Listen, people. It's the year 2012, almost 2013. The hashtag has overstayed not only its original usage but also its welcome. It is absolutely unacceptable any more to say something anywhere - including on Twitter - and then tag it. I might even go so far as to say that the general idea of tags has come and gone. If you still use hashtags I think your IQ is low, whichever piece of anatomy is most prized for your gender is underwhelming, I'm much more intelligent than you; also, I hope you die. And I'm not going to end this paragraph with one to perhaps intimate that I'm joking. I'm not joking. Go to hell.

If you've ever watched the TV show "Arrested Development" then this reference will make sense to you: Hashtags are the effective equivalent of "STEVE HOLT!" Though I understand there is a point to them they are ultimately useless because they are indicative of either (or both) of two things.

• General laziness and a lack of concern for the conventions of communication.
• Shitty, douchey, shameless self-promotion.

Aside: If you've never watched the TV show "Arrested Development" then you need to remedy that. I don't believe there's anyone who doesn't like the show but just in case, if you don't like the show, drive off a cliff and do the rest of us a favor you intellectual pedestrian.

Hashtags represent inane, meaningless, throwaway thoughts or observations. There's absolutely no reason that someone should write something about a baseball game and then consolidate a sentence like: "I really hope the Athletics win this game. Come on, team, let's really buckle down, get some hits, and win," into "WOOO! #athletics #alds #scoresomeruns": Doing that is called being a douchebag. If you do that, you'd best be wearing Ed Hardy, a scumbag hat, and have a chinstrap beard. "Obama's killing it #debates #democrats #romneysucks" = I hope that person is crossing the street, gets hit by a bus and lives, goes to the hospital to get a blood transfusion, gets AIDS, has several good years where it looks like they're going to be okay, and then dies in the middle of their daughter's wedding.

I make the rules. Hashtags: done. So stop it.

Apple’s iPad and the Human Costs for Workers in China

There have been several articles in the media lately about the manufacturing process for the myriad electronic devices we use. From concerns about human rights violations to the state of the American economy, there seems to be a general feeling that something needs to change. The article above is just a small piece of the pie that represents the problems we face not just in making the things we like but also compensating those who make them.

Apple has a feedback page (http://www.apple.com/feedback/) where you can tell them about problems or give them suggestions. While they don't respond to those e-mails, they do take them into account. I'm urging everyone to submit feedback to them: Let Apple know that we want a change. Give them the confidence that it's what we want. Here's what I said, and feel free to copy/paste if you'd like.

Your company gave us the first personal computers. It gave us the best way to play music portably. It gave us the first real super phone. It gave us the first real tablet. It even gave us a wonderful store to visit in order to buy these products and to take them if we ever have any issues with them.

It is understood that demand and cost have made overseas plants a necessity. But the company that gave us all of those things has to also be able to find a way to get those jobs back to America.

Your company has already demonstrated beyond question the value and stability of its products - from the devices themselves to the software that runs on them. Paying a little more or waiting just a bit longer for them seems like such a paltry trade-off for knowing that it was built in the country where the workers' rights are taken seriously.

Everyone claims that transforming the supply chain would be an intensive and excruciatingly long task. Steve told President Obama that those jobs are not coming back. But he also said, "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Let's do this - because if any company can, it's this one.

Please share this around your circle of friends. Maybe if enough people bring it to the spotlight, Apple will know we trust them to be the ones to revolutionize yet another facet of the world. We also have to be ready to eat our own words on this one - if they somehow pull it off and there are delays and/or price increases, it's something we're going to have to accept with the knowledge that they will eventually return to the levels we're used to.

Update: 1/23/2012 - Since I don't work for Apple any more, I have made this rant un-private. It's a funny story. My apologies if Mr. Lawyer finds out and his feelings are hurt.

I'm surprised I didn't get any shit about this on Facebook or whatever. Usually, people try to call me out whenever something goes wrong with Apple. The general line of thinking, I guess, is that since I work for them I must be a fan boy. I'm not. It's a paycheck. A good portion of my day, however, is spent dealing with this Mac Defender shit.

People fall for this crap.

Sorry to bust the world's bubble but Apple zealots don't have things like this happen to them. Stupid Americans who bought a Mac because their neighbor got one and now their kids won't shut up about it have things like this happen to them. It's part of a bigger problem, one I call click-through (despite its appearance outside of the tech world), and human beings are chock fucking full of it. College-educated people fell for this. Here is the play-by-play:

• John Smith is searching Google for images of Mauritania.
• Due to SEO poisoning, John Smith unwittingly clicks on a page with what seems to be pertinent information.
• Suddenly, a window pops up on John's computer that looks vaguely like a generic Finder window. It starts rattling off information about viruses, and text starts blinking everywhere.
• A prompt comes up telling John that it's going to install MAC Defender. Spelled just like that. MAC Defender.
• John, despite having bought a Mac because they don't get viruses, tells it to download.
• As with all software, the MAC Defender requires John's password to install. He provides it.
• MAC Defender loads with the screen you see above. It has obnoxious overlays like in the upper right. MAC Defender brings up a list of viruses that his computer is infected with.
• When John tries to remove the viruses, the program says he needs to register and requires credit card information. He provides it.
• The program either claims to have removed the viruses or claims the credit card information is invalid, then John notices that pornographic web sites randomly begin popping up on his screen.
• At the Apple Store, John is told it's a fake program and to call his credit card company. He explains that he trusted the program because it said MAC. Spelled just like that.

The people behind this actually made an updated version of it after Apple responded so it no longer needs a password to install (it goes to the user's Applications folder as opposed to the system one) but it's still the same steps. There's so much ignorance here:

• At no point in the history of Mac OS was there ever blinking text.
• You bought a Mac because they don't get viruses.
• The program spelled MAC with all capital letters.
• The program came up, unasked.
• The program asked for credit card info. In some cases, it said your perfectly fine card was declined and you possibly put in more credit cards.

All of this is prompted because someone I helped today took 45 minutes to realize he'd been scammed. He came up and told me about how he had a virus making porn pop up on his machine and his credit card wasn't working. I saw MAC Guard (the name it's currently running under). I said the following: "Ahh, it appears you've been a victim of the Mac Defender scam. Good news: You don't have a virus. I am going to just remove the program. Since it's a scam, you will need to call your credit card company and let them know you've been a victim of fraud."

His response to me was that none of his cards worked and he was really worried that Apple had a problem with its servers. I said, "Since it's a scam program, not made by Apple, I wouldn't be surprised if it told you your card was declined. I'm sure your cards were fine, but if you put them in you have to call the companies and get new cards."

He then asked me why it would decline them if his cards were okay. A little confused, I said, "Again, it's not a legitimate program. It probably just told you the cards were declined so as to get more card numbers from you." He saw me delete the program and asked why I was getting rid of it. "Since it's not made by Apple and it's causing the pornographic web sites to pop up on you, I have to remove it. If I leave it, it's going to keep bringing up the sites and the annoying windows telling you the computer is infected when it isn't."

He nodded and I finished up by restarting to make sure it was gone. So I said, "Just make sure you call your credit card companies. The scammers can make all kinds of fake purchases until you alert the issuers." He asked if he could check some email and since it wasn't particularly crowded I said okay. He sat there for 30 minutes while I helped a few other people and then indicated to me that he was ready to go. I thanked him for his visit and said my fond farewell stuff. His question: "So how exactly do I pay for this?" I explained that anything we do at the Genius Bar is free. He then replied: "No no, I mean the Mac virus program. How do I pay for it? Do you take the payment?"

I made sure to enunciate as clearly as possible here: "There is no payment because the program that was telling you that you had a virus was asking for the payment and it is not a genuine program. So for whichever cards you tried to use, you will have to call the issuers and let them know you gave your card information to scammers." His response floored me: "If it's not a real program, though, why does it say Mac?"

I almost didn't have an answer that didn't insult his intelligence but finally came up with, "There's nothing stopping anyone from making a program and calling it Mac something."

His equally confounding response: "So you got rid of the viruses, then?" To which I said: "You didn't have any viruses. That was a lie. The program was using scare tactics to get you to put in your credit card information."

And, finally, wave of realization. "So people maliciously got ahold of my credit card information?"

YES! After chatting with him just a little more, post-realization, I got out of him what he does for a living. Senior partner at a law firm.

I'm trying to find poopin.gif. So far I have been unsuccessful. But I did get this totally sweet GIF of a hot chick from the 90's off of some BBS.

"Oh, I didn't know your site was down!"

When asked how long it would take to get my site and Insult back up, he replied, "Russians took it down. Be back soon." This was several months ago, as evidenced by Action Widow's post mid-March. WTF.

I keep getting really weird messages on one of my voicemails. It's not a number that is listed anywhere, but it is toll free so it's quite annoying because they fill up the maximum message time each call which costs me money.

This one I got recently:

I didn't really listen to the whole thing, it's very monotonous and political. Er, something ain't right when I try to play it through this media player though, so if the flash thingie doesn't work, try clicking here to play

So, I'm about to upgrade to OS X Leopard. Hopefully, within a few hours I'll be back here.

That error means that the place where PHP stores sessions on the server is full. I think our game uses way too much space. Unless its something else. In any event, it's nothing I can change.

Warning: write failed: No space left on device (28) in /home/www/calliander/lotgd/motd.php on line 4

Warning: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (/tmp) in /home/www/calliander/lotgd/motd.php on line 4

So, as a sales monkey... I hear all manner of stupid rumors about Plasma screen tvs... "They only last 2 years", "The plasmas need to be recharged", and a whole bunch of other bullshit.  So for all you folks out there wondering what the deal with Plasma is I have something to help you.  The following is the only website in the net that tells the truth about plasma.  If someone tells you something about plasmas that at is contrary to this site, they're wrong.

http://truthaboutplasma.dyndns.tv