Showing posts with label United States. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United States. Show all posts

Sunday, September 30, 2012

This Should Worry You

We all know that the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is about as useful as a chocolate fire-guard or a rice paper condom as shown by these articles here;

English: TSA insignia


And this is what they boast what the TSA did find in 2011:

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 02:  Transportation Secu...
And then I read this today and it got me really scared;


Fake Pilot 'Hitched A Free Ride In Cockpit'


Yup, with all of the European and American technology and the fear that the good lord put into us on 9/11 - we still managed somehow to let someone who should not be there, into the cockpit.

Nice work everyone involved.

Now, where did I put that railway timetable???


kthanxbai! 

 http://jumblerant.blogspot.com
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Sunday, August 5, 2012

The Olympic Cost to the Athlete

Old NFO came up with these interesting stats. I say 'interesting', but I really mean 'mind-blowing'.

Tax
After reading the below I had to wonder what the taxes on guide dogs and wheelchairs are...


Interesting...

Because conservatives are scrooges, the good folks atAmericans for Tax Reform have gone through the fine print to find out what our Olympians will have to cough up to the IRS should they be lucky enough to win any medals in London.

Even by the standards of our government, the numbers are insane.

For instance: Americans who win bronze will pay a $2 tax on the medal itself. But the bronze comes with a modest prize—$10,000 as an honorarium for devoting your entire life to being the third best athlete on the planet in your chosen discipline. And the IRS will take $3,500 of that, thank you very much.

There are also prizes that accompany each medal: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze.

Silver medalists will owe $5,385. You win a gold? Timothy Geithner will be standing there with his hand out for $8,986.


It gets even worse. Not only do our Olympic athletes have to pay taxes on their medals and prizes – chances are their competitors on the field will face no such taxation when they get home. Because the U.S. is virtually the only developed nation that taxes “worldwide”income earned overseas by its taxpayers, our Olympic athletes face a competitive disadvantage that has nothing to do with sports.

I can only wonder if there is any way the athletes can deduct the cost of their training???

Personally, I think this is just beyond stupid!!!  At least Rubio has sponsored a bill to relieve the taxes for Olympic winners!


kthanxbai! http://jumblerant.blogspot.com
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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Facebook - Hey, your rules.....

Facebook logo
Facebook logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Just in case you missed it, here is a rather naughty-but-nice discussion.

And yes, I hurt myself laughing at this one!

Knuckledraggin My Life Away: Hey, your rules.....

kthanxbai!

http://jumblerant.blogspot.com
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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Happy Father's Day (advertising)

As I'm sure you'll understand, in my household every day is Father's Day!

The best present I could get is, as these amazing ads will show, just a series of 45 minute naps.

For those of you Fathers (and kids) out there who now want to see what you should, could and would have got for Father's day, here are my favourite ads from 2012:

1. A fun ad from the US of A, a tad unusual but that's what makes it fun



2. A heart felt ad from Thailand. And yes, there are subtitles.





3. Irn-bru (Thats iron brew to you non Scottish folk) And the word 'Fanny' in the UK is not just a name, but sadly a female front bottom. Just to set the tone for the ad.









 kthanxbai! http://jumblerant.blogspot.com
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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Kids Today!

We all know that when we were kids it was tougher, harder and there was more crime, morbidity and less smiles.



So its nice to see that some kids are just out there having fun and challenging themselves.



kthanxbai!

http://jumblerant.blogspot.com
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Song A Day: 1000 Days and Counting

I've been spending a lot of time on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn over the 'Season' and I found some very interesting stuff.

I found a great album by Jonny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways

I spent nearly 20 minutes creating my new Facebook timeline picture. With pictures from Facebook.

I started listening to Grooveshark all over the place.

I started using Tweetlogix for all of my Twitter needs (@jumblerant)

I started using Flipboard on my iPhone - and my son keeps deleting it. So I keep adding it.

And then I found this nugget of greatness. This amazing introduction to a chap who I will be keeping my eye on in 2012;



I'm looking forward to hearing some great, adequate and crappy songs.

kthanxbai!
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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Formula 1 Blog

I've mentioned before that I am a Formula 1 addict. If you don't know what Formula 1 is, well, maybe you live in Swaziland, or are an American, well it is the ultimate in car racing. Not the ultimate in open-wheel, or 'The World Series' - but in the world.

Ever.

I watch races whenever I can, download those that I can't watch live, and listen to podcasts to explain to me what I miss.

Lewis, Robert, Kimi, Fernando, Nico, and Felip...There are 2 main podcasts that I listen to, Formula1blog.com and Sidepodcast.

Out of all the Formula 1 blogs out there, I only listen to these 2 - and why? Because they are run and presented by 'normal folk'. We can't really call anyone willing to wake at 2am to watch a car race 'normal'. Let's just call them, well, 'dedicated'.

Both of the podcasts sound like friends, sitting in a pub or living room, discussing the race.A discussion that is slightly too informed for me to join in with, but very interesting indeed.

In 2013 the USA will be hosting a race in Texas. The work started on the track a while back, but Formula 1 is about money, not being polite, or equal, but cold hard cash. They were waiting for the dosh to be on the table to tell the world that F1 would grace The Lone-star State with their presence.

Recently, Todd,  the main culprit (!) from Formula1blog.com has started writing for the Huffington Post in the UK and his writing is very interesting indeed. I highly suggest you pop over there and give it a look, I know I'll be following it very closely.


kthanxbai!
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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Amnesty International calls to arrest leaders of Hamas

Yeah - I wish!

Over at Elder of Ziyon there is a very interesting article about Amnesty International and their 'original' and ;unique' way of looking at terrorism and murder.

Amnesty urges Canada to arrest and prosecute George W. Bush

From Amnesty International:
12 October 2011
Amnesty International today urged Canadian authorities to arrest and either prosecute or extradite former US President George W. Bush for his role in torture, ahead of his expected visit to Canada on 20 October.

“Canada is required by its international obligations to arrest and prosecute former President Bush given his responsibility for crimes under international law including torture,” said Susan Lee, Americas Director at Amnesty International. Amnesty InternationalImage via Wikipedia

“As the US authorities have, so far, failed to bring former President Bush to justice, the international community must step in. A failure by Canada to take action during his visit would violate the UN Convention against Torture and demonstrate contempt for fundamental human rights.”
A failure by Canada to arrest former President Bush demonstrates contempt for human rights?

Palestinian President Mahmoud AbbasImage via Wikipedia I have never seen Amnesty urge any Western nation to arrest Mahmoud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority has been found to - surprise! - torture prisoners. Similarly, I cannot find any Amnesty calls to arrest leaders of Hamas or other terror groups. (Egypt, for example, is a signatory to the Convention Against Torture and Amnesty did not urge Egypt to arrest any Palestinian Arab terrorist or political leader responsible for torture when they are in its territory.)

Amnesty, it will be remembered, has defended a supporter of the Taliban as a "human rights defender" and suspended an employee who disagreed.

If anyone needed any more evidence of the twisted priorities of Amnesty International, this pretty much seals the deal.

kthanxbai!
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Sunday, September 11, 2011

As I sit here listening to the names of those who were murdered on September 11th 10 years ago, being read out by survivors, I think of Frank Bennet Reisman who died that day.

September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City: V...Image via Wikipedia
I had no connection to him in 2001, but since I wrote this article on September 11th, 2009, I have him in my heart. 

Rest in peace, Frank.

kthanxbai
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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Some Great Reads

I like me some Vietnam stories. I don't particularly enjoy the fighting part of it, generally I don't believe half of what I read. I do like reading about the helicopters over there and how these guys went into the breach, time after time.

HueyImage by colincookman via Flickr

There aren't many instances that I can think of where you get to see the same events but through different sets of eyes. Even 9/11 with photographers and videographers and eyewitnesses didn't see things significantly differently.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled upon 2 books in my personal library (ooh, doesn't that sound fancy?!!) where a pair of slick pilots had flown together, got shot at together and had told the tales differently.Helicopter PilotImage by javaczuk via Flickr

'Lest We Forget ' by William Meacham is a fantastic read about Huey pilots in The Nam doing a wide variety insane and ridiculous operations to save their buddies on the ground. Meacham was an enlisted man and worked his way up to become an officer which probably explains his rather more rigid and focused views on certain matters within the book.

What blew me away was that he brought W T Grant up to speed when he first arrived in The Nam. W T Grant wrote his book 'Wings of the Eagle' about those first flights and those very hair-raising (aka insane) missions.

Its not just me who is raving about these books, I'm just a few years behind the others!

I strongly suggest you get your hands on one of these books - they are well worth a read. Or two.




kthanxbai!
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Monday, May 16, 2011

English for Americans

I'm a simple Englishman. Give me a warm pint of dark ale and a lit fire in the fireplace and I am a happy bunny.

And yet I married an American. We speak the same language and yet we don't.

When I visit our family in Chicago its embarrassing enough that I have to speak slowly, and yet they still do not 'understand' me. 

Luckily I am not alone in this plight and help is at hand:

I think I'll send this off to the in-laws as well.

hat tip to @jackschofield 

kthanxbai!
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Dancing Google Logo

In all honesty I was just wowed that the Google logo on their search site was dancing. It blew my mind.

I work in the Internet Environment (sounds flashy eh?) and I was still impessed.

Enjoy my quick screen-shot capturing of the event for you.







Oh, and well done Martha Graham on reaching 117 years young!




Kthanxbai!
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Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Dancing Google Logo

In all honesty I was just wowed that the Google logo on their search site was dancing. It blew my mind.

I work in the Internet Environment (sounds flashy eh?) and I was still impessed.

Enjoy my quick screen-shot capturing of the event for you.







Oh, and well done Martha Graham on reaching 117 years young!




Kthanxbai!
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Sunday, June 6, 2010