Spam Call Monday; How Can I Help?

The vibrating vooms of my phone reach only me and the person who sits next to me in Maths, and even then she can't tell its direction. How do I know this?

Why, because it is Spam Call Monday.

A very interesting pattern has occurred for a while now, and that is the spam spam spam spam I receive near the end of a two-and-a-half hour break or in the lesson after this time. It occurs frequently but not every Monday.

(Psst! Want some spam?)

Funnily enough, those calls never get responded to. And then, when one Googles to see where these wretched calls are coming from, guess what?

You've guessed it.

(If you haven't, note this previous post and put two and two together. And make 22)

Ooh, wow, insurance for 49p!

(That one was one on the landline rather than to my mobile)

(Apparently it lasted 0 seconds)

Maybe they're not all PPI which came out ages and ages and ages ago.

But still.

Welcome to IT

(This is from an IT class when I was in Year 9. The questions being asked are too superlatively easy, dull, what-have-you, so I'm answering them. This class later turned into what-I-call a nightmare class, where it just got so bad that you didn't get any benefit from it. And yes, I have used the format from the Not Always series, but it works)

Classmate: You're on fire!

(I look down.)

Me: No, I'm not.

*Fun* with Omegle

Warning: the link ahead isn't really suitable for under-13s to go on. The people there can often be immature adults.

I did an experiment on http://www.omegle.com/. I did it in question mode as the questioner and all I did was display a statistic. That statistic was relevant to my time on Omegle. (I let Omegle re-use if it was good enough - which I don't think it is - so if you get any statistic, say hi). I changed the parameters of what I was counting a couple of times, and I've got the end result of 300 conversations here:

Number of conversations: 93 Instant Disconnects: 207

(If at least 1 stranger doesn't say anything before the disconnect then it is an Instant disconnect)

Things I noticed:

- Everyone who referred to my gender thought I was male. I'm not - I'm Statistics girl to the rescue!

- If the conversation got long or uncomfortable enough, I'd be disconnecting.

People did say some interesting stuff.

Stranger 2: is this a question?

I don't know - are my statistics a question?

Stranger 2: Thats not a question

Stranger 1: Exactly, Stranger.

There you are then. I think it's clear.

Stranger 1: maybe if you asked more interesting questions OP

Stranger 1: or any question for that matter

I was just giving you a statistic. I didn't care if you actually did it or not.

Stranger 1: what are supposed to say to this? :p

Whatever you like - I don't care really.

Stranger 1: OBJECTION!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S NOT A FUCKING QUESTION!!!

There we are then, case closed.

Stranger 2: who gives a shit?

Stranger 1: Not me

Stranger 2: cant really blame people for disconnecting

Stranger 2: this isnt even a proper question

I said: case closed.

And I'm not blaming anybody.

I'll give you some more soon!

Christmas Present

http://new.weavesilk.com/?n7li

I made this today on a site I found - http://new.weavesilk.com/. Play on it yourself - it's a Christmas Present to you readers for putting up with uneven and sometimes non-existent posting.

I'm learning some HTML here

I'm enjoying it so far but I'm pausing so I can write something for y'all.

I'm also enjoying names-listing, which is a habit I seemed to have gained.

<b>This is bold.</b>

<br> is a line break.

<p>Paragraph!</p>

Still fed up with PPI.

Doing okay at college.

Oh, fuck it, I'm going back to HTML.

Maybe I'll have a proper post tomorrow, if I'm not too deep in HTML. Or on Friday.

See y'all there!

Oh, and ETA - You can now 'react' to my posts! (this means you can say whether they're interesting or dull). So go and vote!

A Letter to PPI Companies

Dear PPI companies,

Please stop being such utter jerks.

You have texted me, saying that I'd be rich if I claimed on PPI I couldn't have got. You have littered the minutes of TV advertisements with your claims that money has been put aside for me even though my 16-18 Current Account does not allow me an overdraft because of my age.

And now you're using internet advertising‽‽‽

(Those are interrobangs, people, that are often found in ?! form)

Arrrrgh!!!!!!!!

This is what I want to say to you in simple plain English that you should be able to understand, and made funky so you don't have a chance of missing it.

Please Stop.

I am fed up with you. If the whole stupid PPI stupidity had ever affected me, I could go to my bank for free. And that's what I would do if I had taken out anything - which, as you should be aware, isn't very possible.

In fact, Google PPI. Everything you get is about PPI claims. It's not about what PPI is, or if PPI is a good option on the loan you're just about to get, or even other insurance you could use instead of PPI.

And it says I'm in Swindon!

So, stop making me want to tear my hair out and weave it into a rug. My mental health is more important than your unregulated businesses.

Yours faithfully,

Minim.

Ad Preferences Manager

So today I decided to look at my Ad Preferences and see what Google thinks I'm interested in, based on the sites I go to on Google Chrome on my netbook. These are the results:

A bit of a disappointment, needless to say. I do enjoy comics and anims, and the odd flash game, and I can see why they would think I like games (I am addicted to this one, at least, not to mention all of the free logic puzzles on Conceptis!), but as for the rest of them...? I don't remember doing anything with Business and personal listings, Microwaves, Dairy & Eggs, or Cooking Fats and Oils (these are just a special type of ester, aren't they?) I don't know what the penultimate one is, so what am I to say about that?

But TV Commercials????? That is just insane. I don't even call them 'Commercials', I call them adverts, and they are dead annoying. I only stand TV Ads as the point in time to go to the toilet or get a drink or to stand as they mercilessly bugger me to death (the Go Compare man, anyone? I got happy joyful pleased ecstatic in the more recent one where he gets shot). But they are necessary to be dealt with.

Because they are the source of money for the TV companies. We wouldn't want to have to pay for them, would we?

Guess What?

I am owed £1970 because of PPI. Even though I've never had a credit card, mortgage, or whatever you needed to be missold it. But apparently, records show it.

[block number]

[save]

[inbox]

[delete message]

PPI, stop clogging up my phone. Even if I rarely use it, I don't want to get all excited to find your messages instead of a real text. Especially when I'm doing something like watching weird videos or dealing with my Sim's needs. (Even if I am a cheat and turn off motive decay, they still have wishes!) I don't want to have a lousy time at a Hitori puzzle because you came along, nor do I wish to have to listen to your fictions when there are much more interesting and worthwhile stories out there that can teach you how to deal with rickets and stuff.

Now stop bothering me, and go away.

No - not you, audience! I only meant those PPI companies who mysteriously manage to get my number and text me.

I bet you've had texts from these companies as well. Go on - say so.

An unhelpful message

You're listening to some of the most awesome music ever, in your opinion, and you're laughing along (depending on the song). Then you get an email announcing some Facebook photo you're tagged in.

You tend to avoid Facebook but recently you were at some big event, and you were looking pretty awesome. You want to look at yourself wearing that kit again, so you click on the email expecting a link to the photo.

But instead, you get this:

This is not helpful. It repeats itself, for a start, which is just pointless. It doesn't even have anything specific to identify the error.

What if trying again didn't actually help? (Okay, it did, but what if?) The message wouldn't help you in finding a solution, apart from trying again. The only thing you could do is click 'OK' even though it evidently isn't. Even if there was an error code, it would help if the problem isn't just solved by trying again.

But then again, what would I know? Trying again did help, after all.