[spamming] litigation the slow way

They appear to have sprung the Seattle Spammer:

Alleged spam mogul Robert Alan Soloway was arrested on Wednesday after being indicted by a federal grand jury. The man the Washington State Office of the Attorney General has dubbed the Seattle Spammer was given an August 6 trial, during which he is set to face 35 charges related to suspected fraudulent Internet activities.

Now multiply him by all the botnets out there and it's a very sorry tale. Some get in to the system now in the normal way, even through word verification, such as a recent pest named Alex or Alec, who's been troubling some of us.

Perhaps this is the answer to spammers - it certainly cuts out the long expensive litigation. I found this one interesting:

A widely used technique to fight this technique is the 'poison' CGI script. The script creates a page with several bogus email addresses and a link to itself. Spammers' software visiting the page would harvest the bogus email addresses and follow up the link, entering an infinite loop polluting their lists with bogus email addresses.

[blogpower awards] categories so far

Over at Blogpower, [click on pic], the current state of play on categories is being shown. Please get over there sometime this evening to comment on these. The timetable for the awards over at Blogpower is:

Friday, June 1st, 21:00, London time: categories are posted for your perusal and comment, strictly for 24 hours.

Saturday, June 2nd, 21:00, London time: Final categories are posted and Nominations invited for each category. Meanwhile we advertise the awards.

Tuesday, June 5th, 21:00, London time: Nominations close.

Wednesday, June 6th, 21:00, Freepolls for Voting are posted at Blogpower

Wednesday, June 13th, at 21:00: Freepolls are closed and results are readied for posting, although these will be patently obvious from the running tallies anyway.

A.S.A.P: Final results in each category are posted.

[interconnectedness] ignore it at your peril

Lady MacLeod was actually talking about the horror of living in a war zone with no chance of escape:

There’s one thing about violent death you don’t see on the cinema screen, you can’t get from a book, and that’s the smell. I have been to a couple of war zones, but I knew I would be leaving.

The desperation that must come when you know you can’t leave; you can’t get your children to a better, safe life. The death of hope is by far worse than the physical death of the body.

.. but the main thesis of her piece was that:

I think the universe pushes together the people and circumstances that have business to be done. Not destiny, I don’t think our lives are preordained. I think we have choices.

which she then proceeds to try to negate to an extent. However, Agatha Christie agreed with her thesis and this is seen in this excerpt from a Harley Quin story:

"You say your life is your own," went on Mr Satterthwaite to her, "But can you dare to ignore the chance that you are taking part in a gigantic drama under the orders of a divine Producer?

Your cue may not come till the end of the play; it may be totally unimportant, a mere walk-on part, but upon it may hang the issues of the play if you fail to give the cue to another player.

The whole edifice may crumple. You, as you, may not matter to anyone in the world but you as a person in a particular place and context may matter unimaginably."

She sat down, still staring at him.

Douglas Adams hit the nail on the head with his facetiously stated but quite seriously intended "fundamental interconnectedness of all things" [Dirk Gently].

Then lastly, in a slight shift from the above but still germane to the issue - the whole life system of Australian aboriginal tribes [kourri] was based on the notion of the "oneness" of your environment and everything and everyone in it and you in the context of all that.

What we have here is the enormity of the human ego versus the enormity of the universe. Zaphod Beeblebrox can go into a cabinet which shows him the universe and his place in it but emerge unscathed, ego intact but as everyone who's read that book knows, he did it with help.

[map reading] some can, some can't

What do you make of this one?

[Research] from the University of Warwick suggests that not only are straight women worse at map reading than straight males, they are also outperformed by bisexual men, gay men, gay women and bisexual women - in that order. The study looked at what's called mental rotation. This is our ability to mentally visualise an object from different perspectives.

Applied to real life, the most practical example of mental rotation is map reading, says Dr Michael Tlauka, an expert in gender differences and spatial ability from Flinders University. "This is one mental task where studies have shown that men consistently outperform women. It's not a myth at all - map reading and spatial skills in general, you'll find that men outperform women."

Well, I have two comments. Firstly, give me a heterosexual woman any day and I care not what she can and can't do. Secondly, I'm not so hot myself.

Sure I can follow a map without problems and without a map can usually find a way to a given place by some sort of radar but if I try to return - I'm lost. I lose all orientation.

I did this with four groups of girls last week, asking each to direct me from Home at the bottom of the map to the Shopping Centre at the top. Results were mixed. Certainly some girls weren't too bad but the majority confirmed the study above.

Interesting. Further reading here.

[blogfocus wednesday] midweek version

1 A triple namer, with the initial in the middle, Andrew K. Brown's Someday I Will Treat You Good is sporting a recipe for pork:

This is a Moro recipe. The skin of the loin is lightly cut at 1 cm intervals and salt put over. The flesh is rub with a mix of salt, garlic and fennel. It goes into a hot oven for 30 minutes or so and then the heat is turned down to 180 C and the pork cooks for another 25 mins per 500g. We served this with a sherry gravy, apple sauce, roast potatoes, spinach and peas.

Go to it, gastronomes.

2 J. Arthur MacNumpty is another triple namer [with the initial initial initial] and like all self-respecting bloggers, is reflecting on electoral systems:

People are starting to digest the effects of alphabetisation on the STV Council Ballot Paper, including Grant, who now wishes to be known as Grant Aardvark-Thoms. If I were him, I'd change my first name to Abraham for maximum effect, but there you go.

Anyway, people are considering if maybe it's time to change this, and randomise the order of candidates on the ballot paper. I'm not so sure about this, I think it won't actually change anything, it'll just replace an alphabetical advantage with a completely random advantage.

Others suggest having each ballot paper have the candidates in a different order. Again, I'm sceptical, as this could mean that the way someone casts a vote is determined by when they get to the polling station.

3 Longrider is in the wars over there and I can relate to his internet woes:

For the first time in my life, I sought medical advice. Normally, I just take the anti-histamine and get on with life. After a week of increasingly severe symptoms, I realised that this method was not working. That was followed by our phone line going dead.

It is at times like this when you realise just how much the Internet has become apart of your life. Notes for an article I’m planning? Backed up on-line. Banking? On-line. Shopping? On-line.

Then there was that eBay auction I had coming to an end on Sunday ... Still, despite BT telling us that the line wouldn’t be up and running until Wednesday, we have a connection, so I’m making the most of it ...

4 Is CityUnslicker getting leftist in his old age? I thought I was reading Oliver Kamm until I got into the article:

Noam is of course, near mad. A world class master of seeing evil in good and vice versa. Capable of Tony Benn catastrophic misjudgements. He shares some things in common too with Gordon Brown; such as his epic struggle against common sense.

Nonetheless he does write well and also makes good efforts to quote from sources, dubious so some are. Overall his attitude to US and UK imperialism is consistent and blind. Hezbollah and Fatah are the good guys, Ahmedinnerjacket a true man. Hugo Chavez does no wrong. Instead all the enemies are to be found at home and his world is a conspiracy of evil.

5 Tea and Margaritas brings us the important news about the Guelph masochist:

Police in Guelph, Ont., are looking for a man who allegedly approached women and asked them to kick him in the groin.

Three women reported similar incidents to police and two of the women reported the suspect was on a bicycle. The various incidents allegedly occurred over the last two months. The suspect is described as white, in his early twenties, with a brown goatee and a large gap between his front teeth.

None of the women reported injuries.

6 The Spine shows its usual class in this piece on Tony Lookalikes:

‘It was good while it lasted…’ So says Tony Badger, who, for the last ten years, has been the UK’s top Tony Blair lookalike. ‘I guess I was born with a golden face,’ smiles the 53 year old steam train enthusiast and part-time lingerie model from Kent.

‘Only I’ve had to make it more golden over the years to keep pace with Tony’s tan. That’s been the most difficult part of the job. From one week to the next, we never knew what colour he’d be. One day he’d be a Bermudan beige and the next a shade of Moroccan coffee.’

7 An exciting blogger who has come to a number of fellow blogger's attention, Vorzheva, the Spanish Pundit, who is right on the front line of Spanish politics, opposing the terrorists and bringing the latest news. If you are a serious blogger and are interested in world news from the horses' mouths, this is a must:

The Government should know that, the more he attacks the FORO ERMUA, the bigger will be our strength.

If in the end this felony is achieved and they impose the sanction, FORO ERMUA will appeal the citizens to have enough funds to pay it and will dedicate the rest to make stronger the citizen’s movilization against the ignominous process of dialogue, cession and pact with the terrorist band ETA.

A band that has already 900 deaths in their backs, thousands of hurt people, dozens of thousands of menaced and hundred of thousands of displaced ...

Please excuse the English - Vorzheva is Spanish and this is a fair job of bringing us the news.

8 Will, of a General Theory of Rubbish, replete with communist red star and full Marxist arsenal, might consider me the first up against the wall, come the revolution. It was he who penned the testimonial in my sidebar and grateful I am for it. Strangely, I'm with him in this post:

Palestinian Surgeon General's Warning: Cigarettes, like liberal democracy, may be hazardous to your health. Pregnant women should not smoke, as It could damage the health of a future martyr. Also, Benson & Hedges™ brand cigarettes are manufactured in Western facilities where they may come into contact with infidels and/or Jews. Thus, avoid at all costs and smoke some sub-standard shite like what you would buy in The Barras for at least a third of the cost.

Next time is Saturday, readers. Between now and then, please give us the Categories you'd like to see competed in, in the Blogpower Awards.

Wulf's Web Den coming up on Saturday. Cheers, comrades.

[wednesday quiz]ten more for your delectation

On this sizzling hot day, how many can you get this time:

1 Who do the Italians call Topolino?

2 How many counters does a player start with in Backgammon?

3 Parnassus was the sacred mountain home of the muses and of which Greek god?

4 After how many years marriage do you celebrate your Emerald wedding anniversary?

5 Europeans are familiar with A-4 size paper. What is the area of A-0 paper?

6 In Roman numerals, what is the letter M with a bar over it?

7 Who is Bibendum better known as?

8 Which later famous actress won the 1936 'Miss Hungary' title but had to give it up because she was under 16?

9 Where would you find together a verso and a recto?

10 You know that bigamy is having a second marriage partner. What is digamy?

Answers here.

[pommygranate] at that difficult stage

Pommygranate actually seems to have taken the lead in the Aussie poll [104] over his next rival [89].

Colin Campbell and the Englishman - I can't find any link to vote in their poll. Wish they'd tell me.

So, as Pommy's the only live "awarder" we know of at this moment, slip over, if you would and place a vote for him.

Colin referred to "vote stuffing" and he's right in one sense but in another, one plays the game according to the rules and if the rules allow you one vote a day, we'd be crazy not to do it.

Anyway, my vote today's been placed.

Now, I simply didn't know about Colin and the Englishman so I think we need some sort of central blogger who collates and announces these things. If you are in an award, simply contact him. What do you think?

[china] wrath of the dragon

Not content with killing their citizens with lightning:

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Lightning has killed 56 people in China this year, 17 more than the same period last year, Yu Rucong, deputy chief of the China Meteorological Administration, said on Friday. Another 65 people were injured, 26 more than in the previous year.

... they are now executing their government ministers:

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

China has sentenced the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration to death after he was convicted of corruption, state media has reported. Zheng Xiaoyu was sentenced after being found guilty of taking bribes and dereliction of duty, state Xinhua news agency reported.

Zheng, 62, who was sacked in 2005 after seven years in the job, could have his sentence reduced on appeal. He was expelled from the Communist Party earlier this year. The death sentence is unusually harsh for such a senior figure, says the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Shanghai. Last month Zheng was accused of accepting more than 5m yuan ($650,000) in bribes to approve hundreds of drugs.

Thirty-one other people were also alleged to have been involved in the scandal, including Zheng's wife, Liu Naixue, and his son, Zheng Hairong. The sentence comes amid a food safety scandal that has hit Chinese manufacturers. Two company managers have been detained, accused of adding melamine to food additives. US inspectors allege this led to the death of a number of cats and dogs after they ate contaminated pet food.

The Chinese seem to like execution as a penalty and they do so much of it that some years back they decided to take it to the streets:

March 13 2003

China is equipping its courts with mobile execution vans as it shifts away from the communist system's traditional bullet in the head, towards a more "civilised" use of lethal injection.

Intermediate Courts of the southern province of Yunnan were issued with 18 new execution vans on February 28 and a court official said some have already been used.

"We cannot tell you how many executions so far, otherwise you could work out from the daily rate how many we carry out," the official said.

Chinese authorities keep execution numbers a secret, but Western human rights monitors believe it is about 15,000 a year, more than the rest of the world's judicial executions combined.

Living in China. Let's pack our bags and emigrate now.

[late note] hope you're coping too

Sorry for the lack of posting and visiting but there were reasons:

1] Internet problems which I hope are fixed.

2] The heat. Allow me to explain:

Someone said it was 38 degrees today but I can't see it, more like 34 or so max and now about 29.

Still, it was death stuff out there because it was mixed in with car and industrial fumes. This city is at the stage cities in the west were in the 50s/60s - belching bad air and congested, before the era of EPA and road systems.

You can always tell when it's acceptable because the ladies bask in it if it's all right. Today they were lying around outstretched, with tongues lolling out the sides of their mouths.

My personal situation is better than most - here is where my apartment comes into its own - it misses the late afternoon sun and what with the airconditioner wall unit and two 19 litre water bottles, there's less to complain of.

However, having been out in the poisoned soup today meant I just crashed when I got home and now it's nearly midnight and no chance of Blogfocus.

3] There is a word here 'rukavoditel', meaning literally 'hand driver'. Every 5th course student is, at this moment, going before the Commission to present dissertations and every one of them has a personal 'trainer'.

Two girls have me and I've been pretty bad with them, timewise. I've left it till very late to deal with the matter and now we're having to meet everyday and do a lot of it by e-mail in the evening.

Hence the other reason for the lack of posting. I myself also have to prepare a detailed report on each of them and I haven't done it yet. The big plan is to get all this done tomorrow and then run a...

Blogfocus Wednesday

...tomorrow evening, in place of Tuesday and Thursday. Thanks to regular readers who have visited today. I have all the comments still to answer and if you're a fellow blogger, you'll be the first I visit tomorrow evening.

[warning] internet connection dropping out

Can't get internet for more than five minutes - keeps dropping out. That is, it won't even dial-up. I know you'll say buy a new super-duper system but I have to buy a new car and repair the flat before that. So the blog will have to struggle along with what it's got for now.