Eeka of One Smoot Short puts her thoughts in the Big Bank Bonus Bingo. Even a token amount of money in a gift card goes a long way to say thanks.
We don't get bonuses at work per se. (Definitely not the $400,000 Bank of America execs get.) Whenever we've had a good year, the company shares the profits by depositing the monies into our 401(k) plans, usually at a rate of 3-6% of our salary, depending on our performance as a whole.
Pro: not a single dollar gets taxed, so we don't get whacked with income taxes if they cut a check instead.
Con: if the market ever goes down, like last year, it will take a long time to get that money back; and even if we've save all those nice bonuses they've given us, the money gets taxed as soon as we retire.
2/28/2010
2/21/2010
Phasing in sounds like a good idea...
Hub Blog posts an article regarding an easier way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
The idea is to add a carbon tax of $300 a ton, or about $2.60 per gallon of gasoline.
I like it, but not for reasons of the psuedo-religion of environmentalism.
No - slapping a high premium on oil and gasoline would certainly discourage the excessive speculation going on in Wall Street. Put a $2.60 tax on a gallon of gasoline, and you will find a LOT of investors who should have no business in Wall Street leaving the energy futures market quicker than you can say "perp walk" and "margin call."
The reason? People who find themselves grumbling of paying $5 a gallon for gas will reduce demand even further. The demand on crude oil has been quite low since the stock market crash of 2009, even though we pay an average of $2.60 in Massachusetts. People like cheap gas (I do, even though I don't drive) but when gas is sky-high, people reduce a lot of their car driving. When gas went from $4.11 a gallon in June 2008 to $1.59 in December 2008, certainly it put money back in their pockets.
The reason why gasoline prices are high now is because Wall Street thinks that once the economy improves, people will return to their bad old driving habits and hence increase demand, and hence line their portfolios with monster profits. A $2.60 per gallon tax will not only cool off demand, it will all but freeze it. The crude oil traders in the NYMEX pits would drive the wholesale price to under a dollar because no one wants to drive when gas is over $5 a gallon. The floor, then, for a gallon of gas would be around $3.25-$3.50.
The other benefit will be that hostile foreign countries who feel the US will always be dependent on them for cheap oil won't be so accomodating when they go into their little diatribes against America. The Great Satan/imperialists/warmongers would finally tell these countries that, yeah, your imports are nice, but we've got cars that are more fuel efficient anyway. So, take your tankers back from whence they came and your fevered conspiracy theories and mumbo-jumbo too.
A better way to implement this gas tax would be to add this tax in 2011 at the end of every quarter. Adding 65 cents a quarter to the price of gasoline is less painful and won't cause as much panic as doing it all at once. Or, increasing the tax 10 cents every other week would cause far less panic as long as the public is notified beforehand.
The only problem I would forsee is a few activists screaming (as they're wont to do) "This tax is regressive towards the poor." Really? Everyone who drives will pay this tax, but in return for this high tax, innovation would explode exponentially - cars with better fuel mileage, substantial improvements to public transportation, and other developments. For example, Bermuda has a minimum gas price of $2.00 per liter - or $7.56 per gallon - yet their cars are much smaller and fuel efficient. So a 20 liter tank of gas that has a fuel efficiency of 5L/100km gives a Bermudian a 400km range - and the island itself is only 52 square kilometers. Conversely, Bermudians use scooters and public transportation to get around the islands. The same would happen if the US implements a this tax and the 30 gallon tanks of gas giving only 15 miles per gallon shrink to 10 gallon tanks giving 45 miles to the gallon. Same distance, but better fuel efficiency.
And I do like the aspect that control freaks who use the environment as an excuse to implement wild schemes like this will not like this kind of tax either because with it, they can't impose their ideals on us. Environmentalism, along with socialism and communism, is a false religion to begin with - they are religions worshipped by the elite who missed the memo that the United States isn't ruled by a monarchy or a dictator with military fatigues and bushy facial hair. If you want to worship trees and plants and pray that one day, animals can hold a reasonable conversation with you, go right ahead - but trying to control behavior because your morality must be followed without question harbors resentment and revolt. Americans don't like to be ruled.
Finally, if the benefits of this high tax outweigh the skepticism, indeed it will be a small cost to pay. The true scientific proof for global warming has not been established yet, and may take many years to establish, but if we can stave off at least the bad parts, it will be a boon for many people, not a curse.
The idea is to add a carbon tax of $300 a ton, or about $2.60 per gallon of gasoline.
I like it, but not for reasons of the psuedo-religion of environmentalism.
No - slapping a high premium on oil and gasoline would certainly discourage the excessive speculation going on in Wall Street. Put a $2.60 tax on a gallon of gasoline, and you will find a LOT of investors who should have no business in Wall Street leaving the energy futures market quicker than you can say "perp walk" and "margin call."
The reason? People who find themselves grumbling of paying $5 a gallon for gas will reduce demand even further. The demand on crude oil has been quite low since the stock market crash of 2009, even though we pay an average of $2.60 in Massachusetts. People like cheap gas (I do, even though I don't drive) but when gas is sky-high, people reduce a lot of their car driving. When gas went from $4.11 a gallon in June 2008 to $1.59 in December 2008, certainly it put money back in their pockets.
The reason why gasoline prices are high now is because Wall Street thinks that once the economy improves, people will return to their bad old driving habits and hence increase demand, and hence line their portfolios with monster profits. A $2.60 per gallon tax will not only cool off demand, it will all but freeze it. The crude oil traders in the NYMEX pits would drive the wholesale price to under a dollar because no one wants to drive when gas is over $5 a gallon. The floor, then, for a gallon of gas would be around $3.25-$3.50.
The other benefit will be that hostile foreign countries who feel the US will always be dependent on them for cheap oil won't be so accomodating when they go into their little diatribes against America. The Great Satan/imperialists/warmongers would finally tell these countries that, yeah, your imports are nice, but we've got cars that are more fuel efficient anyway. So, take your tankers back from whence they came and your fevered conspiracy theories and mumbo-jumbo too.
A better way to implement this gas tax would be to add this tax in 2011 at the end of every quarter. Adding 65 cents a quarter to the price of gasoline is less painful and won't cause as much panic as doing it all at once. Or, increasing the tax 10 cents every other week would cause far less panic as long as the public is notified beforehand.
The only problem I would forsee is a few activists screaming (as they're wont to do) "This tax is regressive towards the poor." Really? Everyone who drives will pay this tax, but in return for this high tax, innovation would explode exponentially - cars with better fuel mileage, substantial improvements to public transportation, and other developments. For example, Bermuda has a minimum gas price of $2.00 per liter - or $7.56 per gallon - yet their cars are much smaller and fuel efficient. So a 20 liter tank of gas that has a fuel efficiency of 5L/100km gives a Bermudian a 400km range - and the island itself is only 52 square kilometers. Conversely, Bermudians use scooters and public transportation to get around the islands. The same would happen if the US implements a this tax and the 30 gallon tanks of gas giving only 15 miles per gallon shrink to 10 gallon tanks giving 45 miles to the gallon. Same distance, but better fuel efficiency.
And I do like the aspect that control freaks who use the environment as an excuse to implement wild schemes like this will not like this kind of tax either because with it, they can't impose their ideals on us. Environmentalism, along with socialism and communism, is a false religion to begin with - they are religions worshipped by the elite who missed the memo that the United States isn't ruled by a monarchy or a dictator with military fatigues and bushy facial hair. If you want to worship trees and plants and pray that one day, animals can hold a reasonable conversation with you, go right ahead - but trying to control behavior because your morality must be followed without question harbors resentment and revolt. Americans don't like to be ruled.
Finally, if the benefits of this high tax outweigh the skepticism, indeed it will be a small cost to pay. The true scientific proof for global warming has not been established yet, and may take many years to establish, but if we can stave off at least the bad parts, it will be a boon for many people, not a curse.
2/05/2010
YouAREtheweakestFacebookfriend, g'bye
This week, I did a move or several on Facebook that would probably qualify as one that may make people a little mad.
I have people from my old school who have known each other for years. I've known them for years; they are not bad people. Put alcohol and them together, and you pine for the voice of Caillou, the most annoying child in the universe. (Except for Kate Jackson, late from The Pointy Universe.)
Of course, the day after, I looked at their profiles and pictures. I'll admit the pictures were innocent and it was your garden variety get-wasted-and-pose-as-a-group-and-make-goofy-faces variety. Pretty innocent stuff, if you really want to grind it fine.
The updates, however, made me angrier every time I read them. Tons of inside jokes. One person begging for pictures of her in heels falling flat on her ass. People begging to be taken out of the country. They sounded like they were congratulating themselves on getting wasted like the old days.
It brought me back to the day where I was in high school and while they played, drank, dated, and horsed around, I didn't get to do any of those things. Thanks (and this is a sincere thanks, not a sarcastic thanks you get when someone eats a fudgsicle and hands you the stick) to my parents, who saw these kids as pretty unruly. They made sure I had a good head on my shoulders. They made me study and go to school and work for what I wanted. Above all, they made sure I stayed out of trouble, because they promised not to rescue me if stuff happened.
I agonized over the decision for a couple of days. What would they think of me? Would I be demonized?
Then, I heard a voice that was female, and distinctly English, with four tones heralding her arrival. "Mr. ClearySquared...have these people always been by your side? Will they ever show up at your time of need? Or are they daft, immature, insecure people who are only out to have fun? It's time to vote off...the Weakest Links!"
Yep, my inner Anne Robinson - the game show host with a gimlet eye for bullshit - cast that eye towards me.
It was time to employ the FB Ban Hammer. The Friend Sledge-o-matic.
All I had to do was click the "X" near the word "Do you wish to break your connection?" It was the equivalent "YouAREtheweakestlink...g'bye," but mercifully without the virtual Walk of Shame and the post-voting interview. Painless and very clean, but I did it.
For a couple of days, I felt really bad. So far I haven't received requests to bring them back. I thought they were going to send me a message saying, "WTF? Why did you defriend me?" But then Anne came back and said, "There are plenty of people out there who will be your friends even outside of Facebook. The real friends will be the ones who will show up when you need them, just as you will show up when they need you. And if the ones who want to come back want an explanation, ask them: will you be there when I need you? If they can't answer that question, well, to borrow from another game show that made it to the States and was hosted by Regis Philbin, you have your final answer."
Then she winked and said, "G'bye."
I have people from my old school who have known each other for years. I've known them for years; they are not bad people. Put alcohol and them together, and you pine for the voice of Caillou, the most annoying child in the universe. (Except for Kate Jackson, late from The Pointy Universe.)
Of course, the day after, I looked at their profiles and pictures. I'll admit the pictures were innocent and it was your garden variety get-wasted-and-pose-as-a-group-and-make-goofy-faces variety. Pretty innocent stuff, if you really want to grind it fine.
The updates, however, made me angrier every time I read them. Tons of inside jokes. One person begging for pictures of her in heels falling flat on her ass. People begging to be taken out of the country. They sounded like they were congratulating themselves on getting wasted like the old days.
It brought me back to the day where I was in high school and while they played, drank, dated, and horsed around, I didn't get to do any of those things. Thanks (and this is a sincere thanks, not a sarcastic thanks you get when someone eats a fudgsicle and hands you the stick) to my parents, who saw these kids as pretty unruly. They made sure I had a good head on my shoulders. They made me study and go to school and work for what I wanted. Above all, they made sure I stayed out of trouble, because they promised not to rescue me if stuff happened.
I agonized over the decision for a couple of days. What would they think of me? Would I be demonized?
Then, I heard a voice that was female, and distinctly English, with four tones heralding her arrival. "Mr. ClearySquared...have these people always been by your side? Will they ever show up at your time of need? Or are they daft, immature, insecure people who are only out to have fun? It's time to vote off...the Weakest Links!"
Yep, my inner Anne Robinson - the game show host with a gimlet eye for bullshit - cast that eye towards me.
It was time to employ the FB Ban Hammer. The Friend Sledge-o-matic.
All I had to do was click the "X" near the word "Do you wish to break your connection?" It was the equivalent "YouAREtheweakestlink...g'bye," but mercifully without the virtual Walk of Shame and the post-voting interview. Painless and very clean, but I did it.
For a couple of days, I felt really bad. So far I haven't received requests to bring them back. I thought they were going to send me a message saying, "WTF? Why did you defriend me?" But then Anne came back and said, "There are plenty of people out there who will be your friends even outside of Facebook. The real friends will be the ones who will show up when you need them, just as you will show up when they need you. And if the ones who want to come back want an explanation, ask them: will you be there when I need you? If they can't answer that question, well, to borrow from another game show that made it to the States and was hosted by Regis Philbin, you have your final answer."
Then she winked and said, "G'bye."
1/09/2010
Chef Chang's House to close and become Sichuan Gourmet
According to Universal Hub via the Boston Restaurant Talk blog, Chef Chang's House, the unassuming Chinese restaurant about 25 feet from the Brookline/Boston line (and right next to the mid-60s/early 70s white Beacon Street sign) will close and become Sichuan Gourmet. Two branches of Sichuan House are already in Billerica and Framingham.
I discovered the restaurant in 1992, while coming home for weekends at UMass Dartmouth. Somehow I was hungry and I wanted something quick, and right at the portal of the "C" line trolley was this restaurant. It's very low-key, comfortable, and out-of-the-way. Sweet and sour chicken for lunch back then was $4.25...not a bad deal for a poor college student!
The lunch specials came with soup (never got the soup) and an appetizer (either wontons or an egg roll). The duck sauce served with the egg rolls had a very slight hint of strawberries, although I can't confirm this. And each diner got a free pot of hot tea plus refills of ice water.
The sweet and sour chicken at Chef Chang's House is the yardstick to compare restaurant sweet and sour chicken made at Chinese restaurants. Usually, the other versions are a day-glo mess of chicken fingers, a heavily-sugary (and often piping hot because of the sugar) sauce, and maybe a cherry or a pineapple here or there (Liane's in Hyde Park used to have cherries and pineapple, but don't anymore). Chef Chang's sauce is exactly the right balance of sweet and sour, and they toss in pickles, carrots, green peppers and onions. And, at the very end of the meal, I save the cherry for last, as that represents the end of a good meal.
In 2010, the lunch special has increased to $6.95, still very reasonable for the college student, and for an extra dollar I get the healthier and stickier brown rice. However, It's sad that a good Chinese restaurant like this must close. King's House in Hyde Park did the same and they were open for over 32 years until he closed in 2007. Kenny King did a great business competing against Liane's...his food was much more expensive but well worth it. He closed because people liked Liane's better and they usually deal in high volume (the luncheon/dinner specials are enough to feed two or have over two meals!) Talk and Wok (where the Mug and Muffin used to be eons ago) isn't as good and imparts that thin, cheesy Chinese restaurant patina. Maybe Sichuan Gourmet will prove to be as good, but I will certainly miss Chef Chang's House.
(Aside: the best homemade sweet and sour chicken I had was at an old high school friend's house. Maybe the new owners of Sichuan Gourmet could get lessons from her?)
I discovered the restaurant in 1992, while coming home for weekends at UMass Dartmouth. Somehow I was hungry and I wanted something quick, and right at the portal of the "C" line trolley was this restaurant. It's very low-key, comfortable, and out-of-the-way. Sweet and sour chicken for lunch back then was $4.25...not a bad deal for a poor college student!
The lunch specials came with soup (never got the soup) and an appetizer (either wontons or an egg roll). The duck sauce served with the egg rolls had a very slight hint of strawberries, although I can't confirm this. And each diner got a free pot of hot tea plus refills of ice water.
The sweet and sour chicken at Chef Chang's House is the yardstick to compare restaurant sweet and sour chicken made at Chinese restaurants. Usually, the other versions are a day-glo mess of chicken fingers, a heavily-sugary (and often piping hot because of the sugar) sauce, and maybe a cherry or a pineapple here or there (Liane's in Hyde Park used to have cherries and pineapple, but don't anymore). Chef Chang's sauce is exactly the right balance of sweet and sour, and they toss in pickles, carrots, green peppers and onions. And, at the very end of the meal, I save the cherry for last, as that represents the end of a good meal.
In 2010, the lunch special has increased to $6.95, still very reasonable for the college student, and for an extra dollar I get the healthier and stickier brown rice. However, It's sad that a good Chinese restaurant like this must close. King's House in Hyde Park did the same and they were open for over 32 years until he closed in 2007. Kenny King did a great business competing against Liane's...his food was much more expensive but well worth it. He closed because people liked Liane's better and they usually deal in high volume (the luncheon/dinner specials are enough to feed two or have over two meals!) Talk and Wok (where the Mug and Muffin used to be eons ago) isn't as good and imparts that thin, cheesy Chinese restaurant patina. Maybe Sichuan Gourmet will prove to be as good, but I will certainly miss Chef Chang's House.
(Aside: the best homemade sweet and sour chicken I had was at an old high school friend's house. Maybe the new owners of Sichuan Gourmet could get lessons from her?)
12/29/2009
PLZ SEE ME RE: LAST EXAM - BAD GRADE, NOT PAYING ATTN :-(
Babson college professor Kara Miller throws down the gauntlet to American college students who want to flirt and text and daydream.
And she is 100% correct that foreign students work much harder than us and do much better, even with a language gap. That's because they value higher education and want to succeed through it, while American students see their four years as a time to party and socialize (among other things), and then once they get their first job, they are woefully unprepared.
If you want to know the bane of managers and supervisors, it's escorting the underperforming employee to the Human Resources department to tell them their services are no longer required. In college, it's called the academic dismissal.
Full disclosure and addendum: While I was in college, I garnered a 3.2 grade point average. That's a high B, almost near B+ average. There were times where I should have been more proactive in getting my work done, but when I left graduate school (and didn't return), I had two C's; the minimum grade is a B. I would have been put on academic probation the next semester. If I had gotten another C, I would have been academically dismissed. If you're a A or B student who works hard and grabs the concepts well, then professors notice it. When you're a C or D student who doesn't try (or tries too hard in the drinking and hooking up department) then the professors know it isn't their subject matter that's the problem - it's you.
And she is 100% correct that foreign students work much harder than us and do much better, even with a language gap. That's because they value higher education and want to succeed through it, while American students see their four years as a time to party and socialize (among other things), and then once they get their first job, they are woefully unprepared.
If you want to know the bane of managers and supervisors, it's escorting the underperforming employee to the Human Resources department to tell them their services are no longer required. In college, it's called the academic dismissal.
Full disclosure and addendum: While I was in college, I garnered a 3.2 grade point average. That's a high B, almost near B+ average. There were times where I should have been more proactive in getting my work done, but when I left graduate school (and didn't return), I had two C's; the minimum grade is a B. I would have been put on academic probation the next semester. If I had gotten another C, I would have been academically dismissed. If you're a A or B student who works hard and grabs the concepts well, then professors notice it. When you're a C or D student who doesn't try (or tries too hard in the drinking and hooking up department) then the professors know it isn't their subject matter that's the problem - it's you.
12/04/2009
The altar of Gaia is fraught with Tofu-pup wrappers and crumpled pictures of Marx and Lenin in the nude
Note to the health Puritans and malignant gentry who are trying to hide their mega-control freak designs through Mother Earth - it's not nice to fool Mother Nature - in fact, pissing her off will give you something much more than you bargained for.
If they weren't so obnoxious on your neo-Puritan crusade, and actually MINDED THEIR OWN GODDAMN BUSINESS, people wouldn't see them as the fussy eaters and spoiled children they really are.
If they weren't so obnoxious on your neo-Puritan crusade, and actually MINDED THEIR OWN GODDAMN BUSINESS, people wouldn't see them as the fussy eaters and spoiled children they really are.
12/03/2009
Dumb criminal tip: never cash a stolen Lottery ticket
Two criminals in a Milton home invasion won the Stupid Criminal of the Century award when...
a. they attempted to cash in a stolen $5,000 Scary Money ticket at the Game Room at Ashburton Place
b. they both fell for the "oh, the system's down" stall while the Lottery agent (who knew the ticket was stolen) notified the State Police, and six officers came down and arrested both idiots
c. both A and B
Great job by the agent and the Staties.
a. they attempted to cash in a stolen $5,000 Scary Money ticket at the Game Room at Ashburton Place
b. they both fell for the "oh, the system's down" stall while the Lottery agent (who knew the ticket was stolen) notified the State Police, and six officers came down and arrested both idiots
c. both A and B
Great job by the agent and the Staties.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)