I’d forgotten all about this song until I saw “Pirate Radio.” The Seekers:
Month: March 2010
Trailer for Every Award-Winning Movie Ever Made
TD Bank? No Thanks!
Brendan details why he’s moving from TD Bank – and why you should, too!
If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another
I’ve mentioned the various repetitive motion problems with my hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, etc. that result from spending so much time on the computer.
Most recently, it was my hands – from using the regular mouse.
A few weeks ago, I finally got a new trackball mouse. And while my hands no longer hurt, my forearms are an achy, numb mess, to the point where I’m now working with them wrapped in Ace bandages. Arggh.
Isn’t blogging fun?
Revival
Will Bunch reports from Elmer Gantry’s Glenn Beck’s “revival” meeting in Florida this weekend.
The Times Explains It All For You
No, the Social Security system is not collapsing, as much as the powers that be would like you to go into a full-blown panic.
Former NYTimes tax reporter David Cay Johnston points out in the comments:
What the story lacked was pointing out if the Congress fails to provide full benefits to those who have paid for them in advance because of the excess FICA tax it would be a form of default on US government debt.
THAT is the issue that needs a great deal of attention: reducing benefits paid for in advance is a form of default.
At its peak the excess tax equaled 4 percent of wages subject to FICA. That excess tax took away half of the savings capacity of the vast majority of Americans.
Factor in the time value of money and the effect of Reagan’s and Greenspan’s excess FICA tax was enormous and helps explain why so many Americans are mired in debt today. Fewer than half of taxpayers have ANY cash savings, while more than half did before Reagan took office.
Because of Reaganomics, Social Security was converted from a pay-as-you go system into a subtle way to subtle way to overtax wages and thus finance tax cuts for the rich. The integrated federal budget (SS used to be accounted for separately) made this sleight-of-tax possible.
Without overtaxing workers Reagan would not have been able to persuade Congress to give massive tax relief to the few who paid the 70 percent (and later 50 percent) marginal rates.
What the NYT story did not point out was that the pay-in-advance scheme was premised on Mr. Reagan’s promise that he would balance the federal budget within three years of taking office and use the surplus to pay down the existing federal debt (about $2.5 trillion in today’s dollars).
But take it from someone with four decades of experience, it is very hard to introduce into an article history even from as recently as 1983 when the second most valued word in newsrooms is “yesterday,” exceeded only by “early this morning.”
Batter Blaster
I wrote about it a few years ago when I first read about it: Batter Blaster, organic pancake batter in an aerosol can. Just point and cook!
I finally tried it this morning. The pancakes were really good, tasty and crispy. I’m all about the convenience!
Junk Food Junkies
I’ve been saying this for years: It’s a lot harder to quit sugar than drugs. And yet, as expensive as it is to treat diabetes and obesity-related conditions, why don’t insurance companies send people away for dietary rehab?
The findings in a study of animals cannot be directly applied to human obesity, but may help in understanding the condition and in developing therapies to treat it, researchers wrote in the journal “Nature Neuroscience.”
The study, involving rats, found that overconsumption of high-calorie food can trigger addiction-like responses in the brain and that high-calorie food can turn rats into compulsive eaters in a laboratory setting, the article said.
The scientists also found decreased levels of a specific dopamine receptor — a brain chemical that allows a feeling of reward — in overweight rats, as has been reported in humans addicted to drugs, the article said.
“Obesity may be a form of compulsive eating. Other treatments in development for other forms of compulsion, for example drug addiction, may be very useful for the treatment of obesity,” researcher Paul Kenny of The Scripps Research Institute in Florida said in a telephone interview.
Precedent
I thought this was pretty interesting. Guess this blows the whole Tea Party argument, huh:
(CNN) — Officials from 14 states have gone to court to block the historic overhaul of the U.S. health care system that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, arguing the law’s requirement that individuals buy health insurance violates the Constitution.
Thirteen of those officials filed suit in a federal court in Pensacola, Florida, minutes after Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The complaint calls the act an “unprecedented encroachment on the sovereignty of the states” and asks a judge to block its enforcement.
“The Constitution nowhere authorizes the United States to mandate, either directly or under threat of penalty, that all citizens and legal residents have qualifying health care coverage,” the lawsuit states.
In July, 1798, Congress passed, and President John Adams signed into law “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen,” authorizing the creation of a marine hospital service, and mandating privately employed sailors to purchase healthcare insurance.
This legislation also created America’s first payroll tax, as a ship’s owner was required to deduct 20 cents from each sailor’s monthly pay and forward those receipts to the service, which in turn provided injured sailors hospital care. Failure to pay or account properly was discouraged by requiring a law violating owner or ship’s captain to pay a 100 dollar fine.
Overqualified
This article assumes someone will hire you in the first place. Unfortunately, most HR people tend to be quite linear in their thinking and almost incapable of making unconventional hires – it goes against their very natures. Their job is to rule you out, not in.