posted
As an expatriate (i.e. an American who lives outside of the US because they were the first ones to actually offer me a job) who deals with U.S. customs on a fairly regular basis, I feel obliged to point out that it is probably illegal for you to mail "foreign" dirt into the United States without some sort of permit. I'd hate to see Charles carted off by armed postal inspectors (these are the post office guys who they actually GIVE guns to) charged with illegally importing and traffiking foreign soil.
Your tax dollars hard at work, my fellow Americans!
------------------ Dane
"Mathematicians have long held that a million monkeys banging on a million keyboards would eventually reproduce the collected wisdom of the human race. Now, thanks to the internet, we know this is not true." -- Robert Silensky
posted
Andrew, what makes me laugh is that fact that at the state border you get stopped to check that you aren't bringing the toads back south. Just in case you have a box of them or something. Did they ever for a moment consider that those things may just say, hop across the border?
------------------ Samaritan: "A good hot curry will help heal your wounds. That is, unless your religion forbids it".
Man: (Eyes growing wide) "No religion forbids a good hot curry".
posted
Heh, yeah you have to be careful of some jerks doing such a thing - I think someone tried to in Newcastle - but I think the furtherest south I've heard that the cane toads have spread by themselves is to about Byron Bay and West to just over the NT/QLD boarder...
------------------ "Who wouldn't be the one you love Who wouldn't stand inside your love." - Stand Inside Your Love, The Smashing Pumpkins
posted
Charles, you might want to check. It might be illegal to bring dirt from other states into California.
I remember going on vacation with my family, and when we came back (we lived in CA), we told the border guard we were just coming back from a day-trip to Nevada, because we really had a trunk-full of pecans a relative had given us.
--Baloo
------------------ "Going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than going to McDonalds's makes you a hamburger." --[Source unknown.] http://www.geocities.com/cyrano_jones.geo/
posted
Well, if they don't know he trafficking soil, there's no problem. And if they do come after him and say "You can't bring dirt across state lines", all he needs to do is look at them like they're insane and slowly hand the dirt over to them. :-)
I mean, come on! Every car the drives across the border is going to have dirt on it! Do they lift your car up, sterilize it, and set it back down on the other side? I don't think so!
------------------ "Can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding." -They Might Be Giants, "Your Racist Friend"
posted
It has more to do with large quantities of it. If it has some organism that isn't indignous to the States in it then it could cause serious ecological damage. Just like the frogs in Auntraila.
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Yeah, I can see someone accidently getting a frog mixed in with their dirt.
The only organisms that are going to be in the dirt will be mircoscophic. And they get transported all over the globe with breathtaking speed, so I wouldn't worry about it.
------------------ "Sometimes I wish the planet would be scoured with cleansing fire. Other times I just wish Frank would be." Sol System
posted
Yes, but we're talking about California, here! They pass laws just to make a political statement!
Chico, in northern California, has a law on the books making it a misdemeanor to detonate a nuclear weapon within city limits. There's a $100 fine for violating it!
[Setting: we are within a darkened room, possibly a basement. Several men and women wearing black jeans, turtleneck sweaters, and berets are sitting around a table.]
Chief Terrorist (CT):
"Right! We have the nuke! Now all we need's a target."
Terrorist 2:
"Well, we can't detonate it in Chico, it's against the law!"
CT:
"What? When did they do that?"
Terrorist 3:
"I think it was in the late '70s or early '80s."
Terrorist 2:
"Yep! There's a $100 fine!"
CT: "A hundred bucks? How much money we got?"
Treasurer [looks at accounts book]:
"Not much, I'm afraid. That bomb cost almost everrything we had."
------------------ "Going to church does not make you a Christian anymore than going to McDonalds's makes you a hamburger." --[Source unknown.] http://www.geocities.com/cyrano_jones.geo/
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