My softball team smashes other teams when I’m absent. We get smashed when I’m present. This has been the case for the past eight games that we’ve played. Truth be told, I don’t believe that I contribute all that much–either positively or negatively–during our games. My adverse effect on our record seems to be a matter of luck–bad luck that is. I’m starting to think that I’m a cooler. Perhaps I should look to work at a casino; it could be lucrative…
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MicrosoftBS™©®
Microsoft Store rejected a review I submitted regarding my experience using Windows 8.1 and Windows Server that led up to my inevitable purchase of Windows 8.1 Pro Pack. Below is a screen-dumped picture of the email with my comments overlaying message text in green. The original review I submitted is at the bottom. I’m still having a hard time getting over the rejection, but I guess I’ll live…
Apparently, I’m not the only user of Windows 8.1 Pro Pack that feels this way. User reviews of Pro Pack on the Microsoft Store website are “mixed” to say the least. It’s funny that the glowing reviews seldom go into detail about the features that make the product so, allegedly, great. Also, the negative reviews seem to be written by sub-literate morons. Perhaps the editors for Microsoft Store want it that way. After all, truth can have a nasty way of blocking profits.
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Self-hosted Email: A Pleasant Fiction
I am, by nature, defiant. My challenge behaviors are triggered when I encounter policies or viewpoints that curtail freedom or hide truth (by my admittedly subjective estimation).
With school ending I will no longer have access to the non-corporate, school-hosted, email account on which I’ve grown fully dependent. It is known that most, if not all, corporate email providers–Comcast, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and many others–examine the content of their client’s email to tailor advertising for that particular user. If private companies are allowed to infringe on our privacy in this way, one can only imagine what “monitoring practices” the United States government employs in their (officially-stated) interest of “national security”. I really dig such blanket terms deliberately kept vague to rouse feelings of fear; these jive well with my personal views on things (see first sentence of this post). Because I value my privacy, and because I wanted to learn a potentially valuable skill, I decided to try and set up an email server at home. It’s not that I have anything to hide or that I’m at all interesting from a security perspective, it’s simply that I believe that my daily doings and communications are nobody’s business but mine and my message recipients’.
From the onset, I suspected that setting up an encryption-enabled email server would not be easy. Two years ago I ambitiously set up web and file servers through my home Internet connection and it quickly became obvious that the powers that be–my ISP: Comcast–are not all that keen on the idea. But it was still doable; that is, Comcast had not taken measures to block their customers’ capacity to setup and run a web-server. The main limitation imposed is input traffic to my server is comparably slower than outgoing requests. For my uses presently, this directional asymmetry in my internet connection is not a problem.
So, I figured the same scenario would hold for my setting up a self-hosted email account. I downloaded Postfix, the famed email server software of yor, and then diligently configured it to be secure using Dovecot SASL. Anything but intuitive, and overly complex as is just about everything network-related, I managed to get everything running locally after four days’ work. To troubleshoot my many misconfigurations, I sought guidance from both Ubuntu Server documentation pages as well as other, “unofficial”, configuration guides from all corners of The Internet. Eventually I got the server running sufficiently well to verify its proper functioning through my LAN. Next I endeavored to configure it up for SSL encryption which is no small feat. And when I was finally ready to open the firewall to let ‘er rip… nothing.
Test emails I composed were neither sent from my server nor received by it. I checked my configuration files, my IP address and ports settings, shut down and restarted the server several times and verified that all was peachy locally. Feeling defeated, I begrudgingly checked out my internet service provider’s traffic policies. Buried within several layers of fluff likely intended to dissuade less persistent investigators, I discovered that Comcast, and several other ISPs, made a pact to block port 25, the default port for nonencrypted email traffic. To combat email spam was the reason given; which, to be fair, seems to me a valid one. The problem is, the block effectively (and quietly) removes the freedom for internet users to control the routing and storage of their own email as most unix-based email servers, like Postfix, can really only function by using port 25. Perhaps there is a way to bypass this by changing it to receive traffic though another port, but as far as I can tell, a move to another port would require participation by both the senders and the recipients. I doubt anybody who emails me would be willing to go to the effort of changing their port settings just so their message could be received by my lone server. I think you get the idea.
Annoyed, both at Comcast and mostly myself for not checking on ISP support of email servers BEFORE I invested a nearly a week’s worth of time and effort, I set the email portion of my domain to point toward an encryption-based email hosting service that is physically located overseas. There my email will be stored, hopefully outside of prying eyes, hopefully for a good long while, and hopefully with warning that they will be purged should the company fold. Above is just one chapter in my transition from technophile to technophobe.
The following excerpt is part of the legal agreement that users must accept to sign up for Sony Entertainment Network, a forum and hosting service for online gaming through PlayStation consoles. It seems to me that many of these rules prohibit behaviors and practices that SEN has encountered, and had to deal with, over the course of their history hosting online games. From this perspective, the code does not reflect well on the past conduct of online gamers.
3. COMMUNITY CODE OF CONDUCT
You must adhere to the following rules of conduct, and also follow a reasonable, common-sense code of conduct. Users are required to take into consideration community standards and refrain from abusive or deceptive conduct, cheating, hacking, or other misuse of SEN. Rights of other users should be respected.
The actions that are prohibited include the following:
You may not manipulate or inflate usage of SEN.
You may not engage in deceptive or misleading practices.
You may not abuse or harass others, including stalking behavior.
You may not take any action, or upload, post, stream, or otherwise transmit any content, language, images or sounds in any forum, communication, public profile, or other publicly viewable areas or in the creation of any Online ID that SNEI or its affiliates, in their sole discretion, find offensive, hateful, or vulgar. This includes any content or communication that SNEI or its affiliates deem racially, ethnically, religiously or sexually offensive, libelous, defaming, threatening, bullying or stalking.
You may not organize hate groups.
You may not upload, post, stream, or otherwise transmit any content that contains any viruses, worms, spyware, time bombs, or other computer programs that may damage, interfere with, or disrupt SEN.
You may not use, make, or distribute unauthorized software or hardware, including Non-Licensed Peripherals and cheat code software or devices that circumvent any security features or limitations included on any software or devices, in conjunction with SEN, or take or use any data from SEN to design, develop or update such unauthorized software or hardware.
You may not modify or attempt to modify the online client, disc, save file, server, client-server communication, or other parts of any game title, or content.
You may not cause disruption to or modify or damage any account, system, hardware, software, or network connected to or provided by SEN for any reason, including for the purpose of gaining an unfair advantage in a game.
You may not attempt to hack or reverse engineer any code or equipment in connection with SEN.
You may not take any action that SNEI or its affiliates consider to be disruptive to the normal flow of chat or gameplay, including uploading, posting, streaming, or otherwise transmitting any unsolicited or unauthorized material, including junk mail, spam, excessive mail or chain letters.
You may not introduce content that is commercial in nature such as advertisements, solicitations, promotions and links to web sites.
You may not introduce content that could be harmful to SNEI or its affiliates or their licensors, or players, such as any code or virus that may damage, alter or change any property or interfere with the use of property or SEN.
You may not upload, post, stream, access, or otherwise transmit any content that you know or should have known to be infringing, or that violates, any third party rights, any law or regulation, or contractual or fiduciary obligations.
You may not impersonate any person, including an SNEI or third party employee.
You may not provide SNEI or any third party company with false or inaccurate information, including reporting false complaints to our or our affiliates’ consumer services or providing false or inaccurate information during account registration.
You may not sell, buy, trade, or otherwise transfer your Online ID, SEN Account or any personal access to SEN through any means or method, including by use of web sites.
You may not conduct any activities that violate any local, state or federal laws, including copyright or trademark infringement, defamation, invasion of privacy, identity theft, hacking, stalking, fraud, stealing or using without purchasing, where payment is required, any content or service and distributing counterfeit software or SEN Accounts.
And always remember: have fun!*
*I added this.
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Big City Crowin’
Riding horseback in the rural outskirts of Woodland, CA years ago, I noticed the crows there had developed a rather clever plan for extracting the inner contents of walnuts from hard surrounding shells. Crows would perch themselves in branches of walnut trees that lined country roads–a rather commonplace arrangement in Yolo County. As a vehicle approached, hopefully a truck or tractor, the crows would fling down a barrage of walnuts a few seconds before it passed by underneath them. Occasionally, the walnuts would land in-line with the vehicle’s tires, that crushed them on impact. The crows then enjoyed the nutty feast left behind, for minimal exertion on their part.
Walking back to my car the other day, I noticed crows enacting another maneuver for nut extraction. As you might be able to make out in the (low-quality, phone-captured) video below, a crow can be seen lodging a nut in the crevice separating slabs of pavement in a cement street. With the nut pinned in place, the crow could pierce it with his bill and pull out the nutty goodness.
Contrary to what was once believed, primates are not the only creatures in the animal kingdom cunning enough to use tools.
I composed this entire post using LG’s bottom-of-the-line assemblage of digital garbage that bears the model label L38C. Please believe me, the word aggravating doesn’t adequately capture my experience. My friends have endured months of my whining about the “PoSness” of this device. It appears my experience aligns with the majority of users who have been unfortunate enough to encounter this Google-bloated, pseudo-functional monstrosity birthed from the shelves of Wal-Mart.
“At first I was really happy, then I tried to install apps. The first one went fine, then the second didn’t load. System memory low. This would be a decent phone with more memory. It comes with a 4GB SD card that the phone doesn’t even try to use. I seriously question the reviewer who says they got 18 apps on the phone.“
-Hebert “mechanic and pilot”
“I wanted to like this phone. Really, I did. I have small hands, and this was the perfect size for me. I loved the shape and overall feel of this phone. I bought the white one and I loved the color. It was a great little phone, before I turned it on….
…Overall, I’d rate this phone as a poor piece of crap. I got rid of it the same day I bought it…”
-A. Pearce “E.A. Pearce”
“I had this phone for a year and hated every minute of it. the memory space is crap. It lags if it downloads updates is full of useless apps you will never use and can’t ditch.”
-corina
“The storage is TERRIBLE, I have 4 apps, 4!! and it says my space is full and wouldn’t let me receive anymore texts if I didn’t delete something. I can’t even add all most contacts because there’s not enough storage, I’ve only got 10 contacts in the phone… Yes, I’ve tried clearing the cache AND moving the storage around, and most apps also won’t move. The phones memory capacity is 157 MB…”
-Leslie
“The camera is also pretty craptastic, even in outdoor lighting. I wouldn’t recommend anyone buy this phone though, as you won’t be able to utilize it’s features to their full potential.”
-TishM
“Horrible phone! Won’t download ringtones, battery dies in a fraction of the stated time, etc, etc, etc. All sorts of little problems that add up to one big inconvenience. This is a phone that was definitely NOT designed to be used with the Tracfone service…”
-Dale
“Within hours of receiving and updating my phone, the system memory was full. I have spent days uninstalling apps trying to find ways to move things around, uninstall pre-loaded programs to free up space–which it won’t let you do, all to no avail.”
-Chris
“I would give this phone less stars in the review, but you have to give 1. I picked one of these up and this thing is a fixed bloating phone. By that I mean: it doubles up bloatware.
…The keyboard is trash and frequently stops functioning, as well as the phone dialer. And in order to properly use the phone: you can’t [let the] memory [get] too low or it will bug things out and lag so much it’s unusable.”
-rockinfilmmaker44
“This is without a doubt the worst phone that I have ever used…
…The proximity sensor is buggy and will frequently turn off the screen while you are trying to input numbers such as extensions or menu options on automated phone services. Do yourself a favor and stay far away from this PoS.”
-Randall Perot
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So, so sad.
Saw this a block from my usual parking spot in Wallingford a few days ago. What we can learn from this: 1) one should run one’s locking cable, or U-bar, through the frame of one’s bike, not just through the seat loops, 2) locking one’s bike in plain view of an I-5 freeway on-ramp might not be the smartest move ever.
Even if these suggestions had been heeded, if his desire is strong enough, a thief will find a way to steal a bike, no matter what security measures the owner takes.
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Please forgive the graininess…
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Thoroughly Enjoyable.
My significant and I watched this blast-from-the-past, made-for-TV movie yesternight:
The Toughest Man in the World.
Fresh from his A-team success, the film features Mr. T (born Lawrence Tureaud) as Bruise Brubaker, a tough-guy bouncer with a kind heart. Enjoyed it I did, mostly because of the phenomenal stunts and heavily-cued delivery of one-of-a-kind dialog. Of my partner’s opinion I remain uncertain. She laughed a lot, so I guess that’s good. I strongly suspect that this film served as the unofficial pilot for the Mister T. animated series that my sis and I watched in the mid-eighties when we was wee.
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Crash Death: Victims of Intensity
Stop cymbal abuse! End the cycle of violence perpetuated against these victims of unchecked heavy-handedness.
Case 1: Zildjian 15″ thin crash
The victim suffered a fate all too common for crash cymbals unfortunate enough to be sold into possession of novice drummers: stress via “wingnut overtightening”. Tension at the cymbal’s center curtailed its full freedom of movement during stick impact and subsequent recoil. The result: radial torsion stress fractures originating from the cymbal’s center hole–the region where the cymbal made contact with its center mounting post. In the photograph, holes can be observed at some crack termini. These were likely drilled to prevent crack growth in a vain attempt to extend playing life. Unfortunately, not only did the victim lose all tonal character, several fractures continued past the drilled holes and flaking occurred between them.
Case 2: UFiP Class Series 14″ crash
Not all crash cymbals are created equal. Some are endowed with an inherent resilience, while others falter when their proverbial (and literal) metal is tested. The victim portrayed here was of the latter variety. During its first call to service, a deep rift tore concentrically through the the cymbal’s mid-section after only a few hits. Out of disgust with the victim’s weakness, its abuser continued to pound the cymbal without restraint over subsequent practices. This continued even though the damage had already been observed. The crash’s playing life ended when the ring fracture grew to > 2*pi/3 radians.
Case 3: Stagg 16″ medium crash
Fortunate to be owned by a comparatively experienced drummer, the victim depicted here enjoyed ample freedom to move about about its center mounting post. Unfortunately, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link: rather than sustaining damage within, this crash failed at its extremity. In this specimen, long, jagged fractures originated around sites of repeated stick impacts. It has been speculated that metal thickness at the crash’s edges was insufficient to withstand the full fury of its unrestrained, and often quite overzealous, master. It’s a shame. In its prime before the damage, the victim produced a low, colorful tone quite uncommon to most cymbals of its type. True the the recurring theme of these reports, the cymbal continued to endure repeated punishment for weeks after initial signs of damage had been observed. At the end of its protracted service life, four large flakes extricated themselves, often explosively, from the whole; usually in the direction of its band’s unsuspecting bassist.