Tom's Diary

[Lynn],

Yes, send me one that does work. I can compare, and then doctor up my messages so that they’ll work on your system. Hey, this could be fun.

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Looks like this attachment file got corrupted somehow. I believe that the MIME standard dictates that there should be an ‘end’ line at the bottom of the gibberish data. But the ‘end’ line is missing. Looking into it. Stay tuned.

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Yes, I need to see the whole thing if you can easily send it.

One more thing: Would you send it to the following email address:
pulse@xxxx.yyy

This is another email address I maintain, for working these kinds of problems.

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Here’s the pic you sent to me, forwarded back to you. Are you able to open it? I think I know what’s happening but need to run this last test to be certain.

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Hold off until you’ve checked the latest attachments I sent you. May have an answer to this.

Hmm. You said, “Mo, it is not obscene!…” Mo? Wasn’t sure if this was a typo, or a Freudian slip on your part. It turns out that there is a slang word, “mo,” that refers to gay folk. Used derisively, a mo, is a homosexual or someone who acts like one. “Yea, he’s a mo.” Source: Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. I thought I heard that word somewhere before.

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Yes, I bought the dictionary about two weeks ago.

Hope you didn’t eat any dairy products for supper, else your voice may not work as well.

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Do you mean that you could not even see the football one I forwarded back to you? This is crucial.

I was able to open the football one just fine.

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Interesting.

No, I don’t feel threatened by THOSE naked football players.

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Hi again.

Not trying to be confusing or intrusive. But about the football pic. You said that you received this pic in an email message from someone.

What would probably help a great deal is if you could forward me that original email message, not just the attachment file itself. Or, any email message with an attachment that you can read would do. But I must see the original message in order to determine its format.

Happy singing.

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I just learned that the version of Eudora you’re running (version 3.0.1) is somewhat old. This according to the Eudora web site at http://www.eudora.com/

The current version of Eudora Light for Windows is 3.0.6. You might want to upgrade and see if the attachment problem disappears.

I’m in the process of downloading Eudora Light right now to play with it.

We’ll get this figured out.

However, before you upgrade, you should ask your internet service provider if the support this upgrade.

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Okay. Well, this doesn’t help, since the attachment has already been decoded. I’m out of ideas for now.

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Hey.

I just downloaded and installed Eudora Light 3.0.6. Unfortunately, I discovered a nasty bug, that crashes the computer as soon as you start it and answer “no” when it asks you if you want to make Eudora your default email reader. So, I now recommend against this upgrade, for the moment. Stay tuned.

Instead of playing with these “light” versions, you’d probably be much better off to upgrade to the full version (4.2.1). That would cost $40 but it has a built in spell checker and other goodies that frequent email users really benefit from. Check out their web site:

• http://www.eudora.com/

If you do decide to upgrade, check with your ISP first.

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Don’t feel useless. You’ve been quite helpful and patient. As I see it, we’re solving this email thing together, and we will figure it out. Call it our first team effort. Besides, I’ve been thinking. My sister uses Eudora, and often asks me questions about it. And, so do you, and others I’ve communicated with. It may behoove me therefore, to become an expert in this reader, and set it up here at the office. But rest assured, one way or another, this will be resolved. Also, please don’t concern yourself with how much effort I’m putting in. To me, it is no effort. It is what I do – solve computer problems for people. I love it. It makes me feel useful I guess.

No, haven’t told Mom about being compared to an ant, although she’d definitely find it amusing.

I used to do music. Have 5 years of keyboard lessons under my belt, and 4 years in the school band – played trombone. But that detaching, all-focusing effect of doing music I too have experienced, although it has been some time. Glad you had such a good time though. If it relaxes and revitalizes you, then it makes you younger. Good thing, right?

No reforms necessary.

Have I sent you 24 emails a day? Wow. I better stop that. You might start thinking I like you or something. But you’d be right. It feels nice to write to you also.

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A new idea. Could you have the person who sent this picture to you originally, re send it to you, AND to me as well, at pulse@xxxx.yyy? Unfortunately, the message you forwarded below, already has the attachment data stripped out – probably by Eudora and / or your POP3 server (Eudora talks to the POP3 component at your ISP while downloading your email). If your friend sends it to the both of us, I’ll get a copy of the message that has not yet been mucked with by Eudora. Once we have this, we may be able to get a better idea of how I need to format my email messages so you can view the pics. But I must see the format of the message BEFORE it is processed by your ISP and email system. If he CCs me in the message he sends to you that contains a pic that you are able to view, that would be possible.

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Yes, a spell checker is a very handy tool to have. I use Microsoft’s Outlook email reader running with the company’s Microsoft Exchange email servers. Outlook allows you to edit your email messages using Microsoft Word, a powerful word processor and desktop publishing tool. It has a spelling checker built in. I’m glad too because my spelling is atrocious.

On “Droll”: This word is usually used to describe a great sense of humor that manifests itself in unusual ways. E.g. The comedian who tells offbeat jokes, that are funny because they’re different than those heard in the mainstream. Ironic humor could be summed up as droll. You were droll tonight. You were being funny because you were irritated. And your comment about the cats sending email, while quite humorous, suggested slight irritation. You know, the old “many a truth is said in jest” phenomenon. Don’t know if that makes it any clearer. But I can type no more. My right pinky is getting sore.

Will be looking forward to your return on Thursday. Be careful.

Later,
Tom Hesley

No problem. I do not have a color printer that works though. So you may have to settle for black and white.

Hey, don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t think any less of you if we are unable to figure this out. Email transmission over the Internet has become a highly specialized field these days and is fraught with potential pit falls. Some people make a career out of administering email systems and solving the problems that crop up. Unfortunately, I don’t work directly with email systems (except for using them). The fact that email works correctly at all, especially with the numerous, different email readers, gateways, firewalls, and internet service providers out there, is truly amazing. We’ll get it. Heck, the problem could be on this end, although I send attachments to people at AOL all the time and they are able to view them without problems.

No, I don’t know what the difference between a thuja and an abies? a quercus and a
malva are. Clearly, you are the senior partner here when it comes to horticultural matters. These are plants, right?

Suggestion:
You might try calling your email provider and explaining the problem to them. They may have a solution on hand or at least, be able to guide you in the right direction. Specifically, ask them if they support MIME encoded attachments. MIME stands for Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions, and is pronounced just like it is spelled. MIME. The I is long sounding. There are a few different versions of this standard, which today’s email readers implement. My impression is that Eudora is an older reader that does not understand the latest MIME language. But your ISP could tell you for sure. They may ask you for a copy of the email you’re having trouble reading. Sometimes, email gateways add spaces to the body text that can confuse email readers and make it impossible to decode the attachment files. Let me know if they can’t help, and I’ll dig further. My sister has the same problem also, and so if we could kill two ants with one bite, we’d be doing well.

Later,
Tom Hesley

Good morning,   [Lynn].

My sister has the same problem you did with the pics showing up as a stream of data. And she is also using Eudora. I wonder if it is the reader that is the problem? Would you try forwarding one of those “data stream” messages back to me? I might be able to figure something out.

Later,
Tom Hesley