Hoax ‘missing parents’ e-mail?

Did anyone else receive an e-mail with a picture of a boy attached and the message ‘A BOY MISSING HIS PARENTS B’CAUSE TSUNAMI’, asking people to forward it to as many people as they can? Typical hoax stuff if you ask me. I think it’s a picture of the (mosquito bitten) Swedish boy who was reunited with his dad in a Thai hospital in the first few days after the Tsunami struck.

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The great trek

I ain’t half back and already arranging my trip to Ireland (Dec 14 – 18). It’s going to be a bit of a trek, flying into Cork on December 14, catching a bus to Tralee and then on to Dingle (4 hour trip). The gig is the next day, Dec 15th, in St James’s Church, seating 60 people. I don’t have a ticket (only available via e-mail, payment by cheque. Huh?), but I’ll just show up for the soundcheck and let Gav sort the credentials. (Update: ticket sorted) (Update II: heh, apparently guestlist sorted too. Good boy.) Apparently there are other artists besides him on the bill. Hmm. The next day I’ll take the bus to Dublin (8 hour trip) arriving there past 7pm. I then have a day to spend riding the Luas or sipping cocktails in The Clarence, and back to Amsterdam on the 18th.

Mac user

Hey. Are you in the middle of it?

No.

Are you at work?

No, at home.

Can you… um… I have a computer question. Are you an iBook person?

// you KNOW I don’t have an iBook //

I don’t have an iBook, but I’m sure I can help you. I’ve helped you before, remember?

Yeah. Well, you see, my mail is all fucked up. You know new mail always comes in at the top? Well now it’s all messed up and it comes in somewhere in the middle and I can’t find it.

Sounds like it’s sorting on subject, not on date.

// Other phone rings //

Hello? HELLO? Well FUCK OFF so.

// Doorbell rings //

Now the doorbell rings. I’m fucking on the phone. This is my life. This is my life for the last month. Hello? How’ye. I’m on the phone. Yeah, um…

Your mail.

Yeah, um… it’s messed up.

Are you near your computer?

I was opening the door! […] I’ll start it up. It’s warming up now. Anyway, while it’s doing that…

(30 minute convo)

OK, so take it easy…

But what about your mail?

Huh?

I was supposed to help you with your mail.

Oh… yeah, um…

What e-mail programme do you use? Entourage?

No. Um… I don’t know. Just…

OK, look at your mail. See the column with the date? Go right to the top. What’s there?

Um… there’s a little light to see how much battery you have and…

No, in your mail programme. Your mail is divided into columns. What’s at the top of your date column? Can you click that?

I don’t understand.

Riiight…

I’m sorry, I am not very good at this.

Etc.

MT 3.0: what’s going on?

This combination of articles explains the MT 3.0 release and its perceived problems very well:

  • PC World’s ‘Blog Development Tool Ships‘ does a better job of expositioning the details of this new release than any of 6A’s own announcements.
  • Many to Many’s MT 3.0 Backlash and Trackbacks lists people’s concerns without the drama.

    Meanwhile, as an MT 3.0 beta tester (which I wasn’t!) I received an e-mail from 6A which tells me: “Based on feedback we’ve received, we’ve also made some changes changes to the licenses that will be posted later tonight.”

    Those changes can now be viewed on 6A’s website, including this one: “Coming Soon: Personal Edition Add-On will allow you to add 1 weblog and 1 author to your Personal Edition license for $9.95.”

    I like that one a lot. Other changes just about cover most of people’s concerns, I should think. The ones I had at least. From the site:

  • Author counts are based on “active” authors, those that have logged in within the last 90 days
  • Weblog counts are based on “active” weblogs, those that have had posts created within the last 90 days
  • One site at one URL counts as a weblog for your license, even if it is made up of more than one weblog in the software

    And elsewhere:

  • The single CPU usage statement was not intended to be in the license. It has been struck from the license

    Good response from 6A, I think. I hope the company’s image recovers from their PR faux pas. They really don’t deserve the bad rap. They are a family business growing up in public. We are collectively experiencing their growing pains.

  • Gmail revisited: GUI trigger issue

    I reported a GUI related issue to the Gmail team and I was wondering if anyone else who is testing Gmail has the same ‘problem’:

    I keep clicking my right hand mouse button when I’m hovering over the e-mail subject lines in the inbox, and I expect there to be a menu with Gmail specific options. But there isn’t. You just get the standard Windows right hand mouse button menu. But something about the GUI is triggering this response in me.

    Anyone?