I run a small ISP and my email server is set to block illegitimate connections. Why should I allow an IP address with a PTR record of something like "generic_dumbass_user_IP123.233.domain.com" to freely connect to my email server and start spewing data? That's just stupid. Granted, a "fake" record can easily be created, but it is not unreasonable to setup or have your ISP setup a simple PTR record for your email server. It doesn't even have to match your domain's MX record. It just has to NOT be an obvious generic entry, or worse, no record at all. I understand the headaches when dealing with other email "admins" out there who may or may not know how to configure things, or may or may not care when you give them "friendly" advice on how things should be configured. Network admins are usually governed 90% by their ego, and nobody who is "king of his own little hill" appreciates being told by some stranger that his network is messed up. But there are "industry best practices" and RFCs to guide you. So IMHO, RDNS will not stop all SPAM, but it is simple enough to implement and does not create a lot of "false positives" when integrated with a comprehensive security profile.

What have you been smoking? So you want me to replace my $1200 energy efficient gas-burning furnace with a $500,000+ "rack of cloud servers" as a "cost effective" alternative to heating my home??? Are you frakking stupid????

The legend of a "flaming sword" has been around for thousands of years. The Cherub posted at the entrance to the Garden of Eden as a guard to the Tree of Life had a "flaming sword that turned in every direction." And we all know Genesis is literal, true history, right? I think a lightsaber is entirely possible. Think about how super-heated plasma and non-magnetic force fields would behave if they actually existed in a 4th spatial dimension and how it would appear to us if it intersected our 3 dimensional realm. I don't "think outside the box." My box just happens to have 10 dimensions. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Actually, IMHO, ever since BSG went off the air, I've had no reason to watch that channel. What's it called??? "SyFy" ???? What the FRAK is that supposed to mean? It doesn't mean anything. It is totally meaningless. It was a colossal insult to the audience in thinking "If we call it 'SyFy" instead of "SciFi" then "normal" people will watch instead of just the geeks. Typical pointy-headed, micro-managing, bureaucrat, idiotic thinking. Well, now you have wrestling and ghost chasers that "normal" people AND geeks go out of their way to avoid watching. Caprica could have been successful if they didn't botch it up with scheduling like they always do. I say blow SyFy out the airlock like the fake, skin-job Cylons that they are and bring back the original!

There are many more variables that affect a planet's ability to support advanced life besides it's similarity in mass to Earth. "Simple bit of math based on descent assumptions...." There's your problem. Calculating the probability of all the necessary attributes that must come together for intelligent life to exist is neither "simple" nor should it be based on assumptions. Remember what happens when you assume too much? [ASS-U-ME]. Here's an interesting quote from a prominent astronomer: Teams of astronomers from all over the world continue to search for strange new worlds. As of December 11, 2009, these groups have found a total of 407 planets. Yet not a single one is an analogue to any of our solar system’s planets. None of the newly discovered planetary systems permit the existence of a planet like Earth. The exuberant vision imparted by Sagan has, for nontheists, turned into a dirge. In his book God: The Failed Hypothesis, atheist and particle physicist Victor Stenger laments that Earth, “a tiny blue speck in a vast universe,” is alone, the only locale where advanced life might exist. Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Earth and our solar system are unique.

This story from Ars is misleading. Chances are you really are getting the bandwidth you are paying for. I am amazed at how many "technical" people have no idea how computer networks actually work. The "Internet" is not much more than a vast mesh of many many interconnected networks. My ISP, for example, has a speed test link right on their website that links to a server that physically resides on their network. When using this tool, I always get 100% and sometimes a little more than the package I am paying for. Do you people realize that "speedtest.net" or any other service like BitTorrent is NOT capable of showing accurate results of your connection speed? The Internet is built on a "best effort" design and once your traffic egresses your ISPs network, they have absolutely no control over how that traffic gets routed to its ultimate destination. It's like trying to make a phone call from Boise Idaho to New York City. All the lines are busy in New York and your call can't get through. How is that your local telephone company's fault? And what exactly do you expect them to do to fix it? Your ISP can only guarantee your connection speed from your house to their Central Office. Once it leaves their domain, it is totally out of their hands. Any perception of "slow speeds" are 99.999% of the time related to network issues "somewhere else." Your ISP has a reputation to uphold and customers to keep happy. They most likely have built their infrastructure as robust as they possibly can or they wouldn't even be able to open their doors and offer services in the first place. Do you have any idea what it actually takes to build a wireless broadband network, fiber-to-the-home infrastructure, or even re-condition a copper plant to get DSL performing at its optimum level? Trust me, their profit magin is actually pretty slim. Most likely your monthly bill is just paying for infrastructure for the first year before they ever even see a profit. So don't go blaming ISPs for being money hungry liars when all you need is a little education on how networks actually work and the economics involved in building infrastructure and selling services.

As soon as I do, I promise I'll fax them back to you.

My machine is out of paper. Can you fax me a few blank pages until I can buy some more?

Interesting take. I'll look into it. I was just wondering about the legal ramifications regarding misconceptions about privacy in a public network. I certainly spent lots of time and effort these last couple of days getting the logging to work (see above) so I will have the correct data for future requests. Putting a cost figure on providing this information makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks for the input.

Cisco 7206VXR. Going to de-commission it soon anyway. It seemed the console logging was turned on which is why my NAT logs were killing the CPU. Turned it off and my NAT logs are happily sailing over to my syslogd server without a hitch. Thanks for the advice.

I figured out how to do it with a simple syslog server. However the ip nat logging killed my router. I just can't win.

I don't have Cisco ASA. Is this something a regular NAT router can do?

I agree. Although I loved the gratuitous use of "frak." It was a deliberate tweek to the network executives / censors. It's obvious what it "really meant" but at the same time, how can you tell me I can't say "frak???" It's not even a word. So Frak YOU! Motherfrakker!! But this "new" re imagining so close on the heels of the conclusion of a very excellent four years of the finest television ever produced, it is clearly nothing but a money-grab taking advantage of the familiar name. Its as if Roger Moore came out of retirement to redo "Casino Royale" right after the very well-done Daniel Craig rendition had been released. Come on people!

Okay...substitute "publisher" for "author" in my previous example and the analogy still holds. Once it becomes my personal property, I should expect to have "perpetual access" to it. Our society is WAY to litigious. What happened to good old fashioned vigilantism ala Wyatt Earp?