Imported From Livejournal

Often, there is no good answer. There are only tradeoffs.

If I know you, then you’re invited to the 2006 Halo Start of Summer Blast

Every quarter, I have to pay property taxes on the land and house I now own. If I don’t pay them, the town has the right to take the property away.

So in some sense, it feels like I don’t really own my land, and that I’m kind of just leasing it from the town. I mean, I know that it’s not really that way, but that’s what it feels like.

Why are “mail fraud” and “wire fraud” different charges? Why isn’t there just “fraud”, regardless of the medium used for it? Likewise, why is “vehicular homicide” different from plain “homicide” or “manslaughter”? Does the medium used really change the severity or importance of a crime? Aren’t there already degrees of crimes (such as the difference between 1st degree murder and manslaughter)? Why would the medium used change the act that was committed?

I’ve read a few sites on the Internet that talk about how Social Security Numbers are horrible, ungodly things and that they could even be The Mark Of The Beast™. While many of their arguments seem very tenuous at best, and outright crazy at times, it is rather interesting that there isn’t a law requiring anybody to get a Social Security number. It’s just very, very difficult to work without one.

On my way to work today, my car went past the 100,000 mile mark.

I mentioned that it was possible to set up filters on incoming postal mail. I haven’t done this yet, but apparently the way to do this is via USPS DMM 508 §8.1.1, which says that “an addressee who receives a solicited or unsolicited advertisement offering for sale matter that, in the addressee’s sole discretion, is ‘erotically arousing or sexually provocative,’ may, by completing Form 1500, obtain a prohibitory order directing the mailer of the advertisement to refrain from making further mailings to that addressee.”

When I don’t outright refuse junk mail, sometimes I’ll take some of the junk mail I’ve received, remove personally identifying information from it, and stuff it into the next available Business Reply Mail (postage will be paid by addressee) junk mail return envelope I find, and drop it in the mail. I hope to exceed the one ounce limit so that they need to pay extra postage.

I’m just very sick of junk mail. I don’t allow random offers from companies to show up in my email box, so why should I need to deal with them in my postal mail box? Unfortunately, setting up filters on your physical mail box is much more difficult than setting them up on an email box. (It is possible, however, and I plan to do so in the near future if I continue to get more junk as companies discover our address.)

“After delivery, an addressee may mark a mailpiece “Refused” and return it within a reasonable time, if the piece or any attachment is not opened.” — USPS DMM 508 §1.1.3

I’ve been in the habit lately of refusing all my junk mail. I certainly don’t want to pay for removing the trash I get in the mail. Why not make the sender pay for it? (Undeliverable first class mail will get returned to the sender, while undeliverable presorted standard mail (which is most junk mail) will get disposed of by the USPS. That’s just a part of the service that a mailer is buying when paying postage.)

Quote of the Day

Start-of-summer Halo Party

I’m certified

Property Taxes

Question of the day

Social Security Numbers

Another milestone achived

Stopping Unsolicited Mail

More on junk mail

Your mail was refused