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Corporate deeds, misdeeds and everything else.

Driving Hybrid Helps Put More SUVs on the Road

What?

Hey… don’t look at me. Blame your elected officials. Write a letter to your congressman or something…

It’s a surprising twist that nobody talks about, even the nosey media…

The most important reason is a government policy that, amazingly enough, seems almost intended to undercut the benefits of efficient cars. In 1978, Congress set a minimum corporate average fuel economy, known as CAFE, for all carmakers. Today, the minimum average for cars is 27.5 miles a gallon. (For SUVs and other light trucks, it is 21.6.)

You can guess what this means for hybrids. Each one becomes a free pass for its manufacturer to sell a few extra gas guzzlers. For now, this is less true for Toyota’s cars, because they’re above the mileage requirement. But Toyota’s trucks and the American automakers are right near the limits. So every Toyota Highlander hybrid SUV begets a hulking Lexus SUV, and every Ford Escape–the hybrid SUV that Kermit the Frog hawked during the Super Bowl–makes room for a Lincoln Navigator, which gets all of 12 miles a gallon. Instead of simply saving gas when you buy a hybrid, you’re giving somebody else the right to use it.

The hybrid, then, is just about the perfect example of what’s wrong with our energy policy. It’s a Band-Aid that does a lot less to help the Earth than we like to tell ourselves. When Vice President Dick Cheney dismissed conservation as “a sign of personal virtue” a few years back, a lot of environmentalists were disgusted. But that, sadly, is what a lot of well-meaning hybrid owners are driving: an expensive symbol that they’re worried about our planet, rather than a true solution.

Tricky tricksters…

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Author shunPosted on 02/12/200602/12/2006Categories No Logo, Politics, Society + Environment3 Comments on Driving Hybrid Helps Put More SUVs on the Road

Bush Administration Axed Funding for Research on Children’s Health

From NPR:

All Things Considered, February 8, 2006 · The Bush administration has canceled funding for the most ambitious study of children’s health ever designed — prompting outrage among scientists and public health officials. The study was to investigate the causes of widespread obesity and asthma, among other childrens’ health problems.

Hmm.. So, tax cuts for his friend was a go. Invading Iraq costing American people billions was a go. But Jesus Christ, what does America need healthy children for!?

The full audio clip is available at NPR.

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Author shunPosted on 02/09/200602/09/2006Categories Baby stuff, No Logo, Politics1 Comment on Bush Administration Axed Funding for Research on Children’s Health

Microsoft Sells Service to Protect Windows from Harm

According to this article from Yahoo News, Microsoft is serious about protecting its users… for a fee…

A new security service from Microsoft Corp. will charge users $49.95 per year to better protect its Windows operating system from spyware, viruses and other Internet attacks.

Microsoft plans to release the product in early June.

Called Windows OneCare Live, the subscription service will compete with security products made by traditional Microsoft partners, including Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc. — although the software giant insists that its aim is not to run those companies out of business.

Wait. Wait. Wait… So basically Microsoft is saying, “Screw selling a secured operating system. This is great business opportunity! Let’s charge $50 for the ‘real patch’ and we’ll be rich!”

WTF!

This is brilliant! If you can’t make something good enough, sell your users something else to patch it! So the past 15 years has been a set up, building everything up to this point. If Microsoft hasn’t been able to make its own operating system safe and secured, what makes people think their service will? Do people in their board room even think about that?

When I mentioned the article to Kyung, he responded, “they are taking advantage of their own deficiency.” And then he reminded me of the infamous Blue Screen of Death often seen on Microsoft products. People were experiencing BSOD so often that they might as well put ads on them to generate some revenue…

I thought Mac users are the suckas who eat up everything Apple makes… It looks like all you Windows users are the idiots here for using something that’s broken and spend more to make it work the way it’s supposed to… How do you people sleep at night? (Because I know Microsoft exectives will sleep just fine.)

via [MacDailyNews]

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Author shunPosted on 02/08/200602/10/2006Categories Geek Stuff, No Logo, WindowsLeave a comment on Microsoft Sells Service to Protect Windows from Harm

Policy Makers Not in the Loop

I came across this article today and was pretty disturbed after reading it…

“Last week, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on the ‘Broadcast Flag’ and ‘Audio Flag,’ a set of proposals by the MPAA and RIAA that would stifle innovation by giving content holders a virtual veto over new technologies and existing user rights,” iPaqAction.org writes. “But Senator Stevens, the 82-year old committee chairman from Alaska, surprised the audience by announcing that his daughter had bought him an iPod, and suddenly Stevens had a much greater understanding of the many ways innovative technology can create choice for consumers. Content industry representatives at the hearing found themselves answering much tougher questions than they typically receive.”

This is so wrong on so many levels. First of all, how does a fricking 82-year-old living fossil get to become committee chairman of a technological debate when he hasn’t even used the technology himself? Has this been how policies have been made in the history of this nation? Someone who has not used the technology and doesn’t understand its underpinning affects to the rights of both the consumers and corporate entities get to call the shots in this debate. They are all just making all this shit up as they go like that clueless company I was consulting with? This is absolute chaos from a consumer’s standpoint. These guys are making policies left and right without even understanding even the tiniest bit on how they will affect everything else. Makes me wonder what kind of homework the lawmakers did before they passed DMCA of 1998.

God I can’t tolerate idiotic lawmakers.

via [MacDailyNews]

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Author shunPosted on 02/01/2006Categories Apple, Geek Stuff, No Logo, Politics, RantLeave a comment on Policy Makers Not in the Loop

Mechanic Street Sweepers

If I woke up early enough, I could see street sweepers quietly sweeping the streets of Taiwan when I was younger. They quietly collected all the garbage from the day before and dutifully tidied them into trash liners. Maybe it was because no one else wanted that kind of job, or maybe it was really tough work, the sweepers were almost exclusively elderly women or retired soldiers from the Chiang Kai-shek era. And that’s been going on for a long time.

Fast forward to my arrival to the United States. I started to notice that nobody actually sweeps in their homes in America — they vacuum. In fact, it was pretty tough to find brooms at Walmart. But cheap vacuums were everywhere. As for the outside yard work, Americans use these blowers to blow the leaves around. Is that laziness or ingenius at work? Is it that much more efficient to use gasoline to blow the leaves, dusts and garbage all the while generating polution? But then I realized that some people simply blow the trash into their neighbors’ yards. So the trash actually never gets picked up… because the next time the neighbor’s out cleaning his yard, he’s going to blow them right back!

On the industrial side, Americans have invented these huge street sweeping machines to help clean the never ending streets of America. In fact, these machines are so big and mean, if your car is ever in the way of it cleaning, you get a ticket (in humble Savannah, GA, a ticket of that sort is worth about $12; but in NYC, I think it was $65 or something rediculous like that). But the thing is, these damn machines don’t actually clean the streets either. All they do is sweeping trash from one corner of the street to the next. And a lot of times they are cleaning the streets when the traffic is the worst. Nothing’s more frustrating than to be driving behind one of those monsters. But again, I question these machines’ efficiency and usefulness. Is it really that much cheaper to purchase hordes these expensive machines, and to maintain and insure them, and then to have to hire someone and train that person to do the street cleaning? Is that an attempt to glorify what the society deems a “low paying” job (by driving a machine like that, they become “operators”, not street sweepers anymore)? Or maybe the government just doesn’t want to have to deal with the labors and the unions?

There’s probably more politics and “corporate economics” behind all this than meets the eye. But it sure makes America look all advanced and futuristic having monster machines sweeping the streets and men with blowing devices blasting dirt and leaves everywhere. Long live Land of the “Free“.

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Author shunPosted on 01/25/200601/29/2006Categories No Logo, Politics, Society + Environment, TaiwanLeave a comment on Mechanic Street Sweepers

The Power of the Banks Over Consumers

It really pisses me off to see monthly charges on my bank account when the balance falls under a certain amount that my bank sets. I am letting them to use MY money to loan to other people for a much higher interest. And yet THEY want to charge ME money for letting them having MY money? Crooks!

And I love how the poorer you are in America, the more happliy the banks are willling to rob from you, legally. See, in the United States, most banks place a set of restrictions on most checking and savings accounts. Some accounts limit how many checks you can write, other limit how many visits you can have at the counter. Yet others charge you a “monthly maintenance fee” for letting your overall account balance dip under a set amount (varies from 500 to $1500 depending on the bank).

It’s precisely because I am f*cking poor and that’s why I can’t consistently keep a strong balance, but somehow the bank has to labor over the fact that I have no money and charges me a “maintenance fee”?! What the f*ck is there to maintain a broke man’s checking account? Seriously?! While they are charging me for having too little money in the checking account, “premium” accounts, where people have tens of thousands of dollars, get this, receive free checking with no penalties. If you asked me, it takes more effort to manage and monitor THOSE accounts than someone who’s life depends on the social service. It should be the other way around! Crooks.

And what’s the deal with all the limitations on check writing that certain banks impose? Why do they care if I wrote more than 8 checks a month? Sure, the bank has to process them and post them. But isn’t that the bank’s job? And how come they are loaning money out to people anywhere at 5% to 20% depending on the terms, but yet they will only allow you to make a meager interest of far less than 3% in most cases — across ALL banks!?

And don’t even get me started on ATM fees and outbound and inbound service charges! Why does MY bank charge me $1.50 if I use someone else’s ATM machine? It’s bad enough that THEIR bank already charges me $1.50! And then how come they charge me for incoming wires as well as outgoing wires? Shouldn’t the bank be happy that I am getting money INTO the account? Hello? The worst part is, it costs $10 to recieve money via wire. TEN WHOLD DOLLARS!! WTF?! In Taiwan, a wire transfer costs NT700 (roughly $2) to send and nothing to receive! ARGH! CROOKS!.

All of these things, of course, are legal under current U.S. banking laws. Just like Howard Hughs once said of the U.S. Senators, “I don’t want to bribe them. I want to do it legally — I want to own them.” Banks pretty much own the United States Senators and Congressmen (as do the major corporations). Laws are passed in favor of those corporate entities and the people who run them, not in favor of the little guys who are struggling to make ends meet. And THAT, friends, is what’s wrong with America today. When lobbyists and corporate executives can call the lawmakers’ private numbers in the middle of the night to sneak a provision into a bill while ordinary citizens can’t even get an appointment to meet their aids.

Big, socially unconcious corporations suck. But worse are the lawmakers who are had by the balls of those corporations. Voting in most countries these days seem to have lost its meaning. Everything’s bought with money and corporate favors. And nothing is being done to address them (this is even more visible in Taiwan where the president is involved in many publicly known and visible scandals but yet it’s clear that he’s not going to get in trouble for them).

God, I hate banks.

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Author shunPosted on 01/24/200601/25/2006Categories No Logo, Politics, Rant, Society + Environment, Taiwan4 Comments on The Power of the Banks Over Consumers

New Windows Live Mail Beta (aka Hotmail 3.0)

I finally got accepted to test Microsoft’s latest improvement over its Hotmail. It now sports an AJAX interface which updates information on a web page without it ever having to refresh. It tries to act like a desktop mail client but fails pretty badly on its first attempt.

First of all, none of the browsers I used worked fully with all of its features. Microsoft, in all its endless wisdom, decided they’d make the site compatible to Microsoft Internet Explorer first and foremost (and maybe make it compatible with other “things” later). This is a drastic contrast to Google’s philosophy of trying to make its Gmail work with all major browsers.

Windows Live Mail Beta

I also found the site refreshing more than it should. This new “free upgrade” supposedly comes with increased 2GB of email space. But I couldn’t find any option to see the usage anywhere. Maybe that’s one of the features only available for IE users for now.

All in all, I’d rate Windows Live Mail “C-” for effort, “F” for look and feel, “D” for functionality and technical implementation. What kind of jackass AJAX implementation works with only one type of browser nowadays? This site was the first I encountered where most AJAX functionalities were not compatible to other browsers.

While I am on a rant rampage, a word about Yahoo’s up-and-coming revamp of ITS web mail system. I applied to be a beta user back in November (or maybe early December). I never heard from them again. Then in mid-December, I got an email saying that I was almost there. While this was happening, I applied for Microsoft’s Live Mail Beta and started using it within a few weeks. It seems like everytime I deal with Yahoo, the company becomes less and less attractive in many ways. It’s become a me-too company from the media sensation and tehnology innovator that it was in 2000. But that aside, Yahoo’s new webmail is going to be pretty crazy in terms of functionality (since it mirrors features and look and feel that rival a true desktop application, which in turn begs the question — where’s the innovation in that? (especially given the fact that the company bought another company to get that… it’s not like they came up with it)).

Yahoo's 'almost there' email

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Author shunPosted on 01/22/200601/22/2006Categories Day to day life, Geek Stuff, No Logo, RantLeave a comment on New Windows Live Mail Beta (aka Hotmail 3.0)

Internal Logistics within Companies

Mike Neely from college gave me a call a couple of months ago about helping him out on a PHP/MySQL/Flash project he was contracting. He wanted to contract out the back end programming part of the project to me. It sounded like a great way to pick up more PHP and MySQL; so I took it.

Two months later, his clients were still dragging their feet on getting their shit together on requirements, interface mockups and functionalities. And then all of a sudden, the project was due in two weeks…. So for the past week, I have been hauling ass trying to put the back end programming and database together.

The most interesting part of this project was the “discovery” phase, where I got to talk to the clients and asked them just how exactly they wanted certain things to work in the database. And boy, was I in for a surprise! I have never seen a company of its size with so much mess in its internal logistics and planning. Everything was revealed when I was asking questions regarding how each database entity should work with each other. The clients were practically making up rules and company policies as we went along. It was freaky. How can a profit-making, fairly well-known niche company be so clueless about so many things? That almost makes me wonder if all the other companies are the same way.

That was a drastic change from the last company I worked at where the top brasses were micromanaging everything. This makes me appreciate even more for a healthcare products company I am consulting at… The trust is on me to make all major decisions. But because of that trust, I am cautious enough to reconsider all possible angles and consult with the owner(s) for things that warrant discussions.

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Author shunPosted on 01/20/200601/20/2006Categories Geek Stuff, No Logo, Rant1 Comment on Internal Logistics within Companies

Opinions of SCAD

Bumped into a couple of sites with tons of comments on SCAD. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to document them on my blog so that they may benefit some people looking to apply for admission at SCAD.

Art School FAQ hosted on Livejournal is a pretty nice place. But there are a lot of misconceptions (or just facts blown out of proportion) about SCAD’s operations. No school is perfect. But SCAD seems to be the only school people like to bash on quite often.

StudentReview.com is another nice place to look at what people think of their schools. SCAD got a “C” for campus safety… Yikes. I think the Mayor of Savannah needs to really do something about that. Slow business for SCAD also means slow business for the city. While SCAD gets a B average, other more prestigious schools in big cities don’t seem to do quite as well in certain areas.

I hope people actually visit SCAD and talk to the professors, students and the people there. Reading opinions from those online forums is only one way to find out what something is “like”. But nothing beats the experience of visiting the school and talking to the people there in person.

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Author shunPosted on 12/29/200512/29/2005Categories No Logo4 Comments on Opinions of SCAD

Yet Another Reply from Bath and Body Works

Just out of the blue, I received another reply from another customer service representative, except this time, we have a last name to go by:

From: BBWCustomerRelations@bbw.com
To: *****@gmail.com
Date: Dec 21, 2005 7:59 AM
Subject: Case 872243

December 21, 2005
Shun Chu
Case # 872243

Dear Shun,

Thank you for e-mailing us. It’s wonderful to have customers like you who take the time to share their thoughts and suggestions with us.

We want to let you know how much we appreciate your input regarding our products and not offering refills for the anti-bacterial hand soap. We have forwarded your comments to the appropriate department for further consideration.

Thanks again for contacting us. We hope you will continue to enjoy your favorites from Bath & Body Works and The White Barn Candle Co. If we can do anything else for you, please feel free to reply to this e-mail (please do not change the subject line) or call us at 1-800-395-1001.

Sincerely,

Kim Whitney
Customer Relations Representative

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Author shunPosted on 12/21/200512/21/2005Categories No Logo, Rant1 Comment on Yet Another Reply from Bath and Body Works

Bath and Body Works Finally Got It!

Three messages later (the first reply completely missed the point; and the second reply made the company look like a jackass), “someone” finally got it…

Um… no, I don’t find the item disappointing. What I find disappointing is the fact that Bath and Body Works does NOT sell refill foaming hand soaps for the dispenser.

This is the second email I received from Bath and Body Works with a reply that’s totally missing the point. Are you guys even reading the emails for its true content? Or are customer emails simply being replied by automatic reply programs that seeks matching keywords?

Best,

Shun Chu

And their reply two days later (on a SUNDAY!!):

Dear Shun,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding our foaming hand soaps. We appreciate your interest in Bath & Body Works.

As a leader in our industry, Bath & Body Works takes great interest and initiative in making changes beneficial to our customers.

We appreciate your suggestion and comment on carrying refills for the foaming hand soap; customer suggestions provide direction for changes in future merchandise and service.

We have forwarded your e-mail on to our Customer Relations Department for further review of your suggestion on making refills available.

Sincerely,

Kristi G.
BathandBodyWorks.com Customer Service

The company really cares about its customers. SO much so that their customer service people work over time and relpy messages on a Sunday. Or it was replied by a machine just as Birgit suspected… Or maybe the place is somewhere in India where it’s cheap to pay them work overtime. But then Alicia says the company has pretty good track record with stuff like that… So I am forced to selectively think that Bath and Body Works has a sophisticated application that parses through emails and reply according to their context. Shweet!

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Author shunPosted on 12/18/200512/21/2005Categories No Logo, Rant1 Comment on Bath and Body Works Finally Got It!

Bath and Body Works Doesn’t Care About What Consumers Think

After a stupid robotic reply that missed my point from Bath and Body Works, I wrote back and made sure they got my point. The email was shorter. So maybe this time someone at the busy profit-making Bath and Body Works WOULD read it:

Original Message Follows:
————————
Thank you for your reply to my concern. However the subject matter is a bit off topic as to what my real concern was. My concern was the fact that Bath and Body Works does not offer any kind of refill options or
alternatives to any of its liquid or foaming hand soap bottles. None. By not making refill an option to consumers like me, I have to throw away/recycle a perfectly working dispenser I other wise wouldn’t have to
throw away if Bath and Body Works sells some kind of refill kit so that I can continue using your nicely designed and perfectly functioning foaming soap dispenser.

I appreciate the response.

Best regards,

Shun Chu

And the next day, I got another reply which makes it apparent that my email was handled by some kind of email keyword matching software with calculated pre-formated replies. Well, that algorithm is still not good enough:

Dear Shun,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding refills for our liquid soap dispensers. We regret that you found this item to be disappointing.

We are committed to maintaining the highest level of quality and excellence with our merchandise. We assure you that your comments will be shared with our Customer Relations Division.

Sincerely,

Serena M.
BathandBodyWorks.com Customer Service

WTF! It made me feel like I was talking to an airhead. Either those two customer service reps Bath and Body Works hired were just clueless or those email replies were sent by a machine. God damn it! Why is this so stupid?!

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Author shunPosted on 12/16/200512/16/2005Categories No Logo, Rant1 Comment on Bath and Body Works Doesn’t Care About What Consumers Think

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