Post AcwfK86i0DXbbrsRea by dan@m.danq.me
(DIR) More posts by dan@m.danq.me
(DIR) Post #AcwfK5fh3gk83VDqGe by dan@m.danq.me
2023-12-18T17:19:34Z
2 likes, 2 repeats
British Gas's programmers don't believe that a surname can be only a single character.Their customer service agents worked around this by adding a parenthetical note to my record.The result is hilarious postal mail that tries to reassure me that my surname really is what it is:
(DIR) Post #AcwfK6xoFopQ3yhp8y by simonzerafa@infosec.exchange
2023-12-18T17:23:51Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@dan That's an issue straight out of the "Falicies Programmers Believe About Names" list 🫤🤷♂️
(DIR) Post #AcwfK86i0DXbbrsRea by dan@m.danq.me
2023-12-18T17:24:24Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simonzerafa Linked directly to that list (which I love!) in the version of this note on my blog: https://danq.me/it-is-only-q
(DIR) Post #AcwfK8HLMg328qqwEK by dan@m.danq.me
2023-12-18T17:23:40Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
I'm ignoring for the moment the fact that they're also using the wrong title for me, despite having been corrected on a previous occasion.
(DIR) Post #AcwfK8yalsduIz5Tdo by simonzerafa@infosec.exchange
2023-12-18T17:25:58Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@dan The list about time is also a classic. I probably made most of the mistakes on that one myself.If it's not an impertinent question what is the origin of your most excellent name? 🙂🤷♂️
(DIR) Post #AcwfK9mZm2coo0TOYC by dan@m.danq.me
2023-12-18T17:29:54Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simonzerafa Long version: https://danq.me/qtl;dr version: back in 2007 my then-partner (@esk) and I - who'd not wanted to marry but who wanted the same surname for a while but been too indecisive to choose one - decided to cut the choices down by selecting a single-character name. We later broke up and they married (and changed their name) but I'm quite attached to mine so I kept it.Fun bonus fact: approximately since my name change I've run https://freedeedpoll.org.uk to help British citizens change their names for free without a solicitor.
(DIR) Post #AcwfKAZqoq2ZGpWkM4 by penguin42@mastodon.org.uk
2023-12-18T20:38:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@dan @simonzerafa @esk Hmm interesting, you say 'Firstly, you must have at least two names' - I thought I knew at least one mononym
(DIR) Post #Acwfc5t4ziYfwC4I4W by dan@m.danq.me
2023-12-18T20:42:05Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@penguin42 @simonzerafa @esk Yes, mononyms are technically acceptable. You can't register a birth (in the UK) with one, but you can change your name to one. I didn't know that in 2007, when I wrote that post.Note that many government databases including the Passport Office don't fully accept that, though (they, for example, will record your mononym as your first name and "XXX" as your surname).
(DIR) Post #AcwffZBcWA8dfxOdJw by simonzerafa@infosec.exchange
2023-12-18T20:42:44Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@penguin42 @dan @esk A lot of people have a legal name which is one word. If the system can't cope then it's the systems fault 🙂🤷♂️
(DIR) Post #AcwgwJchjabOHhcCKO by penguin42@mastodon.org.uk
2023-12-18T20:56:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@dan @simonzerafa @esk Ah right, yes it was @wookey I was thinking of.(Although I wonder if your single character surname will cause more interesting problems; my younger self had sharded a database based on 1st 2 characters of surname)
(DIR) Post #Ad0HlukwZZedfSnNeS by hj@shigusegubu.club
2023-12-20T14:33:33.941383Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@dan is this you? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(Star_Trek)image.png
(DIR) Post #Ad0JO1z4FS2j2i8nui by dan@m.danq.me
2023-12-20T14:51:29Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@hj Folks have sometimes asked me - and which they choose says quite a lot about them, I find - "Q? Is that like Q from Star Trek, or Q from James Bond?"My response: "No, it's like Q, the set of all rational numbers."Source: https://danq.me/q
(DIR) Post #Ad0JQTp3iSLvxgcxPs by hj@shigusegubu.club
2023-12-20T14:52:09.332369Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@dan oh, so you are related to Aleph Zero huh