I have a problem. Some spammer is spoofing email headers so that they look like they come from random mikeablexray.com email addresses. Any tips?

Labels: internet

The universe is expanding. The universe looks (from our vantage) like it's expanding in every direction. No, we're not the center of the universe. It's like we're a raisin in a ball of rising raisin bread dough.

Even more creepy... The expansion is accelerating. It's as if the vacuum of space has a magic force that acts to push things apart, and is stronger than gravity over great distances. As the gaps get bigger so does the vacuum energy. So one day the universe will rend itself apart.

But don't let that prevent you from sleeping at night. The universe will have used all of the high quality energy leaving only borderline useless heat energy. Burnt out pulsars, black holes, frozen planetoids, and other bits of deary randomness will be all thats left. But before that the sun will have long since swollen up; either cooking Earth to a crisp or cooking it and then eating it.

That might be a blow to the positive thinkers in the crowd. Cheer up! This may not be the only universe around.

Labels: internet, physics, space

The Wall Street Journal today reports that the new trend in Japan is to base mainstream media like TV and books on blogs and other internety stuff like chat room logs. For example: A blogger who complains about how evil his wife now has a spin-off TV series, comic-book, novel and soon a movie. The content is often taken verbatium from his posts. I breifly considered finding you his blog, but its probably slammed and in Japanese so I lost intrest.

It's not the worst idea. If reality TV is so popular then reality books and movies should be a slam dunk. My problem is the name. Books based on blogs are being called "blooks". BLOOKS! It kinda makes you want to vomit, yes? But I'm a whore for a good bandwagon so I want to be on the record as coining the term Blovie to refer to a movie based on a blog.

Labels: art, culture, global, internet

One of the places junk mail comes from is your friends, family and coworkers. You know the ones. The ones who forward you silly animations of dancing teddy-bears or some nifty mind trick that can predict that you came up with "donkey" and "the number 7". All those instances of your email address being tossed about on the internet sea, eventually will lead it in to the net of a spammer. Thanks. No. is a website that you could send to these people. It politely suggests that they should be more sensitive to flagrant usage of your email address. But like any constructive criticism I cant imagine anyone who is fooled by a missive claiming "everyone you know will die if you dont send this to 10 people this minute" will not take offence. Sigh. I dont even know what I'm talking about anymore. Oh, and by the by. I'm not talking about you. Oh and whats more; if Bill Gates wants to donate billions to save gay baby orphaned whales on crack, he will. He doesn't need you to forward an email.

Labels: internet, mood

Folk have suggested that these blogs (or blog-o-sphere for the twerps who like that sort of marketing friendly lingo) are a bit incestuous in the sense that they tend to refer to each other heavily. I figured MikeAbleXray wouldn't ever be party to such things as it wouldn't ever garner any readership.

However, shock-of-friggen-shocks, a podcast I enjoy, Pulp Gamer,(podcasts being an audio extension of blogs - sorta) mentioned this crap-hole of a website. Amuse yourself with Pulp Gamer Episode 15 at about 9:35.

A word to those not familiar with the Pulp Gamer podcast. It's a review of games that arn't video games. They often review family friendly and party games, like say non-lame alternatives to Pictionary, Monopoly, or Caboodle. Also they frequently cover card games, pen and paper RPGs, and the like. It's a good listen for those looking for new diversions. Bonus points if you have fond giggly memories of DnD; you'll enjoy the side jokes. It comes out two to three times a month so it doesn't overwhelm you. I listen to it while doing boring spreadsheet work late at night when the non-geeks aren't in the office. The Pulp Gamer feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/PulpGamer

An incestuous word back to the Pulp Gamer crew. Yes I do like your fine "Pulp Gamer" podcast, yes I'm mostly kidding about the "loser" thing. I admire your bravery for embracing your geek-a-tude; a true inspiration to closet-cases everywhere. I enjoy your in-depth reviews and interviews. I appreciate that your analysis and comments have more depth than "uh, dude.. its just cool."; But I quote: "Butt wiping bring us all together"; your not quite going for the Pulitzer, yes? Besides, you'll note that the overall tone of MikeAbleXray is largely negative so I wouldn't take it too hard. Of course if a mention on this blog is a big deal then... well uh; it only can get better from here on out. Er, Keep your chins up little campers! The breaking up of the show up into parts yet keeping the master feed is a wise move (I'll stay with the master feed to insure that I continue to get all the rich PG goodness). And I do find the DnD asides comical. By-the-by, nice segway with the mid-life crisis thing. Keep it up!

PS: I played a little Johnny-grab-ass with the saturation and levels of your FNH logo. If it fills you with seething rage and makes you want to kill indiscriminately then I'll remove it.

Labels: image, internet, mikeablexray.com

This reminds me of Dolan's Lumber that used to be in Dublin.

I got a forward a few days back. This one claimed that 98% would choose a specific set of answers to two questions at the end. the other 2% are "special". The email started with half a dozen simple arithmetic problems and then asked you to pick a color and a tool. It then predicted that you had selected Red and Hammer and if you didn't your unique in some way. For the record I picked green and hammer, but the notion that I'm mentally a bit sideways isn't news. The sender asked if anyone could explain how it works (i presume she answered red hammer). That got me thinking.

There is a thing in Artificial intelligence called prototyping. I think the same effect is working here. The idea is that some things are more prototypical members of a set than others. For example If I asked you to name birds you might say blackbird, crow, seagull, parakeet, hawk, dove, or eagle long before you got to less "bird like" animals such as emus, dodos or penguins. When your mind takes up a subject without prior thought its more apt to pick a prototypical element in a set. The calculations clear your mind of colors and the scrolling hides the question. When your then asked to name a color you'll then be unlikely to pick puce, tope or melon-whip and much more apt to pick a color of the rainbow. The same goes for hammer. Hammer is much more the prototypical tool than say a slide rule, sawsall, or combo-square.

Lets attack it another way. (The following with apologies to Dr. Edward De Bono, whose work I will now bastardize.) Imagine your brain is a deep pan of Jello you let setup in the fridge last night. If you put it out on the table and look at it it's surface is smooth. If you do noting to it it remains smooth. However imagine putting a drop of water on the surface. It makes a little pit. This is like an experience. It alters the contours of your consciousness. If you place another drop in the same place the pit gets deep. Just like water on Jell-O, repeated experiences serve to reinforce a pattern. Now imagine placing another drop on the Jell-O but this time just at the edge of the pit made by the first. It widens the pit at that point a little but most of the drop serves to reinforce the existing pit. This is like when a similar experience happens, one will seek to group it into larger existing pattern. Now place a tablespoon of water on the Jell-O. IT makes a big hole. If it encounters an existing pit its will likely obliterate it, this is like a profound experience. You might have a number of pleasant encounters with dogs, but you'll be quite shy of them forever should one maul you. When one is first taught colors they are taught the primary colors, secondary colors, along with white and black first. From then on when we encounter a new color we characterize by those colors. So when you see Teal for the first time your might say it's green-bluish. Imagine the contrary; try to describe the color blue in terms of how teak it is. A bit tougher, i should think. So when we are asked to extemporaneously name a color we are apt to pick one from the rainbow. But why red? Well red is blood, blood is danger, and danger is profound. Perhaps only the symbolism of black carries the same emotional weight as red. The same more or less applies to hammer. It was likely one of the first tools you've every encountered, its one of the most simple, and most useful of tools. Perhaps only the screwdriver beats it out.

Something far more insidious is also at work; social engineering. Buy claiming that you will be either in the 98% (gasp! how could I be so pigeon holed? Could such an outrageous claim be true?) or flattering you by placing you in a 2% (I just knew I was special!) they are encouraging you to resend this email. But since your unlikely to get a proper scientific data set you'll never be able to fully debunk the claim. Even if you did, the piss in the pool because the forward has already gone out.

Labels: image, internet, social engeering

I've been listing to some podcasts. For those unfamiliar, a podcast is a like a radio show in mp3 format. If you have an mp3 player like an IPod or something for your computer like Windows Media or WinAmp you can download and listen to these shows at your leisure. Podcasts can often be downloaded from a website directly but that’s a big pain, the best way is to use "feed reader" to automatically download the shows you subscribe too, as they become available. I use Feed Demon. Which is free for a week (or month, I forget) and then is around $20.

On the Links page is a listing. I'm trying some of these out so I don't endorse all of these. Further not all will be for everyone. A feed reader will need the URL for the RSS feed. I have made links to each RRS Feed so click the link and then copy the URL into the feed reader.

Just though I'd share.

Labels: internet, recomendation

Had a pleasant visit from mom. She made an ass load of food. We didn't do much of anything because she wasn't here long. She loved Rocky.

Peter and Denna got a dog named Escrow. Golden Retriever. They (or just he) is coming in late July early august for a week to 10 days. He wants me to restart HHAN. But the Onion and The Daily Show does such a great job its sorta silly to do so. Plus I was getting complaints before from people who didn't like being on a list.

Perhaps as an alternate idea i'll do an advice column sorta deal with some whacky persona. Send your cards and letters to 78 E. Park Street Butte MT, 59701, or email to me at advice@mikeablexray.com. We'll see how it goes.

Labels: family, internet, mikeablexray.com, pets