Winter is coming. But your episode of Game of Thrones may not be if you're traveling and trying to use HBO Go to watch the latest episode.
The selling point of HBO Go was to be able to stream new episodes as they air - but as fans of ANY of the popular shows on the network can tell you, they've consistently failed to provide the proper support of their product to make this happen with any reliability. For instance, it's currently 11 minutes after episode three was supposed to air, and I'm sitting here ranting rather than watching Margaery do her duck-lips smirk.
The real problem isn't any of the individual instances of failure - it's the fact that this has been going on for YEARS without any improvement. (In fact, things may have gotten worse - when Season 3 aired, it took us 56 minutes to get the episode to load; this season it took exactly an hour an a half.) Seriously, how can a major business go for that long without fixing the problem? It is, however, comforting to know that I could totally fail at my job but still get a position with HBO...so there's that.
First of all, stop putting out HBO Go updates on the same day as a season premiere or finale. I'm sick of having to go through the hassle of randomly reauthorizing my devices when there is already a huge strain on the servers. Secondly - Y U no have enuf servers? Here's a concept: since you know exactly how many subscribers you have, how about *gasp* you have enough server & bandwidth capacity to service them all? I mean, that IS what we're paying for, right?
Tonight's default HBO Go response is cute: "As always, tonight’s @GameOfThrones could take up to an hour to arrive depending upon your device/connection. Thanks for your patience." Suddenly, after all this time, it's my device or connection, huh? You know nothing, HBO Go.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Pinterest "Ettiquette"
...or, "Don't Act Like You Made that Art all by Yourself."
So if you're not familiar with Pinterest, it's a somewhat new social media site where you can 'pin' images from around the web to a virtual cork board. It's a repository for recipes, DIY projects, and all forms of art. I have a lot of fun with it myself, and have boards for things ranging to decor inspirations to DIY dog houses & beds. But these past few weeks, I've had a few annoying things pop up that just made me want to...wait for it...slam my head into my keyboard.
Not only did I find that I had been blocked by one or two other pinners, but one of the boards I follow had this image pinned, along with the following notice:
Ok, let's back up for a second. I'm all about respecting the work of other artists. So I could understand if a pinner is the creator of the artwork, and gets pissed if other folks are repinning it, claiming it as their own. But in each case, all of these other pinners are doing exactly what I am - browsing the site and pinning things they like. Claiming that there's something special about 'curating' a Pinterest board is an artistic endeavor, a breach of which worthy of banning, is like a DJ claiming to be just as creative as the musicians who made his music. You've seen the meme:
You didn't do anything special, you just used someone else's special thing to get attention. Just like the people you're blocking.
So if you're not familiar with Pinterest, it's a somewhat new social media site where you can 'pin' images from around the web to a virtual cork board. It's a repository for recipes, DIY projects, and all forms of art. I have a lot of fun with it myself, and have boards for things ranging to decor inspirations to DIY dog houses & beds. But these past few weeks, I've had a few annoying things pop up that just made me want to...wait for it...slam my head into my keyboard.
"1) Please BE CONSIDERATE.....DO NOT pin more than 10 pins from any board at one time! 2) If you enjoy our selections enough to repin 10-20 images from our ENTIRE PROFILE, PLEASE have the courtesy to at least FOLLOW US! 3) BE ORIGINAL!!! It takes MANY hours to curate our boards, covers, titles, etc. It's very DISRESPECTFUL to simply COPY their original order and content! 4) Please be advised that abusers of the above rules will be BLOCKED! Thank you!"
Ok, let's back up for a second. I'm all about respecting the work of other artists. So I could understand if a pinner is the creator of the artwork, and gets pissed if other folks are repinning it, claiming it as their own. But in each case, all of these other pinners are doing exactly what I am - browsing the site and pinning things they like. Claiming that there's something special about 'curating' a Pinterest board is an artistic endeavor, a breach of which worthy of banning, is like a DJ claiming to be just as creative as the musicians who made his music. You've seen the meme:
You didn't do anything special, you just used someone else's special thing to get attention. Just like the people you're blocking.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Chili's, and their choice to fund pseudoscience.
Hey guys! I know it's been almost two years, but I've decided to resurrect this blog. Now that I'm back to working part time, I have plenty of time to rant in written form. (Believe me, there was plenty of ranting the past few years - but most of it over beers with my SO.)
In any case, today's rant of honor is for Chili's Bar & Grill! A few days ago, it was brought to my attention that they're planning on hosting an Autism Awareness fundraiser on April 7th. Now, I'm all about supporting good causes and research - however the 'charity' Chili's has chosen to fund is the National Autism Association - a group that still grasps onto the thoroughly debunked notion that vaccines cause autism.
Chili's has defended their choice in charity on Facebook, claiming that "Our choice to partner with the National Autism Association was based on the percentage of donations that would go directly to providing financial assistance to families and supporting programs that aid the development and safety of children with autism." In response, the We Love GMOs and Vaccines Facebook Page posted a link to NAA's tax returns (which are posted here on NAA's website), pointing out that only about 10% of NAA's expenditures are ACTUALLY spent on helping families or individuals with autism. The majority of NAA's income is spent on overhead expenses (salaries, office expenses, etc.) with the remaining going to fundraising and advertising (which we can assume probably contains about as much anti-vaccine propaganda as their own website.)
Chili's followed-up with a response that they had been assured 100% of their fundraising monies would be allocated to NAA's Big Red Safety Box program, which is a kit to help families with Autistic children who are at high-risk of elopement (wondering off).
I've seen a lot of folks on Chili's social media sites who have benefited from this program. That's well and good, but if you consider the numbers I posted above, then for every $10 kit that NAA sends out, there's another $90 that's either going into someone's pocket, or worse - towards propagating the "Ohmergerd, vaccines cause autism!!!111one" bullshit. With the recent uprise in anti-vaccine crusades, there have been numerous outbreaks of preventible diseases that had a decade ago been close to eradication in the US.
So the real question is, if you choose to dine at Chili's on Monday - would you like a side of Polio with that?
In any case, today's rant of honor is for Chili's Bar & Grill! A few days ago, it was brought to my attention that they're planning on hosting an Autism Awareness fundraiser on April 7th. Now, I'm all about supporting good causes and research - however the 'charity' Chili's has chosen to fund is the National Autism Association - a group that still grasps onto the thoroughly debunked notion that vaccines cause autism.
Chili's has defended their choice in charity on Facebook, claiming that "Our choice to partner with the National Autism Association was based on the percentage of donations that would go directly to providing financial assistance to families and supporting programs that aid the development and safety of children with autism." In response, the We Love GMOs and Vaccines Facebook Page posted a link to NAA's tax returns (which are posted here on NAA's website), pointing out that only about 10% of NAA's expenditures are ACTUALLY spent on helping families or individuals with autism. The majority of NAA's income is spent on overhead expenses (salaries, office expenses, etc.) with the remaining going to fundraising and advertising (which we can assume probably contains about as much anti-vaccine propaganda as their own website.)
Chili's followed-up with a response that they had been assured 100% of their fundraising monies would be allocated to NAA's Big Red Safety Box program, which is a kit to help families with Autistic children who are at high-risk of elopement (wondering off).
I've seen a lot of folks on Chili's social media sites who have benefited from this program. That's well and good, but if you consider the numbers I posted above, then for every $10 kit that NAA sends out, there's another $90 that's either going into someone's pocket, or worse - towards propagating the "Ohmergerd, vaccines cause autism!!!111one" bullshit. With the recent uprise in anti-vaccine crusades, there have been numerous outbreaks of preventible diseases that had a decade ago been close to eradication in the US.
So the real question is, if you choose to dine at Chili's on Monday - would you like a side of Polio with that?
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