Megaupload.com has been shut down by the U.S. government, and foreign citizens who worked for it are being extradited to the U.S. to face charges. The war against the Internet has begun.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_INTERNET_PIRACY_INDICTMENT?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Stolen from reynardo,

Challenge:

1) Find out the song that was #1 the week you were born.
2) Find that song on YouTube.
3) Post that video on your wall without shame.

For those who are using Twitter and aren't following me yet, you can do so @felonimayhem. It was originally going to be for Feloni's use only, but I've sort of muscled in on her turf.

I guess I should be thankful I'm still alive.

From fluffy_cloud: Comment to this post, and I will list five things I associate with you, They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, along with your commentary.

1. Full Moon Ah, it's that time again, isn't it? I'm afraid I haven't been too good with the moons this year because my CuteOverload calendar at work doesn't have the moon phases. I'll try to turn Feloni into something wicked tomorrow (she's at Buzzy's house, so I won't have to suffer any unfortunate consequences).

2. Schnuffel Argh, looks like they took down his most recent video. I do like his music though, it's catchy and cheery and fun, and it's probably all for the best that I don't speak German, because the lyrics usually end up like "Hi! I love you! This is my new hit song! Sing with me! Doodeedoo..." Schnuffel helped me get through a rough time in life when I was working major overtime with the worst programming language I ever encountered.

3. Travels My favorite way to spend my free time, much easier now that I can drive. Each year I plan to go to Anthrocon, Midwest FurFest, Kennywood twice, Knoebel's once, pester Buzzy for 2-3 weekends in California, and go off on an adventure someplace I've never been before. Someday I'll have to visit England again, and maybe visit Japan once.

4. Liberatarian Libertarianism is based on the philosophical idea that maximizing individual freedom is the highest goal, and I'm a rather firm advocate of it. I acknowledge that other philosophical systems which seek to minimize suffering or maximize happiness have their strong points too, but they end up applying enormous pressure on people to adopt a definition of suffering or happiness that may not apply to them. I think it's best to let people follow their own star and accept the joys and sorrows that come from their hard work.

5. Furry I have some mixed feelings here; most furries are wonderful, accepting people, but there are a few rotten apples who try their best to spoil the entire barrel. I do my best to hang out with the nice furries and ignore the rest. It was delightful seeing all the bronies show up at the Midwest Furfest MLP gathering, everybody got to goof around and be immature for an hour. That may be one of the things I like best about the furry community, you can pretend to be a silly kid again for a little while and nobody will try to have you institutionalized for it.

There is a new Schnuffel song and video available at last, but you have to buy the videos and they only play on smart phones, not dumb phones like mine. Boo!

Anyway, here's a decent-sized chunk of the first video, in English:


And they finally finished his girlfriend's "Three Hazelnuts" video (it's in German though):


No signs that there are any more CDs on the way, looks like Jamba is making all this stuff for mobile phones only.

For a while it looked like the Big Bear was going to win, but Buzzy eventually pulled through.


( Click to see many pretty and a few distressing picturesCollapse )

Fun game, definitely worth the $10. One-hour free trial if you want to try before you buy.

http://www.popcap.com/games/plants-vs-zombies/pc?et_cid=42259723&et_rid=4866fede-d90e-102c-853c-000423bdb490&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.popcap.com%2fgames%2fpvz

For what you've done to Jitters, you're hereby ordered to watch the video below and write a 500 word report on it, explaining in detail why it's not nice to be mean to others.



I hope you learn your lesson!

There's a movement afoot to create a new international Robin Hood tax: a fixed percentage tax on the principal of all financial transactions. For a variety of reasons, this is a very bad idea.

I know the world is angry at the banksters and Wall Street, and for good reason. They made out like bandits in the good times and got us taxpayers to bail them out in the bad times. Hedge fund managers and master brokers make most of their income on capital gains and dividends, which have a lower tax rate than regular income. Bankers are sitting on the trillions of cash the Fed printed for them, or reinvesting it in government debt, instead of lending it out. They all have lobbyist connections in Washington that enable them to write custom tax exemptions for themselves into the tax code. And that's just for starters.

But the principal-based Robin Hood tax is attacking the problem from a bad angle. It'll severely damage or destroy the low-risk, low-yield, day-to-day investments that keep our economy running, and encourage investment in high-risk, high-yield securities like junk bonds and derivatives. The world financial markets will become more corrupt than ever.

Consider a 1% Robin Hood tax (proposed by some of the Occupy X leaders) and a one-year Treasury bill (one of the most common securities bought). The T-Bill is currently yielding 0.11%; you pay about $99.89 for it now and get $100 a year from now. Add in the Robin Hood tax, which is 1% of the $100, and you'll now pay $100.89 for $100 a year from now, a net loss of 89 cents. Nobody will be buying T-Bills or other low-risk securities because they'd be losing money. Either the Treasury will have to increase its yield and lending costs tenfold (at taxpayer expense) to provide a positive return on the investment, or nobody will be buying T-Bills anymore. Likewise all low-risk, low-yield debt will become unattractive to investors.

What would still look good? The high-risk, high-yield securities that would more likely cause disasters in the future. A junk bond with 10% yield would still look good at 9% yield. Wacky derivatives where you either make a fortune or lose your shirt would still look good. We'd be turning the financial sector from a dull bank with a shady casino in the back room into a full-sized shady casino. We'd be setting ourselves up for another bailout-or-depression devil's choice, and it would undoubtedly be worse than the 2008 version, because all the safe haven investments would be gone.

But would the banksters and Wall Street suffer, at least? Not a whole lot really, they'd pass all the fees on to their customers, maybe even add a markup for extra profit, and continue to live high on the hog until the economy completely tanks and they retire to the Cayman Islands with their gold bullion.

If you really want to punish investment, a more effective approach would be to Federally tax capital gains and dividends as normal income, rather than a discount rate as is currently done. This is a tax hike on the PROFITS, not the PRINCIPAL. Warren Buffet and the hedge fund managers make most of their income in these areas, so tax hikes there would hit them the hardest. The poor and middle class would pay a little more too, but they're in lower tax brackets, so it wouldn't hurt them as much. Whether punishing investment will help or hurt the country as a whole is left as an exercise for the reader.

One more problem with the Robin Hood tax: we'd need some sort of international tax collection authority to enforce it, possibly as part of the United Nations. You do NOT want the United Nations to have worldwide taxing authority, seriously. Within twenty years, there will be an Americans Suck tax that'll drain half of our GDP and give it to countries like Somalia and Uzbekistan. The world wants the Americans' money as much as the poor Americans want the rich Americans' money, and in a worldwide tax environment, they'll be able to take it.

A few weeks back I made a weekend trip to Niagara Falls. I found considerably more variety than I anticipated. Overall it was a very worthwhile vacation, and modestly priced too (all expenses totaled about $300).



( Click here to see the full story and LOTS of picturesCollapse )