"The customer reports that port 21 is closed on our FTP site. They said that port 443 is open, and wonder if they can use that instead."

"They are entering the wrong server name. Our FTP server is ONLY an FTP server. Port 443 is not open on our FTP server.

Please verify that they are entering `ftp.xxxxxx.com`

Our FTP site supports FTP/SSL if they are concerned about security."

"Customer responds that they would rather use port 443 to send files."

"I'm sure they would. I'd also like to enter our building on the west side when the temperature is below 10º, but there are no doors on the west side, so that's not going to happen, is it?"

Here we go again:

--------
Hi xxxxx,

My sincere apologies for my professional persistence while I am having a very difficult time in getting hold of you.

My intention is to know your interest in scheduling a quick call with my Director at your free time. We are not looking for any business opportunities rather we would like to get introduced & make you aware on our full range of capabilities at a global stand point.

Let me know please.

Regards,
Sandeep
--------

In a single sentence he basically said, "We are not trying to sell you something, rather we are trying to sell you something."

Seriously?

So since there is finally a plus-size next-gen iPhone, I finally bit the bullet and gave up TouchID. Now I just have to figure which of my faces to register with FaceID.

Email I received:

"Hi xxxxx!

I just received your voicemail and let you know that I would be sending a email:

Here is a link to introduce myself. Please let me know If I can swing in next Monday or Wednesday to shake your hand and meet!"

My response:

"Hello, zzzzzz.

You did not receive a voicemail from me because I have no idea who you or your company is.

If you meant to email someone else, this is a courtesy email letting you know you have the wrong person, and I hope you have a nice day.

If, rather, this is an attention-seeking sales tactic, this is email is a snarky response, letting you know I don't do business with companies that pull that kind of crap.

Regards,
xxxxx, CIO
zzzzzzzzz"

Stupid Google fucks.

I finally discovered why I have such a low DMARC pass rate. If your DMARC policy is set to "none," and you send something to a Google Group, the stupid fucks intentionally rewrite the return path of your messages. This breaks DMARC alignment, SPF and DKIM in one go. They only do the correct thing if your policy is set to "quarantine" or "reject."

Google must get a hardon from playing bad net citizen.

"Hello, this is Raja C******b. The purpose of this call is not a sales call. I would like to send you a free podcast examining <blah blah blah> and its impact on <blah blah blah>. I have your email address on file. May I send this to you?"

"No. Because this is not free, since my time is money. And also because this IS a sales call."

"It is not a sales call, sir. We would like to send you a free podcast..."

"... that will try to sell me something."

"No, sir. It is a free podcast examining..."

"...Something that will try to convince me to purchase a product or service."

"Ok, yes."

"Ok, bye."

So, in the printing industry, FTP has a long and storied history as the standard method of sending art assets. But as time has gone on, more and more people are utterly incapable of handling FTP.

Customer: "I sent you the file. It's called xyz.zip"

PM: "I don't see the file."

Customer: "I know I sent it."

PM: "Let me check with IT."

I check the logs. No such file was uploaded.

PM: "What program did you use to send the file?"

Customer: "Firefox"

Every. Fucking. Time.

It turns out the Germans actually have a word for this:

"Can't you just…" are the favorite words of my company's president. He uses them like a magic wand. When faced with a complex problem that will take thousands of development man hours, he utters the words, "Can't you just…" He believes that if he can over-simplify the problem, and summarize the necessary work into a sentence or two, it should only take a week or two to complete.

Of course, I then explain that what seems simple to him is actually very complex once you peel back the layers of the problem. I then explain the specifics until his eyes glaze over, and he cries uncle.

A couple weeks later, he has forgotten everything I said, and the Monday meeting begins with, "About that project. Can't you just…"

Best thing about doing Wifi setup/network maintenance for the local coffee shop for free? Putting my laptop's MAC address into the QOS table and guaranteeing myself bandwidth.

I love Mikrotik. Just fucking love them. I also love my residential fiber service. Small company. Synchronous 125M service. No caps. Bandwidth is always there.

BUT... They use PPPOE (seriously guys?), and the IP changes on *every single re-connect*. Also: no IPv6 support. I know. I don't need it. But I want it.

Enter DNSMadeEasy's DDNS, Hurricane Electric's 6to4 tunnel service, and my Routerboard AH100x4. I wrote a script that runs on the router whenever my IP changes. It updates my DDNS record, updates my 6to4 tunnel IP using HE's API, and updates my local 6to4 interface's IP.

It just works. My public IPv4 may change, but the /48 IPv6 networks on my LAN side stay fully routeable.

As expected, every ambulance chasing security company is banging on my door, trying to convince me that I need their antimalware/SIEM/monitoring service because GDPR.

You guys are shameless.

Please stop pasting screenshots into Word docs and emailing them to me. What the hell is wrong with you? You are on a fucking Mac. You figured out how to grab a screen region with an obscure key combination, but you can’t figure out that you can paste them directly into Gmail, Apple Mail, or Thunderbird?

In honor of Experian's "Dark Web" scanning "service."

I just had an Indian guy cold call me. He said his name was "Steve Jones." I mean, I suppose he could be a reverse Aziz Ansari, but somehow I doubt it.