Bookshelf

product contamination: dog food

The CDC has issued a warning about Salmonella found in dried dog food and might pose a risk to humans. There has been at least a few outbreaks in some states. They haven't listed the specific dog food brands yet but I will update this when they do.

boycott: hewlett-packard

Wow, it's been a long while since my last post. Apologies to my non-existent readers.

I wanted to put Hewlett-Packard on the boycott list because I've been helping someone fix his laptop. I've been having trouble getting his Broadcom wireless to work properly and I was amazed that there is a long list of people who are having similar problems. Turns out the HP doesn't much care for its consumers as few of these consumers have had satisfactory resolutions.

I tried chatting with a technical support person. I have to say, tech support people are seldom helpful. They might be useful for those who have really simple problems, such as not realizing the power button is off, but others who are slightly more sophisticated usually don't find my help in tech support. That goes with most companies, probably.

So, if you're looking to buy a laptop, steer clear of HP. These people won't do a thing until it hurts them where it counts.

Lead paint in Mattel toys

Just months after the massive product recall of pet food, another scandal hits the Chinese manufacturing market: lead paint in toys by Mattel. Over the weekend, a Chinese executive hanged himself after allegations of the lead contamination hit. The news report goes on to say that Chinese manufacturers are often under pressure to cut costs, and so they tend to substitute cheaper labors and parts to save. I think this is again a good indication of why the corporate structure the way it is designed is fundamentally hauled and need a serious reexamination before more people are hurt in a serious way.

In this particular incident, I wonder where you can place the blame. If the allegations are true, and I think the suicide seems to point to it being the case, then the manufacturers ought to burden most of the blame. However, I don't think that means the Mattel people, or whoever else manufacturers their products in China, are off the hook.

(Lack of) daycare tragedy

I was disturbed by this tragedy of a mother who had to do a double-shift and had to leave her children in her car and ended up killing her children. Allegedly, her boss threatened that she would be fired if she didn't show up to work, so when her babysitter canceled at the last minute, she decided to leave her children with food, water, and a fan.

It's tragic not only because of what happened, but because so many other countries offer daycare that it's baffling why people still suffer for it in this country. This could so easily have been avoided if daycare was indeed the reason. Not only that, but education (don't leave your children in the car, even with nourishment).

There may be other circumstances that might be revealed as this case unfolds. The mother has been charged with homocide.

No End in Sight

Tribute to Virginia Tech

Although I didn't know the victims, I was moved to create this for them. Many (actually, all) of the tributes on YouTube seemed to focus more on the killer and violence instead of the lives of the victims, so I wanted to create this as a simple tribute that's just about the victims, with minimal commentary. So, here it is.