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Post by mailartist on Jun 19, 2018 20:16:55 GMT
I'm not sure if it was VistaPrint, or some other company, but I recall there being a thread somewhere on A World of Snail Mail, about people experiencing some fraudulent billing practices for one of these type of companies.
I don't remember which section it was in . . . .
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Post by mailartist on May 22, 2018 21:34:16 GMT
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Post by mailartist on May 12, 2018 12:45:38 GMT
Thank you for sharing, rosesnbrambles. It's easy to forget the challenges (handicaps?) that others can have with easy things we take for granted, and your story here was a great reminder.
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Post by mailartist on May 11, 2018 17:37:35 GMT
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Post by mailartist on May 11, 2018 13:08:50 GMT
He thinks it is easier to read the time on a clock with hands. I don't find it easier to tell the absolute time, but I do think analog dials make time intervals easier to track. I hadn't thought about this before, but there is a 2-d geometrical "overlay" to analog clocks (i.e., the ever-changing spread between the hands -- wide or narrow -- pointing different directions on the clock face -- up and over, down and around), that digital clocks, with their 1-d readout ("Number, number, number" and "Number, number, next number") can't capture. [Aside: About the only plus I can see for digital is that they are back-lit or illuminated, which makes them easier to see in the middle of the night. Clock, plus nightlight.] On that basis, it seems that reading analog clocks should be easier (and more fun), since it's more pictorial (as in, "time, illustrated" or "time, depicted in sculpture that moves, and often ticks"). But people have to be taught what the "picture" means. With all the talk about the importance of language-immersion for students, why not have dual-feature clocks, that show both analog and digital? If nothing else, give them something to study and compare one to the other (and perhaps teach themselves what the hands mean) when the history lecture drones long.
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Post by mailartist on May 11, 2018 12:55:57 GMT
The writing is worse too. Last week I spoke with a teacher friend. He recently looked back at papers from only 10 years ago, and it was obvious there was a difference. By "worse . . . difference," did the teacher friend mean poor penmanship, or paucity of thought?
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Post by mailartist on May 11, 2018 12:54:25 GMT
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Post by mailartist on May 9, 2018 10:35:28 GMT
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Post by mailartist on May 3, 2018 16:20:00 GMT
So sorry to hear! That's tough news for anybody.
More than what you say may be that you say something.
She's probably more than panicked with treatments, outcomes, life changes, etc., so you might want to subordinate your wishes to a boring litany of ordinariness, like --
It's getting planting time, and you are contemplating petunias vs. pansies. Your peonies need moving, but you don't have the best spot in the yard for them, so they may stay right where they are until 2019. You'll try peas again this year, but last year, they weren't great. You've taken up pie baking, and your last crust turned out pretty good -- but never as good as Aunt Matilda made, no? New neighbors just moved in next door, with more cars than driveway (which will make for exciting maneuvering for on-street parking). The job is going good, but you might move from inventory to billing later on this year, which might be a pay increase, but a steep learning curve as well. You were sorry to hear about the diagnosis. Any news yet about a treatment plan?"
She may not reply, but at least you've given her an option. She can talk about treatment, or dull stuff, like gardening. (If it gives her greater peace, she may well take you up on the latter.)
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Post by mailartist on Apr 30, 2018 19:24:05 GMT
Still, if someone wrote me a card saying they found it difficult to find anything to say to me, and sorry, but they won't be sending further correspondence, but they think I'm a swell person and wish me well, that'd be fine. I think the idea is that if you must give someone vinegar and honey, you make it a little vinegar, but a lot of honey.
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Post by mailartist on Apr 30, 2018 15:56:32 GMT
I want to be kind, but it’s plainly obvious that we have so little in common. schnacks, I personally believe that sometimes a little white lie, when done to be kind, is okay. I'm not sure that this is a white lie, at least if you are brief and couch things in generalities. Clearly circumstances have changed (you've decided that the correspondence isn't working), and you do have to reduce your correspondence (even if it's just to that individual) to concentrate on other things. None of that is "white lie." Just lacking in potentially hurtful specifics. But I wouldn't embroider with false stories about needing to rush your Dalmation to New Zealand for some breakthrough orthopaedic surgery, so you'll be so busy learning Maori, that you won't have time to write -- especially if you don't own a dog. That would be a white lie. Agreed that brief, but well wishes are appropriate at the conclusion (since it's clear that you don't want to offend, but that there are "so many letters to write, but so little time." There has to be some pick-and-choose in all of this.) You could fit all of this on a postcard.
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Post by mailartist on Apr 30, 2018 15:44:06 GMT
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Post by mailartist on Apr 18, 2018 17:10:59 GMT
After experiencing some weird travel times from Brazil (2 to 3 months, one-way, from Brazil to US), I finally got a letter today from Curitiba at what was a more normal time frame (1 month delivery, one-way, from Brazil to US).
Apparently there have been two postal strikes so far this year in Brazil, and a mail distribution center that burned down, contributing to the previous delays.
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Post by mailartist on Apr 5, 2018 16:00:44 GMT
Oddly enough, I save (mostly thank you) cards, too, most often kept in the bottom of my sock drawer. Most often, these come from "nonwriters," and so are a few handwritten lines thanking me for some little nothing or other that I did, or said. Nothing that is "hi (sic) literature" but they come from many people I've known, and looking at them brings those people to mind.
What struck me most was that a packet of cards were gathered up and mailed back to Danny. Coming as they did after the decease of those individuals (Danny Gregory's wife died young and unexpectedly), it had to have been a kindness -- both for him and for their son -- to have "mom" back.
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Post by mailartist on Apr 4, 2018 4:02:58 GMT
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