I just switched to using my web host for mail. I should have done this years ago, but I didn’t realize that I could (and still authenticate SMTP from the road). I’ve now abandoned Bell South for DNS, for Usenet, and for email. All I use them for now is just a data pipe. I have to say, though, that it did have a good spam filter, which my new mail host doesn’t. On the other hand, the spam filter may have been one of the reasons I was missing legitimate mail.
Let The Purges Begin
So says Markos, who wants to “cleanse” his political party.
In Defense Of Drunk Astronauts
Charles Krauthammer goes to bat for them. I do think that this story is overblown, but he overstates the “spam in a can” argument. Like airline pilots, Shuttle pilots need to have a clear head at launch, in the event of an abort. As for the rest of the crew, it probably wouldn’t hurt much if they were mildly intoxicated, but the notion that one has to have a couple stiff ones to climb into the Shuttle (or the Soyuz) seems a little silly to me, regardless of how many times the joke is repeated, and he seems to be serious about it. Maybe some of the pilots in the Battle of Britain wouldn’t have been able to pass a breathalyzer test, but if so, their chances of killing the enemy, or getting home, would have been sharply reduced compared to their sober colleagues.
And he has entirely much too much faith in NASA to execute the vision, even if it gets support from the politicians.
Carnival Of Space #14
…is being hosted over at Universe Today.
Go For A Night Launch
Well, actually a pre-dawn launch, but it should still be a nice sight if/when the Delta II takes off with the Mars Phoenix lander tomorrow morning, from the Cape. I don’t know if I can work up the gumption to drive up there for it, though. Particularly if we plan to see Endeavour launch on Tuesday, which seems to be back on track with the valve replacement in the crew cabin.
Fantasy Land
Jeff Foust has found the most egregiously awful reporting of the Scaled Composites explosion yet.
Old Dog, New Trick
I don’t text much, but it sounds like a handy skill to have in an emergency:
The three company representatives were unanimous in their No. 1 piece of advice for cell-phone users:
“The biggest tip is to understand the importance of text messaging,” Smith said. “Text messaging uses far fewer of our network resources.”
Losing The War
…against spam. It’s an interesting history, but a little depressing.
[Via Geek Press]
Comment Problems
I haven’t been getting email notification of comments. This isn’t just an inconvenience–it means that the spammers can have their way with the blog, and I don’t even know about it. I’m putting this post up as a place for testing and troubleshooting for me and the sysadmin.
In-Air WiFi
Looks like it’s finally coming. I’m not sure that this is the ultimate technical solution, though. 1.5 Mbs won’t go very far with a plane full of browsing passengers, and it won’t work for international flights over the oceans. Ultimately, they’ll have to find a satellite solution, with more bandwidth.