Joe's Random Ramblings

I have posted about this stupid Congressperson from Massachusetts before.
She is back at it again, sending her stupid political spam messages to somebody in California, when her district is on the other side of the country...
What an idiot. Why did the people in Massachusetts vote for such a clue-resistant person who obviously wasted money on some spammer list?
And her website is equally stupid, not even allowing me to unsubscribe or send her any other email, since I am not in her district...
People in her district who are reading this are invited to send her a link to this blog entry...
It is mind-boggling that such an idiot spammer sits in Congress!

The turd, with web-bugs removed:

If you are having trouble viewing this E-newsletter, please visit
[http://tsongas.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?[redacted]] for the Web Version.
Congresswoman
Niki Tsongas, Serving the Fifth Congressional District of
Massachusetts

Dear Friends,

As I am sure you know, negotiations are ongoing
between President Obama and Congressional leaders on a meaningful
deficit reduction package. As part of the deficit reduction package, the
statutory debt limit, or amount of money the country can legally
borrow, would be increased so that the country can pay its bills. Should
Congress fail to increase the debt limit by August 2nd the country
would default on our debt.

I recently wrote a letter [link 1] to
President Barack Obama outlining my priorities for legislation that would
raise the debt ceiling and which would be accompanied by a larger
deficit reduction package. I would also like to get your perspective on
the debt limit issue and hope that you will take a moment to weigh in
below.

Also, please feel free to expand on your responses in the
large text boxes below, or to email me [link 2] your thoughts
directly.

Sincerely,

[image =
http://tsongas.congressnewsletter.net//images/user_images/Tsongas_Signature.gif]

Niki
Tsongas

Survey/Question [survey]

[image =
http://tsongas.congressnewsletter.net//images/user_images/facebook-button.jpg] [link 3]

[image =
http://tsongas.congressnewsletter.net//images/user_images/button_twitterfollowus.jpg]
[link 4]

[image =
http://tsongas.congressnewsletter.net/images/enews_contact_us.jpg] [link 5]

Survey/Question [survey]

*E-MAIL
UPDATES*

*Yes, please periodically send me e-mail updates.**

Click
Here [link 6]

*By subscribing to my

e-mail updates, you are
authorizing me to send regular e-mail updates from my office to your
e-mail
account.

----------------------
footnotes
----------------------
[survey] http://tsongas.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?[redacted]
[link 1]
http://tsongas.house.gov/uploads/7_20_11_Deficit_Letter.pdf
[link 2]
https://tsongas.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=117&sectiontree=116,117
[link 3]
https://www.facebook.com/RepTsongas
[link 4]
https://twitter.com/#!/nikiinthehouse
[link 5]
http://tsongas.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=116&sectiontree=116
[link 6]
http://tsongas.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=subscribe&[redacted]

Website
Address:
http://tsongas.house.gov/

Office Location:
Washington DC Office
1607 Longworth House Office
Building | Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3411 | Fax: (202)
226-0771

Acton Office
492 Main Street
Acton MA
Phone: (978)
263-1951
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Lowell MA Office
11
Kearney Square, 3rd Floor
Lowell, MA 01852
Phone: (978)
459-0101
Fax: (978) 459-1907

Lawrence MA Office
305 Essex Street, 4th
Floor
Lawrence, MA 01840
Phone: (978) 681-6200
Fax: (978) 682-6070

Haverhill Office
Haverhill Citizens Center
10 Welcome
Street
Tuesdays & Thursdays
9:00 AM- 11:00 AM

Privacy
Policy:
http://www.house.gov/house/privacy.shtml

Unsubscribe:
http://tsongas.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=unsubscribe&[redacted]

The Bush family apparently also buys email addresses. That makes them spammers.
They sent me this turd:

Dear Danny,
Your generous support through our years in the White House meant so much to President
Bush and to me. George based his Presidency on what we believe are timeless principles:
that freedom is universal . . . that all life is precious . . . that to whom much is given, much is
expected . . . and that people can spend their money better than the government can.
I believe you also embrace these principles. That's why I'm sending you this email today.
We are now more than two years into the planning and development of the George W. Bush
Presidential Center. Great progress is being made on the building and grounds, and the
Bush Center is already inspiring ideas, innovation, and action for a freer and better world.
We've accomplished so much, but there is much more that remains to be done.
Your support of the work at the Bush Center is very important to us, and we hope we can
bring you on board for this new chapter in our lives. Having the support of individuals like
you, who were loyal friends during George's Administration, would be such a great honor.
If you have already joined the Bush Center as a Charter Member, thank you. If not, please
join us as a Charter Member and once again stand with George and me as we continue
our public service.
Thank you.
Sincerely,

Laura Bush

First, my name isn't Danny.
Second, I never supported GW Bush, nor did I vote for him (heck, I wasn't even a US citizen when he got re-elected.)
Third, I never support spammers.

This morning, I received this email from Amazon:

For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of California residents. Unfortunately, a potential new law that may be signed by Governor Brown compels us to terminate this program for California-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers - including but not limited to those referred by California-based marketing affiliates like you - even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

We oppose this bill because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It is supported by big-box retailers, most of which are based outside California, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that we must take this action.

As a result, we will terminate contracts with all California residents that are participants in the Amazon Associates Program as of the date (if any) that the California law becomes effective. We will send a follow-up notice to you confirming the termination date if the California law is enacted. In the event that the California law does not become effective before September 30, 2011, we withdraw this notice. As of the termination date, California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com [ http://www.amazon.com/ ], Endless.com [ http://www.endless.com/ ], MYHABIT.COM [ http://www.myhabit.com/ ] or SmallParts.com [ http://www.smallparts.com/ ]. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned on or before the termination date will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

Later in the day, I got this follow-up:

Unfortunately, Governor Brown has signed into law the bill that we emailed you about earlier today. As a result of this, contracts with all California residents participating in the Amazon Associates Program are terminated effective today, June 29, 2011. Those California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com [ http://www.amazon.com/ ], Endless.com [ http://www.endless.com/ ], MYHABIT.COM [ http://www.myhabit.com/ ] or SmallParts.com [ http://www.smallparts.com/ ]. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned before today will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

This kind of stuff, trying to tax Internet retailers even if they don't have a presence in the state, is of course completely counterproductive. But the states refuse to learn...

Update: California made a deal with Amazon to postpone the collection of taxes from online retailers until 2013. So, Amazon invited the former CA-based Amazon Associates to rejoin the Amazon Associates Program.

I have a Windows 7 64-bit machine at work, and I found some time ago that I couldn't see the network adapter settings. The window would just be empty.
I finally decided to fix this, since IT changed the internal IPs and I wanted to set my system to a static IP address.
A Google search led to a Microsoft Technet page. There, towards the bottom, somebody sadi that he had to disable the Windows Management Instrumentation service. So, I tried that. And lo-and-behold, the network adapter showed up in the window.
But, when I selected the properties, there were none listed...
So, off to another search. This time, I found a blog entry on Technet. The issue that entry addressed was not a problem, but in the comments, there was the hint I needed: I deleted the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\Config key and had the system recreate it.
Now, everything works as expected.

It is IPv6 day. Are you ready?

This site has a dual stack (both IPv4 and IPv6) running for several months already, going through an HE tunnel.

Update Oct. 2011: The provider now has a native IPv6 stack. No need for the tunnel anymore.