My blog posts that go over 140 characters seem wasteful and bulky, so now they’re rare(r) (but not extinct).  Twitter feed is here.

Me:  I guess those videos I uploaded for our site are pretty popular, because a lot of people are subscribing to our YouTube channel now.  We should upload more for them to see.

S (My company’s webmaster):  81 subscribers!  And we didn’t ask them to subscribe, or tell them how.

Me:  They must just be people who are into YouTube.  Tubivores?

S:  Did you just make that up?  I’m using that.

I did, and Google reveals that two other people have used the word.  One of them is the title of a deviantART image that features tubes, and the other is a username.  There is also, apparently, a robot named “The Tubavore”.

So, I hereby claim “Tubivore” meaning a person who is a power user on YouTube:  one who views videos, maybe uploads them, and knows how to search and subscribe to videos and channels of interest.

This one has got to have more legs than “Racoomba“.

I feel like a doofus.  It turns out that, for the past week, I have known the solution to Pedant’s DSL problem.  I assumed that he had to wait for some fix deep within the ISP.

That may have been the case, but by today, his issue was just like one I had a few years ago.  More importantly, I remembered the solution that Technical Support led me through^[1].

Him:  (On the phone)  Can you believe that their call volume is so high that they can’t keep me on hold?  I have to call back later.

Me: Man, that’s pretty busy.  I wonder what they have to do to fix your service.  If only your modem’s DSL light was lit, I could help you.

Him:  Actually, my DSL light has been lit for days.

Me:  …OK, buckle up.  We’re doing this.

I’m glad I was able to help a friend get back online, especially since being offline vexed him so.  I’m even glad to be able to ease the load on our provider’s overloaded call centers.  I just feel kind of dumb that I didn’t help to diagnose the problem sooner.

1. And I remembered at enough to be able to find the particulars of the solution.

Herb: I was building your new house in the new version of sketchup, but it CARASHEDDD
Herb: Oh well
Dave: Wait.
Dave: The one with tubes?
[On the previous day, Dave and I were discussing the possibilities of constructing a house that features a system of Jefferies Tubes.]
Herb: OF COURSE
Dave: Man.
Dave: Unfortunately, in real life, Jefferie’s tubes would be a breeding ground for Racoons.
Herb: Have you seen The Andromeda Strain?
Dave: Nay.
Dave: Only read it.
Herb: They solved their “animals in the tubes” problem. WITH LASERS.
Herb: I don’t recall if that part was in the book, or only in the movie.
Herb: But, you know.
Herb: LASERS.
Dave: Hmm.
Dave: Stupid racoons.
Herb: Well, you’d have to empty the carcass traps once in a while.
Dave: Naw, dude.
Dave: Racoomba.