Archive for 9/4/2008 - 4 Elul, 5768

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that my MySpace account had been deleted, and I was attempting to figure out why. I’m not one to normally post my complaints with customer service for a couple of reasons.

1) I don’t have hundreds of fans reading my blog, so it’s not going to make a difference.
2) I have been in customer service jobs in the past

But this is frustrating. Here is the conversation to date.

Sept 15th, 2006

My First Email to MySpace:

My account appears to have been deleted. I was not told that I had violated any terms of service, and I don’t believe I was. Can someone explain to me why my account was deleted so that it doesn’t happen again if I recreate it. If this was due to a TOS violation I wish I had been told so that I could fix whatever the issue was so I wouldn’t have to recreate the account from scratch. Thanks.

My username was gavroche42

First Response From MySpace:

Hello,

Please verify that you are logging in with the correct password and username. We also recommend clearing your browser’s cookies and temporary internet files and then try logging in again.

Often, changing internet browsers can do the trick. For example, try Internet Explorer if you are using AOL. Note: Mac users should use Safari or Firefox for the best browsing results.

Also, try lowering the your browsers security settings. If you are using a firewall, try lowering those settings, if possible.

If you have already tried the methods above, check to make sure your profile still exists by finding your profile on the site. Also, look for comments you posted on your friends’ profiles. If you cannot find your profile, it may have been deleted. MySpace may delete profiles if they violate the site’s Terms and conditions. You cannot retrieve a deleted account.

If problems persist, please reply to this e-mail and provide a brief explanation of the problem that you are having, the e-mail address and password with which you are trying to log in.

If this should not answer your question, either reply to this thread, or click

Thanks
MySpace.com

Sept 16th

Second Email to MySpace

When I go to the profile page I am told the page doesn’t exist, and was either deleted by me or by MySpace for TOS violations.

My icon doesn’t appear on my friends pages either.

I understand I can’t retrieve a deleted account, but before I rebuild it, I want to know what TOS violation there was. Without knowing what the TOS violation was, I can’t make sure I don’t do it again. I don’t want to keep getting my account deleted because I don’t know what my crime is. I shouldn’t have to guess, because I’ve read the TOS, and can’t figure out how I was violating it. Please tell me what I did wrong.

SILENCE

Sept 21

(MySpace isn’t a crucial part of my life, so I gave them a few days.)

Third Email to MySpace

Am I going to get a response to my questions?

[quote of previous contacts]

SILENCE

Sept 24

Fourth Email to MySpace

I first contacted you on September 15th. I told you my account had been deleted, and I wanted to know why.

You responded with instructions on how to check to see if my profile had been deleted. Not too helpful since I already knew it was. When one goes to one’s profile page, and one is told that it doesn’t exist, and when one goes to one’s friends’ profiles, and sees blank spaces where your picture should be — you know it’s been deleted.

I have since then asked again…via this form, and sending direct emails to mscontact@myspace.com. I have heard nothing. Zip. Not even a “we’ll look into this and get back to you” It’s been 8 days.

I’ve recreated my account, but I still would like to know why my previous account was deleted. As I’ve explaiined, if I violated a TOS I need to know so I don’t violate it again.

Second Response From MySpace (should sound familiar)

Hello,

Please verify that you are logging in with the correct password and username. We also recommend clearing your browser’s cookies and temporary internet files and then try logging in again.

Often, changing internet browsers can do the trick. For example, try Internet Explorer if you are using AOL. Note: Mac users should use Safari or Firefox for the best browsing results.

Also, try lowering the your browsers security settings. If you are using a firewall, try lowering those settings, if possible.

If you have already tried the methods above, check to make sure your profile still exists by finding your profile on the site. Also, look for comments you posted on your friends’ profiles. If you cannot find your profile, it may have been deleted.

MySpace may delete profiles if they violate the site’s Terms and conditions. You cannot retrieve a deleted account.

If problems persist, please reply to this e-mail and provide a brief explanation of the problem that you are having, the e-mail address and password with which you are trying to log in.

If this should not answer your question, either reply to this thread, or click

Fifth Email to MySpace

OK, the [above] is a nice form response since it is the exact same response as I got when I emailed back on Sept 15th. It’s better than the silence I’ve received from my other emails, but only slightly. I know that a computer sent me a form response. Great. Now, can a human read the email and respond to it?

Briefly.
1) I **know** my account was deleted. When I went to my profile, it said it didn’t exist, and where my photo should have been in friend’s profiles was an empty space.
2) I’ve recreated my account. So I **Can** log in now. But that’s irrelevant.
3) I want to know WHY my account was previously deleted. What TOS I violated.

SILENCE

Another 4 days have lapsed. A total of 13. What’s my next step?
Should I just give up?
I have a new account. Same username.
But I would like to know what happened to the old one.
And I am curious how one goes about getting a real non-automated response from MySpace help.

MySpace Customer Service

World Masterpiece Theater, from 1969 to 1997 was a Japanese Anime television series which adapted literary classics to anime.

After a 9 year hiatus, news is they are returning.
What with, you ask?

Shoujo Cosette

Fuji Television Network’s “World Masterpiece Theater” animation series is returning to the airwaves after an interval of 9 years. The series was scrubbed in the past due to a decrease in audience rating. The newly produced 24th work has been announced as Les Miserables - Shoujo Cosette, based on the book of the novel by Victor Hugo. Chinese CCTV will co-produce the 52 episode work.

Official Site

I’m sure I’ll be able to find it for download somewhere, but I won’t understand the Japanese…

I’ve blogged about MortalBlog before. A new BlogSurvivor type game. Today they’re trying to solicit links from other blogs registered at stlbloggers.com. (They have to have been registered there prior to noon today, preventing ballotstuffing.)

Well, I’m registered, so I am linking, in no particular order, to Puppy, El Gecko and Toad, because I like animals, and they appear to be the underdogs right now.

And my sister-in-law’s homemade challah is delicious.
I think it must be due to her Irish heritage.

As year 5766 comes to a close, and year 5767 begins, here’s a news story to reflect upon:

3 million year old almost-human fossils discovered in Ethiopia

How to reconcile? Easy. The Biblical concept of a day isn’t the same as our concept. It’s something we poets like to call a metaphor.

The Space Shuttle has been delayed by a UFO.

It’s an unidentified object, and it’s in space. Yes, its a UFO.

Once they identify it, it will be an IFO. Even if the least likely thing happens, and they identify it as an alien spacecraft. It will still be an IFO.

I know, it’s a losing battle, but someone has to fight it.

The Word-a-Day people at wordsmith.org are focusing this week on pirate-themed words. Here’s a word we didn’t expect to see:

filibuster (FIL-uh-bus-tuhr) verb tr., intr.

1. To block or delay the passage of legislation, especially by making
prolonged irrelevant speeches.

2. To block or delay something.

noun

Such a delaying tactic.

[Filibuster was another name for pirates in the “Golden Age of Piracy”, from roughly 1650 to 1720. From Spanish filibustero, from French flibustier, from Dutch vrijbuiter (freebooter or pirate).]

Sixteen men on a dead man’s chest…yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

(Captain) Avast there mates, ye’re sailin’ with Long John Black Beard, Peg-Leg, Patch-Eye Hook, scourge of the bounding main. Bloodthirstiest, black-heartiest pirate captain ever sailed the seven seas, ha, ha, ha! What say ye we hoist the Jolly Roger, heel over the yonder Spanish galleon. Lay a few broadsides agin’ her timers, swing over on these here lanyards with our cutlasses in our teeth cut ‘em to ribbons and split the booty. What say ye to that, me hearties? Heh! Ha, ha, ha, ha!

(Twit) I don’t like it….

(Captain) You don’t like it?

(Twit) I don’t like it and I don’t wanna do it. It’s tacky,…tacky, tacky…and don’t look at me that way

(Captain) Well, if you don’t like it, what do you want?

(Chorus) I want to sing and dance, I want to sing and dance
I want to be a pirate in the Pirates of Penzance
Wear me silver-buckled slippers and me tight shiny pants
I want to sing and dance

– Excerpt from The Pirate Song by Ray Stevens

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day to everyone!

My Myspace account has been deleted. I have no idea why. I have an email into MySpace customer service so they can give me an explanation.

Dormitory = Dirty Room
Dictionary = Indicatory
Schoolmaster = The classroom
Elvis = Lives
Listen = Silent
Clint Eastwood = Old West Action
Madam Curie = Radium came
Western Union = No Wire Unsent
Evangelist = Evil’s Agent
Astronomers = Moon starers
The eyes = They see
The cockroach = Cook, catch her
Waitress = A stew, Sir?
Desperation = A Rope Ends It
The Morse Code = Here Come Dots
The Meaning of Life = The fine game of nil
Slot Machines = Cash Lost in’em
Conversation = Voices Rant On
Clothespins = So Let’s Pinch
The Great New York Rapid Transit Tunnel = Giant Work in Street, Partly Underneath
Butterfly = Flutter-by
Heavy Rain? = Hire a Navy!
Animosity = Is No Amity
Mother-in-law = Woman Hitler
Protectionism = Nice to imports
A Domesticated Animal = Docile, as a Man Tamed it
The Hilton = Hint: Hotel

My inclination would be to root for the writer, but I also like the “hippie”.

Stereotypes are highlighted. They’re on the players’ minds, naturally, but in one case, where a viewer might have missed something that was stereotypical, the announcer drew attention to it.

I’m not upset that I likely won’t see the rest of the season.

p
House sitting for relatives tonight, and I’m partially in the stone-age. On a computer with OS 9.x. I am thankful that the Wordpress interface works with older IE and Netscape browsers, because not every Blogging system does. I can think of one in particular that doesn’t. Of course, if i brought my laptop with me there’d be no problem.

I am one of the few people in America, I think, that doesn’t watch television. At least not in my own home. I used to have cable, but when I found myself vegging on my couch watching episodes of The Suite Life, at age 37, alone, I knew there was a serious problem. Serious problem. I stopped getting cable. Not even what they call the Survival Package. I can get local channels on my tv, but my tv is pretty old, so it really needs cable to get good reception, so why bother watching local channels? This is a good thing for me….I get other stuff done at home. Like entering over 900 books into LibraryThing. Like blogging. Maybe, occasionally, working on poetry and fiction. Yeah, I really should do more of that. Occasionally I’ll watch a DVD or videotape. I can still do that. But it takes more work than flipping channels, so I usually don’t.

Anyway, I have been reading a few newstories online about something called Survivor. Heard of that? OK, it hasn’t been that long. Anyway, I was resolved not to watch this season. For that was an easy resolution to make. I haven’t watched any of the seasons. And I felt good because I could make the resolution for reasons of principle, and be able to stick to it easily. You see, they are dividing the teams by race this year - a black, white, asian and hispanic team. I could provide a link to a news story, but if this is news to you, all you need to do is open a newspaper, or go to news.google.com and search for the word ’survivor’. And this concept is offensive to me as it is to many people. But I so hate to criticize something without experiencing it. I hate people who claim a book or a movie is offensive if they haven’t read/seen it. And here I am tonight, and there is a tv set, and well, I think i’m going to violate my resolution.

Either that, or find out what’s on the Disney channel.

8 bloggers competing against each other for survival.
Anyone can VoteUp or VoteDown a blog. Even You.
Until one remains standing.
Sounds fun?
It’s happening in St. Louis right now at
MortalBlog

(The person who came up with the idea is also behind StlBloggers, and recruited the participants, but it’s possible not all competitors are St. Louisans.)

Yes, I am one of the competitors. I’m under a semi-anonymous pseudonym though, so you’ll just have to figure it out. (Not difficult, likely, as I’m told I have a distinctive writing style. Something many writers crave.)

On October 8th, TS Eliot will yield his crown to Victor Hugo as Cats is finally surpassed as the world’s longest running musical. Les Miz’s original Broadway run was cut short in 2003 by the decline in NY tourism. It’s returning to Broadway this fall, but it was London where the show was introduced, and has continued, and will turn 21 next month. Cats closed on its 21st birthday, almost as if crystals had turned black in the cats’ paws.

I should indicate that I am fully cognizant that the Official London Theater page is arguably in error. There are two opinions of what the longest running musical is, and some argue Les Miz is only half-way, and has 21 more years to meet The Fantasticks Off-Broadway 42-year record from 1960-2002.

I hope she makes it.

Every Friday the Slacktivist posts a list of song titles starting with the next letter of the alphabet…asking readers for additional suggestions. I kinda like the concept, but Fridays aren’t very good for me. I’m not going to sit and come up with a list during work, and I am usually reading poetry in the evening at The Hartford Cafe. However, I usually have time Monday evenings to put something together like this.

I like music, but I’m more interested in its literary cousin, poetry. I don’t have nearly as many readers as the Slacktivist, so I don’t expect an equal number of suggestions, but I am hopeful for some. If not, perhaps readers will enjoy my list. I will only list a poem I can find online somewhere, which will allow you to go read it, if you wish.

1. As I Ponder’d in Silence - Walt Whitman
2. Afternoon Song - Charles Baudelaire
3. Annabel Lee - Edgar Allan Poe
4. Aftermath - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
5. Abdul Abulbul Ameer - Percy French
6. Abraham Lincoln - Abraham Lincoln (circa age 15-17)
7. Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas - Major Henry Livingston Jr. (Incorrectly attributed to Clement C Moore)
8. Adventure of a Poet - Robert Fuller Murray
9. After Apple-Picking - Robert Frost
10. America - Allen Ginsberg

I’d include a poem by some guy named Virgil, but it’s kinda long, and I’ve reached 10, which is a good number.

If I had come up with a list solely from the depths of my mind, you would see America, After Apple-Picking, and Annabel Lee, but likely none of the others. Oh, yeah, and the Aeneid. I came across some interesting discoveries in my search.

Robert Fuller Murray’s poem is quite fun; I could easily identify with the narrator. A character in the poem is from Dundee, and I better make it clear I know no one from Dundee that is anything at all like that character. The only people I know like that are from this side of the pond.

Abraham Lincoln’s poem isn’t a work of genius, by any means. Some might argue I was a better poet at age six.

The version of Ginsberg’s America that is linked is an early version that differs from the final published version. And the website has an audio recording of Ginsberg reading it.

I was still working at AG Edwards in their IT department. Very little got done that day, as there was a television in the hallway that was constantly set to the financial news network, which like every other news network, focused on that morning’s events. And when half the department is standing in the hallway watching television, not very much gets done. When not in the hallway, I was at my desk. Had to look like I was doing something. But I was following the news on the Dow Jones Newswires.

It was a Tuesday, so that evening I was at Writer’s Group. There were more people there than one might expect. Why weren’t we with family? We were. Which shouldn’t be interpreted as a slight against our biological families. But we’d either spent several hours that day already with them, or knew we would in the days to come.

I like what Brad, DL, and PAD have to say.

I think the below will make a few people laugh. It’s not entirely wrong though. I know which questions pushed it in this direction without even going back and retaking the quiz. I’m one of those people who’s opinions don’t always fall neatly into a specific category so depending upon what questions get asked, I can end up in different boxes.

You Are a Conservative Democrat

Frankly, the way most other Democrats behave embarasses you greatly. You pride yourself on a high level of morals, and you have a good grasp on right and wrong. It’s likely you think America needs to get back to its conservative, Juedo-Christian values. Why aren’t you a Republican then? Because you believe the goverment helps more than hurts.

A joke is apparently making the rounds that 9 prominent Democrats were born 9 months after Roswell.

Snopes, expert at deconstructing jokes, makes it clear that five of those nine were born prior to Roswell. Two were born over 16 months after Roswell, making them unlikely aliens. Hillary Clinton was born only 3 months after Roswell, which also makes her an unlikely alien. However, there is one person in the list who falls right on target: Al Gore.

Latest Weird Al video (I wish I could figure out how to embed)

update (forgot I learned how to embed for my ‘browse my library’ page a few weeks ago)

Before you start telling me how ironic it is that a video about not downloading MP3s illegally is on YouTube…the person who uploaded it to YouTube is identified as
Al Yankovic, and the profile is listed as a musician’s profile.

Furthermore, if you go to Dontdownloadthissong.com, you can …download the song (for free).

Wal-Mart:

1) is pushing organic food

2) has joined the national gay and lesbian chamber of commerce, and is considering extending domestic partnership benefits to employees

3) is encouraging the use of energy-saving compact flourescent bulbs

Of course, viewed from a one-issue perspective, with that issue being ‘labor’, it’s easy to ignore the above. Labor is important to me. But it’s not the only thing.

On the other hand, recently at a gathering of friends, one friend conducted a ‘taste test’. Without telling us the difference first, he had us sample slices of sausage from separate plates. Did we taste a difference? Which did we prefer? Everyone tasted a difference. There was mixed results on preference. He was disappointed, but I still think he proved his point.

The difference? They were both brand-name sausage. Same brand. Same label. One came from Wal-Mart, another from either Schnucks or Dierbergs. His theory: Wal-mart insists on lower prices from its suppliers, so the suppliers sometimes might not provide the same quality product to Wal-Mart. He was disappointed because some people preferred the taste of the Wal-mart sausage, but everyone agreed it tasted different. Sometimes there’s no accounting for taste.

I wrote the below poem 5 years ago.

End of Summer Rituals

On September Third
Millions of Americans
Will celebrate the End of Summer
By having a barbecue.

Few know where the name
Of this holiday came from.
To most, it seems ironic
Since none but a few work.

Labor Day now means
The changing color of trees,
The start of the school year,
Or just another day off.

Any connection to unions
Or the forbidden word, “Socialism,”
Is obscured by the distance
From the First of May.

If we’re to return to the roots
Of this annual worker’s holiday
We need to barbecue Phil Knight
Over a bonfire of shoes

Or observe how Bill Gates
Changes colors
As we remove his tongue
And he can’t speak a Word^®.

The Pocket Book of Ogden Nash. (from a local Goodwill store)

The Hunter

The hunter crouches in his blind
‘Neath camouflage of every kind
And conjures up a quacking noise
To lend allure to his decoys.
This grown-up man, with pluck and luck
Is hoping to outwit a duck.

Here’s hoping he’s successful.