A cautionary tale: Verizon's DSL salespeople are completely incompetent.

Several weeks ago, I ordered residential service. I was unable to get the prequalification app on their web site to work for my address, so I called in. I was told (1) I could get a modem for free, and (2) that I didn't need to do anything for the install except plug it in -- they'd just be turning something on at the CO, perhaps even before the date my service was scheduled to begin.

These were both, of course, pure fiction. On the install date, while at work, I got a call from a tech who had shown up at my house to rewire something. Luckily, I was able to rendezvous with him later in the day. The service worked briefly and then went down. Over the next few days, I called in, was told to wait at home for 8 hours, no one showed up, I called in again, was told "oh, sorry, it's going to be tomorrow", waited all day the next day, no one showed up again... a week and two actual visits later, I finally had connectivity.

I can't really blame them for whatever the line problem was, but to repeatedly treat my time as worthless by making me wait at home for an entire day just in case a tech can get there, even though it's highly unlikely they will, is just offensive.

Then, I received my first bill and... was charged for the modem. Calling in again, I was told that the deal I was offered was for online orders only, and even if I specifically confirmed with the sales person that he could get me the same deal since the web site wouldn't let me complete an order (and I already had an old, power-sucking modem anyway), there was no way I could get a refund. So I got an RMA and planned to go shopping for a replacement (people are selling the same model on Craigslist for $10). The RMA came in an email which also told me that if I did not return the equipment within X days I would be charged $100.

This is all utter bullshit. Do not use Verizon. If your only other option is Comcast, as it is here, just steal your neighbor's wireless or tether your 3G.

They could have left me reasonably happy with the whole botched situation if they had provided a honest estimate of how long it would really take to get someone out (even if it was "days"), or given me access to the same information without having to go through a call center of people only trained to read a script about how to power-cycle your router or whatever. And if they actually apologized for a saleperson convincing me to sign up by lying about what I would be charged. But why would they? What are you going to do, switch to an ISP that treats you like a human being and doesn't fuck with your traffic? Ha. Ha ha ha. Good luck with that.

Today, like any other day, I started Firefo^WIceweasel. I mapped it at the bottom of my window stack. It promptly raised itself. I closed everything and tried opening a new homepage. Nope, that's fine. I tried again with two tabs saved. It raised itself again.

I have been watching variations of this bug regress for eight years now and I am tired of it. So I installed Conkeror. After a good three-year run of being able to sit down at someone else's random PC and say, "hey, a web browser that nearly works as well as mine" (since it is, you know, the same one), I look forward to being utterly fed up with how primitive the rest of the world is again. And what are we in this for, if not that?

Doing. It. Wrong.

The other day I went back to the West Hartford library for some more DVDs and stopped by the New Non-Fiction shelf. This book caught my eye. It claimed to be a lexicon of euphemisms, “doublespeak”, and other language used in the US to disguise one’s true opinion, assumptions, or political agenda (you know how we love politics over here). An Ambrose Beirce for the talking head set, if you will.

So I flipped through it for a bit, and to be fair, the authors did do a commendable job of pointing out some of the subtle presumptions of many words that I myself think I use completely innocently. Even if I try to directly combat this tendency in my own way, one could certainly argue that ideas like systemic bias or jargon themselves implicate or demonize certain groups.

But that's why we need something like this book, right? Have to keep on our toes. Then I landed on H. The first entry was “hacktivism”.

“...which,” it read, “like hacking, is illegal...”

Grant is my hero.

Every time I read my Apache logs I get a very strong urge to block anything claiming to be Mozilla that is not actually Mozilla. Then I go make some tea and chill out.

(Years ago this was sheer eccentricity. But for the love of God, software that didn’t even exist in 2005 is still doing it.)

Ugh. What in the world were these people thinking? Got this from Amaya, who made a GIF of it if you don't want to waste time downloading that.

Gah.

Not that this is that much better.

My God. Again.

I want to round up all the mouth-breathers on MusicBrainz with an “it’s written that way on the box” fetish and kick them off the interweb.

I should just stop moderating, or pretending that the opportunity to create and utilize a global, comprehensive, coherent metadata schema means that anyone will actually care to use it. (Hi Joe.)

OMG PEOPLE

SHUT UP

I find the reactions to Joe’s post (also here), frankly, appalling.