Seems like it should be rather easy, no?  Just change action mailer to resemble:


ActionMailer::Base.smtp_settings = {
:address => "smtp.gmail.com",
:port => 587,
:domain => "hosteddomain.com",
:authentication => :plain,
:user_name => "account@hosteddomain.com",
:password => "omgsup3rsecret"
}

Meh. Looks easy enough, right? Except for the fact Google’s got some magic TLS authentication thing going on – you’ll run into an error in your mailers resembling Must issue a STARTTLS command first.. Enough to make you work a little harder to get the magic working.

For those of you/us that are running Ruby 1.8.7 and Rails 2.3.x the answer is rather simple – add :enable_starttls_auto => true to your smtp settings, which will result in :


ActionMailer::Base.smtp_settings = {
:enable_starttls_auto => true,
:address => "smtp.gmail.com",
:port => 587,
:domain => "hosteddomain.com",
:authentication => :plain,
:user_name => "account@hosteddomain.com",
:password => "omgsup3rsecret"
}

And for the rest of you/us (that would be me) that are still sticking with Ruby 1.8.6, there is an answer in the form of the action_mailer_tls gem. Following the readme will get you to right where you want to be – shoveling all the mail you would like into the ether that is the interwebs.

If millions of Christians suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth as the opening act for Armageddon, Threat Level thinks most nonbelievers will be too busy freaking the hell out to check their e-mail. But if they do log in, now they can be treated to some post-Rapture needling from their missing friends and loved ones, courtesy of web startup YouveBeenLeftBehind.com.

For just $40 a year, believers can arrange for up to 62 people to get a final message exactly six days after the Rapture, that day when — according to Christian end times dogma — Christians will be swept up to heaven, while doubters are left behind to suffer seven years of Tribulation under a global government headed by the Antichrist

Wow.  There are no words to describe my complete and utter disbelief (aaaahhhh,  a double entendre  — see what I did there?).

It’s been a long day and now, at 11:30 at night, I feel like I’ve had some time to mentally digest the binging of all things “INTERWEB” today.

What the hell is ROFLCon? You know the cats, with the funny captions? Leroy Jenkins? The Tron Guy? All internet memes. All people, websites, who’ve ended up being forwarded and instant messaged to THOUSANDS of people? These are the modern day 15 minutes of fame – but digital.

The first day of the convention felt organized, but not quite the well oiled machine I’ve experienced at other seminars or cons. It’s not quite reasonable to expect things are going to be pristine considering (I think) it’s being put together by college undergrads, mostly. Was it a better job than I could do? DEFINITELY. I mean they got *TRON GUY* to show up!

Highlights from the first day:

• Keynote by David Weinberger was good. He had some really good insight on our new meme culture and why we hold onto it and nurture it so mightily as “internet people”
• Marmaduke Explained guy easily took over the first panel with regards to “teh funny”
• One Red Paper Clip guy – a very close #2 to Marmaduke. Very funny guy.
• Unexpectedly running into R Stevens outside the conference. Joining him for lunch with Scott from Laughing Squid, Joel from Amplifier.com and (why am I blanking on her name?) from Penny Arcade. Reconnecting and meeting new people. Awesome!
• Lolcats panel was pretty good. Lots of great one-liners (and some rather insane [in a good way] people).
• Running into John Eckman – another Molecular Alumni – at the keynote. I KNEW it was him!

Lowlights:

• Chuck Norris Facts guy didn’t seem like he really wanted to make too many friends there today. Overheard calling one of his fellow panelists a “downer”. Cmon dude.
• The insane introduction of RACE ISSUES into the first panel Q+A. Why do people have to take something that’s supposed to be about “fun” and inject completely uneccessary social commentary? To sound contrary? Oh, that’s right – there’s always that ONE Debby Downer. Wuaahh Wuaaahhhhhhhh!
• Drinking Brawndo. Not my thing.

For a lot more coverage and a lot of great photos – visit the ROFLCon website. There’s way more there than I could even begin to to write about here. Also, you could follow me on Twitter for running quotes and random commentary. I guess I might be doing something right – 5′ish people I don’t know started following me today. Guess that’s good? Until tomorrow – kkthxbai.