Comment On Whoa, Batman!

I'm just surprised that "Texas" wasn't in the list of countries...

(frist?)

Yeah, like that State listing just stops at the bottom of that screenshot.

Why can't I enter my phone number using numeric characters, instead?

Texans love Comic Sans. No surprise there.

I don't get it - what's wrong with having a large number of rows in a database?

Ken B.:

anon:

Yeah, like that State listing just stops at the bottom of that screenshot.

I recognized the background texture. It's from wizard101.com when you try to redeem a gift card. After selecting "United States" as the country (from the list "Other"/"United States"), the "state" box appears. The drop-down list does, indeed, consist solely of "Other" and "Texas".

Note that selecting "Texas" adds a "City" entry, and its drop-down consists of Other/Austin/Plano.

They probably need to make note of the larger sized gift cards from Texas. Except for Austin, which doesn't count as part of "normal" Texas.

Tables with over 100,000,000 records <> WTF.

Whoa, Comment!

no comments.

First one is just surprised to see Batman.

Third one is asking you to use Kanji. 〡〢〣 etc.

Word Count is indicating that this document on paper conservation should save 32,768 pages by convincing people to waste less paper.

No Fonts is a great little coffee shop.

TRWTF on the last one is that they have "If other, please specify" and then they use a drop down meaning you can only select your other from a pre-defined list of options. I wonder if it includes an "other" option?

The Texas one is probably for sales tax purposes. Not really a WTF except that they should be getting a shipping (or at least billing) address and should have the state from that.

TRWTF is Batman didn't charter a plane from China to get to Texas and install fonts for Kinkos before they deleted all the rows in their database....amirite?

Nick:

I don't get it - what's wrong with having a large number of rows in a database?

I dont' know; it may just be that some people have a different definition of a large database. Where I work we have quite a few databases with tables of over 500 million rows. We always ask candidates if they have worked with large datbases. One lady answered "oh, yes. we had almost a thousand users."

Zylon:

Texans love Comic Sans. No surprise there.

There were no fonts before Comic Sans. Thank you, Chuck Norris!

Anon:

TRWTF on the last one is that they have "If other, please specify" and then they use a drop down meaning you can only select your other from a pre-defined list of options. I wonder if it includes an "other" option?

I was wondering: If you type in your 'other' response, does it get added to the list of choices.

frits:

Ken B.:

anon:

Yeah, like that State listing just stops at the bottom of that screenshot.

I recognized the background texture. It's from wizard101.com when you try to redeem a gift card. After selecting "United States" as the country (from the list "Other"/"United States"), the "state" box appears. The drop-down list does, indeed, consist solely of "Other" and "Texas".

Note that selecting "Texas" adds a "City" entry, and its drop-down consists of Other/Austin/Plano.

They probably need to make note of the larger sized gift cards from Texas. Except for Austin, which doesn't count as part of "normal" Texas.

It's almost certainly for collection of sales tax. Typically, you only need to collect state sales tax from people in the same state as your physical presence, and same thing for city/county. So they are using those dropdowns to make that determination (albeit in an odd way)

reh:

It's almost certainly for collection of sales tax. Typically, you only need to collect state sales tax from people in the same state as your physical presence, and same thing for city/county. So they are using those dropdowns to make that determination (albeit in an odd way)

Do you know how that continues?

Country > USA
State > Texas
City > Austin
Street > Jeffrey Cove [only option]
House number > 4 [only option]
Floor > 2nd [only option]
Room number > 213 [only option]
Desk position > eastward [only option]

results in

"Get back to work, Jeff!"


New generation of staff control.

Nick:

I don't get it - what's wrong with having a large number of rows in a database?

Nothing. Selecting over 100 million rows using a GUI, however, is a WTF.

brunascle:

Nick:

I don't get it - what's wrong with having a large number of rows in a database?

Nothing. Selecting over 100 million rows using a GUI, however, is a WTF.

Only if you click 'Yes'

reh:

frits:

Ken B.:

anon:

Yeah, like that State listing just stops at the bottom of that screenshot.

I recognized the background texture. It's from wizard101.com when you try to redeem a gift card. After selecting "United States" as the country (from the list "Other"/"United States"), the "state" box appears. The drop-down list does, indeed, consist solely of "Other" and "Texas".

Note that selecting "Texas" adds a "City" entry, and its drop-down consists of Other/Austin/Plano.

They probably need to make note of the larger sized gift cards from Texas. Except for Austin, which doesn't count as part of "normal" Texas.

It's almost certainly for collection of sales tax. Typically, you only need to collect state sales tax from people in the same state as your physical presence, and same thing for city/county. So they are using those dropdowns to make that determination (albeit in an odd way)

So you're saying there's no merit to the notation of larger gift cards--accounting for the fact they're from Texas?

I don't see the WTF in the numeric letters phone number.

five-five-five-zero-one-two-three

Easy

Have you stopped to think, for a while, how many technologic AND cultural breakthroughs had to occur in history for us to come exactly at this moment, where we find a "Whoa, Batman!" message in a Windows message box as an error message, published in a humorous web site in the apex of the Web 2.0 revolution?

In all seriousness, kudos to whoever wrote that msgbox. You rule, sir!

In response to the Database one:

TRWTF is having Yes as default, or even on the right

Two problems with that thought...

1) The site is registered to a company in PA, not TX [I know this is not conclusive]

2) In many states the laws have been updated from "physical presence" to "business presence". The act of targeting advertising, holding specials, etc for a specific state may trigger the requirement to COLLECT. [note: in nearly every state, the purchaser is still required to DIRECTLY pay sales tax if the vendor does not collect it!!!]

Tony is the king of networking. Say "hi" when you see him for me, and thank him for getting me this job!

Isn't the catch phrase "Holy <insert whatever situational comment you'd like> Batman!"? Today is the first time I'd ever heard of "Whoa, Batman!".

So you got a Word document with 204,231,311 characters to fit on a single disk drive? I call shenanigans. With the typical bloat factor it would have to be at least 10TB.

TheCPUWizard:

Two problems with that thought...

1) The site is registered to a company in PA, not TX [I know this is not conclusive]

2) In many states the laws have been updated from "physical presence" to "business presence". The act of targeting advertising, holding specials, etc for a specific state may trigger the requirement to COLLECT. [note: in nearly every state, the purchaser is still required to DIRECTLY pay sales tax if the vendor does not collect it!!!]

No, it's from KingsIsle Entertainment, which is in Dallas/Austin:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KingsIsle_Entertainment

And I've owned a business in Texas that did e-Commerce. Indeed the deal is that if the person doing the purchasing is in Texas then you have to collect sales tax, otherwise you don't. In fact the sales tax rate here is 8.25% but 1% of that only applies if the purchaser is in the same county as the business (and Texas has hundreds of counties), otherwise it's only 7.25%. It's been my experience, though, that Texas doesn't mind if you just send it 8.25% every time.

But yeah before too long this sort of thing is bound to change. California has more people than any other state, has 10.25% sales tax as well as a state income tax (Texas does not) and they're still going broke. It's got to be (in part) from all the Internet sales they're not seeing anything from.

A document over 32,767 pages? Must be the latest "economic recovery" bill.

Nick:

I don't get it - what's wrong with having a large number of rows in a database?

Agreed. I can't figure this one out either. Would somebody care to fill me in?

frits:

Isn't the catch phrase "Holy <insert whatever situational comment you'd like> Batman!"? Today is the first time I'd ever heard of "Whoa, Batman!".

Maybe the developer is a fan of Keanu

I dearly remember the great font shortage of '98. It got so bad that one day, the only font I had was Times New Roman. And no bold or italic - certainly no bold italic.

It was a rough three weeks.

At least it wasn't Comic Sans

It's simple, really - you're supposed to enter your phone numbers using roman numerals, as in:

876-5309 = DCCCLXXVI-MMMMMCCCIX

dessimus:

frits:

Isn't the catch phrase "Holy <insert whatever situational comment you'd like> Batman!"? Today is the first time I'd ever heard of "Whoa, Batman!".

Maybe the developer is a fan of Keanu

I'd actually go to the theater to see Keanu play Robin. Perhaps Alex Winter could be Batman. It could be called "Batman and Robin's Excellent Adventure".

Batman:

California has more people than any other state, has 10.25% sales tax as well as a state income tax (Texas does not) and they're still going broke. It's got to be (in part) from all the Internet sales they're not seeing anything from.

Yeah, the main reason is the voters passed a whole bunch of anti-business propositions and drove the employers out of the state, and with them, the productive people, leaving behind an army of tax-takers who are rapidly running out of evil rich to bleed dry.

Xenon Xavior:

Nick:

I don't get it - what's wrong with having a large number of rows in a database?

Agreed. I can't figure this one out either. Would somebody care to fill me in?

It's the "I love BP" fanclub database. Florida panhandle chapter.

Yeah Really:

So you got a Word document with 204,231,311 characters to fit on a single disk drive? I call shenanigans. With the typical bloat factor it would have to be at least 10TB.

Who said it was a word document?

Dear Internet,

I am really sick of giving people job references. Please stop. Thanks.

Dear Internet,

I am really sick of giving people job references. Please stop. Thanks.

Zach:

Tables with over 100,000,000 records <> WTF.

Hand-selecting 100k rows in a GUI does.

Kaliforneia:

Batman:

California has more people than any other state, has 10.25% sales tax as well as a state income tax (Texas does not) and they're still going broke. It's got to be (in part) from all the Internet sales they're not seeing anything from.

Yeah, the main reason is the voters passed a whole bunch of anti-business propositions and drove the employers out of the state, and with them, the productive people, leaving behind an army of tax-takers who are rapidly running out of evil rich to bleed dry.

No, the problem is that they tried to repeal the laws of economics with prop 2 (the real estate tax thing) and that they can pass a required spending prop with simple majority, while actually raising taxes to cover is a different prop with a higher bar.

The current mess was guaranteed 20 years ago.

Batman:

California has more people than any other state, has 10.25% sales tax as well as a state income tax (Texas does not) and they're still going broke.

Last time I checked, I paid 8.75% in OC, CA.

Median property tax in CA is 0.5%. In TX is about 2%.

On the other hand, like 30% of TX budget comes from federal funds. I could not find a number for CA budget. Anybody?

Franz Kafka:

Kaliforneia:

Batman:

California has more people than any other state, has 10.25% sales tax as well as a state income tax (Texas does not) and they're still going broke. It's got to be (in part) from all the Internet sales they're not seeing anything from.

Yeah, the main reason is the voters passed a whole bunch of anti-business propositions and drove the employers out of the state, and with them, the productive people, leaving behind an army of tax-takers who are rapidly running out of evil rich to bleed dry.

No, the problem is that they tried to repeal the laws of economics with prop 2 (the real estate tax thing) and that they can pass a required spending prop with simple majority, while actually raising taxes to cover is a different prop with a higher bar.

The current mess was guaranteed 20 years ago.

I think you and I are mostly in agreement. Those required spending props are part of the anti-business props I had in mind: a government that is required to spend is required to tax, one way or another, and higher taxes make it harder for businesses to survive.

I saw where things were headed and left in 1995, taking a $50,000 loss on my house to do so. The movers said they were hauling 5 trucks out of CA for every one back in. This is only going to spiral down from here, and it is not going to be pretty. Imagine what would happen if they raise the sales tax to 25%. Lots of new revenue, right? Yeah, ummm.... not.

I live in Austin and my wife has family in Plano. Are there any other cities in Texas?

RHuckster:

I don't see the WTF in the numeric letters phone number.

eight-six-seven-five-three-oh-niiine

Easy

FTFY

I used to live in Ohio, and I went from there to visit a friend in Texas. She introduced me to a friend of hers, and commented, "Jay's from up north." He replied, "Oh, like around Dallas?"

Izhido:

Have you stopped to think, for a while, how many technologic AND cultural breakthroughs had to occur in history for us to come exactly at this moment, where we find a "Whoa, Batman!" message in a Windows message box as an error message, published in a humorous web site in the apex of the Web 2.0 revolution?

In all seriousness, kudos to whoever wrote that msgbox. You rule, sir!

Additionally, I liked this comment so much that I made it my facebook status..