Comment On Slightly Outdated

So, are you suggesting that kissagram staff should not be allowed car insurance? It is a legal job in the UK!

GettinSadda:

So, are you suggesting that kissagram staff should not be allowed car insurance? It is a legal job in the UK!

But not in the USSR....

Surely there has to be a more professional name than 'Kissagram Person'. That's like a job title 'Programmer Person'.
Also, if I were a Kissagram - and unfortunately I am not - I don't think I would first lookup Kissagram from a 200 item long list.

Here are some alernatives I might try:
o Delivery Man
o Escort
o Part Time

Anyway, are Kissagrams a particularly high (or low) insurance risk?

Are there any occupations listed that would explain why you need to include an "STD code" ?

wtfrox:

Are there any occupations listed that would explain why you need to include an "STD code" ?

yeah, kissagram.

Erm, re: Magellan - they are quite aware of the number of states, but they only preload the data for the continental US - IE 48 states.

I had a look at that Avis site. It's got Yugoslavia as well, but also has successor states (eg Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina), which suggests they're better at adding countries than removing them. Unfortunately, they haven't left East and West Germany on the list.

where is the option for stripagrams?

Andrew:

I had a look at that Avis site. It's got Yugoslavia as well, but also has successor states (eg Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina), which suggests they're better at adding countries than removing them. Unfortunately, they haven't left East and West Germany on the list.

Looks like the standard ISO country list to me. The system I work on has a DB table with the same list (ISO code, country name and a financial reporting flag that I needn't detail here).
* USSR as well as Russia, Ukraine, Latvia etc
* Yugoslavia as well as Bosnia, Croatia etc (and Montenegro not distinguished from Serbia)
* Czechoslovakia as well as Czech Republic and Slovakia.

On the plus side, it does allow anyone who is nostalgic for their respective old regime to re-live it for a moment. Er, unless they live in Georgia.

Another oddity is having "Lithvania" as well as "Lithuania".

The General:

Andrew:

I had a look at that Avis site. It's got Yugoslavia as well, but also has successor states (eg Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina), which suggests they're better at adding countries than removing them. Unfortunately, they haven't left East and West Germany on the list.

On the plus side, it does allow anyone who is nostalgic for their respective old regime to re-live it for a moment. Er, unless they live in Georgia.

Oh yeah, and East / West Germany. The ISO list doesn't have these two either, which suggests a birth date around 1991 (after German re-unification, but before the break-up of the USSR).

Edit: Forgot to mention that Georgia *is* on the ISO list. Hand-transcribed copy, maybe?

wtfrox:

Are there any occupations listed that would explain why you need to include an "STD code" ?

The standard trunk dialling code was brought into common use in the UK in the 1960s. The abbreviation you are thinking of came into common use many decades later.

The *real* WTF of the Avery one is that the form fields aren't labeled. U.S.S.R. is a valid choice if the question is, "in what country were you born?".

The General:

Andrew:

I had a look at that Avis site. It's got Yugoslavia as well, but also has successor states (eg Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina), which suggests they're better at adding countries than removing them. Unfortunately, they haven't left East and West Germany on the list.

Looks like the standard ISO country list to me. The system I work on has a DB table with the same list (ISO code, country name and a financial reporting flag that I needn't detail here).
* USSR as well as Russia, Ukraine, Latvia etc
* Yugoslavia as well as Bosnia, Croatia etc (and Montenegro not distinguished from Serbia)
* Czechoslovakia as well as Czech Republic and Slovakia.

On the plus side, it does allow anyone who is nostalgic for their respective old regime to re-live it for a moment. Er, unless they live in Georgia.

Another oddity is having "Lithvania" as well as "Lithuania".

It's like I always say: If you want something done wrong, there's probably an ISO standard for it.

"Tadzhikstan"? Is this standard spelling anywhere?

Well there are probably still people that are delusional and think they are still in the U.S.S.R.

Show me 'round your snowy mountains way down south;
Take me to your daddy's farm.
Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out;
Come and keep your comrade warm

the map contains 48 states : neither Alaska nor Hawaï, if the small map is correct...

Re: Magellan 48 states - product is made in China. Perhaps they are as geographically challenged as we (US) are.
And I'm surprised no one mentioned the 'product contains lead' warning - WTF??
No licking the dashboard while driving then!

There's also Czech republic, Slovakia and surprisingly Czechoslovakia. Just to be sure. The same problem with Yugoslavia and Croatie etc.

It seems they are only adding new countries, not deleting the old ones. I wonder what the programmer thinks when his manager needs to add new country every month :)

I had to laugh, looking at the picture of the insurance company, and right below it the Google Ad for my session was the Geico Gecko asking about car insurance.....

I love how the Frizzel form lets you distinguish between Showman and Traveling Showman. I wonder if a traveling showman has to pay a higher premium?

dowski

Avis apparently also give you three options if you live in Scotland (Scotland, Great Britain and United Kingdom)

Russia has refused to give up the .su TLD.

And Putin is working hard to bring back all that old flavor of Soviet Russia we loved so much and miss dearly.

CAPTCHA: saepius... That's a word?

And I'm surprised no one mentioned the 'product contains lead' warning - WTF??

Solder. (lead and tin amalgam)

Every electronic device uses it for electrical component connections.

An ongoing issue is Europes' new regulations on lead content in consumer electronics leading to reduced product lifetimes. (short circuiting due to tin whiskers phenomena)

Well, he DID update occasionally... Czech Republic and Slovakia are there... right alongside Czechoslovakia.
Too much of a Bother to remove old ones, it seems ;)

I don't think the Magellan mistake is caused by outdated knowledge. They probably chose not to include Hawaii and Alaska because they are no more interesting to car owners in mainland USA than let's say Mexico or Canada. Probably even less interesting. And I guess they'll be glad to sell you additional maps anyway. So it could simply be poor wording.

50 states minus Hawaii and Alaska right?
That makes 48 huh?

Tei:

where is the option for stripagrams?

The stripper doesn't drive; her bodyguard does, but it's standard delivery service.

I'm rather intrigued that the househusband is specified to have "No Employer" but the housewife is not (presumably her husband is considered to be her employer)....

48 states = 50 states - Hawaii - Alaska.

I see no issue with ommiting the two disconnected states. I know this and I'm a frigging European. :/

I think an argument that the "48 states" thing is intentional can be made. Perhaps the additions of the word "Contiguous" would help, but they don't show Alaska and Hawaii after all.

Greyscale:

48 states = 50 states - Hawaii - Alaska.

I see no issue with ommiting the two disconnected states. I know this and I'm a frigging European. :/

Reminds me of a Simpsons quote - "and we will fly you free of charge anywhere within the United States. Except Alaska and Hawaii - the freak states."

I don't find the Magellan one to be all that off, considering if you live in the US, your not going to drive your car to Hawaii or Alaska. If you live in one of those 2 states, do you really need a map of the rest of the US?

Jeremy:

Erm, re: Magellan - they are quite aware of the number of states, but they only preload the data for the continental US - IE 48 states.

I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missoura.

The 48 states thing is a little silly, I feel it is clear they meant the 48 continental US states.

There are only 48 states in that picture. Perhaps they don't have maps for Alaska and Hawaii?

Oddly enough, there are some people with USSR passports because they were living in [insert ex-soviet bloc country here] when the Soviet Union collapsed and are unable to get citizenship in said country due to the cost being extremely high or citizenship requirements being ridiculous. If they happened to have been living in mainland Russia at the time, they would have automatically been granted Russian citizenship. However, since they were not, they got the shaft.

I would imagine people who are under that requirement would choose USSR. However, they most likely wouldn't be using that software anyways so it's a moot point.

yet another Matt:

Surely there has to be a more professional name than 'Kissagram Person'. That's like a job title 'Programmer Person'.
Also, if I were a Kissagram - and unfortunately I am not - I don't think I would first lookup Kissagram from a 200 item long list.

Here are some alernatives I might try:
o Delivery Man
o Escort
o Part Time

Anyway, are Kissagrams a particularly high (or low) insurance risk?

I prefer tactical saliva delivery logistics technician

Hmmm... if I've traded AND dealt horses, which job do I pick?

The problem I see is that they say "the 48 United States", as though there are only 48 of them. Still, it's obvious what they mean and not a huge WTF, but this is Error'd after all, none of the WTFs are expected to be really huge.

Tei:

where is the option for stripagrams?

I heard that you were feeling ill. Headache, fever, and a chill. I came to help restore your pluck, cause I'm the nurse who likes to...
<Door Slams>

T $:

This dropdown box supports their right to be wherever they want to believe they are. In fact, there should be write-ins just in case the user wants to make up a country that's not on the list. The WTF that I'm noticing is the fact that the email address has to be typed in twice (per the site this comes from).

I haven't run into a site yet that will believe me when I say I live in Pottsylvania. They do at least let me add my alma mater Wossamotta U.

proxy:

The 48 states thing is a little silly, I feel it is clear they meant the 48 continental US states.

Of course, the problem there is that there are 49 continental US states. Unless Alaska has been removed from the continent?

What you mean to say is contiguous. Congratulations, you've created your own WTF...

Either way, with no qualifier, saying "the 48 United States" is wrong.

T $:

In fact, there should be write-ins just in case the user wants to make up a country that's not on the list.

Write-ins are absolutely required for any application that asks for 'country of birth'...

Has anone else read the US Code Title 4 Chaper 1 Section 1?

The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be forty-eight stars, white in a blue field.

I don't think it's fair to knock the Magellan entry; it's only missing the word "continental". In fact, it's more stupid to think that a personal GPS would contain all 50 states -- what, you're going to drive to Hawaii?

nt:

"Tadzhikstan"? Is this standard spelling anywhere?

Russian doesn't have a "J" sound... they use "дж" instead, which transliterates into English letters as "dzh".