Cross-posted from: Listen up! If you are even a little bit financially secure right now, it’s time to #PayItForward and help people who are facing homelessness, starvation, and serious illness because of #COVID19. Here’s a great way to do that. 1) Figure out how much money you can give other people weekly until we’re past… Read More: Please help other people in need because of COVID-19 »
I just sent the following email to the parents’ email list for the K-8 school that all five of my kids have attended (my youngest, in sixth grade, is the only one left there). I’m sharing it here because it fully captures my current thinking on COVID-19 and on where the economy is heading and… Read More: Thoughts on COVID-19 and the economy »
Tufts Health PlanAttn: Member Appeals To whom it may concern: I am writing about the letter I received today from Cigna Health Management for myself, participant ID [elided] and reference code [elided]. To be frank, this letter is the worst, most impenetrable, absurd blob of insurance-company doublespeak I have encountered in many years. I am… Read More: My response to absurd denial letter from Tufts Health Plan »
Recently our toaster broke, and although we have a “spare” toaster (long story), my wife and the kids all hate it and insisted that we replace the broken toaster, which they apparently absolutely adored, with a new one of exactly the same model. The old toaster had an unfortunate habit of its feet falling off… Read More: Fleeced by a scammy web site, Paypal acts quickly to… »
In my current job, we are evaluating Datadog as the repository for the metrics and logs being generated by our SaaS application, which is hosted in AWS. We have taken a security-first approach in our design for the AWS accounts and infrastructure surrounding our app, which means among other things that we are not allowing… Read More: Datadog as vector for data exfiltration? »
I recently had to replace my old Synology DS415+ NAS with a new Synology DS918+ NAS, at a cost of more than $600, because my DS415+ failed. When I researched the failure that permanently bricked my DS415+, I learned the following: The failure was caused by a known defect in a component of my NAS.… Read More: Why I can no longer recommend Synology »
On Thursday night of last week, my Synology DS415+ NAS died. It turns out that there was a CPU defect in this NAS which prompted Synology to extend its warranty from two to four years for people who ran into the defect, but alas my NAS decided to wait until it was five years old… Read More: Newegg, why you gotta break my heart like this? »
I recently wrote about a series of poor experiences I had with Amtrak and most notably about their horrendous response to my feedback about those experiences. I decided to send a complaint letter to the CEO of Amtrak. Of course, I knew the CEO was never going to see my letter, but every large corporation… Read More: Thanks, Amtrak, for demonstrating how to apologize badly »
I recently replaced my Fitbit Ionic, which I wore for a couple years, with a Garmin Forerunner 35. Before the Fitbit, I wore two different Pebble models, so I’ve had long-term experience with four different fitness smart-watches. Here are my thoughts about both watches and how they compare. A good overall framing for this review… Read More: Review: Fitbit Ionic vs. Garmin Forerunner 35 »
Due to a tragic accident on December 5 in which an Amtrak worker was electrocuted, Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor service was negatively impacted throughout the day, with many trains delayed or canceled. I was scheduled to take an Amtrak train from New Haven, CT to Boston, MA on the evening of December 5. Because of the… Read More: Amtrak classifies valid customer feedback as “venting,” ignores it »