Rocket Science

…though I’m not sure I want them to be smarter.

Sometimes for amusement, I close the ads just to see what comes up. Mostly I mark them all as irrelevant, since I’m not really interested in anything Facebook might recommend as an ad.

I just read a post by my friend Tom–and managed to get 10 ads for cell phones with rate plans local to my current location. Except I’m just visiting here, I don’t live here, I don’t need a cell phone paid for in a different currency. Facebook *should* know that I’m not accessing my account from my “regular” location, and shouldn’t be showing me ads for something completely irrelevant just because I happen to be here.

But then I guess it could be worse…there could be more ads for the scam Farmville.

Update: Well, ok, the local newscasters are calling it a nor’easter. But I’m still not convinced what hit Virginia really qualifies.

On the CNN home page (about 4pm on Friday, November 13)…

Source: Brandon/CNN

CNN's Stellar Editors

If you go to the actual article, you see that the iReporter (a person not affiliated with CNN) made no mention of nor’easter. Someone on CNN’s editorial staff had to write the headline to place on the home page.

I am new to the area, but I don’t think the remnants of Hurricane Ida coming from the Gulf of Mexico, across the Southeastern United States and then from north to south on the eastern seaboard, qualifies as a nor’easter.

A nor’easter (also northeaster; see below) is a type of macro-scale storm along the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada, so named because the winds come from the northeast, especially in the coastal areas of the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada.

Nor’easter. (2009, November 3). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:17, November 13, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nor%27easter&oldid=323626134

Heck, here’s an animation of the storm track that caused the barge to get stranded.

Source: wunderground.com

Still doesn't look like a nor'easter...

Big storm, yes. Nor’easter? I don’t think so.

Time to pay a few more pennies for editorial oversight CNN.

Is anyone surprised?

I did receive a call at 9:51am from Office Depot saying the package was out for delivery. Ok, great. But when I get home, no package. And by the way I was home until 1pm today.

I just got off the phone with Kim who said she’d call the driver and find out what was going on.

When I called, she said her system showed that the driver had called and left a message. According to my phone it’s possible that the driver called, but s/he definitely didn’t leave a message. I did received a call at 3:45pm, but there is no voicemail message associated with that number/time. Why are they lying?

Fail Office Depot fail.

Photo Credit: Brandon/Consumerist (?)

Used Under User Agreement

Fail?

MIT is fairly progressive in that it’s negotiated with a number of national businesses to extend MIT-pricing for its staff and faculty. One of those businesses is Office Depot.

I placed an order for a toner cartridge on September 4, with expected delivery on September 9. Ok, that’s a long time, but the Labor Day Holiday is in between. And they must know they’re not capable of pulling the items for delivery the day after a holiday. Ok, whatever.

So, it’s now Thursday evening, September 10. Guess what, no package.

After 15 minutes on the phone with Office Depot, and after speaking with the national accounts representative (which is at a phone number that is not on the email confirmation that I received*), we may have provided sufficient information for the delivery. I’m the first to admit my mailing address is a bit odd, but you know–the USPS, FedEx and UPS all know how to deliver to this address. And if the driver was having problems, ok–for the love of pete, call. There’s a phone number on file. The same phone I used to call customer service.

I got some indication from the national accounts representative that they attempted to call. Bullsh*t. I know I never picked up my phone and answered a call from Office Depot. And I know that I didn’t receive any voicemail messages from Office Depot. To be fair, there was a call at approximately 6:12am on Thursday morning and a dead air message. That could have been them. Ok, uh, leave a message? I’m not psychic. Or better yet, call back later in the day. Really.

We’ll see what happens. I have a feeling that I’ll just end up ordering the toner from Amazon and posting that yes, Office Depot delivery drivers are incompetent.

For a similar story, check out the Consumerist on Office Depot Executive E-Mail Carpet Bomb Scores Direct Hit (though for some reason it’s not displaying properly in Firefox 3.5.3).

This is partially an experiment to see if Office Depot is web-aware and checking their reputation online.

* A completely separate rant is how bad the web experience with the Business Systems Division continues to be. I mean back when I was purchasing with them in 2002-2004 at UC Berkeley they didn’t get the web thing. Their order interface and experience was from the dumb terminal days. Today, let’s recognize computers are good at matching data. If I’m ordering from MIT, and you know I have a national account, then put the customer service number for national accounts and/or for me in particular in the email. Don’t make me call one number, wait on hold for 4-5 minutes and then tell me they have to transfer me. It’s called customer SERVICE for a reason. Ok, end rant.

Photo Credit: aussiegall

Not! High Rate of Speed

Really!

“Rate of speed” means “acceleration” not “speeding” or “traveling fast”.

This has bugged me for years. TV News broadcasts and police officers saying, “The suspect was traveling at a high rate of speed.”

Really? The suspect was accelerating?

And some of the time, the suspect ends up crashing, well to be precise he was decelerating rapidly when he crashed, he might have been accelerating, but given he crashed there had to be a deceleration in there somewhere. Unless they managed to find some new physics and physical laws somewhere.

/sigh

Here’s the first result from a Google search for “high rate of speed”.