Personal

A customs surprise 1   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Personal and tagged books taxes on by

Back in June, a friend mentioned interest in a limited-edition book called 8 Missions in Ukraine but said she wasn’t planning to order it. Ukraine is an interest of hers, so I decided to order the book for her from Rehi. It arrived in a few days, and she got the book. Then, just last week, I got an invoice from FedEx for $18.50 in customs fees. I couldn’t figure out what I was being billed for, so I wrote to their dispute address. I got a response a couple of days later with more documents, letting me figure out it was that book purchase.

Just a few problems. Rehi hadn’t told me I was ordering from outside the US or would be subject to customs charges. According to the documentation, it was shipped from Estonia. Second, I thought books weren’t subject to customs. Not long before that, I ordered Walter Moers’ novel Qwert from the UK, and so far no one’s charged me customs for that. Third, $18.50 is over 50% of the price of the book! Are customs fees really that high? That seems exorbitant even for Trump.

I’m trying to get this straightened out. An Internet search shows I’m far from the only person being billed for surprise customs fees, and some of the reports predate last year’s tariff blitz.

Update, July 20:

Just this morning, I got a followup reply from Fedex.

Dear Valued FedEx Customer,

Thank you for contacting FedEx Disputes.

Our records show that the duty amount in question is less than $20.00.

If you wish to proceed with an entry correction, please note this may be subject to a $90-$150 processing fee for correction US Customs & Border Protection if deemed customer caused (No additional fee may apply if it a FedEx/customs cause)

Kindly confirm whether you would like to continue with the correction process under these terms.

Seriously. It could cost me $150 to get a charge of $18.50 removed. I’m better off just refusing to pay.

Strange domain stuff 4

This entry was posted in Personal and tagged China Internet on by

Recently I got two emails concerning the use of the name “McGath” in Chinese domains. It’s very strange. Here’s the first, which I got on April 25, 2026:

(If you are not the CEO, please forward this message to your CEO since this is urgent. If you consider this has been sent to you in error, please ignore it. Thanks.)
Dear CEO,
This is a formal email. We are the Domain Registration Service company in Shanghai, China. I have an issue to confirm with you. An application was received by us from Yahui Ltd on April 25, 2026. They desire to register “mcgath” as their internet keyword and Chinese domain names (mcgath.cn, mcgath.com.cn, mcgath.net.cn, mcgath.org.cn). But after checking it, we find this name conflicts with your business name or brand name. To resolve this issue better, it’s necessary to send this email to you and verify if this company is your distributor in China? Best regardsFrank Liu
General Manager

The message came from 163.com, which is a Chinese email service often used for temporary addresses. It’s suspicious that the message doesn’t name the domain service which allegedly is contacting me. If this was an attempt to trick me into anything, I can’t tell what it could gain from me. I replied saying I have no business presence in China. On April 27 I got this mail:

To whom it concerns,

We are the company who submitted the application to register “mcgath” as Chinese domain name and internet keyword. We intend to register the Chinese domain names “mcgath.cn” “mcgath.com.cn” “mcgath.net.cn” “mcgath.org.cn” and internet keyword “mcgath” and have submitted our application. Currently, we are waiting for Mr. Frank Liu’s approval. These CN domains and internet keyword are very important for us to promote our business in China. Even though Mr. Frank Liu advised us to choose another name, we will persist with this name.

Kind regards

Lisheng

Even though my surname is unusual, I don’t own it and can’t stop anyone else from using it. However, I can’t think of any honest purpose for this. While I know little about the Chinese language, I’m pretty sure you can’t even pronounce the name properly in the Chinese phoneme set. Maybe they’re planning to squat on the name in the hope someone (like me) will buy the domain? I can’t grab up every possible domain that contains “mcgath.” A worse possibility is that they’re planning some impersonation scheme outside the reach of American lawyers. I can’t do anything about it before it happens, and it seems like a strange way to set up a scam.

All I can say right now is that I have no control over or connection with those domains, and I’m not responsible for whatever they do with them.

ICE watching in Maine

This entry was posted in Personal and tagged ICE Maine on by

On Wednesday I learned that ICE had launched an incursion into Maine. They call it “Operation Catch of the Day,” implying that human beings are just fish to be swept up in their net. Maine is alarmingly close to home. I considered what I could do and decided that going to Maine to watch for ICE activity would be useful. Yesterday (as of Friday, when this will be posted) I drove to York, which is about an hour from home. The biggest trouble area is in Lewiston, which is twice as far, but I decided I couldn’t justify that much travel. Besides, ICE might strike anywhere in Maine.

I followed recommended precautions: Have a plan. Let people know your plans. Turn off phone face unlocking. Dress inconspicuously. Bring food and water.
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Moving away from Mastodon 1

This entry was posted in Personal and tagged mastodon on by

For several years I’ve had an account on Liberdon, a Mastodon instance. Recently they announced that only paid accounts, at a minimum of $3 per month, will be allowed, starting in December 2025. That’s perfectly reasonable, but it’s not worth it to me. Expect my posts to disappear soon.

I could move to another instance. However, I haven’t been getting much value out of Mastodon. Most of the people I personally know and follow haven’t been active for a long time. What’s left of my feed is mostly organizations. Discovery between different instances is awkward. If I find an instance I really like, I might move there. Suggestions in the comments are welcome. My account is archived to keep my options open.

This doesn’t affect the Fediverse feed of this blog or my Filknews account. They’ll stay active for the foreseeable future.

A week in Germany

This entry was posted in Personal and tagged conventions Europe Germany music spohr on by

On Wednesday I returned from an eight-day trip to Germany, one day longer than planned. I was nervous about leaving and re-entering the US, and if I’d known when I made my reservations how fast things would get worse, I might have changed my mind. The US border has long been a Fourth Amendment-free zone, but now it’s First Amendment-free as well. Fortunately, I seem too obscure to bother with.

Delayed flights have become common. The closest airport to my destination was Hannover, which is relatively small, so I had to change flights both ways within Germany. In retrospect, I should have found a direct flight to a major city and taken the train the rest of the way. Trains are also horrible for delays, but there’s almost always a next one the same day if you miss a connection. If there’s an ICE train (Inter-City Express, no relation to the US gang) to your destination, it will get you there quickly without airport annoyances. Fortunately, there were no problems with changing planes in Munich.
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