Zennie

No kidding. Plus I'm not into bopping interns and then perjuring myself about it. I don't particularly like whoring myself out to corporate interests either. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Inflation is a function of spending power and price. With a sales tax, yes prices go up, but so does spending power. And yeah I would phase out Social Security. At least in it's current incarnation. I don't see why the current tax system is necessary to sustain Medicare and Medicaid. There's nothing inherent in an income tax system that makes it any better suited to support a particular government program than any other. Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

There are pragmatic software developers and renegade developers. I've always been one of the latter. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I can vouch for this one. Sure Mayor Brown says he hasn't raised taxes. What he fails to mention is that property assesments have gone up for three straight years now. Our last one went up by almost $10,000. I have this little conspiracy theory going. I don't think it's any coincidence that major construction projects are underway/planned for I-59 and I-10... two major throughfares to the suburbs. My Oliver Stone take is that they're doing this to make the commute so miserable that everyone will want to move back inside the Beltway. We already have people buying old, dilapidated houses solely for the land it sits on. Then they build these huge houses on top of it. Landowners inside the loop are sitting on gold mines. I need to find a cheap, dumpy house inside the loop quick.

That's a fair assessment. That's why I like healthy debates like this one. I always learn something I didn't know or consider going into it. It forces you to think about why you believe what you believe. Other than the 'keep the current tax structure the same' part, I totally agree with you. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Naaahhhh. Whatever gave you that idea? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I'm not advocating a flat tax. I'm advocating a consumption tax. As far as the refund goes, it's already built in. There is no federal tax witheld from a paycheck. As far as charitable contributions go, that's a very good point. You could work in some sort of credit/refund mechanism to maintain the incentive. I disagree on the incentive to buy a home. Again, the tax deduction is built in because there is no tax witholding. Nothing was taken. There's nothing to refund. You have more disposable income to pay a mortgage. Most poor and middle class folks don't buy a home outright anyway. They receive federal assistance. That would remain intact. The very poor would still have federally funded housing available to them. As far as inflation/cost of living goes. On the surface that would seem to be the case. But the dynamic has changed. Like I said, you can exempt necessary living expenses for the poor. So the cost of living for them is not increased. For the middle & upper classes, the cost of living would remain roughly the same, possibly less, because again, you have more disposable income to buy things. Buying things creates more business, more business (generally) means more jobs. More jobs means less unemployment. Less unemployment means more people contributing to the economy. A thriving economy generally means lower prices. Etc. Etc. And another thing to consider is that by simplifying the tax structure you also reduce business' operating expenses. Operating expenses are a big reason for layoffs. Reduce that and you reduce the possibility of layoffs. Note I said reduce, not eliminate... you'll always have some greedy execs who will take the money with them. But they're gonna get taxed when they spend that money. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

If it's unused they really aren't rich. Dei=finitely not living high on the hog. If I choose to save that's my prerogative. Tax it when it's used. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I would as well. I pay federal income tax on top of the Texas state sales tax. So just eliminate the income tax and replace it with a federal sales tax. Yeah you pay more sales tax, but you don't have federal tax coming out of your paycheck either. Simplifies things (which reduces govt expenses and expenses hiring an accountant). No tax shelters. No weird deductions schemes. Just a simple consumption tax. The wealthy will naturally pay more because they'll be buying expensive stuff. The poor will pay less because they're buying less expensive stuff. It all evens out. And the economy would benefit because people will have more disposable income to purchase things. As far as the poor goes, like I said, you can exempt necessary living items like food & clothes if you don't meet a certain income threshold. Give 'em a card that they hand to the cashier which eliminates the tax on those items. It's very feasible. The only thing about the Libertarian party that I don't like is that their policies tend to overy benefit big corporations. My form of Libertarianism isn't limited to government. It applies to big anything which has centralized control of something. So I would also strengthen antitrust enforcement as well. And market-based environmentalism is a farce. The sad fact is it is much, much more economical, from a business perspective, to pollute. So I'd also strengthen EPAs enforcement as well. We don't need more laws in either of these areas, we've got plenty (take a look at the size of the entire CFR sometime), we just need to enforce the existing ones. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

That's what I've been finding myself doing lately with the most success. Carve, correct, carve, correct, crank it the last 90. Only difference is I'm starting around 300 since I'm only loading about 1.3. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Sure, but you gotta run as a Libertarian. Totally agree on the income tax. Get rid of the bureaucracy. National sales tax with exemptions for necessary living items for the poor. Texas does just fine with a sales tax. It does work. 50/50 custody is reasonable, so long as there aren't any abuse/neglect issues. I'd also get rid of alimony. Community property. Split it 50/50 and say sayanara. Ya know. Come to think of it I like the way Texas does things. Maybe we should just secede again. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Let's see... My now-ending ten year relationship was an absolute disaster. I'd feel guilty doing a 1-night stand... I can't use people like that. So chalk me up in the "neither" column as well. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Sounds like a budding BASE jumper! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

And perspective is relative if you freefly. It's rightside up, now upside down, now up again... no wait, upside down. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I dunno. I've seen Eric Butts do some amazing shit with his. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I got into it probably for similar reasons as most... I always wanted to do it and thought it would be an incredible rush. I keep coming back because I love the challenge of freeflying. There's always something new to try, always something to improve on. I've yet to be in a sport with the endless possibilities of skydiving. Most things I try I get bored with after a couple of years. I'm not even anywhere close to bored with this. I'm just scratching the surface. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

0:11:2 Lotsa fun jumps (as usual). 1st ball jump. 1st chow in the swoop dictch. Here I was all timid about getting wet and afterward I was like "That was GREAT! Let's do it again!" So Levin goes to watch me chow again & I get this beautiful, long toe drag across the water & stop right by him on dry land. I also learned that your clothes dry out in only one freefall. Shoes still stay wet though. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Hmmm. An ass-spock. Don't think that one has been tried yet. Actually, since I'm head down & Slappie would be sitting, I guess that would be his job. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

You better. I still have yet to spock your ass. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

And you look fine without it. Here's the thing... At some point, sometime, the person you're (and I'm talking "you" in the general sense, not you specifically Tiff) trying to impress is going to see you without your makeup on. Then what? I mean it's one thing to sort of do yourself up for a formal event. That's sort of expected. But for day-to-day stuff, I just don't see the point. Plus if I'm licking someone's face I don't want a mouthful of Maybelline. Yuk. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Heh. Thanks.

I've been thinking of demoing a Velocity 103 (and I'll prolly check out the FX and Competition Cobalt in similar sizes). I'd be loading it right at 1.5 (I'm on a Vengeance 120 at 1.3 right now). The only thing I'm not sure of is whether I'd be underloading the canopy to really see any of the performance benefits of a crossbrace. Anyone else jumping a crossbrace at that wingloading? Any thoughts? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

See here's part of the problem. It's not a feature, it's an imperfection. The subconscious message being "I have to be perfect." I'm not lecturing cuz I'm as guilty as anyone else. I shave my head because I hate the balding look. Always have. Made me feel old. Since I've lost weight I've been obsessively monitoring the scale to make sure I don't put it back on. Women are pressured by pop culture to have perfect, unblemished faces and svelte figures. Guys are pressured to have this thick head of hair and be buff. And unfortunately our thinking, our notions of beauty, are shaped by pop culture, even if it is subconsciously. It's kind of a shame that we can't be ourselves and be accepted at face value. I guess as long as it doesn't turn into an obsession it's OK to do little things to maybe make yourself feel more attractive. And like I said, this applies to guys as well as girls. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

It is an elliptical. It is not an ellipse. There is a difference. "Elliptical" is an industry standard term (again like "square" and "round") to describe a general platform design. It has nothing to do with geometry. I've never had trouble parsing through marketing-speak. I've always known what they were talking about. In any event, why does shape nomenclature matter so much to you? It's irrelevant. I could care less what they call it as far as shape goes. That's because I'm interested in flight characteristics, not whatever shape they declare it to be. They could call it penguin-shaped for all I care. If it flies the way I want it to, I'll buy it. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I second that. Plus sweat is sexy. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon