Read this shocker in a “Mike Rogers column this morning: We wrapped the packages and took them to the post office to send to the USA this morning. Alas, while at the post office, we were told that the US Department of Homeland Security has stated that there can be no more mailing of packages that weigh over 1 pound unless we can provide the Social Security number of the recipient. Mike was trying to mail gifts from Tokyo to Arizona. Unable to get a simple gift into the U.S., he compared our country to North Korea or Japan in…
9 CommentsMonth: November 2010
Talk about government by the people! (Well, if you don’t count the quotas. And a few other things.) But then, this is Iceland. Which has historically had some interestingly anarchic ideas about law and social organization. (Tip o’ hat to Pat.) Boy, I wish U.S. politicians had the gumption to tell it as straight as this. But every time one even gets close, the media jumps all over him about “civility” and the dumb sap apologizes. Somehow, I don’t think this guy is in any mood to say, “Sorry.” (Short video.) One chart that says so much about the way…
8 CommentsIt’s weird living in a neighborhood for the first time in so many years. In the desert, the nearest neighbor was at least 1/2 mile away. But you knew everybody in a five-mile radius. When I lived in Cabin Sweet Cabin, there were no neighbors in sight, yet I knew everybody who lived on my road. Here? Although I’ve spotted my next-door neighbor twice in three months, I wouldn’t know her if I ran into her off the block (and I have reasons not to want to know her). I’ve exchanged hellos and compared notes with a couple of dog…
22 CommentsShopping? Shopping? Did somebody say it’s time to go shopping? Well, I’m all for frugality, and these days most of my splurges occur at thrift stores or garage sales. But I do love me some online shopping via eBay or Amazon.com. I get the impression from the comments section that a lot of you are in the same mode. Going to shop at Amazon.com this season? If you’ll use one of these links: Living Free or ClaireWolfe … you’ll be doing me a favor while not costing yourself one dime extra. Either link is good. —– Did anybody else watch…
19 CommentsThe story of Thanksgiving. (And those reportedly communistic Pilgrims.) Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays I celebrate. So many holidays just feel like manipulation (You vill honor veterans! You must love your father. You’re going to consider this the start of the new year, even if the day doesn’t have the slightest astronomical significance.) You could say that about Thanksgiving, too. (You should be grateful, damnit, even if life is in the proverbial handbasket!) But as a born-and-made pessimist, I welcome the reminder to uplift my thoughts. I fix the big dinner every year and share it with my…
21 CommentsOkay, maybe it’s not scary enough to make a great horror film. But is there anybody else around here who trembles and quakes as I do at the prospect of trying to solve a problem when the only contact a company will allow you is the Dreaded 800 Number? I’m not against 800 numbers in general. Obviously, they can be handy for signing up for a service, checking a balance, or asking a minor question. I’d rather do all that online, if I have to do it at all. But the 800 number is a quick and easy alternative for…
10 CommentsThirty-nine percent of the polled U.S. public appear to be terribly misinformed. Don’t know whether this is true. But would anybody really be surprised if it were? The radiation may not be the only health hazard. Heh. So much for trust, but verify. Maybe they shoulda seen the signs. Want a free gun? Pretty cool one, too. All the systemic corruption of the U.S. financial system … all the horrendous harm bankers and regulators and the fed conspired to do to us ordinary working folks and our country. And who does the fedgov decide to go after??? OMG. Insider trading.…
7 CommentsSnowed yesterday. And again today. Between snows, it veered around between rain, freezing rain, sleet and whatnot. You folks in Minnesota, Colorado, or even Oklahoma might wonder why that’s news in late November. But this is in the coastal lowlands of the dreary-but-ever-moderate NorthWET. Snow here usually comes in December or later, if at all. And though it may fall heavily at 8:00 a.m., it’s melted by noon. This snow looks set to stay. The forecasters all said we’re headed into a wet, cold winter thanks to a La Nina pattern. Global warming, where are you when we need you?…
13 CommentsDoes anybody have any idea what to do with several hundred pounds of stove pellets that have lost their integrity? The people who sold me my house left about two dozen 40-pound bags of pellets — some stored marginally but still usable, some stored very badly. Like on muddy ground. In a leaky shed. With mice nibbling at the corners of the bags. While this stuff is still vaguely pellety and mostly not damp to the touch, it’s gunky enough to clog the auger. Don’t ask me how I know that, about clogging the auger. Don’t even mention that subject…
22 CommentsJust going through the motions. Even more moronic than we thought. (Tip o’ hat to Joel and Jim B.) But they sure do seem to enjoy their jobs. Man lets house go into foreclosure over $25 fee. Cutting off face to spite nose? Or method to his madness? Me, I think it’s clear he’s not doing it over the fee, but for the principle of the thing: because the bank did him wrong and now won’t even acknowledge him as a human being and a customer. Companion piece: Just when you thought you understood mortgage securitization. A few months ago,…
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