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It's Just this Little Chromium Switch Here

Weblogging and commentary by Chip Rosenthal

Surf's Up

Submitted by chip on Tue, 19-Aug-2003 - 2:47 pm
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I heart trashy instrumental guitar music. Now, I can get a weekly dose, at the Hot Rod Surfin' Party every Monday night (9-12) at Beerland, Texas.

This surf showcase is produced by Burnin' Mike Vernon, and features Mike's band Three Balls of Fire. Last night's show was great. Mike played several songs off his latest disc.

Up before 3 Balls was The Undertakers. This was the first time I've heard them, and they knocked my socks off. They played some of their own compositions, some classic surf, and even a bit of nasty metal.

So remember to put down Monday night in your Daytimer. And don't forget Freddy Steady's Midnight Howl continues on Tuesday nights.

Bloggers Protest, Nobody Cares

Submitted by chip on Mon, 18-Aug-2003 - 6:28 pm
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Last week offered yet another reality check on how disconnected webloggers can be from the real world. Last Friday was Fair and Balanced Friday. I participated along with scores of other bloggers. It was a very, very big thing in the ... *roll eyes* ... blogosphere.

But out in the real world, nobody much cared. A Google News search on the phrase fair and balanced locates 470 articles. Refining the search to just those articles dealing with the Friday event yields zero.

So the bloggers patting themselves on the back about their grand protest may want to consider that maybe nobody noticed. Particularly Fox.

Emusic.com Hits a Sour Note

Submitted by chip on Fri, 15-Aug-2003 - 1:47 pm
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This was supposed to be a glowing review of a wonderful music download service. That was a great plan, until I actually tried to use it. I had high hopes for emusic.com. Instead, I ended up canceling my trial subscription.

Fair and Balanced: A Note to my Readers

Submitted by chip on Thu, 14-Aug-2003 - 11:54 pm
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Thank you for visiting my humble weblog. I know there are something like 50 or 60 other blogs on the Interweb you could be reading instead of mine. I am grateful that you've decided to pass over the A-list bloggers, and reach way down to the D-list to find my blog.

To bring you a more optimal user experience, I am implementing a new site policy. From here on forward, this site will present a fair and balanced weblog.

Really, it's going to be the same old crap we've always done, but now we're gonna slap a fair and balanced label over it. We hope the change makes your visits here even more enjoyable.

postping: A Utility for Trackback Aggregation

Submitted by chip on Thu, 14-Aug-2003 - 1:59 pm
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Link: Software Archive: postping

In one of the earlier incarnations of the Austin Bloggers web site, we used a simple utility to aggregate trackback pings into a meta-blog. This system would encapsulate the trackback into an article, and post it to a Movable Type weblog.

I have received periodic queries for this utility. I finally got around to packaging it up and publishing it in my software archive.

We no longer use this utility. We currently use a more sophisticated system. I wrote an earlier article that discusses the evolution of this site. It explains the reasons for moving from the simple utility (published here) to the more sophisticated (but as of yet unpublished) package currently in use.

Microsoft Issues Patch for Buggy Lawsuit

Submitted by chip on Mon, 11-Aug-2003 - 11:53 pm
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Link: Microsoft says sorry to 'spammer'

This is a followup to an article I posted in June. Microsoft had just unleashed a torrent of lawsuits against spammers. It appeared, however, they may have mistakenly snared the wrong guy in their dragnet. At that time, I found their response to the possible mistake to be (engage diplomacy filter) somewhat uncharitable.

Simon Grainger, the innocent victim, was kind enough to stop by this blog the other day and add a comment to that article noting the nightmare ordeal is now over. It took Microsoft nearly six weeks to confirm what was obvious to most everybody else: they had the wrong guy. Microsoft announced the charges against Simon would be dropped, and offered an "unreserved apology."

Buggy code. Buggy lawsuits. Seems like it infests the corporate culture.

News on the Texas Spam Law

Submitted by chip on Thu, 07-Aug-2003 - 9:23 pm
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Link: Legislation signals round one in the battle of spam. (News 8 Austin)

In the linked story, I talked to News 8 Austin about the impending Texas spam law. Regular readers of this blog (Hi mom! Hi sis!) may be bemused to see me playing the role of supporter. I've been quite clear about my displeasure with this law. They, however, already had somebody for the opponent, and, by the calculus of TV journalism, the opening they had to fill was for somebody in favor.

I'm glad I was able to make the point that this law does not prohibit spam, but actually legalizes it. That's some consolation. That, and the fact they spelled my name correctly.

Just Ignore the GWF

Submitted by chip on Thu, 07-Aug-2003 - 3:51 pm
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I was reading a mailing list yesterday, where ISP abuse desk personnel were complaining about the morons who run crummy firewall software on their home computers and call support with complaints like, "I'm being hacked from 127.0.0.1."

These people need to have their Internet driver's license taken away from them. 127.0.0.1 is a special address reserved for your own damn computer. Such complaints, though common, indicate you've got the software locked down too tight and misconfigured to boot.

Apparently, standard procedure is to just close the trouble tickets for these sorts of incidents, marking them "GWF." That stands for goober with firewall. I think it's a great term, but I'll never again be able to read personal ads in the same way.

Spam of the Month: Aug 2003

Submitted by chip on Wed, 06-Aug-2003 - 3:29 pm
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We are less than a week into the month, and I'm pretty sure I've got this month's winner already. This spam comes from Hong Kong, with a subject of: 

Subject: Toweling products from Daily Firm

It almost sounds like they are trying to sell me something vaguely, but ineptly, naughty. The darn thing is when I read the text of the message, it doesn't make any more sense.

Ain't no Apricot Seeds in the Pokey

Submitted by chip on Sun, 03-Aug-2003 - 8:00 pm
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Link: Bellerose Man Convicted Of Selling Apricot Pits As Remedy

Jason Vale was never one of the most significant spammers, but he was one of the more persistent and annoying. For years, my mailbox received a steady stream of his spams, pedaling apricot seeds as a cure for cancer. After the intervention of the FDA and several federal judges, the spam finally should stop.

What made Jason particularly annoying was his excessive self-righteousness. It was also his downfall. His final mistake was violating an order from a federal judge. He was recently found guilty of contempt, and is now awaiting sentencing. I hope the sentence is sufficient to break down his resistence to clue.