Then I get the call: their archive isn't working, can I investigate. Their archive is a web application frontend to an IMAP server storing archived email data. Simple, effective, and as of last week, broken.

Dig, dig, Google, dig.

Eventually I find the culprit: Torque was depending on an obscure logging framework, which was in turn depending transitively on an obscure incomplete implementation of javamail called geronimo-spec-javamail. This was pulled in alongside javamail as shipped by Sun.

Two competing incompatible implementations of javamail in the same application in the world of Java == fail.

Fast forward a week. Another application that is up and running fine is suddenly reported as not working. All the application does is create an email with a velocity template, and send the mail. That's it. But Velocity depends transitively on an obscure logging framework, which recently decided for no clear reason would not longer work from within a web application.

When you spend more time tracking down obscure sudden failure cases than you do producing actual code, you know you've reached the tipping point of failure.

Java logging frameworks must die.

Or more specifically, I didn't see the disclaimer, and that makes it the best disclaimer ever.

In May.

Better late than never.

Any device whose "on" switch doesn't work, is a broken device indeed.

But this alone doesn't make it worthy of mention on Stupid. That honour is bestowed on the following advice:

Most new phones allow charging with the USB cable. With some phones, you also have the option to select whether you want to allow USB charging. If you're trying to charge with USB, make sure that your phone supports USB charging and that the option is switched on.

You have a phone with a potentially flat or faulty battery that won't turn on. You have a USB cable, but you cannot be sure that the USB cable is actually charging the phone, because the option to be sure is only accessible when the phone is on.

Genius.

Ever had one of those days when you need to install a software package, and within minutes of the download, your blood is boiling so much that you want to hurl your monitor out of the window?

If you have, chances are the software you are using has failed the Fuse Test, and chances are good that you will end up throwing the software out in disgust and trying something else.

So, software developers: how do you avoid lighting the fuse and giving your end users a heart attack? Read and learn.

However Zoom airlines goes to some considerable trouble to ensure that customer service is as far removed from the customer as humanly possible.

Do yourself a favour: Don't ever put yourself in a position where you need to contact Zoom Airlines customer support. The easiest way to do that, is to just not book the ticket in the first place.

If you want such a day, try and get an Eclipse RCP application to deploy via Java Web Start.

If you would like to know all the reasons why your attempt to get this working will fail, read on.

The installer contains a fatal flaw: it requires direct access to the internet, with no support for a proxy, before it will work properly. That pretty much renders the software useless in virtually all practical environments.

Installers that download from the net are by and large an exercise in making a simple problem into an unnecessarily complicated one, and are generally just dumb. If you are writing an installer, and you want your installer to access the net, please just don't, for sake of the rest of us with real work to do.

I have tried to come up with a number of analogies to explain what is wrong with relying purely on a firewall, but none explains it so clearly as this image that come through my inbox a day or two ago.

(This image arrived with no credit attached, if it is yours, add a comment so it can be credited properly)

I don't know about you, but an advert for an Experian credit report is not news.

Is this the end of the clean simple interface for facebook?

Congratulations KLM for achieving this feat in July.

The awarding of the Hat Trick is only given if the airline is responsible for the initial flight being late. Air France would have achieved the same feat in June, but their problems were the fault of weather, so it doesn't count.

In line with our policy of continuous improvement, please note that the SARS eFiling service will be unavailable during the following times:

Whilst the times above have been set aside, we will endeavor to minimise the offline duration as much as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience you may experience.

Monthend.

Great time for downtime guys.

iTunes Plus offers higher quality encoded digital music, with no DRM, for an extra 30c per song.

Paid the extra money within a heartbeat, and the DRM worries are a thing of the past.

I can now play the music I paid for.

Brand new Apple TV, repeat the installation process, and what do you know? The new one is as broken as the old one was.

It got better.

While at the Apple Store, they sold me an AppleCare Protection Plan, which my pinky toe told me I am going to need. According to the instructions, you have to register your AppleCare online.