Lassen was spectacular from all angles. 4/30/10
What a day it was, yesterday.
Pictures were just wanting to be taken, and the sun provided the perfect lighting, all day.
An iris with flag behind building 'A'. 4/30/10
We have some 'experts' around these parts, who continually trumpet the 'call to arms' against the latest real, or imagined, imposition foisted upon us by the 'government'.
I suspect that their information comes from sources like cable news, and scary email. One of the recent subjects of contention, is the Saturday mail delivery.
"Obama is taking away our mail service", cry the Glenn Beck faithful.
"Now 'they' are taking away Saturday mail delivery", wail the tinfoil hatters.
"It's the first step toward a socialist state", moan the totally misinformed.
I decided, since this is Saturday, (and I have all these pretty pictures to show you), ...I decided to find out when we actually began delivering mail on Saturday.
The first time that Saturday mail was suspended was in 1957. I don't remember the world coming to an end because of this, but I was only 12 at the time, so I may have missed the end of days. Let's see what other tidbits I found.
The sun lit this rose perfectly in the Taylor's front yard.
Originally, mail was not delivered to homes and businesses, but to post offices. In 1863, "city delivery" began in urban areas with enough customers to make this economical. This required streets to be named, houses to be numbered, with sidewalks and lighting provided, and these street addresses to be added to envelopes.The number of routes served expanded over time. In 1891, the first experiments with Rural Free Delivery began in less densely populated areas.
Another option is the old-style general delivery, for people who have neither post office boxes nor street addresses. Mail is held at the post office until they present identification and pick it up.
I used general delivery during my homeless periods, and during those occasions when I was 'just visiting' a town, somewhere, across this great country. I liked it because I got to know the people who worked at the post office, and it always felt good that, after a few visits, they knew my name and we learned a few things about eachother so we could exchange pleasantries like, "How is the new puppy?", or "What a beautiful day".
Homeless people are also eligible for post office boxes at the discretion of the local postmaster, or can use general delivery.
Even when I had a post office box, I would poke my head into the post office proper to ask those people, who's names I knew, "How are you doing today"? It gave me the feeling of belonging to the community. And it would make me happy when the nice ladies behind the counter would give me a friendly smile.
Until 1912, mail was delivered 7 days a week. As the postal service grew in popularity and usage in the 1800s, local religious leaders were noticing a decline in Sunday morning church attendance due to local post offices doubling as gathering places. These leaders appealed to the government to intervene and close post offices on Sundays.
When I was growing up, most things were closed on Sunday's.
It had a lot to do with the 3rd commandment about the sabbath being a day of rest, "you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you".
I think the UFOers could site the ten commandments as proof of extra terrestrial visitors in the past, or those that want to send the resident aliens back to where they came from, might give a fleeting thought to the un-Christian like behavior of the Arizona legislators. Right!
The government supports religious leaders and stops Sunday mail delivery, (except in some towns).
As a result of this intervention by the government, U.S. Mail (with the exception of Express Mail) is not delivered on Sunday, with the exception of a few towns in which the local religion has had an effect on the policy; for example, Loma Linda, California, which has a significant Seventh-day Adventist population.U.S. Mail is delivered Sunday through Friday, with the exception of observed federal holidays.
There you have some tidbits about the mail, and there is still debate about ending Saturday delivery, so here is the deal;
Implementation of a five-day delivery schedule by the Postal Service after fiscal year 2010 (which ends Sept. 30, 2010) is contingent upon Congress not enacting legislation to prevent such a change in service. In addition, the Postal Service must file a request for an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). If the Postal Service implements five-day delivery, it would take effect in fiscal year 2011 (Oct. 1, 2010, to Sept. 30, 2011).
So, if congress does nothing, (they are good at that), by this September 30, then Saturday mail will stop October 1st.
There is a good site from the USPS that explains the 5 day delivery plan, HERE.
Today, right now. Picture taken by the Macbook. 5/1/10
Well, I think I will go check the Saturday mail. I hope you can enjoy this beautiful May 1st.
Mr. Postman - The Marvelettes
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