From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V16 #281 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, August 3 2007 Volume 16 : Number 281 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: postman (u.s.) for a day [Rex ] Re: postman (u.s.) for a day [2fs ] Re: reap ["Lauren Elizabeth" ] Re: postman (u.s.) for a day ["Lauren Elizabeth" ] I don't know, my of Montreal update (for the few who care), and Minneapolis news [Jill Brand ] My first two RH LPs [hssmrg@bath.ac.uk] More Music! [blatzman@aol.com] Re: Leaving Portland. [Capuchin ] Re: Leaving Portland. [Benjamin Lukoff ] Re: More Music! [Rex ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 18:29:05 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: postman (u.s.) for a day On 8/2/07, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > > > > The most fucked-up thing about all this is the way the rates don't > align: there's a whole series of items that go up by 17-cent > increments...one penny apart. > > i'm a bit confused...do you mean that the "large envelope" rates vs. > the "package" or is this within one rate schedule? or do i have to When did all this happen? I just encountered this labyrinth of confusion today, but I assumed that it'd been going on for a while... I just hadn't had to mail anything non-letter-y for a while. There's like a "media" rate or something, too, right? - -Rex ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 20:45:03 -0500 From: 2fs Subject: Re: postman (u.s.) for a day On 8/2/07, Rex wrote: > > On 8/2/07, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > > > > > > > The most fucked-up thing about all this is the way the rates don't > > align: there's a whole series of items that go up by 17-cent > > increments...one penny apart. > > > > i'm a bit confused...do you mean that the "large envelope" rates vs. > > the "package" or is this within one rate schedule? or do i have to > > > When did all this happen? I think like early May or something. I just encountered this labyrinth of confusion > today, but I assumed that it'd been going on for a while... I just hadn't > had to mail anything non-letter-y for a while. There's like a "media" > rate > or something, too, right? Media rate = will be sent via the QE2 even if you're mailing from Nebraska to North Dakota. It's cheaper, but it takes a year. Also, the post office says they have the right to *open* media mail to make sure it's really "media" and not, I dunno, non-media (whatever that might be). I don't mind the whole envelope/large envelope/package thing - it reflects costs and need for equipment, apparently - it's the hodgepodge of uncoordinated pricing. To answer Lauren's earlier question: for example (and these are fake numbers), there are situations like: a 4-oz "large envelope" costs $1.31, and a 2-oz "package" costs $1.32. If you're trying to put actual postage stamps on these things, of course, unless you're the sort of person who buys every denomination of stamp available, you will not be able to land exactly on the correct amount...so you put on a few cents more. So wouldn't it have been easier to set the amounts so, say, two or three different denominations of stamps would always get you there? The base rate for a first-class envelope is 41 cents; the basic increment between weights is 17 cents: why not base everything else off those facts? Oh, and there's a weird zone between 3 and 4 oz where things go up by the *half*-ounce... I think the USPS is staffed by expatriate elderly Britons who miss the old, non-decimal pounds/shillings/pence business, is what I think. Viva confusion! - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 21:46:25 -0400 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: Re: reap james says: > On the subject of reap, though, I'm seriously sad about Antonioni. > I've only recently been dipping my toe into Italian art films for the > first time, and am thoroughly enjoying it. i adore antonioni, really for the trilogy that starts with "l'avventura." i'm not even kidding when i say that, photographically, it's probably the most gorgeous movie i know. okay that probably sounds like a dumb statement re: the "photographically" qualifier, but really, that guy had a sense of balance and composition that is not to be believed. if you doubt me, just hit "pause." i know i've mentioned this onlist before, but a wonderful movie about italian cinema is: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0173772/ it's surprisingly engaging. i think fellini's dominance in italian movies (at least to the college art-house crowd) turned me away from italian movies for quite awhile. he's too loud for me. i'm grateful to have eventually made my way around him to antonioni. as ever, lauren - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 21:49:52 -0400 From: "Lauren Elizabeth" Subject: Re: postman (u.s.) for a day Rex says: > When did all this happen? I just encountered this labyrinth of confusion > today, but I assumed that it'd been going on for a while... I just hadn't > had to mail anything non-letter-y for a while. There's like a "media" rate > or something, too, right? this happened sometime in may i think was - it was the same time that the letter rate went from $0.39 to $0.41 the "media" rate is something different - i think it's sort of a second- or third-class sort of thing for books. most times i get a used book from amazon, it's shipped that way. but i've never used it myself. as ever, lauren - -- - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." - The Buddha ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 22:08:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Jill Brand Subject: I don't know, my of Montreal update (for the few who care), and Minneapolis news Is there anyone else out there who doesn't remember what his/her second Robyn Hitchcock album was? It would have been somewhere around 1984. That's when I discovered Underwater Moonlight, so the next was ?Can of Bees? I Often Dream of Trains? I really don't remember at all. I know I saw Robyn for the first time somewhere around Fegmania. I think. But I don't know. Since I've always seen him in club gigs, I don't have ticket stubs or anything. The one thing I'm sure of is that I saw him on April 1, 1988 at the Paradise in Boston (Fuck You Tom Clark was there, too), about two weeks before I got pregnant (and this ended my rock n roll career until Ray Davies crept back into my life in 1996). So there. After all the of Montreal advice, I didn't exactly know what to do - to begin at the beginning, to buy Aldhils Arboretum because of its Kinkyness, to go backwards because I think Hissing Fauna is so kickass...so I sort of did pieces of it all. I got Icons, Abstract Thee to accompany Hissing Fauna, Sunlandic Twins, Satanic Panic in the Attic, Aldhils Arboretum, and Cherry Peel. Of the trio of disco-flavored later records, I think that Hissing Fauna is a fucking stand-out, but Sunlandic is hot on its tail. I haven't fallen in love with Satanic Panic completely, but I rather like some songs (Climb the Ladder, City Bird, and My British Tour Diary, for example). Although I like Aldhils (and yes, Stewart, Jennifer Louise is a perfect pop song - it reminds me of the Turtles), it's Cherry Peel that has my undivided attention at the moment. I truly love it every which way there is to love an album. I figure I'll head off next and get The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit's Flower. I find it very difficult approaching a group with such a large back catalogue. It's easier getting in on the ground floor. Well, I guess I had to do the same thing with Brahms. As for Minneapolis, I spoke to my friend Miriam, who lives in Portland (Jeme and Gnat have met her, and Eddie has, too, at one point), because she's from the Twin Cities and her dad and best friend still live there. Her stepmom decided to drive a different way because of traffic about an hour before the bridge collapsed. Her best friend's brother drove over the bridge 15 minutes before it collapsed; he is a career military person and managed to avoid being sent to Kosovo and Iraq twice. Someone is watching out for him, indeed. Anyway, what a scary, scary thing. I want someone to write a song like "When You're Loved Like You Are" for me. Apparently, Kevin Barnes wrote it for his uncle Larry. Off to Lenox and the Tanglewood culture vulture crowd for the weekend. Jill, np Cherry Peel....again ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 23:08:18 EDT From: BLATZMAN@aol.com Subject: when mailing CDs I always ask for the "media rate" which is cheaper cause CDs are considered "educational" Sure, it takes longer, but sometimes it's a lot cheaper... I was sending packages of 26 CDs to friends of mine, I think I was paying just over $2 per package... But you have to specify "media" at the window and you have to accept that it's going to get there a little slower. Blatzy ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 08:16:42 +0100 From: craigie* Subject: Re: postman (u.s.) for a day Yeah, I'd *love* to chime in, but my experience is with UK mailings... ...which on the whole are a lot simpler, it would seem, than yours... I thought you'd been using size-based pricing for a while longer than us anyhow? Liked this: > Also, rates are multiplied by the square root of the package's > corner-to-corner dimension on alternate Tuesdays, unless such Tuesday > follows a Monday whose date is a prime number, in which case you must > multiply by the cube root. I'll suggest that to my boss for the next increases... c* On 03/08/07, Lauren Elizabeth wrote: > > hi fegs, > > i'm sending out some CDs in a square (about 6" x 6") bubble-wrap envelope. > > has anyone sorted out the new "we dare you to figure it out" postal > rates for sending e.g. sending DVDs or CDs? these used to go under > the first-class rate but now the "letter" rate is more restricted re: > the size of the package. does anyone know if a bubble-wrap envelope > (fairly consistently flat, but not "letter"-flat) gets classified > under "large envelope" or under "package"? > > i would have guessed "large envelope" (4oz = $1.31) only i've recently > received some dvds that were sent with "package" (4oz = 1.64) postage > (it's possible the post office is still figuring said puzzle...) > > http://postcalc.usps.gov/ > > oh, craigie* - i know you're dying in on this one, but alas, your > answer will be disqualified as you may be a double agent. > > as ever, > lauren > > -- > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > "People with opinions just go around bothering one another." > > - The Buddha > - -- first things first, but not necessarily in that order... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2007 12:42:55 +0100 From: hssmrg@bath.ac.uk Subject: My first two RH LPs I think I bought the same ones as Sebastian, viz 'Element of Light' and 'Fegmaniax'; but I soon acquired 'Gotta Let This Hen Out' and 'I often dream of trains' as well. And once started, a Robyn Hitchcock collection is difficult to stop, I find. I did manage not to buy the soundtrack of the film 'Storefront Hitchcock', however. - - Mike Godwin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2007 13:12:48 -0400 From: blatzman@aol.com Subject: More Music! Hello Fegs- I got a lot of great response to my new band page at myspace, so I went ahead and created a new page for myself!!!? It highlights my solo work as well as my former bands Peace & Vegetable Rights and There Goes Bill (featuring Rex Broome!!!) A lot of the music is a bit absurd, and I was obviously listening to too much Robyn Hitchcock, but it's hopefully amusing! Please check it out at www.myspace.com/davesantosmusic thanks so much- Blatzy ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 16:16:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: Leaving Portland. On Tue, 31 Jul 2007, Capuchin wrote: > Second, I am taking this incredibly dodgy looking VW Vanagon Camper > nearly 3,000 miles from Portland to New Orleans. So, it turns out the camper is beyond dodgy. I'm putting my things on a train and taking an Aeroplane Brand flying machine on Thursday. Such is life. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 16:26:01 -0700 (PDT) From: Benjamin Lukoff Subject: Re: Leaving Portland. I didn't know you could still ship by train..? On Fri, 3 Aug 2007, Capuchin wrote: > On Tue, 31 Jul 2007, Capuchin wrote: > > Second, I am taking this incredibly dodgy looking VW Vanagon Camper > > nearly 3,000 miles from Portland to New Orleans. > > So, it turns out the camper is beyond dodgy. > > I'm putting my things on a train and taking an Aeroplane Brand flying > machine on Thursday. > > Such is life. > > J. > -- > _______________________________________________ > > Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin > _______________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 18:42:08 -0700 From: Rex Subject: Re: More Music! On 8/3/07, blatzman@aol.com wrote: > > Hello Fegs- > > I got a lot of great response to my new band page at myspace, so I went > ahead and created a new page for myself!!!? It highlights my solo work as > well as my former bands Peace & Vegetable Rights and There Goes Bill > (featuring Rex Broome!!!) Yes, it looks as if my knee is present on this page. Sorry I couldn't be bothered to wear jeans that weren't falling apart... - -Rex, shallow end of the jean pool etc. ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V16 #281 ********************************