Flat Tax in the US?

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/Advice/YourRealTaxRate40.aspx

"In a study for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Boston University economists Laurence J. Kotlikoff and David Rapson have found that our all-in marginal tax rate is 40%, give or take a bit. Yes, you read that right: 40%."


I don't mind paying taxes. The infrastructure that is needed in order for myself to benefit from the people in general is an important investment. I do mind stupidity and special interests dictating where my money is. I do actually think a flat tax might be a good idea. As long as we remove all of the write offs that are given to everyone and as long as we create a special bracket for those who are in poverty or near poverty. And lastly, we would have to create a special bracket for single mothers living in poverty or near poverty.

Sleep is Good for Us

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=437683&in_page_id=1965

Lead researcher Bob Stickgold, professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, said: "We're not just stabilizing memories during sleep. We're extracting the meaning.

"Sleep helps us extract rules from our experiences. It's like knowing the difference between dogs and cats, even if it's hard to explain."



I think I am going to petition for a 1.5 hour lunch break so I can nap. :-)

Chimps Hunt with Spears

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6387611.stm

"In all but one of the cases, chimps broke off a living branch to make their
tool. They would then trim the side branches and leaves.

In a number of cases, chimps also trimmed the ends of the branch and
stripped it of bark. Some chimps also sharpened the tip of the tool with
their teeth."

On a continual basis I learn of the many things that "animals" can do that
we highly evolved (or created...) beings have historically laid sole claim
to. It makes more sense every day. The move from what we were to what we are
is gradual and full of socialization. Drop a human into a rainforest and
remove the wonderful learning that is received during their life and you
will have nothing greater than a highly intelligent chimp.

If we manage to let go of the high held notion of our wondrous nature we
might truly grasp how wonderful we really are.

Get your kids AWAY from the damn television!

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6081

Do not use the TV as an educator.
Do not use the TV as a babysitter.
Do not allow the TV to impart morals and values.
Do not yourself become a victim to the vice of sloth.

There are many mediums to receive knowledge.
There are many way to entertain oneself.

TV may not be the bane of society, but it can change us.

Comment Posted on Anothers Blog...

Random_Speak (electric - boogy woogy woogy) - Microlending

I posted the below comment in reference to the above blog post... :-)

:-) This post makes me happy.
(First off, I found your blog because you posted on my blog, isn't the Internet wonderful?)

About a year ago (maybe six months), I don't know how, I found the website Kiva.org, that you make reference to. I suddenly was enthralled. I began to make a donation on a pay period basis (I get paid twice a month). It made me feel good. I have continued that habit, and have been able to help quite a few people on Kiva. I have gotten about 4-5 of my loans paid back already and then redistributed those loans. That is good.

In October, as part of my job, I was in Scottsdale Arizona meeting with business clientele. At one of those meetings I happened to throw out that I would love to live on a mountain and be a Buddhist in Japan after I finish this particular career drive. An individual responded with a "Why?" and the conversation continued. As we went along this route I came to learn he was a Buddhist and, most significantly, had a very international scope in his viewpoint. He is part of a group to help finance and create schools in Nepal for girls (the logic is – if they are educated and have a skill set then they are too valuable to sell off for prostitution). I, of course, in trying to advertise my attempts to be a good human being threw out my involvement in Kiva.org (which was only as a giver of funds and marketer to my friends). He was intrigued as he had never heard of Kiva.org. Score one for the transference of knowledge between humans.

A month or two later, I get an email and learn he knows some significant people who are involved in microfinance, including people who are currently working at the World Bank and Kiva.org (I did not know these facts during our conversation, just that he was a Buddhist). He then, on his own, started a plan to get Kiva.org into the Nepal by October of 2007. And from recent updates, it sounds as if those plans are still moving forward.

In a very small way, I was able to help people. That makes me happy.

That is the spirit baby!

http://www.latimes.com/
"Even though I had a good job, I was tired of living paycheck to paycheck
and not making any headway with my credit cards," he said. "I've learned
that I can push myself, break down my own boundaries. I've been able to
learn that I can change and adapt to different kinds of situations."

And one final thought...Why is every year faster?

People say on a constant basis, Wow, things get faster every year. Another year, flew by, seems to get faster every year...continue on, many phrases fit in there.

The reason every year (or any time period in general) seems to go by faster than any previous time period of similar time is that for any particular person the equal amount of time, is a smaller and smaller percentage of their overall life. Now to explain myself...

When you are one year old, a one year time period is a damn near existence:
1 year/1 year

When you are five, one year of life is 1/5th of your life. Thus, its importance relative to you life is lesser.

Every year thereafter, is worth less of your overall life, and carries less significance than the prior year. As we continue to accumulate thought and experience and lessons the current times become less and less valuable, again relatively, than the prior times as the accumulated time before the current time keeps getting larger while the current time is always equal to whatever that time period is.

So, YES, it does feel faster this year than last...and every person will always agree, because for them, irrelevant to how much faster it goes for anyone they are talking to, it is always faster for everyone, of course, relative to everyone else's experience.

:-)

And the egg comes before the chicken...dinosaurs laid eggs before chickens evolved...

And no, if a tree falls in the woods and there is nothing there to hear it, it does not make noise. Sound is a phenomenon created by these brain like things identify a certain type of energy created by various reactions in the universe.

They didn't think it far out enough...

http://www.livescience.com/history/070215_fewer_children.html

A. Children are more expensive.

B. Lifetimes are longer, thus an individual is relatively, from a simple
economic standpoint, more valuable.

C. Tied to the lifetime differences, the number of people who lived through
first birth, then infancy and teenager hood, and so on, is greater and
greater every year. This itself is merely an observation...

D. Mothers are having children later, children are reaching level of social
maturity later (getting into the work force, finishing education and then
starting their family).

E. The time alive per generation (TAG) will not drop as much as the relative
drop in the absolute number of individuals which, from a genetic standpoint,
would seem to say something very important, and that has to do with the
success of the genetics.

F. Due to the lower number of children and the greater economic needs to
develop one properly, those individual children are valued greater as the
relationships from an emotional level would become greater. The individual
child means more emotionally to lose than one of 10, none of whom you were
able to get amazingly close to (other than the eldest or youngest of
children). Each child has greater value, which would again create a greater
value per generation than would be expected with the significant drop off in
absolute numbers.

G. The economic necessity of children is lesser as individuals are able to
better to hedge against their future and are no longer dependent upon
children to support them in their old age.

As we look all the way down in nature we find that the number of young born
continually drops the more valuable the off spring is...why does this
surprise us? Come on now...

Physical Diseases that Lead to SUPERPOWERS!!!

Or something like that...

http://www.autoadviceoffl.com/Braindisease.htm

Pretty Picture

http://www.dandantheweatherman.com/pic26.html

Blue...so blue...so very blue.

Welfare Kid

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/anc/276896054.html

Just a good warm story...

The Intricate Web of Reason: Just one TINY piece

Ode To All That is Good

I read an article somewhere today that was speaking about Iran’s new position of power in the Middle East now that Saddam and the Taliban are no longer players in the arena (at least for the short term with the Taliban holed up in Pakistan). Another opinion I read is that Iran is much less amicable to speaking at round table discussions now that General Bush’s teeth hang been sheathed by the Congress and the seasonal winds of the politician and their job. I see the helicopters are being sot down at a greater rate. I see our numbers re not great enough, nor well versed enough in local civilities and customs to truly apprehend those who are running the show (back when the children of Saddam were being round up I remember one of the brothers making reference to times when he drove by troops in cars looking right at them point blank). I see Saudi Arabia building a fence as well as Israel. I see Palestine stabbing itself over and over. Syria ever intertwined in Lebanon. Beirut is torn again. She will rise again. Her beauty is far deeper than skin. Jordan has been touched by the terror as well. Each of these countries now discuss a nuclear alliance in order to counter the nuclear threat of Iran. An arms race has already begun now that the plans have begun to be drawn (in this world the plans were probably drawn 5 years ago). I bet the United States sells the tech to the Saudis. Fuck ‘em. And the Chinese. Business is good. Why hasn’t the growing threat pushed Egypt to do something more? The squawking country is doing its best to fan the Israelis. So when is the Middle East going to raise a tactile force of all local soldiers from some magical place and lend a supporting hand. Yes, they will be in harms way. That is war. And yes their particular motives may all be different, and some potentially evil, but we cannot let a country like this with such a history in such a place, be destroyed as it is and will be. A surge will simply make them hide better. Hidden away in a culture that we can’t seem to get. Now…the countries in arms possibly might not due to the price of oil being so much a boon to some economies, and unsteadyness breeds good pricing. But the demand from China is now growing madly, with the rest of the world just getting going a little better every year, business should fade away in the name of a true threat. A wild, deadly armed, ultra powerful and widely spread enemy that you have no defense from.

I have slowly become more and more in line with the nuances of the grand negotiating table and how the world really is…versus how it might be. Countries really do attempt to take over others and influence their politics. Vacuums of power cannot exist as there is too much at stake (trillions of dollars, defense to your position and family). One group will always rush in to quell the situation as man without government has not proven himself free. We still need our shackles otherwise we tear down on each other.

Just a rant of sorts I guess…