telnet vs netcat

1. netcat
1. prints only what is sent by the remote host
2. telnet
1. not suitable for arbitrary binary data 
1. reserves some bytes as control characters 
2. quits when its input runs out
1. you may not see what the other end sends
3. doesn't do UDP

git push/pull just current branch

1. git config --global push.default tracking
2. git config --global pull.default tracking

FYI, these settings are saved in ~/.gitconfig