Dear free webmail providers: I have a simple request for you that willhelp the spam problem. Please stop allowing people to send out mailthrough your systems from IP addresses that are well known as heavyspam sources , especially of things such as advance fee fraud.

I got yet another '419' advance fee fraud spam today, sent through afree webmail provider. Selected headers are:

Received: from dbmail-mx1.orcon.net.nz ([219.88.2

One of my principles of system administration is an unchanging systemshould be stable . Stable means more than 'doesn't crash', it means'doesn't need to be fiddled with all the time'; no hand-holding, nocleaning up afterwards. It means a system that can be left to runquietly in the corner.

This does mean that you have to make it so that ordinary things can'tcause the system to explode. The two big ones are making sure thatsystem logs don

In Python, all method functions normally get called with the object astheir first argument. New-style classes can specify that some methodsshould instead be 'static' methods: they don't receive the object asone of their arguments.

On the face of it this is a bit peculiar. Given that Python hasordinary (module-level) functions, why would you ever want to design astaticmethod instead (apart from misplaced object-oriented purity)?

What I use static methods for is as a way

I am fond of giving everyone who tells me they're thinking of beingsystem administrators a rant disguised as a question:

When things are automated in the future, there are going to be threesysadmin jobs left: the secretary filling in forms, the stock clerkswapping the backup tapes and refilling the printer paper, and thetroubleshooter they call in when there's problems. Which one do youwant to be?

I firmly believe that all routine system administration will beautomated sooner or later (yes, despite vendors