Great thread on /. today with the 'running out of IP addresses'.

If this is true, this means my e-mail administration chores will be greatly simplified. I'm already blocking 211, 212, 218 networks (the entire class A, 16MM addresses). China, Russia and several other countries need to recognize that hosting SPAM, P0rn, gambling and scammers is not the way to create a 'new economy' based on technology.

You don't see this in India. They have about the same population, better access to technology, but no (well, none that I see) SPAM.

There was a big discussion about IPv6, etc. I think that is the ultimate remediation of the problem, but some large corporations and universities need to get a grip and push some IP addresses back into the pool.


Interesting note:
And ditto for some class A networks. I know that MIT does a LOT of computer research, but do they really need an entire class A? Did you know that each fraternity at MIT has their own class B? Really! For an example, try looking the hostnames for the routers in some of the frat houses.

$ host 18.[231-238].0.1

Megapath approved additional public IP addresses for my DSL connection. I'm so happy.

I sorted out the Netopia router last night. Its really quite a nice router. I am a Cisco bigot, but for low end connections, this is quite a decent box. The menu system leaves something to be desired, but once you get into the "Zen of Netopia", it all falls together. You define 'working sets' like firewall rules, NAT mapping, etc, then you thread it all together.

Megapath support is very good. I typically have only used e-mail support, but virtually everything has been turned around in 24-48 hours. My last request is for reverse lookup so I can register my DNS server.

SANS security recommendations.

SANS is not always the best set of recommendations, but they have at least one foot firmly on solid ground.

Tiny Apps - way cool site for small utility applications for Win32. I have been using a few of these apps and its an extension of the old UNIX tools approach. Its a good reminder. Also its neat to have these apps load in a second or two compared to waiting for Outlook to open and close.

Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's.

Yesterday was Megan's First Communion. It was a nice day. We like Our Lady of Good Council. The entire parish and priests are really good people.

My finger is fine, but I'm ticked about some silly, spoiled brat and her brat parents who are suing Moorestown High School administrators because she does not want to share the class valedictorian title.

I think the key issues are that she is classified as disabled. Fine.
She is exempt from gym and other classes. Fine.
Other students, who do take gym, attend a full day of classes, etc, can't possibly have the same GPA as the brat because taking gym (as one example) lowers the potential, weighted GPA for those students. The brat doesn't care and her brat judge father is suing to give her sole valedictorian position at graduation.

This is certainly a valuable life lesson for her. This is exactly what happens in real life, you take full advantage of the system, then sue if someone doesn't agree with you, no matter how fair they are trying to be.

Wake up and smell the coffee!!

burned my finger yesterday.
bad.
about as bad as I ever remember burning myself.
not a good thing.
Sarah was mowing the lawn, and I ran out to quickly show her how to adjust the mowing height (tall grass). Unconciously, and for reasons I can only guess, I wrapped my thumb around the exhaust manifold of the mower. Lordy! I was speaking in tongues as I ran into the house for cold water. It hurt for 2+ hours and Barb got some burn gel pads from the pharmacy.
I will post pictures, my hand feels 1MM times better and I have an interesting blister running down the outside of my thumb to remind me of my stupidity.

Jack Chick is going to hell.

He doesn't like Catholics, Jews, minorities or anyone who doesn't share his narrow view of Christianity.

How to make a telemarketer cry.

Its enough to make me cry with tears of joy.

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Junkbusters put me on the right track to eliminating (well, almost) junk mail and telemarketers. Follow the advice on the site and change some of your habits like never giving out your phone number or address unnecessarily and it will change your life.