Ok, I have a gripe. What is it with college employees and the inability to use email? Today I got an email from the department I got my AA in (Information Systems) which was some dumb spam-like newsletter or something. I tried to open it but it wouldn't open, in fact, it locked up OE. So I'm thinking, sheesh, it's probably a virus or something (good thing I upgraded Norton last night, eh? But that was due to another little virus problem ... more on that later ....) Anyway, I restarted OE and looked to see who the email came from (despite the 'from' thing at the top of the email I know better than to trust that, so I read headers) and I see that good grief, this person sent this same email to hundreds of other people! And didn't use the BCC: function (which means BLIND CARBON COPY which means the people you send it to can't see who else you sent it to, a handy feature for certain types of email. <evil grin>) Not only did this person (a staff member in the INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT) not use BCC, they didn't use the CC: function either, they used the To: line! The To: line! I didn't even know it supported that many outgoing addresses! Or maybe it doesn't and that's why it locked up on me. I copied and pasted all those emails into a file because I didn't wanna count how many there were, but the file is 78k. 78k! 18 pages!
Now, this is not the only time this little "I'm sorry I don't know how to use the BCC feature" problem has happened with a college employee. The other time was when I applied to a major state-operated university through their online application and got SPAM from the admissions office (which I had no idea I was signing up for by the way, I thought I was applying to the university and only applying to the university, but I went back and read the fine print and they did say they may "share" your email with relevant people, gimme a break.) This person also sent hundreds of emails out, with everyone's email address there plain as day for anyone to use for whatever nefarious purpose they wished. I wrote a little email back in that case though, explaining what BCC meant and how to use it. And then I cancelled my application to THAT school. Hehe. I didn't really wanna go there anyway, I just applied cuz I heard they're lame and I figured oooh lame, maybe they won't enforce those pesky general education requirements for admission (but they do so I couldn't have gone there anyway.)
I would think that a college campus would make sure people know how to use email before they hire people. I know they don't, partly from my experiences dealing with these people, and partly because my dad used to work for a major state-owned university system and he claimed he didn't know how to use email (now, he was hired decades before email existed on campus, so he's partially excused I guess.) It makes me wonder though, how many other employees/teachers dunno how to use it, cuz a few of them put their email address on their syllabus but if you write to them they seemingly ignore it (and often claim, at least in the case of the community college I attended, that they never got it, which was often true because the people who configured the school network didn't know wtf they were doing and I can personally attest to that because I found, more than once, that I, a lowly student, had admin privileges on the school's Windows 2000-based network <evil wicked nefarious grin> and can only assume so did every other student in the department.)
Anyway, enough whining about spam in email, now let's whine about viruses in email!
I recently (as in, oh, yesterday) got into a beta test for a game that I signed up for months ago. Within minutes (yes, minutes) of joining the required "community" for beta testing, I got not one, but two viruses via email. I have never, ever, ever, to my knowledge, received a virus via email. I was using an email address for this community that I only use for this community and the game associated with it (this beta test is for a sequel to a game I already play.) The only other company who has this email address is my ISP. Thankfully, trusty ol' Norton Anti-Virus caught it both times. But I decided to upgrade my AV since the subscription was gonna run out at the end of the month, so I did, so now I'm using NAV 2002 woohoo! No more NAV1995 for me! Hehe just kidding. I was using NAV2001. I used to use McAfee but I got sick and tired of the BSODs (blue screens of death for those Mac and *nix users out there.) I have yet to get a BSOD using Norton. I did get a RSOD (red screen of death) many years ago when I used to use Norton Utilities to uhm ... <cough> "customize" software and Windows95 was not happy with that. After a couple of those I decided not to do that anymore. (For those of you who do not know what a RSOD is, it's like a BSOD, only instead of telling you your system has become unstable or that it's stopped responding or some other useless message, it actually halts the system! Yes! It means that you have violated the integrity of your operating system so badly that not only has a program gone haywire, but the operating system itself is totally and completely incapable of communicating with your hardware! It is a Very Bad Thing.)
Anyway, enough whining. Anyone wanna copy of klez? ;)
Oh, and in case you're wondering why I'm particularly bitchy today it's cuz I'm sick. Those damn FOTR elves made me sick! Uhm ... I mean ... I have a cold, I dunno where I got it from cuz I've been living as a virtual hermit since I'm not working or going to school, so I probably got it from some video store employee or some elf or something. Uhm ... wait ... elves ... don't ... exist .... Right? Hehe.
[ 7:01:00 PM ]
Posted at the speed of blight by NONOBADKITTY!
NONOBADBLOG!
