Archives for 2005

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The Story of the Bitch Dog and the Palestinian Bomber

What does a “Bitch Dog” and a “Palestinian Bomber” have in common?

My guess: disgruntled customer service employees messing up their employer’s CRM data.

  • LaChania Govan complained about her cable box/PVR (these things die every two months or so), so her next Comcast bill arrived addressed to “Bitch Dog”    If this is not that customer’s name, it shouldn’t be on that bill,” said Patricia Andrews-Keenan, vice president of communications for the company.   IF???  Wow!  That’s from a Comcast VP!

      

  • Sami Habbas, Palestinian-born US Citizen, US Army Veteran who lived here for 51 years received a credit-card-offer  which began: “Dear Palestinian Bomber.”  When he called Chase, he was actually greeted with: “Yes, Mr. Bomber, what can we do for you?”  

    (via Chris Selland and Brad Feld)

 

Update: (8/28)  Oops, there’s more.. has being rude and brainless become a hiring criteria nationwide?

  • Peoples Energy addresses letters to customer as “Scrotum Bag
  • Waitress at a NJ restarurant writes “Jew Couple” on check – this later shows up on Credit Card statement.

What’s next?

Update (3/18/07):  Next is Hertz calling Phil Wainewright “English John”.  Phil, compared to the above, that’s not too bad 🙂

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Miracles Do Exist After All …

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Two orphaned Kazakh sisters, abandoned at birth and unaware that the other existed, found themselves living in the same Berkeley house this summer, thanks to a philanthropic organization that brings Russian and Kazakh orphans to the United States each year for a six-week taste of American family life.
Full story here.   

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Pat Robertson “Misinterpreted” ?

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Pat Robertson now claims his call for the assassination of  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been misinterpreted: 

I said our special forces could take him out. Take him out could be a number of things including kidnapping…
There are a number of ways of taking out a dictator from power besides killing him.  I was misinterpreted.”

Yeah, right…  But how about this quote:

If he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it.”

It

must be my poor understanding of the English langugae … would somebody

please explain how  this could be “misinterpreted”? 

Update (8/24).  Admitting there was no “misinterpration” Pat Robertson apologized:

 “Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologize for that statement. “

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Ohio School of Pregnancy

There are 490 female students at Timken High School, and 65 are pregnant, according to a recent report in the Canton Repository.

School officials are not sure what has caused so many pregnancies “ – Really? Perhaps THEY should go back to school… a little Sex Ed would not hurt … or just ask the girls?

(source: NewsNet5)

Update (8/23) The Blogosphere speculates on the “mystery cause”: here , here, here, here, and here, to name just a few.

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Pat Robertson Publicly Calls for Assassination

Pat Robertson uses his broadcast to call for a political assassination:

“Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has suggested that American agents assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming “a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.”

Thanks God the US abandoned it’s earlier policy to assassinate political leaders we don’t like.  No-one should get away with public solicitation for a crime  under the auspices of Freedom of Speech.   Especially not in the media where “wardrobe malfunctions” or improper language result in fines and bans from the air waves.

ABC TV got banned from Russia for airing a terrorist’s views. What do we do with “The 700 Club”?

Update (8/23) This is funny.

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GOP Senator Says Iraq Looking Like Vietnam

When I read the Army was preparing for 4 more years in Iraq, my first though was: Vietnam.

But I don’t even have to say it, a GOP Senator just voiced the same ….
Update (8/28)  The Vietnamization of Bush’s Vacation   (NY Times)

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Slap In the Face

It must be my twisted mind again … I always link two seemingly unrelated events / articles together.

Jeff Nolan asks why SF Supervisors decided to ban a historical monument, the USS Iowa from becoming a permanent exhibit in San Francisco.

Quite a coincidence that just today the Chronicle is lamenting on why Bush does not ever visit San Francisco. No, I don’t like the President, and could not care less whether he comes this way, but, hey, it’s a bit hyppocratical to whine about it while the City slaps not just the government, but the nation’s history in the face.

The President of the United States should not single out only one major city and boycott it, no matter what it’s political leaning is. Likewise, the battleship that participated in World War II, as well as Korea is a monument that should be displayed for our kids to see and learn about, no matter what the current policies of the Pentagon are.

Perhaps not every aspect of our lives should be driven by politics and partisanship…

Update (8/21) Apparenly I am not that twisted … Jeff Jarvis came to the same conclusion.

Update 2 (2/21):

Quote of the week – Jerry Sandoval

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Presidential Bike-ride with Lance Armstrong

President Bush will ride the bike with Lance Armstrong.  He is well prepared for the experience:
 
 – fell off a Segway (isn’t that almost impossible) in Maine
 – fell off a mountain bike in Texas
 – fell off a bike at the G8 summit, hitting a local cop.
 
Is this really such a good idea?

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Google to Acquire the World

(Updated)
While some  are still wondering,  I have the answer: Google to acquire the World in a cash/stock transaction … details undisclosed … the only information known a this time is that they need a little more petty cash for the transaction.

(Those who doubt the seriousness of this news are reminded the  Microsoft to Acquire the Catholic Church “news”  from the 90’s.)

Update (2/4):  Ha! I’m not alone:  Google to Acquire World

Update (3/29): The Googlers are refilling the warchest.  Now we know it’s definitely happening.

Google Needs Another $2 Billion Because…It must want to buy something

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Beta or Rel 1.0? Sick of Products That Don’t Work.

(Updates at bottom)
Guerilla Product Marketing Principles from Charlie Wood’s Moonwatcher (via Paul Kedrosky’s Infectious Greed):

“Version 1 of a product should crawl. This means it should do the bare minimum to be recognizable as what it’s intended to be. If it’s supposed to be a foo, and someone could look at version 1 and say, “That’s a foo,” you’re done. Ship it.

Version 2 should walk. This is where you add enough functionality that the product is useful in day-to-day life. This is not the time for polish. Basically, it’s just adding the things that most people insisted should have been in version 1, because without them, they said, the product is completely useless. They were wrong then, but they’re right now.

Version 3 should run. This is where the product hits its stride. What it does it should do well. It should be comfortable to use. It should be strong, polished, and effective.

Version 4 should fly. This is where the, “Oh man, wouldn’t it be awesome if…” features get added. This is where you start implementing things that aren’t necessarily useful now, but have a lot of possibility. “

I’m sorry, I just don’t buy it. The product, that is.   Having been in cash-strapped startups myself, I understand the need to hit the market fast, and start generating revenue… but I am a Customer, too, and as such am sick of non-working products.  It’s frustrating to waste time installing, learning the damn thing when it’s really just a Beta!  Give it to someone who signed up as Beta-tester, not to me, a Customer.

“Give me what I want or I am out of here” – says Seth Godin.  In our case it means: Uninstall, don’t look back until 2 releases later.  Quite a way to build a happy customer base.

Update (8/31):  “When a Beta Isn’t Enoughby David Beisel is worth reading.

Update (11/20) : “Web 2.0: Web of Beta”

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