This and that

The following is a short list of interesting links to read:

Britain designates the Muslim Brotherhood as an ideological organizing force for terrorists – http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/28/muslim-brotherhood-report-by-britain-contradicts-u/

John Schindler details the Bosnian terrorism connection – http://20committee.com/2015/12/22/operation-cut-bosnia-versus-the-islamic-state/

Retired General Mike Flynn discusses President Obama’s ideological fallacies – hint, it’s not about guns or Islamophobia – http://dailycaller.com/2015/12/26/obamas-former-intelligence-director-presidents-strategy-not-working/

JK posted this opinion piece from the NY Times in a comment, but it’s a must read: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/opinion/saudi-arabia-an-isis-that-has-made-it.html?_r=1

Now a short personal story on how computer inept yours truly really is.  For Christmas, I gave my four granddaughters Kindle Fire tablets.  As a loyal amazon customer, how could I pass up Kindle Fires for $49.99?  So, because I am an avid book collector (hoarder), there are hundreds of books on my kindle already, but in all fairness, many are free books from their classics listing or old history, that very few people want to read.

So, due to already having given my older two granddaughters plain kindle e-readers last year and linking those to my account, I had put a lot of books in my library for kids – to include many free classics that I deemed appropriate for their ages.  After a discussion with my daughter, we decided to link these Kindle Fires to my account and my library, but amazon has this “Family Library” you can set up, which my daughter did for me, but then she told me I would have to sort out which books I wanted to put in their libraries and that’s when the problems started.

I kept trying to remove my books from their libraries to no avail and then I decided that perhaps instead of “remove”, I should be hitting the “delete” books from the Family Library.  Of course, in my usual bumbling fashion, I deleted 616 of my books, believing that by removing them from the “Family Library” it was like removing books from my Kindle device – which archives them.

Nope, it deleted them permanently, so  I called amazon’s customer service.  The poor women talked me through deleting this “Family Library” but then we came to my books.  I asked her how to get my books back and at first she said I’d have to repurchase them and I said I’ve spent a lot of money on books for years.  Then she had to do some checking and she told me I had deleted 616 books and she asked me which ones I wanted back.  I responded, “All of them.”

This lady stayed polite and courteous, even though, as my son told me, “You know she hates you and everyone there is talking about how stupid you are, right?”  Justifiably so, but she did restore all of my books to my account and it took her quite a while, because she said there was no way to do them all at once and she’d have to do them one at a time.  She asked me if it was okay if she called me back when she was done.  And an hour later she called me back and told me all my books were restored and was very gracious and she sent a signed email message:

We’d appreciate your feedback. Please use the links below to tell us about your experience today. I’ve restored your access to “616 books,” which you previously purchased from the Kindle Store. It is now available to download from your Archived Items or Cloud tab on your device.  You can also download your content through the Manage Your Content and Devices page. I am very grateful for that kind and warm approach you gave during the call. I’m glad I was able to help you out today. I hope I was able to assist you today. Please use the links below to provide us your valuable feedback

I love Amazon.com and that lady deserves a raise!