Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Yup

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

The Sears robot works Saturdays: it called at 8:04 & 8:34 again with identical messages. After the second call I gave up and got up.

Didn’t Sears’s mother tell it never to call before 9:30am on a weekend? And exactly why does Sears have such a dysfunctional phone system that no one, not even the “executive offices”, can turn it off? Have they never heard of e-mail? Could it be that the harassment factor is seen as a feature rather than a bug, in that when something promised is no longer available it will drive purchasers into cancelling their order rather than trying to get Sears to make good on its promises? I suppose the better bet remains sheer incompetence and heartlessness, but one has to wonder.

[Next installment: Sears Can’t Deliver Email Either]

Previously:

Posted in Shopping | 1 Comment

On the Treadmill Treadmill

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Sears’s robot calls every morning — including Yom Kippur — at 8:04 and 8:34. There doesn’t seem to be a way to stop it.

Yesterday, “Stephanie” at the Sears executive offices offered to sell me the new model F80 for about the price of the old one since it seems they cannot find an old one. I emailed back accepting the offer. I really thought that would be the end of it: someone would flip a switch, I’d go into the delivery queue and we’d get on with our lives.

Silly me.

The robot called again twice this morning. This afternoon I called Stephanie to see what was up. First, everything seems less clear than it did yesterday: Stephanie says she isn’t sure how to work the transaction. Normally they take back a good (I presume a damaged one or a lemon) and replace it. But I don’t have anything for them to replace and this apparently introduces a complication which could take A WEEK to resolve. I honestly don’t see why just delivering something is harder than picking up something and delivering it, but this is Sears after all.

As for the phone calls, Stephanie has sent in a request to make them stop. And she seemed very confident that they will stop … in 30 days.

I kid you not.

(Stephanie was unable to tell me whether the robot works weekends. We shall, alas, see.)

[Next installment: Yup]

Previously:

Posted in Shopping | 1 Comment

Brin Imagines a Better Politics

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

David Brin writes excellent science fiction, and now he’s branched out in to fantasy — political fanatsy: Why the Candidates Should (But Won’t) Stipulate.

I just wish they’d stipulate some basic facts and statistics so we could have real debates about policies based on consistent, real-dollar numbers. But that makes scary ads a lot harder.

Meanwhile, I look forward to Brin’s suggestions as to how we apply Uplift to the radical elements that have taken over the GOP.

Posted in Politics | 5 Comments

Passions and Politics

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

As someone who thinks politics is about stuff worth being passionate about, I probably ought to like this over-the-top pro-Obama video starring Samuel L. Jackson more than I do.

Don’t play this in an environment where people are likely to be offended by a common Anglo-Saxon vulgarism.

A part of my discomfort is getting a child actor to swear for the camera. But a bigger part is that I happened to see the video shortly after seeing Conor Friedersdorf’s Why I Refuse to Vote for Barack Obama.

I am voting for Obama, because it’s clear that Romney would be so much worse — even on torture issues (how can we even be having this debate?). But along with some real bits of good (half a loaf on health care, saving the auto industry, lattter-day conversion to gay rights) Obama has done real and long-lasting evil to international law (drone killings of foreigners) and domestic civil rights (drone killings of US citizens, excessive invocation of the so-called state secrets privilege in court cases about vacuum-cleaner wiretapping, arguing for vastly excessive Presidential powers, and refusing to prosecute torturers and other lawbreakers in the former administration 1). So I agree this election matters. Conceivably as much as Gore-Bush did. But it’s harder to summon the passion about it when the lesser of two evils is such a mixed bag on the issues I care about.

I will say one thing for the video, though. I laughed at the end when I saw who paid for it. I wasn’t expecting that.

  1. Guantanamo I am willing to blame in some significant part on Congress, or it would be on the list too. Ending the war in Iraq I largely credit to the Iraqis, as Obama would gladly have left 50,000 troops there if the Iraqis hadn’t kicked us out.[↩]
Posted in 2012 Election | 1 Comment

More Fake Gold Bars

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

You may not recall The Great Gold Bar Hoax (Hoax?) from March, but it seems that ten more tungsten-filled supposedly gold bars have been found, this time in Manhattan, at least according to zerohedge’s Gold Counterfeiting Goes Viral: 10 Tungsten-Filled Gold Bars Are Discovered In Manhattan.

So far, the rot is limited to bars with one particular set of markings (Swiss Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux (PAMP)), but zerohedge, which sees financial crises all the time everywhere, sees one looming for the gold trade. Unless of course, they warn, this is a false-flag op to discredit gold. But then again it might be a Chinese money-making plot.

At least there was something there; things could be even worse.

Posted in Econ & Money | Comments Off on More Fake Gold Bars

Be Afraid

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

This is perfect:

spotted via panGloss.

Posted in ID Cards and Identification | Comments Off on Be Afraid