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Journal Journal: In more Gmail news...

I love the service so don't think otherwise with me complaining about two things recently. :-) However, another peculiar thing -- they just refused to receive a mail with an attached zip file that had a single file in it -- a Windows Registry (.reg) file. In other words, not even a binary file.

I would understand this if they did it against viruses, but then shouldn't they just block executable files?

The error message:

<...@gmail.com>: host gsmtp171.google.com[64.233.171.27] said: 552
          5.7.0 Illegal Attachment

So now I'm only attaching 7-zip archives. :-P

Update: In other Gmail-related news, I just saw a page about operators you can use in both filters and mail searches that I hadn't seen before. Very nice. I only knew about from:, to: and OR before.

Spam

Journal Journal: Nigeria letter passed through Gmail filter 1

That's strange... A Nigeria letter just passed through the Gmail filter as legit mail. You'd think thousands of users have filed those as spam already. And that spam filter has generally been pretty accurate. I must've got a new incarnation of the mail, one with anti-anti-spam stuff inserted, or something... I'll attach the mail as a comment for anyone interested. Who knows, there might be spam collectors out there. :-)

Slashdot.org

Journal Journal: Slashdot alternatives?

I have heard concerns in the past that the quality on Slashdot.org posts have diminished the past few years, and the reputation as a true geek resource has faded somewhat. So I went to check some visitor statistics for Slashdot.org and it seemed to speak a clear language to me. Maybe it's just increased competition among news sites though; Slashdot-wannabe Kuro5hin.org showed some of the same trend. Or maybe I'm missing out some great site people are leaving for?

Honestly, I don't know much alternative well established and updated computer / science news sites, besides Arstechnica.com, which is mostly just about computers. What I like about Slashdot.org is its broad range of topics I'm interested in (computer tech, science, games, software development).

So, any readers of this have any personal favorites besides Slashdot? :-)

Google

Journal Journal: Six new Gmail invitations 2

OK, I have 6 more invites to hand out if someone reading this still haven't got one but want one. Reply to this topic if you do.

And if qazmoe still hasn't got one and replies again, he'll be guaranteed one this time. :-)

Update: Gmail invites sent to the two who posted here. Sorry for the rather late replies. :-(

Google

Journal Journal: I have a Gmail account to hand out 8

Someone still not got a Gmail account and want one?
Just reply to this thread, and if there is more than one reply, I'll just pick one. :-)

Entertainment

Journal Journal: Celebrities Messed Up: Everything Normal 1

Hehe, I saw unusually many cliché's in today's news... The headlines were (translated from swedish):

- "Michael Jackson -- Whiter than ever" [he has apparently whitened his face since he thought he was starting to look like he was alive, or whatever]

- "Courtney Love to hospital after overdose" [I think a comment would be redundant]

- "Mariah Carey -- a diva" [this didn't exactly strike me as surprising either]

- "Britney thought she was going to get married" [we never tire of the eternal ramblings of Britney Spears' private life, do we?]

Patents

Journal Journal: A Sad Software Event

Today, we're reminded of a sad european law that might even let authors be prosecuted for the software they have written themselves. Christian Ghisler (author of Total Commander) is just one of thousands of developers participating in the protest taking place right now. An excerpt from his protest page:

"This page is temporarily closed in protest against software patents planned in Europe. Websites may soon be closed down regularly due to software patents. Shareware like Total Commander will then no longer be available. Software patents can get you prosecuted for publishing software you wrote yourself!"

Read up at FFII's Software Patent page for more information about the problem. You may also wish to sign a petition if you think this law will hurt innovation and competition among software developers. There are currently around 180,000 signatures.

User Journal

Journal Journal: Not Exactly "First Post"

Just noticed that I had just posted my 1000th post! I need to celebrate this... Hmmm... Somehow!

The Internet

Journal Journal: Google Learns To Calculate 5

The useful search engine Google just became even more useful when the Google Team gave it the ability to calculate advanced formulae. Finally letting us avoid downloading those small conversion utilities or browsing the web for javascripts doing the job, Google now let us type the expression directly into its search field.

The following valid expression examples should give you a basic idea of what it's able to do:

  • 78+44
  • an inch in cm
  • quarter of meter in yards
  • 38.7 mph in km/h
  • 7 au in light years
  • 60 megabytes in bytes
  • sqrt(2)
  • sqrt(-2)
  • mass of earth in kg
  • (0.7*10^-12 kg) * c^2
  • 0x2c + 0x0a
It's funny.  Laugh.

Journal Journal: Sweden Accidentally Votes "Yes" For Whale Hunting

Sweden recently accidentally voted "yes" in the question whether Iceland may proceed with hunting whales. Being a swede myself, I don't know if I should cry or laugh. :-)

Personally, I'm against whale hunting. If people from Iceland so badly need to make some money, they should look somewhere else than at the few majestic creatures left on Earth.

Also in Seattle Times:

STOCKHOLM -- Sweden said yesterday its representatives made a mistake when they voted for Iceland's membership in the International Whaling Commission earlier this week, a move allowing Iceland to restart whaling.

Sweden's Environment Ministry said the "yes" vote -- which tipped the international whaling organization in favor of Iceland -- was due to a bureaucratic problem and said the country still opposed whaling and would try to take back the decision.

The Swedish Foreign Ministry said the Swedish delegation only supported Iceland's membership because of the whaling organization's complicated voting procedure.

Iceland walked out of the organization 10 years ago in anger over the worldwide moratorium on whale hunting.

Since then, it has made attempts to rejoin but has not been willing to recognize the moratorium. It succeeded in gaining readmission Monday after an extremely tight vote ending 19-18.

Several key players, such as Britain and the United States, opposed Iceland's membership.

The Internet

Journal Journal: Searching In Images

Here's a site the Slashdot Editors apparently "poked with a stick" at, but didn't include on the front page. :-)

In short, Visoo let you search within images by using OCR techniques. As opposed to Google which searches for images by context on a web site. This is the first, highly accurate match for a search on 'slashdot' (picture from Wired of CmdrTaco and Hemos) with the "Search People" box checked and the "Include Banners" unchecked. Yes, there are such options which might make the engine especially useful to search for people by filtering out the rest. This is the result of a 'cowboyneal' search. The search engine has apparently found a match for the word CowboyNeal somewhere in the picture and the family can play the "Find the CowboyNeal Text game". :-)

NOTE: The default search method is by OCR *and* filename. This might be too restrictive and you should really change it to "OCR Only" by clicking on the appropriate button.

User Journal

Journal Journal: Wah!? Slashdot makes me stupid! 2

There is a site whose motto is "Internet Makes You Stupid" and perhaps there is some truth in that statement.

I usually try to say things only when I have something to say on Slashdot. From moderations done, it seems this has been a good way to go. It is also the way I'd like others to act as well to keep the topics of as high average level as possible.

However, recently, I've started having trouble and either I'm freaking out at a subconscious level, I'm developing a sense of humor and wit that's ungeeky or whatever that makes me fail to post decent things ("decent" as in "posts that aren't modded down"). Perhaps... hopefully, it's just a temporary... fluke. :-)

I even tried a good old Star Wars reference in the Napster: The Movie topic to check my sanity, but even that one, in all its holy geekiness, wasn't moderated whatsoever.

Oh well... Just to let you guys know I'm not trying to give silly comments. Honestly. :-)

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