USPS




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

United States
Postal Service



for not delivering the mail


OK, I am totally dusgusted with USPS. Why? Here's why ...

They can't deliver the mail. Here's what happened ...

I ordered a little something online from a company in Miami. I'm in L.A. It was a small package, easily able to fit inside my mailbox. I waited for the package to arrive. Finally, days later, I checked the tracking number online at USPS re delivery and this is what I discovered ...

According to the tracking number at USPS:

1. they tried to deliver my package at 7:15PM today

2. they could not deliver it because there was no one to sign for it

3. they said that they left a notice

Apparently they then returned the item to my local post office.

They lied!

Someone WAS home at 7:15PM, there was NO notice left by the carrier. And I did not get my package ... which I was desperately waiting for! It is hell to get them to re-deliver and going to pick it up at the post office is a 1-2 hour-long traffic nightmare for me. All this because I have to sign for the package.

I spoke to the company who shipped the package and they said they do NOT request any delivery signature on ANY of their shipments.

I live in an apartment complex that has 1,151 apartments. It's huge. And we have a LOT of trouble with USPS deliveries. This missed delivery is just one example of how bad USPS is here. Lately, they can't deliver the mail; they can't deliver a simple envelope or a freakin package properly and then they lie about it!

Where's my package? I don't have it. I paid for USPS to deliver it. They FAILED to do so. And then they LIED about it.

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds".

My ass!

Congratulations, USPS, this week, for your non-existent mail delivery, and lying about trying, you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt Award!



Apple




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

Apple


for making the possible impossible


OK, I am totally dusgusted with Apple. Why? Here's why ...

I am the author of 10 inspirational self-help books. All are available on amazon.com. I simply wanted to have my books available in the Apple ibookstore as well. I converted the first of my books into the necessary epub format and went to submit the first book to the ibookstore. Apple's website said I needed to fill out an application, and get an Apple ID, in order to submit content (my books). I started filling out the application. I signed up for an Apple ID. So far, so good. Then, the application said that in order to submit my book I needed to have an iTunes ID. I did not have an iTunes ID. It said I could use my Apple ID on iTunes. I couldn't, it wouldn't let me open an iTunes account. NO WHERE could I find how to get an iTunes ID. The ONLY thing you can do is download the iTunes app, which I didn't want and would never use. Next, I spent 20 minutes looking around the Apple website for help regarding this Catch-22 problem. Needing an iTunes ID but can't get one. Can't get an iTunes ID because I don't have one. Catch-22. No help was to be found. Next, I looked for a contact phone number. I found one and called Apple support. The lady was very nice and tried to help. She even understood my convoluted problem. She gave me the phone number for iTunes support. I called the number. There is no human being at iTunes support, only an automated voice tree!

By now, I was losing my mind. All I wanted to do is submit my "already published and already available on amazon" books for sale in the Apple ibookstore. No way I could find out to do that at Apple. Anywhere at Apple. BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE. BAD SUPPORT. When I get jerked around by BAD customer service, and its important to solve the problem, I call the company's corporate headquarters. I called Apple corporate headquarters. Another stupid automated voice tree, no human being. Finally, after calling 3 times, I got a human being on the line. I told him what my problem was (actually, it's Apple's problem). He understood. Then he told me that iTunes had no human phone customer service or telephone technical support by humans, only a support knowledge base and/or email support. I told him that I could not possibly email the problem to iTunes support; too complicated. He said that, outside of that, there was nothing Apple could do. Close to my wit's end, I said, "How about you connect me to the President's Office?". He responded, "There's no way to connect you to the President's Office from here." OK, enough is enough! That's it! I told him, "Then Apple doesn't get to carry my books! None of them. Ever." Then, having spent over an hour and totally wasting my time trying to become an Apple content provider, I hung up on them. Forever.

My new slogan for Apple? "We make the possible impossible."


Congratulations, Apple, this week, for your insanely convoluted un-intuitive BAD customer service and help, you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt Award!



Los Angeles City Council




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

The Los Angeles City Council



for being so out of touch

In the midst of the worst economic times since the Great Depression, here is what the Los Angeles City Council is spending time and taxpayer dollars on ...

From the Los Angeles Times September 07, 2011|By Kate Linthicum ...


"Plastic and paper bag ban proposed for Los Angeles

Los Angeles councilman's proposal would allow grocery stores to give away or sell only reusable tote bags, or risk a fine.

Paper or plastic? For shoppers in Los Angeles, the choice may soon be neither.

Hoping to reduce the billions of grocery bags circulating throughout the city, an L.A. councilman Tuesday called for a sweeping ban on single-use paper and plastic bags.

By including paper bags in the ban, the proposal goes beyond similar measures taken recently by other California cities and counties. Although L.A. County, Santa Monica and other municipalities have banned plastic bags in recent years, most have allowed stores to sell paper ones for a small fee.

"With paper bags, you're still generating litter," said Councilman Paul Koretz, who introduced the motion proposing the ban. "We're taking the next step."

Environmentalists celebrated the news and said they hoped that it would push Sacramento lawmakers to enact a statewide ban."




Banning plastic and paper bags. Brilliant. Just what L.A. residents and taxpayers need. With the unemployment rate currently at 12.5% (September 2011) and the worst real estate market since the Great Depression the Los Angeles City Council is playing around with banning plastic and paper bags. People in L.A. need jobs, not reusable shopping bags!

Congratulations to the Los Angeles City Council. This week, for your stupid proposed legislation, and for making the banning of plastic and paper bags more important than creating jobs, you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt award.




Recycling in L.A.




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

The State of California

for its batteries
recycling regulation


In the midst of the worst economic times since the Great Depression, here is what Californians are forced to do ... recycle their used dead batteries at a recycling center. Yes, even the little AA and AAA batteries.

It is yet another environmental law passed by the continuosly re-elected clueless moronic time-wasting money-wasting California legislators in Sacramento. The once-great State of California, and its state EPA, now forces you to drive far and wide and find a place to recycle your used batteries. Any battery. Every battery. Every time.

Here's the story ...

My laptop battery suddenly quit. Wouldn't recharge. It was less than 2 years old. Yes, I checked it with my computer's diagnostics. It was dead. Dead as a doornail. Permanently dead. I ended up buying a new battery (my extended warranty did not cover the battery). The new laptop battery cost me $80. Yes, $80. Then I happened to discover that I could not easily and simply dispose of the old dead laptop battery; I could not simply throw it away, I had to take it to a recycling depot, a recycling drop-off place that accepted laptop batteries.

OK, fair enough. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? It wasn't. It isn't. I spent 30 minutes online just trying to find a place near me that recycled used dead laptop batteries. The nearest place that would take my old battery was nowhere near where I live. I live in Los Angeles, the second most populous city in America. Recycling places should be everywhere, right? Wrong! I had to drive to a Best Buy store ... the closest place to me that recycles dead laptop batteries. The Best Buy store was 10 miles out of my way, and took me 1 hour, just to specifically drive over there and drop off my one (1) used dead notebook battery. Is that an efficient use of my time and vehicle? I probably caused more pollution and damage to the environment driving to and from the recycling place than I would have if I threw the old battery in the trash!

As California teeters on the brink of bankruptcy and suffers from massive unemployment and the worst real estate depression in its history its legislators are dicking around with used batteries. Now I know for sure, there is no doubt, when it comes to insanity, California state legislators, the California EPA, and their environmental extremism have no limits! None. It's stupifying. And worthy of a Stu Pitt Award.

Here is what I emailed a friend of mine, before I awarded California this Stu Putt Award: "In California throwing away used batteries in the trash is against the law. Against the laws of the state, the environment, and against the laws of God. It's probably in the bible! "Thou shalt not throw thy batteries in thine trash".

Soon, throwing away used batteries in the trash in California may be punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty, depending on the mood of the judge. Unless you are an illegal alien, then you can do whatever you want.

Up until February 8, 2006, California residents were allowed to throw away any 'spent' battery in the trash. Now the nanny state of California makes you take your used batteries to a hazardous waste recycling depot. No matter how far away it may be from where you live or work. Every battery. Every time. Don't pollute. Don't be a criminal!

And soon I expect to hear, "don't forget to recycle your used condoms too! Drive them to a hazardous waste recycling depot. Every condom. Every time."

Besides being a crime, throwing batteries in the trash in California can also create global battery warming, can lead to obesity, is a major cause of marijuana, heroin and methamphetimine use, is a contributing cause of drunk driving, bullying, poverty, sexting, ADHD, restless leg syndrome, erectile dysfunction, terrorism, and thinking like a Republican. Don't do it!

Remember, God is watching you! Mother Nature is watching you! The State of California is watching you. And so is every extreme environmentalist wacko. Recycle or die!"


What's next, California green police?



Congratulations to the State of California. For your stupid extreme environmental legislation which makes it a CRIME to throw away even 1 little AAA or AA battery, this week you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt award.



fat tax




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

The Country of Denmark




for their fat tax


There's high taxes on cigarettes, liquor and soft drinks. Now, there's a "fat tax"!

It's true. It's in the news. Denmark is now the first country to pass a tax on foods with high-fat content ...

Denmark has a 10% overweight/obesity rate. We in the U.S. have a much higher percentage. How long before the U.S. (or crazy California) has a fat tax? I'm guessing about 3 minutes.

This is a perfect example of the "slippery slope" of government intruding into the private lives of citizens. Over regulating and over taxing legal personal private activities. I have always said this would happen. It was only a matter of time. Once the government starts taxing and regulating your private, legal, personal choices "for your own good" there is no stopping them. And all the anti-smoking zealots, environmental wackos and extreme moralists didn't listen, and didn't stop. Soon, THEY too may have to pay outrageously high punitive taxes ... on the foods they eat. Soon, all the zealots may have to pay outrageously high punitive taxes on their beloved ice cream, potato chips and pizzas. Good! See how THEY like the government taxing the shit of THEIR favorite legal habits!

Zealots want the government to tax, regulate or ban "bad behavior", specifically behavior that they personally do not like. And zealots think the government will only over-tax and over-regulate (or ban) other people's "offensive" bad habits and behavior. However, sooner or later, the government will also tax, regulate or ban some of THEIR favorite legal and personal activities. And, sooner or later, the government will also restrict THEIR legal and personal choices, choices of how they want to live THEIR life. And the fat tax is just the beginning.

Congratulations to Denmark. This week, for being the first country in the world to impose a government fat tax, and thus paving the way for every country to do the same, you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt award.

And you zealots are about to learn, "what goes around comes around". And bites you in the ass. Have you not heard of the golden rule? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

Learn it. Live it.





California legislature




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

The State of California



What's next, California sheet police?

In the midst of the worst economic times since the Great Depression, here is what California state legislators are spending taxpayer time and taxpayer dollars on ...

OK, this one defies belief. Here is yet another RIDICULOUS law proposed by the continuosly re-elected clueless moronic time-wasting money-wasting California legislators in Sacramento. What is the ridiculous proposed law? The once-great State of California is actually considering a proposed law making it a crime for California hotels/motels to have any sheets other than a flat fitted sheet on their beds.

Non-fitted sheets. A crime? Really? Are they serious??? A criminal bed sheet law? Yes. It is not a joke. Look it up, the proposed law is sb 432.

Just when I thought the crazy worthless legislators in Sacramento couldn't get any more worthless or any more crazy they topped themselves by proposing a criminal bed sheet law. As California teeters on the brink of bankruptcy and suffers from massive unemployment and a real estate depression its legislators are dicking around with bed sheets. Bed sheets. Now I know for sure, there is no doubt, when it comes to insanity California state legislators have no limits! None. It's stupifying. And worthy of a Stu Pitt Award.

Congratulations to the State of California legislature. For your stupid proposed legislation which would make it a CRIME for hotels/motels to not have fitted sheets on their beds, this week you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt award.



Indiana University Health Center




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

Indiana University Health Center



for being insane


From aol news ...

"Before this week, employees at the Indiana University Health medical center were free to step off the nonsmoking campus and light up a cigarette. Sure, co-workers and patients would probably notice the telltale odor on the smoker's clothes, skin and breath -- especially if they happened to share an elevator -- but they could do little more than plug their nose in defense. That all changed on Monday when the medical center upgraded its policy: Employees are now prohibited from smoking during the workday. Period."

Employers (who happen to be government funded!) banning legal personal behavior of employees outside the workplace? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!

No where in the U.S. Constitution and/or the Bill Of Rights does it give the right or authority for an entity, ANY entity, to ban an existing legal act ... unless they first pass a law to change the legal act into an act that is illegal!

What's next? Employers (or the government) deciding to ban potato chips eaten outside of work? Ice cream? Soft drinks? McDonalds? Driving your car on your lunch hour?

Employers and governments controlling your personal l-e-g-a-l behavior OUTSIDE THE WORKPLACE ... under the totally bogus guise of health or environmental reasons.

Is this another example of Americans losing their their individual God-given and LEGAL rights and freedoms? You bet it is!

Congratulations to the Indiana University Health Center. This week, for your stupid and unconstitutional rule which bans a personal and legal behavior of employees OUTSIDE THE WORK PLACE, you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt award.



City of Los Angeles




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

The City of Los Angeles



for being so out of touch

In the midst of the worst economic times since the Great Depression, here is what the City of Los Angeles is spending time and taxpayer dollars on ...

"Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently signed the Los Angeles Master Bicycle Plan into law, the city took a major step toward achieving that goal.

The plan, which was unanimously approved by the L.A. city council, lays out an ambitious goal of implementing numerous new bicycle friendly policies, increasing the number of bicycle parking facilities and, most importantly, installing 1,302 miles of new bicycle ways."


1,302 miles of bicycle lanes. Brilliant. Just what L.A. residents and taxpayers need. With the unemployment rate currently at 11.8% (July 2011) people in L.A. need jobs, not bicycle lanes!


Congratulations to the City of L.A. This week, for your stupid legislation which makes bicycle riding more important than creating jobs, you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt award.



TV




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...


TV
- it's hazardous to your health -


You gotta love this one!

I just saw a research report that says, "watching TV takes 5 years off your life". Really. That's what it said.

Other known research reports state that "smoking takes 4 years off your life".

Therefore, watching TV is a bigger more dangerous health risk than smoking!

Question: 1 hour of watching TV takes how much off your life?
Answer: 1 hour of TV watching takes 22 minutes off your life.

TV watching. A whole new potential source of government tax revenue. For your health. They already tax the hell out of smoking. If TV watching is more hazardous to your health than smoking, the government could, and should, be taxing the sh-t out of TV watching! How about a TV health tax? A TV health tax of, say, just $3 a day? That's easily justifiable. For your health. At $3 a day that's $1,000 in new taxes per person per year. If only 200 million people watch TV in the U.S. and pay $3 a day that's $200 billion a year in new tax revenue for the government. That's 200 billion MORE dollars the government can piss away.

TV, like smoking, is apparently hazardous to your health. Like smoking, the government should tax it. Or, to be more precise, overtax it. For your health. The TV health tax. What a concept!


Congratulations! This week the Stu Pitt Award goes to TV, stupid unscientific research reports, and the stupid government that wants to tax everything.



google




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...


for their annoying "make google
your homepage" toolbar banner


Situation: every time I go to google to search for something a banner appears at the top of the google page. The banner reads ...

Come here often? Make Google your homepage. Sure / No thanks

I use google all the time. I have been using google since they first started as a search engine. If I wanted to make google my home page I would do so. I don't. So, google, stop asking me every time if I want to. I don't.

It gets worse.When you click on "no thanks" the banner just comes back the next time you go to the google search page. After months of this I am getting really pissed off! And, according to a google search on this matter, so are a lot of google fans. Way to go, google, you are arrogant and uncaring as to what your users want and don't want. And, as a result, you are succeeding in pissing off millions of loyal google search engine users!

Time to switch to Bing?


Congratulations, Google, this week, for your constantly recurring and very annoying "make google your home page" pitch, you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt Award!



Press 1 For English




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

American customer service


for "Press 1 for English"

I have noticed that often, when I call an organization's customer service right here in America, the automated voice asks me to "press 1 for English".

Why, in my own country, the United States of America, where 90%+ of the population speaks English, do I have to make a choice, and exert effort, to choose my own language!? Shouldn't the default language of customer service in the U.S. automatically be English? Why isn't it? Shouldn't all the other offered languages, other than English, have to be chosen? Why should 90% of all Americans have to choose their own freaking language in order to proceed to customer service? In deference to all the languages spoken in the U.S. - with English being the only major dominant one - isn't this political correctness gone too far?

"Press 1 for English" in America is annoying, demeaning and insulting to all Americans consumers!


Congratulations to all U.S. institutions and organizations that make us press 1 for English. You have deservedly earned this week's Stu Pitt Award!




We, the American consumer, have spoken.




The Weather Channel




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

The Weather Channel



for their desktop app


I downloaded the Weather Channel Desktop app. It was free. Then, later, I decided I didn't want it after all. Then I tried to uninstall the app.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO UNINSTALL!

This is a known issue; I looked it up in google. Tons of people have had this same problem, they cannot uninstall the Weather Channel Desktop app. I tried the normal uninstall process and it did not uninstall the app. I then called HP, the maker of my laptop (which is still under warranty). I spent an hour on the phone with HP and they could not uninstall it either. In fact, HP was even unable to remotely "take control of my computer" as they normally can (with my permission). After I wasted an hour with HP they wanted to charge me $59 to escalate me to Level 2 Support where they would have to walk me through the steps necessary to delete the Weather Channel Desktop app from my computer's registry (something I would never attempt on my own). I told HP that I refuse to pay one penny to remedy an uninstall issue that should never have happened in the first place!

Next, I went to weather channel.com and found their help section where it tells you how to uninstall their Weather Channel Desktop app when it does not uninstall normally. I followed their instructions (several times)... and it did not uninstall.

And now, thanks to the technologically arrogant and morally corrupt, if not stupid, Weather Channel ... which should be soundly sued for offering a free desktop app that you cannot uninstall ... I am now stuck with a stupid Weather Channel Desktop app and pop-up on my desktop. An app and pop up that I don't want and can't get rid of, and which appears on my desktop every time I start my computer. Annoying? Very. Technologically immoral (if not illegal)? Quite. Worthy of a boycott of the Weather Channel? You betcha!

Shame on you, Weather Channel!


Congratulations, Weather Channel, this week you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt Award!



P.S. Days later, I finally found a way to get rid of the pesky unwanted Weather Channel Desktop. It's gone. Good riddance!

Do NOT download The Weather Channel Desktop! If you already have and can't get rid of it get a program called Revo Uninstall, a free download. It works!




AOL




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

AOL



for acquiring the Huffington Post


My email provider, aol, is buying The Huffington Post, a notorious left-wing political blogging and opinion organization. They also report news, with a radically left spin.

So in buying The Huffington Post, aol, as a major American media and business organization, must want to support, and be part of, the extreme radical left agenda in America. i.e. more government spending and control, less individual freedom, higher taxes, extreme environmental mandatory regulations, etc.

The real question is will the aol ads - on my aol home page and on every aol email I send and receive - start featuring ads and videos starring Ariana Huffington promoting her radical left-wing political, economic and social bias?

God, I hope not.




The Government of Canada




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

The Government of Canada


Photobucket
for misleading info on smoking deaths



Here, directly quoted from the Canada government health website is a 100% bullshit 100% misleading anti-smoking statistic ...

"More than 37,000 people will die prematurely this year in Canada due to tobacco use. Unless they quit, up to half of all smokers will die from their smoking ..."

My own analysis (aka the truth) ...

The Canadian government is misleading the public. On purpose. "UP TO 50%" could mean anywhere from less than 1% up to 50%.

Here are the facts ...

The total population of Canada is about 33,700,000 (33.7 million). As of 2010. That's according to, of all sources, the CIA. Yes, the CIA official website.

37,000 people a year dying in Canada from smoking out of 33.7 million is more than 1 out of every 1,000 Canadians. That's all Canadians; men, women AND children!

Let's factor out the children. According to canada.com: "Canada's under-15 population fell by almost 146,000 or 2.5 per cent between 2001 and 2006, the latest census figures show, and is now sitting at 5.6 million."

Thus, out of 33.7 million total 5.6 million are children. That leaves 28 million adults. Of the 28 million adults, 18% are smokers (source: canada.com). That equals 5 million smokers.

Thus, 37,000 out of 5 million smokers die each year from smoking (if the 37,000 number is even totally believable. I believe that also includes smokers AND people who used to smoke and quit). In any event, 37,000 out of 5 million equals .74%. Less than 1%.

Thus, according to the real facts, only .74% of smokers (and former smokers) in Canada die from smoking each year. Less than 1%. NOT 50%! Not even close to 50%!

.74%. That's the real truth. Based on facts from very credible population sources, including the Canadian government itself and the CIA. That's the real thruth. Not the lying, misleading, scare tactic bullshit "up to 50%" death-from-smoking stats put out by the Canadian government.

Is this a good statistical analysis? Yes. Better than the Canadian government? Much better. Is it truthful? 100%.

(Feel free to check my math).