Even though I voted "yes" I think I'll pass. I could never be satisfied reading only 50 books in the course of a year. During the time I kept track of such things I read between 150 and 200 books a year for more than 5 years. Being older and "busier" I no longer keep lists and my reading has diminished to a fairly moderate average of about 75-100 books/year.
A fairly well known author and "self-educated" man - who shall remain nameless - left school at the age of 15, yet was a proponent of education. In later years when speaking at various schools, when asked about it he would say "Dropping out of highschool is perfectly acceptable... Provided you have spent a minimum of three years reading between 100-150 books a year for the fun of it!"
Great challenge and I hope there are quite a few who take you up on it!
Bar Stool Economics (by David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics, University of Georgia)
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 that 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
I just fixed the secondary power outlet in the truck so I can (with a power inverter) run my laptop in the truck again, as well as charge both cell and bluetooth simultaneously! (May not seem like much to anyone else, but blowing fuses every 3 minutes has been a major pain in the butt for me!)
My late father. We're both males and gentlemen, but not afraid to (occasionally) speak our minds. Both of us also prefer(ed) to think before we speak.
Other than that, I've never really taken after anybody. Always kinda' gone my own way and done my own thing... Come to think of it, that makes me even more like Dad...
It's okay. There are other things you're not familiar with either.
It means that threads cannot go on indefinitely and will become automatically locked once they reach a certain number of posts. We're getting closer to that magical number with every response here.
Yep! Sure is. Wish I could find the documentation to discover exactly who invented it and when. I know it goes back to at least 16th century Europe, but there are also those who think it was spontaneously developed in the Phillipines using bamboo. With the close tolerances required to make it work, I somehow doubt it, but stranger things have happened.
The_Kansan Forum Posts (3,395)
(And a freshly laundered ball cap!)
RE: Experience of an isolated farm,anyone can tell his/her experience.
I'll second that!