Apple Map app




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

Apple


for their map app



From WPTV (West Palm Beach TV) ...

... "Tech blogger and entrepreneur Anil Dash was especially critical of the new maps, which he called "pretty but dumb," and of Apple for releasing what he said was a flawed product. "Apple made this maps change despite its shortcomings because they put their own priorities for corporate strategy ahead of user experience," he wrote. "That's a huge change for Apple in the post-iPod era, where they've built so much of their value by doing the hard work as a company so that things could be easy for users."

"Apple did not respond to requests from comment from CNN. But in a statement to tech blog All Things D, the company preached patience ..."

Apple statement:
"Customers around the world are upgrading to iOS 6 with over 200 new features including Apple Maps, our first map service," spokeswoman Trudy Miller said. "We are excited to offer this service with innovative new features like Flyover, turn-by-turn navigation and Siri integration. We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and that we are just getting started with it. Maps is a cloud-based solution and the more people use it, the better it will get. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better."

By all accounts, Apple Maps is a giant embarassing flop. A huge screw-up. Their released prepared statement by their "spokeswoman" (i.e. PR bullshitter) is nothing more than Apple corporate PR spin. They are really saying, "we won't acknowledge that we screwed up and we definitely will not admit that we screwed up royally, even though we did, and we certainly won't reveal that it may take 3-5 years to fix the screw-up, if we can fix it at all".

Meanwhile, Apple wants to thank you for drinking its Kool-Aid.



Congratulations, Apple, this week, for your map app, you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt Award!



Bloomberg soda ban




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg



for his ban on big sodas

From the New York Times, "Seeking to reduce runaway obesity rates, the New York City Board of Health on Thursday approved a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, street carts and movie theaters, the first restriction of its kind in the country. "

"Asked about the soda industry’s well-financed campaign against his plan, Mr. Bloomberg responded with an amused look. “I just spent roughly $600 million of my own money to try to stop the scourge of tobacco,” the mayor said, as a round of laughter began to rise in the room. “I’m looking for another cause ..."

I think he found it. Big sodas. A threat to the lives and livelihood of every New Yorker! Yeah, right. Mayor Bloomberg is a control freak! A mayorial extremist. A rich liberal. And a complete a-hole! The government should mind its own business and keep it's nose out of mine!

Banning sodas. Really? Amid high unemployment, huge budget deficits, high taxes and high prices the City of New York is spending the taxpayers' time banning big sodas. Really? It's stupifying!

Is New York a Nanny state? Yes. Will the soda ban spread to other cities? Undoubtedly. Is it dangerous to personal freedom of choice in America? Very. Is New York's ban on big soda un-american? Quite.

Is America the land of the free and the home of the brave? Not any longer.

Congratulations Mayor Bloomberg, by restricting personal freedom of choice in New York, the largest city in the U.S., you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt Award!







Medicare donut hole




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

The U.S. Congress 2006-2012



for their disasterous donut hole

For those of you who are not familiar with the dreaded donut hole it’s the gap in Medicare coverage where Medicare drug plans currently cover only 50% of the RETAIL price of brand name meds and 70% of generic brands. This could and does cost millions of seniors hundreds of dollars each month … out of pocket.

As many seniors are on fixed incomes the donut hole can force the choice of “do I buy food or pay for my medications?” Surveys show that many seniors can not afford to do both and, as a result, stop taking heart meds and other life saving prescription drugs. Why not just switch to generic medications? Because, despite what we’ve been led to believe, sometimes generics just don’t work, or sometimes don’t work as well as the brand name.

In July, 2012 I suddenly fell into the dreaded donut hole. How? In June I inexplicably started to have severe constant atrial fibrillation. My cardiologist put me on 5 new medications. I tried the generic brands but some of them simply did not work for me. When I went to refill the prescriptions the next month I suddenly found myself falling deep into the dreaded donut hole, with the cost of my daily medication co-pays skyrocketing to over $500 a month! Out of pocket. I had fallen into the donut hole and couldn't get out. I was now paying 50% of the retail price for my life saving brand name meds. One brand name co-pay was $157, another was $121. Co-pay. For a 1 month supply. Plus, I now had to pay 50% -70% of the retail price of my other 5 medications. Each month. Total? Over $500 a month. Out of pocket.

I fell into the Medicare donut hole. More like the rabbit hole, from Alice in Wonderland. Pure insanity. As a senior citizen, born and raised in America, I worked, I paid into Medicare, I got Medicare, only to find myself in the Medicare nightmare called the donut hole. The donut hole is costing me $500 a month. And I probably have to live in this donut hole nightmare until a new year starts, 5 1/2 months away. Yes, I am aware that there are government and private programs which can financially help low/no income seniors who are in the donut hole. In my case, I do not qualify.

Being forced, as a senior on social security and Medicare, to spend $500 a month out of pocket for life saving medications, is crazy. It’s stupefying. It’s frightening. It’s maddening. It’s the government.

Under George Bush, Congress instituted the donut hole in 2006. Under ObamaCare, the Medicare donut hole was reduced by 50%, an improvement, but, at an out of pocket cost of $500 a month, is still totally unacceptable. Seniors on Medicare will have to wait until 2020 for the dreaded donut hole to close, when many of those who need meds the most and can afford them the least, may already be dead. What about Congress, they voted to put the donut hole in Medicare, can’t they fix it? Yes, but they didn’t and won’t, until 2020. Instead, since 2006, Congress has chosen to throw millions of seniors under the bus, or in this case, into the donut hole.

My Medicare is now costing me over $800 a month total! $300+ a month in premiums and $500 in prescription drug costs. $800 a month. That is NOT what seniors over the age of 65 in America should have to pay each month for medical care and medications!

I, and millions of other seniors, fall into the donut hole and can't get out!

The Medicare donut hole is tantamount to severe financial abuse of seniors. Financial abuse of old, poor and sick citizens of the United States of America. For shame! Shame on Congress. Shame on the President of the United States. Shame on the medical profession. Shame on the Medicare insurance industry. Shame on every lawmaker/politician in Washington who was there when the Medicare donut hole was allowed to happen in 2006 and shame on every one of them in Washington now who continues to allow it to happen.

Shame, shame, shame!

Congratulations, Congress, for your disasterous anti-senior Medicare donut hole, you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt Award!







Tide sucks




This week The Stu Pitt Award goes to ...

Tide laundry detergent


for not getting my brights bright


OK, I am totally disgusted with Tide. Why? Here's why ...

I did some laundry. One week I did 1 load with Tide With Bleach Alternatives. According to my research via google Tide is the #1 rated laundry detergent ... by everyone. The next week I did 1 load of laundry with SUN, a cheap brand. No whites in either load.

I can report some interesting results. Laundry? Interesting results? Am I kidding? No.

After a 27-minute "normal" washing, using SUN, and a 55-minute drying, upon folding my clothes I noticed that SUN made my bright colored t-shirts (a yellow, a coral and a purple) about 20% brighter than Tide with Bleach Alternatives. And SUN got ALL my clothes (7 t-shirts, 7 underwear, 7 pairs of socks, 1 pair of jeans, 2 pillow cases, 2 washcloths, 2 towels) as clean, if not cleaner, than Tide with Bleach Alternatives.

At less than 1/4 the cost.

My bottle of liquid SUN contains 48 loads and cost me $2.99. That about $.06 a load.

My liquid Tide with Bleach Alternative contains 26 loads and cost me I believe $6.99. That's about $.26 a load.

Tide is a major brand name, owned by the giant company Proctor&Gamble. And here is a direct quote from Tide.com: "Help keep whites white and colors bright with Tide plus Bleach Alternative".

My little unscientifc laundry experiment says a lot about Tide's product hype, advertising, pricing AND consumer ratings. Caveat emptor. Buyer beware.

Congratulations, Tide, this week, for your DULL bleach alternatives, for NOT getting my bright colors bright, and lying about it, you deservedly earned the Stu Pitt Award!