My useless baysian email filter

I've always used and like MS Outlook and Outlook Express. However, the increasing avalanche of viruses-worms-malware, what have you, combined with the ongoing vulnerability of Outlook and OE to said criminal crapware pushed me to try an alternative email application.

In the past I've tried others that friends and collegues have highly recommended. I've given those an honest try -usually 3 months because my dear ones would always cry, "but Barb, you have to give it a real chance, have to stick with it , get used to it a bit, it'll grow on you!" No, sorry , 3 months is way more than enough to confirm that crap software is crap. Not just lacking functionality but distinctly unpleasant to use. The following are my Two Lousiest Email Programs I've Ever Used-

Eudora
Pegasus

Absolute shite. My dear ones who use these applications have a million excuses why they use it. The truth is, they are willing to put up with poor usability and lousy functionality just so they don't have to use an MS product.

Btw I have dear ones who do the same thing with MS Project. There is simply no substitute for MS Project yet. But these dear ones still keep trying pathetic open source wannabe-MSProject-clones that are shite. And they know it, and they even admit it. Idiots.

Sorry, I don't work that way. That's too stupid to even discuss.

Anyway, I was playing around with a alternate browser called Firefiox. It's rather nice, I like the tabbed window thing,. Firefox is one of those very cool, tres nift applications that just not quite ready for prime time yet. But it has enormous potential. I quite like Firefox except when it unexpectedly digs its heels in and does something dumb. But I'm still using it- for now, because it simply has so many EXCELLENT features. Firefox is an evolution of Mozilla. Funny enough, I loathed Mozilla. Still don't like it.

Anyway Firefox has a companion email program called Thunderbird. Yes, I'm tired of the silly names, too but what can you do? Anyway, since I was looking for a safer alternative to Outlook Express, I tried Thunderbird. And it's raher nice. I don't think it wins any prizes yet tho. It's still very crude. Its formatting system for composing mails is so bad, so irritatin, and so time wasting tha I will probably soon go back to Outlook Express.

So, what's all this got to do with baysian filters? Ah ha, well, Thunderbird uses that for its spam filter. And I have been trying to "train" this so called spam filter for almost 5 weeks now. Hopeless, useless, doesn't work. It's as if the filter ignores me when I keep clicking "not junk" day after day on the same exact emails it keeps marking as junk.

Now the program is supposed to automatically classifiy any email coming from addresses listed in your addressbook as "not junk". So I make sure these emails are listed in my addressbook. The filter still marks them as junk and sends them to my spam folder.

5 weeks and it hasn't learned? No way, this filter has obviously decided to ignore me.

I'll give it a few more weeks and then I think it's back to good old reliable Microsoft products.

Build me a more functional, intuitively usable mousetrap and I'll happy use it. Till then, I'll stick with MSMouseTrap, thank you very much.

Useless knowledge of the day contest

What is linen water?

I was out today doing various weekly chores. As a treat for myself I stopped by a little local close-outs shop. This place is definitely legit since it cycles through all sorts of luxurious and posh items that I've drooled over at their original prices. Of course, these luxurious products are usually sold in posh shops in trendy areas. I guess the ends and leftovers get sent off to cheap little stores in marginal residential areas, there to salvage their last bit of value by selling for 99 cents.

Today, to my delight, the shop had a rag tag assortment of natural French traditional scents products ...including a case of elegant bottles of linen water. Yes, I do know what linen water is. The shop owner had no idea tho, as I discovered chatting with him while I waited on line to check out. I explained to him the concept and use of linen water and he was thoroughly horrified at the decadence of it. Clearly a holdover of the Raj. He denounced it loudly.

So, your mission if you choose to accept it, is to explain what linen water is.
I'll provide the answer next week.

RAIN-RAIN-RAIN-RAIN

Blech- it's been raining here all day. Not gentle rain. Pouring rain. Flooding rain. Cold and clammy rain. Flood the subwats and low lying highways rain. Our little gift from Hurricane Frances rain.

Rain, blech.
On with the rain coat. Out with the umbrella.
Into the rain.

New Events in my so-called Life

1. I've made reservations on VirginAtlantic to fly to London Oct 7th.

Alan's been nagging me about this for a while now. I've put it off because I couldn't financially justify it when I wasn't working. Finally Alan called and told me to just put it on his frequent flyer miles and use his credit card to pay the fees. So voila, I'm off to London. I'm just waiting for them to send the e-ticket so I can pick my seats

2. I'm looking for a job.

I know, I know, I've been looking for a new job for a while now. But I've moved myself into high gear now and I'm working very seriously at it, really truly looking. And no, going to London won't screw it up. The last 3 jobs I got were all within a week of making reservations to go to London. It's almost like some good luck talisman. They were all fine about the scheduling, too.

3. I've gone back on my serious diet again.

I guess this is all part and parcel of putting my life back together again. I was really pleased how well the dieting went last year. So I expect similar results this year. Perhaps even to the point of reaching maintenance. We shall see.