Index fsck

Fuck! I just now realized that when I upgraded the robots meta plugin it b0rked all its settings. Specifically, it checked all the checkboxes and as a result nothing on all my sites was being indexed. I only noticed by accident!

Goddamnit, this is why my ACP author pages were redirecting me. Grrrr

Wordpress.com > Blogger

Can someone please explain to my why people are still creating blogs on blogger when they can use Wordpress.com?

I mean, seriously, not only is the feature superiority of the later platform staggering but, after having to use blogger for the last few days now (mostly as a commenter), I can honestly attest, that it’s a pain it the buttocks!

Let me just list…

The things I’ve grown to hate in blogger

The list, looking back at it, is quite large. I’m surprised how someone who is funded by the bottomless pockets of the likes of Google can just be so bad at innovating and usage.

No trackback features

The only way you can see who is linking to you through blogger is to wait until google crawls through the site in question and discovers the link and then creates a “backlink”. If that site happens to be pretty obscure, then good luck.

Also blogger will not send a trackback or pingback to your own blog. I don’t know how many times I’ve been linked from blogger sites and I only discovered it when I checked my incoming links in my dashboard.

On the other side, wp.com not only handles trackbacks appropriately, placing them in the comment field at the time they were written with a small excerpt of the are around the link, but it also does not need you to manually specify trackback urls in your configuration. It will just send a pingback to any link you have automatically.

Comment handling

This is my biggest annoyance to tell you the truth.

• You are always redirected to another template in order to comment. Why they cannot just place the comment field below the entry, I do not know, but it’s horribly annoying. That damn template is so thin that I always have to scroll down 10 times to find what I want to reply to
• The captcha sux donkey balls. Not only are the letters ridiculously hard to read sometimes but apparently It will randomly deny the authentication.
• If your authentication is denied, then you have to decipher the next letters. Also, you cannot preview without correct captcha inserted.
• At random times, my OpenID will not be accepted (even though it’s always the same). When that happens, I have to re-enter the damn captcha always.
• No quoting mechanism or tags. I mean, seriously, how fucking difficult is it to allow the blockquote tag which has been defined in HTML for ages now? As a result, everyone just uses their own damn quoting style which is annoying as you have to figure out how each commented decided to quote today.
  Granted, people use their own quoting style in Wordpress comment fields as well but I can then blame it on their own ignorance/incapability to read and I’m hoping that an eventual upgrade will allow TinyMCE editing.
• I’ll grant that blogger provides a preview feature which is useful but the rest of the comment annoyances just bury it.
• After you submit a comment, your permalink is some crappy blogger code which you cannot use to link to (if you want). In order to link to your comment (or use it in some other way), you need to go back to the original post and click on the date of your comment below your name.

Templates

80% of all blogger templates suck. They suck so hard it’s difficult to explain their suckiness.

• Fixed Width at 640 pixels or whatever which leads me to have 50% of my monitor empty with a tiny column of text in the middle.
• No avatar support. On the other hand, Wordpress.com just added support for avatar collections and gravatars. This just make it more easy to tell the commenters apart.

They only thing saving the template issue of blogger is that they can be hacked, while you can’t do that in Wordpress.com unless you pay. However,  most people who like to hack are more likely to host their own Wordpress sites. Also, the widgets of Wordpress provide a much easier way to add banners and other random stuff to your sidebar instead of editing raw html.

Admin

Wordpress.com provides you with a dashboard with many useful features like statistics, overview of your comments in all of wordpress.com, tag management etc. Blogger has, frankly, jack shit.

Community

The only community issue that blogger has is the top navbar which allows you to jump to another random blog. Not very useful

Wordpress.com has the exellent possibly related posts feature, the classic navbar, tag surfer and tag subscription. If you want to find related stuff in the blogosphere, it is much easier. Also, by supporting trackbacks correctly, you actually see who is linking back at you immediately and it can actually act as a comment (as is the point of trackbacks).

They’ve already included a way to track your self-hosted wordpress blog through wordpress.com so I’m eagerly waiting for the plugins that will allow me to become a member of the wordpress.com community as well.

Btw, the profile setup of blogger leaves a lot to be desired for.

Features

Not only does wordpress.com seriously out-gun blogger in turns of features, it also has the extra benefit or being free software. That means that the quality of the service not only increases but that speed accelerating with the more people that join. What this means is that the rate that new cool features are being introduced increases exponentially.

On the other hand, blogger finally managed to allow scheduled posts just this month. A feature that has been standard for ages everywhere else.

Also, the fact that Wordpress.com is open sourced means that, if for some reason, you wish to leave, you not only have the option of hosting it yourself (since the administration is identical) but you can bet that you can easily find alternatives as well that may fit your needs better.

Finally, I mentioned that wordpress.com is based on free software. This makes it superior ethically as well. While if you pay for features in blogger, you just hand more money to the ultra rich google, by supporting wordpress.com, you are paying the developers who in turn can use their time to provide a software that anyone can use.

So what are you waiting? Just give it a go and see if it works. It’s as painless as it gets.

You’re not certain how to do it? Let me give a hand:

How to migrate your blogger site to wordpress.com

Feel free to link to this section

1. Create a new wordpress.com account and blog
2. Go to Manage -> Import
3. Import from blogger
4. Admire how much better it looks.

If you have an already established user base, in order to avoid losing the users who read you through feed or bookmarked you you can do the following:

Feed

1. Create a feedburner account and a feed for your blog (just follow the instructions)
2. Redirect your blogger feed to the feedburner feed. This can be done though your Blogger Dashboard -> Settings -> Feed. In all honesty, If you have not done this already you’re missing out.
3. Once all your users have moved to the new feed, perform the migration to wordpress.com and then edit your feedburner feed so as to draw the wordpress.com one instead of blogger.
4. Done and none’s the wiser

Ninja Site redirection

This is just a way I thought off the top of my head. Unfortunately you might have to crack open your wallet for it to work. If anyone has a better idea, lemme know.

1. Pay blogger to allow you to use your own domain name.
2. Wait until everyone has updated their bookmarks.
3. Migrate to wordpress.com
4. Pay wordpress to allow you to use your own domain name.
5. Redirect the domain name from blogger to wordpress.com
6. Done and none’s the wiser

Alternatively, just make a final post and inform people to visit and bookmark the new site, you cheap bastard.

New bloggers

Why are you even using blogger anyway? If you’re reading this you should have deleted you blogger already and preparing a trackback from your new wordpress.com or baywords blog to tell me how right I was.

As new users, you have nothing to lose and, hopefully I’ve convinced you, a lot to gain.

Now, Git! Save me from having to use the crappy blogger comments again.

My first Cease and Desist notice

So today I got an interesting email. It came from the legal department of a previous company I worked for (which wherewith will remain anonymous and called “the company”). Inside, in firm legal speech, I was informed that I was breaking Greek and international laws concerning anonymous enterprises and privacy. Therefore, I was ordered to remove all references to the company within 24 hours as well as any mention of software/hardware or people involved in a employee relationship with the company.

They also reserve the right to see on receiving damages resulting from the content of my site

My initial reaction was: WTF!!?

My surprise was mostly due to the fact that other than the company name (in a tag related to the post) and various generic information, such as a mentioning the operating system when I run into a computer problem, or mentioning the classic Greek ERP system when advertising the requirements of an IT position they were trying to fill (FFS! I even did that for free), I did not mention any names (specifically, I did not mention any names in a libelous fashion, but only in positive ways) and nor any other identification data.

Seriously, my worst post must have been one where I mentioned a christmas party and how boring it was. Or some random tech quotes (that every tech has) that had only my name on them. Oh and some pictures.

My impression is that apparently someone at the company saw some of my not-so-positive posts and recognized themselves in the anonymous mention, then got quite angry/insulted/whatever. Failing the option to fire me, they decided to bully me around.

So now I am pissed.

I have privatized my posts about them (even though, I really shouldn’t) until I know how much danger I am in. I know that Greece is notoriously behind in electronic rights (as exemplified by the Tsipropoulos case) and they may side with the company just because they don’t know what the hell is going on, but I want to think that International or European rights are a bit more advanced. But I just don’t know.

So I’m turning to you, my readers (yeah right I hear you say?). I want to ask any of you, especially those of you with legal background and especially in Greece, if I should worry or not and if the following are considered intellectual property or libel.

• Mentioning the name of the company I used to work for and my position there.
• Mentioning specifics of the company (such as saying that they were using such and such OS, or this program or whatnot). Not that I did before, but I’d like to know…
• Pictures of me and other company stuff in events
• Mentioning of Operating system used in an event (such as when creating a guide on how I fixed a computer). Can I say something like: “So when the Vista pc died, I had to replace the harddisk and reinstall SAP”. Can they actually consider this intellectual property?
• Can I mention doing unpaid overtime? Am I allowed to complain about my treatment? Can I mention my salary? How about salaries of other people that used to work in there? What does the law allow me?
• Can I rant on the incompetence of users without mentioning names. Does the fact that they work in the company make my rant a libel?
• Can I mention the incompetence of management?
• If I do not mention IP address’ or specific dns/netbios names, is it a violation of the company’s IP or security to mention a router or other piece of hardware vaguely? (i.e. “The router at Tsimiski”)

So I would really appreciate anyone’s advice on this, as it came out of nowhere and caught me unprepared. I do not like to be bullied and this kind stuff really gets me angry. Before I did not care about the company, hell, I even went beyond the call of duty too many times with them but this is preposterous and I would like to fight back.

Thanks!

Θύματα

Μπράβο για ακόμη μια φορά θύματα, κορόϊδα έλληνες (με μικρό “ε”). Καταφέρατε να ξαναγβάλετε κυβέρνηση αυτούς που μέσα σε 3 χρόνια σας πήγανε 20 πίσω (δηλαδή τώρα πια, μετά τα 20 πίσω του ΠΑΣΟΚ, ζείτε στο 1967. Άλλη μια τέτοια ωραία, μαζί με τα φασισταριά του Καρατζαφέρη, και θα έχετε την Χούντα που τόσο φαίνεται να πωθείτε)

Πολύ χαίρομαι που δεν ζω πια μαζί σας ξεφτιλισμένοι κακομοίρηδες γιατί θα έκλαιγα την μοίρα μου να έχω συμπολίτες που είναι πολύ χαρούμενοι να καταστρέψουν ότι κερδίθηκε με κόπο από τους προηγούμενους ώστε να μπορέσει το παιδάκι τους να έχει καμία συμβασούλα (του κώλου).

Εύγε, και εις ανώτερα! Του χρόνου και με καθόλου δέντρα…

Και μετά ξέρετε ε…ΠΑΣΟΚ! Γιατί σε 4 χρόνια…ποιός θυμάται τι καφρίλες έκαναν εκείνοι πριν απο 7. Σίγουρα καλύτερα θα είναι απο τους ΝΔίτες ε;

Mobaaargh

Damn sonnova…my [tag]mobile[/tag] b0rked last night. I noticed as I was to set up my alarm. The screen just went completely white and although the OS behind it seems to be working, I cannot see anything. I have no idea hat caused it but I took it to the T-Punkt and they say that they need to send it back and give me a replacement. Which means that I will lose all my settings.

Just a heads up to anyone who might be trying to contact me. Until I put my sim in a different mobile, I won’t be able to receive sms (I may lose some as well). Hopefully I’ll be able to backup the contacts through the data cable but there is a chance I’ll lose all telephones

Damn luck…

…that I had - UPDATE @ 9:00pm - As I was looking desperately for the mobile’s install CD I turned it on and lo and behold! It works!

Wo0oo0o0hooo!

Forgotten

Το πόσο με έχουν ξεχάσει οι περισσότεροι φίλοι όσο είμαι στο εξωτερικό δεν το περίμενα. Ζήτημα είναι εαν 6 άτομα μου έχουν στείλει ένα απλό μήνυμα.
Είναι λίγο απογοήτευση η όλη υπόθεση, ειδικά όταν στέλνω εγώ ένα μήνυμα και ούτε απάντηση δεν λαμβάνω.

Πάρε τώρα την κοπέλα με την οποία είχα μια σύντομη σχέση πριν φύγω απο την Ελλάδα. Αυτή η κοπέλα το ήξερε οτι φεύγω απο την πρώτη μέρα που την γνωρισα (για να μην λέει κανεις οτι την κοροϊδεψα) και όταν έφυγα είχαμε ακόμα πολύ καλή σχέση. Εκτώς απο μια φορα που την πήρα τηλέφωνο μετά από ένα μήνα αφότου έφυγα…τίποτα. Ούτε ένα μήνυμα, ούτε μια απάντηση στα δικά μου μηνύματα, τηλεφώνημα ούτε για αστείο και καμία απάντηση όταν πήρα εγώ τηλέφωνο. Αυτό είναι το extreme παράδειγμα φυσικά, αλλά με έκανε να γράψω αυτό το κείμενο.

Πικραίνομαι όταν άτομα, τα οποία δεν περιμένω να μου κρατάνε κάποια κακία, με αποφεύγουν. Με χαλάει όταν “φίλοι” δεν κάνουν τον κόπο να στείλουν ένα μήνυμα για να δουν τι κάνω. Για εμένα είναι φύσης αδύνατο να τους τηλέφωνήσω όλους, ή τούλαχιστον ήταν μέχρι τώρα με τους λιγοστούς οικονομικούς μου πόρους.

Τώρα που μπορώ, δεν ξέρω εαν θέλω…
Όπως μου εξηγεί και ένα παλικάρι που έχω γνωρίσει, στο εξωτερικό καταλαβαίνεις ποιοί είναι πραγματικοί φίλοι.
Όποιους περίμενε να επικοινωνήσουν στην ονομαστική του γιορτή, τον αγνόησαν και αυτοί που δεν περίμενε τον θυμήθηκαν.

Sore Throat…again

Gawd Damnit!

Once again I get a sore throat without any reasonable excuse. I just woke up in the morning and my throat hurt and the next day I wake up and most of the back of my mouth is inflamed.

Gnnngh!

I wake up one hour earlier from the pain, and decide, what the hell, I’m going to start earlier so that I can find an all-night pharmacy and buy some Betadine.

I’d wish.

Not only were all the “Apotheke” (which is the word for pharmacy around here) closed at 7:30 when I was looking, but when I go on my lunch break, I found out they don’t have any Betadine (they have not even heard of it) but rather “Hexoral” which is supposed to be the same thing. So I buy one, in a spray and use it. It nearly chokes me and then hurts like a bitch in flames. And the worst is that it doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference. My throad is as inflamed as it was before, just in more pain.

And what the hell is the deal with the pharmacies around here? What is someone that needs a medicine urgently in the middle of the night to do? Lay down and die?

I fucking hate this sore throat business I’ve been having the last few years.

Crap TV

These last two weeks, since I’ve been missing my computer and since the only remotely english channel on the TV was MTV I have been watching that.

Ugh!

How, and by “How” I mean “How in the nine fucking circles of dante’s fuckin’ inferno” can people watch this humongous pile of steaming crap that passes as MTV these days? I mean, I turned the damn thing on hoping to watch a music video or something to pass the time until I got my PC back…
Music Videos? Hah!

From the total MTV programme, I would say that 5% is music videos…on a generous day.

50% is Adverts (mostly about mobile phones and mobile games and mobile flirt and other mobile shit)

5% is some absolutely horrible comedy series about a family of rich black people. Completely humorless.
40% is Fake Reality TV

*shudder*

Ohh, how horribly horrible are those reality shows. If you think Big Brother was bad, I challenge you to turn on MTV for 1 fucking tortuous hour.

First of all, they are completely, and I mean absolutely mind-numbingly obviously fuckin fake!

Let’s see what we have:

Pre-exhibit: So that I do not have to write this after every exhibit below, I’m going to state it here because it is the standard in every of those horrible shows. The dialogues are all pre-made and ready. They are not, at all, improvised or “real”. The persons have been instructed exactly when, how and what to say. In the worst case, they are given a generic guideline (Get angry here and curse here). This is unbelievably fuckin’ obvious.
On to the shows:

Exhibit a) NEXT: A “Fake-ality show” where a guy (Usually into bodybuilding, Surfing, Sport and other jock stuff), or a girl (Into R&B, Puppies, etc) will go on a short date with 5 people, one after the other. Each of those people will earn an amount of dollars equal to the time where they stayed on the date. If the original guy or gal gets bored she will shout NEXT and then the other person will come out. If he/she doesn’t then she will give a choice to the other person to either go on a second date or take the money.
Now, these 5 people that are in the “NEXT Bus” are almost always the same type. If the original actor (which is what he is. Or maybe I should say bad actor) is a guy, the girls will be (in almost the same order as well): Young/Immature girl (Rejected), Bad girl (Rejected), Cute Girl (Rejected), Normal (as in trendy/bland) girl (Accepted), Fifth girl (does not matter)
If the original actor is a girl, then it will have a Soft/Romantic guy (rejected), Dweeb (Absolutely rejected), Stupid guy (rejected within the first minute if possible), Normal guy (Accepted) and Fifth guy (Does not matter).
Other than the bad acting and the bad dialogue, they also go to completely stupid activity dates (Sheep Shaving? Cow Milking? Oh gawd!). How the HELL can people see this?

Alright alright, next one is…“I want to be me”
Now, unfortunately this is in German so I never really watched it until yesterday. From the generic outline and any english I managed to catch, the theme is about a guy or gal that wants to be himself (and incidentally want he wants to be is a totaly trendy, mainstream and accepted thing) but he cannot because he is not tall/thin/beautiful or whatever enough.
Now, this episode that I saw was about a very fat kid that wanted to be prom king.
You know what the show taught me?
You can be whatever you want to be if you put your mind into it…and have an NFL trainer, professional spa/swimming/yoga/singing lessons, you own song recording and all the judges paid off.

Yes, yes, it could be you!

- Intermission to allow me to puke -

Alright, moving right along we have “Sweet 16”

Oh the horror…

This show I particulary hate with a volcanicaly burning passion.
It is about a random girl (or sometimes a guy), who’s family incidentaly is stupid rich, and decided to give them a super sixteen birthday party. This usually involves a huge club, a lot of outrageously expensive clothes and a few guest musicians (most probably R&B, Rap or Emo Bands since they seem particulary eager to sell out for such crap)
I never really watched the show with any interest (except yesterday, where I looked at the screen once every five minutes) except from the stage where the 16 year old kids got into the R&B club and started crotch rubbing against each other.
I cannot fully explain the horror of this show unless you (poor sod) watch it yourself. What I hate most about it however is what it passes through to the viewer. “You fuckin’ pathetic mortal. You will be lucky to be invited to such a party by the un-fuckin-believably rich people having it, but don’t you dare be non-mainstream. R&B will be your king and master (emo bands are allows to bitch you aroung as well). You will never have such a party, unless your daddy can pay off MTV and buy the producers a new car.”
I also hated how the invitees loved the birthday girl that did them the honor of inviting them. And when the party girl got two, TWO, new cars, the people just loved it! GRRRR!

OK, ok, I’m going to stop now because I cannot spend the rest of my day here. I will just mention the names of some of these horrible shows fate has made me watch when bored.

“Pimp my ride”
I have been lucky enough to be chosen to have my car remade into something very cool. This is actually the least horrible show I saw.

“Date my Mom”
Random guy dates three moms and decides based on that which of the girls he will take on a date. Now other than the completely idiotic theme of this show, this also is fake. The final dialogue is so prepared that they even use a pre-determined drama pause!

“Parental Control”
Parents of a random guy or girl do not like her boy/girl-friend and turn to MTV. They each choose a candidate out of a dozen and their baby goes on a date with each. The original boy/girl-friend gets to watch the date on video. The date gets as sleazy as possible (so that the original boy/girl-friend get “upset”) and in the end the kid gets to choose between the two dates or the original boyfriend.
HOW FUCKIN STUPID AND FAKE CAN YOU FUCKIN’ GET?

There were some other fake-ality shows. But I want to leave.

Final advice. Do not watch MTV. There is nothing M about this TV. Only C.

AAaaaargh

fuckingfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!

Rejection

I just don’t get, am I just so unlucky or what?

First [tag]Interview[/tag]: Good impression

Second Interview: Good impression, great vibe and some unexpected compliments

Final result: The other candidate get the job.

Total times this has happened until now: 2

I mean, WTF!

Do I always end up running against a person that is just a bit better than me or what?

I am truly and utterly disappointed by my (non)success rate… I am just hoping for some good news after this week is through.

NetΓκαϊφέ in London

Έγραψα αυτό το μακρυνάρι σε ένα post στα forum του Mazanet και μιας και είναι σχετικό με την ζωή μου εδω πέρα τον τελευταίο καιρό λέω να το αντιγράψω και ‘δω μέσα να το θυμάμαι.

—

Το πρώτο netcafe που πήγα στο Λονδίνο είχε 1 λίρα την ώρα (το στανταρ εδω πέρα), δεν επέτρεπε να κατεβάσω τίποτα απο το internet (ούτε το βιογραφικο μου), διέθετε μόνο internet explorer 5 ο οποίος πολλές φορές έκλεινε μόνος του διότι, έλεγε, έβλεπα απρεπή πράγματα (πχ την τελευταία αίτηση μου για δουλειά). Για να μην μιλήσω για την απίστευτη καθυστέρηση για να ανοίξει μια σελίδα (spyware οργασμός) και τα διάφορα παιδάκια που έτρεχαν δεξια και αρίστερα μαλλώνοντας για το ποιο θα χρησιμοποιήσει το computer της μαμάς. Μόνο η κότες έλειπαν απο εκεί μέσα. Α ναι, και μια εκτύπωση έκανε 50 pence. [1]

Το επόμενο internet gκαϊφέ (Απο συνήθεια τα λέω ακόμα έτσι, στην πραγματικότητα ούτε νερό δεν έχουν) που πήγα ήταν στο κέντρο και πάλι είχε 1 λίρα την ώρα. Τουλάχιστον εκεί μπορούσα να χρησιμοποιήσω firefox αλλα ξενέρωσα απίστευτα όταν με χρέωσαν έξτα 25 pence για το ένα λεπτο που “έκατσα” παραπάνω (που παρεπιπτόντως ήταν το λεπτό που πήγαινα απο τον υπολογιστή στο ταμείο. Παραλίγο να τσακωθώ εκεί μέσα αλλα τελικά τους πλήρωσα και έφυγα χωρίς να πω “Bye”…έτσι για να μάθουν… (Πού’ν το καταραμένο το :rolleyes:

Στο τρίτο ήταν λίγο καλύτερα αν εξαιρέσει κανείς το γεγονός οτι οι πλάσμα οθόνες έπαιζαν συνέχεια ταινίες και δεν μπορούσα να συγκεντρωθώ σε αυτό που διάβαζα. Τουλάχιστον εκεί μπορούσες να διατηρήσεις την μια ώρα που πλήρωσες για μια εβδομάδα, οπότε το χρησιμοποιώ για να τσεκάρω τα email μου σε 5 λεπτά όταν δεν έχω χρόνο.

Το τελευταίο που βρήκα, και αυτό απο το οποίο γράφω αυτό το post, είναι επιτέλους πιο φθηνό, με 1 λίρα τις 2 ώρες και αρκετά πιο χύμα. Μπορώ να κατεβάσω και να εγκαταστήσω ότι θέλω (πχ το last.fm player για να ακούω μουσική). Το μόνο κακό είναι οταν ο διπλανός μου αποφασίζει να τσεκάρει gay/tans porno και λόγο της απόστασής, όποτε φεύγει η ματιά μου πέφτει πάνω σε άντρα με βυζιά να παίρνει τσιμπούκι απο γυνάικα…ugh. Μόλις τώρα αναγκάστηκα να βλέπω τον τυπά απένταντι μου να κάνει επίδειξη τα μούσκουλα του στην webcam του, προφανώς για να γοητέψει οποιοδήποτε πιπινάκι προσπαθούσε να ψήσει στο chat… (:rolleyes: :rooooleeeeyes!:)
Τουλάχιστον είναι φθηνό.

Α ναι, σε όλα αυτά, πλην του δευτερου, δεν είδα κανένα να παίζει παιχνίδι. Το μόνο που κάνουν είναι να surfάρουν και να κάνουν chat. Αυτό με γλυτώνει τουλάχιστον απο το να έχω τα διάφορα πιτσιρίκια που παίζουν “Κάουντερ” - όπως αναφέρει ο αγαπητός PlutoΝίκος - να βρίζουν τον “Παλιοκαμπερά”, ένα πολύ συνηθές φαινόμενο εν Ελλάδι.

Είναι και το internet της βιβλιοθήκης το οποίο είναι τζαμπε για 1 ώρα την ημέρα αλλα έχει ανάλυση 800×600 (μη σου πω 640×480) και δεν διαθέτει firefox. Πάλι καλά που το καλό παλικάρι, που ξέρει κι’αλλο μονοπάτι, βρήκε τρόπο να το εγκαταστήσει μέσα στο cache folder του exploder στον οποίο έχω δικαιώματα r/w

Αυτά. Να μην ακούσω κανένα να παραπονιέται ξανά.

…Τουλάχιστον μέχρι να βάλω τα 8mbit , τα οποία btw, θα αργήσουν πολύ ακόμα. Η ΒΤ υποτίθεται οτι ενεργοποίησε την γραμμη χθές αλλα …testicles! Λενε έχει πρόβλημα και θα είναι ΟΚ απο το Σάββατο. Μετά απο εκεί θέλει άλλες 15 μέρες ωστε να πάρει τον έλεγχο η Tiscalli, τουλάχιστον απ’ότι λέει στο FAQ.

Souk-Hell

Οι τελευταίες 2 εβδομάδες πού δούλεψα στο Souk ήταν απίστευτα ψυχοφθόρες. Ο Αρχικός μπάρμαν, ένας Πολωνός εν’ ονόματι Mike, έφυγε διακοπές και την θέση του πήρε ο αδελφός του αφεντικού. Αμέσως ανέλαβε καθήκοντα manager του bar και εκεί είναι που η ζωή μου άρχισε να γίνεται πολύ δύσκολη.

Ο τύπος πραγματικά δεν έχει ιδέα απο διεύθυνση, και για να το καλύψει με τρέχει όλη την ώρα για τις πιο αχρείαστες δουλειές, ώστε να έχει αυτός ελευθερία να φτιάχνει τα κοκτέιλ. Αποφεύγει τις κουραστικές δουλειές φυσικά - ρίχνοντας ‘τες σε ‘μενα ή στον δεύτερο μπάρμαν που προσέλαβαν πρόσφατα. Μη του πέσει η μύτη δηλαδή, εαν σηκώσει μια κάσα μπύρες.

Μερικά άλλα ωράια:

• Κάθε μέρα πρέπει να ετοιμάσουμε το Mais en plus (ή πως στο διάολο γράφεται) γιατί πάντα η επόμενη μέρα είναι “busy”, ακόμα και εαν η επόμενη μέρα είναι η γαμημένη Δευτέρα που έχει κλαιν κόσμο. Αποτέλεσμα; 8 μπουκάλια ζαχαρόνερο (τη στιγμή που το Σάββατο, με το ζόρι να χρησιμοποιήσουμε 2), άπειρα κομμένα φρούτα που σαπίζουν σιγά-σιγά, τρείς κουβάδες σπασμένος πάγος να περιμένουν πότε θα έρθει η Παρασκευή, ανοικτά μπουκάλια κρασί (Γιατί “Δεν θα έχουμε χρόνο να το κάνουμε ότα θα είναι busy” …να ανοίξουμε το γαμημένο κρασι!?) και άλλα διάφορα.
• Καθαριότητα που δεν έχει καμία λειτουργική αξία, όπως το να καθαρίσω το εξωτερικό απο τα μπουκάλια με το υγρό πιάτων, τα οποία μπουκάλια είναι καταχωνιασμένα κάτω απο το μπάρ! ή να καθαριστεί ο κάδος σκουπιδιών, μέσα-έξω, κάθε μέρα (Ναι, γιατι σκοπεύω να φάω από εκεί μέσα…)
  Και φυσικά δεν είναι αυτός που αναλαμβάνει να κάνει αυτές τις εργασίες, όοοχι…
• Προσπαθεί, με κάθε τρόπο, να βρεί λόγο να με κριτικάρει. Δεν μπορώ να κάνω ένα λάθος χωρίς να πεταχτεί για να μου το τρίψει στην μούρη. Εάν κάνει αυτός το ίδιο λάθος φυσικά δεν τρέχει τίποτα (”Don’t worry” είναι η αγαπημένη του φράση όταν κάνει μαλακία).

Πολύ το χάρηκα πάντως το Σάββατο που προσπάθησε να με αναγκάσει να ξαναδέσω τα μαλλιά μου καθώς κλείναμε το μαγαζί. Όταν τον αγνόησα, πήγε να κλαφτεί στον manager και έφαγε πόρτα. Δεν ξέρω ακριβώς τι του είπαν στα Αραβικά αλλά άκουστηκε σαν “Δεν έχεις τίποτα καλύτερο να κάνεις;”

Πραγματικά, προς το τέλος της προηγούμενης εβδομάδας είμουν έτοιμος να τα βροντήξω όλα κάτω και να παραιτηθώ αλλά το βράδυ της Πέμπτης κάτι άλλαξε μέσα μου, δεν ξέρω τι ή γιατί, και απέκτησα αρκετή αντοχή για να υπομείνω αυτή την κωλοδουλειά μέχρι να βρω κάτι καλύτερο.

Ας κρατήσουν το “διαμάντι” που έχουν τώρα, εγώ προτιμώ να κρατήσω την λογική μου.

Περιμένοντας την ΒΤ

7-10 μέρες για να μου ενεργοποιήσουν την τηλεφωνική γραμμή απο τη ΒΤ. Εαν υποθέσω ότι τα χρήματα έχουν φτάσει από την Τετάρτη τότε αύριο θα έχουν περάσει 7 μέρες. Ας ελπίσουμε να μην τους πάρει το max. Αλλά και πάλι, γιατί χρειάζονται 7 μέρες για να ενεργοποιήσουν μια γραμμή, τι στο διάολο πια;

Μετά απο αυτό, να δούμε και πόσες μέρες θα χρειαστεί για να ενεργοποιηθεί η broadband…

Overcharging

Yesterday I went looking for a new power cable because the did not ship one with the monitor I bought from ebay citing “safety reasons”. Now what kind of safety reasons do they have for now shipping power cables when every other company out there does so…I do not know. I guess it’s for the safety of their pocket or something.

Anyway, I went looking for a new power cable and having had to buy one before, I was prepared to pay about 5 pounds for a new one, however I was not prepared for the 10 pound overkill I found on PC World.

Let me say that again: 10 - friggin’ - pounds … for a power cable. Needless to say, I did not buy it. I visited a few other shops looking for one where I found the same price again. Fortunately, a one-man computer repair shop I found, sold one for 3 pounds.

I then asked him if he had any screws he could give me:

‘So, what do you want it for’
‘I lost one and I need to screw something’
‘Which ones you need?’
‘The HDD ones’
‘How many’
‘Hmm, gimme two’
‘Alright, that will be one pound’
‘You’re going to sell them? You’re going to charge me 1 pound for 2 screws?’
‘Yep’
‘… keep them’

50p for a screw, 50p for a printout…some people just need a good whack on the head I think.

Where’s the interviews?

You know, I’m very curious as to what is happening. Ever since I came to London, instead of getting more [tag]interview[/tag] offers as I was expecting, I get less. I went to one interview when I first came here (literally the next day) which was also partly luck, but other than that…nothing.

I get the occasional phone call from an agent trying to promote me to a company, but after than that, silence or failure.

Now, I know that with 4 years under my belt, I’m not extremely experienced but I think I’ve done quite a few interesting things to warrant at least an interview. It’s not that I’m applying for Senior positions or something, but when I’m being turned down from even desktop support positions because the other candidates had, quote: more suitable skills and experience - I’m starting to think that something else is wrong here.

I mean, Sega, was interested enough to call me for a second interview as regarding a £30k position, and right now I can’t even get into interviews for jobs with way less requirements than that. Not only that, but while I was in Greece I got more interview offers (which I couldn’t accept unfortunately, since I was out of travel money) than now, where I can go the next day.

So, I just don’t get it. Is it my CV? Is it this website? My Nationality? What?

And you dear reader, if you happen to be a Hiring Manager checking out this website and about to turn me down, I would appreciate if you told me why.

Other comments and suggestions of course welcome, especially from other people working in the UK.

50p a Page?!

FFS, I wanted to print a TFL map at the local internet cafe and they wanted to charge me 50p a page!

Are they going to give me a silver lined paper with a royal seal or something?

I need to get my own PC back…fast

Στην εξωρία

Τέσσερις μέρες είμαι εξώριστος απο το σπίτι του ξαδέλφου μου μιας και έχει έρθει η κοπέλα του απο τις Η.Π.Α.

2 μέρες κοιμόμουνα σε ξενοδοχείο και τίς άλλες 2 (χθες και σήμερα) αγγάρεψα ένα φίλο να με φιλοξενήσει.

Και άυριο δουλέβω και 11,5 ώρες.

Ωραία πράγματα.

Blog εξελληνιστί

Δεν ξέρω γιατι το θυμήθηκα τώρα αυτό αλλα είναι κάτι που με ενοχλεί καθώς βλέπω την ελληνική blogοσφαιρα. Δεν υπάρχει συνοχή στην μετάφραση του blog και δημιουργούνται διάφορες ηλίθιες λέξεις.
Η πιο εκνευριστική απο αυτές είναι η “βλογ”. Είναι τελείος χαζή και δεν σημαίνει τίποτα. Είναι απλά το Blog με ελληνικούς χαρακτήρες. Το Βλόγκ είναι αμέσως επόμενο στην λίστα των ακύρων, αλλα είναι και σχετικά αστείο μιας και μου θυμίζει το Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy (στην ελληνική μετάφραση).
Τέλος είναι το Μπλόγκ, το οποίο είναι μεν πιστό στην αγγλική προφορά αλλα πάλι δεν σημαίνει τίποτα. Απλά το γράφεις όπως το ακούς. Καλύτερα να έγραφες Blog εξ’αρχης κατα την άποψη μου.

Το γιατί με ενοχλεί αυτό είναι για τον ίδιο λόγο που θα με ενοχλούσε, πχ, εαν το Bit, το λέγανε βιτ ή το γράφανε Μπίτ. Απλά δεν μου κάθεται καλά.
Εαν θυμάμαι καλά, ο ΟΤΕ είχε κάνει μια καλή μετάφραση για το Bit που όντως ήταν πιστό στην λέξη και ακουγόταν σωστά στα ελληνικά: Δυφίο (ή Δίφιο) (Δυαδικό Ψηφίο) όπως και το Bit βγαίνει απο το Binary Digit. Αυτό μου φαίνεται σαν μια πολύ καλή πρόταση για τον εξελλήνισμό του Blog

Το Blog σημαίνει Web Log, και το έχουν συντομέψει για ευκολία (φαντάζομαι). Στα ελληνικά θα μπορούσε να βγαίνει απο τις ανάλογες λέξεις Δικτυακό Ημερολόγιο (ή Ιστιακό Ημερολόγιο εαν θέλουμε να είμαστε πιο πιστοί στην λέξη)

Για να δούμε τώρα:
Δικτημερο;
Διμερογιο;
Ιστολόγιο; (Το έχω ξαναδει μου φαίνεται αυτό. Δεν έχει το σωστό νόημα όμως μια και ακούγεται σαν να εννοεί μια λίστα του Ιστού)
Δικτυολόγιο;
Ίστιο; (Σύντομο όπως το blog)
Δίγιο; (Επίσης)

Είμαι σίγουρος οτι οποιαδήποτε λέξη απο αυτές είναι καλύτερη απο το “βλογ”. Εαν απο την άλλη σ’αρεσει το “Μπλογκ”, καλύτερα γράφε απλά blog γιατι το φαινεταί ηλίθιο.

Firefox Myths? You'd wish

Found this on the [tag]digg[/tag] and I’m really starting to get tired. So I’m calling BS and FUD

Debunk numero uno
Debunk numero duo

This guy has been posting (trolling) the same thing on every forum under the sun and he has been called on it countless times. He also posted under different aliases and names in order to give credibility and how he has been unmasked.
Only on digg he has posted the same story 3 times, one for each change he made to the article.
Now check this debunk out and notice the comments. Pwnage? I think yes!
People have actually been following him across the internet just to debunk his posts.
I’ve seen this “firefox myths” thingy pop on forums as a sig and had to put a “countersig” in order for the other guy to see the light, it’s like a god damn virus.

Too bad that it already has been dug more than a hundred times, it seems people are desperate to rain on [tag]Firefox[/tag]’s parade and are clutching at straws.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that FF has it’s own share of problems (Insert personal rant about memory hogging) but it is FAR better than IE against spyware and its extensions kick absolute ass. I’m sure I don’t need to go on, there are countless other sites to read about FF.

However it is also free (as in speech) and it gets better by the month if not by the week. It is something that gives me, the user, power to do what I want and not what the developer wants.
For example, if for some reason the mozilla foundation one day decided that firefox should have feature A that a said percentage of users found cumbersome, a new firefox would be able to be created (under another name obviously) that didn’t have it.

Firefox also does not have an agenda as IE has (promote MS Windows due to inability to work in other OS) and it will always be free (as in beer).

Anyone who uses FUD to downplay a product that has these values deserves to be called on it. If on the other hand Firefox was worse than IE, although I admit I would still use it because it is free (as in speech) I would also have no problem for other to criticize it’s existing weaknesses.

Read Firefox “Myths” | Now Read Firefox Fables | (don’t) digg story

PS: Actually, don’t read the myths page. It’s full of ads which is the real reason he’s trying to promote clicks on it, even through trolling.

Χρόνια Λίγα και Κακά

Μιλάμε αυτή την πρωτοχρονιά περασα κα-τα-πλη-κτι-κ-α έτσι; Απίστευτες κραιπάλες, ποτά και χωρός μέχρι τελικής πτώσεως και μετά όργια στο καπάκι για να στρώσει η επόμενη μέρα

Ε, ποιον κοροιδεύω; Σκατά κατα κόρον. Παρασκευή μέσα, Σάββατο μέσα μέχρι το βράδι που πήγα στο σπίτι του γκόμενου της αδελφής μου και κέρδισα 4 έουρο στην εικοσιμία και μετά μια βόλτα απο λαδάδικα που κέρδισα άλλα 5 απο την ηλιθιότητα του πορτιέρη. Κυριακή μέσα. Δευτέρα μέσα. Τώρα μέσα…

Και γαμώ ε; Ποιός στην χάρη μου.

Και τι έκανα καθώς καθόμουν μέσα με τον άπειρο χρόνο μου; Έβλεπα Lost και έπαιζα Wesnoth. Τρελό κάψιμο δηλαδη. Κάτι μου ήρθε σε μια φάση να ξεκινήσω δικό μου campaign στο [tag]Wesnoth[/tag] αλλα μόλις καθόμουν στον υπολογιστή βαριόμουν. Κλάιν. Λιγο στην δουλειά σήμερα μου ήρθε έμπνευση αλλα κλάιν again.

Γιατί τόσο μέσα; Έ έξαφανίστηκαν όλοι. Οι μισοί στα χωριά τους, οι 2 στρατό, ο ένας με την γκόμενα δεν έμεινε και κανείς…η τουλάχιστον έτσι κοροϊδευω τον εαυτό μου για να δικαιολογήσω το γεγονός οτι και εγώ δεν έκανα ιδιαίτερο κόπο να πάρω τηλέφωνα (Ντάξ πήρα μερικά αλλα μετα απο 2-3 απογοητεύτηκα). Δεν με πήρε και κανένας, οπότε…μέσα.

Ξεκίνησα να παίζω και Dofus την προηγούμενη εβδομάδα αλλα το βαρέθηκα σε χρόνο DT και τώρα προσπαθώ να πείσω τον Άγγελο να πάιζουμε μαζί.

Πάλι καλά που δεν με βρήκε ο νέος χρόνος μόνο μου δηλαδή