don't even accept *any* mail from outside the local network. I had a relay set up through my ISP but yesterday I changed it to go directly from my box. If someone blocks me based on that, I'll either use transport maps or too bad for them.

Of course, my messages to spamassassin-talk started bouncing, so I went and set up a transport table.

Event time: 2003-08-15 07:27:00
Log time: 2003-08-15 04:27:19
Subject: MIB causes blackout in greater NY area

Message ID MPG.19a6b6c435c6ea7998968e@text.news.ntlworld.com says that yesterday's blackout was a practical joke by the Great Attractor.

Event time: 2003-08-15 10:05:00
Log time: 2003-08-15 07:08:34
Subject: ID15

Today is India's independence day. It has been suggested that since Gandhi did it by basically annoying them, we should go back in time and give him the idea of wandering around going "yaaaay!". That annoys people quickly.

Event time: 2003-08-17 00:37:00
Log time: 2003-08-16 21:37:23
Subject: Pirates of the carribean

It was actually funny, scary scenes weren't too scary, Johnny Depp was good, the biscuit was a biscuit, there were a couple of good surprises in the plot, there were a couple of "I knew that!" moments. As in, I knew he was going to do that. You'll see in the scene where... well, that would be telling. The scene where he counts the treasure. I knew he was going to do that. But I wasn't expecting him to be like that. I wonder why, he was supposed to have been left out. You know what I mean.

Event time: 2003-08-18 18:24:00
Log time: 2003-08-18 15:24:11
Subject: Rain

So at around 1600 it starts raining sporadically. Peals of thunder, lightning (saw a fork of lightning later, not something I get to see every day), the works. I'm working on something, so I leave after 1730. A few drops of rain. Bee/President seems relatively dry, so I take that as a good sign.

No such luck. Radcliffe is flooded, so I turn back onto Rutledge. I'm on a bicycle with no rain protection, mind you. Not even a jacket. Head south on Rutledge and catch Vanderhorst. By this time the rain has stepped up. Vanderhorst is at least a foot deep. Get back on Rutledge, pass Calhoun... and find that Rutledge is flooded. So I get on the sidewalk and make it past the patch. Hang right on Bull, meet Coming and hang left, bear north.

Coming is jammed. So I stay in the left lane (left/straight), so I can get to the sidewalk or crosswalk if necessary. Of course, west Coming has no sidewalk just south of Calhoun. I let a couple of cars pass me because I'm sitting on the edge of the road trying to call my wife. After the call, I try to merge in front of a silver BMW Z3, who'd just as soon not have me merge. Now traffic is either stopped or moving very slowly, so what's this guy's problem? Anyway, I get back in, cross Calhoun. Coming is still stopped, but now I have a sidewalk, so I get on it before Mr. BMW can decide to run me over.

Plain sailing (and by this time, I'm ready to fly a topsail and jib) till my street -- which is flooded right outside my house, of course. So I kick up the speed and coast into the water. It's a foot deep at the sidewalk/driveway/road intersection, but another kick (and a wet shoe), and I'm beached in gravel. Phew.

Okay, who knocked the bins over? I'm not picking that up.

Event time: 2003-08-19 07:14:00
Log time: 2003-08-19 04:14:30
Subject: ISAGN

Ya know what would be great? A website that lists products that are being spamvertised -- advertised by spam. Like various antivirus programs.

Event time: 2003-08-19 13:33:00
Log time: 2003-08-19 10:36:31
Subject: Fucking lusers

So someone tried to run me over again today. Hey you in the pick-up! You're supposed to yield to oncoming traffic when you're turning left. Read the field manual.

Event time: 2003-08-19 19:08:00
Log time: 2003-08-19 16:08:20
Subject: Damn viruses

Wonderful. My spam rate just spiked thanks to today's cra^hop of viruses.

Event time: 2003-08-20 13:43:00
Log time: 2003-08-20 10:47:16
Subject: talklikeapirate

Usually I laugh at people who do this, but this is just ... something:

You are The Cap'n!
 
Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power. You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants. Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies where they are and imagining them where they are not.

 <a href="">http://talklikeapirate.com/ppi.html"> What's Yer Inner Pirate?</a> brought to you by <a href="The">http://talklikeapirate.com">The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site.</a> Arrrrr!

Event time: 2003-08-22 09:04:00
Log time: 2003-08-22 06:08:18
Subject: CSS comment

Seen in a CSS file:

{
yay i'm a comment
}

(yes, I know it's not really.)

Event time: 2003-08-22 12:29:00
Log time: 2003-08-22 09:29:18
Subject: Depths of depravity

[root]~# ntpdate time.windows.com

Event time: 2003-08-27 12:21:00
Log time: 2003-08-27 09:24:49
Subject: How would RSS based email work?

How would RSS based email work?

Instead of email server, have an rmail server. When you send a message, it goes to *your* rmail server. Everyone has a repository of rmail servers and accounts.

When you check your rmail, you log in to each rmail server with jabber or something. This is a scaling problem.

Alternative. Purely jabber-based email. You use a jabber filter to convert your standard SMTP transaction into a jabber message, and at the other end there's a jabber to mbox convertor. I've got a rudimentary implementation.

Event time: 2003-08-31 20:32:00
Log time: 2003-08-31 17:32:30
Subject: Much ado about nothing.

So today I have seen Keanu Reeves spout shakespeare. Whoa!