Archive for April 2006

When I had to re-install everything on my computer, I opted not to install a few programs including the one I used to manage spam. It wasn’t bad, but I felt it wasn’t as effective as it could be. I rarely hear about a 100 percent effective spam solution, but I had enough of the tool.

I’ve been using Thunderbird for email and am happy with it. I also use Outlook for one of my clients and it drives me insane. It has its good and bad points. Anyway, Thunderbird’s spam and scam manager doesn’t work worth spit. I was spending too much time going through my inbox to weed the junk.

Went to Thunderbird’s forums to see if anyone found a solution. Came across open source POPFile. Figured I’d look into it. Where has this baby been??? Being an organized freak, it’s a great fit.

Buckets o’ mail

It took me a little time to figure out this buckets business. But now I rarely have anything coming to my Inbox. Everything goes into a bucket or “folder” as most of us call ‘em. Before using this app, I had all newsletters and general emails go to a folder, junk going into another folder and everything else (if the email did its job, it’d be personal emails) in the inbox.

Now, I have four folders: personal, occasional, newsletters, and junk. The only emails that land in the inbox are unclassified emails. I get about one every few days.

You can set up POPFile to modify the subject header or leave it alone. Some of you probably get junk email that gets [spam] added into the header. It’s trouble rather than helpful. Sometimes, without thinking, I hit “reply” and the recipient person would see [spam] in the header. That’s why I have such suspected emails going into a junk folder. Why clutter the inbox with [spam]?

Control Center

Any time I see an email appear in the wrong folder, I go into POPFile’s browser-based (which looks great in Firefox, by the way) Control Center and reclassify the bucket.

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The control center also shows a dashboard. You can see how much you email you get for each bucket. The data also shows the number of false positives and false negatives. Currently, the application has a 92% accuracy (it was 76% on March 30). The accuracy continues to climb. You can reset the data anytime to get fresh numbers. According to the help docs, it takes about 1000 emails to get the accuracy rate up to the 90s.

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Magnets, Configuration, Security, and Advanced Features

Magnets resemble message filters except you use them in POPFile instead of your email client. You can have POPFile look at the To, From, CC, or Subject for a value that you enter. If the value matches, then it goes into the selected bucket.

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In Configuration, change skins, language, History page view, and POP3 preferences.

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Security contains options for server operation, remote servers, automatic update checking, and reporting statistics to POPFile. Here you can set up an interface password.

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Advanced tab lists words that POPFile ignores. You can add and remove words from the list. You can also adjust the parameters here. For ultra-geeks, this app has command-line options.

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Requirements:

* The latest POPFile release.

* An e-mail account that uses the POP3 protocol (most accounts do, although you can’t use POPFile with web-based services like Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail without extra software)

* Around 10 MB free disk space

Final Notes

After using it for two weeks, I’m happy with the app. Email also downloads faster than it did with the previous app (both used the local host). POPFile is a Sourceforge project, therefore it’s free. Its Web site is available in the following languages: Norsk, Deutsch, Portugues do Brasil, Francais, Dansk, Espanol, Arabic, Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, and Korean.

It comes in two versions: “an easy-to-install Windows version, and a cross-platform version for technically-minded users.”

David Jones came from humble beginnings and worked his way up to CEO of a successful British retail company. And he did so without telling anyone that he had Parkinson’s Disease for most of his tenure.

Jones was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease one year after he became the CEO of Grattan, which later merged with NEXT. In spite of the diagnosis, he continued as the CEO for almost 20 years. The primary focus is on Jones’ climb and how the leaders saved a British retailer from going bankrupt. Parkinson’s small role in the book does have a big impact as Jones describes the difficulties of living with it on a daily basis.

While he covers little about his personal life, he gives an honest account of the people in his professional life. Executives’ stories of how they reached the top vary; reading about Jones’ rise gives a great example of what it takes to get the C-level title.

Born and raised in Malvern in Worcestershire, Jones had a good childhood though money was scarce. To help sustain the family, he took a paper route with WH Smith delivering the paper six days a week without missing a day or delivering late. Fevers and bad weather couldn’t stop him.

When he completed formal schooling at 17, on the advice of a youth employment officer, he applied for a temp job with Kays of Worcester, his first step into the world of retail. Jones went through merging and selling Grattan, the merger with NEXT in 1986 and the sale of Grattan in 1991 when the company was in trouble.

Throughout the book Jones shares his business beliefs, lessons, and experiences in dealing with heavy-duty business problems, difficult managers, and Parkinson’s. He makes recommendations for how business governance should work. As he approaches the end of the CEO-ship, he gets involved with non-profit organizations and fundraising. In fact, all proceeds from this book go to Cure Parkinson’s Trust.

Jones couldn’t slow down after retiring because the hectic schedule helped keep his mind busy and off the symptoms that come with Parkinson’s. He’s currently a chairman at NEXT. Jones gives speeches about Parkinson’s and continues as a business phenomenon, most proud of his accomplishments and those of NEXT.

American readers might have difficulty picking up some of the British business terms and titles. These become clearer as the reader progresses in the book. Next to Me is divided in three parts beginning with the challenging years of rescuing NEXT from 1986 – 1996, going into his childhood and learning the retail trade from 1943 to 1986, and closing with his retirement and speaking out on Parkinson’s from 1996 through 2005. Going out of order proves more perplexing than helpful.

Jones encounters many people throughout his life. At times, the names of companies and people confuse the reader. In spite of the few glitches, the book is a gratifying read.

Title: Next to Me: Luck, Leadership and Living with Parkinson’s
Author: David Jones
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing
ISBN: 1857883578
Date: January 2006
Format: Hard cover
Pages: 288
Cover Price: USD: $18.87 Amazon: $11.08

I’ve been on a trial assignment for the past week where I submit a story three hours of receiving the assignment — it must have quotes from two original resources (not PRs, research reports, and so on). I understand that because it enhances a story and makes it more interesting. I’ve been lucky to have an understanding editor who hasn’t given up on me. Although I’ve got a challenging assignment today about a pyramid in Mexico.

Not once have I turned in an article on time. I called and emailed the right people — I know I didn’t err there. You know there’s one thing I do differently — I use the relay service to make the calls because I can’t hear a phone conversation. Here is what happened on one assignment alone [ Read more ]

We’ve got old computers, laptops, and monitors sitting the garage collecting dust. Most of them don’t work anymore and we can’t just throw them out because they have parts that could potentially lead to environmental hazards. This eHow article provides steps, tips, and warnings for safely disposing computers.

The Dallas Morning News printed a story that covered not only electronics, but also items like furniture, lumber materials, and more. Here’s a list of places and ways to recycle stuff, some from the The Dallas Morning News and others from research.

Many schools including my kids’ elementary and middle schools participate in the Cartridges for Kids program. If you don’t have a school, we’d be glad to take your stuff. If you’re outside of the Dallas area, you may not want to ship it to us and one of these may have more convenient options.

Computers and Electronics

CollectiveGood collects mobile phones, pagers, and PDAs.

The County of Sacramento has many links to cell phone recycling sources.

DonateIT wipes drives clean and provides info on how wipe drives.

Freecycle consists of 4,132 groups with 3,913,000 members across the globe. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills.

Free Geekery lists 10 ways to recycle old computers.

Guide to Computer Recycling and Reuse

National Cristina Foundation

Palm Recycling Program is a free service for recycling old and unused cellphones and handhelds.

ReCellular recycles and resells used wireless phones and accessories. It wipes the phone’s memory clean to eliminate all personal information.

Staples accepts computers and tech hardware. Charges $10 for large equipment.

TechSoup Recycling Guide

Clothes and Shoes

Tennis Shoes

Dress for Success donates work clothes to low-income women so they can wear them to job interviews.

Books

Most libraries accept book donations. If they don’t add it to their collection, they might save them for a book sale. Your area might have an organization that collects books for book sales or donating.

Books for Soldiers

American Library Association info on book donations.

Books for Prisoners and Prisoners’ Reading Encouragement Project

Drop your book somewhere and it could join BookCrossing.

Baby Gear

Newborns in Need is a charity organized to take care of sick and needy babies and their families.

Glasses and Hearing Aids

Lions Clubs for glasses

LensCrafters for glasses

Unite for Site for glasses

Lions Clubs for hearing aids

About.com Hearing Aids Recycling info

Hear Now for hearing aids

House Materials and Furniture

Dallas Habitat for Humanity accept specific building materials. Check your local organization to see if it accepts such items.

Others

Write Direct Marketing Association to opt out of junk mail for $1 check or money order. Do it online at www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist or send it to Direct Marketing Association, Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512. You must renew every five years.

Donate Cars for Homes

E-cycling Central lets you find recycling centers by location (U.S. only)

General Recycling and Reuse information

Green Dimes Junk Mail Reduction Kit promises to reduce junk mail by 90 percents and plant 10 trees in your honor for $15.

HUG Internationally is a Dallas area organization that works with orphanages and hospitals in Romania. HUG also addresses the problems of housing these babies, including repairs and renovation of buildings.

International Consumer Recycling Guide

National Recycling Coalition

Recycling Database

Updated: October 15, 2007

David Strom needs to switch phone service and he looks at Adelphia and Verizon. Do a search for any telecommunications company and you’ll see plenty of complaints about all of them. That’s because their systems are complex.

I’ve worked at two telecommunications companies for ten years and it gave me perspective into why customer service is often not a smooth process. Both of these companies have been around since the early 1900s. Because of this, they had legacy systems that could only do so much.

So they took the legacy systems further than they were ever supposed to go and added other systems to work with the legacy systems. With multiple systems connecting to each other (teleco to teleco, too), it’s no surprise data gets messed up along the way.
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