Recycle *THIS* San Franciscans

An Open Letter to:

Zoey Kroll, Internet Communications Coordinator for the San Francisco Department of the Environment;

Robert Reed, Public Relations Manager of Recology;

Jack Macy, Zero Waste Coordinator, City of San Francisco

Lady and Gentlemen:

Greetings to two fellow members of the Professional Organization of English Majors, and the third, unprivileged wretch. I hope your pestilence is as pleasant as it can be, and that this finds you well.

I write to notify you of a great concern: your transmissions in the Great Psychic Environmental Program are not working.

Allow me to explain. A twenty year resident of the City, and ardent environmentalist, I was but one of many who cheered as San Francisco radically reduced its waste by having a recycling and composting bin available to each resident, thus ceasing the ludicrous practice of shoving into the ground that which could in one case be used to grow new food and drink for us all, and in the other, be readily reused. When I visit relatives and friends in other towns, I note that many other municipalities still don't even mandate the most modest recycling efforts.

About every five years as an apartment dweller, I receive a mailing outlining recycling procedures, but other than that, as for all information we seek, I must rely on internet search findings, as none of your respective departments reach my eyes and ears via any single major news and information source, from Twitter, to Facebook, to KQED, to the San Francisco Chronicle. Indeed, I can't recall receiving a single instruction as to what may be recycled other than the sticker on the bins, and that every-few-years mailing.

And some aren't as caring as am I: don't even get me started on finding plastic bags in the compost, and styrofoam filling the recycling bin. Except mysteriously when that guy on the third floor is on vacation.

When I did use a search engine on that internet thing to learn what plastics are permissible (the main material with which our species is killing our planet), this is what I found:

https://sfenvironment.org/which-plastics-are-recyclable-in-sf.

On said page, readers are encouraged to "Please bundle clean soft plastic into one bag and place in the blue recycling bin," which raises two questions: which residents actually do that (is it more than six people, two of which have OCD?), and how are they supposed to know to do it, since presumably not many are receiving said psychic transmissions. Secondly, I just learned that the blue part is a link, taking one to a page full of information about what IS recyclable: https://sfrecycles.org.

Of course, you recycling professionals know that this is ridiculous on several levels. First, it encourages what one wit dubbed "aspirational recycling." When on Earth Day I posted a short video asking people to consider how much single use plastics they are generating, and to pick three creators of products they like and gently, repeatedly encourage them to find another way for the generators of the waste bring their products to market, a friend wrote saying that she just puts all her plastics in the recycling bin.

Imagine her surprise when I sent her this radio story about what becomes most of the plastic:  Where Your Plastic REALLY Goes. Yep, it burns it heaps in poor countries: shocking, as this never happens with any other problem we industrialized countries don't want to deal with and export to countries that just can't say "no," as they possess neither navies nor nuclear warheads to aid their polite refusal.

Given that we are not receiving your GPEP transmissions, could you please respond here as to what precisely happens with each of these different kinds of plastics I have photographed below?

We repurpose it, it is bundled with others of its kind and blah blah blah doesn't tell us what we naturally want to know: seriously, what becomes of the objects I have photographed to learn more? In just a month, I alone generated several grocery bags of plastic, despite my best pre-cycling efforts.

Despite your failings as transmitters of psychic energy to instruct residents on how to recycle, and what becomes of recycled objects, you all three do important work, and of course are hampered by policies you don't dictate. Nonetheless, it falls to you to instruct the City's denizens on how and what to do, and teach us what becomes of our efforts.

Thank you in advance for your cooperative, collective response. Again, what precisely becomes of each of these single-use plastics, and what will you do to change your outreach to better educate residents?

Kevin A. Madden, M.A.Ed.
POEM

Just Fix It - Teladoc

February 24, 2020

This is a series I'll be writing where I share my invaluable, world-changing insights with companies small and large, who will then ignore me. 

Summary: I've had this app for a couple of years. My medical provider makes it available to me, because presumably the vast majority of things humans need to have treated will can be addressed with a cursory examination, and if indicated, prescription. 

In theory, you schedule a video call with a M.D., who either refers you back to your provider, or prescribes medications.


Just Fix It: Whoever is making this thing has to have huge resources, and they aren't using them well. When I used it two years ago, it worked better than it did last week. That's not how it's supposed to go.

1. Haven't logged-in in quite some time, and had to do a byzantine password reset, because it insists the saved password was wrong. PW recovery, especially for an app that is very rarely used, should be quick and easy: user name should be your email address.
2. Made an appointment for 1 pm. Nobody called by 2 pm, so left for the day to do stuff.
3. Cancelled, and had to call to reschedule for 5:45 pm. To call and reschedule took almost 30 minutes on the phone.
4. Doc started calling about 3:15. Explained that I was in public, and hoped to hear from him at 5:45.
5. He called again I think at 5:15 or so, and we got the medical business done.

The idea of the app is fantastic - no reason to go in a room full of other sick people spreading/contracting contagion, when a quick consult where they can take a look at visible symptoms might save everybody time and money.

But again, this did none of the above. Waste of my time, the physician's, and the app maker/parties running it have no excuse: it should be better, not worse than it was two years ago. 

Just Fix It - the Couch to 5k/Run 5k iPhone App by Felt Tip Inc.

February 19, 2020

This is the first of a series I'll be writing where I share my invaluable, world-changing insights with companies small and large, who will then ignore me. 

Summary: I've had this app since I started running at the end of 2010, so as to get in shape for the Bay to Breakers centennial. The "BtoB" is the longest, continuously held footrace on the planet earth (109 years and counting), from the bottom of the Bay Bridge here in San Francisco, to the Pacific Ocean's waves breaking 7.45 miles away.

I wouldn't be here running today without it, because I don't like running, and am not good at it (but do it because, per Jack LaLanne "I like the results"). Apps like this are critical for my unfortunate pattern of getting in shape, doing the run, then getting bored a few months later, then sedentary, then needing to start back up. Yes, I should schedule other races. I should also eat less sugar, save more money, and foster animals. I know I know I know.


Bit of History: I've emailed the creators a couple of times over the years. They've fixed most bugs, others they've ignored (or they dumped the offending feature), and oddly, they've completely ignored my suggestion to contact me regarding a variant of their existing program to make a lot of money (given the success of the iBeer, you'd think they'd be at least willing to come to the phone). Alas, not everybody is ready for #ThusSpokeKevinthrustra.

More info at http://felttip.com/support/run-faq.html

Again, they have fixed many bugs over the decade, and I think it's still a great little app.


Just Fix It: No doubt it's a small company, and no doubt they're in a tiny niche now full of competitors (they used to be one of just a few a decade ago). That being said, the following can't be that hard to fix. Most of these would have been caught if given to five beta-testers.

1. Of the apps I own, this is the only one whose major functionality goes away with the flick of a switch. If you forget to put the switch back onto ringer (instead of buzzer), you won't hear the auditory cues. Is it really that hard to fix, after almost a decade of dysfunction?
2. Pace. Don't care about my average walking pace: only care about the average pace during the running segments, AND my current pace: split the screen, showing both.
3. Stretch Transitions: Don’t need so long of a pause between the ones done standing; do need longer amount of time to get to the ground, and between those stretches (saw the longer stretch duration possible in "settings, " but I mean this basic difference between stretches needs addressing).
4. Stretch Tips: Be sure to have a few form reminders to clue users in: "flat back," "head turns opposite from legs," for each stretch.
5. Run Distance Only: Users recognize that an API for other running apps is a bit much to ask, but how hard can it be to have your apps only total the running distance, and not include the walking distance as a separate stat?
6. Bug: Used "pause" during a walk segment, and the app later told me I was running 4 minute miles. Don't think that happened.
7. Music: Is there really that much demand for users wanting to skip sections? The fast forward and backward buttons do that, rather than control music. Having to leave the app to skip a lame song that's on an album or in a list is a far greater need.

Thanks for the runs folks, but could you JUST FIX IT.