Category: product complaints

do you hate line-ups?

On By Rick McIn economics, product complaints1 Comment

I do.

Queuing is COMMUNIST.

NYT – Why Waiting Is Torture:
 By ALEX STONE

… “Often the psychology of queuing is more important than the statistics of the wait itself,” notes the M.I.T. operations researcher Richard Larson, widely considered to be the world’s foremost expert on lines.

… Research on queuing has shown that, on average, people overestimate how long they’ve waited in a line by about 36 percent.

… Uncertainty magnifies the stress of waiting, while feedback in the form of expected wait times and explanations for delays improves the tenor of the experience.

… When it comes to lines, the universally acknowledged standard is first come first served: any deviation is, to most, a mark of iniquity and can lead to violent queue rage. …

… read more

In my city there’s almost always an annoying line-up at the inexpensive Great Canadian Superstore … normally none at expensive Safeways.

Why don’t more retailers put a higher priority on reducing the length of line-ups?

I’ll walk away from some purchases, simply due to line-ups.

If not, I’ll brazenly read a magazine.

(via DF)

in search of Steve Jobs

On By Rick McIn Apple, product complaints1 Comment

The night before flying out of San Jose airport I tried to hunt down Steve.

Wanted to ask him what he was smoking the day he decided not to add a USB port to the iPad.

NOT that I’m questioning his Buddha wisdom. … There must be some good reason for him so inconveniencing millions.

I’ll keep writing a cheque to Revenue Canada each year … and a much larger cheque to Steve Jobs 🙂 proud that he’s willing to take my money.

Though I checked most of his regular hangouts, I didn’t find the Steve.

expensive hotel = CRAPPY WiFi

On By Rick McIn internet, product complaints, travelLeave a comment

The more expensive the hotel, the more likely it is that they CHARGE for WiFi.

Not only that, but the WiFi is just as often CRAPPY.

Wi-fi: why we won’t pay

Price-gouging

… Hotels have also complained that streaming digital media services like Netflix are sucking up precious bandwidth forcing the hotels to invest more money into their networks and (so they claim) to keep on charging guests per day (and per device) for internet access.

But we’ve got the numbers on how much it costs a hotel to install and maintain a decent network and there’s no reason why hotels should be charging us for this service, which is just as important as air conditioning and working toilets, other than it’s an easy revenue source. …

The 2012 HotelChatter Hotel WiFi Report

Check their INFOGRAPHIC listing FREE hotel chains vs MIXED vs PAY.

Hotel Chatter – more WiFi posts

Alberta’s Highway of Death

On By Rick McIn government, product complaintsLeave a comment

An 11-year-old girl is the fifth victim to be identified in Friday’s deadly head-on crash in northern Alberta that resulted in the deaths of seven people, including one other child. …

CBC – Girl, 11, latest victim identified in Alberta highway crash

Dear Premier Redford,

The people of Fort McMurray demand to see a plan to twin Highway 63. Yes, we’ve heard about the caribou migration and the other issues – what we have not heard is a concrete plan with completion dates and a timeline. We demand that this highway be better patrolled – and frankly I don’t give a damn what it costs to do so. As has been stated again and again we are driving the provincial economy with our oil sands industry – and we are paying for it with our lives on a highway that is inadequate for the traffic it sees. …

Theresa Wells – An Open Letter to Premier Alison Redford – Fort McMurray and Highway 63

Oscar voters look like ME

On By Rick McIn movies, product complaintsLeave a comment

… Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male, The Times found. Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%.

Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership. …


LA Times

They gave one token woman, Kathryn Bigelow, an Academy Award for directing “The Hurt Locker.”

What are those feminists complaining about? 🙂

traveling with an iPhone 4S?

On By Rick McIn Apple, product complaintsLeave a comment

Do you have advice for me?

What’s the best “solution” for someone who travels non-stop? Mostly in North America. Occasionally abroad.

• how to phone?
• how to text?
• how to get data when you don’t have a WiFi connection?

What companies?

Is getting a MiFi part of the best solution?

In Canada, I’d consider any carrier but TELUS. … I recommend everyone avoid TELUS. Hate TELUS.

Rogers seems to be the least terrible. I very much like their new One Number option.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Leave a comment if you have recommendations.

absurdities of American politics

On By Rick McIn books, economics, government, product complaintsLeave a comment

Having read Game Change, two things jump out moronic:

1. Iowa … why (since 1972) has the first major electoral event of the nominating process for President of the United States been held here?

Though only about 1% of the nation’s delegates are chosen by the Iowa State Convention, the Iowa caucuses have served as an early indication of which candidates for president might win. It’s by far the most important State. Unfairly.

If you want to be nominated you try to win Iowa. And how do you win Iowa? You buy Iowa …

2. Super PACs (new since 2010):

… which can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions and other groups, as well as individuals. …

Supposedly independent, both Romney and Gingrich have Super Pacs … run by former employees. They are a joke and a lie.

To mock Super PACs, Colbert legally formed his own — Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow (also known as the Colbert Super PAC)

Here’s one of Colbert’s real TV ads. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Parliamentary Democracy of Canada is not perfect. But I like it far better than the system in the USA.

President Newt?

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, product complaints2 Comments

What am I missing here?

Isn’t Newt Gingrich the lowest of the low? An egomaniac with no morals whatsoever?

The guy who earned $1.6 million consulting for Freddie Mac?

Why did South Carolina Republicans vote for a guy so brashly amoral?

He can’t win the Presidency. And the Republican establishment knows it.

That would be a disaster for the USA. And the world.

related – Democrat Chris Dodd is a scumbag, happy to sell his soul for $1.2 million / year as chief lobbyist for the movie industry. He and Newt will be in the same circle of Hell, so far as I’m concerned.

why Apple builds in China

On By Rick McIn Apple, books, economics, product complaintsLeave a comment

Thomas Lee for The New York Times:

… Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, few are. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year were manufactured overseas.

Why can’t that work come home? Mr. Obama asked.

Mr. Jobs’s reply was unambiguous. “Those jobs aren’t coming back,” he said …

How U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

That article has been getting wide circulation. Not even an embargo of Chinese goods by President Newt is going to bring back manufacturing. Read the article to see why.

applying to work at Foxconn

Foxconn City has 230,000 employees, many working six days a week, often spending up to 12 hours a day at the plant. … many workers earn less than $17 a day. …

related – why you shouldn’t use the new Apple iBooks Author software 😦

why I can’t vote Obama

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, product complaints3 Comments

Firstly, I’m Canadian.

But if I could vote in the USA, I don’t think I could get past Gitmo — promise #1.

“I DON’T want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close Guantánamo.” So said Barack Obama in January 2009, giving himself a year to do it.

Economist – How to close Guantánamo

… Despite promises to close Guantánamo and reverse the illegal policies of the Bush administration, President Obama has attempted to legitimize them. He has signed an executive order formalizing indefinite detentions at Guantánamo, resumed illegitimate military commissions, and refused to hold U.S. officials accountable for torture. …

CNN – Gitmo: 10 years of injustice and disgrace

Read Lakhdar Boumediene’s story and tell me YOU wouldn’t have freed him long ago, regardless of the political consequences.

I don’t care if the President didn’t have the power to close Gitmo. If you can’t deliver, don’t promise.

I’m reading Game Change, the story of what happened exactly 4yrs ago in the American election.

(via Kottke)