My tweets

• 14:17 Eggcorn alert: "Should be a good read for children of all ages 5 to 95 years in fact I guess everyone but a few fuddy dudleys." #
• 14:37 #followfriday @JoexEd @se1 @pinoyboy @urbanbohemian @pedroissexy @naoij @DentonPolice @therealgokwan @AlanCarr @episcopalcafe #
• 14:37 The @DentonPolice posts mugshots of the people they've just picked up. Some of them are worth a look, like: twitpic.com/geo06 #
• 14:38 @masonictraveler if only we had that problem: we need blankets and have done all summer except for a few days. #
• 14:45 oh, well, what can we do. England is cold... #
• 16:22 @cemab4y have a good flight. #
• 17:15 @JoexEd sorry...i hope things get better. hugs. #
• 19:47 @jonk what's a PSL when it's at home? #
• 19:50 @BrianHeys oh, as long as it wasn't a 4-some you're OK. #
• 21:37 RT @Liturgy There are 2 important things to remember about twitter. (1) Don't give away all your ideas at once #

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My computing woes

I decided Wednesday night that it was time to ditch Eudora for my email. First and foremost, it occasionally decided not to show images in emails, which is nowadays a major pain in the arse. Second, it seemed to crash a lot. Third, as Qualcomm ditched it, there will be no bug fixes and no enhancements. Enough was enough. I had heard some good things about Thunderbird so I decided to try it.

These kinds of migrations have to be planned, however. I had understood that Eudora was kind of flaky when it came to things like standards for .mbx files. So, I searched out a program I'd heard of called Eudora Rescue, which purported to create files that Thunderbird could import more easily and accurately. For example, Thunderbird does not carry over the status (Read, Unread, and the like) from Eudora. This could be disastrous if you have a full inbox.

So, I installed Thunderbird, found and printed out the Eudora Rescue readme file, which is a good example of a readme file that contains exactly the right kind of information to perform a complicated transfer like this. I followed the instructions to the letter, created compatible files from Eudora that Thunderbird was likely to be able to read, and let it rip while I was asleep.

I discovered after breakfast this morning that the import had only gone around 1/2-way. After some futzing around I discovered which file was creating the problem (must be a stray control character) and removed it from the import, restarted the import, and got it finished. But the fun was just beginning.

• I've got a shedload of Eudora filters, none of which were imported along with the mail. I am now faced with creating filters for the next couple of months until all of my mail that I want filtered actually is. I will give them this: the filter-creation mechanism is easy to use. However, each filter works only on one particular mail host. Probably won't cause a problem, but it's surprising.


• When moving an email from one mailbox to one in the sidebar, you drag the email to the top folder, and it then opens up to reveal the folders underneath it. You can then move the email to the one in which you want it to be and drop it there. No problem. However, once you've dropped the email, unlike Eudora, the mailbox tree remains expanded, and you have to contract it manually. Kind of counter intuitive.


• It was a Cecil-B-DeMille production to configure the mail hosts for smooth downloading and sending of emails. But, now that I've got your attention, I can reveal that I've not tried to send emails from all the mail hosts, so I only know that the christianphansen.com address is working for sending. I'm sure that lovely problems await.


• I believe that, while all my attachments are around, the ones imported from Eudora aren't immediately present. I know they're in the "Attach" subdirectory of Eudora Mail, but where they are in Thunderbird beats the hell out of me.


• When you open an email to view and the email has pictures in it, Thunderbird asks you whether you want to show the images and you have to OK a silly window before you can see them. Thunderbird says it'll only be shown the first time you open an email from that sender. Pah! I don't know whether to believe them. After a couple of days, I think I believe them.

(Update early Saturday morning (00:01, to be precise)

I've been using it for a couple of days now. I have figured out the difference between the "Forward/Back" buttons and "Previous/Next" (first set gets to the next/previous mailbox, while the second set gets to the next/previous unread email). To get to the previous email (that you've already read) you have to press "B" on the keyboard, and to get to the next email (that you've already read) you have to press "F" on the keyboard.

I've sent mail from my gmail account (when gmail is up and running) and that seems to work OK. Will have to test the other ones, possibly later on today.

So that's it for Eudora. So long, Eudora! We've been friends for 15 years, but the time has come to part. It's not au revoir, it's don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.

From Twitter 09-04-2009

• 14:17:32: Eggcorn alert: "Should be a good read for children of all ages 5 to 95 years in fact I guess everyone but a few fuddy dudleys."
  
• 14:37:05: #followfriday @JoexEd @se1 @pinoyboy @urbanbohemian @pedroissexy @naoij @DentonPolice @therealgokwan @AlanCarr @episcopalcafe
  
• 14:37:44: The @DentonPolice posts mugshots of the people they've just picked up. Some of them are worth a look, like: http://twitpic.com/geo06
  
• 14:38:23: @masonictraveler if only we had that problem: we need blankets and have done all summer except for a few days.
  
• 14:45:29: oh, well, what can we do. England is cold...
  
• 16:22:43: @cemab4y have a good flight.
  
• 17:15:39: @JoexEd sorry...i hope things get better. hugs.
  
• 19:47:21: @jonk what's a PSL when it's at home?
  
• 19:50:40: @BrianHeys oh, as long as it wasn't a 4-some you're OK.
  
• 21:37:28: RT @Liturgy There are 2 important things to remember about twitter. (1) Don't give away all your ideas at once
  

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

Silly mistakes in market research

I'm a member of several panels, so a few times a week I get a request to fill out a survey online. Don't mind that, really. But sometimes there is an odd twist.

Yesterday I got an email from one survey organisation (that will remain anonymous to protect the silly). It said that as I'd filled out a survey about Organic Frozen Food a while back they would like to ask me more questions about it.

I was happy to oblige, and clicked through to the survey. I don't know what kind of software they are using to drive the survey, but the introduction threw me, as it said that the survey was about my attitude to "hotels and resorts". Oh. I see. Well, I'm game.

It rapidly became clear that the survey organisation had screwed up royally, and had put the wrong text into the questionnaire. I suspect that it still wanted my attitudes toward organic frozen food, but everywhere that the text "organic frozen food" should have appeared the actual text that showed in the questionnaire (in a different font size and colour, to boot) was "hotels and resorts" or "hotels or resorts".

So I was asked how much I agreed with the following statements:

• "I often buy large quantities of hotels or resorts at one time and store what I'm not using."


• I read a product's label or packaging carefully before making a purchase of hotels and resorts."


• I like to touch and feel hotels or resorts before buying them.


• I like to buy hotels or resorts in bulk.

After this, I just filled out anything to get the survey finished and then emailed the survey company to tell them, gently, that they may have made a mistake.

Then I went online to purchase some hotels or resorts in bulk. After all, you never know when you'll run out.

Hansen name check

Well, I've arrived in the Marblehead Reporter again. Fraffie Welch, who writes the "Up For Air" local interest column under the name "Dawn Bucket" (a local Marblehead joke that is too long and complicated to explain here), wrote about a cluttered refrigerator door a few weeks ago. Ours is only full of refrigerator magnets, but I told her about it and she asked for a photo.

Lo and behold, it ended up in the column, which you can see here.

This is the third name check for me in that column in the past 5 months or so. People will start to talk if I'm not careful.

Note that in the picture caption she mentions that she doesn't think the door is cluttered at all; in fact, I have room for an art gallery, in her opinion.

I just emailed her and said, "If you will note the lowest magnet on the door, picturing a building with a tall chimney. That is Tate Modern, the largest modern art museum in the world. So, I already have an art gallery."