DreamHost whoops Jan 16, 2008
DreamHost, the company that automatically charges my credit card every month for hosting the files and database information for this website, accidentally charged all its customers for the entire year.  Whoops.  I, as well as several thousand other customers, was greeted by an email Tuesday morning that said my credit card was automatically charged for the next 12 months, which is exactly 12 times the amount I'm normally charged (I pay month-to-month).  I immediately contacted the billing team and calmly, though firmly, described my problem.  Several hours later I found out it was a system wide event, and then all the big guys wrote about it.  It turns out it was a simple, honest mistake, and it's being taken care of as I write this. 

First things first, I like DreamHost.  They provide great features at fairly good prices.  There's no way my website would ever come close to outgrowing my storage space and bandwidth allocations.  Plus, they have lots of smart, active users, so there's plenty of troubleshooting information available online.  I've been with DreamHost for over a year and a half, so I know how some things work, and I'm comfortable with them. 

However, I'm looking into a new host.  To be honest, I was thinking about it before this fiasco.  But now that this happened, I decided to actually try out a new host.  The thing is, DreamHost made a simple mistake.  It's January, and they made a mistake with the date.  They wrote '08 instead of '07.  It's an honest mistake and everybody does it.  But since my credit card is involved, I'm not ok with it.  If it only affected my website and its functionality, I probably wouldn't care.  But since it's a billing issue, it affects my personal finances, and that's just too close for comfort. 

So as much as I like DreamHost and don't want to do this, I'm saying goodbye. #technology
Sun and MySQL Jan 16, 2008
Sun Microsystems bought MySQL.  Hopefully Sun will turn this simple, free database application into a useless, bloated, error-prone product like Java. 

It's slightly similar to Amazon's Kindle and its wireless service with Sprint: 
It comes with EVDO wireless through Sprint, which means that, inevitably, there will be world class Awful Crap that Kindle owners will confront, because it is impossible to involve a mobile carrier with a technology without infecting that technology with Awful Crap. When you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.
Hooray for big companies ruining things! #technology
Gift card ripoff (5) Jan 16, 2008
Wendy received a gift card for Christmas that cost $35:  $25 for the gift, $5 for the card, and $5 to activate it.  That's called a ripoff.  Just give cash. #business
Errors of ten (1) Jan 16, 2008
I keep hearing this commercial on the radio that's selling a product that will increase a user's reading speed 1000 times (i.e. the user will be able to read 1000 times faster).  It goes on to say, "You'll be able to read ten books in the time it takes the average person to read one book."  I can either conclude
  1. This product is marketed towards people whose reading speeding is 1/100th that of the average person (thus 1/100th * 1000 = 10 books per 1 book)
  2. There's an error of ten
I doubt it's marketed for people who read 1/100th the speed of a normal reader, because those people have likely long since given up on reading altogether.  If it takes a normal person two weeks to read a book, it would take a 1/100th person 200 weeks, or just under 4 years.  I highly doubt anyone with that level of reading ability will be likely to (a) buy a product like this and (b) be able to work a radio. 

If it's an error of ten, I'd like to talk to the person (or likely, team of people) who created this commercial and allowed it to air in the largest radio network in the country.  Check your math, idiots. #entertainment
American Idol idiots (2) Jan 16, 2008
Every time I watch the first few episodes of American Idol, one simple question comes to mind:  Who tells these people they're good?  It must be someone.  Some supporting family member or friend saying, "I think you should totally try out for American Idol.  You're that good."  My advice to these American Idol contestants is this:  Stop talking to those people.  Stop associating with them.  They're lying to you.  You're a really bad singer.  It's not the song choice.  It's not because you're nervous.  You're just really bad. 

I don't mean to sound like a know-it-all jerk, but I can tell after one, at most two, notes if a person is a good singer or not.  I'm not a good singer myself, but like a miniature version of Simon Cowell (he looks large on TV), I know talent when I hear it.  Or see it.  Most times, I can decide if someone's a good singer (in American Idol terms anyway) just by how they look and how they carry themselves.  I'm occasionally wrong, but generally speaking, visual appearance says a lot.  Weird and/or eccentric people aren't good singers.  They're too busy being weird and/or eccentric.  (Notable exceptions include American Idol winner Taylor Hicks and Paul Potts, that British guy who won the British version of American Idol by singing opera.)  It has nothing to do with race or weight or anything like that.  But aside from the first visual impression, I can immediately tell if a person is a good or bad singer based on their first or second note.  It has something to do with tone, song choice, rhythm, vocal fullness, and something I would call "soul" but can't readily define.  I would totally be a judge, but only if I could sit behind a wall or a two-way mirror so the contestants couldn't see me when I told them they're terrible singers.  I feel bad crushing people's dreams.  But somebody has to do it. #entertainment