Field Notes

Spam bot ran English through a thesaurus to dodge filters - "beneficial perform" and "possess" exposed the trick.

Spark::red launches monthly ATG newsletter covering hosting, performance tuning, and technical deep dives.

SpamCop's RBL blocklist is flagging legitimate Facebook servers - if you use it, verify your allowlist.

Non-latin character replies broke in 10MinuteMail until Seam/JSF's charset handling got fixed.

Strange moment when an Ulta ad appeared on 10MinuteMail - two separate projects colliding.

10MinuteMail faced a multi-country botnet DDOS attack - solved with firewall tuning instead of IP blocking.

SortFix wraps Google results to surface related keywords you can add/remove to refine your search.

Google's Webmaster Tools now lets you tell crawlers to ignore session parameters like JSESSIONID.

Color-changing LED bias lighting behind the monitor creates impressive ambient effects.

Turning 30 marks a psychological shift - the 20s' freedom gives way to the 30s' perceived settled life.

Hit Hacker News and landed a score of 1337 - can't post there anymore.

ATG's CPU-based licensing made sense in 1999, but virtualization and cloud broke the whole model.

TripIt broke with JetBlue's new reservation system, but their Twitter response was fast and personal.

Controversy surrounds the iPad, but its form factor and ecosystem could redefine how people consume content.

Semicolon debate resurfaces with a memorable take on proper usage.

Automate ClamAV virus scanning on Linux with cron and firewall tuning for continuous protection.

Winter photography in Cambridge captures Harvard Square's charm despite freezing temperatures.

Firearms maintenance finally tackled - a chore week in the making.

Halloween pumpkins from our garden - photos included.

Bad variable names and confusing method signatures make code harder to maintain - here are real examples.