Comment On Beware of the Banana Cream Pie Blizzard

Naaaaww... So close... :)

I've just Googled "cream pie" with safe search switched off, and there's no way I'm eating one of those.

How can a cream pie be bad for you? It's not going anywhere near your mouth.

I wonder if Fictitous Point is the capital of BDG Export Sales.

And seriously, who made up those names?

"Cream Pie"? "Butterfinger"? "Choco Cherry Love"?

Captcha: Quibus, Dutch for "crazy fool". Like the one who named the menu items.

Hmm, Don't think 'Luxemberg' is a real country either. Luxemburg or Luxembourg might be..

Also love the sorting of the country by number of sunny days in a year divided by the gross national product.

Umm, you guys are nuts. Those things are delicious.

http://www.dairyqueen.com/us-en/Menu/Treats/Banana-Cream-Pie-Blizzard-Treat/

The real WTF is iOS and all who sail in her.

Blizzards are yummy:

Umm, you guys are nuts. Those things are delicious.

http://www.dairyqueen.com/us-en/Menu/Treats/Banana-Cream-Pie-Blizzard-Treat/

No you're nuts. "Banana Cream Pie Blizzard" was the name of a film I watched in an Amsterdam bar. It kept on distracting me from the live show that featured two nice Eastern European ladies.

Get your kicks... at Gate Z sixty-six!

So when is tv.msn.com going to fix their Y3K problem?

Esse:

And seriously, who made up those names?

"Cream Pie"? "Butterfinger"? "Choco Cherry Love"?

I think the Nestle candy company made up the name "Butterfinger".

Esse:

How can a cream pie be bad for you? It's not going anywhere near your mouth.

How can a knife be bad for you if it's not going anywhere near your mouth?

Do travel agents even still exist? Last time I used one was well before the web, back when you could dial-in to EAASY SABRE via a green-screen terminal emulator. Even that was easier than getting any type of price or flight time choices from "your" travel agent.

The "country" of BDG EXPORT SALES is probably an example of what I call "database overloading", which does not mean your database is too full. Rather, it is like operator overloading.

Year 1: Create a table with country codes and a couple related items.

Year 3: Manager wants a sales report by country.

Year 7: Company signs a megacontract with BDG EXPORT SALES.

Year 7.000001: Manager wants to know how much we've sold via BDG EXPORT SALES, and he wants to see it broken out on the sales report by country.

Year 7.0000013: Dev team can't take the time or bother to change the data structure, so they just jam BDG EXPORT SALES into the country table.

Year 999...: All sorts of logic is screwed up every time the BDG EXPORT SALES country row is processed.

"What is you date and time of birth?"

"May 0, 1962 36:19 AM"

The lifetime of reactions would be awesome.

Nah, not crazy. He just had a very very very very very very dirty mind.

Bruce W:

"What is you date and time of birth?"

"May 0, 1962 36:19 AM"

If you were really born in 1962 that makes you 50 years old. At that age, you may have helped invent mytwitface.com, but you don't use it, so you are irrelevant.

In other words, you don't exist, go away!

Why is there content in comments in the HTML source?

Sam:

Why is there content in comments in the HTML source?

Because Remy is infectious?

Or maybe Mark took over as Remy posted earlier this week without HTML comments. Said something about an IE incompatibility.

TRWTF is ordering from Dairy Queen while on Weight Watchers.

And apparently Askismet.

Comment Agent:

Do travel agents even still exist? Last time I used one was well before the web, back when you could dial-in to EAASY SABRE via a green-screen terminal emulator. Even that was easier than getting any type of price or flight time choices from "your" travel agent.

Travel agents pretty much died out (at least in the U.S.) when airlines stopped giving them a discount to cover their costs. This happened around 2000, when the intarwebs made it possible to reserve flights without needing a human trained in the use of cryptic flight reservation systems, not to mention having log-in accounts for multiple flight reservation systems.

http://h20345.www2.hp.com/AMSG/Europe/BDG+EXPORT+SALES/

Any ideas?

¯\(°_o)/¯ I DUNNO LOL:

Comment Agent:

Do travel agents even still exist? Last time I used one was well before the web, back when you could dial-in to EAASY SABRE via a green-screen terminal emulator. Even that was easier than getting any type of price or flight time choices from "your" travel agent.

Travel agents pretty much died out (at least in the U.S.) when airlines stopped giving them a discount to cover their costs. This happened around 2000, when the intarwebs made it possible to reserve flights without needing a human trained in the use of cryptic flight reservation systems, not to mention having log-in accounts for multiple flight reservation systems.

Yes, but they were doomed in 1990, when even without intarwebs anyone with a 1200 baud acoustic modem would prefer to learn "cryptic flight reservation systems" (he means no point-and-click) rather than deal with a helpless helper who took 24 hours to find you a mere two highly suboptimal "choices".

Accalia.de.Elementia:

Sam:

Why is there content in comments in the HTML source?

Because Remy is infectious?

Or maybe Mark took over as Remy posted earlier this week without HTML comments. Said something about an IE incompatibility.

I almost always put in comments - I even put in my anti-cornify a few articles ago.

About the 'oops' - the TRWTF is our backend CMS. Open an article in IE, rich editor does strange and magical things (sometimes). Other browsers, no editor - just HTML...which usually works better.

bluebearr:

You know, I'm a Windows guy. I like Windows. I've built my career around Windows.

But TRWTF, for me, is all the kiosk/display systems that show up in this space that are based on Windows. I had no idea. Why would you ever use something as complex as Windows to run something like a movie marquee?

Wouldn't you use something more minim (like my CAPTCHA)?

Computer === Windows.

Try this if you are getting 404'd:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:731yz8yL-rEJ:h20345.www2.hp.com/AMSG/Europe/BDG%2BEXPORT%2BSALES/+BDG+EXPORT+SALE&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk

Esse:

How can a cream pie be bad for you? It's not going anywhere near your mouth.

I think women occasionally gain weight from cream pie.

Mark Bowytz:

Accalia.de.Elementia:

Sam:

Why is there content in comments in the HTML source?

Because Remy is infectious?

Or maybe Mark took over as Remy posted earlier this week without HTML comments. Said something about an IE incompatibility.

I almost always put in comments - I even put in my anti-cornify a few articles ago.

About the 'oops' - the TRWTF is our backend CMS. Open an article in IE, rich editor does strange and magical things (sometimes). Other browsers, no editor - just HTML...which usually works better.

Hmm... So only part of Remy is infectious. That is good to know.

The thing that really strikes me about the DQ page there is that the Cappuccino Heath Blizzard is basically a whole day's points.

(and I read that as "health blizzard" at first, which is other than it is)

You had me at "cream pie".

Yes, but which part?

//that's what she said…

Remy Porter:

Accalia.de.Elementia:

Hmm... So only part of Remy is infectious. That is good to know.

Yes, but which part?

//that's what she said…

Yes, yes it is. Thanks for noticing.

And I am not sure I really want to find out.

Mark Bowytz:

I almost always put in comments - I even put in my anti-cornify a few articles ago.

Thumbs up for this. I like the extra content, and I think the fact it is in the source helps to filter out the occasional "IT knowledgeable" poser. I just wish we had had some kind of warning when you started using HTML comments, because I've been looking for those only in Remy's articles.

Some Jerk:

.oO(Wonder if them trains are considered early or late...?)

Where we're going we don't need trains.

bluebearr:

You know, I'm a Windows guy. I like Windows. I've built my career around Windows.

But TRWTF, for me, is all the kiosk/display systems that show up in this space that are based on Windows. I had no idea. Why would you ever use something as complex as Windows to run something like a movie marquee?

Wouldn't you use something more minim (like my CAPTCHA)?

I blame (partially) Microsoft on that.

Any moron can go to a shop, get a copy of Windows XP/7 Professional (because you're not gonna use Home edition are you?) and a cheap computer, put the disk in it, install it, and presto, you have a display system ready for showing ads. Can you do the same with Windows Embedded? If you can maybe MS should consider telling people about that, because I've certainly never seen it advertised anywhere.

The other alternatives are, of course, Linux distros, which are more than enough for that (GeeXboX seems ideal), but most people aren't familiar with them so again, why are they gonna waste time downloading and learning (and most importantly, finding) new stuff when they can use good ol Windows?

Time travel mixed with Star Wars (May the 4th be with you...)

Devrim Gündüz:

...Fictituos...

Meh heh heh heh ... heh heh....He said tit....heh heh heh

silverwizard:

TRWTF is ordering from Dairy Queen while on Weight Watchers.

And apparently Askismet.

I disagree. This person is obviously watching very closely how much weight they are gaining.

Musical Montage !

¯\(°_o)/¯ I DUNNO LOL:

Get your kicks... at Gate Z sixty-six!

...In the year 2525, if man is still alive

...Pardon me boy, is that the Fictitous Point Choo Choo?

...Yours truly, 2095: I sent a message to another time, as the days unwind, this I cannot believe.

May - O
Maaaaaaaaaaaaay - O
Daylight come, me wanna go home.

"Either the Chicago Transit Authority has been bitten by a date bug," writes Chris R., "or I'm part of some kind of crazy time travel experiment."

- Neither! Their programmers are idiots - as simple as that.

bluebearr:

You know, I'm a Windows guy. I like Windows. I've built my career around Windows.

But TRWTF, for me, is all the kiosk/display systems that show up in this space that are based on Windows. I had no idea. Why would you ever use something as complex as Windows to run something like a movie marquee?

Wouldn't you use something more minim (like my CAPTCHA)?

Because it's far more easier to develop a Windows desktop app that takes the full screen than it is to find a trimmed-down OS and learn how to develop apps for it, or - and I'm sure this is what some would jump into doing - develop your own DOS-like OS and take it from there.

All we do is write a semi-normal windows form (w/o title bar), maximize it on startup, and put it in startup on windows; then maybe configure that system to do minimum of everything else, and voila. However, we have to fuck up somewhere, so unless our max-screen app doesn't crash or start occasionally, we didn't do our job well (this is mostly because programmers are sloppy in most aspects).

Tally Man:

May - O
Maaaaaaaaaaaaay - O
Daylight come, me wanna go home.

B+ - Could have had the A if you had included Banana Cream Pie Blizzard in there somewhere.

Travel agents are useful when booking a cruise - when there's any upgrades available they get early notice.

Chicago is the most half-assed city I have ever lived in. The "L" signs don't show when trains are arriving like they do in every other city in the world. No -- they just show imaginary time.

But that's just a single example. Walk (or, better yet, drive) around Chicago and you are inundated with more of this half-assed shit than you could possibly imagine.

How about a white board?

bluebearr:

You know, I'm a Windows guy. I like Windows. I've built my career around Windows.

But TRWTF, for me, is all the kiosk/display systems that show up in this space that are based on Windows. I had no idea. Why would you ever use something as complex as Windows to run something like a movie marquee?

Wouldn't you use something more minim (like my CAPTCHA)?

If you've watched this site for a while, you'll see that Windows is used quite a bit for marquee and advertising displays; which are usually snipped to just a small section of a desktop.

Apparently, the display software is set up to position a window to an exact location, and then video capture clips that section out for display on the marquee.

So there have been numerous pictures of sections of blue screens (even whole blue screens; 640x480?) and desktops, with the latter often showing a system dialog indicating some type of failure.

It's amazing that display companies don't seem to be able to go so far as to have their own private video card; and how often Windows subverts a perfectly good ad display by killing some program, blue screening, or going into update or screen saver mode.

Makes a lovely advertisement of the fact that Microsoft does not make Windows for control or long-running static applications, but rather for a user who will be sitting right in front of the screen with their fingers on ctrl-alt-Del. Something that remains true even for the "server" versions.

It also is a lovely demonstration of how few people in the world really care about whether things work. You can just imagine this exchange:

Customer: Ummm...your sign out here is showing a program failure dialog.

Counter person: Hey, George! Need to reboot the sign again!

George: No problem! It's been pretty good; that's only the second time today!

5519 points for a Blizzard Treats Banana Cream Pie Blizzard?
SWEET!
The rest of those treats, obviously not so much.

Funky spelling of FICTITOUS POINT reminded me of one of those portable traffic signs I saw at a construction zone outside a hospital this week: EMERGENY ROOM.