Past Diatribes

Very Wise. Please Read Carefully.

-- March 2001 --

Last night was one of Ireland’s funkier holidays. What’s "Mardi Gras" down in Louisiana is Pancake Tuesday in Dublin. Everyone eats pancakes with lemon juice to prepare for Ash Wednesday. Funky, huh?

Anyway, we were eating our pancakes last night, watching Buffy and wondering if the snow was ever going to stop falling. A blizzard fell upon us, on Monday night, and the severe weather was predicted to last the rest of the week. The whole city ground to a standstill, which was bad. Still, it gave me some time to get some work done.

All of February, I’ve been working with a mail server called MsgCore. This one company called me up, saying they’ve been having a hell of a time with their Internet. Basically, anytime that anyone in the office wanted to send a message or just check their e-mail, they would have to dialup their ISP on the shared office phone line. If someone else tried to do the same, while one of the other folks was connected, it’d bounce them straight offline. Between all eight people, the line was constantly dialing, running up some huge phone bills.

The best solution: install an in-office mail server. This sucker collects everyone’s outgoing mail, then automatically dials up to send and receive, every so often. There’s lots of other features, too- auto responders, ‘robots’ to go collect mail from other mailboxes that the person owns, things like that. So I hunted around and located what I’d thought would be a neat little product called MsgCore.

Every review out there says that MsgCore is "very easy to use, and requires little administration work." BULLSHIT. These reviews are all written by professional e-mail server administrators. If you’re an average IT Joe, this product is a nightmare to set up and run properly.

I wrestled with MsgCore for weeks, there. It would work for a little while, and then crap out again. The company I was installing it for was starting to get more than a little bit peeved. In the end, I just wound up shitcanning the whole thing and downloading a different product called Internet Anywhere Mail Server. Installed it, and the thing worked on the very first try. IA's interface is better looking and the documentation that comes with it are far superior, too. Take my advice, here, if you’re re-reading the contradictory, incomplete help files for MsgCore: stop scratching your head and uninstall the sucker. Switch to something else.

Well, onto the big news story: Foot and Mouth disease. Remember the movie Hud? Well, with hundreds of cases of that disease cropping up across the UK, the Brits have even called out the army to help shoot and burn the infected cattle. Here in Ireland, we’ve had one confirmed case, up on the border with the North. That one case alone has prompted the government to slaughter 40,000 sheep. As agriculture is a major segment of the economy, here, any threat to it is taken extremely seriously.

The only danger to people, though, is the danger of having a vacation spoiled by the restrictions that have been put in place. Hillwalking is out, because the germ can be spread by shoes and clothing. Major congregations of people, such as at sporting matches, are a no-no. So don’t expect any hurling, rugby, or soccer games to be played anytime soon. Even some rural sites and landmarks, like the Rock of Cashel, are closed to visitors. It’s a bummer.

The Irish Times website has the latest news on the crisis. Definitely pay it a visit.

Peace

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