Miklos
« Je donne mon avis non comme bon mais comme mien. » — Michel de Montaigne

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Version française ci-dessous.

A small parcel I had ordered online was supposed to be delivered to me yesterday by UPS.

Around noon, I found an email from UPS stating that they hadn’t been able to deposit the parcel at my address – which is incom­pre­hen­sible, since I had been at home during all that morning, and no one rang the bell nor called by phone –, and that therefore it would be available at a private pickup location – i.e., someone’s flat (I’d never heard of such private delivery points) nearby.

The email specified that this delivery point would be open that afternoon from 2pm until 5pm, I went there at 2:45pm. There were already 3 people waiting in front of the building – they had arrived at 2pm – and no one had answered their ringing.

As I told them UPS didn’t deliver the parcel to me as it should’ve, they all said it was also the case for them: it became clear that the delivery man had found it easier to drop all the parcels at this one pickup point rather than deliver them to each separate recipient.

One of these people had come once more, before lunch, and had managed to get into the building and up to the flat: not only no one answered his ringing, but there was a large pile of UPS packages on the landing (see photo). Obviously, there had been no one around when the UPS delivery person came to deposit them, so he left them outside, totally unprotected. Anyone could’ve come and freely helped himself. It turns out that sometime in the afternoon – around 4:30pm (when we weren’t there) – the daughter of the delivery woman came for a short while and put all these parcels inside their flat.

I tried calling the woman in charge of this delivery point, as her name had been in the email and her land number in the phone directory: to no avail, no one replied.

After a while, a young woman entered the building. We asked her if she knew of the delivery point. Oh, did she know it! First off, UPS doesn’t bother delivering her parcels which she ordered, but deposits them at this delivery point, in the same building! Moreover, the woman running this delivery point is often absent at the hours this delivery point is supposed to operate, and many angry people stand in front of the building or in its corridors. But luckily, she managed to get us the phone number of one of the sons of the said woman.

We called him. He said that his mother was away on vacation (!), and as to he – he was working and couldn’t be at the announced opening hours. He added that he would be back home at 5:15pm.

So we left. I returned at 5pm, two of the three other people a few minutes later. The son never showed up, and refused to reply to phone calls. We ended up sending him WhatsApp messages, to which he replied that it was not his business but his mother’s, and that he didn’t give a damn about it.

We politely asked if he could provide us with his mother’s number, which he finally did, but she never replied to phone calls. I sent her a text message, saying we urgently needed the parcels – no reply.

So I left at around 6:30pm.

At 8:30pm, I got a message from one of the people who had been waiting with me: he forwarded me a message he had gotten from that woman, saying another one of her sons would be there tomorrow at 11am.

So I went there today at 11am, and lo and behold, someone answered my ringing. I reached the said flat, a young man looked at the UPS code of my notice, went back in the flat almost closing the door and leaving me on the landing, to search for the parcel. I heard him and a young woman – his sister – discussing as to where it could be. It took them well over 10 minutes to find it. They handed it to me without checking my ID, asking for my signature, nor scanning the barcode of the parcel.

All in all, I lost more than three hours in waiting for the delivery service, and recuperated my parcel 24 hours after its scheduled delivery.

Un petit colis que j’avais commandé en ligne devait m’être livré hier par UPS.

Vers midi, j’ai trouvé un mail d’UPS indiquant qu’ils n’avaient pas pu déposer le colis à mon adresse – ce qui est incompréhensible, puisque j’étais chez moi toute la matinée, et que personne n’avait sonné ni appelé par téléphone –, et que par conséquent il serait disponible dans un point de retrait géré par un particulier (je n’avais jamais entendu parler de tels points de livraison privés) à proximité, me fournissant le prénom de la gestionnaire.

Le courriel précisait que ce point de livraison serait ouvert cet après-midi-là de 14h à 17h. Je m’y suis rendu à 14h45. Trois personnes attendaient déjà devant le bâtiment – ​​elles étaient arrivées à 14h – et personne n’avait répondu à leurs sonneries.

Comme je leur ai dit qu’UPS ne m’avait pas livré le colis chez moi comme il aurait dû le faire, ils ont tous dit que c’était également le cas pour eux : il est devenu clair que le livreur avait trouvé plus simple de déposer tous les colis à ce seul point de retrait plutôt que de les livrer à chaque destinataire séparément.

L’un d’eux était revenu avant le déjeuner et avait réussi à pénétrer dans l’immeuble et à monter jusqu’à l’appar­tement : non seulement personne n’avait répondu à sa sonnerie, mais il y avait une pile de colis UPS sur le palier (voir photo). De toute évidence, il n’y avait personne dans l’appar­tement lorsque le livreur UPS était venu les déposer, il les avait donc laissés dehors, dans les parties communes de l’immeuble, sans aucune surveillance. N’importe qui aurait pu venir se servir librement. Il s’avère que dans l’après-midi – vers 16 h 30 (alors que nous n’étions pas là) – la fille de la gestionnaire était passée brièvement rentrer tous ces colis dans leur appartement.

J’ai essayé d’appeler la gestionnaire de ce point de livraison, car son nom était dans le mail et son numéro de téléphone dans l’annuaire téléphonique : en vain, personne n’a répondu.

Au bout d’un moment, une jeune femme est entrée dans l’immeuble, d’évidence une résidente. Nous lui avons demandé si elle connaissait ce point de livraison. Oh que oui ! UPS ne se donne pas la peine de lui livrer les colis qu’elle a commandés, mais les dépose à ce point de livraison, dans le même immeuble ! De plus, la gestionnaire de ce point de livraison est souvent absente aux heures d’ouverture, et de nombreuses personnes en colère se pressent devant l’immeuble ou dans les couloirs. Heureusement, elle a réussi à nous obtenir le numéro de téléphone d’un des fils de ladite gestionnaire.

Nous l’avons appelé. Il nous a dit que sa mère était en vacances (!) et que lui, il travaillait et ne pouvait pas être présent aux horaires d’ouverture annoncés. Il a ajouté qu’il serait de retour à 17h15.

Nous sommes donc partis. Je suis revenu à 17 h, et deux des trois autres personnes quelques minutes plus tard. Le fils n’est jamais venu et a refusé de répondre aux appels. Nous avons fini par lui envoyer des messages WhatsApp, auxquels il a répondu que ce n’était pas son affaire mais celle de sa mère, qu’il n’avait ni le scanner UPS ni l’appli et ne savait même pas si les colis étaient chez eux, et d’ailleurs qu’il s’en foutait complètement.

Nous lui avons poliment demandé s’il pouvait nous donner le numéro de sa mère, ce qu’il a finalement fait, mais elle n’a jamais répondu à nos appels. Je lui ai envoyé un SMS pour lui dire que nous avions un besoin urgent des colis, SMS resté sans réponse.

Je suis donc reparti vers 18h30.

À 20h30, j’ai reçu un message d’une des personnes qui avait attendu avec moi, me transmettant un message reçu de cette femme absente, disant qu’un autre de ses fils serait là demain à 11h00 (alors qu’ils sont supposés ouvrir à 9h00).

Le lendemain (aujourd’hui), je m’y suis donc rendu à 11 heures du matin et, ô surprise, quelqu’un a répondu à ma sonnerie. Arrivé à l’appartement, un jeune homme a entr’ouvert la porte, regardé le code UPS de mon avis, puis rentré à la recherche de mon colis en fermant presque totalement la porte et me laissant sur le palier. Je l’ai entendu discuter avec une jeune femme – sa sœur – pour savoir où il pouvait bien se trouver. Il leur a fallu plus de dix minutes pour le localiser et me le remettre, sans vérifier mon identité ni demander une signature.

Au total, j’ai perdu plus de trois heures  à attendre en vain pour finalement récupérer mon colis avec plus de 24 heures de retard.

Source: ChatGPT, by detailed request and some subsequent enrichments.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a juicy turn of events that historians are already calling “a sticky first,” the President of the United States has been officially impeached—not by the usual Congressional process, but by being physically submerged into a colossal heap of ripe peaches that flooded the Oval Room early Tuesday morning.

At precisely 9:00 AM, aides reported hearing a series of sloshing sounds and muffled presidential expletives before the Resolute Desk was swallowed by a rolling tsunami of stone fruit. Eyewitnesses claim the peaches poured in from the presidential seal on the carpet, which had evidently been converted into a high-volume fruit chute.

White House insiders confirm the operation, dubbed “Operation Stone Fruit”, was the brainchild of a bipartisan coalition fed up with gridlock, scandal fatigue, and an unusually intense national surplus of Georgia peaches. “We decided to interpret ‘impeachment’ literally,” said Rep. Flora Pitman (D-GA), casually eating one of the fruits as she briefed the press. “If the Constitution won’t move fast enough, maybe fiber will.”

The President, reportedly trapped waist-deep in nectar and surrounded by aides wielding juice-resistant clipboards, issued a frantic TruthSocial post:

“This is a WITCH HUNT. I love peaches, maybe more than anyone, but this is fruit tyranny. I was winning so much they had to drown me in produce. Sad!”

Legal scholars are at odds over the legitimacy of the method. Some argue it’s a clear violation of Article II, while others insist the Founders “probably would have loved the symbolism.” Chief Justice John Roberts, upon being asked for comment, simply sighed, wiped a smear of peach flesh off his robe, and walked away whispering, “We were warned about this in Federalist No. 65.”

Public reaction has been sharply divided. Supporters of the President gathered outside the White House holding signs that read “UNPEACH THE PEACHING” and “STOP THE STONE FRUIT COUP”. Meanwhile, critics praised the action as “refreshing,” “vitamin-rich,” and “finally making Congress look productive.”

As for the Oval Room, it has been declared a “syrup zone” and is expected to ferment into a minor wine cellar by next week.

Stay tuned as America watches what’s next: a Senate trial, or possibly a cobbler.

— ChatGPT

Avec ChatGPT. Cliquer pour agrandir.

«Never in the past few decades at least has a president engaged in such an angry, scathing attack on a visiting foreign leader in the Oval Office. Their argument culminated with a threat that if Mr. Zelensky did not accept whatever peace deal Mr. Trump brokered with Russia, the United States would abandon Ukraine. The fracas led Mr. Trump to kick Mr. Zelensky out of the White House. The schism upended plans to sign a deal giving the United States rights to Ukrainian rare minerals, a concession Mr. Trump had demanded as payback for help with the war.

Mr. Trump often exhibits anger in public in ways other presidents have rarely done, particularly at rallies or in interviews. Just the other day, he snapped at the governor of Maine about transgender athletes. But he has never appeared so enraged and combative with a foreign visitor, especially a putative ally in the middle of a war for his country’s survival.

The closest analogy might be a few meetings he had with congressional Democrats during his first term when he quarreled with Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker at the time, and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority leader. »At one of them, in fact, Ms. Pelosi famously stood, pointed a finger at him and snapped, “All roads with you lead to Putin.”

Peter Baker: “In Showdown With Zelensky, Trump Takes Offense on Putin’s Behalf”, The New York Times, Feb. 28, 2025.

Image: ChatGPT, with corrections. Text: Le Monde : [en], [fr].

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Le Monde vient de rapporter qu’Apple est visé en France par un signalement et une plainte pour le traitement non anonymisé de données privées d’utilisateurs provenant notamment de voix enregistrées via Siri, alors qu’une part importante de ces enregistrements ont été déclenchés par erreur ou à l’insu des utilisateurs – permettant d’identifier les utilisateurs.

Je ne serais pas étonné que ce soit, d’une façon ou d’une autre, aussi le cas avec Google sur ses smartphones Android et avec Gmail. Pour (ce qui me semble être une) preuve : Facebook me propose régulièrement comme « ami » un employé, avec lequel les seuls contacts « numériques » que j’ai eus sont via mail (le sien est une adresse Gmail) et SMS (via mon smartphone Android).

À se demander aussi comment les contacts et les conversations de WhatsApp sont utilisées par Meta pour « enrichir » Facebook et/ou d’autres usages.

The French daily Le Monde has just reported that Apple is the target of a report and a complaint in France for the non-anonymized processing of user data coming in particular from recorded voices (via Siri), a significant part of which were triggered by mistake or without the knowledge of the users – allowing their identification and intrusion in their privacy

I would not be surprised if this were, in one way or another, also the case with Google on its Android smartphones and with Gmail. As (what seems to me to be) a proof: Facebook regularly suggests to me as a “friend” an employee, with whom the only “digital” contacts I have had are via email (his is a Gmail address) and SMS (via my Android smartphone).

It also raises the question how the contacts and conversations on WhatsApp are used by Meta in order to “enrich” Facebook and/or for other ends.