I’m currently having an issue with one of the server farms that run the Pennswoods.net Classifieds.
I don’t have an estimated time to resolve this, but I am working on it.
Thank you for your patience.
Chris
eBay Seller Ratings
I occasionally get requests for inclusion of Ebay Seller Ratings on the Pennswoods.net Classifieds, or have people telling me that they can check their ebay scores if I want to do a quick verification on their history.
I recently looked into whether or not I could let people carry their Ebay Rating over onto Pennswoods.net Classifieds.
Apparently the answer is a resounding NO. Ebay very clearly disallows such things.
CNET ran an article quite a few years ago about Ebay disallowing this. Ebay’s position apparently hasn’t changed.
Anyway, it doesn’t seem like I can do it without a who lot of lawyers jumping me. Sorry folks.
Chris
Registration and Password changes
Registration emails and password changes were not processing properly from sometime on Saturday (15th) through early afternoon on Monday (17th) when I discovered and fixed the issue. As a result emails for registration and password changes were delayed until Monday afternoon.
The classifieds servers were not impacted, other than those persons needing registration or password changes.
I’ve also fallen behind in support email over the last week or so, and am nearly caught up. If you’ve emailed me recently and haven’t heard from me, I should be in touch with you later today.
Best wishes,
Chris
God and Government
Sunday night the St Benedict, PA Community Center is going to be an iPledge simulcast location.
Google today has been advertising “Live! Watch Barack Obama accept the Democratic presidential nomination at 10pm ET”.
You didn’t see such a thing for Romney.
The iPledge simulcast is intended to help motivate and educate people of the Christian faith on political matters.
If you’re in the neighborhood, consider dropping in!
Cambria County Fair
This week I’m at the Cambria County Fair.
Last week was a great time. Lots of people stopped by, and I managed to help get a few people connected.
Building #3, booth #48, stop on by and say hello!
Indiana County Fair
Fair time is here again! If you happen to be wandering about the Indiana Fair and find yourself near the Exhibition Building, stop in and see me!
This year we’re giving away free chances for Pennswoods.net T-shirts! Drop off a business card for a chance to win $100 in free advertising on Pennswoods.net Classifieds!
Cub Scouts Visit the Pittsburgh Zoo
Friday night Cub Scout Pack 66 descended upon the Pittsburgh Zoo. We were met by Scott and Oscar, Jamie, Erin, and other members of the Pittsburgh Zoo staff and prepared to camp out among the wild animals!
Scott and Oscar are a father and son team that entertain through the use of living visual aids. Friday night they introduced us to an opossum, leopard gecko, and a small relative of the hedgehog, a Neotetracus perhaps?
Saturday morning they introduced us to a rosy boa, a young 18″ long American alligator, a ferret, and a Chinese mantis. Contrary to what you might expect, the Chinese mantis contained no lead.
Friday night we visited Seahawk the 600+ lbs sea lion and his wives and children. The scouts also visited the grey kangaroos. Alex the kangaroo was willing to be petted, and in fact took an intense in one of our leaders! Sheila and Jane were curious about the scouts, but wouldn’t come out to visit us.
We also participated in a scavenger hunt, learning about bats, owls, kangaroos, dromedaries, tree geckos, naked mole rats and sea lions. The reward for finishing the scavanger hunt, besides increased knowledge of the animals in the zoo, was access to the slide in the Boabab tree!
Mario and Luigi the Sicilian Donkies.
Scott and Oscar give us a crash course
Scott brings on the opossum!
Scott shows how tame an opossum can be
Cubmaster Miller surveys the landscape during the pizza party!
The lady in blue in the back corner is Jamie, one of the educators of the PGH Zoo.
Llamas must never sleep. This one placidly watched the entire scout scavenger hunt.
Tropical fruit bats, 2400 of them live in this room!
Scott and Oscar introduced the ferret, one of the most popular of the teaching animals.
The ferret definitely is furrier and cuddlier than the gator.
Scott and Oscar share the small version of PGH Zoo's 14 foot, 400 lbs American alligator!
I know he's cute and cuddly now....
I think this baby sea lion likes us even more than we like her!
Hey, there she goes up for air again.
I'm just going to sneak around the backside of these humans.
Wow, humans must have keen senses, they saw me!
I wonder how they can hold their breath so long?!?
The snow leopard blends right in with its rock.
The zoo lost their big komodo dragon, but the little ones are adorable!
Dwarf African Crocodiles don't know they are miniature.
And so you shouldn't swim with them.
The flamingos proved popular with our bird lovers.
Black rhino, not your little sister's pony.
The lions are born to rule, zoo or savannah.
The Amur Leopard is both beautiful and exceedingly rare.
Be careful, those critters look dangerous!
Is that King Julian there on the left?
Not, that's not a scout. It is a howler monkey.
The African Painted Dogs are one of my favorites. They just look so cuddly.
Where does a 400 lbs bear sleep? Anywhere it wants.
The sea turtle rescue tank.
Mrs. Puff, the puffer fish.
Our scouts learn about bait casting.
It's trickier than it looks.
Our instructor was John Hayes.
The aquarium was popular, as were these seahorses.
Chilling in front of the shark tank. Did I mention kids love sharks?
I always thought polar bears were a little larger.
On the bright side, you fit more of them in a cage.
Check out our cool new visors!
Kids love sharks. Behind glass of course.
Calm, quite, arm's reach away. No hunting allowed though!
Beavers enjoying a little corn on the cob.
prohibited item
“prohibited item” was the subject line of an email I received recently.
The body of the message contained just one line, “do you know that body armor is not legal to own in pa.unless you are a police officer?”
In fact, I didn’t know that. I was about to reply to that effect, but I realized that there must be more to it. My best guess was that they had seen some sort of body armor on the Pennswoods.net Classifieds, and wanted me to be alerted to what they believed to be a contraband item.
Well I’ve already confessed that at the time I received the email, I didn’t really know a lot about the legality of body armor in Pennsylvania. I thought it likely that it was legal to possess, and I’d looked at buying some myself in the past. Frankly the price is a bit much for what would be a novelty item for me. Sitting at a desk typing code doesn’t really and doing some marketing hardly offers a need for body armor, thanks be to God!
I did a couple of online searches before answering. What I found was interesting, and I’ve provided my response in entirety here, in case it proves interesting to others. I’m not a lawyer. What follows is not a meaningful opinion on the legality of body armor. And if you think my printing a link indicates that I endorse a product that is sold on one of those web pages, you might want to invest in an AFDB as well.
I’m not aware of any laws prohibiting body armor in PA.
Apparently there are some laws against felons owning it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_vest#United_States
http://www.bulletproofme.com/Quick_Answers.shtml#13
http://forums.officer.com/t108432/
Being a purely defensive item, it seems unlikely to be banned anytime soon.
I saw a few references to some states considering the use of body
armor during a crime to be a separate crime. Sort of like how most
states consider the use of lock picks to commit burglary (or any other
crime) to be a crime separate from the burglary, but otherwise
lockpicks are an unregulated locksmith tool. Of course bolt cutters
are usually faster and cheaper, so I suppose regulating lockpicks
wouldn’t be worth it.
Anyway, no, I’m not aware of any ban on body armor ownership in PA.
Several companies will gladly ship into PA, including Amazon.
I’ve thought about buying some myself, but it tends to run into
several hundred dollars for the lighter stuff, and it’d be one more
thing sitting around cluttering my basement.
I’m assuming you were concerned over someone selling body armor on the
site. If you were asking if it is legal for you to buy it from some
one else, probably, as far as I know, unless you’ve got a felony
record and PA has changed its laws recently. Be on the look out for
bullet holes, knife slashes, and wear. I expect body armor to be like
bicycle helmets. If it takes a hit once, trash it and buy new.
If you have body armor and are asking if you can sell it, again
probably, as far as I know. You are responsible for making sure you
obey the law. I don’t have any issue with it on the site.
Ads are archived after expiration in case law enforcement requests it.
Caveat emptor.
Best wishes,
Chris
Memorial Day Post updated
Running a little late, but I’ve uploaded the pictures Arny took back in May.
Cub Scout Day Camp 2012
Day camp is an exciting and fun filled three days (no overnights) of camping during the summer.
The theme for this year’s day camp was “Sword in the Stone”, and it was a medieval experience!
Pack 66 participated with Packs 622 and 204 in the Wizards Den.
The Wizards prepare to raise the flag for Day 2.
That's right, we get to raise the big flag!
The Wizards also led the song at lunch time on Day 2. We've got booming voices!
Team Ganzy USA is a brother and sister fencing team that has competed worldwide.
Day 2's special event was the opportunity to watch Team Ganzy show off their moves!
They even passed a real fencing sword around the scouts!
The white plastic tip contains a contact element to electronically score 'hits'.
Our Eagle eyed Wizards spotted Cubby the Mascot misbehaving. Cubby had wander outside of the Camp's borders.
We earned another badge for our banner by staying alert and helping Cubby stay safe.
Every day during Theme we had a different theme-related craft. Here you see us making a medieval shield with our own custom herald.
Fun for scounts AND adults!
We listen intently to the jousting game instructions.
Then it's game time!
Helmets on, swords up, let's roll!
There's nothing quite like beating the tar out of each other with foam noodles.
In case you didn't notice, Day Camp rocks out loud!
We are the Wizards, couldn't be prouder! If you can't hear us, we'll sing a little louder!
The Wizards produced some very fine sharp shooters.
The BB shoot and Archery are two of the most popular activities. On the rifle range, Red Ryder rules.
Our Pack shoot resulted in a score of 19.
Each scout shot once at this target.
This is our Wizards banner. Dani did a knock up job on it, and we worked hard to decorate it with every available badge.
The scouts are prepping for the closing ceremony, including a whole slew of skits.
Two Wizards, one in full battle dress, the other using his wand to conjure a plastic fish from the Trading Post.