Tuesday, September 27, 2005

1315.aspx

Miaaaaauuuuuuu!

1314.aspx

Ziff Davies + Active PDF = SPAM

I have had enough. It is since March this year I am fighting a (loosing) battle against ActivePDF for SPAMing me.


It started pretty well as it didn't take long for ActivePDF to notice, and reply, to my first post about the spam; ActivePDF sold my e-mail address to SPAMers. As promised; I made the post invisible for a while and waited. And waited, and waited. After I while I lost my patience and posted my reply; ActivePDF Lost the battle against spam. Within a day ActivePDF replied with the following note:



Dear Sir,


Pursuant to our investigation, we received the following from ZiffDavis, the company you received the SPAM from :


(individual names blocked out)


"XXXXXXXXXXXXXX has confirmed that in the process of transferring ownership of all former Connexus Media Inc. subscriber records from E-NewlsetterPro (ENLP: the newsletter delivery system used to fulfill e-newsletter subscriptions) to ZDI, our developers exported all subscriber records, forgetting to omit/suppress activePDF records that were hosted within the ENLP database for the purposes of fulfilling a co-written activePDF newsletter targeting their clients & prospects.


Like XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, we too take this matter very seriously and have since (on 3/25/05) sent the complete activePDF file to XXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXXX with strict instructions to remove these records from all Ziff Davis Media marketing files and also have them added to Ziff Davis Media’s global opt-out/suppression file in order to avoid all future communication from Ziff Davis to these activePDF records. It is understood that the activePDF records are not the property of Ziff Davis Media and were never intended to be included in the original transfer from Connexus Media to Ziff Davis Media."



As such, we would appreciate your removing this entry from your BLOG . Thank you.


Tim Sullivan
CEO
activePDF, Inc.



Shit happens, I thought and buried yet another post.


I completely forgot about the issue for a while until I got another SPAM. Same SPAMer as last time to the same account:



Received: from 43.75.omessage.com (205.162.43.75)
 by mail.XXXX.com with SMTP; Thu, 15 Sep 2005 09:07:18 GMT
From: "Baseline" <cross@eletters-zannounce.com>
To: activepdf@XXXX.com
Subject: Courtesy Subscription to IT Executives
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
   boundary="----_NextPart_rb2No5M6Mlg77YdjEGS2zcB.aywAAuj.AADNfQE="
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-MailSessionID: rb2No5M6Mlg77YdjEGS2zcB.aywAAuj.AADNfQE=


No excuse is good enough hits time; ActivePDF and ZiffDavies continues to send unsolicited e-mails even after repeated requests to be removed from their lists. I will no longer recommend ActivePDF to my customers but base my solutions on open source alternatives like PDF Creator and I hope that you do as well.

Friday, September 23, 2005

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What do you do with a fat elephant

Make it run on a 16,000-pound treadmill to it keep from getting fat during the long, cold Alaskan winters:



They already made it loose 1,000 pounds by hiding food in baskets and other places that required some work to reach!

Thursday, September 22, 2005

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Telecom Italia wants (all) your money

Telecom Italia recently launched the 892 892 service; the "number that gives numbers". It allows you to find persons and companies

The advertisement, in particular the jingle, drives me nuts. To make matters worse the costs of the service can make anyone bankrupt. You pay a 0.12 euro token as well as 0.03 euro per second. A short call of three minutes with the cheapest rate costs 0.12 + (0.03 x 180) = 5.52 euro.


The latest service, 1254,  allows you to find the telephone number of persons, companies, international numbers etc


The costs are slightly better than 892 892 as you only pay 0.36 euro for the token and 1.56 euro per minute. So you only pay 0.36 + (1.56 * 4) = 5.04 for 3 minutes.


The worst news of them all? Telecom Italia is raising the rates for ADSL companies that offer contracts without Telecom Italia as the voice provider.


That's living in Italy for you. 20 euros a month for a ADSL subscription. 40 if you want a static IP :-(

Monday, September 19, 2005

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Crapahildis and other "interesting" names

Check out the list of Dutch Women's Names to 1100. What do you think about Clodauuiua, Crapahildis or vulgar Wlgert?


Via William Gibson

1296.aspx

Java developers are heading for extinction!

Java is heading for extinction if all Java developers use the latest Sun technology released during the JavaOne conference:


Wonder if it was really released by Sun or if a Microsoft employee penetrated the conference…

Sunday, September 18, 2005

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Ups, where did the mice go?

Physorg reports on the security problems in the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey:



The FBI and New Jersey officials have started a hushed but intensive search for three missing lab mice reportedly infected with deadly strains of plague

The mice reportedly were infected with the bacterium Yersinia pestis that causes bubonic and other forms of plague.


I will be happy to lend them my killer cat, Mons, if they need a helping hand paw hunting down the critters.

Friday, September 16, 2005

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Real Italian WonderPizza?

I love Italian pizza but I cannot imagine what the vending machine variety tastes like.


The innovative machine holds, cooks and serves 9” whole pizza pies in just 2 minutes. There are 3 different pizzas available in each machine at one time.


They are still -far- behind the Japanese that have vending machines for more obscure items like used schoolgirl panties etc


Thanks for the tip Marco

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

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Is Google Earth dangerous for democracy?

Several countries are asking Google Earth to reduce the quality of the most sensitive pictures.




It is the first time that such high quality images have been made available to the most clueless computer user. But these images, and others with a lot higher quality, are readily available to organizations with cash (i.e. governments, terrorist organizations etc). There are several companies selling high quality satellite imaging for a lot of $$$ so blocking access to Google earth only hurts the regular guy and not the wannabe terrorist. Convince me that satellite imaging played an important part in 9/11 and I may change my mind.

Friday, September 9, 2005

1277.aspx

Crapman

A novel way to get back at your neighbors :



There's big trouble and bad smells a-brewing in a quiet residential district around the Kawashima Shotengai (shop district) in Nakano. Shops are going out of business. Residents are virtually sealed inside their homes. Police and city officials say their hands are tied. All because of an angry old man in his fifties who has a strange habit of cooking his own excrement and organic kitchen waste in his garden.


...


The trouble started about two and a half years ago when Crapman started boiling his own excrement and leftover food in his garden, and dumping the vile brew into a one meter square hole he dug in the ground there. Soon a foul smell started to permeate the neighborhood.:


The sad part is that the neighbors are helpless as the environmental regulations for bad smells are aimed at business and not individuals.