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Tech Stories Archives - January 2006
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1.
2006 IS HERE!
Wishing the happiest of new years to all techs near and far! [By: Mango / 2006-01-01]
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Yeah, me, too. -PaseoGuy
Nappy Yew Hear! - Grue
I'm alive... I think.... Happy New Year!!! (Shh... not so loud.....) -MadJack
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2.
Happy New Years. fsckers...
Yeah. It's 12:11 am on 1 January 2006. I'm the only person sitting on the level 2 desk with 6 level 1s who are all sitting available. 42 min 26 seconds of availability, last I checked. Anyone else think I'm going to have to take a supervisor call at about 5 'til 1, when our center closes for the night? I'm seriously going to tell whoever it is to get a life, go out, and drink.[By: siggylxvi / 2006-01-01]
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Gawd!IT sounds like calling in tech support on 1st of January instead of getting drunk is in fashion this year. I pity those idiots who have no life -shooric
Jimbo's Holiday schedule: Sat 6pm - Sun 9am. Sun 6pm - Mon 12pm. Mon 9pm - Tues 8am or 12pm depending on needs. So even though I wasn't physically with you this morning, I was emotionally there (and almost asleep, here) -snJimboip
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3.
hippy gnu yaron
Have to post now, since I can't get to the site from work. :)
Hope everyone's 2006 turns out to be good, with few PEBKAC or ID10T errors and plenty of extra pay. I get to face the clueless masses in another 11 hours, a day when no one should call but you know someone's gotta check their spam or their USB root hub isn't recognising the PDA being plugged in and will call anyway. I wonder how many will be still buzzed, hooboy.
Anyhow, all the best to you and yours, and as Red Green says, keep your stick on the ice.
[By: Mushroom / 2006-01-01]
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happy new year mush.. i'll be calling tomorrow until i get you.. bwahha..
spent my new years drinking with a few good friends. we played an operation drinking game, and now my bride is playing outlaw volleyball. Why? Because they were out of DOA volleyball when she was at the store. When there's no steak available, just buy some gristle. -illiterate
as long as there is enough duct tape to go round, we will be ok - and i will see you back at the lodge;) -timelady
And if the women don't find ya handsome, they'll at least find you handy. - Happy New Year all. -teivrann
And if the women dont find you handsome. Call Mr. Alcohol. -burrkiss
timelady - Duct tape?! I didn;t know you were that kinky! (WooHoo! There's hope for her yet!) -ShujinTribble
And if the women dont find you handsome. Call Mr. Alcohol. -burrkiss
<quote author="Steve Smith" source="Red Green Show" saidby=allcharacters title="The Man's Prayer"> I'm a man. And I can change. If I have to. I guess. </quote> -linuxmatt
Possum Lodge Motto: "Quando omni flunkus moritati" Translation: "If omni flunkus moritati" Intended Translation: "If all else fails, play dead" -linuxmatt
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5.
You know it was coming...
What is your New Year's Resolution? I am going to the gym and working out now. For the sake of saving my money, I am not placing/taking bets on how long it will last, but I have motivation this time. Heart problems on both sides of the family along with high cholesterol and diabetes. Hope your resolution lasts you at least all year. And no, you can't make a resolution for no more sf. That won't last 2 phone calls![By: UnderLord / 2006-01-01]
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I don't make New Year's resolutions any more. If I had to wait until January 1st of every year to decide what I want to change about myself, I'd never change anything about myself. If I find something I want to change in the middle of April, I'll do it then. (I also don't follow the tradition to some extend simply for the sake of not following a tradition. To me there's something very 'Emperor's New Clothes' about doing something just because everyone else does it.) -teivrann
Masturbate twice as much. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a 3:30 and 4:00 appointment lined up... (I know, I'm slacking) -namor
My New Year's resolution is 800X600. I tried 1024X768 but I didn't like it. -robbor
Same things as last year.. to not take any crap from anyone. Kept it last year, too. :) -Jay911
Standard geek joke: My new years' resolution? 2560x1024. Actual fact? Back in about 1996 or so I resolved that I would make no more New Years resolutions, and I haven't broken that one yet. Most people try to force themselves to make major changes with their resolutions, and it never works. So these days I agree with Teivrann. -chazz
New Year's Resolution? Simple: To fulfill My Word. -ShujinTribble
My New Years resolution is to try and take over the World. -Wolfie0827
Take a number, Wolfie -ShujinTribble
If I were to make a New Year's resolution, it would cause me to break the one and only resolution I have managed to keep all these years -- many years ago I resolved to never bother making any more New Year's resolutions. So far so good. -Captain Trips
For my new years resolution, I'm going to resolve to beat the record of 10 minutes till yanked off the phones on my last day ^_^ -Lese
To be nice to my customers.. wait what am I thinking?!!? -kmonson
My wife, a GF, and myself actually are challenging each other a bit on weight loss. Daily or so emails, etc....that sort of thing. We'll see.... -Alathea
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6.
I Hate Calling Tech Support
We're visiting friends in Kentucky who use Bell South DSL. I hook up to his WAP and check support e-mail. Try to reply to a customer and receive a relaying error. Well, yeah, duh, the SMTP server is wrong. Change it to my website's mail server, which I've used in the past while travelling. Relay error. Try another mail server belonging to my sysadmin; relay error.
Hmmmmmm...
Okay, maybe Bell South is blocking all traffic on port 25 unless it goes through their mail server? Do a quick host lookup and change it to mail.bellsouth.net. Now it's denied because they don't like the fact that my e-mail address is support@isp.net, and they still call it relaying. So I change the e-mail address to support@bellsouth.net. Relaying denied. I change the address to the e-mail address of the friends we're visiting. Relaying denied.
Goddamit.
So, I call up Bell South tech support. I explain my problem in concise, technical terms, and include all the steps I've already taken to work around the problem. Script monkey asks me if I'm using Outlook or Outlook Express. I reply, "Thunderbird." Script monkey puts me on hold for a few minutes, then comes back with, "Thunderbird is not a client we support, so if you've already changed the outgoing mail server to mail.bellsouth.net and it doesn't work, you should probably contact Thunderbird."
..............................
"Okay, thanks." *click*
Absolutely fucking ridiculous. I just logged into our WebMail and sent it that way.
Thanks for nothing, BellSouth.
[By: RiffRaff / 2006-01-01]
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Yeah, sure Sparky. I'll call the tech support hotline for an *open source product*. I would say what a retard, but that would be insulting the intelligence of genuine retards. -flapjackboy
Actually, I think you might be able to get around the "relaying denied" by going into your email acct settings and authenticating the OUTBOUND server with username and password. I've had to do that with some of our customers after we shut down users ability to send email through our servers from different domains. Try that and see. Oh yeah...HAPPY NEW YEAR Riff!! :D
-rokitt
Do a manual SMTP session using telnet and see what responds. It will have the name of the program and domain in the response. That will tell you if they are truly redirecting SMTP traffic. -CyBear
Bit of irony there, eh wot? -viennasausage
I love brain dead Tech Support. Some years ago I was running Win NT Server. The calls went like this:- TS: Are you running Win95, 98 or Macintosh? Me: No. TS: OS/2? Me: No. TS: What are you running? Me: Win NT Server. TS: Open the control panel and click on Dial up Networking. Me: There is no such thing in Win NT Server. TS: Please look carefully, it must be there. Me: It has never been there in Win NT Server. TS: I'm sorry sir you will have to re-install your operating system. Me: Why would I want to do that? TS: There's missing items in your control panel. Me: Nothing is missing, it does not exist in Win NT Server. TS: My list here for Windows NT shows the item we need. Me: Does it say "Server"? TS: It says Windows NT. Me: But I have server. TS: They are the same. Me: No they are not. -Gerund
I've had the same issue on and off with my dad's home network when I'm there. E-link TS claimed that the problem was...my browser, and the tech was quite insistent that I uninstall Netscape and use Outlook instead O_o (I did not do so) Inexplicably, things worked in Outlook...but I don't use Outlook and never have. I never did figure out why a M$ product worked and Netscape didn't... -Dreamstalker
really, this is the only good reason for gmail to use a non-standard smtp port. otherwise it just constitutes a massive pain in my ass. -illiterate
Dreamstalker - because Netscape rigidly follows the standards and Msft doesn't? I uncovered a problem on vBulletin that fails on Firefox because of a missing <a name> tag. IE works fine on the same code. -Jay911
Set up SSL....no ISP I've found yet blocks 465. -karlata
yes they are exremly useless - and yes they BLOCK ANY PORT 25 TRFFIC! -Harm
Riff, a couple things spring to mind. First, like said before, try SMTP AUTH with the account's username and password (sometimes email address and password). If that doesn't work, you may want to try turning OFF SMTP AUTH. The mail server we use here sucks ass, and the TB default is to use Authentication. Someone on-net tries to send mail, thunderbird sends a username/password and the server rejects the message as it doesn't actually support authentication. Or, just use webmail (which is what I do most of the time) -snJimboip
I know this I haven't worked for any ISP when I was setting up some email a long time ago. Port 25 you use THIER SMTP server thank our favorite spammers. Most use no SSL authentacation outbound. get thier "smtp.bellsouth.net" (whatever it really is) info and have a nice day. Only other way is using port 587 another out going mail port which I have cheated upon(no I am not a mail spammer.) but thier you will need to have SSL to you mail server IE GMAIL. For all my friends that use Bellsouth and ask me for help since they are too lazy to do it themselves(my brother) I have to go read the website for the dang SMTP info which I never remember but no authencation. -Motient
Jay--what floored me was the dogged insistence that I -nuke- Netscape completely and immediately, and start using Outlook. All evidence on my end pointed to a server-side issue as it was working before (and, sporadically, afterwards). Maintenance had been done just before it went arse-up on me, so the theory was they had changed a setting I needed to get. Sometimes smtpauth works, sometimes it doesn't (I do have an account with them, but that username and pw gets rejected for unknown reasons sometimes). -Dreamstalker
Sorry guys. When you call my tech centre, we don't have time to diagnose issues beyond really simple things (server addresses and password issues). Can we spend an hour trying to fix this?? Heck no!! Can we send it to a higher level?? No. It should be fixed on our level. Would I like to fix this?? Heck, yes!! Most of us monkeys just don't have allowance for these issues. Therefore: PC TECH 4 U -SFishWrangler
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7.
T'is the season to fark up your PC
Well, Happy Frickin' New Year to me. My roomie accidentally infected my computer with something, and I'm getting porn pop-ups and malware warning errors all over the place I've also got a file "nvctrl.exe" that I have no idea how to get rid of. Sure, takes me to a Malware remover page, but then they want $50 for something they probably designed themselves to make money. I have no idea where to start fixing this (already virus/spyware scanned). Help?!?[By: Jonos / 2006-01-01]
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well if it comes to it, backup your files, and nuke n' pave. -RandalGraves
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/nvctrl/ - its not malware- virus / trojan listing apperently
-Harm
Get the latest versions of Ad-Aware and Spybot and use them to scan while in safe mode. That gives you the greatest chance of getting rid of it easily. -NightSteel
but don;t buy anything from the site...
-Harm
Proper removal instractions - http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.zlob.e.html - yes its a virus / trojan. -Harm
I've just removed this from a customer's computer. Use Spybot, Adaware, Hijack this, and swear a lot!
I followed the instructions on this page http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic36910.html. Best of luck. -Nazreel
No guarantees, but I think I saw this as a driver/control file for Nvidia video cards. Check this first! -CTYankee
It's not a driver for NVIDIA, it's the trojan, just read (spit) Symantec's page posted above and you should be ok. -Wolfie0827
I'd advise following the instructions at http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction and taking the "Spyaxe/smitfraud" path. This is pretty comprehensive IMHO and should sort you out. If you still have probs submit a Hijackthis log at Castlecops and someone will make suggestions as to how to proceed. -Darkstar2
Step 1 Beat the roommate
Step 2 Beat the roommate some more
Step 3 Fix your computer
Step 4 Never let them on it again, or atleast Password protect it, Bios/User Account -Deadagent
Make absolutely sure you follow the last step suggested by DA: Password protect your computer (preferably at the boot level). -BayouTech
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8.
mergers,mergers!
Ok I dont know if anyone has posted about this, at&t and sbc merger. I thought back in the 80's they busted at&t up and created sbc and others...now they come back togther!? I am a sbc customer too.http://www.att.com/merger/[By: SGTARKyTEK / 2006-01-01]
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The more things change, the more they stay the same. My sweetie is hoping AT&T doesn't mess with SBC's $5.99 per month unlimited call Canada plan! -Mysty
I used to work for Ameritech in the Hoffman Estates, IL office improving the DSL from 6 months to 5 days guaranteed and left shortly after SBC took over (they were years behind us in systems). I for one would *love* to see the phone company go back to being a regulated monopoly - same with gas, electric, cable, etc. Reason? On Rt 59, Ameritech laid fiber optic cables. A year later, so did MCI/Worldcom. A year later - AT&T. Not ONLY did it cause traffic delays for three years, but you wonder why there is over capacity! There *NEVER* would have been a telecom meltdown! -BesideMyself
My phone bill in 1980 was $12, now $40, while a personal computer then cost $2K+, and now you can buy a laptop for $500, vcr then cost $1200, now $40...etc etc etc..giant dumb mistake altho I had an Econ prof who disagreed with me that telephony is a natural monopoly...I still think it is at least as far as land lines are concerned... -NewBrassGun
I doubt anything major will happen to SBC rate plans, since SBC bought AT&T (not the other way around). Anyway, think that's confusing? AT&T Corp. spins off AT&T Wireless. AT&T Wireless is bought out by Cingular (60% owned by SBC). SBC buys out AT&T Corp., and changes their name to AT&T Inc. Now AT&T Inc. is talking about launching an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator - like Virgin Mobile, a carrier who uses another carrier's network rather than building their own) under the AT&T name...using Cingular's network. And Cingular is still in the process of migrating all the old AT&T Wireless customers over to their billing system. Confused yet? -missourimule
brain melt here. have sbc phone/dsl and cingular. as soon as cable internet is provided in my area i will ditch the dsl/phone setup. just use my cellphone. and there is a big stink over cable internet here. My cable provider Charter offers all over the US but not here. Little Rock has comcast/w internet, Bryant has comcast/w internet. I am between both towns.Benton is after Bryant but they have charter too so no cable internet, btw it's population is 24k. -SGTARKyTEK
Telco, telco, telco, telco, mergers, mergers! <Runs away from guy dressed in camoflage, wearing a mean expression & brandishing a banjo> -lineswine
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9.
Heads Up, Southeastern US! (NT/OT)
Magenta and I are currently in Kentucky, and will be in Northern Georgia tomorrow stormchasing. Storm Prediction Center is saying that things could get fairly intense for us tomorrow afternoon. I will try to post an update or two from the road, but no promises.
And yes, Sienna, the stormchasing, starfish-eating dog, is along with us for the ride. :~}
[By: RiffRaff / 2006-01-01]
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"--Hey, HEY?! ....Let's be carefull out there."</80's TV Flashback> -ShujinTribble
Living in tents again? Runs for LART shelter.... Be careful! -BesideMyself
Kentucky ? I hope you remembered to leave your IQ points at home since you won't be needing them there XD -Necros
Hill Street Blues, Trib -Gerund
You took Sienna along with you? Well, I hope things don't get too "Wuff" <Runs far, far away> -lineswine
An' his co-worker is staying home today, contemplating his navel.....:-) -vacuumtubes
Stay safe, all three of you... and get awesome pics if you can :) -teivrann
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10.
Delicious Irony
Not really tech, but scroll down to the application for Communications Intern for the NY Rangers..
http://hockeyjobs.nhl.com/teamwork/jobs/jobs.cfm?supcat=222&supcat_name=Internships[By: torgo / 2006-01-01]
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Arhahaha! That is an absolute CLASSIC! -karlata
Ho, ho, ho...& ain't THAT a sweet one! -lineswine
??? I see Guest Services, Ticket Ops, Public Relations, and Telemarketing. Nothing for "Communications Intern." Did I miss something? -Captain Trips
It's the Public Relations Internship for the New York Rangers. One of the responsibilities is listed as "proff-reading". -AmazingKreskin
Probably deliberately placed as they'll want to see if anyone spotted it, thus confirming their skill in proof-reading. -flapjackboy
did you catch "trascribing" too? -NewBrassGun
Sounds like a House Bitch Job to me. Gotta practice them tonguing exercises.... -vacuumtubes
VT: don't you know that's exactly what INTERN means!?! -Bobsentme
Yeah, just ask Bill Clinton. -flapjackboy
"But Hillary, I swear I thought that's what interns were for, and you had tons of interns working of you!!!"</bill> -drachen
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11.
Miss Congeniality
ME:(opening script)... HER: now LISTEN, sonny! neepneep charged my credit card nopnopnop ME:may I have your case number, please? HER: NO! it's YOUR number, not MINE! neepneep numbers suck nop nop nop. ME: ok.... if you would be so kind as to give me your phone number, I can... HER:<fires off phone number, case number,serial number,product code,and service agreement number all in one stuccato burst>Did you get that?ME:No. HER:<insert profanity here>That figures. ME: Yes, yes it does. <insert dramatic, silent pause here> HER: Are we still connected? ME: Yes. ---Now that you have a feel for the call, I need to point out that the lovely 'Quality' agent for our contract sits in the next cubicle. And she really IS lovely(on the inside, where it counts). Anyhoo, it boils down to this old lady not sending back her printer, which she was told to do, and then whining when she was charged for it. She demanded that I credit her account IMMEDIATELY. I said "yeah, sure" very sarcastically, and she hung up. I put all this in my case notes, and even included my personal opinion of her. We'll see how that goes over. Derigible disasters spring to mind....[By: DrLecter / 2006-01-02]
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LAFF. I can see QA visiting your desk if that call gets reviewed. :-p BTW, is the queue that dead here today? TS walked up to my desk... an hour before my start asking when my EOS was. o_O Maybe I won't have to listen to suctomers today. :-D -Torinir
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12.
That Which Shall Not Be Named...
...actually will be named here. Two words: SOX audit.
Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin! MUAHAAHAAHAAHAA!!!![By: PTSTech / 2006-01-02]
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You did not see me near that shredder. These aren't the documents you are looking for. You may go about your business..... -vacuumtubes
"There was a simple miss-understanding. What I really said was 'ship the documents to the Feds'. -AngrySup
That...frelling....sucks. Hope you make it through unscaffed. -Bobsentme
Rule #1 of a SOX audit. ONLY answer the question you are asked. DO not elaboriate. Do not voluenteer information. -BunnieTechBabe
Do not pass "GO" - Do not collect a Mission Statement. (WTF is a "SOX Audit" anyway?) -ShujinTribble
SOX = Sarbanes Oxley act. Google it. -purplelinguist
BTB, that's more of a life rule, in my opinion. *realizes he's volunteering info, and runs for the hills* -Bobsentme
SOX audits make sure that corporations are not doing bad things with their finances (Enron/Worldcom) and force companies to keep records and have written process/policies for EVERYTHING. For example: all pc related issues MUST go through the helpdesk so it's recorded. It sucks and costs companies lots of money for extra finance staff. -Starfury
Sounds like an ISO 9000 Cert... THAT was a worse pain than... well... hell, I can;t think that low. -ShujinTribble
ST- Think of it more like an OSHA audit, rather than an ISO cert! People crawling in one orifice and out another... -Voz
Sounds like a visit from the local Dept. of Health, after the local papers did a week-long series on restaurant-based food poisoning. At least you know the DoH guys get filthy, too... -MeanDean
ISO 9000? Easy. Just document what you do! 25 consecutive passed ISO9000 compliance audits in ten years! -Wraith556
Ugh... my sympathies... last time I saw a SOX audit, we were basically told that anything we needed to do our jobs, we weren't allowed to have. -linkv
and on reading up, I find there is a SOX 404, is that audit not found? -Jax
But Johnny Damon went to New York...</dumbass> -PaseoGuy
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13.
n00b Karma
I haven't been on the site that long, but this is my call for Karma. I currently work dead-end support for St.Ream (saint ream). tomorrow I have an interview that will put me at 10 hour shifts(3 day weekend) $2 more an hour (joy!)and grave yard shift ( worse starfish, but fewer of them) I have everything that can be crossed, well crossed.[By: 3p0ch / 2006-01-02]
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My friend, I recently came into a similar position. I give you all my unused karma! -Bobsentme
mmmm...Karma...aaugh! </homer> -3p0ch
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14.
mmmmLinux
Well, I've finally done it - I've got a linux system up and running in Virtual PC. I've even had a delve into the .conf files when it decided to run at a completely unmanageable screen resolution. Takes me back to my early days with DOS, not knowing what the hell to type to actually do anything! Well, either way, I'm testing out Kubuntu (www.kubuntu.org) at the moment, just to see if I like it. Now... Just 101 other things to do this year that I've meant to do for the past several years and I'm all caught up...[By: ElPolloDiablo / 2006-01-02]
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Man when you get done with your stuff, maybe you can help me pick up a little slack. I need to get my Real estate licence, make 50G or so and get my certs for computer repair and service, start my own shop and become wealthy. I'm about 10 years behind on that list. ;) -drachen
when I was a kid, I said I would be a millionaire by the time Im 21, boy did I miss that deadline (and goal) *unless going to Turkey counts? I had 68 Million Lira on the last visit* -Jax
Turkey doesn't count anymore. The current exchange rates for YTL are somewhere between USD and EUR. -DireFog
yea what gives... how do you just decide one day that your money is worth more. its like "uh... are money sucks...so everyone make everything one hundreth the cost and we will call it a day" -xtc46
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15.
Farewell fellow techs
After nearly a 7 year stint, I am leaving the computer industry. I wanted a change of stress. I can't tell you how many times this site and your stories helped me hold on to the last thread of my sanity. I'll visit sometimes.[By: Aversion / 2006-01-02]
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Congratulations! This industry grinds people up and spits them out, count yourself fortunate in getting out! Hopefully, it's not to a retail position, as those tend to be just as bad! -CarbonTetra
Way to inspire confidence, Tetra.. *grins* -NightSteel
You can leave, but you'll be back. You'll always be back... *Laughs maniacally* -Jonos
What field are you going in to instead?
(Sadly, I'm a geek to my very bones...I can't help it *twitch*) -lineswine
Best of luck in your next endevour - and for what its worth, my sideline hobby is Leathercraft... nothing like mixing polar opposites in your life to make people wonder. -ShujinTribble
Best of luck in the new career... and like Lineswine, I'm a polar-opposite kind of guy: brewing and mead-making... Do stop back for a visit every now and again, eh? -chazz
It's no reason for you to stay away from here, though...good luck!
-Grue
I recommend a nice relaxing job, like courier work in the Bay Area. -MeanDean
Shujin! Don't you know that spammers make lousy leather? -ralphp1024
Actually, the skin on a spammer is so thin I use it for lining. (ACTUALLY... I stil plan on my dream project for this year: A leather kimono!) -ShujinTribble
These middle-aged eyes are going. I misread "skin on a spammer" as "skin on a spanner" and my thought was that I didn't know wrenches had skins. -purplelinguist
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18.
(o/t) More DRM Idiocy
Check this out: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/01/coldplays_new_cd_has.html It would seem the next logical step would be building CDs that can only be played on record label-issued devices. Got a CD from Warner? Go buy a Warner CD player.[By: MeanDean / 2006-01-03]
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check out http://groklaw.net/ for excellent review and info on this. the conditions, and suggestions such as turning off your firewall to run it, and only on your copy of windows only (nomac or linux), are insane..... -timelady
They are issuing a crapshoot. It may play on some players. In other words, they are issuing a known defective product. If they have such a hard-on about copying, go back to LP's and cassettes..... -vacuumtubes
I wonder what trading standards in the UK would make of that - "Except for manufacturing defect, you cannot return this product for exchange or refund." I would say that messes with our Statutory Rights... -ElPolloDiablo
I will not by a CD that has "copy right protection" on it becasue, althought I can probably get around it, it would be a pain to transfer to my ipod, so I download it instead from a file sharing network. Its irony at its best. there copy protection makes me download it for free instead of paying them like I normally would. -xtc46
I, for one, think the new DRM rules are more than fair. The last thing the recording idustry needs is to give it's customers the ability to...hahahaahhoooohhahahahahahahahahohohaha. I knew I couldn't say that without busting out laughing. Screw DRM...;) -JoeLugian
Wait until DRM happens to DVDs. Your player will have to request permission before you can watch the movie you BOUGHT! And I doubt the MPAA servers could hand 4-5 BILLION requests per day. "Your request will be approved/denied within 6 weeks". </sarcasm> -Wraith556
And there's still not a damn thing that prevents anyone from dropping CDs onto their hard drive the same way I've burned much of my vinyl to MP3: about fifteen feet of cable, between my stereo and the 'audio in' jack on my 'puter. Sound is sound, and the audiophiles that would notice the difference ("It's analog!") eschew MP3 format anyway. -MeanDean
Beat me to it, MeanDean... When all else fails, do it The Old-Fashioned Way... Best idea yet: record the song RIGHT OFF THE RADIO.... -MadJack
Yup, Audacity is everyone's best friend -LinuXtreme
MD, I recorded some LP's onto my lappy in mp3 format, sounds good too, just need to keep the pennies in the right spot ;) -evolvedstarfish
Wraith556, it'll be happening with DVDs soon enough, like in a few months. One of the DRM policies for Blu-Ray (last I'd heard) was a mandatory constant internet connection, so that your player could be turned into a paperweight if the disk didn't pass the network scan. HD-DVD will have additional DRM policies in place, but Blu-Ray seems to be worse. "Is the hardware hackable" is becoming more of a deciding factor with my purchases these days. -HidariMak
did anyone notice the link saying you can leave a message for the band via Skype? You can win a chance to talk to the band!! -STJ
And consumers will give the vendors a big F**K YOU if this gets too complicated. -Wraith556
Isn't there a bill before Congress now that would outlaw anything consumer-grade that would convert analog signals to digital? I am glad I got mine so far in the past that it would be grandfathered in... if they ever tried to do something like that up here in the Frozen North. -chazz
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19.
I worry about some customers...
My first call of 2006 came in at 8:45AM from my largest local customer - "Help - our Internet is down." I went straight over there, sorted the problem (usual thing - router has been scrambled over the Xmas period, reset it, all OK) and return to Mission Control where I checked my email... The first incoming email was from the same customer, dated today at 8:45AM but not sent until 10:30AM, saying (yup - you've guessed it) "Help - our Internet is down." (sigh) Sending an email to say you've no Internet access is a bit like trying to drive to the nearest gas station AFTER you've run out of gas, right? Oh death, where is thy sting...
[By: Gromit
/ 2006-01-03 ]
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To be fair, a lot of people don't seem to equate 'e-mail' with 'internet' for some reason - but to be *completely* fair, that doesn't make them any less idiotic. -namor
ROFLMAO! Why weren't you there earlier? They'd sent you an email! -Tekkie
If you think u had it bad :) Maintenance request: "The doorbell button on my appartment door does not work anymore" Waited for maintenance guy :) No show, called appartments again. "I am sorry he was at your place 10 minutes ago, he said he rang the bell but noone opened the door so he left" -shooric
lmao....LOVE the door bell line. -TubPorsche
On Namor's comment -- alot of people don't equate ANYTHING with the Internet unless it starts with "www." My step-daughter, for one (who is so proud that she "has the Internet" on her cell phone. I asked her how it fit.) -Captain Trips
http://www.techcomedy.com/single/single.php?content_number=54842 (& look at burrkiss' 1st comment) BWAHAHAHAH! -lineswine
Just a touch of "devil's advocate" here... depending on exactly what has gone down in our corporate network, we can lose e-mail, AND/OR internet access, at either property level AND/OR corporate level, but still have the network operable otherwise. Still doesn't mean the 'fish is any brighter, though! -Voz
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20.
But I already paid for it!
A guy came in the store with a Compaq notebook – he can not print from IE (I had to decipher his explanation before I figured out what the problem was).
Me: No problem, we can test it for you and give you an estimate on repair.
Cust: I already paid Compaq for telephone support and they could not figure it out. Now you’re saying I’m going to have to pay again?!?
Me: We will first test it, there is no charge for that, then we will give you an estimate on repair.
Cust: So I will have to pay for the repair?!?
Me: Of course, but we will give you an estimate first.
Cust: But I already paid Compaq for the service!! Why should I have to pay again?!?
Me: I’m sorry, but we are not Compaq. If you want us to repair the problem, there will be a charge.
Cust: This is a total rip off!! I’m going next door!
He walked out and went to the large computer superstore next to us. They do repairs as well, but charge $65 for diagnostics.
He came back about 15 minutes later, even more miserable, but left his PC for diagnostics and repair. He will get the PITA surcharge added to his bill.[By: ch41nbr8kr
/ 2006-01-03 ]
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But I already paid Ford for the car, so why can't I get it serviced for free at a Honda garage? -flapjackboy
Me: well, excuuuuuse me! Did you see the name on the building? EU:Yes Me: Did it say "Compaq"? EU: No Me: Then you pay US for OUR work, A-hole. -srteach
I did something like that this weekend, when I took my GF's notebook in (she was hopeing they would replace it, thats why I didn't work on it) and they wanted to charge me, until I showed him that is covered under their company... I don't like this tech on tech crime -LowLevelFormat
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