Sutori: Digg for Consumerists – Consumerist
This site is more or less what I had in mind for Complaint Hub, except I would have skipped the meaningless Web 2.0 name. Sutori? WTF is that? I guess if I want to compete, I’ll have to hook up with the Better Business Bureau and allow people to complain to someone who really listens rather than just their fellow internet nerds.
IE 7.0 Technical Changes Leave Web Developers, Users in the Lurch
Paul Thurrott at WindowsITPro.com says (Link via Slashdot):
My advice is simple: Boycott IE. It’s a cancer on the Web that must be stopped. IE isn’t secure and isn’t standards-compliant, which makes it unworkable both for end users and Web content creators. Because of their user bases, however, Web developers are hamstrung into developing for IE at the expense of established standards that work well in all other browsers. You can turn the tide by demanding more from Microsoft and by using a better alternative Web browser. I recommend and use Mozilla Firefox, but Apple Safari (Macintosh only) and Opera 8 are both worth considering as well.
I’ve been using Firefox for a while now, and the only reason I still have IE is that it’s too much trouble (If not impossible) to get rid of it on my Windows box. Firefox includes, and has included, many of the features that are new for IE7, Microsoft’s new version of Internet Explorer that’s still in Beta. Microsoft likes to crow about their new tabbed browsing feature, which has been available in Firefox and whatever Apple’s browser is for a while.
Another major flaw with IE is the release cycle. Firefox updates all the time. When someone finds a security flaw, they fix it. If it’s serious, they force you to upgrade. And they respond quickly. Microsoft has never been quick to fix security flaws. By the time they get around to patching something, your computer has been open to who knows what for an unacceptable amount of time.
And then there’s the point of the article I linked – Microsoft isn’t standards-compliant. They use their dominant (though shrinking) market share to do whatever they want. There are standards for building web pages that are independant of whatever it is that the browser manufacturers want, and Microsoft, more than other browsers, ignores these standards.
If you’re using IE right now, I want you to go get a real browser. Firefox, Safari, Opera, all of these are much better options. IE is bad for your computer, and bad for the internet.
Got a reply from American, finally. Unfortunately, it doesn’t address any of my concerns.
August 7, 2006
Dear [Me]:
I am so sorry for your unhappy experience when you traveled with us to Las Vegas. There’s probably nothing more frustrating than having to travel when bad weather conditions play havoc with airline schedules. From your description it certainly sounds as if the delay was aggravating and uncomfortable, and it’s unfortunate we didn’t do a better job of overcoming the many challenges we faced. I am especially concerned that we missed opportunities to mitigate the effects of the weather disruption.
Unfortunately, many times we don’t have too many options to help make such situations less trying. Still, your comments enable us to understand things from our customers’ perspective, which is crucial as we strive for better performance next time.
Although we do whatever we can to minimize weather related problems, our schedules are not guaranteed; there are simply too many uncontrollable factors for us to make such a commitment. For this reason, we cannot assume financial responsibility for our customers’ personal time lost or for out-of-pocket expenses incurred as a result of operational difficulties. Instead, you have my assurance that we will always work hard to get you to your destination on time. I hope you will give us another opportunity to do so.
This is an “outgoing only” email address. If you reply to this message by simply selecting the ‘reply’ button, we will not receive your additional comments. Please assist us in providing you with a timely response to any feedback you have for us by always sending us your email messages via AA.com at http://www.aa.com/customerrelations.
Sincerely,
[Some CSR] Customer Relations American Airlines
So I replied to them via their crappy web form. They tell you not to reply to the email they send you, but then they don’t give you any way to reply via the web form that makes it clear you’re replying to an email they sent you. Here is my reply:
I sent you a letter complaining about terrible service, and you sent me a reply blaming it all on the weather. I should have been more clear in my first letter – the first delay was mechanical. Subsequent delays may have been weather related, but the first delay, the one that pushed my flight from Thursday evening to Friday morning, was a mechanical problem with our plane.
Please contact me as soon as possible. I do not consider this matter closed, although I do appreciate your apology in the email I received this morning.
I suppose my reply might have been a little snippy. But I was hoping for something a little more substantial from them than “Sorry, we don’t control the weather”.
This is not over, American Airlines.
As you may know, I’m in favor of universal health care, although it would need to be watched carefully to prevent inefficiency and abuse. If every American is guaranteed public schooling, it’s ridiculous not to offer health care as well.
I’ve always wondered, though – how do you stop abuse? I don’t want my tax dollars to go to pay for repeated bypass surgery for someone who refuses to even try to be healthy. Should everyone have to pay for the 400 pound man who smokes two packs a day and never gets off the couch?
I was talking to a friend of a friend of my fiancee, a guy who happens to be a Canadian citizen (Through a rather confusing set of circumstances). The conversation came up just as we were leaving, so it didn’t go as far as I might have liked, but he made the point that there will always be people like that, no matter what is being paid for, and we can’t choose yes or no on universal health care based on that.
It got me thinking. What about the kid in the public school system who cuts class when he can, and sleeps or misbehaves when he can’t? I don’t want to pay for his schooling, either. Or perhaps the couple who fight constantly – I don’t want to pay for the police to come break it up once a week. For any service the government provides, there will be people who abuse it.
So we have to figure out how to prevent abuse. We don’t want people rushing to the emergency room every time they sneeze in search of expensive prescription drugs. We don’t want people to abuse their bodies, knowing that corrective surgery will be available when they need it. We also need to protect the system from abuse by politicians. It would be a matter of minuntes after a universal health care system was put in place before someone tried to pass a law saying that the government would never pay for anything to do with birth control.
So, how can we make this work? I think a co-pay system might help. If people have to pay some amount, it would make them think twice about going to the doctor for something trivial. Of course, there’s virtually no way to keep a co-pay system from being like a regressive tax, and putting more burden on those with lower incomes.
A non-partisan council to determine what is necessary and what is elective might help, as well. Of course, I have no idea how such a council might be created.
So, Hillary, I’ll make you a deal. If you present a realistic and feasible plan for universal health care, I’ll vote for you, despite my misgivings. And I’ll even consent to paying for a bypass surger for the fat smoker on the couch. However, I reserve the right to throw rotten tomatoes at his house while he’s in the hospital.
Charlie’s Diary: Genre neuroses 101
I don’t really care if you read the above-linked post, although it is interesting and amusing. I found it via John Scalzi’s blog. The important part of this post is that Stross is a cool author. As is Scalzi. I don’t remember how I first came across Stross’ novel Accelerando, which he had shared online. I imagine I found it through BoingBoing. But I read it, and enjoyed it, and kept reading his stuff. I think Iron Sunrise is my favorite thus far.
I really should read more. It makes me want to write, which is both good and bad. It’s good because I like writing, but it’s bad because I can never seem to keep at it long enough to finish anything, so it’s frustrating. Maybe I’ll get a chance to hit the library this weekend.
I still have no response from them. They didn’t even respond to the online form, although I told them another letter was coming, so maybe they figured they’d wait for that. I’m not sure they realize who they’re dealing with. Do they not know who I am? They will taste the wrath of the Better Business Bureau before long, you wait and see. They will rue the day they stole 16 hours of my bachelor party.
Senate Rejects Estate, Minimum Wage Bill
The GOP strategy put Democrats in an uncomfortable position. Either they could vote against the bill – thus rejecting a minimum wage increase – or they could vote for it – thus agreeing to cut taxes on multimillion-dollar estates. Most rejected the bill, blocking a GOP victory months before the election.
Never mind that it’s disgraceful that the minimum wage is tied to the whims of politicians rather than some real measure of economic conditions. That’s a post for another day. I fail to see who benefits from tying together two unrelated bills. This is (or should be) an abuse of the system. If I have a bill that no one wants to vote for, then I tack it on to a bill that everyone wants to vote for, and therefore get my bill passed, that only serves me. It does not serve the public.
When I vote for Congressmen and Senators, I don’t do it with the idea that my Congressmen and my Senators will fight for exactly what I want at the expense of everyone else. I vote for them so that they can take some views I agree with into the larger discussions of what’s best for the country.
This particular case is pretty despicable, too. Bill Frist desperately wants to repeal the estate taxes so that wealthy people can leave more to their wealthy children. He can’t get enough votes to do it, so he (or someone else, I don’t know) attaches the bill to a raise in the minimum wage. So, take a bill to help put more tax burden on lower income people, and tie it to a bill that people mistakenly thinks helps some of those same lower income people, and voila! You have a bill that everyone likes.
Except what we really need is a simplified tax code that treats all income like income, and then makes some exceptions to promote things we want to promote, like saving and investing and charitable contributions. Then we need to rethink the minimum wage laws. Yes, I know I said this was for another day, but I’m on a roll. First, determine what the minimum wage is supposed to do. Is it supposed to guarantee that a couple on minimum wage can raise a family? If that’s the case, it’s way too low. Is it supposed to be a guideline for what to pay a sixteen-year-old kid on his first job? Well, then it at least needs to incorporate cost of living adjustments. Whatever it’s supposed to do, it’s broken now, and this bill isn’t going to fix it.
Being Greenish: Silverado, Sierra to be GM’s First Hybrid Trucks; Fall 2007 Launch – Jalopnik
I’m always quick to bash GM (Because they make shitty cars and embrace dead-end means for saving the planet like corn-based ethanol), but I will give credit where credit is due – GM will probably beat Toyota to market with the first hybrid pickup. This is exactly what the American auto industry needs – to fire back against the attacks that Toyota and Nissan (And, to a lesser extend with the ridiculous Ridgeline, Honda) have been mounting against American dominance in the large truck market.
Americans like to buy big trucks. For some, it’s a necessity. And the Toyota Tundra and Nissan Titan have finally given consumers a real alternative to Ford, GM, and Dodge. So it’s nice to see GM fighting back, and in exactly the direction I like to see. Sure, a V8 hybrid isn’t going to get 30 MPG. But if it gets improved mileage, doesn’t lose a significant amount of power, and runs a lot cleaner, then I’m willing to pat GM on the back for this one. Assuming this isn’t just a rumor.
I was listening to NPR this morning, and they were of course talking about the conflict (War? Is it officially a war? Does it matter?) over in Israel and Lebanon. Now, I’m a little biased, since I have cousins in Israel. But NPR explained how France, and many of the other countries who might be involved in a security force, don’t wish to go in and secure the area until there is a cease-fire and Hezbollah has been disarmed. Now, set aside the fact that it seems silly to wait to send in a peace-keeping force until after there is some amount of peace. How would you feel if you were Hezbollah? This is a group fighting for power, and now the world is going to come in and pat them on the head and tell them, “If you want to be a real political power, you’re going to have to give us your guns and play by our rules”. That’s insulting, and patronizing, and it’s the kind of attitude that makes people all over the world hate us.
I don’t know enough about the situation over there to offer a solution. But I know enough about human nature to realize that disarming Hezbollah and not Israel is going to make a lot of people really mad.
Democrats Scrambling To Organize Voter Turnout
It seems to me that, in the current political climate of 36% approval ratings, if you can’t get Democratic voters to actually get out and vote, then the problem is not with your voter turnout schemes. The problem is that you have offered no compelling reason to vote for you. “I’m not a Republican” is not a compelling reason to vote for you.
Maybe if Democrats actually focused on the issues. For example, I’d love to see a Democrat with a real plan to get us out of Iraq. But we have to finish what we started, first. We can’t just leave while the country is still in disarray. And what about the environment? Health care? The economy? You can’t just claim that the Republicans are ruining everything and leave it at that.
It’s frustrating. If the Democrats can’t take back the House and Senate now, when Bush and his supporters are so unpopular, then the party should be disbanded.