Author: cosmo

One of my clients has asked me to update a half-dozen different web sites– for their various brands– to provide a single “unified” mechanism for accepting comments and questions from their customers. They have a well-defined schedule describing when each of these changes should take place. In other words, on such-and-such a day I have to be prepared to “switch over” a particular web site to the new system, and then a few weeks later I’ll repeat the process with another one. Eventually, in September, all of their sites will be using the new system and the world will presumably be a better place.

So far, so good. I finished the first two sites, and was prepared to do the third in about two weeks. Today I received an e-mail from the client:

I responded and told him it’s not working because I haven’t set up the new programming for the site (since I didn’t expect it to be needed for at least another few weeks). His response is classic– truly a mind-bending peek into the way some businesses operate:

Now, clients often change schedules and so forth… but when I’m the integral piece, and nothing works without my programming changes, it’s a little surprising they went ahead with a bunch of things and then, oops, “didn’t communicate that”.

Priceless.

I just read about an awesome car race called the Mongol Rally. It starts in London, England and ends in Ulaan Baator, Mongolia. The route isn’t pre-determined, the only cars allowed to enter must have engines less than one liter (scooters are also permitted), and there’s no timetable.

This year’s entrants include such awesome road warriors as:

and:

Apparently much of the fun is derived from the excitement of attempting to cross into (or out of) countries run by crazy despots. Cheating is allowed, and in general the whole point is to provide some adventure “in a world that’s become too small”.

Imagine crossing the Gobi Desert in a Ford Fiesta, or perhaps this:

Heck, that might be a Fiesta! It’s hard to tell. And yes, one of this year’s Rally teams is actually driving a 1979 Ford Fiesta. Good luck to them!

Yes, indeed, there’s still fun in the world… I wonder if I could enter.

Oh, and every team is required to raise at least a thousand pounds (that’s British money, not something heavy) for charity. So it’s all for a good cause, as well as some good fun.

Here’s a good one.

We ordered pizza the other day for Kyra’s birthday, and had a coupon for a one-topping medium pizza for five bucks (limit three). Laralee placed the order: one medium pepperoni, one medium mushroom, one medium cheese.

I went to pick up the pizzas, showed them my coupon, and the total rang up to $18.50 or something. I made a comment that $3.50 was a lot of tax considering the order total was $15.00, and the woman seemed surprised.

Her: Well, the coupon is only good for one-topping pizzas.
Me: Yes. And I have three one-topping pizzas.
Her: No, this is just two.
Me: No, pepperoni is one topping; so is mushroom and so is cheese.
Her: Actually, cheese comes with the pizzas, so it doesn’t count as a topping.

(pregnant pause)

Me: So you’re saying that’s a zero-topping pizza?
Her: That’s right. And it costs $7.99.

(me thinking)

Me: Can I get extra cheese? Would that count as a one-topping pizza?
Her: Absolutely.
Me: And then the pizza would cost five dollars, like the coupon says?
Her: Yes.
Me: Umm, okay, could you sprinkle on some extra cheese then?

So she did, and my total dropped to $14.30. I still couldn’t figure out the math (maybe the tax was negative?) but I’d saved four bucks by adding a topping, so I didn’t complain.

What an awesome song. I loved it twenty years ago, I love it now.

I was looking through some old image archives (long story) and found this one.

WHO THE HECK IS THAT? I’m sad to say I have no idea whose baby this is. I’m pretty sure it’s not one of mine, and I’m not getting any good clues from the room.

If you read this blog and this is your baby, please let me know. Then I can properly apologize for not recognizing her.

It’s a fact that the more complicated an envelope appears, the less valuable the contents will be. Here’s a great example from today’s mail:

Yes, I can see that it’s URGENT URGENT URGENT and Extremely Urgent and has all sorts of technical garbage like “Time Sensitive” and “Materials Inspected” and (wait for it) “Urgent”. It also has that oh-so-realistic handwriting font so I’ll think it was specially made out just to me.

I must point out that it was definitely not hand-delivered to addressee. I suppose I’ll have to talk to the mailman (a way cool guy who wears khaki shorts, Hawaiian shirts, and Birks). Clearly he’s ignoring the clear instructions on the mail he’s delivering. Slacker.

In the end, of course, this was just a ten-page ad for a postal scale. Wow.

It’s no fun being old.

Last Wednesday in our league ultimate game, I tweaked my left calf. I’m not sure what I did– cut too hard, reversed direction too fast, whatever– but I was gimping a bit by the end of the game. Then I played two more games Thursday, and by Thursday night was really limping around. But Friday things seemed fine, and I figured it was just a temporary thing.

I played again today, and my calf is twinging. Dang. Tomorrow I’ve got a double-header, and then two more games on Thursday– I might be lucky to even be walking on Friday.

There was a time when stuff like this didn’t affect me at all. Now I’m feeling my age. And it’s not fun.

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

— Patrick Henry

Federal judge Vaughn Walker has ruled that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) case against AT&T can proceed, despite the government’s claim that divulging information about the NSA wiretapping program– of which AT&T was a major component– will severely damage national security. The unbelievable “state secrets” defense raised by the government has been struck down by Judge Walker with a deft statement:

This is great stuff, and despite the fact that the government will undoubtably appeal and continue to do everything it can to squash the case, it’s a minor victory for supporters of privacy rights.

A group of fans of the science-fiction television show Firefly, who pushed and supported the cast through the making of the (rather good) movie Serenity, have just released a documentary that basically shows the involvement of the fans and how their work kept the show alive and led to the movie.

Interestingly, they’ve released the entire documentary as a freely downloadable movie. This isn’t some back-room hack pasted together in iMovie– it’s a professional-quality full-length movie. Perhaps the best thing I’ve seen about it is their statement regarding why they released it for free:

Amen. Although I respect the intent of copyright, the current practices engaged by such organizations as the RIAA, MPAA, U.S. Congress, Disney, and a hundred other corporations interested more in profits than in serving their customers are deplorable. They’ve turned copyright into a system whose sole goal is profit, with no regard for the actual protection of ideas, as the original framers of copyright law intended.

I hope more groups follow the lead of the Firefly crowd. We’re already seeing it in the music industry, as more and more artists release their songs and albums in Creative Commons format– allowing free download, distribution, and remixing. There’s still a long way to go, but it’s a start.