Member postings for Peter Greene

I always think that postal insurance is like paying twice for the same thing. You contract with someone to move a package from A to B. Then you pay them again in case it doesn't actually get there.

Bit like paying a repair shop to fix your brakes then paying them a second amount in case you have no brakes and hit a wall when you leave.

Good question, Kwil. I almost never give out my real phone number and when I do it's to someone or some entity that I'm 100% sure is legit.

That said, my number is "public" (not unlisted) and as far as I can see they just call numbers at random. If you ever find out why you don't get them, please let the rest of us know.

>Anyway, 99% of the phone calls and text messages we get, we just don't answer.

Let me introduce you to my wife ....

>More and more, we are going back to email,

Unfortunately, more and more entities are refusing to communicate by email and insisting on phone (voice or text).

Some years ago, I had B12 injections along with some other injection (don't recall what, except it was nominally very expensive but the health service picked up the tab) - in the stomach .... actually no worse than in the arm.

When various blood levels stabilised a bit, I was taken off those injections and switched to Revlamid (Thalidomide) instead (really, really expensive ... ~$10,000 a month and highly controlled for obvious reasons).

Just a week ago, the Oncologist asked me if I was "still" taking the B12 tablets because some levels looked a bit iffy. "No" I said "no one ever said I should". I am now.

With the CRTC in their pockets they ain't likely to be stopping them soon. I've maintained for years that the telcos' computers know exactly in which country all calls originate and they could therefore offer their customers the option to block certain countries (it would be easier for customers to state which countries they will allow than which one's they won't). Not holding my breath.

Might be better to nationalise the whole data/information structure and put it where it belongs - in public hands.

I've just has 8 calls from the Amazon scam in the last hour (and counting). Fake Caller-ID of course and different each time

Is this a new approach where they bludgeon us to death in the hope that we'll push a button?

Lucky you ... arm or stomach?

What's so strange - it's part of the website setup.

I would strongly recommend that people read (really) the thread that Michael pointed to.

Yes ... it seems the Eclipse one has a countersunk magnet. Don't really know why that's necessary and it makes the magnet a bit "special".

Lee Valley have been selling similar arrangements for years and have a somewhat explanation here.

(LV used to have such a nice, simple website with quite a lot of general background info pages - now it seems to have gone over to "Modern Busy" and if the background is still there, I don't have time to find it.)

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 18/12/2022 19:34:27

Exactly the situation here in Canada for both UK and US sellers and like you, I rarely buy from those sources any more (which comprise most of the eBay sources in those countries now). The Chinese must be laughing up their sleeves.

(Many people perceive a difficulty/complication in sending goods abroad but in fact it can be the same as sending a local parcel from their post-office plus the addition of a sticky label showing description and value. I tried to get a UK seller to do this just a week ago, for something I particularly wanted - I even said she could wait till after all strikes are finished - but she led me such a long song-and-dance about it with such massive hand-wringing that I gave up.)

Or "Fischer-AG" as their local rep, years ago, pointedly insisted on calling them every time he said it.

+1 to everything else you said.

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 15/12/2022 18:15:31

That's interesting ... I'd always assumed the eBay's "Global Shipping" which they foist on us from all angles meant that eBay has created their own courier company and are forcing it down everyone's throat.

(No evidence .... it just seemed par for the course).

Might be worth comparing the NHS experience to other public health services around the world. Certainly, all the complaints here would apply just as much in my neck of the woods (Ontario) and, I suspect, other jurisdictions.

I don't think these services scale well to ever increasing patient volumes. There is a sweet spot somewhere (that we passed decades ago) and it's been downhill from there.

With modern "green" sentiments, they might just do that.

This type of device can be used as a counterbalance for the (moving) head of small mills.

Canada does. Canada also uses generic stamps for postage within the country .... that is, they have no value printed on them and are valid indefinitely. (The purchase-cost changes from time to time).

(Seems to me that if Canada adopts a bar-coded system there might be a clash with that "valid indefinitely"  ).

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 09/12/2022 17:02:50

If it's anything like my corner of the world you won't pay anything on low value shipments as long as it comes in by regular mail .... although it's technically liable for duty and taxes it costs more to collect them than they get out of it. So no one bothers.

If it enters the country via any kind of handling/courier service then the courier WILL charge duty/taxes plus a handling fee for the privilege plus one or more additional fees (e.g. "disbursements"   ) which they won't explain. It's anyone's guess if the duty/taxes they assess are actually passed along to the various government departments.

I stress that this is what happens here (Canada). I would bet it's the same - or similar - in the UK.

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 09/12/2022 16:47:02

When I learned to drive (including one or two lessons at the Police Driving School) the admonition for safe driving was to look well down the road to monitor changing traffic/other conditions .... not just myopically limiting your attention to your stopping distance.

Much easier in those days; almost impossible now with current traffic volumes. Pretty much a necessity to look through the vehicle in front. Mercedes white vans have a lot to answer for.

As far as leaving large amounts of room from the car in front - nice motherhood but around here if you do that you can be certain that someone(s) will jump in and fill up the gap.

Any worse than publicising it by clearly marking the contents on the package?