Stuff that stinks

By ian

I’ve noticed a trend that many people tend to blog about great stuff that they find on the web and little things that cheer them up. Well, this is the Angry Scotsman blog so I’m going to rant a bit about stuff that’s been bugging me. I hope that this inspires you to post comments about stuff that bugs you, even if this blog is a part of that stuff.

Heavily Advertised Broken Sites

Over the past few weeks I’ve been seeing all kinds of ads for ask.com featuring a condescending man with an odd accent, sometimes featuring an equally condescending 10 year old who’s obessed with poetry. Every ad ends with them saying Google isn’t better, it’s just more popular.

So I tried the ol’ ego search, which I know isn’t the end all test of a search engine, but it’s a start. http://www.ask.com/web?q=Ian+Muir&qsrc=1&o=0 I’m not on the first page, but hey I’m not all that important. So I went in a few pages and found that the first actual reference to me is on page 8 and points to a page that I took down 4 months ago.

So I tried to narrow the search by looking for Ian Muir NH http://www.ask.com/web?q=Ian+Muir+NH&o=0&qsrc=1&qid=55877C9E740561779055ACC231318725&page=1. What do ya know?! I’m on the first page… for a conference I spoke at 5 years ago. Wait! There I am again! Oh, that’s the outdated page from the previous search. Still no blog.

Finally, I search for Ian Muir The Angry Scotsman Blog, that’s gotta work right??
http://www.ask.com/web?q=Ian+Muir+NH&o=0&qsrc=1&qid=55877C9E740561779055ACC231318725&page=1. Again I understand that the ego search technique isn’t the greatest, but if you provide a specific search criteria, the engine should get it.

Stupid travel site forms

I’m currently trying to book a multi-city trip. I’m flying from Boston to London, taking a train from London to Brussels and then flying back from Brussels to Boston. I’ve been checking airfares and every single site sucks. First of all, I had 3 sites return LON as the code for Heathrow airport in London. After no results from several search I discovered the actual code is LHR. So I search again and get a whole bunch of results for flights from Boston to London, I select a flight and click next. I then get a message that says no available flights from Brussels to Boston fit your criteria… OK, great how about some reccomendations? Brussels is the center of the damn European Union, I’m sure they’ve got an airport.

So I give up and go directly to the airline’s website. Guess what? They fly from Brussels to Boston! W00t! Then I notice a little icon… Apparently the icon means that I need ground transportation to Heathrow to catch my return flight. WTF!

Finally I went to expedia.com. I found the flight quickly (apparently Brussels does have an airport), and the forms to sign up for my expedia account weren’t as horrible as I expected.

Screw the NH DOT

Somebody at the New Hampshire DOT must have sustained a major head injury this weekend. They decided it would be a good idea to repaint the lines on the Everett Turnpike (the main road between the 2 largest cities in NH) at 8:30am this morning.

Expensive wireless internet

Hey Barnes & Noble, I just spent $5.50 on an iced tea and a cookie at your cafe, you can spring for 20 minutes of wireless access.

AIM

Just because I signed on, doesn’t mean I want 2.4 million messages in the first 8 seconds. Take a deep breath, collect yourself and send me a coherant message because I have no idea what rotflmao or ttfnr means and I don’t care.

Believe it or not, I’m actually having a pretty good day. I just felt like complaining a bit.