Alaska

I have not gone hiking in a while. Small kids can make that tough. Actually, the last time we attempted it was at Big Sur, CA (about 8 months ago, I think). It lasted all of 10 minutes. The last five of which was me carrying the youngest kid screaming all the way back to the car. We did manage to take a few decent pictures of the waterfall (taken from the road in front of our car). We might try again in a few months, but not in Alaska.

Found this online the other day. It will be a long time before I venture out in that state!

Brilliant move by Ron Paul!

How do you make over 2 million potential voters really happy in a single day? Promise to stop taxing their tips!

Ron Paul has introduced the Tax Free Tips Act in a speech to congress on September 25, 2007. Talk about a great way to garner the support of an entire industry! According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2004 there were almost 1.9 million waiters and waitresses, 337 thousand bartenders and 280 thousand hosts/hostesses that would all benefit from this bill. That is a huge swath of the voting public to make happy with a single piece of legislation. Add this to the large military support for Dr. Paul and it is looking good for is campaign.

If you support Ron Paul then tell your Waiter/Waitress about this bill next time you eat out. They all need to here about the man trying to save their tips!

Here is the speech:

Introducing the Tax Free Tips Act   Ron Paul Speech to Congress   September 25, 2007 Madam Speaker, I rise to help millions of working Americans by introducing the Tax Free Tips Act. As the title suggests, this legislation makes tips exempt from federal income and payroll taxes. Tips often compose a substantial portion of the earnings of waiters, waitresses, and other service-sector employees. However, unlike regular wages, a service-sector employee usually has no guarantee of, or legal right to, a tip. Instead, the amount of a tip usually depends on how well an employee satisfies a client. Since the amount of taxes one pays increases along with the size of tip, taxing tips punishes workers for doing a superior job! Many service-sector employers are young people trying to make money to pay for their education, or single parents struggling to provide for their children. Oftentimes, these workers work two jobs in hopes of making a better life for themselves and their families. The Tax Free Tips Act gives these hard-working Americans an immediate pay raise. People may use this pay raise to devote more resources to their children’s, or their own, education, or to save for a home, retirement, or to start their own businesses. Helping Americans improve themselves by reducing their taxes will make our country stronger. I, therefore, hope all my colleagues will join me in cosponsoring the Tax Free Tips Act.

New Friends of the Brick

Periodically, we at the Brick like to show our appreciation for everyone who has either linked or commented on the blog. In the interest of privacy, we do not post every email address. But if someone has a website we assume they like the free press.

Here is the latest batch of goodwill…

Links
Ron Paul Rocker Report
Iowhat?!
republicbroadcasting.org
ArnoldWatch.org
consumerwatchdog.org/
Hands Across The Ocean Ministry

Comments
Guitar chords for songs
berfice
Bass guitar chords
Jay Janson
brokenfingernail.com
Brother Bear (a myspace page)

The Incontiguous Brick does not necessarily endorse any of these sites based on their content. We are just showing some appreciation for the link or the comment from each. Thanks for the support!

note: If anyone is feeling left out, be sure to send an email or post a comment with your link so that you will not be overlooked in the future.

A note about Microsoft

I read today that Microsoft is now admitting they suck in a subtle way. It is about time they faced the truth about Vista.

on tgdaily:

Microsoft has reportedly begun offering a downgrade option to PC makers who want to allow their customers to have the option of using XP over the pre-installed Vista software.

I can’t help but think of these quotes from Douglas Adams:

“The problem with designing something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of a complete fool.” – Douglas Adams

“The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armor to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he who, by peddling second-rate technology, led them into it in the first place.” – Douglas Adams

Thanks Poem for these quotes!

On a personal note, I am feeling a bit vindicated. My laptop self-destructed last fall and I was faced with a choice, go Vista or go Mac. I chose to make the switch and leave the world of Microsoft for the new enlightened realm of Macintosh. Since then, I have never looked back (other than to chuckle at those poor fools that are still mired in it). I love my Mac.

Pranks

So it is good to be back. My family and I spent a long weekend in San Diego in preparation of a future move. I have to admit, that was one amazing beach. Wow!

Anyway, I am back and will now resume blogging at a regular pace.

If looking for a good prank to pull on family and friends try this:
When a friend has a baby, go get a picture holding the newborn and send it out to all of your family. Claim you have adopted a new kid. Then sit back and wait for the phone to ring.

We did this. It was fun.

out of town

Bummer.

Lets take back the [new] seas America!

The most direct shipping route from Europe to Asia is fully clear of ice for the first time since records began, the European Space Agency (Esa) says.

New scandal may be brewing in CA

A storm could be coming for Gov. Schwarzenegger over the aerial spraying of Monterey county.

As you may have read in my earlier posts, there have now been 4 days of aerial pesticide spraying over some residential communities in California. The goal was to eliminate the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) from the Monterey area before it spread to agricultural centers and potentially did over $100 million in damages.

• link to the effected area map.

The controversy is twofold. First, the spraying was done inspite of protests by the communittee and the unanimous vote of the city council to block the spray. Yeah, democracy! Second, although the maker of the spray (Suterra) assured us all it is completely safe it has not been tested fully by the EPA.

The whole thing seemed to make no sense until someone tracked down the money and brought this to my attention…

The owner of Suterra is Stewart A. Resnick. Mr. Resnick is also among the top 100 campaign contributors to Governor Schwarzenegger, having contributed $144,000.

Maybe it is a coincidence. Maybe Arnold really did feel like spraying citizens with untested chemicals to prevent some other people from loosing money is a reasonable thing in a free society. Or… maybe this is an example of “owing something” to a contributor, no matter what the potential risk to human health.

I would also like to mention that there have been a number of reports (in local yahoo groups and the like) of people who developed irritated eyes, scratchy throats, etc on the morning after the first spraying. I also have had a sore throat that lasted for all three day of spraying over my house and has just gone away (no spray last night). Can any of us claim %100 that these symptoms are due to the spray? Of course not. But doesn’t it seem a bit wrong that we have to consider the possibility that the spray made us ill because the EPA has not tested the chemical?

There is already talk of repeating the spray next month. Personally, I am going to get out of town for the next one. But more importantly, this has to be stopped and an investigation should be conducted to see just how much corruption is involved.

More strangeness from the Department of Energy

On the DOE website there is a virtual frog dissection game for kids.

Don’t drink the water!

If you are planning a trip to China in the near future (I hear there is some big sporting event next year) you might want to bring your own beverages.