The Philadelphia Inquirer says that a glitch with the Emergency Alert System caused the program to switch from the Holy See to... well, an ad for boobies. Unlike the Superpornbowl, however, no actual porn was shown. The test was supposed to turn to a channel that provides emergency information.
'Girls Gone Wild' interrupts Good Friday service [Philly Inquirer]
(Photo:Fabio Pozzebom)
Two more cops arrived in an unmarked car, and moments later, Chad Hastings was freed. According to Hastings, the arresting officer muttered, "Get a new steering wheel lock, it looks like a bloody gun," and told him he was a "a lucky boy," since "any other cop would have had you at gunpoint."
I have to say, if there was a gun that looked just like the Club, it would probably be a space death ray gun, so I think I'd have probably done same thing. [Courier Mail via digg]
"The people who are subsidizing the activities of the banks through their tax dollars are the same people who are furnishing the high profits through consumer lending," Ms. Warren told the WSJ. "In a sense, we're asking taxpayers to pay twice."
The article called out Bank of America for raising interest rates on their credit card customers, and Citibank for offering $5,000 loans — and not disclosing in the advertising that the interest rate was (brace yourselves for this) 30% .
Citibank said that the interest rates on the loan mentioned in the article "compare competitively to similar offers in the market," and Bank of America said that "To continue to offer competitive products and services and responsibly lend in this current environment, we must adjust our pricing."
Meanwhile, consumer advocates, including our own Consumers Union, have been keeping an eye on Pacific Capital Bancorp, a bank that accepted TARP funds and is issuing so-called tax-refund anticipation loans. These loans can come with an interest rate that exceeds 100%.
A spokesperson for that bank said that they were not using TARP funds specifically to issue RALs, but that the funds did allow the bank to be healthy enough to lend a "variety of loans."
Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp were called out for offering "checking account advance" loans that carry an interest rate of 120%. These loans allow customers to borrow against presumably forthcoming direct deposits.
Bailed-Out Banks Face Probe Over Fee Hikes [WSJ]
(Photo:frankieleon)
Besides the one thing they have in common, the de-ranked books are all otherwise diverse, ranging from romance novels to serious nonfiction books; policy analysis to teen novels. Amazon should have learned by now that they really can't do this sort of thing these days unnoticed.
When author Mark Probst noticed popular gay romance novels disappearing from the sales rankings and contacted Amazon about it, they explained their logic thusly:
In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.
Oh. Well, that explains it...hey, wait a minute! Why are books with little to no sexual content flagged as "adult" and losing their position in the sales ranks? Why do much dirtier books about heterosexual characters or people still have their sales rank? What, exactly, is Amazon up to here? It's unclear, and that's making people mad.
Writers on Livejournal are building a comprehensive list of de-ranked books, and a Google bomb campaign is also afoot. I can't wait to see how very seriously Amazon will take this tomorrow.
But hey, at least all books about homosexuality haven't been removed from search results:
Amazon de-ranks so-called adult books, including National Book Award winner [LA Times]
Amazon Censorship - Who is affected? [Livejournal]
Amazon Rank Google Bomb [Smart Bitches, Trashy Books]
#Amazonfail [Twitter]
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
(Photo: CarbonNYC)
Mike cc'd us on his email to United Airline's C.E.O., Glenn Tilton.
Dear Mr. Tilton:
When the employees of large companies discard compassion, respect, and common human decency and instead place their own interests in front of those they are chartered to serve, then they are no longer deserving of the public's trust.
On February 19th, I received a phone call from my girlfriend's father indicating that her mother was close to death, and that-if at all possible-I should try and get his daughter to Portland, Oregon as quickly as I could.
I immediately left my office and began making arrangements to leave San Francisco for Portland, including calling the United Premier Reservation line on my way home to book a flight. The gentleman on the line provided me with a reservation number, informed me that I could pick up my tickets at the counter, and wished me the best of luck as the timing would be tight. On our way to the airport, I commented to my girlfriend that our ability to catch the 7:50 flight "would depend on the kindness of strangers."
Little did I know that the only unkind strangers I would encounter would all be wearing United blue.
We arrived at the airport at 7:20, but with very short ticket and security lines I felt that we had a decent chance of making the gate before the doors were closed. I explained to those customers waiting in line that we had a family emergency, and each agreed to let us move to the front.
The first agent to help me indicated that he could not ticket any passengers, and referred me to a different agent at the end of the counter. I approached this new agent, provided her with my record locator number and explained my emergency. I also asked her if there was any way she could contact the gate agent to let them know we were on our way, and perhaps keep the door open a few minutes longer if we were delayed at security.
To my utter amazement, your agent handed me back my record locator number, looked me straight in the eye, and informed me that she couldn't ticket me because "it was time for her to go on her break." I wasn't sure I heard her correctly, so I repeated the nature of our emergency. Again, your agent informed me that it was time for her break, "she had no choice," and that if I had a problem with it, I could talk to her supervisor.
I was absolutely horrified. The only person at the United counter who had the ability to ticket passengers felt that it was more important to go grab a soda than to give me a decent chance at making a flight to be with a dying relative.
I argued with this woman for a good 10 minutes, growing increasingly agitated. Even those passengers who had let me move to the front of the line voiced their objections. She did nothing to assist me, choosing instead to continue to quote company policy. Why she didn't just leave to go on her break is beyond me. Before she finally left, she placed a call to her supervisor and said, in a very sarcastic tone, that there was a customer at the counter "whose mother is sick and dying and who wants to hold a flight and speak with a supervisor." She refused to provide me with her name or employee number.
By the time I was able to find somebody new to help me, it was clear that I would no longer be able to make the 7:50 PM flight. I asked the new ticketing agent if there was any way that he could contact the gate to let them know we were on our way, but he said it was impossible. He booked us on the 10:30 flight.
Upon receiving our tickets, we ran to the security line and quickly made our way to the gate to see if there was still hope of making the 7:50 flight. The plane was still there, but the door was closed and your gate agent was turning other passengers away (including those who had arrived late on a connecting flight). I explained our ordeal to the gate agent, who simply provided me with some "United-style" sympathy: not only could he not re-open the gate, but he told me that he could understand the behavior of the ticketing agent because "management really makes us work some unreasonable schedules."
A perfect keystone ending to the most imperfect, flawed, and horrifying customer experience I have ever had in my life.
I realize that we can't legislate good customer service, and I suspect that no regulations were violated in this noble attempt by your staff to have us "fly the friendly skies." However, given the animosity that your employees seem to have for their management as well as their passengers, I hardly have faith in their ability to serve the public interest in other matters, including those involving passenger safety.
My girlfriend's mother passed away at 2:50 AM, shortly after we arrived in Portland. We will, of course, never know what we might have been able to share with her in the two and a half hours we burned sitting at a gate at SFO.
I certainly hope your agent's break was worth that price.
(Photo: piston9)
