Re: Passports (update on rules)

Kurt Ullman <kurtullman@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <l2i273hj37a1iuobk3covp2sfb2rrd43st@xxxxxxx>,
Neal Eckhardt <neckhardt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:53:59 GMT, Kurt Ullman <kurtullman@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Actually, if you followed the disaster guidelines from FEMA and ARC, you
would have had other arrangements in place for your medications.

And we would have a months worth of water and food in our basements. I
doubt a significant percentage of the population have done this. Did
you?

We don't have a basement. Not everyone does.

Actually I did, but that is because (a) I am anal retentive (b)
worked in public safety and emergent managment in an earlier life and
(c) wanted to give me wife a reason to make fun of tendencies toward (a).
I also a have a weather radio and a whole bunch of flashlights.

We have a generator (which works). We have it because my husband
thought he could use it to charge the electric car which he built, but
it comes in handy when a hurricane happens and we are without
electricity for a week or so. (We live in Maryland and not Florida
BTW.) We usually fill various containers with water before a large
storm, and we also have battery operated radios and flashlights for
such occasions. We ALSO have a large boat, which if we can get to it
carries 400 gallons of water, and a large battery bank which can be
run off solar power and a wind generator. We have a whole pantry full
of food - I doubt we would starve.

I guess it's easy for retired people (not that I know they are for a
fact) who have all the time in the world on their hands to make that
judgement, and meet the filing requirements. But real people DO have
money and time constraints. The requirement that BOTH parents have to
show up for the application, and the fact that most Post Offices only
take applications until 4:00 makes the coordination between family
members even worse. Given the choice that we can either pull the
children out of school, or wait till summer to go through the
application process adds to the complication of the process.

Although I think the requirement that both parents show up is a
problem given the hours of the PO, I'm in favor of that requirement.

We did that with both our kids. Last time when all four of had jobs
and they were still in high school.

And regarding the cost should not be a factor, "If you can afford the
trip, you can afford the passport fee", well, all I can say is that
people do travel on a budget. That 300+ dollars could make the
difference between sitting on the ship at the ports, or doing an
interesting excursion that the kids would enjoy and learn from. When I
take my cruise in February, we can only reasonably take excursions at
maybe two out of the 4 ports.
So the next time they go, they have that much more money
because they don't have to do the expenditure again.
==============================================

Please note before I get flamed that my mentioned of retired people
just means that they have nore expendable time on their hands to take
care of stuff like this.

Not necessarily.

It depends on if you are really retired, or if you are working to
supplement your social security. Also depends on the general state of
health of the person - if you are mobility impaired, everything takes
longer, especially if you can no longer drive, but have to rely on
public transportation.

I think though that it isn't being retired or not retired that is an
issue. It is more that some people plan ahead and some don't. There
are retired people that are just as feckless as the working
population.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Possible energy invention by James M Driscoll aka Spaceman?
    ... The idea is to have 2 containers and enough water to ... We will start with an empty container A and the floatable mass at ... gearing to create power from Generator A on the way up and generator B ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: OT-: New Orleans!
    ... were they the brightest lights in the city - the bright fled. ... They are craping in the water ... So I fired off my generator then hopped on the big tractor and fixed ...
    (rec.outdoors.rv-travel)
  • Re: Possible energy invention by James M Driscoll aka Spaceman?
    ... The idea is to have 2 containers and enough water to ... We will start with an empty container A and the floatable mass at ... gearing to create power from Generator A on the way up and generator B ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Possible energy invention by James M Driscoll aka Spaceman?
    ... The water-gravity transferance energy production machine. ... We will start with an empty container A and the floatable mass at ... gearing  to create power from Generator A on the way up and generator B ... on the way down and the rest of the way a water pump will complete the ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Plugging exhaust to avoid hydrostatic lock
    ... but does a stern drive that is raw water cooled have ... exhaust system to know what the plumbing geometry looks like inside. ... I/O exhaust ports *when the engine is running*? ...
    (rec.boats)