In 2010, after fighting members in courts for years, Costco settled a Class Action lawsuit (*Ref-3) for backdating membership renewal. Costco was forced to pay millions of harmed US members benefits valued at $38.8 million & lawyers’ fee of $5.38 million.
11 years later in 2021, it seems Costco kept acting dishonestly & deceitfully by backdating benefits of 105 million members in 12 countries & 803 locations this way:
When will Costco stop slapping customers in the face? #FairCostcoRenew
2021 Bottom Line: ~100+ million customers in 799 locations still have their benefits backdated & faces slapped. It seems Costco kept behaving deceitfully with little integrity and treats only customers in 4 locations fairly. The question remains “When will Costco stop slapping customers in the face?” posed 2009 by the nonprofit consumer organization Consumer Reports. (*Ref-2)
“I think Costco should stop slapping customers in the face this way if they don’t know that they need to ask. Instead, Costco should automatically date all renewals as of the actual renewal date.”
Note: This is exactly the case for China & Spain now in 2021 but for 4 locations ONLY!
Comments Off on When will Costco stop slapping customers in the face? – #FairCostcoRenew | Business, united states, World | Permalink Posted by kempton
Here is a new addition to my collection of Quotes I Love.
“Some days, we write good stories. Some days, we just write paragraphs around great quotes from insightful young men Today was one of the latter days” – Doug Smith‘s tweet on 20200825
via CNN //Fauci: In 50 years, we’ll talk about coronavirus “the way we used to reflect on the 1918 outbreak”
From CNN’s Amanda Watts
Dr. Anthony Fauci called the global coronavirus pandemic “unprecedented” and “the worst nightmare.”
“One thinks about the worst nightmare of an infectious disease person who’s interested in global health and outbreaks – is the combination of a new microbe that has [a] spectacular … degree of capability of transmitting, and also has a considerable degree of morbidity and mortality – and here it is, it’s happened,” Fauci said while speaking during a webinar with the Stanford School of Medicine.
“Your worst nightmare, the perfect storm,” he added. “I think 50 years from now, people are going to be reflecting historically on this, the way we used to reflect on the 1918 outbreak,” Fauci said.//
The following news is highly technical #Chemical #Pharmaceutical #Covid19 science. If I may share with you my trick and general approach to learning: I often try to read something and understand it as much as I can KNOWING I don’t know a LOT. Knowing what questions to ask and what we don’t know is part way to understanding/”some minor progress in understanding” new cutting edge science. To quote a Quote I LOVE by the Nobel Economist Ronald Coase when he was 100 years old, “You don’t know what you can learn until you try to learn.”
“The attractive profile of GS-441524 from both manufacturing and clinical perspectives raises this question: Why hasn’t Gilead opted to advance this compound to the clinic? We would be remiss for not mentioning patents, and thus profits. The first patent on GS-441524 was issued in 2009, while the first patent for remdesivir was issued in 2017.
We aren’t the only ones questioning Gilead’s strategy. We have spoken with a number of chemists, biochemists, veterinarians, and others who are also surprised that GS-441524 has remained out of the spotlight. Veterinarians we spoke to have noted that the strong antiviral activity of GS-441524 has resulted in a “miraculous turn of events” for cats infected with feline coronavirus, which was once considered a death sentence.
Given GS-441524’s optimal properties, we — along with the millions of people awaiting an effective treatment for Covid-19 — are left to wonder why Gilead isn’t giving it the same attention it is giving remdesivir. The world can only hope it isn’t for the sake of protecting its intellectual property.”
[NOTE: Do NOT take experts’ words blindly but let them highlight potentially interesting questions or where cutting edge science is]
P,S, In the 90s, I, for no good reasons that I can remember and may be I had too much money to waste/spend, subscribed to The New England Journal of Medicine for one full year! May be it was to broaden my understanding of medical science, better armed myself to read medical research, or simply to reduce my fear of reading research papers that I really know very little! I particular enjoy, if I remember right, reading the concluding paragraphs of many research papers talking about what’s “NEXT” for the researchers, what were their “unknowns”!
Gilead should ditch remdesivir and focus on its simpler and safer ancestor – pix
Well said by @SpeakerPelosi. I’m not religious but I do NOT hate anybody. I don’t hate President Trump. I don’t hate Ms. Carrie Lam. I don’t even hate the Hong Kong police who committed atrocities against HKers. Why? Because I know hate will end up poisoning my mind and heart and those politicians are seriously NOT worth it to poison my mind and heart.
Hate is a powerful lubricant on the slippery slope to “hell” (however you define it). Focus on the wrong doings and try to make positive steps to counter them, fix them, change them for the better … But don’t hate.
Q: "Do you hate the president?"@SpeakerPelosi: "I don't hate anybody…As a Catholic, I resent your using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me. I don't hate anyone…So, don't mess with me when it comes to words like that."
“I THINK THIS PRESIDENT IS A COWARD WHEN IT COMES TO HELPING OUR KIDS WHO ARE AFRAID OF GUN VIOLENCE. I THINK HE IS CRUEL WHEN HE DOESN’T DEAL WITH HELPING OUR DREAMERS OF WHICH WE ARE VERY PROUD. I THINK HE’S IN DENIAL ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION — ABOUT THE CLIMATE CRISIS. HOWEVER, THAT’S ABOUT THE ELECTION. THIS IS ABOUT — TAKE IT UP IN THE ELECTION. THIS IS ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. AND THE FACTS THAT LEADS TO THE PRESIDENT’S VIOLATION OF THE OATH OF OFFICE. AS A CATHOLIC I RESENT YOUR USING THE WORD HATE IN A SENTENCE THAT ADDRESSES ME. I DON’T HATE ANYONE. I WAS RAISED IN A WAY THAT IS HEART FULL OF LOVE AND ALWAYS PRAY FOR THE PRESIDENT. AND I STILL PRAY FOR THE PRESIDENT. I PRAY FOR THE PRESIDENT ALL THE TIME. SO DON’T MESS WITH ME WHEN IT COMES TO WORDS LIKE THAT. [CAPTIONS COPYRIGHT NATIONAL CABLE SATELLITE CORP. 2019] [CAPTIONING PERFORMED BY THE NATIONAL CAPTIONING INSTITUTE, WHICH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS CAPTION CONTENT AND ACCURACY. VISIT NCICAP.ORG] “
Hi, We just had a rather #awful Costco Wholesale Canada membership renewal experience this past Friday. Ended up spending ~30 minutes talking to three (4) different customer service employees/manager with one of them even threatened me to stop writing down her name (I said I might want to complain about my experiences at some point). I was told I’m not allowed to remember their names in order to properly complain if I wish to. Is this normal and standard operating procedure of CostCo employees to threaten members who may want to complain with precision?
Can someone explain why does CostCo treat loyal customers WORSE than brand new customers? Shouldn’t renewal NOT be taken “for granted”? Is it wrong to think each renewal should be treated as EARNED?
— Calgary Zoo example
In stark contrast, Calgary Zoo does things right and treat each member who decides to renew (some don’t renew) with full respect and work hard to earn each renewal. As a start, the zoo treats a renewing member EQUALLY as a new member and would NEVER shortchange/disadvantage a loyal existing member!
— CostCo: a multi-billion dollar entitled company?
Now back to CostCo, please correct me if I am wrong. When a NEW customer decide to take out a NEW membership on November 1st, his/her membership will expire in 2020 November 30th, correct me if I am wrong?
Now when we renewed on November 1st, we were told that our membership expired on September 30th! Major #fail with CostCo! In fact we were further explained, for ANYONE who “renew” within three (3) months of their previous membership expiration date, their membership expiration is the OLD date! So for example, members who decide to renew 89 days after expiration will have their membership shortchanged with 89 days LESS!
Fair? I don’t think so. This, to me and to be frank, is the actions of a multi-billion dollar entitled company that disrespect loyal customers because “it has always been done like this” or it is in the “terms and conditions” (which I tried to read “Membership Conditions & Regulations, and Privacy Policy” but is unable to find the exact exploitative legal language).
— More Training (not punishment) & Will CostCo start treating Loyal/Renewal customers with respect??
I will NEVER want anyone be punished for my stupid complains. Life is too short. Training may be. I want other customers be treated much better than I had been.
I take time to complain not just to benefit myself (sure, I want my complains fixed) BUT I take time to publicly complain in order to raise issues that I think companies like CostCo should think seriously and consider fixing.
I’ve laid out my complains and the issues (hopefully clearly and factually). Will CostCo review your corporate policy and START respecting all Loyal/Renewing customers reminds to be seen. Don’t take my words for it, Google or ask Calgary Zoo how they treat their renewing members and if they treat their loyal renewing members as good as their new ones and if they also shortchange their members because many are too busy to ask?
Here are a bunch of interesting podcasts from Hollywood Reporter (THR) starting with Sacha Baron Cohen, one of my most favourite and insightful comedians, and the one that started me on this interesting journey. Have a listen of any one or more of these podcasts as I copied and pasted from THR. Enjoy!
I’ve always love and curious about battery technologies. CBC News has this interesting news article, “In the quest to build a better battery, a Canadian is energizing the field“. Will see how things pan out in the coming years with Canadian Don Sadoway, a professor of materials chemistry at MIT. (Prof. Sadoway “did both his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Toronto, receiving his PhD in 1977”.)
I’m sorry to say 2018 #HumanRightsDay (Dec 10th) was a sad day when former Canadian diplomat Micheal Kovrig (update: and Mr. Michael Spavor) were detained in China with no reason given. (China taking Mr. Kovrig as “hostage” over the arrest of Huawei CFO Ms. Meng Wanzhou?!) Where is due process? Where is rule of law? I understand he served as political lead on Prime Minster Trudeau’s visit to Hong Kong in September 2016, so on a personal note, I feel sorry for Consul General Mr. Jeff Nankivell and others in HK that Mr. Kovrig might have worked with in preparation of that 2016 visit.
How “lucky” Canadians must be to be stuck between two superpowers fighting a trade war? One superpower has a president that locks up human rights lawyers (including blind human rights lawyer) and makes dissidents “disappear”. The other superpower has a president who clearly sees himself above the law and has no idea of what “judicial independence” means. Even his former secretary of state recently said in public, “the president would say here’s what I want to do and here’s how I want to do it and I would have to say to him, Mr. President I understand what you want to do but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law.”
If there is #TeachableMoment in all this mess, it is that one must try to respect the rule of law, due process, and judicial independence. Even now it seems we really got used by both sides to fight their beeping trade war!
P.S. Incidentally, Trump/US government has imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum using Section 232 of U.S. trade law claiming our steel and aluminum are “threats to American national security”.
P.P.S. Former Canadian Amb. to China Mr. Guy Saint-Jacques has this to say:
"In China, there's no coincidence": Former Canadian Amb. to China @guysaintjacque1 says, in his view, the arrest of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig is part of China's effort to put political pressure on Canada over the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou pic.twitter.com/xDd9rP9mpz
This sentence (from a CBC News report) kinda highlights the difference between Huawei CFO Ms. Meng Wanzhou’s case and the trumped up detention of Mr. Michael Kovrig (currently on an unpaid leave of absence from the Canadian embassy): “China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday denied knowledge of the detention of a former Canadian diplomat, as Chinese citizens rejoiced over a Canadian court’s decision to release a top Huawei Technologies executive on bail.” Read the rest of this entry »
The doctored video @WhiteHouse tweeted out by @PressSec. For the record.
We stand by our decision to revoke this individual’s hard pass. We will not tolerate the inappropriate behavior clearly documented in this video. pic.twitter.com/T8X1Ng912y
RT //Even by the standards of their serial-lying selves, this is bad stuff.// via @ddale8
1) Took @PressSec Sarah Sanders' video of briefing 2) Tinted red and made transparent over CSPAN video 3) Red motion is when they doctored video speed 4) Sped up to make Jim Acosta's motion look like a chop 5) I've edited video for 15+ years 6) The White House doctored it pic.twitter.com/q6arkYSx0V
I LOVE the book (part 2 China Rich Girlfriend, part 3 Rich People Problems) so I’m thrilled & excited to watch Crazy Rich Asians on its opening day this Wednesday (Aug 15th, 2018). (Aug 15th night update: Just watched the movie and LOVED it!) (Note: May add more to this post later.)
“Emma’s silence” was Jaclyn Corin‘s, MSD student and one of #MarchForOurLives organizers, answer to the Twitter question “What was the most emotional moment during March?” I felt the same.
I watched the 3-hour event live and I was initially puzzled of the silence from the beginning to the end of the silence like many people. But in hindsight, it was the most powerful and emotional moment for me as it uses time, an abstract idea in itself, to share the horror the MSD students experienced that tragic day. In merely 6 minutes and 20 seconds, the time since Emma came out on stage till she spoke again after the alarm rang and she broke her silence,“The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape, and walk free for an hour before arrest.” Emma concluded: “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”
If the #MarchForOurLives is to succeed, thousands and thousands of American students, youths, and adults have to keep on fighting for changes. While I’m less hopeful for adults’ abilities and determinations. Fortunately, today’s students and youths will become adults tomorrow and they will change the world!
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead remains the top quote in my collection of Quotes I LOVE!
Again, here is Emma’s full speech transcript which I shared previously.
“In a little over six minutes, seventeen of our friends were taken from us, fifteen were injured, and everyone, absolutely everyone in the Douglas community, was forever altered,” she said. “Six minutes and twenty seconds with an AR-15, and my friend Carmen would never complain to me about piano practice; Aaron Feis would never call Kyra ‘Miss Sunshine’; Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan; Scott Beigel would never joke around with Cameron at camp; Helena Ramsey would never hang out after school with Max; Gina Montalto would never wait for her friend Liam at lunch; Joaquin Oliver would never play basketball with Sam or Dylan; Alaina Petty would never; Cara Loughran would never; Chris Hixon would never; Luke Hoyer would never; Martin Duque Anguiano would never; Peter Wang would never; Alyssa Alhadeff would never; Jaime Guttenberg would never; Meadow Pollack would never.” Then she stood in silence. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She said nothing. The crowd watched, also silent. A chant of “never again” started, and then faded out. Emma still stood. Finally, the beeping of an electric timer rang out. “Since the time that I came out here it has been six minutes and twenty seconds,” she said. “The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape, and walk free for an hour before arrest.” She concluded: “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”
[credit: speech transcript mostly from New Yorker with some corrections made near the end of the speech.]
The speech video with subtitles.
Watch Emma Gonzalez take the stage for 6 minutes and 20 seconds — the exact amount of time it took for a gunman with an AR-15 to take 17 lives in Parkland pic.twitter.com/s2pCWdoPnB
March 29, 2018 Update: Vice News, “Hoaxers Say Survivors of Mass Shootings Are “Crisis Actors”” //”This isn’t a fucking conspiracy. This is real life, and people are fucking dying.”
Immediately after the tragedy in Parkland, conspiracy theorists claimed that the school shooting was staged, and that survivors were actors.//
I’m so inspired by the students who spoke today at #MarchForOurLives in DC yesterday and so many sibling marches around US and even the world (including Calgary, Canada and UK)!
Video and transcript of Emma González’s short speech.
Watch Emma Gonzalez take the stage for 6 minutes and 20 seconds — the exact amount of time it took for a gunman with an AR-15 to take 17 lives in Parkland pic.twitter.com/s2pCWdoPnB
“In a little over six minutes, seventeen of our friends were taken from us, fifteen were injured, and everyone, absolutely everyone in the Douglas community, was forever altered,” she said. “Six minutes and twenty seconds with an AR-15, and my friend Carmen would never complain to me about piano practice; Aaron Feis would never call Kyra ‘Miss Sunshine’; Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan; Scott Beigel would never joke around with Cameron at camp; Helena Ramsey would never hang out after school with Max; Gina Montalto would never wait for her friend Liam at lunch; Joaquin Oliver would never play basketball with Sam or Dylan; Alaina Petty would never; Cara Loughran would never; Chris Hixon would never; Luke Hoyer would never; Martin Duque Anguiano would never; Peter Wang would never; Alyssa Alhadeff would never; Jaime Guttenberg would never; Meadow Pollack would never.” Then she stood in silence. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She said nothing. The crowd watched, also silent. A chant of “never again” started, and then faded out. Emma still stood. Finally, the beeping of an electric timer rang out. “Since the time that I came out here it has been six minutes and twenty seconds,” she said. “The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape, and walk free for an hour before arrest.” She concluded: “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”
[credit: speech transcript mostly from New Yorker with some corrections made near the end of the speech.]
“The scene was brought to mind Saturday, on that impressive outdoor Washington stage before the countless faces at the March for Our Lives demonstration, as Emma González, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student who has become one of the most prominent voices in the #NeverAgain movement, went on with her speech — and then, for a few minutes, didn’t.
It was one of the day’s most galvanizing moments, and a reminder of how little we appreciate in this Tower of Babel culture that the most powerful message can be the one we don’t try to put into words. After naming the dead in the Parkland, Fla., massacre, and identifying, like Hamlet, experiences they never would get to see, González simply stopped talking. The rest really was silence.
The absence of language, the extended pause for contemplation, remains a rare thing in public discourse, and even rarer onstage. A moment of silence is the ritualized form of respect we employ on many occasions to mark tragedy, but it’s usually only a moment. González’s silence was an act that felt, in its way, radical. It was as if she dropped the mic — yet a mic was still in front of her. The silence went on for about five minutes, and, as cable news cameras swept the crowd, you could tell some people did not know quite what to do with themselves. Gonzalez fixed her gaze into the distance, as if she were concentrating on something out of our normal range of perception; at times, she trembled and wiped away a tear. In the crowd, some people started to chant, or applaud, perhaps because the rule in this society seems to be that if there is a vacuum of noise, someone has to make some.
The interruptions were respectful, though, and eventually, as González steadfastly held her tongue, the hubbub died down. We were left with the image of a young, grieving woman, drawing our attention not to herself but to something more abstract: to time — the amount it took for a killer to mow down her classmates and teachers.
[…] González touchingly reminded us that a profound dialogue doesn’t always require them.“
“In an interview late Sunday night, [Dr. Stacy] Smith said she was shocked and grateful to hear that McDormand had given a shout out to her work.
“I’m utterly elated,” she told the Guardian by phone. “It’s a complete surprise.”
Smith said she had worked with attorneys to create specific contract language and has already been in touch with numerous actors interested in the idea.
“The real goal is to counter bias in the auditioning and casting process,” she said, explaining that the contract could also stipulate that if the film ultimately failed to meet the requirements, the distributor would have to pay a “penalty” to a fund that supports female directors and other underrepresented groups.
Smith said A-list stars could use inclusion riders to ensure proper representation and inclusion of women, people of color, LGBT people and people with disabilities.
“The goal is that talent can take the inclusion rider and adopt it in ways that make sense for their values and their beliefs,” she said.“
Comments Off on Best Actress Frances McDormand talks Inclusion Rider before global Oscars audiences | Law, Oscars, politics, united states | Permalink Posted by kempton
Seems like an interesting proxy for the toxicity of National Rifle Association (NRA)? Can this perhaps be the end of the beginning for the NRA? Time will tell.
“Car rental company Enterprise and First National Bank of Omaha have severed their relationship with the National Rifle Association.
First National Bank of Omaha said Thursdsay it will not renew a contract to issue its NRA-branded Visa credit card.
“Customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA,” a bank spokesperson told CNBC. “As a result, First National Bank of Omaha will not renew its contract with the National Rifle Association to issue the NRA Visa Card.”
The website advertising the card disappeared on Wednesday, less than one day after advocacy group ThinkProgress reported the bank’s support of the pro-gun lobby. The bank and car rental company were used by the NRA to promote its membership through discounts and bonus deals.“
I LOVE Norman Rockwell and you can’t be more America than NR! This play on a famous painting really shows how ridiculous the idea of arming teachers is!
“Without context, twin announcements from Delta and United airlines on Saturday morning might look trivial: The end of flight discounts to the NRA’s annual convention, which few outside the gun rights organization likely knew existed before they became boycott targets.
But in abandoning the NRA, the airlines followed car rental giants Avis, Hertz and Enterprise, the Best Western hotel chain, the global insurance company MetLife, and more than a dozen other corporations that have severed affiliations with the gun group in the last two days. […]
First National Bank of Omaha, one of the largest private U.S. banks, may have been the first to respond publicly to the boycott calls. The bank had previously advertised the “Official Credit Card of the NRA,” according to the Omaha World-Herald — a Visa card with 5 percent back on gas and sporting good purchases.“
Comments Off on Toxicity proxy for NRA – First National Bank of Omaha, Enterprise Holdings, Hertz Cut Ties With the NRA | politics, united states | Permalink Posted by kempton
Dr. Matt Blaze’s House testimony on the security of voting machines.
#VotingMachines #eVoting It worries me that some form of e-voting was used in last Calgary municipal elections and more are being studied to be potentially used in the future. (Case of I don’t know enough.) As someone who has been following e-voting and development of secure voting machines for decades (a company I used to work for had a team that develop e-voting system), I have my serious reservations with e-voting and voting machines and want all levels of Canadian governments (city, provincial, federal) to study slow and proceed very very very carefully!
To learn more, I’m watching UPenn’s Dr. Matt Blaze‘s House testimony on the security of voting machines.
More of Dr. Blaze‘s testimonies here at these timecodes: 35m30s ; 54m19s ; 1h5m56s ; 1h30m30s ; 1h44m02s ; 1h48m25s and following individually video links to specific timecode segments.
Posted by kempton 
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