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Corporate deeds, misdeeds and everything else.

Corporate Reply from Bath and Body Works

I wrote about Bath and Body Works’ lack of liquid hand soap refill kits before. In fact, I excercised my power as a consumer and wrote them about the matter.

To: customerservice@bathandbodyworks.com
From: *****@gmail.com
Subject: Retail Stores Comments/Questions

Order Number:
Name: Shun Chu
Phone Number: 408.***.****

Wrote: To whom this may concern:

While my wife and I admire the fine quality of your products, I was stunned to have found out that Bath & Body Works does NOT make any kind of refill kit for all of your liquid and foaming hand soap products!! I am particularly disappointed with the fact that wonderfully designed foaming hand soap dispensers are going to waste when they are still in perfect working conditions.

For a major company like Bath & Body Works under the umbrella of Limited Brands, I was hoping BBW would do more to help the recycling efforts in curbing volumes of perfectly working liquid/foaming hand soap bottles going into landfills.

After doing some research, it appears Dial and Johnson+Johnson seem to be taking the lead in that area. I am so sorry that we will be using their refillable bottles until BBW addresses this problem.

My family loves using your products. But we love the environment a little more. Sorry.

Best Regards,

Shun Chu

Impressively, their turn around time on replying to consumer concerns was incredibly fast — the next day!

Dear Shun,

Thank you for you email regarding the recycling of our product packaging. We will be happy to address your concern.

We value our reputation for excellent customer service, and always take great interest and initiative in making changes which are beneficial to our customers.

At Bath & Body Works, we share your concern for protecting the environment. After thoroughly investigating trash handling in all 50 states, we found that the best overall plan for recycling is local disposal. In many communities the trash is recycled by burning to create energy, which saves other precious fuels like oil and gas. Waste disposal experts show that by converting waste to energy, the amount of waste going to a landfill is reduced by 90%, which eliminates 99% of the air pollution.

Previously, Bath & Body Works had to use another container with packing materials and as many as three trucks burning gasoline and emitting pollution to get to the recycling plant in Tennessee. All that extra gasoline usage and exhaust pollution was wasteful and bad for our environment. We found a better more earth friendly way to recycle our bottles locally.

We appreciate your comments and take them seriously. In fact, customer suggestions and comments often provide direction for future offerings in our stores and online.

Sincerely,

Tiera W.
BathandBodyWorks.com Customer Service
Visit www.BathandBodyWorks.com

As impressive as the response time was, the subject matter was completely off topic. I suspect it was simply a template and matter of copying and pasting in that particular reply to me. How disappointing.

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Author shunPosted on 12/15/200512/21/2005Categories No Logo, Rant15 Comments on Corporate Reply from Bath and Body Works

Coupons for Loyalty

Ever since I started to notice Bath & Body Works’ lack of refill programs on foaming soaps, I started looking at alternative companies that DO make refills for foaming soap bottles. Dial and Johnson+Johnson happen to make them.

So I wrote Dial to compliment them for doing the right thing (on that one product anyway). By hearing from consumers like me, however few of us there are), I was hoping they’d continue down that path with future products.

A few days later, I received a thank-you letter from Dial along with discount coupons on the product (and other products) that I specifically wrote them about. Very thoughtful and considerate move considering how big the company is.

So… Bath & Body Works (and companies under the Limited brand… Victoria’s Secret, Express… etc.) is out; Dial and the Johnson family of products are in.

Dial thank you letter

Dial coupons

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Author shunPosted on 12/15/200512/23/2005Categories No Logo5 Comments on Coupons for Loyalty

Efficiencies of Public Radio

I don’t think I’ve ever received this kind of efficiency from any place, private or public… I wrote KQED Public Radio regarding a segment I heard about the death penalty (which I wanted to blog about). But I just couldn’t find the broadcast anywhere on KQED or NPR. So I wrote them:

From: Shun Chu [mailto:*****@wiredatom.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 2:27 AM
To: fm < *****@KQED.org>
Subject: a segment on sister helen

Hello,

For the life of me I just can’t find a segment that KQED aired on Sister Helen and another man (I think maybe he’s a lawyer) in some kind of forum setting talking about capital punishment/death penalty. I can’t remember when I heard it except that it was in November, 2005. All the search results that turned up in the KQED search engine were not relevant to the segment I heard.

Please help me locate the segment (its title, time and maybe where to find it?).

Best regards,

Shun Chu

The very next day at 10AM sharp, I received a reply from KQED’s Listener Services:

From: “fm” < *****@KQED.org>
Date: December 13, 2005 10:00:15 AM PST
To: “Shun Chu” < *****@wiredatom.com>
Subject: RE: a segment on sister helen

Dear Shun Chu:

The program you requested was part of the Aurora Forum from Stanford on October 27, 2005.
Here is the link to the website where you can access the discussion:

http://www.auroraforum.org/events.archive.102705.php

If you have trouble using this link then go to www.auroraforum.org then go to events, then archives and look for the discussion on Capital Punishment.

Hope this helps.

Paul Toulmin
Listener Services & Community Calendar
KQED Radio 88.5FM, 89.3FM, 88.1FM & 88.3FM
415-553-2261

Shweet…

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Author shunPosted on 12/14/200512/21/2005Categories Day to day life, Geek Stuff, No Logo2 Comments on Efficiencies of Public Radio

Merck’s Deleted Data

Like I was saying, drug companies can sometimes be real jackasses.

What’s REALLY wrong with drug-company-published research data is, they get to conduct the researches, pick the best results to their likings and publish those they think reflect to best performing results. The same process I believe also goes to the peer reviews. There’s absolutely no so much subjectivity in the entire research from beginning to end. Also, these researches are often conducted with a very limited sample population, usually in a narrow age group, background and pre-existing conditions. However, to their defense, controlled groups are set up like that so that variables are limited and “controlled” so that they can accurately see what’s working/not working if they tweak the variables here and there. That’s why drugs are so expensive in the U.S. because at least the “drug overlords” here do conduct these researches even though the results are usually “tweaked” in favor of business, not science.

If you are a Law & Order fan like I used to be, the CEO of a drug company in one episode said it best, [somewhere along the line of] “the very few of those who die from using our drugs are necessary in the interest of advancing drug research; we save far more lives than we kill.” And then he went on to suggest the cops should be out looking for real murderers, not drug company CEOs.

Science, justice, ethics and business. Choices, choices and choices.

via [Forbs.com]

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Author shunPosted on 12/12/200512/21/2005Categories No Logo, Politics, Rant2 Comments on Merck’s Deleted Data

American Patent System A Joke

Apparently the patent system is working out just great for America.

Excerpt from Slashdot:

“So a journalist tries to interview the top ten patent holders in the US. As he finds out, neither the USPTO, nor the patent processing companies are able to identify them. Even more surprisingly, ‘America’s greatest inventor is apparently an obscure guy in Japan who makes stuff most people can’t comprehend. And the nation’s greatest native inventor seems to be a man who has come up with 100 different ways to make a flower pot.'”

Great. That flower pot guy I bet is ripping millions off of the system — NOT.

via [Slashdot]

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Author shunPosted on 12/08/200512/21/2005Categories Geek Stuff, No Logo, RantLeave a comment on American Patent System A Joke

Nail Fungus and Herbal Remedies

Nail fungus (also known as onychomycosis) is supposedly one of those medical conditions that doctors immediately give up on, much like my warts. It’s very hard to get rid of simply because the fungus lives comfortably underneath the hard and well-protected nails. It’s moist, warm, and for toenails, dark, all of which are perfect conditions for fungus proliferation. Ironic how the very thing that’s evolved to protect humans also turns out to be the best defense system for the fungus.

Unfortunately one of my toe nails got infected somehow, and the stupid fungus just keeps spreading under the nail, making it thick and flaky, sometimes even powderish. Apparently there are a few high tech and a couple of low tech solutions to remedy the situation…

Lamisil
One hi-tech solution is taking Lamisil tables once a day for, oh, 8 months or so. But this is probably the most stupid method. Lamisil is known to severely damage the liver beyond recovery. That’s why the stupid thing needs a prescription and close monitoring from a doctor with periodic liver check ups. It gets expensive with the pills, doctors visits and liver tests. This is an example where modern medicine does more harm than good to mankind. I can’t believe Novartis got the drug approved by the increasingly useless USFDA. I mean, who in their right mind would allow a company to market a drug that could potentially kill a patient for a medical condition that’s not even remotely close to fatal? FDA should be sued for this. It’s been said that the rate of curing onychomycosis is only roughly 30%, obviously not high enough to risk one’s life on. And because of its potential danger, only the young and extraordinarily healthy are recommended for this drug.

Anti-fungal Creams
Enough about Lamisil and FDA’s increasing incompetence. The next hi-tech solution the anti-fungal creams like Nizoral, Leucatin, or Tineacide, or you can try the cream version of Lamisil. What the hell… Lamisil cream? So there’s more than one way Lamisil can f*ck with your body?

Apparently anti-fungal creams are among the least effective form of treatment on nail fungus; they simply drive the fungus deeper into the nail bed. But even this is better than gambling with that stupid Lamisil.

Surgical Removal
The last hi-tech method that I am aware of is by removing the infected nails completely. But of course, this is a bit over the top for such pesky creature. Every surgery comes with its own risks. And it seems the fungus is not worth the risk. Even then, the odds of surviving a surgical removal, I’d bet, is still better than Lamisil.

Enough of hi-tech.

Now let’s move on to the low-tech remedies that actually work surprisingly well. It’s been said (in various forums and articles) that natural remedies are by far the most effective ways to treat the condition without giving away your right arm (or liver).

Vinegar
Some people claim that applying distilled vinegar twice a day on the infected nails changes the pH levels of the nails for 12 hours in each application. The acidic vinegar is soaked in the nail; the change in pH level makes the fungus disinterested in inhabiting in the nail. But because vinegar doesn’t actually kill the fungus, any laziness in application will allow a lapse in the pH level and gives the fungus that much more time to be around. It’s said that after about 7 to 8 months of diligent application, the infected nail will be completely grown out. That’s when you get to enjoy a fungus-less life.

I tried the vinegar. The down side of this is that it stinks (figuratively and literally). The nails change color after a few days because of the changes in the pH level. This is by far the cheapest remedy though… However, it is at the expense of your social life… It’s probably not worth it if you don’t want people to think you smell funny every time they are around you. If you can cleverly cover up the browning color of the nails and the pungent vinegar smell, this may be for the budget-minded you.

The Magical Tea Tree Oil
The last remedy, which is also highly recommended by many people, is using an oil extract from a tree native to Australia. Tea tree oil naturally possesses an anti-fungal property in its chemical make up, making it the natural choice to treat nail fungus. And because of its potency and strength, applying it twice a day, many people have reclaimed their nails in as little as three months! It can also be used to effectively treat athlete’s foot.

I started on tea tree oil today. Hopefully I will be able to blog about my success in a couple of months. A bottle of 1-fl. oz/30ml of tea tree oil costs about $10 at Whole Foods. And it smells very nice… No more stinky vinegar! My added twist to the remedy is that I actually took a nail filer and filed the nail down to as thin as possible to increase absorption of the stuff into the nail bed. I also took a blade to carve a small marker at the root of the nail so that I know when the last portion of the infected nail is gone.

My conclusion is, nature provides so much in terms of disease control without the unnecessary side affects that modern medicine usually (and almost always) comes with. People should take advantage of the proven successes of certain alternative medicines. Some people argue that such remedies do not have enough studies to quantify their effectiveness. And besides, they are not regulated by the FDA. What? Did you say the FDA? The FDA has more ties to the drug industry than George W. Bush has brain cells. Who is to say that whatever FDA approves is safer than thousands of years of trial and error with herbal medicine. In the case of Chinese medicine, every use (or combination uses of as well as their side effects) are well documented. One document in particular, is Ben Cao Gang Mu (《本草綱目》), or “The Compendium Materia Medica” (more info here) is complete with descriptions and pictures for the properties of each herb. I mean, the FDA only approves drugs after certain success rate in human testing in a given number of years. Herbal medicine has been human tested for thousands of years. And yet we doubt its effectiveness? That’s not to say that any kind of herbal remedy should be taken lightly. But to write it off completely is just plain silly.

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Author shunPosted on 12/07/200512/08/2005Categories Day to day life, No Logo, Rant, Tips + Tricks24 Comments on Nail Fungus and Herbal Remedies

Diapers, Baby Wipes and Bryan

After trying the Kirkland brand diaper from Costco, we decided that it’s really not quite up to par with the diapers from Pampers, which last longer, more absorbent, and seem to hold a lot more. Now that Bryan can pretty much sleep through the night without waking up, we still need to change his diaper maybe every 5 -6 hours. Which is not too bad compared to every 3 – 4 hours with Kirkland. Pampers rule!

Another thing we noticed with Kirkland’s baby (butt) wipes is its product inconsistency. Each wipe progressively gets wetter. Eventually, towards the bottom of the pack, each wipe would be soaked with moisture. NOT COOL. My measure for “just enough wetness” is that if I can squeeze the wipe in my fist and not make a drop, that’s one good wipe. With Kirkland’s wipes, I can squeeze a few oz of liquid out of it starting with the very first sheet. In contrast, Pampers’ wipes (we got a small sample pack from the hospital) never misses a beat in terms of how moist every single sheet of wipe should be. Very nice. But then again, we are not picky with wipes.

Other news… about last week, Bryan suddenly realized that his left and right hands CAN play together! So he’s been cupping his palms, sticking the fingers between each other and pulling them apart. THAT action alone can keep him busy for about 20 minutes. A couple of weeks ago, he also discovered that he can play with the blankets and put them in his mouth while talking to the mobile over his head. Simple things for a simple life.

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Author shunPosted on 12/06/200512/21/2005Categories Baby stuff, No LogoLeave a comment on Diapers, Baby Wipes and Bryan

Volusion — User Unfriendly

A couple of months ago, I was consulted by an online outfit to analyze their ecommerce strategies given the long term vision of the company (that was the reason I looked into Yahoo Merchant Solutions, the client’s current online store front service provider). After doing a thorough market research, I went back to them with three alternative alternative solutions to Yahoo:
MonsterCommerce
Volusion
OS Commerce

Given the requirements and budget, these three solutions were most fitting for the client. Unfortunately, due to concerns with support on open source, OS Commerce had to be dropped. Out of the other two companies, the client picked Volusion as the ecommerce solution of choice to migrate their online store front to.

Volusion’s online presentations and everything else looked wonderful. But as soon as we started porting existing products and started to configure options in Volusion, we realized just how terrible Volusion’s administration interface is. Granted they provide a fairly decent documentation and speedy tech support, its terrible user interface design just pisses me and my client’s internal staff off. As a tech-savvy person, I understood some of the jargon Volusion’s website spit at me. But I can’t imagine someone with the experience level of MS Word to grasp the extensive (read: things most people don’t care about) and sometimes trivial features the interface insists on displaying.

Why can’t the geeks at Volusion take a page from Apple: show optional features only when necessary by those who need them; and in god’s name, polish up the god damn interface a little. Sure, it’s usable, but damn it, even I was intimidated when a page of roughly 120 form fields (I kid you not) appeared just to add ONE product. WTF?!! Did the monkeys at Volusion even bother to do user testing with their cumbersome interface?

Even though we haven’t tested MonsterCommerce as extensively yet, but for those who are considering trying Volusion, BE WARNED. And no matter how bad MonsterCommerce’s interface is, it can’t be worse than Volusion’s presentation of 120 form fields on a single page with dozens of useless optional fields. Com’on, even volunteers working on OS Commerce could make a usable interface. Why are those paid programmers at Volusion not doing half of what OS Commerce can delivery UI wise?

As for OS Commerce, I couldn’t find a module that conveniently imports an existing Yahoo Store easily. I mean, Yahoo has a feature that exports; and OS Commerce has a couple of features that import xml/cvs files. But I didn’t spend enough time to make them play nicely together. To that end, I give Volusion credit for being able to nicely import products from Yahoo (sans product categories and images). Big deal; so can MonsterCommerce.

UPDATE 01/10/2009: A lot of what I’ve written here have become irrelevant since Volusion proactively updated their software. I’ve written a more updated review here.

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Author shunPosted on 11/18/200501/10/2009Categories No Logo, Rant5 Comments on Volusion — User Unfriendly

Quest to Colored Bubbles

It took Tim Kehoe, inventor of a new kind of bubbles, zubbles, 11 years to finally realize his dream of creating non-staining colored bubbles. It turned out to be an extremely complex chemistry lesson. It also proves that persistence, appropriate guidance and a bit of money (half a mil, to be exact), any crazy dream can come true.

Colored bubbles

Popular Science is running the article on the disappearing colored bubbles. It’s a rather inspiring and interesting read. It’s inspiring in that seeing someone who’s been through a series of unfortunate events eventually gets the “Hollywood ending” he was looking for. I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney makes a movie out of this story not too long from now.

Image courtesy of Popular Science.

via [Slashdot]

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Author shunPosted on 11/18/200512/23/2005Categories No LogoLeave a comment on Quest to Colored Bubbles

Worth

Inspired by Mark’s blog, I checked out the “How much is my blog worth” calculator. It turns out that this blog is “worth” $11,855.34! But it pales compared to Apple’s $20,733,296.04.

EEK!

Where do I cash in?

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Author shunPosted on 11/15/200512/21/2005Categories Blogging, No Logo2 Comments on Worth

Another Reason Why Songs Are Pirated

The music industry has been complaining about how cheap songs are on Apple’s iTunes music store. Even though iTunes seems to be the only solution to curb the explosive music pirating subculture, the record executives just don’t get it.

Sony, acting like a jackass, put out a CD with a copy-protection measure built-in. The CD installs an invisible piece of software in the computer to make sure the owner of the CD can’t rip it. But the plan backfired as a trojan virus, brilliantly, piggybacks on the Sony code.

And the record executives complain about CD sales going down the hill? Who’s going to buy a copy of CD that they can’t rip, and worst yet, could potentially put a security flaw in CD owner’s computer?

Dumbasses.

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Author shunPosted on 11/11/200512/21/2005Categories Geek Stuff, No Logo, Rant, Society + EnvironmentLeave a comment on Another Reason Why Songs Are Pirated

eBay Song

Norris sent me a hilarious song by Weird Al about eBay. If you have ever placed a bid or listed anything on eBay at all, you will find it refreshingly funny too.

The “eBay song”

A used … pink bathrobe
A rare … mint snowglobe
A Smurf … TV tray
I bought on eBay

My house … is filled with this crap
Shows up in bubble wrap
Most every day
What I bought on eBay

Tell me why (I need another pet rock)
Tell me why (I got that Alf alarm clock)
Tell me why (I bid on Shatner’s old toupee)
They had it on eBay

I’ll buy … your knick-knack
Just check … my feedback
“A !” they all say
They love me on eBay

Gonna buy (a slightly-damaged golf bag)
Gonna buy (some Beanie Babies, new with tag)
(From some guy) I’ve never met in Norway
Found him on eBay

I am the type who is liable to snipe you
With two seconds left to go, whoa
Got Paypal or Visa, what ever’ll please
As long as I’ve got the dough

I’ll buy … your tchotchkes
Sell me … your watch, please
I’ll buy (I’ll buy, I’ll buy, I’ll buy… )
I’m highest bidder now

(Junk keeps arriving in the mail)
(From that worldwide garage sale) (Dukes Of Hazzard ashtray)
(Hey! A Dukes Of Hazzard ashtray)
Oh yeah … (I bought it on eBay)

Wanna buy (a PacMan Fever lunchbox)
Wanna buy (a case off vintage tube socks)
Wanna buy (a Kleenex used by Dr. Dre, Dr. Dre)
(Found it on eBay)

Wanna buy (that Farrah Fawcett poster)
(Pez dispensers and a toaster)
(Don’t know why … the kind of stuff you’d throw away)
(I’ll buy on eBay)

What I bought on eBay-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y

Lyrics used without permission; courtesy of Tina Folsom.

via [Tina Folsom Photography]

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Author shunPosted on 11/03/200511/10/2005Categories No Logo1 Comment on eBay Song

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