All right, flemco, you may gloat now.

A decade-long medical study strongly suggests prayer by strangers has no positive effect on surgical patients.

Appalling quote from the article:

"The problem with studying religion scientifically is that you do violence to the phenomenon by reducing it to basic elements that can be quantified, and that makes for bad science and bad religion," said Dr. Richard Sloan, a professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia and author of a forthcoming book, "Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine."

Excuse me, what? Bad religion I could understand, but that which cannot be quantified or reproduced is not science.

Also, key point:

Dean Marek, a chaplain at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and a co-author of the report, said the study said nothing about the power of personal prayer or about prayers for family members and friends.

So this study eliminates any effect from social or familial bonding- that is, it ignores as a variable any good or ill that comes from the patient knowing they have friends who know them and wish them well, religious or not. This is about as close as can be found to a perfect blind study with control of the power of prayer. (Well, as close as can be found unless 1,000 patients with no friends or family whatever turn up and sign release forms for a study.)

Prayer may not help, but signs that it might actually hurt (one researcher called it "performance anxiety" on the part of the patient) may be simple statistical drift. So if someone wants to pray for you, let them- it makes the PRAYING person feel good, even if it doesn't do jack shit for you.

And if you want to pray for a stranger, by all means do so- just don't tell them you're doing it.

Another letter I need to figure out where to send.

(I've already left a complaint with technical support, but I have no expectation of anything coming of it...)

TomTom, Inc.


To Whom It May Concern;

In September 2011 I first heard of an upcoming product from your company- the TomTom GO LIVE Top Gear Edition limited-release satellite navigation unit. This would be a TomTom GO LIVE 1535 unit with content inspired by the British television show, of which I am a fan- including voice recordings by Jeremy Clarkson, the show's lead presenter.

I had been considering the purchase of a GPS unit for my trips for some time prior, and the fact that this was a tie-in to one of my favorite sources of entertainment pushed me over the brink into buying. I almost choked at the $269 price tag, but decided that the combination of map guidance, live traffic warnings, and the massively arrogant voice of Clarkson would justify the price tag. I anxiously waited for the unit to be available, and around October 11 or so, when the "Order Now" link went live on the TomTom website, I not only ordered but plumped for express delivery, expecting that the unit would be delivered in time for a particular trip a little more than a week thence. The whole cost was about $315 after taxes.

And I waited. And I waited. And I waited.

My money was taken post-haste, of course, but when it came to getting some sort of response as to when I could expect shipment, nothing happened. Emails, phone calls, and posts on the TomTom message boards produced no response whatever- not even "we're working on it" or "they're not actually available in the US until X date." Finally, long after the trip I'd hoped to show off the device on had come and gone- and long, LONG after "express shipment" had become a sad, pathetic joke- the device shipped- a MONTH after I'd clicked the button to place my order.

I soon found that my expensive TomTom device was not all it could be.

So far as my rural area was concerned, TomTom had no clue what any of the street numbers were. On the road, points of interest were often placed on the wrong side of the road, in locations where I couldn't access them from the street, or (in one noteworthy case) over a mile away from where they actually were. A multitude of roads and streets that haven't existed for fifty years are retained on the maps. The gas prices listed in the services were never good for anything more than a rough estimate of averages in an area, since the services retained price data months out of date- including data for gas stations that closed YEARS before. All of this, of course, came on top of the two most common sins of GPS systems- incredibly optimistic ETA calculations and the occasional inclusion of absurd detours down tiny side streets in the name of (supposedly) faster routes.

Despite these flaws, the device was useful enough, and Jeremy Clarkson's voice amusing enough, that I used and enjoyed the system for six months... until, on the way home from a trip on Memorial Day 2012, the system began to seriously malfunction.

I should point out that I had, on at least a monthly basis, plugged the device into my computer to download map and system updates. For three months- March, April and May- the device had consistently reported itself up-to-date. I have since learned that TomTom encountered a widespread glitch which caused its devices to lose GPS satellite signal. However, I had not received this news, and thus found out about it only after my device "bricked"- that is, became completely unusable. When I attempted to turn it on after the Memorial Day trip, it would cycle on and off the start-up screen; nothing I did could restore it to function.

After spending over an hour on the phone with a technical support person (mostly re-doing things I'd already looked up on the website and attempted to no effect), I was instructed to send my device to a warehouse in Fort Worth for warranty service. Since the post office did not deliver to this warehouse, I was forced to use UPS- another $25 spent. Within a handful of days the device was turned around- or, rather, my old device was junked and a replacement sent.

The replacement was NOT a TomTom GO LIVE Top Gear edition, but a regular GO LIVE 1535. The Top Gear content had not been added. Clarkson's voice, which I had enjoyed, was not only not loaded, but not available by any means fair or foul. In short, I had NOT been given equivalent value for the device under warranty.

Things got worse. When I tried to get updated maps and programming, it took another hour on the phone with technical support to get the website to accept that the new device belonged with my current MyTomTom account. Having done this, on my next road trip I discovered that TomTom Services had not been activated on the device... and despite having five months to go on the original device's services, the new device's services would require a new $60 fee to activate.

So- having spent not less than $340 thus far on this device, I now have a device which functions on a par only with TomTom's $100 entry-level device- which, in turn, could be supplanted by a non-upgradable, $50 no-name-brand GPS unit.

From beginning to end, I feel taken to the cleaners. I feel like TomTom has abused me as a customer and soaked me for every penny they could grab, providing me substandard or nonexistent customer service in return. I am not a dissatisfied customer: I am an angry, vengeful, disgusted, outraged, infuriated and exasperated customer.

What do I want from you? Well, I would be quite happy if TomTom declared bankruptcy tomorrow, had their assets liquidated, and all their remaining stock of every TomTom device ever bulldozed into a landfill next to the E.T. the Extraterrestrial Atari games, but I don't expect that to happen. I feel I deserve a refund for at least the original purchase price of the device, since I'm still within the warranty of the original unit and do not have, and never expect to have again, what I actually PAID for. Unfortunately, I don't expect that to happen either.

Therefore I'm settling for the satisfaction of telling you this: I have spent my very last dime on TomTom. I will not spend a penny on shipping charges to return my current device- if you want it back, pay my postage. I will not spend a penny on renewing TomTom Services, on downloading a new navigator voice, or any upgrade of any sort for the device I'm currently stuck with. When I replace my current device, the replacement will be anything OTHER than a TomTom. You have hung me, one way or another, for far too much money, and what you have from me is all you will ever have from me.

Furthermore, I intend to make a point of telling anyone and everyone, whenever the subject of satellite navigation comes up, that TomTom's customer support is the worst imaginable, and that your devices are at best only equal with your average generic device. I will detail my bad experiences with your unreliable electronics, money-grasping prices, and lackadaisical service. I will do everything in my power to convince my friends, my colleagues, and my casual acquaintances to take their business elsewhere.

TomTom, you had your chance and you blew it. I don't want another device from you; I don't want promises or excuses or any words from you; the only thing I will accept from you, if you send it, is a check. Otherwise you are dead to me- and good riddance.

Kristan Overstreet
unhappy owner, device #FQ1431H02803 (this is the replacement device; my original was apparently TOP GEAR edition serial number ending in 00064)