"Thirty Things that Need to Stage a Comeback"

[stevew443]

I remember well many of the stories my grandmother told me about her life on the farm. She had a wood stove to cook on for the family, and she also had wood shingles on the roof of the house and many times she would have to stop cooking to climb on the roof to put out the fire caused by the sparks. She once told me how my grandfather slit his calf when the head of his axe fell off, so grandma just went to her sewing box and took needle and thread and sewed up the wound. She was one of the finest people I have ever known in my life and I wish I had just one quarter of the strength that she had.

Anyway, when I see people screaming about their rights then I know for a fact that they have forgotten all about the obligations that go along with those rights. The really good people of the world will be thinking more about the obligations they have instead of their rights and they are the ones who I admire, not some strident person out screaming for their right to do something or the other.

 

[Tango Yankee]

I can remember when mail was delivered twice a day and once on Saturday. So, we can thank technology for 'improving' our lives once again.

It's not just technology that's to blame for this one, Congress has had it's hand in it with the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. Congress also controls postal rates, which is why we don't get charged what it really costs to transport a letter across the US. Imagine if all letters were carried by FedEx or UPS--what would that cost?

We have the opposite of what you have there I guess. USPS stinks when it comes to getting something to a place in one piece. I have experienced many horrors through the years. If I get something via FedEx or UPS, it is delivered on time and the box still looks like a box when I get it.

It is kind of funny that for every person who says the USPS destroys packages but FedEx and UPS delivers the packages whole and undamaged and vice versa there is someone who steps up to say it's the other way around. (Edited to add) Makes me wonder whether there is anywhere in the US where they all get it right or all get it wrong, or if it's some sort of cosmic balance thing.

I've bought almost a thousand items off of eBay, most of which arrived via USPS and never had a damaged box or damaged item delivered. UPS, FedEx, or DHL it's another story. Whenever given the choice I always choose USPS because otherwise I can't count on it being delivered in one piece. I have a large covered porch with a big plastic box with a sign requesting packages be placed in the box, yet UPS has been known to leave packages on the porch steps (which are not covered) during a storm. You'd think they could at least take two more steps to place them under cover! So I dread UPS and FedEx deliveries.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[AtomicEraTom]

In defense of the USPS, e-mail, faxes, etc, have reduced the amount of mail going out.

 

[vitanola]

It is kind of funny that for every person who says the USPS destroys packages but FedEx and UPS delivers the packages whole and undamaged and vice versa there is someone who steps up to say it's the other way around. (Edited to add) Makes me wonder whether there is anywhere in the US where they all get it right or all get it wrong, or if it's some sort of cosmic balance thing.

Over time I've noticed that Postal Service Bashing may well correlate more to political persuasion than to the actual performance of the USPS.

 

[tonyb]

Over time I've noticed that Postal Service Bashing may well correlate more to political persuasion than to the actual performance of the USPS.

Bingo.

 

[John in Covina]

I think if a woman makes it into the majors, she'll either be a knuckleball pitcher or a second baseman. The knuckler doesn't require a particularly hard motion to throw, and there have been several good female knucklers in the womens' game. One of them worked out with Tim Wakefield at the Red Sox spring training camp a couple years ago and he was very impressed with her mastery of the pitch. Second base would be a good position for a woman as well -- it doesn't require brute strength and values agility and coordination more than physical power. Many fine middle-infielders have been in the 5-foot-7/140 pound range, and there are a lot of female athletes who are bigger and stronger than that.

Women's pro baseball needs to make a comeback. I'm too old and too nearsighted to play, but I could be a very Durocheresque manager.

Pitchers tend to be pretty tall, so I'd think they'd look for a taller woman mostly.

 

[John in Covina]

In defense of the USPS, e-mail, faxes, etc, have reduced the amount of mail going out.

That should allow them to handle things better if they aren't being overwhelmed by the volume.

 

[John in Covina]

Over time I've noticed that Postal Service Bashing may well correlate more to political persuasion than to the actual performance of the USPS.

The bashing comes from actual experience not political bias. I have had more outgoing and incoming mail lost than ever before. Also i am more likely to get mail at my house that belongs to another address. It has gone up since we lost our regular lady about 5 years ago. Since then the PO sends out a different person for the route evry month or so. So they are always having to learn a new route.

 

[olive bleu]

The bashing comes from actual experience not political bias. I have had more outgoing and incoming mail lost than ever before. Also i am more likely to get mail at my house that belongs to another address. It has gone up since we lost our regular lady about 5 years ago. Since then the PO sends out a different person for the route evry month or so. So they are always having to learn a new route.

I live in Apt # 1116. On a weekly basis I get mail for # 116, or they get my mail. Maybe you shouldn't have this job if you can't read big numbers.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Only time I've gotten somebody else's mail here in recent memory is when a copy of Cosmopolitan meant for one my neighbors up the street ended up in my box by mistake. My outrage at that wasn't that it was delivered to my box, it was that it was allowed to go thru the mails at all.

Decent magazines need to make a comeback.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Agreed, but less volume=less profits.

When we are low on orders at work, they will post that we're not working Friday. If we're busy, we work Saturday. I guess it's kind of the same thing going on with the USPS, but they know they're not gonna pick up anytime soon.

That should allow them to handle things better if they aren't being overwhelmed by the volume.

 

[Feraud]

The east coast just got nailed with a snowstorm and my wife and I shovelled twice since last night. My son volunteered this a.m. to help dig out our parish. With regards to male versus female abilities I've got a bunch of lazy male neighbors who've yet to show their faces and pick up a shovel.. Machine guns and baseball aside I don't see men today worth that much more than women.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep, I just finished shoveling a path from my back stoop to the street thru five-foot drifts, and so far as I can see I'm the only one who's done it yet. Probably everybody else is inside playing "Wii Show Shoveler Delux."

 

[Fletch]

biscuit-pantsed

That's a new one on me. Does it bear explaining in a public forum?

 

[Doublegun]

Personal Integrity
Appropriate Dress
Family Meals
Respect

Nothing will ever be the same but society has a chance at improving if there is a resurgence of these four simple things. The only real cost of these is personal commitment.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's a new one on me. Does it bear explaining in a public forum?

An individual of broad and ample derriere, as from too much sitting thereon. An epidemic in our modern age.

 

[Fletch]

I'd switch the order, if it is an order, to 1, 4, 2, 3. Why put respect down below ritual?

About who should be hauling our machine guns around, the question today is far more psychological than physical. One lesson of WW2 we don't often talk about is that an effective soldier has to have not just hi/r body, but hi/r mind totally remodeled.

 

[Feraud]

Just to clarify I'm not debating there are no differences (physical and/or otherwise) between men and woman. Nor do I fail to recognize double standards that exist. But complaining about very recent double standards when the deck has been stacked in your favor for some many years comes off as petty.

 

[Fletch]

An individual of broad and ample derriere, as from too much sitting thereon. An epidemic in our modern age.

Hmmm. Might be more appropriate to those who would traditionally wear pants, or maybe those who do but aren't flattered by them. Not those who are (pace Oscar Hammerstein) broad where a broad should be broad.

 

[Feraud]

Probably everybody else is inside playing "Wii Show Shoveler Delux."

Ha! Either that or getting ready to go to the gym for exercise. The irony of which is lost on the fitness crowd..