Install SpamAssassin on Mac OSX 10.6

I had an interesting conversation with a colleague of mine today. You see, we are working with a company that is going to do some marketing for us. The issue we are facing is their IT guy is a Microsoft kool-aide drinker. He knows just enough to get himself in trouble, but couldn’t code his way out of a paper bag. But we have to work through him to get any email sent. We are being blocked because he looks at the content we want to send and says, “There is not enough content, it will be marked as spam. We need more content.”

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but spam filtering does not necessarily only look at the quantity of the content, but the quality and specific words the contained within it. For example, spamassassin uses filtering that will check the content and apply a score based on multiple things like: relays, headers, subject line, dates, etc. So the first question I asked was, “How can this Microsoft loving IT guy eyeball the content and be able to tell it will be marked as spam?”

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How To Treat A Coder (a Geek)

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to write code. What is a coder exactly? I have asked myself the question, “Why are there some companies who understand how to treat coders, and others who do not?”

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Limit Data by User with CakePHP

Through the years, I have realized there are two types of web applications.

• Community
• Single User

While there are certainly some hybrid combination’s of these classifications, all applications can be categorized into these two categories. For example PHPNuke. It’s a single login to a community. As a user, you can use all of the functionality in the application AND you can see other users, etc. While something like FaceBook for example is a Hybrid of community and single user. While you can allow other users to see your data and content, they cannot modify your data or settings. You own that and nobody else has access to it without your username and password.

So comes the question. How can I limit data to a specific user with CakePHP? I love the CakePHP framework. But I have never been able to get a straight answer from anyone on the proper “cakeish” way to limit data to a specific user. For example. Let’s say I want to build a check book balancing application. I want it to be available to multiple subscribers. While all subscribers have access to the same functionality, they do not all see or modify the same data. While their data should be limited, they may all have access to the same Bank. This means that any user should be able to see all the banks we currently support… for example.

I have searched the internet and posted to stackoverflow.com trying to find the answer to this question. It is apparent that I am not the only one trying to figure this out. Add in the potential complexity to provide ADMIN routing and what you potentially have is a complicated mess of code if it is not done properly.

Well, search no more my Internet Friends! I think I have figured out the mess. I have been able to use a combination of things I have learned from here and here. But ultimately, I had to build this with good old ingenuity and a lot of trial and error. Keep Reading!
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Job Interviews: Fair Question?

A few days ago I read a blog about job interviews. The way I found it was by glancing through a LinkedIn summary email I get frequently. The email contained a snippet about how to answer the question, “Why do you want to work here?” I followed the link to the blog, read the article, and watched the video as to how to respond. I must say, it’s a huge steamy crock of crap! Their response as to how to answer this question is similar to saying, “I have read your profile on FaceBook. I talked to other people who have dated you. I have read your blog. I want to marry you.” What!? Are you kidding me?
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The Shortest “Shorten URL” URL

Wow! Try saying that 5 times real fast. I have been doing a lot of research lately on domains and what makes them valid. I have been reading the RFC documents and searching the Internet for information. It’s amazing what you can find.

With the the proliferation of users on the Internet, domain names are getting longer and longer. It is estimated that all available 3 letter domain names are now taken. From the looks of it, this is only going to get worse. That said, long domain names can be difficult to use. It wouldn’t make sense to put my-new-company-domain-name.com on your business card would it? And certain social networks limit how much space you have. Like twitter only allows posts of 149 characters. If you have a long URL, much of what you want to say will have to be left off just so the link will fit within the 149 character limitation.

This is where “shorten url” websites come in really handy. By far, I would submit that bit.ly is the one I prefer over any other. The reasons are:

• it’s a shorter domain name than tinyurl.com
• it tracks traffic on the URLs I shorten

That being said, what if you are looking for the shortest “shorten URL” website possible. Do you know what it is? Well, you heard it here first.
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Real World Email Requirements From RFCs? NOT!

Two days ago I started out with the intent to completely understand the RFC Documents specifying the requirements for valid email addresses, write the worlds greatest PHP regex to validate email addresses, and then shout it out around the Internet from right here. At the time it sounded like a great idea. So I set out on my quest and started digging up the necessary RFC Documents. I was surprised with what I found.
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Web Journalism Manifesto For Digital Age

I just finished reading an article about a a group of German bloggers who wrote a “Web Journalism Manifesto” describing how they believe journalism functions on the internet. There is a raging battle over content, the new commodity of the 21st century. Who owns it? How does one better utilize it? What can be done with it?

It rings true that due to the way the internet works, accessibility is greater than ever before. Anyone with access to a computer and a connection can add to the vast collection of data that exists in this digital world. There are virtually no rules. Anyone can write anything about any topic. Then it gets added to the online world indefinitely. Even if the submitted deletes the original, it will be cached somewhere. It will still be available even if not in original form. Interestingly though, the dregs of the internet only surface when they are stirred. Eventually the aged information sinks to the bottom of the digital pile as the new is laid down over the top of the old. It never really disappears, just merely forgotten.
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Labor Day – A Tribute

Being labor day, I thought I would take a few moments to write down some thoughts. Labor day, as you may or may not know, was created by a guy named McGuire back in the 1800′s. The only thing in dispute is which McGuire; Matthew or Peter. Regardless, the holiday was created to pay tribute to the American Worker. It was created to take time off from the labors of the day. Whether you are a construction worker, a taxi cab driver, an online marketer, a software engineer, a truck driver, an executive, a musician, or anything else, it’s time to enjoy a day off.
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Passionate About… Something

I recently purchased John Mayer’s new DVD, “Where the Light Is”. Wow! This guy is a musician 110%. No only because his guitar playing is flawless, but because of his level of commitment. I cannot believe the amount of passion he has for entertaining. While looking at his official tour website, I am realizing that he is in a different venue at least every other night, sometimes two nights in a row. His passion is admirable. He enjoys his career so much he puts his entire self into what he does. Why? For the fans. What an example it is for me to be passionate about what I do. Life is to short to worry about the things you dislike or things you don’t really want to do. It’s time to focus on what I am really passionate about and let all of the other stuff go away.