What Are You Thinking?

[V's patron]

I feel sorry for Tim Blake Nelson. He was set up to be the Leader and Mole Man in future films but dude never got to fulfill those promises.

Come on Marvel/Fox!!!!!

Ps. I loved him as Looking Glass from Watchmen(2019).

 

[Angel]

We got excited too early, turns out she has viral meningitis and had it all along

She needs 2 weeks on a drip with medication but should then finally be okay

I know it's only anecdotal and everyone is different, but my sister got viral meningitis last year (took them ages to diagnose it) and was in hospital for a week or so - she was absolutely fine. Your mum might have some fatigue and headaches for a bit afterwards. I hope she recovers quickly

 

[ef9dante_oSsshea]

Thank you angel, that's a comfort and relief

 

[therogis]

It's so good to hear it's getting better out there, @ef9dante_oSsshea !

What am I thinking? Well, I'm thinking this is just the kind of Saturday I needed.
Also, I wonder if I could grow potatoes on our balcony. It's possible, but I'm not really a gardener.

 

[V's patron]

Iron Fist's origin story always reminded me of Hamlet. In broad strokes they are both young man who avenge their fathers after they were murdered by their wife's secret lover.

Fun fact, this happens to Danny's father twice. Was this a fetish he had ?

If I get to pitch an Iron Fist reboot, first season is literally gonna be "Hamlet with Kung Fu".

 

[Angel]

I am really hoping that by June 21st, we will be out of this nonsense that is lockdown.

It would be nice to be able to celebrate eldest child's 20th the way we would have celebrated her 19th...

Also, today's roast dinner is going to be an utter shambles. But because it's Mother's Day, no one is allowed to complain. It's the perfect crime.

 

[therogis]

Also, today's roast dinner is going to be an utter shambles. But because it's Mother's Day, no one is allowed to complain. It's the perfect crime.

WHAT?! Mother's Day is not the same date internationally?! It's the second Sunday of May in here and I thought it's the same all over the world or at least Europe

My whole life is a lie...

 

[Angel]

WHAT?! Mother's Day is not the same date internationally?! It's the second Sunday of May in here and I thought it's the same all over the world or at least Europe

My whole life is a lie...

It's a religious thing here, I think? Been around since the middle ages...

CT: It's all kicking off in London - the police hit, shoved and arrested women holding a peaceful candlelit vigil to honour the memory of a woman kidnapped and murdered by a policeman. "Covid rules" were apparently being enforced.

Yet when men want to celebrate a football win, or people want to congregate on a bridge and clap for the NHS, or people want to protest for BLM? Police do nothing. In some cases, they joined in with those things. And the worst of it? The person at the top, making all the crap decisions, is a woman.

I'm so glad I don't live near London any more...

 

[Foxtrot94]

Military FPS campaigns are always about US vs Russians, US vs China, US vs Koreans, US vs arabic people... I genuinely wonder what people of those counteries feel when they play.

 

[therogis]

Military FPS campaigns are always about US vs Russians, US vs China, US vs Koreans, US vs arabic people... I genuinely wonder what people of those counteries feel when they play.

If it's historical, it's some sort of English-speaking Nazi Germany vs everyone.

 

[Angel]

Military FPS campaigns are always about US vs Russians, US vs China, US vs Koreans, US vs arabic people... I genuinely wonder what people of those counteries feel when they play.

I have wondered the same thing...

CT: I need vegetables at some point before I get diabeetus. Roast dinner never happened in the end...got distracted by home made bread.

 

[Carlos]

Military FPS campaigns are always about US vs Russians, US vs China, US vs Koreans, US vs arabic people... I genuinely wonder what people of those counteries feel when they play.

The reason why military games are like that, is because there isn't too many stories to draw from. For example, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was perfect for the time, because we had just come off a war in Iraq [Clinton/Bush years], and we were attacked on 9/11. The nation, and the world understood the atrocities that went on in Iraq during Saddam's rule, when the game was released we were still embroiled into multiple wars in the area. Easy to sell. Even in the Middle East. The reason why its considered controversial in other places you mentioned is because the government in that area is communist.

China doesn't allow too many famous games in their regions, it's why Rainbow Six was censored for a bit until the controversy hit critical mass. The thing is, the game was made and published by an European company. You couldn't say "go figure" on that one because you'd think because the story is about U.S. vs Russia - it was made by a U.S. company, but you're laughing because Ubisoft is U.K.

Most Japanese devs make games that have U.S. tropes.

I can go on and on, but what my point is, other countries don't want depiction to hurt their country's image either locally or on the global stage.

 

[Kaori]

I am going out for a midnight walk.

 

[Angel]

Ok, can someone please help me understand how mail boxes work in America. How does the mail not get stolen? Are they locked? I can't get my head around it...

 

[Carlos]

Ok, can someone please help me understand how mail boxes work in America. How does the mail not get stolen? Are they locked? I can't get my head around it...

Depends where you live. Pm me the state you live in, and what kind of living space (house/apartment/duplex, etc.) Ill have an understanding of what we're dealing with here.

 

[therogis]

Ok, can someone please help me understand how mail boxes work in America. How does the mail not get stolen? Are they locked? I can't get my head around it...

As far as I know, those mail boxes where you drop letters for delivery are locked, and picking that lock is a crime of its own. Even possessing an USPS mail box outside the USPS facilities, for any reason, is a crime, I've heard.
Of course this is not in any way related to my lockpicking hobby...

Regarding the private mailboxes, I don't know about the US, but here in Finland in the rural areas it is still common to have non-locked mailboxes, and they can be located pretty far away from the house they belong to. In city areas I've only seen a) locked mailboxes b) mail "lids" that are integrated into apartment doors (so any mail delivered to you falls straight inside your apartment).

 

[Carlos]

As far as I know, those mail boxes where you drop letters for delivery are locked, and picking that lock is a crime of its own. Even possessing an USPS mail box outside the USPS facilities, for any reason, is a crime, I've heard.
Of course this is not in any way related to my lockpicking hobby...

Regarding the private mailboxes, I don't know about the US, but here in Finland in the rural areas it is still common to have non-locked mailboxes, and they can be located pretty far away from the house they belong to. In city areas I've only seen a) locked mailboxes b) mail "lids" that are integrated into apartment doors (so any mail delivered to you falls straight inside your apartment).

This is true for the most part, but USPS is trash in my opinion. If they don't know what address is on the envelope, they toss it on the N/A pile. I worked at USPS, I would know.

USPS is a federal agency, kinda the same way the "royal" agency controls the mail in U.K.

Here, though, the way it works is, if you have an address, it gets sent there, regardless if the mailbox is locked or not. They just deliver. What happens next is on you. You're going to need to know how to protect your stuff.

So, if you're in an apartment, you are given a specific mailbox and a key. You buy a house? Or at least rent it, you're on your own. As I said in our private conversation (PM) is stealing depends on where you live. If it is a high-crime area, expect thieves at your front door... but it seems like you did your research, so don't worry too much...

And even if you rent or buy a house you can replace the mailbox with something you like.

Oh, and I forgot: Make sure the formatting of mail is correct.

First/Last Name here
Street Address here [Apartment p.o. box here]
[if suite building, it goes here]
City/State/Zip code here

Anything other than that, they don't recognize.

I purchased a website from a U.K. resident and his formatting was weird.

Carlos Morales [me]
Address
Address
Address
Address
Zip code

It's not "Address" obviously, but use your imagination.

 

[V's patron]

Ok, can someone please help me understand how mail boxes work in America. How does the mail not get stolen? Are they locked? I can't get my head around it...

You get a key for a mailbox in your name. It probably could get stolen but I never had to deal with that.

 

[Morgan]

Ok, can someone please help me understand how mail boxes work in America. How does the mail not get stolen? Are they locked? I can't get my head around it...

Short answer: It depends on where they are, what you're sending, and what they've got as a "mailbox", as the US Postal Service is pretty reliable on the delivery aspect of things.

Long answer: If you're asking about residential mailboxes, those are generally unlocked and can be placed right beside the front door of the residence, or classically, near the sidewalk (but technically still on the property) for the mailperson to come by, put the letter in, and go on their way. There's no requirement for a name to be on the mailbox for correspondence to be received-- anything addressed to that location will end up there, whether it's letters, gift parcels, promotional material (store circulars, flyers, brochures), etc. When mail is sent to a recipient that no longer lives at the address, returning it is as simple as writing "UNKNOWN" or "UNK" on the envelope and putting it back in the mailbox. The mailperson will pick the correspondence back up the very next day and it'll be returned to the sender or whatever else the postal service does with it.

Unlawfully possessing someone else's correspondence is 100% a federal crime under the US Code, quoted thus:

18 U.S. Code § 1708 - Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter generally​

Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception obtains, or attempts so to obtain, from or out of any mail, post office, or station thereof, letter box, mail receptacle, or any mail route or other authorized depository for mail matter, or from a letter or mail carrier, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or abstracts or removes from any such letter, package, bag, or mail, any article or thing contained therein, or secretes, embezzles, or destroys any such letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein; or

Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception obtains any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein which has been left for collection upon or adjacent to a collection box or other authorized depository of mail matter; or

Whoever buys, receives, or conceals, or unlawfully has in his possession, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein, which has been so stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted, as herein described, knowing the same to have been stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted—

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 779; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 39, 63 Stat. 95; July 1, 1952, ch. 535, 66 Stat. 314; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(I), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)

On the rare occasion someone's accidentally received someone's mail, the proper way to handle it is noted above: write "UNK" on the envelope or otherwise personally go to the nearest postal office to explain that the person no longer lives at that location. Sometimes misplacement isn't that gross and the mail in someone's box actually belongs to the neighbor just next door. In which case, we just leave it in their box or personally hand it to them.

Then there are the integrated "hole in the door" mail slots that therogis mentioned, but parcels of a certain size can't fit through those, so they're only good for protecting, well, envelope-sized mail. Anything bigger than the slot will be left at the doorstep or sent to an Authorized Service Center for pickup if not a second attempt at delivery, detailed below.

For areas that don't have a door-to-door mail service or recipients that don't want certain things to be sent directly to their house for whatever reason, they can rent out private mailboxes owned by the postal service and located right in the premises. PO Boxes obviously have a finite amount of space but there are different sizes available, with a key to access it and everything. In the event of interstate or international parcel delivery, they can't handle Direct-to-PO-Box shipping since they're not authorized to put anything in the recipient's name or in their box; they literally don't have the keys to get to it. That's resolved by letting the US Postal Service handle the "last leg" of the delivery, making them responsible for the package, and they put the mail in for the recipient to pick up. Or in the case of the United Parcel Service, they have Authorized Service Centers (storefronts or actual warehouses) to serve as the final destination for mail, that the recipient picks up. And they have to provide verification. And the person at the Authorized Service Center has to scan the barcode on the parcel to confirm pickup, get the receipt signed, etc.

I mean, it's a really involved process.

But I'm guessing you meant just regular mail like letters and stuff.

 

[Lain]

Speaking of mail, I wish the postie would actually look at the mail they're delivering beyond just the road name.

Every other day I get somebody else's mail and it's never within walking distance either so I always gotta drive ways out to make sure people get their stuff.