Friday, October 15, 2010
Drug Abuse as a Business Model
When Cartoon Network puts on shows like "Delocated", I think they rely on people being too stoned to change the channel. I mean, I know that a lot of people that watch Adult Swim aren't substance-free. Many are complete hammered or stoned out of their gourds. But, when things like "Delocated," the various "Tim & Eric" shows and the like are on, all I can figure is that Cartoon Network relies on people being stoned. They're either hoping that, in a stoned state, those shows come across as funnier than when straight or that people will be too stoned to figure out how to change channels.
Making Sense of Programming
Sometimes, I think the various networks and cable channels forget that most people have remote controls. I think they also forget that the typical cable package has a half million freaking channels to choose from. I mean, how else do you explain some of the programming choices. Don't get me wrong: it used to make sense to sandwich weak shows between strong shows because it was a hassle for people to get up, flip through the channels to find something better and then have to repeat the exercise to get back to the next, strong program. You didn't used to have a lot of simultaneous choices and not everyone had a remote. These days... Many people find that there's so much programming on that they're interested in, that they need DVRs to be able to see them all. So, if someone puts three shows back-to-back, and the one in the middle is weak, there's a lot of alternatives that are quickly reached at the touch of a remote.
At this point, it seems that sandwich programming risks more than it rewards. I mean, if I flip away from your station to get away from a bad program, it gives me the opportunity to notice that, not only is the show I'm watching its place better, but I might find something I like more in the next time slot. Tossing that weakling out in front of the next strong program might make it so I stop watching that strong program (or, just as bad, record that program and skip all the commercials).
At this point, it seems that sandwich programming risks more than it rewards. I mean, if I flip away from your station to get away from a bad program, it gives me the opportunity to notice that, not only is the show I'm watching its place better, but I might find something I like more in the next time slot. Tossing that weakling out in front of the next strong program might make it so I stop watching that strong program (or, just as bad, record that program and skip all the commercials).
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Raise the Bar
Sometimes, I wish that Microsoft would raise the price for XBox Live (and just bundle more stuff). It's not so much that I want to pay more for service or even pay for things I don't use. It's more a matter of wanting to make things a touch more exclusionary. I mean, sometimes, I think that if they made the service a little more dear, there might be a few less ass-clowns in the online multiplay games.
I gotta think that the "free" game services really suck. It doesn't cost someone anything if they do shit that eventually gets them banned. They can open up as many phantom accounts as they want. The bar to cheating or otherwise being a shit is a lot lower.
At the end of the day, though, there'll always be people that get their jollies being total tools. But, maybe if it cost more, less of them would be out there.
I gotta think that the "free" game services really suck. It doesn't cost someone anything if they do shit that eventually gets them banned. They can open up as many phantom accounts as they want. The bar to cheating or otherwise being a shit is a lot lower.
At the end of the day, though, there'll always be people that get their jollies being total tools. But, maybe if it cost more, less of them would be out there.
Many Joys to Multi-Pet Ownership
I love my dogs and I love my cats. They're a lot of company. They're sources of endless laughter. And, when I don't have the time to give them, they keep each other entertained.
Unfortunately, being living things, they each get gas. And, when you find yourself mobbed by pets, sometimes, you find yourself inundated by gas from multiple animals. Not that it really matters - other than who to try to give yourself some distance from - but sometimes, it's difficult to tell who just destroyed your nose.
Unfortunately, being living things, they each get gas. And, when you find yourself mobbed by pets, sometimes, you find yourself inundated by gas from multiple animals. Not that it really matters - other than who to try to give yourself some distance from - but sometimes, it's difficult to tell who just destroyed your nose.
Daily Challenges (Halo: Reach)
Strangely, "One Spartan Army" is about the easiest of the daily achievements to make - particularly the ones wanting < 400 kills. On the days where they allow kills in any mode to count, all you need to do is run a couple of "gruntpocalypse" sessions and you're done.
Three if by Wireless
So, I guess the iPhone will be VZW's first LTE phone? I mean, how can you not look at things like VZW starting to sell the iPad, later this month, and not know that the iPhone's coming?
Cackling Hens
Other than providing a couple of self-important talking heads with a drama outlet, what's the point of The View? I mean, aren't blogs a more apropos drama outlet. I mean, I've satisfied myself with that.
Speaking of The View, do we really need another cackling-hens show? Is there a real need for CBS's The Talk? It seems like that show will be redundant and derivative, at best.
Speaking of The View, do we really need another cackling-hens show? Is there a real need for CBS's The Talk? It seems like that show will be redundant and derivative, at best.
Sprechen Sie Aggrotech?
Nothing like streaming some aggrotech to make you want to do some online German lessons...
Dear Last.FM:
How about adding a "ban artist" feature? I mean, there's just certain artists I don't like - I don't care how much you think they are similar to artists I do like nor whether they have been tagged with one of the tags I've set as a listen channel. Having to ban each individual track of theirs you present to me is both annoying and inefficient. I have to also think that it will result in smaller ban tables, as you'd be maintaining a single ban entry rather than several. As a side thought to that, you might want to consider adding logic that say, "user has banned greater than X tracks from artist Y: ask them if they want to ban the artist". If the user responds in the affirmative, delete all the per-track bans into an artist ban; if the user responds in the negative, reset the counter to zero and re-prompt if they ban further tracks (up to that threshhold).
Also: if I remove an artist from my library, please don't suggest them to me after that. I mean, if I bothered to remove them from my library, it's because I don't like them. It really doesn't matter how many other artists in my library you consider them to be similar to, if I don't like them, you ain't changing my mind (so stop trying).
Overall, I don't want my library and preferences to be polluted.
Also: if I remove an artist from my library, please don't suggest them to me after that. I mean, if I bothered to remove them from my library, it's because I don't like them. It really doesn't matter how many other artists in my library you consider them to be similar to, if I don't like them, you ain't changing my mind (so stop trying).
Overall, I don't want my library and preferences to be polluted.
Dear HP:
When I go onto your licensing portal and request a licensing report, I want aggregated numbers, historical request tracking. While it is, in fact, potentially helpful to get a list of each individual request, I'm trying to see how many licenses I've allocated to a given installation. I'd like it if, in addition to tell me "N1 ordered on Date X", "N2 ordered on date Y" and "N3 ordered on date Z", I'd like to see a total items allocated to "machine A" or something similar. It will make my allocation tracking so much easier.
Dreadful Minutiae
So, this is the part that people hate about social media: updates about stupid thing. Today, the stupid minutiae will be "what I had for breakfast".
As I've indicated before, we're big into the fresh/slow/organic food thing. Well, Donna is, I'm just sorta along for the ride.
This morning's breakfast was an average kind of breakfast: scrambled eggs with peanutbutter and jelly toast.
The eggs: We don't have chickens of our own - though Donna periodically lobbies to change that - so the eggs are externally-sourced. This morning's eggs were from one of the local farmers that sells at one of the markets we regular hit. They were just your basic, brown "organic" eggs. However, I spiced them up a bit: I chopped in some chili-peppers grown in the front bed (that I'd picked the other day) and some onions picked last month (Donna grows onions and garlic between our rose bushes - apparently helps keep the weeds at bay). I mixed in some sea salt and mixed, fresh-ground pepper and some mustard bought at the local German market. I also like to mix milk in with the eggs, as it makes them a bit fluffier when scrambled. The milk was from a local bottler and bought at the Whole Foods on Duke Street (in the Old Town section of Alexandria). I then topped them with some of the ketchup Donna had made in the annual tomato-processing run. So, was pretty zesty and the homemade ketchup gave it a nice, bright, tomatoey taste.
The toast: This was a bit more of a cheat. I still haven't fully weaned myself from the Jiff "extra crunchy" variety peanutbutter. That said, the jelly was a nice homemade jelly and the bread, itself, was some of Donna's homemade bread.
So, yeah, "mundane," but still mostly good for me.
Splish-Splash
I can always tell when Grumbles has recently been drinking. There will generally be a trail of wet footprints on the wood floors between the kitchen and living room. Often times, when he hops up on me, afterwards, it will be with extraordinarily wet paws. Sometimes, I can tell because of the spots of water that show up on my laptop's screen when he decides, "my paw's too wet, I need to shake some of this water off."
Now, why would his paws be so wet as to create this various phenomena? I point you to the picture, below:
Take a (not very) close look, and you'll see that he's standing in the dish to drink. This isn't an occasional thing; this is an allthegoddamnedtime thing. The only thing that really varies is whether he has just his right paw in or both paws in as he drinks.
You might notice Grumbles's very shiny, spotty coat. He's a Bengal. Bengals have very striking markings and are very shiny. Bengals also love water. Mine have been known to hop onto the edge of the tub, as I shower, if I fail to close the doors to keep them out. They also love to play in their water dishes. Before settling into the pose, above, they will frequently frolic in the water, first. Thus, we have to have a plastic mat under the dish. Because of how actively they frolic, a plastic mat simply isn't enough: we have to add a beach towel.
The towel has to be changed out every few days because of how much water gets slapped out onto it. Because of how frequently they have to be changed (and because of things like dog bathing), we have a collection of "pet towels".
Ah, pet ownership...
Now, why would his paws be so wet as to create this various phenomena? I point you to the picture, below:
 |
| Drinking from IN the Dish |
Take a (not very) close look, and you'll see that he's standing in the dish to drink. This isn't an occasional thing; this is an allthegoddamnedtime thing. The only thing that really varies is whether he has just his right paw in or both paws in as he drinks.
You might notice Grumbles's very shiny, spotty coat. He's a Bengal. Bengals have very striking markings and are very shiny. Bengals also love water. Mine have been known to hop onto the edge of the tub, as I shower, if I fail to close the doors to keep them out. They also love to play in their water dishes. Before settling into the pose, above, they will frequently frolic in the water, first. Thus, we have to have a plastic mat under the dish. Because of how actively they frolic, a plastic mat simply isn't enough: we have to add a beach towel.
The towel has to be changed out every few days because of how much water gets slapped out onto it. Because of how frequently they have to be changed (and because of things like dog bathing), we have a collection of "pet towels".
Ah, pet ownership...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Two Hateful Things, Combined, Don't (Magically) Create a "Good Thing™"
Late night TV can be an interesting thing. It's like the dumping ground of TV. It's where old TV shows go to die. It's where infomercials really thrive. It's also where there's some bizarre advertising (even aside from the infomercial schtick).
Last night, as I sat tapping away at my laptop keyboard, the strains of a familiar, odious song began screeching from my TV. As a slow feeling of dread slimed its way over me, I realized what the tune was. It was the music from The Macarena.
Now, I find The Macarena to be a truly hateful piece of work. It's a pernicious earworm. And, if you actually listen to the lyrics, it's kind of a nasty song. So, when you see really whitebread people bopping around to it, it's a truly facepalm moment.
At any rate, the music wasn't quite right. Well, the tune was fine (as fine as such a tune can be) but the lyrics were all wrong. I looked up to see why this musical atrocity was emanating from my TV. Apparently, the advertisers for The Snuggie decided that The Macarena's tune would be a good one to support their commercial. However, they'd altered the lyrics to pimp out their Snuggies.
I'll admit, I have an irrational hatred for Snuggies. I could never really figure out why people would buy them. I mean, they look like someone took polar fleece and made backwards bathrobes out of them (kind of the bastard offspring of a cheap blanket and a hospital gown).
When I was younger, and it was appropriate, I wore bathrobes to cover up or keep warm. Bathrobes are great when you live in a college dorm and want to make the transit from your dorm room to your dorm floor's showers
.
For keeping warm in more sedentary settings, I use blankets or similar coverings. Hell, as I sit here, tapping away at my laptop, on a damp, chilly, raw day, I do so from under a nice quilt.
Snuggies just don't make sense. Get a bathrobe or get a quilt/blanket/duvet/etc. Don't turn a blanket into a robe. And, for gods' sake, don't turn it into a backwards robe. And, for the sake of humanity, don't pimp your wares with a hateful song.
Argh.
Last night, as I sat tapping away at my laptop keyboard, the strains of a familiar, odious song began screeching from my TV. As a slow feeling of dread slimed its way over me, I realized what the tune was. It was the music from The Macarena.
Now, I find The Macarena to be a truly hateful piece of work. It's a pernicious earworm. And, if you actually listen to the lyrics, it's kind of a nasty song. So, when you see really whitebread people bopping around to it, it's a truly facepalm moment.
At any rate, the music wasn't quite right. Well, the tune was fine (as fine as such a tune can be) but the lyrics were all wrong. I looked up to see why this musical atrocity was emanating from my TV. Apparently, the advertisers for The Snuggie decided that The Macarena's tune would be a good one to support their commercial. However, they'd altered the lyrics to pimp out their Snuggies.
I'll admit, I have an irrational hatred for Snuggies. I could never really figure out why people would buy them. I mean, they look like someone took polar fleece and made backwards bathrobes out of them (kind of the bastard offspring of a cheap blanket and a hospital gown).
When I was younger, and it was appropriate, I wore bathrobes to cover up or keep warm. Bathrobes are great when you live in a college dorm and want to make the transit from your dorm room to your dorm floor's showers
.
For keeping warm in more sedentary settings, I use blankets or similar coverings. Hell, as I sit here, tapping away at my laptop, on a damp, chilly, raw day, I do so from under a nice quilt.
Snuggies just don't make sense. Get a bathrobe or get a quilt/blanket/duvet/etc. Don't turn a blanket into a robe. And, for gods' sake, don't turn it into a backwards robe. And, for the sake of humanity, don't pimp your wares with a hateful song.
Argh.
Business, Not Personal
"Small business" is kind of a nifty thing. It creates a lot of jobs - particularly towards the end of periods of economic decline. It is often the source of a lot of innovation - since the really "new" or "out-there" ideas often can't gain traction in large business that have established ways of doing things.
Unfortunately, small businesses tend to leave the ownership too close to the problem. Often times, it's the owners who are doing the dirty work and making decisions. And, often times, these owners are doing work and making decisions on things that they're not the best equipped people out there for those tasks. Complicating it is that, because they've got so much invested, that they have a personal stake in things. So, when they make decisions or involve themselves in things they aren't the best suited for, they often don't make dispassionate decisions.
While, this, in itself doesn't have to be a problem, it often creates a case where, critiquing those decisions or actions is taken personally. Because they've invested not only their businesses but "themselves" in those decisions and/or actions, critiques of those decisions and/or actions are seen as criticisms of them. So, even if things are obviously horrible to people who don't have a stake in the decisions and/or actions, that message often can't be relayed to the ones who made those decisions or took those actions (at least, not without the whole "kill the messenger" result).
Friends and other well-meaning people often exacerbate these problems. Even if they can tell that there's a problem or flaw, they want to be supportive. So, rather than give the critique, they tell them "wow, that's great", even though it's far from great. This reinforces the decision maker's/action taker's view of the rightness of what they've done and makes them even more resistant to fixing the problems (after all, they don't see the problem and their friends are reinforcing that view).
God help you if you're the one that counters this world view. Often times, the only way you can deal with the situation is to walk away - either literally or metaphorically. In those cases, you can hope that enough people walk away that a message is sent (hopefully, not a fatal message, just enough for a wakeup call).
Unfortunately, small businesses tend to leave the ownership too close to the problem. Often times, it's the owners who are doing the dirty work and making decisions. And, often times, these owners are doing work and making decisions on things that they're not the best equipped people out there for those tasks. Complicating it is that, because they've got so much invested, that they have a personal stake in things. So, when they make decisions or involve themselves in things they aren't the best suited for, they often don't make dispassionate decisions.
While, this, in itself doesn't have to be a problem, it often creates a case where, critiquing those decisions or actions is taken personally. Because they've invested not only their businesses but "themselves" in those decisions and/or actions, critiques of those decisions and/or actions are seen as criticisms of them. So, even if things are obviously horrible to people who don't have a stake in the decisions and/or actions, that message often can't be relayed to the ones who made those decisions or took those actions (at least, not without the whole "kill the messenger" result).
Friends and other well-meaning people often exacerbate these problems. Even if they can tell that there's a problem or flaw, they want to be supportive. So, rather than give the critique, they tell them "wow, that's great", even though it's far from great. This reinforces the decision maker's/action taker's view of the rightness of what they've done and makes them even more resistant to fixing the problems (after all, they don't see the problem and their friends are reinforcing that view).
God help you if you're the one that counters this world view. Often times, the only way you can deal with the situation is to walk away - either literally or metaphorically. In those cases, you can hope that enough people walk away that a message is sent (hopefully, not a fatal message, just enough for a wakeup call).
Opportunities
On the plus side, I guess Mike Green's stinger will give the Capitals a chance to bring up someone who actually knows how to play defense.
Not How to Play the Blue-line
I wouldn't rag on Mike Green for his D skills if he were a forward, but, C'MON: he's awful as a blue-liner.
Creeeeeepy....
I look at Vincent Gray and think to myself "I think Mr Herbert (from Family Guy) could get elected mayor of DC".
You can't tell me that Vincent Gray is any less creepy looking than Mr. Herbert...
 |
| Vincent Gray |
 |
| Mr Herbert (Family Guy) |
Chile Is Not Chili
All this talk about the miners in Chile is giving me a craving for Hard Times Cafe.
How to Die Inside
Note to self: don't do a Twitter search to see what people are saying about "real" topics. The results of such a search are enough to make you die a little inside.
Government Out of Our LIves
Fuck you, NoFoodTaxes.Com. How bout we get rid of corn and meat subsidies, instead, if we want "gov't out of our lives"? I think that would be a good start, don't you?
Of course you don't: your campaign is sponsored by corporations that make huge bucks from government subsidies. Not sure how that's not "interference" though.
Of course you don't: your campaign is sponsored by corporations that make huge bucks from government subsidies. Not sure how that's not "interference" though.
Dear Parents:
While I'm sure your child loves cheese, I'm equally sure the cheese sample tray isn't for JUST her.
"I don't even wanna know"
That's pretty much what I say to myself when I see what looks suspiciously like a coffee-cup ring in the urinal.
I Really Prefer My VPN Days
I swear, I could probably single-handedly maintain a "daily wtf" site with what I see on a daily basis.
You're Dead To Me
So, I just got the following in one of my email accounts. This is Oracle's way of saying, "since we bought sun and alienated all of the people that used their products, we don't really have any compelling reason to continue these support channels.
No SunSolve?
Fuck you, Oracle: you and what used to be Sun are dead to me. I do, however, want to thank you for showing me that Microsoft wasn't as evil as I once thought. Nothing like time and actions of others to give you perspective, eh?
To be honest, I was a little surprised to have gotten this. I mean, I thought that I'd deleted all of my accounts that I used to receive emails from Sun.Com from (and, really, I never gave Oracle permission to mail me at any of those addresses). Oh well, hopefully, this will be the last of it. Guess I need to see about setting up filters for those addresses that I can't simply delete.
No SunSolve?
Fuck you, Oracle: you and what used to be Sun are dead to me. I do, however, want to thank you for showing me that Microsoft wasn't as evil as I once thought. Nothing like time and actions of others to give you perspective, eh?
To be honest, I was a little surprised to have gotten this. I mean, I thought that I'd deleted all of my accounts that I used to receive emails from Sun.Com from (and, really, I never gave Oracle permission to mail me at any of those addresses). Oh well, hopefully, this will be the last of it. Guess I need to see about setting up filters for those addresses that I can't simply delete.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Free Gag Reel Material
I think the Transformers 3 producers need to find a way to put Bumblebee's "accident" into the final product - even if just as an outtake.
Dear Twitter:
Your "users you may be interested in" sucks. But it sucks even worse when you repeat suggestion I already hit the "hide" button for. Why isn'te there a "refuse" or other similar option?
Campaign Tactics for the New Millenia?
Krystal Ball "Scandal" Photos:
*Yawn*. I'd be utterly unsurprised if her campaign leaked them as a calculated risk to enhance name recognition.
*Yawn*. I'd be utterly unsurprised if her campaign leaked them as a calculated risk to enhance name recognition.
Dear Microsoft/XBox Live:
To start, your billing system for XBox Live membership renewas sucks. We're not just talking garden-variety suckage, either. We're talking completely broke-dick.
My current Live membership expires in early November (of this year). You, apparently, start working your renewal mojo three months ahead of the expiry. I started getting expiry notifications and "special" renewal offer emails in August.
In early September, I decided to accept the "$10 discount + Microsoft Points" renewal offer. I logged into my XBox billing portal, gave my credit card information and hit "Ok". Within a few minutes of hitting "Ok", I received a confirmation letter to the email account associated with my gamertag. I figured, "cool, that's out of the way".
At the beginning of October, I started getting more "your account expires in November" notifications. I forgot that I'd already done the renewal thing in September (well, to be more precise, I wasn't immediately, absolutely sure I had done it). So, I hit the "renew" button. This time, there was no special offer, just the normal $50/yr dunning. Again, after hitting "Ok", I received a confirmation email.
A week or so later, I got another "your account is expiring in November" notification. By this point, I was in serious "WTF" mode. So, I logged into my email account, verified that I'd actually received two confirmations of renewal. I then went to the XBox Live support web site to send my "WTF" inquiry.
A (business) day or so later, I received a response to my query. Apparently, they can't handle billing queries via the web/email response system. I was given a phone number and a service request number to use. Wanting to get this crap knocked out, I called the number, navigated the call tree and gave the CSR my service request number.
The conversation was very frustrating. The end result seems to be that I won't actually get billed till the expiry date and that I'll get billed the special offer rate (and that the second confirmed rate will not be billed/charged).
Umm... "ok", I guess. This seems really broken. I mean, even if you aren't actually going to bill me till November, shouldn't you update your billing/notification system so that I stop getting expiration warning emails? Once one billing update order has been accepted - even if not charged - shouldn't future attempts to order subscription renewals produce a "your account is already set to renew" messages, rather than a new "confirmation" email?I mean, other than wanting to have customers confused and vexed and having to call in and speak to a CSR, why would you run your renewals system this way? It's hopelessly stupid. And, what if I'd have used a credit card that expired after the transaction date but before the renewal date? Would you have flagged it (somehow, I'm thinking "no")?
Oh well, just more brain damage from Redmond, I suppose.
Web Design Priorities
At the end of the day, humans are who read and use the content you publish. You really should optimize your readers' experience than search engines. Granted, search engines are frequently how users get to your site, but, if you sacrifice human usability for machine usability, those search engine "driven" users won't come back.
How to Piss Me Off (Website Design)
Ok, I'll admit, there's any number of things that a website can do wrong to piss me off and make me not want to return, make me add a 127.0.0.1 mapping for your site to my system's hosts file, etc.
Annoyance #1: Making me chase links to get to teaser content. Biggest offenders (and current residents of my hosts file) 2leep.com, zaparena.com, outbrain.com, neatorama.com and wahoha.com. Others will likely follow as this seems to be an increasingly popular method for "driving traffic". Look, when I see an interesting-looking link on a web page, if I bother to click on that link, I want to immediately go to that story. I don't want to be taken to a page full of new links from which I then have to click on the link that takes me to the content I was originally interested in. I just want to get to that content. If you then exacerbate things by causing a new tab to open for each link I chase, it pisses me off further. If you get really obnoxious and cause entirely new windows to open, it makes me absolutely furious. It makes me want to find your servers and take a hatchet to them. Once done with them, I want to find you for similar treatment. Since this isn't exactly "practical", I just blackhole you.
Annoyance #2: Making every link (or even just a significant percentage) I click on open a new window or new tab. If I want a link to open a new tab or window, I'll right-click on the link and tell my browser to do it. You have no business forcing me to browse any differently than I want to. If you try to force me to browse differently, I'm gonna blackhole you. If I am a member of your web site and you've added this annoyance as "an improvement" to your site or through a site redesign, I will either immediately cancel or allow my membership to lapse (mostly, this will depend on whether I had a paid membership or not) - there are many ways to improve or redesign a site, fucking up navigation is not one of them.
Annoyance #3: Disabling or otherwise fucking up my right-click functionality. I get that you're trying to "protect content" or something, but disabling right-click doesn't do it. If you're sending something to my computer, there's any number of ways for me to "steal" it. Right-click is just the most convenient. Disabling right-clicks disables any number of functionality that I find useful - not just easily saving content. When you disable my right-click, you don't protect your content, you just inconvenience me. I really dislike being inconvenienced. I tend not to re-visit sites that inconvenience me.
Annoyance #4: Requiring plugins, especially uncommon ones, so that "designing" your site is easier for you. Trying to dictate to me which software (and associated security vulnerabilities) I have to run on my computer just so you can hire brain-dead site "designers" is not a sound business model. It alienates people. And, if you want to use these gee-whiz plugins, provide a least-common-denominator model for accessing your site. If your site isn't (meaningfully) usable without plugins, your site isn't usable. If a site ain't usable to me, I ain't gonna re-visit. And, again, if you introduce these issues as part of a "redesign", I will drop my membership in your site.
Annoyance #5: Using a site design that could have come from MySpace circa a decade ago. Keep your design clean, simple and easy to navigate. Use things like conformant CSS to achieve good design. Anyone can write HTML. It's really not that hard. All you need is notepad, vi or the like. And, because "anyone" can write HTML, it's really easy for it to look like you let someone who's read "HTML for Dummies" design your site. If I go to your site and it feels like a migraine, seizure or puke-session feel eminent, I'm not coming back. It's (sorta) ok for personal sites to look like amateur-hour, not professional or subscription-based sites. And, it's really not even ok for personal ones, given the number of sites out there like Blogger/BlogSpot that make it dead easy to create a site with canned-templates.
Annoyance #6: Using an obviously templated design. If I go to your site, the only way I want to know you're running a given set of software is by badging. I don't want to go to your site and say, "ah, they're using WordPress Template 'X' to run their site". I don't want to look at your site and be able to guess what you're running. If I can look at your site and make that guess (even if it's wrong), it means you aren't trying very hard. You aren't trying to create a specific experience. Learn enough CSS (etc.) to create your own, unique look.
Above all, if your site is subscription-based, there has to be something about it that makes it worthwhile. A site that looks amateurish, "canned" or otherwise "low-effort" makes it seem like you're more interested in my money than providing me a good experience. At the core, I know that's always the case, but you shouldn't be bald-faced about it.
Annoyance #1: Making me chase links to get to teaser content. Biggest offenders (and current residents of my hosts file) 2leep.com, zaparena.com, outbrain.com, neatorama.com and wahoha.com. Others will likely follow as this seems to be an increasingly popular method for "driving traffic". Look, when I see an interesting-looking link on a web page, if I bother to click on that link, I want to immediately go to that story. I don't want to be taken to a page full of new links from which I then have to click on the link that takes me to the content I was originally interested in. I just want to get to that content. If you then exacerbate things by causing a new tab to open for each link I chase, it pisses me off further. If you get really obnoxious and cause entirely new windows to open, it makes me absolutely furious. It makes me want to find your servers and take a hatchet to them. Once done with them, I want to find you for similar treatment. Since this isn't exactly "practical", I just blackhole you.
Annoyance #2: Making every link (or even just a significant percentage) I click on open a new window or new tab. If I want a link to open a new tab or window, I'll right-click on the link and tell my browser to do it. You have no business forcing me to browse any differently than I want to. If you try to force me to browse differently, I'm gonna blackhole you. If I am a member of your web site and you've added this annoyance as "an improvement" to your site or through a site redesign, I will either immediately cancel or allow my membership to lapse (mostly, this will depend on whether I had a paid membership or not) - there are many ways to improve or redesign a site, fucking up navigation is not one of them.
Annoyance #3: Disabling or otherwise fucking up my right-click functionality. I get that you're trying to "protect content" or something, but disabling right-click doesn't do it. If you're sending something to my computer, there's any number of ways for me to "steal" it. Right-click is just the most convenient. Disabling right-clicks disables any number of functionality that I find useful - not just easily saving content. When you disable my right-click, you don't protect your content, you just inconvenience me. I really dislike being inconvenienced. I tend not to re-visit sites that inconvenience me.
Annoyance #4: Requiring plugins, especially uncommon ones, so that "designing" your site is easier for you. Trying to dictate to me which software (and associated security vulnerabilities) I have to run on my computer just so you can hire brain-dead site "designers" is not a sound business model. It alienates people. And, if you want to use these gee-whiz plugins, provide a least-common-denominator model for accessing your site. If your site isn't (meaningfully) usable without plugins, your site isn't usable. If a site ain't usable to me, I ain't gonna re-visit. And, again, if you introduce these issues as part of a "redesign", I will drop my membership in your site.
Annoyance #5: Using a site design that could have come from MySpace circa a decade ago. Keep your design clean, simple and easy to navigate. Use things like conformant CSS to achieve good design. Anyone can write HTML. It's really not that hard. All you need is notepad, vi or the like. And, because "anyone" can write HTML, it's really easy for it to look like you let someone who's read "HTML for Dummies" design your site. If I go to your site and it feels like a migraine, seizure or puke-session feel eminent, I'm not coming back. It's (sorta) ok for personal sites to look like amateur-hour, not professional or subscription-based sites. And, it's really not even ok for personal ones, given the number of sites out there like Blogger/BlogSpot that make it dead easy to create a site with canned-templates.
Annoyance #6: Using an obviously templated design. If I go to your site, the only way I want to know you're running a given set of software is by badging. I don't want to go to your site and say, "ah, they're using WordPress Template 'X' to run their site". I don't want to look at your site and be able to guess what you're running. If I can look at your site and make that guess (even if it's wrong), it means you aren't trying very hard. You aren't trying to create a specific experience. Learn enough CSS (etc.) to create your own, unique look.
Above all, if your site is subscription-based, there has to be something about it that makes it worthwhile. A site that looks amateurish, "canned" or otherwise "low-effort" makes it seem like you're more interested in my money than providing me a good experience. At the core, I know that's always the case, but you shouldn't be bald-faced about it.
Practical Purchasing
The best part about buying economic self-help books is you'll be able to burn them to keep warm when the economy inevitably crashes and burns.
I Hate DC-area Driving
The Transformer's Bumble Bee now knows some of why I hate driving in the DC area. I saw the story, this morning on the local Fox affiliate WTTG, but the first link that came up on a Google news search was the one, below, from PopEater:
Seriously, driving in the DC area sucks:
As much as I hate driving here, my hatred was only increased by having spent time driving in Germany. Germany shows you that driving doesn't have to be an exercise in frustration and death-avoidance. It shows that people can be aware of their environment. It shows that people can actually drive without jacking their jaws on their phones or, worse, texting as they drive. You don't see people applying makeup as they drive. You don't see people trying to shove a four-course meal into their pie-holes as they drive. Driving isn't something that you do as part of a multi-tasking feat.
Ugh...
Even the DC cops' driving sucks. In fact, I can't really recall the last time I saw a DC-plated car that I thought to myself, "now there's a driver who isn't a menace." No, most times I see a DC-plated car, I think to myself "why are those cars even allowed outside the DC city-line?"Transformers' Star Bumblebee and Police SUV in Unscripted Collision
1 CommentsBy PopEater Staff Posted Oct 12th 2010 07:01AM|Well, that happened. The injury and accident-plagued set of 'Transformers 3' had another bad day on Monday when a Washington, D.C. police SUV inadvertently became part of a high speed car chase and collided epically with a yellow Chevy Camaro, known in the franchise as "Bumblebee."
In stunning video from MyFoxDC.com, a caravan of 'Transformers 3' vehicles were driving down 3rd Street and Maryland Ave. when, in the distance, a white police car entered the shot. When it reached the intersection, poor Bumblebee zoomed into the scene and smashed into the corner of the SUV.
It played out like a textbook car crash you see in hundreds of films, only this time it wasn't in the script.
According to police sources, the officer in the car was responding to a call about a suspicious package incident nearby. The unnamed officer was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries. Thankfully, no bystanders were hurt, but it's unknown if the stunt driver was harmed.
Shooting of the film in D.C. has been postponed until further notice.
This isn't the first freak accident on the set of a 'Transformers' movie. In September, an extra named Gabriella Cedillo was seriously injured while driving her own car in a scene while a stunt vehicle drove in the opposite direction. A cable towing one of the stunt cars came loose and sliced through Cedillo's car window, striking her in the head.
Cedillo underwent surgery, but her lawyer says she is still unable to speak and is paralyzed on her left side. She is suing Paramount for more than $50,000.
As for other accidents, leading man Shia LeBeouf was nearly blinded by a prop while shooting 'Transformers 2.'
Director Michael Bay does not generally comment on accidents that happen on set.
Seriously, driving in the DC area sucks:
- You have the Maryland drivers who seem to think that the rule is left=slow and right=pass. If I'm on a four lane-wide stretch of empty highway and I'm sitting in the second lane from the right with two empty lanes to my left, the Maryland-plated driver will, invariably, pass me on my right side.
- You have the Virginia-plated drivers who've never heard of cruise-control and hold a grudge against you if you try to pass them. Either they speed up as you start to overtake, or, you end up passing/being passed a half dozen times, even though you've got your cruise-control anchored at SPEEDLIMIT+7.
- The DC-plated drivers... I can't even begin to typify them they're so horrible.
As much as I hate driving here, my hatred was only increased by having spent time driving in Germany. Germany shows you that driving doesn't have to be an exercise in frustration and death-avoidance. It shows that people can be aware of their environment. It shows that people can actually drive without jacking their jaws on their phones or, worse, texting as they drive. You don't see people applying makeup as they drive. You don't see people trying to shove a four-course meal into their pie-holes as they drive. Driving isn't something that you do as part of a multi-tasking feat.
Ugh...
Monday, October 11, 2010
Dear NJ Devils:
Was Kovalchuk worth it when you can't even field a full lineup to support him? Hockey is a team sport. You've just sacrificed the entire team for one person. Yeah, Kovi's a damned fine player, but, one person isn't going to win you the Cup by himself. Worse, when you pin the life and death of your franchise on that player, you end up overplaying them and they get hurt. And, right now, you got no way of filling in the gaps of the inevitable injuries.
God, what a freaking embarrassment. Your team's ownership and management needs to be sued for gross negligence or professional malpractice. WTF.
Sorry bout your team, Devils fans.
God, what a freaking embarrassment. Your team's ownership and management needs to be sued for gross negligence or professional malpractice. WTF.
Sorry bout your team, Devils fans.
NHL Centre Ice FTL
Why the fuck are the NHL Center Ice games predominantly in SD (even when the primary feed is HD)?? It was bad enough when I was on Cox cable. They were at least oversubscribed on their video switches, so I could see that as an excuse not to carry the games in HD. But FiOS? Shouldn't they have sufficient bandwidth to carry NHL Center Ice in all HD? I mean, one of the big selling points of FiOS is better video quality than cable. And, for the most part, it's true ...which makes watching NHL Center Ice in SD even more painful.
Sucktacular.
Verizon: you gotta figure out how to get NHL Center Ice to give you more feeds in HD. I mean, pretty much all the NHL local broadcasters are broadcasting the games in HD, any way, so...
Sucktacular.
Verizon: you gotta figure out how to get NHL Center Ice to give you more feeds in HD. I mean, pretty much all the NHL local broadcasters are broadcasting the games in HD, any way, so...
Too Soon, Chris?
Looking like the Flyers Chris Pronger might have rushed it a touch trying to get back into games. Although, what initially looked like him pancaking was courtesy of Hartnell trying to turbo him down the ice. Dunno if Hartnell woulda done it, though, if Pronger had his wheels fully about him.
On What Planet?
McD's Arctic Orange is only "the real taste of orange" if children's chewable aspirin, Flintstones vitamins or Tang are, as well.
That Was a Useful Holiday
What an accomplishment-filled day: did three of the daily achievements on Halo: Reach. Killmeplz.
Dear Microsoft:
Your CAPTCHA is freaking horrible and your audio version is even worse. WTF? I've only had my hotmail account for about a decade now. One would think that, in all this time of using it as my login for my other Microsoft services, that I'd, somehow, be "confirmed" by now. Presenting me with a CAPTCHA that, by the standards of 99% of the other CAPTCHAs I've ever used is illegible, doesn't make me want to use your garbage services more than necessary. And, somehow, you managed to make the audio version even less useful than the visual one (other than fat-fingering, I've never had to enter a CAPTCHA string more than twice; yours took nine freaking times).
Sincerely,
Another unhappy customer
Sincerely,
Another unhappy customer
Don't Need Your Chaos
My life has enough unavoidable chaos without people bringing their own, easily-avoidable chaos to it. If you know you have a tendency to mislay things like car keys, cellphones, etc., why not pic a consistent place to store them. The reason I generally know where my things are is because I create mindless routines for placing them for later use (it's also why I get so pissed off when my things get moved from their places when people "borrow" them). Seriously: why is it so freaking hard to put things in "their place"?
Why, Cartoon Network? Just, "Why"?
"Children's Hospital" (and all other non-animated shows) on Cartoon Networks makes about as much sense as ghosts and wrestling on SyFy
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Dumb Product Names
"Yoshiblade"??? Why am I thinking that a Mario Brothers character is now in the knife business? Why am I thinking that this is a completely `Merkin product and that someone pulled a "Japanese-sounding" name out of the air?
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Clearly I'm Racist
I know I've already stated that I forgot that Jerome Iginla as actually the first black NHL captain, not Mike Grier. But, lets look at the following pictures and see if we can understand why I might have had this mental lapse:
 |
| Mike Grier |
 |
| Jerome Iginla |
 |
| Token White Guy (probably famous, but I don't recognize him) |
Life in the Sticks
I read articles of righteous indignation and am rarely surprised. I find myself unsurprised by the professionally-outraged nor by the inevitable and eminently predictable comments such articles spawn.
What makes it all so inevitable and predictable? Ignorance. The professionally-outraged earn their sheckles by being outraged. The commenters are generally people seeking to be outraged so that they can vent their righteous indignation and bile. None are really seeking to think or do anything beyond feeling a knee-jerk emotion. And, invariably, the articles and commentary are based on a very limited view of the outrageous situation.
Life in unencorporated areas carries risks. Heavy on the risks are lack of proximity to EMS. Often times, what EMS there is is either purely voluntary or, as in this case, "subscription" based. Again, that's if there's any EMS to be had, at all. It's been this way since before the founding of the country. What works in cities, suburbs and commuter-communities "in the country" just doesn't work in areas of extremely low population densities. It works even less well as the cost of providing EMS goes ever skyward.
Firetrucks and ambulances typically cost six-figures for used equipment. Training for staffs can only be ammortized over a small groups of citizens. Insurance costs, which our litigious society has made increasingly necessary and ever more costly, have to be born by a much smaller pool of contributors.
And, speaking of the issue of insurance, providing service to people who haven't paid their "subscription" can be grounds for an EMS unit losing their insurance coverage - either by straight-up revocation or because their rates became untenable after doing so. So, yeah, it was "heartless" of those mean firemen to standby and do nothing. However, it would have been even more "heartless" for them to have done something that would have cost their entire services-subscribing community from losing their fire services.
Do I think Glen Beck & Co. are utter douchebags for kicking the Cranicks while they are down? Yup, sure do. Do I think the fire department did wrong? Nope: not under the conditions they have to operate under.
What makes it all so inevitable and predictable? Ignorance. The professionally-outraged earn their sheckles by being outraged. The commenters are generally people seeking to be outraged so that they can vent their righteous indignation and bile. None are really seeking to think or do anything beyond feeling a knee-jerk emotion. And, invariably, the articles and commentary are based on a very limited view of the outrageous situation.
Life in unencorporated areas carries risks. Heavy on the risks are lack of proximity to EMS. Often times, what EMS there is is either purely voluntary or, as in this case, "subscription" based. Again, that's if there's any EMS to be had, at all. It's been this way since before the founding of the country. What works in cities, suburbs and commuter-communities "in the country" just doesn't work in areas of extremely low population densities. It works even less well as the cost of providing EMS goes ever skyward.
Firetrucks and ambulances typically cost six-figures for used equipment. Training for staffs can only be ammortized over a small groups of citizens. Insurance costs, which our litigious society has made increasingly necessary and ever more costly, have to be born by a much smaller pool of contributors.
And, speaking of the issue of insurance, providing service to people who haven't paid their "subscription" can be grounds for an EMS unit losing their insurance coverage - either by straight-up revocation or because their rates became untenable after doing so. So, yeah, it was "heartless" of those mean firemen to standby and do nothing. However, it would have been even more "heartless" for them to have done something that would have cost their entire services-subscribing community from losing their fire services.
Do I think Glen Beck & Co. are utter douchebags for kicking the Cranicks while they are down? Yup, sure do. Do I think the fire department did wrong? Nope: not under the conditions they have to operate under.
Did Not Look Good
I like icehockey. Specifically, I like the Philadelphia Flyers. But, I live in the DC Metro-region, so, Caps are always available to watch on local TV/Cable. The Flyers weren't playing tonight (else, I'd be watching via NHL Center Ice), any way, so, I decided to watch the Caps game.
Less than five minutes into the game, play had to be stopped. The Thrashers' goaltender, Ondrej Pavelec, collapsed away from the play. When they finally got the camera on him, his eyes were closed and he was scary-still. Watching it play out, all I could think was "aneurysm" (or, that it had to have been some kind of neurological or cardio/pulmonary event). None of the things that sprang immediately to mind to explain the bizarre situation were good. That he appeared to not move, not even a twitch, between when he collapsed and they gurneyed him off the ice, only reinforced that. About the only (potentially) good sign was that they'd not given him CPR. So, either he wasn't in that level of distress or he'd died on the ice and was obviously not savable (even then, I think they'd have rendered CPR just to show that "they tried").
Hopefully, he recovers. Hopefully, he's not another Jiri Fisher situation.
Less than five minutes into the game, play had to be stopped. The Thrashers' goaltender, Ondrej Pavelec, collapsed away from the play. When they finally got the camera on him, his eyes were closed and he was scary-still. Watching it play out, all I could think was "aneurysm" (or, that it had to have been some kind of neurological or cardio/pulmonary event). None of the things that sprang immediately to mind to explain the bizarre situation were good. That he appeared to not move, not even a twitch, between when he collapsed and they gurneyed him off the ice, only reinforced that. About the only (potentially) good sign was that they'd not given him CPR. So, either he wasn't in that level of distress or he'd died on the ice and was obviously not savable (even then, I think they'd have rendered CPR just to show that "they tried").
Hopefully, he recovers. Hopefully, he's not another Jiri Fisher situation.
If You're a Defenseman, It Means You Should Play DEFENSE
So, will the Capitals' Mike Green actually know how to play DEFENSE, this year (let alone not be an embarrassment on PK)?
Always Seats Available for an Atlanta Game
Has an Atlanta-based pro sports team ever had a home sellout (with all seats actually full)?
Fickle Stomachs
I love colds: I feel hungry, yet, at the same time, the thought of eating something turns my stomach. Grr...
Apologies...
I post identical content to a number of sites: Blogger/BlogSpot, Tumblr, TypePad, WordPress, Xanga and LiveJournal. I do this by posting through the Posterous meta-poster service. It's not so much that I'm trying to spam the internet with my drivel as much as I'm trying to ensure that if any given service dies, I have "backups".
At any rate, Posterous is a fairly decent service. It allows me to easily accomplish my goal of providing redundancy for my content and it offers me two main avenues for doing so: web-based and email-based submission.
I generally do web-based submission rather than email-based. Both methods have their shortcomings. The web-based submission lacks any kind of "draft" or "preview" functionality. So, once you hit that "post" button, it's sent out to all the sites you've designated for replication. If, after doing so, you notice an error, you have to go track down all the scattered posts and manually correct each.
The email-based submission isn't a much better proposition. Posterous's email-submission engine pretty much sucks ass. It sometimes seems to do really random parsing/formatting of long posts. Worse, just because things look perfect in your mail client doesn't mean they'll look anything like that at the various sites the posts get sent to.
As a "ferinstance", a post I submitted this morning had the entire first three paragraph's worth of text was randomly set to a different color and font. on several sites, it made the text invisible as that randomly-set color was the background color used on the destination-site. Even more fun, when you italicizes some text, it will take what should be a simple i-tagWORDi-tag sequence and converts it to a SPAN sequence. Worse, it will sometime embed a line-break before or after the SPAN sequence (I'd have better represented what I meant, but, BlogSpot's editor is kind of rubbish with forcibly exposing tagging).
Oh well, the price of automated formatting is that it gets botched. Even Google fucks it up, at times.
At any rate, Posterous is a fairly decent service. It allows me to easily accomplish my goal of providing redundancy for my content and it offers me two main avenues for doing so: web-based and email-based submission.
I generally do web-based submission rather than email-based. Both methods have their shortcomings. The web-based submission lacks any kind of "draft" or "preview" functionality. So, once you hit that "post" button, it's sent out to all the sites you've designated for replication. If, after doing so, you notice an error, you have to go track down all the scattered posts and manually correct each.
The email-based submission isn't a much better proposition. Posterous's email-submission engine pretty much sucks ass. It sometimes seems to do really random parsing/formatting of long posts. Worse, just because things look perfect in your mail client doesn't mean they'll look anything like that at the various sites the posts get sent to.
As a "ferinstance", a post I submitted this morning had the entire first three paragraph's worth of text was randomly set to a different color and font. on several sites, it made the text invisible as that randomly-set color was the background color used on the destination-site. Even more fun, when you italicizes some text, it will take what should be a simple i-tagWORDi-tag sequence and converts it to a SPAN sequence. Worse, it will sometime embed a line-break before or after the SPAN sequence (I'd have better represented what I meant, but, BlogSpot's editor is kind of rubbish with forcibly exposing tagging).
Oh well, the price of automated formatting is that it gets botched. Even Google fucks it up, at times.
Poor Word Choice?
The bio for @lisaloeb4real says she "loves food and cats". I'm really hoping she means separately.
Finally Got My FiOS Fixed
Well, it only took three trips for them to do it, but, finally, my FiOS appears to be fully fixed. I just did a test download of RedHat 5.5 DVD ISO and got 2.2 MB/s (not Mb/s) for the entire download. Previously, I'd start at about 1.5MB/s for the first few tens of MB, but then the transfer would slow and slow and slow and finally stall.
Dunno why it took three trips to fix, though. Numerous breakdowns in the customer service process...
When I originally reported problems in late August/early September, it was because I had no connectivity at all (and, trying to use my cell phone's browser to find the FiOS tech support number was a rather painful experience). Internal networking was fine and I still had video service. Unfortunately, the FiOS WiFi router wasn't able to pull an IP from its upstream router at the PoP. Once I finally got a VZ tech on the phone, he had me run through the usual script. Wasn't until he discovered that he couldn't remotely reach my ONT that it became evident they'd need to send someone out to address it. Unfortunately, as part of the troubleshooting, they'd had me fully de-power the ONT since they couldn't remote-reboot it. This action not only hadn't fixed the problem, but resulted in me losing video. The ONT eventually reset itself five hours later, but, as of bedtime, that night, it was still offline. Worse, VZ couldn't get a tech to my house for two days.
Donna was NOT happy at the prospect of no video or internet for two days.
As I noted, previously, it finally (sort of) fixed itself sometime in the five hours between going to bed and getting up for the day. We had TV back and basic internet. So, Donna wasn't quite so freaked about the two days to get someone out to look at it. I was relieved to not have to listen to bitching for two days.
Later that afternoon, VZ called to indicate they had a FiOS tech free that day and would I want him to come out. "Happily," I replied. Dude showed up and looked at things, but didn't have any parts to replace the faulty ONT, but did replace the coax-splitter. He indicated that he'd note the problem in the case and someone would be dispatched the next day with parts.
It was rolling up on 1600, the next day, and no techs had either called or arrived. So, I contacted VZ. Apparently, the ticket had been closed by the prior tech. WTF? I was still experiencing slowdowns on long downloads, so, I asked that they open a new case and send someone out to do the parts replacement work.
As with the first phone call, no techs were going to be available for the next day, so, I'd have to wait another day for a tech to come out. Whatever: video was working and internet was mostly working (I could send/receive email, just not download large files).
The tech came out two days later. I was expecting that he was going to replace the ONT that the first tech was supposed to have replaced. Instead, he noted there were problems on the coax line. So, he replaced the splitter (two in two visits). The connectivity was still weird, even though the line was showing "normal" on his diags. So, he replaced the router. He then rolled out.
At this point, we're two splitters and a router (and two tech-visits) into the fix process. Still, I'm having issues with long transfers and, since Halo: Reach came out, I noticed that I'm also having stability issues with XBox Live. Given that I was trying to make achievements in online multi-play, this kinda sucked.
So, this week, I called to see if, maybe, finally, we could get the ONT replaced as was originally expected with the first visit. As with prior calls, tech-dispatch was gonna take two days. Whatevs. So, I agreed to an appointment for Friday, October 8th, 2010 between 08:00 and 12:00. They indicated the tech would call when he was on his way.
It was rolling past 11:30 and I had yet to hear from the tech. So, I went online, found the FiOS tech support number, navigated the call tree and got in the hold-queue. Ten minutes into this process, I got a call from the tech. He was letting me know he'd be here in 15 minutes. So, I hung up on the lovely FiOS hold-music and waited for the tech to show up.
The tech was prompt. He said he'd be here in 10-15 minutes. He got here in 11 minutes. Given the vagaries of traffic in NoVA, I was just happy to see him within 30.
I described the problem and the ongoing issues with getting the device replaced. He asked to see the unit, so, I took him to the basement. He popped the case and noted, "wow, this is an old one". I was kinda like "*BOGGLE*" as it had just been installed in February or March. But, whatever: not really relevant. He asked if it was ok to pull the unit so he could replace it. I noted that I wasn't immediately using the connection and could get/send email from my phone if it was critical. He popped the unit, took it out to his truck, brought back a replacement and popped it in. He tried to do some remote-office work on his VZ laptop, but, the cellular-wireless card in his laptop wasn't getting good signal in our basement. So, he excused himself to his truck so he could take care of the administrative details to get the unit to come online.
He said it'd be about 10-15 minutes, so, I walked him to the door and sat in front of my blank TV and useless laptop and waited. About 9 minutes later, video signal came back on the TV. I then noticed that my laptop had just noted the arrival of new mail. So, I figured, cool, shit's back online. So, I hit up RHN to establish a test download. 2.2MB/s.
Tech came back in about five minutes later. I let him know that things were looking good. I had video and was running a download that was holding speed and had done so at a higher rate and for a longer time than any recent ones had since prior the ONT replacement. He gave me his contact info and headed off.
So, at this point we look good. Took a while, but, we got there.
The FiOS experience has been interesting. Within the first month, I'd had to replace the HD-DVR set-top box. Then, this whole fiasco with an (apparently old yet newly installed) ONT failing that resulted in the replacement of two co-ax splitters and a WiFi router before finally replacing the faulting ONT. I've had FiOS for a little over half a year. That's a LOT of hardware death. Oh well. We're good, for now.
Dunno why it took three trips to fix, though. Numerous breakdowns in the customer service process...
When I originally reported problems in late August/early September, it was because I had no connectivity at all (and, trying to use my cell phone's browser to find the FiOS tech support number was a rather painful experience). Internal networking was fine and I still had video service. Unfortunately, the FiOS WiFi router wasn't able to pull an IP from its upstream router at the PoP. Once I finally got a VZ tech on the phone, he had me run through the usual script. Wasn't until he discovered that he couldn't remotely reach my ONT that it became evident they'd need to send someone out to address it. Unfortunately, as part of the troubleshooting, they'd had me fully de-power the ONT since they couldn't remote-reboot it. This action not only hadn't fixed the problem, but resulted in me losing video. The ONT eventually reset itself five hours later, but, as of bedtime, that night, it was still offline. Worse, VZ couldn't get a tech to my house for two days.
Donna was NOT happy at the prospect of no video or internet for two days.
As I noted, previously, it finally (sort of) fixed itself sometime in the five hours between going to bed and getting up for the day. We had TV back and basic internet. So, Donna wasn't quite so freaked about the two days to get someone out to look at it. I was relieved to not have to listen to bitching for two days.
Later that afternoon, VZ called to indicate they had a FiOS tech free that day and would I want him to come out. "Happily," I replied. Dude showed up and looked at things, but didn't have any parts to replace the faulty ONT, but did replace the coax-splitter. He indicated that he'd note the problem in the case and someone would be dispatched the next day with parts.
It was rolling up on 1600, the next day, and no techs had either called or arrived. So, I contacted VZ. Apparently, the ticket had been closed by the prior tech. WTF? I was still experiencing slowdowns on long downloads, so, I asked that they open a new case and send someone out to do the parts replacement work.
As with the first phone call, no techs were going to be available for the next day, so, I'd have to wait another day for a tech to come out. Whatever: video was working and internet was mostly working (I could send/receive email, just not download large files).
The tech came out two days later. I was expecting that he was going to replace the ONT that the first tech was supposed to have replaced. Instead, he noted there were problems on the coax line. So, he replaced the splitter (two in two visits). The connectivity was still weird, even though the line was showing "normal" on his diags. So, he replaced the router. He then rolled out.
At this point, we're two splitters and a router (and two tech-visits) into the fix process. Still, I'm having issues with long transfers and, since Halo: Reach came out, I noticed that I'm also having stability issues with XBox Live. Given that I was trying to make achievements in online multi-play, this kinda sucked.
So, this week, I called to see if, maybe, finally, we could get the ONT replaced as was originally expected with the first visit. As with prior calls, tech-dispatch was gonna take two days. Whatevs. So, I agreed to an appointment for Friday, October 8th, 2010 between 08:00 and 12:00. They indicated the tech would call when he was on his way.
It was rolling past 11:30 and I had yet to hear from the tech. So, I went online, found the FiOS tech support number, navigated the call tree and got in the hold-queue. Ten minutes into this process, I got a call from the tech. He was letting me know he'd be here in 15 minutes. So, I hung up on the lovely FiOS hold-music and waited for the tech to show up.
The tech was prompt. He said he'd be here in 10-15 minutes. He got here in 11 minutes. Given the vagaries of traffic in NoVA, I was just happy to see him within 30.
I described the problem and the ongoing issues with getting the device replaced. He asked to see the unit, so, I took him to the basement. He popped the case and noted, "wow, this is an old one". I was kinda like "*BOGGLE*" as it had just been installed in February or March. But, whatever: not really relevant. He asked if it was ok to pull the unit so he could replace it. I noted that I wasn't immediately using the connection and could get/send email from my phone if it was critical. He popped the unit, took it out to his truck, brought back a replacement and popped it in. He tried to do some remote-office work on his VZ laptop, but, the cellular-wireless card in his laptop wasn't getting good signal in our basement. So, he excused himself to his truck so he could take care of the administrative details to get the unit to come online.
He said it'd be about 10-15 minutes, so, I walked him to the door and sat in front of my blank TV and useless laptop and waited. About 9 minutes later, video signal came back on the TV. I then noticed that my laptop had just noted the arrival of new mail. So, I figured, cool, shit's back online. So, I hit up RHN to establish a test download. 2.2MB/s.
Tech came back in about five minutes later. I let him know that things were looking good. I had video and was running a download that was holding speed and had done so at a higher rate and for a longer time than any recent ones had since prior the ONT replacement. He gave me his contact info and headed off.
So, at this point we look good. Took a while, but, we got there.
The FiOS experience has been interesting. Within the first month, I'd had to replace the HD-DVR set-top box. Then, this whole fiasco with an (apparently old yet newly installed) ONT failing that resulted in the replacement of two co-ax splitters and a WiFi router before finally replacing the faulting ONT. I've had FiOS for a little over half a year. That's a LOT of hardware death. Oh well. We're good, for now.
Odd Sounds
So, this year, the NHL's holding a series of preseason and regular season games in Europe. Right now, Versus is showing the Carolina Hurricanes vs. Minnesota Wild game. The Versus commentators are doing their thing in English, but, the arena-announcer is doing his thing in (presumably) Finnish. Any time there's a penalty, goal or other such event of note, it sounds like the Martians have invaded.
Subliminal Message
Ok, so, today on Price is Right (shut up: it's a guilty pleasure and one of the benefits of telecommuting) they were doing "Check Out" as one of the pricing games. One of the products to be priced was "Flipz" chocolate-covered pretzels:
Now, is it just me, or does it look more like their name is "Hipz"? I mean, it seems like it's trying to subliminally say, "ladies, you eat these and they're going straight to your hips."
 |
| Flipz Chocolate Pretzels |
Quit Yer Bitchin'
So, in recent weeks I've frequently seen the nofoodtaxes.com commercials, and, this morning, a news story came on about how NYC is asking that Food Stamps impose nutritional restrictions on their use.
Now, to start, I am not a fan of the government telling me how I should or am to live my life. So, I can understand people being against nutritional value-based taxation to encourage good eating habits. At the same time, the government of this country has been imposing "sin taxes" on things like alcohol, tobacco and other deleterious items pretty much since the founding of the country (hell, Kentucky bourbon might not have come into existence had it not been for such policies).
I get that people love their sodas, snack cakes, etc. However, much like cigarettes and other industrial consumables, these products have been optimized by their makers to make you crave more of them. So, of course if you eat or drink them you want to be able to continue to eat or drink them. But, whatever. More power to you if you want to eat or drink yourself into the grave.
At the same time, with what NYC is asking, it's not quite the same as seeking to tax bad nutrition out of existence. All it is is saying, "not on my dime". You, as a Food Stamp user are free to buy what you want ...with your own money.
People that have been on WIC have been faced with these restrictions throughout their participation period. It's part and parcel of the program's goals (to promote good nutrition).
People that are receiving Food Stamps are also almost exclusively receiving their medical care through government subsidized/paid medical programs. As such, nutritional choices they make that negatively impact their health directly increases their need for using that assistance. So, by allowing Food Stamps to pay for bad nutrition, tax-payers end up paying twice: first for the foods bought and again for the medical care used to treat food-related health problems (e.g., diabetes). And, if you want to be REALLY honest, tax-payers are getting hit three times when you factor in the farm subsidies allocated to the food industry to produce cheap, calorie-dense things like HFCS. But, I digress...
At any rate, it just "makes sense" to put conditions on "help". If my goals are to help you survive and/or thrive, I'm not going to want my help to be self-sabotaging. I don't want one helpful act I've undertaken to create a requirement for another helpful act. WIC is basically an example of how it can be (philosophically) "done right". Perhaps the Feds should just be consistent and put the same/similar restrictions on Food Stamps that they do on WIC.
Now, to start, I am not a fan of the government telling me how I should or am to live my life. So, I can understand people being against nutritional value-based taxation to encourage good eating habits. At the same time, the government of this country has been imposing "sin taxes" on things like alcohol, tobacco and other deleterious items pretty much since the founding of the country (hell, Kentucky bourbon might not have come into existence had it not been for such policies).
I get that people love their sodas, snack cakes, etc. However, much like cigarettes and other industrial consumables, these products have been optimized by their makers to make you crave more of them. So, of course if you eat or drink them you want to be able to continue to eat or drink them. But, whatever. More power to you if you want to eat or drink yourself into the grave.
At the same time, with what NYC is asking, it's not quite the same as seeking to tax bad nutrition out of existence. All it is is saying, "not on my dime". You, as a Food Stamp user are free to buy what you want ...with your own money.
People that have been on WIC have been faced with these restrictions throughout their participation period. It's part and parcel of the program's goals (to promote good nutrition).
People that are receiving Food Stamps are also almost exclusively receiving their medical care through government subsidized/paid medical programs. As such, nutritional choices they make that negatively impact their health directly increases their need for using that assistance. So, by allowing Food Stamps to pay for bad nutrition, tax-payers end up paying twice: first for the foods bought and again for the medical care used to treat food-related health problems (e.g., diabetes). And, if you want to be REALLY honest, tax-payers are getting hit three times when you factor in the farm subsidies allocated to the food industry to produce cheap, calorie-dense things like HFCS. But, I digress...
At any rate, it just "makes sense" to put conditions on "help". If my goals are to help you survive and/or thrive, I'm not going to want my help to be self-sabotaging. I don't want one helpful act I've undertaken to create a requirement for another helpful act. WIC is basically an example of how it can be (philosophically) "done right". Perhaps the Feds should just be consistent and put the same/similar restrictions on Food Stamps that they do on WIC.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
How to Annoy Me
I write quite a lot of publicly-accessible material. Still... I AM an introvert. People trying to engage me should read this article.
(Yet More) Dead Ringers
I'm pretty sure that the Pittsburgh Penguins' Tyler Kennedy...
...Is the bastard son of Henry Waxman:
So, when he's done with hockey, maybe Tyler can cash-in and become a corrupt politician?
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| Tyler Kennedy |
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| Henry Waxman |
So, when he's done with hockey, maybe Tyler can cash-in and become a corrupt politician?
History Repeating Itself
So, if you're the Penguins, your strategy is to lose your arena-opener to ensure longer-term good fortune?
Creeptacular
The new Ovie/CCM commercial is creepy. Is Ovie hoping to eventually be a Bond villain (maybe Jaws II)?
Dear NHL/Versus:
This opening to the season is wicked-ghey. Squalling teen girls and emo piano music? Awesome. I'm not sure you could have come up with a more nutless way to open the season.
(More) Dead Ringers
I thought the whole Katy Perry/Zooey Deschanel thing was bad enough:
But then, the casting director for Caprica had to throw in
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| Katy Perry |
 |
| Zooey Deschanel |
But then, the casting director for Caprica had to throw in
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| Alessandra Torresani |
WTF? Has the universe run out of molds or are we looking at the results of very good cloning experiments. And, if the latter, which is the original and which are the dupes (or are they all dupes of some hot, not famous science-chick)?
Any way, I'm not complaining.
Any way, I'm not complaining.
Actions and Interpretations
If you feed the dog some scraps from the table and he immediately licks his ass, is that a bad sign?
Must It Be Moist
Dear Universe:
Just because you've seen fit to halt the drizzle from the sky, you don't need to replace it with drizzle from my nose.
Just because you've seen fit to halt the drizzle from the sky, you don't need to replace it with drizzle from my nose.
Can't Put Toothpaste Back in the Tube
Dear NoFoodTaxes.Com:
The "no sin taxes" boat sailed DECADES ago. Much as you won't get any pity from the alcohol or tobacco industries, you won't get any from me, either.
Oh well: at least you used a .com domain for your astroturf site...
The "no sin taxes" boat sailed DECADES ago. Much as you won't get any pity from the alcohol or tobacco industries, you won't get any from me, either.
Oh well: at least you used a .com domain for your astroturf site...
Isn't That Convenient
I give: how can prosecuters ask to suppress the results of lie-detector test? I mean, I can understand if the defendant said, "I'm gonna prove my innocence by hiring some schmuck to give me a lie-detector test," and then handed you the (presumably rigged) results "proving" innocence. What I don't get is, if you initiated or had any part in having the test taken, then how can you say "we should throw that out because it doesn't prove my point."
I mean, it's nice being on the side of law enforcement. The government has, essentially, unlimited resources to throw at getting a conviction. And, if the guys on your team do something sketchy (or downright wrong), they'll all cover for each other.
The guy on the other end of the criminal law apparatus? Well, he's ok if he's rich, famous or both.
But, in the end, how can you take an already stacked desk and demand that it be stacked further?
I mean, it's nice being on the side of law enforcement. The government has, essentially, unlimited resources to throw at getting a conviction. And, if the guys on your team do something sketchy (or downright wrong), they'll all cover for each other.
The guy on the other end of the criminal law apparatus? Well, he's ok if he's rich, famous or both.
But, in the end, how can you take an already stacked desk and demand that it be stacked further?
Are Some Things "Out of Bounds"?
Are you the kind of person that would grammar- or spelling-flame a suicide note?
Things Not to Do (A continuing series...)
Never take a bulldog to a cat show if you have it wearing a t-shirt with this on...
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| Not the best t-shirt |
Once Again From the Top: Perception != Reality
Fuck you... Just because you're paying greater attention to a problem doesn't mean it's a "growing problem"
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Dead Ringers
How sad: it wasn't, in fact, Robert Smith that played the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 2010 Robin Hood.
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| Matthew MacFadyen |
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| Fat-Bob in the Middle |
Ok, so, not quite a dead-ringer, but put either in period attire...
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| Sheriff of Nottingham |
Gotta Pick Your Terms
I wouldn't so much call myself "anti-social" as much as I would call myself "asocial". I mean, "anti-social" has a lot of connotations that aren't quite accurate. Using "asocial" is much closer to what I am. I mean, when I need them, I have social skills. Though, it'd probably be more accurate to say that I have professional social skills. I'd probably have personal social skills if I could figure out why the hell anyone would want to interact with me in the first place. I'm not real big on chit-chat. Seems like a waste of time to talk at length about nothing. And, yes, I appreciate the intrinsic irony of making that statement within the context of an entire "blog" (ugh: hate that term - sounds vaguely scatalogical) that's essentially me talking about nothing (either in blurbs or at length). <tangent>Maybe I blog because I love the opportunity to use parentheses? But, I digress. <subtangent>Perhaps it's the ADHD?</subtangent></tangent> At any rate, when I think of the term "anti-social" I think of the socially inept, clue-lacking hater of his fellow man. That's not exactly me. While I find that many things that my fellow man do are utterly hateful and frequently leave me utterly exasperated, I don't necessarily "hate people". I just hate the things that people do. I used to be disappointed by people. Then, I tried lowering my expectations. And, when that, inevitably, failed to work, I simply tried to develop my abilities to ignore and sublimate. I tried to turn everything into a game and find ways of constructing those games such that I'd win (even if most people aren't really cognizant that they're a participant in my games). While I can be or act social, I generally choose not to. The skills and such are there, I'm just discriminating in when I choose to expend the energies to use them. I think that makes me more asocial than anti-social. I'm indifferent to people and society, not actively looking forward to its demise.
And On It Goes...
Yay... Gonna get a THIRD visit from the FiOS techs. Hopefully, THIS TIME, they actually bring the replacement part with them.
It's All a Matter of Perspective
I may not have been saved, buy my documents/posts/comments/etc. have been.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
LJ Maintenance
So, adding LJ to my "updates" email distribution list was a mistake. Just erased a bunch of stuff on there. Also de-linked the few friends I actually had on there. Six(?) clicks and all the friend-links are one way. At least at this point, the only shit that's viewable, there, is the same stuff that's viewable, here. Need to keep someplace that I can write closed.
Sorry, But That Sucked
Note to self: reading the post-show tweets over Caprica is a great way to diminish your view of your fellow sci-fi viewers.
New Writing Staff?
Ok, so, just watched the new episode of Caprica: it seems like the show's gone completely off the rails.
I mean, for starters, it felt like they left out about four episodes between last season's last episode and this season's first episode. And, many of the "twists" felt rather forced and predictable. The only real "surprises" were how frayed the story lines were and how randomly some thing seemed to be popped in.
Oh well, assuming there's not a Flyers conflict and they don't move it into confilct NCIS (mmm.... Abby), I'll probably watch more episodes.
That reminds me: I've got several unwatched episodes of last season's Dr. Who to delete. That show left me saying, "meh," too.
I mean, for starters, it felt like they left out about four episodes between last season's last episode and this season's first episode. And, many of the "twists" felt rather forced and predictable. The only real "surprises" were how frayed the story lines were and how randomly some thing seemed to be popped in.
Oh well, assuming there's not a Flyers conflict and they don't move it into confilct NCIS (mmm.... Abby), I'll probably watch more episodes.
That reminds me: I've got several unwatched episodes of last season's Dr. Who to delete. That show left me saying, "meh," too.
Don't Force It
False praise is a quicker path to resentment than harsh reality. And, even if it's meant to be genuine, if it sounds or feels forced, it's just as resentment-inducing. The key word here is feels. Doesn't have to be false or forced, it just has to be felt as such.
Fuel for the Fire
The benefit of youth is that wanting can be enough fuel to get you there. As you get older, even if you are "hungry", that easily becomes no longer enough.
Real?
So, what exactly is "real" about any of the shows that have "The Real" in their name? I mean, aside from my real desire to pimp-slap every freaking person on the show? Nothing about these shows are "real". The dialogue's not "real" (unless "real" somehow encompasses "scripted") and the people aren't "real" - at least not in a way that represents people more commonly in their positions.
Fuck "real".
Fuck "real".
By What Standards?
How is it possible for life to let you down when you had no concrete definition for how it should have been?
Careful, Jersey: you're pushing yourselves down a VERY slippery slope over someone's *suicide*.
I know it's outrageous. I know you want to rise up in righteous indignation. And, I know you want to do something. You don't, however, want to mortgage everyone's future just for the illusion of "justice" today. Down that path, madness and damnation lays.
The only thing more tragic than the Clementi case is the distortion of the law various groups want to perpetrate to "set an example".
The only thing more tragic than the Clementi case is the distortion of the law various groups want to perpetrate to "set an example".
Living La Vida Frustrada
If you have a drive to succeed and excel, 14mo. of achieving nothing starts to erode your self-confidence and your sanity.
Endings
I figure, if I can go a month without FB, it will be safe to log in and actually fully delete my account. Dunno whether I trust the "delete account" function or if I should log in and manually take care of each and every piece. I probably need to see if I can extract friends' contact info from it before completely going dark.
Monday, October 4, 2010
It's (Not) a Wonderful Life
I'm old enough to remember when the movie shown anywhere and everywhere during the Christmas TV movie season was Capra's It's a Wonderful Life rather than the current fave, Shepherd's A Christmas Story. Even from a very young age, I came to dread the coming of the holiday season because of how frequently Capra's story was shown. Oddly enough, I'm still able to sit through the Turner Network's various marathon's of Shepherd's story.
I think part of why I always dreaded the inevitable showings of It's a Wonderful Life was that I took a completely different message from it than the one that everyone around me did. While many people simply grew tired of it from overexposure, they all seemed to take a positive message from it. Me? Not so much.
The message that It's a Wonderful Life seems to try to convey, at least as I interpret from the reactions of those around me, is that we're all unique and important; that we all make more important and positive impacts on our worlds than each of us may realize. And, well, I get that that may be the case. I get that each of us is frequently unaware or not fully aware of the impacts our lives have on others. I get that some, many or all of those unfelt/unnoticed impacts may be positive ones. There's also the not-so-subtle message that suicide, or even just the wish to have never existed, is "selfish". I don't know so much that I simply disagree with this view or don't care about it being selfish.
We're all selfish. In the end, everything we seek to do benefits us, in one form or another. Even "completely selfless" charity, isn't. Why? Because, even if, objectively, you receive no benefit or, indeed, cause yourself genuine hardship to accomplish it, you're still benefiting in some way. At the very least, you feel good about having done something. Yeah, you can't really put an objective pricetag on that good feeling, but, it may be worth more to the do-gooder than anything more tangible that they might receive for any other action they undertake. So, no, nothing's "selfless".
What's worse, to me, about the message of It's a Wonderful Life is that it tries to substitute others' selfishness for that of the protagonist. It tries to convince the protagonist that, without him, many other people - indeed, an entire town - would have been worse off. The message most people take away from it is "you should cherish your life because you're really important to the world." whereas, the message I take from it is one of being told, "you should live because, without you, my life would be less/worse." The message I take from it is is that your selfishness is worth more than mine is.
Other than because your selfishness is yours, in the end, why should it be more important than mine? Ultimately, why should I really give a flying fuck? Why shouldn't my selfishness be more important to me than anyone else's?
I admit, however, that, for a long time I've bought into the selfishness of others being more important than my own. Indeed, much of the life I've constructed has been geared towards ensuring that the needs of others outweigh my own. I've taken on obligations to anchor me. I've made it so that I can't, in good conscience (who knew I had one of those?), just disappear (either from my current life or the face of the earth) without there being repercussions for others. I took on a house. I took on pets. I took on a wife. Had the stars aligned, I'd probably even have taken on children.
Perhaps that they didn't align should be taken as a sign that it was a stupid strategy. I should take it as a sign of the Universe saying, "you need to come up with better crutches than that."
Perhaps I do need a better crutch. Or, perhaps, I need to just stop trying to anchor myself. Perhaps I need to let my underlying selfishness just shine fully through.
I think part of why I always dreaded the inevitable showings of It's a Wonderful Life was that I took a completely different message from it than the one that everyone around me did. While many people simply grew tired of it from overexposure, they all seemed to take a positive message from it. Me? Not so much.
The message that It's a Wonderful Life seems to try to convey, at least as I interpret from the reactions of those around me, is that we're all unique and important; that we all make more important and positive impacts on our worlds than each of us may realize. And, well, I get that that may be the case. I get that each of us is frequently unaware or not fully aware of the impacts our lives have on others. I get that some, many or all of those unfelt/unnoticed impacts may be positive ones. There's also the not-so-subtle message that suicide, or even just the wish to have never existed, is "selfish". I don't know so much that I simply disagree with this view or don't care about it being selfish.
We're all selfish. In the end, everything we seek to do benefits us, in one form or another. Even "completely selfless" charity, isn't. Why? Because, even if, objectively, you receive no benefit or, indeed, cause yourself genuine hardship to accomplish it, you're still benefiting in some way. At the very least, you feel good about having done something. Yeah, you can't really put an objective pricetag on that good feeling, but, it may be worth more to the do-gooder than anything more tangible that they might receive for any other action they undertake. So, no, nothing's "selfless".
What's worse, to me, about the message of It's a Wonderful Life is that it tries to substitute others' selfishness for that of the protagonist. It tries to convince the protagonist that, without him, many other people - indeed, an entire town - would have been worse off. The message most people take away from it is "you should cherish your life because you're really important to the world." whereas, the message I take from it is one of being told, "you should live because, without you, my life would be less/worse." The message I take from it is is that your selfishness is worth more than mine is.
Other than because your selfishness is yours, in the end, why should it be more important than mine? Ultimately, why should I really give a flying fuck? Why shouldn't my selfishness be more important to me than anyone else's?
I admit, however, that, for a long time I've bought into the selfishness of others being more important than my own. Indeed, much of the life I've constructed has been geared towards ensuring that the needs of others outweigh my own. I've taken on obligations to anchor me. I've made it so that I can't, in good conscience (who knew I had one of those?), just disappear (either from my current life or the face of the earth) without there being repercussions for others. I took on a house. I took on pets. I took on a wife. Had the stars aligned, I'd probably even have taken on children.
Perhaps that they didn't align should be taken as a sign that it was a stupid strategy. I should take it as a sign of the Universe saying, "you need to come up with better crutches than that."
Perhaps I do need a better crutch. Or, perhaps, I need to just stop trying to anchor myself. Perhaps I need to let my underlying selfishness just shine fully through.
Nice Hair-dye
Flipping channels, hit "Two and a Half Men": when did Charlie Sheen start dying his hair with black shoe polish?
Yes, I Am Inconsistent
So, if you're looking at the post count on this blog, you'll see that, as of this entry, there were just shy of 900 posts. That's 900 posts since mid-May, when I began actually posting to this blog. This activity is primarily thanks to linking-in content from other sites I post to. As such, it doesn't represent all of the my various postings during that time period.
Those numbers aside, there are days when I just want to delete myself and all traces of my existence. However, I force myself not to because I know that I'd come to regret such a move. Part of what drives me to post is that I doubt my own execptional memory. I figure that, at least if I can go back to this (and other sites I've posted to), I can verify that my memories are genuine.
Why this concern? Well, I've always seemed to have a memory that far exceeds my peers - both in shear volume and level of detail. When things are that far from the norm, it creates doubt about how genuine things are.So, at least if I have my memories logged online, I can always go back and verify, "yes, that did happen and wasn't all just some kind of fabrication."
It probably doesn't help me that my mom's side of the family has a heavy incidence of dementia. So, I'm also sort of afraid that if I don't do this, eventually the vast memory-scape I have will go to nothing and I'll have no way of "getting it back".
Besides, if the whole whole Caprica thing about recomposing people from their online presences ever works out, I just might be one of the few immortals from my generation. ;)
Those numbers aside, there are days when I just want to delete myself and all traces of my existence. However, I force myself not to because I know that I'd come to regret such a move. Part of what drives me to post is that I doubt my own execptional memory. I figure that, at least if I can go back to this (and other sites I've posted to), I can verify that my memories are genuine.
Why this concern? Well, I've always seemed to have a memory that far exceeds my peers - both in shear volume and level of detail. When things are that far from the norm, it creates doubt about how genuine things are.So, at least if I have my memories logged online, I can always go back and verify, "yes, that did happen and wasn't all just some kind of fabrication."
It probably doesn't help me that my mom's side of the family has a heavy incidence of dementia. So, I'm also sort of afraid that if I don't do this, eventually the vast memory-scape I have will go to nothing and I'll have no way of "getting it back".
Besides, if the whole whole Caprica thing about recomposing people from their online presences ever works out, I just might be one of the few immortals from my generation. ;)
Spread the Word
Damn... I know women well on their way or past 40 who need to look at this list for women over 30...
It's In Our Genes
How do we end bullying? Given that it's probably been going on since before we became homo sapiens, I'm thinking "you can't"
SAD Fall
Down-side of an exceptionally grey and rainy start to fall: SAD seems to kick in earlier/harder.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
FiOS DC Network Issues?
I noticed that my browsing speeds were slow and, at best, spotty. So, decided to hit SpeedTest.Net to see what's up. It looks like my connectivity to the (geographically) local test server.
This didn't look too awful for my service tier. So, I thought, "hmm... Might wanna check to see if there might be something NOT reflected in local tests." So, I tried tests to several different locations and got the following:
So, best I can guess is that there's a problem leaving the VZ networks (or at least their DC area links)
Fuck You Verizon
So, apparently, at some point in time, Verizon Wireless signed some kind of agreement with Facebook (as they have with other online "services") to automatically install an uninstallable application on your smartphone (I'm assuming all their smartphones and not just the BlackBerry Storms). This was probably a while ago, but, it wasn't until tonight, when I unistalled the FB app I'd installed several months ago, that I discovered it. You see, after I'd selected the FB application for deletion, upon reboot, there was a different FB app icon on my home screen of my Storm. WTF?
Unfortunately, whenever Verizon Wireless does this shit, they make it something that can't be deleted. All you can do is hide the application. Because VZW does this so frequently, I've created a "Junk VZ Apps" folder where I can move these unremoveable applications. I'm sure, once VZ figures this ploy out, they'll come up with some kind of countermeasure.
Shit like this makes me consider ending my plan with them. My BlackBerry is chronically short on memory, as is, and you can't offload apps to the SD card (where I have plenty of storage capacity). So, I don't install that much on it, to begin with. I've called VZW to complain about these unremoveable installs, before. They "helpful" techs inform me there's nothing that they can do but that it's just a stub. It's not really taking up device memory.
I find this somewhat hard to believe. Surely that image on my screen consumes some memory to render (etc.). Surely, even if it's just a stub for downloading the full app, it takes some device memory to put that stub on my phone. Stop eating my already chronically short device memory, fuckers.
Nothing's Changed my mind
So, at this point in time, it's looking like the Kolb experiment is a failure (and we've no backup, either).
When they first picked him up, I had two reactions: "who" and "why". I still don't really know the answer to the former and, after this year's decisions around him, the latter is greatly amplified.
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