@Vodacom - Shocking email ability... Can you Read?

Ok, so I emailed vodacom with some questions (a specific store)...

Hi,
I am due for an upgrade, and would like to express interest in the Samsung Galaxy S+ (i9001).
I am currently on a "weekender" but I am not really happy with it, as I am less of a talker, and more of a data user.  So I was wondering if I could go top-up 135 or perhaps the all day 100.

I would also like to know on the Everyday off - peak s, it doesn't specify that the minutes are for off-peak periods only on the web.  Is it in fact anytime minutes, or is it only off-peak minutes? (http://www.vodacom.co.za/personal/phonesandpackages/everydayoff-peaks)

If you could fill in for me the table above, it would really help me make my decision.  Also, could you indicate if the above monthly prices are VAT inclusive or exclusive?

 Just by the way, it's pretty hard to try to get a blog to display excel like tables. :-(

Anyway, so eagerly awaiting their reply I got this...

Please note when you upgrade you may migrate to any package, there will be no cost for this migration

The Everyday Off Peak 120 package free minutes does not qualify for Data, only for Voice

It is only off peak minutes that can be used off peak times

Useful information I'm sure. Free migration, and... well, I wonder if he was thinking I was hoping to "surf" with my minutes... And just to clarify, I can only do that (which I can't) during off-peak times.  Anyway, maybe I could've made my initial email more clear.  No answer about VAT, nothing about the cash pay-ins... So here's my next attempt:

Thank you very much for your reply.  Could you please elaborate on these points:

• The cash pay-ins for the different phones?  (Galaxy S+ or the Galaxy II... Please note that it is the i9001 and NOT the i9000).

• Is the bills VAT inclusive or exclusive? 

Ok, this time I think my questions are concise and pretty much understandable. Their reply:

Please confirm if you would like the pay in’s for these handsets on the Everyday off peak 120 Package? 

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?! You did not even attempt to answer my fairly explicit questions?  Are you even reading my email?! Ok, here I am still going at it...

I assume there would be a pay in.  And I am interested in one of those handsets.
 Could you please indicate the different pay-in amounts on the different contract/phone options. 
The yellow blocks.

 Their reply... was... the most IQ I've seen I guess... 

Good Day Please see below dealsheets we have

And proceeded to copy and paste everything they have on the two phones from their dealsheet "document".  Which I believe was probably a violation of their terms and conditions with Vodacom.

I believe I would've received better service from an automated computer program.

Git via a http proxy on windows

I found this tutorial on line (there are several ones similar to this one). But that didn't work for me.

Reason being that our proxy is more adamant at asking for the password than most. So what worked for me was:

git config --global http.proxy http://[username]:[password]@[proxyaddress]:[port]

Obviously, everytime you update your password you'll need to update your global proxy setting.
Port is usually 80, or 8080.

Fringe vs Heroes

I was recently "forced" to review Heroes vs Fringe.

(Also as a side note, the Auto-Save failed, because I assume it was 5:20 in the morning on the 20/5... Nope. must be some other reason why the autosave failed, because 5:21 it still failed.)

I want to give a shout-out to the fringe team from South Africa, I think some auto-search of google *might* hit it, if they're interested, their fans will hit it anyway. I watched Episode 20 of Season 3 of Fringe yesterday evening fairly late (as DSTV/Multichoice increased their prime time to 5-11? WTF 6 hours of prime time? Anyway... continuing) on TV. Fringe is similar genre as Heroes, but they, so far, has stayed true to the initial "universe" and made the plot more interesting. (Some things like the plastic discs implanted in the palms, they've kinda gone away from), but generally the story remained interesting, they stayed with characters, and did a great job so far.

Relatively speaking, heroes had changed the plot, they've switched Sylar to good, they've F*cked up their own creation which we came to love. So basically, I'm watching fringe, and won't really watch heroes/buy heroes/support heroes series. I think the writers failed heroes, and I'll never know if they made it better, because of that failure.

I guess because fringe is a much smaller cast, the show has higher odds of doing things right, and surviving increased pay that actors will demand. Also I think they might reach a proper "natural" end to the plot.

Absa Loses internet?

Absa's internet banking for the last 24-48 hours have been so shockingly slow, or even non-existent, that many believe their security is at risk. When I was logged on yesterday, it was so slow that the left panel never appeared, and my surephrase was only displayed during log-on not during the session itself. The response rate was also so slow that clicking on an account took so long that the session would normally have timed-out (maybe it did, but it just didn't tell me?) before the click completed.

Hello Peter's comments are mostly going towards "other" because well, internet banking connectivity is not one of the options. http://www.hellopeter.com/feedback.php?period=7&company=ABSA

Personally I *hope* it's up to incompetence and not a security flaw. But, I have to say, there is not a single word on the site regarding it, there is no communication, it is absolutely shocking how bad they are handling it.

Back to the surephrase part, really ups the risk that it was a security problem. :-(((((((