Vakkotaur

My previous post was about the early pushing of bad Christmas/Winter music. A couple days ago I got in the car and found that XM's "40s on 4" had been replaced by "Holiday Traditions" until after Christmas. The 40s channel was not moved. This is irritating. This is the crap sort of thing that drove people AWAY from broadcast radio in the first place! And it's not as if there aren't other channels that could be used. It's after the baseball season, even I know that. And XM has a scad of baseball (MLB) channels that could have been used.

Right now I'm settling for the 50s channel and occasionally others, but I'm not bothering with 4 for a few weeks. Sure, if it had stayed 40s, I'd have expected some holiday music - but that's it, just some. They DID use dormant channels in previous years. Why did they decide to screw over the 40s channel this year? Is it that Sirius pulls that crap and this is merger fallout? Is it that this forces an audience for a moment, ala spammers? If I want that sort of abuse, I'll go to a damn mall.

Great going XM/Sirius, you make going to an mp3 player look all that much better: no subscription and no bogus channel-format change crap. Hey, I know it's now considered rather Old School, but I still have a tape deck and I'm not afraid to use it.

I hope XM manages to learn not to do that as they managed to learn a bit with the Radio Classics channel. For a few years they'd have a week (only a week!) of all Christmas themed radio shows. Until last year when they had a week with only some Christmas themed shows, and some regular shows - listeners had had enough.

I'm sure there are plenty of reasons to dislike MySpace. A couple years ago I actually got an account on MySpace and didn't do much of anything with it. In the last few months I have been getting e-mail notices that I have messages on MySpace. The e-mail only tells me I have messages, not what the messages are. I don't know if they're just spam, or something actually worthwhile. I'd have to log in to read them. And to log in, I need my password. Alas, I do not recall what password I used.

No big deal, just use the Forgot your password? link, right? Wrong! Evidently MySpace can send me e-mail just fine if it's a message notice, but not if I request password information. Even though it's going to the exact same e-mail address in both cases. I've tried that link on and off for a few months now. I've asked jmaynard to check the mail logs to see if the spam-rejecter rejected anything. In four tries to use that link, one e-mail was sent. It didn't get through, but any retry would have. I have used the link since, in an attempt for force said retry. I've waited. For several hours days.

If I could log in, I'm not sure I wouldn't just delete the account. It would be the same, except I wouldn't get e-mail alerting me to messages I can't read.

I have tried using their alleged help system. Said system is about as helpful as those damnable automated telephone systems. It doesn't let you give it a real subject, only choose among its own subjects, none of which is quite right. I went for the one for log-in trouble and got a form letter that told me do exactly what hasn't been working all along. Or, if that fails, I can take a picture of myself holding a sign with my account number, and send that and some other information in reply to the form letter.

I jumped through those hoops. I made the sign. The picture was taken. The e-mail was sent. It's been a few more days. I haven't heard a blasted thing. Not even a "you did it wrong" or "we can't verify that" message. Just... silence. I'd say it's like talking to a brick, but a brick doesn't give the pretense of perhaps being responsive, so it's even less satisfying than that. At least I can see a use for a brick.

The LiveJournal control is mal-designed.

The disable link doesn't work.

The cookie didn't last (and I didn't clear it.)

So it's come to this:

root@caspian # more /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.2 spa.snap.com # keeps the st00pid out.

I don't like fiddling with the hosts file like that and rightly I should not have to for this. Had LJ used a proper design that would let me say "Never show this" would have been better all around. But since the control was made by a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes*, the hosts file gets modified. Unfortunately that has to be done on every machine I use, rather than just be set once and work right everywhere afterward.

I want it OFF. I want it OFF everywhere. And I want it to stay OFF - forever. If I ever want it on, I'll turn it on. It's really just that simple. It should be a single control that gets set once. Instead, it seems that nuking snap.com from orbit is the only way to be sure.

* The same bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes that made the same st00pid bad design for deciding when to show or not show the AdNavStrip.

Yes, I'm swiping mr_fu's title for this bit of rantiness.

I am also writing of the past weekend, though not really the NYC and wedding parts. Just the getting there and getting back parts. And in fact, just the flights. Or rather, the gap between the two flights back...

On Friday, jmaynard and I had one boarding pass each. This meant we had one plane to La Guardia, even though we would land at Midway. The flight was nicely uneventful and we landed at Chicago Midway. Announcements told us we could leave the plane if we wanted, but did not have to do so. We decided to stay on the plane. Someone came around to verify that we were in the right seats and that was it. Even with a crew change, that was it. Soon we were in the air again. We landed a bit early at La Guardia.

On Sunday, we again had one boarding pass each. So we figured we'd stay on the plane in Chicago just like on the flight out. Unlike the flight out, the flight back was not on time. (jmaynard says he has yet to see ATA 205 be on time, and he's flown it several times.) There goes an hour or so right there. Once we get into the air, all is reasonably well, if delayed. Again we land in Chicago. Again we are told we can leave the plane, but don't have to. We are told this a few times. Then, without explanation, we are told that everybody has to deplane. We grab all our carry-on, figuring there is some problem and we'll have to change planes.

The jetway isn't driven up to the plane. Instead, a truck with enclosed stairs is parked by the plane. We climb the stairs down and onto the ground where we are directed into the terminal... and told to stay at the gate. We find out that we will be getting back onto the very same aircraft we just left. Why? No idea. The person checking our seating remarks it was silly to get us off of the plane. We agree and ask why we were told to. No explanation. Someone remarks about a crew change. But that makes no sense, as there was a crew change Friday and this silliness wasn't inflicted on us.

Those who were going on to Minneapolis were let back onto the plane first. In fact, I was the first passenger back on the plane. Yes, back up the truck-stairs. I notice many folks had left baggage on the plane - something that would not have been permitted if a plane change had been contemplated.

Another takeoff, another flight, another landing -- in Minneapolis, despite some crew member making a Very Bad Joke about us being cleared to land in Duluth.

Now, weather delays I understand. Mechanical problems causing changes of plan I understand. When these things happen, there is an explanation. Other flights I had been told that my plane had been grounded because of fuel problems. Or that we had to power up at a different point than usual as the auxiliary engine wasn't starting. Or that we had a ground stop and had to wait for a break in weather and a new flight plan approval. All were annoying. But in every case, I was told what the hell was going on. I can put up with a lot, really. But tell me what the hell is going on. ATA told us the get off of an airplane - one that was already behind schedule - and get right back on it, without a word as to why. Nor did they bother to put the jetway in place, or explain why it wasn't used.

In previous times, one might have asked "Is this any way to run a railroad?" It seems to be a piss poor way to run an airline.