Reactions to story from http://cnn.com

• 

  We’ll show what it’s all about!

  http://rubbersuitstudios.com/dmdss/2008/05/11/well-show-what...
  4 days ago in Dropping My Daily Stool Sample · Authority: 34

  Plugs Just in for Mother’s Day, a special Kid Intense, starring Kid Intense’s Mother.  This by far is my favorite few pages.  Chapter Three, Pages 15, 16, 17!  And I am sure Vincent Morris would dedicate this to his favorite MILF, Malicious Intent. Coming up this week, I got some new Sunshine, Ben Byrd, Christopher Morris, and mayhap other stuff.  I also got 3 softball games this week, and chaperoning a field trip Friday, my daughter’s 5th  birthday party here at the house, so we will see. Dear Malach Colonel Colonel writes: Dear Malach, what are the Celtics’ moms thinking these days?  I am sure the large majority of them are thinking it is sure nice to be out of poverty and the ghetto cause of their NBA playing son.  Even Mrs. Scalabrini. HEY IRS! WHERE THE HECK IS MY REBATE CHECK THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE TRANSMITTED NO LATER THAT MAY 9TH?  And my wife is a US citizen! Ugh Now I gotta buy like seventy five 1 cent stamps. Yes This is a dream of Malach’s, now if they could only pay for themselves . . MMMMMM Neil Young. Malach’s video of the Day div#main{overflow:visible;} I am Malach and Taco’s rule!
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  A couple of Sunday thoughts

  http://perfectsubstitute.blogspot.com/2008/05/couple-of-sund...
  4 days ago in The Perfect Substitute · Authority: 11

  - The post office is raising rates again tomorrow, monopoly-granted first-class mail will inch up a penny to 42 cents, as well as a host of other modifications. Available for purchase is a "forever stamp," which can be purchased at the current price of a first-class stamp but is always good for the value of a first class stamp. So, you can put one of these forever stamps that you bought last week on a letter ten years from now and you won't have to pay anything extra. Why aren't these priced at a level above that of a first-class stamp? Am I missing something? People would pay a premium above this, especially since the Post Office announced they'll be increasing rates generally every year. Perhaps they overestimate the willingness to pay of the public...but then they'll just buy more of the fixed-value stamps, which generate the same revenue, and with the added future income of buying smaller stamp amounts so they can use them up after the rates increase again. Is there a downside anywhere to charging more? Perhaps stamps are like cigarettes and people irrationally buy them in smaller amounts. It's effectively a financial instrument, isn't it? Does the SEC regulate this? If you bought a roll of these tomorrow at 42 cents, and the Postal Service kicked up the rates to 44 cents in a year, that's a tidy 4.7% return on your stamp investment. And short of the Postal Service lowering rates (monopoly on first-class letters-- probably not likely), you can't lose anything. Bizarre. - This last week and the next is College Championship week on Jeopardy!, I have to root for the Claremont Colleges and pull for the fellow from Harvey Mudd. I wrote a little while back about betting strategies, and I must say, I think I saw perhaps the single-worst bet in my Jeopardy! watching experience. Tournaments are a little different than regular play. They last for two weeks, and the first week is the first round. The five individual winners advance along with the four highest dollar totals amongst the non-winners. One girl, I believe she was on Thursday night's show, had about $22,000 heading into Final Jeopardy. This was the high score for the individual game. Because she played on Thursday, she (presumably) has the knowledge advantage of what 6 of the 10 non-winners have earned. I'm 95% certain that she had out-earned the previous 6 non-winners. This means that she can bet nothing and advance to the next round. This can't be overstated. In the 5% chance that she hadn't out earned everyone, $22,000 does everything but guarantee you a shot in the next round. Instead of taking the certain spot in next week's semifinals, she sees the category...and bets every dollar she has. I was amazed at this. I'm still amazed at this. There's a reason that episode of Cheers is very well known. She ended up getting it right for the win, but...really? Betting all of your money there? In a tournament? In the first round?! The only time I could think of this being even remotely acceptable would be in the first half of the championship of a tournament. Now, if you get to keep the money that you earn in every part of the tourney, then this might explain the strategy a bit (though still doesn't justify it, in my eyes). I'm also fairly certain that seeding plays little to no role-- you might get the chance to select the first question of your respective semifinal match if you were one of the best players of the previous week, but I'm not positive of that and even then that is of minuscule importance. I think about Jeopardy a lot.
• 

  news rundown 2

  http://underthetucsonsun.blogspot.com/2008/05/news-rundown-1...
  5 days ago in Adventures in Arizona: An east coast girl in a west coast world · Authority: 2

  How did I miss that stamps are going up tomorrow? The "Forever Stamps" are a nice idea - but as I have mentioned previously, I love to go to the post office to look at and pick out a pretty new stamp designs. I guess I will have to pay a penny more if I want to do that (although luckily I have more than enough pretty 41-cent stamps right now that all I need to get is 1-cent stamps). However, if the USPS is disappointed about the drop in volume and thus revenue of mail ("The increase comes just a week after the post office announced that it had a loss of $700 million in the second quarter of the fiscal year, blamed largely on declining mail volume and rising fuel prices.") --Increasing the price every year, combined with a continuing increase in emails and texts, PDAs and fancy cellphone, will only continue to cause losses without a major overhaul of the system.
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  The Malaise of the Mail Monopoly

  http://www.dartblog.com/data/2008/05/007798.php
  5 days ago in Dartblog · Authority: 83

  I read on CNN today that the price of stamps is going up again, 1 cent more this time up to 42 cents for a standard letter. The Post Office has apparently come up with the cute little gimmick of "Forever stamps" which can be purchased at the going rate (e.g. now 41 cents) and used forever, even if postage rates change. Still I thought it would interesting to post the Cato Institute's view on the matter: Mail service in the United States is slow and unreliable because the government has a monopoly. The implicit motto of every monopoly is, "The public be damned!" As long as the Postal Service has no competition, it will have little or no incentive to treat its customers with the respect they receive elsewhere in a competitive economy. With over 800,000 employees, the Postal Service is the United States' largest employer. It has added more new employees--150,000--during the Reagan years than have been cut by all other federal agencies to reduce federal employment. However, the more workers the Postal Service has hired, the worse service has become, and the more incorrigible the system appears to be.... A 1976 New Yorker cartoon expressed what could be the Postal Service's new motto, "Neither lethargy, indifference, nor the general collapse of standards will prevent these couriers from eventually delivering some of your mail...." The United States should recognize that the words "monopoly" and "public service" will almost always be a contradiction. The public is best protected when citizens have the right of free choice. We have a choice of blindly trusting to the generosity of government bureaucrats or of relying on competing entrepreneurs. Is there anyone who would say America would be better off if the government outlawed Federal Express and UPS? Is there anyone who thinks that America would be better off if the Postal Service ran the telephone system? Then why should we continue the Postal Service's monopoly over first-class mail, simply because our ancestors also endured a postal monopoly? It should not be a federal crime to deliver the mail faster than the U.S. Postal Service. Here is a link to the full, particularly well-written report. This report was written in 1988, twenty years ago, yet none of the underlying facts seem to have changed and of course the USPS has not learned.
• 

  Postal Rates go up on Monday

  http://triphopclan.com/blog/2008/05/11/postal-rates-go-up-on...
  5 days ago in Trip Hop Clan · Authority: 3

  42 cents for first class.
• 

  Postage Rates to Rise on Monday

  http://inertiawins.blogspot.com/2008/05/postage-rates-to-ris...
  5 days ago in Inertia Wins! · Authority: 5

  The Forever Stamp is a great idea. When postage rates rise to 42 cents on Monday, we won't have to bother with those infernal penny stamps. But I think there's a downside here; people are becoming less sensitive to postage price increases. Not that I devote my life to tracking the price of postage, but this was the first I'd heard of the increase. Two days in advance. Usually there's a little more notice for these things. People needed the time to buy those accursed one and two-cent stamps. Not anymore. And increases will happen more frequently than before, too. According to CNN, the USPS increases may become an annual affair each May. People might not even notice. I'll still take the Forever Stamp, (potential) drawbacks and all. They're just so convenient.
• 

  Going postal

  http://www.bitchdujour.com/?p=1499
  5 days ago in Bitch du Jour · Authority: 3

  Going postal May 10th, 2008 The price of stamps is going up again!! Didn’t they just increase? I can’t keep up. 42 cent stamps start Monday May 12. (Postcards also go up 1 cent to 27 cents). However, you still have time to go out and buy some “Forever Stamps”. They are on sale for 41 cents now, but they will still be good after the rate increase. But who uses stamps anymore anyway? I am all about online bill pay and online UPS labels. Stamp price increase Posted in Deep Fried Smelts
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  CNN - Cost of stamps rises to 42 cents

  http://www.breathingfire.com/index.php/cnn-cost-of-stamps-ri...
  5 days ago in Breathingfire.com · Authority: 7

  CNN - Cost of stamps rises to 42 cents I bought me some 41 cent ‘Forever’ stamps on Friday. Good timing!

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