Category: Complaint Dept.

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Don’t Feed the Greed

Capitalism is the premier greed-based economic system, which takes no heed of consequences in the pyramid-game of asset accumulation (profits, products/goods, wealth, etc.).

Industry members, news media & critics alike often talk about the corporate side of things: predictions or goals for ever-increasing profits, share price valuation/manipulation, workforce reduction (& other methods of pushing down the price of “human capital”), material costs, supply chain innovation, etc.

However, it’s not just the magical “persons” known as corporations who are driving the race to the bottom, but also the real people who buy things. Yes, the consumer side is also greed-driven; we are trained from childhood to want as many things as we can get, and at the cheapest prices. Continue reading “Don’t Feed the Greed”

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Reclaiming the Conversation: “Cowardice”

Whenever there’s a new terrorist attack such as the May 2017 attack on Ariana Grande concertgoers in Manchester, I hear myriad voices proclaiming it “cowardly” or an act of “cowardice.” I always thought this was strange. What in particular about a suicide bomber coincides with the meaning of “cowardice”?

From dictionary.com, cowardice is: “lack of courage to face danger, difficulty, opposition, pain, etc.”

Suicide bombers are perhaps the ultimate facers of danger, difficulty, opposition, pain, etc. Even non-suicide terrorists face substantial danger and difficulty.  If anything, terrorists virtually fearless; one wishes they were more fearful (fearful enough not to do such horrible things). Continue reading “Reclaiming the Conversation: “Cowardice””

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Confirmation bias – a Design Nightmare

I’ve been thinking about design lately, as I’ve been working closely with User Experience Designers at work, helping to optimize the candidate experience for our job search (& apply) web application, and also for my personal projects and personal consumption of various digital products. One thing I do not understand is the near-ubiquitous “confirmation bias” that User Interface Designers have.

What I mean by “confirmation bias” here (a pun and not the popular academic phrase) is the tendency for designers to add frequent and unnecessary confirmation messages. To always show a confirmation question is like punishing users for taking the correct action.

For example, when I want to access any program from inside the Nintendo Wii menu, it asks me “Are you sure you want to load?” which is quite annoying, since it has the prompt every time and I just want it to start loading the application (e.g., Netflix), not question me. Continue reading “Confirmation bias – a Design Nightmare”

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Oughta-Obsolete This

Sometimes I get a bee in my bonnet about archaic technology that should be obsolete, but for no good reason (other than inertia) is not.  My perennial example is Fax Machines – why is anyone still using such a ridiculous & poor quality method of transmitting pictures when quality scanners/printers and email are available?

The recent snowstorm (Juno: Jan 26-27) got me thinking about snow-blowers. Like leaf-blowers, these are amazingly inefficient machines (especially with strong winds).  They can accomplish the intended job faster than manual labor, but with significant wasted energy, contributing unnecessarily to fuel costs, hassle (more refills), pollution and all that entails.

Why don’t we have technology (using the same or less energy) to compress and deposit leaves & snow in blocks?  This would reduce the piles on the side and eliminate the problem of wind blowing the top of the pile right back into the “clean” spot.  It would also make removal much easier.

Prayer to the Deus ex Machina

snow blower don’t blow
create nice ice blocks instead
stack into neat rows

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Neutrality (it’s not as neutral as you think)

The concept of neutrality (or moderation) seems to embody a sort of lofty wisdom in our culture, an ability to stay “above” the fighting. However, in reality, maintaining a strict neutrality is more often a sign of severe apathy, unwillingness to engage or fear of confrontation.

I’m not the kind of person who thinks in binary, so I won’t say that every dispute requires that one pick a side, but I will say that in the case of heated debate on an issue or set of issues, the underlying opposing viewpoints are often complex and merit some consideration. Moreover, the two (or more) sides are frequently uneven (i.e., one side often has a much stronger case), so if the neutralists could weigh the issues and involve themselves, they might help solve the issue in the most favorable way.

About 10 years ago, I was living with 2 roommates who were “random” in the sense that we’d met online and interviewed in person.  While they weren’t friends, we were all civil and got along fine, I thought.  Then after about 1 year, there was a conflict. I’d brought up some concerns regarding our landlord and was trying to bolster support for asking the landlord to take care of some things.  After a few rounds of discussion (in person and on email), one of my roommates began cursing me out on the emails and became a complete jerk in person, slamming doors and refusing to talk to me.  I did not respond in kind, rather I tried to re-open dialog calmly, to no avail.  Baffled and upset, I asked the other roommate (who had witnessed this behavior) for help and she said that she didn’t want to get involved, that we were both being “extreme.” Continue reading “Neutrality (it’s not as neutral as you think)”

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Online retailers fail at technology

In the 21st century, the information age, retail seems to be highly focused on the internet, which is where sales are shifting to.  And yet, 2 decades into the era of the modern internet (public with graphical interface), most online retailers don’t employ simple technological solutions that would ease the burden of online shopping.   Here are some of my top pet peeves.

  1. Bi-annual credit card updates

    All credit cards expire every 2 years, then they are replaced with another card that has the identical card number and a new expiration date, which is always 2 years in the future (and has new CSV# for security).  This should be very simple for online retailers to track and for users to update. However, many of my online memberships (monthly or quarterly billing) don’t notify me in advance AND nearly all require me to re-enter my full credit card information (some including address).

    Technology solutions: 

    1. Membership type billing already has calendar tracking – update calendar function to let users know one billing cycle in advance of pending expiration
    2. UI can be updated to handle “edit” feature for existing credit card (without needing to reenter card #)
    3. There could be a checkbox for “updated card” which automatically updates the expiry date and only requires CSV#

      Continue reading “Online retailers fail at technology”

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Cruel Mother Russia: Pinko Pogrom

pinkoSome of you may recall the halcyon days (ha) of the 20th century Soviet Union, where we in the USA had a clear and substantial enemy, the McCarthy hearings had teeth and any hint of Communism could result in blacklisting.  “Pinko” was a very real and harsh anti-Communist slur.  What cruel irony that Communism has retired only to give birth to the worst kind of proto-Nazism in the Russian fight against the “pink menace” – outlawing any/all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender people or ideals.

I usually don’t see the point in any sort of country-hating; all our governments are deeply flawed in my opinion, usually with some ridiculous or outrageously unfair laws and far too many greed-based policies & unnecessary military actions.  However, on very rare occasions, some individual country goes so far beyond the pale (e.g., Nazi-era Germany, Apartheid-era South Africa) that it merits a special kind of loathing.

I feel terrible for [most] of the Russian people, lacking free and fair elections, living under extreme government corruption and a new anti-LGBT pogrom.  They are literally beating & murdering gay people.  It is abhorrent.

There’s not too much we can do from afar, but we can boycott some of the most iconic Russian products, especially Stoli vodka.  For more about the Russian anti-LGBT pogrom and explanation of the boycott, see:

Boycotts 101: Why the gay boycott of Russian vodka is already working

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Mixed vegetables VERSUS Mushrooms

11954239761336971637Machovka_Shoes.svg.medAs a pedantic, mushroom-hating former scientist, it drives me crazy when some restaurant has a “mixed vegetables”dish that contains mushrooms.

This is like referring to group of “motor vehicles” and meaning it to contain some cars and running shoes.  SHOES ! ! !
Not only are they not motorized, they’re not a vehicle!

Mushrooms are not only not a vegetable, they’re not even a member of the same life kingdom (plants vs. fungi, for anyone with a base understanding of biology).  They’re no more a plant than is a bacteria or an insect.   The only similarity between vegetables and mushrooms is that they’re both [theoretically] edible, like how motor vehicles and running shoes are both [loosely] enablers of transportation.

1245694918919710129johnny_automatic_mushrooms_1.svg.hi

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Full-Frontal Marriage: Here & Queer

Last week, the Supreme Court of the USA struck down a key provision of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (the provision which prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by certain states and districts) in United States vs. Windsor and denied the proponents of California’s anti-same-sex marriage amendment standing to defend their proposition (which a lower court had made an injunction against) Hollingsworth vs. Perry.

This is indeed good news for same-sex couples, who can now marry in California, the most populous state, and will have federal recognition of their legal state marriages (in those 10+ states/districts where it is currently legal), receiving all the previously witheld federal benefits.  Moreover, married same-sex couples previously endured second class marriages, in which they were recognized by states, but considered “unmarried” by the federal government. Now, having the “second class” stigma removed reframes those same-sex marriages as completely legitimate relationships, which is an important cultural signifier that will help us move towards full equality.

Also, although, unlike Lesbian and Gay folks, some Bisexual and Trans folks were previously able to take advantage of full marriage benefits (depending on their partner and current legal sex), this helps to removes any gender bias that might restrict their choices (at least, in those 10+ states/districts in which it is legal). I believe this will help us move towards more open same-sex relationships and [trans/queer]gender expression, which is definitely a good thing for me.  🙂

However, while I totally support same-sex marriage (because marriage benefits shouldn’t be exclusive to opposite-sex couples and for reasons stated above and elsewhere in this blog), I wonder that we’re missing a few significant points: Continue reading “Full-Frontal Marriage: Here & Queer”

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Holey Matrimony

With May comes “wedding season,” but even though I’m fortunate enough to be in a successful long-term relationship with a highly compatible partner, I don’t plan to marry.  Why not?

Although I support and am happy for my family and friends who have chosen (or will chose) to get married, for me personally, the institution of marriage is holey [sic].  In brief, traditional marriage seems to:

  • Privilege “normal” romantic relationships over all  other kinds of relationships, including close friendships and kinships.
  • Be gender-essentialist and (generally) reinforce gender role stereotypes.
  • Represent a “unity” of two people which is incompatible with my fierce independence and my current (excellent) relationship.
  • Be an out-dated tradition that creeps out a rebel like me (as so many traditions do).

Continue reading “Holey Matrimony”