The Olympic Cost to the Athlete

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

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

Related articles

• Win an Olympic Medal - Pay the Irs
• Why are US medal winnings taxed?
• America's Olympic Winners Must Pay IRS Nearly $9,000 For Every Gold Medal

Oh Monty, You're Still Funny!

 kthanxbai!

 http://jumblerant.blogspot.com

The Future Looks Good

In a world where everyone has their phone, iPod, laptop, and every other personal toy out there, Joe decided to see if the people out there still gave a hoot about their neighbour.

And he made a film about it. It looks pretty inspiring to me, not that I would ever take on such an endeavour!



It's nice to know that we're all still human underneath it all.

kthanxbai!

http://jumblerant.blogspot.com

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Happy 4th of July

Happy Independence (from the British) Day!

kthanxbai!

Hat tip to His Most Majestic Wirecutter

http://jumblerant.blogspot.com

How Not To Get Hacked

I just received a direct message on twitter from a chap I've known for 25 years. I know it wasn't from him. He's in a different time zone so I haven't called hi yet, but I KNOW his account has been hacked.

It is not nice, it is somewhat scary, so here are the main ways that will protect you from getting hacked;

1. Use A Strong Password

No, 'password' is no longer the most prevalent password out there, but apparently '123456' is. Quite sad really.

A very strong password should ideally include random upper and lowercase numbers and symbols but the latest articles I read about this state that the best password must have a 4 word based password. Quite complex to create but once done, is basically impossible to break.

In order to create an unforgettable password it is suggested that you look around your workplace for inspiration.

An example might be ‘telephoneWhiteOutiPhonemouse’ or in the case of the chap in the cubicle above, 'filefileboxpen'

A memorable phrase

Take a memorable phrase and use the first letter of every word varying he cases. I would use something such as “Do you feel lucky punk?” and convert it into “DyFlP?”

I would consider adding numbers at the end to further confuse hackers thus creating the best password ever on the planet “DyFlP2012”. So please don’t tell anyone…

2. Upgrade Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X

Older software simply means that the hacker has had a longer time to work out where the ‘backdoors’ are in the software. Updated software has patches for these issues.

3. Install Modern Wed Browsers

Que? What you talking about Willis? What the puck is a web browser? In simple talk, a web browser is what you use to visit Facebook, Gmail and Boobies.

I use Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer, each of them fights hard to ensure secure systems.

4. Use a password manager software such as RoboForm or kaspersky or you can look at a review of 10 different password manager software platforms here

5.  Write down your passwords! A colleague of mine just lost access to his Gmail account. The account he uses for accessing google Analytics. Its not the end of the world and only data can be stolen, nothing can be changed, but the hoops he (and I ) are going through to get it sorted out are quite time consuming

kthanxbai!


http://jumblerant.blogspot.com

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Back To The Future - In The Future

An advertising company for the just released Blu-Ray version of Back To The Future created a fake image for their campaign. And it went super viral!

Nice stuff! 5 minutes on Photoshop and everyone starts thinking about Marty McFly and Biff!

So we all know where Michael J Fox is today. But whatever happened to Biff?

Here is the quite humorous answer:

Cover of Back to the Future

kthanxbai!

http://jumblerant.blogspot.com

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Please Help The Blueberry

Yes, I know it is an odd title but our friends over at The Blueberry need our help.

A bit of background:

The Blueberry Cove Inn is a 1870's home which has been lovingly restored into a gorgeous get-away in Narrangansett, Rhode Island.

They've had their blog going since '08 explaining how they converted the neglected house into a warm and welcoming B&B.

Christmas at the Blueberry Cove Inn

They're good peeps and they need our help! 

In an effort to expand my business I have applied for a business grant sponsored by Living Social and Chase Bank. In order to be considered for the grant I need 250 votes from Facebook users to get to phase two of the application process. I have 170 this morning.

What can we do to help?

So, if you are a Facebook user and could take a minute to help, go to www.missionsmallbusiness.com. 

At the bottom right hand side there is a button that says "log in and support." Hit that, use your facebook sign-in and then you will see a page with search boxes at the bottom of the page. Search for Blueberry Cove Inn and register a vote. Very simple. You don't have to like my page on Facebook (although you would be more than welcome!) or do anything else.

Go - do it here, now!!  

kthanxbai! 

 http://jumblerant.blogspot.com

A Day in the Life of a Pilot

Ever wondered what pilots actually do before, during and after a flight? How does turbulence effect them? What do they eat and drink in the cockpit?

This is Captain Aux's first video blog so why not swing by his website 'Adventures of Captain Aux' to say 'hi' and see what else he has to offer?

Thanks to Peter over at Bayou Renaissance Man

kthanxbai!

http://jumblerant.blogspot.com

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Facebook - Hey, your rules.....

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

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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Perturbed by Coca Cola Advertising

The first thing I noticed about this video was that Coca Cola weren't calling it an 'advert' or a 'social media' whatever, but were calling it a video. Interesting change of approach.

And then i saw the video and felt surprisingly emotional about it:

Which I guess is today's version of the classic Coca Cola videos, just without the 'buy a coke now' music playing in the background.



Which in turn is not that far off this 2010 advert, which must have cost a pretty penny!



I'm perturbed.

kthanxbai!

 http://jumblerant.blogspot.com

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Little boy lost finds his mother using Google Earth

When I first read the tile of this article I thought that there would be a cutesy little story of a well dressed little kid in a supermarket in New York or Central London who had lost his Mommy and somehow had used an app on his iPhone to find her again a few hours later, when reunited everyone laughed and said trite comments like 'kids these days' and 'what will they think of next'. Hugs and chocolate biscuits all round and next story is of a panda falling off a slide.

But I was wrong.

So very, very wrong.

This is in fact a story of a man who has become who he is today through fate, luck and, unlike so many of his contemporaries, a graduation from the school of hard knocks.

Read it, and if you don't shed a tear leave a comment as to why!

From the BBC website:

An Indian boy who lost his mother in 1986 has found her 25 years later from his new home in Tasmania - using satellite images.
Saroo was only five years old when he got lost. He was travelling with his older brother, working as a sweeper on India's trains. "It was late at night. We got off the train, and I was so tired that I just took a seat at a train station, and I ended up falling asleep."
That fateful nap would determine the rest of his life. "I thought my brother would come back and wake me up but when I awoke he was nowhere to be seen. I saw a train in front of me and thought he must be on that train. So I decided to get on it and hoped that I would meet my brother."
Saroo did not meet his brother on the train. Instead, he fell asleep and had a shock when he woke up 14 hours later. Though he did not realise it at first, he had arrived in Calcutta, India's third biggest city and notorious for its slums.Continue reading the main story“Start QuoteI do not think any mother or father would like to have their five year old wandering alone in the slums and train stations of Calcutta”Saroo Brierley"I was absolutely scared. I didn't know where I was. I just started to look for people and ask them questions."
Soon he was sleeping rough. "It was a very scary place to be. I don't think any mother or father would like to have their five year old wandering alone in the slums and trains stations of Calcutta."
The little boy learned to fend for himself. He became a beggar, one of the many children begging on the streets of the city. "I had to be quite careful. You could not trust anyone." Once he was approached by a man who promised him food and shelter and a way back home. But Saroo was suspicious. "Ultimately I think he was going to do something not nice to me, so I ran away."
But in the end, he did get off the streets. He was taken in by an orphanage, which put him up for adoption. He was adopted by the Brierleys, a couple from Tasmania. "I accepted that I was lost and that I could not find my way back home, so I thought it was great that I was going to Australia."
Saroo settled down well in his new home. But as he got older the desire to find his birth family became increasingly strong. The problem was that as an illiterate five-year-old he had not known the name of the town he had come from. All he had to go on were his vivid memories. So he began using Google Earth to search for where he might have been born.
"It was just like being Superman. You are able to go over and take a photo mentally and ask, 'Does this match?' And when you say, 'No', you keep on going and going and going."

Google Earth image that helped Saroo find his way home

Eventually Saroo hit on a more effective strategy. "I multiplied the time I was on the train, about 14 hours, with the speed of Indian trains and I came up with a rough distance, about 1,200km."

Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main storyLost and found

Saroo was taken to meet his mother who was nearby. At first he did not recognise her.
"The last time I saw her she was 34 years old and a pretty lady, I had forgotten that age would get the better of her. But the facial structure was still there and I recognised her and I said, 'Yes, you are my mother.'
"She grabbed my hand and took me to her house. She could not say anything to me. I think she was as numb as I was. She had a bit of trouble grasping that her son, after 25 years, had just reappeared like a ghost."
Although she had long feared he was dead, a fortune teller had told Saroo's mother that one day she would see her son again. "I think the fortune teller gave her a bit of energy to live on and to wait for that day to come."
And what of the brother with whom Saroo had originally gone travelling? Unfortunately, the news was not good. "A month after I had disappeared my brother was found in two pieces on a railway track." His mother had never known whether foul play was involved or whether the boy had simply slipped and fallen under a train.
"We were extremely close and when I walked out of India the tearing thing for me was knowing that my older brother had passed away."
For years Saroo Brierley went to sleep wishing he could see his mother again and his birth family. Now that he has, he feels incredibly grateful. He has kept in touch with his newly found family.
"It has taken the weight off my shoulders. I sleep a lot better now."

And there is something to make him sleep better - with memories of Slumdog Millionaire still fresh, publishers and film producers are getting interested in his incredible story.

kthanxbai!

 http://jumblerant.blogspot.com

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