The Obama Wreckovery Continues: After Shuttle, NASA Lays Off Thousands

"One day after the Space Shuttle Atlantis landed safely and closed NASA's chapter on the shuttle program, the space agency began laying off thousands of workers."

Perhaps now, NASA can focus on its primary mission - exploration of the "Muslim World." as I wrote about back in February: Mission creep: NASA, by order of Obama, plans more outreach to Muslim countries. And guess what? The same NASA administrator Charlie Bolden at the center of the current controversy basically said the same thing 6 months ago with far less media attention:

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has asked him to “find ways to reach out to dominantly Muslim countries” as the White House pushes the space agency to become a tool of international diplomacy.

“In addition to the nations that most of you usually hear about when you think about the International Space Station, we now have expanded our efforts to reach out to non-traditional partners,” said Bolden, speaking to a lecture hall of young engineering students.

Specifically, he talked about connecting with countries that do not have an established space program and helping them conduct science missions. He mentioned new opportunities with Indonesia, including an educational program that examines global climate change.

Ah, Indonesia - Barry's old stomping grounds where he was raised in a madrassa.  Well isn't that special?

“We really like Indonesia because the State Department, the Department of Education [and] other agencies in the U.S. are reaching out to Indonesia as the largest Muslim nation in the world. We would love to establish partners there,” Bolden said.

Fact is, as I opined recently, Obama formulated his NASA mission back in June 2009 when he went to Cairo to, among other things, make Muslims feel better about their scientific accomplishments. It was an epic fail. Every advancement Obama attributed to the Muslim world was actually invented by someone else. From a prior post of mine last year: Obama In Cairo: Barack The "Student Of History" Flunks Remedial Basic Islam. Here is part of Obama's speech with the technical claims made about 2 1/2 minutes in:

It's all consistent, from Obama's failure in Cairo to Bolden's statement earlier this year to his most recent statement. Obama truly is flying NASA backwards in time to reach out to the planet known as the 'Muslim World.'

Previously on NASA's mission to the Muslim World:
Obamanaut explorer of "Muslim World" lands in Michigan, decries supposed anti-Islam sentiments; compares it to Japanese internment in WWII
Obama's NASA mission to Muslim Uranus started in June 2009 in Cairo
Media blackout on NASA mission to explore Muslims' Uranus
Mission creep: Obama’s new mission for NASA is to reach out to Muslim world
Video: No Nasa employees were allowed at the President’s Nasa Speech
New Missile Defense Logo A Mix Of Obama 'O' Logo And Muslim Crescent
Mission creep: NASA, by order of Obama, plans more outreach to Muslim countries

Cell Phone Companies are Evil Hamsters

Image via Wikipedia

Verizon pursues dead woman's bill for three months

by Chris Matyszczyk

Before you read this article (below) by Chris Matyszczyk on Verizon, let me say that Verizon is not alone. They are all Evil Hamsters at the corporate level. I'm pretty sure most of you would agree. In fact, can you tell me what your monthly charges are without looking at the bill? Unless, you are a Genius Hamster, you can't.

As a matter of fact, even looking at the bill, EVEN A DETAILED BILL, who can figure this stuff out with a NASA Super Computer? 

You dialed with your left hand FEE

You ate while talking FEE

You called an odd number on Wednesday night FEE

You pay a Destructive Signal Interruptibility Tax Assessment Surcharge percentage FEE 

You get the picture......I hate these guys....I know hate is not good........but COME ON! 

OK, read the latest, and I hope you had a great Sunday!!!

Keith Pilat

Can it really be the case that cell phone companies will pursue every single customer for an unpaid debt? Even if the person has been dead for months?

This thought is nagging me more than certain elements of my wasted youth after reading a Los Angeles Times story concerning Betty Howard and her Verizon bill.

According to the Times, when Howard, from Loma Linda, Calif., was struggling with breast cancer, she signed up for Verizon's wireless broadband. It seems that Verizon had trouble securing an Internet connection for her. So, last September, she signed up for a package that included broadband. Still, sadly, the Internet connection didn't work.

Howard died in December. But her daughter-in-law, Marilynn Loveless, reportedly continued to get bills from Verizon, despite the fact that she'd notified the company of her mother-in-law's death days after her passing. The last bill, in March, was for $110.80. (The package was billed to Loveless' credit card.) On hearing that Howard was dead, Verizon reduced the charge to $54.82. When this was not paid, the bill was passed alertly on to a debt collector.

(Credit: Eric Hauser/Flickr)

Loveless then became the object of pursuit, until she contacted the L.A. Times. On discovering that Howard had been double-billed, the $54.82 charge was withdrawn. But it was replaced by another demand, this time for $81.26--this supposedly related to the package. On further review, Verizon reportedly offered to reduce this bill to $42.75.

The thing is, the Internet connection part of this deal never actually worked. "They just don't get the fact that they're charging for a service they never provided," Loveless told the Times.

You will feel light-headed when I tell you that the paper's dogged pursuit of Verizon engendered a seeing of the light. All of the charges were waived. Moreover, a Verizon representative told the Times: "Mistakes were made. We apologize."

Perhaps, if you're like me, there will still be a couple of little nagging things that will make you feel queasy about this.

Firstly, would it really have taken more than just a touch of humanity for Verizon to have realized the situation and acted accordingly in the first place?

Secondly, isn't there something slightly sad about the amounts with which we are dealing here? This isn't AT&T sending an American soldier in Afghanistan a bill for $16,000.

Here, these seem to be relative pittances, amounts that surely dwarf the cost of the labor time that was expended in pursuing a dead woman and her family for services that appear to have wandered somewhere along the axis between poor and nonexistent.

Perhaps the folks at Verizon who originally dealt with all of this were only following procedure. But some might imagine that it's a faintly troubled procedure that leads to such disturbed customer service in the face of what appear to be relatively simple facts.

I just relayed this story to a friend who is known for his sanguine judgment. His response appeared to put it in perspective: "Oh, you mean the man in glasses knocked on the lady's coffin and said: 'Can you hear me now?'"

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20068068-71.html#ixzz1ORrWNPEh

Copy write and all rights reserved for shared content by the original authors. Original Content, title and trademark reserved by Cloud Concepts Incorporated, LLC., a California Corporation.

Related articles

• The World's Largest Telecom Providers (creditloan.com)

Cell Phone Companies are Evil Hamsters

Image via Wikipedia

Verizon pursues dead woman's bill for three months

by Chris Matyszczyk

Before you read this article (below) by Chris Matyszczyk on Verizon, let me say that Verizon is not alone. They are all Evil Hamsters at the corporate level. I'm pretty sure most of you would agree. In fact, can you tell me what your monthly charges are without looking at the bill? Unless, you are a Genius Hamster, you can't.

As a matter of fact, even looking at the bill, EVEN A DETAILED BILL, who can figure this stuff out with a NASA Super Computer? 

You dialed with your left hand FEE

You ate while talking FEE

You called an odd number on Wednesday night FEE

You pay a Destructive Signal Interruptibility Tax Assessment Surcharge percentage FEE 

You get the picture......I hate these guys....I know hate is not good........but COME ON! 

OK, read the latest, and I hope you had a great Sunday!!!

Keith Pilat

Can it really be the case that cell phone companies will pursue every single customer for an unpaid debt? Even if the person has been dead for months?

This thought is nagging me more than certain elements of my wasted youth after reading a Los Angeles Times story concerning Betty Howard and her Verizon bill.

According to the Times, when Howard, from Loma Linda, Calif., was struggling with breast cancer, she signed up for Verizon's wireless broadband. It seems that Verizon had trouble securing an Internet connection for her. So, last September, she signed up for a package that included broadband. Still, sadly, the Internet connection didn't work.

Howard died in December. But her daughter-in-law, Marilynn Loveless, reportedly continued to get bills from Verizon, despite the fact that she'd notified the company of her mother-in-law's death days after her passing. The last bill, in March, was for $110.80. (The package was billed to Loveless' credit card.) On hearing that Howard was dead, Verizon reduced the charge to $54.82. When this was not paid, the bill was passed alertly on to a debt collector.

(Credit: Eric Hauser/Flickr)

Loveless then became the object of pursuit, until she contacted the L.A. Times. On discovering that Howard had been double-billed, the $54.82 charge was withdrawn. But it was replaced by another demand, this time for $81.26--this supposedly related to the package. On further review, Verizon reportedly offered to reduce this bill to $42.75.

The thing is, the Internet connection part of this deal never actually worked. "They just don't get the fact that they're charging for a service they never provided," Loveless told the Times.

You will feel light-headed when I tell you that the paper's dogged pursuit of Verizon engendered a seeing of the light. All of the charges were waived. Moreover, a Verizon representative told the Times: "Mistakes were made. We apologize."

Perhaps, if you're like me, there will still be a couple of little nagging things that will make you feel queasy about this.

Firstly, would it really have taken more than just a touch of humanity for Verizon to have realized the situation and acted accordingly in the first place?

Secondly, isn't there something slightly sad about the amounts with which we are dealing here? This isn't AT&T sending an American soldier in Afghanistan a bill for $16,000.

Here, these seem to be relative pittances, amounts that surely dwarf the cost of the labor time that was expended in pursuing a dead woman and her family for services that appear to have wandered somewhere along the axis between poor and nonexistent.

Perhaps the folks at Verizon who originally dealt with all of this were only following procedure. But some might imagine that it's a faintly troubled procedure that leads to such disturbed customer service in the face of what appear to be relatively simple facts.

I just relayed this story to a friend who is known for his sanguine judgment. His response appeared to put it in perspective: "Oh, you mean the man in glasses knocked on the lady's coffin and said: 'Can you hear me now?'"

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20068068-71.html#ixzz1ORrWNPEh

Copy write and all rights reserved for shared content by the original authors. Original Content, title and trademark reserved by Cloud Concepts Incorporated, LLC., a California Corporation.

Related articles

• The World's Largest Telecom Providers (creditloan.com)

Why “Nerd Lottery” Winner Andrew Kessler Opened “Monobookist” Bookstore Ed’s Martian Book Stocking 2,500 Copies of His First Book

The other day I gushed over how cool Ed's Martian Book (which I keep wanting to call Ed's Martian Hand, in some misguided Dorian's Red Hand mental transposing) is? Well, I interviewed the Meatball Shop-inspired mastermind behind it, Martian Summer author Andrew Kessler. For The Nervous Breakdown, which makes me crazy nervous to write for. Hope you like it and if so, let people know!

My favorite line is at the end: "When you start thinking of ideas, the one that makes people the most nervous is the one you want."