Tuesday 25 September 2018

Toomas Karmo: Operation "Eastward Ho!" Update: Now in "Major Maritime Manoeuvre"

Quality assessment:


On the 5-point scale current in Estonia, and surely in nearby nations, and familiar to observers of the academic arrangements of the late, unlamented, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (applying the easy and lax standards Kmo deploys in his grubby imaginary "Aleksandr Stepanovitsh Popovi nimeline sangarliku raadio instituut" (the "Alexandr Stepanovitch Popov Institute of Heroic Radio") and his grubby imaginary "Nikolai Ivanovitsh Lobatshevski nimeline sotsalitsliku matemaatika instituut" (the "Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky Institute of Socialist Mathematics") - where, on the lax and easy grading philosophy of the twin Institutes, 1/5 is "epic fail", 2/5 is "failure not so disastrous as to be epic", 3/5 is "mediocre pass", 4/5 is "good", and 5/5 is "excellent"): 2/5. Justification: This is a posting with only scant content.





Revision history:

  • 20180925T2317Z/version 1.0.0: Kmo uploaded an adequately polished  version 

[CAUTION: A bug in the blogger server-side software has in some past months shown a propensity to insert inappropriate whitespace at some points in some of my posted essays. If a screen seems to end in empty space, keep scrolling down. The end of the posting is not reached until the usual blogger "Posted by Toomas (Tom) Karmo at" appears. - The blogger software has also shown a propensity to generate HTML that is formatted in different ways on different client-side browsers, perhaps with some browsers not correctly reading in the entirety of the "Cascading Style Sheets" which on many Web servers control the browser placement of margins, sidebars, and the like. If you suspect "Cascading Style Sheets" problems in your particular browser, be patient: it is probable that while some content has been shoved into some odd place (for instance, down to the bottom of your browser, where it ought to appear in the right-hand margin), all the server content has been pushed down into your browser in some place or other. - Anyone inclined to help with trouble-shooting, or to offer other kinds of technical advice, is welcome to write me via Toomas.Karmo@gmail.com.]



Here is a rapid, rather informal, update, regarding my envisaged 2018 October emigration ("Operatsioon 'Kodune Koli'"/'Operation 'Eastward Ho!'") from my native Canada to my ancestral Estonia. 

I am now in the "Major Maritime Manoeuvre" phase of the overall emigration Operation. Readers who are themselves engaged in international moves should note my thinking regarding this Manoeuvre, as one key component of the overall Operation:

  • Even if one's load is in volume terms a "Less than Container Load" (in shipping-industry language, an "LCL"), it is nevertheless advisable to consider making it a (20-foot) "Full Container Load" (an "FCL"). The reason for this is, as I am advised by an engineer, that in a mere LCL scenario one's boxes get placed onto a pallet, or onto some similar platform, and are then liable (a) to have someone else's boxes put on top of them, thereby exerting unhealthy vertical pressure, and (b) to be squeezed very tightly, as the maritime-preparations crew work hard to use up all room on their ship (thereby exerting unhealthy vertical or lateral pressure). 
  • It is advisable to study the restrictions on wooden packaging entailed by ISPM 15, for instance as regards the import of wooden packaging into the European Union. (In my own particular case, as already described at http://toomaskarmo.blogspot.com/2017/03/toomas-karmo-stackerboxes-and.html, ISPM 15 does not seem to apply. My wooden packaging is of "particle board", assembled with glue under conditions of heat and pressure, and therefore immune from ISPM 15 restrictions curbing the international movement of wood-borne organisms. Other people, however, may be less lucky than I.)
  • It is advisable not only to get quotes from several firms, and to read consumer reviews to the extent that one's time may permit, but also to keep an eye on the level of knowledge which seems to be present within the various firms with which one is corresponding. ISPM 15 is one possible test case.  The lowest quote may or may not come from the most knowledgeable firm. - I propose, upon completion of "Operatsioon Kodune Koli"/"Operation 'Eastward Ho!'", to divulge the identity of my selected firm and to discuss its performance. So far everything has gone well, making my present level of confidence high.
[This is the end of the current blog posting.]

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