BLAT Command-Line Mailer

BLAT is a command-line eMailer. I use it within a script or command file to send a notification eMail.
With BLAT you can do things like:

C:> BLAT myfile.txt -to someone@someaddress.com

The above command sends the contents of the file "myfile.txt" to the eMail address someone@someaddress.com.

BLAT stores some parameters in the Windows registry, or in a text file. BLAT needs to know a legal eMail POP account which is used as the "from" address, and a legal SMTP mail account to use to actually send the message.

You can run BLAT interactively, or run it as part of a command file.

Data Backup -- Backup Media

Prepare your backup media. Assuming you are using tapes:

1. Buy six tapes, with a capacity to backup all of your working files on a single tape.
For example we're using 4mm data cartridges with a native capacity of 4 gigabytes. Some tape drives can also compress the data to double the capacity. In our case, the same tape might hold 8 gigabytes. But the 4 is more than enough for our purposes.

2. Buy a cleaning cartridge to fit your drive. These are good for about 50 cleanings. They include a little sticker with 50 boxes; you can check off a box after each cleaning. If your tape drive has been balky, clean it six times or so, and see if that doesn't clear up the problems.

3. The tapes will be used in rotation Monday through Friday. There are two Friday tapes, Friday #1 and Friday #2.

3. Label all of the tapes and their cases with the appropriate day.

4. Before leaving the office for the day, insert today's tape in the tape drive, and start the backup program if needed. If it is a Friday, alternate the Friday #1 tape with the Friday #2 tape, and put the unused Friday tape in your fireproof vault or safety-deposit box.

The upshot is you have a full daily backup of your data. You store a weekly backup off-site, so that if the building burns down, you have data current to last week.

Practice restoring from tape once a month. I use personal word-processing files for this purpose. This keeps me in practice, but more importantly, gives me confidence that the tape drive and media are working.

Internet Fundraising, eMail, and Advocacy

This site has a discussion of eBase, an open source fundraising application which runs under FileMaker Pro. There is a feature comparison of eBase, compared with Donor Perfect, Exceed, Convio, eTapestry and Raiser's Edge.

Another comparison article is located at TechSoup. This review is compares fundraising applications available in 2002, so it is somewhat dated.

Politics as Change Agent

"...the more I learn about change, the more I am coming to believe that politics and law are much less effective levers for change than innovation, social activism or community-based enterprise formation. Political activism is an uphill battle against the status quo and against entrenched wealth and power. Social activism and community-based enterprises, by contrast, work peer-to-peer, citizen-to-citizen and consumer-to-consumer and, thanks to the power of modern communications, can spread virally very quickly, undermining the political and economic establishment by working beneath their radar, until, starved of its grass-roots citizen and consumer support, this establishment simply crumbles, no longer needed."

David Pollard, "How to Save the World"

Onfolio

By the way, the list of links cited in the previous post was created by Onfolio....a nifty addon for Internet Explorer. For organizing web-based research it is almost indispensible. It passes the five minute test for new software.

Telephones over the Internet

I've created an archive of the links used for researching a paper, A Low Density VoIP/PSTN Gateway. The paper describes setting up a "personal PBX" using Asterisk, an open source software program which runs under Linux. With domestic long-distance rates coming down, internet calls themselves may not be as interesting from an economic standpoint. But, using the Asterisk program and an old PC anyone can create an inbound or outbound call center, IVR (interactive Voice Response) system, or branch and headquarters phone system.