Sure, it’s guaranteed bug-free now, but the number of new features is pretty disappointing.

I wanted to give the guy on the left a nice little leather suit, but my paint skills just aren’t THAT epic.

I am currently using this as MSN picture, waiting how long it takes until people are going to give me weird responses… We’ll see

I want more of those!

But rarely I have seen pages that are so fucking terrible that there are not even words for it (except perhaps ‘oh my god, fifteen minutes and the page still isn’t done loading’, which actually sums up many of the shortcomings of this particular website).

Meet belladesoto.us.

The box:

The actual content of the box (it was nearly impossible to get the picture sharper, the thing is very small):

For reference, I’ve added a pencil in this picture:

And then, I’m not even going to use it. I made a little mistake with the part number, giving me these instead of a slightly different one (which is the only one I can use).

Anyway, here’s the deal. Recently, I ordered a load of small parts. As my order was large enough (>€20) shipping is free, which I think is a great policy; now if I forget to order something at one point, I’ll just place a second order, maybe add some extra stuff so it’s at least €20 (spend €10 on stuff and pay a final of €20 with shipping, or just spend €20 on stuff and get shipping free is an easy choice) and be done with it; instead of making sure I added all the correct items. Just because making sure everything is 100% OK is kind of a big deal with >400 small items.

It turns out that they only had 1 piece in stock of an item, however I ordered two. Out of >400, it was the only item that they didn’t have right away, so they shipped out everything else and the last item would be delivered later when they have it. Note that we’re talking about a very very small item here, priced at about € 0,70, and the ‘you might loose it between the coins in your wallet’-kind of small. You’d expect the second one to arrive by regular mail in a bubble-wrap envelope or something. As the first parcel came in, I found the first piece and discovered that I accidently ordered the wrong part number, so that first part goes on the shelf and I don’t really care about whether or not I still get the second one.

I placed a second order with the correct part number, and a couple of other things where I accidently ordered too few, and that follow-up order came in last Tuesday.

Just after I came back upstairs I noticed I have an e-mail. Apparantly they still shipped that one, € 0,70 part to me.

In a ~€ 8 parcel.

Since the shipping cost’s on them, I do sometimes wonder how companies like these ever make profit. I might even make a picture of it when it comes in.

This kind of reminds me of this TDWTF article (however while searching that one again I also came across this forum thread which is infinitely more brilliant, especially the post from a guy named ‘Cyrz’).

1. First, they are giving themselves a bad name and a bad reputation. Existing customers who are faced with this policy will leave, and new customers are scared off at  the idea that they pay for an x amount of bandwith but won’t actually get it if they use too much of  it.
2. They know, from the example of Comcast, that the FCC will deal with it quickly enough and that this new policy of theirs won’t last long. That makes the previous point, and the next one, even worse.
3. Therefore, all they are really saying is ‘Hey look guys, our network sucks. It can’t handle it if everyone actually uses what we are promising they can use.’ Of course, that will be equally bad for their customer base as #1.
4. Cox Communications? Seriously guys, what the fuck is that name supposed to mean? That name even implies that they support p2p use, for downloading pr0nz0rs.

Americans, sometimes…

As we all know, CD-ROM discs are used for endless numbers of applications. They can contain pretty much anything – as long as it fits on them – music, videos, backups, games, applications, instructions to build a nuclear warhead accompanied with a guide title ‘World Domination for Dummies’, the secret collection of private pictures from your neighbor, and so on.

The amount of data that a CD can hold, however, is limited, and each byte can only have a limited number of values. This automatically means that there is a limited number of possible combinations of that data. From that results my, purely hypothetical question:

What if you had enormous amounts of storage space (and too much time on your hands), and wrote a program that generates every possible combination of bits that can fit on a standard 700 MB CD-ROM?

(any other size or medium will do, but for the purposes of this article, I’m going with CD’s).

It would mean you had everything, if you can filter out the garbage. You would have every piece of music that can possibly exist, every videogame, every movie, every application, every version of every operating system Microsoft is ever going to create, every book, every last top secret government document, all the deepest secrets of mathematics and physics, and so on – and in every possible data format mankind could ever come up with. And if any of those things won’t fit on a single CD-ROM, then you’ll have multiple discs over which it is split or it’s compressed in one way or another. You’d even find the program that generated the files on many different copies, as well as the contents of your ‘My Documents’ folder. You’d find all the work you’re ever gonna need to do on one of the discs. Yes, if possessing information equals power, you’d be the most powerful person in the galaxy.

There’s one problem though. Or two, actually. First, the number of possible combinations is huge, which leads to number two: you’d need to filter out everything that’s just garbage, incorrect (there’d probably a copy of the United States constitution proclaiming  that all humans who do not think like microwave ovens are to be drowned in solid rock, for instance), or otherwise useless.

A standard CD-ROM holds 700 megabytes of data. That is 71680 kilobytes, 73400320 bytes, or 75161927680 bits. Each bit can have two different value (1 or 0, or any combination of those if you start taking quantum computing into account). That leads to the following number of possible options (there are 2270 digits here):

41560048263861436654475508679796312052029218009913182562367006418669795133738677325303829283902099461683768394190770980283679635078751063822618386805812838838303804835247879766315166734455333535683358814434813663349102246666424981806460601928318569109854576954786119818448542312867993682137144435507290928098755647875003380853428300895596305593559299463478439540154542790952888179033834007520623513696748661147784926411675672345265415386421907369222580620580057964638871826899236684237846333319010115476041297070325851814982604002774773195585007201934813928941921904876472888434797815496460083517021451032132295669827602759661947035120120846618273540692805492960805094224448593026845599970027471939253922696047034668721591021344726827328131712537809367433079518384287605426291625425313041643768023912646929874041007720315988047687254633130795234177820761430309126055836770489514373931510971271792353296548877968241515974272875989782334657937031437501105704222162508125649071619599383296535137824001280615579884391211228601106105314564462541137989320753754255409337080898983919658187473289919882724301755391103464565652949062361680312937710052112856600316200094257405362631948684541214867146409424988250903963596233902404930669255343019463762208367648031571737057549700712046659157023806395507915616404070200018132701062721506830784625613311912694266673404330491387200073314684893248919524749048959153777871149991948500487185581730754185937873866203878251168734737587231326488641050598094861683470605896398593085319761830045089436004138466391521325214416958909455885921153196657959245081430996240154174079623421680565937289117542211340227166129132811906252486650841319323086523661297193645306243775007007485050498324647562243944659365996157620321456643217817600000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Let’s say that at least, the CD should have a correct structure. I don’t know the exact specifications of the CDFS file system, but I’ll presume that the first two bytes are ‘CD’. At that point, we’re down to the following number (still 2270 digits, but at least the number got a whole lot smaller):

41560019273882484721350366560533047580828429594256717527864863052271508084842596992950908379448089285142417669909616427292121947211555590165431463671900568144138997203812069279949973107406716032251730399281413324702860191957409234442734041280086708423684325442504979677019087941286897320973599686657670655098282295781732036010808800532769077252570412047411348234670231942044243795186594340164899748720953936465695617000314878647766056113239640983974671445912647758548162275659893980045917669035850682325483732657717339710098587418717576870866662655604822817431160764683043737585385867502107884498713945018997191265874967478747209642473729268451187893433221656171314211009627035218024646034095772795903048201166276142097522590829427103680190235947930980554967958567417965789988678435183111300305779237598205610810957895777257155022262701137726446304182142443697383720882330271742296308558472662166485159144135393856709949427038847026856924016221048757489940746263741899303393311349867922331686721150913967220524065404198861547866344304500665210897615356980528516508894133435871481519430135098893031451954262440861157361929671519651166721454073599914465149412625713249597893086209783150594388008469457177837953416991616705826231056399956938405253947784331106471956937753167217860677792536721429817137834582298283848391328989169191363102004971487142281952406179263495704582339189610726486197473357284778084563848670175545858631197146422363532953483639551087292336803161147327499601731014172535101598730700528251674278631424499440653386736447992504293420544979557813680448657739822089086852051675335465310825717015262488711808177973767459617767248675892989823345041908355108643311355628768188101882677515614248647618611631799563873060304086856011242045518722531483835603758008209329214600308575455009307287668229066165792067103881536904235290976894148521128308730756190301866381682454034763721563103249035460309040579155810247706901992390584624513409777632212755149760150803817076772939092313735123383574578468067313279614617052152562259545374712492378678130559714927615995623637983197197885945530177234651495726317453122988274137393085827767335064774149790169707884128961444470947322453114444647353687182873888418942684934210427902987294845892877825580776702245520682254336

A CD is 1.2 millimeters thick, so if you would actually create all those discs and stack them up, the height of the stack needs to be measured in parsecs (which is over 3 lightyears) at the lack of a bigger unit of measurement. The stack would go to the edge of the visible universe and back, probably millions of times over (that is 92×10^26 light years per trip). Unfortunately there are some practical issues involved with building such a stack, not to mention that it’d be a real bummer if it toppled over when you’re almost done building it, but you get the idea. It’s a lot.

Obviously, 700 MB would be a bit much. Let’s use a different subject: a 100 kilobyte bitmap image. Bitmaps are very simple in terms of file structure and very predictable when it comes to the relation between file size and picture size. The header for each file would be the same except for the image dimensions, which means that the value of 46 out of 102400 bytes are already known, leaving 102354 for image data. As a result, the number of possible 100kb bitmap images is (1283 digits this time):

38621915839819383776156980391709084941306067905143183265687961723080821305959590283401753598149727655197260685817493781836969325569604238581869156726602582950591384531818001345164220862260151747139603901744837097758576456302408942470762097063662706223836899801655007423182729973906008437261806550861923880433213326410624122666374422645631842424830712955324974618930377986368719271695955930216205502621029530051031074336241029308510873363146995803614386296599126309651274804630620379142113354752832984747473807269286033400590488478235440819467647773905724739497484798460906196419869672879762636210764794461958544247051445638670685323456393171623453281428476884841064799493452728311545224032434346174947095287625574547402827389736516533868114375804758906699820893083624953883705124160618575740530335787016139854614684706089327960579462214730514550399804309799011615108890763596994973149176222389617422254313574524607629907964248596999780882071628151782363938411426973124973565685960396785160836599828592474298355586905321031050981271098976722213717998766600992378789562291893869070678567964811385084928768960998832087321001816188802048207700599654878194647595770156826363500059354296838325190350669647834306755266222657031034230439413380266682086613584051011187524325029691123874922496

Burn each of those on a CD, and the stack will span the diameter of the Milky Way 46×10^1260 times. And I’m talking about the galaxy, not the candy.

Obviously, doing such a thing wouldn’t be very practical. But just imagine what you would have…

FOR THE OCCASION, I’VE MODIFIED MY COPY OF WORDPRESS TO SHOW ALL POSTS AND COMMENTS IN UPPERCASE ON OCTOBER 22ND. ALL POSTS (EXCEPT THIS ONE OF COURSE) WILL TURN BACK TO NORMAL ON ANY DAY THAT IS NOT OCTOBER 22ND.

ALSO, BE SURE TO VISIT THIS SITE ON HALLOWEEN (OCTOBER 31ST). I MAY POST A FUN LITTLE STORY THEN.