What the heck is CRALECELECT?

More idiotic behaviour from my utterly useless bank.

A transaction appeared on my credit card statement with the description:

CRALECELECT 44845508105

CRALECELECT? What's that then? A single word Cralecelect? Crale Celect? Google for it? Zero hits.

What about the number 44845508105? Looks a bit like a phone number +44 845 508105. Unfortunately not enough digits.

Why can't my bank pass on some USEFUL information which would help me to identify the merchant?

After some head scratching, I have worked out that it is Cralec Electrical Distributors. I placed an order with Elite Electric, which seems to actually resolve down to Cralec Electrical. Their phone number is 0845 508 1055.

I had placed the order so long ago that I'd actually forgotten about it. Unfortunately they seem to have decided that despite having taken my money, they don't need to actually fulfil my order. I phoned them up today to ask for an ETA. They took my number and said they'd call back. Needless to say they haven't. Ah well.

Thunderbird 3.1.x adding spaces. Bounty Offered

The bounty now stands at:
EUR 26.77 or GBP 22.12 or USD 34.06

So, Thunderbird 3.1.x adds two spaces to the beginning of every message. Personally, I'm incandescent about this. A lot of other people seem to not care a jot.

This seems to be one of those issues with a wide range of opinions.

There is a bug raised on this issue, Bug 564737. But that bug has been around since May, and, astonishingly, staggeringly, we are now seeing point releases which do not include a fix!

Anyway, I want to get it fixed. To that end I am offering a time-limited bounty.

I will offer a bounty of GBP £5.00 (about USD $7.70), payable by PayPal, to whoever can convince me that they were the key person responsible for getting a working version available for me to download, before 2010-09-23T17:30:00+0100 (that's 14 days from the time of writing).

This should not be a special build but a general release in the normal stable release stream available for Windows 32-bit, under either English-US or English-GB.

And no "funny business" like saying "Thunderbird 3.0.6; payout please". This about getting the bug fixed properly, not playing tricks.

I reserve the right to extend the deadline at my sole discretion.

I know this is not much money, but if other people feel the same way and also offer a bounty then it could make an interesting chunk of cash to get someone motivated.

How do you know I'm going to pay out? I guess you'll just have to trust me. But I promise that this is a bona fide offer, cross my heart, hope to die, etc.

If anyone else wants to join in, please drop me a confidential e-mail with your name, (optional) pseudonym, e-mail address, and amount pledged, to

tb-564747-bounty AT blunn DOT org

(Oops, this e-mail address was not working. I have now fixed it and tested it and it is now working.)

Pledges must be made in either Euro (EUR), United Kingdom Pounds (GBP), or United States Dollars (USD).

I promise to use your details only for the purpose of this bounty. I expect to publish your pledge by way of your name or pseudonym and the amount pledged.

Your pledge will, by default, be on the terms described above, however if you wish to specify your own deadline, you may do that. If you do not, then I will treat your pledge as matching mine.

Your pledge will not be legally binding but will work on the honour system. I may publish a list of those people who do not honour their pledges without providing a good explanation.

I will keep your e-mail address a secret. If you provide a pseudonym, I will also keep your real name a secret. All secrets will be kept unless forced to be revealed by law enforcement agencies or a court order. I will not send out any mass-e-mailing which exposes your e-mail address to others; if I need to send out a mass-e-mailing, it will either be via a configured mailing list, or a bulk BCC; in all cases your e-mail address (and name if pseudonym provided) will be hidden.

If the fix comes through in time, and someone claims the bounty, and their claim is verified, then I can let people know where to send the money.

If more than one person has a plausible claim for the bounty, I will determine what I deem to be a fair split of the bounty and advise accordingly.

I will expect to provide the information for people to send money directly if possible, but if anyone wishes for me to forward funds on their behalf (for example they wish to remain anonymous), I will be prepared to do this, and provide (e-mail) advisories to relevant parties so that they may verify that funds have been correctly transferred. If funds cannot be transferred to the beneficiaries, I will make best efforts to return them to senders. Any fees for sending money, transfers etc., will be taken out of the amounts being transferred (i.e. I'm not in business of handing out my own money willy-nilly).

If you wish to be a beneficiary of the bounty, you must agree to have your real name and the amount paid to you published.

List of pledges

Name	Amount	Deadline
William Blunn	GBP 5.00	(follow scheme)
Nikos Bilalis	EUR 5.00	(follow scheme)
Joseph Morris	USD 20.00	(follow scheme)
Total	EUR 5.00 + GBP 5.00 + USD 20.00