Have Laptop Will Travel

Tis The Season For Holiday Spammers

Originally posted on December 13, 2006 @ 3:06 am

Can of SPAMAnti spam specialists and companies predict an average of 78 billion peaces of spam to be sent daily as we get closer to Christmas.

Anti spam software and mail servers have to work hard to process more and more loads of emails to fight this onslaught of spam but as we all know, this is a cat-and-mouse game.

Sophisticated spammers design and test their spam messages against the current spam definitions. Spam filters will not be able to catch 100% the spam.

Say, a spam filter catches 99% of the spam, there is still that 1% that will be missed. That is 1 out of 100 spam sent. Not a big number. But 1% of 78 billion is certainly a very big number.

The server statistics for Have Laptop Will Travel show that my mail servers are hit with more than a million peaces of spam each day, which is close to quadruple the hits in the previous month… but I don’t like spam!

Mail servers are designed to handle large number of emails, but with the sudden influxes, even the most powerful mail server requires time to digest all the emails. Hence, mail delivery is delayed.

It is unfortunate that my mail server has to work so much harder to process the large load of emails, a large percentage of which is junk mail. Thanks spammers. Lumps of coal for you this year.

And it’s not just spam that is a concern to me, there is also the email viruses and other email-borne threats that inundate our in boxes.

So what am I doing to help prevent this nightmare of spam-tastic per portions from hammering on my servers?

  1. Implemented new measures and procedures to monitor and ensure the effects of spam are kept to the lowest.
  2. Employed more mail servers to alleviate the load of my existing mail servers.
  3. Installed a Barracuda Spam Firewall.

and some other behind the scenes secret sauce which I won’t disclose because the spammers subscribe to my RSS feed.

I’ve also made sure that my personal and work machines are all patched with the latest security updates, all my anti virus products are up-to-date and I’ve done some serious house cleaning on all my hard drives, done a ton of registry fixes and cleaning and triple checked for spy ware and male ware on all my machines.

At this point all is well on the Island of Misfit Toys but it will still require daily monitoring and tweaks but with what I have in place now, I’m better prepared for the storm of spam coming my way this holiday season… are you prepared?

Women and Eyebrows

Originally posted on November 16, 2006 @ 12:32 am

Ronald McDonaldToday I was out and about and noticed something really interesting while at a store.

The girl behind the cash register actually shaved off her eyebrows, then penciled them on… sort of like a circus clown.

I could tell she was able to grow eyebrows because there was some stubble… but why girls?

Why do this to yourself? It looks stupid.

It’s not even like she tried to make them look natural… huge freaking McDonald’s M’s for eyebrows… yikes!

I can understand a little plucking to separate the uni-brow but the Ronald McDonald draw in needs to go away.

So my question is… why do women do this? I’ve seen it a lot.

House Approves Warrantless Wiretap Law

Originally posted on September 28, 2006 @ 10:36 pm

I can’t believe this! What in the world are these people thinking?

WASHINGTON – The House approved a bill today that would grant legal status to President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program with new restrictions. Republicans called it a test before the election of whether Democrats want to fight or coddle terrorists.

The war on terrorism shouldn’t be fought at the expense of civil and human rights. Simple as that.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Heather Wilson gives legal status under certain conditions to Bush’s warrantless wiretapping of calls and e-mails between people on United States soil making calls or sending e-mails and those in other countries.

I have friends in other countries, I communicate with many bloggers around the globe via email and phone.

This is very upsetting news but just another reason for people to use PGP or some other form of encryption in online communications.

Under the measure, the president would be authorized to conduct such wiretaps if he:

  • Notifies the House and Senate intelligence committees and congressional leaders.
  • Believes an attack is imminent and later explains the reason and names the individuals and groups involved.
  • Renews his certification every 90 days.

The Senate also could vote on a similar bill before Congress recesses at the end of the week.

Leaders concede that differences between the versions are so significant they cannot reconcile them into a final bill that can be delivered to Bush before the November 7 congressional elections.

Only in America

Originally posted on June 22, 2006 @ 11:47 pm

Is it just me or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington? They can even track her calves to their stalls but they’re unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country?! Maybe we should give them all a cow?

Ok, here’s an idea… for each person that enters the United States, they’ll receive one cow. We have now given you a way to travel when your car breaks down, milk for when you have your children and food for when all your relatives come. Only in America.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking our statue of liberty, it’s just so amazing how we can track diseases, cows, Terrell Owens Rap sheet but we can find Osama Bin Laden or missing children? Nope.

Yesterday I posted about our constitution and how we don’t use it anymore and should give it to Iraq. I received a few hate emails saying that I was “so un-american” and “if I don’t like it, I should move away”. For the record, I’m very American and love my country.

Read on if you dare as I’m about to rant a little more about my thoughts on the United States Constitution.

We have the freedom to speak as long as we do it quietly, we don’t offend anyone and the public doesn’t hear us. We have the right to bear arms, just don’t shoot anyone trying to hurt you, they may sue you… and win! We are free, yet the government can come in at anytime and take everything you own including your children. Only in America.

Movie Theaters Jamming Cell Phones

Originally posted on March 15, 2006 @ 9:39 am

LAS VEGAS – Movie theater owners faced with falling attendance are considering asking federal authorities for permission to jam cell phone reception in an attempt to stop annoying conversations during films, the head of the industry’s trade group said on Tuesday.

“I don’t know what’s going on with consumers that they have to talk on phones in the middle of theaters,” John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, told the ShoWest conference in Las Vegas.

Theaters are trying a number of ways to silence cell phones, from sweeps by ushers to funny fake movie trailers urging viewers to shut off phones.

Fithian said owners were considering other steps if that does not work.

“We will actually petition the Federal Communications (Commission) to remove the block” on jamming cell phones, he said.

That may be difficult, since federal law and FCC rules prohibit the use of cell phone jammers.

Source: reuters.com

This is very frustrating. I really hope the FCC stands it’s ground and doesn’t allow Movie Theaters to jam cell phone signals. That’s all we need is some $4.00 an hour kid screwing with the thing when he or she shouldn’t be.

I agree it’s rude that people have cell phone ringers on while a movie is playing. There is a thing called silent/vibrate mode. If they jam the signal it would be very bad if an emergency call came in like a baby sitter trying to get ahold of the parents or something. I put my phone on silent and if someone calls and I need to answer it, I go out into the lobby. Simple. No jamming required.