Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

I just got off the phone with someone from Providian. I'd written electronically to complain that I could not navigate their web site with JavaScript turned off and that I could not even log out properly because the "Log Off" button was a JavaScript hack, and explaining why requiring JavaScript for basic navigation is a Bad Idea in general, and why I can't run JavaScript (there's info on my systems covered by NDAs, and JavaScript is just too big a security hole. (Yeah, I know I asked for a network clipboard -- if I install one it'll have to be firewalled and be configurable to reject foreign addresses.)

Anywho, the executive I spoke to acknowledged my concerns, asked for enough information to let the tech guys there get me logged off, said that his legal department had said that they were not in violation of anything (so I explained that I'd brought up Section 508 regulations in my initial message to illustrate something that's a Good Idea for private web sites even though, yes, it's only a legal requirement for US Government sites ... though come to think of it, I probably should have referred to the W3C Guidelines instead), and said that he'd talk to the web designers to find out how hard it would be to make the site accessible without JavaScript. He said he couldn't promise any changes, but he'd see what he could do about getting the site made non-JS-accessible.

(I pointed out that in darned near every case, JavaScript was used to make something fancy, not to make something possible, so it really should be a matter of making the coding less complicated than it currently is. IF there's actually some feature they've implemented which requires browser-side scripting to work, they can leave that there with a note that that feature requires JavaScript, but still make basic site navigation be just straightforward HTML.)

So once in a blue moon, somebody actually listens. Dunno whether the person listening has the power to effect change, but somebody listened.

So that's today so far ... that and getting wireless-IP access from my cell phone turned back on (let's see how long it goes between glitches this time).

Yesterday my sleep schedule was all out of whack. Ran out to do some errands before the hottest part of the day, stayed awake to be able to move the car back to my side of the street after the street-cleaning restrictions ended here and before the rush-hour restrictions started on the other side. (I haven't seen a street cleaning machine go down my street since the official drought announcements got more serious, though I've heard 'em go by on a cross street and I've seen them in other parts of the city. A fellow with a broom and a rolling trash can comes by on street cleaning days about two hours before the parking restrictions start, instead. All the cars are still in his way when he comes. Can't they put up temporary signage telling us to do something reasonable for the rest of the summer instead of doing the dance-without-meaning of moving our cars for the imaginary street sweeper machine?) Caught a too-brief nap. argued a bit in email over whether Thrir Venstri Foetr ("Three Left Feet", aka "3LF") should rehearse outdoors on a Bad Air Quality day despite having a few woodwind players and a couple people with athsma. I was having second thoughts about going at all, because I felt terrible (and in theory shouldn't have even been driving my non-air-conditioned car on a Code Red air quality day), but as it turned out I'm glad I did.

Met Xpioti for dinner in College Park at a tiny but tasty restaurant that's hard to see as you're driving past it, so I got there ten or twelve minutes later than I would have, because I had to circle around looking for it (and her cell phone battery wouldn't maintain a call long enough for her to tell me exactly where it was). She's been Very Busy lately, and it was extremely pleasant to get a chance to chat with her over food, without the distraction of both of us being in the middle of doing something else.

Then we went to dance practice, where the official word was that folks willing to practice outdoors (I want to, but I want to do it in sane weather) would start outdoors, then join the rest of us indoors when it got dark. Okay, the main point of rehearsing outdoors is to be visible, hoping that passers-by will see how much fun we're having and be enticed into joining in. Part of the plan is for folks to show up in medieval or renaissance clothing on outdoor days if they can. (Since I wasn't planning to practice outside, I just wore a black T-shirt with a map of Cyprus on it, and a gauze skirt.) Here's the irony: it was the folks killing time in the hallway inside who sucked in some strangers. Xpioti started playing one of our dance tunes on a whistle, and I started playing the snare drum I was holding (with my fingertips), and a young woman in a group near the vending machines started moving to the music. So I motioned her over, and said, "This is, in fact, dance music. Would you like to learn the dance that goes with it?" She got a friend to come over, and two of our dancers standing nearby taught them the steps to "Heart's Ease".

The outdoor folks gave up and came inside, and we found a room to practice in, but every so often these other folks would poke their heads in to see what we were doing, and we'd try to get them to come in and participate. Finally, about halfway through, we got a bunch of them to come in for one dance, before they had to run off to the class they were supposed to be in. Dunno whether any of them will come back, but they looked like they had fun while they were doing it, and that's the point.

(Our usual drummer emailed earlier to say he wouldn't be there, so I brought my snare drum and ashiko, had a lot of fun, demonstrated out out-of-practice I am on the snare, and illustrated why it's so much nicer to have our regular drummer there.)

Afterwards a bunch of us gathered at a nearby restaurant, as is our tradition; I would have gone straight home (as I usually do), but I went along to help celebrate another member's birthday the day before. Had to excuse myself early to get back to Baltimore while I was still awake enough to drive.

Got home and the office was 5 degrees C warmer (about 10F warmer) than the outside air. Fortunately the bedroom, where I was headed, was reasonably cool.

Sometimes hearing something that's not fun to hear is a Hell of a lot better than never finding out, or finding out after you've gone on doing the wrong thing long enough to Really Screw Things Up. *whew* *sigh*

This appears to be my month for connectivity problems.

I got email from a mailing list administrator saying that a recent post had been bounced as spam by my ISP. Complained on the phone, on behalf of the two other local subscribers and myself, and tech support said they'd contact network administration about it. After being off that list and another distributed out of the same place for a few hours, I've now got a message from my ISP saying that the machine in question has been removed from their "spam senders" list. I wanna know a) why it wound up there in the first place, and b) why their doing this on 2002-06-02 had no effect until noon today. Of course, (a) is rather more important than (b).

When I woke up this morning I called AT&T customer service from a deactivated cell phone to ask them to restore IP service for my main cell phone. (Deactivated phones can dial 611 and 911. Comes in handy for calling tech support about my phone, since the only thing on my land line is the modem.) I'd been unable to connect to the web or my email from my phone for a couple days. When I was in Peoria I couldn't use it because apparently only Sprint has antennas there; when I came back I couldn't connect, so I called tech support to get that straightened out. After a few days of working, it failed with different symptoms.

What's next? A postal strike? A backhoe error? Feh.