LESSONS LEARNED: Sending stuff by priority mail

Friday, December 23, 2016
  • Since at crunch times, like Christmas, the mailers “disappear” no matter how hard the Postal Workers try to keep them stocked. So keep a few of those mailers in your car for when they are needed.
  • You can use the PO kiosk with a credit card. Sometimes these are available when the windows are closed.
  • After seeing some PO disasters, I have been putting my contents inside a zip lock bag with the addressing information where I hope it’s supposed to wind up.
     
  • The PO uses automatic scanning  the zip code. If you are going to put phone numbers in the address, which I’ve been told is a good idea, then you need to put it under the name, but before the address. 

    For example:

        John Q. Public
        (212) 555-1212
        123 Anystreet Place
        Anywhere XX 01010-1234

  • When you get the receipt, confirm the tracking number asap. Then, alert the recipient with the link. Ask for them to confirm they received it. But you’ll still have to check. (I had to tell one person to look outside their front door!)
  • Check the “to” and “from”. (I’ve more that once reversed that. DUH!) Might also help to verify the addresses, I’ve sent stuff to the old address by accident and by my own stupidity.
     
  • It’s also useful to print the from/to info then put it on the Priority Address label covering it with clear tape. Then all you have to do is put the self-adhesive Priority Address label on the envelope or box. Works nicely.

Feel free to add your own observations.

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Aleppo Evacuation Nears End, Say Red Cross, State TV

Thursday, December 22, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/aleppo-evacuation-nears-end-red-cross-says-1482402010

Not a minute too soon. Dona Nobis Pacem


AT&T’s DirecTV Now Gets Off to a Bumpy Start

Thursday, December 22, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/at-ts-directv-now-gets-off-to-a-bumpy-start-1482411601

Buyer beware!


Daniel Henninger: Michelle’s Trump Despair

Thursday, December 22, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/michelles-trump-despair-1482363263

They say that being elected President ages. Let’s hope that DJT keeps his word. I’m hoping for the best.


VETERANS: Why can’t a vet start his own waiting list site?

Thursday, December 22, 2016

http://www.mygovcost.org/2016/12/15/the-vas-secret-hospital-rankings/

The VA’s Secret Hospital Rankings
Thursday December 15th, 2016   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 7:28am PST  

*** begin quote ***

The most disturbing part of the story, however, was a revelation about the VA hospitals most closely associated with its secret waitlist scandal. (Bear in mind that veterans seeking medical treatment at those facilities were placed on secret lists that hid how long they were waiting to receive treatment, while VA administrators and supervisors used the VA’s official waiting lists to claim bonuses for meeting the VA’s goals for providing speedy service.) 

*** and ***

After more than two years of President Obama’s feckless and ineffective management of the veterans health care rationing scandal and his failure to see through needed reforms, the VA is in desperate need of real reform and a management turnaround, starting with major changes in the VA’s leadership throughout its bureaucracy.

*** end quote ***

It would seem easy for a vet to start a blog and their comrades can report their actual waiting times?

That would create a counter weight to falsified stats!

 

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The Best New Ways to Scan Your Old Photos

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-best-new-ways-to-scan-your-old-photos-1482256768

I think I’d like to something. The app seems like a good choice.


ISP: Leave Yahoo email ASAP

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/leave-yahoo-quit-move-gmail/

It’s Time to Leave Yahoo: How to Quit and Move to Gmail Right Now
Ben Stegner  December 20, 2016

*** begin quote ***

For the second time in recent months, Yahoo has been hit with a security breach. This time, Yahoo announced that hackers stole details from a billion accounts in August 2013.

*** end quote ***

I’m not a fan of giving control of your email to anyone even GMAIL.

That being said you should leave Yahoo. It’s going the way of Blackberry.

May I suggest that you have your own domain? The common wisdom, or is that common whizdumb, is to own your own name as a domain name. I own “reinke.cc”. (I like saying “sea sea me at reinke.cc”! me@reinke.cc will actually work!) It gives one quite a bit of control. And, it’s very cheap.

I know three solutions at 15$/year using wordpressdotcom with gmail, 25$/year email only with 1and1, and 60$/year for domain+email+webspace also at 1and1. My point is not that you should use 1and1. http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=9113251 I could care less which one you use.

It’s that getting on to your own domain with email is cheap and easy. And, it’s not hotmail, yahoo, or gmail. It IS your own “personal brand”.

I use my own domain to receive mail and GMAIL to “handle it”.

Works very nicely.

YMMV. FWIW.

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RANT: Time for individual responsibility

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

https://gearjunkie.com/rescue-fine-steamboat-springs-backcountry-skiers

December 19, 2016, 12:50 pm By: Adam Ruggiero
Rescue Fine: Steamboat Springs Warns Backcountry Skiers

New signs around the Steamboat Ski Area warn adventurous skiers of newly-implemented rescue fine.

*** begin quote ***

Ski patrol is putting up the signs, proclaiming the $500-per-person rescue fine, on out-of-bounds access gates at edges of the Steamboat Springs, Colo., ski area. The resort’s new trail maps also carry the warning.

The purpose is to deter inexperienced skiers from getting in over their heads (sometimes literally). It is also a response to an uptick in trespassers not heeding the current boundary signs.

According to a report in Steamboat Today, ski patrol director John Kohnke estimates 500 people a day slip through the access gates. This is up from about 20 when he began 40 years ago.

Neither Routt County Search and Rescue, which sometimes aids in ski area rescues, nor the Forest Service objected to the fines.

Rescue Fines In Steamboat Springs

By Colorado state law, Search and Rescue cannot charge for operations because it may deter skiers from calling for help when they need it. However, this fine appears to be directed specifically at skiers who leave through the resort gates.

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but if you have to have the “Search and Rescue” to haul your sorry butt out, then you should pay for it. 

At the very least, they could sell “insurance”. Buy it and need us, OK. Don’t and you do, you pay.

If you spread the cost across lots of skiers, it’s probably reasonable.

No one has a “right” to be rescued.

Wonder how many of these were “repeats” or “obvious beyond their skills”.

Argh!

Time for individual responsibility.

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Five Ways to Restore the Separation of Powers

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/five-ways-to-restore-the-separation-of-powers-1482192048

Seem like some good steps.


I Used to Be So Cool. What Happened?

Monday, December 19, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-end-of-cool-1480302480

Laff. I dread the day I get “old”


Fragile Cease-Fire Resumes in Aleppo

Monday, December 19, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/fragile-cease-fire-resumes-in-aleppo-1482141192

Good let’s hope it holds!


GUNS: “Miss Sloane” is a loser; good

Monday, December 19, 2016

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20161216/miss-sloane-america-votes-no-once-again

APPEARS IN NEWS
Miss Sloane: America Votes “NO” Once Again
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2016

*** begin quote ***

“You can’t win them all,” as the old saying goes, but when it comes to the Second Amendment, gun control advocates can’t even come close. Such is clearly the case with Miss Sloane, the latest of Hollywood’s repeated attempts to push a gun control narrative on the American people. Of course, they didn’t see this coming, any more than they saw a Donald Trump victory coming. But that’s because they refuse to acknowledge the basic simple truth about the American people when it comes to our firearms freedom. Well, we’ll say it again, the American people aren’t buying your anti-gun narrative.

Miss Sloane features Jessica Chastain as a Washington lobbyist who takes on “the establishment” to push for passage of gun control in the U.S. Congress. As reported by Stephen Gutowski at freebeacon.com, the “political thriller” opened last weekend to much buzz and fanfare among gun control groups, but tanked completely at the box office, making one industry list of the worst openings of the past 35 years for a movie with a national release.

Incredibly, Gutowski reports that a representative of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence actually said, “… I can tell you that its production alone, with our input, is the success.” In other words, it is of little consequence that nobody wants to see a movie that pushes for gun control, its mere existence is what matters.

*** end quote ***

Anyone need more evidence that Hollywood is both “on a different planet” and out of touch with its Customers.

The nation has decided that the NRA is correct — “when seconds count, the police are minutes away”, “we’re all the first responders”, and “Victim disarmament is the view that it is somehow better to see a woman raped in an alley and strangled with her own pantyhose, than see her with a gun in her hand.” — T.D. Melrose

Gun control is a racist legacy of the KKK in the Deep South. Can’t terrorize minorities when they can shoot back.

Robert A. Heinlein said it best. “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”

Varmints of both the two legged and four legged varieties need to be put down quickly and efficiently. Nothing like a nice Colt 45 1911 for that purpose. Only in the movies, do bad guys survive that. Although, in a good hand, any caliber will do. Heck, sometime just “racking” a shotgun will do the trick.

Like I recently told a young lady  I know: “No one wants to be down range of a crazy woman with a gun.”

Dona Nobis Pacem

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Connecticut’s Spendthrift Capital Eyes the Wealthy Suburbs

Sunday, December 18, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/connecticuts-spendthrift-capital-eyes-the-wealthy-suburbs-1481930850

Bankruptcy is good. “Haircuts” for everyone!


Connecticut’s Spendthrift Capital Eyes the Wealthy Suburbs

Sunday, December 18, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/connecticuts-spendthrift-capital-eyes-the-wealthy-suburbs-1481930850

Bankruptcy is good. “Haircuts” for everyone!


LIBERTARIAN: “Who will build the roads?” — an OBVIOUS answer!

Sunday, December 18, 2016

http://tomwoods.com/ep-802-way-beyond-the-roads-libertarian-solutions-for-other-parts-of-the-built-environment/

Ep. 802 Way Beyond the Roads: Libertarian Solutions for Other Parts of the Built Environment
13th December 2016 Tom Woods

The hosts of the Anarchitecture podcast join me to discuss the differences between libertarian and conventional statist solutions to everything from roads to city planning and garbage collection.

Guests’ Podcast: Anarchitecture Podcast

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I took away from it an EXCELLENT

“Who will build the roads?”

“Who should build the roads?”

“Next time that person is sitting in traffic, instead of him thinking ‘why don’t they build more public transport, maybe they will think ‘why hasn’t supply met demand on this strip of expensive capital infrastructure that I can use for free?’— DUH as Tom observed “the question answers itself”!

Argh!

Great answer.

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SECURITY: Don’t reuse the same password at ANY site

Saturday, December 17, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/technology/yahoo-hack.html

TECHNOLOGY
Yahoo Says 1 Billion User Accounts Were Hacked
By VINDU GOEL and NICOLE PERLROTHD
EC. 14, 2016

*** begin quote ***

SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo, already reeling from its September disclosure that 500 million user accounts had been hacked in 2014, disclosed Wednesday that a different attack in 2013 compromised more than 1 billion accounts.

*** end quote ***

There are too many good password utilities that make this unnecessary. 

I have over three hundred sites where I have accounts and no site has the same password.

AND, my passwords are as long as the site allows and with whatever mix of character types they allow.

My financial sites (i.e., the banks and brokerage) have their passwords written down off line.

(Yeah, that a small PIA but I sleep better.)

Ask me if you need information security advice.

Otherwise, you’re just a target waiting for the random hacker or script kiddie.

Argh!

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FUN: Road rage

Friday, December 16, 2016

AN OLD ONE, BUT STILL FUNNY imho.

Busted!

A woman pulled up to a red light behind another car. The driver of the car in front of her was talking on his cell phone, and shuffling through some papers on the seat beside him.

The light turned green, but the man didn’t notice. The woman began pounding on her steering wheel and yelling at the man to move. The man still didn’t move.

The woman went ballistic inside her car, ranting and raving at the man, pounding on her steering wheel and dashboard.

The light turned yellow. The woman blew the car’s horn repeatedly, as she yelled and screamed curses at the man.

The man finally noticed the commotion. He looked up, saw the yellow light, and accelerated through the intersection just as the light turned red.

The woman was beside herself, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection. As she was still in mid-rant she heard a tap on her window and looked into the face of a very serious looking policeman.

The policeman told her to shut off her engine and step out of the car. The red-faced woman obeyed, speechless at what was happening.

The policeman then arrested the woman and took her to the police station where she was booked and placed in a cell.

After a couple of hours the woman was escorted back to the booking desk where the original officer was waiting with her personal effects.

The policeman handed her the bag containing her things, and said, “I’m really sorry for this mistake. But you see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn and screaming and cursing. Then I noticed the *Choose Life* license plate holder, the *Follow Me to Sunday School* bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally I assumed that you had stolen the car. Have a blessed day!”

 

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Aleppo Evacuations Suspended

Friday, December 16, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/aleppo-evacuations-suspended-syrian-state-tv-reports-1481882660

Surely, the world can save these people. It’s not a natural disaster like an earthquake or flood.


NOTRECOMMENDED: QuikCheck sub

Friday, December 16, 2016

Last night, for dinner, because I’d stopped at Quik Chek #quickchek http://quickchek.com/StoreHome/89 for some Half & Half, I bought a ham sandwich with lettuce and russian dressing. It was almost inedible. In comparison to the sandwich I usually get at Wawa (#wawa Wawa #912), there was no comparison. Wawa allows you to get just the bread toasted. Quick Chek toasts something but I couldn’t figure out what; it was cold. The meat on the Quik Chek sandwich was just plopped on it as a mass; Wawa places individual slices. In fairness, Quik Chek does offer russian dressing; I don’t think Wawa does. I know Quik Chek charged me more than Wawa does, but I don’t have the receipts from each. Sigh! So FWIW, I won’t be buying subs from Quik Chek again. YMMV!

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How Parents Can Help Children Repay Student Loans

Thursday, December 15, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-parents-can-help-their-children-pay-off-student-loans-1481512442

Don’t let them go to college in the first place. I’ve never seen a “poor” plumber.


Daniel Henninger: Steal This Election

Thursday, December 15, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/steal-this-election-1481759796

Not that the R’s are the paragons of virtue but the Left Liberal Socialists are stupid about and dangerous to the American experiment with self-government. It’s not a democracy (I.e., mob rule). Argh!


Aleppo Evacuation of Rebels, Civilians Sputters

Thursday, December 15, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/evacuation-of-rebels-civilians-from-aleppo-nears-1481798979

More bad news for these poor people.


China Halts Trading in Key Bond Futures

Thursday, December 15, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-halts-trading-in-key-bond-as-panicky-investors-sell-securities-1481803121

Any gooferment intervention in any market just makes the participants panic more. Have to let the losers take their lumps.


VETERANS: NYPD officer Susan Porcello’s big heart

Thursday, December 15, 2016

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/days-marine-true-finest-hours-article-1.356353

Last days for Marine were true Finest hours 

  • NYPD officer Susan Porcello’s big heart gave elderly Marine Gaspar Musso friends and care in his final days.

Denis Hamill Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 6:49 PM

*** begin quote ***

Sometimes when old Marines die they do fade away into unmarked graves in Potter’s Field.

Such might have been the case for Gaspar Musso, USMC 925050, who fought in the Battle of Tinian in the Marianas Islands in 1944 and who died Nov. 15 at age 84 in a Brooklyn nursing home.

Enter Police Officer Susan Porcello, a PBA delegate at the 68th Precinct in Bay Ridge and one of those big-hearted New Yorkers who still make this the best city on Earth.

“No way was I going to let this brave old Marine who fought for his country in WWII get buried in Potter’s Field,” she says.

*** end quote ***

When you read this story, see if the same things come to mind?

  • For all the “bad cop” stories, this one will convince you that they are not ALL bad.
  • How many of “our” vets are just “lost” here at home?
  • What can “we” do to ensure that they are all treated this humanely?
  • There was no link to defer the funeral expenses. Maybe no help was needed.
  • Could that hospital administrator be any more callous?
  • Kudos to the officers of the 68 Precinct for their support.

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Aleppo Fighting Resumes Hours After Cease-Fire Deal

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/evacuation-of-aleppo-delayed-1481707378

Sounds like war crimes on both sides?


U.S. Regulators Sanction Wells Fargo, Declaring ‘Living Will’ Deficiencies

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-regulators-sanction-wells-fargo-declaring-living-will-deficiencies-1481664744

Absurd. Need to limit the size of all “too big to fail” entities. Maybe higher taxes on bigger balance sheets?