Oct 30 2008
January 5, 1919 - October 29, 2008
Married to my grandfather for 70 years.
Led countless numbers of people to a personal relationship with Jesus.
Lived her life with compassion, consistency, dignity, joy, and faithfulness to God and her family.
One of the best people that ever lived among us.
We’ll miss you grandmother, until we see you again. So glad you finally made it to where you’ve always wanted to go.
Oct 29 2008
Bar Stool Economics
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. ‘Since you are all such good customers, he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
‘I only got a dollar out of the $20′, declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,’ but he got $10!’
‘Yeah, that’s right’, exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair he got ten times more than I!’
‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’
‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics, University of Georgia
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.
Oct 29 2008
A friend posted this product she found on www.etsy.com on her blog. Handsoap. Get it? Huh, huh? There are two kinds of people in this world…1) Those who find this cute 2) Those who find this creepy. The line in the sand compliments of the movie “Chucky”.
Oct 27 2008
A big shout out to my sister-in-law and her new fiancé for getting betrothed. The selection of a wedding gift is an important part of the family’s responsibility. It is our job to get you the crucial items that others may neglect as they peruse your registry.
So I have selected your luggage, since you will be travelling so much together. With durability and class as my paramaters, I headed to the most logical purveyor of durable and classy luggage, Walmart.
I present to you your wedding gift. Congrats, J and B!!!
Oct 24 2008
This is a pretty amazing video clip of the new Dallas Cowboys Safety, Daren Stone, hurdling a parked car. I did this the other day, in fact. I keep telling my daughter to put her toys up.
Oct 22 2008
If you are scared of spiders don’t read this. Somehow, the scale of the spider to the bird is what freaks me out about this. I think the bird is much smaller than we probably think, but it’s hard to tell. Either way, holy cow.
Mammoth backyard spider devours bird
Oct 20 2008
Check out this ref in the South Carolina/LSU game. The big debate is if the ref intended to hit this guy or not? What do you think?
Oct 19 2008
Every time I get ready to throw away some nasty looking, old bananas, my wife swoops in and shames me for wasting them.
“You can make good banana nut bread out of them.” she always says.
Well, I have to tell you, we’ve hit new lows in our house as far as rotten bananas go. I don’t even want to eat the bread that these bananas go into. I mean, come on, this is ridiculous. There are leper colonies that look healthier than this. (are there still leper colonies in this world??)
Oct 17 2008
This is one of the funniest photos I’ve ever seen. It’s the profile pic of a friend of a friend on Facebook. I wrote her and told her, “I don’t know you, but that’s the best facebook profile picture, ever.”
She wrote back, “It’s the best picture that exists. It’s an anteater, but for a reason I’m not sure of, it is standing on it’s back legs and standing in front of what appears to be a curtain….as if he’s on stage. It’s strange, but it makes me laugh a lot. It looks a bit like he’s doing a modified “heisman” — which I decided is appropriate for facebook!”
She said to another guy about the photo…
“i always interpreted his expression as “you’ve caught me without my hat and cane, please excuse me” — at which point he scurries behind the curtain…but your take on it makes it perfectly apropos for my profile pic (i mean, if you take his hand to mean the trendy-figurative use of the “heisman”). ah, love a new perspective, thanks!”
PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR CAPTIONS IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. The winner will receive an anteater pelt.
Oct 07 2008
When you are watching the new James Bond movie, coming out shortly, you may enjoy this interesting note about the newest Bond girl.
In The News
