Federal Income Tax
State Income Tax (California)
State Sales Tax
County Sales Tax
Extra 1/2% "Keep On Spending" Sales Tax
State Disability Insurance Tax
Medicare Tax
Social Security Tax
Federal Gas Tax
State Gas Tax
Excise Tax - Tires, Ammo, Hunting Supplies
Phone Tax - Hearing Impaired & "Obamaphones"
Automobile Registration (Tax)
Smog Certificate (California) (Tax)
Toll Bridge Crossing (Tax)
Already - Health Insurance Premium Increases (Obamacare Tax)
What have I left out?
And then there's the dilution of the currency for the purpose of financing the nation's debt -- an additional 4% plus tax per year that even depletes SAVINGS !
I figure if I keep working I'll start making money some time around August.
*UPDATE* -- Oh yeah, there's the Property Tax too -- so maybe I'll get to have some personal income around the end of August.
5/22/2013
5/20/2013
Dedicated to helping
"Northeast (front) and northwest facades from north -
Clara Barton House,
5801 Oxford Road, George Washington Memorial Parkway,
Glen Echo, Montgomery County, MD"
The American Red Cross was born on 21 May 1881 when Clara Barton convened its first official meeting.
The Red Cross is still very much alive and giving aid where needed -- such as this week in Oklahoma.
Disaster relief donations to the National American Red Cross can be made online here.
The start of something
People who love to hate Norman Rockwell have a problem with his representational art. They wish he were deconstructing the expectations of the viewer, or some such art-jargon. But dude, that's what he is doing.
5/19/2013
"Smalls"
Yes, smalls. In particular, men's smalls. I know: too much information.
Never. The. Less.
In the men's shorts world, there is choice of many unsatisfactory arrangements for the bottom half. Boxers, briefs, boxer-briefs... Within this world, the available products are made almost entirely by Hanes or by Fruit-of-the-Loom.
H and FOL have demonstrated their misandry by introducing products for eunuchs, products for donkeys; products made of moisture-impervious materials, products made of industrial abrasives; products that bind in one place and are loose in another, products that are loose in one place and bind in another. So there are lots of choices. Without even getting into the choice between the products that fall apart after the first wash, and those that fall apart over the course of half a year of normal use.
Yes I realize that there are more options if you want to think outside the box: commando; athletic specialties / European designerwear; gay partywear ("not that there's anything wrong with that"). But those are either "for occasional use, only as directed" or far too pricey for this author to countenance the purchase of the eight to twelve units I like to have in stock.
It occurs to me: Hanes and Fruit-of-the-Loom are the Macintosh and Microsoft of the underwear world. They both hate us, and it's just a question of which is the least uncomfortable fit. Moreover, the great fit and function you bought last time is a.) not available any more; b.) dumbed down to the point that it is now produced offshore so it looks like the product you knew, but now with the added features of random dimensions, abrasive materials, and self-destruction in the laundry.
H and FOL meet over a drink and smirk together. "Where else are they gonna go?" They slap each other on the back. "Ubuntu?!"
Never. The. Less.
In the men's shorts world, there is choice of many unsatisfactory arrangements for the bottom half. Boxers, briefs, boxer-briefs... Within this world, the available products are made almost entirely by Hanes or by Fruit-of-the-Loom.
H and FOL have demonstrated their misandry by introducing products for eunuchs, products for donkeys; products made of moisture-impervious materials, products made of industrial abrasives; products that bind in one place and are loose in another, products that are loose in one place and bind in another. So there are lots of choices. Without even getting into the choice between the products that fall apart after the first wash, and those that fall apart over the course of half a year of normal use.
Yes I realize that there are more options if you want to think outside the box: commando; athletic specialties / European designerwear; gay partywear ("not that there's anything wrong with that"). But those are either "for occasional use, only as directed" or far too pricey for this author to countenance the purchase of the eight to twelve units I like to have in stock.
It occurs to me: Hanes and Fruit-of-the-Loom are the Macintosh and Microsoft of the underwear world. They both hate us, and it's just a question of which is the least uncomfortable fit. Moreover, the great fit and function you bought last time is a.) not available any more; b.) dumbed down to the point that it is now produced offshore so it looks like the product you knew, but now with the added features of random dimensions, abrasive materials, and self-destruction in the laundry.
H and FOL meet over a drink and smirk together. "Where else are they gonna go?" They slap each other on the back. "Ubuntu?!"
5/18/2013
Old dog, new trick...
I liked my computer setup at work. Then the accounting software company got bought, changed their philosophy, everything got bigger, more expensive... and required more system resources.
It serves me right for getting really comfy-cozy with my XP Pro system. A place for everything and everything in its place -- including that little program from the PS2 days that does hydraulic engineering calculations. Sigh.
So now the computer systems as well as everything else (see: Obamanomics) is in flux.
What is my response? Get a burr under my saddle about needing a laptop computer. Oy. So now I have leapt through time and space from XP to Windows 8. Like I said: Oy.
Took a while just to find the control panel.
Why is it that everything in life is seemingly out of control?
Oh, don't mind me. That's just the cognitive dissonance talking.
I grow old, I grow old . . .
It serves me right for getting really comfy-cozy with my XP Pro system. A place for everything and everything in its place -- including that little program from the PS2 days that does hydraulic engineering calculations. Sigh.
So now the computer systems as well as everything else (see: Obamanomics) is in flux.
What is my response? Get a burr under my saddle about needing a laptop computer. Oy. So now I have leapt through time and space from XP to Windows 8. Like I said: Oy.
Took a while just to find the control panel.
Why is it that everything in life is seemingly out of control?
Oh, don't mind me. That's just the cognitive dissonance talking.
I grow old, I grow old . . .
5/17/2013
Become the path
"You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself." - Gautama Buddha
"Now bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible." - Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
"There are clubs you can't belong to, neighborhoods you can't live in, schools you can't get into, but the roads are always open." - Old Nike ad
"Never, ever, ever give up." - Winston Churchill
"It's never too late to be what you might have been." - (I don't know who said this one)
"Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible." - Doug Larson
"Happiness is pushing your limits and watching them back down" - Old New Balance ad
"I love hills. If it weren't for hills, I'd have to bring climbing gear." - overheard at a race
"The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, ‘You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.’ The human spirit is indomitable." - Roger Bannister
"Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re probably right." - Henry Ford
"It’s elevating and humbling at the same time. Running along a beach at sunrise with no other footprints in the sand, you realize the vastness of creation, your own insignificant space in the plan, how tiny you really are, your own creatureliness and how much you owe to the supreme body, the God that brought all this beauty and harmony into being." - Sister Marion Irvine (2:51 PR and 1984 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier)
"Sure, I 'become the path' -- every time I run trails in summer, half the path comes home stuck in my socks!" - (I just made that one up.)
"Now bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible." - Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
"There are clubs you can't belong to, neighborhoods you can't live in, schools you can't get into, but the roads are always open." - Old Nike ad
"Never, ever, ever give up." - Winston Churchill
"It's never too late to be what you might have been." - (I don't know who said this one)
"Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible." - Doug Larson
"Happiness is pushing your limits and watching them back down" - Old New Balance ad
"I love hills. If it weren't for hills, I'd have to bring climbing gear." - overheard at a race
"The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, ‘You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.’ The human spirit is indomitable." - Roger Bannister
"Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re probably right." - Henry Ford
"It’s elevating and humbling at the same time. Running along a beach at sunrise with no other footprints in the sand, you realize the vastness of creation, your own insignificant space in the plan, how tiny you really are, your own creatureliness and how much you owe to the supreme body, the God that brought all this beauty and harmony into being." - Sister Marion Irvine (2:51 PR and 1984 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier)
"Sure, I 'become the path' -- every time I run trails in summer, half the path comes home stuck in my socks!" - (I just made that one up.)
5/16/2013
On this date in history: The Texas Navy (!) does some whoopin'
16 May 1843 saw the conclusion of the Naval Battle of Campeche.
Wait, what? The Texans in sailing ships fought British Officers commanding Mexican steamships?
I don't know about you, but the phrase "Texas Navy" stirs my heart. Do you think they had Texas Marines?
Anyway, it was the "First and only time sail bested steam men-of-war!"
Wait, what? The Texans in sailing ships fought British Officers commanding Mexican steamships?
I don't know about you, but the phrase "Texas Navy" stirs my heart. Do you think they had Texas Marines?
Anyway, it was the "First and only time sail bested steam men-of-war!"
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