Gromnir

tax rate is based on income earned. the more you make, the higher the rate o' taxation. is not complex. seven brackets. on first ~$19500 (maybe a scooch more... am not positive) buffet earns, he pays 10%. at other end, on amounts over $600,001, he pays 37%. buffet pays self $1. outside capital gains considerations, this puts him in the lowest tax bracket. stuff you own is not income. can have a dozen houses and a "company" jet and all kinda other stuff which is not gonna affect tax bracket. you don't pay taxes on own or worth. pay taxes on earned. and as for gifted twisting, we would typical guess he were shooting for ironic with observations o' combativeness and working self into a frenzy. not the case, eh? nevertheless, at least try to keep on-topic. don't want the embarrassment o' you getting another mod warning. back on-topic, am offering clarification-- our observation that misplaced admiration and concerns 'bout china do, japanese efficiency and russian moribund economic model is opposite o' gifted whine 'bout a handful o' state senators playing hookie so as to prevent a vote they know they cannot win. is our observation o' "meh" v. "Every one of those senators should be immediately stripped of their duties and permanently barred from holding office again." which is the whine? personal, we cannot work self up into that kinda frenzy o'er a few state senators or the myth o' japanese efficiency, but knock yourself out. just be careful not to go all sideways (again) and get the thread unnecessary mod attention. messy. HA! Good Fun! ps in case sharp saw too quick before edit, we posted numbers for single taxpayers as 'posed to married. corrected.

and here we thought this all started with gifted whining 'bout a few senators in oregon. lord knows Gromnir ain't whining 'bout three countries. we has suggested there is less reason to be concerned or impressed by three countries with which gifted seems preoccupied... which is kinda the opposite o' what you suggest. but heck, am a people person and am gonna keep trying to help gifted reach daylight. you hang in there and we will eventual make it. HA! Good Fun!

don't know if it would look like your clip, but am confident that if it did, you would qq and squee yourself in response... though am pretty sure you use squee wrong most o' the time. dunno, am not a teenage girl. in any event, is not as if those so-called victims can't find a couple o' shovels. people should be digging themselves out 'stead o' screaming like a bunch o' idiots. the chinese would have rebuilt already, and added a functioning space elevator as well. sink into the ocean? heck, that is what life jackets are for, right? HA! Good Fun!

like most executives, buffet pays himself next to nothing in income. capital gains is where government makes money from buffet in the form o' taxes. have the secretary earn $1 for 2019 might not be the solution sharp thinks it is. ps @gifted the russian economy has been sunk for years, which is why any fluctuation in oil prices causes such distress. one o' your fellow posters helpful submitted a bloomberg chart a few years ago which showed worst performing currencies, with russia the absolute worst for year _______. worse than sub saharan african nations with triple digit inflation fighting wars. in the chart, norway were used as a comparison for russia. both russia and norway is highly dependent on oil exports, but norway currency were nowhere near as devastated by oil surplus. russian collapses happen, but they ain't a manufacturer or service provider-- they export petroleum. their economy can "recover" as long as they got oil, but that isn't a strength. in spite o' fact that russia suffered two oil-related upheavals in one decade, resulting in double digit % increase o' russians living in poverty, russia has made almost no changes to economy and infrastructure. regardless, gifted is clear impressed with the shiny. likes busy and inefficient japanese... sees results where japanese themselves lament lack o' results. likes chinese do, resulting in per capita gdp behind kazakhstan and on par with mexico to go along with suppression o' dissent and religious minorities and ignoring o' aids problems and... HA! Good Fun!

apologies for double-post. you likely don't want to listen to the whole thing. the name o' the guy with the bow tie is atsushi wallace tashima. born in 1934, he were interred at the poston camp in arizona during ww2. eventual he would join the marines attaining rank of sergeant before his honorable discharge. ucla undergrad and harvard law. ... kinda felt like hans gruber for a moment. anyways, we can't even try and imagine arguing that soap, toothbrushes and conditions conducive for sleep were not anticipated as part o' "safe and sanitary" language from the flores settlement which is controlling what is required o' the US government insofar as immigration detention standards for minors. to do so in front o' a guy who were interred at poston is kinda surreal. however, before people get too angry at barr and trump, ms. fabian, the lawyer for doj in our clips, argued another flores case three years ago and it were even more disturbing. a woman who were trying to instigate a hunger strike in protest o' conditions at a detainment facility had her child seperated from her and the child placed in solitary confinement. fabian tried to argue such treatment were perfect acceptable under the flores settlement. separate and isolate child were a legit response to insurrection by the mother o' the child. 2015 were obama administration, and while there were not a general policy o' child separations in spite o' trump claims, clearly it did happen in more than a couple instances. we will note how the government were kinda in a legal bind on this soap and toothbrush thing... though am not using as an excuse. a judge recent ordered customs and border protection to appoint a monitor who would see to it that facilities where children were being detained were brought into compliance with the flores settlement. judge added specifics for the monitor, requiring children be having access to sleep, soap and toothbrushes. the thing is, appointment o' a monitor under an existing agreement ain't subject to appeal. so the government were trying to argue that as the judge included specifics needed to meet "safe and sanitary" under the flores settlement, she changed the agreement. *shrug* is the kinda legal ack jassery which makes us sympathize with gd's invoking o' the "kill all the lawyers" bit. HA! Good Fun!

more myth. japanese manufacturing gets results. all that japanese efficiency is a total charlie fox once you get up off of the plant floor. is maddening for japanese executives. given how many hours they work and the effort they invest, they get so little done. https://www.tokyoreview.net/2018/07/japan-productivity-overwork/ "But for all of the hours that Japan (often boastfully) works, it ranks lowest among G7 members in productivity. " letting yourself get distracted by shiny, eh? HA! Good Fun! ps japan is 19th/20th productivity 'mongst the 36 oecd states... and some o' their problems is but a faint glimmer o' what awaits china in the next couple decades. japan is a model for what can go wrong when you got an aging workforce with over importance placed on seniority, and with china population control efforts magnifying their age issues... aside, japanese omotenashi and the seeming military precision achieved by having five people do the work o' one, is also a major contributing factor o' overall japanese inefficiency. like other oecd members, japan has shifted to a service-based economy, and they has suffered during the transition.

now that don't surprise us. sure, the level which they exploit 1/2 or more o' the population don't bother gifted, but they are doing... something. 'course the chinese government lies 'bout what they are doing, so is so hard to tell what has actual been done, but gifted likes do. the chinese did anywhere between 2000 and 10000 in response to tiananmen square. 'course they don't do much 'bout their aids problem and their actua per capita gdp is placing them not in the economic heavyweight category, but rather in the featherweight range. as o' march 2019, world bank has china per cap gdp right behind kazakhstan at #72... which is probable a dozen or so places too high as is based on china's numbers which is so utter cooked as to be useless. to get to 72, all they need do is keep a billion people living in squalor. the chinese economic miracle has been mostly myth for as long as economists has been predicting eventual fail. *chuckle* am personal quite happy with a little less o' china-style do. we weren't born to one o' the privileged families, so in china we likely woulda' got done... hard. HA! Good Fun! ps given our age, we got some perspective on the emergence o' a new economic juggernaut appearing every decade or so. during early 80s, everybody were worried 'bout nuclear armageddon and soviets were the bogey man du jour. we went to russia and eastern europe late 80s. we coulda' lived like a king in moscow for years if we had brought more condoms with us. no kidding. the black market rate for condoms were such that we coulda' got diamonds and cars (russian cars, so limit your imagination) for a box o' trojans. became clear to us after our visit that fears o' the russians were exaggerated. once the wall came down, we needed a new monster to frighten us, and we kid you not, for awhile it were japan. the japanese were so technological advanced and their manufacturing efficiency were so superior, the US were gonna become nothing but a footnote in economic history by the end o' the century. then came concerns 'bout the emerging eu. *groan* china? that per capita gdp puts 'em neck n' neck with mexico, and five places behind russia. for some reason, the world, and the US in particular, needs a new economic superpower to threaten the post ww2 status quo with the equal mythological US hegemony being eternal threatened.

you could be right, but we wouldn't bet on it. after all, aloth were written by carrie patel. as a writer o' fantasy, what is chances ms. patel ain't a fan of dune? dune approval is a near universal for sci fi/fantasy nerds. we do know folks who ain't fans o' tolkien's lotr, but is a bit more difficult to find a genre fan who do not like the first dune book. such people exist, but... HA! Good Fun! ps if the valians in deadfire had employed a document forger by name o' simone simonini (or similar) as part o' a quest, then we wouldn't hesitate at pointing to josh as the root cause.

why? any yutz can provide solution for E, but einstein showed his work. can come up with dozens o' failed authoritarian oligarchies, so distinguish china... or is simple you is envious o' recent gains by china? ignoring human rights issues, 'cause we know gifted will, there is clear some shortfalls in the chinese system or they wouldn't constant be trying to steal or buy western technologies. forcible bootstrap an agrarian economy into an industrial power might have required an authoritarian system (debatable) but is not same thing to go from industrial to service-based economy. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/20/business/china-economy-gdp-fourth-quarter.html now admitted, is any number o' economists who has been predicting china economic doom for years, but situation, very soon, is gonna get very bad. https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/07/asia/china-population-decline-study-intl/index.html the main factor which has allowed china to compete with the west is the abundance o' cheap labor, but cheap labor is gonna need be found elsewhere, and soon. the authoritarianism which were successful in reducing population has costs, and those costs is only a decade or so away from becoming critical. so china efforts gets them worse standard o' living than what gifted enjoys, serious limits on basic freedoms he would no doubt miss, and has 'em facing looming disasters no less problematic than US debt crisis and income inequality issues. actual, the income inequality problem is a problem for chinese as well as Americans. oh, and one should not complete ignore history and geography, 'cause is not as if a relative homogenized society which has developed, in spite o' size o' the country, almost exclusively along two river valleys for thousands o' years knowing nothing but authoritarian rule for much o' that history might benefit different than would an almost uniquely diverse culture spread out across a continent with unique geography and religions and peoples. so, show your work, eh? HA! Good fun!

am genuine not certain if gifted knows what is hyperbole, 'cause, y'know, is sad and not true. debate and negotiation = stall for a decade? *snort* for instance, veteran's choice, legislation for which trump curious takes credit at every opportunity, were championed by john mccain and bernie sanders. took less than a full year to go through legislative process and get president OBAMA's signature. 2013-2014. hyperbole don't make gifted's argument stronger. makes weaker and easier to dismiss. also, the trains didn't run on time for mussolini. is no political system which negates foundational problems o' human nature. history shows enough examples o' incompetence and graft with every system so as to undercut the notion o' there being an exception to possibility o' inefficiency. gifted clear suffers from backup qb syndrome. regardless o' strengths and weakness o' the guy on the bench, gifted thinks the backup looks keen 'cause he is annoyed by the incompetence o' the guy current running the offense. in spite o' the intuitive appeal o' other systems as a more efficient replacement for democracy, history has been at least as unkind to the other options. but serious, what is with you guys and the hyperbole? HA! Good Fun!

there is a reason we referenced senator packwood being hauled in to chambers to establish a quorum. @gifted and we know how much both you and gd like to indulge in hyperbole. is not as if this is the only bit o' legislation oregon has dealt with in the past couple years, eh? and nobody suggests doing nothing on even this issue. is important issue, but if you gotta strongarm a minority into accepting, then perhaps more debate and negotiation is needed, eh? is so much bad legislation and executive decisions which has been executed over the years. not doing is often the course o' wisdom. choose not to pass bad legislation is hardly same as accomplishing absolutely nothing. HA! Good Fun!

that is exactly what the folks in oregon is doing. rules require a quorum. only way for minority to prevent legislation becoming law is quorum busting. is not as if the minority created the quorum rules. they is working with what they got. HA! Good Fun!

representing their constituents is their first duty. one wonders what other vital legislation is being ignored during this time, but if you got outnumbered senators from rural districts representing the folks who will be the people who disproportionate pay the functional tax resulting from legislation in question, people who is already having difficulty paying current taxes, their options for resisting is limited. sure, the senators could sit meek and silent and take their lumps, but such don't help their constituents. quorum busting has a long history. can't say 'bout oregon, but in 1988 (?) senator packwood were carried into the chambers by capitol police to achieve quorum. first time it happened in history o' capitol that a member were forced to make an appearance. more than 200 years o' quorum busting efforts w/o need resort to such tactics. time honored tradition. didn't need resort to horse whippings. the thing is, given increased national polarization, am suspecting oregon is not gonna be last state where we see such, and is gonna be interesting to see what happens when roles is reversed. tyranny o' the majority is always a danger in even our modern democracy. were worse in original democracies wherein every vote and trial were political theatre. even so, folks in oregon don't feel like they need bother with negotiations, 'cause they don't. thanks to gerrymandering and polarization, is easy to ignore and even punish those in a political minority by use o' democratic process. am personal supporting climate change legislation, but the oregon legislature is dumping the costs on folks least able to pay 'cause those folks is not gonna vote with the majority. the newish militia threat? now that deserves a horse whipping. if a minority group can't get honest input and consideration because the democratic process is rigged, am in favor o' creative means o' protest and resistance, but thin veiled threats o' violence is 'bout as blunt and uncreative as is possible to imagine. 'course those threats came after your post so am not giving you the benefit o' the doubt on those. nevertheless, we would agree that the minority senators should public condemn the militia threats in no uncertain terms. legislators running out on the legislature to protest tyranny o' the majority? these guys know the legal ramifications o' their efforts. oregon could try and impose harsher penalties on quorum busting gamesmanship, but they need a quorum for that too. regardless, in increasing polarized states such as indiana and alabama, states where the majority looks much different, we would be less than shocked if similar tactics is utilized to resist the tyranny o' the majority. regardless, history makes clear oregon won't be last place it happens. am actual hoping it happens more often so that polarization and gerrymandering issues final get attention they deserve. HA! Good Fun!

those who defy the word o' almighty trump should be censured. nay. they should be horsewhipped and driven naked through the streets so that their shame should be lasting and public. this is the gospel. learn it lest ye too might suffer. all hail the trump! HA! Good Fun!

that sounds reminiscent o' what happened to characters multiple times in bg and bg2. unfortunately... Around 1409 DR, the merchant Orburt Lewel ordered the construction of a nine-foot (2.7-meter) tall statue in the Wide in honor of Minsc, who had saved Lewel's life. The statue, known as the Beloved Ranger, depicted Minsc cupping Boo in his hands. It was a popular landmark and meeting point in the busy commercial district.[10][11][12] In 1479 DR, a group of teenagers vandalized the Beloved Ranger statue, breaking off its hands and Boo. The vandals were later apprehended and the statue was fixed.[11] Sometime in the 1480s DR, Minsc mysteriously returned. The Beloved Ranger was accidentally struck by a wild magic surge caused by the wild mage Delina, as a result of an attempt to cast a spell at an attacking gargoyle. The surge breathed life into the statue and caused it to transform into Minsc and Boo. The pair joined up with the thieves Krydle and Shandie to battle the Cult of the Dragon. Coran, now a member of the Parliament of Peers, was the only person who recognized Minsc as anyone but someone who was dressed like the statue.[1] https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Minsc don't ask us why we bothered to check. stone-to-flesh were perhaps too familiar and too plausible for the forgotten realms? dunno. regardless, a wild magic surge turned a mundane statue o minsc and boo into living minsc and boo... 'cause. HA! Good Fun!

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The Accidental Invention of the Super Soaker "The invention landed Johnson in the National Toy Hall of Fame. Christopher Bensch, vice president for collections and chief curator, says Johnson’s interstellar credentials give him elite status among inductees. "“He’s probably overqualified as toy inventors go,” he says. “After all, he is a rocket scientist. His invention was a rarified breakthrough because of its success. It ranks up there with the Slinky and Silly Putty. None of them were designed to be toys.”" HA! Good Fun!

of the less activist Justices, alito is the Court's brown give him the stuff you know folks is gonna ridicule. were no way to dress up this dog. gorsuch sided with the majority, but he got the line which is gonna be quoted most frequent down the road... when this decision gets corrected. "what matters when it comes to assessing a monument, symbol, or practice isn’t its age but its compliance with ageless principles. the Constitution’s meaning is fixed, not some good-for-this-day-only coupon, and a practice consistent with our nation’s traditions is just as permissible whether undertaken today or 94 years ago." ever have a parent or authority figure use the dreaded "because i said so," to explain why you need finish some chore or exercise which were clear pointless or unnecessary? well, alito resorted to legal equivalent o'. "because we say so," as their explanation for why religious monuments with a long enough history gets a presumption o' Constitutional validity. is hundreds, if not thousands o' monuments that clear align with a specific religious faith which exist and is maintained on government lands. is no legal authority or precedent to support alito's decision, but the Court were too gutless to admit the seeming impracticality o' rendering the multitudes o' monuments Unconstitutional. conclusion: the weight of history lends power and vitality to an otherwise unconstitutional edifice. ... why? will the Court use same reasoning to prop up other unconstitutional practices? is a dangerously slippery slope if other practices repeated often enough and long enough should enjoy a similarly transformative metamorphosis, no? but the thing is, we don't expect any such hobgoblins to emerge from the metaphorical closet. is no way the Court uses such reasoning to defend those imagined evils all too numerous to count. this were an aberrational one-off which will carry same weight as trump speaking 'bout sexual harassment or kyrie irving opinions on nasa funding. oh, and before the more liberal minded folks nod agreement, keep in mind a couple years ago we criticized such bass ackwards nonsense when we got J. Kennedy's obergefell decision. IF there is transformative moments or events which has the ugly lemon-failed peace cross caterpillar transformed to take wing as a Constitutional butterfly, it sure as hell ain't the Court's place to decide such. if a history o' societal acceptance altered the fabric o' the First Amendment, we woulda' expected such an event to be accompanied by fireworks and parades, but we don't recall any such events inspired by the maryland Peace Cross. nevertheless, seven Justices heard the song o' freedom when the rest o' us were deaf to it? and thus ends our requisite grumpy post for the week... day. HA! Good Fun!

turns out boo really were a miniature giant space hamster, and following the events o' bg2, minsc were transported, along with his furry companion, to spelljammer setting wildspace, where time behaves less predictable. *shrug* is a fantasy setting with interloper gods, and ubiquitous magic. am not thinking a century or two is much o' an obstacle if the developers wanna bring back a bg2 character who should be dead. heck, can bring him back as dead or undead or reincarnated or perhaps as a talking sword... HA! Good Fun!

good news, bad news. while we weren't a fan o' dos2 combat neither, and as such a larian bg3 is not a slam dunk for us, the interviewer in our link were a larian fan. the thing is, the larian guy kinda pushed back on the notion o' bg3 incorporating dos2 gameplay. made clear that, first and foremost, bg3 were gonna be a d&d game. whatever liberties the developers is taking with the rulez, they is making efforts to replicate a tabletop d&d experience... to some unspecific degree. the thing is, d&d 5e might not be gifted's cup o' tea neither, so... regardless, interviewer did a poor job o' revealing much 'bout bg3 save for accident. when larian guy were correcting preconceptions and expectations o' the journalist, then we learned a bit. HA! good Fun!

and thus i clothe my naked villany with odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ, and seem a saint, when most i play the devil. --richard iii, act 1, scene iii is easy to get distracted. the wrong is not 'bout god or religion. example: the rajneesh guy specific stated he weren't selling religion. sure, use god and religion to exploit the desperate and needy is a common technique, and given US Constitution's First Amendment, do as richard iii is a smart way to run a con. but yeah, am not 100% certain what separates a cult from a legit religion. w/o any preconceptions, walk into a midwestern or southern christian church on a sunday morning and listen and watch objective. folks, young and old, chanting in unison. symbolic cannibalism. disturbing iconography. is all kinda weird and creepy. HA! Good Fun!

The Ranger Class Is Getting Some Changes In D&D (And Baldur's Gate 3) if already linked, then am apologizing for repetition. too lazy to check. ... actual listened to podcast. ... needs to be a new word to describe these guys who interview game developers and publishers, 'cause journalist carries with it undeserved preconceptions. from the podcast we learned more 'bout the interviewer's crpg preferences and opinions than we did 'bout bg3 development. call somebody a journalist is unfair 'cause it carries with it expectations o' minimum competence and professionalism. given what is diminished standards for game journalism in 2019, is perhaps unfair to burden these folks with the baggage Gromnir brings. need a new word which ain't inherent condescending, but am kinda at a loss. HA! Good Fun!

for those unaware juneteenth we typical make it to berkeley (were held june 16th this year) as we got acquaintances who help organize the annual berkeley juneteenth festival. unfortunate, this year we had a local appointment which were three months in the making, so missed for first time since 2008... which weren't actual a miss. bulk o' local capital city observance happens during the upcoming weekend with park festivals including entertainments and food. HA! Good Fun!

inventor o' the foam is an iranian woman. the tech were original meant for biomedical applications-- stronger implant replacements which wouldn't suffer rejection as do most metal devices. lucky we got a "muslim ban" (albeit watered-down) to protect us from all those nogoodniks coming into the US from terrorist nations, eh? HA! Good Fun!

am admitted increasing unclear what you mean by a one-off. silence o' the lambs were not envisioned as the sequel to manhunter when manhunter were made. silence o' the lambs novel weren't even written at the time manhunter were made into a film. were, at the time, a one-off, no? any o' the mad max films? the director o' mad max had no plans to do a sequel to mad max 'til a couple hollywood deals fell apart. and aliens? HA! Good Fun!