For the record (in case anyone was still in suspense about this)… Apparently if you send an email to the USPS’s web tools customer support box saying that nothing you try on their test server is working as documented, you’ll get a lovely form letter about a day later congratulating you on successfully completing all testing and granting you access to the USPS’s production systems, and suddenly everything miraculously Just Works.
Nothing quite like my tax dollars at work. 
- Mood:amused
- Music:Aesop Rock - “None Shall Pass”
10 responses so far ↓
Brilliant. =)
Got any baby pictures yet?
Not since the last ultrasound, no…
We’re still a little over a week out from the due date. Liz is hoping for September so that she can get sapphires. I’m hoping for September so that I can get as much work done as possible.
A week? Scary! Good luck with it all!
By the way, your blog looks really nice. Is this one of the default LJ themes/layouts (or whatever they call them) or a custom design?
It’s one of the themes for the “Expressive” layout, IIRC. (So yes, it’s an LJ thing and not my own.)
Nice, I think I may go looking for that, then, thanks.
The USPS is not a tax-funded organization. They depend entirely on postal stamps.
I don’t have time to explain why, but the USPS is as important as the 2nd amendment for preventing tyranny.
– Matt
Good point. I stand corrected.
So what’s your take on the Federal Reserve?
Well, I worked at the Fed for 5 years, and it was probably the best time of my life, so I’m ridiculously biased.
That aside, the Fed has twin obligations:
1. Keep prices stable;
2. Maintain full employment.
In practice, they sacrifice #2 to satisfy #1. Furthermore, Alan Greenspan himself has argued that if we returned to the gold standard, a central bank is unnecessary.
If I have too much to drink, I can get pretty worked up on this subject.
I ask because I’ve been bumping into some interesting discussion lately on exactly how constitutional the Fed may or may not be. From a strict constructionist perspective, it does seem a bit dodgy.