Things Your Mail Carrier Won’t Tell You

Reader's Digest posted "13 Things Your Mail Carrier Won’t Tell You" and "11 More Things Your Mail Carrier Won’t Tell You".

http://www.rd.com/advice/saving-money/13-things-your-mail-carrier-wont-tell-you/

To their lists I would add the following:

1. The entire approach to the mailbox should be clear of snow. If you've just carved out a notch, we still have to get out of the truck to reach the box. Parked cars, landscapers, movers, and garbage cans, especially on cul-de-sacs, also really slow us down.

2. The condition of your mailbox is important. It should have a decent handle, and should open and close quickly and reliably. It should be level so the mail doesn't slide out, and it should be the right height, 41-45" from ground to the bottom of the box. The house number should be on the box as well as the house, in big type. Reflective is nice, so you can see it at night as you approach. Also, a bigger box can save us a trip to the door for a larger parcel. Cluster box units should be in good repair and have working parcel locker keys.
https://www.usps.com/manage/know-mailbox-guidelines.htm

3. If you live or work in a multi-unit building, the apartment or suite number is part of your address. Sorting is more difficult without it. If the carrier does not know or can't remember who you are, they can send the mail back endorsed as Insufficient Address.

4. If you have a bad bar code, the carrier has to key in the number by hand. Bad bar codes can be caused by smudging, covering, not enough or too much ink in the toner cartridge, affixing the bar code around the corner of a package, or even curving it around a tube!

5. If your mailbox is full, we can bring it back to the post office, hold it for 10 days, and then send it back as Unclaimed. The more mail there is in the box, the more it slows us down.

6. Notifying all senders of your new address saves a lot of time and paper. The automated system does not catch all the forwarding, so the carrier forwards first class mail, and discards bulk rate mail. And please, if you move, don't send letters using your old return address. Especially after 18 months, when they must go to the dead letter department!

7. Held mail must have an end date, from 3 to 30 days. Any longer than that is a temporary forward. And please use a hold form. Don't just leave a note in the mailbox!

23AndFDA

My initial reaction is that the FDA should leave 23andMe alone. The disclaimer is right there in the terms of service: "You should not change your health behaviors solely on the basis of information from 23andMe."

Morevoer, 23AndMe isn't even a food or a drug. Wouldn't it be the FCC, not the FDA? And what about the NSA? ;)

New Health Insurance

I dropped GEHA for BCBS during open enrollment. Major reasons were GEHA's lab card and pre-approval requirements, their small network of preferred providers, and their resistance to diagnostics and preventative care. I am not affected by the ACA, this is through my employer.

With all the new city council members, now is a good time to review an urban green vision.

Is MNSure worth it?

I called MNSure, not for myself, but to compare it to TransChoice, a barebones plan offered through our union for part-time employees. The woman at MNSure was not able to help much. Her answers sounded curt, perhaps because of the volume of calls they must be getting. She said I would have to call TransChoice to find out what is and isn't covered. So far I've been out to their web site. It sounds like, at best, you would get just $100 for a physical exam, $150 for an x-ray, $100 for an ambulance trip, and $50 for an emergency room visit. My coworker would not even get that. So Obamacare might be a good alternative, but a lot more information would be needed. I think my coworker is paying about $92/month. On the MNSure web site I found a PreferredOne plan for $176/month but it has a $6,300 deductible. Recently I found more details but I'm not sure if they're complete.

TransChoice: http://www.rc-benefits.com/pages/01plandesign.html

PreferredOne: https://plans.mnsure.org/mnsa/planadvisor/plan_advisor.htm?flow=anonymous#/viewDetails

Book Review: Zealot

"Zealot" by Reza Aslan contends that the real Jesus was more about insurrection than resurrection. He explores the non-biblical historical records of the time to take his best guess at what really happened.

When the Romans took over Jerusalem, Jews were furious. Several leaders organized rebellions. One social justice movement was led by John the Baptist, then Jesus of Nazareth, then James the Just. It was Paul the Apostle (originally named Saul of Tarsus), preaching in outlying areas, who portrayed Jesus as God. James disagreed with Paul and tried to restrict him, but after the Romans flattened the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, Paul's ideas gained popularity. The Gospels painted the Romans in a softer light, and the message became more obedient. By the time Roman Emperor Constantine convened two thousand bishops to codify Christianity, Paul's ideas prevailed, and it was mostly Paul's views that made it into the New Testament.

As I was reading the book, I conferred with my cousin John Munter, author of "The Samaritan Jesus." The two books share some common ground, but Aslan says that Jesus was a Zealot, while Munter says that Jesus was a Samaritan.

14th Amendment

If necessary, the President must invoke the 14th Amendment: "…The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned…"