Twitter and the Death of Osama Bin Laden

I awoke this morning to a tremendous backlog of tweets and wondered what I had missed. Last night, President Obama made the announcement that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. While I have yet to watch the speech, it doesn't take much to grasp this is a huge event that will surely have the media and blogosphere buzzing for weeks. That's years in CNN time.

I'm not usually for the execution of any human being and, like I said, I haven't heard the President's speech on this topic. I would have preferred for Bin Laden to face court and a life sentence, if it was safe to leave him alive. In my first thoughts, I wondered if killing him would be viewed as a punishment by his followers - they all believe that they are going to heaven for killing themselves and others as it is.

I won't get too serious until I've had the ability to really understand what this all means. Until that point, I will include my favorite Twitter announcements of the night, some serious, but mostly humorous:

Prior to the speech:

@DarrenCriss: Man I hope it's aliens. Come onnnnn, Aliens. A-LI-ENS! A-LI-ENS! A-LI-ENS!

During and After:

@andrewslack: thank you to @Dunklekuh81 for letting me know that world's most evil terrorist and most famous vlogger, Osama bin Laden is dead

@jackiemorgan: Topics trending worldwide right now: Osama Bin Laden and Hermione Granger. Please tell me Hermione is the one who took him out.

@BonesMcCoy: He's dead Jim. #BinLaden

@emilyglangston: Here's to hoping he didn't make any horcruxes... #BinLaden

@orangejuicejen: The world is tweeting up a storm, but I wonder, will this really change anything? #osamabinladen

@karenkavett: It's amazing how connected you can feel to the human population through twitter when news breaks, even if you're sitting alone in your room.

@jimmyfallon: Got Bin Laden AND interrupted Celebrity Apprentice? Win for Obama all around.

@RealMegGriffin: Osama Bin Laden is dead. Now lets find Waldo and Carmen Sandiego.

@TruebieDoobyDoo: CONFIRMED, Bin Laden's last word: "Polo."

@laurenmyrtle: I feel pretty weird about celebrating a death, but it's crazy to think about kids in school reading about this in history books someday.

@realjohngreen: Like many people, I feel like celebrating. Remember this feeling. It is human, and can help us understand when others express bloodlust.

@maureenjohnson: The BBC coverage of what's going on at home right now kind of makes me want to crawl under a desk. But that's just me. Though I am liking all the jokes about how Osama bin Laden shouldn't have put his contact info on his Playstation.


I think these basically sums up my feelings at this point:

@uncultured: "I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." - Mark Twain

@SimonJCLeBON: The death of #obl does not inspire me to celebrate, rather to mourn the many who've died in this pointless conflict of ideals.

Note to Managers: The Internet Will Tattle on You

In between bouts of medicine-taking and sleeping, I noticed something interesting on Twitter. According to Weird Al Yankovic (@alyankovic), a parody song that he had already recorded was rejected by Lady Gaga.

Now, I've been a Weird Al fan since I was little and my brother and I would blast his cassettes to drive my mother crazy. I'm also a musician and work in music libraries, so I make a point to try to learn how different musicians run their businesses. So, I know that in order for one of his parodies to get to the recording stage and THEN be rejected, something went wrong. Al has a policy that before he writes any parodies, he contacts the original artist and gets permission on the concept. This policy is unnecessary by US law, but most musicians appreciate the gesture. Also, most musicians approve the parody in question.

According to his blog, Weird Al has been jumping through all sorts of hoops to get his latest parody, "Perform This Way," approved. Its an obvious playful jab at Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." Al even decided BEFORE he even sent a concept along that he would have all the proceeds of this song go to the Human Rights Campaign. This was based on his respect for the message behind "Born This Way" and Gaga's known stance on promoting LGBTQ rights.

He was still told "no." So, since he had already recorded the song, he released it for free via YouTube today and then would set up a download later. On the YouTube video, he clearly states that he didn't get permission to release the song commercially, but enjoy it for free and consider donating to the HRC.



So, the internets, now aware of the situation, flooded Lady Gaga's Twitter and other pages with their thoughts on the matter. They had a hard time believing that this woman had lost her sense of humor. To be fair, Al didn't post the information to cause this reaction, he's just trying to avoid another "Coolio" incident that would haunt him in interviews for years to come. Humorously enough, Lady Gaga soon contacted Weird Al and said not only did she not know he was writing a song, but she approved of it. Apparently, her manager never told her about the song, he just made the decision himself. Oops.

Al's latest blog post covers the details. So, the song will be on Al's upcoming album and he will be able to produce a music video based on it. I, personally, I'm waiting in delighted dread for the video.

Sick

Ugh, I'm late on this week's blogging because I've been sleeping most of the day. Allergies morphed into an upper respiratory infection that is just beginning to fade.

I'm not usually the type to panic every time I get sick, but I am cautious. I have an autoimmune disorder and that can mean that a simple infection can go haywire quickly. It wasn't humorous then, but now I do find it amusing that medical technology (see, tying it to class) has come so far and yet could not diagnose a strep infection. Apparently, strep tests are positive when there are your body's strep antibodies present - meaning, your body is actually fighting the illness. Mine decided that it didn't feel like it last time, so no strep test ever popped up positive and I never had a fever. A doctor finally treated it because my throat "looked like strep." That and I was about ready to go to the hospital if we waited another few days.

Can Google get on this? Somehow, I think they could come up with a better test.

Gettin' Down to the Wire

This semester is almost done and my final projects are wrapping up. In one class, I have a group project involving a 15-20 page paper, prototype and poster session. I've been working on the poster since almost everything else is about done. Interestingly enough, I wasn't aware that you could make a large poster in PowerPoint by adjusting the page settings. We have a group member that can print it if its in that format, so I've had to re-familiarize myself with that software.

Other than that, I have the web CV project in the tech class and I'm done. Next semester involves in-depth cataloging and human information interactions, so it will be a nice change from this semester.

Georgian Woman Cuts 90% of Internet Off in Country

No, seriously. A 75-year-old woman was digging around in the ground for copper to sell. During that activity, she cut through a fiber-optic cable that disabled the internet for 90% of Georgians, including those in Azerbaijan. It took 5 hours to restore service...I'm sure a bunch of that time was trying to figure out where the hell the problem was.

And you thought all you had to worry about were kill switches, Anonymous and severe weather. You never once thought that someone's grandmother could be one of the most dangerous threats to your online addictions.

(via Sophos Naked Security)

Fake Events Are a Boon for Scammers

People have not seemed to learn that if a Facebook event looks suspicious, they shouldn't accept it. As the Sophos security blog, Naked Security, just covered, millions of people fall for the "Free iPad" and "You'll Never Text Again After This Video" scams. This sort of thing amazes me. Its not like these sort of scams are new and yet, there are so many that haven't learned how to identify them. I just figure the offer-you-free-stuff-in-exchange-for-personal-information characteristic would tip everyone off.

Its bad enough that Facebook's own privacy policies are so terrible, but users will still willingly give away their information for the promise of free stuff. And then they wonder why they have extra charges on their cell phones or more spam in their inbox or a hacked account.

Just be smart, people. If the invite promises free stuff in exchange for your information, say no. If the invite looks like it was created by a suspicious or unverifiable person or group, say no. If the application wants way too much access to your account, say no. Save us all some trouble because, once your account gets hacked, you'll spread the love and bogus invitations to the rest of us.

Diaspora - The Open Source Facebook?

After reading a tweet mentioning this service by Wil Wheaton, I had to check it out. The premise behind Diaspora is to create a social network in which the user's personal information is completely under their own control. The promise clear privacy settings, sharing rules and a complete lack of usurping your ownership of your own stuff. It's also open source, so you can see the code (or contribute to it).

I would really love to see this take off. I still have a Facebook account, but its only because I can't realistically get rid of it right now. I use it for so much charity publicity and networking that it would probably be detrimental to switch until there is a viable competitor. I have made a point to scrutinize my settings every month or so and make sure my rights are locked down. Its annoying.

You can submit your email to be on the Diaspora mailing list and potentially the beta testing, but nothing is ready to use just yet. I've already added my name.

I Now Have Fish I Can't Kill

I began exploring more of Blogger's gadgets today. Its been a few years since I really used this service, so I figured there would be some new features. There are. You can now add a little fish widget to your page. Mine's in the upper right corner of the home page, if you can't see it due to using the RSS feed.

The neat thing is that you can play with the colors. I used the Color Picker Firefox tool we've been using in class to make my fish match my design scheme.

Also, if you click on the water, you can feed the fish.

Internet Safety Circa the mid-1990s

I have now learned not to chat in Microsoft Word or meet any stranger with just a mustache - not the mustache/beard combo.

Shatner is 80

William Shatner, the actor who portrayed Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series, is 80 years old today.  His internet-savvy fans decided that the best way to celebrate was to circulate a list of 80 Reasons Why William Shatner is Awesome.  The site hosting the list, TrekMovie.com, managed to compile many videos from Shatner's career along with tons of random facts.

Check out the list for some hilarious moments. 

YA Authors Use Twitter to Help Japan

Just after the disaster in Japan, Maureen Johnson, a popular young adult author, and her Twitter followers mobilized to raise money to help.  They picked ShelterBox as a charity and began working.  Using the tag #nameoftheshelterbox, a play on Johnson's upcoming book, The Name of the Star, twitterers posted about donating to help Japan.  Others retweeted, Facebooked and emailed their friends to spread the word.

Donors were asked to tweet their donation amount so a volunteer "Spreadsheet Elf" could keep track of the totals.  Additionally, Johnson offered her only advanced copy of her new book as a prize to a random donor.

As the day went on, over 21 other authors offered prizes.  Johnson's original blog post detailed the contest instructions and prizes as they were announced.

When all the donations were tallied and the contest results posted, the entire effort had brought in over $14,000 for ShelterBox. 

So, when people wonder what Twitter is good for, this is an excellent example of its ability to be used for charitable purposes.

Video LP?

The YouTube community is a very creative bunch.  This time, they've reincarnated the concept of an album through playlists and links.  The idea is that you could listen to the entire thing for free without having to touch it past the initial play click or go directly to the song that interests you.

The Internet Makes Me Feel Better About the World

With all the riots in the Middle East and the U.S. media focusing on a megalomaniac of a sitcom star instead, I get a little alarmed at the current status of the American public.  I mean, really, just because an event isn't shiny and new (or all of a few days old), we shouldn't simply ignore its progress.  Ok, so that's not how the media conglomerates operate, but I'd like to think that's how we should and maybe one day will operate.

As I began to yet again lose faith in the American people, someone created a fantastic spoof of this whole situation.  Its a YouTube guessing game where you are invited to see if a quote was either spoken by Charlie Sheen or Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.  The game is humorous in and of itself, but also pokes fun at the idea that a TV star and a dictator's potential fall should compete for the same news coverage.

That being said, I got every quote wrong.  Either I don't pay enough attention to celebrity gossip to know what Sheen says on a regular basis or those two people are at the same level of crazy.

Spring Break is Almost Here

Although I'm really good at managing my time, I feel a little overwhelmed right now.  I've kept up with all my assignments (although this blog is slightly late) but I really need Spring Break to get a better handle on everything.  Between a book drive that I'm managing, work-related stress, school and wedding planning, my to do list always has something on it. 

The break should give me a chance to catch up and maybe get ahead.  I will also have to make sure I leave some time to just relax.  Anyone else feeling the same way?

Dating Site used for Libyan Protests

Since Facebook and Twitter were being monitored by the government, Libyans apparently turned to a popular Middle Eastern dating site to organize protests.  The protesters successfully communicated in code without the oppressive regime catching on.

This just goes to show that the tool itself doesn't necessarily matter, but the ingenuity of the people using them does. 

(article via Internet Evolution)

Eprints Assignment

I wish the website Eprints was covered more in one or any of my classes.  I had so much trouble with the assignment that I wish I understood why we were doing it beforehand.  For those of you wondering, Eprints facilitates open access research and the creation of institutional repositories.  

As for the assignment, I didn't have trouble comprehending what to do or how to do it.  I had trouble with our remote servers again.  Why they like to constantly boot me off is beyond me.  I estimated that the task, which involved finding and uploading 15 articles, should have only taken me about 30 minutes.  It took several hours instead.  The extra time was from relogging into the university's eprints site and remote access site ridiculously often.  On top of that, I would have to replicate my database search every time as well.

*sigh* The problem doesn't seem to be consistent on my end.  Sometimes everything works beautifully and other times I'm cursing the servers into oblivion.  At least I'm done with it for the moment.

British Libraries Facing Closure

"Prime Minister David Cameron stressed that his government is happy to invest in libraries, if they evolve."


I'm sorry, Prime Minister, but I respectfully disagree.  What you don't seem to understand is that evolution, like almost everything else in this world, take money.  The libraries you are threatening can't possibly compete with the likes of Google if they can't pay for the software or the in-house talent to develop it themselves.  Oh, and by the way, where, pray tell, do you go when you need information to help you in your governing?  Yes, your aides.  And where do your aides go?  To the frickin' library.  They ask for help because they can't possibly find everything on through a search engine.

What the British Prime Minister is asking of that country's libraries is ridiculous.  You don't tell a hospital that it'll get funded once it builds that new cancer treatment wing.  You fund it first.  Yes, you should avoid just throwing money at a problem and develop a plan of action.  But this latest action, is non-action.  Its powerful non-action that could wipe out libraries across Great Britain. 

To avoid being all rant-y, I will openly praise the actions that the local communities there have taken.  One group checked out every book in a local library in order to send a message that they believe these institutions are important.  Others are trying to suggest compromises or alternative solutions.

I do hope that the libraries in Britain stay open.  Yes, I agree that libraries need to make some upgrades, but hopefully the government will begin to understand how to bring about those upgrades instead of preventing them.

(via NPR)

Steampunk Computers

Via wired.com

I just have to share this.  We occasionally talk of building our own computers in class and I've been planning such an endeavor for a few years now.  However, I never considered the steampunk option.  I can't be sure whether this version will game like I want it too, but it certainly looks awesome, if nothing else.

For those uninitiated, steampunk, in short, is a sci-fi subgenre in which the stories are set around an alternate Victorian Era.  To be exact, its a Victorian Era where modern technology exists, but through steam power, gears and gas lights.  Brass and gears are prominent in its home decor applications. 

MLA Conference: Part 1

Well, then. I suppose I can compose a short post while I'm fighting the hotel internet service. Hopefully, all these posts will backdate like I think Blogger can do and actually be associated with the correct date.

I'm having a good time at the Music Library Association Convention, but I am getting increasingly frustrated with the hotel. You see, most people of my age have at least a slight internet addiction. We know it and, therefore, expect wifi wherever we go. This hotel promised internet access (for a price) but is failing miserably.

So, in order to keep up with my classes - which is doubtful at this point - I have caved and paid the good people at the Loews Hotel about $11 a day. As most of these systems hook onto you IP address, I expected the internet to be available throughout the hotel. Not so much.

You see, I'm on the 15th floor and the conference is on floors 2-3. Someone thought it would be brilliant to keep the access points disconnected with the expressed purpose of ticked off all conference goers. So, I have the internet in my room, but not during or in between the sessions I'm attending all day, each day. To top it off, what's available in my room is slow. Really slow. My lectures keep lagging every 30 seconds or so, if it plays at all.

*sigh* I guess Monday and Tuesday will be busy homework days...

Grammer-Impaired Reviewer Pwned

I think all of us have had the unfortunate experience of reading angst-filled, misspelled, nonsensical reviews and comments. But, I may be willing to tolerate them more, if this guy reads them with dramatic music playing along.

"What's the Internet" Video Gets Man Fired

The 1994 video of NBC's Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel discussing the internet has reportedly gotten the man who released it fired.  Apparently, NBC didn't get the memo about all of us relating to the reporters in the video because, well, IT WAS 1994.  Seriously?  If you can't laugh at yourself, then you must have a miserable life.  I fully expect my children to find pictures of my 2000's hairstyle and make fun of me.  I'll probably find it funny myself.  As for the internet, I don't think any of us truly knew what it would develop into and we still can only speculate about where it will go from here (my bet is on Google creating something sentient). 

So, if you would like to see the video, just Google it.  NBC is pulling them left and right, so it makes little sense to post a video that will go dead soon.  However, they don't seem to understand the internet and, maybe, that's why they don't get the joke - you can play wack-a-mole all you like, but nothing dies online.

(via CrunchGear)

Zotero Assignment

This took a bit longer than I hoped it would.  The assignment was to make a tutorial for installing and setting Zotero using a screen capture tool called Jing.  Although it wasn't hard, I have a hard time speaking without a script.  I tend to trip over words and stutter a little.  Once I rehearse a bit, I don't have much of a problem.  All that opera and acting training kicks in and I'm ready to go.

The only real problem I had was with Firefox crashing.  Several times it decided to simply not install the plug-in or open a web page will Jing was running.  You can almost hear me hold my breath a few times in the final version, waiting to see if I have to start over again.

Besides all that, I don't think I'll ever use Zotero.  I use Evernote for almost everything and this seems to replicate that function.  Jing, however, might become quite useful.  Most obviously in my current library job, but I'm also curious to test it out during a game.  The free version only captures 5 minutes at a time, but that may be enough to get some good shots to edit together.  If it works, I can pass the information on to my boyfriend who is dying to get some footage of his Star Trek Online fleet in action.

Well, I feel safer about Facebook...

There are people that think Facebook, since it is so large and popular, is the safest social networking site around.  I can't say that I've ever been that confident in Facebook and, as a result, typically don't put anything I wouldn't want the rest of the internet to see on the site.  Well, my cynicism was reaffirmed when Mark Zuckerburg's public page was hacked.  Yep, the same Zuckerburg who helped found the site.  The hacker only posted this message:

Let the hacking begin: If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Price winner Muhammad Yunus described it? [link edited out] What do you think? #hackercup2011

Seems like the hacker wanted to send a message more than actually disrupt Facebook.  Either way, it just goes to show that there isn't enough security precautions.  Usually, these public figure pages have a team of people moderating and creating content.  Maybe someone just picked a bad password?  Or, someone on the team sold it to the hacker.  Its hard to say and Facebook hasn't released exactly how the hack occurred.  Let's hope they figure it out soon because if Zuckerberg's page is vulnerable, than so are ours.

(via Sophos Naked Security)

For Once, Graffiti Makes My Day

(via reddit)

Konami code, for the win.  

When people claim that one of the evils of modern technology is the invention of the video game, I will show them this.  It even looks like they painted over some gang member's tag - brave souls, these nerds. 

I may strangle Assignment #2

First, let me say that I finally did work out all the problems.  Second, I am inclined never to go through the remote server again.  Yes, I'm exaggerating, but it was a pretty frustrating experience. 

For those of you who don't know, assignment #2 requires us to use Refworks to organize and export 15 citations each from Scopus and Google Scholar.  Considering that I already do some reference work at my library, this did not seem threatening.  What I did not count on was my school's remote server logging me out every 5 minutes.  I almost switched over to my workplace's server except that I was determined to make the other one work.  After an hour, I had my Scopus citations.

The next day, I worked on the Google Scholar portion.  That, thankfully, was only dependent on Refworks staying logged in.  Someone posted in our Blackboard forum about problems with exporting into Refworks, so I only had to have a few minutes of frustration when that happened. 

The assignment is done, but I don't see myself using Refworks unless I have a massive amount of citations.  It just seems faster to save the citations to my Evernote account and adjust them myself.

Linux: A Cautionary Tale by xkcd

I thought this might be appropriate for this week's lecture:

XKCD.com typically provides my tri-weekly source of techy laughter.  I'm not a Linux user myself, but I know several of them.  A few have even had experiences like the girl in the comic.  Granted, this knowledge may be what's keeping me from being a Linux user, but I'm usually happy with my Mac anyhow. 

So, am I still allowed to have a stuffed penguin by my desk or will I just have to settle for Spock?

Pogo Remixes: The Next Step in Digital Music?

One of the things I love most about computer technology is the unexpected ways people have found to use it creatively.  Pogo aka "Fagottron" on YouTube.com has managed to make some of the most interesting music I've heard in a while.  As someone with two degrees in music, this hopefully means a lot.

The uniqueness of Pogo's music is centered in his remixing techniques.  He takes a series of sound clips, either from movies or found sounds, and rearranges them into a musical work all its own.  Before you call me out on condoning copyright infringement, this guy has been paid by Pixar and others to create these works.

 

For me, as a musician, digital/electronic music is nothing new.  Mashups, techno and conventional remixes have existed for years.  But, I have to admit that Pogo has gone a step further.  Instead of simply creating a new version of an existing song, he is composing whole new works using the same audio editing technology.  Apparently, I'm not the only one impressed.  Pogo has shown up in the Wall Street Journal and performed at the Guggenhein Museum.

Check out his YouTube page and website for more information.

The Mac Hardware Rant

Let me first say that I use both Macs and Microsoft.  I tend to prefer Macs because of the ease of use and obvious paucity of the Blue Screen of Death.  My rant today is not about the software.  Oh, no.  I shall be criticizing Apple's incredibly stupid policy of making every piece of hardware incompatible with standard components.  Well, I'm sure its not stupid for Apple - it allows every compatible piece of equipment to be marked up tremendously.

This week's example is based on my desire to connect my laptop, a January 2010 MacBook Pro, to a HDTV.  My boyfriend, SophistiGamer, had received an new 42" monstrosity/beauty of a TV for Christmas and determined that my small apartment should be the place to house it until we get married.  To those women who say that men never express their trust of their girlfriends, I say that you obviously never had a guy - who was as much in love with gaming and ESPN as he was with you - deposit his new TV at your place. 

So, with this in mind, he bought an HDMI cable for his laptop in order to connect Star Trek Online to the TV.  That idea seemed intriguing and I started doing the research on what cable my Mac would need.  I already knew that I didn't have a standard HDMI port, but surely, something would be around to do the job, right?

No.  Of course not.  Apparently, my laptop has a mini-DisplayPort plug and although their is a mini-DP to HDMI cable, I bought my computer a few months too early for it to work.  MacBook Pros made in April of 2010 have mini-DP ports that support HD video and audio.  Mine simply transfers video.  A separate cable running from the headphone jack to the TV is needed for the audio to work.  That wouldn't be too bad except the TV (and most others) doesn't have a way for you to link up the HDMI input port with a composite audio port in order to use them at the same time. 

Luckily, there is a third-party cable that will fix this problem, but it is $30.  SophistiGamer's HDMI cable is under $5 at Amazon.com.  *considers shoving pencil in mini-DP port instead*

I know what some of you are thinking.  "Why is Overclocked using a Mac to game?"  Its quite simple really.  I'm in grad school.  When I'm not in grad school, I work full-time as a librarian, in a position that has all the work of a librarian, getting paid far less because I lack a Master's Degree.  If you would like to chip into my student loans, I would gladly buy two computers. 

Yeah, didn't think so. 

So, when it comes down to it, the gaming takes a back seat to my work and school needs.  Eventually, I think I will build a desktop, but until then, I will improvise... and silently curse Steve Jobs for his obvious money-making ploy as I watch my boyfriend's Klingon fleet destroy the Feds on the huge HDTV. 

Introduction and the Night the ISP's Servers Crashed

I suppose since this is my first post, I should do a bit of explaining about myself.  In short, I'm a 27-year-old female nerd.  If that thought makes you gag or involuntarily shiver, leave now.  Go ahead.  I won't be offended.  Much.

Oh, you've stayed.  My day has been made.  Well then, I guess you may be interested in bit more information.  Considering that you've been kind enough to stay, I think I should oblige.  I'm a first-year library school grad student who currently runs a music library branch.  I have just reached the point in which the freshmen have started to address me as "ma'am" and I'm very quick to shake me head saying, "Please don't do that."

I love to dance, although I'm not great at it.  My boyfriend is skilled in ballroom and swing dances.  He is the primary reason other dancers think I dance well.  I love Harry Potter and have attended a conference centered around this fandom.  Charity and activism are passions of mine as I preside over a local chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance.  I'm a musician with a specialization in opera and a love of all genres.  I am proud to call myself a Nerdfighter.

Now, with that out of the way, I can tell you the basic purpose of this blog.  Primarily, this is for a technology class that requires two posts a week.  It appears that we can make this about ourselves, but we need to incorporate something about information technology.  As IT is an extremely broad topic, I should be able to have some good ol' fun with this.  While I cannot guarantee brilliant writing skills, I can promise quirky tech stories and a lot of sarcasm.

On to the IT portion of the post.  Friends, we are going to start with all-important Internet Service Provider or ISP, for short.  It is shortened so that when they screw up, cursing them extensively is less of a tongue twister.  Our local company has been known to switch the wrong cable in the apartment complex's box, cutting my connection, and reset the connection while I'm at work so that nothing at home functions until I reset both the modem and the router...repeatedly.

So, I wasn't surprised on Tuesday when I returned from a crazy day at work (that may be a different post) to a non-functioning wireless network.  After resetting everything about 3 times, my Airport Express was still somberly blinking its yellow distress light.  Frustrated, I sat down at my computer to check the neighbor's network - they have it open for some reason and don't mind if I join occasionally.  It too was down.  I reconnected to my network and reloaded my browser just to see if I had developed any Jedi internet powers.  (This is the network you're looking for.)

To my amazement, a page popped up prompting me to activate my account.  Activate my account?  I'd been a paying customer for 3 years!  I picked up the phone and called the shining example of ISP vindictiveness - customer service.  My only solace in this is that I have discovered how to bypass the insult-to-anyone's-intelligence AI tech help and get a real person within 10 minutes.  You can do this, too.  Simply repeat "representative" for 10 minutes.  The AI will ask you repeatedly if you're sure you want a real person.  Don't be fooled; it doesn't have feelings yet.

Luckily, the representative I reached seemed to already know the problem I was having.  I explained that based on my work, the issue must be on their end.  With barely a pause, she informed me cheerily that the servers for my area of the state were down.

"Down?"

"Yes, the snow storm knocked a few of them out."

"Wait, but its not snowing here?"

"It is here and let me tell you these two inches have really made things difficult."

"Two inches?  Where are you?"

"Atlanta.  Two inches is a lot here."

"I'm sure, but two inches in Atlanta knocked out the servers for Virginia?"

"Yes, I'm really not looking forward to driving home tonight."

*sigh* "Well, ok.  So, what's the estimated repair time?"

"About 8 hours.  Maybe four.  Unfortunately, I'm not being updated frequently."

Apparently, she had been telling customers 4 - 8 hours for several hours.  I'm haven't figured out how two inches of snow crashed enough servers to disconnect a good chunk of Virginia.  And while I understand that servers take time to repair, shouldn't they have a back-up system of some sort?  I mean, if the majority of a state is dependent on a small group of servers, shouldn't you develop a contingency plan for that?  Forget the snow, Georgia frequently gets hurricanes.  Surely, they would have a plan for that?  Or not.  Obviously not.

The servers did manage to come back up much later that night.  Certainly, too late for me to work off some stress blasting Klingons in a Federation fleet, but just early enough for me to say, "Oh, look, the green light is on," and crawl into bed.