We've got an artificial Christmas tree. The tree "trunk" is held in place in the base by three turnscrews. When I went to set it up last December, I discovered that one of the three screws had gone missing. I used a shim to get through the holidays, then sought out a replacement after we took the tree down.

The local home improvement store was useful in that they had a little sizer doo-hickey that confirmed that the screws were metric. But the store, despite being larger than any aircraft hanger I've worked in, did not have a replacement. So I ordered them off Amazon.com. They took about a month to arrive.

Anyway, they came today in a little pouch mailed from Hong Kong, China Post to  the US Post Office. It had the customs information printed right on the pouch. According to the customs declaration, it was a gift of the category "Cell Phone Accessories".

The screws were only a few bucks for the set. I'm sure the tariff saved was only a few cents. I'm not going to write my Congressman and demand an investigation. But it struck my fancy as being an excellent example of the petty corruption that one hears about in societies were the rule of law has not taken hold.

Posted by: Boviate at 10:30 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Wow, that was quite the windstorm. There were reports that the wind derailed a train outside of town. The highway was shut down due to multiple flipped trucks. Emergency vehicles were rushing up and down my quiet side street, apparently because the main road was blocked with downed trees and/or power lines. Some of the neighbors lost shingles- I think I'll look over my roof in the morning.

It's kind of reassuring to be in a century-old house during a bad storm. You know it's not the house's first rodeo.

Posted by: Boviate at 11:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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