Monday, April 28, 2014

Dear Luise

wp.rxisk.org/written-on-water/

The story of an aspie girl in Denmark who was slightly too old to be diagnosed in childhood in the 80s, younger than most of us, who was medically murdered by an irresponsible self-perpetuating chain of ever intensifying mental health drugging. Written by her mother. Taken up by American publisher Jorvik, perhaps from e-book impact first.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Trans Pacific Partnership

https://stopthesecrecy.net"

Site of a Canada + US based campaign worried about, and organising against, the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership agreement. Among other things claimed to override national laws, it would be about controlling and censoring the internet, making ISP site hosts take down sites. as we know from the deportation of Talha Ahsan, what goes on in web hosting that takes place there affects web use here.

How much difference will it make, when site hosting comapanies like 1&1 self-censor sites already without caring about the background situation's fairness? Which is why blogs are popular and an important alternative to sites.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

consumer action

ANS's projected writing on consumer issues is an opportunity to effect a lasting empowerment of us in consumer situations, through open record of the problems that can happen. We should build up some sharing with each other, through ANS, of consumer pitfalls. The resulting responsibility for autism workers to be on guard for them for the folks they work with, helps also the independently living aspies who don't have any workers, because the whole scene has to respond to what is seen can happen.

*If you should buy a bed, avoid any with joints held together by a part called a "dowel", which is a silly flimsy wooden pin a few centimetres long. They are a ridiculous design, because they are made to carry too much weight and they are not substantial enough to do it. they can snap easily, When they do, the whole structure is unusable because half the dowel is left stuck in flush the hole preventing reuse. So see what all the joints are held together by, make sure they are not dowels. Don't ignore any joints where you can't see what holds them together, dowels are likely to be hidden from view because both ends of them insert into a hole. The bed I bought not knowing about dowels I succeeded in getting returned and refunded. A dowel snapped when attaching an end part to the bed's main body, within 2 hours of receiving the bed! They were going to send a whole replacement end part, what an expense for them to have to do that because one small piece of wood snapped. I asked them how they could guarantee that what could snap would not snap again, how in that case the structure could be safe to use, and how expensive would it then be for them to have to keep sending large new parts repeatedly? Unanswerable. I did not have to use trading standards to actually chase them, the company knew I had made them aware of these questions, that was enough. Returned, at cost of an extra delivery outing for them: they had to take it back just to avoid admitting the rest of their stocks of it should not be sold, for it was surely physically worthless to them to take back the actual bed.

*Now, having ANS's consumer writing to cite in my flyers is helping me respond to a particularly bad bus issue. It concerned a council supported service, the 63 Queensferry to Hermiston. That they can leave you for an hour then change their mind about putting on any replacement bus, when one breaks down, it happened with the 0830 first morning bus from Queensferry on Mar 19, is a serious enough failed standard for a supported service they are paying them to run, that the council transport office is chasing them for an explanation. The community council's interest is secured, quite properly, in the prospect of not renewing the support contract for that route with the same company if it defends and does not show measures guaranteeing to eradicate, the practice of leaving passengers misinformed for an hour. But the issue should not be just left until the contract renewal comes up top save bothering. It affects passengers now. To make a significant number of potential passengers living along the route know that this happened and is what they can expect, both is what the bus company deserves and puts a proper pressure on the council for more immediate action. So how can you create some passenger awareness? By putting a flyer around!

Headed:

63 BUS WASTED AN HOUR OF PASSENGERS' TIME.

That is a strong consumer action. I wrote why the council needs to bother:

" This not an innocent consequence of technical problems. To mislead passengers for an hour, kept there awaiting a provision that is then not provided, is a chosen avoidable malpractice. Meanwhile, further down the route folks' morning bus never turned up. Not for the first time. This was why.

Queensferry community council indicates the council support for running the 63 route is due for recontracting in the autumn. For public health, against getting tension and raised blood pressure and strokes from risking this experience too often, the council must not wait until autumn to take Horsburgh off all its supported routes. "

Maurice Frank