I hate ISPs

My otherwise-lovely ISP, Orcon, refuses to supply an authenticated SMTP server. Which means that, unless I am logged in via an Orcon dialup, I cant use their SMTP server.

Webmail is no use- I'm using Internet Explorer 4.01 for the handheld PC, and it cant be upgraded. Orcon webmail doesnt support 4.01.

Erich got out of bed at 2am to make me a University of Alaska email account- but I cant log in to *that* either :-(Poor erich, I was so happy to hear his voice, he should have gone straight back to sleep, not stayed up and made me an email account.. )

So I'm back to Yahoo! the only place that still supports my ageing palmtop. Its nearly time to replace it, and I think I may have found the ideal machine- the Toshiba Libretto U100. 1.1Ghz vs 200Mhz, XP vs CE3.0, 60Gb vs 512Mb. and $2500 vs $400. Hmmm.... maybe when I'm a little more affluent. Perhaps Yahoo isnt all that bad...

2 more days till I'm on a plane to the big ol' USA...

The annoying mail saga continues..

More obstacles... having determined that Yahoo! has an authenticated SMTP server, I discover that Pocket Outlook 3.1 (as installed on my Jornada) doesnt support authentication.

AAARGH!

I've downloaded a new mail client called nPOP, it's all in japanese-english (Under connection, it reconnects, authentication it enables...) but the damn thing DOES DO authentication. It even lets me choose which port I want to use, should that be neccesary.

I'll ask Erich if theres an authenticated SMTP server I can use at UAA, otherwise it'll be Yahoo! for! me! (and if I get *really* stuck I'll ask dhbearguy- thanks for the kind offer, handsome!)

Holy crap

Landsat has just uploaded before and after (actually its still *during* even now- its not over yet) satellite pictures of New Orleans.

I've heard that 80% of the city is underwater- and the levels are still rising- but the images bring a horrifying reality to the extent of the disaster. I'm sitting here at work all teared up thinking about the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their homes, jobs, lives.

And I'm angry at the billions of dollars being spent on a war to make the rich richer, while funding for flood control was cut.

Spot the similarities

These two images have one thing in common.


...they were both taken at the same time.