Satya's LJ archive 200304

Event time: 2003-04-10 19:43:00
Log time: 2003-04-10 16:43:57
Subject: Stupid CC corp
Music: Lagaan.mp3

So I got a new credit card and it has this big sticker on it saying I need to call this 800 number to activate. Pretty standard, huh?

So I call the number, give my name etc, and get *transferred* to a second person who takes the same data again. Starts activating my account, then launches a spiel about their credit protection plan.

Now the protection plan is usually optional with most credit cards. So when there was a break in the sales pitch, I said that I don't want it. So I got transferred to a *third* person _without telling me_, who starts talking about the plan etc. So I wait and listen, and eventually the guy asks if I want to be signed up. I say NO, and he says how people are all signing up and stuff (sales pitch again), and I can cancel with full refund. I say NO, and eventually he gets it that I'm not going to back down, and so he launches into a very fast speech and hangs up on me. From what I could catch, I think he was saying that if I don't want the plan, I can't have the card and I must destroy it.

And I have a suspicion that this is one of those Indian call center things I've heard so much about. They pronounced my full name correctly (that's hard for even Indians to do), the sentence structure, the word choice (except when reading from scripts), and the fake accent were all very Indian.

Moo.

Event time: 2003-04-11 18:20:00
Log time: 2003-04-11 15:20:11
Subject: Yay.
Mood: bouncy

So I just made the form builder and XML-ifier and HTML-ifier better, and it all seems to work (except for a barely-glimpsed intermittent bug on page 2), so I'm all bouncy and stuff.

Yay!

Event time: 2003-04-15 13:57:00
Log time: 2003-04-15 10:59:51

Note to self: Put ircjokes here.

Event time: 2003-04-15 14:43:00
Log time: 2003-04-15 11:46:44
Subject: XML sucks

XML is the suck. It's too structured and well-defined. There are way too many X-specifications coming out of w3c. What are they thinking?!

Event time: 2003-04-15 14:44:00
Log time: 2003-04-15 11:59:29

"Element bind selects a node-set selected from the instance data with a model binding expression in the nodeset attribute"

Question: What the *HECK* does that mean? I have a freakin' CS degree and I don't understand what that means.

Event time: 2003-04-16 17:03:00
Log time: 2003-04-16 14:05:59

"If the two bytes of disk space matter, you have my permission to shorten the name of main's arguments."
 -- Ted Faber, in a post to usclug-chat mailing list, on initialising a variable to 0. The code was something like:

int main(int argc, char  **argv) {
 int i;
etc.

and he said that it's better to do:
int main(int argc, char  **argv) {
 int i=0;

... He's right, it's funnier in context.

Event time: 2003-04-17 15:40:00
Log time: 2003-04-17 13:00:17

GCC wars:

"It's an older code, sir, but it checks out. I was just about to link them. Should I throw an error?"

"No, let them go. I'll deal with them at the Makefile myself."

Event time: 2003-04-17 13:29:00
Log time: 2003-04-17 10:33:02

So I'm using zssh because sftp wants protocol 1 or something, and zssh is like lrzsz and this takes me back to the days of telix and kermit.

The suck:
Bytes received: 2493583/2567700   BPS:26599  ETA 04:38

Event time: 2003-04-19 19:26:00
Log time: 2003-04-19 16:26:29

Okay, directv is saying they're better than "cable". That's cable TV. But why would you switch when you can get TV and internet with comcast (or att or whatever they're calling themselves today)?

Event time: 2003-04-21 12:08:00
Log time: 2003-04-21 09:11:44
Subject: literally-minded-dept.

quote:
>Hi group, got a conditional admit in USC in MSCS-Intelligent
>Robotics. have to take CSCI 410 course there and get a "B" grade. Has
>anybody got something of this sort?

Yes.
/quote

(Well, you asked.)

Event time: 2003-04-21 16:33:00
Log time: 2003-04-21 14:09:49

"What is this?  Some kind of grep bitten by a radioactive spider?"
-- author of CRM114 discriminator.

"CRM114 can be used for other than mail filtering; consider it to be
"a version of GREP with super powers.  If perl is a seventy-bladed swiss
"army knife, CRM114 is a razor-sharp katana that can talk.
-- intro.txt

Event time: 2003-04-21 18:54:00
Log time: 2003-04-21 15:54:19

http://bspace.freeshell.org/Stories/STborg6_17.txt :
The return feed, Captain knew, was the standard CatwalkCam, triple checked to confirm any drones in view were acting as proper Borg:  no rude gestures, no dancing, no waving, no "Hello universe!" signs.

Event time: 2003-04-23 13:20:00
Log time: 2003-04-23 10:24:07

Ebay sucks. It won't let me bid unless i can use passport from msn, and msn passport (which is also the suck) doesn't work with mozilla. fudge you, ebay.

Event time: 2003-04-25 13:45:00
Log time: 2003-04-25 10:45:06
Subject: rain

So after a week of sunshine, we're getting thunderstorms. So I bike home this afternnon, and pass through a puddle flooding an intersection (on radcliffe i think). It wasn't too bad, I could even see the bottom at some points.

Then right outside my house, the whole intersection is flooded, including the part where the driveway meets the street. Deep enough that the bottom of the frame gets wet and my feet go a little underwater at the downstroke. Ouch.

Event time: 2003-04-27 21:11:00
Log time: 2003-04-27 18:12:04

Oh, sheesh, Nazi-like villains with English accents, dorky main bad guy in mask and heavy breathing. Yeesh, this B-movie at prime-time? Are they nuts?

Event time: 2003-04-27 20:59:00
Log time: 2003-04-27 17:59:56

So I'm watching this weird movie thing on TV. Looks like some ancient 70s-era sci-fi space opera thing, boy loses everything, goes on journey with weird old man and his robots, meets space pilot, *becomes* a space pilot, saves the princess, battles the big evil empire....

Sound familiar? :)

Event time: 2003-04-28 19:38:00
Log time: 2003-04-28 16:38:11

"... is composed of a type of matter characterised by both particulate
 and wave form properties"

-- neon genesis evangelion

But, that applies to all matter.

Event time: 2003-04-30 21:34:00
Log time: 2003-04-30 18:34:28

From the google newsletter:

"Google Hacks, a new O'Reilly book for Google power users offers 100
"industrial-strength tips on how to use Google to maximum effect.
"-> http://www.google.com/googlefriends/moreapr03.html#hack

Okay, we know that google's useful and Good and stuff, and so is O'Reilly, but this is ridiculous. A whole book?

Event time: 2003-04-30 21:44:00
Log time: 2003-04-30 18:44:17

Google's language option for 'hacker' should be renamed 'leet'. I'm going to email them about it.