Thursday, August 25, 2005

This is getting fucking irritating. If NTU wants to be a world-class university, it should stop imposing absurdity upon its students. There was this Forum article in the ST a couple of days back, and the writer mentioned the mandatory imposing of the $12 mandatory amenities fee. This thus makes the shuttle bus service in the school free of charge. Now, anyone would welcome such a move. Gone are the days of frantic searching for 20c coins, only to find that the lowest denomination you possess is that of 50c or a dollar. I can so testify to that. It has happened to me on quite a number of occasions, where I paid 50c for an uncomfortable, slow and rocky bus ride that was already overcharged in the first place. However, in the light of the recent hush-hush announcement (Not many knew about the $12 amenities fee because it wasn't published in the school paper nor sent to our official emails. It was just posted as a message under some shared folder), I would rather wish that such a fee wasn't imposed. I would rather pay the 20c every morning to get to class on time, rather than having to wake up earlier, rush to the bus stop earlier, only to find a burgeoning crowd of students waiting for a slow frequency bus with limited seats. It is so ridiculous that I've seen quite a number of students (friends included) take a cab to class because of the lack of seats on the shuttle bus. Now, wtf is that all about?!

If that is the case, I'd rather not stay on campus.

On another note, my internet connection was absurdly cut off last night. I had to use my roommate's cable point to access the net for the rest of the night. And when I called the CITS this morning, I was told that my computer was emitting out viruses that would harm others in the network. Now, WTF! For God's sake, I use a Mac. Macs don't have viruses! And the person on the line told me to scan my computer for viruses before he is able to request for my cable point to be enabled again.

Now there really is something wrong here.

I would rather the school fire that ineffective worker and hire someone who is more Mac-proficient. Why? Because I was instructed to look for my Ethernet's ID, and the fucker doesn't know where I should go. He kept telling me the Windows way and obviously it is wrong! And when I pointed that out, he just plainly kept on droning (yes, his voice is low and annoying) and thank goodness for my sheer luck, I actually found the Mac-equivalent of what he was talking about.

Then I had to end the bloody call cuz I was going to be late for class, and in the light of the shitty shuttle bus problem, I had to leave my room earlier than usual.

When I called him a second time after class, he changed the story! Because obviously he's finally been enlightened by the mere fact that Macs don't have viruses. Now he's telling me that my computer was trying to access forbidden ports the night before, and that is the reason why my cable point was disabled.

There is also something wrong here again.

The school network is heavily firewalled, everybody knows that. You can't access your torrents or even P2P while on the school network (LAN and wireless). So here's my logic: If there are forbidden ports in the network, security will be placed on those ports, right? (Yes, security is placed, according to the boring person) So does it matter if someone attempts to access a particular forbidden port, since ultimately access will be denied? So what's the bloody point of disenabling the cable point?! And for goodness' sake, I seriously do not know why my computer was trying to access forbidden ports. I certainly wasn't trying to hack into anything. All I did the night before was mindlessly surf the internet for information on my CS222 module. I wasn't even on P2P or anything like that! And I was just disconnected just like that! So fucking annoying!

It is just causing huge amounts of inconvenience to students who rely largely on the internet to carry out research!

So apparently now I have to wait a day before my fucking cable point is enabled again. That asshole will give me a call once it is done. And also, I was told that I am not the only person facing such problems from time to time.

Seriously, a world class university? I would think it has a long way to go.

Gv complained @ 11:41 AM

{xoxo}