Pages Tagged “Category: Annoyances”
Blog Posts
- Something Went Wrong
I really wish GNOME’s “Oh No! Something went wrong!” screen would let me restart just the crashed components instead of forcing me to log out completely. Or let me decide if I’m willing to continue without whatever crashed. If the audio broke, and I’m not doing anything that needs sound right now, it shouldn’t block […]
- The Firehose and the Jetpack
I’ve been meaning to disconnect from Jetpack for a while now. This seems like a good time to do it, and to finally clear out the older Tumblr and WordPress.com blogs I don’t use anymore. Tumblr and WordPress to Sell Users’ Data to Train AI Tools — 404 Media It’s the kind of thing that […]
- Black Friday: Lesson Learned?
I usually make a point not to go shopping at all on Black Friday if I can help it. The kid really wanted to go to Micro Center. Now, after waiting in a line that went all the way round the store, he understands why I don’t go shopping on Black Friday.
- Remember Back When Sudafed WORKED?
It’s been 18 years since drug companies replaced pseudoephedrine with phenylephrine to keep their cold medications available over the counter when the people waging War On Drugs(tm) decided to restrict the main ingredient in Sudafed (and what it was named after) because it could be used to make meth. Though I remember some other decongestant […]
- Intentionally Contaminated
Food companies are adding sesame flour to foods that didn’t have sesame so they can “comply” with new labeling requirements by always labeling “contains sesame” instead of instead of adding it to their existing cross-contamination protocols. Meaning people with sesame allergy are suddenly finding that foods they used to be able to eat are now […]
- Twitter: Amp Up the Noise
Making the blue check mark mean “This person can afford $20/month†instead of “This person is who they say they are†is only the latest way Twitter has downgraded its signal/noise ratio over the years.
- Bad Design: Splitting Notification Preferences
Splitting notification preferences across the app UI and the system UI is a mess for usability. But if the goal is making you see more notifications?
- May I Have Your Attention Please. All of it. FOREVER.
One thing I like about the Fediverse is that it doesn’t constantly scream for your attention to keep you online as long as possible.
- Auto-Update Overload! (Or, Google Drive-ing me Crazy!)
Two hot takes (so to speak): Auto-updaters shouldn’t run when the system is really busy. And installers that check to see the whether the same or newer version is “already installed” should either be really thorough about what they’re checking, or offer to do a repair install anyway. Overheat! I’d fired up a game of […]
- Gravity Has its Eyes on You
I guess I’m throwing away my shot after all.
- Virtual Waiting Room
Waiting at home for a link to a video call is, in some ways, better than waiting at the doctor’s office. You’re home, after all! You can use your most comfortable chair. You don’t have to worry about getting sick from other people in the waiting room. You know where the bathroom is, you can […]
- Individualism: Healthy vs Unhealthy Varieties
I’ve been thinking about individualism, and how there are healthy versions and unhealthy versions. For instance… Healthy: If you can take care of something yourself, do it, so you don’t have to rely on someone else to do those things. Self-reliance is valuable, but it’s only one tool in the toolbox, and you recognize situations […]
- Outbreakers
You know how in every outbreak movie there’s someone who thinks quarantines shouldn’t apply to them and ends up spreading the disease past where it could have been stopped? I never thought we’d see a bunch of them getting together for protest marches. Basically “we don’t need brakes because we didn’t actually hit the wall […]
- Don’t Disable Paste!
App and website developers: please do not disable paste on your login forms. Let people use password managers so they can keep a unique password for your site that’s resistant to both password-guessing and password-sharing attacks. Thank you.
- Instagram Getting Even More Hostile to the Web
Instagram is now requiring you to sign in to view public profiles. You can still look at (for example), my Instagram profile, but once you scroll down a few pages, it pops up a login form and you’re stuck. A spokesperson said, “This is to help people see photos on Instagram and then understand how […]
- Dear Twitter: Please Ditch the Clutter
Have you ever been to a Las Vegas casino? The main floors tend toward sprawling layouts, with lots of shiny distractions to entice you to stay and spend more time and money on the slots instead of helping you get where you’re going. That’s what Twitter’s new layout feels like. When Twitter started out, the […]
- An imagined conversation with an email petition
“Please sign this petition about X!” “OK, I care about X, what’s the petition actually say?” “It’s about X!” “Right, but what’s the actual wording? Am I putting my name on supporting a specific action? ‘Cause I’d support some actions but not others.” “It’s telling them to do something about X!” “Yeah, I got that. […]
- Facebook-Forced “Business Pages”
Anyone familiar with what Facebook Pages considers to be a “business?” Facebook decided to group my “business pages” (two blogs, neither of which is a business, one of which I had already marked for deletion a few days ago) into a “business account.” I thought maybe they’d flattened their definitions, but another page (for a […]
- Who are phone notifications for?
Phone notifications aren’t notices, they’re alerts. They should serve your interests as the person using the phone, not the interests of the app or service.
- Trying to get at the features left out of the mobile app
If someone wants to use the functionality you’ve left out of your mobile site or app, and is willing to slog through the desktop site on their phone or tablet, you should at least let them get at it!
- Long-Form Twitter: WHY OH WHY?
Twitter is suited for short statements and back-and-forth conversation. It’s terrible for anything long-form. Long Twitter threads* and images filled with text remind me of the old tech support days when users would paste screen shots of error messages into Microsoft Word documents and email me the document. It was a terrible tool for the […]
- GPS Navigation Options We Need
GPS navigation options we need: I know how to get to the freeway from home. I know how to get home from the freeway. Don’t send me down someone else’s narrow residential streets just to save two minutes. If I’m trying to get somewhere other than home after work, I’ll use GPS to get an […]
- The Lesser Evil of Selfie Sticks
I’ve known about portrait distance for a while, and often thought that was a downside of using fixed-lens phone cameras for portraits. To frame someone’s face in a phone you have to either zoom (losing detail) or hold it close enough that the viewing angles distort the face. I prefer using my phone for long […]
- Plastic Guilt
I hate when any organization preemptively sends a membership card in the mail hoping to guilt you into joining. But an environmental group? On plastic? Not. Cool.
- Searching Your Twitter History: Case of the Missing Context
One of the problems with Twitter’s search capability is that the results are isolated. I’ve said before that one of the keys to making a social account feel like I own it is that I can find things in it if I want to go back later. You can search your old Twitter posts by […]
- Ordering Photo Prints: Not Quite Interoperable
On the plus side: I was able to order photo prints while hundreds of miles from home on a business trip, and my wife was able to pick them up from the store the next day, which is pretty cool. On the minus side: It was a heck of a lot harder than it should […]
- The National Jamboree is NOT Your Personal Political Rally
I’m an Eagle Scout, and I find myself once again infuriated with the Boy Scouts of America. There is a long history of Presidents speaking at the National Jamboree, going back to Franklin D. Roosevelt. They came to inspire leaders of the future. They didn’t come to self-promote, or take cheap shots at political rivals, […]
- Out with the old tech, in with the…slightly less old.
I finally removed the floppy disk drive from my desktop. I don’t know why it took me so long, except that it wasn’t in the way of anything. Living with a small, inquisitive child means either making hardware changes at night or keeping the work brief, and timing it so that he still has enough […]
- Too Many Notifications
It takes forever to get a new phone’s alert settings just right. Every app is configured separately, and they all want your attention.
- So much for SudaSudafed
Surprising no one, it turns out the replacement for pseudoephedrine in most over-the-counter cold medication doesn’t actually work.
- Christmas vs Halloween: The Battle Continues
Christmas strikes deeper into Halloween’s territory, continuing a relentless campaign that began decades ago in response to a 1993 incursion from Halloween Town. In recent years, Halloween has shored up its position by moving into previously unclaimed parts of the calendar in early October and September, itself running roughshod over tentative efforts by Oktoberfest to […]
- Valentine’s Day Already?
It’s been less than a week past Christmas, and the local grocery store already has a fully stocked Valentine’s Day aisle. So much for New Year’s.
- Holiday Creep at Costco
Photo: It’s barely October, and Costco already has ten times as much Christmas stuff as Halloween. And that’s not counting the vastly expanded toy section.
- Parking Lot Design: Guiding People to Make Bad Choices
Dozens of spaces in this lot are unusable because people park too close on either side. Some are just jerks, but the design leads them to park badly.
- Dosage Matters: The Car Analogy
Yes, something *can* be harmless or even beneficial at low dosages and dangerous at higher levels. Think about that the next time you see a scare warning.
- Sugary Smash Chronicle: Thoughts on King.com’s trademark brouhaha
King.com wasn’t always synonymous with Candy Crush. Some insights on the evolution of the game and the trademark controversy.
- Learn to Park!
What is it about the holiday season that makes people forget how to drive, especially in parking lots? The other day, while I was trying to back out of a parking space at the grocery store, two cars independently barreled down the wrong way in a crowded one-way aisle. A third tried, but another driver’s […]
- Important* Information† About Your‡ Account!**
The envelope strongly implies, but doesn’t actually state that it’s account information from Verizon, but it turns out to be an ad for Time Warner Cable.
- No More Origin Stories
It’s bothered me for a long time that movie studios seem to think the only story worth telling about a superhero is the origin. You get a trilogy if you’re lucky, then back to another origin take. It would be like only ever running the pilot of every TV show even though they’re designed to […]
- What’s Wrong With Facebook Updating Itself on Android?
Imagine a car recall, except instead of getting a notice from the manufacturer, you hear a noise in your garage and find someone messing with your car.
- Not “Frictionless Sharing” Again…
Frictionless sharing is just a way to generate noise. I don’t want to know every article you read on some website. I want to know which articles you think are worth sharing.
- I’m Weary of This: Seven Things that Just Bug Me
Some things that Just Bug Me, including language misuse (weary, intensive purposes, full proof) and tech annoyances.
- File Transfer
I just spent too long troubleshooting a failed file transfer by email. Appropriately enough, it turns out this cartoon is the top search result for “file transfer.”
- Don’t Use Third-Party Links in Email – Object Lesson: Comic-Con Registration
A click tracker that couldn’t hold up to the strain of Comic-Con registration prevented thousands of potential attendees from getting into the system in time.
- Delivery Confirmed…Somewhere
I’ve lost some confidence in USPS’s delivery confirmation service. Even though we put mail delivery on hold while we were on vacation, USPS claims that delivered a package at 4:08pm on Saturday. So, either they didn’t honor the mail hold and delivered it…in which case who knows where it is now…or they did honor the […]
- A Radical Notion
I’ve accepted, even embraced the return of “awesome” over the last few years. But I’m seeing signs that “rad” is making a comeback, and I really hope it isn’t.
- Amazon Affiliate No More
Amazon & California’s battle over taxes has kicked me out of the affiliate program. I never made much, but it was nice to have a little extra to counteract hosting costs.
- Do You Really Need THIS Space?
There are 247 parking spaces on the next level. You don’t need to block all incoming traffic for 10 minutes waiting for this one.
- If You Teach a Man to be Phished…
I’ve dealt with a couple of companies that try to plug the general lack of security in email by using a “secure email” service…that acts just like a phishing attack.
- For All Purposes In Tents
What do people think an “intensive purpose” is? “For all intents and purposes” may be redundant, but it actually makes sense.
- Firefox 4 Beta: The Missing Status Bar
If you’ve been following the Firefox 4 betas, you’ve probably noticed that they’re dumping the status bar. OK, a lot of people didn’t use it, but here’s the thing: When you hover over a link, the status bar tells you where it will take you. This is important (especially for security) — important enough that […]
- Driving Costs May Be Exaggerated
Metrolink’s fare calculator compares your train ticket cost to how much it would cost you to drive the same trip…or does it?
- First Line, Last Line, Whatever
There’s an ad for flu shots promoting them as the “first line of defense” against the flu. Someone doesn’t quite get the metaphor.
- NyQuil Regret
NyQuil Regret (n): the moment during a sleepless night when you realize you should’ve taken the damn blue^H^H^H^H green pill.
- If This Were a Real Emergency, You’d Be Dead By Now
If a phone menu is going to remind callers that 911 is a better call to make in an emergency, shouldn’t it say so BEFORE a 5-minute authentication, not after?
- SDCC, Universal, and Not-Produced-Here Syndrome
It’s funny how some companies will go out of their way to avoid acknowledging the competition. Does anyone really think that the Comic-Con audience will best remember Sigourney Weaver for a supporting role in Baby Mama?
- Two “Critiques” That Aren’t
Just because you don’t have a use for it doesn’t mean no one does. And pop culture from your formative years wasn’t really that much better than today’s.
- Mental Telepathy
It’s just redundant, like “big giant” or “fast speedster.” Is there any such thing as non-mental telepathy? It was nice to see someone taken to task in this panel from a Flash story…back in 1978!
- Hello chkdsk, my old friend…
Hello chkdsk, my old friend I’ve got to run you once again Cause my Windows box is acting weird And the disk drive must need something cleared And the error that was printed on my screen Made me scream And put aside my work For chkdsk
- I Left My Tire in San Francisco
I already hated driving in SF, but getting a flat tire in the rain on the way to the hotel while late? Not fun, and it kept us out of Wondercon on Friday.
- Comic-Con Hotel Experience: 2010
After 8 hours I finally got my hotel confirmation. It wasn’t one of the 12 I’d requested, but it’s downtown. Here’s what happened, from what I could see.
- Manic Monday
First, some linkblogging… The Spam Primer has been “completely revamped.” Mars Express Orbiter catches video of moons Phobos and Deimos. And then the “fun” started. Me: I’m going to focus on project X today! Computer needed for project X: I’m going to lock up today! Me: Argh! Someone thought it would be a good idea […]
- No Reply Possible
Don’t you love it when your “Sorry, you sent your complaint to the wrong company” email bounces because the complainer left a bogus address?
- Power Down
Subject: An old G4 PowerBook laptop which locks up after several hours of use. Goals: Test the memory so that, if it’s good, we can resell it instead of recycling it. Wipe the hard disk so that we can recycle the computer. Tools: Tech Tool Pro 4 disc Tech Tool Pro 5 disc Mac OS […]
- Hear me!
A few minutes ago I was trying to fix sound on my Linux box. Nothing would play, until Katie heard it beep to notify me of a new Twitter message. I closed Twhirl and suddenly my music player worked. The song lined up? Vertical Horizon’s “All is Said and Done.” The first line of the […]
- Bad Polls
Facebook polls need a “This is BS” option. Too many are based on false premises or are of the “Threat or Menace?” variety. 🙄
- To Do? Too Late!
I thought of several things to add to my to-do list on my way to work this morning. I just opened my list & can’t remember any of them. 🙁
- Don’t Plug the Automatic Sink!
When a sink with an automatic faucet starts filling up, it can get into a feedback loop and overflow.
- G1: No Android 2 for You!
Early reports say that Android 2.0 won’t fit on the T-Mobile G1. My reaction is mixed: Sure, you drop old hardware eventually, but it’s only been a year.
- Driving Green, Parking Green
What genius decided dark green on black was a good way to mark up parking spaces? To make matters worse, some of the spaces actually are 20-minute spaces…only they’re labeled on the ground, in the same color green paint. I was almost into the space before I noticed. Judging by the commercial, Ford’s hybrids are […]
- Green Fail
Sorting junk mail. Found “go green” renewal offer from gym that I canceled YEARS ago. They used to just spam me, now it’s paper. GREEN FAIL.
- Ads Should Not *Break* Streaming Video
After finishing season one of Leverage on Netflix, we’ve started watching season two on TNT’s website. Netflix’s streaming video has been great, and TNT’s has been decent enough aside from dropping out of full-screen for commercials…until yesterday. Last night, while watching “The Order 23 Job” on our MacBook, we got to the final commercial break […]
- Frustrations (And a Few Bright Spots)
Hard disks should not sound like buzz saws. Slashdot article “FOSS Sexism Claims Met With Ire & Denial”…gets met with ire & denial. *headdesk* Listening to lightsaber sounds from across the office. I think my coworker w/ the new Android phone found an app for that. Vertical Horizon’s Burning the Days is growing on me, […]
- How *dare* I try not to run over people!
Got honked at because I actually stopped before turning right at a red light & paused half a second to see if the pedestrian at the corner would step in front of me.
- Cashew! (Gesundheit)
Who puts cashews on Hawaiian pizza? Apparently Red Brick Pizza does. They kindly made a cashew-free replacement for it.
- Bad Timing
I keep putting off washing my car, then finally getting to it right before a freak storm…or the arrival of a giant cloud of ash. *grumble*
- Comic-Con Triathlon: Running Through Downtown San Diego at Night
A story of the night I ran, jogged, and caught a breaking-down pedicab to make it to on time to see the Worst Cartoons Ever.
- Spamming Tech Support
A real “white hat SEO” wouldn’t spam their sales pitch to a tech support contact form.
- The Evil Carpet of Evil
The new carpet seems designed to keep hallways clear by maximizing eyestrain. I fear a photo won’t do it justice. HP Lovecraft might.
- Visual Migraines Suck
Visual migraines suck. But they’re better than getting the actual headaches. Nausea abating, so going for the leftover chicken tikka masala
- ATM Design: Shelf?
It sure would be nice if this ATM had at least one horizontal surface so I could set down my drink and not have to mess with my wallet one-handed.
- Boot Test
Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Servers are like that when some daemon was running in tests but wasn’t set to start on boot.
- On Benadryl
Real Life Comics on allergy medication. Oh, yes, I’ve been there.
- Social Side of Swine Flu
Sad, but true: XKCD tackles the social component of swine flu. Update: Things haven’t changed much in the Covid era, have they?
- Amazon Annoyance, ATM Stupidity
Grr. Amazon wants to stop paying me because they think I’ve been buying search keywords to link to them. No, I haven’t. Update: Two days later, they responded: it’s a bad form letter, and even if I were buying keywords, they’d only stop paying referral fees on those links. More concerned than usual about person […]
- Solving the Express Lane Problem
Since it’s not practical to send someone with too many items back to another line, why not place a small surcharge on every item over the limit?
- The REAL Problem with Twitter
Twitter asks its users the wrong question, and it’s outgrowing the limitations of SMS messages.
- Thoughts on #AmazonFail (or is that #SorryAmazon?)
Even if it was unintentional, Amazon screwed up responding to the PR disaster.
- Why Las Vegas is a BAD idea for Comic-Con
People keep saying Comic-Con should leave San Diego for Las Vegas to get more space, but would it really be an improvement? Here are six reasons why not.
- Blocking the Impulse Buy: Shazam, Amazon MP3 Store and Android
How I *almost* bought an album from my phone immediately after hearing a song on the radio, and what obstacles stopped me.
- Comment Barrier
Pet peeve: Blogs that require you to register locally in order to comment. Yes, that means you, suvudu.com and androidcommunity.com
- CentOS List Hijack
Pissed off because some a-hole with a centos.org address posted multiple copies of a racist antisemitic diatribe to the CentOS announcement list. CentOS sent an apology to lists. Said spammers forged the sender’s address to get past moderation. Look back, name doesn’t match address.
- Let your fingers do the shushing
We’ve been getting more spam phone calls than usual the last couple of days, to the point where cursing out the recorded messages is actually getting a little boring. So it was almost a relief to pick up today and hear, “Hello, this is the Yellow Pages calling to update your free listing.” To me, […]
- Christmas Songs
I like hearing so many different kinds of music at Christmas time. Except when they play the same songs over and over and over and over and…
- Hot and Cold
Switched to long-sleeved shirts & started wearing sweaters this week. And now it’s supposed to break 90 DEGREES today and all weekend. WTF?
- More Pain
Arm still sore. Still not King.
- Pain
Arg. Shoulder seriously sore from tetanus booster shot. Typing hurts. Driving home’ll be REAL fun. Still, better than getting tetanus.
- Holiday Seasons: Then and Now
When I was a kid, I remember the last few months of the year broke down like this: Back to School in early-to-mid September Halloween for the second half of October Thanksgiving for the second half of November Christmas in December New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day These days it seems more like this: […]
- Hey, Kids! Sugar!
Spotted this in mid-August, during the height of Back to School sales. It’s a school bus-shaped display with shelves on the sides and back. Katie’s fairly certain that the other shelves weren’t all Rice Krispies treats — they were Pop Tarts and the like. So, yeah, send your kids to school with a ton of […]
- Curso de Photoshop
It’s always something. Last month it was my computer that needed rebuilding. This month it was Katie’s. It’s an old G4 PowerMac, but it’s still plenty for iTunes, web, email, word processing, etc., and we’ve got a newer Windows box for things like games. It failed to boot after a system upgrade, and subsequent troubleshooting […]
- Well, that was a wash
I’ve been putting off getting my car washed for several weeks. Over the weekend, I decided I was going to take it to a nearby car wash Monday morning before work. So I did. It was sunny and clear, with a few clouds off to the south that had made for a very nice sunrise […]
- Mastercard Chase: SDCC Security Snafu
A very long story about the adventures of a credit card at Comic-Con. May be funny someday.
- It Pours
My desktop computer has been a bit flaky for a few months now. Well, more than that. There’s the problem where it won’t display anything in plain-text mode, but that’s not really a big deal. It was when it stopped running anything higher than 1024×768 that I started getting annoyed. That turned out, oddly enough, […]
- Dawn from BTVS: Irrational Character Hate
Some fans hate Dawn even when she does things that they like, or that are necessary to set up elements they like. It’s hate for its own sake.
- Paperless Billing Gotcha
A word to the wise for anyone planning to set up paperless billing: make sure the notices go to the right email address. Last night, while paying bills, I realized I hadn’t seen a bill for our internet access in quite a while, and noticed that my bank showed the last payment had been sent […]
- Apple Software Update: a Simple Solution
I appreciate the fact that Apple provides a single updater for all their Windows software. It’s nice to consolidate things a bit with the profusion of updaters for what seems like each and every application (sort of like how every mobile device seems to need its own charger). But it has its flaws. I’ve mentioned […]
- Getting a Hotel for Comic Con (2008)
Tomorrow morning at 9:00 PST, rooms in the convention block go on sale for this year’s Comic-Con International. I was going to write up a bunch of tips last week, but CCI beat me to it by launching their own blog, Staying In San Diego. Visit it today, because it’ll probably be swamped tomorrow. (Though […]
- Christmas Creep On-Air
Went to lunch today, and the restaurant was playing Christmas music, two days before Thanksgiving. It wasn’t entirely their fault; they were just playing KOST, and the radio station had gone into full Christmas mode. Now, I normally like hearing Christmas music on the radio. It’s one of the few times of year that you […]
- Apple UI Nitpicking
I appreciate that Apple offers a single software updater for all its free Windows software. But one thing annoys me about it. It opens a window, then opens a message box showing a progress meter as it checks for updates. Only one problem: It fills out the “New software is available” caption before it actually […]
- Lunar Indecision
I’m still trying to decide whether I should set an alarm to wake myself up at ski-o’clock in the morning to see tonight’s/tomorrow’s lunar eclipse. I mean, I skipped the Perseid meteor shower a few weeks ago, but that would have required not only getting up in the wee hours of the night, but driving […]
- Most intrusive PC upgrades
Just some thoughts on the top 3 most intrusive pieces of computer hardware to upgrade or replace: Case: You have to take everything out, completely disassembling the machine. Motherboard: Disconnect every data cable, pull out every card, and sometimes even move the spacers that connect it to the case. Power Supply: Disconnect power from every […]
- Snow More!
Oh the crowds outside are frightful, But the music’s so delightful… ’Cept for ev’ry darn place we go, It’s “Let it Snow!” “Let it Snow!” “Let it Snow!” Seriously. It seems like this song has somehow become the most popular Christmas song this year. I normally don’t mind it, but come on! It doesn’t help […]
- How Crowded Could It Be?
Note to self: Stick with morning voting next time. “Oh, it’s only a midterm election! How crowded could it be?” (Yes, that was me.) Feh. Katie and I arrived at the polling place at 6:30 PM. The people who got in line behind us decided to leave, have dinner, and come back. Of the two […]
- Dear George: Why I’m not buying the Star Wars Limited Edition DVDs
I already own the DVD edition of Star Wars, and what I want from the theatrical edition is the original substance *with* the remastering you did in 1997.
- Play, Play, Repeat
The recent controversy over Star 98.7’s decision to drop their morning talk show (since reversed) and try out a new format brings up one of those great mysteries of the ages: Why do so many radio stations play the same small list of songs over and over? I understand the desire to play popular songs […]
- Blue vs. 6A
Remember how LiveJournal, TypePad, and related sites were down the other day? The official line was that “Six Apart has been the victim of a sophisticated distributed denial of service attack.” It turns out that the DDOS wasn’t aimed at 6A, LJ, or any other part of their network. It was aimed at Blue Security, […]
- Blockbuster vs. Local Video Store
I love Netflix. I love their selection. I love being able to just make a list of movies I’ve been meaning to watch, and see them show up one by one. But the queue model doesn’t work so well when you want to watch a specific movie now. That’s where you need a retail store, […]
- Going to the Movies—Not!
Apparently the movie industry is trying to come up with an ad campaign to get people back into theaters. The LA Times doesn’t seem to take the idea terribly seriously, as they’ve suggested the slogan, “Movies: Just like DVDs, but Larger.” Meanwhile, theaters and studios are blaming each other for the decline in attendance: Theater […]
- More Holiday Creep
Spotted the following in a grocery store on Saturday, three days before Valentine’s Day. I think the holiday decoration/candy/card industry has started selling two holidays ahead. Christmas stuff was out in October, with both Halloween and Thanksgiving ahead. Here’s Easter stuff on sale with both Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day in the future. Decoration-wise, […]
- Email advice: Pick a domain and stick with it!
Here’s a piece of friendly advice from a mail server admin to companies that interact with subscribers and customers via email: Pick one domain name for your business. Just one. Don’t use any other domains in your emails, even if you want to keep order confirmations separate from promotions. If you contract out for some […]
- Christmas Gets Earlier Every Year
I dropped into Sav-on briefly today. Among other things I wanted to top off the supply of Halloween candy for Monday. Imagine my surprise to find that Halloween was crammed into half an aisle, and there were two aisles of Christmas already. (You may notice that the sign above this one doesn’t say “Seasonal” or […]
- Web worm in MySpace
Worms of the future: someone on MySpace *ptui!* came up with an actual JavaScript worm using cross-site scripting exploits and XMLHTTPRequest. In 24 hours, the worm had forced 1 million users to add him to their friends lists. Personally, MySpace bugs the heck out of me because it seems to have a culture that encourages […]
- Fragile Tech
I got into work this morning to find my desk’s keyboard and KVM switch non-responsive. The only way to reset the switch was to turn it off and back on, which meant disconnecting all the keyboard and mouse cables. (A KVM switch doesn’t need much power, so many of them just draw power from the […]
- Dealing in Absolutes
Note to self: in flame wars—excuse me, discussions—avoid using phrases like “No one is suggesting X” when dealing with straw man arguments. Because some jackass is guaranteed to suggest X.
- Mission Statements are utter BS
The member benefits section in the latest Golden Key newsletter features an announcement of a business partnership. Take a look at the first paragraph and see if you can figure out what the company does: Owens Corning is a company with an unwavering commitment to delivering solutions, transforming markets and enhancing lives. It’s who we […]
- Forget GTA: The Sims is the real danger!
Well, now that people have successfully gotten Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas reclassified as Adult (18+) instead of Mature (17+)—since we all know that sex scenes that you can only get at by hacking the game are far more damaging to 17-year-olds than interactive sequences in which they shoot people, commit carjacking, and run over […]
- Useful warning labels
Forget “Coffee is Hot!” and its variations. What they really need is a warning on iced blended drinks that anything larger than about 12 ounces may separate and require frequent re-mixing unless drunk rapidly. And those are the ones that are mixed well. Let us not speak of the ones you get at the café […]
- Controlled Substance
A few months ago I discovered that medications containing pseudoephedrine were labeled “restricted quantity items” at the local Sav-On because it can be used to make meth. Today I found that the shelf space that used to hold both brand-name Sudafed and the store brand now holds cards which direct you to the pharmacy. The […]
- This ain’t spam
Why do some spammers insist on prefacing their junk with statements like “THIS IS NOT SPAM?” Some idiot just posted a bit long letter offering to let me put my “products” on their online store. No, they didn’t send me an email about, say, the comic book collection I’m selling. No, they didn’t offer to […]
- Reinventing the Upgrade Wheel
The internet is a hostile place. Viruses, worms, and worse are constantly trying to break or break into your computer. Software developers are constantly fixing the holes that can let them in. It’s become critical to keep your system up to date. Unfortunately this can be very frustrating, even for a power user, for one […]
- Restart your computers!
Microsoft’s automatic update system is now offering an update to the Windows Installer. That’s the program that handles all those .msi files you use to install new applications, keeps track of what’s currently installed, and lets you uninstall them. And it needs to reboot after installing? WHY? What low-level system file did they have to […]
- The bunnies have died in vain
Looking at the list of “most popular” links on Del.icio.us, it seems someone has scanned the entire Book of Bunny Suicides and its sequel, both by Andy Riley. Good grief, people—you can pick up the book for $7.00 at any bookstore. I can understand posting a couple of excerpts, but from what I can tell, […]
- Excess Coverage
A new Angel comic book mini-series (from IDW, rather than Dark Horse), Angel: The Curse, picks up after the end of the TV series. In this first issue of a new Angel tale, Angel has survived the conclusion of his TV show and finds himself in a mysterious Romanian forest. There, his search for the […]
- Yes, it does rain in L.A.
An intense deluge woke us up briefly around 5:00 this morning. I think I was awake enough to say “Damn!” and fall back asleep. It reminded me of something that’s been bugging me. I looked through the first few pages of Otherworld #2 in the comic store yesterday. As at the end of the first […]
- That Annoying Typing Bug
From the Gnome 2.10 release notes: In the past, while typing something into one application when suddenly your instant messenger offered a chat request from your friend, your words would be typed into the chat window. Imagine if you were typing your password at the time. This should no longer happen in GNOME 2.10. In […]
- Note to Purveyors of Pop-ups
In the past few weeks, advertising developers have come up with scripts that will work around Firefox’s pop-up blocking. This is rather like a telemarketer calling someone on the do-not-call list. We installed a browser that blocks pop-ups for a reason. We are not your target audience; we are the people for whom pop-up ads […]
- %@$* Networked File Systems!
You’d think with the number of years we’ve been sharing files across networks we’d be able to do it somewhat reliably. Windows: Try to connect to a computer that’s down or misconfigured, and sit for at least 30 seconds, unable to use an explorer window, click on your desktop, or, if you’re really unlucky, use […]
- Clue plate special
Before leaving for Comic-Con, we went to Ruby’s for lunch and discovered that they’d stopped wrapping up their burgers and started serving them on plates. If you’ve seen a Ruby’s burger, you know what a bad idea this is. If you haven’t, these burgers are easily 5″ in diameter, made with 1/3 pound of meat […]
- Thank you, spammers
Comments on this site are now moderated. After a week of daily spam runs that have managed to get past other blocking methods, I’m tired of messing with it. At least with moderation, they won’t show up on the site. This means that when you post a comment, it will not show up immediately. One […]
- The trouble with web ads
A truism of television is that they aren’t in the entertainment business, they’re in the advertising business. Their job is selling commercials, and the shows you watch are nothing but an enticement to get you to watch long enough that you’ll see the ads. This is true for ad-based websites as well. The content is […]
- Ah, the spirit of giving
Dear [insert advice columnist here], I moved out of my parents’ home four years ago and have been speaking to them and my sister less and less over time. They rarely have time to visit us, and it is impractical for us to visit them at their home, due to the amount of junk accumulated […]
- Do the @#!$ Math
Despite Bush’s appeal to Kerry supporters [in his acceptance speech], Cheney said the popular vote victory gave Bush a mandate and the Bush White House would continue pushing for the Republicans’ “clear agenda.” Excuse me, but how the #@*! is a 51% victory a “mandate?” In any other race, that would be called “barely squeaking […]
- There is no The
Every once in a while I listen to Star for a few minutes. And every once in a while I catch their station break. And I cringe whenever I hear them talk about being the whatever station for “L.A. and the O.C.” I’ve lived in Orange County most of my life, and I have never […]
- Church to 8-year-old: Drink the Kool-aid
Time to add an “outrage” category. This is just insane: A church panel has invalidated a girl’s communion because she can’t eat wheat (original article here). The girl has celiac disease, which means any amount of wheat can cause her serious health problems. A local priest was willing to let her use a rice-based wafer, […]
- The Problem With Challenge-Response
Some people think it’s a great idea to block spam by having their email system automatically reply to any unfamiliar address, forcing the sender to jump through hoops that spammers presumably won’t bother with. About half an hour ago, the IEEE Communications Society sent out a call for papers on its mailing list. So far […]
- Wolf Cry
More “You sent a virus!” garbage going around. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even look at most delivery failure notices, which means I could easily miss errors about mail I really did send. I got ticked off enough this time that I wrote back to the return address on the warning, matching […]
- The Bathroom Manifesto
Here are a few additions I would make to the building code for public restrooms: All restroom doors must open outward. If the restroom is large enough to contain stalls, it must be possible to open the outer door simply by pushing with the toe of one’s foot. Sharply-turning doorless corridors that block sightlines are […]
- Ewwww, he touched my song!
Suing JibJab over using the tune and some lyrics of “This Land is Your Land” is like filing a class-action suit against grade-schoolers for using “The Birthday Song” to sing “You look like a monkey/And you smell like one too.” The contention that the song has been “damaged” by its use as parody is ridiculous. […]
- Total Waste of Bandwidth
I regularly get bogus bounces from clueless virus scanners that don’t realize the sending address is fake 99% of the time, but this takes the cake: Sometime last night I received three copies of the same notice from some system in Brazil. They had written their virus warning in Microsoft Word, saved it as HTML […]
- Manual for foot-shooting
1. Obtain a gun. 2. Provide ammunition. 3. Vote to pull the trigger. BANG. And the Democratic party drops off the House floor. At least, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. If I lived in Nuñez’s district, I’d be royally pissed that I voted for him (because I probably would’ve) and would be willing […]
- Bad Boys
I am thoroughly sick of the phenomenon I call the Draco Malfoy Effect. This is the process by which young (and not-so-young) women become convinced that not only are evil bad-boy types desirable, but completely reformable. Liking the maverick is nothing new for the Hollywood-hypnotized masses, especially seeing as how he’s so often played by […]
- IM Wars and the Spam Strawman
To be honest, I haven’t used any instant messaging system much since college. But every once in a while I fire up Gaim just to see if anyone I know is on AIM or ICQ. I have a Yahoo account, but I’m not sure anyone I know actually uses Yahoo Messenger, and I’ve been avoiding […]
- Avert your eyes
I’ll be the first to admit that I go near-ballistic where cigarettes are concerned, from sprinting by smokers on a sidewalk to springing up to turn our window fan to exhaust mode. But, rude though I may be, I’m not as bad as the AMA. An R rating for smoking? Even when the smoker is […]
- Drowning in spam
These people are no longer amusing. I’ve been getting about 10 messages a day from them. On Friday I actually had to add a rule to the server config to detect their domain names, since half of them didn’t score high enough to get labeled as spam. (Bayes training helped, but not enough.) And some […]
- Give me a break.
I was about to post this over at my LiveJournal, when I discovered my journal was offline due to a massive server outage. Nice timing, as you’ll see: Well, the phone’s acting up again. Oddly enough, DSL is working most of the time, even though we can’t get a dial tone. An SBC tech is […]
- Command-shift-BLAMMO
I just caught myself repeatedly pressing control-V and wondering why nothing was pasting. As I’m a lifelong Mac user, this is a personal sign of the plural of apocalypse. Somebody shoot me before I attract any horsemen.
- No hablo nada
I swear, I cannot win with people anymore. I used to have a good, unloseable Spanish accent when saying people’s names. I started losing it on purpose when I royally frelled up speaking to someone who outranked me at the Dungeons & Demons job, and it’s pretty much gone. I wince when I hear myself […]
- I just don’t get it
Crossing where there aren’t any lights is one thing. Jaywalking less than 50 feet from the crosswalk is lazy. But in front of the courthouse? Really?
- Apartment snobbery
We got home tonight, after a good round of beer therapy and poking fun at the evil that is casual dinnerware, and found that we now live in Aliso Springs. They didn’t change the city name, mind you, just the name of our apartment “village.” We’d been wondering how they were going to handle having […]
- You’re not helping
I am honestly in complete confusion as to why all wedding vendors and personnel seem to feel it’s necessary to rebuke us for not arranging everything a year in advance. Sure, we procrastinated like nobody’s business, but we were already getting this at T minus 6 months. What do they do with people who have […]
- Insecurity updates
Last month I finally got around to installing antivirus software on the one Windows computer we have at home. While I’ve found Norton Anti-Virus has worked well on my system at work, I ended up choosing McAfee Internet Security Suite for two reasons: (1) unlike Symantec, they don’t use a product activation scheme, and (2) […]
- Lousy timing
I’m aware that I’ve been grumbling for a while that my drama-queen examiner (who has reappeared, by the way, and pretty much kept from disappearing again) would get more done if she’d delegate stuff to me. However, I don’t think that the week we’re cleaning up in the wake of a major system upgrade when […]
- Doin’ the Wedding Flip-Flop
We started out with the intent of not doing everything ourselves, since that way lies madness and lack of free time. Then we found out just how annoying 90% of wedding vendors are and how little patience we have with large doses of that, and switched to coordinating everything ourselves. When it became obvious that […]
- Damn flowering Delvians
I swear there’s a Delvian colony trapped somewhere without food, and they’re upwind of Orange County. Please, someone have mercy on my sinuses and drop them a couple of cows.
- Garbage Doors
Since our apartment complex was taken over by new ownership and management last year, they’ve embarked on a months-long project to “rehab” the complex. In some cases, this meant long-overdue repairs like replacing all the plumbing and water heaters, or rebuilding the balconies with less termite-laden wood. In some cases, this meant cosmetic changes like […]
- Victoria’s Secret Service
I always knew salespeople were audacious. I didn’t know until yesterday that some of it stems from the audacity of their higher-ups. We went to South Coast yesterday in search of, well, lingerie. So we found the Victoria’s Secret. I went to look for my size in a rack of something and a cute, sparkly-faced […]
- Case Design 101
OK, I’m not one of those purists who thinks all computers should be encased in beige boxes. That said, 4 of the 5 computers in our apartment are fairly plain – but two of those are because the case predates any sense of design, one was an ultra-cheap computer, and one was an ultra-cheap case. […]
- Disconectiva
For several months I’ve been providing installable RPM packages for the Dillo web browser. Since many different distributions use RPM packages, I’ve been getting requests to add various Linux distributions. I started out just installing to extra partitions, but then I started building virtual systems with User-Mode Linux. Well, people have been requesting RPMs for […]
- Okay, that’s worth posting from work for.
Annoyances, my arse. I think the two comments linking to porn sites (which, with luck, will have been removed by the time most people see this post) qualify for a full-on pissy fit. Blog spammers should be roasted alive. Slowly.
- I hate Outlook!
Yet another call of “I can’t retrieve email!” Always from Outlook users. If you use Eudora, Netscape – hell, even Outlook Express, you’ll get some sort of error message if it stops working. You can usually solve it by closing the program and starting it up again. But Outlook… Outlook will get into modes where […]
- Sobig PITA
The world of email viruses has changed. In the old days, they would piggyback on the messages you sent, or make your regular mail program send them out while you weren’t looking. These days they send the messages themselves, so they pick a fake return address from the same source as its list of victims: […]
- Heeeeere fishy fishy
I am perfectly comfortable with the fact that my job is, basically, a gofer position. What I’m not comfortable with is the way it can be abused, to the benefit of no one. Let’s say that the attorney on a particular file needs a fish. If he does not have the fish with him in […]
- SCO is a bunch of bastards
Several months ago, Scummy Computer Operations sued IBM claiming that IBM had copied code from UNIX into Linux. They refused to say what code had been copied. Already this sounds fishy. In their initial filing, they insulted the ethics and competence of the entire Open Source community. Eventually they started making wilder and wilder claims. […]
- Telemarketer Scum
Yes, the American Teleservices Association is suing over the do-not-call list. The ATA estimates that the do-not-call list will cost as many as 2 million U.S. telemarketing jobs, wiping out almost a third of its industry. Sounds like a good start. Maybe they can get jobs that don’t involve annoying the hell out of people […]
- Offensive Driving
I hate drivers who refuse to let me in, even though they can clearly see that my lane is disappearing. What do they expect me to do, vanish in a puff of smoke? Or do they actually want me to go off the side of the road and crash into a ditch? Especially when, after […]
- Just go ahead and say it
You know those people who like to bitch about “basically?” The ones who picked on “like” and “you know” (and, mercifully, seem to have given up)? I’ve got another one for them, and it ain’t “Could I get.” Maybe it’s more prevalent in a business environment where people are asking advice and permission all the […]
- So much for keeping up to date
Two years ago, the company I work for moved to a new office. We used to do most of our domain name registrations through Network Solutions, mainly out of habit from when they were the only registrar, and accounts were of two types: Contacts. This involved a person or role and contact information. Domain names. […]
- Note to self #2
Do not attempt to demonstrate to your significant other how two people in your story would kiss when you’ve just eaten loads of allergens. It will not end well.
- Who’s REALLY responsible for spreading viruses? (UPDATED)
My dad forwarded me an opinion piece from the eWeek newsletter called Idiocy Imperils the Web. Jim Rapoza argues that – especially by now – people should really have figured out not to click on unknown attachments. My favorite quote: “Most people figure out that if they keep grabbing the electric fence, they’ll get a […]
- Sound and Fury
I don’t like car alarms. Mainly it’s a matter of “crying wolf.” They go off for the stupidest reasons and don’t signify an attempted theft, so everyone ignores them. I can imagine a lot of cars have been broken into or stolen despite the alarm because people heard it and assumed it was just the […]
- Stop flashing me
As one of the many working stiffs who can access the internet from work but has to share a connection, I would like to make a request of the corporate world at large: STOP REQUIRING FLASH TO VIEW YOUR SITE!!!!!! Everything I look at on the net while at work has to go through a […]
- Put Down Stix
Yesterday was a complete Monday, and Kelson and I decided that since we needed to go to the market, we’d split up and he’d grab food at the Pick Up Stix in the same shopping center. As I was looking at yogurt, he came into the store and reported that they’d changed their menu yet […]
- Don’t you people READ?
Some people are so determined to make demands that they can’t be bothered to take 5 seconds to notice that they’re sending them to the wrong place.
- Tech Support
I had an email conversation with someone over the last two days, which, in another industry, might have gone something like this: Customer: “My light won’t turn on.” Me: “Make sure it’s plugged in.” Customer: “It still desn’t work.” Me: “Try changing the bulb.” Customer: “No, it still doesn’t work.” … Customer: “Hey, I plugged […]
- Sleep and the art of punctuality maintenance
My alarm clock is a stupid mofo. Of course, considering that I got it specifically because it was simple to operate and didn’t have any strange features, that shouldn’t surprise me. But it’s beginning to piss me off that I have to turn the alarm function completely off every morning to shut it up, and […]
- Legislative waste.
I hear our President has signed legislation supporting the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance (search for bill S.2690 in THOMAS). It passed the Senate unanimously and the House with only 5 objections. It’s intended to be a response to this summer’s ruling by the 9th District Court of Appeals that the law […]
- The Turn Signal Is Your Friend
Given that most of us think we are above-average drivers, you’d think people wouldn’t expect other drivers to be telepathic. Turn signals prevent other drivers from hitting you! (Or at least reduce the chances of it.) I am amazed time and time again as I see people driving shiny new Mercedes, Lexuses (Lexi?), and BMWs […]