Useless 311 and Declining City Services

San Antonio has a new virtual 311 operator you must interact with (at least until it gives up).

I had such an interaction today.  It was pointless.  Finally I was connected to a real agent, who at least explained the situation and filed a new request.

My garbage was not picked up on Monday.  So I filed an online 311 request on Monday night.

Unbeknownst to me (in spite of my giving my contact info, the online service did not send me any emails) the request was closed on Tuesday morning.  Today (Thursday) it still wasn't picked up, so I went online to check it out.

I went back online and typed my service address.  That did nothing.  So I typed in the full service request number.  That was rejected with "not enough digits".  So I retyped, leaving off the full 8 character prefix to the service "number."  That worked, even though it was shorter than the rejected version and otherwise the same.

That's when I found out my service request was closed.  So I called 311.

So then the AI asks me for help, and I say something like this:

My trash was not picked up on Monday.  So I filed a 311 request on Monday night, and on Tuesday it was simply closed.  The trash is still not picked up.  What happened?  I need to get the trash picked up.

It could not understand that so I tried again, making it a bit shorter.

Still not understood.  So then it connected me to a live agent.

The live operator told me that the camera showed the trash had been picked up, so they closed the request.

What may have happened is that it didn't fall out.  The live operator said others had reported that.

Turns out, I had that exact same problem for 3 weeks with the blue recycling can.

3 weeks ago, nothing in the blue can was removed, so I loosened it a bit.

2 weeks ago, most but not all in the blue can was removed.  I added some more

Last week and this week, the bottom 1/3 of the can was not emptied.  That's better than nothing.

I've noticed recently that they squeeze the very heavy and thick city owned plastic cans so hard with the automated lifter that it nearly creases the can, trapping stuff in the bottom.  

Perhaps this started happening when they added an option for smaller cans.  So whatever the actual can size, it squeezes it down to the smaller size when lifting.

Apple giving me fits over logging into iCloud

Thanks to Apple Paranoia, for the last two years I have been unable to simply connect my phone to my computer to transfer photos (or anything else) to my computer.  It now considers the 10.13.6 MacOS on my computer to be "untrustworthy."  I refuse to upgrade because if I do I will lose dozens of critical 32 bit applications I rely on.  My plan is to buy a whole new computer next year and migrate my work to it as I have time.

The workaround, until I can afford a new computer, has been to use iCloud.  I never wanted to have to use iCloud.  I've seen people struggling with it for a decade and I never wanted to be part of that.  I just want to keep my own files in my own computer ecosystem.

Tonight I was caught for 30 minutes in a verification trap.  Though I've now used iCloud dozens of times, and logged in from the exact same Chrome browser every time, every now and then it demands I "authenticate" by my phone.

Well this time I typed in the number exactly correct 6 times before it let me in.  It's somewhat tricky as sometimes a message appears on the phone with no data ("someone is trying to log in...") and other times it comes right out with the number I am supposed to type in.  But I am absolutely sure that I typed in the numbers shown correctly every time.

I think what I did the last time, which worked, was to type in the number on my computer screen, and then (just then) press the OK button on my phone.  Then, maybe, it works.  If I press the OK button on my phone first, it then refuses to accept the number on the computer and asks me to enter the number again (which has vanished, because I pressed OK).

Searching online, it appears that hundreds of people have had this exact same problem.  Apple online has no answers, they ask you to contact support.

Sometimes, it seemed to let me in but only to demand that I use "find my devices" for some reason, and not letting me do anything else.

Turbo Wash

I'm happy with my new top rated LG washing machine.  But the cycles and modifiers seemed much more logical on my 2010 Whirlpool washer.

The important difference seems to be 'Turbo Wash.'  In the Normal and Heavy Duty cycles it cannot be deselected.  So another way of looking at it is that 'Turbo Wash' is integral to those cycles.

But I can't much use Turbo Wash because of one thing.  It often leaves flat pieces of cloth pinned to the back plate of the wash tub.  I don't imagine this as being either good for the material or good for cleaning.  It's only natural that it would do this because it blasts jets of water from the front towards the back.

This has happened to me both for undershirts (for which 'Normal' would be the expected cycle) and for sheets (for which 'Bedding' may not be appropriate because it is designed for "large bulky items that have difficulty absorbing water" which clearly doesn't apply to sheets).

What I'd like would be 'Normal' but without the Turbo, but it seems that LG is almost insisting that you use their new timesaving and deep cleaning feature.   As it is now, it seems I can only safely wash small items, like socks or washcloths, using Turbo.   For the washcloths I could also use 'Towels.'  Curiously the Towels cycle does not allow Turbo to be selected.

The cycles that seems to generally work best for things that don't work well with Turbo seem to be Permanent Press and Towels.  The others like Heavy Duty and Sanitary have specialized applications (you don't want to use them on most clothes).

And then there is also Delicate.  But Delicate doesn't allow you to have anything but a slower spin which means most clothes will retain a lot of water.  So while it works well for actual delicate clothing, it's not a stand-in for 'Normal.'  It's not good for undershirts or sheets in good condition.  I'm not yet sure which of Delicates or Permanent Press is the optimal cycle for the cotton pullover shirts I wear every day.

So even though my undershirts are not "Permanent Press" I must use the "Permanent Press" cycle for them because the other options aren't good.  This is much like the Kenmore washing machine I used in 1960.  I recall we used "Permanent Press" for everything.  Which was fine because my mother believed actual Permanent Press was the best thing ever, even though a lot of Permanent Press back in those days wasn't very permanently pressed.

AI is evil

I am completely opposed to the expansive use of 'neural network' technologies.

AI is 'solving' a problem without actually solving it.  The meaning of the system is incomprehensible.  For that reason, in some unfortunate circumstance it will make the opposite of the correct decision.  According to Murphy's Law, this will be at the worst possible time, causing the world to blow up or whatever (sadly an outcome that could also be achieved with human 'intelligence' too).

There might be some areas where it useful.  But I'd rather not guess, because even such things as character recognition, as part of a much bigger process the rest of which was perfectly good, would trigger that Murphy's Law clause about 'The Worst Possible Time.'

So I've continued to disparage things ever since I first learned of them in 1983, only more and more as my early beliefs have proven true, with the failures in 'self-driving cars,' for example.

Neural networks are nothing like real biological neural systems, which have complex underlying physical/mechanical structures, influenced by genes and environment in addition to continuous 'training'.

I believe in solving problems the old fashioned way, by understanding them and developing known deterministic algorithms for them.

My longtime speciality (and now) is the combination of procedural algorithms with pseudo random numbers (which are themselves mostly products of procedural algorithms, combined with a time related chance element (such as the precise time of day)--the so called 'seed.'

I quickly saw some mappings.

Start with a problem that has a finite deterministic solution.  Perhaps not all problems are like that (but most could be approximated with that...in the end case exactly what a neural network does, but using weights instead of logical elements) but it's easy to think about.  How about the quadratic formula

(-b +/- sqrt (b^2 - 2*a*c) / (2 * a)

This yields 2 answers, or none, but we'll simplify that as 'the highest solution if there is one.'

Now assume we have training that neural network to solve this problem.  At any point until the solution is perfectly locked in (if there is one!) the behavior of the neural network could be thought of as two components:

<the correct answer> + <nn-approximation-noise>

This noise has a very peculiar property...it's non-gaussian because of the possibility of extreme outlying results that may occur with very low probability.

Worst possible time.

Logitech Mouse and fallout from Multiple Clicks

All my Logitech mice seem to become unusable after about 2 years because they start making multiple clicks instead of just one.

My newest logitech mouse has started doing this after only 1 year.

This means I sometimes have multiple posts to Twitter.  I usually try to delete one of them right away.  Sometimes Twitter is smart enough to auto-reject a second identical message.  This confused me the first time I saw the special notice "You already posted that."  But sometimes Twitter does not catch this, and I have to delete one of the messages.

Today I ended up ordering 3 relays on ebay to repair one of my amplifiers.  I'm not sure how it happened but I think it was because of the multiple clicks.  I first "deleted" the extra orders but then they came back demanding to be paid anyway.  I then "canceled" the extra order.  Even after cancelling the orders, they still showed up for a few minutes as needing to be paid.  But the second time I tried to cancel it wouldn't let me, telling me I can't cancel something a second time.  Then I noticed I had two cancellation emails from ebay.  The seller has several days to approve.  It had taken me 15 minutes from the original unintended orders to the cancellations so I hope it goes well and doesn't screw up my ebay feedback because I have a lot of items to sell now.

 

Planned Obsolescence

My 12 year old Whirlpool front loading washing machine died last week.  It stopped working with error code E 28 (which means "communication failure").  According to online sources, this could be as simple as a loose connection, but was more likely to require one or two circuit boards, the central controller and the motor controller board.

This washing machine, which I may have even praised earlier in this blog, had never had any issues before.  

Some friends bought a larger model Whirlpool front loader and had many problems, finally giving up after the first expensive repair didn't last very long.  They used the machine for a total of less than 5 years if I remember correctly.  They then bought the cheapest Amana top loader to replace it.  I figured mine was better, possibly, because it was made in Germany (likely the former East Germany where Whirlpool bought a factory).

Well now it doesn't appear that any consumer Whirlpool washers are made in Germany any more.  And Consumer Reports rates Whirlpool 3/5 in reliability, while rating Samsung 4/5 and LG 5/5.  So it appears that LG are now the machines to get, so that's what I'm buying to replace my Whirlpool.

I was also more than a bit miffed that after waiting one week for service from the Whirlpool authorized service in San Antonio, they cancelled my appointment with one day's notice because they hadn't received the "likely" replacement part(s) from Whirlpool.  They suggested I make another appointment another week out, but I suspect there was no guarantee they'd even have the part then.

Finally it bugs me that a washing machine should die from a circuit board problem.  My nearly top-of-the-line washer had many special features including fan, sensing, steam, and sterilize.  It must be chock full of electromechanical parts whose long term performance probably cannot be assured.  But the factors involved in circuit board design are fairly straight forward.  Most electronic components have predictable lifespan of 20-100 years, which is also probably thermally derated.  Just about any circuit can be made to last about 20 years before the most failure prone parts--electrolytic capacitors--would be likely to fail.  UNLESS the thermal properties are not fully accounted for.

So any decent electronic engineer could design a circuit board that would last 20 years, whereas electromechanical parts are not as predictable.  In my mind there's just no excuse for a circuit board failing a complex and expensive system in just 12 years.  (And even less excuse for failing in 5 years.)

Furthermore of course a circuit board will be entirely proprietary (which computer chips and programming nowadays too) and so it will only be obtainable from the factory and as long as the factory chooses to support it.

Now it also seems that the more complex a machine, the more likely it is to fail earlier.   But it often seems that the failures found on the complicated top-of-the-line models are the same as the failures which found on the cheap models.  For example, say you have a fancy car with power door locks, power windows and automatic climate control.  You might think that would lead to reliability problems.  But the power windows and the automation part of the climate control rarely fail on fancy cars.  Instead, it's the usual stuff that fails on all models regardless of how fancy.

When and if we ever create a Sustainable Society, planned obsolescence will not be acceptable.  Stuff should be designed to be easily repairable with generic parts.

Here's an interesting article about washing machine reliability.  Their top recommendation for longevity is the Speed Queen toploader, and they talk a lot about Speed Queen and how top loaders will last longer.  But they also recommend the exact same LG model I have decided to buy as their top front loader recommendation, the WM4000HWA.  The Speed Queen frontloader costs over twice as much and actually seems to have slightly higher service calls, though it might be repairable for longer.  Like me they are infuriated that washing machines should have so many computer module failures when well designed computer modules should last decades.

Unhelpful Rejections

Earlier this year I tried to make my second submission of a music album to Routenote, which has a unique and useful "free" streaming submission service.   I worried that my first submission might not meet their standards but it sailed right through, encouraging me to do a second album and possibly meet my longstanding goal of 5 album submissions before the year end.

I had previously released 3 out of 4 of the songs on this otherwise new album on an earlier album I had released on Tunecore ten years ago.  That earlier album had used on my first and last names as artist name.  I have recently decided to include my middle name for uniqueness, so I did that for this new album and every song on it.

I figured I could get away with this change for several reasons.  For one, it's the same name really just with a middle name added.  For another I had only "streamed" the previous album for a few years, from 2006-2009 or so.  It had not been played very much.  I had not paid for distribution since 2009, 13 years ago.  Nobody would remember it now, I figured.

But then after uploading this second album, I discovered that Shazam could identify 2 out of 3 of the tracks from the earlier album.  At this point I suspected the release would probably fail because of the apparent (but not real) copyright violation, since two different artist names were being used (really just my same name but with middle name added).

I waited ever more nervously for 10 days for the official notice from Routenote.  Somehow I missed it and started working on finalizing a third album for the year.  I was almost there when I discovered that Routenote had in fact fairly quickly issued a rejection 3 days after submission.

The rejection gave a long list of potential problems with the release.  The very first on the list was Copyright Violation.  But then it also listed a number of technical and aesthetic issues.

The rejection notice only said the release could have been flagged for any of the following reasons.  But it did not actually say which one(s) were involved.  I emailed Routenote support and they told me they could not give me any more information.  (I suspect much of the process is automated, and the automated system might use AI which is incapable of determining which actual issue(s) were involved.  Well that's what you get for using a free or even low cost service.)

Well this threw a spanner into the works.  There are blog entries on how to deal with artist name changes, but it doesn't look trivial.  I was not in the mood to try to figure out how to deal with the issue.  And in fact I still am not.  Maybe next year.

But what was worse was that the negative feeling this gave me put a stop to my finishing my "third" album, which was almost ready to go.  I simply couldn't work on it anymore, knowing that any one of the long list of technical and aesthetic criteria listed could lead to it being rejected too, just like the second album.  Really the third album was no worse than the first one on technical and artistic grounds, which had sailed right through, so I figured I probably wouldn't have a problem.  But probably wasn't good enough.  I felt hurt and just didn't want to continue any work on it (and still haven't).

So this was a case of being buried under an ambiguous rejection.  Because I don't really know what caused my second album to be rejected (though I think I have a pretty good theory) I'm finding it hard to go on with something else.

For all I know, this is a hidden benefit of the system.  Perhaps I'm not bothering anyone else with hearing how bad my music is, and perhaps that's a benefit to all.  But what about with someone more musical than me?

Now today I've been faced with a different kind of unhelpful rejection.   I tried to post a short and I thought helpful (and not at all abusive) comment to Gilbert Doctorow's blog.  After some work, I submitted it, and got the simple report that my comment was rejected.  "Sorry" was the only explanation.

It could have been (and likely was) that the post in question was already closed for comments.  If so, it would have been more helpful not to allow me to write one.  Or perhaps it took too long to finish the comment (I was doing other things like feeding cats before finally submitting it).

But it means, once again, I don't feel much like posting more comments to Doctorow.  Perhaps, once again, that's actually a benefit for all.