OpusculaChinese prove it is Easier to steal ideas Than to be original

CHINA EVEN STEALS CARTOONS that slam America, Israel.

 

Long-in-tooth anti-American, anti-Israel cartoon found latest home on Chinese embassy in Paris web site (Algemeiner, https://tinyurl.com/y965txtz)

 

The Algemeiner¹ reports that “The virulently anti-American and antisemitic cartoon (above) tweeted by the Chinese Embassy in Paris on Monday previously appeared on several websites linked to white supremacists and Holocaust deniers.

Accompanied by the text “Qui est le prochain?” (“Who’s next?”), the cartoon showed the figure of death draped in a US flag while holding a scythe embossed with the Star of David. The death figure stood alongside a row of doorways marked with the names of countries such as Syria, Venezuela and Hong Kong — all supposedly the targets of American and “Zionist” destabilization plots.”

According to the Algemeiner in an article picked up by other media, the cartoon first saw life:

• in 2014, it was published on the website of Alain Soral, a French far-right agitator and vocal Holocaust denier
• on a Sept. 2016 article by David Icke — a notorious British Holocaust denier, white supremacist and peddler of antisemitic conspiracy theories, and
• In Feb. 2017, the cartoon ran on AlterInfo, a French Holocaust denial site

The cartoon also has been published in Les Crises, a French left-wing website, and Global Research, a Canada-based website supporting the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes.

The U.S. regularly accuses China of stealing both America’s military secrets and its commercial/industrial (trade) secrets.

Despite Watergate, Richard Nixon was a great president, but he made one major mistake: he opened up China to America and China devoured us.

Administrations — both Democrat and Republican — have been mortgaging America to the Chinese for decades, using the sacrosanct Medicare and Social Security funds as collateral. The funds cannot be legally raided by the politicians, but the politicians have managed to use them as collateral. for loans from China.

 

Nothing new

The Japanese once — and perhaps still are — great for taking other people’s inventions and improving on them.

As an example, transistors were stolen from the West.

The Japanese reduced them in size and increased their efficiency. Did the inventors get any compensation for the first transistors?

Now, the Japanese are exporting their technology, usually to South Korea. The Koreans now make automobiles based on Japanese plans, electrical appliances, and ocean-going cargo vessels.

The Japanese have come a long way since the end of the war (WW2) when most of the country’s exports were, for want of a better word, “junk.” Companies that bought Japanese products for import, e.g., cameras, were wise to do their own incoming inspection and quality control.

 

Chinese goods unsafe

It’s no secret that China has little respect for their own people and certainly not for laws in countries to which they export:

Apples ^2,6

Cancer-causing shrimp²

Children’s toys^2,5

Cosmetics⁵

Drywall²

Faulty tires for cars and trucks

Fish culled from polluted waters^2,5

Fish fed feces^3,5

Flammable clothing for children

Infant formula³

Laminate flooring with excessive amounts of formaldehyde⁴

Milk products³

Mushrooms fertilized with human feces⁶

Pet food^2,3,5

Poultry⁶

Pharmaceuticals^2,3

Spinach⁶

Tires^3,5

Toothpaste^3,5

And the list goes on.

Many of the products, both for human and for animal consumption, contain melamine, a poison that killed at least six Chinese children and sickened nearly 300,000 others. From January-December 2007, more than four-fifths of Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recall notices involved Chinese products.³

China’s food processors continue to use veterinary drugs that the Chinese government has banned — such as clembuterol, administered to animals to give them leaner meat and pinker skin — remain widely used in China despite years of documented consumer illnesses from poisonous residues.⁶

And of course, virus after virus, some at least partly to blame on the Chinese diet.

 

No secrets from China

England’s Guardian⁷ reports that “The FBI on Thursday identified China as the biggest law enforcement threat to the United States, and its director said Beijing was seeking to steal American technology by “any means necessary”.

The FBI director, Christopher Wray, told a conference the bureau currently had about 1,000 investigations open into Chinese technology theft across its 56 regional offices.

The agency’s counterintelligence chief, John Brown, said the bureau arrested 24 people in 2019 in China-related cases and had already arrested 19 people in 2020.

He told the conference at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) that the FBI believed ‘no country poses a greater threat than Communist China’.”

The Chicago Tribune claims that “Determined to attain dominance in cutting-edge fields from robotics to electric cars, U.S. officials charge, Beijing is not only stealing trade secrets but also pressuring American companies to hand over technology to gain access to the vast Chinese market.

U.S. intelligence officials told Congress last month that China poses the biggest commercial and military threat to the United States. A separate report said Beijing will steal or copy technologies it can't make itself.

Rooting out theft could prove impossible. Beijing typically doesn't dispatch spies on missions of commercial espionage. Rather, it encourages Chinese who study and work abroad to copy or steal technology and rewards them when they do. So U.S. companies might have no reason to suspect anything — until a Chinese employee leaves and the employer discovers that trade secrets have been compromised.”

Military secrets, especially Navy secrets, are China’s target-du-jour according to the Business Insider web site.

“US Navy defense contractors and subcontractors have reportedly suffered "more than a handful" of disconcerting security breaches at the hands of Chinese hackers over the past year and a half.

"Attacks on our networks are not new, but attempts to steal critical information are increasing in both severity and sophistication," Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer said in an internal memo in October, The Wall Street Journal, which reviewed the memo, reported Friday.

"We must act decisively to fully understand both the nature of these attacks and how to prevent further loss of vital military information," he added.

Earlier this year, Chinese government hackers stole important data on US Navy undersea-warfare programs from an unidentified contractor. Among the stolen information were plans for a new supersonic anti-ship missile, The Washington Post, citing US officials, reported in June.

China is believed to have been behind multiple cybersecurity breaches that facilitated the theft of significant amounts of data on the F-22 and the F-35, among other aircraft. That information is suspected to have played a role in the development of China's new fifth-generation stealth fighters.”

The Mercury News of San Jose CA published a report that “Four members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have been charged with breaking into the networks of the Equifax credit reporting agency and stealing the personal information of tens of millions of Americans, the Justice Department said Monday, blaming Beijing for one of the largest hacks in history to target consumer data.

The 2017 breach affected more than 145 million people, with the hackers successfully stealing names, addresses, Social Security and driver’s license numbers and other personal information stored in the company’s databases.

The four also are accused of stealing the company’s trade secrets, including database designs, law enforcement officials said

The case is the latest Justice Department accusation against Chinese hackers suspected of breaching networks of American corporations. It comes as the Trump administration has warned against what it sees as the growing political and economic influence of China, and efforts by Beijing to collect data on Americans and steal scientific research and innovation.

The administration has also been pressing allies not to allow Chinese tech giant Huawei to be part of their 5G wireless networks due to concerns that the equipment could be used to collect data and for surveillance.”

 

Suggestions

What can be done?

Look for a label on everything; many items must include the country of origin. A U.S. Customs’ web site, https://tinyurl.com/ya782xum, states that Every article of foreign origin entering the United States must be legibly marked with the English name of the country of origin unless an exception from marking is provided for in the law, but then proceeds to list many items that are exempt.

If you are shopping on line, ask the seller what is the product’s country of origin. You may need to ask (a) where was the product assembled, and (b) where did the components originate. (It is less expensive to import parts into the U.S. than complete products and assemble them in the U.S. At least there is a chance that an American will earn a salary and perhaps some quality control will be applied.)

Search for “(product category) NOT made in China” — the quote (“) marks are important.

 

Cell phones "NOT made in China"

 

Surprise: There ARE cell phones “NOT made in China.” These include

ASUS ROG (Taiwan)

LG G8X Thin Q (South Korea)

LG Stylo 5 (South Korea)

LG V60 Thin Q (South Korea)

Moto G Stylus (India)

Samsung Galaxy (South Korea)

Sony Xperia 1 II (Japan)

Samsung even has a tablet made for it in Vietnam.

There are countries that produce economy clothing¹¹ (Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua in Central America as well as Vietnam, Cambodia, Italy, and several others in Europe and the Far East). Better, of course, is to “Buy American.”

Mexico, in addition to exporting car parts, also exports foods — sometimes tainted, but not as risky as Chinese imports.

 

Bottom Line

While I enjoy Americanized Chinese cuisine, especially spicy Sichuan, and I used to play Chinese checkers, I try to avoid things “Made In China” as much as possible.

Sometimes the only option is to “buy Chinese.” But many other times, diligent shoppers can find the products they want made elsewhere.

It is time to sever our dependency on China. It has proven to be no friend to America.

 

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Sources

1. Algemeiner: https://tinyurl.com/y965txtz

2. 6 Toxic Chinese Products: https://tinyurl.com/ybszxtrf

3: CRS Report for Congress: RS22713.pdf

4. Lumber Liquidators: https://tinyurl.com/y85lyveg

5. The Street: https://tinyurl.com/y9xg9a8c

6. Food & Water Watch – Dangerous Food Imports:
    http:\\www.foodandwaterwatch.org

7: Guardian: https://tinyurl.com/uq36472

8. Chicago Tribune: https://tinyurl.com/ybd7xapu (pay to read site)

9: Business Insider: https://tinyurl.com/y8khhu4w

10. Mercury News: https://tinyurl.com/yawdlzoa

11. Clothing: https://tinyurl.com/y4doq2jh

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comments on China

U.S. Memorial Day, 2020 The danger passed & All things righted God’s forgotten The Soldier's slighted

TODAY, MAY 25, 2020, IS MEMORIAL DAY in the United States.
Memorial Day is a day set aside to remember, to honor those men and women who gave their lives so we — and this goes beyond America’s borders¹ — can enjoy our freedoms.
It is not a day (only) for picnics and barbecues.
It is not a day (only) for parties where no one remembers those who gave their all.
It is not a day (only) for shopping.
It used to be a day to visit cemeteries to recognize the dead.
There are no sirens.
Cars do not stop and people do not pause in their purpose.
We do not honor those who gave their lives for us as those in younger countries do.

We do not remember; perhaps we do not WANT to remember.
 
 
ACCORDING TO A NEWS REPORT, Arlington National Cemetery on the Lee estate Masks, social distancing and other safety precautions have all become a part of the solemn rituals and pageantry at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well as the near daily funerals that still take place in the cemetery.
The new reality: Only 10 family or friends are allowed graveside. As few troops as possible perform funeral honors. Distance is kept, and masks are worn.²
Many cemeteries are simply closed due to the Chinese virus.

That may not be politically correct, but it DOES acknowledge the undeniable truth that the virus originated in China and was exported from China. It also notes that China just happens to be offering Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and medical gear to the highest bidders.

 
 

A touch of history

Memorial Day was established as Decoration Day after the Civil War.³
The video, one of several from the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) does not state if any Confederate soldiers are buried on the Lee estate. Until 1900, no Confederates were buried at Arlington. Now there is a section set aside for these soldiers.⁴
According to the DC by Foot⁵ website, Technically, the few hundred Confederate soldiers from the Civil War should not be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, per army burial regulations. It is a United States military cemetery and these soldiers, for the most part, did not serve in the United States military. Though not a stop on our guided walking tours of Arlington National Cemetery due to the distance, there is a section for Confederates buried at Arlington.
In the beginning of burials at Arlington, Civil War veterans from the union were buried amongst freed blacks and Confederate soldiers without much distinction between them. As years past and Arlington became more and more associated with the honor of our military, Union soldiers, both those who died during the war and veterans who died later, were given more care to the location and upkeep of their graves and headstones.
Confederate graves in government cemeteries in the North languished for want of care and upkeep. Southern support groups were not allowed to maintain the decrepit graves. On Decoration Day, the precursor to modern Memorial Day, it was forbidden to decorate Confederate graves.
 
Ask anyone what happened on 15 February 1898.⁶
Ask anyone what happened on 7 December 1941.⁷
Ask anyone what happened on 11 September 2001.⁸
It is unfortunate that we have such short memories that only — and this is a “maybe" — 9-11 is remembered.
The image below might jog some senior’s memory.
 

 
It used to be that those who paid the ultimate price were honored by the media.
I confess I am a comics fan; I regularly follow a handful of comics on the internet.
I expected to see many comics acknowledge Memorial Day. Only two did, and only one paid homage to the veterans.
 

 
As with Veterans Day, not only are graves in military (and other) cemeteries decorated with flags, but many older Americans remember buying, and wearing, paper poppies sold by the ladies of the American Legion Auxiliary.⁹
Admittedly, 2020 is an unusual year. Many Americans still are sequestered at home or, if they journey forth, they are (or should be) encumbered by face masks. Maintaining “social distancing” also intrudes on our social life.
Visiting cemeteries is pretty much out of the question unless the cemetery allows a “drive through” where cars are allowed in but passengers are prevented from exiting the vehicle.
We have seen nothing like this since the mis-named Spanish Flu of 1918. As with the current Chinese virus, the “Spanish” flu also originated in China and killed more people than were killed in combat — all sides — in World War I, “The Great War.”¹⁰
 

 

Poems from the “Great War”

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. Lt. Col. John McCrae

God and the soldier We adore In times of danger Not before The danger passed And all things righted God is forgotten The soldier slighted Rudyard Kipling

 

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Sources
1. Beyond U.S. borders to every country where U.S. troops have fought and died, for Americans’ freedoms and for others elsewhere.
2. Arlington National Cemetery: https://tinyurl.com/y8ehj8ty
3. Decoration Day: https://tinyurl.com/y849ry69
4. Confederates at Arlington: https://tinyurl.com/yburrrjj
5. DC By Foot: https://tinyurl.com/yd2cud4m
6. USS Maine sunk in Havana Harbor; death toll: 260 https://tinyurl.com/y6wgla92
7. Japanese attacks on U.S. bases in the Pacific
8. Twin Towers
9. Poppies Page: https://www.alaforveterans.org/Poppy/
10. "Spanish" flu: https://tinyurl.com/y3vsagcd


PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.
 


Memorial Day 2020

Opuscula Dear Graduates, Are you searching For a 100% safe job?

NOTE TO 2020 high school grads: If you’re looking for a job from which you cannot be fired for any reason apply to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)

You’ll be protected by Civil Service (even if YOU are not civil to the people with whom you interact) and by a union.

 

 

If you become a letter carrier, you don’t have to deliver the mail if you don’t feel like it.

If you are color blind to the color red, that’s OK; those raised red flags on mail boxes don’t mean you have to collect the mail from the box. That will be your choice.

You may refuse to get out of your vehicle to deliver an item too large for the mailbox to the customer’s door. After all, that’s a walk of, perhaps, 10 yards each way. Take it back to the post office and report that you tried to deliver it but were unable to do so. Never mind the lie. You’re a USPS employee and above the truth.

If you don’t want to deliver a certified mail piece, simply mark it “No one available to sign.” Never mind that there WAS a person in residence all day the day the certified letter was to be delivered. Just another lie in the life of a protected letter carrier.

 

Why this rant?

The regular letter carrier on my route on more than one occasion has failed to deliver the mail that, according to Informed Delivery,^® should be in the mailbox.

She also
• Failed to deliver a certified letter, and
• failed to deliver a light-weight package that was too big for the letter box

I was told by a supervisor that the mail pieces shown in Informed Delivery are scanned in another city and the mail may not arrive in my town the same day. My town is less than 25 miles away from where the “mail pieces” are scanned.

If the day-late delivery was consistent, I’d believe what I was told.

But it is NOT consistent.

 

WHAT IS WORSE is that when mail is put into the curb-side mailbox for collection (pick-up) it isn’t — picked up.

Yes, Virginia, the red flag WAS raised and yes, the letter to be picked up was put into the mailbox early in the day.

Never put payments into a curb-side mailbox; the raised red flag, while it means nothing to some letter carriers, it is an invitation to thieves to pilfer the mail.

 

©Jeff Koterba,Omaha World Herald (https://tinyurl.com/yb5nlnjq)

 

IN OTHER WORDS, the letter carrier NEVER CAME DOWN MY STREET.

 

The “regular” letter carrier on my route works a five-day week. Sunday is off and one one other day an alternate carrier delivers the mail.

We always know when the alternate delivers the mail: it arrives before 7 p.m.

According to the route supervisor, there may be reasons why the mail delivery is to late. A slothful carrier is one reason I would suggest.

 

Don’t bother to complain

 

©Rex F. May "baloocartoons.com”

 

I have complained, to no avail, to

• The carrier’s supervisor
• The USPS Inspector General
• My two senators in Washington

The USPS IG said there was nothing to be done.

The senators “acknowledge” my communication with a form letter of no consequence. (I won’t vote for them again.)

My local congressional representative has proven time and again to be totally useless for anything unless the person is a “Major Donor,” which for this person I am not.

The USPS supervisor, having no support higher up, has her hands tied.

 

Internet, UPS, DHL, FedEx options

 

The USPS often is heard complaining — usually when raising the price of postage — that people are not using its services as they once did.

Given the level of “service” the letter carriers provide, is it any wonder?

I live in a printed document world. I don’t want “he said-she said” confrontations. Put it in writing.

I can print emails. I can print WhatsApp exchanges. I can do a screen capture of anything I can show on a computer screen. Do I REALLY need USPS?

Yes. I still want to see paper bills and statements.

I still occasionally want to send a letter to someone I care about — email, et al, somehow lacks the “touch” that only a “real” missive conveys.

But when USPS so disregards its customer base, when USPS protects employees who disgrace its name and former reputation (Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. ¹) why bother to complain. Apparently no one cares if the mail is delivered or if there remains any "service" in "United States Postal Service".
Is this the new "American way?"

 

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Sources

1. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
This is commonly misidentified as the creed of our mail carriers, but actually it is just the inscription found on the General Post Office in New York City at 8th Avenue and 33rd Street.
https://www.infoplease.com/askeds/post-office-motto

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Safest Job

Opuscula USPS & other Aggravations

APRIL 2020 was a bad month for this scrivener.

I had dealings with a reluctant medical equipment company.

My mail was routinely late or not delivered or collected, either.

Sequestered in the house, my purchases were via the WWW.

Those that were delivered by someone other than the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) arrived on time and were left at the door.

 

 

THE USPS, which unless I am mistaken, still gets some of our tax dollars and regularly raises the price of postage, can’t get it right.

Today, I am waiting for a package that should have been delivered on 1 May. Today is 4 May.

Where is my package? According to USPS (see image, below), the package was shipped from the vendor on 25 April from Houston TX via DHL.

 

The above image was checked for changes shortly before this entry was uploaded.

 

USPS reports that the package arrived at the DHL facility in ORLANDO Fl (why Orlando?) on 28 April.

Why Orlando? Miami FL is the USPS regional center for my area. Maybe DHL drivers are afraid to drive in Dade County. I don’t blame them.

Note that in the image above, USPS states that IT did not receive the package on the 28th of April.

The package has been sitting in Orlando — doing what? Waiting for Universal and the Mouse to open the parks again? — since 28 April.

The famous Barefoot Mailman¹ could have delivered the package on foot by now.

Let’s see, April 28 was a Tuesday. The package, USPS claims, arrived at the Orlando DHL facility at 4:08 a.m.

So, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday, and now Tuesday, 5 May. Six full days to get a small package from Orlando to Miami to Hollywood FL.

But USPS reports that the package STILL sits in Orlando at DHL’s facility. If USPS knows the package is being held at the DHL facility, why doesn’t it prompt DHL to move it to USPS?

Complaining is a waste if time

We have absolutely terrible service where I live.

I subscribe to the USPS Informed Delivery service that shows me the mail I can expect on the same or next day. (The items are scanned in the Miami facility and then sent to my local distribution office where the mail is sorted and the letter carrier assigned to my route collects the mail for my address.)

The mail often is stuffed into the wrong mail box if it is delivered at all.

When it is delivered by the regular carrier, the mail arrives — when it arrives — after 6 p.m. (When the mail arrives in a timely manner — say before 5 p.m. — we know the alternate carrier was delivering that day.)

This is a motor route, so the carrier cannot blame the bad service on sore feet. Lately the days have been “warm,” but mostly rain free.

My neighbors and I have complained to the local distribution center. Nothing can be done.

I complained to the USPS Inspector General. Based on the response I got from that address, I think I was dealing with the USPS Inspector Private (E-1)! Useless.

I’ve even electronically buttonholed my U.S. senators; for that I received a “got your note” response but nothing more.

Talk abut job security.

Letter carriers are protected like none other.

We have had excellent service in the past — elsewhere.

 

Yet another Hyundai recall

Recently Hyundai sent me a recall letter for my 2008 Elantra.

Problem with the brake system.

Keep the car away from buildings, it said, because it could catch fire due to a brake component — even if the car is turned off.

This is the second time there has been a recall for a brake related issue.

The first time I took my care to the Rick Case dealership on US 441/FL 7 was to replace a faulty brake component. Turned out the replacement component was faulty. The replacement unit kept my brake lights lit and caused me to call road service to jump the battery. The chief mechanic told me to “get a new battery.” He had one for more than $200. I bought a battery elsewhere.

When the same thing happened again, the battery was once again jumped and I drove to the dealership. FINALLY someone diagnosed the problem: a faulty replacement part.

In the end, the service manager refunded what I paid for the battery and, most reluctantly, replaced the bulbs that were never intended to be on for long periods.

Given the current conditions, being sequestered at home due to the Chinese virus du jour, and seeing tv advertisements that car dealers were going to their clients rather than forcing their clients to come to them (and sit in a waiting room shared with other possibly virus-infected customers), I asked via email, and later snail mail, if Rick Case would do the same. I am in the “high risk” category and the recall warned that the car could catch fire at any time, even with everything turned off.

I heard nothing from Rick Case.

I heard nothing from Hyundai HQ.

This, then, is my first, and last, Hyundai. The CAR’S OK; the DEALER is not.

My wife took her Hyundai (now replaced with a Benz) to the Rick Case shop in Weston for a wheel alignment.

The job was done AND THEN the mechanic told my wife the car needed new struts, a/k/a “shocks.”

Wait — if shocks (struts) are replaced, don’t the wheels have to be aligned?

Yes, of course. Even kids in high school auto class know that.

But you just aligned the wheels and THEN checked the suspension? A Dilbert moment.

To be fair, the only other problem I’ve had in the years I’ve owned the 2008 Elantra was a faulty thermostat, replaced under warranty. Mechanically the car’s pretty good; the interior, not so much.

Granted, the car is not a $60,000 or more vehicle, but to fail to even ACKNOWLEDGE multiple communications is unconscionable, both on the part of Risk Case and Hyundai, especially when the communications are about a federally-mandated safety recall..

 

Rolling along with a rollator

I am unbalanced. Most of my alleged friends will attest to that.

In truth, I can’t walk far without toppling over, even when I am sober as the proverbial judge.

To get around, my doctor ordered a rollator for me.

A rollator, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a four-wheel walker.

The first rollator that came my way was for a shorter person; the handle bars maximum height above ground was 35 inches.

It let me get around, but it left me with pains in the shoulders, neck, and triceps.

Worse, my point of vision was about three feet in front of the rollator so, unless I lifted my head (painful) I could not see cars, mothers with perambulators, or loose canines approaching.

My doctor agreed to order a new rollator with much higher handle bars.

 

Tale of two rollators: small (left) vs. large (right)

 

GETTING the new rollator from One Homecare was more “painful” than using the too-small-for-me original rollator.

The office ordered the rollator and One Homecare rejected it, it lacked a specific part number.

One Homecare called me — the patient — and told me — the patient — what the order needed to be acceptable.

Can you call my doctor’s office and tell the people there what you need?

No, we don’t have that capability.

Can you fax the information to my doctor’s office?

No, we don’t have that capability.

But, One Homecare CAN call the me — dare I repeat myself, the patient.

Unbelievable.

Finally my doctor’s office “got it right” and One Homecare sent it to Humana, my Medicare Advantage plan company, for approval.

Humana approved the rollator and called me, leaving the usual cryptic message “The service your doctor ordered has been approved.” The patient gets to guess WHICH “service” the doctor ordered.

At this point, One Homecare should be calling me to set up a delivery date.

Instead, if bounced the Humana authorization back to Humana to cross an “T” or dot an “I”.

I called One Homecare customer service several times and never got satisfaction.

It turns out One Homecare had to order the rollator (from China where it is manufactured?) and it finally arrived. (Had One Homecare told me the device was back-ordered, I would have understood.)

The new, red, Drive Nitro Tall rollator finally was delivered and quickly put into use.

To its credit, One Homecare delivered both rollators fully assembled and the delivery person even gave a brief demonstration of how it works.

Now I can tour the neighborhood sans shoulder and neck pain. I still keep my cane at hand to fend off loose dogs. I think I will add a can of aerosol spray to “mark” my attackers and, perhaps, to convince them — and their scoff law owners — to keep them away from people with walkers and canes.

 

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Sources

1. Barefoot mailman: https://tinyurl.com/y9qnft2o

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Aggravations

Opuscula S. Florida retailers Missing the boat

SOUTH FLORIDA IS A MAGNET for seniors with disposable income.

• No state income tax.
• Acceptable sales tax on most things (but not groceries and not pharmaceuticals).
• Electric bills (A/C almost year round for some) lower than in most states.
• And no snow!

 

Caveat: The term “dollar store” is used generically and is NOT intended to identify any one particular merchant.

 

With all these seniors and their disposable income , why can’t merchants change their answering machines to include Senior Hours are from * a.m. to * a.m.?

Because of the Chinese virus du jour, many stores do have “senior hours” (not to be confused with “senior moments”) — times when seniors can shop sans competition from the “youngsters.”

The bigger stores do announce senior hours, but the “dollar and up” stores, not so much.

The owners and stockholders should know that one of the reasons the seniors have “disposable income” is because they are frugal. (No, Virginia, “frugal” is NOT just another word for “cheap.” It means spending $1 at a dollar store vs. $10 at a department store for the same item.)

If a person can buy a name brand for less, even if the Sell By date is closer, why not?

I know how dollar stores work; I worked for one (that shall remain nameless) and watched as its buyers beat down manufacturers and wholesalers. Vicious, but in the end, a win-win-win situation.

The dollar store got a really good price for the product, the seller unloaded stock that was nearing its Sell By date or gathering dust in a warehouse, and the consumer got a good retail price.

My Spouse, who is much younger than I, called several area dollar stores this morning. Some were “Ring – No Answer” (all our people are busy — the one cashier was busy with customers queued to the back of the store). Some had automated voice response systems — anyone remember HSN’s “Tootie?” — that tell callers “Store hours are from * a.m. to * p.m.”

They don’t mention senior hours.

Not only do seniors have disposable income, they also tend to be loyal to a store, even to a specific store in a nationwide chain.

However, being sequestered in their quarters for several weeks, they have no clue if their favorite discount outlet has special hours for their safety. A lot of seniors are hesitant to go off willy-nilly (that’s the technical term) to see if the merchant has posted Senior Hours on the front door or adjacent window.

If they are on their way to someplace else — a supermarket, for example, they might walk past the dollar store, but then again . . .

It is not a “big deal” to change an answering machine announcement.

Perhaps the discounters lack stock.

While I don’t accuse the local merchants of price gouging, paying more than a $1 a roll for toilet paper does seem a bit high. Still, it probably is less expensive than at the supermarket and it WAS on the shelf.

Woman to butcher: “Hyman sells chickens for $1/pound; why do you charge $1.50/pound?”

Butcher: “So buy your chicken at Hyman’s.”

Woman: “Hyman is out of chickens.”

Butcher: “When I’m out of chickens, I’ll offer them for $1/pound, too.”

OK, it’s pretty obvious this scrivener’s spouse does the shopping for chickens.

THE BOTTOM LINE: It seems the local merchants are missing the seniors’ boat by not advertising senior hours and including the information on their auto-answer announcements.

Besides, who else gets up so early to go shopping?

 

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