Author: Robert

Robert Belknap has been writing online sporadically since 2001. See the colophon for more details.

Another dirty spammer trick

Want a way to get around those pesky spam blockers people have set up on their email accounts?

You already know how to spoof the From: and Reply-To: fields right? Any spammer worth thier salt can do it in their sleep. So why not use the same address in those that you use in the To: field? That way when your spam message gets bounced by the target email server, it ends up in the target email box anyway.

I’ve started seeing the above strategy being used on one of my Earthlink addresses. (You know, the one I never use except on my resume, so it gets no legit mail unless I’m actively job-seeking.)

Spammers suck.

Guild Forum / Portal Software

I’ve been asked / volunteered to help set up and run a website for the Super Group I’ve joined in City of Heroes. (Chutta is currently running the group, if anyone cares.)

Anyway – I’m willing, and its not like I don’t have any experience with community sites. But it has been a while. Does anyone have any suggesstions for software? I’m imagining something similar to PHP-Nuke, but PHP-Nuke type sites tend to feel kludgy to me, as a user. (The notable exception was PlanetJumpgate.) I’ve got a valid vBulletin licence at my disposal, but somehow that seems over-kill for what we’re planning.

Basically what I’m going for is a basic guild news and information site with messageboards and possibly a group calander for scheduling events.

Any thoughts/sugestions for good (hopefully free) CMS software packages to look at?

-Hool

Also – if anyone is playing CoH and is looking to join a Super Group, let me know.

Edited on May 27th 2004, 05:58 by Hooloovoo

Edited on May 27th 2004, 18:34 by Hooloovoo

A link to remember

Been trying to track down some info on the backstory for City of Heroes. All I’ve found are references to it in game reviews and such, but I did come across a link I want to check out when I get home.

[Link]

And a peripherary disadvantage to working nights: The supergroup I’m in is primarily made up of co-workers. They’re hardly ever on when I play becuase of my schedule. Looks like I need to start a night time recruitment drive.

Deja-vu

You ever get that feeling that you’ve done something before?

I’m feeling that way at work right now. We just finished restarting a project because of a server failure, for the second time this week. For those of you playing along at home, this is the 3rd time this project has been started. (Last time we lost almost 2 weeks of work. This time, we lost about 3 days.) Same project, same kind of failure, different server. (If I’m not mistaken this was the replacement hardware that was set up after the last failure.)

would rather be home smashing stupid badguys in City of Heroes.

That reminds me… Gossip, if you read this – can we get a “Games / MMOGs / COH” category?

Edited on May 27th 2004, 02:21 by Hooloovoo

Readjusting sleeping patterns

I’ve agreed to work “nights” for the time being. 15:00-02:00, Wed.-Sat. beginning this week. I have a couple of days to get used to staying up this late.

I don’t kow how long this schedule is going to last. This will be easier than when I had to get to bed by 20:00 because I was working an early morning shift, that’s for sure.

I think its time for me to go to bed. This post took way more time to write than it should have.

There’s a baby in there!

Jenny’s been feeling Duckling moving around a lot more lately. (I’ve even been able to feel him move a couple of times – if I’m patient enough)

This morning I was sitting across the room from my wife, when Duckling kicked a few times. Not only could Jenny feel it, but today was the first time we could actually see it, too! It was neat to watch, and especially reassuring considering how we spent Saturday night.

Small Scare

Saturday night, Jenny and I did not have a nice peaceful dinner at home like we planned. Instead, we discovered just how long it takes to drive from home to the hospital we’re planning to deliver in. (About 25 minutes door-to-door in medium-light traffic.) We also got a “dry-run” of the check-in procedure and a look at the birthing center. All very good things. I just wish we hadn’t have needed to do all that this weekend.

The sudden change in plans was brought on by some abnormal bleeding. When Jenny called the after-hours number for her OB-GYN, they wanted her to come down immediately for an evaluation. We were worried, (obviously) but the hospital staff was wonderful, everything worked out, and mom and baby are both okay.

I feel really good about the place – and the doctor – we’ve picked out.

Random Pixels

A camera, alone in the world. Each Randompixel camera was given to a stranger. Stickers on the camera instruct the recipient to take a few pictures and pass it along. When the camera is done, it is dropped in the mail, it returns home, and the pictures are posted here.

Random Pixel recently posted pictures from a camera, “Ammy”, which started off at a Gaskell’s Ball in 2000. Some of you may see some familiar faces