Sun, 04 Feb 2007
JSTOR Proxy Greasemonkey Script
I've written my first greasemonkey script, to rewrite links to JSTOR. JSTOR contains articles from tons of journals, but you need to have a subscription to access it. My university has a license, but in order to use the site remotely, you must go through the school's proxy server. So my script appends the name of your proxy server onto the jstor.org domain, in my case libaccess.sjlibrary.org.
Update: It now supports ieeexplore.ieee.org url's too. I knew the name would come back to bite me. I guess I'll wait to rename it until I rewrite to handle multiple domains more cleanly.
Another Update: Support for
Sun, 28 Jan 2007
Junk Mail Update
I've been meaning to blog about various things for a while, but everytime I think about doing so, I figure I should post an update about the Post Office, and then I get all pissed off and don't want to think about it, so I do something else. Today, an old co-worker IMed me and mentioned that he found my USPS posts amusing.
(04:45:41 PM) Andrew Arrow: your junk mail blog post is hilarious
(04:46:07 PM) Xn: i need to update it. i hate those bastards.
(04:46:20 PM) Xn: they're so evil
(04:46:47 PM) Andrew Arrow: i wrapped my wife's xmas present in shredded junk mail to re-use it
(04:49:00 PM) Xn: i filed a prohibitory order against pennysaver and advo, the two main co-conspirators of the usps, but they're still sending me crap. i'm consigned to marking out my address and dumping it all off at the post office periodically.
I filed the prohibitory orders with Dhanoa, the delivery supervisor at the Northridge post office, on December 30th. As far as I can tell, he's the only person working there that's not completely evil. He was supportive of my effort to refuse junk mail, and told me I was in the right. Ultimately, he was over-ruled by the postmaster.
I also spoke with someone from Consumer Affairs, which is supposed to be above
the local postmaster on the org chart, but his only advice was to black out my
address when refusing mail, as described above.
So that's where the saga stands. My prohibitory orders aren't being honored and I have a pile of junk mail on the floor that needs to be deposited in a mail receptacle. I promise that the next think I write will not be about the post office lest people that find my blog will think I'm a nutter.
Update: My wife feels that calling people evil bastards is uncouth, and that I should present a more civilized persona online lest it adversely affect my chances of getting into grad school or getting a job in the future. If, at any point in the future, you are in the role of potential employer, admissions officer, client, agent, publicist, co-author, partner, investor, shareholder, voter, professor, customer, friend, student, landlord, tenant, or undertaker, I ask that you not limit your investigation into my character to this blog post. Please consider continuing your research at Google or perhaps LinkedIn.
Sat, 02 Dec 2006
Government Shutdown
Schools and government offices shut down in Puerto Rico today after the government ran out of money. We could only dream of such a favorable resolution to a bankrupt government here on the mainland. Puerto Rico, being a commonwealth of the US, can't just pass a law to increase the budget deficit and then print up money.
Junk Mail Battle Continues
Thursday, the mail carrier once again put the refused junkmail back in my
mailbox. I posted a copy of the relevent section of the postal regulations which
states,
1.1.3 Refusal After Delivery
After delivery, an addressee may mark a mailpiece "Refused" and return it within a reasonable time, if the piece or any attachment is not opened. Mail that may not be refused and returned unopened under this provision may be returned to the sender only if it is enclosed in a new envelope or wrapper with a correct address and new postage. The following may not be refused and returned postage-free after delivery:
a. Pieces sent as registered, insured, certified, collect on delivery (COD), and return receipt for merchandise mail.
b. Response mail to the addressee's sales promotion, solicitation, announcement, or other advertisement that was not refused when offered to the addressee.
Yesterday, he did it again and circled the following section:
1.1.6 Remailing Returned Mail
Generally, a returned mailpiece that was undeliverable-as-addressed or refused by the addressee may not be remailed unless it is placed in a new envelope or wrapper with a correct address and new postage. A returned shortpaid mailpiece can have the necessary additional postage affixed to the original piece and does not have to be placed in a new envelope or wrapper.
The USPS carrier
exam apparently doesn't cover reading comprehension, as the above
regulation states that refused mail cannot be remailed once it has been
refused. Despite the fact that the refused mail is only traveling about 6
inches, since no additional postage has been paid, such a remailing would be a
violation. Today, I added a Post-it note to that effect.
Yesterday, I spoke with Lynda Buss, the local postmaster for Northridge. She was not much more helpful than the mailman. I pointed out that the Domestic Mail Manual stated that I could refuse the junkmail, and she said, "You can read the Domestic Mail Manual all you want," but that they were still going to deliver the junk mail. I said that was fine, but that mail that I refuse must not be redelivered. She made the absurd statement that if I refuse the junk mail, then the mail carrier won't know who lives there. The junk mail is not addressed to me personally, but "Postal Customer", "Resident", or similar. I emphasized that I would accept delivery of mail that was actually addressed to me. The only concession I could get out of her was that she would speak to the mail carrier to see what they could do. She's the boss. All she has to do is tell her subordinates to follow their own regulations.
Thu, 30 Nov 2006
Don't Throw Away Your Junk Mail
Last month, I tried to alleviate
the flood of junk mail I receive my not removing it from my mailbox. The
idea was that the mailman would get the hint that I don't want it, and would
stop stuffing it in my mailbox. I suppose it could have been easily predicted
that such a tactic would be unsuccessful. If I were to eat at the same
restaurant on a regular basis, and I always left the pickle on the plate, the
server might notice that I don't want the pickle and stop bringing it to me.
The mail carrier's job, unlike the waiter's, isn't to please me.
Despite the fact that that my junk mail may be addressed to "Postal Customer", I am in fact not the customer while in the role of junk mail recipient. Rather, I am the victim of one organization taking money from another company to bring me garbage. Although I wasn't able to quickly solve my problem, my little experiment showed that I was not completely helpless in working to eliminate this annoyance.
About two weeks after I stopped removing the junk from my mailbox, the mailman asked why I wasn't taking the mail out. I told him that I was hoping he would stop delivering it. He said that it was hurting his wrist, having to shove in new mail. I told him that I didn't appreciate having to carry it up to my apartment to throw it away, and then have to carry it back out to the dumpster. He said, "I'm not going to argue with you," and refused to discuss it further.
So, keeping the junk mail in the mailbox at least provided the right disincentive to delivery of the mail. If I could just get another 20 million "customers" to also leave their junk mail in their mailbox, the mail carriers would either complain to their superiors, demanding higher wages, or face increasing medical costs due to sore wrists, which would have to eventually be passed to the real customers.
Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to wait for the junk mail revolution to take hold, for my mailbox would soon be full and I wouldn't be able to receive my weekly copy of The Economist. There had to be another way.
Next to the mailboxes in our apartment complex, there's a note that says that the mailman would appreciate if we didn't put junk mail in the outgoing mailbox. Well, that certainly makes sense. If my job were to say have a dog crap on other people's lawns, I'd appreciate it if they not return it to my home. But you can't blame the poopee for refusing deliveries by the pooper.
I looked up the relevant regulations on refusing mail. Section 508.1.1.3 of the USPS Domestic Mail Manual states that basically any piece of mail can be refused by marking it "Refused".
So I took all of the junk out, wrote Refused on it, and stuck it in the outbox. The next day the mailman removed it from the outbox and left it on top of the mailboxes. It sat there for two or three days before he re-delivered it to my mailbox. I contacted the USPS through the form on their website to let them know that the mailman was re-delivering refused mail. I received a semi-personal email a few hours later telling me that a case had been opened, and that I would receive a phone call by the end of the next business day. They were only one day late, but I received a call on Tuesday. I explained what happened and was told that mailman would be spoken to.
I waited a couple days to give them time to talk to the mailman, and today re-refused the original mail as well as other junk mail that has since been delivered.
Please join the fight to stop junk mail by refusing delivery of it. By
doing so, you provide a disincentive to its delivery, and put the burden of
disposal on the junk couriers.
If you are feeling especially ambitious and are willing the enter the den of evil, you can take copies of junk mail from each individual sender down to the local post office with form 1500 and get a prohibitory order against each. You will have to file a separate form for each piece of junk mail that you would like blocked, and although the form is meant to block sexually oriented mail, they may not refuse to accept your form because you seem particularly prudish. Check out the excellent Junk Busters page for more information.
Fri, 24 Nov 2006
A Rare Sight Captured on Film
On page 27 of the September 25, 2004 U.S. edition of Time magazine appears a picture of the President of the United States, George W. Bush, in which he does not appear to be an idiot.
Fascinating.
Creative Talent Tax Exemption
I had to pay business tax to the city of Los Angeles last month since I receive 1099 income. The city took $600 from me, but it turns out that "creative artists" who earn up to $300,000 are exempt from the business tax thanks to the lobbying of the Screen Writers Guild. I should move to New Hampshire.
business » taxes | Permanent Link
Zopa, Consumer Lending
The latest newsletter from Springwise, which lists new businesses from around the world, mentions Zopa, which they describe as "eBay for money". The concept is fairly simple.
Zopa is a place where creditworthy people who want to borrow money can get together with people who are happy to lend it to them. And because there's no middleman - the borrower just pays a 1% exchange fee to Zopa up front - both get a great deal.
They pool loans together so each lender's loans are distributed among 50 or so borrowers. Lenders can decide what type of debtors they want to lend to based on the debtors' credit.
Zopa is only open to UK residents. I wonder how such a system would work in the states with each state having different lending laws. It's an interesting idea, and easier than standing outside the check cashing store looking for customers.
business » ideas | Permanent Link
Sat, 04 Nov 2006
Amazon aStore
A few months ago, Amazon introduced aStore, which allows associates to create their own Amazon store. It's a cool idea, but unfortunately, the current version is pretty limited in fuctionality. The store creator can only pick nine featured products sold by Amazon to display in the store. Categories of goods to be sold through the store can also be selected, but with only limited control over which products show up within these categories through the use of keywords.
For the nine featured products, the store builder can write a little description, but it would be nice if the products displayed the seller's product ratings, comments, etc.
Anyway, here's my store.
Sat, 21 Oct 2006
How to Stop Junk Mail
I think I've figured out how to stop receiving junk snail mail. Unlike Kramer's method to stop the intrusions into his mailbox by the Pottery Barn catalog, which required that he fill his mailbox with bricks, this method keeps the legitimate mail coming. In fact, you probably will still receive Pottery Barn catalogs, but I'm mostly concerned with stopping all of the newsprint advertisements that get shoved in my mailbox. I don't want the ads from Ralphs, Albertsons, Vons, Jons, Food4Less or Vallarta Supermarkets.
The trick is to leave the junk mail in the mailbox. Only take the real mail out. Then, when the postal worker comes to deliver more mail, there's not enough room for more junk. I've only been doing this for about a week, but it seems to work. The junk mail is folded vertically, and the real mail is also placed within the protective shield of junk. I simply remove the envelopes in the center and leave the undesirable outer crust. I'm thinking about stapling all the junk together to make for easy removal and reinsertion, and to prevent the possibility of real mail sneaking in between.
Updates: This passive-aggressive attempt to stop junk mail was unsuccessful, but you can join the fight to stop junk mail by refusing delivery of it. The struggle continues.
