tagged w/ Mail
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Washington, DC - A Congressional panel that’s searching for ways to save the crumbling US Postal Service has recommended that the agency increase its profits by becoming the nation’s narcotics distribution network.
With the Internet and e-mail devastating its lucrative first-class mail business, the post office needs to either expand into new areas or shut down entirely.
“We originally were debating whether to allow the Postal Service to deliver wine and beer,” said subcommittee chairman Jack Rackcall (R-Wyoming). “Then we realized, heck, why stop there when we can get higher?”… More…
To gain support for its controversial plan, the subcommittee has formed a political awareness organization called the Benefits Of Narcotics Group (BONG). Under the proposed Congressional plan, the BONG would replace the Drug Enforcement Administration, which has been losing the war on drugs since 1973.
“After spending some quality time with the BONG, we have concluded that it would be a simple task for the Postal Service to take over drug distribution from coast-to-coast,” Rackcall said.
“HBO has already done the research for us. All the Postal Service has to do is deliver. They have the trucks, and we need the bucks.”
But testimony heard later by the subcommittee indicated that the post office could have some trouble executing its narcotics distribution plan.
“I don’t know if youse gentlemen and ladies understand the idea of territory,” testified Vincent Gonaduce, president of the Genco Pura Olive Oil Company. “Think of it as a congressional district, only with cars that blow-up when you try to start them.”
Undeterred, Rackcall and his subcommittee are scrambling to find immediate solutions. It’s projected that USP will need to layoff 200,000 carriers or do away with Saturday mail delivery, unless additional revenue sources are discovered by the end of the year. Reportedly, 11 million vicious dogs have begun investigating new ways to spend their weekends.Washington, DC - A Congressional panel that’s searching for ways to save the... more
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Università sotto attacco, email contraffatte, cyber bullismo e gossip online possono rendere la vita dei nostri figli piuttosto complicata. Abbiamo preparato una piccola guida pratica per insegnare ai ragazzi come fronteggiare la difficile vita dello studente online.
Gli studenti sono incredibilmente attivi sui social network. Questa estate vi abbiamo regalato uno strumento gratuito per controllare se la vostra email era tra quelle oggetto di massivi furti di dati avvenuti negli scorsi mesi, e quindi a rischio di furto d’identità. Oggi raccogliamo e semplifichiamo in 5 punti alcuni accorgimenti:
1. Educare i bambini al valore dell’identità, senza esagerare
Per evitare il furto di identità ci dotiamo di software dedicati, seguiamo comportamenti “sani” e ci aggiorniamo sulle novità tecniche (come ad esempio il rischio di collegarsi da wi-fi non protette). Ma uno dei sistemi migliori è senza dubbio l’educazione all’importanza della propria privacy. Soprattutto quando si è giovani si dà poca importanza alle cose più preziose che ci appartengono. È normale. Ecco perché i genitori hanno il dovere di spiegare perché dati come nome, cognome, password, etc… sono preziosi per se stessi e per il resto della famiglia.
2. Le password
Nonostante la sperimentazione di nuove tecnologie, le password restano ancora la difesa principale. Quindi insegnate ai figli come creare e conservarle; a non lasciare smartphone e tablet incustoditi, magari con gli accessi ai siti memorizzati e soprattutto a non dirle agli amici, anche ai più stretti. La password è segreta!
3. Le App contro i furti
Il furto di cellulari nelle scuole è un fenomeno molto diffuso. Si chiamano “Theft Recovery Application” le App che geolocalizzano a distanza il nostro pc portatile o telefono, ed è consigliabile installarne una sul proprio cellulare o pc.
4. Settare la privacy
Se non lo avete già fatto, prendetevi una mezz’ora per spiegare ai vostri figli come settare la privacy sui social network. I minori non dovrebbero mai mostrare il luogo in cui si trovano sui social network; condividere le fotografie solo con gli amici (non con tutti) e in ogni caso postare solo immagini decorose per se stessi e per chi vi è rappresentato; non rispondere o partecipare al gossip online. Divertente? Prima o poi qualcuno ci rimane scottato!
5. Divieti assoluti
Mai inviare foto, né numeri di telefono attraverso i social network. Mai incontrare faccia a faccia da soli una persona che si è conosciuta online. Oltre ai cyber criminali, i minori rischiano su un altro fronte: a quell’età si fanno spesso scherzi che possono essere pesanti, senza considerarne le conseguenze. Molto spesso non ci sono delle reali cattive intenzioni dietro, ma altre volte si può parlare di vero e proprio cyber bullismo.
L’importante, come in tutte le cose, è non esagerare: a volte il modo migliore per tenere sotto controllo i figli non è stare sempre con il fiato sul collo ma insegnare ad utilizzare la tecnologia con maggiore consapevolezza.Università sotto attacco, email contraffatte, cyber bullismo e gossip online... more
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They’ve got until October, then the US Postal service expects to run out of money. This video shows Congress trying to find out “Where have all the letters gone?”They’ve got until October, then the US Postal service expects to run out of... more
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A Gmail confirmation scam email is going around, asking you to verify your Gmail account. “Dear Account User,” the request starts out – and goes on to say that you need to confirm your Gmail account, or it will be closed down. Of course, the language is wrong, and it wasn’t even necessarily sent to your Gmail account, but still, people will be taken in by this scam, which asks for your account username and password, your date of birth, and your country of residence. Here’s the scam reproduced in full – if you get this, don’t reply!
http://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2011/05/24/scam-gmail-verification-email-is-identity-theft-effort-in-disguise/A Gmail confirmation scam email is going around, asking you to verify your Gmail... more
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A Manhattan dentist got a mystery UPS package Friday from a real dope - it was filled with 31 pounds of very pungent pot.
Dr. Richard Lyons couldn't believe his nose when he opened the box that was delivered to his Chinatown office.
"From my 70's days, when I saw the green and smelled it, I knew it was marijuana," said Lyons, whose graying ponytail could qualify him for a bit role in a Cheech and Chong movie.
Lyons, 61, said he had no idea how the pot - worth up to $50,000 on the street - wound up at his place, but he immediately called the cops.
"I was shocked - shocked! And annoyed," he said. "Even if I got an ounce of marijuana, I would have notified the police.
"It's not legal. I didn't buy it!"
Lyons said the pot was wrapped in a black plastic bag "with a bunch of baby wipes on top" that had been placed inside a plastic bin and then the box.
It arrived at his office at 10:30 a.m. and was signed for by an assistant. When he got in about 3 p.m., he opened the box to discover the tightly packed fresh-plucked buds.
He said called police, but when they hadn't arrived after an hour, he got nervous that the intended recipient might show up to collect the weed - and called the press.
When cops arrived at the office on Worth and Mott Sts. - where a large red canopy advertises "Dr. Toothy's Dental World" - they had to borrow blue dental masks because the fumes gave them a headache.
The box had a return address for a Gwendaline Lyons in Katy, Texas. No listing could be found for the person.
A UPS spokeswoman said the express delivery service would open an investigation in the matter and contact the NYPD.
Anyone wishing to claim the package can contact the 5th Precinct detective squad at (212) 334-0742.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/04/01/2011-04-01_manhattan_dentist_sent_31_pounds_of_pot_with_street_value_of_50k_in_the_mail.html#ixzz1IMsmS8yLA Manhattan dentist got a mystery UPS package Friday from a real dope - it was filled... more
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When it absolutely has to be on the battlefield overnight. Hope no one was taking a nap in the back of one of thoseWhen it absolutely has to be on the battlefield overnight. Hope no one was taking a... more
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In spite of the increase of electronic communication, snail mail is still a daily task we all have
to deal with. A week’s worth of mail can easily overwhelm your kitchen countertop if that becomes the dropping place each day when it is brought in. Following are ten tips for keeping that from happening.
Link : http://www.changeofaddress.org/blog/2011/10-tips-for-organizing-your-mail/In spite of the increase of electronic communication, snail mail is still a daily task... more
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Many of the companies print and distribute far more catalogs than ever get used or read. What seemed to be an interesting take on the mail order catalog business was that 10 most popular categories of mail order catalogs.
Link : http://www.changeofaddress.org/blog/2011/top-10-mail-order-catalogs/Many of the companies print and distribute far more catalogs than ever get used or... more
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The postal worker was stunned when the package moved by itself and fell to the floor. Then came the sounds of heavy panting.
Within minutes, she and co-workers had unwrapped a tightly sealed box and rescued a 4-month-old puppy that a Minneapolis woman tried to mail to Georgia.
"It's just crazy," said Minneapolis Police Sgt. Angela Dodge. The air holes the woman punched in the box were covered up with mailing tape, and the priority mail trip would have taken at least two days, she said. "It was supposed to be a birthday gift for a family member. It would have been kind of traumatizing to get a dead puppy,'' Dodge said. "If you don't identify it so that it can be handled properly, it goes into the cargo hold of an airplane. It gets 40 below in those cargo planes that get up 40,000 feet. And there was no food or water. Puppies can't go for long periods without food or water."
The dog would have been dead on delivery, agreed police spokesman Sgt. William Palmer. "I've been doing this for 17 years. This is a new one on me."
The woman, Stacey Champion, declined to tell police why she decided to mail the puppy, Dodge said.
Champion paid $22 to send the black poodle-Schnauzer mix puppy named Guess to Georgia via priority mail, said Thompson Ojoyeyi, supervisor at the Loring Station post office. The worker who accepted the package asked all the standard questions: Any perishables, liquids, hazardous materials?
Champion said no, but then she cautioned postal workers to "be careful, be careful" as they handled the box because "it was so delicate," Ojoyeyi said.
On the outside of the package Champion wrote "This is for your 11th birthday. It's what you wanted," he said. She also told the clerk that if sounds came from the package, not to worry, it just contained a toy robot, Ojoyeyi added.
When the box began moving and making noise, workers called a postal inspector -- the Postal Service's enforcement arm -- and got permission to open the package, Ojoyeyi said.
Guess "was so happy to get out," Ojoyeyi said. "We gave him water and he drank so fast."
"How could someone do this kind of thing?" he said. "For us, it was very unusual."
The Postal Service will ship some live animals such as bees, certain small and harmless cold-blooded animals, chicks and ducklings. But sending dogs and cats through the mail is a definite no, he said.
Champion was cited for misdemeanor animal cruelty and has 10 days to appeal. The dog is now at the city's animal control facility. If Champion declines or loses her appeal, Guess would go up for adoption. So far, Champion hasn't notified authorities that she wants the dog back, Dodge said.
She did, however, return to the post office to demand a refund for the $22 she paid to mail the puppy. She also wanted a small amount of money she had attached to a makeshift dog collar returned to her.
Postal workers nixed the refund and told her to contact law enforcement about the collar currency. "We asked her, don't you want to know about your puppy? But she said no. She just wanted her money back," Ojoyeyi said. "It's just weird to mail an animal like that in a package all covered up. We don't know what she was thinking about."
http://www.startribune.com/local/115011544.html
update
The Minneapolis woman who tried to mail a puppy wants him back.
"I'm just appalled," said Mitzi Carroll, who learned about the puppy's plight from a TV broadcast in Georgia, where she lives. "And now she wants it back? Really? I have a strong problem with that. How do you put a puppy in a box and try to mail it? That's just animal cruelty."
That's exactly what Minneapolis authorities thought. They charged Stacey Champion, 39, with animal cruelty and impounded Guess, a 4-month-old poodle-Schnauzer mix that postal officials said likely would have been DOA at its Georgia destination.
As word of the pup's discovery in a sealed box with no air holes spread across the country, concerned animal lovers began calling and e-mailing city officials with requests to adopt the black dog.
But Carroll, who already has adopted two dogs and three cats, and other would-be rescuers will have to wait for the outcome of an administrative hearing Monday, at which Champion is scheduled to plead for the dog's return.
That request itself is a bit unusual. "In the four years that I've been here, we never had a person appeal after an animal was impounded because of animal cruelty," said Dan Niziolek, manager for Minneapolis' Animal Care and Control. Of course, city officials can't remember ever handling a case in which someone tried to send a puppy through the mail, either.
In appealing the case, Champion had to pay about $250 in fees for the city to kennel and care for the puppy. If she loses her case before the administrative hearing officer, the puppy would be put up for adoption or she could take her case to the Court of Appeals, Niziolek said. But Champion would have to pay the city $15 a day for the puppy's care until her case was resolved.
The hearing is set for 11 a.m. Monday at City Hall, Room 314, said city spokesman Matt Laible.
Champion also needs to resolve the criminal case for animal cruelty in Hennepin County District Court. Even if she wins the puppy back during her appeal, a judge could restrict her ownership of animals, Niziolek said.
Champion didn't return calls asking about her plans for Monday's hearing.
"I would like to be at that hearing. I really would," said Sally Shortridge, who is outraged over the idea that an adult woman who put a puppy in the mail might regain custody.
"I have nieces and nephews at 12 and 14 who would know much better," she said. "She shouldn't get that poor little puppy back."The postal worker was stunned when the package moved by itself and fell to the floor.... more
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The U.S. Postal Service plays two roles in America: an agency that keeps rural areas linked to the rest of the nation, and one that loses a lot of money.
Now, with the red ink showing no sign of stopping, the postal service is hoping to ramp up a cost-cutting program that is already eliciting yelps of pain around the country. Beginning in March, the agency will start the process of closing as many as 2,000 post offices, on top of the 491 it said it would close starting at the end of last year. In addition, it is reviewing another 16,000—half of the nation's existing post offices—that are operating at a deficit, and lobbying Congress to allow it to change the law so it can close the most unprofitable among them. The law currently allows the postal service to close post offices only for maintenance problems, lease expirations or other reasons that don't include profitability.
The news is crushing in many remote communities where the post office is often the heart of the town and the closest link to the rest of the country. Shuttering them, critics say, also puts an enormous burden on people, particularly on the elderly, who find it difficult to travel out of town.
The postal service argues that its network of some 32,000 brick-and-mortar post offices, many built in the horse-and-buggy days, is outmoded in an era when people are more mobile, often pay bills online and text or email rather than put pen to paper. It also wants post offices to be profitable to help it overcome record $8.5 billion in losses in fiscal year 2010.
A disproportionate number of the thousands of post offices under review are in rural or smaller suburban areas, though the postal service declined to provide any estimate on how many beyond those slated to begin closure in March might ultimately close or which ones are being targeted. "We want to make the smartest decisions possible with the smallest impact on communities," Dean Granholm, vice president for delivery and post office operations, said in an interview. He said the agency is identifying locations that are operating at a deficit and looking "for the opportunity to start the process of closing."
In addition to reducing employees—it has cut staffing by a third since 1999— the postal service has sought for years to deal with financial woes by raising rates or cutting services, such as a proposal to drop Saturday delivery. It has also talked in the past about closing a much smaller number of post offices. But while closures have been "on the table" in the past, this push is the agency's most serious yet, Mr. Granholm said, and is drawing widespread interest from a cost-cutting Congress. Still, shutting down post offices is often politically unpopular: elected officials in several communities have already written the Postal Regulatory Commission protesting planned closures.
Eighty-three specific post offices were approved for closing during the three months ending Nov. 15, more closings than in any quarter in the agency's history, according to the postal service. In addition, 408 post offices where service has been suspended for various reasons won't reopen amid the fiscal crisis, Mr. Granholm said.
Some of those suspensions are being contested by the Postal Regulatory Commission, independent from the postal service and reporting to Congress, which is investigating whether the postal service has been illegally using reasons such as lease expirations to close small, underused branches. The agency has denied wrongdoing.
While paring down is a common survival tactic for organizations these days, efforts by the postal service to do so routinely raise alarms because many citizens see post offices as an essential public service. Postal service dates to the founding fathers, with Benjamin Franklin serving as the first U.S. postmaster general and the Constitution explicitly authorizing Congress to establish post offices. Critics in Washington argue the postal service should reduce what they say is too much spending on employee benefits before resorting to closures.
As closure notices go up, citizens are rallying around their post offices in Millville, W.V., Hamilton, Tenn., Prairie City, S.D., and elsewhere, fearing not only a loss of convenience but a death knell for their small towns.
"It ain't right doing this to our community," says Delmer Clark, a 70-year-old retired coal miner in Eastern Kentucky's Appalachian Mountains, in the no-stoplight town of Holmes Mill. The post office here is set to close next month after more than 100 years. About the size of a garage, it has long been a part of the town's identity, and the pending closing is fueling local suspicion that public officials don't care about them. The local school closed years ago and reliable cable, Internet and cellphone reception has yet to arrive, residents say. "When they close the post office, they probably won't even come up here anymore and clean the roads," says Mr. Clark.
"It will hurt us real bad," says Esther Sizemore, a 62-year-old retired school-bus driver. Not owning a computer, and aching from hip arthritis that makes driving significant distances difficult, Ms. Sizemore drives down the street to the post office to mail her handmade quilts, trade news with friends and pick up packages, since she does her shopping by catalog. She also feels her mail is safer using a post office box; mail thefts have been a problem in the area, says Deputy Winston Yeary, of the Harlan County Sheriff's Department.
The Holmes Mill post office is closing in a consolidation set to claim more than 30 small Kentucky post offices this year, according to local postal officials. It's in the red, costing the postal service $12,748 in fiscal year 2010, according to the agency.
Residents will still have home delivery, and can use the post office and maintain P.O. boxes in the next town, but some locals fear the drive: The 12-mile roundtrip is on a winding mountain road bordering a steep drop-off to the river and named "Coal Miner's Highway" for the coal trucks that take much of the road.
Some lawmakers say closing post offices is the wrong answer. Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) says the agency should instead cut waste in its ranks. Although the postal service has cut its work force through attrition in recent years, it is still weighed down by overly generous employee benefits, she says.
Postal workers pay "significantly" lower premiums for their health and life insurance plans than other government employees because of union agreements, according to a September study sponsored by the Office of Inspector General. The report said the postal service could save $700 million this year alone by asking employees to pay more. The report, however, also said the postal service's contribution into employee benefits has started to decline, and that more reductions are planned as a result of recent union agreements.
"One of my frustrations is that the first approach the post office seems to take is to reduce service…when instead it needs to tackle a benefit structure that is too expensive, and it needs to look for ways to stay in business and deal with the digital age," says Sen. Collins.
Communities that lose post offices will still get deliveries, either at homes or at clusters of mailboxes set up in town, and there are multiple options for getting postal services, including stamps by mail, said Mr. Granholm of the postal service. Also, he says, many rural dwellers already travel to nearby cities for groceries and other services. "Why can't they go there for the post office?" he says.
More at
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704881304576094000352599050.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStoriesThe U.S. Postal Service plays two roles in America: an agency that keeps rural areas... more
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The title of the video is "Hot Girl Steals Christmas Presents" and shows CCTV footage if a woman leaving an empty box on a doorstep, so she can take away the one left on the doorstep (Christmas presents). The empty box turned out to be from mail stolen from a neighbour before this incident.
The CCTV cameras were placed in when the family noticed their mail was going missing, and here's their suspect Reddit is trying to track.
"That's one way to ruin someone's Christmas.
Reddit has stepped in and is trying to identify the woman so that this family can see some justice, and if there's one thing Reddit's good at, it's helping people out."-UrlesqueThe title of the video is "Hot Girl Steals Christmas Presents" and shows... more
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Incredibly simple system to get a university diploma & college degrees online with no coursework or formal study. Discover what traditional universities and colleges don't want you to know. http://www.instantdegrees.comIncredibly simple system to get a university diploma & college degrees online with... more
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Mike and Stefan haven't updated the site in some time. An anonymous fan sent them a package as an incentive for them to film some more videos. See more at BangBoomCrash.comMike and Stefan haven't updated the site in some time. An anonymous fan sent them... more
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By trading oil for batteries, the struggling U.S. Postal Service could transform its fleet vehicles into overnight moneymakers that deliver much more than the daily mail.
The cash-strapped agency has the potential to earn millions by storing and stabilizing some of the nation’s grid energy in mail trucks during off-peak hours. Here's how ...
http://solveclimate.com/blog/20100405/postal-service-giant-battery-plan-cashingBy trading oil for batteries, the struggling U.S. Postal Service could transform its... more
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