[Fwd: Important - Your Web Addresses have expired]

I'm getting expiration notices for my domain, when I have in fact transfered it to another domain registrar, GoDaddy.com. [Check WhoIs.net.]

This is either poor marketing on your part, or more likely a bug in your system.

Please pass this information on to your managers and automated mail system developers.

TTFN
    Tom Sayles


Note: Links below have been modified.
-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Important - Your Web Addresses have expired
Date:	Sun, 11 Jun 2006 14:03:02 -0400
From:	Renewals - Register.com <renewals@imail.register.com>
Reply-To:	Renewals - Register.com <renewals.L2SZW.151795@imail.register.com>
To:	tsayles@... .com

YOUR WEB ADDRESSES HAVE EXPIRED! If you do not renew the domain names below, you will lose them! You have received this email because you have not yet renewed your names, or Register.com could not process the credit card on file for your names. Your Web addresses expired: 06-JUN-06 Click here and renew with Invitation Code S#####7 THE LONGER YOU RENEW, THE MORE YOU SAVE! SOOT-N-SMOKE.COM 06-JUN-06 The more years you choose, the more you save with invitation code SYS547*   RENEW FOR     SPECIAL PRICE     YOU SAVE     1 Year     $35.00     -     2 Years     $49.95     28%     3 Years     $65.95     37%     5 Years     $92.95     46%     7 Years     $115.95     52%     *savings off year-by-year renewal at $35/year Don't forget to enter invitation code S####7 to receive these special prices. *You will not lose any time on your current term by renewing today* When you renew your addresses with Register.com, you'll continue to enjoy:        24/7 customer service    Web site forwarding - point your Web address to an existing site    1 page template-based Web page Please note that once your domain name expires, you will no longer have rights to that name and Register.com may make it available for sale or auction to third parties.** To avoid having your name auctioned, sold or deleted, please click here to renew. Thank you for using Register.com. Customer Support http://www.register.com Forget your password? Click here Questions? More information about renewing your domain names through Register.com Get online Customer Support Or call us toll free in the U.S. and Canada:    (877) 731-4440 Outside the U.S. and Canada:    +1 (902) 749-5917 *Please do not reply to this email. Replying to this email will not secure your domain names* **For more information on auctioning domain names, please click here Please be aware that if you do not renew your domain names, all products and services associated with them will be deactivated. All domain name registrations and renewals are subject to the terms and conditions of our Services Agreement. © 2006 Register.com, Inc. All rights reserved. 575 Eighth Avenue, 11th Floor New York, NY 10018

Bread Machine

I think my parents sent me a bread machine for my birthday. But I won't know for sure until I open it in a few days. Gotta love that Amazon wish list.

Re: Paypal Varification

Josh --

I have had a PayPal account for a couple of years now and I've probably spent around $500 or $600 though PayPal. Once I verified the test deposit to my account, it's been quick and easy. I generally maintain a $50 balance with PayPal for impulse buys and quick donations. So far I haven't had any problems with them or their affiliated merchants that I've dealt with. Nor have I gotten anyone to click on the donate button in my sidebar and actually send me money.

I haven't personally gone through their dispute resolution process, but I know people who have and they reported satisfactory results.

I do get the occasional phishing e-mail pretending to be PayPal, so I'm careful to make sure I'm connecting to the websites I think I am. And other then purchases, I always try to initiate my connection to PayPal rather then follow a hyperlink.

In the beginning I don't think that they actually wanted to require access to your bank account, but I suspect that it was the regulators that have driven the requirement as part of the "know your customer" initiatives. I also suspect that PayPal is subject to the same kind of (or at least very similar) auditing as most banks not to mention S.Ox. auditing.

I haven't seen any gaping holes in the security of their transaction model. And I suspect that if and when a security flaw is found, that it will get rapid and very public attention.

Overall I'm very happy with their service and would recommend that you go ahead and verify.

I'm happy to throw in my 2 cents.

TTFN
Tom

Date:	Mon, 08 May 2006 17:21:24 -0400
From:	"Joshua Engel"
Subject:	Paypal verification

Do you have a Paypal account?
They keep trying to get me to "verify".
I'm kinda reluctant to give  them any access to my bank account at all.
With a credit card they  don't have access to my money; they can charge
me a trillion dollars but  at least I still have my cash.  But they're
a semi-reputable organization.  Sort of.  Thoughts?

-- Joshua 

Quote:Visualize your success today.

I found the following in a horoscope feed.

"A great way to ensure your victory is to picture it. Visualize your success today."

http://astrology.yahoo.com/

NASA - Crew Experiences a Total Solar Eclipse

NASA - Crew Experiences a Total Solar Eclipse

Cool Pics.

New Favorite Song

I heard BrainsBodyBoth off George Hrab's Coelacanth CD on a podcast (can't remember which one, probably Accident Hash and/or Pacific Coast Hellway) and said that I've got to have that song. Since ordering my CD from CD Baby, I've heard it on several other podcasts including again on Accident Hash.

What does TTFN mean?

TTFN = Ta ta for now.

Back when geeks could type faster than the Internet could transmit, it was important to condence as much meaning into as few key strokes as possible. Many of the abreviations that kids use on instant messaging systems today had their beginings in e-mail twenty years ago.

TTFN is also a quote of Tigger from Disney's Winnie the Pooh movies. I'm not sure which came first.

Personal News of Note

The toothbrush building business is not worth talking about other then to say I'd like to get out of it.

As many other head coaches can probably attest to, leading a vaulting club can suck up every spare hour and brain cell you're willing to give it. Which most of the time is a good thing. This winter has been a little hard on my club as we lost our longeur back in December and have just recently found a new parent that seems up to the task.

In other news of note that you might find interesting:

• I've given up on Microsoft products on my desktop(s) and have successfully made the switch to Ubuntu Linux, OpenOffice.org, etc.. I just am not willing to shell out the bucks to upgrade my Microsoft products when good free [both as in speech and beer] alternatives exist.
  
• Still haven't taken the plunge into either emacs or vi. I seem to be stuck on gedit (a tabbed word pad clone with nice syntax highlighting).
  
• Heavily using both Firefox and Thunderbird. Thunderbird in particular did a relatively good job moving from Win2k to Ubuntu. In Firefox I'm also running the Yahoo Toolbar. I tried the Google tool bar but it seemed a bit invasive.
  
• I'm currently subscribed to nearly 50 podcasts and on average listen to about eight hours a day (~500Mb). [One of the few upsides to the toothbrush factory is that I can listen to my ear buds as I keep the machines fed and running.] On my ToDo list is to post an edited list of what I'm listening to on my blog.
  
• I've been hacking together a customized set of bash scripts, initially based on BashPodder, to download podcasts and burn them to CDs. I want to put a multiuser PHP front end on the system and start a little podcasts on CD by snail mail service.
  
• I've put together a nice little podcasting setup (Behringer 802 mixer, MXL 990 mike w/ shock mount, cool home brew goose neck mike stand, iRiver recorder). However I don't seem to have time to record / produce the kind of programs I want.
  
• I've got a couple of different blogs going including "TomS Words of Wisdom" and "CascadeVaulters.org". And I try to keep them more or less up to date. One of my sources of materials is e-mail replys to friends and family, like this one.
  
• The Geek Jeep is coming up on 350k miles. Like most elderly jeeps it leaks, currently both power steering and engine oil, though neither at critical rates.
  

Let me know if you find this interesting or not by e-mailing or better yet by leaving a comment.

Implications of QoS

The roll out of QoS (quality of service) protocols could lead to multi-tier Internet services (WSJ.com - Consumers Could See New Web Rates: Use More, Pay More). Though the flat fee Internet isn't going away any time soon.  The only places where it will is where one company has a monopoly on broadband service. 

If and when these companies do exercise their monopoly powers to impose 'pay-as-you-go broadband" or start blocking competitors services, there will be backlash both by customers and by regulators.  [There's already backlash going against Comcast for blocking or slowing down Vonage.] Just look back at how we got to flat-fee Internet access in the first place.

Also as soon as one wireless carrier offers all you can eat service for under $50 a month per line, all the others will be forced to follow. 

Customers don't like paying for extra minutes and they won't like paying for extra GBytes. 

Is Windows Vista the new micro-channel architecture?

Hadn't seen the WSJ commentary "Software Hardball". But as a free software advocate, I'm well aware of the issues had have been using open formats for some time.

The whole system of closed proprietary software is on the way out [probably gradually over about five to ten years]. Sun, IBM, Yahoo and others in the open source software movement are doing to Microsoft software what MS, Compaq, Gateway, Dell and the open architecture movement did to IBM hardware back in the late eighties.

Is Windows Vista the new micro-channel architecture?

"Stop AOL's Email Tax!"

AOL says it will start charging senders for incoming
mails to AOL users. Read the letter and sign on if you want to save free
email! http://www.dearaol.com

Quote: Technology and Magic

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
--Arthur C. Clarke

Quote: Woman & Cats

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and
get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein

Idea: Open Source Electronics

Following the pending upheaval in the software and media industries caused by open source tools and techniques, I think that one of the next sectors thus effected will be electronics.

I believe that one or more repositories for open designs of electronics will emerge. The designs in these repositories will probably be licensed with creative commons licenses (or something similar) that allows both the commercial production of products using the design and the creation of open derivative designs. Complicated designs will emerge by combining simpler ones. Designs will evolve over time in much the same way as open source software currently does.

Along with these repositories will emerge custom electronics manufacturers. Using processes much like inkjet and laser printing they will fabricate products that meet custom specifications on demand. The repositories will quickly start linking to these fabricators with real time price and delivery quotes.

As these open designs start to get used in the manufacturing of chips, the product development cycle will accelerate. New products based on the open designs will be available on the market in a matter of weeks.

Similar open design repositories and fabricators will likely develop to supplant many if not most other mass market manufacturing. Early deployments will likely include: replacement car parts, clothing, plastics & furniture.

How Geeks Will Inherit the Earth

I've been listening to the Creating Prosperity podcast since late last year. It's a serialized audio book version of "Elegant Technology" by Jonathan Larson.

The first couple of chapters were interesting enough that I checked out the audio book version of Thorstein Veblen's "The Theory of the Leisure Class" from the local library. And I was able to finish Veblen's book just before Christmas, and had some interesting conversations about it with friends and family after Christmas dinner.

Just after New Year's when I listened to the podcast of Elegant Technology: Chapter Four "The Theory of the Industrial Class". The ideas in this chapter lead me to some very interesting insights into the driving forces behind the Open Source Software and related movements and their likely long term repercussions.

• The "producer class", a.k.a. the geeks, will steadily gain economic and political power by routing around anything or anyone that gets in the way using open source tools and techniques, rather then through direct conflict or political action.
  
• As more and more technologies become open source, the pace of innovation will increase. Probably geometrically.
• Companies that hold and try to monopolize technology patents will find that open source research develops multiple technologies that render their patents obsolete and valueless.
  
• Similar open culture processes will happen with content creators and copyrights, because given a choice buyers will choose open content that they can use when, where and how they want, and they're even willing to pay extra for that privilege.
  
• At some point open innovation and content development will occur faster then patents and copyrights can be enforced by the legal system. When this happens most patents and copyrights will become pointless.
  
• The current system of intellectual property as incentive to innovation will breakdown and the businesses that depend on it must adapt or die. (Most will go bankrupt trying to defend useless patents and copyrights.)
• Businesses and individuals that facilitate collaboration and the free exchange of information will prosper.
  
• Mass market industrial manufacturing will rapidly decline and be replaced by global systems of distributed custom manufacturing of openly designed products.
  

The podcast and an online version of Creating Prosperity are available on the Elegant Technology...online web site. Be warned that the podcast is very dry and will likely put you to sleep, unless you're really interested in the subject matter and know some history of economics.

The Sad State of American Religon

May God save us from the ignorance and hypocrisy of fundamentalism in all it's forms.  Especially when espoused by our family, friends, neighbors or national leaders. 

Carol Sayles wrote:

Date:	I did a cut 'n paste
Subject:	Subject: THIS IS REALLY A SAD SITUATION !!!!!!!
To:

 

My son Tom, (and E-Mail Friends)

   What do you think of this one? It came to me from old friends from Richwoods my high school.

Mom / Carol

 

 THIS IS REALLY A SAD SITUATION !!!!!!!

Some of you may be wondering what Judge Roy Moore has been doing since he was removed from the bench for refusing to remove the 10 Commandments from his courtroom wall.  Please read the poem he wrote below.  God bless, Alabama Judge Being Sued Good Poem from Alabama judge sued by ACLU    The following is a poem written by Judge Roy Moore from Alabama.  Judge Moore was sued by the ACLU for displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom foyer.  He has been stripped of his judgeship and now they are trying to strip his right to practice law in Alabama.  The judge's poem sums it up quite well.   America the Beautiful, or so you used to be. Land of the Pilgrims' pride; I'm glad they'll never see. Babies piled in dumpsters, Abortion on demand, Oh, sweet land of liberty; your house is on the sand. Our children wander aimlessly poisoned by cocaine, Choosing to indulge their lusts, when God has said abstain. From sea to shining sea, our Nation turns away From the teaching of God's love and a need to always pray. We've kept God in our temples, how callous we have grown. When earth is but His footstool, and Heaven is His throne. We've voted in a government that's rotting at the core, Appointing Godless Judges who throw reason out the door, Too soft to place a killer in a well deserved tomb, But brave enough to kill a baby before he leaves the womb. You think that God's not angry, that our land's a moral slum? How much longer will He wait before His judgment comes? How are we to face our God, from Whom we cannot hide? What then is left for us to do, but stem this evil tide? If we who are His children, will humbly turn and pray; Seek His holy face and mend our evil way: Then God will hear from Heaven and forgive us of our sins, He'll heal our sickly land and those who live within. But, America the Beautiful, if you don't - then you will see, A sad but Holy God withdraw His hand from Thee. ~Judge Roy Moore Pass this on and let's lift Judge Moore up in prayer. He has stood firm and needs our support. IN GOD WE TRUST!

 

God Bless America And God Bless Our Troops

---

Patriotic Action = Terrorist Support

I do not wish to sign this Pledge of Allegiance petition for the following reasons:

1. The petition seems to have been forwarded in a geometrically expanding progression and such use of the Internet is harmful. If this petition is forward by each successive signer to only two others that then sign and forward it, the White House will be swamped with more then 10 to the 600th power e-mail messages. If successful this would most certainly cripple the White House e-mail servers (and much of the Internet along with it). So it is quite possible that this petition was started by terrorists as a denial of service attack and that signing and forwarding it is helping the “evil doers”.
2. Unlike most tyrants, the President of the United States does not and should not have the power to compel school children and teachers to recite a pledge of allegiance to any icon, document or person. Thus the petition is addressed to the wrong branch of the Government, it should be addressed to Congress.
3. The current version of the Pledge of Allegiance containing the phrase "under God", the version most likely to be supported by our current president, is patently in violation of the First Amendment, which states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...”
   Assuming that a Pledge of Allegiance is appropriate in a modern democracy, the petition should ask congress to repeal the illegal change it enacted at the bequest of a Catholic fraternal organization back in 1954.
4. The Pledge of Allegiance is a nationalistic oath written by socialists at the end of the 19th century. I am very wary of any combination of nationalism and socialism as this combination lead to very dangerous dictatorships in twenty century Europe.
5. Traditionally public school education in our country has been regulated by local governments, specifically local school boards.  Thus the federal government, to the greatest extent possible, should not interfere in local decisions, except when necessary to protect constitutional, civil and humanitarian rights.
6. Our current educational system is already overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge that we need to teach our children. So I believe that it is inappropriate for our public schools to dedicate scarce time out of the already lengthly school day to nationalistic and/or religious ceremony. (Such activities may be appropriate in private schools.
7. I think that it is inappropriate to ask children below the age of maturity to recite an oath to icons and/or institution that they may or may not wish to actively support later in their life.

I do believe that the recitation of a oath to uphold the Constitution is an appropriate opening for legislative and judicial sessions as well as during the instillation of officers of the executive branches of government.

I also believe that recitation of prayers and oaths of Allegiance by private organizations at their public events is also appropriate and the right to do so should be protected as one of the most sacred freedoms. Any government or official who seeks to unduly limit these sacred freedoms should be declared a tyrant and opposed, nonviolently if possible, and with force if necessary. Those who risk and lay down their lives to protect these freedoms deserve our utmost respect, unending gratitude and unwavering support.

Carol Sayles <teacher_carol@yahoo.com> wrote:

PLEASE SIGN         PETITION FOR PRES. BUSH PETITION TO REINSTATE PLEDGE TO THE FLAG IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 1. Frankie Dorsett 2. Marilyn Hampton 3. Tommy Hampton ... 1985 Carol Sayles - Glendale, CA   If  you don't forward the petition and just stop it, we will lose all these names. If you do not want to sign it, please forward it to everyone you know. Thank you!!! To add your name, click on "forward" or "Reply" and enter ADDs. You will be able to add your name at the bottom of the list and then forward it to your friends. THE 2,000TH PERSON SEND IT ON TO THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL ADDRESS: President@WhiteHouse.gov

 

God Bless America And God Bless Our Troops

RSS Mirror Tags / Namespace

I've got most of a formal spec for a new namespace that implements the "mirror" tags for RSS enclosures. The document is currently posted here.

I'm still looking for suggestions on how to specify the "addMirror" tag. Unless someone steps up and says it should be like this, then I'll probably end up playing around with some experimental XML-RPC implementations to see what works.

Idea: Equestrian Training Pedometer

I don't know if this device exists or not, but I'd like an electronic gadget that clips to a horses bridle or halter and records a horse's activity levels. At the end of a week a trainer could download the data via a USB connection or memory card and track the amount of walk, trot, canter, etc.

Specifically I'd like to put one of these on Cali's bridle so I can track how much time she spends during lessons, practice and training sessions centering and trotting.

Such a device could also be used to gauge the activity level of horses during turnout periods, i.e. the amount of time spent grazing, sleeping and frolicking.