Monthly Archives: September 2003

Like Jumbo Shrimp, Military Intelligence…

Posted on September 23, 2003 by Kevin

…Kevin and Clowns don’t mix.

I really hate clowns…

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YASAL

Posted on September 18, 2003 by Kevin

Yet Another SpamAssassin Leader

New record score: 45.20
Subject: Could Make You Financially Secure For Life! 

Content analysis details:   (45.20 points, 5 required)
AS_SEEN_ON         (3.0 points)  BODY: As seen on national TV!
MLM                (0.7 points)  BODY: Multi Level Marketing mentioned
EARN_MONEY         (0.9 points)  BODY: Message talks about earning money
JODY               (2.9 points)  BODY: Contains "My wife, Jody" testimonial
BANG_MONEY         (1.7 points)  BODY: Talks about money with an exclamation!
BULK_EMAIL         (1.8 points)  BODY: Talks about bulk email
ORDER_REPORT       (2.9 points)  BODY: Order a report from someone
SENT_IN_COMPLIANCE (4.3 points)  BODY: Claims compliance with spam regulations
FINANCIAL          (4.3 points)  BODY: Financial Freedom
SECTION_301        (1.1 points)  BODY: Claims compliance with spam regulations
EXCUSE_3           (0.2 points)  BODY: Claims you can be removed from the list
INVALUABLE_MARKETING (2.9 points)  BODY: Invaluable marketing information
RISK_FREE          (0.8 points)  BODY: Risk free.  Suuurreeee....
COPY_ACCURATELY    (2.9 points)  BODY: Common pyramid scheme phrase (1)
INITIAL_INVEST     (2.7 points)  BODY: Requires Initial Investment
HTML_30_40         (0.6 points)  BODY: Message is 30% to 40% HTML
BAYES_90           (3.0 points)  BODY: Bayesian classifier says spam probability is 90 to 99%
                   [score: 0.9880]
HTML_WITH_BGCOLOR  (0.1 points)  BODY: HTML mail with non-white background
HTML_FONT_COLOR_RED (0.1 points)  BODY: HTML font color is red
HTML_FONT_BIG      (0.2 points)  BODY: FONT Size +2 and up or 3 and up
HTML_FONT_COLOR_BLUE (0.1 points)  BODY: HTML font color is blue
RAZOR2_CF_RANGE_91_100 (1.2 points)  BODY: Razor2 gives a spam confidence level between 91 and 100
                   [cf: 100]
HTML_SHOUTING5     (0.0 points)  BODY: HTML has very strong "shouting" markup
REMOVE_PAGE        (0.4 points)  URI: URL of page called "remove"
NORMAL_HTTP_TO_IP  (0.7 points)  URI: Uses a dotted-decimal IP address in URL
RAZOR2_CHECK       (0.9 points)  Listed in Razor2, see http://razor.sf.net/
DATE_IN_PAST_03_06 (0.3 points)  Date: is 3 to 6 hours before Received: date
RCVD_IN_DSBL       (4.3 points)  RBL: Received via a relay in list.dsbl.org
                   [RBL check: found 119.24.21.67.list.dsbl.org.]
CASHCASHCASH       (0.0 points)  Contains at least 3 dollar signs in a row
MIME_HTML_ONLY     (0.1 points)  Message only has text/html MIME parts
MISSING_MIMEOLE    (0.1 points)  Message has X-MSMail-Priority, but no X-MimeOLE
MISSING_OUTLOOK_NAME (0.0 points)  Message looks like Outlook, but isn't
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Shoving "Kindness" Down Their Throats

Posted on September 17, 2003 by Kevin

For some wacky reason, the idea of government enforcing good manners makes me nervous. It’s already a reality in Singapore – check out their Singapore Kindness Movement.

I had the pleasure of visting Singapore a few years ago. It’s an interesting place, with a government that strongly believes in Capitalism. It also, on the other hand, strongly believes in government enforcement of propriety. Chewing gum is illegal. Spitting is an arrestable offense, as is jaywalking. Big Brother-type signs are everywhere, reminding the populace that they are being watched and that they should behave as mandated by “society” (ie. the government). Here’s an excellent example — it’s a photo I took in the heavily Indian section of Singapore:

Posted in DeepThoughts | Leave a comment

Excellent Milton Friedman Interview

Posted on September 17, 2003 by Kevin

Right Wing News (God, I hate that name) has an excellent interview with Nobel-prize winning economist Milton Friedman.

Fave quote:

I am favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible. The reason I am is because I believe the big problem is not taxes, the big problem is spending. The question is, “How do you hold down government spending?” Government spending now amounts to close to 40% of national income not counting indirect spending through regulation and the like. If you include that, you get up to roughly half. The real danger we face is that number will creep up and up and up. The only effective way I think to hold it down, is to hold down the amount of income the government has. The way to do that is to cut taxes.
Posted in DeepThoughts | Leave a comment

Windows Memory Diagnostic

Posted on September 17, 2003 by Kevin

From http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp:

The Windows Memory Diagnostic tests the Random Access Memory (RAM) on your computer for errors. The diagnostic includes a comprehensive set of memory tests. If you are experiencing problems while running Windows, you can use the diagnostic to determine whether the problems are caused by failing hardware, such as RAM or the memory system of your motherboard. Windows Memory Diagnostic is designed to be easy and fast. On most configurations, you can download the diagnostic, read the documentation, run the test and complete the first test pass in less than 30 minutes.
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A New SA Leader!!!

Posted on September 12, 2003 by Kevin

Wow, what a week for spam. I’ve never seen scores this high! These people honestly suck at disguising their spam…

New record score: 38.80
Subject: Amazing small digital camera! 

Content analysis details:   (38.80 points, 5 required)
RCVD_FAKE_HELO_DOTCOM (2.6 points)  Received contains a faked HELO hostname
TO_MALFORMED       (1.5 points)  To: has a malformed address
INVALID_DATE_TZ_ABSURD (4.3 points)  Invalid Date: header (timezone does not exist)
MSGID_OE_SPAM_4ZERO (3.5 points)  Message-Id generated by spam tool (4-zeroes variant)
FAKED_UNDISC_RECIPS (4.3 points)  Faked To "Undisclosed-Recipients"
MSGID_SPAMSIGN_ZEROES (4.3 points)  Message-Id generated by spam tool (zeroes variant)
OPT_OUT            (0.0 points)  BODY: Talks about opting out (lowercase version)
EXCUSE_3           (0.1 points)  BODY: Claims you can be removed from the list
EXCUSE_REMOVE      (2.4 points)  BODY: Talks about how to be removed from mailings
REMOVE_PAGE        (0.3 points)  URI: URL of page called "remove"
MSGID_OUTLOOK_TIME (4.4 points)  Message-Id is fake (in Outlook Express format)
DATE_IN_FUTURE_06_12 (1.3 points)  Date: is 6 to 12 hours after Received: date
RCVD_FAKE_HELO_DOTCOM_2 (2.4 points)  Received contains a faked HELO hostname (2)
FORGED_JUNO_RCVD   (2.8 points)  'From' juno.com does not match 'Received' headers
RCVD_IN_NJABL      (0.9 points)  RBL: Received via a relay in dnsbl.njabl.org
                   [RBL check: found 8.64.87.159.dnsbl.njabl.org.]
X_NJABL_OPEN_PROXY (0.5 points)  RBL: NJABL: sender is proxy/relay/formmail/spam-source
RCVD_IN_UNCONFIRMED_DSBL (0.5 points)  RBL: Received via a relay in unconfirmed.dsbl.org
                   [RBL check: found 8.64.87.159.unconfirmed.dsbl.org.]
RCVD_IN_DSBL       (2.6 points)  RBL: Received via a relay in list.dsbl.org
                   [RBL check: found 187.83.95.200.list.dsbl.org.]
CLICK_BELOW        (0.1 points)  Asks you to click below
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"My Uncle Is A Man Named Steve (Not A Monkey)", and other "Science" Fair Projects

Posted on September 12, 2003 by Kevin

I love these project names:

  • “My Uncle Is A Man Named Steve (Not A Monkey)”
  • “Women Were Designed For Homemaking”
  • “Using Prayer To Microevolve Latent Antibiotic Resistance In Bacteria”
  • “Rocks Can’t Evolve, Where Did They Come From Mr. Darwin?”

It’s the Creation Science Fair 2001.

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Tihs is Vrey Irentstenig

Posted on September 12, 2003 by Kevin

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

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New Personal SpamAssassin Record

Posted on September 11, 2003 by Kevin

New record score: 36.10!!!

Subject: SENSATIONAL Offer! Better Health!

Content analysis details:   (36.10 points, 5 required)
X_PRIORITY_HIGH    (1.9 points)  Sent with 'X-Priority' set to high
WE_HONOR_ALL       (4.3 points)  BODY: Claims to honor removal requests
REVERSE_AGING      (2.1 points)  BODY: Reverses Aging
AS_SEEN_ON         (1.9 points)  BODY: As seen on national TV!
BANG_GUARANTEE     (0.5 points)  BODY: Something is emphatically guaranteed
WRINKLES           (2.9 points)  BODY: Removes Wrinkles
BANG_OPRAH         (4.3 points)  BODY: Talks about Oprah with an exclamation!
WHILE_YOU_SLEEP    (1.7 points)  BODY: While you Sleep
BANG_EXERCISE      (2.5 points)  BODY: Talks about exercise with an exclamation!
OPT_IN_CAPS        (0.2 points)  BODY: Talks about opting in (capitalized version)
COMPLETELY_FREE    (1.1 points)  BODY: No such thing as a free lunch (2)
HTML_30_40         (0.9 points)  BODY: Message is 30% to 40% HTML
HTML_FONT_COLOR_RED (0.1 points)  BODY: HTML font color is red
HTML_FONT_COLOR_GREEN (0.8 points)  BODY: HTML font color is green
HTML_MESSAGE       (0.1 points)  BODY: HTML included in message
HTML_FONT_COLOR_BLUE (0.1 points)  BODY: HTML font color is blue
HTML_LINK_CLICK_HERE (0.1 points)  BODY: HTML link text says "click here"
HTML_SHOUTING6     (2.9 points)  BODY: HTML has very strong "shouting" markup
MIME_HTML_NO_CHARSET (0.8 points)  RAW: Message text in HTML without specified charset
DATE_IN_FUTURE_06_12 (1.3 points)  Date: is 6 to 12 hours after Received: date
RCVD_IN_OSIRUSOFT_COM (0.6 points)  RBL: Received via a relay in relays.osirusoft.com
                   [RBL check: found 194.215.121.196.relays.osirusoft.com.]
FORGED_MUA_OUTLOOK (3.5 points)  Forged mail pretending to be from MS Outlook
MIME_HTML_ONLY     (0.1 points)  Message only has text/html MIME parts
MANY_EXCLAMATIONS  (0.8 points)  Subject has many exclamations
MISSING_MIMEOLE    (0.5 points)  Message has X-MSMail-Priority, but no X-MimeOLE
CLICK_BELOW        (0.1 points)  Asks you to click below

(SpamAssassin 2.55, standard rule set)

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Windows XP Tools

Posted on September 11, 2003 by Kevin

Your mileage may vary.

Mike Lin’s Startup Control Panel
BootVis – watch what happens when XP boots
PageDefrag – defragment your pagefile
Diskeeper Lite – a real disk defrag tool for Windows

Posted in Tech | Leave a comment