How To Cancel An Alaskan Airlines Ticket Without A Fee [NOT]

[UPDATE Feb. 17:  It didn't work.  When I tried to apply my balance to a new ticket, they added the $75 penalty fee I hadn't paid yet.  I knew it was too good to be true.]

[UPDATE June 5, 2015:  Cancellation fees were raised to $125 a while ago. Not all fares have cancellation fees.  My sense is these fees have nothing to do with costs.  It's extortion.  They do it because they can.  Finding this on their website is hard.  However, the Ask Jenn feature did give me the page quickly. ]


[UPDATE Aug 8, 2014:  There is a way - be in the MVP Gold (40,000 or more miles) category.  A table on Elite Status says "Fee Waivers - Call Center Ticketing Fee, Ticket Change/Cancellation Fee, Left on Board Item Return Fee."   Oh dear, I didn't know there was a fee for getting something you left on board.]

When you buy the cheap tickets on Alaska Airlines, the agreement says you have to pay a $75 change fee if you change on line and $100 if you do it by phone or in person.  But a cancelled credit card led me to an option with no fee.  The canceled card kept me from cancelling the ticket on-line, because I couldn't pay the fee with my old card.

[Note:  You can change or cancel an online booked Alaska Airlines ticket within 24 hours for no fee.]

(If you want to skip the background and just find out how to cancel without a fee jump down to 'back to the Alaska Airline ticket.)

So, we have an Alaskan Airlines credit card.  It got rejected back in December when I was trying to pay my way out of the Anchorage Airport parking lot.  That night the operator said it had been cancelled by the cardholder, neither I nor my wife had cancelled it.  And, she noted, people who mess with your card usually do so to use it, not to cancel it.  The next morning when I got the accounting office they said it was cancelled because they didn't have my wife's social security number.  That they'd sent us a letter and we hadn't responded so they cancelled it.  I didn't remember getting a letter when we talked, but since then I remembered.  It was pretty dicey looking - the pages looked xeroxed and the logo was black and white and not in color.  I even called my tax person and asked why my credit card would send a letter asking for my wife's social security number.  We decided it was snail mail spam.

But the operator told me this was required by the Patriot Act and I pointed out it had been passed ten years ago, so it seemed they'd survived all this time . . but she said there were new directives enforcing it and requiring banks to get all the info.  And the reason it said that the customer cancelled the card was to not hurt our credit rating by having something say the bank cancelled our card.  And then she said we had to fax or mail the number in - we couldn't do it by phone.  Not sure what I said in reply (I was polite, but I'm sure I had some smart retort) and she consulted her supervisor and took J's SS# over the phone.

Then, in LA just now, the restaurant said our card was declined.  We called Visa from the restaurant and were assured it was good and transferred to Security, but it disconnected.  So I called again and again was told the card was good and this time he suggested the restaurant's card reader was bad.  We paid cash.

The next day my wife had the card refused somewhere else.  We called again and this time we were told that it was cancelled because one of the vendors we'd used had a security breach and so the cards were cancelled.  They'd sent us a new card.  But we were in LA and the card went to Anchorage.  And we were getting ready to go to Seattle.  They'd fed ex it to Seattle.

Back to the Alaska Airline ticket.  I'd made a reservation to fly to Seattle to Anchorage, but we'd had to go to LA first to check on my mom.  So I wanted to cancel the original ticket.  But when I tried to get the cost of the ticket put into my 'wallet' (Alaska Airline's name for a customer account that can be used to buy tickets or food on a flight) I couldn't because I needed a good credit card to pay the cancellation fee.  (Visa did say I could get a security code for each transaction by calling them when the vendor tried to use the card, but that doesn't work online.) I thought maybe they'd just take the fee out of the money they were putting in the 'wallet' but no, I had to pay that extra.

So I called Alaska to explain my plight:  I can't pay the fee because my Alaska Airlines credit card was cancelled and new one hadn't arrived yet.    That's when Adonica told me to choose the last option - to have them email me my ticket number which I could then apply to another ticket within a year.

"But how do I pay the penalty fee?"

And she said the magic words, "There is no fee if you do it this way." [UPDATE:  Well, there was no fee when I canceled the ticket, but later when I tried to apply the money to another ticket, $75 was added to the fare.]

So, even though you have to pay a change fee of $75 to $100 (online or phone), if you cancel the ticket and apply it to another ticket in a year, there's no fee. [UPDATE:  Again, turns out not to be so.] If I hadn't had my credit card cancelled, I don't think I would have found this out. [But again, this is just a delayed fee, not no fee.]

Keep looking for those silver linings.

Speaking of which, we saw Silver Lining Playbook.  I think if I hadn't heard that it was a good movie and that it was one of the five up for the Academy's best films, I would have liked it much more.  It's good.  Characters are good.  Acting is good.  But it just isn't a heavyweight film in my mind. 

Oh yes.  We got the new cards later that day.  Then the next day I got an email from Visa saying my new credit cards had been sent and should arrive soon.  Sigh. 

Bike Lane Light

From This Is Why I'm Broke :

Screenshot from This Is Why I'm Broke

This looks like a good idea, but I'm not sure.  Why is this better than a flashing red light on the bike?  [And a commenter said the cyclist logo doesn't come with it.] 

I predict that as we grow to understand our weird relationship to technology, we will be seeing more human powered tools for situations where they are appropriate.  When we first started applying engines and electricity, people labored pretty hard and getting, say, a washing machine instead of hand washing was a huge labor and time saver.  The same with tractors over plows and horses (or water buffalo).

But then we applied motors to everything without thinking where it was necessary and where not.  To the point where we drive our cars and take elevators to the gym where we use plugged in machines to exercise.

Now that we've discovered that we've gotten lazy and fat, people are considering how human powered activity - like walking or biking to work, taking the stairs, mowing the lawn, shoveling the snow, etc. - not only reduce our use of fossil fuels, but also provide natural exercise to keep us fit.  And connect us to the natural rhythms of nature. 

That said, one electric gadget that has become essential for safe night biking is the LED light that means that cyclists can be seen at night by cars.  I wonder whether LED lights could be powered by the old generators we used to have that got power from the wheel turning.  Then we wouldn't need to buy batteries. 

Of course, when I ask questions like that, I have to go look it up and yes - the old dynamo idea is alive and well.

Kent 96049 Generator Light Set

$11 online

1 review

Bicycle light set generator Never run out of the light you need to see what's in front of you. Large white headlight and small red tail light are powered by a 6 volt, 3 watt generator. No need for batteries, every pedal powers the lights.

But does this have the brightness of LED?  And does it work after you stop?

Planet Bike has a front light that attaches to a dynamo.

And here's a Supernova kit for the dynamo. 

Check on liine - the prices vary enormously. 

Iron Book Head And Other Ceramics

The great thing about art is that everyone sees something else in it.  And this piece at the UAA ceramics sale last Friday leaves a lot for the viewer to interpret.  Since it's a university student piece and there's a book, it might have something to do with the pressures of studying.  But what an iron's pretty harsh.  Ah readers, what does this mean?  Unfortunately I wasn't thinking clearly and didn't get the name of the creator. 

Every year around the first Friday of December the ceramics department has a sale of their students' work.  Since my office was minutes away, I would regularly drop by and pick up something or two.  I'm particularly looking for pieces I can put under potted plants.  Instead of the expensive array of plastic junk sold in box store gardening departments, I could usually find a few items that served this purpose.  There are also a variety of small cup like pieces to use as a pot for plant I want to give away. 





Prices range from a couple of dollars to significant money for some of the artier pieces like the iron head book piece.  If you go later in the day, they eventually start marking things down,  but the selection isn't as good. 

The receipts are split between the students and the Clay Club (I think that was the name)  which helps maintain the ceramics lab. 

This year included more fanciful arty items than I remember.  Mostly it was small utilitarian items like cups, bowls,  plates,  platters, and vases.  This time there were a number of larger sculptures, like the iron head above and these below.

 

Is this one supposed to represent the State of Alaska's harmful oil addiction?

You missed this year's sale, but there's always next year.  And if you are looking for alternative holiday shopping, Out North's Occupy Christmas alternative market has an interesting array of artist made items this weekend.  I'll post some pictures of that soon. 

Caller ID Quits - Simple Solution

It took a day or two for me to realize the caller id stopped working on our phones at home.  We've gotten used to this handy way of weeding out solicitations and other unwanted calls. 

It took another couple of days before I called ACS.  They'd get someone on it.  That's all they said.  This morning - several days later - the doorbell rings.  It's ACS. 

"What's the easiest way to get around the back to check your connection to the house?"  (We got a foot of snow in the last two days and I don't clear a pathway to the back.)  He comes back to the front a little later saying it was working there.  Sometimes the filters for internet block the caller id, but that wasn't the case.  And since we got caller id when we got the internet package years ago, it didn't seem a likely solution.

He came inside to check the phones.  Neither got a caller id when he called.  He pulled the moden line out of the other phone jack.  It didn't change things.  He pulled off the inside filters.  No id on our phone. 

"Why not test your phone like you did outside?" 
"Hmm, I don't have the right jack for that.  Be right back."

When he gets back in and checks it, he gets caller id on his phone. 

"So," I ask, "You're saying its our phone?"

"I'm not saying anything.  Never had something quite like this before.  It's always been the filters."

Finally he suggests rebooting the phone.  Just unplug it, wait 20 seconds, and then plug it in again.

It works. 

He seems pleased.  (I like technicians who like to solve problems.)  I suggest he tell the folks who take calls like mine to suggest this to people before they send out a technician.

One more little maintenance battle won.  For the moment.  Still working on the furnace problem, but that's another post. 

Zuill Bailey Plays His 300 Year Old Cello At APU

Friends invited us to last night's great Sitka Summer Music Festival* Anchorage Autumn concert and I want to alert folks there's another concert this afternoon and another next Friday.

I don't keep current with what's going on in music nationally that much, so I didn't really know the name Zuill Bailey before last night, but I do now.  In the picture below, he's in the upper left giving an introduction to the concert - and telling us we can use our cell phones at this concert, if the electricity goes out, to light the room.  He's also holding the cello in the upper right.  But you can see (and hear) him better in the NPR video below.  The YouTube intro points out that his cello is very special,

built by the renowned Venetian maker Matteo Goffriller in 1693. That means Johann Sebastian Bach was all of 8 years old when Goffriller slapped on the final layer of shellac. 

In the main part of this photo you can see violist Sandra Robbins (l-r), the pianist Eduard Zilberkant, the page turner, and the oboist Catherine Weinfield, before they played Charles Loeffler's Two Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola and Piano. (I can read the program.)   As a failed junior high school oboist, I could appreciate how she didn't break her reed just before this piece with many solos, and I noticed how many reeds she had in her case when she took it out.  I also appreciated how beautiful the oboe is when someone can really play it.

I'm afraid that violinist Elmar Oliveira is just a speck holding a violin in the upper right hand picture, but he and violist were wonderful in the opening piece, Handel's Passacaglia for Violin and Viola.

I don't have a lot to say. It was a wonderful trip to another reality for two hours.  It's great to hear world class musicians in the tiny Grant Hall at Alaska Pacific University with its great acoustics and where you can see the musicians as well as hear them from whatever seat you're in.

So if you can, go this afternoon at 4pm.  There should be a couple of tickets available and maybe the rain will mean more than a few people will be giving up their seats if you just show up.  The chance to see and hear Zuill Bailey in this space may not happen again soon.  (Or maybe it will since he's the Artistic Director of the Sitka Music Festival.) 

There's another concert Friday at the Discovery theater featuring pianist Piers Lane -

"No praise could be high enough for Piers Lane whose playing throughout is of a superb musical intelligence, sensitivity, and scintillating brilliance."  Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

- AND Zuill Bailey. It's still a small, but not quite as intimate a venue, and it should be incredible. 

Here's the NPR video with Zuill Bailey:




*The official name for this concert series is Alaska Airlines Autumn Classics, but I have this difficulty with commercializing everything. Yes, it's great that Alaska Airlines supports this festival, but they can do that because they often charge Alaskans more to fly to Seattle or rural Alaska than to LA or other locations. I'd even be ok if this were called the Sitka Autumn Classics, sponsored by Alaska Airlines. So, yes, thank you Alaska Airlines for making this possible, but please be a little more modest and respectful, since it's really all Alaskans who support this through your often exorbitant airfares. (I just looked up flying to Seattle next Saturday and the cheapest flight available is $471 one way!)

1 800 695 6950

I keep getting calls from this number.  When I pick up the phone, there is no response.  So when I see the number I don't pick it up.  But it's annoying.  Like when they called this morning at 8am.

I googled 1 800 695 6950.  

EveryCall identifies the number as coming from HBSC.  So does Mr.Number.

Here are a few comments on 800 Notes

• FYI replies to bg

  4 Jan 2010
  HSBC CREDIT DEPT
• 
  

  dave replies to bg

  13 Oct 2011
  It's HSBC credit... "Best Buy"
  There real good at harassing people!

DH

9 Dec 2009

Called my cell phone before 8:00 AM. Didn't answer since there was no caller ID other than the number and it was too early in the morning to deal with another telemarketer. Bad enough you get called by some of these clowns at all, much less at 7:30 AM!

martha replies to DH

13 Apr 2010

it is against the law for any creditors to call before 8 am and after 8 pm... you can tell them that you will report them . and to stop harrassing you.

• 
  

  Not Gonna Answer replies to martha

  4 Jan 2012
  Debt collector can call between the hours of 8am and 9pm. they get 13 hours to try to get ppl to answer their phones.

I don't have an HBSC credit card.  I don't owe Best Buy any money.

Callcenter has this comment:

These guys call me 12 to 13 times a day. If you answer there is a machine telling you to wait for someone to answer, if it goes to voice mail you get 2 minutes of the computer telling you to wait. Please tell me where these guys are at so I can go visit them. I called HSBC and they say this is a phishing site. When I call the number back directly and fight through the system I get somebody in the Phillipines who wants all my personal information.......Yeah right

From what I can tell, these websites don't tell you the owner of the number, but they take complaints about phone numbers and people commenting tend to identify the offender. 


So I looked up Do Not Call List.  We registered there a long time ago.  I wasn't sure about the website.  To check if I was registered they wanted my phone number and an email address to send back a confirmation.  But it was a .gov address which is good.  Nevertheless, I checked further and found an FCC website that talked about the Do Not Call List and confirmed the website address.

When I filled in the information (phone number and email)  to check if I was registered, I got an email thanking me for registering and I could complain after 31 days.  Whoa.  I didn't intend to register, I wanted to make sure I was still registered from before.

I looked back on the FCC website and it had a phone number to call.  You had to call from the phone you were checking about.  That said I'd registered sometime in 2007 or 2008.  It happened fast and I wasn't thinking and didn't write it down.

I went back to the Do Not Call List website and filed a complaint.  I meant to mention that their website link for checking if you are already registered didn't work right, but I forgot.  When I clicked the file a complaint link, it said it was already received, so I couldn't add anything.  

I can't verify that any of the information I found on any of the websites is accurate, I can just tell you what I did and what I found.  I'm not sure what I want to do next time the number calls.  Probably just let it ring.  They never leave a message. 

[UPDATE 10:30pm - they called again this afternoon after I posted this as I was about to walk out the door.  I answered and this time there was a person on the other end.  It turns out these people now do Costco credit.  Last month I didn't get my Costco bill on line and when I emailed them, they wrote back and apologized that none of the online bills had gone out.  (Because HBSC took over?) I called back yesterday to find out what the story was and settled the bill.  There was no way I should have had these jackals calling me at this point.  Now I have to figure out to whom I should complain about this at Costco.]

Scam or Real Problem? Living With Parasites [Updated]

I got this email today from a blogger friend:

Hi Steve,

A few minutes ago, while I was visiting your blog, the warning that I attach appears in my screen. It says:

Warning: something is wrong here

"whatdoino.steve.blogspot.com.es has contain from  borderland.northernattitude.org a well-knowed site  malware distributor. Your computer can be infected by avirus if you access to this site (...)"

Maybe you should check your computer with an antivirus...

Regards,

Here's the original message that he received:

Click to enlarge and focus

Since my blog is not on my computer, but somewhere on Blogspot's stuff, if there is a problem it would have to be there. And borderland.northernattitude.org is a blog run by a Fairbanks school teacher that I have linked. It's hardly a malware distributor. My guess is that my friend got some scam message trying to get him to buy some anti-malware software.

Anything good, just attracts parasites. I'm talking about the internet in general, not my blog. But this goes for any institution that gains any kind of crowd or good reputation. The pickpockets quickly show up to take advantage. And the scam artists impersonate the officials  of the respected institution hoping to gain credibility from its good reputation. Look at all the sleazeballs who have joined various churches and use them to work out their own personal dysfunctions.

But if anyone who knows more than I do about the inner workings of this system thinks I'm actually spreading malware, could you please let me know and what I need to do about it.

[UPDATE July 2:  I got some thoughtful email from Mike who checked out my source code and Doug's source code at Borderland - where I got a warning message when I tried to go there.  Doug's emailed me to say his site was hacked and he's redoing it.  While I imagine there will always be people who mess up other people's lives, I also suspect that the less disparity in income and the more people who have loving, balanced parents, the fewer people who would do stuff like this. I know this could be happening to my site and I don't have the skills that Doug seems to have to fix it.  But I'd learn.  And it's good to know there are folks like Mike who jumped in to offer help.  Thanks.]

Alaska Airlines Sneaking Milk Runs Into Their Seattle-LA Options

Inside Q400

We took my mom home from Seattle yesterday.  I have to say, it didn't quite register when I made the reservation and it said it stopped in Santa Rosa.  I was looking at departure time and price.

We've been flying between Anchorage and LA for over 30 years now and the Seattle - LA flight has almost always been non-stop.  A few times there was a stop in Portland.  But now it seems Alaska Airlines is listing a bunch of their local flights (via Horizon Air) as Seattle-LA flights among the options.  We flew in a little Q-400.  But it took 4 hours from Seattle to LA (including 30 minutes in Santa Rosa.)  It will only take 5 1/2 hours to fly to Anchorage non-stop from LA Tuesday. 

I've been on small planes like this for short trips - like Chicago to Cleveland - but this was a long time to be on a small plane.  And when we landed in Santa Rosa we were tipping and bouncing a lot as we got close to the ground, but we landed ok, with just one bounce.

[UPDATE 5:30pm Alaska Time:  On Alaska's behalf, they would say, I'm sure, they are giving people more options.  After all, you could get a flight from Anchorage to Juneau that stops in Cordova and Yakutat.  But those are on 737s and they don't increase the flying time so much.  Yes, I could have thought this through a little more before booking the flight, but it was such a change from what I'm used to that I didn't think about it.  This post is simply a warning to others to pay more attention than I did.]

Packaging - Good, Bad, Ugly (Tofu, Bagels, Raisins, Dates)

There is a wide variety of terrible packaging - the worst offender being all the unnecessary plastic garbage that's so difficult to open and mostly just gets thrown away.  I've only picked four items for this post, I'm sure you can pick hundreds more.

We'll start with The Ugly.

Tofu containers.  Terrible!

These are so, so bad.  They're packed with water, which tofu needs.  But they're sealed with the water bulging over the top of the tofu.  So full that once you open them, the tofu is so high in the container, that you can't keep it under water without spilling it - to, from, or in the refrigerator.  If they made the container just a little higher than the tofu, it would make more sense.  There's a better a better way to package tofu waiting to be discovered. 

Costco bagels.  Do the people that designed this ever open Costco bagels?  Do the people at Costco who make these decisions ever open them?

The bagels are in a plastic bag which is sealed with a piece of scotch tape like stuff.  When the sealing machine works right, it says to tear the two ends apart and it opens.  But usually, like in this one (which is already opened) the tape isn't on right and there is only one way to open it - tear the bag open.  And even when the seal is on right, the tape isn't good for resealing.  Even though this picture is focused on the tape, you can't even see it.


The Bad

These raisins used to be in zip lock bags.  That was pretty good.  But they dropped that and added a piece of red tape to reseal the bags.

In theory this could work, but after resealing once or twice, the adhesive gets lazy.  And since there are two pounds of raisins in the bag, you're going to have to reseal it a lot more than once or twice.



The Good

This is an old tray that was used originally to pack California dates.  A cellophane like material covered the dates.  We have two of these trays.  They have to be at least 50 years old - they were in my father's things.

This is great packaging that gets reused over and over again.  I thought about doing this post this morning when I was preparing breakfast for my wife who was slow getting up today.

I'm sure these are from the 1960s or 1950s.  When I looked to see if there was anything on California Date Palm packaging, I found someone offering a tray like this one (well, the etching looked less worn) for $14.99!

What packaging do we see today that will be used so well for 50 years and then be for sale for more than the cost of the product itself?

[I don't know how long Ebay pages are available, but I linked the picture to Ebay if someone wants to buy one.]

And while I was looking up the trays, I found this information about dates from J&J Distributors:

The date is one of the oldest tree crops - records go back over 5,000 years.

Nomads and people of the desert from the Middle East and North Africa consumed dates for survival, and royalty for many generations (dates were considered a delicacy) served this terrific fruit. Spanish missionaries introduced dates to the West in the 18th and 19th centuries, and some of the original palms can still be found in Southern California and Mexico.

The Medjool variety is considered the gourmet of the date family - originating in Morocco, it arrived in the US in 1927. Eleven immature palms were given to the US by the Chariff of Morocco - this was an attempt to save the Medjools that were threatened by disease there. The eleven palms were quarantined for seven years in Nevada, and the nine that survived were relocated to Southern California. Note: the Medjool date is the only date that is harvested fresh and eaten fresh, and is the most labor intensive date to grow and harvest.

Dates provide energy in the form of natural invert sugars - important for those who cannot tolerate sucrose - Medjools have an above average invert sugar content. Date palms flourish in dry heat and minimal rain, and do very well in the Bard Valley of California where the Colorado and Gila rivers allow abundant irrigation for their root structure - 70% of the Medjool dates in the US are produced in the Bard Valley.

The date palm (Phoenix Dactylifera) is known as the tree of life, and there are approximately 22 million palms in Iraq today where approximately 600,000 tons of dates are produced annually.

80s to Teens - LA to Anchorage

Sunday was in the 80s, even at Venice beach.  In this picture it was almost 5pm and was still warm with a lot of people on the beach - some even going into the chilly (55˚F -14˚C) ocean.

People were paying $9 to park their cars at 5pm to see the sunset.  The traffic was backed up for blocks.  The sort of situation when those of us on bikes feel a little smug.  The picture is from the Venice Beach parking lot at the end of Rose right at the Venice Boardwalk.  You can see the shadows are getting long as the sun is getting low.

In addition to the traffic, the gas prices were high.  (We saw $4.09 as we drove home from the airport in Anchorage.) I took this picture from the bus stop Monday (still warm but with clouds) as we waited for the afternoon bus to the airport.  (Yes, you can take the bus, but apparently you can't walk into the LA airport.)

And while there is free wifi in the Anchorage, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco airports, I couldn't find it in LAX.

Lincoln and Rose

When we got to the airport, the good news was that we had been bumped up into first class.  I mentioned when we went down to LA that we had flown so much last year that we got MVP cards.  This MVP card has more benefits than I realized.  I didn't do anything, they just changed our seats. It also gets us on the plane earlier and gets us into a shorter security line. I'm not a hierarchical person - I don't like it when people are given status that suggests some people are better than others - because most such divisions tend to be superficial or even bogus.  And I don't see why people who have more money or fly more should get to cut in the security line.  Security is required by the US government and money shouldn't give you privilege for required government functions.  But that's a post of its own one day, maybe. 

On the connecting flight to Anchorage they put us in the exit row so we had lots of leg room.  And we checked in some baggage which we don't normally do.   But our 10:20 pm flight left about 40 minutes late and when you're due in at 1am, that gets to be a long day.  Then when we arrived we had to wait for a plane to be de-iced before we could get to the terminal.  Here we are sitting, waiting for 10 minutes, with a bit of snow still coming down. 

One reason we've checked in baggage - other than we were gone 5 weeks and had 2 bags each free check in with the MVP (and as others mentioned last time with the Alaska Club that any Alaskan can join free), is Alaska's 20 minute baggage guarantee. In the past we've waited for an hour for our luggage. Well, it was clearly more than 20 minutes this morning - and it was now 2:30am Anchorage time, 3:30am Pacific time - so I asked the baggage folks and they gave me the coupon for $20 off our next flight (or 2000 miles) that they offer if your baggage is over 20 minutes in coming.  While they apologized over the loudspeakers about the slow luggage, they didn't tell people to come get their coupons.  It does pay to read. 

Then there were no taxis outside.  Another 10 minutes until enough showed up to handle everyone.  And we were home at 3am or so. 

I've got a lunch meeting today, the garage door wasn't working when we got home, and the internet wasn't either. (The Internet I've obviously solved.)  So we have lots of catch up to do after our long absence.  Now I've got to shovel the driveway.  But yes, it's good to be home.

Lost Camera

I took my camera to lunch in the hospital yesterday.  When I was on my bike headed home I realized it wasn't in my pocket.  We went back after dinner and I checked in the cafeteria.  It wasn't in any of the drawers.  They sent me to security.  He looked at a paper.  Nothing reported.  He didn't ask for my name.

Then I remembered how my mom was instructed several times not to have anything valuable in in her overnight back.

OK, it's just a camera.  I didn't break a finger.  I can go out and buy a newer, better one, cheaper one.  And the little door to the battery and sound card was broken and I had taped it together.  It's just a thing.  But as a blogger, it was almost like a finger.  I think I'm more upset that I wasn't paying attention and must have put it down and walked away.  It's usually in a pocket, but it was warm and I wasn't wearing a jacket and I didn't put it in my jeans pocket.  Dumb.

And you don't want me drawing pictures.  I don't want me drawing pictures very often - that takes way too long.  But I did learn how to draw a teardrop in photoshop today. OK, I learned how to draw something that resembles a teardrop.  I'll get better. 

The LA Times lists sales for cameras..

[UPDATE 11am:  J found my camera.  It was in the cafeteria office, which was closed last night.  Patience and faith, I need more of them.]

Two Links - French Blog Post on Planned Obsolesence and Anchorage Post with Title 21 Housing Design Horrors

I ran across the French blog  OWNI.eu with a good post on Planned Obselecence  because it has a link to my post on Victor's Lebow's quote in the Story of Stuff.  It documents more on how corporations design products to encourage hyperconsumption. 

Planned Obsolescence: How Companies Encourage Hyperconsumption

Like many of their professors, students at the Sorbonne had become used to going to buy their ink cartridges from a small shop on a nearby street. With no manufacturer affiliations, it carried shelves full of ‘generic’ cartridges that worked with printers from big name brands like Epson, Canon, HP and Brother. But that small shop soon faced a very big problem: some new printers only recognise ‘proprietary’ consumables that they can detect by matching their hardware signature against a signature in a chip on the cartridge. Anybody hoping to get round that by using a syringe to top up their existing cartridge with new ink was soon caught out because the chips can also track ink levels. But try seeing things from the manufacturers’ point of view: print cartridge sales can represent up to 90% of their turnover, so it’s not hard to see why they want to prevent consumers from going elsewhere. This process of trapping consumers in an endless cycle of buying more by supplying products that soon become unusable or beyond repair has taken on the almost cult name of ‘planned obsolescence.’

This is just the beginning.  It also talks about light bulbs, iPads, and the 'lift cartel' (elevators in American). This is part of the underlying problem that Occupy is about - the way large corporations gain control over our lives and income. 

During the depression people's consumption dropped and corporations had the problem of how to sell more to people who already had enough. The OWNI post says there were three lines of solutions:  Technical, Design, and Legal. 

The Technical line:

"technical: built weaker, less durable products that are impossible to repair;"

brings to mind our recently worn out bread machine.  The motor still worked, but stopped turning the dough after the first rotation.  The repair shop owner apologized when he told us he can't get the part we need any more. All that metal, the motor, the power cord, everything, has to be tossed because one small part isn't working.  (We left it with the repair man, hoping he might find ways to use some of it, but at least that he knew a way to recycle it if he couldn't. 


Large Scale Designed Mess

In Anchorage, the Assembly passed a revision of Title 21 last year that changes all sorts of standards for design and construction of housing which would address a similar problem - builders who cut corners to build ugly, treeless projects with erosion problems, minimal and unusable outdoor space.

But the mayor hired a former Assembly member at $60,000 to come up with changes that would make the development community happier.  The mayor has dropped most of the consultant's recommendation, but still  has offered a series of about 38 amendments to implement the development industry's wish list which would overturn many of the most critical improvements already approved.

Photo from Mt. View Forum used with permission (link to see more)

These amendments go to the Planning and Zoning Commission in December and then to the Assembly.  Mt. View Forum posted about Title 21 back in 2009 with a series of photos that show what shoddy Anchorage construction looks like.

The photo caption at Mt. View Forum read:

"Does it get any worse? Yes! Four-plex apartments, street sides windowless, entire area between buildings and street 100% paved, no landscaping."

Do you really think it's too hard for apartments and office to hide their dumpsters from street traffic?  How about 25 foot setbacks for buildings from creeks and only 10 feet for other parts of the property?  I'm hoping to write more on this soon, but let me jump the gun a bit to get Anchorage folks not only aware of this, but alarmed enough to start calling their assembly members.  Here's what the Planning staff at the Muni wrote about the 25 foot setback:

After considerable research, discussion, review and compromise with the T21 subcommittee, the provisionally adopted 50-foot setback is much lower than what is recommended in scientific literature and used in other cities. For comparison, based on scientific data the standard recommendation is 300-feet3. In most communities, stream setbacks average 100-feet nationwide. In Alaska: Soldotna has a 100-foot setback, the Mat-Su Borough has a 75- foot setback, and both Juneau and Homer have 50-foot setbacks. Stream setbacks are necessary to control floodwaters, provide water quality treatment by capturing and filtering pollutants, protect base stream flows to reduce threats of flash floods, maintain stream stability preventing channel migration and maintain stream health for fish and wildlife habitat. Anchorage’s existing 25’ setback came about because of politics, compromise and what was acceptable in the mid 1980’s—it was not based on scientific or practical findings. The consultant’s amendments reduce the role of setbacks from even current code, as illustrated following page 56 below. As proposed, allowing additional uses within 10-ft of streams threatens the very effective vegetative buffer for water quality and flood control. Vegetation along stream banks serves many purposes. Trees slow water velocity and hold the soil in place with their root system stabilizing stream banks. Overhanging vegetation regulates water temperature, provides shading for salmon, and contributes insects and other nutrients in the stream. Ground-cover vegetation filters stormwater runoff removing sediments and pollutants before entering streams.

This is from a list of the changes with staff comments put together by former Planning and Zoning Commissioner John Weddleton.  I've posted the whole document (21 pages) at Scribd., but they group opposing the changes, FreeTitle21, passed out a more concise version (4 pages) Tuesday night at the Assembly meeting.  Free Title 21's concise version, more a list of recommendations and reasons to reject most of the amendments,  is also at Scribd.

The Modern World - Do It Yourself Gas Mask

I found this in a forum at Why We Protest.

Simple DIY Gas Mask from the people of EGYPT

Things you will need

1- Amount of 2 medical filter masks.
2- Activated Charcoal (available at pharmacies one make is known as EUCARBON)
3- Glue Or Glue Gun
4- Swimming goggles

STEP 1
Take the activated Charcoal and crush it till it is fine but not powdered entirely.

STEP 2
Dampen the inside of one of the 2 medical masks. Do this on the inside so that it is similar to a cup. NB Only dampen slightly do not make it wet or the glue will not stick.

STEP 3
On the Dampened surface of the Medical Mask Add Approx 1-1.5 teaspoons of the crushed activated charcoal. Do not put it around the edges or or the glue will not stick.

The rest of the instructions are here. 

So, a mask could be made for about $8.56

Two masks at $1.25	$2.50
Charcoal, at $21 for 2-5 lbs (1 gal jug)	@$.05
Swim Goggles	$6.00
Glue	@$.01
Total per mask	$8.56

HTML Tables

What are the police paying?  Anywhere from $143 per mask and up.  And in their masks, they stop being humans and turn into anonymous insects of the state. 

Close Your Bank Accounts?

From Josh's FB. Then to The Atlantic (for bigger version) which said it came from Mother Jones Jan 2010

I used the word 'predatory capitalism' recently and I should explain. Market economists tell us the market works because it is efficient, but only when there is competition. If your bank  and credit card company seem to treat you more as prey than as a customer - always looking for ways to take money from you - late fees, finance charges that never let go and lots of other automatic fees - then you know what I mean.  What about airlines?  Why can't you just buy a ticket at a fair price without looking all over the internet?  Why can't you give/sell your ticket to someone?  It seems the main reason is so they can charge you change fees. And cell phone companies?

This bank consolidation chart, which you can see better here, explains some of the reason - lack of competition. You don't have a lot of choices. And if you ever want to rent a car or buy an airline ticket online, you have to have a credit card. But scanning Facebook - I do this now and then - I found one feasible response.

Found this on Kelly's FB

Credit Unions are a great option.  We've been members of Credit Union One since they've been the Teachers Credit Union.  Ours doesn't mess with us.  They're local and they treat us well. But I have an Alaska Airlines B of A visa card.  Can I give up my Frequent Flyer miles?  Maybe I can limit my Alaska Airlines Visa use just to airline tickets.  What about you?

The way to make the market work is to not do business with companies that don't treat you well.  That may mean giving some things up that you think you can't live without.  But you can.

Make a list of the companies that you patronize that treat you badly.  Then start planning your exit.  Find alternatives.  The market doesn't work if consumers have no choice, or think they don't.

By the way, using Google's reverse image function, I was able to put the chart into the image box and trace my way back.

Drinking, Drugs, and Colonoscopies

In 2001 when the doctor said to come back in 2011 it seemed so far out in the future.  But starting yesterday I was on my two day liquids diet in prep for cleaning out my system so he can send his instruments in to check me for polyps.

Is this something we need to do?  My doctor - I have a good one I trust - suggested yes.

What are the odds of colon cancer?  From the National Cancer Institute: 

Incidence Rates by Race

Race/Ethnicity	Male	Female
All Races	55.0 per 100,000 men	41.0 per 100,000 women
White	54.4 per 100,000 men	40.2 per 100,000 women
Black	67.7 per 100,000 men	51.2 per 100,000 women
Asian/Pacific Islander	45.4 per 100,000 men	34.6 per 100,000 women
American Indian/Alaska Native a	42.7 per 100,000 men	40.0 per 100,000 women
Hispanic b	39.9 per 100,000 men	28.4 per 100,000 women

That's five white males out of 10,000; 1/2 a person out of 1000;  1/20 a person out of 100.  I'm not even sure how to write the percentage.  .005%?  That seems like a pretty low risk.  But further down on that page it says:

Based on rates from 2005-2007, 5.12% of men and women born today will be diagnosed with cancer of the colon and rectum at some time during their lifetime. This number can also be expressed as 1 in 20 men and women will be diagnosed with cancer of the colon and rectum during their lifetime. These statistics are called the lifetime riskX Close
The probability of developing cancer in the course of one's lifespan. Lifetime risk may also be discussed in terms of the probability of developing or of dying from cancer. Based on cancer rates from 2005 to 2007, it was estimated that men had about a 44 percent chance of developing cancer in their lifetimes, while women had about a 38 percent chance. of developing cancer. Sometimes it is more useful to look at the probability of developingX Close
The chance that a person will develop cancer in his/her lifetime. cancer of the colon and rectum between two age groups. For example, 2.04% of men will develop cancer of the colon and rectum between their 50th and 70th birthdays compared to 1.53% for women.

That looks riskier, but still. . . the only risk factor I have for colorectal cancer is age.  

So what is colon cancer?  Here's an explanation from the Mayo Clinic website:

Colon cancer is cancer of the large intestine (colon), the lower part of your digestive system. Rectal cancer is cancer of the last several inches of the colon. Together, they're often referred to as colorectal cancers.

Most cases of colon cancer begin as small, noncancerous (benign) clumps of cells called adenomatous polyps. Over time some of these polyps become colon cancers.

Polyps may be small and produce few, if any, symptoms. For this reason, doctors recommend regular screening tests to help prevent colon cancer by identifying polyps before they become colon cancer.

Poster in Dr's Office - Click to Enlarge

The Mayo Clinic site explains colonoscopy this way:

Colonoscopy uses a long, flexible and slender tube attached to a video camera and monitor to view your entire colon and rectum. If any suspicious areas are found, your doctor can pass surgical tools through the tube to take tissue samples (biopsies) for analysis.

I'm guessing this is one of those examples of how health care coverage skews how health care money is spent.  The money spent on people over 50 with insurance for  colonoscopies,  would have a much bigger positive impact on American health if it were spent on preventive care for pregnant women and children without health coverage.

The Drinking

So, in preparation for Monday, I've had to be on liquid diet Saturday, today, and Monday.  The instructions say:

Stay on a FULL LIQUID DIET the entire TWO days (anything that is liquid or melts into a liquid;  no solids).  Acceptable items include cream of wheat (not oatmeal), Jell-O, puddings, ice cream, yogurt (the type without the fruit), Ensure, chicken broth and tomato soup (no crackers), etc.

The Drugs Part 1

Then Sunday night I start taking the purging medicine and move to clear liquids only.


Naturopaths tell us that cleansing the bowels is a good thing.

In fact, nothing has changed since the great natural healer Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, declared nearly a century ago that “90% of the diseases of civilization are due to improper functioning of the colon.” (from curezone)

WebMD says cleansing routines are worthless:

But the science behind the detox theory is deeply flawed, says Peter Pressman, MD, an internal medicine specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The body already has multiple systems in place -- including the liver, kidneys, and gastrointestinal tract -- that do a perfectly good job of eliminating toxins from the body within hours of consumption.
"There's no evidence at all that any of these approaches augment the body's own mechanisms," Pressman tells WebMD.

So I figured this was a chance for a lot of smoothies this weekend.  Except when I got the ingredients into the blender, it made a lot of noise, but the blades didn't go around.





If I screwed it on loosely, the blades went round, but it also leaked all over.  We ended up buying another Osterizer - $29 didn't seem too bad.



When we got it home, I saw the rubber seal was thicker than the old one.  Even though ours is at least 20 years old, the seal from the new one fit nicely on the old one.  And when I turned on the blender, it worked fine.  Who would have thought such a tiny difference in thickness would shut down the machine?

New one on the right

So, J went back to the store and bought two new rubber rings and returned the new blender.  But think about it.  The new machine cost $29.  Two rubber rings cost $4.99.  What's wrong with that?  In the end we were $25 ahead by one way of thinking, but I was in a rubber factory in India where they made things like these rubber rings for a fraction of a cent each.  (I've posted about this cost disparity elsewhere.)

I also took shameless advantage of the situation to buy some things I'm allowed to consume this weekend.

So, there's lots of drinking going on.  Made some mushroom soup last night and more smoothies this morning.

The Drugs Part 2

And tomorrow there will an anesthetic that leads to these instructions:

Make arrangements for a ride home and a caregiver following the procedure, you should not drive for 12 hours after the exam as you will have been given an IV medication during the procedure that will reduce your reaction time.

 I do remember the last time.  The time allotted for the procedure is an hour.  I remember  it seemed like it was over in 5 minutes.  So the drugs do work in interesting ways.  But we live a five minute walk from the office.  The person at the desk said they would not let me walk home. I know, I'm being a guy about this.   We'll see how I feel.   J will be there.  With a car.

And they didn't think I should go to the book club meeting tomorrow night.  I understand that the medication is powerful, but it works differently on different people.  But I won't drive - I would ride my bike normally anyway.  We'll see how I feel.  J has volunteered to take me to the meeting and pick me up.  They say that people have reported going out for dinner after the procedure and not remembering anything.  I'll take notes as I do things.  We'll see.

The National Cancer Institute says:

On January 1, 2008, in the United States there were approximately 1,110,077 men and women alive who had a history of cancer of the colon and rectum -- 542,127 men and 567,950 women. This includes any person alive on January 1, 2008 who had been diagnosed with cancer of the colon and rectum at any point prior to January 1, 2008 and includes persons with active disease and those who are cured of their disease.

Most people with colon or rectal cancer are over 50.  (In 2000 there were about 77 million people over 50 in the US.)   The doctor said the rates of colorectal cancer have dropped significantly, mainly because it is one of the few cancers where they can take easy preventative measures before cancer forms - by cutting out the polyps before they become cancerous.   

I have no idea how much this procedure costs.  Most of it will be covered by insurances.  But I still think the money would be better spent on pregnant women and children health care and health education. 

Trivia note:  I think this is the second time I've had a post with 'colon' in the title, and the first one was only two weeks ago.

Life is Good - MacHaus Replaced the Mac Keyboard, Trackpad, and Top Case Free

It's almost like having a new computer.  The cursor isn't skipping around, and everything I can see and feel as I type is new except the screen.  As I mentioned earlier, Apple acknowledged the cracks along the edge of the top case [that's the part that surrounds the keyboard and is the top of the case that houses the hard drive] as a design flaw.  My computer is about four years old now, but it was still covered.  I brought it in about noon and they had the parts and called about 5pm to say it was ready for pick up. 

So, if you have a Macbook, and there's a crack in the plastic case along the edge, you might take it to a local Apple dealer and see if it is covered for repairs.  I really wasn't looking forward to dealing with the cursor problems, but I was very pleasantly surprised. 

It Always Works When You Don't Want It To

I'm at the MacHaus, trying to show them what my keyboard is doing.  And, of course, it is working fine now.  Since it tends to need to be used a bit before the cursor starts jumping around, I'm typing here to see if I can get it so they can see what my problem is. 

But except for one or two errant jumps by the keyboard, all is well. 

But, it turns out, there's a crack on the top case.  There was one before and Apple replaced it and the keyboard free once already because it was a design flaw.  Apparently the edge on top (the casing around the screen) seems to cause that problem and so they will replace the top case, keyboard, trackpad, and the topcase for free.  That might solve my problems. 

And they have the parts available in town.  This is looking better than I expected.

There are some pictures of the crack the first time - January 2009 - here.  This time the crack is on the left side, not the right side.  But if you have a crack like that on your MacBook, and it's less than five years old, it seems like they'll replace it all for free.

Sam: Johnson's Bookshop (Why the colon?) [UPDATED May 1, 2019]

[UPDATE May 1, 2019:  An LA Times article today tells us this store is closing:

"Hernandez knows well the Darwinian map of gentrification, commerce, parking battles and changing lifestyles that are altering the geography and spirit of neighborhoods across the city."

Lots more history in the article.]



As soon as I walked into this bookshop, just down the street on Venice from the Mar Vista Farmer's Market on Sunday, I knew this was not your average used book store.

There was a small group of people sitting there talking (one chose not to be in the photo.)


There was an unusual, casual intensity.  I was asked what sort of book I was interested in.  I really hadn't come in with anything in mind and asked about their specialties.  I hadn't paid good attention to what it said outside.

Their website, which confirms my initial reaction (well, maybe all private book shops are unusual in their own way), offers this history:

"Sometime in the `50’s two kids from Westchester High School found joy in ransacking Los Angeles’ second-hand bookshops together

Larry Myers, the precocious kid who knew all about everything.

Bob Klein, the unprecocious kid who didn’t.

Fired by fantasy, they’d root up whole bookshops hunting rarities by H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur Machen, Lord Dunsany, Algernon Blackwood—the list goes on. And what bookshops the city boasted in the 1950’s. Particularly in Hollywood. Pickwick Bookshop had a huge used book section upstairs; Cherokee Bookshop specialized in fantasy; Larson’s, in the ghostly and occult. The magic of THE BOOKSHOP cast a glamour that has not faded.

Some years later Bob went on to become a teacher.

Larry went on to become—but no one quite knows what he went on to become. Probably he is still becoming it.

Years later still, in 1976, in order to augment his meager academic earnings Bob decided to become a bookseller. His girlfriend of the time—the lovely Sheryl (whose hips stopped traffic)—backed him all the way. Otherwise he might have ended up selling aluminum siding. Not anxious to fail alone, Bob browbeat Larry into becoming his partner. For opening stock, each was responsible for amassing 5,000 books—exclusive naturally from the sacrosanctity of their own private libraries."

There were lots of interesting books in a variety of areas.  It would be a good place to hide out now and then.  I even bought a book because it raised issues in 1951 or so, that sound very current.  A philosophy book that I might post about later. 

I didn't ask about the name or the colon in the name.  That's for the next visit I guess.  But, of course, I have to check more on their website before I go on.  It turns out they address this on their website.

"Why the colon? It’s a little like asking Durante who Mrs. Calabash is."

They warn it takes a bit of the mystery out of life to know.  But if you must, it's here.

Mar Vista Sunday Market

We had a request from my mom for Walnut Raisin bread from the Sunday market at Venice and Grand View, near the Mar Vista post office.  Here are some pictures.

Chocolate and Strawberry Crepe

We ate here, at Nana's

Health rules, I guess, mean plastic wrapping