Once, twice, three times an unsubscribe
Yesterday morning I emptied my spam email box. I don't know how many messages were in it, the counter stops when the number exceeds 999. This morning I went to read a non-spam email and there were 268 more pieces of crap in the spam email box. I immediately trashed them all.
Now the Yahoo email spam filter is pretty good. But it isn't perfect. Every day I get somewhere between one and three (sometimes more) pieces of email that I don't want, have no interest in, and have to take time to get out of my box by deleting. So in an effort to reduce this number, I'm taking a moment out to unsubscribe. It only takes a moment.
Why don't we have a no-spam list, like we have a no-call list? Probably because even if a list were created, it would be obsolete the moment it became effective. Spam doesn't recognize geographic boundaries and no one is going to enforce an international law against spam. The FTC published a report in 2004 that makes it pretty clear a no-spam list isn't the answer. So here are a few suggestions to help lower the amount of spam that you will receive.
1. Every time you go to a site and do something where you are required to furnish your email address, make sure you aren't giving permission for them to send you unsolicited offers. I didn't do this on Mother's Day when I sent flowers to my mother using a website and a few days later I started getting a ton of offers from that site and their "connected" sites. So try to cut it off by making sure that you uncheck the box they will undoubtedly check for you.
2. Use the highest level of privacy protection your email box allows, that will allow you to operate effectively. If your email involves client contact and you may get an unsolicited email from a potential client, you can't block all incoming email except that of people in your contact list. You may lose business. One of the great things about having EarthLink, when I had it, was that the email box would automatically send an email back to someone not in your contact list asking them to respond to it in order to let me know they were trying to connect with me. Spam emails weren't able to reply. Real people would reply, let me know they wanted to be added to my contact list and I'd add them.
3. Be careful about clicking on links that come in emails from friends, and even more careful when it's something someone you're not in regular contact with forwards. Not only are there many dangers in just clicking a link in terms of potential damage to your computer from worms, viruses and other malware, there is always the chance that hitting a link will register your email address with a bunch of spammer sites.
Depending on which browser you use, you can probably put your cursor on the link without clicking it and be shown what the actual address of a link is. But this isn't foolproof. http://tinyurl.com/n79tek2 is actually an 878 character link to the result of a Yahoo search for an image of Anne Hathaway. It could have easily as been a link to load something bad onto your computer. Or to put you on a spam list.
Just to illustrate how bad the problem of spam is, one study done in 2011 estimated that there are more 7 trillion pieces of spam being sent out annually. That's around 1,000 pieces of spam for every man, woman and child on the planet.
* * *
I didn't go to work yesterday. I had tests at the VA and I didn't feel well. I was supposed to go back on Wednesday. I had one client on the calendar so I figured I could catch up on the last few things I need to do before moving to my new, temporary office on September 1st. Then I got an email that said because of issues involving server migration at the corporate offices, we can't work in our regular offices again until Friday. So we were going to close. Great I thought, I'm off now until Saturday. I called my client and rescheduled to next week. Then came another email. We are going to work out of a season office where there is computer functionality. I called the client again and we will meet there on Wednesday. There went my week-long break.
Life is certainly a roller coaster at times.
* * *
The Treasury Department of the United States has called its credit issuer, i.e., the U.S. Congress, and asked them to raise the limit on the nation's credit card. But the Congress is reacting slowly and they need to step it up. After all, the limit on our national credit card, AKA the public debt, is going to be reached in October.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is particularly enamored with the idea that President Obama should just ignore the partisan bickering going on about raising the debt ceiling by employing Section 4 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. This is what it says:
"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."
I don't agree with the notion that this language gives the President or anyone else the authority to declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional. No one is questioning the validity of the public debt of the United States as being an obligation that must be repaid (I had to stop typing there because I was laughing so hard at the notion that we'll ever pay off that debt), the question is just how much can we as a nation borrow?
The Republicans in Congress would file a lawsuit challenging any such action by President Obama before the ink from his pen dried on the paper where he made that move official. Others concerned about the public debt being too high would also sue. Donald Trump would probably knock his toupee askew from the level of outrage he would be expressing on Twitter and elsewhere.
Do we need fiscal reform? Yes. Do we need to use the fact the government will no longer be able to pay its bills to get people to take this seriously? Maybe. Do we need to let the government actually start shutting down? Absolutely not.
Be responsible, members of the Congress. Take the action to keep the government funded. Then start working seriously on fixing this mess. Maybe doing things to enhance rather than limit the economy might be a good idea.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
How did my favorite morning news team get involved in a discussion of wearing high heels this morning?
Should I answer to "Eddie" since someone used that as a "pseudonym" for me in a piece they wrote for a local newspaper to disguise my true identity?
What legal theory is Jane Lynch's attorney using to try to prevent Lynch from being made to pay spousal support? Why shouldn't she, if the disparity income would call for that under California law?
If you're going to try the wings at McDonald's, raise your hand. I sure won't be trying them. McDonald's already has boneless wings, they're called McNuggets.
Darn. I stopped drinking Naked orange juice more than six years ago. Otherwise I'd be eligible for a $45 refund due to a court settlement. Rats.
How many people are riffing on the 70s phrase "Keep on Truckin" by telling Miley Cyrus to "Keep on Twerking"?? Too many.
George Zimmerman asking for reimbursement of some of the legal fees now that he's been acquitted isn't a big deal. That's what Florida law allows.
According to Dodger wunderkind Yasiel Puig, Juan Uribe has an ugly face, but Puig "loves him".
* * *
This Date In History:
On this date in 410, the Visigoth sacking of Rome ends after three days.
On this date in 1172, Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned junior king and queen of England. (what's a junior king?)
On this date in 1593, Pierre Barriere tries and fails to assassinate King Henry IV of France.
On this date in 1810, the French Navy defeats the British Navy in a battle.
On this date in 1832, Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe surrenders to the U.S., ending the Black Hawk War.
On this date in 1916, Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the Allies in World War I.
On this date in 1921, the British put the son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali on the throne as King of Iraq.
On this date in 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war is signed by 15 nations.
On this date in 1962, Mariner 2, an unmanned spacecraft is launched by NASA.
On this date in 1979, a bomb placed by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army kills WWII Admiral Louis Mountbatten and three others who were on holiday in Ireland.
On this date in 1991, Moldova announces their independence from the USSR.
Famous Folk Born On This Date In History:
Hannibal Hamlin
Theodore Dreiser
Charles Rolls
Lyndon B. Johnson
Kay Walsh
Nina Schenk Grafin von Stauffenberg
Norman Foster Ramsey Jr.
Martha Raye
Leo Penn
Joan Kroc
Ira Levin
Antonia Fraser
Edward Patten
Daryl Dragon
Bob Kerrey
Tuesday Weld
G. W. Bailey
Barbara Bach
Harry Reems
Sgt Slaughter
Paul Ruebens
Peter Stomare
Downtown Julie Brown
Tom Ford
Cesar Milan
Chandra Wilson
The Great Khali
Movie quotes today come from "Falling Down" in honor of Tuesday Weld's birthday:
Theresa: First thing, on with the tv. Next - nothing. Just sit there on the bed watching the porno movie, I honest to God expect he's going to bring out a bag of popcorn. Finally, the big moment. He doesn't even take off his pants. And all the time he's doing it to me, he's watching them do it on tv.
#3
Theresa: Talk about amateur, played for a hooker by a square and ripped off as a sucker by a dick.
#4
James: Is that why you don't wash the dishes, because the roaches are hungry?
Theresa: Why else?
Now the Yahoo email spam filter is pretty good. But it isn't perfect. Every day I get somewhere between one and three (sometimes more) pieces of email that I don't want, have no interest in, and have to take time to get out of my box by deleting. So in an effort to reduce this number, I'm taking a moment out to unsubscribe. It only takes a moment.
Why don't we have a no-spam list, like we have a no-call list? Probably because even if a list were created, it would be obsolete the moment it became effective. Spam doesn't recognize geographic boundaries and no one is going to enforce an international law against spam. The FTC published a report in 2004 that makes it pretty clear a no-spam list isn't the answer. So here are a few suggestions to help lower the amount of spam that you will receive.
1. Every time you go to a site and do something where you are required to furnish your email address, make sure you aren't giving permission for them to send you unsolicited offers. I didn't do this on Mother's Day when I sent flowers to my mother using a website and a few days later I started getting a ton of offers from that site and their "connected" sites. So try to cut it off by making sure that you uncheck the box they will undoubtedly check for you.
2. Use the highest level of privacy protection your email box allows, that will allow you to operate effectively. If your email involves client contact and you may get an unsolicited email from a potential client, you can't block all incoming email except that of people in your contact list. You may lose business. One of the great things about having EarthLink, when I had it, was that the email box would automatically send an email back to someone not in your contact list asking them to respond to it in order to let me know they were trying to connect with me. Spam emails weren't able to reply. Real people would reply, let me know they wanted to be added to my contact list and I'd add them.
3. Be careful about clicking on links that come in emails from friends, and even more careful when it's something someone you're not in regular contact with forwards. Not only are there many dangers in just clicking a link in terms of potential damage to your computer from worms, viruses and other malware, there is always the chance that hitting a link will register your email address with a bunch of spammer sites.
Depending on which browser you use, you can probably put your cursor on the link without clicking it and be shown what the actual address of a link is. But this isn't foolproof. http://tinyurl.com/n79tek2 is actually an 878 character link to the result of a Yahoo search for an image of Anne Hathaway. It could have easily as been a link to load something bad onto your computer. Or to put you on a spam list.
Just to illustrate how bad the problem of spam is, one study done in 2011 estimated that there are more 7 trillion pieces of spam being sent out annually. That's around 1,000 pieces of spam for every man, woman and child on the planet.
* * *
I didn't go to work yesterday. I had tests at the VA and I didn't feel well. I was supposed to go back on Wednesday. I had one client on the calendar so I figured I could catch up on the last few things I need to do before moving to my new, temporary office on September 1st. Then I got an email that said because of issues involving server migration at the corporate offices, we can't work in our regular offices again until Friday. So we were going to close. Great I thought, I'm off now until Saturday. I called my client and rescheduled to next week. Then came another email. We are going to work out of a season office where there is computer functionality. I called the client again and we will meet there on Wednesday. There went my week-long break.
Life is certainly a roller coaster at times.
* * *
The Treasury Department of the United States has called its credit issuer, i.e., the U.S. Congress, and asked them to raise the limit on the nation's credit card. But the Congress is reacting slowly and they need to step it up. After all, the limit on our national credit card, AKA the public debt, is going to be reached in October.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is particularly enamored with the idea that President Obama should just ignore the partisan bickering going on about raising the debt ceiling by employing Section 4 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. This is what it says:
"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."
I don't agree with the notion that this language gives the President or anyone else the authority to declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional. No one is questioning the validity of the public debt of the United States as being an obligation that must be repaid (I had to stop typing there because I was laughing so hard at the notion that we'll ever pay off that debt), the question is just how much can we as a nation borrow?
The Republicans in Congress would file a lawsuit challenging any such action by President Obama before the ink from his pen dried on the paper where he made that move official. Others concerned about the public debt being too high would also sue. Donald Trump would probably knock his toupee askew from the level of outrage he would be expressing on Twitter and elsewhere.
Do we need fiscal reform? Yes. Do we need to use the fact the government will no longer be able to pay its bills to get people to take this seriously? Maybe. Do we need to let the government actually start shutting down? Absolutely not.
Be responsible, members of the Congress. Take the action to keep the government funded. Then start working seriously on fixing this mess. Maybe doing things to enhance rather than limit the economy might be a good idea.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
How did my favorite morning news team get involved in a discussion of wearing high heels this morning?
Should I answer to "Eddie" since someone used that as a "pseudonym" for me in a piece they wrote for a local newspaper to disguise my true identity?
What legal theory is Jane Lynch's attorney using to try to prevent Lynch from being made to pay spousal support? Why shouldn't she, if the disparity income would call for that under California law?
If you're going to try the wings at McDonald's, raise your hand. I sure won't be trying them. McDonald's already has boneless wings, they're called McNuggets.
Darn. I stopped drinking Naked orange juice more than six years ago. Otherwise I'd be eligible for a $45 refund due to a court settlement. Rats.
How many people are riffing on the 70s phrase "Keep on Truckin" by telling Miley Cyrus to "Keep on Twerking"?? Too many.
George Zimmerman asking for reimbursement of some of the legal fees now that he's been acquitted isn't a big deal. That's what Florida law allows.
According to Dodger wunderkind Yasiel Puig, Juan Uribe has an ugly face, but Puig "loves him".
* * *
This Date In History:
On this date in 410, the Visigoth sacking of Rome ends after three days.
On this date in 1172, Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned junior king and queen of England. (what's a junior king?)
On this date in 1593, Pierre Barriere tries and fails to assassinate King Henry IV of France.
On this date in 1810, the French Navy defeats the British Navy in a battle.
On this date in 1832, Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe surrenders to the U.S., ending the Black Hawk War.
On this date in 1916, Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the Allies in World War I.
On this date in 1921, the British put the son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali on the throne as King of Iraq.
On this date in 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war is signed by 15 nations.
On this date in 1962, Mariner 2, an unmanned spacecraft is launched by NASA.
On this date in 1979, a bomb placed by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army kills WWII Admiral Louis Mountbatten and three others who were on holiday in Ireland.
On this date in 1991, Moldova announces their independence from the USSR.
Famous Folk Born On This Date In History:
Hannibal Hamlin
Theodore Dreiser
Charles Rolls
Lyndon B. Johnson
Kay Walsh
Nina Schenk Grafin von Stauffenberg
Norman Foster Ramsey Jr.
Martha Raye
Leo Penn
Joan Kroc
Ira Levin
Antonia Fraser
Edward Patten
Daryl Dragon
Bob Kerrey
Tuesday Weld
G. W. Bailey
Barbara Bach
Harry Reems
Sgt Slaughter
Paul Ruebens
Peter Stomare
Downtown Julie Brown
Tom Ford
Cesar Milan
Chandra Wilson
The Great Khali
Movie quotes today come from "Falling Down" in honor of Tuesday Weld's birthday:
Katherine: We're all hurt someplace and we're all looking for a painkiller.
#2Theresa: First thing, on with the tv. Next - nothing. Just sit there on the bed watching the porno movie, I honest to God expect he's going to bring out a bag of popcorn. Finally, the big moment. He doesn't even take off his pants. And all the time he's doing it to me, he's watching them do it on tv.
#3
Theresa: Talk about amateur, played for a hooker by a square and ripped off as a sucker by a dick.
#4
James: Is that why you don't wash the dishes, because the roaches are hungry?
Theresa: Why else?
posted by me at 2:07 PM
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