Me calling T-Mobile to trying to explain to customer service that their DNS
server is returning a wrong NXDOMAIN for evanchen.cc.
Their reply: for my security, they can't file a ticket unless I have the primary
account holder with me.
; <<>> DiG 9.20.18 <<>> evanchen.cc @1.1.1.1
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 24770
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 1232
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;evanchen.cc. IN A
;; ANSWER SECTION:
evanchen.cc. 300 IN A 104.21.4.50
evanchen.cc. 300 IN A 172.67.131.172
;; Query time: 96 msec
;; SERVER: 1.1.1.1#53(1.1.1.1) (UDP)
;; WHEN: Sat Jan 31 08:44:39 EST 2026
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 72
Today's off-topic browsing:
Target pregnancy prediction scores for target advertising.
(From troyhunt.com.)
Excerpts:
As Pole’s computers crawled through the data, he was able to identify about 25 products that, when analyzed together, allowed him to assign each shopper a “pregnancy prediction” score. More important, he could also estimate her due date to within a small window, so Target could send coupons timed to very specific stages of her pregnancy.
About a year after Pole created his pregnancy-prediction model, a man walked into a Target outside Minneapolis and demanded to see the manager. He was clutching coupons that had been sent to his daughter, and he was angry, according to an employee who participated in the conversation.
“My daughter got this in the mail!” he said. “She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”
[Later] on the phone, though, the father was somewhat abashed. “I had a talk with my daughter,” he said. “It turns out there’s been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of. She’s due in August. I owe you an apology.”
what do you do when the DNS doesn't work? just, like, pray?
It seems like today is one of those "my airpod fell out of my ear into a storm drain" kind of days. Fortunately my Uber driver lent me a spare windshield wiper that I was able to use to retrieve it.
I feel like when a business website throws HTTP 500, you should get the right to skip to the front of the customer support queue.