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Crap: back at work

My goodness, what a start:

• I have a several thousand mails to catch up with at work (OWA does a -lousy- job at filtering spam)
  
• The Exchange mailbox is full so I can't send mail before I delete some
  
• The company I currently work for, IrisCube, has merged with been bought by another company, Reply.  This weekend Reply migrated my mailbox created an empty mailbox and pointed the domain iriscube.com at the new server
  
• To save money they created a SSL certificate using an internal Certification Authority. This certificate is of course not trusted by Internet Explorer so I get a warning every time I to read mail with OWA. Even worse: ActiveSync on my Pocket PC doesn't like the certificate either so I can't sync via GPRS at all
  
• One of the really cool features with Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2003; HTTP sync, is broken (problems on the Reply server)

The final issue that pissed me off enough to post: both mailboxes will be active so I receive some mail on the old server and some on the new.

Crap!

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Crap & Crapability on the road in Italy

There are times I wish StarBucks caught on in Italy as well. Not for the coffee though as nothing beats a real Italian cappuccino!

No, I wish I could find a StarBucks in Italy as well so I could get WiFi access for a decent price 'anywhere'. Seriously: who in their right mind (that pay their own phone bill) spends 6 euro for 1mb of traffic? And that is with my mobile carrier! The costs just skyrockets if you try to use GPRS in roaming.

All this to say that there will be no posts for a week or so unless I find cheap WiFi or an internet cafe.

Maybe I should do some WiFi war driving using Mini Stumbler instead:-? Not sure what the Italian laws is on this. Hope I don't get a prolonged vacation paid for by the Italian state...

 

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On the Crap & Crapability bookshelf: Red Rabbit (Tom Clancy)

What I want to know is; who the heck wrote this book?

The book covers the early CIA days of Jack Ryan and takes place been the Patriot Games and The Hunt for Red October books. The plot is very much Tom Clancy like but it looks to me like he wrote a 15 page summary that was given to a copy writer. The human aspect of the book is not bad but it is very weak in the area that has been the strength of Tom Clancy in the past: technical detail. Several of the characters also behave differently compared to the other books: Greer for example constantly repeats: 'this guy will go far'.

What's the story? Is Tom Clancy getting old or does he need some quick cash to pay his ex. I managed to finish the book but I'm glad I bought it used on eBay.

More:

• Buy Red Rabbit (Tom Clancy)  and judge for yourself


• Or buy some of the good ones; Rainbow Six, The Hunt for Red October, Red Storm Rising

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Russian bounty hunters should be busy these days

First Putin put up a $10 million reward for anybody that neutralizes the Chechen rebels Aslan Maskhadov and Sjamil Basajev.

Then the Chechens doubled the offer

"We offer an award of $20 million to countries, organizations or individuals who give the Chechen republic active help in detaining the war criminal" Putin. The statement was signed by "the anti-terrorist center of the Chechen Republic".

What will they do when they finish playing Poker? Play Russian roulette?

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Genesis crashed

Crap! Genesis crashed. Guess several people at NASA are trying to hide after the big media coverage of the event. It would have been way cool if the parachutes had worked and the stunt pilots had recovered Genesis. Shit happens I thought, until I had another look at the mission home page:

 (click for larger image)

Notice the two different stories?

• The headline says that Genesis may have crashed due to parachute problems (pretty obvious that it crashed if you ask me)


• The other story says that the satellite returns in a dramatic capture

I clicked on the Genesis dramatic capture link and I was greeted by a "return: not available" page:

 (click for larger image)

If there are typos it's because I'm still laughing!

BBC has more info on the rough Genesis touchdown

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Crap & Crapability video: Plan 9 from Outer Space

Watched Plan 9 from Outer Space a few days ago. It must be one of the most crap movies ever. One of the actors passed away after shooting a couple of scenes as the "Ghoul Man". What did they do? Shoot the scenes again? No, the chiropractor of the wife of the producer takes over the role and holds the cape in front of his face the whole movie. The only "decent" shot of the "Ghoul Man" is repeated at least 5 times.

More:

• BadMovies.org review of Plan 9 from Outer Space


• Buy Plan 9 from Outer Space on Amazon.com

 

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A stinking story from Netherlands

Guess it's better to drive with the windows closed and the air condition on in Netherlands. Yahoo reports of Dutchman covered by crap

"It was a nice night ... so he probably opened his window when he stopped at a traffic light, and then -- (it) happened," said Dana Kragten, spokeswoman for police in rural Drenthe province, on Tuesday. "The tank had a small window which burst, probably due to pressure ... The man said he had no time to back away his car or close his window."