Just doing some minor changes due to insomnia. I’m still not happy with how the site looks.

Quick does your domain have a SPF record? In linux type the command below and you should see something like:

# dig yourdomain.com TXT +short
“v=spf1 a mx -all”

I’ve been kind of appalled on how some websites still haven’t implemented SPF records to fight spam. On top of the non adopters you have people who haven’t implemented their records correctly. Most of the SPF implementations are from idiots that use a horrible wizard that suggest they use a soft fail(?all) for any server that doesn’t match their allowed server list. Soft fail doesn’t work. All major email services let through SOFTFAIL and NEUTRAL email. The SPF website has a better spf wizard but unfortunately it doesn’t come up in most searches.

Why should you use -all over any other? It means FAIL. Its the only way to tell another mail server that it shouldn’t accept mail from an unauthorized source. Any server that is not defined in the SPF record should automatically fail authentication. Using FAIL is the only way to minimize spam. SOFTFAIL and NEUTRAL do nothing to combat people masquerading as your domain. FAIL is also the only way to stop receiving bounce messages for spam sent spoofing itself as coming from your domain.

“+” Pass
“-” Fail
“~” SoftFail
“?” Neutral

Don’t understand how SPF works? Your SPF record should identify all the servers that are allowed to send mail as your domain. All modern websites let through email that is SOFTFAIL and NEUTRAL and PASS. I blame SPF Generators for this problem as most of them generate SOFTFAIL which all the big email sites like GMail and Hotmail let through.

Here is what all email servers do when they check SPF records

The only option to combat spam effectively is to FAIL any server that is sending email and is not defined as allowed.

PLEASE FAIL ANY UNAUTHORIZED EMAIL

Thanks

Do you know the power of the middle mouse button? It opens and closes tabs and makes browsing the web so much more enjoyable. I was surprised yesterday when I was watching a friend of mine fumble around with his Firefox. For me, everyone should know how to use their mouse and its also something that is missing from internet explorer.

In summary, clicking on a link with the middle mouse button will open the link in a new tab and if you click on the tab with the middle mouse button it will close the tab which is less frustrating that aiming for the little red box. Is your mouse missing a middle button? Ctrl-left click also works.

GMail is the gold standard in file sharing for college students. Every group project I’ve ever worked on since GMail was how everyone shared files between one another. Recently while using Google Reader I thought about my GMail usage and wondered why it doesn’t have any keyboard shortcuts. Well it does and I needed to turn them on.

Settings -> Keyboard Shortcuts on

Granted now you have to learn how to use them. I’ve included a list of GMail keyboard shortcuts that I’ve found. You can read the official list but I think mine is easier to use.

c - compose
/ - search
k - move to newer conversation
j - move to older conversation
n - next message
p - previous message
o or enter - open a conversation
u - return to conversation list
y - archive a conversation
m - mute user, all email from user is automatically archived
x - select conversation
s - star a message or conversation
! - report spam
r - reply to a mail
a - reply to all recepients
f - forward message
esc - escape from input field
ctrl+s - save draft
tab -> enter - send message
y -> o - archive your conversation and move to the next one.
g -> a - show all mail
g -> s - show starred conversations
g -> c - show contacts list.
g -> d - show drafts
g -> i - show inbox

So World in Conflict open beta came out, you can sign up here and play for free. The game is probably the most fun I have had in a real time strategy game. There is no building or teching in this game, just all out brutal combat. Basically its the best part of any RTS. Losing because you chose to build a tank instead of upgrade something is never fun. Probably the most refreshing part of the game is that you get all the tools required to find a game and engage other people in combat in under a minute. Massive set a new standard for how a games menus should act. One of the most amazing parts of the game is the off map support abilities. You get everything. Paratroopers, nuclear weapons, artillery, a10 strikes, nalpam, carpet bombing. The graphics are lovely even on medium from nukes to napalm. I played so much that I was ranked #3 out of everyone playing online at one point.

I think the best thing the game has going for it is the team work element. Your teammates can work with you very easily. The game has built in voice chat and a menu system to request help or abilities at certain points on the map. WiC is so good that it made me not even want to complete the WCG qualifier. The tourament was by far the worst I’ve ever played in. It was a joke. 20% of the people who signed up played and then whoever was running it didn’t bother to advance people on to the next stage. I got an email 3 days after I was supposed to play the last game asking me to show up that night and play. Then the command and conquer 3 patch came out, which total fucked over the ladder. The game is draining on anyone that plays it. You have to deal with lag constantly. Who thinks that both players should get a disconnect? Not me. The disconnect problem is make worse by the fucking menu system thats tied to the frame rate of the OTHER player. You cant even quit a game in under 20 seconds. Who thinks that being able to take control of any unit, even your opponents isn’t worthy of a quick fix? I sure do. I’m never buying another Electronic Arts game again. I was going to praise the story line but I remember the only decent actor they had in the cut scenes was Kane and the 3rd campaign was 4 missions and just some jellyfish yelling at you.

World in Conflict isn’t without faults though. The most annoying thing is when you tell your infantry units to get inside a transport the game will select the transport when the first unit enters and then select the transport again when the last unit enters. Basically it makes you select it 3 times so if you want to tell another unit to do something you cant because it will tell the new unit you selected as well as the transport to move, canceling the infantry from getting in and unloading them again, aggravating. I think the camera system needs a little work too, its not as smooth as I’d like it while moving around the battlefield. The maps could be bigger too. They need more ambush points to hide infantry in and tanks behind. Its to easy for artillery to just pound known hiding spots, killing everything before you have a chance to fight. I also wouldn’t mind if the UI would allow you to force move everywhere if you couldn’t attack the unit you clicked on.

The World Cyber Games US Open Qualifier for Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars started today. I was matched up against interdependencY (S. Barnes). He played a great game and managed to cripple my main base mid game due to a large pitbull rush (What GDI player doesn’t pitbull rush in 1.05?) I didn’t play 100% and I made a few mistakes but I was able to recovery due to a early harassment took out his expansion and gave me a strong economy that won the game for me. I also counter attacked with my small force to cripple his unit production while he annihilated my construction yard.

If you are interested you can download the replay here: WCG Replay (Patch 1.05)

You can track the results here. I play Oktoberfest (D. Chen) next and if I beat him I get to play the EADevEnder (G. Simon) who works for EA as the lead AI designer for CNC3.

Ever since I installed noscript I’ve been having trouble with web pages that have embedded movies in them. Firefox doesn’t like them. I have IETab installed so I could quickly bypass a page that was giving me an illegal operation.

Illegal Operation in Plugin
Windows Media Player Plug-in Dynamic Link Library
The plugin performed an illegal operation. You are strongly advised to restart Firefox.

Or it would say

Mozilla ActiveX control and plug-in support error
The plugin performed an illegal operation
Restart the broswer

To fix this I had to install the Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin. If you don’t trust the link you can go to the Firefox Plugin site and scroll to the bottom and click on “Vers. 11 (XP, Vista)” in the Windows Media Player section.

I had some problems with the downloaded exe file not showing up in the Downloads history. I had to go to the folder where firefox saves my files and run it from there. If you are curious if the Plugin installed correctly you can type “about:plugins” into the address bar in firefox and you should see a section that looks like this.

You also shouldn’t be getting any illegal errors.