thoughts of a doug » College

Update on OpenDNS and USF Mail

Douglas Wilson — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 01:09:47 +0000

I have traced the mail problem down to the USF Mail server itself and whatever policy it has. I enabled SMTP logging in Thunderbird and was able to see the SMTP conversation Thunderbird was having with the server. It turned out that my Thunderbird is giving the USF mail server (and only the USF mail server) ELHO [127.0.0.1]. I changed some settings around in Thunderbird and got it to send ELHO [10.0.22.10] like it should, but after sending one message fine with that, I continued to get the blacklisted message.

As far as I can tell, the USF mail server will add internal IP addresses to its blacklist if the client saying ELHO with an internal IP address is coming from an external USF address. This may be due to their policy of no unauthorized switches, hubs, or routers within their network policy. I will continue to resort to using Tor to send my USF e-mail.

OpenDNS and USF Mail

Douglas Wilson — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:08:52 +0000

Recently I started using OpenDNS (a very good service by the way). I have had no problems and the internet is snappier due to less time looking up IP addresses. I have had (and am still having) just one problem: sending mail using my college e-mail address.

I use Mozilla Thunderbird for just about all my e-mail accounts; this includes my college e-mail address. For some strange reason when I attempt to send an e-mail using the school’s SMTP server when I have OpenDNS configured, the server responds back that my IP address is blocked from sending e-mail. The only thing I can think of is that the way Thunderbird sends its EHLO when on OpenDNS causes the server to not allow me to relay through it. This is certainly something wrong with either Thunderbird 1.5 or USF’s mail servers, not OpenDNS. I have currently reverted to sending my college mail through the Tor Anonymous Network until I can figure out how to fix this problem.

Update: I have found the problem; and no, it is not OpenDNS.

It’s all about the arrangement

Douglas Wilson — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:36:33 +0000

This weekend I just moved to a new dorm room, leaving my over-sized room which I had before. I am still in the same apartment complex, but I moved in to the room on the opposite side which is the smallest out of the four rooms in the apartment.

Now, before I moved my room was nice and full; with the unused space all being walking space. How was I able to fit all this stuff into my new, smaller room? Simple: carefully arranging the furniture. I knew what I had and when I first saw the room, I looked over it for about half an hour and decided the final placement for the different furnishings.

It was designed so carefully that my former roommate that had this same size room swears that my room is bigger than his; but upon further inspection using a tape measure they are indeed the same size.

The trick is to carefully arrange your room to maximize the floor space and ascetics. In this way, any room can accommodate you and your belongings.