xkcd

by **Hofstadter'sLaw** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:34 am UTC

It’s actually only the forth or fifth week of the term at the school I went to, but it’s a good point that he probably deals with an inbox full of e-mails every day since he teaches a couple of classes. I guess mine got pushed to the next page and forgotten. If he’s really that busy I don’t want to bother him though.

Thank you for pointing out what should have been obvious. I feel better now. =]

by **Cathy** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:45 am UTC

Hofstadter'sLaw wrote:If he’s really that busy I don’t want to bother him though.

Thank you for pointing out what should have been obvious. I feel better now. =]

I asked my professor friend about this - he says that he's want a former student to bug him again. He also said this inspired him to answer a few emails... lol!

Glad you feel better.

by **emceng** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:50 pm UTC

You're freaking kidding me. A few weeks ago I signed up for a free seminar that occurs today. I got put on the waitlist. This morning, 9 minutes before the event starts, I got a registration email saying I am registered for the course. Thanks! That was really helpful. I'm sure that it would be useful for me seeing the email 20 minutes after the course starts, and that 30 min(ignoring traffic) drive to the location? Sure, that won't be a problem either.

by **Kithplana** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:38 am UTC

Dear ISP,

When I, at 1.1.1.1, am trying to get to 2.2.2.2 and am reaching 3.3.3.3 (ISP's router) before hitting 10.x.x.x (yes, actually a 10.x address), and cannot get to 2.2.2.2, please don't tell me to try a different device from 1.1.1.1, or even imply that this is the fault of anything at 1.1.1.1 at all. That's like me telling you there's a big sinkhole in the road I can't walk past and you telling me to try different shoes.

Please just fix it. Having my traceroute over the public Internet deadend somewhere in your network at a 10.x address gives me the heebie-jeebies.

by **firechicago** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:47 am UTC

Hofstadter'sLaw wrote:It’s actually only the forth or fifth week of the term at the school I went to, but it’s a good point that he probably deals with an inbox full of e-mails every day since he teaches a couple of classes. I guess mine got pushed to the next page and forgotten. If he’s really that busy I don’t want to bother him though.

Thank you for pointing out what should have been obvious. I feel better now. =]

As part of my job I screen the email of a professor at a large research university, and I can promise you that a lot of important emails go unanswered just because it's just more than one person (or even two people!) can handle.

Just today I saw an email to the effect of "Weren't we talking 6 months ago about doing a joint project with [large international organization working in our field]? I totally forgot about following up on that."

by **Hofstadter'sLaw** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 3:13 am UTC

emceng wrote:You're freaking kidding me. A few weeks ago I signed up for a free seminar that occurs today. I got put on the waitlist. This morning, 9 minutes before the event starts, I got a registration email saying I am registered for the course. Thanks! That was really helpful. I'm sure that it would be useful for me seeing the email 20 minutes after the course starts, and that 30 min(ignoring traffic) drive to the location? Sure, that won't be a problem either.

I can sympathize. I had an over-an-hour commute to school. A few times, professors canceled class an hour or less before it started.

firechicago wrote:As part of my job I screen the email of a professor at a large research university, and I can promise you that a lot of important emails go unanswered just because it's just more than one person (or even two people!) can handle.

Just today I saw an email to the effect of "Weren't we talking 6 months ago about doing a joint project with [large international organization working in our field]? I totally forgot about following up on that."

You screen a professor’s e-mail?! Wow. I didn’t realize how many e-mails professors get. =/ I guess Cathy’s “37 unread emails a morning” wasn’t an exaggeration.

What’s a good way to word a reminder e-mail? I’m really awkward to begin with, and essentially saying something that means, “Hey, you forgot about me. D:” seems immensely awkward and a bit embarrassing.

by **gorcee** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:05 pm UTC

Fucking goddammit. I hate losing. I was hoping for at least another month of hockey this spring. I still love Tim Thomas, though.

by **Enokh** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:58 pm UTC

It was only fairly recently that I discovered the full ramifications of society's apparent belief of "Well of COURSE the mother should be the one to get the child!". Makes me rage pretty hard. It also helps to solidify my belief that I shouldn't look down on someone else claiming that x or y is sexist/rascist/genderist/whatever, since I didn't even know this bit existed and I'm the one being targeted.

Feels fucking great.

by **Cathy** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:30 pm UTC

firechicago wrote:As part of my job I screen the email of a professor at a large research university, and I can promise you that a lot of important emails go unanswered just because it's just more than one person (or even two people!) can handle.

Just today I saw an email to the effect of "Weren't we talking 6 months ago about doing a joint project with [large international organization working in our field]? I totally forgot about following up on that."

You screen a professor’s e-mail?! Wow. I didn’t realize how many e-mails professors get. =/ I guess Cathy’s “37 unread emails a morning” wasn’t an exaggeration.

What’s a good way to word a reminder e-mail? I’m really awkward to begin with, and essentially saying something that means, “Hey, you forgot about me. D:” seems immensely awkward and a bit embarrassing.[/quote]
I usually do something like "Hey there! Just checking in to make sure you got my email. How have you been doing in the last [amount of time]?"

I was guessing, but something to that effect, haha. If not more. With the amount of auto-emails my uni sends out my professor friend gets a good 40-something+ a day...

Enokh wrote:It was only fairly recently that I discovered the full ramifications of society's apparent belief of "Well of COURSE the mother should be the one to get the child!".

I'm sorry. I plan to have kids in the next 10 year somewhere here, and what's currently scaring the hell out of me and making me really angry is the assumption that if my son gets pregnant with someone else's daughter, I [and he] get off scot free but if my daughter gets pregnant with someone else's son, she and the kid are 100% guaranteed to be with me for 20 years and the boy 100% will be a deadbeat with no interest in his child.

WTF.

by **Menacing Spike** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:59 pm UTC

Cathy wrote:I'm sorry. I plan to have kids in the next 10 year somewhere here, and what's currently scaring the hell out of me and making me really angry is the assumption that if my son gets pregnant with someone else's daughter, I [and he] get off scot free but if my daughter gets pregnant with someone else's son, she and the kid are 100% guaranteed to be with me for 20 years and the boy 100% will be a deadbeat with no interest in his child.

Er, what about abortions?

by **Zarq** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:15 pm UTC

Menacing Spike wrote:
Cathy wrote:I'm sorry. I plan to have kids in the next 10 year somewhere here, and what's currently scaring the hell out of me and making me really angry is the assumption that if my son gets pregnant with someone else's daughter, I [and he] get off scot free but if my daughter gets pregnant with someone else's son, she and the kid are 100% guaranteed to be with me for 20 years and the boy 100% will be a deadbeat with no interest in his child.

Er, what about abortions?

Location wrote:TX, USA

Having said that, around here (aka where abortion is legal and not thát frowned upon), it's pretty much the complete inverse. Girl gets pregnant and doesn't want the kid --> she gets an abortion (a procedure which is covered by health insurance) and that's that (apart from emotional aspects of course). Guy gets girl pregnant and doesn't want kid, but the girl doesn't want an abortion --> tough luck buddy, have fun paying child support for the next 18 year.

Getting a girl pregnant is and the girl wanting to keep it is one of my biggest fears.*

*For the record, getting a girl pregnant and her not wanting to keep it is also pretty high up there.

by **Cathy** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:20 pm UTC

Zarq wrote:
Menacing Spike wrote:
Cathy wrote:I'm sorry. I plan to have kids in the next 10 year somewhere here, and what's currently scaring the hell out of me and making me really angry is the assumption that if my son gets pregnant with someone else's daughter, I [and he] get off scot free but if my daughter gets pregnant with someone else's son, she and the kid are 100% guaranteed to be with me for 20 years and the boy 100% will be a deadbeat with no interest in his child.

Er, what about abortions?

Location wrote:TX, USA

Hey, hey, lets not stereotype. I'm strongly pro-choice. However, it would by my hypothetical daughter who got pregnant - not me. I would encourage, but not force birth control and abortion.

This is in the event that my daughter or the other pregnant daughter decides against abortion.

I certainly *hope* I'd be a good enough parent that my children would be comfortable asking me for birth control.

by **Zarq** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:23 pm UTC

I wasn't assuming you were anti-abortion, I just thought it was illegal.

by **Cathy** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:28 pm UTC

Zarq wrote:I wasn't assuming you were anti-abortion, I just thought it was illegal.

Oh, okay. No it's legal, just few and far between and lots of bureaucracy. 48 hour waiting periods and ultrasounds, all on the woman's bill. Prohibitive, but still legal.

by **Zarq** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:33 pm UTC

What do you mean by 48-hour waiting period? 48 hours between going to the doctor to tell you want to get an abortion and the procedure? I'm pretty sure the Belgian law is even more prohibitive.

edit: 6 days apparently. It's also only legal in "emergency situations", but the law doesn't stipulate what constitutes an "emergency situation", so it's ok as long as the woman states it's an emergency. That's a silly law.

(Emergency is not the exact word, but the Dutch word doesn't really have an exact translation for use in this context. It's more of a cross between emergency and necessity.)

edit2: I'm not saying that the Texan law is not prohibitive, I'm just surprised our law is more prohibitive (in that one aspect, the ultrasound is arguably more prohibitive than those 4 days.)

by **Cathy** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:42 pm UTC

Actually, it turns out that this is how it goes:
Go to your doctor. Say you need an abortion. Get referred to somewhere that does them.
Go to the place that does ultrasounds. Get a state mandated lecture of part misinformation and part scare-words.
Come back 24 hours later to get the abortion.

The prohibitive part is when the only place around that does these things for you is a 2+ hour drive away. It's a 4-hour round trip, twice. And what if you don't have a car? If you have a job?

It's frustrating.

by **bigglesworth** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:48 pm UTC

It's vaguely similar in the UK - two doctors have to agree that it's needed. In practice no doctor refuses, but there you go. In fact there was recently a bit of a hoo-hah about the fact that some doctors were just signing these sheets in advance, so only one doctor would be needed. Damn Tories poking their nose into a system that works. Conservatives shouldn't be so afraid of the status quo, it's hypocritical.

Edit: that started off as comment, but became a rant. How convenient.

by **Enokh** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:50 am UTC

Cathy wrote:
Enokh wrote:It was only fairly recently that I discovered the full ramifications of society's apparent belief of "Well of COURSE the mother should be the one to get the child!".

I'm sorry. I plan to have kids in the next 10 year somewhere here, and what's currently scaring the hell out of me and making me really angry is the assumption that if my son gets pregnant with someone else's daughter, I [and he] get off scot free but if my daughter gets pregnant with someone else's son, she and the kid are 100% guaranteed to be with me for 20 years and the boy 100% will be a deadbeat with no interest in his child.

WTF.

Yeah, it's pretty scary. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to discover this unfortunate nation-wide assumption AFTER I got my daughter back. She lives with me and it's the most absolutely wonderful thing that's ever happened. Custody/divorce battle coming up, but it'll be alright.

by **Steax** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:18 am UTC

Re: Email volumes

I have simply given up on emails. It lacks so much stuff we'd otherwise love. No way to tell if an email is read. Sometimes, not even if it's sent. And between many people, mailing lists are the only options, as the other 2 options (a. reply to every email individually, with quoting, and b. reply to everything in one email, taking hours to manage the quotes) only ever turn out horribly.

It's especially annoying because a solution exists: it's called social networking. It's proven great at managing communications between people. Thing is, none of the major networks provide the sort of semi-permanence needed, and they're always a tad too playful/casual/social rather than as a communication tool.

The issue is so bad that I'm developing my own platform for client collaboration.

by **SecondTalon** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:32 am UTC

Steax wrote:The issue is so bad that I'm developing my own platform for client collaboration.

So...this.

by **Steax** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:36 am UTC

... In a way. I don't plan to make mine public, though, and it's specifically for web development purposes. Integrated bugtracker, invoicing, file storage, git repo, etc. Because clients just can never remember the dozen passwords and apps for invoicing, basecamp, that chatting app, dropbox, bugzilla...

by **Kithplana** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:57 pm UTC

Kithplana wrote:Dear ISP,

When I, at 1.1.1.1, am trying to get to 2.2.2.2 and am reaching 3.3.3.3 (ISP's router) before hitting 10.x.x.x (yes, actually a 10.x address), and cannot get to 2.2.2.2, please don't tell me to try a different device from 1.1.1.1, or even imply that this is the fault of anything at 1.1.1.1 at all. That's like me telling you there's a big sinkhole in the road I can't walk past and you telling me to try different shoes.

Please just fix it. Having my traceroute over the public Internet deadend somewhere in your network at a 10.x address gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Dear ISP:

Okay, I will admit that had I gone in after hours and disrupted connectivity for the entire location to connect a single device to 2.2.2.2, and tested the route from 1.1.1.1 to 2.2.2.2, I probably would have found that the route is fine. (I'm hoping. I test this tomorrow.) The issue is, indeed, arising from how the router at 2.2.2.2 is configured. In a way. You see, if you hadn't instructed us to configure our routers in cruel and unusual ways, we wouldn't be having this problem. Your messed-up network design and my strategy of a graceful, gradual migration from one IP block to another over the course of a month have collided to prevent access for 1.1.1.1.

So what we have here is an edge case, and while I admit that some of my equipment is responsible for the issue, yours is too. Even though I'm not kicking myself for not foreseeing this issue, I will graciously share the blame.

I still don't know why it's coming back with a 10.x address. That's not mine, that's yours. There is also no excuse for your tier 2 tech who, among other things, still insisted 10.x is mine after I had stated multiple times that it's not in any range I use, resorted to explaining slowly to me, multiple times, that the 10.x range is a private range and must be mine when I insisted it wasn't mine, and kept telling me that where I was connected to 1.1.1.1 from (physically in 1.1.1.1 or remotely from 2.2.2.2) would matter when tracerouting from 1.1.1.1's router.

However, I will treasure the dead silence on the line that I got when your tech told me that "oh, the traffic is going through ISP's router first but then private range yours blah blah" and I asked him to explain to me why ISP's router was routing to 10.x.

by **Giant Speck** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:41 am UTC

I absolutely HATE the sound of a high-pitched dog yap. One of my neighbors' isn't at home and their dog is barking and scratching at the door. I can hear it through my walls. :evil:

by **ExplodingHat** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:48 am UTC

Giant Speck wrote:I absolutely HATE the sound of a high-pitched dog yap. One of my neighbors' isn't at home and their dog is barking and scratching at the door. I can hear it through my walls.

This. The neighbors across the street have this dog that yaps in an almost metronomic "arf arf arf arf arf arf arf..." for minutes on end. -___-

by **darknut** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:49 am UTC

ExplodingHat wrote:
Giant Speck wrote:I absolutely HATE the sound of a high-pitched dog yap. One of my neighbors' isn't at home and their dog is barking and scratching at the door. I can hear it through my walls.
This. The neighbors across the street have this dog that yaps in an almost metronomic "arf arf arf arf arf arf arf..." for minutes on end. -___-

well there are...options

by **Giant Speck** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:02 am UTC

Part of one of my molars chipped off while flossing. :shock:

It's a good thing I'm due for my yearly dental exam. The dentist is already not going to be happy with my subpar dental hygiene. This is just going to make matters worse.

by **raike** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 5:13 am UTC

I start a new job tomorrow. It's past 01:00, and I need to wake up at 05:00. This does not bode well. Gaaaaah, how I hate chronic insomnia. And the worst part is, even if I fall asleep in the next four hours, I'm probably going to wake up sometime in between.

by **torontoraptor** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:36 am UTC

Going from living in a house with roommates to living in the house you grew up in with your parents, especially if its just for a short period of time, is INCREDIBLY frustrating.

by **Zarq** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:40 am UTC

Giant Speck wrote:I absolutely HATE the sound of a high-pitched dog yap. One of my neighbors' isn't at home and their dog is barking and scratching at the door. I can hear it through my walls.

Have you told him yet? There's a good chance he doesn't know. A lot of dogs shut up when they hear their owners returning, and neighbors sometimes don't dare to say it.

by **SecondTalon** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:45 pm UTC

Zarq wrote:
Giant Speck wrote:I absolutely HATE the sound of a high-pitched dog yap. One of my neighbors' isn't at home and their dog is barking and scratching at the door. I can hear it through my walls.

Have you told him yet? There's a good chance he doesn't know. A lot of dogs shut up when they hear their owners returning, and neighbors sometimes don't dare to say it.

Indeed. I have no idea what my dogs do all day. Case in point, though, of when I had a roommate/tenant/housemate/whatever... He'd get home before me, walk in, say hi to my dog in a crate who wouldn't make a sound, maybe look at him, maybe not, and my roommate would go about his business in the (essentially) silent house. Dog hears my or my wife's car pull in, and starts going nuts because he's SO HAPPY one of us is home.

Didn't find this out until a month after we got the dog, when I said "Feel free to let him out if you want him to shut up when you get here" and he said "Half the time I forget he's here because he doesn't make a sound when I come in, unless one of you are here"

So, yeah.. Dogs may have different behaviors when their owners are around.

by **Whelan** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:06 pm UTC

Harumph, I could be out enjoying myself right now but instead I'm having to stay in because it's taken the bloody bank more than a fecking week to get me a new bloody debit card. So I'm bored and grumpy.

by **fizzgig** » Tue May 01, 2012 1:34 am UTC

Argh. My boss just walked past and said that he needs to have a private chat with me this afternoon, but didn't say what it was about. And I have no idea what it could be about really. I mean I can think of a few things he might need to chat with me about, but none of them privately.

Why would he do this to me?

by **[.root/fail]** » Tue May 01, 2012 8:11 am UTC

Sometimes while it's sure a great thing, I can't handle it: Feeling like I'm here on this planet for some GREAT purpose, that I am meant to help deliver a great message. But the problem is that the same mind that gives me the means to learn the message is also the same mind that gets in the way of me being able to properly know myself and connect with others.

Everyone is like, "You're succesful and are so intelligent and cool" and all that... but you know what, yeah, that's great. I love it. I'm grateful. But my problem is that I feel like I'm the first successful Turing test in an organic computer; that being, I can think and feel, but I cannot feel a sense of self. And I also feel like an alien lost on this planet, unable to understand the people around me and how to connect with them. A lack of sense of self is the primary problem here. People don't seem to understand that and bitch at me when I get to bitching about my life. I'm not bitching about all the blessings I have externally in my life, I'm bitching about the internal, I'm bitching about my mind, not being able to know myself, connect with myself, or feel like I even have a self.

Sure, I'm getting handed to me a lot of truly great stuff people try their whole lives for, I'm grateful for this, I'm enjoying it, but for you to think that means I have a sense of peace, a sense of self, and that inside I'm really happy... Really? Sorry, you're wrong. If I were a beggar on the street but knew who I was, I'd be happier than I am being successful and not know who the fuck I am.

Success does not gurantee peace. Money does not guarentee happiness. Sorry people, these things are not working for me. So don't get pissed at me if my life is better than yours but I'm more displeased. Thing is I never knew who the fuck I am, and that's what matters most to me. Without a sense of self you can never know peace. I am so removed from the self.

by **roband** » Tue May 01, 2012 10:29 pm UTC

Argh! Latest ep of GoT will be.. available.. in 20 minutes. But if I watch it tonight I'll get less sleep than I need.

A genuinely hard decision to make.

by **Gears** » Wed May 02, 2012 1:06 pm UTC

Airlines are stupid fuck! If I book a flight to go the US, and return on a certain date, I need that return date to be the day in Japan, not the US!! Fuck!! Wasted money now I have to change it because they didn't account for the date line.

by **SlyReaper** » Wed May 02, 2012 1:14 pm UTC

Gears wrote:Airlines are stupid fuck! If I book a flight to go the US, and return on a certain date, I need that return date to be the day in Japan, not the US!! Fuck!! Wasted money now I have to change it because they didn't account for the date line.

Sounds more like you didn't account for the date line. Travel schedules, by convention, always use local time. Unless the information you entered was "I need to be back in Japan on such-and-such a day", in which case that's the airline's fault and it shouldn't cost you anything.

by **Jave D** » Wed May 02, 2012 5:41 pm UTC

Too sick to pant.

by **Menacing Spike** » Wed May 02, 2012 8:22 pm UTC

Oh, great, Soul Reaver is not working on my laptop and I wasted a lot of time trying to fix it. Beh.

Let's surf the internet or something.

Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at boards.4chan.org.

... I'M BORED

by **Hofstadter'sLaw** » Wed May 02, 2012 8:49 pm UTC

I hate how relatives drop by out of the blue without calling first. Especially if it means entertaining them for the next two hours, when I had other things I needed to do and when I look like crap because I didn't expect to have to deal with people today.

by **Cathy** » Wed May 02, 2012 9:55 pm UTC

Hofstadter'sLaw wrote:I hate how relatives drop by out of the blue without calling first. Especially if it means entertaining them for the next two hours, when I had other things I needed to do and when I look like crap because I didn't expect to have to deal with people today.

This is why I chose a college over 3 hours away from my parents. They are the only family close enough to visit by car, and I wanted to make sure they couldn't just "pop by".

When I have kids I hope to do the same thing. I'm not one for having close buddy-buddy relationships with my parents... Don't exactly want my dad near any kids I may have.

Who knows, maybe bad parents can become good grandparents?

Pant: aaaaaaaarrrgghhhhhhhh finals.

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