Blackmoor Vituperative

I got a fun email today from Comcast (my ISP), saying they are blocking port 25, the port on which SMTP sends email, as a measure to fight spam. Isn’t that a kick in the pants? Of course, the only time I send email from home is when mortshire.org sends me reports. However, that is important, so I needed to find a way for mortshire to send me email with Comcast’s blessing. Thanks to Patrick Ben Koetter and Chris Fay, I have done just that.

1. In /etc/postfix/main.cf I added or changed these lines:

myhostname = annwn.mortshire.org
mydomain = mortshire.org
myorigin = $mydomain
mydestination = $myhostname, localhost.$mydomain, localhost, $mydomain


relayhost = [smtp.comcast.net]:587
smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
smtp_sasl_security_options=


2. I create a file /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd with the contents:

[smtp.comcast.net]:587 userid:password


where userid and password are my comcast.net username and password.

3. Next, I changed the ownership and permissions on the sasl_passwd file to protect it from unauthorized access.

sudo chown root:root /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd
sudo chmod 600 /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd


4. Finally, I created a database file from the contents of the sasl_passwd file:

sudo postmap hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd


There we go: postfix now uses the Comcast mail gateway, and operates on port 587 rather than 25 (because spammers would never be able to do that, right? Yeeeeaaaahhhhhh…).

(Note: this is Postfix 2.5.5 under Fedora 10.)

Cox has announced a new “congestion management plan” that they are starting to install in certain test markets. On the face of it, I can’t really find much to complain about. They say it will only kick in when traffic is congested, and it doesn’t forge failure messages (like Comcast was doing) or drop “problem” packets, it simply lowers their priority.

Initially, all the traffic on the Cox network will be divided into two categories: time-sensitive and non-time-sensitive. When the network is congested, time-sensitive traffic – applications or uses that are naturally intolerant of delay (loading web pages, instant messages, voice calls, email and gaming) — continues as usual. During that period, less time-sensitive traffic – applications which are tolerant of some delay — such as file uploads, peer-to-peer and Usenet newsgroups – may be momentarily slowed, but only until the local congestion clears up.

Below is a break-down of the time-sensitivity of the various types of traffic that travel the Cox network. Any traffic that is not specifically classified will be treated as time-sensitive.

Time Sensitive

* Web (Web surfing, including web-based email and chat embedded in web pages)
* VoIP (Voice over IP, telephone calls made over the Internet)
* Email
* IM (Instant messages, including related voice and webcam traffic)
* Streaming (Web-based audio and video programs)
* Games (Online interactive games)
* Tunneling & Remote Connectivity (VPN-type services for telecommuting)
* Other (Any service not categorized into another area)

Non-Time Sensitive

* File Access (Bulk transfers of data such as FTP)
* Network Storage (Bulk transfers of data for storage)
* P2P (Peer to peer protocols)
* Software Updates (Managed updates such as operating system updates)
* Usenet (Newsgroup related)

(from Cable, High Speed Internet and Telephone services in Cox Communications, Cox Communications)

My nephew Spencer has been selected in this year’s “Who’s who in band”. He plays the cornet, “a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet”. I have been trying to find out more about “Who’s who in band”, but a Google search surprisingly turns up nothing at all about it.

Even so, it’s pretty cool. I always wished I could play an instrument, but apparently you need to do more than wish. Spencer has accomplished something I never did. That’s pretty nifty.

If one could choose a single image to represent the Internet, I think it would have to be this one:

It just makes me sad. And tired. Is it so hard to be civil? Apparently, it is. We think we are so advanced, so modern, so enlightened. Look around. We bomb the living hell out of civilians. We rack up multi-trillion-dollar debts without the faintest idea how we will pay them. We drive like maniacs, endangering everyone around us. We attack people and say hateful, spiteful, utterly reprehensible things, and for what? A minor difference of opinion over religion, or politics… or a silly show that makes fun of bad movies.

Am I better than most? I would like to think so, but who knows.

In the context of a restitution motion, in United States of America v. Dove, the RIAA’s “download equals lost sale” theory has been flatly rejected.

In a 16-page opinion, District Judge James P. Jones, sitting in the Western Disrict of Virginia, denied the RIAA’s request for restitution, holding the RIAA’s reasoning to be unsound:

It is a basic principle of economics that as price increases, demand decreases. Customers who download music and movies for free would not necessarily spend money to acquire the same product. Like the court in Hudson, I am skeptical that customers would pay $7.22 or $19 for something they got for free. Certainly 100% of the illegal downloads through Elite Torrents did not result in the loss of a sale, but both Lionsgate and RIAA estimate their losses based on this faulty assumption.

(from RIAA’s “download equals lost sale” theory rejected by federal court in Virginia; restitution motion denied in USA v. Dove, Recording Industry vs The People)

“This is very significant. It shows you how bad things are for the retail industry,” said George Whalin, president and CEO of Retail Management Consultants.

Whalin said management mistakes over the past few years combined with the recession brought down Circuit City.

“This company made massive mistakes,” he said, citing a decision to get rid of sales people and other mismanagement.

(from Circuit City seeking to liquidate, CNN Money)

This is a shame. Circuit City is been one of a handful of larger companies with their headquarters here in Richmond, VA, and has been here for years. But what Whalin says is true: they have been making huge mistakes for years: mistakes that were obvious to everyone who worked there (I used to work there, as did a good friend of mine until they outsourced his job to IBM). Mistakes that were obvious to everyone, I guess, except the upper management.

Such a shame.

In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

I swear, it’s like The Onion is reading my mind. You know, I remember when it was just a hilarious little one-page web site. How time flies.

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

An old friend asked me if there is something he can use with his iPod instead of iTunes. Check these links out:

MediaMonkey (Standard — the Gold version costs $20)

RockBox

If you use Rockbox, be sure you get the fonts and a couple of themes.