I won't mince words. I'm pro-health care. Furthermore, I'm pro-health care for everyone. I also have a strong socialist streak.
I'm sure that there are some folks out there who feel different than me, perhaps even for some legitimate and sane reasons, but I'm seeing lots of opposition to the health care bill for completely batshit insane stuff.
Let me get right to the point again: If you are getting your information about the health care bill from Glenn Beck and the folks at Fox news, then you may as well be consulting the neighborhood four year old about it. Here's a challenge for you, if you're a Fox news follower. Tell me three things that the health care bill will do. And if one of those is "Give viagra to sex offenders", then I really can't help you. Try this - look up the bill on the internet. Read about it - no, not on the fox news forum - go look it up on the rest of the internet.
I know that politics gets mighty polarized, and dems and repubs sit on opposite sides of the fence on some issues, but are you really going to let Glenn Beck convince you that "The Democrats" are trying to destroy the country? Are you that gullible?
I suppose the other side of that coin is that I'm flabbergasted by the Republican Congressional effort to stop the health care bill. A bill that is aimed at HELPING PEOPLE.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Hawai'i!
This is a somewhat brief recap of our Hawai'i trip.
I apologize if its a bit hurried. Lately I just don't have the time or attention for making these posts more pretty and such. Anyway.
My mother, who is a very generous woman, tries to organize and help fund family trips every year or two. This year, she'd setup a trip to Hawai'i for herself, Krissi and Piper and I, as well as my brother and his wife.
We left folks in charge of all of the stuff at home, and at 5AM on Saturday morning, we were standing in the Memphis airport, ready to get on a plane.
We discovered, later in the morning, that my brother and his wife, who are party animals, had stayed up till almost 2 the previous night/morning at some party or show. Stupid awesome partying people with no kids. Would you believe those jerks even slept on the airplane some? /teasing
We had a plane ride from Memphis to Chicago, a three hour layover, and then a flight from Chicago to Honolulu. After boarding the plane up sitting in the aircraft for an entire hour waiting for a de-icing truck. Geez. Fortunately, Piper was in a good humor. During our time in the sky on Saturday, we had a couple of minor meltdowns, but nothing that was not quickly corrected with a bottle or food or some kind of entertainment or distraction. We arrived in Chicago only somewhat late, and walked seemingly a mile through the airport to reach our next gate. When we arrived there, we discovered the TVs blaring news about the earthquake in Chile, and the tsunami warnings for the entire Pacific. We all stood there, transfixed and dumbstruck. So.... are we really going to get on this plane and fly to Hawai'i.. just in time for a Big Wave?
We did indeed get on the plane, and we were told that we'd fly out and if the wave hit and was bad, we'd turn around and go back to San Francisco. But it turned out to be almost nothing in Hawai'i, so we landed in Honolulu in the mid afternoon.
We ate, walked out onto the beach, which was just across the street from our hotel, and spent about five minutes playing in the shallow water. Then we called it a day. I believe that the three of us were all asleep by 9. (With the time difference, that was actually 1AM)
The days blur together, so I'm not going to give you a chronologically accurate rundown, instead, I'm just going to tell you the things that we did, and in some cases, did not do.
We hiked to, and then up (and then back from) Diamond Head. It was a fun walk to it, across Waikiki, through the little local neighborhoods and such. The trail itself was awesome. I carried Piper in the Kelty backpack. At the end of the week, I told Krissi that I would totally do the entire Diamond Head trek again, if I could. We all went to the top and enjoyed the stunning views.
We walked, a lot. We also had bus passes, and used them, but we got a great deal of walking done, which was cool. We rented a car for one day, and James, Keshia, Krissi, Piper and I all drove out to the North Shore, while my mom was doing an all-day volcano tour. North Shore was gorgeous, and the driving was scenic and fun. Everyone had a great time, and we saw some amazing beaches and mountains, and some cool waves.
We ate some good food, but for a few days, we lamented that there weren't more yummy and reasonably priced food places where we were. Sadly, we had simply not done enough exploring. One street north of us were a number of excellent food places, including Ono's Cheese Steaks, and a bunch of others. I ate at a Golden Palace chinese restaurant that had THE BEST chinese take-out I have ever eaten. Instead of leaving me with an oily, MSG taste in my mouth afterward, this was fresh and flavorful and SO delicious.
We went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, which was gorgeous. It was lots of fun swimming through the reef, looking at all the coral and fish, and we saw a sea turtle, which was just icing on the cake.
Simple people watching was lots of fun. Many of the people there were simply of the "beautiful people" category. Bronze skin, gorgeous tattoos... I got a couple of runs in, but I remember commenting at least once that there'd be NO excuse for being out of shape while living in Hawai'i. You couldn't turn around without seeing a few people out running.
Piper loved the sand and water. The very first time we stuck her feet in the surf, she made upset noises and did not want her feet in it. But the next day, she was all about it. She loved playing in the sand, and though that eating it was great fun, as was picking through the sand looking for rocks and shells. She loved the water, and we let her walk in the shallow bit, and carried her out deeper and swooshed her around and she had a blast. Lots of big toothy smiles.
We hiked the Ma'ona falls, which was beautiful. This was another outing that we got to do a lot of walking on, due to a misunderstanding about bus routes. Again, we had a great time, and enjoyed the hike.
We went to the Botanical Gardens, which were lots of fun, and very very pretty. This is a great transition into picture taking. I took GOBS of photos. Around two thousand. Of course, I will not be insisting that you view all two thousand. I've already begun to go through and delete blurry or bad photos, and will try to trim down on duplicates and such. I'm slowly going through them uploading the highlights, and hope to have maybe a hundred or two hundred photos online later this week.
Although I was somewhat ambivalent about getting lots of time lying around in the sun on the beach - I'm a pretty pale dude, and I burn in no time - the others were very keen on beach time, so at least once, Piper and I took a well deserved nap while the others laid out like beach bums.
James and Keshia went on a couple of hash runs, which sounded like terrific fun, and we'd thought seriously about going along on, but the timing just didn't work out. They also did some surfing lessons which sounded like a lot of fun.
We went to the Ioani Palace, but discovered that the wouldn't admit anyone under 4 years old into the main building. So Krissi and Piper and I toured the gallery, and then hung outside enjoying the fantastic weather.
We attended a Luau, which was neat.
While out hunting for free WiFi, I discovered one of the most popular gay bars in Honolulu, which was also the only free WiFi bar within walking distance of our hotel. This is a funny story, because I did not realize that it was a gay bar until after I'd ordered my jack and coke and setup the laptop. Not that I would have necessarily avoided it - one of our guide books, as we discovered, listed it as a 'must visit' nightclub - but it certainly made me chuckle, and got a round of chuckles out of my friends. (Unnamed friend: "So you found it via an app on your iPhone, huh?", me: "Its a free WiFi locator app, I was not cruising for gay bars!")
There were a number of things that we wanted to do, that we did not get to do, mostly due to time constraints and travel. I'd loved to have visited the Dole Plantation, the Bishop Museum, and perhaps the Polynesian museum and even gone to the North Shore again. Traveling with a baby though is a whole different experience, and we had to juggle nap times, and baby supplies, and so forth.
The trip back was pretty good as well. It was overnight, and Piper had a few meltdowns when she got tired, but ended up sleeping for most of the flight - thankfully. Krissi and I did not fare as well though, and had about two hours of sleep each, so we were(are) kinda beat.
And in the end, I know we are glad to be back home. Hawai'i was absolutely beautiful, and we had a great great time. Its always nice though, to get back home to your own house and stuff and animals.
What a great trip.
I apologize if its a bit hurried. Lately I just don't have the time or attention for making these posts more pretty and such. Anyway.
My mother, who is a very generous woman, tries to organize and help fund family trips every year or two. This year, she'd setup a trip to Hawai'i for herself, Krissi and Piper and I, as well as my brother and his wife.
We left folks in charge of all of the stuff at home, and at 5AM on Saturday morning, we were standing in the Memphis airport, ready to get on a plane.
We discovered, later in the morning, that my brother and his wife, who are party animals, had stayed up till almost 2 the previous night/morning at some party or show. Stupid awesome partying people with no kids. Would you believe those jerks even slept on the airplane some? /teasing
We had a plane ride from Memphis to Chicago, a three hour layover, and then a flight from Chicago to Honolulu. After boarding the plane up sitting in the aircraft for an entire hour waiting for a de-icing truck. Geez. Fortunately, Piper was in a good humor. During our time in the sky on Saturday, we had a couple of minor meltdowns, but nothing that was not quickly corrected with a bottle or food or some kind of entertainment or distraction. We arrived in Chicago only somewhat late, and walked seemingly a mile through the airport to reach our next gate. When we arrived there, we discovered the TVs blaring news about the earthquake in Chile, and the tsunami warnings for the entire Pacific. We all stood there, transfixed and dumbstruck. So.... are we really going to get on this plane and fly to Hawai'i.. just in time for a Big Wave?
We did indeed get on the plane, and we were told that we'd fly out and if the wave hit and was bad, we'd turn around and go back to San Francisco. But it turned out to be almost nothing in Hawai'i, so we landed in Honolulu in the mid afternoon.
We ate, walked out onto the beach, which was just across the street from our hotel, and spent about five minutes playing in the shallow water. Then we called it a day. I believe that the three of us were all asleep by 9. (With the time difference, that was actually 1AM)
The days blur together, so I'm not going to give you a chronologically accurate rundown, instead, I'm just going to tell you the things that we did, and in some cases, did not do.
We hiked to, and then up (and then back from) Diamond Head. It was a fun walk to it, across Waikiki, through the little local neighborhoods and such. The trail itself was awesome. I carried Piper in the Kelty backpack. At the end of the week, I told Krissi that I would totally do the entire Diamond Head trek again, if I could. We all went to the top and enjoyed the stunning views.
We walked, a lot. We also had bus passes, and used them, but we got a great deal of walking done, which was cool. We rented a car for one day, and James, Keshia, Krissi, Piper and I all drove out to the North Shore, while my mom was doing an all-day volcano tour. North Shore was gorgeous, and the driving was scenic and fun. Everyone had a great time, and we saw some amazing beaches and mountains, and some cool waves.
We ate some good food, but for a few days, we lamented that there weren't more yummy and reasonably priced food places where we were. Sadly, we had simply not done enough exploring. One street north of us were a number of excellent food places, including Ono's Cheese Steaks, and a bunch of others. I ate at a Golden Palace chinese restaurant that had THE BEST chinese take-out I have ever eaten. Instead of leaving me with an oily, MSG taste in my mouth afterward, this was fresh and flavorful and SO delicious.
We went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, which was gorgeous. It was lots of fun swimming through the reef, looking at all the coral and fish, and we saw a sea turtle, which was just icing on the cake.
Simple people watching was lots of fun. Many of the people there were simply of the "beautiful people" category. Bronze skin, gorgeous tattoos... I got a couple of runs in, but I remember commenting at least once that there'd be NO excuse for being out of shape while living in Hawai'i. You couldn't turn around without seeing a few people out running.
Piper loved the sand and water. The very first time we stuck her feet in the surf, she made upset noises and did not want her feet in it. But the next day, she was all about it. She loved playing in the sand, and though that eating it was great fun, as was picking through the sand looking for rocks and shells. She loved the water, and we let her walk in the shallow bit, and carried her out deeper and swooshed her around and she had a blast. Lots of big toothy smiles.
We hiked the Ma'ona falls, which was beautiful. This was another outing that we got to do a lot of walking on, due to a misunderstanding about bus routes. Again, we had a great time, and enjoyed the hike.
We went to the Botanical Gardens, which were lots of fun, and very very pretty. This is a great transition into picture taking. I took GOBS of photos. Around two thousand. Of course, I will not be insisting that you view all two thousand. I've already begun to go through and delete blurry or bad photos, and will try to trim down on duplicates and such. I'm slowly going through them uploading the highlights, and hope to have maybe a hundred or two hundred photos online later this week.
Although I was somewhat ambivalent about getting lots of time lying around in the sun on the beach - I'm a pretty pale dude, and I burn in no time - the others were very keen on beach time, so at least once, Piper and I took a well deserved nap while the others laid out like beach bums.
James and Keshia went on a couple of hash runs, which sounded like terrific fun, and we'd thought seriously about going along on, but the timing just didn't work out. They also did some surfing lessons which sounded like a lot of fun.
We went to the Ioani Palace, but discovered that the wouldn't admit anyone under 4 years old into the main building. So Krissi and Piper and I toured the gallery, and then hung outside enjoying the fantastic weather.
We attended a Luau, which was neat.
While out hunting for free WiFi, I discovered one of the most popular gay bars in Honolulu, which was also the only free WiFi bar within walking distance of our hotel. This is a funny story, because I did not realize that it was a gay bar until after I'd ordered my jack and coke and setup the laptop. Not that I would have necessarily avoided it - one of our guide books, as we discovered, listed it as a 'must visit' nightclub - but it certainly made me chuckle, and got a round of chuckles out of my friends. (Unnamed friend: "So you found it via an app on your iPhone, huh?", me: "Its a free WiFi locator app, I was not cruising for gay bars!")
There were a number of things that we wanted to do, that we did not get to do, mostly due to time constraints and travel. I'd loved to have visited the Dole Plantation, the Bishop Museum, and perhaps the Polynesian museum and even gone to the North Shore again. Traveling with a baby though is a whole different experience, and we had to juggle nap times, and baby supplies, and so forth.
The trip back was pretty good as well. It was overnight, and Piper had a few meltdowns when she got tired, but ended up sleeping for most of the flight - thankfully. Krissi and I did not fare as well though, and had about two hours of sleep each, so we were(are) kinda beat.
And in the end, I know we are glad to be back home. Hawai'i was absolutely beautiful, and we had a great great time. Its always nice though, to get back home to your own house and stuff and animals.
What a great trip.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Me and Steven
Names have been changed to protect the innocent. Chronology not perfectly preserved.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: FW:Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
2/22/10 2:33pm
FYI
-----Original Message-----
From: Mail Delivery System [mailto:MAILER-DAEMON@ourisp.net]
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 2:33 PM
To: prvs=16697be4e4=steven@mycompany.com
Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
This is the mail system at host relay-6.dlfw.ourisp.net.
I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.
For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.
If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.
The mail system
: host inbound.registeredsite.com[66.97.46.122]
said: 550 5.7.1... Relaying denied (in reply
to RCPT TO command)
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re:FW:Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
2/22/10 4:02pm
bob@mail.yaywidgets.com is a bad address, I've tested it from another host and got the same result.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/22/10 3:34pm
FYI
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: postmaster@jimswheels.com
> [mailto:postmaster@jimswheels.com]
> Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 3:26 PM
> To: prvs=16697be4e4=steve@mycompany.com
> Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
>
>
> This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.
>
> Delivery to the following recipients failed.
>
> JimB@jimswheels.com
>
>
> Reporting-MTA: dns;maccoad1.jimswheels.com
> Received-From-MTA: dns;omf1.ijnet.net
> Arrival-Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:25:05 -0600
>
> Final-Recipient: rfc822;JimB@jimswheels.com
> Action: failed
> Status: 5.2.3
> X-Display-Name: Jim B
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/22/10 4:03pm
Are you positive that this email address is correct?
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/22/10 4:07pm
Yes
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
2/23/10 10:54am
Steven,
Were you sending attachments to this user?
If so, what size?
Numeric Code: 5.2.3
Possible Cause: The message is too large for the local quota. For example, a remote Exchange user may have delivery restrictions set with max incoming message size.
Troubleshooting: Resend the message without attachments, or set the server side limit or the client side limit to permit a larger message size.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: RE: FW: Bob Roberts
2/22/10 4:08pm
On 2/22/2010 4:08 PM, Steven wrote:
> FYI
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lisa somebody [mailto:lisa_somebody@thirdparty.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 12:09 PM
> To: 'Steven'
> Subject: RE: Bob Roberts
>
> Try bob@mail.yaywidgets.com
>
> The email that you have listed below is also correct but sometimes I can not get it to go through. The one I have listed should work.
>
> Thanks,
> Lisa
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/22/10 4:09pm
I don't know what to tell you. bob@mail.yaywidgets.com does not work, and its not a problem on our side.
I sent a test message to bob@yaywidgets.com, and as far as I can tell, it has not bounced.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: RE: FW: Bob Roberts
2/23/10 9:40am
FYI
>-----Original Message-----
>From: MAILER-DAEMON@mymail.myregisteredsite.com
>[mailto:MAILER-DAEMON@mymail.myregisteredsite.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 9:33 AM
>To: prvs=167028d6a7=steven@mycompany.com
>Subject: failure notice
>
>
>Hi. This is the qmail-send program at mymail.myregisteredsite.com.
>I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following >addresses.
>This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.
>
>:
>user is over quota
>
>
>--- Below this line is a copy of the message.
>
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: failure notice
2/23/10 9:42am
There's the problem. His mailbox is full.
>:
> user is over quota
It looks like you're sending very large emails, that one was 9 megs. Email does not handle large sizes very well, this is not specific to our email, most email services only allow a maximum of 2 megs, though ours typically allows up to 10 megs.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Re: FW: failure notice
2/23/10 9:45am
but how can I get an email from my own computer to go thru every time? And Stu is getting them it is the same way with Tim B. It does not make any sense to me.
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: failure notice
2/23/10 9:54am
Steven, I'm just telling you what is happening with these emails. When you send an email, and get an automatic reply that says "user is over quota", it means that the other person's mailbox is full. If he is getting some emails from you, then perhaps he is downloading/deleting emails. Part of the problem may be that you are sending 10 meg emails.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 9:51am
here's another one.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mail Delivery System [mailto:MAILER-DAEMON@ourisp.net]
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 9:46 AM
To: prvs=167028d6a7=steven@mycompany.com
Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
This is the mail system at host relay-5.dlfw.twtelecom.net.
I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.
For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.
If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.
The mail system
: host xxx.ijnet.net[216.xxx.xxx.xxx] said: 550
Requested action was not taken because this server doesn't handle mail for
that user (in reply to RCPT TO command)
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
2/23/10 9:55am
Looks like you typo'd his address.
: host xxx.ijnet.net[216.xxx.xxx.xxx] said: 550
Requested action was not taken because this server doesn't handle mail for
that user (in reply to RCPT TO command)
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
2/23/10 10:59am
Steven,
Thus far, the issues with email have all been related either to an
incorrect or typo'd email address, the recipient's mailbox being full,
or the email you are sending being too large for the receiving server.
In order to avoid these kind of problems, please double check the
following things:
1. Is the email address correct, and without typos?
2. Are you attempting to send attachments to the recipient? If so, how
large are the attachments?
In a previous email, you mentioned that you're sending out pricing to
customers. We will work on making sure that you're able to send this
information out in a format that will work.
Keep me posted.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Re Re: FW: Permanent Delivery Failure
2/23/10 12:28pm
here is another one. the email address for Tom Dudefella is correct. I called him on it.
-----Original Message-----
From: MDaemon at mycompany.com [mailto:MDaemon@mycompany.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 12:22 PM
To: steven@mycompany.com
Subject: Permanent Delivery Failure
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The attached message had PERMANENT fatal delivery errors.
After one or more unsuccessful delivery attempts the attached message has
been removed from the MDaemon mail queue on this server. The number and
frequency of delivery attempts are determined by local configuration.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR MESSAGE WAS NOT DELIVERED TO ONE OR MORE RECIPIENTS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Failed address: tom@floorsandstuff.co
--- Session Transcript ---
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: Parsing message
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * From: steven@mycompany.com
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * To: tom@floorsandstuff.co
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * Subject: Shamrock Pricing
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * Size (bytes): 1017041
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * Message-ID:<13bea0ea.1cab4b5.91331e17.365f@mycompany.com>
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: Attempting SMTP connection to [floorsandstuff.co]
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: Resolving MX records for [floorsandstuff.co] (DNS Server: 216.136. xxx.xxx)...
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * Name server reports domain name unknown
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: Attempting SMTP connection to [generalfloor.co:25]
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: Resolving A record for [floorsandstuff.co] (DNS Server: 216.136.xxx.xxx)...
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * Name server reports domain name unknown
--- End Transcript ---
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Permanent Delivery Failure
2/23/10 1:17pm
The error on this one is that you tried to send it to:
tom@floorsandstuff.co
Need an M on the end of that.
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 11:24am
If you're sending a 1 meg PDF document to people and it
does not go through, let me know. Some of the emails that were
bouncing were 9 or 10 megs, which is much much larger than this pricing
document.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Re: FW: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 11:30am
yes, two of them I sent with 2 attachments, so yes I can see they were probably to big. But the other ones were just the pricing. And I still cant under stranded way I can send them from my other laptop with 2 to 3 attachments. its over my head!
Thanks
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 1:19pm
The bottom line here is that some of these rejects are coming back
because the message size is too large. It does not matter which
computer you send it from or which email address you send it from. If
the guy who you are sending to cannot receive email larger than, say, 5
megs, then any message larger than that will fail, no matter where you
send it from.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Re: FW: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 1:28pm
All I know is that I can send 2 to 3 attachments to them from my personal laptop with no problems. I guesses I will just need to remember to send one attachment at a time from this computer!!!!
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 1:35pm
Okay. Just to be certain that I've been clear. If you are sending an email that is more than 10 megs in size, it does not matter whether you send it from your work computer and email account, or from a personal computer and email account. If the recipient cannot receive email larger than a certain size, he will never ever ever ever receive it.
I can't really make it any more clear.
Please contact me if you continue to have problems.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 1:24pm
Yes that was my bad. But I turned around and resent it and it was kicked back.
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jeremy [mailto:jeremy@mycompany.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 1:18 PM
>To: Steven
>Cc: Joe (E-mail)
>Subject: Re: FW: Permanent Delivery Failure
>
>
>The error on this one is that you tried to send it to:
>
>tom@floorsandstuff.co
>
>Need an M on the end of that.
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: Re: FW: Permanent Delivery Failure
2/23/10 1:35pm
Please forward me the email in which the correct address was kicked back to you.
***********************************
[crickets]
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: FW:Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
2/22/10 2:33pm
FYI
-----Original Message-----
From: Mail Delivery System [mailto:MAILER-DAEMON@ourisp.net]
Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 2:33 PM
To: prvs=16697be4e4=steven@mycompany.com
Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
This is the mail system at host relay-6.dlfw.ourisp.net.
I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.
For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.
If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.
The mail system
said: 550 5.7.1
to RCPT TO command)
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re:FW:Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
2/22/10 4:02pm
bob@mail.yaywidgets.com is a bad address, I've tested it from another host and got the same result.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/22/10 3:34pm
FYI
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: postmaster@jimswheels.com
> [mailto:postmaster@jimswheels.com]
> Sent: Monday, February 22, 2010 3:26 PM
> To: prvs=16697be4e4=steve@mycompany.com
> Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
>
>
> This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.
>
> Delivery to the following recipients failed.
>
> JimB@jimswheels.com
>
>
> Reporting-MTA: dns;maccoad1.jimswheels.com
> Received-From-MTA: dns;omf1.ijnet.net
> Arrival-Date: Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:25:05 -0600
>
> Final-Recipient: rfc822;JimB@jimswheels.com
> Action: failed
> Status: 5.2.3
> X-Display-Name: Jim B
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/22/10 4:03pm
Are you positive that this email address is correct?
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/22/10 4:07pm
Yes
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
2/23/10 10:54am
Steven,
Were you sending attachments to this user?
If so, what size?
Numeric Code: 5.2.3
Possible Cause: The message is too large for the local quota. For example, a remote Exchange user may have delivery restrictions set with max incoming message size.
Troubleshooting: Resend the message without attachments, or set the server side limit or the client side limit to permit a larger message size.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: RE: FW: Bob Roberts
2/22/10 4:08pm
On 2/22/2010 4:08 PM, Steven wrote:
> FYI
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lisa somebody [mailto:lisa_somebody@thirdparty.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 12:09 PM
> To: 'Steven'
> Subject: RE: Bob Roberts
>
> Try bob@mail.yaywidgets.com
>
> The email that you have listed below is also correct but sometimes I can not get it to go through. The one I have listed should work.
>
> Thanks,
> Lisa
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/22/10 4:09pm
I don't know what to tell you. bob@mail.yaywidgets.com does not work, and its not a problem on our side.
I sent a test message to bob@yaywidgets.com, and as far as I can tell, it has not bounced.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: RE: FW: Bob Roberts
2/23/10 9:40am
FYI
>-----Original Message-----
>From: MAILER-DAEMON@mymail.myregisteredsite.com
>[mailto:MAILER-DAEMON@mymail.myregisteredsite.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 9:33 AM
>To: prvs=167028d6a7=steven@mycompany.com
>Subject: failure notice
>
>
>Hi. This is the qmail-send program at mymail.myregisteredsite.com.
>I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following >addresses.
>This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.
>
>
>user is over quota
>
>
>--- Below this line is a copy of the message.
>
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: failure notice
2/23/10 9:42am
There's the problem. His mailbox is full.
>
> user is over quota
It looks like you're sending very large emails, that one was 9 megs. Email does not handle large sizes very well, this is not specific to our email, most email services only allow a maximum of 2 megs, though ours typically allows up to 10 megs.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Re: FW: failure notice
2/23/10 9:45am
but how can I get an email from my own computer to go thru every time? And Stu is getting them it is the same way with Tim B. It does not make any sense to me.
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: failure notice
2/23/10 9:54am
Steven, I'm just telling you what is happening with these emails. When you send an email, and get an automatic reply that says "user is over quota", it means that the other person's mailbox is full. If he is getting some emails from you, then perhaps he is downloading/deleting emails. Part of the problem may be that you are sending 10 meg emails.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 9:51am
here's another one.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mail Delivery System [mailto:MAILER-DAEMON@ourisp.net]
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 9:46 AM
To: prvs=167028d6a7=steven@mycompany.com
Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
This is the mail system at host relay-5.dlfw.twtelecom.net.
I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.
For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.
If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
delete your own text from the attached returned message.
The mail system
Requested action was not taken because this server doesn't handle mail for
that user (in reply to RCPT TO command)
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
2/23/10 9:55am
Looks like you typo'd his address.
Requested action was not taken because this server doesn't handle mail for
that user (in reply to RCPT TO command)
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
2/23/10 10:59am
Steven,
Thus far, the issues with email have all been related either to an
incorrect or typo'd email address, the recipient's mailbox being full,
or the email you are sending being too large for the receiving server.
In order to avoid these kind of problems, please double check the
following things:
1. Is the email address correct, and without typos?
2. Are you attempting to send attachments to the recipient? If so, how
large are the attachments?
In a previous email, you mentioned that you're sending out pricing to
customers. We will work on making sure that you're able to send this
information out in a format that will work.
Keep me posted.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Re Re: FW: Permanent Delivery Failure
2/23/10 12:28pm
here is another one. the email address for Tom Dudefella is correct. I called him on it.
-----Original Message-----
From: MDaemon at mycompany.com [mailto:MDaemon@mycompany.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 12:22 PM
To: steven@mycompany.com
Subject: Permanent Delivery Failure
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The attached message had PERMANENT fatal delivery errors.
After one or more unsuccessful delivery attempts the attached message has
been removed from the MDaemon mail queue on this server. The number and
frequency of delivery attempts are determined by local configuration.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR MESSAGE WAS NOT DELIVERED TO ONE OR MORE RECIPIENTS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Failed address: tom@floorsandstuff.co
--- Session Transcript ---
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: Parsing message
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * From: steven@mycompany.com
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * To: tom@floorsandstuff.co
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * Subject: Shamrock Pricing
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * Size (bytes): 1017041
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * Message-ID:<13bea0ea.1cab4b5.91331e17.365f@mycompany.com>
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: Attempting SMTP connection to [floorsandstuff.co]
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: Resolving MX records for [floorsandstuff.co] (DNS Server: 216.136. xxx.xxx)...
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * Name server reports domain name unknown
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: Attempting SMTP connection to [generalfloor.co:25]
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: Resolving A record for [floorsandstuff.co] (DNS Server: 216.136.xxx.xxx)...
Tue 2010-02-23 12:21:58: * Name server reports domain name unknown
--- End Transcript ---
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Permanent Delivery Failure
2/23/10 1:17pm
The error on this one is that you tried to send it to:
tom@floorsandstuff.co
Need an M on the end of that.
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 11:24am
If you're sending a 1 meg PDF document to people and it
does not go through, let me know. Some of the emails that were
bouncing were 9 or 10 megs, which is much much larger than this pricing
document.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Re: FW: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 11:30am
yes, two of them I sent with 2 attachments, so yes I can see they were probably to big. But the other ones were just the pricing. And I still cant under stranded way I can send them from my other laptop with 2 to 3 attachments. its over my head!
Thanks
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 1:19pm
The bottom line here is that some of these rejects are coming back
because the message size is too large. It does not matter which
computer you send it from or which email address you send it from. If
the guy who you are sending to cannot receive email larger than, say, 5
megs, then any message larger than that will fail, no matter where you
send it from.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Re: FW: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 1:28pm
All I know is that I can send 2 to 3 attachments to them from my personal laptop with no problems. I guesses I will just need to remember to send one attachment at a time from this computer!!!!
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: FW: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 1:35pm
Okay. Just to be certain that I've been clear. If you are sending an email that is more than 10 megs in size, it does not matter whether you send it from your work computer and email account, or from a personal computer and email account. If the recipient cannot receive email larger than a certain size, he will never ever ever ever receive it.
I can't really make it any more clear.
Please contact me if you continue to have problems.
***********************************
From: Steven
To: Jeremy
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
2/23/10 1:24pm
Yes that was my bad. But I turned around and resent it and it was kicked back.
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jeremy [mailto:jeremy@mycompany.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 1:18 PM
>To: Steven
>Cc: Joe (E-mail)
>Subject: Re: FW: Permanent Delivery Failure
>
>
>The error on this one is that you tried to send it to:
>
>tom@floorsandstuff.co
>
>Need an M on the end of that.
***********************************
From: Jeremy
To: Steven
Subject: Re: Re: FW: Permanent Delivery Failure
2/23/10 1:35pm
Please forward me the email in which the correct address was kicked back to you.
***********************************
[crickets]
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Photos 22, 23, 24 and 25.
I'm still playing catchup. Maybe by March I'll be even.
Here you are.
Piper has a serving spoon for you.
Easily one of my all time favorites. That's a crazy awesome smile. For the past few weeks, when the Backyardigans comes on tv, and she hears the theme music and/or sees the characters on the tv, she lights up.
The gang.
Here you are.
 |
| From 365, 2010 |
Easily one of my all time favorites. That's a crazy awesome smile. For the past few weeks, when the Backyardigans comes on tv, and she hears the theme music and/or sees the characters on the tv, she lights up.
The gang.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Wow, look at all those photos!
I'm still catching up, and since I took a bunch of photos, here are some of them.
9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15.
Piper loves clapping, and enjoys taking your hands and clapping them together!
We played Thunderstone over the weekend. It was very fun. It is basically Dominion, re-themed as D&D.
Going out for a bit!
My girl is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute.
9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15.
 |
| From 365, 2010 |
Piper loves clapping, and enjoys taking your hands and clapping them together!
We played Thunderstone over the weekend. It was very fun. It is basically Dominion, re-themed as D&D.
Going out for a bit!
My girl is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Photos #6, 7 and 8!
 |
| From 365, 2010 |
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 4.5
Focal Length: 29mm
Flash Used: Yes
shot on auto
 |
| From 365, 2010 |
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 4.5
Focal Length: 30mm
Flash Used: Yes
shot on auto
 |
| From 365, 2010 |
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 3.5
Focal Length: 18mm
Flash Used: Yes
shot on auto
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
RAW vs JPG
For the first time, I have the option of shooting in RAW. I know a little about RAW. I wondered "Do I need to be shooting in RAW?", google quickly led me to answers like "If you're asking if you should be shooting in RAW or JPG, then the answer is JPG." But I wanted to try it out. Heck, I wasn't even sure how to, or if I could do post processing on a RAW image. So I turned it to RAW and just started shooting stuff. It was shooting RAW and a basic JPG.
I offloaded the RAW images onto my computer, having read that Picasa can display and process RAW stuff. And so it can. I fiddled for just a second with the pretty basic tools that Picasa offers, and then hit the "I'm feeling lucky button". A second later, the image adjusts a little. I do that for the whole batch, wondering what kind of results I'll see.
Click this to check out a sample:
In some of the shots, Piper seems a bit green to my eye, but there's no denying that some of the RAW images come out better looking. What do you think? Do you shoot RAW or JPG?
Although I haven't touched photoshop in 5 years or so, I'm going to see how the images look in it.
I offloaded the RAW images onto my computer, having read that Picasa can display and process RAW stuff. And so it can. I fiddled for just a second with the pretty basic tools that Picasa offers, and then hit the "I'm feeling lucky button". A second later, the image adjusts a little. I do that for the whole batch, wondering what kind of results I'll see.
Click this to check out a sample:
 |
| Raw vs JPG |
In some of the shots, Piper seems a bit green to my eye, but there's no denying that some of the RAW images come out better looking. What do you think? Do you shoot RAW or JPG?
Although I haven't touched photoshop in 5 years or so, I'm going to see how the images look in it.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Photo #4
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: Yes
Bath time hairdo!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Photos, #2 and #3
I agonized over whether to host my late 365 project here. And I think I've decided the answer is Yes. So if you're following this, I hope you're ready for tons of photos of my kid.
Here's today, and its a twofer.
Model: NIKON D3000
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 3.5
Focal Length: 18mm
Flash Used: Yes
Shot on auto ('children setting') I believe
Model: NIKON D3000
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/25 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: No
Shot on auto ('sports')
Turns out that 1/25 is slower than I want, and I plan to try again with 1/50 or 1/100.
Here's today, and its a twofer.
Model: NIKON D3000
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 3.5
Focal Length: 18mm
Flash Used: Yes
Shot on auto ('children setting') I believe
Model: NIKON D3000
ISO: 800
Exposure: 1/25 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Focal Length: 55mm
Flash Used: No
Shot on auto ('sports')
Turns out that 1/25 is slower than I want, and I plan to try again with 1/50 or 1/100.
365, 2010 (But I'm cheating)
Last year I started doing the '365 project', in which you take pictures, and post at least one picture that you've taken per day. I got 101 photos, and then I got bogged down with my awesome daughter Piper. I'm lazy as well, which does not help.
I'm doing it again, only this time I'm crazy cheating. I started on January 31st, so I'm going to do a little catchup. Additionally, I'm not going to swear to never miss a day. It is going to happen. Probably a few times. I'll try to catch up. My goal is to post 365 photos in a project this year. I'll try to make them good, though I'll warn you that the vast majority of them will probably be of Piper - well, because she's awesome.
Enjoy.
PS - I suppose a link to said photos would help. Here you are: http://picasaweb.google.com/xjermx/3652010
I recently discovered that I can stick picasaweb links in my google feed reader, and they work like magic.
I'm doing it again, only this time I'm crazy cheating. I started on January 31st, so I'm going to do a little catchup. Additionally, I'm not going to swear to never miss a day. It is going to happen. Probably a few times. I'll try to catch up. My goal is to post 365 photos in a project this year. I'll try to make them good, though I'll warn you that the vast majority of them will probably be of Piper - well, because she's awesome.
Enjoy.
PS - I suppose a link to said photos would help. Here you are: http://picasaweb.google.com/xjermx/3652010
I recently discovered that I can stick picasaweb links in my google feed reader, and they work like magic.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
I need someone to make this happen
I have a new standard for blogs and feed readers. I need to be able to tell my feeder the following:
"Okay Feed Reader, I want you to follow www.lukeandhisdog.com* but I want you to show me only things that are tagged dog or luke, but not donna or house, but I do want to see house stuff if it also is tagged with dog. For all other tags, I want to see them, unless I disallow them."
Does this already exist and I'm just blind? This seems relatively easy, and would keep me from feeling like I need a blog site for game stuff, and a blog site for baby stuff, and a blog site for picture stuff, and a blog site for general insanity, and so forth.
* I just made that up, I didn't even look to see if it exists.
"Okay Feed Reader, I want you to follow www.lukeandhisdog.com* but I want you to show me only things that are tagged dog or luke, but not donna or house, but I do want to see house stuff if it also is tagged with dog. For all other tags, I want to see them, unless I disallow them."
Does this already exist and I'm just blind? This seems relatively easy, and would keep me from feeling like I need a blog site for game stuff, and a blog site for baby stuff, and a blog site for picture stuff, and a blog site for general insanity, and so forth.
* I just made that up, I didn't even look to see if it exists.
Hey, is this a post about gaming?!
Hello World!
I haven't talked a great deal about gaming lately. I've been busy.
Lately I've begun to feel the gaming itch again, and have talked about doing some Shadowrun, and thought about doing some more D&D/fantasy gaming. I'm going to dump my thoughts here about D&D and running a game of it.
I spent a goodly bit of time talking about 4e during '08 and some of '09. We ran it right when it came out, and by and large, we all enjoyed ourselves. I developed some gripes about it, and as I recall, I grew a bit frustrated that combats became so long, and seemed so.. constricted. Bear with me here.
I wavered back and forth between enjoying the openness and lack of 'constricting rules' with old school 0e/1e D&D. Combat is short, somewhat narrative, often fatal. I won't get sidetracked here with long discussions about the merits of old school gaming vs new school gaming. Combat in 4e is longer, very tactical, with tons of options, but all of them are printed. So to further clarify, in old school combat, the players have lots of creative room, if they're the creative type, to describe what their characters are doing, their only limitations really being their own imaginations and the box that the GM makes them work inside of. In 4e, the players have tons of options for their characters, but they're all in the book. There are few or no "calls" by the GM, and tons of rules searching and debate.
But this is all kinda background and staging. I'm actually going to try to talk up 4e. Here's what's on my mind: 4e combat is lively and fun, and full of options. Narrative and descriptions are and have always been critically important elements in role playing. We've all played with a bad GM - "There's a long hall and some lizard men, roll initiative!", "Okay you killed the lizardmen, you open the next door and there's a room with some goblins, roll initiative!". The player's narrative is just as important as the GM's narrative. Even with the most descriptive GM in the world, if the players sit around the table each taking turns with "I hit the goblin", then it's simply a boring exercise in rolling dice until the GM says you're done. Its an easy trap for anyone to fall into. The same is true with 4e. "Okay, I use my 'Elemental Whirlwind' power, its a daily." , it is just as boring. It reduces the narrative game of D&D to a poker game in which you're simply "using" what's in your hand until its time for the next hand. Perhaps Magic the Gathering is a better analogy. I'm sure someone somewhere "role plays" magic, but its a card game. D&D /should not be/ a card game.
Again though, its somewhat easy to fall into the rut of just naming off powers, letting someone else take their turn, ad nauseum.
My other gripe had to do with the rationing of magic items, and how magic items seemed to be generally castrated to me. They were "special items", not magical. Magic implies some sense of amazement and wonder, perhaps an air of mystery. 4e magic items are simply special equipment that confers bonuses. Perhaps this was my own fault - did I not "magic them up enough"?
So, just off the top of my head, today I'm kicking around the idea of running old school adventures through 4e. I'd be inclined to retool "magic item distribution", and maybe just old school it. The matter of role playing combat is really Social Contract territory, and I think would simply need to be agreed upon by the players involved.
Alright, that's it for me, I'm going to go flip through my printed copy of Keep on the Borderlands.
I haven't talked a great deal about gaming lately. I've been busy.
Lately I've begun to feel the gaming itch again, and have talked about doing some Shadowrun, and thought about doing some more D&D/fantasy gaming. I'm going to dump my thoughts here about D&D and running a game of it.
I spent a goodly bit of time talking about 4e during '08 and some of '09. We ran it right when it came out, and by and large, we all enjoyed ourselves. I developed some gripes about it, and as I recall, I grew a bit frustrated that combats became so long, and seemed so.. constricted. Bear with me here.
I wavered back and forth between enjoying the openness and lack of 'constricting rules' with old school 0e/1e D&D. Combat is short, somewhat narrative, often fatal. I won't get sidetracked here with long discussions about the merits of old school gaming vs new school gaming. Combat in 4e is longer, very tactical, with tons of options, but all of them are printed. So to further clarify, in old school combat, the players have lots of creative room, if they're the creative type, to describe what their characters are doing, their only limitations really being their own imaginations and the box that the GM makes them work inside of. In 4e, the players have tons of options for their characters, but they're all in the book. There are few or no "calls" by the GM, and tons of rules searching and debate.
But this is all kinda background and staging. I'm actually going to try to talk up 4e. Here's what's on my mind: 4e combat is lively and fun, and full of options. Narrative and descriptions are and have always been critically important elements in role playing. We've all played with a bad GM - "There's a long hall and some lizard men, roll initiative!", "Okay you killed the lizardmen, you open the next door and there's a room with some goblins, roll initiative!". The player's narrative is just as important as the GM's narrative. Even with the most descriptive GM in the world, if the players sit around the table each taking turns with "I hit the goblin"
Again though, its somewhat easy to fall into the rut of just naming off powers, letting someone else take their turn, ad nauseum.
My other gripe had to do with the rationing of magic items, and how magic items seemed to be generally castrated to me. They were "special items", not magical. Magic implies some sense of amazement and wonder, perhaps an air of mystery. 4e magic items are simply special equipment that confers bonuses. Perhaps this was my own fault - did I not "magic them up enough"?
So, just off the top of my head, today I'm kicking around the idea of running old school adventures through 4e. I'd be inclined to retool "magic item distribution", and maybe just old school it. The matter of role playing combat is really Social Contract territory, and I think would simply need to be agreed upon by the players involved.
Alright, that's it for me, I'm going to go flip through my printed copy of Keep on the Borderlands.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Who Writes These Things, Seriously....
If one wants to be careful in this day and age, and not get raped or robbed, or have a kidney stolen and be left lying in an icy bathtub with a note from European Organ Black Market thieves, one has to pay careful attention to their actions.
For instance, it has come to my attention that I could be the target of gang violence by flashing my headlights at another car. Additionally, gangs are coming up with more and more complicated schemes to trap people in their nefarious plans. Most recently, by putting fliers on car windows, leaving life-like babies in carseats by the side of the road, or even using old women to plead for help. Now, I don't know about you, but as soon as I see a flyer in my window, or a baby by the side of the road, I hit the gas! I'm not falling for one of those tricks! And if I see some old woman yelling for help, let me tell you - I'm going the other way!
So really, who writes this stuff? These things don't just pop into existence. They have an origin, someone sat down and came up with this, and typed it up and sent it out. Some of it is simple urban legend. The "flashing your high beams and getting shot" thing has been around since at least the early '90's. Obviously, urban legends have been around for a long long time, but the newest sub genre, the "Gangs preying on stupid white people" is particularly annoying, and in my opinion, racist.
While it could be argued that some urban legends are just morality stories, these gang related ones just seem to heighten the old "white people are afraid of black people" thing, but more than that, they reinforce a negative racial stereotype. These folks have never heard of Occam's Razor. In these stories, gangs seem to have ties to nefarious mustache-twirling comic book villains. They launch hugely complicated schemes to trap people, instead of the old method of simply hitting someone over the head when they're not looking.
White people are apparently so afraid of black folks, or street gangs, that they're willing to believe almost anything. It would be a fascinating social experiment to see how much people would be willing to swallow. "Yes sir, gangs are posing as real estate agents, and selling homes to people, and then once the home has sold and the deal is closed, they use a copy of the key that they made to break in to the house to rob and rape everyone!"
So if you know the dude who's writing these things, let him know that there's a beautiful woman in the hotel lobby that wants to buy him a drink. Don't mind her faint eastern European accent.
For instance, it has come to my attention that I could be the target of gang violence by flashing my headlights at another car. Additionally, gangs are coming up with more and more complicated schemes to trap people in their nefarious plans. Most recently, by putting fliers on car windows, leaving life-like babies in carseats by the side of the road, or even using old women to plead for help. Now, I don't know about you, but as soon as I see a flyer in my window, or a baby by the side of the road, I hit the gas! I'm not falling for one of those tricks! And if I see some old woman yelling for help, let me tell you - I'm going the other way!
So really, who writes this stuff? These things don't just pop into existence. They have an origin, someone sat down and came up with this, and typed it up and sent it out. Some of it is simple urban legend. The "flashing your high beams and getting shot" thing has been around since at least the early '90's. Obviously, urban legends have been around for a long long time, but the newest sub genre, the "Gangs preying on stupid white people" is particularly annoying, and in my opinion, racist.
While it could be argued that some urban legends are just morality stories, these gang related ones just seem to heighten the old "white people are afraid of black people" thing, but more than that, they reinforce a negative racial stereotype. These folks have never heard of Occam's Razor. In these stories, gangs seem to have ties to nefarious mustache-twirling comic book villains. They launch hugely complicated schemes to trap people, instead of the old method of simply hitting someone over the head when they're not looking.
White people are apparently so afraid of black folks, or street gangs, that they're willing to believe almost anything. It would be a fascinating social experiment to see how much people would be willing to swallow. "Yes sir, gangs are posing as real estate agents, and selling homes to people, and then once the home has sold and the deal is closed, they use a copy of the key that they made to break in to the house to rob and rape everyone!"
So if you know the dude who's writing these things, let him know that there's a beautiful woman in the hotel lobby that wants to buy him a drink. Don't mind her faint eastern European accent.
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