Technology and Society

More Tech Support Idiocy

So I’m paying my Chase bill on line, and I log in with Firefox, as usual. It takes me to my account page, but any attempted link from that page (e.g., to actually pay the bill) yields a timeout error indicating that the page has gone too long without activity. Which is nonsense, because I only just logged in. After wasting a long time getting through to someone in tech support on the phone, she asks me who my ISP is.

Me: What difference does it make who my ISP is?

Her: We need to know to diagnose this.

Me: [scratching head] Ummm…OK. It’s Bell South.

Her: So what browser do they use?

Me: ?? What browser do they use? They don’t use a browser. They’re an ISP. I use a browser.

Her: When you log in to Bell South, what browser do they make you use?

Me: Log in to Bell South? With a browser? Why would I do that?

Her: How do you log in?

Me: I don’t log in. I have a permanent connection. It’s called DSL. It’s called broadband. You should try it, I hear it’s all the rage.

Her: Well, do you use a browser?

Me: [long silence, as steam slowly starts to waft out of my ears] Why yes, yes, I do use a browser, funny you should ask. Someone told me once it’s how one accesses stuff on the World Wide Web. I find it handy, occasionally.

Her: What browser do you use?

Me: I usually use Mozilla. Why didn’t you ask me that in the first place, instead of giving me the third degree about my ISP and how I log into it, which is a subject as far removed from the problem, as far as I can see, as the price of beef jerky in Tibet?

Her: I’ve never heard of that browser. Do you have Internet Explorer?

Me: Yes, I do. I tend to avoid using it, unless someone is sufficiently user hostile as to create a web site that doesn’t use standard HTML. Should I try that?

Her: Yes, go ahead, I’ll wait.

Of course, it works fine with IE. I issue a complaint.

Me: I’ve been paying bills for years with a Mozilla browser. You seem to have broken your site, since I can no longer do so.

Her: Oh, we don’t support any browsers other than IE and Netscape.

At this point, I’ve wasted enough time on this, thank her, and hang up.

Economics

Non-Mutual

“Non Mutual” was the accusation when The Prisoner was pilloried for not having enough community spirit. Mutual funds are being accused of being non-mutual by Ross Miller in his paper that decomposes an actively managed mutual fund into an active market neutral part and a passive part that looks just like an index. What he finds is that expense ratios on the active part look like about 7% if you consider most funds only have about 10% of their portfolio actively managed and that means the 1% vs. the .3% annual fees for managed vs. index fund has to be attributed just to the managed portion. This is great for hedge funds that if their fund is going up 10% a year only charge 2% fees + 20% of the 10% profits or 4% altogether. That’s quite a bit less than the comparable active mutual fund.

This is make quite a stir in financial circles.

Satire

Anger At Government Grows In Bombings’ Wake

September 8, 1940

LONDON (Routers) The new government of Winston Churchill, only in office for a scant few months, came under fire today, after the seemingly senseless destruction of property and lives in the city by German bombers yesterday. Many are blaming the new Prime Minister for the bombings, which they view as a result of his stubborn support of an illegal war against Vichy France, and inappropriately aggressive policies against the misunderstood Germans.

“Under Chamberlain,” said one Labour backbencher, “we had peace for our time.”

“Now,” he went on, “under this new brutal and dictatorial Tory rule, Churchill, along with his poodle Franklin “Delanodamngood” Roosevelt, has brought this wretched war home to Whitehall itself, and ordinary Londoners.”

The bombing began around four o’clock yesterday afternoon, with squadrons of German bombers blackening the skies over London, dropping many thousands of pounds of bombs on the city for two hours. A couple hours later, a second wave of bombings commenced, with the bombers’ navigators guided by the fires from the first attack, with no cessation until early this morning. The fires still burn, and the total casualties have yet to be properly assessed.

It is widely believed that the lamentable attacks have their root cause in the government’s unwillingness to recognize the new P

Satire

Anger At Government Grows In Bombings’ Wake

September 8, 1940

LONDON (Routers) The new government of Winston Churchill, only in office for a scant few months, came under fire today, after the seemingly senseless destruction of property and lives in the city by German bombers yesterday. Many are blaming the new Prime Minister for the bombings, which they view as a result of his stubborn support of an illegal war against Vichy France, and inappropriately aggressive policies against the misunderstood Germans.

“Under Chamberlain,” said one Labour backbencher, “we had peace for our time.”

“Now,” he went on, “under this new brutal and dictatorial Tory rule, Churchill, along with his poodle Franklin “Delanodamngood” Roosevelt, has brought this wretched war home to Whitehall itself, and ordinary Londoners.”

The bombing began around four o’clock yesterday afternoon, with squadrons of German bombers blackening the skies over London, dropping many thousands of pounds of bombs on the city for two hours. A couple hours later, a second wave of bombings commenced, with the bombers’ navigators guided by the fires from the first attack, with no cessation until early this morning. The fires still burn, and the total casualties have yet to be properly assessed.

It is widely believed that the lamentable attacks have their root cause in the government’s unwillingness to recognize the new P

Satire

Anger At Government Grows In Bombings’ Wake

September 8, 1940

LONDON (Routers) The new government of Winston Churchill, only in office for a scant few months, came under fire today, after the seemingly senseless destruction of property and lives in the city by German bombers yesterday. Many are blaming the new Prime Minister for the bombings, which they view as a result of his stubborn support of an illegal war against Vichy France, and inappropriately aggressive policies against the misunderstood Germans.

“Under Chamberlain,” said one Labour backbencher, “we had peace for our time.”

“Now,” he went on, “under this new brutal and dictatorial Tory rule, Churchill, along with his poodle Franklin “Delanodamngood” Roosevelt, has brought this wretched war home to Whitehall itself, and ordinary Londoners.”

The bombing began around four o’clock yesterday afternoon, with squadrons of German bombers blackening the skies over London, dropping many thousands of pounds of bombs on the city for two hours. A couple hours later, a second wave of bombings commenced, with the bombers’ navigators guided by the fires from the first attack, with no cessation until early this morning. The fires still burn, and the total casualties have yet to be properly assessed.

It is widely believed that the lamentable attacks have their root cause in the government’s unwillingness to recognize the new P

Science And Society

The World’s Oldest Profession

It apparently goes back further than mankind itself. The New York Times reports the first observed case of monkey prostitution:

Something else happened during that chaotic scene, something that convinced Chen of the monkeys’ true grasp of money. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of money, after all, is its fungibility, the fact that it can be used to buy not just food but anything. During the chaos in the monkey cage, Chen saw something out of the corner of his eye that he would later try to play down but in his heart of hearts he knew to be true. What he witnessed was probably the first observed exchange of money for sex in the history of monkeykind. (Further proof that the monkeys truly understood money: the monkey who was paid for sex immediately traded the token in for a grape.)

Science And Society

The World’s Oldest Profession

It apparently goes back further than mankind itself. The New York Times reports the first observed case of monkey prostitution:

Something else happened during that chaotic scene, something that convinced Chen of the monkeys’ true grasp of money. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of money, after all, is its fungibility, the fact that it can be used to buy not just food but anything. During the chaos in the monkey cage, Chen saw something out of the corner of his eye that he would later try to play down but in his heart of hearts he knew to be true. What he witnessed was probably the first observed exchange of money for sex in the history of monkeykind. (Further proof that the monkeys truly understood money: the monkey who was paid for sex immediately traded the token in for a grape.)

Science And Society

The World’s Oldest Profession

It apparently goes back further than mankind itself. The New York Times reports the first observed case of monkey prostitution:

Something else happened during that chaotic scene, something that convinced Chen of the monkeys’ true grasp of money. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of money, after all, is its fungibility, the fact that it can be used to buy not just food but anything. During the chaos in the monkey cage, Chen saw something out of the corner of his eye that he would later try to play down but in his heart of hearts he knew to be true. What he witnessed was probably the first observed exchange of money for sex in the history of monkeykind. (Further proof that the monkeys truly understood money: the monkey who was paid for sex immediately traded the token in for a grape.)

Space

Back From The Cape

We heard about the launch scrub just as we were pulling into Titusville. We headed back down the coast, but took A1A all the way, so it was a longer, but more scenic trip.

I find it a little ironic that the part that failed today was one of the components that Mike wants to keep ad infinitum, while there was no problem with the Orbiter, which he wants to retire. I may have some further thoughts on this at TechCentralStation, if I can work up the gumption for a piece, but unfortunately, because I lost any productivity today to this futile expedition, I’ve got three other deadlines breathing down my neck in the next couple days.

Administrative

Off To The Cape

We’re driving up to watch the launch. I hadn’t thought I was going to be in Florida this week, so I didn’t bother to try to get a base pass, so we’ll probably just watch from across the river in Titusville. No blogging–I don’t have Verizon wireless, and doubt if I’ll find a connection up there.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!