Blog Roll Updates
It doesn’t seem quite right that I have a higher page rank than Code Monkeyism. I’ve added it to the Blog Roll to send some Google Juice Stephan’s way.
I’ve also added Smalltalk with James Robertson.
Colts 34 - Saints 24
The good thing about this game is that I don’t have strong ties to either team, so I can just enjoy the game.
The bad thing is that I’m torn about who to root for. On the one hand, I think that Peyton is the best QB in the game and I’d like for him to get his second ring so that we can just put that argument to rest. And on the other hand, I’d like to see the Saints bring the Vince Lombardi trophy back to New Orleans.
This is a tough game to pick. The Colts are favored to win, but my brain trust feels that it will be close. I’d feel much better about the Saints if they had been here before. But I have a feeling that the Saints will suffer from the first time blues. So I’m going to break with the brain trust and pick the Colts to win by 10.
What American Sports could learn from Soccer
It’s the final day of the season. I need a flow chart to track the Bronco’s playoff hopes. The critical Bengals-Jets game doesn’t kick off until 8:30pm. And I wish that the NFL would pay a little more attention to the rest of the sports world.
- Relegation
- Promotion and Relegation relegates the worst teams in a division down to a lower division and promotes the best teams in that lower division up. Unfortunately, the US doesn’t have the minor leagues to make it work.
- Simultaneous Games
- In the 1982 World Cup, staggered starting times for the final day of group play meant that Germany and Austria started their match knowing a German victory by two goals or less would send both teams through. It wasn’t much of a surprise when the Germans went up 1-0 after 10 minutes and nothing much happened in the remaining 80 minutes of play. As a result, the final games in group play are now played simultaneously.
I’m sure that it would cost a pretty penny for the NFL to give up the final Sunday night game of the season. But wouldn’t it be something if all the AFC games were played at the same time? Everyone would need to assume the worst and no one would be allowed to knowingly back into the playoffs.
So Long Radio Userland
It was a minor vanity on my part, but I retained the Radio Userland web bug as part of my Textpattern web site. My original goal was to reach 1 million page views.
That wasn’t enough and I kept going in an attempt to break into the top 20. I think that I would have made it, but the Userland Site Report has not updated since Dec 2, 2009.
It’s time to move on. I’ve removed the web bug. And with it, my last remaining link to Radio Userland.
Textpattern custom_url_func upgrade
My upgrade to Textpattern 4.2.0 was almost trouble free. The only problem was that the built-in newer, older, category1 and category2 functions weren't working.
After crawling through the source, I realized that the custom_url_func function signature had been redefined to include an optional argument. This change allowed the custom_url_func to be invoked by the newer, older, category1 and category2 functions (amongst others). Once I understood the problem, it was easy to add the required functionality.
function idx_permlinkurl($article_array, $link_type=0)
{
global $prefs;
if (empty($article_array)) return;
extract($article_array);
if ( $link_type == PAGELINKURL ) { // PAGE LINK mode
$page = $article_array['pg'];
if ( empty($page) || $page == 0 || $page == 1 ) {
$page_suffix = '';
}
else {
$page_suffix = '?pg='.$page;
}
$category = $article_array['c'];
if ( !empty($category) ) {
if (empty($page_suffix)) {
$page_suffix = '?c='.$category;
}
else {
$page_suffix = $page_suffix . '&c=' . $category;
}
}
$section = $article_array['s'];
if ($section == 'default') {
return hu.$page_suffix;
}
else {
return hu.$section.$page_suffix;
}
}
else { // ARTICLE LINK mode
if (!isset($title)) $title = $Title;
if (empty($url_title)) $url_title = stripSpace($title);
if (empty($thisid)) $thisid = $ID;
if ($prefs['attach_titles_to_permalinks']) {
return hu."id/$thisid/$url_title";
}
else {
return hu."id/$thisid/";
}
}
}
$prefs['custom_url_func'] = 'idx_permlinkurl';Self-Assured or Pig-Headed
If you are reading this, then you are probably pretty smart. You are accustomed to being right. And you have a certain amount of self-assuredness about it. Like me.
Much of that came from being a big fish in a small pond. Things change when you frequent bigger ponds. Requiring a different reaction to other self-assured people with contrary positions.
Sometimes it just doesn’t matter. Like the misguided colleague who didn’t know that Dr. Dunkenstein was Darrell Griffith.
Sometimes it is someone you are not likely to ever see again. Just let it go.
But sometimes, they are making decisions that affect you. You need to consider the possibility that they are right. Back off and double check your position. You will usually be right. Sometimes you will be wrong. Try to acknowledge when you are wrong.
Self-assured is taking a stand. Pig-headed is refusing to consider the alternatives.
PS. Every time you say “Everybody knows”, you take a step to pig-headedness.
PPS. Still working on acknowledging when I’m w***g.
Don't Buy a Used Tivo
Let’s get this out of the way first:
I love my TiVo. We have a Toshiba Series 2 TiVo/DVD, a Tivo HD with a TiVo extender, and now a TiVo Series 3. But that doesn’t change the fact that adding the Series 3 was a serious pain.
It is a unfortunate sign of the times that companies optimize the common paths of customer service while leaving no flexibility for leaving the scripted interaction. If you want to activate a new TiVo, then activation is as smooth a process as you could imagine. Activating a pre-owned TiVo, not so smooth.
- If the previous owner has a contract, then TiVo is going to ask you to assume the remainder of the contract.
- In order to assume the remainder of the contract, you need to call customer service and:
- Agree to the TiVo Terms and Conditions
- Provide your credit card number to be billed for the TiVo service.
- Make sure you agree to the Terms and Conditions. I discovered the hard way that if TiVo customer service neglects to get your agreement, then TiVo will
- Reject the transfer of ownership.
- Keep your credit card number on the previous owner’s account.
- Not bother to notify you that they’ve rejected the transfer.
- When you call back to see why the transfer isn’t completed, you will:
- Need to listen to and agree to the verbal Terms and Conditions read by the customer support rep.
- If you actually pay attention to this sort of thing (which I do), then you’re going to hear that early cancellation may cost you:
- Up to $155.40 (early in the T’s and C’s).
- Up to $200.00 (midway in the T’s and C’s).
- Up to $155.40 (towards the end of the T’s and C’s).
- If you ask when the $155.40 applies and when the $200 applies, then your customer service rep is probably not going to have a satisfactory answer.
- If you ask to see a written copy of the Terms and Conditions, then you’ll be directed to the TiVo web site – where you’re not going to find T’s and C’s matching the verbal ones.
- At this point you’re going to need to decide whether to:
- Just accept the Terms and Conditions even though they appear to be internally inconsistent and you’re not able to see a written copy.
- Assume that the online Terms and Conditions are the ones that really count.
- Write off:
- The cumulative hour spent with TiVo customer service over two calls.
- Shipping costs.
- And hope that:
- You get back the purchase price from the previous seller.
- You don’t get billed for TiVo service now that TiVo has associated your card with the previous owner’s account.
All in all, the money saved with the used TiVo wasn’t worth the aggravation it came with. I didn’t find that out until I was already committed. Now, you know better.
PS: Yes, I know this would have been easier if I was less AR about terms and conditions. But TiVo made a big deal out of me listening to the terms and conditions. Is it too much for me to expect that confusing points be clarified before I agree?