It arrived
Well, I’ve finally got the parcel I mentioned in my previous post.
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).
Shipping madness
Admittedly, two posts within 24 hours is kind of a lot for me. As you may have noticed I have no schedule regarding posts on this site whatsoever, and I just post something whenever I feel like doing so and have a subject to post about. It turns out that that just happened twice in a relatively short time.
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’).
Bandwith
As this article (Dutch) says, the American internet provider Cox Communications is planning to loose a lot of customers. If the network is busy, they want to give a lower priority to p2p-traffic. The FCC will probably deal with it quickly, so this company is acting stupid in at least four different ways:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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… 
Worse than sucks
Okay, I’ve just tried out the Windows 7 beta, and here’s my conclusion.
If you think Windows Vista sucks, and you do think so because it’s the truth, please, do not bother to try Windows 7. You’ll be able to count the number of improvements over Vista on one hand, and you’re probably not going to need any fingers.
Seriously, Microsoft. When are you finally going to learn? All you did was rushing Windows 7 because nobody wants Vista. You rushed it so bad that it isn’t really anything new.
Please, Microsoft. Please. Take a few steps back. Take XP as a base and use that for the next edition of Windows. Don’t rush it, don’t add all the graphical bullshit that is really everything Vista/Win7 is, just stick to XP and add the few good things from the newer versions to it (such as DX10 support).
Everybody likes XP because it’s pretty stable, and it just works. I, and many others with me, seriously prefer the classic Windows UI over all the shit that was added since Vista because it’s easy to use, not too much bullshit, it doesn’t look all that bad, and it’s very resource-friendly. The ‘classic’ theme in Vista/Win7 don’t even look anything like it.
So much features in Vista/Win7 are unneeded for most of the people, and the few who do want them always prefer a better 3rd-party tool for the job. If I wanted to encrypt my data, I’d trust an external tool that has proven to be reliable, offers me enough options, is known not to have any serious flaws or backdoors, and has a good reputation. Instead of that BitLocker thing, because it’s either turned on or off and you don’t really have any idea what’s going on. BitLocker is only as good as the security of the rest of the OS (and considering Microsoft’s reputation, OS security in Windows is something that should never be trusted).
I already know that I’m just going to stick to XP, and if Microsoft continues on this tour, I might swap to openSUSE or some other Linux distro in the long run. Because in the end I want an OS with a GUI that I’m comfortable with to use, that doesn’t eat all of my system’s resources (and trust me that it goes fast with 3 screens) – and therefore offers the features I need and not the features nobody ever uses, and just works. Vista and Windnows 7 offer none of that.
Windows 7
What is there to say? Today’s xkcd comic says it all.
Okay, I havn’t actually seen Windows 7 yet, but the beta is streaming to my hard drives as we speak. I’ll install it in a VM (can’t be bothered to waste hardware on it after the joke they called Vista) and post my findings later 
More yay!
A little device came in today that basically converts a USB port to an additional display output, which uses your existing graphics card (it’s like adding a port to your graphics card, but connecting it over USB). This allows me to – finally – use my full triple screen setup 
It’s pretty fucking awesome, even without any program windows open (thank you, Digital Blasphemy!).
This is what happens when you take a screenshot across three widescreen monitors.
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There’s a little bit of a luxury problem though: the wire connecting my two speakers is too short. I can’t get the speakers to each sit at an end of the screen setup; the only possible way to place them is behind, which isn’t very good for the quality of the sound. I’m going to have to extend the cable somehow I guess. Oh well, let’s just enjoy the graphics for now
Yay
It seems that some people are celebrating something. Apparantly it has something to do with the birth of an annoying little baby who may or may not have existed more than two thousand years ago (nobody can really prove anything as to whether he ever lived). Assuming that he did, extremely bold claims have been made to what this kid did; those stories are not only very unrealistic, also there is no evidence whatsoever and nobody has ever really been able to explain how water is supposed to turn into wine. Not to mention it was in a period of history where anything out of the ordinary was drowned, beheaded, burned, or otherwise destroyed, sooner than you can say ‘fake’.
Next he was apparantly nailed to a cross for saying how great it would be if people would be nice to eachother for a change (there comes the drowning/beheading/burning part again). Also, a certain book claims it had something to do with paying for man’s sins, which makes no sense in an enormous number of ways. This god person is supposed to be very forgiving, so why bother caring about so-called sins? Also, he is supposed to be almighty, so whatever happens is really his responsibility; and yet you’ll suffer eternal torture for what he choose to make you do. And don’t you dare claiming people have free will according to the bible, because “do what you want, but if you don’t do as I say you’ll burn and get tortured and whatnot until the end of time” doesn’t sound like you have a whole lot of choices to me. And we can go on like this for a loooong time.
And anyway, why would I care about the birth of a baby two-thousand and eight years ago? It’s not like people will be celebrating my birth on November 27th 3019 anymore. Oh, and why does HIS birthday last two days anyway, and were did the fat red guy come in?
So in short, please excuse me for not celebrating the systematic enslavery of billions, and forgive me for not congratulating you with another year in which false history and oppression prevails against freedom.
Have a happy new year though 
Possibilities
Here’s something that I’ve been playing with in my mind for a while, but so far I never really found the time/will to write the article. Click the more link to see the full article; I have decided to make it into a separate page because the numbers are fucking up the layout of the homepage otherwise.
Giant
It’s already almost a week since it was December 3rd. Last Wednesday was sort of special because I went to a concert. Five bands total: Asrai, Septic Flesh, Moonspell, Gorgoroth, and Cradle of Filth (in that order). Naturally I was in the front again (and my left ear didn’t function normal until two days later – thanks, Turbosound! ).
Now, from Asrai, we weren’t expecting much in the first place, which turned out good because it wasn’t much. They had a good singer and the girl on the drums was funny because she was barely visible behind them, but that’s about it. Septic Flesh is a name we never heard before so we didn’t expect much either, but it turned out to be pretty good. Moonspell was also enjoyable.
But then came Gorgoroth.
Gorgoroth has become somewhat notorious; for their music, obviously, but also because of their live shows (one particularly infamous live show involved half a dozen severed sheep heads and loads of actual blood; they have been banned from Poland ever since) and because Ghaal (the lead singer) has been convicted and sentenced for violence and torture several times. Four naked people (2 male, 2 famale) hung on crosses with black bags over their heads are standard issue for their shows.
And it was fucking awesome.
Last but definately not least: Cradle of Filth. I actually knew very little of what they were playing, but it was cool nonetheless. At one point there was a guy in a huge suit-like thing walking across the stage which was pretty neat.
Anyway, these pictures pretty much speak for themselves
(I am visible on pictures number 22 and 84, but you’ll need to search ).
Upgrades
I’ve just upgraded PHP to version 5.2.7 and tweaked the configuration a bit. The site has been offline for a few minutes due to this process. I hope to be repeating the process but then for 5.3.0 soon, but it seems that the PHP development team isn’t in a hurry to get it released 