Call out Gouranga be happy!!!
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga ....
That which brings the highest happiness!!

The Full Email and SpamCop's Reporting Log

I can't decide whether this is just a Russian spammer's idea of a joke while he verifies his list, or if some bumbling Russky hit the "send" button before he finished his Viagra spam.

I have now created a photo gallery. Most of the pictures have been taken with my Canon PowerShot A80. The gallery includes a lot of pictures from my trip to Slovakia in May 2004.

I received some wacky religious spam today (entire text of spam).

THE PAPACY IS THE ANTICHRIST THAT IS TRYING TO DESTROY THE LAW OF GOD. DANIEL 7.25
SUNDAY IS THE DAY OF THE ROMAN BEAST(PAPACY),
SABATH 7TH DAY IS GOD´S TRUE REST DAY. EX. 20:8-11
SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST DOCTRINE

Of course, it comes with some very reliable numerology

THE PAPACY IS THE ANTICHRIST.
 
VICARIOUS FILII DEI = V(5)I(1)C(100)ARI(1)OV(5)S FI(1)L(50)I(1)I(1)
D(500)EI(1)
5+1+100+1+5+1+50+1+1+500+1=666
 
DVX CLERI = 500 + 5 + 100 + 50 +1 (LORD OF CLERGY)
 
LATINVS REX SACERDOS = 50 + 1 + 5 + 10 + 100 + 500 (LATIN PRIEST KING)

This is straight out of the Evil Finder.

The proof that THE POPE IS EVIL (the results from the link will vary):

**** THE PROOF THAT POPE IS EVIL ****
 
.. P . O . P . E
..16 .15. 16 . 5 - as numbers
.. 7 . 6 . 7 . 5 - digits added
. \_/ \_/ \_/ \_/
.. 7 . 6 . 7 . 5 - digits added
 
Thus, "POPE" is 7675.
 
Add 1977, the year Elvis left the planet - the result is 9652.
 
Turn the number backwards, multiply by 7 - the sacred number of Illuminati. The number is now 17983.
 
Turn the number backwards, and add 1983 - the year Microsoft introduced Windows 1.0. The number is now 40954.
 
Add 1776, the year masonry founded Phi Beta Kappa - the result is 42730.
 
Turn the number backwards, subtract 1934 - the year Shirley Temple starred in her first movie. The number is now 1790.
 
The number 1790 is the year US patent system was established (eevil).
 
This clearly proves how evil the subject is. QED.

I can no longer post from work. The comment system says:

"Sorry, but according to our tests, you are trying to post from an open HTTP proxy. Please close the proxy or ask your sysadmin or ISP to do so, because open proxies are used to spam web boards like this one.

"If you have questions, mention that your proxy is at 65.209.187.99 on port 80."

Right. Like I am going to tell the administrators at work that I am having problems trying to post on slashdot. I didn't even know slashdot had a problem with automated spamming. I've never seen any evidence of such a problem.

I have recieved an interesting response in regards to the fax I sent to Representative Patrick Tiberi from the ACLU's Action Center item, "Support the Freedom to Read!"

Dear Chris:

Thank you so much for your recent communication. I certainly appreciate this opportunity to correspond with you.

In your letter, you refer to an amendment offered by Representative Bernard Sanders (D-VT) to H.R. 4754, the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2005. As you know, this amendment would prohibit funds used to make an application under section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 for an order requiring the release of library circulation records, library patron lists, library Internet records, book sales records, or book customer lists. On July 8, 2004, this amendment failed in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This amendment was offered in response to the USA PATRIOT Act, the primary law intended to protect Americans from terrorism, approved with overwhelming support in Congress in October of 2001 following the attacks of September 11, 2001. It is unfortunate that the PATRIOT Act has become something of a political football. Misinformation has lead to false commentary, especially regarding section 215 of the Act that ammends section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Interestingly, section 215 does not specifically apply to library records, but could include them, in addition to such documents as airline records, international banking records, and receipts of all sorts. Of note, these records have long been authorized for criminal activity investigations, for example, in the 1997 Gianni Versace murder case, and the 1990 hunt for the Unabomber. Since section 215 merely authorizes the court to issue orders in national security investigations, this amendment could have made libraries a safe haven for terrorist communications, including giving them unfettered access to the Internet. Furthermore, current law appropriately provides that each application be made to a judge of the court, shall specify that the records concerned are sought for an authorized investigation, and shall only be approved if the judge finds that the application meets all requirements.

Government's obligation is a dual one: to protect civil safety and security against violence and to preserve civil liberties. We can achieve both goals if we empower government to do sensible things while exercising oversight to prevent any real abuses of authority. Congress has exercised its oversight authority and, to date, has not uncovered the widespread abuses that some would have us believe are commonplace. Please be assured I take this oversight responsibility very seriously and will continue to monitor these issues closely.

Thanks again for taking a moment to share your thoughts with me. If I may be of assistance to you in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

[signature]

Patrick J. Tiberi
Representative to Congress

Democrats are scrambling to tamp down former Vice President Al Gore and firebrand Howard Dean before they step to the convention podium, worried they may embarrass John Kerry with red-meat anger and excessive Bush bashing.
        --The Boston Herald, DNC: Don't bash Bush: Kerry wants Dems to tone down criticism by David R. Guarino and Andrew Miga

That's an odd use of the word tamp. One of the definitions is, "To pack clay, sand, or dirt into (a drill hole) above an explosive." So they're hurriedly preparing Dean for his explosion? It might backfire like Phineas Gage discovered.

Dr. Patrick Johnson, in his essay, "Why Christians Should Not Vote for Bush," challenges the general assumption of conservative Christians--that Bush is a good choice for President because he represents traditional Christian values. Johnson shows how Bush does not hold to traditional Christian values on the issues of abortion, sodomy and others. He also rebuts the "lesser of two evils" voting mentality.

Of course, being that he is the current Vice-Chairman of the Constitution Party, Johnson is not afraid to tout the 2000 candidate, Howard Phillips, or imply that Michael Peroutka is the best candidate for this year's race.

Update to "Slashdot needs Unicode support"

Now it is possible to use some limited set of special characters by entering that character (it won't work to use its HTML entity).

• opening single quote: '
• closing single quote: '
• opening double quote: "
• closing double quote: "
• en dash: -
• em dash: --
• ellipsis: ...

Also, to avoid further embarassment, Slashdot has blocked validation of its site. This is especially important since the wrong HTML entities are substituted for the characters you enter.

There are many online articles that detail the correct HTML entities to use for Unicode characters. One is on my website: "Basic HTML Typography."

In March, spam levels remained about the same as February. Due to a combination of factors, this is the final report.

I have created a SpamCop email account and will be migrating away from my NetZero account. NetZero decided to stop allowing POP access for their free email accounts. These users will only be allowed access to email through their website as of June 2004.

The changes at NetZero created the catalyst, but I was getting a little bored of all the spam reporting and tracking. I'll still be filing some reports, but only to agencies that allow filing by email. SpamCop's email system makes it a simple box to check.

I continued my practice of reporting spam to SpamCop, the FTC and the Internet Fraud Complaint Center. The IFCC has been dropped from my reporting, since they require a special form, and not simply an email.

I recieved a total of 152 spams in March. This compares to 148 in February, 259 in January, 270 in December and 356 in November. Overall, spam continued to decline at the rate of 2.8 spams per week.

English spam decreased much faster than foreign spam. English spam decreased at 35 spams per week while Russian spam only decreased 7.2 spams per month. March brought in 35 English, 93 Cyrillic and 19 Asian spams.

Spam Quantity by Day of Week
Language of Spam
Daily Spam Quantity
Historical Weekly Spam Quantity
Historical Monthly Spam Quantity by Language

There is a version with better formatting available on my website.

In Fegruary, my spam levels dropped to the lowest levels since I began keeping records. I am greatly relieved that the sharp rise in January did not continue into February. Maybe there is some hope that the generally weak CAN-SPAM Act will have some effect.

I have continued to file reports for every spam recieved with SpamCop, the FTC and the Internet Fraud Complaint Center.

I recieved a total of 148 spams in February. This compares to 259 in January, 270 in December and 356 in November. Overall, spam continues to decline at the rate of 4.7 spams per week.

Over the last four months, English-language spams have decreased almost four times faster than Cyrillic messages (40.8 vs. 11.2 spams per month). In February, 47 of my spam emails were in English and 84 in Cyrillic.

Spam Quantity by Day of Week
Language of Spam
Daily Spam Quantity
Historical Weekly Spam Quantity
Historical Monthly Spam Quantity by Language

There is a version with better formatting available on my website.

The spam level for January is roughly unchanged from December. December was a month in decline, and January saw a sharp rebound. This is after Congress passed the extremely ineffective CAN-SPAM Act. The name of the act is an acronym for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing. It is a misguided attempt at spam-control by well-meaning politicians.

I have continued to file reports for every spam recieved with SpamCop, the FTC and the Internet Fraud Complaint Center.

I recieved a total of 259 spams in January. This compares to 270 in December and 356 in November. Overall, spam continues to be in decline at the rate of 1.4 spams per week. Spam levels have dropped significantly in February, so these statistics should improve.

Spam Quantity by Day of Week
Language of Spam
Daily Spam Quantity
Historical Weekly Spam Quantity

There is a version with better formatting available on my website.

In the State of the Freenet address, Ian Clark announced a fix for the Freenet slowness problem. Ironically, it seems the network was being overloaded with messages about it being overloaded.

Now that the Freenet software is back to some workable state, the finances of the project are in dire straits. Even with payroll only being GBP 850 (USD 1587), the project is broke and asking for donations.

I was going to copy my latest 'blog entry here, but the topic, "Basic HTML Typography," means almost none of it will show up.

The W3C Standards non-compliance is appalling for a 'nerds' site. Slashdot claims to be written in HTML 3.2, but it uses features from later versions that aren't available in 3.2.

In addition to the standards non-compliance in HTML, the comment/journal filtering methods prevent one from using standard typographic symbols to punctuate your prose.

No opening & closing quotes, no primes, no en or em dashes, no minus signs and no elipses. Each of these can be approximated with ASCII characters, but it's high time Slashdot supports the real thing.

But this is only a small subset of the characters available. I would like to see Slashdot move to full Unicode support. Even if they keep their encoding at iso-8859-1, I should be able to enter the number codes for any character I want.

What a pipe dream--the editors can't even figure out how to spell or prevent dup's.

Bush seems to be trying his best to save face in the very embarassing situation that has developed around the alledged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This is not a justification for lying, but I do not believe the administration is guilty of anything quite that sinister. It seems more like a hefty dose of incompetence.

Dale Lature writes in "Bush dodges the REAL question:"

Interesting how Bush gives his defense to STILL NO WMDs. He keeps coming back to the "Saddam is BAD" defense. Well, we all know that. He then uses the pre-emptive strike defense, which will not fly with most people except the most hard-core military. He completely refuses to answer how the JUSTIFICATIONS he gave are totally bankrupt. He lied. They used deception to rush us into something, riding the coat tails of 9-11.

And still, the religious right holds up Bush as a "moral example." It sickens me.

As Jonah Goldberg says in his editorial, "Straightforwardness would defuse WMD issue:"

As I've tried to demonstrate in this space before, the idea that the president lied to the American people hinges on--at least--one almost impossible fact: that George W. Bush knew for a certainty that the intelligence agencies of America, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Australia, as well as the United Nations and countless independent experts were all wrong.

It seems more likely to have played out as the Minneapolis Star Tribune describes in "WMD/Bad intelligence, but more:"

...The Clinton administration was getting the same intelligence, yet it, reasonably, did not head off to the United Nations to warn that Iraq needed to be invaded yesterday. It wanted to take out Osama bin Laden; Saddam was a secondary concern.

That suggests someone in the Bush administration made an early decision to put the most dangerous possible spin on what Iraq intelligence was available. Information that was tentative became certain; equipment that might have numerous uses became certified WMD material; rumors became fact.

There has been quite a bit of misleading going on, but it is not at all clear that the Bush administration knew that there weren't any WMDs and told the public otherwise. There are more reasonable theories that some CIA informants lied, and the Bush administration (and many other governments) wrongly believed the bad reports.

Also interesting is the Al Bawaba report, "Iraqi party insists intelligence on WMD was accurate."

Dr. Jeffrey Record, a Visiting Research Professor of the US Army's Strategic Studies Institute, has published a paper, Bounding the Global War on Terrorism , critical of the Bush Administration's Global War on Terrorism (GWOT).

Record asserts that, "The global war on terrorism as currently defined and waged is dangerously indiscriminate and ambitious, and accordingly that its parameters should be readjusted to conform to concrete U.S. security interests and the limits of American power." The paper proposes six changes the administration should make to its foreign policy. I have abbreviated these conclusions:

1. Deconflate the threat. This means, in both thought and policy, treating rogue states separately from terrorist organizations, and separating terrorist organizations at war with the United States from those that are not.
2. Substitute credible deterrence for preventive war as the primary policy for dealing with rogue states seeking to acquire WMD. This means shifting the focus of U.S. policy from rogue state acquisition of WMD to rogue state use of WMD. There is no evidence that rogue state use of WMD is undeterrable via credible threats of unacceptable retaliation or that rogue states seek WMD solely for purposes of blackmail and aggression. There is evidence, however, of failed deterrence of rogue state acquisition of WMD; indeed, there is evidence that a declared policy of preventive war encourages acquisition.
3. Refocus the GWOT first and foremost on al-Qaeda, its allies, and homeland security. This may be difficult, given the current preoccupation with Iraq. But it was, after all, al-Qaeda, not a rogue state, that conducted the 9/11 attacks, and it is al-Qaeda, not a rogue state, that continues to conduct terrorist attacks against U.S.
4. Seek rogue-state regime change via measures short of war. Forcible regime change of the kind undertaken in Iraq is an enterprise fraught with unexpected costs and unintended consequences. Even if destroying the old regime entails little military risk, as was the case in Iraq, the task of creating a new regime can be costly, protracted, and strategically exhausting.
5. Be prepared to settle for stability rather than democracy in Iraq, and international rather than U.S. responsibility for Iraq. The United States may be compelled to lower its political expectations in Iraq and by extension the Middle East. Establishing democracy in Iraq is clearly a desirable objective, and the United States should do whatever it can to accomplish that goal. But if the road to democracy proves chaotic and violent or if it is seen to presage the establishment of a theocracy via "one man, one vote, one time," the United States might have to settle for stability in the form of a friendly autocracy of the kind with which it enjoys working relationships in Cairo, Riyadh, and Islamabad.
6. Reassess U.S. force levels, especially ground force levels. Operation IRAQI FREEDOM and its aftermath argue strongly for an across-the-board reassessment of U.S. force levels. Though defense transformation stresses (among other things) substitution of technology for manpower, postwar tasks of pacifi cation and nationbuilding are inherently manpower-intensive. Indeed, defense transformation may be counterproductive to the tasks that face the United States in Iraq and potentially in other states the United States may choose to subdue and attempt to recreate.

Additionally, there is an interesting quote on pages 18-19:

Strategically, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM was not part of the GWOT; rather, it was a war-of-choice distraction from the war of necessity against al-Qaeda. Indeed, it will be much more than a distraction if the United States fails to establish order and competent governance in post-Saddam Iraq. Terrorism expert Jessica Stern in August 2003 warned that the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad was "the latest evidence that America has taken a country that was not a terrorist threat and turned it into one." How ironic it would be that a war initiated in the name of the GWOT ended up creating "precisely the situation the administration has described as a breeding ground for terrorists: a state unable to control its borders or provide for its citizens' rudimentary needs." Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director of counterterrorism operations and analysis, Vincent Cannistraro, agrees: "There was no substantive intelligence information linking Saddam to international terrorism before the war. Now we've created the conditions that have made Iraq the place to come to attack Americans."