UPDATE [October 14, 2021]: Vanguard has confirmed to me that this issue was caused by a bug in a software update they released to their web site and then fixed a day later. See the end of this blog posting for their response. Executive summary Some time between 6:00am US/Eastern on September 14, 2021 and… Read More: Vanguard bug temporarily rewrites history and dramatically over-reports some account… »
Early voting starts today in Boston for the September 14, 2021 primary election, so it’s time for me to share my endorsements. As usual, I am only endorsing in the races I’m eligible to vote in, but read to the end for four anti-endorsements. Local government is important, people. Get out there and vote! For… Read More: Endorsements in September 14, 2021 Boston primary election »
[This article is obsolete, see the update here.] Earlier, I wrote that the current DisplayLink release for Ubuntu was finally compatible with Ubuntu 21.04 (“Hirsute Hippo”). I’ve since learned that I wasn’t entirely correct. It turns out that if you have a DisplayLink hub plugged into your Ubuntu 21.04 box when you boot it up,… Read More: DisplayLink isn’t *quite* working in Ubuntu 21.04 (Hirsute) »
[October 17, 2021 update here.] July 8, 2021 Adam Jay, PresidentHotels.com5400 LBJ Freeway, Suite 500Dallas, TX 75240 Dear Mr. Jay, On May 5, 2021, I reserved a room through hotels.com for June 20-22 at the Washington Square Hotel in New York City. My confirmation number was [elided]. On June 22, I learned that NYC Mayor… Read More: hotels.com hides taxes and fees, won’t disclose, has terrible customer… »
Great news, y'all. You get two "Why is @Amtrak service so terrible?" stories in one day! How exciting! (See the last installment at https://twitter.com/jikamens/status/1407335005450342403) #TrainTwitter 1/ I'm taking the Acela home tonight, so I figured hey, what the heck, I'll use one of my upgrade coupons to hop into first class and enjoy unbridled Acela… Read More: Another another bad user experience from Amtrak »
It's time for my next installment of "Why is @Amtrak service so terrible? It doesn't need to be this way." Check out the last chapter at https://twitter.com/jikamens/status/1217620947781541889. Today's topic: how to make a pre-trip Covid-19 check form as difficult as possible to fill out. #TrainTwitter 1/ I got a notification on my phone that I… Read More: Yet another bad user experience from Amtrak »
I recently received a shipment of cat food from Petco which, as far as I know, I had not ordered. I did have a “repeat delivery” order scheduled for that variety of cat food, but usually when Petco is about to send you a repeat delivery order they notify you by email to give you… Read More: Petco violates customer privacy, refuses to confirm appropriate steps were… »
Recent releases of GNOME on Ubuntu, and presumably in other distributions as well, finally support remote access to your GNOME desktop on both Xorg and Wayland from a VNC client. However, they do not allow you to connect to your desktop when it is locked, and similarly if your desktop locks — either because you… Read More: Convincing GNOME to allow remote desktop when screen is locked »
UPDATE [August 9, 2021]: It turns out DisplayLink doesn’t quite work in 21.04. See this blog posting for the latest on how to work around the remaining issue. Thanks to Peter Boros for pointing out that Canonical and Synaptics have made the fixes necessary to make DisplayLink work with Ubuntu 21.04 without any of the… Read More: DisplayLink is now working with Ubuntu 21.04 »
Dear sales representative who wants me to buy your company’s products, If I’ve emailed you a link to this blog posting, it’s probably because you’ve sent me multiple unsolicited sales emails. Welcome to the club of vendors from whom I’m unlikely to ever purchase anything! No unsolicited sales email I have ever received from a… Read More: Generic reply to unsolicited vendor sales emails »