Monthly Archives: March 2005

Junk Mail …

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… and this time I don’t mean SPAM.

I mean real, honest to goodness, junk postal mail.

I really don’t understand where some of the companies are getting their mailing lists… because I’ve been getting an increasing amount of junk mail sent to the post office box that I use for internet business.

The funny thing about it is that the people who are getting the majority of the junk mail have no direct affiliation with any of my net presences.

A few months ago I received a BankOne credit card offer addressed to: Anne Lucas, Midrange Dot Com, P.O. Box xxxxx, Hoffman Estates, IL xxxxx-xxxx. The company & address are (sort of) legitimate … but Anne, although a participant in a number of my midrange.com mailing lists, is NOT directly affiliated.

Today I received a similar piece of junk mail addressed to Leif Svalgaard from Forbes Magazine. Once again, Leif is a participant in a number of my mailing lists, but he has no official affiliation with midrange.com.

I suspect that some mailing list company is scouring the web looking for names that figure prominently in sites, looking up the whois information for the domain, and sticking the two bits of information together.

If any companies that purchase mailing lists happen across this post, I would suggest you take a long hard look at your providers to make sure they are not selling you junk.

Springtime

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It’s beginning to look a lot like springtime.

Ginny and I went over to the Chicago Botanical Gardens for a small photo safari to see what signs of spring we could find.

Quite a number of them,as it happens … you can see them too in my gallery.

Living Will

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Adam has the right idea here, although he puts a distinctly humorous slant on it.

I’m going to be a bit more serious about it.

Let’s make it perfectly clear here …

—–BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE—–
Hash: SHA1

I David Michael Gibbs, being of sound mind and body (more or less), do hear-by state the following for the official record:

Should I ever be incapacitated, through injury or illness, to such an extent that I am unable to communicate at any level and the quality of my life is such that I am unable to enjoy it at a reasonable level, I wish that all extraordinary measures be withdrawn so that I may die with dignity. It is my fervent wish that I do not be come a burden on those who I love.

Since the above condition precludes my own participation in the decision process, the sole arbiter of my disposition shall be my wife: Virginia (Ginny) Elaine Gibbs. I would hope that she consult with, and consider advice from, everyone materially involved with my life and the situation (parents, siblings, friends, doctors, etc). I specifically forbid any legal body (court or legislature) from becoming involved, or trying to alter, the decision process.

—–BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE—–
Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (MingW32) – WinPT 0.9.90

iD8DBQFCQtzhd5EkU9GYADMRAhXhAKCKS9nCGyOPs650GNeDranrl2orXgCfY8Uz
WDuNgTcieKukdWTyOX+J0LQ=
=bUbX
—–END PGP SIGNATURE—–

Phew … that was a mouthful.

In all seriousness … I do NOT want anything like the Terri Schiavo garbage going on if I’m in a similar situation.

Update 24-March-2005: I signed the statement with GnuPG so the statement can be verified in the future. You will need my my public key to verify it.

Buy WordPress …

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… and others 🙂

Yahoo has created a new game “Tech Buzz Game” that is a fantasy prediction market for high-tech products, concepts, and trends.

When you sign up you are given $10000 in virtual money to invest in various concepts. You invest that money in various commodities (Browsers, IM clients, Linux distros, operating systems, etc). The price adjusts based on popularity. Popularity or buzz is measured by Yahoo! Search frequency over time.

Currently I’m invested in the following: GOOGAD, LINUX, SPAMASSASSIN, WORDPRESS, FFOX, GAIM, & JAVA.

As of right now, I’m up more than $2600 🙂

(via wordlog.)

Recognition

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There is definitely something to be said for being recognized by people … even if they don’t know your face, knowing your name is enough.

At the Spring ’05 Common conference I’ve been recognized by quite a number of people … and it’s quite flattering.

My intentions with midrange.com are not to be a glory hound … but when people appreciate what you do, it’s quite satisfying.

If Aragorn had been a project leader…

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… his speech at the black gate of Mordor might have gone something like this …

Hold your code! Hold your code.

Sons of iSeries, of AS400, my brothers, I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.

A day may come when the logic of programmers fails,
when we forsake our debuggers
and break all links of procedures,
but it is not this day.

A nano-second of microsoft and shattered firewalls,
when the age of midrange comes crashing down,
but it is not this day.

This day we program!

For all that you hold dear on this good system,
I bid you stand, programmers of the net!!

Yeah, I’m weird like that.

Watch what you say on AIM

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In todays climate of privacy mania, I find it quite interesting that AOL would change their terms of service to eliminate any possiblity of a right to privacy when using their AIM chat service …

Although you or the owner of the Content retain ownership of all right, title and interest in Content that you post to any AIM Product, AOL owns all right, title and interest in any compilation, collective work or other derivative work created by AOL using or incorporating this Content. In addition, by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the Content or to be compensated for any such uses.

(empahsis mine)

I tend to chat a lot on the AIM network (using GAIM, and there’s no way I want to explicitly give AOL the right to the contents of my chats. Not that I discuss anything earth shattering, but some conversations are on the more private side.

An option, of course, would be to use the GAIM encryption plugin.

Thrashing Through Cyberspace via Mike Wills.