Peter’s Blog

I just got off the phone with Charles Schwab and I’m got some stuff to say.

First, I was shocked when the person helping me didn’t know how to answer my questions immediately. I had gotten so used to solving my problems within a minute of calling Schwab that I was honestly surprised to hear the woman say, “I don’t know. Let me check with someone here.” It didn’t help that she and her colleagues ended up having to wrestle with the system for almost 30 minutes to delete an automatic transfer, disconnecting me twice while I was on hold. That being said, they solved the problem, were very friendly and helpful, and offered me $100 for my ‘troubles’. Now that’s how to ensure customer satisfaction! (more…)

Tell me that doesn’t look a burning book. Little did you know that the Dutch police are actually firemen. Speaking of weird things, the Amsterdam police offer a 360 degree tour of a police HQ.

The above-the-fold front page article in today’s NRC was about SecDef Gates saying that many NATO armies weren’t good at counter-insurgency operations and it was accompanied by a very large version of this image:

(Aside: it’s a rather odd photo to use, considering both the subject matter and that the photo was taken in November)

What is the first thing I noticed? Canadian soldiers have major facial hair! Check out the ’staches on those dudes! And it’s just just them. Here’s one of their colleagues:

Is the Canadian Army taking the whole lumberjack stereotype a little too far? =)

Proof again that things are more liberal up north: among US troops in Afghanistan only Special Forces are allowed to have beards. But what beards!

I don’t know if this is a still the case, as it seems that the beard policy wasn’t popular higher up. From one account, Special Forces operators (that’s right, they’re beyond soldiers, they’re operators!) played all sorts of charades to protect their officially-sanctioned beards from the wrath of senior officers.

At least they don’t look as funny as these Dutch Special Forces troops, though I’m sure Jack would tell you a light orange beard is the height of style:

On a more serious note, the Reuters website is very good and has lots of incredible pictures from around the world. While looking for the first image, I found this striking photo:

• Everyone signs their business emails “Met vriendlijke groet”. At least change things up occasionally!
• Supermarkets sell wine, mixers and things like port but they do not sell hard alcohol. Liquor is not super expensive (and beer is really cheap: 24 bottles of Amstel for €6.50 is a steal in my book) and there tends to be liquor stores right next to supermarkets (sometimes even sharing the same building entrance). The liquor stores aren’t state owned, so I don’t know why this rule exists (and there obviously is one).

Robert asked me to take his busted iPhone in for service, so I figure I might as well widen the call: does anyone in Amsterdam want help with an iPhone, whether buying one or getting one repaired? I’ll be in Silicon Valley from December 14 to January 8 and would be glad to help out.