Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with errors

Your business is very important to us, just not important for us to do it right.

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:01:51 -0800

Is the company I work for unusual or is most corporate data this messed up? Every month I see hundred and sometimes thousands of the same errors. Anonymous because I have mentioned the company I worked for in previous answers. I work in customer service for a Fortune 500 company and I mainly clean up codes and things on accounts that are wrong. I've been there for several years but I am planning to leave. If I do, I want to know if I can expect the same thing in most other big companies. So, is this typical of your experience in larger companies, that clear-cut errors go on for years with no real attempt to prevent them?

FWIW These errors do not violate the law, but they do call into question most of the numbers my department reports, sometimes in our favor and sometimes to our detriment. Anyone speaking up about the errors is told, "Yeah we wish that other department would fix them, but they don't."

Predicting Catastrophes

adamrobinson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:05:30 -0800

When is an individual most likely to make a serious mistake (say, on the job or at some task involving risk)? I recall research that suggesting a "seven year rule" that after seven years of doing something, one has acquired enough mastery over the job or task or skill that complacence begins to creep in -- and with it, vigilance drops and disaster ensues. Any leads much appreciated.

How do I find what I am not looking for?

parudox — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:00:03 -0800

How do you increase serendipity? This is necessarily a rather general question, but I want to know about effective habits and behaviors for increasing the chances of stumbling across something useful but not sought for.

A few examples of what I think function this way for me: reading MetaFilter, having RSS feeds of blogs and journals that are only of marginal interest, and looking through stacks of unsorted used books. I'm hoping the Hive Mind knows about some other strategies.

Why does ITunes still play my video files but not sync them to my iPod?

notchristopher — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:05:00 -0800

Why does ITunes still play my video files but not sync them to my iPod? So I have itunes (newest) installed with all my video files in it. The video files are in a network drive.

I opened itunes and started to sync my ipod touch. I got an error saying that almost all the files were not found. So I look at my library and see that all my files have that exclamation point next to them. Next I just click on the video and it plays no problem. Even removes the exclamation point. I can then sync that file.

My question is do I really need to play all of my videos to fix this? I mean I have 100+ videos and run itunes on a little netbook. So you can imagine how long that would take.

I guess my only other solution I have right now is to just delete my entire library then re-add it, then resync my ipod from scratch. Have done it before just takes a few hours.

I wonder how this happened. I don't open itunes when not connected to my network for fear of this. Does itunes scan my library while closed?

Thanks a lot.

Please help me research human "parity errors".

rwhe — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 19:52:30 -0800

Can anyone point me to literature about conceptual "sign flipping" or "parity errors" and confusion of opposites in humans? I'm interested in material about errors such as subtracting time instead of adding it, or vice versa, when converting local time to GMT; grammatical double negatives; the erroneous expression "I could care less"; confusing left with right when giving directions; and so on. The more general the discussion, the better.

Even suggestions of good keywords would be helpful. Googling "parity error" brings up pages of results about errors in computer RAM.

Yes, I am familiar with the paper called "The Ghost Not", but it comes with a lot of metaphysical luggage I'm happier not to lug.

Thanks!

Logrotate cronjob fails but running at command-line works.

your mildly obsessive average geek — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:32:25 -0800

Why does my logrotate.conf file work correctly when logged in as root, but fail when executed as part of cron.daily? I have a few custom application logs that I want to rotate automatically using logrotate. I picked as a base template, the logrotate.conf file that gets installed for Apache:



/var/log/httpd/*log {

    missingok

    notifempty

    sharedscripts

    postrotate

        /sbin/service httpd reload > /dev/null 2>/dev/null || true

    endscript

}

Here are two logrotate.conf entries that I created:



/var/log/hellavcr.log {

        ifempty

        missingok

        nomail

        weekly

        rotate 1

}



/var/log/hellanzbinit.log {

        ifempty

        missingok

        nomail

        daily

        rotate 2

}

If I sudo as root and execute "/usr/sbin/logrotate hellanzb" the command executes without any errors. However, every time the cronjob "/etc/cron.daily/logrotate" runs I get a bunch of error messages:

sh: line 2: missingok: command not found

sh: line 3: nomail: command not found

sh: line 4: weekly: command not found

sh: line 5: rotate: command not found

sh: line 2: ifempty: command not found

sh: line 3: missingok: command not found

sh: line 4: nomail: command not found

sh: line 5: daily: command not found

sh: line 6: rotate: command not found

I've checked the permissions for both the logrotate.conf files and the actual log files and they seems to be identical as far as my applications and Apache goes - so why the errors?

OS Info - CentOS 5, 64-bit running on a VPS.

Please help!

Does my webhost not like Google?

tropikal — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:54:17 -0800

How can I figure out if my webhost is blocking Google indexing? A site I manage is listed on Google but any references to it are at least several weeks old. More info inside. Also I tried getting the site into the Adsense program but Google responded that our site was down or blocked. I have had trouble with the host server over aggressively blocking IP addresses for "too many bad logins" but somehow I think this is different.

When the users get blocked ive been able to submit their IP address or range to the host and 'tada' no more problems, but with Google, I've no clue what range. Or even if it's my host, maybe its my config or just Google.

http://thebehrendbeacon.com
Its a college newspaper site using Wordpress along with the SEO plugins that seem reasonable, (All in one SEO, A sitemap generator that submits to Google and others, and some others)

The robots.txt only blocks the crawlers from, non website folders, like mail, spam settings, etc.

I have tried Google webmaster tools, when I try to verify the site (HTML), it gives me an error saying it cant find the html file, or there was a DNS error.

My webhost is Mysticdreaming.net, cheap, small time, and nearly instant support. (this is really the only problem)

Any help would be appreciated

Validity of speeding ticket filled with errors?

those are my balloons — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:09:02 -0800

YASTAM (yet another speeding ticket) I received a citation for speeding the other day. All of the "driver" information is correct. (Just about) all of the vehicle information is wrong. Are there any outs? The aforementioned license information is all correct: my number, name, age, etc. However, the car's license tag, year, make, model, and arguably color are all wrong on the citation.

Would this get tossed in court? Should I hire a sleazy ticket defense firm? Should I pay my steep fine and be a newly-reformed grand citizen? Is this worth fighting?

What are innovative ideas for healthcare to save money, increase efficiency and improve outcomes?

mintchip — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 08:06:55 -0800

What are innovative ideas for healthcare to save money, increase efficiency and improve outcomes? What would be some ideas for changes to the existing US health system to save money and improve outcomes? For example, ways to better manage chronic disease, reduce medical errors, reduce duplicate tests, etc.

I'm interested in new ideas as well as ones that have been proven to work in other countries but could be "hacked" to fit the convoluted system we have here in the US.

Begging the question, for all intensive purposes: misused colloquialisms in modern English

cosmic osmo — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:41:08 -0800

Commonly misused phrases or expressions? It drives me nuts in a totally pedantic way when people misuse the phrase "take it with a grain of salt" to make the amount of salt larger (i.e. a "giant" grain) when the whole point of the expression is to emphasize how small the amount of salt should be--are there any other examples of phrases or expressions that are frequently used in the exact opposite way intended, either by mangling the phrase itself or just using it incorrectly (e.g. 'hoi polloi' to mean 'the wealthy elite' when it actually means 'the common masses')? I've seen things like lists of common errors in English, but I'm looking for this particular kind of error.

I'd rather not make this a debate on how language and meaning evolve over time and more about specific examples. Also, I have no idea how to use the phrase "to beg the question" but props to anyone who can finally explain that one to me, because I just know that'll be the first example given.

Render, damnit, render!!!

SoulOnIce — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:20:29 -0800

I can't believe I'm asking this, but oh well.... Okay, I write and troubleshoot a lot of code in classic ASP and have IIS running on my local machine... ...this is my development environment. When I am testing things and there are ASP errors (syntax, ADO, etc.) I get "The page cannot be displayed" page which gives me the Technical info about the error -- Error Type, line number, etc. If I upload this page to the live server (production) and run it, the page renders up until the point of failure meaning if the bad code is 2/3 of the way down the page, all the previous code gets rendered and displayed to the browser which is far more useful in troubleshooting the problem in the first place, plus it allows me to do Response.write's so that I can check variables, SQL statements, etc. What do I need to change in my local environment so that errors are treated the same way they are treated in production?

My first thought was some kind of Custom Error page but that didn't seem to be it....maybe I'm missing something...

Thanks in advance!

HD DVD errors...

starman — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:07:08 -0800

HD DVD errors: normal or just us? It seems like HD DVD's we get from Netflix "skip" or cause errors like crazy if the disk is even slightly scratched. The symptom usually ends up being freezing or digital artifacts followed by regular movie but no sound. Is this something that is typical of HD DVD (and/or BluRay?) or just our player (Toshiba HD-A3)?

New HD DVDs without the Netflix wear and tear seem to be fine.

Gremlins In My TV Broadcast Signal

jonson — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:32:23 -0800

DIRECTV/Fox Broadcasting Error I'm getting tiny weird checkerboard pattern errors flicking up on my screen for one or two frames at a time, all in different seemingly random locations every few seconds during every Fox broadcast (Simpsons, NFL, etc - not Fox News). I have an LCD TV & DIRECTV's new (non-Tivo) DVR. Does anyone have any idea about what's going on? It's not really a problem, since they're so small & they disappear in a heartbeat, but it's just quirky & I'm curious about it.

Any research leads on human error??

adamrobinson — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 13:23:59 -0800

Specifically I'm looking for the tendency, I believe this is correct, for practitioners in a domain (e.g., surgeons, race car drivers, whatever) to become prone to errors after seven (7) years, owing to perceived expertise, complacence, and that this becomes a particularly dangerous time. Any leads GREATLY appreciated!

Doesn't let me delete!

Devileyezz — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 20:28:49 -0800

I run Abyss Webserver, and of late.. sometimes when I try to rename/move/delete any folder within htdocs folder, it doesn't let me to. It says access denied. I try removing the read-only attrib, and it comes back. Sometimes this also happens with just any folder/file all over the filesystem.

What's wrong?

While we're on it:

I have a network in this house shared by 7 roommates, and we have mp3/movies on network share. Same workgroup name, no passwords, etc. But sometimes all of a sudden when I check out My Network Places, and I try to access "Movies on pete" or any other folder, it says Access denied, network path not found or some stupid stiff like that.

What gives?

Help me recover text from BBEdit midcrash!

jdroth — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 10:28:37 -0800

I'm using BBEdit to type a long weblog entry. I'm deep in the process of writing, so I don't save for a long time (so no lectures). Finally, when I'm nearly done, I save. I get the spinning beachball of death. I sense trouble, so I try to close other open applications via the dock. No go. The first app I try to close hangs the rest of the system. It's been five minutes now and the spinning beachball of death keeps spinning, but nothing else is happening. I can move the cursor, but mouseclicks do nothing. I have a feeling that the computer will stay like this until I power down or until you, my dear fellow mefites, help me to recover my precious writing. Is there some key combo that will let me close specific apps? Exposé does nothing right now. Help! Help! Alternately, is there a way to recover my text if I simply shut the computer off?

Should I replace my harddrive, or do I have options?

SeizeTheDay — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 19:35:05 -0800

I popped in a Win2000 disk into my Toshiba laptop (600 Mhz Celeron Satellite). Proceeded to reformat into FAT32 and it claimed that the disk has errors and refuses to format. No information lost but I've been looking at harddrives and they're priced at $65 and higher. Specs for the replacement harddrive are [2.5 inch - ATA-100 - 44 pin IDC - 4200 rpm - buffer: 8 MB]. I don't want to pay that kind of money for a relatively worthless computer. What can I do? Thanks in advance.

My friend can't send .mac emails to my gmail address.

billysumday — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 12:30:10 -0800

My friend cannot send emails from his .mac address to my .gmail address. We can send emails back and forth routing to/from different addresses, so it's not our accounts individually. Anybody else have this problem?

Split infinitives: still a menace?

reklaw — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 15:31:54 -0800

Does anyone still get upset about split infinitives? [more inside] I've been given this little sheet of grammar exercises to do, with answers, as 'self-diagnosis'. Some of them are completely ridiculous: apparently "to boldly go" should be "to go boldly" -- pah, rubbish. Other weird ones include "it was certainly him" being corrected to "it was certainly he" and "practiced" being called an incorrect spelling (with "practised" offered as a correction), when it's just an Americanism. Can I safely ignore this stuff? It reeks of musty unused old rules to me.

Copyright law and mistakes in text.

LeLiLo — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 13:58:51 -0800

I'm proofreading an OCR file of a 25-year-old book, and after I fixed it up the company (whose history it is) said I had to put back in all the original (non-OCR) mistakes (words spelled wrong, incorrect tenses, text inconsistencies, semicolons used miserably) for copyright reasons. I told them it's their copyright, and they can do whatever they want with it. No, they say, it's a historical record. It's also their money, so I'll do whatever they want . . . but are they right? Are misspelled words and poor punctuation a copyright issue? I ask this just out of curiousity. (That's one of the words they made me put back in.)