Friday, September 9, 2011 NewsLeader A7
The power of critical thinking skills: Wasting a phone scammer’s time So guy phones me up, mystery number, asks if I have a Windows computer. I say yes. He says they are phoning all Windows users to do a security check. You know where this is going… I interrupt his script to suggest that is a daunting task, with there being something like 2 billion Windows computers. I express genuine interest in the logistics, asking him about his staff levels, work hours and management team. Trying to stay on track, he quickly says they have 10,000 staff working around the clock. I act impressed, but suggest that this seems hardly enough, as each of the 10,000 people would need to make 250 calls a day each to get to all the Windows computer users within a three-year timeframe. That is only if they are lucky enough to get everyone the first try: what about the people they miss the first time, and need to call back? Or need to call back more than once? That must at least double the number of calls needed. Starting to feel trapped, he said something about them working very hard… I assured him I believe he did, but what do they do about the database problem? How to keep track of calls made by 10,000 staff, and to keep track of the JOHNSTONE people who may buy a windows computer during the three years it takes to get through all the users. He started to get itchy now. And went back to his first question: did I have a Windows computer? Then it occurred to me that he was asking IF I had a windows computer, which leads me to believe they are making up the database as they go along. Ay Caramba! What are they thinking!?! They need to call everyone on Earth, hoping to catch the two billion with Windows computers! He suggested these things were management’s problem, not his. Pretty creative response, if you ask me. But I was more undaunted than he. I then asked if the 10,000 included management, because that just makes the numbers worse. I started to compliment him on the astounding task he and his massive team have undertaken. Then started asking how they manage the language problem, as the majority of Windows computer owners likely don’t speak English. Were there, I suggested, some sort of regional language teams, and how many languages do the 10,000 staff speak? I had him going on this line for about five minutes before he hung up. Never got my security check...
■ Patrick Johnstone is a New Westminster resident, who blogs at greennewwest.blogspot.com.
SANDY LONGRIDGE
This week students are heading back to school at a cost. After 25 years of federal cuts to education, the share of university operating budgets funded by tuition fees has more than doubled, leaving the average BC university graduate with a debt of $27,000. Students today face the highest tuition fees in history, a cost that, for many, places post-secondary education out of reach. Gone are the days when a student could work over the summer and finance their DONNELLY education with the proceeds. Students today are taking on crippling debt in order to pursue higher education and the federal and provincial governments are doing little to help them. British Columbia places last in the provision of non-repayable assistance and actually cut provincial grants in 2002. We have an obligation to provide the next generation with the tools necessary to achieve their goals. As a New Democrat, I take that obligation seriously and will work with my caucus to invest in accessible, quality postsecondary education that ensures a strong future for Canada. Fin Donnelly Member of Parliament New Westminster – Coquitlam
Fletcher ‘agent provocateur’ Re: ‘People’s victory’ means pain ahead (BC Views, NewsLeader, Aug. 31) Tom Fletcher, never fails to champion the difference between the wages and ben-
efits of public and private employees. His constant mantra that public workers [mostly unionized] are bad, private workers [not unionized] are good is the antithesis of correct subject commentary. His Aug. 31 column once again places him in the untenable position of defender of the corporate sector. His snide remarks to belittle any opposition to any corporate involvement may be grist for his mill but the end product is unappetizing to the average private sector wage earner. According to his slanted version of democracy the public worker is king while the poor struggling corporation is forced to not only pay its private worker but also provide a slowly diminishing pension plan. In order to underscore his point on this subject he quotes Canadian author, Mark Steyn, an ultra right wing writer on a par with the American author, Ann Coulter, another fanatic conservative. It is obvious the “people’s victory”, as he describes the HST defeat, does not sit well in his version of democracy. The $3 billion he mentions is a direct result of the B.C. Liberal MLA’s being scared witless of Gordon Campbell’s demanding ways. It is his and their fault [except for Blare Lekstrom who later recanted his decision] that B.C. is in such a financial sinkhole. Despite agent provocateur Tom Fletcher‘s magnum opus pieces in favour of “free market” economies and deregulation the reality remains that the “people’s victory” aroused a sleeping giant that will turf out the B.C. Liberals. Brian J. O’Neill Burnaby
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LYLE LONGRIDGE
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