Raoul Pop

Spam also comes from legitimate companies

Raoul — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:21:01 +0000

Spam is one of the things I hate. I’ve written about it in the past (see this, this, this, and this). I expect to get spam from spammers, and I also expect Gmail to filter it out, which it does. But I also get spam from what are normally considered legitimate companies (web merchants, environmental action groups, tutorial websites, product websites and the like). Gmail doesn’t filter these messages out of my inbox, even though I don’t want them. Even though I try to unsubscribe from these companies’ mailing lists, and when I’ve had enough, report their messages as spam, somehow they still find their way back into my inbox.

I thought I’d out these companies, hoping they’ll change their spammy ways. Perhaps they don’t know how to maintain their mailing lists, or perhaps they don’t care if they offend a person or two here and there. Well, they should know how to do both things. Here they are, in no particular order:

Pulse (Pulse Newsletter, newsletters@myeclipseide.com, pulse-list@genuitec.com). They don’t even offer a way to unsubscribe in their emails…
Kelby Seminars (KelbySeminars@mail160.subscribermail.com, kt_mail@kelbymediagroup.com). I have no idea how I got on their mailing list, but they keep sending me ads for their seminars, which are of no interest to me.
Majesty Press (Majesty News, admin@majesty.ro, majesty.box364.bluehost.com). I wrote to the Majesty Press owner and asked him to be taken off the list, specifying that I never asked to be added to it. He confirmed my removal from the list, only to start sending me stuff again a few months later.
Contour Design (ergoinfo@contourdesign.com). I have no idea who they are, didn’t ask to be added to their list, and that means they’re spamming me.
RegFly aka RegisterFly (ssl@regfly.com, admin@regfly.com, etc.). I used to manage my domains with them a few years ago, back when they were still legitimate. But the owner/manager/whatever held their servers for ransom for a couple of months after a spat with the management, and I almost lost my domains. They also lost their ICANN accreditation thanks to that stunt. I’ve since moved my domains to other registrars, but I keep getting emails from RegFly asking me to renew domains and SSL certs I used to host with them — clearly spam designed to get me to switch back, or to charge me for domains I’m already paying for elsewhere. One thing I can say for sure is you’re probably better off if you steer clear of this company altogether.
DMXzone (news@dmxzone.com). Several years ago, I used to frequent this site’s forums — years ago… Yet I still get emails from them, and no matter what I do, I can’t unsubscribe. They keep spamming me to let me know of new happenings. I’m not interested, and I wish they’d stop.
Jayde aka B2BSearchEngine (B2BSearchEngine@ientrynetwork.net, support@ientry.com). Years ago, I submitted my site to be indexed by their search engine, and now I can’t get off their mailing list. If a search engine engages in spammy behavior, it’s a good indication that it’s not helpful to submit your site to them or give them your email address. I don’t even know how many referrals I get from Jayde, but it doesn’t register any visible blip in my site’s statistics.
OnlyWire (support@onlywire.com). I’ve already unsubscribed once from their mailing list, and it didn’t take. I did it again at the time of writing this article. We’ll see if it takes this time.
EscapeArtist (list-mailer@escapeartist.com). I subscribed to their list a couple of years ago — it’s a magazine for those interested in overseas living. Now I can’t unsubscribe, or “escape”, if you will — I tried, but they keep sending me stuff which can now only be called spam, since I don’t want it anymore.
Open Text Corporation (info@opentext.com, info@mktg.opentext.com). These guys emailed me out of the blue to let me know about one of their conferences. Seems to me the right thing to have done instead of spamming me was to ask me if I wanted to be added to their mailing list first, no? It doesn’t matter if I have experience in content management, you can’t just assume that I want to get your marketing emails.
KnowledgeStorm.com (KnowledgeStorm@knowledgestorm.techtargetlists.com, webmaster@techtarget.com). This company has been spamming me for years. They certainly are persistent, if nothing else. I just can’t get off their mailing list. I tried, repeatedly, but they keep re-adding me and sending me crap. Persistence may be a virtue, but at some point, it turns into harassment.
ReadyHosting (noreply@readyhosting-inc.com). I used to host some of my websites with them years ago. Ever since then, I’ve been placed onto one of their admin mailing lists, and I keep getting maintenance and outage notices. ReadyHosting, please stop it. I don’t care to hear about your server maintenance. I no longer host with you. Thanks.

(c) Raoul Pop

Spam also comes from legitimate companies

Condensed Knowledge – November 15, 2009

Raoul — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:30:11 +0000

This is a summary of articles I read and found interesting during this past week. The list is shared from among my feed subscriptions. I only share a certain number of articles in each of these posts, so if you'd like to see more, visit my full Google Shared Items list.

(c) Raoul Pop

Condensed Knowledge – November 15, 2009

Anger is just not worth the trouble

Raoul — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:08 +0000

I’ve recently written about how to respond effectively to stressful situations, and now it’s time to write about how to respond effectively to anger.

One thing most of us do battle with each and every day is our temper. We encounter a situation that pushes our buttons just the right way, and wouldn’t you know it, we’re angry again, in spite of our best intentions!

In recent weeks, a number of realizations dawned on me, all of which have been leading me to this conclusion: the easiest way to deal with anger is to let go of it. Regardless what some may say, there are no constructive ways to handle anger; there is no healthy way to channel it, or to use it as a motivator for something else.

Anger toward someone or something hurts you more than it could ever hurt that person or thing or situation, or whatever the case may be. If your body is a living vessel, then anger is a poison that fills it up and slowly eats up its walls. It weakens you, it makes everything taste bad, look bad and feel bad. It not only makes your life miserable, it also shortens it.

Life is already too short as it is. Why waste even a single minute on anger? It doesn’t solve problems. Many times, it compounds them. When the situation could be solved much better by cooler heads, getting angry only makes things worse and eliminates a quick, efficient solution.

One of my defenses has been that my anger is oftentimes righteous. Why I mean by that is I believe I’m justified in getting angry with someone because he or she wronged me, or because the situation warranted it (perhaps it was idiotic or illogical). Unfortunately, life is full of such people or situations, so my days are often punctuated by episodes of anger. When there’s always a fire inside, one that usually smolders, but often burns, it ends up taking precious energy away from useful pursuits and leaves me spent at the end of the day.

What’s more, even in cases where the other person fully provokes me and I’m entitled to get good and angry, what I’ve discovered is that it’s not worth it. The desire for retaliation, or revenge, or for making things right, or for punishing the other person in some way, is more damaging to me than their crime, whether it be theft, or lies, or who knows what. Another thing that I’ve discovered is that life will deal with them in good time, and they’ll get a far more painful and fitting punishment than anything I could have done to them.

The thing is, everyone pays for what they’ve done, in one way or another, and they pay for it in this life, sooner or later. The more I live, the more I realize how true that is, because I’ve felt it on my own skin. I’ve paid plenty for some mistakes I made in the past, I’ll be paying for others in the future, and so will those people that have wronged me. I don’t need to do anything. They’ll all get what’s coming to them. We’ll all get what’s coming to each of us, and you can take that to the bank.

So, the best way to deal with anger is to simply let go of it. It’s a conscious decision that takes only a little willpower. Just take a deep breath, then as you breathe out, imagine that anger exiting your body. Let go of it. Let it evaporate away, and focus on the good things in life.

Each day is so short, and our time with our loved ones is so brief, that we must do all we can to use our time wisely. If we don’t, then we’re wronging them, and we’re wronging ourselves, and yes, we’ll pay for that, too.

(c) Raoul Pop

Anger is just not worth the trouble

The Baltimore Aquarium

Raoul — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:32:53 +0000

The Baltimore Aquarium is located in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, right on the water, on a promontory that looks as if it was man-made for the specific purpose of accentuating the Aquarium. It was built in 1981, during Baltimore’s urban renewal period, when the city made a concerted effort to rebuild its waterfront. Their efforts certainly paid off nicely in time, as anyone who’s visited the waterfront lately will attest.

In spite of my less than lukewarm review of the Aquarium’s Dolphin Show, the Aquarium itself is a great place to visit. The location and the modern design ideas, which can be seen both on the outside and the inside, plus the many species of fish and other marine life that are inside, and the dramatic ways in which they are showcased, make it a must-see destination. Others agree. The Aquarium is considered one of the best in the United States, if not the world. It is also the largest tourist attraction in the State of Maryland.

Its official name is the National Aquarium in Baltimore, but I call it the Baltimore Aquarium, so as not to confuse it with the National Aquarium in DC (which, by the way, has been operated by the Baltimore Aquarium since 2003).

Another point of interest at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse. Also not to be missed is a walk through Baltimore’s downtown area, which is full of all sorts of interesting architecture. You can see more photos from the Baltimore Aquarium and from Baltimore in my photo catalog.

(c) Raoul Pop

The Baltimore Aquarium

Condensed Knowledge – November 8, 2009

Raoul — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:30:30 +0000

(c) Raoul Pop

Condensed Knowledge – November 8, 2009

The Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan

Raoul — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:06:00 +0000

The Algonquin will soon host its 90th anniversary of the Algonquin Round Table, and they’re holding a Commemorative Symposium of Wit and Wisdom on November 17th, from 7-9 pm. Tickets cost $100 each. Should be a lot of fun.

We stayed at the Algonquin Hotel in 2007, during our weekend trip to Manhattan, and we highly recommend it. The location is wonderful, very near to Times Square, yet on a relatively quiet side street without many street lights, which means you can get a good night’s rest. The beds are comfy, and the decor is tasteful. The setting is, of course, historic, and that’s worth quite a bit in our book.

(c) Raoul Pop

The Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan

What’s in the bottle?

Raoul — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:07:02 +0000

It’s funny how a bottle of perfectly good green tea looks like pee without the label.

(c) Raoul Pop

What’s in the bottle?

Condensed Knowledge – November 1, 2009

Raoul — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:30:13 +0000

(c) Raoul Pop

Condensed Knowledge – November 1, 2009

An interview with Robert Kenner about Food, Inc

Raoul — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:38:00 +0000

David Brancacio from PBS’s Now program sat down with Robert Kenner, the director for a documentary about food and the food industry called, appropriately enough, “Food, Inc”, to talk about the making of this very interesting film.

You can watch the interview here, and the trailer for the documentary here. It comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray in a couple of days, on November 3rd, and can be purchased directly from the movie’s official website or from stores like Amazon. I highly encourage you to get it and watch it.

(c) Raoul Pop

An interview with Robert Kenner about Food, Inc

The problem of human trafficking

Raoul — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:37:18 +0000

Human trafficking is a practice I condemn deeply, particularly the practice of sex trafficking or sexual slavery, because it could have touched very close to home. My wife went to college in the city of Constanta, Romania, which is one of the main cities in the country where abductions and other crimes of sex trafficking occur. When we met, she still had about two years before graduation. Because we were apart for long periods of time, and she was and is very beautiful, I had this constant fear of her being a target for sex traffickers. Thank goodness nothing happened.

My fear may sound absurd to you, but it was real to me, and it’s real to the parents of girls in that city and in other large Romanian cities. Constanta in particular, being a port city on the Black Sea, invites a lot of unwanted attention from criminals of all varieties. Girls are routinely abducted there and carried off to Middle-Eastern countries, where they’re either made part of some filthy Arab’s harem or forced into prostitution.

Romania is one of the major trafficking source countries for women and children in Europe, among others such as Albania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Just next door to Romania, the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria and Ukraine also have the dubious distinction of being among the main trafficking sources for the world, along with Thailand, China, Nigeria, Albania, and Belarus. So you see, the entire Eastern Europe region around the Black Sea is a hot spot for human trafficking. I’m not saying this of myself, but many statistics bear this out. Check out the reference links at the bottom of this article and see for yourselves.

Girls and children abducted or manipulated into going abroad may be taken through a transit country like Mexico or Israel, or end up in a destination country, which is usually rich enough for the “customers” to be able to afford the human trafficking “products”. The list of the biggest destination countries is as follows: Thailand (also a major source), Japan, Israel (also a transit country), Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the US.

After talking with people in Romania, I found out that a lot of girls from the country end up in Germany and Turkey. Not all are physically coerced into going there. Criminals exploit lack of opportunities, promise good jobs or opportunities for study or marriage, and then force the victims to become prostitutes, or they may abduct them outright. Through agents and brokers who arrange the travel and job placements, women are escorted to their destinations and delivered to the “employers”. Upon reaching their destinations, some women learn that they have been deceived about the nature of the work they will do; most have been lied to about the financial arrangements and conditions of their employment and find themselves in coercive or abusive situations from which escape is both difficult and dangerous. They are psychologically manipulated by skillful, experienced traffickers into the practice of prostitution and are kept in that lifestyle by any means necessary, such as continual psychological or physical abuse or drugs.

Another tactic is for a trafficker to seduce a girl, pose as a couple as they go abroad, then, while the girl is still in love with him, get her to sleep with other men in order to make money while they “start from scratch”. He’ll keep saying he can’t find a job yet, she’ll keep sleeping with other men for money, and before she knows it, she’s a prostitute, and he’ll waste no time calling her one, each and every day, beating her down psychologically till she’s too broken down to resist the sordid lifestyle. When she’s broken, there’s no need for the captor to pretend they’re a couple, so he’ll revert to the job of an outright pimp.

The girls’ families usually know nothing of their girls’ whereabouts and doings. The girls tell them they’re going abroad for jobs, then, when they’re already caught in the web of prostitution, will lie to them and tell them they’re working somewhere, out of shame for what they’re doing. The girls are usually over 18, they’re going willingly, the police can do nothing about it, and once they’re abroad, it’s too late. Some people I talked to were pragmatic, even downright dismissive. “They’re old enough to know what they’re getting into,” they said. “If that’s what they want to do with their lives, it’s their business.”

The vile practice of human trafficking is a profitable one. People in Romania can usually finger the ones who are doing it, and can tell you how quickly they got rich, how many houses and cars they have, and so on. The sad part is that there’s little the police can do, unless abductions are involved. Even then, since the victims are taken to other countries, any moves require close cooperation with police forces in those countries, who may or may not care at all, so authorities are stuck.

Human trafficking is condemned and forbidden by the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (also referred to as the Trafficking Protocol), which is a protocol to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The protocol defines human trafficking as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”

While the UN and many civilized countries condemn the practice, and many celebrities have signed on to the cause of fighting human trafficking, little headway is being made. In part, this is because collaboration between police forces in various countries is difficult, as few protocols with too few teeth are in place for this sort of thing. Also, governmental organizations set up for the purpose of fighting human trafficking are busy bickering among themselves over the definition of human trafficking. Finally, what makes this a difficult fight is that at least where sex trafficking is concerned, the majority of the girls go willingly, because they’re duped into it. Some are even okay with prostitution, though they may not be aware of the real working conditions until it’s too late.

Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. The US estimates the market at up to $9 billion, while the EU laughs at that estimate and states it to be around $42.5 billion. No country, rich or poor, civilized or not, is immune from the problem of human trafficking, which can take many forms, but is most often identified with the exploitation of women and children for the purposes of prostitution.Victims of traffickers are usually transported over state borders, though it’s not a pre-requisite, since they can be also coerced and manipulated in their own countries.

Still, good news exists when it comes to catching the criminals involved in this practice. Just a few years ago, while living in the DC area, I heard that a brothel disguised as a massage parlor, staffed by South-Asian women, was closed down, but not before the investigation revealed that prominent politicians and other men of supposed standing in the local community frequented the place, some quite often. In October of 2009, US authorities broke up a child prostitution ring where 52 children were recovered and 60 alleged pimps were arrested, during a three-day operation, tagged Operation Cross Country IV. Law enforcement actions were taken in 36 cities across 30 FBI divisions nationwide. It was part of the FBI’s ongoing Innocence Lost National Initiative, which was created in 2003 with the goal of ending sex trafficking of children in the United States.

The movie “Taken”, released in 2008, starring Liam Neeson, does a good job of showing what an abduction situation for the purposes of sexual trafficking looks like, how one can begin to tackle the situation, and how entangled the whole web of human trafficking really is, with many interested parties holding significant stakes in the matter, including the police, who are often on the take in order to turn a blind eye toward the matter. In the movie, Brian Mills, the main character, manages to track and save his daughter as she is exchanged through the hands of several captors, though in real life, this seldom happens. I’m not knocking the movie — I loved seeing all those sex traffickers get maimed, tortured and killed, because it’s what should happen to all of them — but the people who do this usually prosper while countless women, children and men suffer at their hands.

“Taken” (2008) Trailer – YouTube

The Vancouver Film School also put together a short documentary about human trafficking, which they recently released to the web.

“Traffic” (2009) – Vancouver Film School

In the end, I think the problem of human trafficking can be tackled along multiple avenues:

Prostitution and other forms of human trafficking should be made illegal. On one hand, I can understand arguments for making prostitution legal, such as the ability to provide medical care to prostitutes and to check on things a little better. On the other hand, you’d be legalizing a business whose product is the exploitation of women as sex objects. A bad practice shouldn’t be made legal just because some people choose to engage in it.
The burden of the punishment for human trafficking should be on the shoulders of those who are behind the scenes — not the prostitutes or human slaves themselves, who should be helped to reintegrate into society — but those who organize the business of selling them to the public and “recruiting” them. The human traffickers themselves should bear the heaviest legal punishments that can be meted out, probably on par with murderers. The clients themselves should have to pay significant fines if caught trying to solicit prostitutes or purchase human slaves. Heavy fines are a great deterrent for this sort of thing.
So that the bickering can stop over the definition of human trafficking and ways to combat it, separate organizations ought to be set up that deal with each category of offenses that have been grouped under this umbrella. In other words, sex crimes ought to have their own set of laws and organizations that fight them, and other kinds of human trafficking offenses ought to be separated under their own sets of laws and organizations. For example, I think someone that sells women as sex slaves ought to be punished differently and more severely than someone who sells men or women into indentured servitude, and someone who sells children into sexual slavery ought to be punished most severely.

These are just a few of my thoughts on the matter, but if you have anything to contribute, please comment below. For more information on human trafficking, please consult the following resources, on which I drew for facts and figures as I wrote this article:

(c) Raoul Pop

The problem of human trafficking

Condensed Knowledge – October 25, 2009

Raoul — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:30:01 +0000

John McCain's "Internet Freedom Act" Seeks to Block FCC's Net Neutrality Rules – Net Neutrality John McCain – Gizmodo
Amazing Pictures, Pollution in China | ChinaHush
Stinque » Now Here It Is, Your Moment of Insane
BBC NEWS | Business | Nokia suing Apple over the iPhone
Lightroom 3.0 Public Beta Now Available! | TheLightroomLab.com | Written by David Marx
Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse – CNN.com
Stock Photography is like the Gold Rush. And that didn't end well. – A Picture's Worth
Evolving Web: Why Project Managers Fail
Apple redesigns iMac, MacBook and reveals Magic Mouse – CNN.com
EVZ.ro — Familie distrusă de un afacerist clujean
Migrant Rights » Blog Archive » Three Emiratis Arrested for Raping and Murdering Housemaids
Facebook, Twitter users beware: Crooks are a mouse click away – CNN.com
The National Archives – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Optical Storage Media: Storing Temporary Records on CDs and DVDs
- CD/DVD experiential life expectancy is 2 to 5 years, even though published life expectancies are often cited as 10 years, 25 years, or longer. That’s a problem!
Epoch Times – Romania First in History to Win Three Pomme d’Or Awards

(c) Raoul Pop

Condensed Knowledge – October 25, 2009

Amazon Kindle now comes with international wireless coverage

Raoul — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:36:58 +0000

The newly redesigned Kindle from Amazon now comes with both US and International wireless coverage built right in. This means you can use it as you travel in most of the civilized world and not have to worry about internet access. It’ll automatically find a wireless network it can use, you won’t pay anything extra, and it’ll let you browse and get books from Amazon, or deliver your daily newspaper and blog updates to you.

I checked to see if there was coverage in Romania, where I am at the moment, and sure enough, there is. Pretty cool.

Having seen how clunky the 1st generation Kindle looked, I’m glad to see Amazon took the time to re-design it and to build in extra features like this one. Sure, it helps them too, since they get to sell more stuff to you, but I know just how annoying it can be to travel internationally and have to deal with different cellular plans. They put in the work needed to make sure the Kindle would just work wherever there was a serious wireless company available to provide coverage, and that’s definitely not something that happens overnight.

(c) Raoul Pop

Amazon Kindle now comes with international wireless coverage

Links for 2009-05-25 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Trees Are Good - Tree Care Information
Great info on pruning trees.
Serious Wheels Classic, Sports & Muscle Car Pictures
Photos of cars of all kinds.
WD-40 JOB SITE - Trade Secret Search Results
Various useful tips on using WD-40 around the house.
Ask the Builder - The Home Improvement Resource

Links for 2009-03-23 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Registered Works: Free Intellectual Property | Copyright | Trademark | Patent | Registration and Protection

Links for 2009-03-17 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Eugen Lucan: Cele 5 Legi BioLogice - un Miracol cenzurat

Links for 2009-03-09 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 PDT

HTML-PDF-Converter.com - Free HTML to PDF converter online, convert HTML to PDF for free

Links for 2009-02-26 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:00:00 PST

Links for 2009-01-22 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

LoopyTube! - The Fun Way to Inflate a Tire
Did you know that you could fill your tires with fire instead of air? It's true! Simply spray the inside of the rim with hair spray, then shoot it with a flame thrower! Tire repair complete!

Links for 2009-01-20 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:00:00 PST

Boston.com - Ideas - How to hallucinate
DO YOU EVER want to change the way you see the world? Wouldn't it be fun to hallucinate on your lunch break? Although we typically associate such phenomena with powerful drugs like LSD or mescaline, it's easy to fling open the doors of perception without them: All it takes is a basic understanding of how the mind works.

Raoul Pop

Spam also comes from legitimate companies

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