I get an enormous amount of spam posted to this weblog, which I promptly delete using MT Blacklist. Anyway, a while ago I got fed up and used "whois" to figure out the owner of one of the domains that keeps spamming me. I wrote this guy a flaming email using one of my many old, unused email addresses, scutfarcus at Yahoo.

Within a day, I was recieving twice the amount of spam, and it was coming from my old address. Not only that, but it seems my address has become the new favorite for this spammer and innumerable strangers are now getting spammed from what appears to be my address. Sorry folks, it's not me.

There are very few things for which I would advocate physical violence, but these spammers need to be beaten severely.

The wave of the future, or just a geeky obsession? I'm posting this entry simply because I can - sitting in Cathedral square park in Milwaukee on WiFi - granted I've done this before, but the sigificance of this park is that the city itself set up the network specifically to be used for free. Totally excellent investment in civic infrastructure if you ask me.

Of course, it's pretty hard to see your laptop screen when the sun is shining so I don't know how many big business deals actually go down here.

[MILWIFI]

Silly pay per use internet! I just paid 6 bucks for the SFO internet, which really isn't very expensive, but I needed to find out a certain piece of info, which of course turns out not to be as urgent as I had thought. Glad it's only 6 bucks. Anyway, wifi should be free, plain and simple. This is lame.

Finally made it to 12 Galaxies the other night and I have to recommend both the musical acts. Matt the Electrician was one of the funniest performers I've ever seen with a guitar and the Asylum Street Spankers defy description, only that you've got to see them when they come to your town.

True to it's namesake, Frank Chu himself appeared and took a seat at the bar. This was the first time I've seen Frank without his sunglasses on. He was constantly scaning the room over a burger and Budweiser. Even though it was late, Frank still had his sign with him, though he carried it hanging at his side. Even Frank has to call it a day at some point.

There are indeed benefits to living in Reno. Today I climbed Mt. Rose, one of the highest peaks around here (10,778ft). It was a long hike, but just another afternoon around here. The view from the top was amazing, you could see Mt. Lassesn 115 miles away, and of course Lake Tahoe, pictured above. It was so windy on top my water bottle flew out of it's holder and sailed off into the sky. Feeling guilty, I picked up someone else's trash later.

Here is a MASSIVE 360-degree panoramic view from the top. You can see all of Reno, all of Lake Tahoe, and most of the northern Sierra. The Sierra Buttes stick up in part of the photo, and tragically you cannot see Lassen in the photo (shaking because of the wind i guess), but it was quite clear to the naked eye. [Check it out - but only if you are on broadband!]

The cultures of the world are indeed slowly merging. At least in San Francisco's Richmond district. Today, at a restaurant called "Americana" which advertises itself as specializing in Vietnamese and Italian cuisine (seriously!), I heard a man say Shi Shi, Amigo. Or, "thanks buddy" in a heretofore unknown language I'm going to predictably refer to as Chinespanol.